Dingsworth the Minister rustled his gloves together and gave a cold sneer. "Now…Lord Blackswan, tell us exactly how this felon wronged your daughter and took her life."

Lord Blackswan, a man with an enormous ridged forehead and tiny spectacles perched on his nose raised his gnarled wooden cane and cursed Archibell's name. "Finally I lay my eyes on you, you scoundrel. I believed you were as legendary and infamous as a polka dot whale, but now I see you do exist!"

"What does he mean?" Elise asked with her lips pursed.

"Yeah, cap'm," Tony barked. "I expected you to have a closer relationship with your one true love's father."

Lord Blackswan hopped angrily and screeched. "You are as much a ruffian and scoundrel as I imagined you! You certainly live up to your reputation and even based on looks alone. You have that ugly Archibell mug."

"Hey now, pops," the admiral said raising his hands. "Easy on the insults. You know I'm an Archibell too."

"And this," the old man cried, "Is the last time I ever trust anyone with that surname!"

"Care to elaborate further," the minister said, pulling at his whispy mustache. "I'm sure the world would love to hear of this man's life and crimes."

"I'd love to," the old man said and he paced forward and raised his staff to pontificate. "You see, we were always too trusting with those louts and their parents. The elder Archibells were always kind and welcoming people in spite of their lower class. They charmed the pants right off us and I didn't know this at the time, but that scoundrel charmed the pants off my daughters in the naval academy."

"Your daughters?!" Elise asked. "I thought there was only Lyra?!"

"Little girl accomplice," Lord Blackswan said. "I'm sure this captain never told you, but we had two twins, Lyra and Rosemary. What I would not do to see their shiny black eyes again."

"What happened to Rosemary?" Elise asked.

Lady Blackswan's eyes teared up and she looked away. "We don't like to speak of it," she said.

"It's none of your business anyway," Lord Blackswan proclaimed. "But most importantly, Lyra was set to be engaged to the fool who had recently become admiral. But one evening Lyra returned, speaking of this man named Captain Jonas Archibell, who was the admiral's brother. I had never heard of him or seen him, but he showed up one day and began to seduce her into a life of piracy."

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Elise looked at the finely dressed admiral whose eyes were searing with hatred towards his brother. The captain remained completely silent. Legalbeard told him to hear out Blackswan's testimony.

"One night," Lord Blackswan stated, "One cursed, black night. We arrived home to find a note written to us in Lyra's handwriting. She had decided to run off with this sea captain and completely forsake the life she knew before. She did not think once of how we'd feel about her leaving with this so-called pirate brother we had never met before."

The elderly father glared up at Captain Archibell. "She had sealed her own fate the day she set out, and now I've been informed that she died because of him."

"Yes…" the minister said, and he smirked like an elderly cat. "Now about that. We have the captain's own diary to attest to Lyra's death!"

"No...Squadily squids! Nooooo!" Captain Archibell cried.

The minister carefully removed a little black book from his robe and held it to his face. "I left my crew in the depths of hell to perish while I took a life boat back to the Lyre. It was the single worst day of my life."

The crowd was quieter than Lyra's grave as tears streamed down the proud captain's face. "Curse you," the admiral shouted beneath his breath. "Curse you, you scum!"

"Ooh admiral!" Lord Florian Cornbury chortled to himself. "You're cute when you're angry."

Elise's head was spinning. She couldn't believe that the playful and charismatic captain had committed such a terrible atrocity.

"Do you plead guilty?" the minister said. "We have in your own writing how you left Lyra like a sweaty sock in Uncle David's locker!"

Legalbeard started ruffling through all of his notes and parchment. They fell harmlessly on the ground as he sweated profusely. He looked up at Archibell with a look of panic before screaming in his raspy voice "Abandon ship! Pirate lawyers first!" and running off.

"You yellow livered kidney," Archibell muttered beneath his breath.

"Even your own kind abandons you!" the minister said. "Much like you abandoned dear sweet Lyra and all your other pirate swine. Just admit it, admit everything in your guilty pirate conscience."

"I…" Archibell said, and he looked away. "I won't. An anchor couldn't drag my conscience down deeper in the wine dark sea. I did what I did knowing the stigma of it all."

"You truly are a salty dog!" the admiral roared as two of his naval men held him back.

Even Elise found it hard to look at the captain after everything he said.

"Do you plead guilty?" the minister asked.

But Archibell wasn't talking anymore.

"Very well," he said and turned to the jury. "You heard a very gripping first person testimony and you heard a confession penned by the criminal himself. In addition to all the things he's stolen, I believe most of you will have any easy time deciding his guilt."

The minister turned to Chloe, "And then, Queen Annabell shall approve of it and I trust she'll also make the right decision."

Elise tried to make eye contact with Chloe but the tomboy princess looked away. Elise turned her head to all of her friends, but Tito, Tony and even Sincirce looked like the effort was futile. Captain Jonas Archibell was going on the chopping block.

"Does anyone have any objections to this masterful testimony?" the minister asked and he scanned the silent crowd.

No one spoke or uttered a single word, until the voice of an older female croaked, "Objection!"

Everyone turned their heads to the least likely woman to object. It was Lyra's mother, Lady Blackswan.