No, turns out Amentans don't really like eating unwashed wild leaves.

"So that's a yes on the farming, sorry."

"Reds do not know how to farm ma'am."

"If I say you can learn are you gonna tell me your hair is the wrong color for that?"

"- no, ma'am..."

"Okay, well, I can get arbitrary books about it and whatever seeds you want and also you can start with a ton of canned stuff. Or I can try designing a planet where everything is edible. Or, like, worst case scenario, in a couple decades we make you Vanda Nossëo's problem."

"Decades, ma'am?"

"Probably not your decades but who knows. If the farming thing looks intractable it doesn’t cost any extra to wait on resurrecting people. Doesn’t leave you any less time either."

He blinks at her.

"If it only starts looking intractable once people are living there I will see how long I can hang out making food."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Do you actually think I’m cool or are you just scared if you stop ma'aming me the evil alt of Miss Manners will show up and have you with some red wine and gravy?"

"- ma'am?????"

"The Sesatis do it because they think I'm cool and that's fine, I am cool. - The evil cannibal alt of Miss Manners is a joke."

"If you say so ma'am!"

"Do you want me to make your hair come in blue and change your face and drop you off halfway across the country from wherever they got you? Possibly after replacing your entire body so they couldn't possibly claim you were made of magical dirt?"

"I am not sure why you would do that ma'am."

"Because you're miserable and maybe you'd be fine if you could go home except for how your home is lowkey planning to murder you and literally treats you like shit so maybe if you went back with the hair they think is the best they'd be nice to you. I'm sure there are problems with that exact plan but maybe something like that."

"Caste is not identical to hair color, ma'am."

"Look, is there literally anything that could happen to you at this point that would not suck?"

He considers this. "... maybe?"

"Cool. We can probably make most things happen, seriously, if the only thing you can think of that wouldn't suck is turning into a telepathic bird with a glowing beak and the ability to conjure arbitrary material objects that works as a TV news anchor it might be annoying and politically complicated to pull it off but it's not impossible."

"I could go home if the government were told that you were all through with me and had no complaints about my behavior, ma'am."

"Did no one already offer you that???"

"- I don't believe so ma'am, people have made many offers but I don't think any included that the government can be told that I am not absent without leave if I go home."