Richelieu points out to Hanno first that publicity about immortals would destabilize an already unstable period even further and secondly that most existing rulers would cage or kill immortals especially if anyone suggested that the latter might make good philosopher kings! Sf readers remember what happened when the Howard Families came out about their longevity in Methuselah's Children. Different novels, different authors, different periods, different timelines - but one sf discussion about speculative and extrapolative ideas like longevity and immortality. Hanno would like more time to argue his case but Richelieu, aged, unwell and extremely preoccupied, does not have more time. (Sickness, old age and death are three of the four sights in Buddhism.) Richelieu does well to let Hanno leave unmolested instead of caging or killing him there and then.
The natural punctuation of their discussion continues:
"The wind and the river rustled." (p. 236)
"The clock ticked, the wind blew, the river flowed." (p. 239)
When Hanno has left, Richelieu sits and thinks while sunlight lengthens. The kitten has its own life unaware of these issues.
(One of Olaf Stapledon's Last Men says that a First Man transported to Neptune would be as unaware of most of what was happening around him as a cat in London is of finance.)
Hanno's attempts to join with Aliyat and to gain patronage from Richelieu have failed. He has time to persevere.
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