It was slightly chilly inside the court room. Not so much as it was outside, but just enough for the slight discomfort of being unable to obtain the warmth you were expecting by escaping indoors. I call it a court room, but it was more of an office compared to the spaces I would associate with public trials. The only ones present were the scrubbers, the king, two royal guards, the professor along with a few other scholars, and an assortment of court officials including the judge that would be presiding over the trial.

  Her majesty Queen Seidria Slumnier was not to be present or notified of the trial at all due to the fact that the charge could be interpreted as treason. The logic behind the law that allowed for this was that if a traitor to the nation was made aware of the charges against them, they could notify the enemy nation or other forces they might be in collusion with. While the queens charge was infidelity, a serious charge for a royal, we were able to interpret it as possible treason since the act would nullify the treaty their union ratified. Unduroc could, in theory, ask her to purposefully commit adultery to create grounds for terminating the treaty that didn’t appear to come from their own will. We wouldn’t be pursuing this angle, it was clear that Hypnoise would be the nation to benefit from the annulment due to our situation with the dream wardens, but on account of the treaty’s nature, the avenue would be investigated arbitrarily regardless which was convenient enough for our purposes.

  I gripped a parchment that had been rolled up and tucked into my jackets pocket. I didn’t consider relying on that document no matter what took place in the court room that day, but it eased my anxieties just slightly to know I had it on hand. It helped me feel that I wouldn’t be backed into a corner should the proceedings create an unfortunate precedent. I would only have a small part to play in the case, it was Jossette that found the stain of Seidria’s lover, and she was currently giving her testament of the experience. We had no stand, only a long wooden table we all surrounded, but we were asked to stand when giving testimony.

  “They were not mere fragments of impressions. The scene was clear to me in perfect detail, and I experienced all the sensations as if I was the adulterer myself. I could tell you of the mole that Queen Slumnier has on her left thigh. I could tell you of the way it felt when her nails dig into your shoulder as her whole body clenches, and everything I have to tell you could be verified by his majesty Vireid, the one who sired a child with her.”

  We had some debate with the professor on how we were to depict our enhanced visions to the court. We could have described the sensation as a repetition of a memory through the subjects eyes, watching the memory in a disembodied prospective with equal emphasis on the subject and all others present, or even as a transcript of information absorbed as instant knowledge rather than the images of a memory. In the end we decided that we would extrapolate directly from the sensations we did experience as closely as possible. When we gazed into a stain we were imprinted with the phantoms of sensations and emotions that came from its creator, but there was nothing that made it feel as if we were inhabiting their persona. Taken to its logical extreme, feeling the entirety of the subjects thoughts, feelings, and sensations within the memory while holding on to our identity and watching it unfold in third person seemed the most appropriate interpretation. I felt that the third person perspective might weaken or argument on a logical level, but the Eric assured us that it would be an important basis among the academics.

  “While it may sound crass Ms. Parsely, we do need you to actually give us the details not just tell us that you can.”

  “Of course.”

  The one who asked was Judge Claur Hartensin, a man who must be roughly in his sixties with a bald head that still had short grey unshaven hair at the sides. He wore a large black gown that was squared at the shoulders with golden tassels almost like the coat of an admiral and golden buttons down the center. His head was very round while only being mildly flabby and the expression coming from his blue eyes was stern in a benign sort of way. So far, he had treated this arguably unusual case with an evaluating stoicism that wouldn’t disregard absurdity until it had been fully defined.

  Both he, and the other members of the court listened well to Jossette’s account despite the gruesome detail she went into and noted only anything significantly peculiar enough to redirect the conversation towards Vireid for verification. In every instance he nodded along and indeed clarified that everything Jossette felt matched his own experiences. He would, after all she got her account from him in the first place.

  “And you tell us you could essentially see this vision as if you were peering into the mind of its maker yes? Then certainly you will be able to tell us the identity of the adulterer.”

  Here was the first issue we had to tackle. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the queen’s infidelity may as well have been common knowledge among the closeted world of the nation’s nobles, it had never been known who her partner had been. Much evidence had been left behind except for any actual witness to the act. Well, witness besides Prince Terin who was unable to identify the man when he had barely understood what he saw. It was assumed, as the royal guard had been trying to find out the identity of the adulterer since they had enacted this plan, that the actual adultery had ceased around the same time. The one thing that was known about the culprits identity after all was that they were a soldier.

