[Elektra]

Elektra was grateful that with Bards' Festival had come numerous street
vendors, so she could buy a meatpie on the way back to the City Council.
Her lovely brow was furrowed in thought while she chewed on the pie, and
dodged the festival-goers.

Nearer the Council Hall the crowds became more of a mix business folk and
dignitaries and she headed for a side entrance - so as not be caught up in
the general press of people who were there for a day's business. Once
inside she hastened up a backstair, which was still so new the wooden
steps gleamed, and once at the proper floor she headed straight for her
desk at the front of Allenel Gilford's office. Elektra quickly peeked in
his office to let him know that she had returned - and was grateful to
note that any clients had already come and gone.

With a sigh of relief she stretched - easing a back and arms cramped by a
morning and afternoon's worth of sitting. Whatever grim memories she had
had about prison cells had become deadened by the long hours of writing.
Finally she settled in her chair, and after cleaning her hands of the
grease of the meatpie she pulled open her folder of notes.

Before her lay pages of parchment - all in meticulously neat handwriting,
and she bent to begin reading; she wanted to make sure that there were no
spelling errors or anything else that would smack of an amateur's hand.

But as she read her stomach again twisted in anger, which didn't really
allow her lunch to set well, and she bit back a curse at the suspect. Hour
after hour he had weaseled his way around most of the Sheriff's questions,
and Elektra knew that despite all of the evidence pointing at this Fillip
that little would stand in a court. Nor did she lay much weight on the few
slips he did make.

During a round of questions about the Envoy's secretary (Elektra swore she
would have that sequence of events forever in her memory - so oft they
went over them) Menagrem had declared that it was Denlira's fault that
Netit Vanit had come around. But then, when questioned, he had
backpedalled and said that he had heard her say that name - and she had
mentioned him coming around.

This had led to questions about his woman, Denlira, and her last night
alive - plus the burning of the shack.

As Elektra read she had to keep from crushing the paper, so she kept her
fists in her lap. Evil, she knew, had many names - and not all had to be
dressed in black uniforms or worship a demon god; there were more
persistent, recognizable, evils - and maybe they were worse because they
were always around in daily life. She recognized the patterns behind
Fillip Menagrem's words - he would be forever blameless, in his own mind,
and those around him would always suffer. And this poor Denlira - like so
many farmwives and lasses that Elektra _had_ known - must have always
soaked in the blame and carried it as her own. Until she died.

Elektra made herself read Fillip's commentary - as he declared that while
the shack burned he had been hunted by vigilantes - who had mistakenly
taken up his trail, and who wouldn't believe his protests of innocence
when they caught up. He adamently declared he wouldn't be made a scapegoat
for Guard ineptitude - obviously the envoy was putting pressure on to have
the murder of his secretary solved! And as for Denlira - he had no idea
who she had been catting around with, as she was wont to do, but whoever
it was obviously murdered her and burnt the shack.

She sighed - a long, deep sound. She knew that with the presence of Yals,
Alexandrin, and even Lucc, in the hunt that the right man had been caught.
But their Law would not be recognized in mortal courts. The only one who
would be able to testify was Lucc - and would he be able to offer up any
proof that would be accepted? (They wouldn't even have the signed
statements from Miss Dyer, Envoy Ournel, and Lucc until that evening -
when the Guard scribes finished copying the papers).

This trial, she also knew, would bring another change - in her own life.
At least for a while.

Lucc and she wouldn't be able to be around eachother - and probably even
mental contact would be considered unethical. Already she missed her
friend.

Though Elenia had moved to Jord - breaking up the four (ex) spirit
children - there was still a bound between them. Particularly Lucc, Serun,
and she - they had been together in Death and now again in Life, and only
amongst themselves could they share, and understand, the newness of
experiences and the confusion.

Finally she finished proofing the papers and took them to Allenel. Her
eyes were bright with emotion, though she managed to keep her expression
calm, but she knew she couldn't even discuss her reactions with her mentor
- since he would possibly be judging the case.

[Allenel]

        Without looking up from the parchment before him, upon which he
continued to write, Allenel nodded Elektra to one of the chairs next to
his desk.  Other than the inkwell, blotter, and parchment, the desktop was
clear except for a small rosewood figurine at one corner.  "Deborah will
be here in a bit," he said, "with someone to notarize the papers."  He
knew that the sheaf she carried was the only transcript of Fillip's
questioning, and before it passed from her possession to anyone else for
copying, he wanted it certified.

[Elektra]

"Good," Elektra said quietly, looking over at the rosewood figurine, and
thinking of the forest guardian it represented. She remembered young Fran
- a child who had been thoroughly brainwashed by both the Republica and
the Church - and knew that there were some battles that you couldn't win,
but what mattered was how well you fought.

