Kilthanis sat in stunned silence for several minutes following the decision of the Court. He could not believe what he just heard. Well, he could believe it, but not from his friend Lucas. He tried to wrap his head around the decision, but it just made no sense. The doctrine that Lucas had spelled out was almost completely novel.
Yes, he reflected, one couldn’t apply the full set of laws to the field of battle. But that wasn’t the case here. As Lucas himself had acknowledged, many of those taken were far from the deserts and they certainly weren’t being held near the site of any hostilities.
And what was that business about being part of the Empire, “in a foreign sense”? While that might be a justification for ignoring the Kiyem-merethil, a fact which Kilthanis seriously doubted, how would that affect the Kiyem-bo? It was the laws as decreed by the Gods. How could that fail to apply to any person, citizen or not?
Kilthanis shook himself and looked around the empty courtroom. He had to do something. But what? The Court had made its ruling. He could wait for the evidence to arrive from Osh’riyo, but he feared that the Court would use the same rationale to ignore any claims, even if the accusations were true.
As he left the courtroom, Kilthanis found himself profoundly shaken. He had devoted his life to the pursuit of the law. He had trusted that personal qualms and beliefs had no place within these hallowed halls. As he reached the door, he looked back at the bench through eyes that were having trouble focusing, to the words written there: ‘Alu Utos-Merethil tur alu Kiyem-Tethos.’ Today, they carried no meaning for him.
He wandered aimlessly through the city and finally returned home after several hours. Kelsey was sitting in the parlor, needlepointing. “Good evening, my love. Where have you been this day?”
Kilthanis shambled over to the couch and collapsed on it, not answering. Kelsey put down her canvas and needle and walked over, sitting down on the couch and pulling his head into her lap. “I take it the Court did not grant your petition.”
Kilthanis snorted. “It’s much worse than that, Kelsey. They denied the desert folk have citizenship. They ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the charges and that there was no right to enforce for the one charge they acknowledged was ripe for review.”
“Not citizens? But how can this be so? The desert folk have been treated as full members of the Empire for almost four hundred years. They are an integral part of our judicial system! How can the Court deny them the rights they help enforce on a regular basis? How could Lucas allow them to?”
“Allow them to?!” Kilthanis burst out. “He authored the opinion!”
Kelsey’s brow furrowed. “What? But Lucas has been almost as big a force for the rights of citizens against Imperial power as you. How could he now author an opinion giving the Emperor carte blanche to behave as he wishes?”
“That’s what I’d like to know! It came out of nowhere. Of course I suspected the Lord Chief Justice and Lord D’Orne to side with the Emperor. The Chief Justice has always been of a more conservative bent, and Lord D’Orne would fear the implications of the Emperor defying the Court. But I figured Lucas could sway the others to form a majority. And Lord Juroch didn’t sound like he needed much swaying.”
Kelsey ran her hand gently through Kilthanis’s hair. “Why don’t you ask him, dear?
“That wouldn’t be proper. I was an attorney in the case. And it’s possible I’ll be returning on the same matter, once the dispatches from Osh’riyo arrive.”
“Damn proper, Kilthanis!” she burst out. “This is out of character for Lucas. If you’re to have any hope of succeeding in your follow up petition, you must find out what prompted this aberration!”
Kilthanis closed his eyes, relaxing under his betrothed’s gentle ministrations. “Perhaps you’re right, my love.”
“Of course I’m right, Kilthanis. I keep telling you, if you just start from that assumption, your life will go much easier.”
He opened one eye and looked up at her, a chuckle escaping involuntarily. “Very well, Lady D’Ember. I shall see the Lord Justice on the morrow.”
She smiled down at him and tousled his hair. “See that you do, Lord D’Endray.” She leaned over and kissed him. “Now come, let us see about dinner.”
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