Norhorberites actually give some of the best legal advice, at least the serious ones do. It’s usually a good idea to be suspicious of anyone who knows too much about the exact boundaries of the law.

Far be it from Jonatan to question Her Majesty's staffing decisions, but he really doesn't think she put her best prosecutor on this case. It would have been perfectly sufficient to mention that Wain put the advice of a Calistrian whore above that of an archduke without mentioning the Norgorber-worshipper at all.

The problem is that they had a very thorough confession that Her Majesty threw out this morning because she wants them to lose.

"No; indeed I would not have interpreted Ibarra's words as prudent advice at all, though you will have to question him directly if you wish to learn his intent."

He doesn't know that! He'd be a lot more pointed about his non-questioning of Her Majesty's wise and just decisions if he knew about that!

Well, she hopes that particular extremity is not called for.

"When you heard Select Wain's Speech on the General Floor, did you then think it Unlawful to give?"

"I did not know it to be lawful or unlawful, being ignorant of the details of the law under such a young regime. Under the laws of the Ancient Empire it might have been illegal to say in public, but I did not expect such laws to be in force. I did however understand the assembly to be an environment where otherwise forbidden speech was permitted, as it is in Andoran, or was in Galt before the establishment of the Consul.*"

(*) Cyprian.

Not perfect, but that point's what she has Archduchess Bainilus for. Even an imperfect reply from Archduke Blanxart is a free win.

"The Hall of the Convention is Closed to the General Public, is it not?"

"It is, though not to scrying, and it's usual for delegates or their servants to give accounts of its proceedings to the scriveners."

"Your own Name was Mentioned in Select Wain's Speech; did you consider such Mention to constitute Threat or Incitement against you, or Select Wain to have contemplated visiting Harm upon you?"

"No. I thought it a misrepresentation of my actions and motives but one that I would have been satisfied to clarify before the Convention, had I gotten the chance."

"Thank you, Archduke Blanxart."

"The Archduke speaks Forthrightly and scarcely needs Summary, so I shall be Brief; his Words show that Debate over a proposed Law led to his Cautioning Select Wain, not that any Specific Outcome might result, but that he considered it would be Poor Law. In other words the Ordinary Business of the Convention took place, not a Discussion of Select Wain's Speech. Delegate Ibarra the avowed Norgorberite is shown also to be one whose Advice, to the extent it may be called Advice at all, is at best Dubious. The Archduke's Words show also that at the least no Threat or Incitement against Himself was to be found in the Speech, which he did not think Unlawful when it was given. For he is an Archduke and best Qualified to judge Threats against his own Person, as any High Nobleman is."

"Your Honor, I submit also the Affidavit of Archduke Blanxart given and sworn before me, though it has some Overlap with his Testimony."

"I defer now to the Court."

What a messy trial! It's rooting for its Evil wizard, though. Even though the Evil aura is a bit sensation-akin-to-itchiness.

"Archduke Blanxart, did the accused at any point consult you on the content of her speech on the floor before giving it?"

"She informed the committee that she planned to give a speech. Its eventual content was—not what I expected, from what she said then. She did not consult me on the content, nor did I offer my advice."

"Was the speech distributed in written form inside the convention, or was it put to paper by various scribes inside the hall?"

"It was scribed and distributed to the other delegates, as has been customary for significant speeches made before the Convention; I do not know how copies began circulating on the streets of Westcrown."

"You said that you did not consider your own name in the speech to constitute threat or incitement against your person, do you believe that is also true of the others mentioned in the speech?"

Why is the magistrate asking him this?—because the people who were actually threatened would all make unsympathetic witnesses. "I have no particular insight into that. You will have to ask the men allegedly threatened by the speech, if you wish to know how they felt about it."

"The prosecution intends to call other parties Wain said 'should be afraid' in her speech, your honor."

Is he really going to call Ibarra. What is going on here. Probably not, probably it's the devilspawn regent.

He was asking because the impression of someone who witnessed the speech in the moment but did not themself feel targeted would be informative. One does not press an archduke who's declining to answer questions, though.

"Thank you for taking the time to testify for the court, Archduke. The court has no further questions for you."

"I have only done my duty," he says politely, and returns to the gallery.

Alonso is following this part carefully. During the speech, he had been spurred to action, but it was standing up and volunteering for a committee, not violence. If the prosecutor can't get any of the delegates to say they felt threatened by the speech, then the speech on its own could hardly be incitement to violence. 

But he doesn't know them or what they think. He probably would have been afraid, if he had been the archduke listening to that speech.

"The prosecution calls to testify the Lady Ined Amesel Califas de Solpont."


          She is a young woman, barely older than Valia's, and did her hair and makeup to look younger, today, as she ascends to the stand. 

"Do you swear before the gods of Good and Law, and before this court, and before your Queen, that every word of your testimony is true, and that your integrity as the wife of the Count of Solpont may be verified by magic, should any call it into question?"

          "I do."

"Can you tell this court your background, and how you came to be present in the convention hall for Valia Wain's speech?"

          "Honored magistrate. My family fled Cheliax when it fell to diabolism, and remained in exile in Absalom and sought at once to return when our homeland was liberated. Shortly after the liberation was announced I was approached by my now-husband, the Count of Solpont, who had ruled through the Infernal occupation and who the Queen had pardoned for in light of how he had always attempted to defy House Thrune and rule well and wisely." He probably couldn't say that under a truth spell but she can. "He asked if I would be willing to return to my family's lands as his wife, and assist him in restoring them in Her Majesty's glorious reign and to their rightful line of rulers. I accepted.

 We both accepted Her Majesty's invitation to the convention, and I was in the observer decks in order to become acquainted with the other delegates' wives in attendance, and taking note of the speeches." 

"And you heard Valia Wain's speech?"

         "I did. Truth be told I was only half listening to most of the speeches but Wain is a very good speaker and of course her speech was terrifying."

"Terrifying?"

         "Well, she was saying that the revolution should not be over, that the Queen's peace was not real peace, that people of every part of Cheliax should take the example of Pezzack and rise up and butcher nobles."

"Did she speak against your family specifically?"

           "Not by name. But she named, you know, the categories of people she was denouncing, the ones she was telling mobs to go after. And she said that anyone who held a title during the Infernal occupation of Cheliax should sell everything they had, become a pauper, and go to the Worldwound, and if they didn't do that they should die of it."

"And so you understood her to be calling for people to murder your husband?"

           "Everyone understood her to be calling for that! There was a very terrible mood in the hall, as she spoke, and then some people chanted 'glory to Iomedae', as if it'd be glory to Iomedae to all kill each other, and then there was a great rush for the podium. I was absolutely terrified. If I had listened to my moods we would have fled the city that very night but my husband is no coward, and decided we would stay."