Romulus honestly hadn't planned on making any more judgements on the throne so soon. And yet here he sat.
To be fair, he didn't feel his opinion would matter all that much, just his words. For some reason he wanted to be the one to say them, and Estella had easily given up the responsibility. He had no intention of blindly sentencing Ser Durand to die, but whatever he'd done had deeply affected Khari, and thus he felt it keenly too. She was his closest, most important friend, and his deception had shaken the foundation of what she was, or what she'd thought she was. What she wanted to be. He wasn't sure what learning the truth of the matter would do. It might bring answers, but would those answers even help?
A good number of Skyhold's more important individuals were present for the judgement. Lady Marceline of course was present, and none too pleased as far as Romulus could tell. It was hard to blame her, after yet another supposed ally proved false. Estella was also beside him, for which Romulus was grateful. She would keep a level head in all of this, he knew. Leon stood beside the Ambassador, as did Rilien. He hoped their confidence in him was not shaken by his uninspiring performance on the throne the last time around. And of course Khari would hear Durand as well. Romulus would not dream of sentencing the man to anything without hearing her thoughts on everything, and there was nothing preventing her from speaking them.
He looked to Leon, nodding to signal that he was ready to begin.
At the Commander's signal, Reed and another guard led in Ser Durand. He wore his shackles quietly and without protest; at a full head taller than either of his minders, that was probably a good thing. He didn't seem to have borne imprisonment poorly—he was clean still, and about as groomed as he'd been on the road. But the lines around his eyes appeared deeper, and he hunched his shoulders forward, walking at a bit more of a shuffle than he had prior. When they drew him to a stop, he glanced once at Romulus on the throne before fixing his eyes on the carpet runner in front of him.
Next to Estella, Khari's hands clenched, but she didn't say anything. Not yet.
Marceline inhaled sharply, perhaps the only indication of the mood she was in, considering her face was still as impassive as ever. "Lord Inquisitor," she began in her business-like manner. "I present to you the accused, Ser Jean-Robert Durand, chevalier-errant of the House of Durand of Collines Verts." Apparently, Lady Marceline had recently received correspondence from the Marquis of Collines Verts reaffirming his title. "Though, this title is subject to change depending on today's ruling." she added.
She looked down at the clipboard in hand and began to read. "The formal charges levied against Ser Durand are as follows: aiding and abetting the criminal formerly known as Halfhand and her illicit organization, the Reapers; we also have evidence to support the kidnapping of a number of chevaliers and accessory to the murder of Ser Liliane Routhier." Behind both Estella and Khari, Michäel loomed with his arms crossed and his face twisted into a scowl. At the mention of Liliane's name, he audibly grunted and his scowl grew worse. It seemed that they knew each other, once upon a time.
"Now would be the time to explain your actions," Romulus said, staring down at him. He felt he could cut the tension in the room with his knife, but acknowledged that whatever the man in front of him said could actually make it worse instead of better.
"It would be." Durand acknowledged that easily enough, sighing ponderously. "If there was anything to explain." His eyes remained where they were; he seemed quite resigned to the worst.
Khari, on the other hand, obviously was not. “What do you mean, if? B—" She stuttered over what was obviously the beginning of the familiar nickname, then corrected herself. “Ser Durand, how could you? How could you? How long were you working with those bandits? Why?" She seemed to have more questions than wherewithal to get them out; she'd made it halfway between where she'd been and where he was before she came to an awkward halt, obviously unsure what to do.
He turned his head slightly away from her. "Stop it, Little Bear." He didn't appear entirely free of conflicting emotions himself, from the slight tremor in his voice. He was otherwise quite stoic in his delivery. "You don't want to know the answers to those questions. It's enough that I've done what I'm accused of. I'm the villain here—let me be that."
“Ser Durand." The new voice was Estella's, clear and soft. “Please think about how this will look for your men. You seemed quite concerned for them before; you asked us to keep in mind that they only followed you. If we're to understand how much leeway that grants them, we must know what they followed you to, and why. Surely, it's in their interest for you to explain. Even if you are a villain, as you say, we have to understand why they are not." Strangely, the words didn't sound like a threat, though perhaps from another tongue, they could have. Rather, Estella's tone was one of genuine concern, almost cajoling rather than demanding.
"They are in our custody as well," Marceline noted.
That appeared to deal quite the blow to Durand's reticence. With an aside-glance at Khari, he finally lifted his head, making eye contact with Estella first, then Romulus. "Have it your way, then."
