Advanced weaponry, to Rhys, mostly means chemical warfare, and that's a problem. But with Cullen talking about swords, well, they have those of course, but also more. "Are you familiar with guns?" For all that Rhys doesn't believe in violence, well. The practical application of holding those beliefs and staying alive in Nasheen has meant mostly that he shoots only to injure. He usually carries a pair of pistols, though he's only got one here, and his aim is very good.

"I think..." Rhys hesitates, trying to figure out what he really does think. "Umayma isn't the only inhabited world that I'm aware of. We're rather deliberately isolationist, but it's possible that on other worlds humans have lost the connection with their origins, that we were all once the same people. But there are other issues, because I'm certain you aren't speaking Nasheenian or Chenjan. So we're getting translated, and I don't know how much is being lost." That worries him a lot. Rhys is too analytical to be comfortable with his words running through someone else's filter.

"But those descriptions sound roughly accurate, even if I would add that roaches are useful for communication but a pain to keep contained, and locusts don't devastate crops on Umayma."