“CONSEQUENCES (con’ sek wen’ sez): The result of an action or situation. See also ‘shmonsequences.’ All right, that’s done, now go play outside!”

Note that this is one of those scenes Ardaic is not present for.

The terms of this bargain are so clear that even Reynolds can’t miss them. He gets the money he needs for reparations and, in exchange, holds his tongue about the murder trials he’s not getting and the condescension he is getting. Or else he tries to stonewall despite having no real support in the Hall (even Caneghem’s not willing to roll the dice on backing him) and very possibly ends up getting nothing at all. Hey, government is about compromise, right?

(And he didn’t even ask to punish the person who was really responsible for the property damage and deaths, knowing full well that Iwatani would never agree to that, so he was already compromising before he even opened his mouth.)

What’s most remarkable here, looking back, is how quickly his idealism has curdled and yet how long it will take him to give up on Gastonian government altogether. To some degree that reflects pacing issues we still hadn’t worked out, but it’s also true that a few upcoming events– the ascension of Syr’Nj, the renunciation of Annunziata, the pro-gnome propaganda during the war effort– will feed his natural optimism enough to soothe this hurt. For a while.