He shuffled in his spot, standing a little straighter. "I have been a chevalier-errant for twenty-five years, give or take. In all that time, I have patrolled the same region—a border area between the part of the Dales the elves still occupy and the human settlements on the plains. I've learned that piece of my country, and the people in it, better than anyone else knows them. Of that much I'm certain." He rolled his shoulders back, grimacing. "It's a popular area for bandits; many merchant caravans go through the region to and from other places, the ones that actually get names on the map. I've lost count of the number of different groups of highwaymen and bandits and fucking skinhawkers I've killed or run out in that amount of time." He spat the word for slavers like it tasted disgusting on his tongue.
"I wasn't given any men to command on my way out of the Academie. Wasn't important enough, or noble enough. Found my own guys. Just farmers and merchants' sons and whatever other scattered fools were crazy enough to want to do the work." His eyes flickered to Khari for just a moment, but he moved them away again hastily. "Trained them all myself. Learned to deal with losing them as best I could. In all the time I was on that piece of land, I sent requests for help to Val Royeaux exactly six times. You know how often I got any?"
He shook his head. "Never. Not one damn time. And I lost good people because of it. Because we were always doing more work than we should be."
“So what? You gave up?" That was Khari. Indignance rolled off her in waves.
"No. But I eventually realized that if I wanted to actually get anywhere, I had to be smarter about it. When Halfhand and her damn Reapers rolled in five years ago, fresh off some business in Kirkwall and fucking angry as brontos about it, I knew we weren't going to be able to take fifty people. Sent my last request to the capital. I suppose it's probably still sitting on some indifferent little diplomat's desk, if it hasn't been shredded. Helping me gains no one any prestige or status, and I doubt something so mundane would ever end up in the hands of anyone who gave a damn about anything else. Not in fucking Val Royeaux."
He shrugged, but something seemed off about his apparent nonchalance. He was far too tense. "So I went for the slow play: I didn't confront her, didn't try to stop her when she raided or when she kicked the last fuckers out of the fort. Seeded a few of my guys in her ranks, to give me intelligence. And I didn't try to stop her when she ambushed Lieutenant Routhier. I'm not proud of that fact, but it didn't surprise me when that finally got the Lord-General's attention. Some nobody like me sends a request for help, nothing. Noble like that goes missing, suddenly people care. Suddenly there's a damn captain and a whole other twenty-some chevaliers crawling over my landscape."
Ser Durand breathed a heavy sigh. "I knew Halfhand would hold them hostage, not kill them right off. She never shut up about how much she hated the Routhiers, or the Crown Prince, or the entire damn government, for that matter. Some days, I even felt like I could sympathize, a little. I didn't mean for the lieutenant to die, but it was a risk I was willing to take."
Romulus found himself slowly wishing he wasn't on the throne more and more as Durand continued. The chevalier was a proven liar, and a decent one given he'd fooled an entire troop of other chevaliers and the party from the Inquisition, but Romulus doubted very much that any of that was a deception. He also couldn't find much fault with it, as it was delivered. The slow play, as he put it, was the only effective way for him to bring down Halfhand with the resources he had, and there was no way for him to acquire more besides the capture of a more notable name. It was a massive risk, one that hadn't fully paid off, but what were the other options? He could not attack, and he could not call for help. He could not reveal himself to the help that did come, otherwise the capture of the others would have been for nothing. It was ruthless, probably wrong, but was there a better way? Romulus didn't see it yet.
Of course, he didn't know what to say about all of this either, nor could he properly gauge yet what Khari's feelings on the matter were. What anyone's feelings were. Of all the people deciding on this, surely the trained assassin was not the best candidate for judging the methods of removing a bandit horde from the region.
"So you used them as fucking bargaining chips?" Michäel growled. The entirety of his large frame was tensed, and the grip he held on the plate on his arms were beginning to grind underneath his finger tips. A glance from Marceline seemed to rein his temper in, but he remained glaring at the man.
"I did." Ser Durand met the glare with a flat stare of his own. "And I would do it again. No one cares about the people out there. It wasn't as though the bandits were just wandering around the countryside killing each other. They were preying on merchants, on farmers, on elves, on all kinds of people who could not protect themselves. My job was to protect all of those lives. Was I willing to sacrifice a few to do that? You're damn right I was."
