Chapter 108: Book 2 Chapter 49: Game set.

Taminarda’s POV

“Well, as my mother said, you shall be in my care for the time being.” The princess spoke after the queen’s introduction. Yes, spoke, not with the spirit speech but with spoken word. However, it was strange, it had an overlapping quality to it where the words were heard simultaneously with the ears as well as in the mind as though she actually was using the spirit speech. It was most certainly an eerie quality, and it was even more strange that her spoken voice could be heard from the distance she was from them up on top of the queen’s titanic nose and at a distance that rendered her only just barely discernible as having an anthro form rather than being a dragon or standing on four legs. “But first,” she continued, “you have had a long journey and have experienced several shocking revelations. Although time is important given our situation, I will have you shown to your rooms to rest for a time. You should be in no condition to clearly understand what I will be requiring of you as you are now.”

After speaking those words, she lept from the queen’s nose and softly floated through the air in a gentle arc before alighting a mere few paces from the 12 magi and warriors the dragon had brought. This gave them their first good view of the princess. She was… a gnome of all races!!! They had all thought for certain she must be a great fairy with her wings glamored as the most likely scenario, or maybe an elf at the very least, but she turned out to be a gnome!? Then, how is it even possible she was able to move through the air like that if she was a gnome of the earth?

No, being a gnome was not the most shocking thing. That short cut silvery grey hair. She’s a gnome of the deep earth, likely from the demon lands. There are rumors about how vicious their breed can be and the horrible dark rituals used for the sake of their upbringing and empowerment. And she’s also fairly short even for a gnome, she stood a full head and a half shorter than Taminarda. That’s unimportant though, how is it that the queen could have chosen a deep gnome to be her daughter!? And the queen claims she is the one who came up with the plan to address the issues with a new dryad!? What kind of horribly twisted plot might this… creature have come up with!?

“Well then, I will see you to the guest hall. I can answer some questions once we are away from the oppressive energies here at Isanil’s crown. They may not mean to be menacing, but there is simply no way being among all these dragons wouldn’t be stressful to you.” The princess said to the astonished faces of those gathered around her. She was continuously using such caring language, putting the lie to everything anyone thought they knew about deep gnomes. Perhaps… this princess was just different from the others of her kind? That could be a part of the reason why her majesty decided to take her as her daughter. Was she perhaps some ancient master among the deep gnomes who had spent some time on the surface among humans and other races? Perhaps the vicious ways of her race were mitigated due to her contact with those on the surface. If her power was as the queen described, this seemed an entirely likely explanation.

With a moment of focus, the princess revealed yet another surprise as some unusually tall mushrooms began sprouting up in a ring around the group, wide enough to include the princess in the circle as well as the fairy ring was formed. Before anyone had the time to fully process this new surprise of a deep gnome who is supposed to be hyper specialized in the use of both fey and demonic earth magic instead using the green word to contact a tree spirit, the scene before them had already changed and they were in a room lined with the mushrooms of the fairy ring about its edges. As soon as they arrived, a number of great fairies gracefully stepped into the room. Naturally, having just been taken here by a deep gnome, everyone was eyeing these great fairies with suspicion and apprehension.

“Princess.” One fairy bowed formally to the one who brought them here, and the rest gave a respectful nod of their heads. After doing so, the great fairy who seemed to be positioning himself in the lead turned to address the group. “My name is Castien, I am a baron of the civics committee, as are my associates.” He announced his name, rank, and affiliation, and then gestured toward the other fairies who came in with him. “Her highness has asked that we see to your hospitality. If you would like to settle in on your own, we can show you each to a private room which shall become yours for the next few days, until your service is completed and the present situation has been resolved. If you would like to become more appraised of the present situation, the princess has stated she will be making herself available in the public lounge where she will be answering questions for any who wish to be present.

“I will personally be guiding the princess as well as anyone who would like to follow to the lounge. Anyone who would like to settle in by themselves may speak with one of my associates. If you do wish to rest in a room, we will come to fetch you in one hour and ask you to come to the lounge as well so her highness can properly explain the task for which we will need your assistance. Now then, if you would please.” Castien inclined slightly, and then turned to walk out of the room. The princess followed immediately. And then, Taminarda’s curiosity about this deep gnome princess was simply too much for him to even consider the option of hiding in a private room for an hour. He was out the door before any of the more cautious elves behind him could even begin to act, he showed absolutely no hesitation as he simply followed out the door immediately behind the princess. Only afterward did any of come tailing behind.

He had so many questions and so many things that were bothering him about this princess, there is no way he was going to pass up the opportunity to address them to her if she was offering. There is also absolutely no way he would be at ease alone in a wooden room away from the soil of the ground. They may be providing rooms in the great tree now, but he wanted nothing more than to go back to his workshop in one of the lakira groves that made up the capital city beneath the great tree’s branches.

