"Not sure what I'd ask exactly..."

"Well, you can think about it, let me know if you decide it'll help. If someone murders someone else in Valinor, which hasn't happened in a thousand years, but if it did, then after they were convicted and sentenced they could choose to swear not to kill people instead of being exiled, and the wording would undergo review by the courts, it is not unheard of as a concept."

"Well, there were a lot of assassinations flying around before the captivity started."

"That doesn't make that set of oaths anywhere near defensible but it's possibly useful as an explanation."

"Yeah."

"...is there something else?"

"He's worried about making you angry and had to try to figure out if you count as being your alt for some oath-related purposes and stuff and - ugh."

"Safe answer on that's 'no', I have a feeling my alt and I disagree on a great deal, but if the expiration condition on the oaths is that I say or do something then he should default to 'yes' and we can get him clear of them. I feel badly about scaring him earlier, I can definitely just avoid him aside from possibly that -"

"Yeah, I told him I suspected the thing was to say you don't count as your alt but may be a useful authority on what he'd want. I'm not sure how much he can flip-flop on it..."

"Not much - 

- if I'm ever under oaths that force me to do what I think someone else would want me doing, I want you to physically prevent me from speaking, can't swear new oaths that way, but I don't know that that wouldn't - make things worse, under the circumstances -"

"He did swear a new oath and I was too stunned to just fill his mouth with caramel -"

"There's a pepper-sprayish thing for the purpose -" he names the brand - "it's unpleasant but it acts on the vocal cords, like very suddenly and completely losing your voice to a bad cold, so you can't choke on it - lasts all day, too - you're supposed to treat someone as hostile, under an oath like that, but it sounds like he has messed up expectations about his treatment anyway."

Cam sends Edie the name of the spray and For if he starts swearing things inadvisably under his existing heap of oaths.

After a few moments she replies, Thanks. Fuck. Did that come up?

Yeah I was too startled to stop him. Swore if we made war-ending tech contingent on concessions from him or his Maitimo he wouldn't take it or help us get to his world or bring that outcome about by any means.

Ugh.

If he's making oaths anyway he could make them when we're not around and tell us after...

There's probably some leverage to be had by not hearing them and not hearing him swear he made them.

I guess. Ugh, what a mess.

Yep. Sorry to have to dump it in your lap like that.

I am like the least traumatized person here, don't apologize to me.

Okay.

I mean I guess you can apologize for stuff that's actually your fault and harms me, but this is not that.

This is sort of my fault and might at least inconvenience you.

How is this your fault?

I took deliberate actions which render me indefinitely unsuitable for random people to trust?