[Elkanah]

Never one to leave things half-done, Elkanah Bar-Jonah returned to the
large stone block and mallet outside of his thatch-roof abode.  He casually
picked up the heavy mallet and leaned it against the stone block. Years of
hard work had tightened the skin around his muscles, and working under the
sun had seared and freckled the skin on his arms, back, and face.  A bucket
of water drawn from the well and a sack of grain woven closed were on the
ground beside him.  He lifted the sack and set it on the smooth block, spit
into his hands and rubbed them together, and then grabbed the mallet and
began pounding the sack of grain, taking pause now and then to pour some
water over the sack as the grain inside slowly turned into a paste.

Elkanah wasn't a large man.  He had a medium-build and brown hair which was
very thin at the top.  He guessed that he was almost 40 but he had stopped
counting after he reached 20 as he didn't really know the numbers after
that by heart.  Not to say that he was dumb because a retired sergeant of
His Majesty's royal army never forgets his training, or his instincts.  Now
it was these instincts that told him that someone was approaching.  He
paused his work, leaned the mallet on his right shoulder and lifted his
pale brown eyes to see whoever was about to join him shortly.

[Guard Privates Inleay and Avery]

The night before they had only managed to deliver one summons, and that
had been to Baylon Simeon Terron, so now the two Guard privates had set
out in the early morning sunlight - to continue their mission. With the
warmth of the sunlight reassuring on his shoulders Hollin Avery was
sitting bright and cocky on his horse, and Jereminah was simply shaking
her head over _how damned green_ the boy was. When they reached Elkanah
Bar-Jonah's yard she reined her horse in, and after swinging down she
called out, "Mr. Bar-Jonah!! Are you home?"

[Elkanah]

Coming around the corner of the small house, Elkanah replied back, "Yes,
yes. I'm here. So will you tell me what two Tower Guards want with me?"
The woman addressing him bore the markings of a soldier while it was
obvious that the guard still on his horse was as green as they come.
Elkanah let the mallet drop at his side as he came closer to the two.
Beside the ridiculously grand Festival, he wondered what was going on in
Montfort proper that would cause the Tower Guard to come knocking on his
door. "I guess I'm about to find out," he thought.

[Inleay and Avery]

While Avery swung off his horse Jereminah said, "I'm Private Inleay and
that is Private Avery."

Inleay reached into her satchel and pulled out a sealed parchment; this
she handed to the stone mason and said, "Sir, this is your summons to jury
duty."

[Elkanah]

He accepted the parchment from Inleay and turned around to go back to his
house. After a few steps though he looked back and said, "Do you need my
answer right away?" Before the privates could say anything Elkanah broke
the seal and began reading the summons. Many of the official words he could
not understand but he had seen such jury summons before, however rare they
may be, and understood that one Fillip Menagrem must have caused quite a
stir to deserve a public trial in Montfort proper. Elkanah shook his head
ambiguously. If it was still in his power to right a wrong whether Menagrem
or Montfort's fault, he would get involved.

"Aye, I'll be there."

[Inleay and Avery]

Private Inleay nodded and reiterated the time that he was to appear at the
Courthouse. Then she said, "We'll bid you a good morning, Sir."

A smile lightened her otherwise plain face and she said, "It looks to be a
fine one."

[Elkanah]

He absentmindedly waved away the two guards as he returned into his home.
Elkanah had much to finish before the trial began.