The clearing by the cliff face was surrounded by members of the Lodge seated on branches of the trees. The crowd was still chattering among themselves. Just in front of the cliff face, the Arch-Druid Loganna and her twelve Trusted Judges sat on a long shale slab table, on the opposing side of the clearing were the three accused; Nannade as the main culprit and Elissa and Garrett as accessories to the crime, as well as Priscilla as their advocate. The girl knelt, wearing her white prison gown and wrapped in the chain of guilt, an incredibly old and powerful artefact even older than the Lodge that held it; Garrett and Elissa were bound in normal iron chains shackles at their hands and feet and iron cages over their heads, Elissa's familiar Faan in a small iron cage. Elissa turned to Priscilla to talk to her. She may be old and incredibly wizened, but she was the most experienced member of the Lodge Elissa knew. And according to what Elissa was able to glean from the others, she readily accepted the task of representing the defence for them when the offer came up. Elissa would never have been able to do it herself, she had no court experience, unlike Priscilla, who even had returned from her quiet sunset years to fulfil such an important part in the court.

As she saw Elissa turning to her, Priscilla turned to Elissa's direction. She could no longer speak, barely even see, but her raven familiar Rrokhaa spoke with her raven-voice on the old witch's behalf. If one had lived as long as Priscilla and her familiar, the mental bond between them grew strong enough to be intuitive, natural, like an extension of the person itself.

"What is your concern, child?" she cawed. 

"I want to thank you again so much, High-Sister Priscilla, for taking the defence. Your experience is highly valued." 

The old witch chuckled, then Rrokhaa continued. "Not all think like you. Many consider me old-fashioned and obsolete. But the young need the shade of old trees to play and grow, don't they?" The old witch patted Nannade's head, the girl shot her a glare that could pierce steel, almost as if she wanted to snap at the hand. 

"I think she won't be very cooperative." Elissa knelt down to Nannade. "None of this will get any better for us if you don't cooperate!" She wished Garrett would talk to her, but he seemed to have made up his mind. He wasn't trying to kill her anymore, but he refused to give her any more reason to shoot angry glares at him, he said he couldn't bare it. She tried to come up with something to tell the girl, but the Arch-Druid interrupted her.

"Please, Sisters and Brothers, come to a rest!" her voice boomed across the clearing louder than mundanely possible. Everyone took their places. The persecution took place to the right of the judges. The chief prosecutor was someone Elissa only knew as "High-Brother Dennicus", a man of accurate cut in both stature and poise, a very formal man taking his duties seriously. Elissa hadn't been able to find out more on such short notice. Around the clearing, between the free space and the trees in which the crowd was seated, a line of Guardians stood with their staves and spears. All of them armed and protected with the best enchanted artefacts the Lodge had to offer, far more than their usual feather pauldrons and hardened scale armour. Even striders were present with their familiars staying further out, in the woods as an additional line of defence. Elissa had never seen such a contingent of force brought up by the Lodge.

After everyone had come to rest at last, Loganna began to read the charges. Engaging in a blood pact with a foreign spirit entity. Drawing a foreign spirit entity from the outside through Sturreland's ley-lines. Attack on members of the Lodge. Attack on a guest of the Lodge. Shedding of human blood on hallowed ground.

As the charges were being read, most members of the crowd started to talk among themselves. It was a rather large gathering, but by far not all members of the Lodge were present; the call had gone out mostly to the Highest Circle, those elected two hundred tasked with seeing to the important decisions of the Lodge, including acting as jury during trial. From the looks of it, Elissa guessed all two hundred could very well be present, event much more. The word seemed to have spread to many member of the Lodge beyond the Highest Circle, and it drew quite the crowd. After all charges were read, Loganna turned to the accused.

"How do the accused plead?" 

Nannade wanted to say something, but Priscilla put a hand on her head and Rrokhaa spoke up. "As the legal representative of the defence, I relay to the court that the accused all plead 'not guilty'."

The girl seemed angered, but when she tried to stand up, the Guardians at her side stomped their staves on the ground and the wooden chain yanked the girl back down, scotching any attempt at rebellion. Elissa hissed at the girl "Stay quiet and down! Don't make this unnecessarily difficult for all of us!" But the girl merely shot an insolent glare back, flaring her nostrils and turning her ears all the way forward in a gesture of intimidation.