  “Samson Lines”

  The king feigned astonishment and signaled to the two guards stationed by the doors.

  “With your leave your honor I’ll have my men fetch Samson and bring him in for questioning immediately.”

  “Very well, you have the courts permission.”

  It felt odd to see the king asking the judge for permission, but he technically held authority during the hearing, especially since royals were involved, and it, in theory, should have been up to the cities law enforcement to take the soldier into custody. It would be faster for his fellow royal guards to find and detain him, however, so I can see why the judge would defer.

  Samson, of course, was innocent. He volunteered to take the fall. We were skirting close to the edge of our agreement with the king, but since Samson himself made the decision and they meant to petition the court to have his punishment handled internally, we saw no reason to protest.

  Mr. Hartensin straightened his back and crossed his arms in contemplation.

  “This is all indeed enough evidence to indict the queen if your account proves true, but only if it proves true. How are we to prove this unprecedented ability your claims are based on is not falsified?”

  “We have evidence your honor, between all of us.”

  Matt spoke up on our behalf. He spoke with confidence vindicating our decision to use him as our representative orator.

  “And what evidence is this?”

  “If I may your honor. I’ve sent them into the ways to compile a list of details on anything outstanding they observed. I have all the details written down in these documents. These are, you understand, for your eyes only. The public isn’t yet aware of these scrubbers abilities so we ask you not to treat this information brazenly wherever possible. I think you’ll find if you investigate the claims made in these documents everything will match one for one. I already ran my own experiment on more benign subject matter and I found everything they witnessed in the dream to be accounted for in reality.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Judge Claur rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

  “It will be done, but it will take several days to verify. I would like each of you today to stand and recite the experiences that have been written in these documents in detail. Afterwords I’d like to hear the thoughts of our guests from Tembralvain.

  One by one we stood and recited the stories that were written on the parchments we couldn’t at this time see. We never spoke in a way that seemed unnatural to us, and we blended the feelings imparted to us by the stains into the information provided to us by the royal guard creating mirage from truth. We had practiced these speeches for hours during daylight.

  Karen spoke softly with a musical tilt to her words. Inappropriate for the situation, but consistent with her personality.

  “He was overjoyed as he took the second note. He knew even though he would be caught with the first, that couldn’t be helped, the second wouldn’t even be noticed. You can find it…”

  Thomas spoke with irritation directed at both the memory and the situation and with an overall lack of courtesy.

  “I could have gone my whole life without feeling what it’s like to have a pair of tits groped. The bastards already been in and out for public drunkenness, but I think you’ll find the bar maid more than willing to add to that if you just press her a bit.”

  Trevor spoke as if everything was a joke.

  “I mean can you really blame the lass? I’m sure we’d all do the same thing if we’d been in our cups for three days straight, assuming we were still breathing at least.”

  Jossette spoke stiffly and analytically, paying more mind the reasons the events might have taken place.

  “Without sharing the experience, I would have assumed it was just a matter of revenge but based on what I felt I think she really believed he would be better off this way.”

  Matt spoke plainly.

  “It was a bitter thing and all the more bitter to feel nothing as the hammer swung. He’ll tell you everything. He won’t care enough to hide it, but you have to ask precisely the right questions.”

  And I spoke kindly.

  “If you could, don’t ask her about it directly. Just dig around enough to confirm the events are true. I can guarantee you it isn’t going to happen again.”

  We all spoke deeply delving further and further into the hidden details of the mind but being careful not to invent anything that could be easily contradicted if our marks didn’t behave perfectly in line with our expectations.

  “Interesting.”

  A scholar with long red hair in a ponytail and angular green eyes on a tall thin face spoke up after we had finished.

  “And could you tell me a bit more about these visions. Was everything within them in focus?”

  “No. Not uniformly. The main subject matter was clear but certain areas felt fuzzier then others. It didn’t coincide with the edges of our vision though, it was all random.”

  A loud wheezing laugh belted out when Matt was done speaking. It came from an elderly scholar with a large belly and a saggy face with a crooked nose. He was fully bald but had a long stark white beard that hung over his lap in a triangle shape.

  “You know what that means don’t you? The visions were built from different perspectives. Imagine a scene in a room with the two making love. You can see each of them in vivid detail because they are passionately focused on one another as well as their immediate surroundings. But here is the interesting part. Other places in the room are in focus, places the two probably never even glanced at. This tells us that the vision isn’t just made from both individuals present, but from everyone that’s ever viewed that room. The fuzzy spots are where sight doesn’t quite intersect. The spots where not a single person had ever fully focused their attention. I’m willing to bet there were details that were specifically invented inside the vision to fill in the gaps. Tell me lad, was there ever anything you saw that felt slightly off?”