“And that's all?" Khari's hands were clenched so hard they shook. “It was just numbers in and numbers out for you? What the hell happened to honor? To telling the truth and treating everyone like they're valuable? To everything you taught me how to do? How to be? How can you think like that and still call yourself a chevalier?" She closed the rest of the distance and seized him by the collar, pulling him down so that their faces were on a level. “What the hell was that all about then, huh? This isn't you! I know it's not you!" She shook him, but she was shaking more than that. “It's not..."
She swallowed audibly. “Was any of it real, Big Bear? Did you ever really think...?"
The knight in chains didn't look far from tears, but if that were so, he held them in anyway. "The world is so simple for you, Little Bear. It's right and wrong and honor and dishonor. I wish it was that way for the rest of us. I wish you hadn't come looking for me. But it isn't, and you did. And now you know."
Khari released him slowly, hands falling numbly to her sides. “Death before dishonor, you taught me." The words were a strained whisper, but still easily-audible in the silence. “A chevalier would rather die than stain her honor. But you... but..." She backed up several paces, until her heels hit the first stair up to the dais.
She whirled, facing Romulus and the others. “I'm supposed... I'm supposed to say he deserves to die." Her expression was stricken, hurt scrawled across every line of her face. “But I can't. Even after..."
Her eyes met his; she took a deep breath. “Please, Rom. Please don't kill him."
"If I may," The tone with which Marceline spoke was even and her face remained an impassive mask, despite the charged atmosphere of the hall. "I fear that his sentence should not be a matter for the Inquisition to decide," she continued, looking toward Khari as she spoke the line. She then turned toward Romulus and spoke with a slight tilt to her head. "Ser Durand is an Orlesian chevalier, operating in Orlesian lands, and his crimes were committed against Orlesian forces. By all accounts, he should be summoned before the Orlesian court, judged and sentenced there."
She then turned to Michäel for a moment, who seemed at a loss for any more words. "The Routhiers rode under the banner of Drakon, and served under his Imperial Highness, Lord Lucien. I believe it would serve us well to allow his house to decide."
Michäel sighed and though he still rubbed the armor plates at his elbows, spoke with a resigned tone. "He will find a no fairer man in all of Orlais than Lucien."
"Captain Routhier left Ser Durand to us," Romulus reminded them. They hadn't been there, after all. The woman had just lost her sister right in front of her eyes, and it seemed obvious that Ser Durand was at least partially responsible. But the man had been left in Inquisition hands.
Romulus felt conflicted, in perhaps the strangest way possible. He hadn't expected it to turn out like this. This was supposed to be the part where the man's sentence was lessened because he did the only thing he could, but for these chevaliers, the only thing he could do carried the penalty of death. Was it so sacred to them, that all of the circumstances regarding their actions should be thrown out? Would Ser Durand prefer if it were that way? Had he known that punishment would await him, if knowledge of his actions came to light, and done it anyway? Would the Drakons give Ser Durand the sentence he felt he deserved? There were too many questions, and he couldn't begin to answer them.
He could at least ask Ser Durand another before making any kind of decision. "Do you deserve to die, Ser Durand? Do you hold to what you taught her? Death before dishonor?"
The chevalier let out a short breath. "I don't pretend to know who deserves what, Inquisitor. But that is what I was taught, and I do still hold to this: if I am to die, I would rather die having done what I believe was necessary. My duty was to those people, and I carried it out in the only way I saw. If that condemns me, I accept it. I am not ashamed."
He wasn't making it easy. Romulus didn't want to make any decision at all anymore, but he couldn't help but feel that he had a chance to do what was right by them. Both of them. If he let him go, it was out of his hands, and then perhaps it would be his fault if some judgement fell upon him that dissatisfied his honor, or Khari's.
"Khari." Her name escaped mostly as a whisper. "I want to do the right thing here. But I've never known any kind of honor. Not like the two of you." His eyes had a fair amount of pain in them, but not like hers. He hated to see it. "I don't know what to do. If you want me to leave this to someone else, say the word."
“I don't know, Rom." She sounded miserable. “I don't know what the right thing is. I thought I did, but... but I don't. He—I... I'm too close to this. I can't see it clearly. But I trust you. Whatever you decide... I'll understand." It seemed to take a lot of effort for her to say; it wasn't her own life she was placing in his hands this time, but the life of someone she clearly cared dearly for. And it was not lost on her that there was a very real possibility that person would die because she'd chosen to do so.
