5: Coocor
After everything was done, I decided to do some research out of curiosity on your planet. According to some of your countries, all trials are done through the system of jury. In some places, what a "jury" is to you differs. To you, it may be a jury of one's peers, or a jury of a religious thought. To us, the jury is five soldiers and five ordinary people.
However, here in the Great Matter, there was no jury, save for three. The Three Judges deemed it too dangerous to hold a jury in the trial that was to be ahead.
-No mere soldier is worthy to sit on this trial as the judge of this one. Savitri, the speaker of the three, loomed over us as she spoke. -So it is to the thought of your superiors, that we shall jury this case.
-You.....jury this case? Kepe bowed. Forgive me, but that ain't procedure.
-The tribunal shall be closed to all on the outside. The soldier almost glared down at Kepe. -We saw the reactions. We shall not be interrupted like that again. Only twelve people shall be in this tribunal. You, your barrister, the two defenders, ourselves, and the four strongest guards in this galaxy. And....her.
Her. The person we would be defending. That night, we would be ushered into our suites on the Asgerd moon of Mehsheh. They were houses of the rich, of the greatest sailors, and we were given provisions as if we were queens. It was, perhaps, the only place that the trial encompassed that I really liked. But I digress.
-We have also decided, Savitri then looked down at Dyka and me, -in light of such grave Number Two charges, we shall drop the Number One charges.
-What!? I accidentally cried out. Lawyers were not permitted to speak. - You'll-
-THEMIS! Suddenly, I was thrown to the ground. -Show respect for your rank!
I looked at Dyka, very hurt. I had not known better! But by that time, she had turned back to Savitri.
-Why? Dyka asked. -Why are you dropping the Number One charges?
-Forgive, Judge! At this, Kepe interceded. -This is outside the courtroom, so mind my speech. But if I 'member correct, the Number One and Number Two charges interconnect. Can't have one without the other, especially in some of the cases my evidence shows.
-If only a few of the Number One cases are involved in the trespassing of the Galaxy Cauldron, the Judge replied, -then there is no problem to separate the rest of the cases from those, barrister. We will deal with the Number Ones, but only through sentencing which we shall see fit.
Kepe looked down to the floor. After a moment's silence, she gave a nod, and with that a part of my fright melted away. Thirty billion Number One counts, cut down just like that! I felt admiration for Savitri for cutting my workload down.
-We do not wish to drag the tribunal out for very long; it would be too dangerous. Savitri turned away from us. -The others are in agreement to end this as quickly as possible, without any permanent - and adverse -repercussions. That is final. You are dismissed.
Praise everything! I was all too happy not to have to worry about the Number Ones. I was frightened enough with the Number Two to want such a daunting number on my record.
So, we went to our suites, but Dyka did not say anything to me on the way there. She was still mad at me for speaking, and I could tell. I, for one, felt guilty for forgetting my place. It was an honest accident on my part.
-You could have kept silent, she finally said when we came to our home for the trial. -There was no need for such an outburst.
-I'm sorry.
-Don't do it again. She threw the door open. -You've been trouble already, and its not even the real trial yet! Grr!
-I'm really sorry! I whimpered. -I couldn't help it!
-What do you mean? She turned to me, reproaching. -You should have seen it coming!
-Huh?
-Do you think that the Seemarin would allow thirty billion counts of Number One violations to be tried when there is a Number Two case? She was angry. -Open your eyes. The judge was doing the prosecution a favor.
-How so? I asked. -I thought they were doing us a favor.
-They have less to prove.
That was a grave problem which we would encounter. For naturally, one count is much easier to prove than thirty billion. And we would learn, soon enough, the kind of things that Kepe had to make the Number Two charge irrevocably stick. But we had no clue then; we had not even begun getting our evidence into account.
-Then what do we have?
-What do you mean, what do we have? Dyka looked at me as we closed the door. -You are the lawyer. You're supposed to answer that, not me.
-.....Oh yeah.....
-Well, since its your first time, I forgive you for now. Dyka turned on the lights. -After all, I figured such things, you being a friend of Koogairu, and did my own provate researching.
Forgive me if this is a true digression, but I really must describe the house we were given. I couldn't stop staring at it, because it was no new and beautiful. The windows were double sided, so we could see what was outside, but no one could see us inside. The conversing room, our main first floor room, was very large and spacious. The most expensive, and most comfortable furniture was provided for us, and they glowed just as Asgerd did, but in purples and reds. The floor was also marked like Asgerd's grounds, but not quite as thick, and the information was first a "WELCOME" followed by the house specifications, the names of former owners, and so on and so forth. I simply stared.
