"In that case," Cansellarion says with a sigh, "It seems to me that these people are not obliged by specific oath to follow your Majesty's orders sending them to the Abyss, which means we've come to the reason I'd have preferred waiting for the church of Abadar - I am generally not stationed at the Worldwound, and I am not particularly familiar with the specific terms of the Worldwound treaty which may apply here, so we will have to adjourn for at least a few hours while I read the treaty, and the charter of the Fifth Crusade, and we will have to do it back in the citadel of Drezen unless someone here happens to have a copy in their pack."

He wants to sleep and not stay awake for another two hours reading legal documents before pronouncing a high-stakes judgement, but apparently he's not getting that so he'd at least like to read the legal documents at a comfortable desk instead of a gore-spattered chunk of the Abyss.

"It will be much more difficult to enforce a ruling made in Drezen," says Galfrey. "We can send a runner for any relevant documents you need to review."

"The knight-commander is Lawful Good, your majesty, and besides that not a wizard. You can take his boots and he will not have the means to flee even if he decided to break his word to the contrary." (Cansellarion is pretty sure by now that Aspex is, tragically, not a dragon.)

Galfrey shakes her head tiredly. "He'll have hidden things in the citadel, he'll have allies that can Message him through the walls. I know he reads Lawful Good. A moderately clever Baphomet cultist could figure out how to pull that off."

"I in fact carry a copy of the Worldwound treaty," says Marit, who would have preferred not to bring this up if relocating to Drezen could have been achieved thereby but who can, actually, respect Galfrey's insistence that he shouldn't be assumed unable to Teleport under his own power just because he wears plate armor and no one has ever seen him cast a spell before. 

"Thank you, commander. Now everyone may as well make themselves comfortable while I review this."

He finds a relatively dry spot to sit.

"You are looking for Article four, section three, subsections twelve through twenty-three of the Treaty," volunteers Regill.

He's not, actually, going to take the word of a Hellknight on that, when said word was rather imprecisely given, even if it would save him a lot of effort.

"...Thank you, paralictor, but I still intend to review the full treaty in case there are any other applicable sections."

"There are not."

Marit doesn't need to eat, anymore, but he starts a pot of stew anyway. Almost wordlessly reaches to Alfirin for a rabbit before remembering that Catherine-Alfirin does not offer people rabbits at all times. Probably because it'd be a giveaway to him specifically, actually. She does still have them; when they went out to pick up Frostbite she used one.

"This is just a horrible misunderstanding," says Seelah. 

"This is a very comprehensible attempt to kill me," says Marit. "But by the grace of Iomedae" he doesn't even sound sarcastic "it is likely to fail in a way that leaves everyone alive, and really, what more than that can you ask of Law?"

"You could ask," says Catherine, somewhat unsettled, "That paladins not draw swords on each other in the first place. Nor try to assassinate their non-paladin allies on a vague suspicion that the latter are insufficiently committed to the cause."

"You could also ask that Iomedae's inquisitors not burn children at the stake in Her name," says Marit, "but if you go around asking for things like that you'll be very disappointed all the time. I cannot recommend it."

"You're very frightened and hurt," says Ember, "and the Queen is very frightened and hurt, and people are not kind to one another, when they are afraid and in pain."

"Isn't the whole point of Paladins that they don't make stupid mistakes because they're afraid?" Catherine retorts.

Commander Aspex isn't particularly opinionated about paladins. Marit doesn't really think there's a plausible way most people could guess his origins, but going around with an uncanny knowledge of the (old, possibly not current) Iomedaen orthodoxy would certainly invite questions. He adds wood to his fire. 

"I think that the goddess protects us from fear to help us avoid some kinds of mistake," Seelah says. "But I guess misunderstandings can still happen."

"No one here has misunderstood a damned thing," Daeran says. "She thought she could get away with it because she thought the commander wouldn't be willing to fight back or would lose if he did."

"Or because she thinks the law is arguably with her and that Cansellarion will be inclined to see it that way," says Marit, "in which case she will get away with it, so don't be too pleased with yourself."

"Ten to ten's not that much worse than ten to nine."

"Daeran for once in your life shut up." That is much sharper than Catherine usually is with him; usually they at least appear to be the best of friends.

"If he's with her, you are all ordered to surrender and I intend to," Marit says flatly. "I'm not entertaining discussion about that." Though now that he thinks about it it's not surprising Daeran is specifically prickly about ‘we will die without a fight as it's what honor demands', and it may not be an intentional effort to kick off a civil war.  

"I think it's remarkable," Lann says. "We were about to fight and then you… agreed to just decide who is in the right instead. It sounds like the kind of thing that shouldn't be possible."

"It's the kind of thing that is just barely possible," Marit says, still glaring at Daeran, "and half the time isn't. But a people who can't do it will certainly all be eaten by demons. …Regill, can you think of a reasonable interpretation of the treaty under which Galfrey can keep us out of Drezen?" It'd have to turn on something like the right of a fortress commander to deny entrance, though not other aid, to allied forces if they pose a security risk to the fortress.