OK, let's go back to the STORY for a second:

The major possibilities for Stanley at this time are to actually go to Faq, or to return to Gobwin Knob.

Reasons for thinking Stanley will go to GK? Parson asked for him, and presumably needs him to win the fight at the walls or in the air. Plus it's cool to think Jack will get Stanley to GK against his will.

Reasons for thinking Stanley will go to Faq? There's a mystery about Faq that needs to be resolved. What better way than for Stanley to get there and tell the story of how he took the place? (Or didn't, as the case may be.) Plus it's cool to think Jack will get him there despite Jillian and the Transylvanians opposing him.

A couple of other musings:

When a jerk starts to develop a soft side, he's either being humanized as an ongoing character, or he's being set up to make his death more tragic. Which is in store for Stanley?

What if Stanley gets to Faq and creates another side at the capitol? Mostly I've seen conjecture along the lines of "you can't have two capitols." But we know empires can fragment. Suppose Stanley makes another side, and GK stays a side anyway! ...maybe Parson gets to run his own Erf country, then. And Parson's status vis-a-vis Stanley is uncertain, plenty of room to tell that story. Blatant speculation, but I don't see anything preventing it from being possible.