Keltham sets that thought aside, too. It's bad enough that they're touching on the meta-level; he knows better than to say anything as meta-meta as to argue about the expected time two aliens should reasonably expect to need to allocate for metalevel discussion. And to say it out loud would also be imposing his own frame on things, and he's starting to suspect that frame is part of the problem.
"We're taught - that there's always an exchange, one way or another - and that we have to acknowledge whatever that exchange is, to make sure it's a fair one -"
"If I knew you better, or maybe if just understood Chelish people, I'd already know what you were - expecting from me in this - in whatever we're doing, which is something that I don't even understand, if we're not trading pleasures with each other, which, I mean, some people enjoy the act more than others, it doesn't mean that - what they're doing isn't valuable -"
"I can tell I'm in the wrong frame for this new thing that we're doing but I was raised among people who weren't Evil enough and I don't understand what the really Evil thing to do here is. Part of me is fascinated by the idea of you giving me things and expecting nothing in return, but wouldn't that make you Good?"