"That's — that's not what Valia said, they left out the parts about — how most people aren't Evil, how she was only talking about people who were really terrible — Valia didn't want people to murder every single tiefling—"

She's shaking. She should stop that. (She doesn't.)

"...I also haven't seen the Queen's decree yet. Do you have a copy of that one too?"

"That at least is Unambiguously Lawful. I shall copy it out if you Request it."

She reads the decree out loud for the room.

Priests of the Church of Iomedae were killed last night

Priests of the Church of Iomedae were killed last night

Priests of the Church of Iomedae were killed last night

...and there were bodies in the streets, and most of them didn't look charred...

some are eager to do violence and will jump at opportunities to do so, even with flimsy excuses

...and maybe she was wrong, maybe most people weren't banding together against diabolist nobles or Delegate Ibarra or anything like that...

sometimes you set fire to someone's house and the fire spreads

...and people are blaming Valia even though she didn't do anything wrong, just because Evildoers decided to use her speech as an excuse to kill innocent people...

"If you have the spell to do it quickly a copy would be great but if not I can probably find one on my own. If you have more details about what happened last night that would also be helpful." Her voice is flat.

"I will scriven the Decree, though not the Abhorrent Pamphlet until such time as I receive Permission."

She casts it, her second pen copying the decree out while she writes with her first, nonchalantly catching the spell when it finishes.

"I am still Reconstructing the Events from Rumor and Pamphlet, but the Lord Mayor is likely Dead; Archduke Blanxart I have heard is Dead, diverse other Nobility as well; both Select of Iomedae I have heard are Dead, many Bodies fill the Temples and Streets and I have not looked over them; I am not Dead, despite Efforts, but Delegate Porras who was with me may well be; were I not a Wizard I would like as not have Died, and he is a Farmer. The Metal Delegate Sèfora of Aspramunt, the Martell Alçat, I saw to be carrying a Corpse, though I did not ask after its Identity. This Count of Dead is likelier to Increase than Decrease, unless some be Raised such as Select Wain."

"The Archduke Blanxart is over seven centuries old, among the Raised Nobility, and is assuredly no Diabolist, long predating any such Associations; nevertheless I have heard his name most Tastelessly Impugned."

Alonso's head is in his hands, as he takes this all in. He knew the district he was in was only lightly hit, and still. When a city is large, a small tragedy for it is several villages destroyed entire.

It's hard to stay furious at someone who is (doing the Chelish equivalent of) sobbing wretchedly in front of you.

It's also hard to apologize to the Calistrian who, at the very least, thoughtlessly burned the city and killed your fellow Delegates, even if it is straightforwardly the correct action that will align this unbalanced room where it so desperately needs to be aligned.

For now, Lluïsa takes both easy paths.

"That's — helpful but not really what I'm confused about. The main thing I heard about last night was — a bunch of Evil nobles, and also Delegate Ibarra, decided to Fireball crowds of innocent people for no good reason. And I also heard" by which she means saw, or thought she saw "that there were people who were trying to — put a stop to that sort of thing, and it's not really surprising that some of them died, if the nobles were throwing around Fireballs." And trying to avenge all their previous wrongs, but Victòria can sometimes read a room.

"But it sounds like maybe that wasn't all the important things that happened, and actually there were a lot of people that just decided to randomly go out and murder innocent people, and I think I'm still not sure — exactly what happened there? And people are blaming Valia even though that's literally the opposite of what she said to do?" Probably she should've been paying closer attention to what the people on the streets were doing but she was really focused on making sure the fire didn't spread anywhere else.

(The Evil lawyer's defense of Delegate Thrune is profoundly unconvincing but it's not like he was the only name on the list.)

"You have put it quite Aptly when you said 'just decided to randomly go out and murder innocent people'; this is the Characteristic Act that makes a Mob a Mob. Though truly it is Murder, Looting, Rape, and Arson, with none having True Primacy. I have seen this City beset by Mobs before. This was a Mob, albeit more Vicious within a Short Span and rapidly Quashed, compared to the usual sort of Riots that the Price of Bread is too Low, or too High, or that it is Just So but the Mob wishes anyhow to Riot. Make no mistake, the So-Called 'Friend of the True People' will only escape Justice in that, unless he be some Exotic Pamphleteering Hydra, he lacks enough Necks to Hang enough Times."

"Any Wizard who casts fireball within City Limits deserves the Utmost Scorn and to Hang; Ibarra did not strike me as so Great a Fool but our Acquaintance is but Passing and if he did this it is Contemptible. But it was no Gang of Mad Wizards who Burned the City; it is Most Unfortunately Flammable and a Torch suffices, or a Jarred Candlestick."

Arson seems pretty different from murder and rape and even looting? Or at least, it depends on what you're doing arson to, you shouldn't burn down people's houses and you definitely shouldn't burn down houses with innocent people inside, but it's not like rape where it's always wrong. (Not that she's going to say this, or even let it show on her face when Delegate Oriol i Cornellà brings it up.)

...That's probably not what matters right now. What matters is — they gave a speech about fighting for justice and standing up to Evil nobles, and people heard it and instead of fighting back against people like Delegate Napaciza or Delegate Ibarra they took it as an excuse to murder people like Enric and Valia and Liushna and Blai. And maybe some of them really thought Valia was saying they should do that, if they heard that awful pamphlet, but that's not an excuse, if you think an Iomedaean priestess is telling you to murder innocent people then either Iomedae is Evil or she didn't actually say that and either way you still shouldn't do it. 

And instead of hanging the murderers and rapists responsible, they want to prosecute Valia for something she didn't even do.

She wants to see the man who murdered Valia burn to death. She wants to ask the azata how you stop people from taking your words as an excuse to do terrible Evil things, except she heard how much Delegate Ardiaca spent on it and probably he cannot actually spend astonishing sums of money just so she can ask an Outsider 'how do I get people not to do terrible Evil things for no good reason.' She wants someone to bring back Valia and Liushna and then she wants the two of them and Alicia and Raimon to all run off together to somewhere where they can just hunt down people like Raimon's old priest together — only she doesn't, actually, because no matter how frustrating it is to have to argue with nobles and diabolist lawyers and Hellspawn all day, she's doing something important. And also because that's a stupid and pathetic thing to want.

"I don't really care if someone who murdered innocent people was a nobleman or a normal person, either way they should face justice. ...I didn't — realize what had happened last night. I've never even been to a city before. I'm — I didn't mean for you to be thrown off a bridge, and I don't think Valia did either, and I hope the people who did it face justice too."

(At least, she thinks she does. If they were trying to get revenge on her for murdering an innocent person or something she hopes they get away. But if they just went out looking for random people to hurt and got lucky, getting lucky doesn't make them not Evil.)