Duty and Judgement pt 2

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Harlan studied the room with his heightened senses; it wasn't as clear, perhaps, as actual sight, but there was little he couldn't "see" with it, barring actual color, unless it happened to be in shades of mana. Before him stood Lady Harmony, and she was taller than he'd expected; her aura shone brightly, and he withdrew a little from her so as to not press in on her aura. The elfling-image, and Harmony's son, were not here; Harlan wondered again how Lady Harmony was able to allow such a large portion of her own aura to just separate from her, to such a distance. It seemed almost…unnatural, almost miraculous. He resisted the urge to clear his throat, and then lifted a hand in greeting the way Uvin had taught him, made the opening statement, the way Uvin always had. 

 "Welcome to my court. Please find yourselves a seat, and we can begin to hear your concerns." 

Lady Harmony was the first to respond; her voice rang like a clear chime through the room. "Lord of Grebefal, we come to you today with a grievance, a terrible crime committed on this child and his family. We would wait to explain the whole of it until all parties are present; but I would like to present to you first of all, my evidence of the crime." 

Lady Harmony motioned to Myra, who gently shook Benly. He blinked and yawned widely, Then opened his mouth; Harlan heard Fyn draw a quick breath, in shock. He leaned toward her slightly, and murmured, "What is it, Fyn?"

Fyn whispered in his ear, "My Lord, the child is missing his entire tongue. It appears to have been cut out." Harlan felt his face grow hot with shock. "This….this is…am I to understand that he has no tongue?"

Lady Harmony's voice sounded sad. "Yes, my Lord. The child came to me, sick, and burning with a high fever. He has been my informal apprentice for some weeks, and has been learning some minor mana skills; but he does not speak often, as a rule. SO I did not find it unusual when he did not speak for several days. But several days ago, I found that someone in our community had harmed him terribly, by cutting a deep wound into his tongue; and he had suffered in silence for some days, out of fear and shame, before showing me what had happened. Due to the wait, his mouth became badly infected. When I attempted to heal him, the entirety of his tongue fell away, because it was entirely filled with infection from his wound."

Lady Harmony paused, as if choosing her words carefully. "Sir, this infection was killing my dear apprentice. He is but seven years of age. Without the immediate healing of mana manipulation, he would have passed away in less than a fortnight. Whoever did this to him clearly intended not only to silence the child, but to quietly kill him. He will live out the rest of his days with the traumatic memory of these days of pain, and with the loss of ability for normal speech."

Harlan felt rage building in his chest. A child–a healthy, happy, whole child, and someone had attempted to murder him. And not only that, but a mage-child, one skilled in mana–which was so rare and precious! How dare someone do this?! 

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Harmony saw the young man's fine features twist with rage, and felt surprised, and vindicated; clearly, she had done well to bring this to the Lord's attention. This was no spoiled or uncaring Duke; this young man obviously cared deeply, and was clearly very upset by this crime. She felt curious about him; this person before her didn't match the image she had built up in her minds' eye, of a person who was rude and petty, and didn't care about the town. In fact, he seemed to be very interested; the way he moved, scanned the room, and leaned forward towards them as they spoke, all told of a person who was interested and engaged, not bored or irritated at being called to judge.

Muse, she thought, We were right to bring this to the Lord. He isn't how I thought.

Muse sent a picture of herself making daisy-chains with Kyir. They appeared to be having a good time. Harmony hoped this wouldn't take long. She wanted to get back to them; being this far from Muse made her feel stretched, irritable and tired, and she knew Muse felt it, too. It would be best if they could be nearby again, as soon as possible. 

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Harlan opened his mouth to ask another question of the Lady, but at that moment, some shoving and a loud voice was heard outside the courtroom doors. Captain Neil and Vern entered, partially carrying, partially dragging Jeede Bennt, followed by Sren and Kade, who led in the twins, Diras and Corm, looking equal parts entranced and terrified by their surroundings. Jeede was kicking and wrestling, dragging her legs along the floor, screeching. "UNNNNN-FAIR! UNNNNN-FAIR! I dint do NOTHIN! I aint NEVER harmed NObody! HOW DARE YE TAKE ME LIKE THIS! UNHAND ME, YE FILTHY, OUTHOUSE-SLEEPIN' LOUTS! VARMINTS! LET ME GO!!"

Harlan immediately clamped his cap down over his ears. "Someone, silence that woman! I will hear all of the evidence before making any decisions."

Captain Neil clamped a large, tanned hand over Jeede's mouth. She sank her teeth into it, but he clamped down harder, wresting her other arm behind her back and holding her pinned until she grunted in submission. He lifted his hand from her mouth, and she spat on the floor, then flopped onto a seat. Neil's face was impassive; but a thin stream of blood trickled from his hand. Then the Lady Harmony beckoned to him, over the partition; Neil held out his hand, palm-up, and Harlan leaned forward, senses on full alert; he sensed the brightness of mana gather into her palm, and twist and weave skilfully, forming into a lacy shape; then she wrapped this around Neil's wounded palm. It absorbed into his hand, and the bleeding stopped. Harlan's brows lifted; he had never seen healing magic used, and this was something he'd love to see more of, if possible.

Jeede spat again. "Filthy magic-usin' witch. Bloody unnatural."

Harlan silenced her with a raised hand. "Let us begin. I have been made aware of the now-healed injury to the child Benly. It has been shared with me that Benly no longer has the capacity to speak, and could have died, if not for the Lady Harmony's timely assistance. I would hear no more foul words against one who has performed such an honorable act–if any say those words again, I would have them punished by a day's stay in the stocks, for slander." Jeede snorted, but didn't say more.

He paused and coughed lightly, gathering his thoughts. "That said, I would like to know who all of these citizens are, and why they are here. Can you now fully explain to me the involvement of these people before me, Lady Harmony?"