The closer they got, the quicker the exchanges of messages happened. The increasingly closer exchange rate seemed more dramatic than the decline had as they had left their own system, but most of that was because the pattern of daily messages had softened the space between exchanges. For example, the reply to their latest message home would take well over four years to be sent back toward them now, just because it had to travel so far, but they would receive another message from home within the next day.
Because Rafaela had decided to trust the Emperor, they had included many questions that might reveal their own weaknesses. The Emperor's replies were usually straightforward, but he began to include more questions too, as though their questions confused him at times.