The city of Taleb lay hot and quiet, seemingly indifferent to siege and truce alike. The sky was piercing blue with scudding white clouds, filled with wheeling seabirds and their mournful cries. In the shadow of Taleb's ancient citadel, an enemy frigate lay at anchor beneath the guns of the harbor battery, flying the three-pointed pennant of parlay. As Marikesh helped her father along the steep, narrow lanes to the Colosseum, its black masts and white sails flashed in and out of view. Her father would make the closing arguments in the trial today, and the jury would deliver their verdict.

Wendel was almost completely blind now, and so Marikesh held his paw carefully in the crook of her arm. They walked under blue and white canvas stretched between the pockmarked stone hulls of Taleb's buildings, shading the white marble of the streets. A thin sprinkle of ash crunched underfoot. Children played and chased here and there, but there were few adults to be seen. Wendel tottered along with her, muttering to himself.

They reached the arches of the Colosseum, and the bailiffs stepped forward and bowed to them. Marikesh hugged him perhaps a little too roughly.

"Ooof!" he said, laughing. His cane clattered to the street as he threw his arms around her.

"Are you ready, Appa?" she whispered in his ear before releasing him. He patted her arm reassuringly, and let the bailiffs lead him through the security cordon. As Wendel passed a formation of marines, they snapped smartly to attention, bringing their muskets to their shoulders in salute. Marikesh shuddered at the cold gleam of the bayonets and hurried away.

By the time Marikesh had trudged around to the spectator's entrance and climbed the stairs to her seat, the prosecutor was already wrapping up his closing remarks.

"...a straightforward case," he was saying. "Lieutenants Vala and Wickson, and midshipmen Morris, Ender and Pak-Uul are guilty of mutiny, treason, aiding the enemy, theft of a Republic warship, destruction of said warship, and cowardice before the enemy. Their motives, however noble, are immaterial." 

Prosecutor Joh-En glared up at the jury, roped off from their fellow citizens of Taleb. Into the stony silence, he said, "On behalf of the People of Taleb, the Admiralty rests."

He stepped down from the south podium and walked to the cluster of military tents that housed the prosecutor's offices for the court marshal, and a restive shuffling of thousands began to echo through the vast open space.

Marikesh looked for her father among the knot of people at the other camp. The five accused stood at the exact center, between the two foci of the elliptical structure. She finally spotted her father speaking to one of the Angesetti witnesses. The enemy captain stood tall and regal, indifferent to the withering heat and to the blindfold tied over her eyes. She was Ri, with soft black fur and a striking turquoise crest that ran up her spine, over the top of her head and tapered all the way to her muzzle, which she wore long with a jaunty flip. Her golden epaulet gleamed on the shoulder of her broadcoat as the blazing sun beat down on her.

The crowd fell silent as Wendel was finally guided to the north podium. He looked so small, Marikesh thought. Under the sun, his scales were a dull brown, and his skin hung loose over his thin frame. His eyes were white with age. But as he began to speak, his deep, sonorous voice filled the great space.

"I must thank Prosecutor Joh-En for his summation, for the outcome of this day does indeed hinge upon whether motives are, or are not, material to the case before us. The facts are not in dispute. Lieutenants Vala and Wickson did indeed place their captain under restraints and take command of their vessel. Midshipmen Morris, Ender and Pak-Uul did indeed guide the crew to the mission set before them by the Lieutenants. The question is whether or not these actions constitute mutiny. Put more plainly, the question is whether or not these actions were justified.''

Wendel's liquid voice boomed from ancient marble. He had been a popular senator before age forced him into retirement, and this speech would likely be the final words of his long and celebrated public career. Marikesh shivered again as the expectant hush drew out.

"The question of what is justified, and what is not, strikes at the very center of who we are as a people. My old eyes can no longer see you up there, my dear friends, but I know my people well. I know that among you there are Ri, there are Vaalat, and there are Ithalos. Together, we are the Teal. How did this happen? Why do we not live apart, with separate nations for our separate species, as our ancestors once did? How did we come to be united?

"Look at these mountains that loom above us, or the sea that surrounds us, or the land beneath us, and the story begins to take shape.'' Obligingly, a small eruption was taking place at the new secondary crater of Taleb-kral that day. The sound of tephra pinging from the rooftiles followed them everywhere, and bits of the gritty stuff was slowly accumulating in Ri fur and Vaalat feathers, and irritating Ithalos scales.

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"We live under constant threat of annihilation. Only living lands reach high enough above the sea to escape tsunamis, and so cities invariably have a volcano for a neighbor. A lava tube is a good place to shelter from a typhoon, but the worst place to be when the land moves. Explorers have mapped every land in the world, and found not a single place of refuge.