-Themis? Dyka brought me back. -Listen to me. The information I'm about to tell you is very important. When you go outhunting tomorrow, you will need this to get the information we want. Understood?
-Um.....I was disappointed that Dyka would not let me bask in the luxury. -Yes, Dyka.
-All right. She sat me down. -According to this recently released document - and this is very reliable because it comes from an agency the Seemarin uses to investigate Vika galaxies - a full 86 percent of the sailors they interviewed did not know of the Seemarin or its laws. And on this same document, more than three fourths of pirate fighters are said to say that 9 out of 10 sailors that they fight are completely unaware of the fact that there is a body of law that governs the sailor soldiers!
-So..... I looked at Dyka. -We are going to defend Tsukinousagi on account of her ignorance?
-Yes. We are going to prove to the judges that she knew nothing of the Cauldron...... Dyka stood up. -.....And that this does not warrant the banishment.
I brightened up. After all, the vikarna seemed pretty ignorant to begin with. She also looked pitiful, and I opened my mouth to explain to Dyka that dessing her up more pitifully could help make the girl look more like the wimp she ought to have been and probably was.
That, of course, was before the knock.
*BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM*
Both of us were startled into jumping up. There was a doorbell, a nice charm, but apparently, whomever was at the door did not like that courtesy.
-Hmm! Dyka frowned as she went to the door. -Who is it?
-I'm hungry. Being what I was, I opened the food storage to see that one of my favorite candies - coocor - was plentily stored. -Yum!
As Dyka opened the door, I took as many as my appendages could take. I was about ready to bring it all to another room and eat it all when I heard Dyka's exclamation of surprise.
-What?
-Yes. I heard a very deep voice. -The Judges decided. You see why.
-But.....I......Dyka gave a sigh of recognition. -Very well.
I looked up from my coocor and almost threw it all up. For, standing in the doorway, her hair all mussed up, and her appearance looking as pitiful and as shabby as ever, was Tsukinousagi.
-WHAT-.... I spit my food out. -What is SHE doing here?!?!?
-Themis! Dyka threw her onto the couch. -She is staying with us.
I shuddered. I looked at her on the couch. She was still in her clothing from the morning, though there were now several holes and slits in it. She also had large, rusty cuffs on her wrists, and her hair was a matted mess. She looked away from us, down towards the floor, as she simply laid on the couch.
-Great. I looked at her with disdain. -So people can throw rocks at us here.
-Don’t worry. Dyka looked at her. -We’ll put her in the basement. No one will find her there.
-Well….. I paused. -Ok then….
-Ok. Dyka looked down. -Come on, girl.
The reaction was very swift when Dyka went to touch her. Instantly, she was off of the couch, and Dyka was staggering back, having been slapped away. Instantly, she ran, and before I could react, Tsukinousagi had run up the stairs. The entrance to the room nearest the stairs - my room - opened and closed almost instantly.
-Hey!!! I jumped up. -HEY!!!!
I ran up the stairs behind her and punched the open button for the door to no avail. She had locked the door on me! I pounded as hard as I could, but was unable to penetrate. Inside, I could hear gasps for air, as if she had almost drowned. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, why she sounded like she was breathing hard and squeaky.
-BRAT!! I screeched. -GET OUT OF MY ROOM, YOU SCUM! LITTLE BEAST!
I was like that for a while, until Dyka had to personally drag me away. I was enraged by the audacity of our client. Coming to our house! Taking my bedroom when we had already agreed to set her up in the basement! I tried to free myself from Dyka.
-Th-that…!
-Floritiuse! Dyka’s voice was sharp. -Just let it go. There’s another room. Let her keep that room. It might not matter anyways.
-Why not? I growled indignantly. -Ignoramus, our client might fiddle with my stuff! I didn’t take this job so she could destroy my things!
-Themis. At this, Dyka’s voice lowered substantially. -You know what will happen when the judges find her guilty. Let her break your things. She probably doesn’t know any better anyway.
A cry came from inside the room. It sounded like a wounded animal after having been gravely wounded. To us, of course, that was what our client was then - a scampering, greedy, yet wounded animal that would soon be put out of its pathetic misery. Though I still could not reconcile it with what they said she did, I myself thought she probably did it for a good time, especially after that.
-Hmph. I threw Dyka off of me and stomped off. -Probably hurt herself on something. Serves her right!
*Coocor - perhaps the closest thing to chocolate one could get outside of Earth.
