"Uh... actually, they kind of did?" (And Valdis is zero for two on Tony getting the point.) "It was medical science that ended up saving my life, but I did have a big experimental battery stuck in my chest to replace most of my cardiac function, yeah." What does that have to do with anything, Valdis?

Tony is little confused by that tack, so he grapples with one of the other points instead.

"Look, Valdis: Aisling, or someone else, is going to keep messing around with the planes no matter what you do. That's what scientists do. If they can't figure out something from one angle, they'll just try another angle. So if you think the planar magic might be dangerous, and you think you know something about it that they don't, everyone's going to be a lot safer if you work with them instead of trying to hide it from them and hoping that they drop it."

Valdis likes figurative devices, and though that's obviously not Tony's strong suit, he attempts one of his own. "Anybody can weld, but you're not going to know to wear polarized goggles unless someone tells you that a welding arc emits UV. It's better to learn about something dangerous ahead of time than find out that it's dangerous the hard way."