  “Now that you mention it there was. I didn’t really question it at the time since I had never seen these places before, but there were objects that seemed out of place in a room or an alley way.”

  “You here that boys? It’s exactly as I’ve always told you.”

  “Yes, but how do explain why the scrubbers only felt the emotions and memories of the induvial who left the stain instead of everyone that contributed to the vision?”

  “You don’t get it? The emotions belong to the initial subject and they are theirs alone, but they act as a beacon the underlining mind of the human race can channel through.”

  I had wished desperately for Professor Eric not to look so smug. They might have noticed him grinning and realized something was off, but luckily the scholars were too immersed in their discussion to pay him any mind. Their debate became obtusely long winded and was getting out of hand when the judge cleared his throat and made a brisk but strong noise with his gavel. I almost hadn’t realized he had it with him in this room as there had been no cause from him to use it so far apart from the arbitrary introductions that weren’t necessary for this more clandestine trial.

  “I think that’s quite enough for now. You can continue in your own time, but for now can I assume you find the accounts of the scrubbers substantial.”

  “Substantial? It’s more than substantial. There’s no way these ordinary scrubbers could have concocted a lie that so perfectly models years of theory. Yes your honor, as far as Tembralvain is concerned, the abilities of these scrubbers are real and can be submitted as evidence.”

  They practically made our case for us. From the sound of it, this Rufus even gave us an alibi for any small discrepancies unbidden.

  “In that case, if these accounts can be verified with real evidence, which our officers will begin gathering as soon as this hearing ends, than we will have our verdict. Does anyone present have anymore words to share before the hearing is adjourned?”

  “Yes your honor.”

  I stood and Judge Claur as well as the king cocked their eyebrows. I don’t believe Vireid had been made aware of this last topic, but the prince had been interviewed before hand. Just enough to give life to one last fabricated vision.

  “I have one more account to share and one more charge to lay at the queen’s feet.”

  As I spoke the king’s face grew red with anger, but he held his tongue. It seemed he didn’t know about his wife’s abuse towards his son.

  “This is a grave charge indeed if true. It elevates her crime into true treason. King Vireid Slumnier, with your leave is it okay for us to interview your son Prince Terin Slumnier on this matter?”

  “Yes, you may.”

  The king spoke hoarsely, practically choking on the words.

  With that the hearing was finally adjourned with a tense atmosphere. As we left we passed a shackled Samson being brought forward in the direction of the king and judge. He nodded to us with a look of determination.

  It wouldn’t be for nearly half a week until we would hear news on the verdict. In the interim we simply spent the days idle in Monderlow as if on vacation. The king had loosened his leash around us once we had given legal testimony and we were free to leave the palace. He likely didn’t expect us to pull anything now that we could be held responsible for the lie. He did insist we stay over in the rooms we were provided as long as we remained in the capital with a particular insistence towards myself likely do to a certain document I held.

  Finally, the day came and the expected verdict was decreed. In just two days’ time the queen would be executed. The king allowed for us to stay or go at our own discretion at this point. Only the document I held could be enough to break the momentum carrying the sentence and the invasion that was to follow. I don’t think they would even believe us without it at this juncture and I imagine they got enough real evidence of abuse by now that the execution at least couldn’t be stopped regardless.

  Matt was the first to leave, almost immediately, and Trevor followed afterwards at a more leisurely pace, but me, Karen, Thomas, and Jossette all stayed. I was resolved to see the events through to the end. To know what we did and what it was done for and know for certain, that even if I couldn’t be there to see it, the shadow hanging over us, the unnamed scholar, would at last be dealt with and we could return to our ordinary lives.

  I was walking with Karen by a stream that flowed through a park at the edge of the city as the amber glow of dusk settled over the streets. We were discussing the events that had taken place since we first met one another. It was calm and I almost felt relaxed despite what was to come tomorrow. It would just be a quick sting and then all would normalize once again. But there was another sting to come first. One that had been boiling under the surface for some time in the crevices where my eyes refused to look. And that one small sting would be the herald of a greater change than I could imagine. It would in fact be the song of the Dayliwarbler that would proceed the flight of the Nachtenwarb.