Liberation: The Judicary's Emergency Session.

[Carnath-Emory]

It had fallen to Councilor Guillaume to keep minutes of the Judiciary's bi-monthly meetings; he was well-suited to the role, on grounds of literacy, legibility, and mental clarity. In fact, those grounds considered, he was the only Councilor suited to the position.

These notes, however, were for the benefit of his eyes, and no others'; it had been a Star Chamber meeting, its doors firmly closed and cleared of any would-be eavesdroppers -- there'd been no Guard present within the room, save for Taliaferro himself...but then, the Captain was another matter entirely. Alone in the spacious chamber afforded him in the distant Lothbury Estates, he set quill to parchment even now, and pale eyes narrowed with effort of concentration as he wrote.

Councilor Guillaume is not eidetic; rather, his gift is for sound, rather than sight -- the cherished talent of total recall.


"Good greetings, Governor. Likely the only good thing about this evening."
"Indeed. And how are you, Giscard? I've always thought a pint or two ought to lighten you up, friend."
"I dare say so, Governor. Perhaps we might ship some to the Tetrarch?" ...

"I hate to be brisk, but can we discuss what we're here to discuss? My day is lacking in good happenings, so I apologize if I'm in a particularly bad mood."
"God's teeth, Joseph, this is hardly about to [i]improve your day.."

"Rayin Taliaferro! Good to meet you. Forgive me if I don't get up I... ...our condoldences upon the death of your brother."[/i]

And the Governor hadn't been sure of that -- he was certain of it; he'd known there was a death, had Phuri, but -- who? Or, possibly, what? It was, in any case, quite the typical commencement of things: the Governor confused, Joseph O'Cynen feeling testy, and old man Tetsi arriving late and bewildered. They'd be needing an aide for him, soon enough. And a secretary for the rest of them...

"Indeed, I must say it is a sad loss on behalf of the Wood, what with your resignation... But that aside, tell us of your feelings, Prince. What would best appease the Family?"

And that was precisely why he would gladly tolerate Phuri as Governor; the large fellow was not nearly a fool, and had snuck that small assumption in quite handily. Which had, of course, saved Guillaume himself the trouble of doing it.

"I have not yet resigned, your Lordship, although I thought it perhaps politically incorrect for a Prince of New Dauntless to Captain the Guard. Still, I'll keep the position until this trial is seen through."
"Your position as Captain is under the scrutiny of this board, I'll remind you."

There was a touch of iron to the Governor's spine. One simply had to dig through the layers of indulgent lard to find it. In time, however, the consversation had been steered back to the matter immediately at hand: the crime which had precipitated the Captain's rise to New Dauntless Prince -- and which had, in the same fell moment, necessitated the very meeting. It was Taliaferro himself who offered testimony...despite that this was no trial, and that it hadn't been requested of him.

"I was there, Governor, when he was killed. It was in defense. ... I cannot fault her, morally, for defending herself against him. I would not make her hang, simply because it was a Prince who felt the sting of her blade."
"You feel that his death was justified, then? There will be no allowance of a trial?"
"There might...should...be a trial. Only in such legal proof of his justified death could she fairly walk free. I do not wish to suspend justice. But I do not want to bypass justice, to hang her, out of blood revenge."
"Why should it have to upset the workings of this council to hold a trial, Captain. Err. Prince. If you feel that the end was, and is, justified?"
"It should not. I would not find such a thing necessarily, should the Council be willing to accept my words, and perhaps the testimony of a witness or two, and declare that she might be freed."

There comes a pause here, to dip quill to ink anew, and flick excess from its well-sharpened tip. Oh, this had been absolute madness, the whole notion -- what, freeing prisoners at will, and political ones, at that? Foolishness!

"Satsify the public. Have you heard them, Phuri? She has friends. And she likely has enemies, as well, but since they're all in New Dauntless, we cannot hear them. Give her a trial, and it will be your excuse to the Tetrarch, if all goes awry and the silly wench is freed; hang her after it, and her friends might not return the favour -- they may hate the law, rather than..you."
"Captain, you speak for someone who has killed your brother, spilled your blood, essentially, because it was in defense? I need no more 'testimony' than that. It takes a lot of morale to do that, and to that I respect what you're doing now."

It had been Joseph O'Cynen, that last -- and he had provided the turning point to the entire discussion. It was amazing, really; he hadn't thought the farmer had it in him.

"I dare say, Lord, I might give my piece, if I knew that to which I was contributing."

Poor old Tetsi, come late and still not caught up... But a vote was called for by the Governor, one closed to Taliaferro, who insisted upon having the last word where it was neither wanted nor warranted.

"There was a breach of the gaol defenses this afternoon, not long before this meeting. Four guardsmen were killed, the prisoner, Quincy Randall, who's trial you are deciding now, was wounded. ... I do not know the intent of these men, dressed in black, and wielding bloody blades and shadows, but I am urgent in the desire to end this matter as quickly as possible. If Quincy's enemies seek her, let them do it in a place other than the gaol, where guardsmen will die. If they seek to free her, I will not have guardsmen killed for her innocence."

And that, perhaps, had been the clincher to the entire, foolish affair. The Captain had been ushered from their chambers, the door closed upon him, and vote had been summarily taken -- although not without some small matter of debate.

"Should you want this Captain to continue his employment through a trial? I suggest, Councilor Guillaume, that you decide whether you will win or lose this want of yours. If we try the woman, he stays. "I say we see to her freedom, a clemency, public notice to alleviate my good people of the land, and this is my vote. An Aye for the dispatch of the criminal, with full governor's pardon."
"Aye it is, then, Gad. And how shall the Tetrarch be mollified? This will harm our position of neutrality, unless we can prove to the man that his son was not simply assassinated by one of our agents."
"But your argument at last meet was that we were already under such scrutiny of our 'position'. I know you care, Guillaume, but I can say that I no longer will. I, your governor, am disgusted by the acts of the prison - as well its insubordinate staff - and will rather see that the Taliaferro family is content with the completion of its son's death. Why should we carry on when his own brother has honestly applied a guilt-free verdict?"
"We were under such scrutiny from Thessilane, of course -- for that we had a Prince's brother playing at Captain of our damned Guard. Now we fall under New Dauntless scrutiny for the murder of their Prince -- "

An objection which had done little good, of course; they were eager to blame the Captain for the release of his brother's murderer, and even he himself had to concede that it was a likely enough piece of politics to save Myrken Wood from..undue prejudice.

"Let the woman walk. It would be a crime in itself to punish someone for saving themselves from somebody else, regardless of that other's birth." ...

"Why not let her go? People are influenced by the world around them, along with those in power. I sincerely doubt the woman would have made a move of harm on someone so prodigal without proper reason... Besides, the longer she stays around, the longer she'll be drinking from our bars. And that's more money for all of us, in the long run." ...

"By unanimous vote, then, the accused Quincy Randall is commanded freed from our Gaol, and cleared of any blemish to her good name."

Indeed: let it be written, let it be done. And had Governor Phuri woken early enough this morning, it likely already would be -- full report had, of course, been delivered to the portly man that very night. Horrid mess that the entire thing had become; what might come of it in future months, Guillaume himself could not imagine.

In time, the ink dried upon the parchment, which was duly scolled and bound; in time it was dated, sealed, and set with the rest. He was developing quite the liberary of Myrken Wood business.