At that point, Leon interrupted, clearing his throat gently. “If I may," he said, clearly aware of the fragility of the moment and respectful of it. “I feel I should point out that if Ser Durand is telling the truth—which I believe he is—the crimes of which he is guilty are actually relatively minor." He let that sink in for a moment and explained. “Aiding and abetting tends to carry prison sentences with a duration of some number of years based on the activeness of the help and the nature of the crimes abetted. And the legal notion of kidnapping doesn't include not stepping in to stop one; certainly not when doing so would risk one's own life. Granted, the motives were more impure than mere self-preservation, and I would agree that he is not to be held up as a paragon of honor by any means, but his failures amount to not acting when perhaps he should have. As I understand the situation, he didn't kill anyone, and arguably he wouldn't have been able to prevent what deaths did occur." The Seeker lifted his shoulders. “Those are not offenses for which death is usually on the table, military defendant or otherwise."
Marceline nodded in agreement, "Ser Leonhardt is correct, his actions do not warrant a death penalty. However, I would ask that you consider allowing me to pen a letter to the Academie as well, to move that his title be stricken from him, as Ser Durand's conduct was not befitting that of a chevalier, no matter the circumstances. If that is what you decide, of course," she added.
It was too much to look beyond at this point. Maybe there was a chance death was necessary for staining his honor, but there was doubt, and with any amount of doubt Romulus found himself unwilling to do something so severe. Not with the knowledge of what it would do. He was already worried of what his consideration of killing Durand might have caused, even if he felt he explained his reasoning for it as best he could.
"Then it's for someone more knowledgeable to decide," he admitted, exhaling some of the tension from his chest. "He'll be given to House Drakon for judgement. They can attend to his titles as well."
It was hard to gauge Khari's reaction; she seemed somewhat relieved, but the tension didn't quite leave her. Then again, the decision had been moved rather than made outright, so perhaps that was understandable.
For his part, Ser Durand accepted that with equanimity. He inclined his head to Romulus and the others, then moved his eyes to Khari. "For whatever worth my words have for you, Khari, I truly hope you succeed. If I have ever met anyone who deserves to be called chevalier, it is you."
Her lips parted as if to answer, but none came before the guards shuffled him away, and none in the silent moments after.
To be fair, he didn't feel his opinion would matter all that much, just his words. For some reason he wanted to be the one to say them, and Estella had easily given up the responsibility. He had no intention of blindly sentencing Ser Durand to die, but whatever he'd done had deeply affected Khari, and thus he felt it keenly too. She was his closest, most important friend, and his deception had shaken the foundation of what she was, or what she'd thought she was. What she wanted to be. He wasn't sure what learning the truth of the matter would do. It might bring answers, but would those answers even help?
A good number of Skyhold's more important individuals were present for the judgement. Lady Marceline of course was present, and none too pleased as far as Romulus could tell. It was hard to blame her, after yet another supposed ally proved false. Estella was also beside him, for which Romulus was grateful. She would keep a level head in all of this, he knew. Leon stood beside the Ambassador, as did Rilien. He hoped their confidence in him was not shaken by his uninspiring performance on the throne the last time around. And of course Khari would hear Durand as well. Romulus would not dream of sentencing the man to anything without hearing her thoughts on everything, and there was nothing preventing her from speaking them.
He looked to Leon, nodding to signal that he was ready to begin.
At the Commander's signal, Reed and another guard led in Ser Durand. He wore his shackles quietly and without protest; at a full head taller than either of his minders, that was probably a good thing. He didn't seem to have borne imprisonment poorly—he was clean still, and about as groomed as he'd been on the road. But the lines around his eyes appeared deeper, and he hunched his shoulders forward, walking at a bit more of a shuffle than he had prior. When they drew him to a stop, he glanced once at Romulus on the throne before fixing his eyes on the carpet runner in front of him.
Next to Estella, Khari's hands clenched, but she didn't say anything. Not yet.
Marceline inhaled sharply, perhaps the only indication of the mood she was in, considering her face was still as impassive as ever. "Lord Inquisitor," she began in her business-like manner. "I present to you the accused, Ser Jean-Robert Durand, chevalier-errant of the House of Durand of Collines Verts." Apparently, Lady Marceline had recently received correspondence from the Marquis of Collines Verts reaffirming his title. "Though, this title is subject to change depending on today's ruling." she added.
