Answer the question .
He did:
Just a yes or no will do. If you ring around the rosy I'll assume the answer is yes but you just don't want to say it.
When you're part of a group and that group is your whole identity - you are nothing without it - the group leaders can do all sorts of alarming things and you'll go along with it. We have seen this repeatedly throughout history.
To Hemi's credit he didn't give a flat 'no' because even he understands that's ridiculous, so he hemmed and hawed and tried to change the subject to avoid criticizing his gods.