[Claude backs off after being slapped away, not wanting to crowd her any further. (His lip, at least, has stopped bleeding.) But he's racking his brain already, trying to come up with something, anything, to avert the tragedy she describes. To realise there are children involved, who might be enslaved as his own people had been at the border, only makes it worse.]

What if I came to your world? [It sounds crazy, but plenty of crazy things have happened to both of them at this point, that it almost sounds reasonable, too.] If I find a way, I could bring an army, and save your people. You wouldn't need to sacrifice yourself... You could all live in peace.