Glares and Trials

Lady was running with all her strength gathered in her legs as she made her way to the village square, what they had all witnessed was a lie, something she had nothing to do with. Her breath came in short pants, her chest rising and falling heavily from how fast she was running and how shocked she was. Her mother had finally taken things to a new level, a level she would never forgive.

Soon, she arrived at the village square where a large group of people had already gathered, whispering things amongst themselves, some occasionally snickering and sneering. Her heart jumped from her chest into her mouth, Lady suddenly became conscious of everything, from how the leaves of the giant tree in the village square tried to rattle with the breeze to how the sound of the whisperings went straight into her ears.

A stout woman who had her child secured at her back with an old cloth looked up and saw Lady standing a few metres away from her and she spat bitterly on the ground.

"See, here comes the abomination!" she raised her voice so that all present could hear her and turn to look at Lady.

The woman's intention became fulfilled as everyone turned their heads to glare at Lady and her body froze from the intensity of the hate behind those glares. The glares were painfully piercing and suffocating, Lady felt as if the land was swallowing her up, something too good to be true because all she was really wishing for was the land to open her mouth and swallow her.

Mai who was obviously invincible to the others placed a comforting hand on Lady's shoulder "It will all be alright"

Lady's tongue felt too heavy and dry to respond so she settled for simple nod and started taking small heavy and slow footsteps towards the crowd. She held her chin up, emanating an aura of authority making the crowd part and make a way for her. Lady passed through them and now found herself in the middle of the crowd with a few elders of the village present but the royal family was not present.

"Greetings, Your Excellency" The elders present greeted her and Lady absolutely noticed the venom behind the tone of some of the elders.

"Greetings" Lady got her tongue to roll out a reply as she made her way to the throne prepared for her, not missing the heated glares that were threatening to pierce through her skull and gouge her eyes out.

The moment she sat down the royal announcer's voice boomed out as he announced the presence of the royal family. The King followed by the Queen and their prince, Vesi made their way to their respective thrones and the elders with them to their respective seats.

"Greetings" The royal family greeted Lady with a slight head bow to which Lady replied with a nod.

"Let me take control from here" Mai said to Lady.

"Please" Lady replied and allowed Mai to take control of her body.

"Greetings, dear folks" The majestic and deep timbre voice of the King began "Today we have gathered here to solve a great dilemma that has befallen our humble village. It is with deep sorrow that I say that this matter at hand involves two of the most prominent personalities in our village, two strongholds but as it is always done, we will hear from all sides and finally pass out judgement and make justice prevail" The King ended.

"Well said, Your Majesty" The elders praised.

"Now let's begin the trials" The king added after a brief moment of silence.

One of the elders, a woman in her late fifties with long dark hair that seemed to be calling out the night stood up and walked to the middle of the square, bowing to the imminent personalities on the throne.

"I am Elder Greyan, and I am here as the accuser" she began and stood up straight and proceeded after a signal from the king "This morning, some of our young ladies went to the stream early at the first streak of dawn to fetch water for their households and it is on their way that they witnessed a highly immoral behavior, an abomination at the big trees near the stream." She paused and took a breath.

She glanced around and continued " With all due respect, they witnessed our Prince and the Makri engrossed in an abomination of becoming one in the big trees, these ladies ran back to the village and called some of the village elders of which I was among to witness this act and truly when we arrived, right in front of our eyes was what they described, therefore we demand justice our King for our land. I rest my case" She bowed and went back to her seat.

The King nodded and turned to Vesi " Prince Vesi?"

"Yes, Your Majesty" Vesi replied.

"Do you have anything to say about this?" The King asked him.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect" he bowed his head and lifted it, gazing straight into Elder Greyan's eyes "These claims are false"

The moment the last word fell out of Vesi's mouth, the crowd went into a big uproar, some throwing harsh comments at him, some even had the audacity to o spat right in front of him, in the presence of the King who strained to contain all his anger in him as his son who has been with all morning was being humiliated.

"Silence!" The King ordered " Now Your Excellency, we would like to hear your thoughts" he turned to Mai who was now in control of Lady's body.

"Really?" she chuckled "I believe the towns folk have already made their decision regardless of what I say"

The King tilted his head a little in confusion and frowned "Pardon me please but I can't get what you are trying to say"

Mai stood up and looked straight at where Amira was sitting with the other pillars "What I mean is that, the people have already made known their decision that regardless of what happens here, the prince and I will be held guilty in their eyes and they would everything in their power to expel us from the village" she smiled.

The King became confused but when he opened his mouth to utter a word, Amira suddenly stood up "And it seemed our Makri read our minds correctly" she said with a glare with sly smile.

"Yes!" the crowd agreed.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty for not asking for permission before speaking but it seemed I had to say something" she bowed and the King dismissed it "Now if I may?"

The King nodded and Amira continued "The Prince denied these claims without skipping a beat whiles our Makri seemed to be playing games with us, this is actually suspicious in a way" she turned to the crowd "Lady was my daughter before she became the Makri and now she still is and if there is one thing I know about her, then it's her inability to lie and to beat around the bush. Her father and I taught her well and I know how to predict when she is lying or when she is hiding something" she paused to allow the information to sink into the heads of the people present.

"That makes sense" she heard a murmur.

"She actually is on the right path" another one came.

"Amira is wise indeed" another one came through.

Amira grinning widely inside but portrayed only a sad smile on the outside said "So it's on those grounds that I say that my daughter" she paused for a dramatic effect "Is hiding something from us now"

"And what evidence do you have of that?" Mai asked.

"Lady, do you feel bad about your elder brother's absence?" Amira asked.

"Not really" Mai smiled and then sighed.

"Then, did you go out of the house this morning?"

"I didn't" Mai made sure no emotions showed on her face.

"And that's your evidence" Amira huffed " Whenever Lady tells the truth, she doesn't look in my eyes and the only emotion she portrays is a sad smile or a sigh but whenever she lies she gets her attitude and emotions straight" she shrugged "and if you still can't believe me, ask her father" Amira ended.

"Why are you trying to prove your daughter guilty?" The King asked Amira confused, he thought parents wer supposed to defend their wards sometimes going to the extent of defending them even when they are wrong but Amira was doing the direct opposite.

"Because my King" Amira began with her voice breaking and eyes tearing " I am responsible for her upbringing and even a mentor to some of us here so seeing that u had failed in educating my own child to take a the right path, I see this as the only way to atone for my sins even if it's a pebble's worth to reduce the heavy burden of the shame I harbor because of her" Amira ended with tears and went back to her seat, sniffing as Takoa came closer to her to give her a shoulder of comfort.

The King stayed a silent for a while thinking of what he should do when he heard Mai's voice in his head;

"Your Majesty, it's me Mai, now don't move or do anything suspicious just listen to me and do what I say and remember to talk with your mind"

"Okay, so what should I do?" The King who was shaken at first calmed down and asked mentally.

"Proclaim that Lady and Vesi can't be considered guilty or not guilty but for safety measures they would be banished out of the village to the forest till further investigations"

The King nodded and raised his voice, repeating what Mai said as Vesi stood shocked, the Queen with opened jaws, Mai with a pretentious sad smile and Amira...well Amira was adorning the wickedest smirk ever.