Loganna acknowledged the Guardians' vigilance and went on. "We will now proceed to hear the report by Black Surgeon of Hozorcia, a Hidden Hand and specialist on blood pactitioners commissioned to examine and assess the accused."

Black Surgeon took the centre of the clearing. He had a large stack of papers to read from and took long, meandering paths across the clearing, alternating between speaking to the judges, the crowd, the accused and the witnesses, rather than addressing merely the judges. He announced that he had structured his report into three parts: the report on the girl's body, the report on the entity she had made a pact with and the report on the bond between them.

He started by describing the usual physique of a crolachan of her gender and age, about the development Elissa and Garrett had observed and influenced, for example with the special brew Garrett have had Elissa make for the girl, and how her current body differed from this "normal" development. He noted her heightened senses, her flexibility, her unusual height compared to the usually stout crolachans, her speed and strength and her resilience, all built and guided by the Hidden Hand Purple Paw of Halonnes.

Next, he moved onto the spirit that lived inside her body now. This was what Elissa, Faan and Garrett could never find out before deciding to ignore the issue with the help of a simple ward.

"The spiritual being the accused entered a pact with" Black Surgeon began, "has no sense of a corporeal self as familiars would, but it still has its own, completely separate will. It has neither destroyed nor changed the accused's intellect and thought. It claims to have lost its name safe for 'Ssil' as it entered the accused's body; I believe that this shedding of power and name was what alerted the Guardians of the Lodge to the incident. It claimed to have had numerous contacts with the accused, which it refers to as 'the priestess' and at times 'the promised'. What exactly this means is unclear, but since the entity is partly abstract rather than natural, I came to the conclusion, that the spirit has been worshipped by some people as a tutelary deity or patron spirit. It was originally a snake spirit, but centuries, possibly millennia of worship added layers of abstract concepts onto this spirit of nature. It has referenced several titles it had been given, among them are 'devourer of vermin', 'bringer of just death', 'certain vengeance' and 'silent one' It is highly predatory and solitary in its personality. The being also said that it had been entrusted with an old task that had it return to the accused regularly."

Black Surgeon paused for a moment to take a gulp from a bottle of water. He sought eye contact with the judges, then he continued, script in hand to meander around to open space of the clearing.

"This brings me to the third part of my report: the bond between the accused and the spirit. The spirit was tasked with something relating to the individual that is the accused, most likely her well-being. I interpret this as the reason why it did not interfere with the accused's own will, as to preserve her identity as an individual. This is at least my explanation. It seems to be passive, but not submissive or obedient to the accused. The accused and the spirit share a single submerged mind, but split acting minds in thought, rationale and body. They are connected at an intuitive level. This goes far beyond the connection which a medium shares with their familiar, as it does not require active "calling out" to the other party and their conscious reaction. I believe, that since the spirit made frequent and close contact with the accused throughout her life, especially in her dreams, her submerged level was already influenced from a young age on. I also assume this could explain the accused being an already awakened medium by the time it arrived under Elissa's care as she reported."

Was the spirit really present before Garret himself? Was it keeping the girl safe? Maybe even safe from Garrett and Elissa? Were they perceived as dangers to the girl by the spirit? Elissa couldn't make sense, not to her satisfaction.

Black Surgeon finished his report with the usual formalities concerning the report and his statements. Loganna stood up and raised her hands. "The floor is now open to investigations to Black Surgeon."

Dennicus took the opportunity first and was granted the floor. 

"Mister Black Surgeon, would you agree to the conclusion from your report that the accused Nannade has indeed engaged in a blood pact and has therefore become an abomination?" 

Black Surgeon cleared his throat. "First and foremost, it is-" 

Dennicus cut him off harshly. "Please only yes or no answers, Mister Black Surgeon" 

Black Surgeon's glare was sharp enough to puncture steel, but Dennicus seemed unfazed. "First and foremost, it is just 'Black Surgeon' no 'Mister'! Our call signs are our titles and we can insist on them before any court that accepts our seal, such as this. Second, no, I would not agree with that conclusion." 

Dennicus rolled his eyes and continued. "Well then, Black Surgeon, how come you do not agree to that conclusion?" 

