You wanna know how to get people real fucking interested in a trial? Turn it into a murder mystery and refuse to tell people how it ends. Every day that I came back to represent myself, the stadium was visibly more full. And the judge stopped looking as bored with everything.

  On day four I mentioned that the ironworks served in a "support role" for the people who firebombed my home. I asserted this calmly and confidently, and refused to elaborate. The crowd was stirred but not thrilled. I never got the roars of an entertained crowd, but they kept coming back and bringing friends.

  People in Hearstcliff need better public-venue entertainment.

  On the fifth day of the trial I mentioned that I had nearly died evacuating survivors. Pina was surprised by this, to my extreme annoyance. "My gods woman have you done anything for trial prep besides just pester me to see if you could trick me into confessing to crimes I didn't commit?!" And after that, I went off for a good five minutes before the banging gavel and the bailiff's arms brought me to a stop. The crowd roared in approval, they liked my temper more than they liked me just dunking on her. The panel of assessment, on the other hand, had a much more mixed reaction. Before we adjourned for the day, I called out to Pina that I was going to show her how much I had gotten hurt trying to save people.

  Over the weekend, I made arrangements by mail. I got Gedes and Sisa involved to prepare my next gambit. It only really worked because the trial so far had been held entirely during the day on weekdays, when most businesses and classes were in session. First I had to arrange for my witness to attend, and to get the time off. Turns out "subpoenaed to testify before the High Court of the Council" was not an instant win in every bureaucracy. I had to expedite some messages between the county clerk and the administration to make this work.

  Then I needed to hire several local girls who could help out with my performance, as extras.

  On Sevenday I got a chaplain in to hold services. He seemed nervous about stepping in, after Gedes locked the door behind him. I was slowly getting used to certain people knowing enough about my reputation to assume I'm a hair-trigger maniac. Funny thing is, behaving politely and calmly doesn't help it at all, they just seem to think it's the calm before the storm.

  This... might be my life from now on. Behaving well around people who still expect me to snap in a bad way.

  Anyway, he did a nice normal parable and service, and asked me if I knew of any passages relevant to my current circumstances. I know he expected me to mention one of the (many) instances of someone being on trial (especially Addkydata, like, get it together man!), but instead I chose the swineherd, and the difficulties of wrangling this many moving parts into one cohesive outcome. Too many irons in too many fires, urgent matters to deal with but necessarily distracted by other issues. That story ends tragically, for even after mastering all the difficulties all it takes is one sufficiently powerful enemy to dash all your plans.

  We discussed this for a bit, and he agreed to come back next week.

  Over the weekend I made lots of plans, sent lots of messages, and did as much as I could from inside a cell. I felt so much less helpless than I had back in my first cell. And I treadmilled till I was ready to pass out.

  On Monday, we brought the real drama. Good crowd today. I stood at my podium, wearing a bright blue gown this time. We had the opening ceremonies, and all the introductions, and Pina took her usual potshots at me. But when my time came up, I called a new witness. I passed a note, and the bailiff called out my non-speaking extras, lined them up, and then read from the page.

  "The defense calls Yheta Snairlin."

  He's the only guy within a few hour's travel from this whole city that knows me from Meadowtam. If he had not been moved into Hearster to study with his uncle I'd have even fewer options. Well, there's Geland and Taeril... but they wouldn't work for this trick. I watched the judge and the panel of assessment carefully. Behind me, the bailiff was addressing my witness.

  Opposite Pina, there were six young women lined up, all slightly different heights, between eleven and fourteen years old. Each had different color hair, and each of them had well-tanned skin. They stood at a good distance away from me, all in plain view of the witness stand but all facing away from it. I was nearly on the opposite side from him, standing at profile.

  "Lord Snairlin, do you see Lady Natalie Harigold anywhere in this room?"

  "Yes I do," he said. Familiar voice, but he does look a bit different than I remember.

  "And could you point her out right now, Lord Snairlin?"

  "Second from the left, in the pink shawl."

  "And you have known Lady Harigold for how long?"

  "Her entire life. I'd know her anywhere."

  The judge turned to the court reporter. "Let the record show that Lord Snairlin has indicated one of the decoy stand-ins."

  I turned in place. "Hello Yheta."

  His double-take almost knocked him down. "Wh- Natalie!? Wh- I heard you were on trial, I wanted to - and you called! I was - not happy but - so happy you called me as a witness and- what happened? Your hair?!"

  "Good morning Yheta," I said. "Shortly after you left for school, my house caught fire. I almost died rescuing survivors, I went back into the fire twice to get people. My sorcery overloaded and almost killed me. I was pulled back from death, but the magic seems to have permanently changed my hair and skin."

  "Same eyes though," he said with a smile, staring. He moved closer, and captured my hands like he always did. For anyone that does not know us, it looked like a very touching gesture.

  "Objection!" Pina blurted. "There is no proof that this is true as she stated it!"