She looked down at the clipboard in hand and began to read. "The formal charges levied against Ser Durand are as follows: aiding and abetting the criminal formerly known as Halfhand and her illicit organization, the Reapers; we also have evidence to support the kidnapping of a number of chevaliers and accessory to the murder of Ser Liliane Routhier." Behind both Estella and Khari, Michäel loomed with his arms crossed and his face twisted into a scowl. At the mention of Liliane's name, he audibly grunted and his scowl grew worse. It seemed that they knew each other, once upon a time.
"Now would be the time to explain your actions," Romulus said, staring down at him. He felt he could cut the tension in the room with his knife, but acknowledged that whatever the man in front of him said could actually make it worse instead of better.
"It would be." Durand acknowledged that easily enough, sighing ponderously. "If there was anything to explain." His eyes remained where they were; he seemed quite resigned to the worst.
Khari, on the other hand, obviously was not. “What do you mean, if? B—" She stuttered over what was obviously the beginning of the familiar nickname, then corrected herself. “Ser Durand, how could you? How could you? How long were you working with those bandits? Why?" She seemed to have more questions than wherewithal to get them out; she'd made it halfway between where she'd been and where he was before she came to an awkward halt, obviously unsure what to do.
He turned his head slightly away from her. "Stop it, Little Bear." He didn't appear entirely free of conflicting emotions himself, from the slight tremor in his voice. He was otherwise quite stoic in his delivery. "You don't want to know the answers to those questions. It's enough that I've done what I'm accused of. I'm the villain here—let me be that."
“Ser Durand." The new voice was Estella's, clear and soft. “Please think about how this will look for your men. You seemed quite concerned for them before; you asked us to keep in mind that they only followed you. If we're to understand how much leeway that grants them, we must know what they followed you to, and why. Surely, it's in their interest for you to explain. Even if you are a villain, as you say, we have to understand why they are not." Strangely, the words didn't sound like a threat, though perhaps from another tongue, they could have. Rather, Estella's tone was one of genuine concern, almost cajoling rather than demanding.
"They are in our custody as well," Marceline noted.
That appeared to deal quite the blow to Durand's reticence. With an aside-glance at Khari, he finally lifted his head, making eye contact with Estella first, then Romulus. "Have it your way, then."
He shuffled in his spot, standing a little straighter. "I have been a chevalier-errant for twenty-five years, give or take. In all that time, I have patrolled the same region—a border area between the part of the Dales the elves still occupy and the human settlements on the plains. I've learned that piece of my country, and the people in it, better than anyone else knows them. Of that much I'm certain." He rolled his shoulders back, grimacing. "It's a popular area for bandits; many merchant caravans go through the region to and from other places, the ones that actually get names on the map. I've lost count of the number of different groups of highwaymen and bandits and fucking skinhawkers I've killed or run out in that amount of time." He spat the word for slavers like it tasted disgusting on his tongue.
"I wasn't given any men to command on my way out of the Academie. Wasn't important enough, or noble enough. Found my own guys. Just farmers and merchants' sons and whatever other scattered fools were crazy enough to want to do the work." His eyes flickered to Khari for just a moment, but he moved them away again hastily. "Trained them all myself. Learned to deal with losing them as best I could. In all the time I was on that piece of land, I sent requests for help to Val Royeaux exactly six times. You know how often I got any?"
He shook his head. "Never. Not one damn time. And I lost good people because of it. Because we were always doing more work than we should be."
“So what? You gave up?" That was Khari. Indignance rolled off her in waves.
"No. But I eventually realized that if I wanted to actually get anywhere, I had to be smarter about it. When Halfhand and her damn Reapers rolled in five years ago, fresh off some business in Kirkwall and fucking angry as brontos about it, I knew we weren't going to be able to take fifty people. Sent my last request to the capital. I suppose it's probably still sitting on some indifferent little diplomat's desk, if it hasn't been shredded. Helping me gains no one any prestige or status, and I doubt something so mundane would ever end up in the hands of anyone who gave a damn about anything else. Not in fucking Val Royeaux."
He shrugged, but something seemed off about his apparent nonchalance. He was far too tense. "So I went for the slow play: I didn't confront her, didn't try to stop her when she raided or when she kicked the last fuckers out of the fort. Seeded a few of my guys in her ranks, to give me intelligence. And I didn't try to stop her when she ambushed Lieutenant Routhier. I'm not proud of that fact, but it didn't surprise me when that finally got the Lord-General's attention. Some nobody like me sends a request for help, nothing. Noble like that goes missing, suddenly people care. Suddenly there's a damn captain and a whole other twenty-some chevaliers crawling over my landscape."