"Well simply," Black Surgeon corrected his pose. "Because the term 'abomination' is entirely misleading in this case. You may see it fitting to bestow upon general cases of werewolves and other beings of unnatural origin, but not Nannade specifically." 

"Then your disagreement is based merely on semantics, not logics?" 

"No." 

Dennicus paused for a moment, seemingly thrown off. "What is it then?" 

"I would say that a being such as the one Nannade as I have found her to be during my examinations, is not abominable." 

Dennicus paced for a while, hand on his chin, before asking his next question. "Casting aside your dubious understanding of 'abominable', would you agree to the conclusion that the accused Nannade has indeed engaged in a blood pact?" 

"Yes." 

"And would you agree to the conclusion that she has changed significantly by this?" 

"Yes." 

"And would you agree to the conclusion, that she might become dangerous to someone in the future, through or because of these changes?" 

Black surgeon inhaled deeply. "Yes, bu-" 

"Only yes will do, Black Surgeon." Dennicus made a gesture towards the judges and left the central floor.

The floor was given to Priscilla. She chose to stand not directly in front of Black Surgeon, but slightly to the side as well. "Black Surgeon, of what exact nature is this 'danger to someone' you claim Nannade could be?" 

Black Surgeon shot a quick smile over to Dennicus, incredibly fast and incredibly subtle, but Elissa had seen it appear and disappear on his thin, pale lips. "Given she is being trained to be a danger to law-breakers, yes, she could be dangerous – thank gods – since that is her purpose, and to this end she could easily utilize her altered body and mind. Thus, she could indeed become a danger through or because of these changes." 

"Black Surgeon, in what regards would you describe Nannade as 'not abominable'?"

Black Surgeon seemed to have waited for this question for quite a while. "What struck me initially about her was her regular appearance, all of her acquired traits and changes are symmetrical and all-over. Usually, there would be a mental struggle for dominance between host and spirit during the merging, but this has apparently not been the case for these two; instead of showing patches of either the spirit's or the host's nature, Nannade possesses a still remarkably normal body compared to before, in fact, unless one were acquainted closely with crolachan anatomy, one would not be able to recognize any abnormalities apart from those arisen from her training and upbringing. And since there are no inconsistencies in flesh, it is also very likely that there are no inconsistencies in mind either. I have further found no evidence of the latter during any later part of my examination."

Elissa began to have an odd feeling about Priscilla. Did she know something about blood pacts she wasn't letting on?

"Please elaborate on what these 'inconsistencies in mind' would entail." 

"Well, irrational behaviour, often based solely on the nature of the spirit, also, side-effects of inconsistencies in flesh are constant pain, resulting in further mental torment." 

"Would you say that the accused accepted the spirit willingly and without struggle?" 

"Yes." 

"Yet she doesn't submit her will and mind completely to the spirit's will?" 

"No!"

Priscilla turned her face further to the ground as she heard that, but Elissa could swear she saw a hint of a smile there for a moment. What were here plans for this?

"Please elaborate for us how that paradox can be." 

"Well you see, the final state of the accused did not come about from submission to one of the two's will, but agreement on purposes and roles. It was as if Nannade and Ssil had agreed upon these terms for a very long time, and the ritual that Nannade had performed was even tailored for such, under Ssil's instructions. Each of them has their responsibilities and under these conditions, it was agreed and needed no further struggle between the two, and if there was, the exact ritual would have prevented it."

Elissa could see the disbelief in Loganna's face as she leaned closer in, as if an evil plot was being laid bare before her.

"Would this mean you deem the accused 'rational'?" 

"Yes, certainly. While she is highly irritated, angry and emotional, none of these are uncommon for a girl her age and situation. At least I found no sign to assume it to be any different from a human girl her age and situation."

"Thank you, Black Surgeon. I have no further questions." Priscilla and Black Surgeon returned to their places at the side-lines.

Next were the witness reports. Elissa, Garrett and Faan's statements – taken at the night of the incidient – were read, along with those of the involved Guardians as well. Nannade was also granted to give her report, but decided to abstain. Priscilla again acted in her stead, pulling forth a piece of paper, which she claimed was given to her by Black Surgeon. It was the statements the girl made about the night in question while in containment.

