Gemma whispers, trying to explain something she only half-understood herself.

     "What would be better?" asks Purificació, after a moment. She'd decided not to speak, but she decided that when she was afraid, and has completely forgotten about it now. Gemma flinches beside her.

Well the Paladin apparently isn't in favor of just approving all the Queen's former powers and authorities and such, so... his mind hits a blank as pure loyalty and clear lawful goodness collide.

He tries to process the words.  Maybe one or two of the 'old forms' will be clearly flawed (and hopefully not really important to the Queen).  And then he can disapprove of them with the Paladin, and score well for lawfulness and goodness. (That has to be a real Paladin right?)  And approve of the rest of the old forms?  Maybe even compensate by finding some extra stuff not in the old forms to give the Queen?

He starts to clap along, but then realizes he missed the moment.

The worst that will come out of the other committees is a decision to free the slips and he has already sold all his abroad. If this committee can be persuaded to propose things de Litran doesn't like and the archmages back it ... 

This committee will hopefully be less stressful than the other one. He doesn't ask the paladin to cover him too because that seems like it would be an attention-getting sort of thing to ask. He gives the poor girl plenty of space.

"I don't know what would be better yet. Something that protects the people of Cheliax from abuses of power, something that teaches them to be Good and Just, something that helps the queen or king to use their authority for good causes and impairs them in using it for evil..." He'd suggest an Iomedan theocracy, except that the Goddess can't afford it. "It's not a small task. We have a lot of work before us, gentleman and ladies. Let us begin. Now, I don't have copies of any other law codes with me right now, but we can devise a broad outline - a few broad outlines of how a government might work today, and return tomorrow with more examples and the knowledge of how they've failed in the past. First, the power to make law. In many places the monarch or ruling council can make law, but in Andoran laws are written by a popular assembly..."

They aren't just reading the historical Chelish examples?  He struggles to agree with the powers and laws that match with his vague understanding of the historical powers of the Chelish monarch while demurring at other examples.  The Paladin isn't really helping either, just putting out open questions.  By the end of the meeting he is mentally exhausted.  This test is much harder than he thought it would be!  If he buys up a bookstore and gets lucky on an accurate history maybe he can do better on this test tomorrow.  Maybe he can find a Gnome with a history obsession!  Okay yeah he is desperate.

Roig, as it happens, has an excellent memory for ancient and obscure legal traditions. He is happy to share.