 peace begins with a smile.
- mother teresa
“I understand,” Tsi agreed readily, “and the Star Chamber will take that into account, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. If necessary, and with your permission, the worst it can mean is that I’ll have to interview a few of Shaman’s older residents.” He hesitated briefly before adding in a carefully controlled voice, “you have to understand that for the majority of the jury, the word of a king who wasn’t there means more than the word of a commoner who was.”
Tsi made an attempt to keep his face void of criticism, but didn’t quite manage it. In his previous job as an international relief worker, he had worked with the poorest and neediest fairies on Earth, and learned very quickly that there was no difference between their needs and the needs of the privileged. Oftentimes, they were more interesting to talk to, too. Most of the originals only operated in elite circles, however, and since the jury consisted purely of original fairies, they were unlikely to put much stock by a commoner’s statement. It was a sad and frustrating truth.
As Arthur continued, Tsi listened carefully. A light frown creased his forehead as the dialogue went on, but he waited patiently for the king to finish his pieces. There was a brief silence after while he considered his words carefully.
“I cannot be seen to be taking sides,” he repeated in a measured voice, “and if I could, there are some things about this situation which do not add up to me. Gwythr came here and built an army out of the people you claim need protection from him, without any apparent use of magical or other coercion, and in the recent ballot he received a number of votes in his favour.” He leant back slightly. “The Star Chamber has two methods of pursuing enquiries. The first, quickest and preferred method is to examine the memories of everyone involved to attain the truth before a judgement is made. However, a fairy has the right to refuse to have their memories examined and to demand that the evidence be attained in a mortal fashion. Ordinarily what happens is the guilty party refuses to give their memories, but the innocent one does; the trial is then usually concluded on the basis of the memories given by the innocent person. Gwythr and Mallos are both refusing to give their memories.” He fixed Arthur with a firm stare. “If Gwythr were guilty, it makes sense for him to refuse. What doesn’t make sense is both of them refusing unless they were both guilty. If Mallos is innocent, then what is it he’s so keen for the court not to know? It’s obviously not his kids – we already know about that – so what is he hiding?” He paused temporarily, tapping the desk lightly with his hand. “I will work on you with a contingency plan, but until I see some solid evidence one way or another, I cannot act under the assumption of guilt from any party.
“The only thing I can suggest, on that front, is to have a guardian original named now who Gwythr won’t be able to dislodge if he returns to Chairmanship,” he paused again, thoughtfully this time, running potential candidates through his head. “Zed would be the logical choice, being the Intergalactic Ambassador, but he’s really got a lot on his plate at the moment. What about Lorraine? I know she comes across as a bit superficial, but she’s good at this kind of work.”
He sat back in his chair and listened while Arthur explained what had happened from the time Gwythr arrived in Shaman. Unsurprisingly, story largely corroborated with Mallos’ version of events, and although it wasn’t as detailed as Tsi would have liked, it seemed to cover every point. Almost every point, anyway. The tale seemed to cast Mallos in a particularly good light which, given what he had just explained to Arthur, seemed slightly suspicious to Tsi. He couldn’t help but feel like information was being kept from him.
“Thank you,” he responded sincerely, “I’ll get that to the chamber straight away – I’m sure they’ll find it very helpful. Just a couple of questions, if you don’t mind my asking… what exactly was Gwythr’s motivation? He had the most power any original could possibly achieve; he had the most to lose. The chamber aren’t going to accept ‘evilness’ as a reason for throwing away everything.” He hesitated briefly before adding, “I wonder also if you can comment on the state of mental health of Gwythr, Aura and Mallos.”
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