They said that she had had the idea for the ritual while thinking about her Teacher, Garetas, who had led her to belief her freedom would be granted, if she could take it from him, surpass him. In order to achieve this, she decided to 'take a different route, one only open to her and no one else', rather than 'chase after Garetas' stupid, thick-headed demands.' She also said the spirit had helped her, for example with altering the Lodge's usual ritual for binding a familiar to better suit her ends.

Garrett slouched his shoulders and hung his head low as the statements were read, but Elissa propped him back up. She reminded him that his training methods had been appropriate and to not be so easily swayed to shame by an angry, stubborn, pubescent girl.

The floor was given to interrogations. The next item on the agenda was determining the degree to which Nannades teachers were to blame for the events of the night in question; only if they could be absolved of all guilt and wrongdoing, could the girl be truly be tried by the court. Garrett was the first they called upon for questioning. He took the oath before the court and although Priscilla was granted the first opportunity to question her own witness, she relinquished that to the prosecution, for some reasion. The chief prosecutor Dennicus gladly took the opportunity and started to walk circled around Garret, who stood in the centre of the floor and seemed to be a great deal annoyed by Dennicus' path.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Purple Paw, is it true that you knew of a spirit following the then nine-year-old Nannade as early as soon as the night you have removed her from ownership?" 

"Well, I had a feeling that-" 

"Please only answer yes or no." 

"No, I did not know that there was a spirit following her." 

"But you did have a suspicion." 

"Yes." 

"And after you told the Sister Elissa about it, she did not take immediate steps to prevent such an entity from following Nannade any further?" 

"No, she did not, but-" 

"Yes or no is enough." Dennicus interrupted him. "What did Sister Elissa ultimately do to keep the spirit away?" 

Garrett seemed to be not sure and glanced back to Elissa, but she didn't know what to tell him either. "She made a ward and her familiar dreamt with the girl repeatedly to make sure she wasn't being taken advantage of." 

"And are you aware of the fact that wards do not in fact destroy or banish spirits, merely threaten or convince them, if done right?" 

"Yes." 

"Did you undertake any measures to notify any of the Lodge of Sturreland's agents? Such as Arch-Druid Loganna of the presence and interference of the spirit?" 

"No." 

"Why not?" 

"Because I saw no reason to and it was not my position to take such measures by myself." 

"Whose position did you think it was then to take such measures?"

Garrett again paused for a moment, then glanced back to Elissa. His eyes showed regret. "Elissa's. She was to take such measures by her own discretion." 

Dennicus took a few more steps around Garrett before speaking up again. "No further questions then." He left the centre, leaving behind Garrett.

Loganna again opened the floor to the defence. Priscilla stepped to the centre of the floor and faced Garrett, not directly in front of him. "Purple Paw, may I ask you whether you have ever talked with your apprentice about the nature of blood pacts?" 

Garrett nodded. "Yes, I did." 

"And when was the last time you did?" 

"Around half a year ago, I and her took on a plea from the Guardians of Sturreland to deal with a werewolf. I used that opportunity to tell her more about the nature of abominations and her duty to destroy them." 

"And did she fulfil her duty?" 

"At that day, yes, she dealt the decisive blow to the creature, on her own initiative." 

"Would you agree that she showed to possess the determination to vanquish abominations if ever she came across them?" 

"Yes." 

Priscilla turned to the judges. "I conclude my questions to this witness." and left the floor.

Elissa was called upon, swore the oath and Dennicus again was the first to ask questions. 

"Sister Elissa, since when did you know Purple Paw?" 

"Since I was ten, so more than twenty years." 

"And in this time did he ever show any signs of awareness of spirits?" 

"He's got a vigilant mind, so-" 

"Only yes or no, if you please!" 

"Yes, he did." 

"But does he have the mystic gift, according to your own knowledgeß" 

"No, he does not." 

"Did he tell you about the spirit following the accused?" 

"Yes he did, but I didn't-" 

"Sister Elissa, yes or no!" 

"Yes, he did." 

"And what steps did you take to protect the accused from its influence the first time he told you about it?" 

"I did an appeasement." 

"Why did you do that?" 

"I didn't believe it was about the girl, I believed it was about him at first." A short silence squeezed itself in between Elissa's words while she realized just how badly she might have screwed up when dealing with the issue back then. "I thought he was just being over-vigilant." 

"What did Purple Paw that warranted an appeasement? Did he act disrespectful to the spirits of this land?" 

