She's right, most likely. Arno's heard the same, several places.

"Ecclesiastes, right? 'A time to kill and a time to heal' ...among several others."

Why that's the bit of it's stuck around, Arno's not going to waste time pondering. It doesn't really matter anyway. But the rest of it's something else again.

"I could accept the invitation, easily. I don't know very much of tea; it's not exactly served where I'm from, besides terrible medicine that makes me choke, but if you'll forgive my ignorance, and that of my chemist, I'd welcome your scintillating conversation on near any other topics."