[ A long moment passes where he doesn't answer. Somehow, the fact that she seems so incredibly sincere is more baffling than if she were simply deflecting. He would understand the latter. She has her friend to protect. But he can't grasp the idea of acting on the word of those who continue to pull in more of the Summoned even now, and believe it meant to be an innocent excursion that would lead to no lasting consequences.

Besides, it is not just about this one incident. It's about what this says for the future, for what's to come. He doesn't like what he's seeing. Not in the Free Cities with their apprehension over magic, not in Thorne wrapped up in their alarm around the Singularity, and certainly not in how easily some of the Summoned are being swayed by missions taken at face value. He does not care about their politics, their conflicts, about who is in the wrong or right. But he does care about those he's come to consider a friend throwing themselves behind nation states that couldn't give less of a fuck about any them beyond what value to the cause they have to offer. And he cares about the rest getting caught up in that crossfire. ]

This world is kindling waiting to be set alight. If you and yours allow yourselves to be weaponized against those stolen from their homes as you were, then you are only feeding into the fears of these courts and councils.