You would be surprised what people tell you when you ask.

[Well, ask nicely, but ask in general too. The more ingrained the person was in Meridian or Zenith, the more readily they seemed to be to explain how they were staying to forge a new world, or going home.]

You would be surprised what their answer says about them.

[Rhetorically. She may not be surprised at all by something so simple, and he would expect as much woth how straightforward she appears.]