I wonder how we ended up here if they can't take us back. I guess they can't, or he would have sent us back by now.

It's actually probably a lot more common than people tend to think. The black quadrant takes time to develop, but you can easily go black for someone upon meeting. Like how you can probably be flushed for someone at first sight. It would be kind of surprising, but it's not completely unheard of. You just have to be careful since something like that might escalate quickly and you might end up killing each other instead. That's what an auspistice is for though.