Elissa bit her lip, Dennicus knew exactly where to dig. "He practices-... practiced blood magic regularly. He used blood magic to unbind the girl from her sigils of slavery. He fashioned a powerful artefact for her using blood magic." Murmurs mong the trees, Dennicus scoff, Loganna's rolling eyes and Garrett's icy glare let her know that she might have played into Dennicus' hands.

"So, the accused was exposed to blood magic from an early time on?" 

"Yes, but it is normal an-" 

Dennicus stopped in his pace and shot her a scolding look. "Only yes or no, thank you!" 

"Yes." 

"Coming back to that appeasement, did it work?" 

"Yes. Purple Paw could move about the forest freely without drawing the ire of the spirits." 

"And did you believe the problem to be solved." 

"No." 

"Why is that?" 

"Because I witnessed a foreign presence. I believed Purple Paw back then." 

"Was that when you decided to fashion a charm and let your familiar dream with the accused?" 

"Yes." 

"When was it that you thought these things no longer necessary?"

Elissa had to think. "Around her twelfth birthday. She showed no signs of secrecy anymore and her dreams had become calm and uneventful." 

"You did not see anything wrong from there on?" 

"No." 

"Did it at any point occur to you the accused could be lying?" 

"Not really, no." 

Dennicus paced a few more rounds, silently, then he nodded to himself. "I have no further questions for Sister Elissa."

Again, Priscilla took the floor. "Sister Elissa, how much of the apprentice's training and education would you think you took compared to Purple Paw?" 

"Very close to an equal share, High-Sister Priscilla." 

"And what were the parts of her training and education you engaged in?" 

"I would usually take the general and mystic education, as well as the basis of the Arcane and the healing arts, Purple Paw would take the physical training and further education in the Arcane upon himself, but there were occasions where I would also train the girl physically." 

"And how did you approach the issue of blood magic with the accused?" 

Again, Elissa felt an icy sting in her neck. "I told her that those that commune with the spirits could afford to draw upon blood for the Arcane, since they could do an appeasement themselves." 

Priscilla hummed for a moment. "And did you ever warn the apprentice of the consequences of blood pacts?" 

"I made it perfectly clear to her that familiars were the only form of binding spirits to living bodies that were acceptable to the Lodge and general morality across Ackarom."

Priscilla was done with her questions and Elissa returned to her place on the side line, next to Garrett. They both looked at each other with deep regrets. Loganna was called upon by Dennicus next. She too was questioned, about her knowledge of Garret's blood magic, the Hidden Hand's methods while operating outside the law, and many more things making Nannade and Garrett look like criminals by default and Elissa complicit. There was little that High-Sister Priscilla could still ask Loganna and so, Loganna decided it would be time for closing statements. Nobody seemed to care about questioning Faan, but he was fine, Elissa had already said everything he had deemed important anyway and so he remained in his iron cage.

A silence entered the clearing. Priscilla moved towards the centre of the floor, she hit the ground a few times to ask for silence and the crowd soon died down. "A long time ago, when I was still an apprentice of the Lodge, an old Druid named Partelleon, already old and grey as I am today, told me a story from his apprenticeship many decades before.-" 

Dennicus scoffed loudly. "HAH! High-Sister Priscilla, is this story going anywhere? How many childhoods do we still have to-" 

"BE QUIET, CHILD!" The raven cawed loudly, while Priscilla stomped her cane on the ground, an unnaturally loud boom echoing from the rocky cliff face. "As I was saying, when Partelleon was a young apprentice, the Lodge had just bid farewell to a peculiar being that they used to care for and consult. It was a large stag with the upper body of a man. They called him 'the living temple' because in him lived an ancient spirit of a stag and protector of the woods. This spirit had been an important guardian of Sturreland and had been fused with the man in a ritual performed by the Lodge. What Nannade has done was once a common practice among our kind, and many other cultures as well. I am sure the young Black Surgeon can verify that." 

Dennicus raised an eyebrow. "So accused should not be punished because two long lifetimes ago our predecessors did something similar? That is idiotic! It is forbidden now!" 

