Which only raised more questions than it answered honestly, at least as far as Handy knew, why the sudden pardon of the Human? They could have easily pressed the issue, sure it’d result in protracted negotiations that’d likely result in heightened tensions, but eventually Handy felt the High King would twist Joachim’s arm into giving him up. What changed? It didn’t make sense from his perspective. An ugly thought crept into his head. What if that was what this was about? What if this was the final backroom negotiation with the human as the griffon’s chip? All Aleksander would have to do was keep Joachim in the dark and in the middle of Canterlot where he couldn’t back out of surrendering his friend before it was too late. He liked to think Joachim would put up more of a fight than that, but Handy was a politically minded animal himself, he had to at least consider the possibility.