"Yeah, I get that, but I really need to run this check before I start doing more stuff like spellsilver, into which your nation is investing a noticeable fraction of domestic product, and anybody who gets in the way needs to be told that. I think I'd expect the Queen or Lrilatha to have common sense on the matter if somebody's being an obstacle about it."
...there's a tinge of power, of pride, about doing this, ordering a country to obey him and crushing all objection to it, and Keltham's dath ilan sensibilities try to shut that down before he even has a chance to think about why he should. Keltham tells the shutdown to please go on hold, along with those emotions, he'll think about all that part later.