 peace begins with a smile.
- mother teresa
Tsi politely declined the drink, claiming he needed to keep a clear head for his work this afternoon. Alcohol and other drugs had interesting effects on the magical system, and not always positive ones: if he were to spend the afternoon battling magical wits against the Earth creature, Tsi would need to be on top form. It was a relief to hear that Rhaegar and Xephyr hadn’t been bothering Arthur, but the Acting Chairman did adopt an apologetic look when his companion brought up the marsh.
“Yes, I sent off a few enquiries about that,” he scratched his head thoughtfully. “Unfortunately I’m no expert on magical transference, but we think that there was a by-reaction to the different divinities. Shaman is divine, really, as it was made with divine magic… all divinity is technically the same, of course, but it responds differently to different people. Same as how everyone perceives colours uniquely, so we can both look at the same rainbow and see something slightly dissimilar. The perception filter might have been enough to create a gap in the equation, which then resulted in magical transference to the nearby area or even a micro-dimension hole.” Apparently Tsi realised that he may as well be speaking a foreign language, because he added sheepishly, “I tried to get rid of it but it seems to be stuck. Aura put an awful lot of protective enchantments on Shaman to stop the other originals from messing with it, and it could take a lifetime to unravel them all.”
Thankfully (for both of them), they were distracted by Tsi’s glowing pendant. Chen’s message had sounded particularly harassed, which didn’t surprise Tsi: Lorraine’s attendants were almost as frilly and vain as she was. The attendant was unlikely to leave until she saw Tsi himself (all of Lorraine’s attendants were upper-class snobs who looked down on those of humble origins, like Chen) so he felt obliged to hurry back as soon as he could to enable Chen to carry on with his work, but he couldn’t leave until he’d got what he’d come for. With his paperwork piling up and Arthur’s life being as busy as it was, the next time they could both be free might not be until Christmas.
Exactly what had gone down between Mallos and Lorraine, Tsi wasn’t sure he cared to know. The deities had fallings-out all the time, and the only thing which made this case particularly curious was the fact that the two of them had supposedly been on separate planets when it happened. The ‘curses’ had Mallos’ signature flair to them so there was very little doubt in anyone’s minds that he was the culprit, but unless Lorraine could prove it or explain the reasons for his apparent hostility (which she was reluctant to do), there was nothing Tsi could do. If Arthur knew anything, and Tsi suspected he did from the way he carefully avoided the question instead of simply answering the negative, then he wasn’t letting on.
“Your father-in - ? Oh yes, of course.” Mallos had mentioned in one of his letters that the king’s wife was his daughter. Tsi still had trouble thinking of any of the deities as parents, let alone grandparents or parents-in-law. He fixed Arthur with a look as if he’d like to question him further but, with a sigh, decided it would be better just to drop the issue. He didn’t particularly like the idea of confronting Mallos and trying to punish him anyway. “Well, as a matter of fact, they are – at least partially. The Star Chamber is launching an enquiry into the Shaman war and is trying to determine exactly who is to blame for the complete annihilation of council law.” He placed his index fingers on his temples and rubbed them wearily. “I can’t sum up to you how important this trial is. If Gwythr is found not guilty or he receives a minimum sentence, he will go back to being the Chairman. I don’t think I need to tell you that if that happens… well. Suffice to say Shaman’s protector original is now dead. I expect Mallos would stand up for Shaman but there’s not a lot he could do if he were found guilty and stripped of his magic.” He gave Arthur a pained look. “At the moment the Star Chamber are just trying to determine the truth. Gwythr and Mallos have both given statements and, of course, they’re both completely different. Aura isn’t around to give her side of the story and I can’t be seen to be expressing bias at all, especially since people can accuse me of trying to grab the permanent Chairman position.”
Tsi rolled his eyes. Why anyone would want the permanent Chairman position was beyond him.
“Worst case scenario for you,” he continued, “Mallos is found guilty and is forcibly unable to come to your assistance; Gwythr is found not guilty and resumes his position as Chairman and High Judge. Without Aura, Gwythr can legally assume control of Shaman. Not good.” He rubbed the back of his neck, leant back in his chair and sighed. “Best case scenario, Gwythr is found guilty and gets a higher sentence which strips him of his Chairmanship. If that happens, I promise I can keep him away from Shaman. Mallos might even be willing to become Shaman’s guardian if he gets off lightly, which would stop any of the other originals from being able to mess around here either. Theoretically.
“What I need from you, if you’re prepared to give it, is an honest account of what happened from the point at which original fairies other than Aura and Caspian began to arrive in Shaman,” he rested his elbows on the desk and gazed grimly at Arthur over clasped hands. “It’s still not clear to us whether Mallos or Gwythr arrived first. If, as the representative of Shaman, you can give me an account of everything which happened from that point until they left, then that should provide us with the majority of the evidence we need to convince the courts.”
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