Hearing. (1)

The following morning, in the lobby of the Langeni Hotel, Relovan and Nura met up. The Enforcer and the Chief both had an early night after discussing the events of the afternoon and eating dinner. They were both dressed in their ceremonial uniforms, which had all the badges. Relovan's was very bare, while Nura's had almost run out of space for his. As the two stepped outside, the Marshals returned, along with a really impressive motorcade. Lights were flashing and there were more Marshals than Relovan cared to count.

"Good morning, gentlemen." One of them greeted as it opened the back door of one of the vehicles.

Nura and Relovan nodded their greetings as they hopped into the back of the car, and a minute or so later, the convoy was on the move.

"So Lawman, are you nervous?" Nura asked.

"Do I have reason to be nervous, Chief?"

"Well, you are about to face the leaders of the Coalition after all, and the chances of coming face to face with Void Lord Vox are high as well."

"I still don't see any reason to be nervous, Chief. What is the Void Lord going to do? Also, I have don't nothing to warrant being nervous in front of the Council. If anything, they should thank me for defending and honouring them."

Relovan was in a bullish mood as he scoffed, and the Adonian Police Chief couldn't help but snigger at the confidence of this Human.

"You're something else, Lawman." Nura said with a chuckle.

"Have you heard anything from the Princess? I assume they missed their flight out."

"Yeah, they most certainly did. But Carolina said they got back to their hotel safely, and Mkhaba is in a police hospital, recovering from his injuries. You really did a number on that one."

"…yeah, he deserved it. But like I said yesterday, that attack, it felt… different."

"Of course it did, Lawman… you've just been operating on instinct for so long, it took that much of an Essence Augmentation for you to realise that you have Essence. But we will save that discussion for after the Hearing – right now, you are to focus on the business of the day."

"Understood, Sir."

"…oh, and Carolina said she'll send through the bill for the Princess' clothes that you ruined."

"Ruined?! They only made the Princess wear that shit in order to have a convenient excuse for raising the number of handmaidens! How was she supposed to move with all that crap hanging off of her?"

"You still ripped it to shreds, didn't you?"

"Well… yeah."

"So, Dragon Lady is sending the bill."

"Hmph. You'd think her Princess' life was expensive enough to settle whatever bill that lady could come up with."

"Hear hear." Nura said with a smirk.

The drive over to Union House was noisy, but they arrived in good time. The policemen exited the car and walked into the massive building, flanked and led by Marshals the whole way. As they approached the Council Chambers, the group stopped and one of the Marshals signaled for Relovan to follow.

"This is where we go our separate ways, Lawman. Seeing as we will be delivering separate testimonies, they're splitting us up here. I'll see inside."

"Understood." Relovan said with a nod, before walking off with the Marshals.

The Enforcer was led to a room, where he was allowed to gather himself and collect his thoughts while enjoying a selection of beverages. Due to him being law enforcement, Relovan had been permitted to enter Union House without giving up his weapons, however nobody was allowed to enter the Chambers with a weapon of any kind, so he had to place his pistol in a locker there. Nura had found and retrieved the energy blaster for Relovan after the whole Dome thing happened. Relovan sat and waited in complete silence, until Marshals appeared to escort him to the Council Chambers. Relovan walked down a long corridor, flanked on either side by Marshals, and didn't appear to be the least bit daunted. This Human Enforcer, was on the verge of walking into a room which had beings with the highest authority in the Coalition, and he strode forward like it was just another day. His ceremonial cape did its thing behind him as he powered towards the entrance, and when they all reached it, the Marshals stepped in front of him and pushed the large doors open. The moment they were opened completely, Relovan was suddenly hit by something. Whatever this thing was, is was hot, it was cold, it was windy, it was loud, it was heavy – it was everything, and the Enforcer found himself coming close to taking a step back. In fact, he did take a step back and upon realising that he had done that, Relovan, who had broken into a cold sweat, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and almost roared as he forced himself to take a single step forward. The moment he took the stop though, whatever it was he was being hit with immediately disappeared, and he was able to see clearly into the Chamber.

Within the Chamber, there were a number of booths that were placed all around the room in a semi-circular motion. Each booth had a small gate, and beyond each gate was an empty chasm – to which the bottom could not be seen. The space above the chasm was also empty, as if there was the suggestion that something could or would go there. The Marshals gestured for Relovan to follow them, which he did, and they led him down yet another path, only this one was linked to one of the booths. As he proceeded down the path, Void Lords Vox and Juxtae were led down paths on either side of the Enforcer, and Chief Nura was also being led to a booth a few paths down from the trio. They all walked as if they couldn't see each other, and even after they stepped into their respective booths, they continued to act as though that was the case. As it turned out, it was the case, and as they continued to wait in silence, a person teleported in to the centre of the room. The person, who was hovering in the air, was dressed in some rather loose-fitting robes, and wore a mask that had four faces on it – one face on each side of their head. The face that was on the… face, had a plain, neutral expression, and looked to be the default.

"Good morning to you all, I am the Adjudicator, and would like to welcome you to these proceedings. The Council members assigned to this Commission shall be here momentarily, however I wanted to introduce myself as I shall be acting as the Evidence Leader."

Relovan simply nodded his greeting, which was reciprocated by the Adjudicator. Five brightly glowing orbs then appeared in the air above the empty space behind the Adjudicator. Massive chairs – thrones even – suddenly appeared, and five cloaked and hooded beings all sat on said thrones. The thrones and figures were enshrouded by glowing Essence, which differed in both colour and texture from throne to throne.

"Council members Tiya, Tameria, Aberson, Zexis and Ya'Guul." The Adjudicator announced, as the largest gavel Relovan had ever seen appeared in his left hand.

It looked more akin to a Warhammer than a gavel, and it screamed of being unnecessarily heavy. The Enforcer watched as the visage of the Council members became clearer, and before long, each of their eyes started glowing clearly. Relovan could feel their gazes on his skin, and despite his sense being used in its passive capacity, he couldn't tell whether the looks were dangerous or not. They all continued to stare at him, before the voice of one of the Council members echoed through the Chamber.

"Shall we get the proceedings underway, then?"

One by one, the other four agreed, and only after they had all vocalised said agreement, did the Adjudicator nod and tap the gavel on where the floor would have been if there was one. Instead, it made contact with a solid, crystalline Essence formation that only appeared when the gavel was tapped.

"I hereby declare today's session of the Hearing open."

As soon as that happened, whatever it was that had been cloaking the presence of the others was disabled, and Relovan could see both Void Lords either side of him, as well as Nura near the corner. The moment that he saw the Void Lords, he looked directly them and nodded his head.

"Void Lords." He greeted, starting with Juxtae.

"Enforcer." Juxtae responded, bowing her own head ever so slightly.

Vox didn't even acknowledge Relovan's existence, which only served to make the Enforcer shrug and face the Adjudicator. The Council members all exchanged looks before the one in the centre nodded and looked at the one with the gavel.