  I rolled my eyes hard. "Gods' breath woman your ignorance and ineptitude astound me even after experience! Fine. I was actually ready for you to say that. The defense calls Sir Chaun Vill Maspers."

  "Bring in Sir Chaun Vill Maspers. Bailiff, please see the decoys out of the court."

  And then the captain of the Royal Cavalry Guard came out and talked to them. I knew him mostly as Sir Chomas, before he gave me his full name. The one who thinks I'm a prophet sent by the gods, and possibly a saint. The one who helped my family rebuild after the fire, who had been studying me and my powers for years, and who was one of the first to see what... was left of me after I pressed too close to the void. I asked him first to detail for the court the evidence he had that I had incurred my injury of coloration in exactly the way I said, and he gave a dispassionate accounting that was clearly leaving out a lot of horrifying visceral details. I've never asked anyone what actually happened to me there, and nobody is really inclined to tell me.

  "Captain Maspers, do you believe that the defendant Lady Natalie Harigold had anything to do with the fire at her home?"

  "I believe nothing could be farther from the truth," he said with confidence. Nice.

  "Do you believe that she has committed the murders, destruction, and rampages described in the charges?

  Uh oh.

  "Yes I do," he said confidently. Crap. "And further, I'm certain that there is more that we do not have record of. I would be surprised if her need for vengeance only covered these few acts."

  Thanks Chomas.

  But it was accurate. The charges I was standing for did not include the Swooning Spear, or the dockhands in Port Laci, the guards I knocked out in Broghton, and vastly underestimated the damage that I did at Darkwine's store.

  "Do you believe that these were relevant to her vendetta?"

  "Without question," he said. "What the prosecution has neglected throughout the entirety of this spectacle is that unique sorcerous abilities are a morsel of what makes Natalie Harigold unique. Literally for her entire life she has demonstrated impossible knowledge, of the present, and the past, and the future. Examples are abundant, she has knowledge that cannot be explained and that she has never explained to anyone else. But she is also conspicuously honest in what she does say. If her claim is that these people were involved in the plot to attack her house, I stand by that. What she says is both literally true and not intended to deceive."

  Shit. I forgot that he's such a fan of me. Should've put him on the stand on day one and just let him talk this whole time.

  But, this opened up new lines of questioning, and this time Pina called me directly to the stand. Defendant, defense attorney, and witness, all at the same time! I don't think a responsibly-run court would ever allow this. And now she's got questions about my 'extraordinary knowledge'.

  "Did you know about the fire in advance?"

  "Specifically no. I did understand that dark days and tragedy were on the way, and there had been escalating troubles, but the nature of the events and the timing both eluded me."

  "But you knew who was behind it," she said in a challenging tone.

  "Yes. For years before they even started to plan against us."

  "And you did nothing to stop them?"

  "Until they do something, I'm not acting in defense or vengeance. If I act preemptively, I'm the aggressor."

  She pursed her lips, looking at me like I was a bug. "And your only answer is to blow things up? You could not find any answers within the bounds of the law, any appropriate channel to prevent loss of life? No law-abiding way to resolve this, asking the courts to pursue dangerous criminals?"

  "Of course not," I said blandly. "Have you seen yourself?"

  This got a roar from the crowd arrayed above and about us. I think it was about fifty-fifty outrage and laughter. Someone in the court yard itself also blurted out a full-throated laugh before they restrained it.

  "I mean, not to put too strong a point on this, but a duke's manor caught fire in a way that was obviously unnatural, and the kingdom's organs of justice did not send any arson investigators. The only reason there was any support at all from the Royal Cavalry Guard was because they were five miles down the road writing reports and spying on me particularly, and when the fire broke out they came down with all their equipment to arrest me. Sir Choma- sorry, Captain Maspers - did not say so in so many words, but he defied his orders to help the survivors. A credit to him, and to the guards under his authority. Other than that, there was nothing. For the head of a Central House. It was up to him and his wife to handle all matters of justice while they were also handling disaster recovery, searching for survivors, salvaging the wreckage, gathering supplies, relocating their household, rebuilding all of the central authority for an entire duchy, mourning their dead, and caring for their two children!"

  "More like one and a half," Sir Chomas said, then blanched. His voice relayed up through the grandstands. He winced, clearly did not know that the sigils would carry every word up to everyone. This is not a place for humorous asides to oneself.

  more like one and a half

  Fuck, that's gonna haunt me later. Moving on.

  "So no, I think that even someone without the benefit of my abilities could look at the evidence smeared across the walls here and understand that going to you and your people for assistance in a complicated matter that would need to be handled discreetly, precisely, quickly and authoritatively is just a farce. Gods above, it's been seven weeks now and you still haven't taken the initiative to look into any of this. The only reason this has even caused a ripple in the capitol is because your people were already poised and prepared to pounce on me the instant anything went wrong. Your spies were on-site to apprehend me before I attacked anyone. They came out of hiding when I was on the way back, to ambush me. It's one thing to set me up, but what happened here was intended to let me know that I was set up. So no, Inquisitor Pina, I did not decide to go through your channels when lives were on the line."