The hall they were walking through had a fine red carpet running down the middle of it, but other than that it was not especially remarkable, unless you count the fact that it was all inside of a single Lakira tree of truly massive proportions. There were regularly spaced outcroppings of wood jutting into the hall in an imitation of a pillar that would be in the hall of a building constructed by humans. It was completely unnecessary here for any functional purpose, but for the sake of artistic design it certainly broke up the plainness of a wood tunnel. The most interesting thing about the passage though was the designs on the ceiling that seemed to be made from a thin wood covering with holes dotting it like the formation of a starry night sky, and behind this thin layer was what must have been a thin flat chamber completely filled with glowing moss, and then along the outer edges of the hall there was an extra splash of far brighter light from glow fruits which made the passage very well lit and as easy to navigate as daylight coming in through a wide window.

It was a nice design. However, Taminarda had seen it before. As the master forger, he had seen the inside of the great tree a number of times. Right now, the thing that occupied his attention the most was the small grey-haired gnome in front of him who for some baffling reason had been adopted by the queen. He simply had to know what it was about her that the queen saw to have gone to that extent, and he had to know for himself that whatever she had in store for them was not going to mean their deaths in the end, or involve them killing anyone else, or having them pledge their souls to some dark god of the underworld.

Soon enough, they arrived at the lounge and the princess was shown to a prominent seat that could be seen from anywhere in the room. On a table in the center of the room there were various succulent fruits and flavorful berries, items that would not have been impossible to find on the journey afoot they had been taking, but would certainly have been considered delicacies if found and would not have lasted long.

“Now then,” the great fairy Barron Castien said. “The princess will answer any questions you may have. As it appears nobody felt the need to retire to a room by themselves, I suppose this invalidates what I was planning to say about questions involving the task you were brought to do being saved until everyone is here to listen. However, I do encourage you to relax somewhat before getting into business.”

“Well, it may not exactly be necessary Mr. Castien.” The princess said. “They all look pretty eager for answers, I am certain in such a situation as theirs I would only be made more stressed if I was asked to do something but I had no idea what it was going to be. So, I will sum it up for you now. What I will be having you do is for all 12 of you to act collectively as the judge coming to the final verdict in a trial that is to take place before the fey court tomorrow. The theory behind it is that twelve people making the decision together after some deliberation will greatly reduce the ability of any form of bias an individual in the number may have to influence the decision that the group arrives at. There are a few rules you will have to follow in order to further reduce the possibility of bias, but the complicated details can wait. Just rest assured that I will not be asking you to do anything that is going to be dangerous to anyone among you. However, there are aspects about this case where an improperly ruled guilty or innocent verdict could greatly damage the fey court itself. That is the reason we are going to this extent.”

What!? What is this!? Suddenly, upon hearing the explanation of their purpose here, Taminarda feels very inadequate and out of place. Judging the guilt or innocence of a person on trial? Sure, occasionally the magi of a village will take that role. The serious cases are heard by the queen herself. However, a metal crafter like himself is never involved with such a thing. He had thought he was so clever going in place of a magus so there could be one more hand to guide the people in the caravan, but he wound up taking the place of someone who would have been far better suited to a role that, according to the princess, could determine the future of the entire upper power structure among the fey.

“Now then,” the princess continued to speak. “I will answer your questions now. I had hoped you would take up my offer to rest so you could be of clear mind while listening to my explanation given how important this is, but I suppose those in your position ought to be made of some rather stern stuff. If you wish to question me further on the subject I have just laid out for you, I will answer what I can. There are, however, some questions I cannot answer for risk of biasing your decision on this case. If I were to do so, it would endanger this entire trial, so if I say I cannot answer your question then please do not force the issue.”

“What is the crime the individual involved is accused of?” One of the elf magi asked.

“Inciting a dryad.” The princess responded. This caused several of the elves to look at one another with raised eyebrows.

“Would it not just be a matter of sentencing then?” One elf asked. “If there is reason to suspect that crime, it is the same as proof, is it not?”

“I will ask you to cease that sort of thinking immediately.” The princess said with a stern tone. “An act of pre-judging the trial in that way is exactly what we are trying to avoid by inviting all of you in. I ask you to consider it equally likely he may be either guilty or innocent of the crime he is accused, and to wait until you have heard the prosecutor and the man asked to represent the defendant have presented their arguments and persuasions of how they wish for you to view the events surrounding the crime he is accused of.

“Well, it’s really a straight forward question from my understanding of it.” Another elf said. “He either talked to the dryad in a way that incited it, or he didn’t. That there is some question on the issue seems to imply there is some form of mitigating circumstance that makes whether he did or not unclear, am I correct?”

“I suppose I can answer that question, although it is becoming dangerously close to something I cannot answer. Indeed, it is a complicated situation.” The princess answered the man’s question, and then placed her hand on her chin, apparently in a state of thought. “Well, I guess I can give you one of the greatest things that make this case complicated. The dryad had only just awoken and immediately caused the incident the accused is being held responsible for. Furthermore, this awakening was quite sudden and without the typical indicators as it was triggered by the tree spirit forcibly feeding off of my energies.”

