"As queen of Mendev, Galfrey does not have the authority to order us into the Abyss, sir. We are obliged to obey her strategic directives, to the best of our ability, insofar as they relate to maintaining the defenses that protect Mendevian settlements. She may, at her own discretion, refuse to quarter us in Mendevian settlements, though she cannot refuse to supply us so long as we do not unnecessarily linger in the vicinity of her cities, nor can she refuse us passage past her cities - I do not know whether Drezen qualifies as a Mendevian city or as a fort controlled by the crusade. That would depend on your charter, which I am less familiar with than with the treaty."

Iomedae in her day had a lot of problems related to territory controlled by the crusade. Well, related to the fact she wanted to control it and not give it to Taldor. Marit had some of those problems in mind, when he was writing the proposed charter for Galfrey, but he also hadn't wanted to imitate the Shining Crusade too evidently. 

"It's not a Mendevian city and she can't deny us passage through it in her capacity as the Queen of Mendev. She can of course replace the Knight-Commander of the Crusade, and the Knight-Commander of the Crusade could refuse us passage through it - not past it, but in this case our only way out is through it."

"Or into the Abyss and hope Sosiel can plane shift us out right away. Not that I love that plan. If we're stuck here overnight maybe ask for it just in case, though."

Marit has a scroll of Plane Shift. He does not say this; no one needs to know, yet. 

"The Queen does have a point that the mission needs doing," says Seelah. "Someone has to track down Vang's boss, and there's no one but us."

"When Nenio has Discern Location," Marit says curtly. "At an absolute minimum, because running around the Abyss'll be an enormous waste of time without that. Plausibly she'll also need Gate. It has at no point escaped me that ending this may take a team with the skills to go kill Deskari in his home, and I mean to build one, but I don't have it yet."

Alfirin, or maybe Catherine, nods. "There's really no sense in rushing into the Abyss before we're ready - it's not like we have anyone here who knows how to navigate it, going in as we are we'd get lost even if we don't run into something strong enough to kill us all."

"We should look up that friendly succubus who kept sending you dreams again," says Daeran. 

"No."

"And while we're contemplating bright ideas, if you get fired by my darling cousin you can at last ask Catherine out like we can all see you want to."

"Daeran," Catherine says, faking a smile, "There's really no need to be jealous."

"Love, jealousy is the spice of life. All great romances are built upon it. Say, Regill, does that precious treaty of yours forbid me from challenging the Knight-Commander to a duel?"

"Duels between members of different organizations party to the treaty are forbidden. Duels within an organization are permitted according to the laws of that organization - Commander Aspex' charter rightly forbids them. They are bad for discipline and inefficient at suppressing pointless romantic drama."

They wait for Cansellarion. Marit does not pick up his sword. Iomedae would object that he's falsely representing himself as unarmed, which he absolutely is, but he never quite saw eye to eye with her about that even when he saw eye to eye with her about nearly everything.

Iomedae in this situation would just have told everyone the whole truth and would be being happily obeyed by her church. Marit…arguably also has this option, but he cannot imagine taking it. 

He waits.

A runner did need to be sent for a copy of the crusade's charter at one point, but finding one in Drezen is not hard, and Cansellarion is eventually done reading all the relevant documents. He stands up and announces his verdict, somewhat tiredly. "The Queen does not have the authority to order Aspex and his company into the Abyss, nor to deny them access to Drezen, which is a Crusade holding and not a Mendevian one. She does have the authority to declare the crusade successful, to dismiss knight-commander Aspex, or to recall count Arendae to her own service with two weeks' notice."

He knew that, but still wasn't expecting to hear it. He doesn't allow himself to feel at all relieved.

Galfrey looks furious. It's just like Lastwall's paladins to get hung up on technicalities and paperwork and never mind if that means leaving a cultist and murderer running the Crusade and now well aware they're onto him. - no. She can still change that.  "But the Knight-Commander can refuse this or any company access to Drezen, lawfully?"

"...Yes, your Majesty." He can't, with his heavily fatigued brain, figure why Aspex would want to deny his own party access to Drezen, but it's unambiguous that he has the right to.

"Right, then, I'm removing Aspex from command of the Crusade. I will serve myself in that capacity. And I refuse them all permission to enter Drezen."

"...As you say, your Majesty." Cansellarion does not look at all happy with this turn of events, but it is again unambiguously legal.

"Knight-Commander Galfrey of Mendev, you are obliged by the Worldwound Treaty, Article 2, Section three to provide this company with all supplies necessary for our upkeep for so long as we remain, through no fault of our own, unable to move out of your territory and towards our legitimate and self-chosen objectives." It's kind of trivial, the expenses of feeding less than a dozen people, but that doesn't mean Regill is going to let Galfrey get away with ignoring that obligation, and some of them do, in fact, need to eat.

Marit is very fond of Regill. "I will also formally request of the Knight-Commander that my personal property in Drezen be returned to me promptly, as well as that Crusade property purchased on a loan from the Church of Abadar for which I am personally liable and which was secured by my word and my collateral, or alternatively request that those loans are promptly renegotiated to not be under my name. A further concern is the sixty called outsiders serving in Drezen under my direct command; I want assurance that they are safe and will be provided safe passage towards whatever destination I convey."

At this last Galfrey just looks baffled. (She's in fact feeling kind of baffled by the whole thing; she expected Aspex to try to kill her again, not to start talking about loans.) "Who called them? Nenio?"

"Not relevant; they're under my direct command and not the Crusade command, and I want to ensure that they may all remain in Drezen in safety until another safe location for them to operate from has been identified, and that they may then depart Drezen safely."

"You have a private army of sixty called outsiders and you want them to stay in Drezen indefinitely. No. By all means convey promptly where they should be told to go instead."