  That got a nice oooooh from the assembly. Good sign.

  "So for all your vaunted and mysterious knowledge of unknowable things, what did you do for these people who died, and for the property destroyed?" Pina snapped at me.

  I paused, and let myself get a little quieter. "I planned exactly how to go about getting my revenge in such a way as to send a message and make sure my enemies would not do this again. And I started mourning the dead before anyone else had a chance to."

  Yheta nudged me. "I think this is a good time to request a recess."

  Oh, I was crying again. Dammit.

  I pulled my arm away from his, gently but insistently. "In a minute. Anyway, I just wanted to reinforce again that the kingdom's entire case against me is based on its refusal to investigate anything at all, and my capacity to research things that seem important. So I do not feel responsible to explain anything to a court that has no interest in pursuing answers. I act on my informed plans and if your bureaucracy cannot be troubled to perform at all I will call you out to your face."

  "Lady Harigold, such a course could land you in prison for a long time," the judge warned. "That principled stand will not hold up well."

  "Perhaps. But a principled stand by an individual is the first necessary step in any reform, and this entire justice system is so badly in need of reform that it is going to take a very powerful principled stand. The only thing that saves this place from greater corruption is the ineptitude."

  A big reaction to that.

  "The inquisitor does not even know that I have extraordinary abilities. She just thought that I blow stuff up. But maybe her predilection for hasty assumptions is why she lost two mage duels early in her time in the Magister's College, both times against sorcerers that she instigated against. This isn't even a secret, it's a matter of public record for anyone that ever bothers to look her up. And that one of the sorcerers, after she was defeated, conjured a huge-"

  "ENOUGH!" Pina screamed, and grabbed her staff. I had time to think 'uh oh' before everything went dark.

  I woke up back in my quarters, my jail cell. Gedes was there, and a man in healer's robes I did not know. Clearly, I had required some care.

  "Ah," I said. "Every time I wake up and see someone in those robes, I owe someone gratitude and usually an apology."

  "I'm sure Healer Mige is welcome to your gratitude, Lady Natalie," Gedes provided.

  I stood myself up, and dipped a curtsy to the healer. "Healer Mige. I appreciate your diligence and efforts."

  "Lady Natalie," he said, nodding. "It was not much. You were not actually harmed, it was only a knockout spell. A more roughhouse version of a sleep spell. Easily cleared away."

  Gedes saw the healer out while I checked myself over. When he returned, I was sorting some notes on my desk. "Gedes, you are surely more familiar with the culture of this city. If I provoked the prosecutor into attacking me during a session of court, does that affect my chances of acquittal for the better or worse?"

  "Hard to say, m'lady," he said. "Humiliating a magister-inquisitor into reaching for her staff certainly does get attention. So whether for good or for ill, the stakes have been raised drastically. While there are certainly professionals who prognosticate whether a particular maneuver will hamper or help one's outcomes, I am not one of such. And many would say also that those experts and professionals have no better than a coin's-flip chance of accurate estimation."

  "Thanks Gedes," I said. "I probably should not have made it personal for her. But she's been jabbing me in the sore spot for weeks."

  He considered how to say this. "M'lady, one of the prerogatives of authority, position and official sanction is that one is often permitted to behave in certain ways that would normally cause a stir in circles of both etiquette and ethics, but that the party of the second part, or rather the party of the second tense, is not permitted to return in kind, and must accept a certain subordination to the role of greater authority and society in the person of the authorized official."

  "That's a lot of words, Gedes, but I bet that if I teased them all out, you just told me that a government official is allowed get nasty and personal with me but that responding in kind is much less tolerated."

  "M'lady."

  "Yeah. I'm sure you're right. It was petty of me. And it would, kinda, communicate that I'm putting my position equal to that of the kingdom's authority itself. Taken in that face and deprived of other context, it does read as being extremely arrogant."

  "M'lady," he said. Oh, that's a very neutral and uncommunicative face he's got there.

  I considered it. "Gedes, do you think that one could safely say that from almost any point of view and context, my actions have in fact been extremely arrogant?"

  He hesitated, which by itself answered my question. But he was a professional, and he knew how to get through this diplomatically. "Lady Natalie, arrogance is a single label that gets applied to many contexts as if they were all symmetrical. In any but the most blatant of cases, it simply could not be judged whether pride, self-assurance or foolhardiness stem from arrogance or stand on their own."

  "I understand, and I think maybe I should start working on myself," I said, slumping back.

  He stood still for another minute, thinking before speaking. "M'lady, humility is a very attractive trait. But it is not the only attractive trait."

  "The hell does that mean?" I asked him.

  "Before I forget, you've had a visitor in the anteroom waiting for you to recover yourself," Gedes said as if I had not asked him a question. "Should I see him in or inform him that you indisposition has not yet resolved?"

  "We're not done with what you just said," I declared. "But, yeah, let Yheta in. He and I should talk."