Priscilla seemed to grimace under her hood. "But why is it forbidden? Because we're afraid of what the universities might say? We have forgotten ourselves in an attempt to become like them, but what do they do that we admire so much? Cramming people together in endless towers, as many into the same space of ground as possible, riddled with disease, rivers of excrements flowing through the streets? I believe that there are still virtues in our way of life, living with the-" 

Dennicus interrupted Priscilla once again, this time with more heat and less mockery in his voice. "Blood pacts are an affront to humanity!"

Elissa was amazed Loganna allowed these interruptions of Priscilla's closing statement.

"Why? Because it changes humanity? We all change. We all use magic to heal and adjust our body. We ask the spirits to mend a boy's legs if he was born crippled; we seal wounds with blood magic, no matter how much we deny it in front of the universities and churches; we ask spirits to grant children upon people who could not conceive by the unguided flow of nature! We speak of nature and its ways, but without us those fields and orchards we rely on so much would be dense and wild forests within a generation!" 

Dennicus now openly walked onto the floor and made further gestures to mock High-Sister Priscilla. "And what does that add-"

A loud CANK interrupted him. One of the Trusted Judges had slammed his staff on the shale slab table. He raised his voice. "High-Sister Priscilla has the floor and she will continue to until she is done or the judges say so." He gave Dennicus a stern look, who had stopped his gestures and shrunk back from the centre." 

"Yes, High-Brother." 

"And you, Arch-Druid," the Trusted Judge turned to Loganna. "have neglected your duty of keeping order in the court. Do you feel capable of attending to your duties? Or do the Trusted Judges have to replace entirely you in this court?"

Surprise and outrage were visible on Loganna's face. She looked to the other Trusted Judges, but they too gave her stern looks, which made her understand that she was heading for a serious situation. "Yes, of course I will attend to my duties, High-Brother, thank you for reminding me."

The Trusted Judge made a gesture to Priscilla to resume her statement.

"Either way, Brothers and Sisters, if you do not care as much about our past traditions, let me tell you this: the girl is still a child. Both her teachers were not aware of the hidden depths within her. She was not aware of the full severity of her actions; she couldn't have been, the Lodge hadn't even allowed her to take on a familiar yet, as such she was still an apprentice, deemed unable to make a single decision herself. In all things, we should show leniency and understanding with her, so that we as the Lodge can still make sure she grows into a respectable human bei-" Priscilla stopped herself for a moment before continuing on. "into a respectable person. I can look back on more than a century of experience in raising apprentices, some of which even sit among the Trusted Judges today." She nodded to a few members behind the shale slab table who returned the gesture. "I can tell you how important understanding of wrongdoing is, both one's own wrongdoings as well as of those we judge." Priscilla made a bowing gesture towards the judges, as far as her hunched figure could.

Murmur rose from the crowd again, until Dennicus stepped forth to make his closing statement.

"I have to still disagree with High-Sister Priscilla for some important reasons. First, the accused Nannade remains a menace, emotional, short-sighted and possibly even too powerful. If a single university, church, college, sister- or brotherhood learns of our weakness when dealing with abominations, we will be the mockery of all of Ackarom. Our seal wouldn't be worth a single coin anymore." Dennicus made a short pause. "Additionally, I oppose High-Sister Priscilla's depiction of the accused as a child. It is a reported fact that Sister Elissa has asked for her to be crowned Priestess of Fertility for the last spring equinox. The Lodge approved, meaning they deem Nannade adult enough to take on the role of a priestess. Other girls her age married at that festival, they are having children, sowing their own fields. She was well aware. And as for her teachers: they failed and should be stripped of our seal. Such a short-sightedness cannot be allowed to be passed onto other apprentices. Let us learn from their mistakes, they have already spoiled too much with them!" Dennicus too bowed to the judges and left the floor.

Nobody was left to speak and Loganna was about to continue with the trial when Nannade stood up, still wrapped in chains. The Guardians stomped their staves again. The chains yanked on the girl's body, but this time, she was prepared; she managed to stem her legs against the ground and resist the yank as well as struggle against the unceasing force pulling her down to the ground.

Loganna raised her hand. "Let her speak."

Fright arose in Elissa, she looked to Priscilla, who seemed to abide all of this. The Guardians lifted their staves off the floor and Nannade was alleviated of her struggle. She took a single step forward and spoke up, her ears were twitching in anger, the tips trembling. "Why should I give a toss about what you deem me? You think I am some kind of monster now, yet you didn't even know me a day ago and you'd see me as little more than a cursiosity in these lands." She put on a mocking face. "Oh crolachans, aren't they not so very rare in Sturreland? Well taff you!"