Ser Durand breathed a heavy sigh. "I knew Halfhand would hold them hostage, not kill them right off. She never shut up about how much she hated the Routhiers, or the Crown Prince, or the entire damn government, for that matter. Some days, I even felt like I could sympathize, a little. I didn't mean for the lieutenant to die, but it was a risk I was willing to take."
Romulus found himself slowly wishing he wasn't on the throne more and more as Durand continued. The chevalier was a proven liar, and a decent one given he'd fooled an entire troop of other chevaliers and the party from the Inquisition, but Romulus doubted very much that any of that was a deception. He also couldn't find much fault with it, as it was delivered. The slow play, as he put it, was the only effective way for him to bring down Halfhand with the resources he had, and there was no way for him to acquire more besides the capture of a more notable name. It was a massive risk, one that hadn't fully paid off, but what were the other options? He could not attack, and he could not call for help. He could not reveal himself to the help that did come, otherwise the capture of the others would have been for nothing. It was ruthless, probably wrong, but was there a better way? Romulus didn't see it yet.
Of course, he didn't know what to say about all of this either, nor could he properly gauge yet what Khari's feelings on the matter were. What anyone's feelings were. Of all the people deciding on this, surely the trained assassin was not the best candidate for judging the methods of removing a bandit horde from the region.
"So you used them as fucking bargaining chips?" Michäel growled. The entirety of his large frame was tensed, and the grip he held on the plate on his arms were beginning to grind underneath his finger tips. A glance from Marceline seemed to rein his temper in, but he remained glaring at the man.
"I did." Ser Durand met the glare with a flat stare of his own. "And I would do it again. No one cares about the people out there. It wasn't as though the bandits were just wandering around the countryside killing each other. They were preying on merchants, on farmers, on elves, on all kinds of people who could not protect themselves. My job was to protect all of those lives. Was I willing to sacrifice a few to do that? You're damn right I was."
“And that's all?" Khari's hands were clenched so hard they shook. “It was just numbers in and numbers out for you? What the hell happened to honor? To telling the truth and treating everyone like they're valuable? To everything you taught me how to do? How to be? How can you think like that and still call yourself a chevalier?" She closed the rest of the distance and seized him by the collar, pulling him down so that their faces were on a level. “What the hell was that all about then, huh? This isn't you! I know it's not you!" She shook him, but she was shaking more than that. “It's not..."
She swallowed audibly. “Was any of it real, Big Bear? Did you ever really think...?"
The knight in chains didn't look far from tears, but if that were so, he held them in anyway. "The world is so simple for you, Little Bear. It's right and wrong and honor and dishonor. I wish it was that way for the rest of us. I wish you hadn't come looking for me. But it isn't, and you did. And now you know."
Khari released him slowly, hands falling numbly to her sides. “Death before dishonor, you taught me." The words were a strained whisper, but still easily-audible in the silence. “A chevalier would rather die than stain her honor. But you... but..." She backed up several paces, until her heels hit the first stair up to the dais.
She whirled, facing Romulus and the others. “I'm supposed... I'm supposed to say he deserves to die." Her expression was stricken, hurt scrawled across every line of her face. “But I can't. Even after..."
Her eyes met his; she took a deep breath. “Please, Rom. Please don't kill him."
"If I may," The tone with which Marceline spoke was even and her face remained an impassive mask, despite the charged atmosphere of the hall. "I fear that his sentence should not be a matter for the Inquisition to decide," she continued, looking toward Khari as she spoke the line. She then turned toward Romulus and spoke with a slight tilt to her head. "Ser Durand is an Orlesian chevalier, operating in Orlesian lands, and his crimes were committed against Orlesian forces. By all accounts, he should be summoned before the Orlesian court, judged and sentenced there."
She then turned to Michäel for a moment, who seemed at a loss for any more words. "The Routhiers rode under the banner of Drakon, and served under his Imperial Highness, Lord Lucien. I believe it would serve us well to allow his house to decide."
Michäel sighed and though he still rubbed the armor plates at his elbows, spoke with a resigned tone. "He will find a no fairer man in all of Orlais than Lucien."