"I say there is no place of refuge. That does not mean that the world is without refuge, for true refuge can be found indeed -- with one another. The first civilizations rose from among the animals by following a simple rule : people must protect each other. When Ri, Vaalat and Ithalos began to find each other on the seas, it was this rule that wove them together. I am speaking, of course, of the Sacred Covenant of Rescue.'' A susurration of whispers filled the coliseum.

"When the ancient Ri explorers came upon the Vaalat, there was war. They fought for fishing grounds. They fought over timber and fresh water. They burned each other's orchards and raided each other's cities. War and strife were a sad fact of life then, just as they are today. But then, the three great Vaalat cities of Mardos, Ucharit and Penthios were destroyed in the Great Eruption of Mount Yamoi. The people escaped to the sea, but all the city seats of Vaalat were lost to the catastrophe.

"What does it say about the Vaalat that they sought refuge with their Ri enemies? Were they brave, or were they cowardly? Were they wise, or were they foolish? Did they make the right choice, or the wrong one? Friends, if you hold the Covenant in your heart, you know the answer." Wendel lifted his walking stick and brought the point down on the platform with a boom.

"It says nothing." The former senator wheeled around, stabbing a yellowed claw at the crowd above him, shouting. "Nothing!"

"We can conclude nothing about the Vaalat from the mere fact of their misfortune. Tomorrow, any of us could be penniless refugees on the sea, our homes buried, our orchards burned and our wells poisoned. That is simply a fact of life, common to people and animals alike. Instead, we must ask, 'What does it say about the Ri?'"

Marikesh smiled to herself as she noticed the blindfolded Ri officer from the enemy ship stand a little taller, her crest rising slightly. She couldn't follow all of Wendel's calculations, but when he wanted his intentions to be clear, they were clear as day.

"To recognize and hold sacred the personhood of another is the definition of personhood. The Ri ceased to be animals the moment they began taking in the Vaalat refugees. This was the First Pillar of the Teal. The other five Pillars arose from similar junctures in our shared history. The Second Pillar rose from the efforts of Vaalat doctors during the Great Plague among the Ri. The Third and Forth Pillars rose a few centuries later, when the Ithalos donated one of their city seats to help end the civil war among the Ri-Vaalat republics. The Fifth and Sixth Pillars rose in the aftermath of the opening of the Orzen Traps, which destroyed the Ithalos homelands. Some few centuries later, the philosopher Pandos saw the long shadows cast by the Pillars across her world, and put into words what had already taken place.

"Pandos observed that personhood is conferred only through the recognition of the personhood of others. It is through her that most of us understand the Sacred Covenant of Rescue, though there are many other formulations with broadly similar construction. The Covenant does not forbid war among people, but it places restrictions on what is permissible in war. For example, the Covenant requires us to honor surrender. It requires us to treat prisoners with respect. It forbids the harming of noncombatants. Above all, it requires every person to undertake the rescue of others during disasters and emergencies. These principles are enshrined in the laws of Taleb, and similar laws can be found in all nations of the Teal.

"So, what of our Lieutenants? They observed an Angesetti warship capsize during a storm. They correctly observed that, deprived of their vessel and weapons, the Angesetti mariners had become noncombatants, and correctly invoked the Sacred Covenant of Rescue. In refusing to undertake rescue, their captain forfeited his very personhood. In the absence of a captain, the lieutenants found themselves legally in command of the cutter, whereupon they executed their duties with great bravery and at great peril. This is ---''

The assembled crowd erupted. For several minutes, people variously screamed, cheered, wailed and sang. A few scuffles broke out. The bailiffs spread out and did their jobs, and the crowd gradually subsided. Wendel kept his head bowed respectfully as he waited for permission to continue. When it finally came, he stepped forward to the edge of the podium.

"I believe that whatever is decided on this day, history will celebrate the bravery and integrity these young men and women before you. Those who fight for Taleb fight on a battlefield that transcends life and death. Taleb is not some parochial backwater with low ambitions and empty ideals."

Wendel stamped his foot on the stone beneath his feet, and lifted his cane to point out at the lighthouse guarding Taleb harbor. He continued, "A thousand and six hundred years ago, Pandos herself tread upon these very stones. She was a native daughter of Taleb, born to a humble sailmaker in the old quarter where most of you will no doubt gather this evening to take supper and libations. Her bones rest just over there, from whence the light of her wisdom guides the way to the safety of our harbor."

"We are proud to stand for all Teal, and consequently our soldiers have a duty to preserve life. Taleb stands proud among the nations to have raised and trained soldiers who are not beasts, but men and women who hold the Sacred Covenant in their hearts. I ask you to join our defenders in their recognition of the personhood of those Angesetti who would have drowned that day, for in doing so, we reassert our own personhood. Let us honor the Covenant. Let us be people, not beasts.''