The whispering and chattering from the crowd perched on the trees was deafening. People were throwing insults at the girl and her stubborn behind. Elissa turned to Priscilla, who was already raising her hand to intervene, but Loganna shot her down with a wave of her hand. Instead, Loganna let the girl continue tantrum and called the crowd to silence. Elissa turned to Garrett. He was biting his lip, but in his eyes, she could see a plan.

The girl smirked into the crowd and continued. "I will tell you about me: I was thrust here, from one slavery to the next, my life was decided by everyone but me. And my Teacher told me, the only freedom is the one I can take myself, which I tried and now I am here. If I shall die for doing so, then let death be my eternal freedom! There is nothing I can do to sway you if you really wish to see me as an 'abomination'. You look down upon me from your centuries of experience, yet condemn my own experience as sacrilegious. Taff you, again!" The deafening chatter returned as if a waterfall had started to pour over the cliff above them.

Nannade returned to the other accused. Elissa tried to hurl as much fury the girl's way as she could. That stupid, hysterical, baulky child! She had just accepted the death sentence for herself. How can she not realize how carefully she has to tread in court?

"Do something, Garrett!" Elissa hissed. He tried to come forward, but Loghanna was busy calming the crowd. Again and again Garrett tried to get the attention of the judges and when the crowd had finally calmed, Loganna merely answered him with a. "The closing statements are over; this is no place for spats within the family."

Garrett tried again, taking even another step forward, but the Guardians yanked him back into line, unrecognized even by the Arch-Druid.

A pottery urn with a split opening was brought to the Judges' table, one side painted white and the other black. The members of the Highest Circle present would then be asked to cast their tokens, into the white opening for 'innocent' and the black opening for 'guilty'. Arch-Druid Loganna stood up and raised her hands.

"The jury shall now cast their tokens to give their verdict on Sister Elissa whether she can be held accountable for the actions of her apprentice Nannade." She handed the urn to one of the Guardians who held it to each of the jury members.

Elissa tried to see how people were voting, but the Guardian handling the urn concealed the urn from everyone else with his cloak. The process dragged on and Elissa could at least hear that both sides of the urn were filling up with tokens. When the urn was returned to the judges' shale slab table, the entire crowd leaned closer and observed as the two compartments of the urn were poured out into separate piles, one of which was significantly larger than the other one; nobody needed to heart a count to see the verdict, yet still the votes were counted, for official protocol's sake. With a majority of more than two to one, Elissa was acquitted of any and all guilt for Nannade's actions.

There was little reason for Elissa to be at ease, it had become much more likely the girl would be found guilty and punished, Elissa could no longer bear any part of it herself.

Each member of the Highest Circle was handed back a token so the process could be repeated for Garrett's case. "The jury shall now cast their tokens to give their verdict on Purple Paw whether he can be held accountable for the actions of his apprentice Nannade."

The process dragged just as much and when the piles were again poured out, Elissa saw the piles to be much closer together in size. Up until the very end, it seemed there was one token on the pile of innocence for every token on the pile of guilt. A margin of merely eleven tokens determined: Purple Paw too, was acquitted of all and any guilt for Nannade's actions. Both Elissa and Garrett hung their head low as they looked to Nannade. She was still bitter and only looking ahead at Loganna. She either did not grasp the situation or she was truly indifferent to it.

Again the tokens were returned and Loganna raised her hands. "The jury shall now cast their tokens to give their verdict on whether Apprentice Nannade is guilty of engaging in a blood pact."

At the sound of every token falling, Elissa's heart beat twice as strong. She looked to Nannade, begging her silently to look over to her, to meet her eyes, maybe for the last time, but the girl was just scowling at the judges.

An eternity later, the urn was returned to the table and the piles poured out. From where Elissa was, they were equal in size. The counting began and until the end, no definitive result was in sight. Then, finally, whiole four tokens remained on the second, the last token was taken from the first pile.

Guilty.

Loganna raised her voice. "The inner jury of the Lodge has deemed the accused Apprentice Nannade guilty. The punishment is death."

The sound of a dozen waterfalls crashed onto the clearing from all sides.

Guilty, by four tokens.