"Captain Routhier left Ser Durand to us," Romulus reminded them. They hadn't been there, after all. The woman had just lost her sister right in front of her eyes, and it seemed obvious that Ser Durand was at least partially responsible. But the man had been left in Inquisition hands.
Romulus felt conflicted, in perhaps the strangest way possible. He hadn't expected it to turn out like this. This was supposed to be the part where the man's sentence was lessened because he did the only thing he could, but for these chevaliers, the only thing he could do carried the penalty of death. Was it so sacred to them, that all of the circumstances regarding their actions should be thrown out? Would Ser Durand prefer if it were that way? Had he known that punishment would await him, if knowledge of his actions came to light, and done it anyway? Would the Drakons give Ser Durand the sentence he felt he deserved? There were too many questions, and he couldn't begin to answer them.
He could at least ask Ser Durand another before making any kind of decision. "Do you deserve to die, Ser Durand? Do you hold to what you taught her? Death before dishonor?"
The chevalier let out a short breath. "I don't pretend to know who deserves what, Inquisitor. But that is what I was taught, and I do still hold to this: if I am to die, I would rather die having done what I believe was necessary. My duty was to those people, and I carried it out in the only way I saw. If that condemns me, I accept it. I am not ashamed."
He wasn't making it easy. Romulus didn't want to make any decision at all anymore, but he couldn't help but feel that he had a chance to do what was right by them. Both of them. If he let him go, it was out of his hands, and then perhaps it would be his fault if some judgement fell upon him that dissatisfied his honor, or Khari's.
"Khari." Her name escaped mostly as a whisper. "I want to do the right thing here. But I've never known any kind of honor. Not like the two of you." His eyes had a fair amount of pain in them, but not like hers. He hated to see it. "I don't know what to do. If you want me to leave this to someone else, say the word."
“I don't know, Rom." She sounded miserable. “I don't know what the right thing is. I thought I did, but... but I don't. He—I... I'm too close to this. I can't see it clearly. But I trust you. Whatever you decide... I'll understand." It seemed to take a lot of effort for her to say; it wasn't her own life she was placing in his hands this time, but the life of someone she clearly cared dearly for. And it was not lost on her that there was a very real possibility that person would die because she'd chosen to do so.
At that point, Leon interrupted, clearing his throat gently. “If I may," he said, clearly aware of the fragility of the moment and respectful of it. “I feel I should point out that if Ser Durand is telling the truth—which I believe he is—the crimes of which he is guilty are actually relatively minor." He let that sink in for a moment and explained. “Aiding and abetting tends to carry prison sentences with a duration of some number of years based on the activeness of the help and the nature of the crimes abetted. And the legal notion of kidnapping doesn't include not stepping in to stop one; certainly not when doing so would risk one's own life. Granted, the motives were more impure than mere self-preservation, and I would agree that he is not to be held up as a paragon of honor by any means, but his failures amount to not acting when perhaps he should have. As I understand the situation, he didn't kill anyone, and arguably he wouldn't have been able to prevent what deaths did occur." The Seeker lifted his shoulders. “Those are not offenses for which death is usually on the table, military defendant or otherwise."
Marceline nodded in agreement, "Ser Leonhardt is correct, his actions do not warrant a death penalty. However, I would ask that you consider allowing me to pen a letter to the Academie as well, to move that his title be stricken from him, as Ser Durand's conduct was not befitting that of a chevalier, no matter the circumstances. If that is what you decide, of course," she added.
It was too much to look beyond at this point. Maybe there was a chance death was necessary for staining his honor, but there was doubt, and with any amount of doubt Romulus found himself unwilling to do something so severe. Not with the knowledge of what it would do. He was already worried of what his consideration of killing Durand might have caused, even if he felt he explained his reasoning for it as best he could.
"Then it's for someone more knowledgeable to decide," he admitted, exhaling some of the tension from his chest. "He'll be given to House Drakon for judgement. They can attend to his titles as well."
It was hard to gauge Khari's reaction; she seemed somewhat relieved, but the tension didn't quite leave her. Then again, the decision had been moved rather than made outright, so perhaps that was understandable.
For his part, Ser Durand accepted that with equanimity. He inclined his head to Romulus and the others, then moved his eyes to Khari. "For whatever worth my words have for you, Khari, I truly hope you succeed. If I have ever met anyone who deserves to be called chevalier, it is you."
Her lips parted as if to answer, but none came before the guards shuffled him away, and none in the silent moments after.