"I don't know Cyprian. I wouldn't have guessed he'd refuse to give his assurance to Morgethai. It would be foolish of him to risk a war where I'm on the other side, and he's no fool, but he has the advantage here in one respect – some of his advisors know me. And they'll know that I don't want to fight."  

"I don't want to fight either. No one eager for this war has any comprehension of how horrendous it would be. But even if I counsel surrender - I will lose that vote."

"I could honestly promise to defend Andoran against an unprovoked invasion. But it won't be unprovoked."  

"It won't. I - if everyone knows the precise extent to which we have your protection, and Cheliax doesn't have slavery, maybe Andira would tone it down. She did somewhat when it was Hell at stake. But - Cheliax does still have slavery and it won't take very long for someone to turn up an escaped slave from Menador with a gut-churningly awful story about what was perfectly legally done to her, I have no doubt there are hundreds such."

"It is not in my power to abolish slavery in Cheliax. The decision is theirs. I can't – I can go back on that, but I won't. I can convey privately to Cyprian that I know he's preparing for an invasion, and and my wife and I won't look kindly on it – and I can protect any country I please from an unbidden attack by a foreign power – and I can ensure that a provocation against Cheliax doesn't spill over into a war with Galt, if it comes to that – 

– but that's not what you're asking for. You want me to commit, in public, to the murder of my countrymen and the ruin of my home if Andoran gives Cyprian a good enough excuse." 

"What? No! Morgethai's not even going to do that, and she could do it herself if she were willing to."

Oh, that's not fair. 

"I can't imagine what else you were implying. I'm afraid you'll have to explain it in words of few syllables." 

"No one is going to burn Galt, no matter what Cyprian does, because that would be an atrocity and none of the people with the power to do it are willing to do it, and they are right not to be. Morgethai intends, if Cyprian invades, to support Andoran in defending itself, without burning Isarn and in fact without doing anything in Galt, unless some of the other puppet states revolt in which case she might aid them. She will not do that by killing Galtans, because that is not even a good use of a powerful wizard if they're not willing to burn enemy cities and she isn't; powerful wizards are really useful for supply, logistics, communications, and trying to assassinate Cyprian himself.

I think that whatever it is that you decide to do, it is a good idea to convey it and a better idea to say it publicly than to convey it privately. Andoran's parliament makes Andoran's decisions, and they will make different ones depending what you are committed to. If you are committed to preventing a provocation against Cheliax from spilling over into a war with Galt, but not a provocation against Galt, then I think you should make that fact public, as people will make different decisions if they know it.

I am not asking you to commit to ruining Galt. Please do not do that. That would be terrible, we already have the means to do it, and we aren't going to." 

"If I commit to fighting against Galt in a war, how do you think Galtans will see it?"

"As an enormous betrayal, probably. They all know that it is a Galtan revolutionary who took down the Thrunes in the end. It is very important to them, that it was a Galtan revolutionary who took down the Thrunes in the end. And they do not see their country as - a threat to peace or freedom in Avistan. And I think the restoration of the Empire feels to many people like it has the air of inevitability, right now, like almost all the pieces have fallen out of the sky and into place."

"And if I make this commitment, before Cyprian has made any public provocation – "

"Archmage Cotonnet - I just want to be sure that we are - imagining the same sort of thing, here, because Morgethai and I have been speaking of this war for months now - what we'd be willing to do, what we absolutely wouldn't - and you were surprised by this war five minutes ago. You and I, as you observed at the start of this conversation, want the same thing. We do not want a war. We are not willing to destroy Galt to win one. I am trying to convey to you as much as I can about the diplomatic situation and about Andorani politics, because I think when you have that context you'll be able to do things that work better to achieve your desired results in Andoran. 

I don't actually know the bounds of the commitments it would be a good idea for you to make. I don't know what you can do! I don't know half the constraints you're under! If you tell me a specific commitment you're considering, I can describe what parts of it I'd publicize and what I'd backchannel and how I'd expect it to land in Andoran, but - I do not have some specific commitment in mind here, I don't know what you should do, and I am worried that to the extent you do have a commitment in mind it's one that I would absolutely not recommend to you -"