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Fia doesn't dislike Feradi, exactly, although maybe if he were in the habit of disliking people he would. Feradi is rude on purpose, mean on purpose, just to prove he can be. It's unpleasant to be around.
But Fia can't really fault him on the philosophy, given the givens. And anyway, he's probably nicer when he's at home, when he's not flaunting his contrast with Cretari citizens.
"Fuel is dear and objects generally do not go spare. But here is your copy of the treaty." The runner hands it to the Commander rather than get too close to them and he tosses it over.
Fine fine yes, they will huddle around and read this as well as they can given that the conditions are this distracting.
The treaty is intended to force a bunch of people who range from "Chaotic Evil but not specifically pro-demon" to "paladin" to "Asmodean" to "penal battalion member whose crime was freeing slaves" to "rando adventurer just here for the circles" all to cooperate without murdering each other or having to be able to sign their names to an agreement. It's not too hard to figure out what thread through this treaty is Commander Artigas's playbook - he is allowed to leave them out in the cold if they are an evident security risk, and the patrol only brought them this far on the thin fact that they said they hadn't seen any demons, which is technically useful information insofar as you can trust it. If they're permitted in - that is, if they convince him that they won't be more trouble than they're worth, they haven't already been useful enough to demand shelter - they have to go on making themselves at least yea useful, although if they're specifically going on patrol he will have to give them appropriate cold-weather gear for it. There are limits on disciplinary action against misbehaving adventurer visitors that suggests that he is super allowed to torture his own men to death if he wants. Also incidentally this is written in a different dialect of the same language all these guys natively speak.
A lot of this goes over Fia's head, though Aten picks up on a bit more of it. (Including that these people could be really wrong about whether demons are actually bad.) "I'd be willing to help with a lot, assuming that - things are as they're presented. And if you don't have anyone else who can double, I'd think we'd be better at that than other people."
"Better at what aspect of it?" Cmdr. Artigas inquires, and he also looks a little fixedly at Feradi, who's made no such pronouncement.
"Well, we can tie anyone else for whatever they're best at, and then do that with everyone and be tied for the best at everything. - Sometimes there are practical barriers, but. Ideally."
"...Naturally I will do at least as much for this operation as is necessary to not be left to die in the cold. More if you're paying."
"Independent adventurers usually make financial arrangements that do not involve individual forts at which they appear becoming responsible for salarying them, and that is the form in which you'd be claiming hospitality here. Do you expect that either of you is powerful enough to be detectably aligned?"
Feradi is gonna either need to say that Fia speaks for both of them or independently answer all these questions.
"I am not obliged to disclose the details of the tests I undertake to determine whether people are demons or not."
"And if I decide on this basis to let you into the fort do you intend to abide thoroughly by the Worldwound treaty?"
"You may come in." And he leads the way into #11.
It's not warm, inside, but it's not windy and that helps a lot.
"Caldentey will show you to a room you may sleep in."
The guy whose coat says CALDENTEY will do that yup. It's a depressing stone room with six beds (bunked) in it.
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