It is strange. [Just the agreement is a concession, in some small way that someone less preoccupied with power struggles than Vandelin might not think to consider one at all. It's tantamount, in a roundabout way, to admitting that maybe his pointedly introducing himself as being from Hasmal and not its Circle is not a fully thought-out stance. But he'll leave that idea unspoken.]

You could frame it as an act of defiance. There aren't many cities who'd want to claim us, but there's no fun in making it easy on them.