“I see.” The same elf responded. “So, if I am presuming this correctly, the accused individual said something to a nymph he had every reason to believe would remain a nymph for hundreds of years, but it suddenly awoke into a dryad. Is that the situation?”

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“I believe it’s likely that’s what the prosecution may argue, I cannot speak for the situation myself. It will be up to the prosecution and the defense to create an accurate account of the events preceding the dryad’s awakening.” The princess answered him.

“Hmm… this is a very complicated case all right. I can see why it would cause difficulty. But, how is it that this can cause so much trouble for the fey court, may I ask?”

“Well, the awakened dryad was the spirit of the accused’s home. As such, the dryad has a strong attachment to the accused. However, the court will not abide a crime of inciting a dryad to go unpunished. In short, a decision in either direction will pose trouble for the fey court, so the best we can possibly do is to provide the fairest trial possible and hopefully the party who does not see the result they want can be appeased with our efforts to go above and beyond the normal means to assure fairness. Therefore, I wish for all twelve of you to go into this with an open mind. No, more so than that. You are to start from a presumption of innocence. It is the prosecution's job to convince you out of that position. If they are able to do so, moving you over to seeing guilt where you saw innocence from the start, then the likelihood of genuine guilt is high. Given the situation, we must be absolutely certain of our actions if we are to render a guilty verdict.”

The room went silent at this new information. It did sound like the situation must be troubling for the fey court. It made sense why they would go to such unusual extremes. However, there was one thing that particularly stuck out. The queen had said this plan was proposed entirely by the princess. The deep gnome sitting before them at this very moment. It just felt more and more irregular.

Taminarda had had enough. He couldn’t hold it back anymore, and if nobody else was going to ask then he would! “My apologies your higness, this may be rude but there is something that has been bothering me and I am certain I am not the only one.” Her piercing gaze, showing an air of attention and a disturbing almost child-like curiosity that simply refused to fit in with his perceptions of what should be was now focused in on Taminarda, and he suddenly felt overwhelmed with nervousness and his voice caught in his throat. The princess frowned and broke her gaze from him. She… somehow looked worried about something. Yet another expression that had no place on the face of a deep gnome powerful enough to take the position of princess.

“I’m sorry, go ahead.” The princess prompted him, causing his mind to shift back into motion.

“Umm… I apologize again, but… you… may I ask where you came from before coming here?” He asked. He simply could not mention the accursed sub-race of his own kind, especially not to such a frighteningly powerful yet paradoxical example of their number.

“Hmm? That is a strange question. However, I was born in an Elven village, the very one that the dryad had awoken from. I likely ought to mention this though, my soul is not of this world. My apparent age is also deceptive. I am told that a number of great fairies were born two and a half years ago, right around this area of the heaven’s fall. Their souls were from a different world, and their spirits at the moment of their birth into this world were tremendously powerful. Well, my soul came from the same world.”

What was that!? This is very very different from the answer Taminarda was expecting on every possible level. Wait, did this mean that she found some way to this world years, maybe even centuries before those great fairies? “My apparent age likely threw you off quite a bit, so I should explain that as well.” The princess continued. “I was actually born only six months ago, although I retained all my memories from my previous life. As for why I look so much older than I should, that was once again because of the power of the spirits of those from my world. Apparently, since I actually cultivated in my own world before coming here, unlike the great fairies, my power was even greater. In fact, it was simply too much for the body of an infant to take. As such, my physical growth was accelerated a great deal before finally settling on this size.”

What!? She is only six months old!? Taminarda had been guessing closer to six millenniums, although he felt rather foolish about that now. Looking back at the conversation thus far, he had seen no real sign that would indicate she was over a century in age aside from the sheer power the queen reported she had, compared with the fact he could not feel a thing from her now. This indicated she was quite the master at concealing her energy, but if what she says is true then it is possible this could be a natural thing for those from her previous world, as incredible as that thought was. It seemed he was already accepting anything. But, no, that’s not important. The more significant thing is… only six months? And she said her growth was accelerated too. That could mean there is one more thing he might have been wrong about.

“I see. That actually clears up a lot of the things that were bothering me your highness. I am sorry for being so personal. However, I do still have one more question. Are… you a gnome or an elf?”

“I am an elf. A grey elf, as you have probably noticed. I take it by your question that you are a gnome, going by your height compared to the others in here. That is presuming you are not a young elf who has this world’s equivalent of progeria.” The princess responded to his question with her own, as well as her own confusing comments that he decided not to ask about, causing him to feel a little better about his rudeness.

“Yes, that is the case.” He said with an embarrassed bow of his head just to get his eyes facing toward the floor.

“I see, thank you. This is actually my first time meeting a gnome. Ah, I am sorry. Since you were already asking, I decided I would get a little personal with my questions as well. Now then, since the tension has eased up a little, let’s get into the details for how a jury should conduct itself. This is the custom for how trials work in my world, and I have already been discovering there are quite a few differences with how things are in this world.

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I didn't notice it before, but writing up the subscribers' comments this time, it looks like the spacing on Scribble Hub's editor page got larger. Not entirely sure how it will look once the chapter's posted.

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