[Allenel/Deborah/Bog]

        The door to the outer chamber of the offices opened after only a
quick double-knock, and Deborah Clausen stepped inside without waiting for
an invitation.  A small man with a fringe of greying hair around his bald
pate slipped in behind her; his hands held a small, plain wooden box.
"This is it, then?" the man asked, with a quick nod to Allenel and
Elektra.  Bog Antlon had returned to Montfort -- after a long stay of many
months in the relative safety of Bleckner -- only a few weeks before.
And with him he had brought a notary's seal approved by the appropriate
crown department.  A useful thing for speeding up the process of
straightening out Montfort's complicated deed records, and for finalizing
other legal documents.

        And most useful this day for turning Elektra's many pages of notes
into an official document.

        Without another word, Antlon had taken the papers and had Elektra
initial each page.  Once that had been one, he added his own signature
below her own, with a date appended.  And after *that* had been done, he
opened up his small wooden box and removed an even smaller silver clamp,
with which he pressed the seal over both signatures.  By then, Deborah
Clausen had taken her own seat, showing only the slightest impatience at
the length of the procedure.  Allenel himself simply continued to write,
setting aside one sheet of parchment for another.

        "Now, for the last bit," Antlon said.  Placing the silver clamp
back into its nest on one side of the box, Antlon removed a circular
magnifying glass on a silver chain.  This, he passed over each page,
slowly, muttering to himself all the while.  Finally, he reassembled the
pages.  "We'll have the images printed out," he assured all three of them,
lifting the glass hoop.  Faster than an ordinary scribe, the enspelled
object would have several copies of the transcript to them within several
hours.  At an extra cost, of course, but all that already had been dealt
with.  "I'll take the originals down to the records room and have it held
under seal."

        Taking leave of them all, Antlon slipped from the room as quietly
as he had come.  Only after he was gone did Allenel set aside his pen and
look up to consider both Elektra and Deborah.  "Word has been sent to
Bleckner," he told them.  Whether by overland messenger or some other mode
of communication he did not say.  "I hear he asked to send a message to
his family?"

[Elektra]

Elektra nodded, took a breath - to keep a rein on her feelings, and said,
"Yes, the _suspect_ did. It was sent via rider."

She felt like adding that Menagrem had lost some of his cockiness when he
made that request - as if he wasn't sure how it would be received, but she
thought better of the comment.

[Allenel/Deborah]

        "I hope we get instructions from Bleckner before he gets a
response," Deborah said bluntly.  "Until we find out what the crown wants
to do with this man, though," she added, half-turning to Elektra, "you
keep your mouth shut."  She didn't doubt the girl's discretion; in the few
months of the girl's apprenticeship, she had demonstrated excellent common
sense.  But it needed to be said, as they all knew.  "You don't answer
questions about anything that passed between the Sheriff and the ...
`suspect.'  Not to me, not to anyone on the Council, and most
importantly," and here she emphasized the words, "not to him."  She
nodded across the desk at Allenel.

[Elektra]

"Yes, Ma'am," Elektra said, taking no offense at the Councilwoman's
bluntness. Over the months she had come to get used to it - and she also
knew that Councilwoman Clausen was understandably uneasy with the whole
situation. Montfort's wellbeing rode on the events of the next few weeks.

[Allenel/Deborah]

        The lawyer smiled slightly and nodded in agreement.  "Unless he
goes to Bleckner," he added.  At which point, he knew, Elektra herself
would have to go -- her first visit, he suspected, to Claremont's capital.
They already had discussed the other options, before Elektra was sent to
the Tower to witness the questioning.  If a trial were to be held in
Montfort, and this Fillip chose not to demand a jury, then either the
Council or Allenel -- or both -- might be called upon to judge him.

        Deborah shrugged.  "For now, we have to assume it will be left in
our lap."  The relief at hearing that the envoy lived had passed; although
there was no immediate threat of the royal heel stomping them down, they
all knew that the coming days would keep the crown's eyes upon them.
"The Council will meet tomorrow. We should have the statements from
Batista Dyer and the others to discuss.  We will need a report from Brion
Hillrover about who will be likely witnesses -- aside from himself, of
course.  If we're to have a defender nosing around, we'll need to have
someone get their stories before he gets his teeth into them."

        "I'm sure you don't mean to imply that any attorney would attempt
to shape a witness's recollection," Allenel said, with another slight
smile.  "I will talk to Brion about interviewing witnesses, and give him
the same directive you just gave Elektra.  Bog could be available to
notarize any statements, as well, and deliver them straight to records to
be held under seal." He knew the Tower Guard would be conducting its own
investigation ... but it wouldn't hurt to have their own trusted man
following the trail.