agentlenet | psychic thread

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psychic thread

[The gentle brush against the Strangers' minds comes in early evening. It is, as all mental touches are from Fayura, soft and unassuming, much like a polite knock at a door. Once as many minds are connected as she thinks will open the door to her, she speaks.]

I am curious, Strangers, what you would do with the young man who shot and killed Councilwoman Vera.

Many of you come from worlds where there are laws against murder. While we have no such laws here, when a Blood male in a Queen's Territory kills another without cause, she may demand a price from him. Sometimes, that is his own life if he was negligent enough with his temper and sometimes, it's something less.

My trouble is this: if I execute him according to the laws of the Blood, of which he is not one, the Guilds will rouse their people into a furor and attack not only me, but the people of Draega. If I turn him over to the Ebon Council, the Guilds will do much the same, and that will incite the Council to strike back. And if I return him to the Guilds for accolades instead of punishment for taking a life, the Ebon Council will have cause to rip apart the Guilds and anyone in their way to extract from him the price for murdering one of their own.

Were you me, what course would you take? And please try not to shout over each other; this is as many of you as I could reach.

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[ Mary is honestly a bit surprised that Fayura is posing this question to them. Should not a queen decide this on her own? But maybe she trusts the counsel of the Strangers and wishes to know their opinions. ]

I am from a place where there are laws against murder. We also have courts and judges. If a person commits a crime, their case is to be weighed by a judge and a jury of lay people.

Were he Blood and the Territory healthy, he would appear before a tribunal of Queens who would question him and then pass judgement. But he isn't Blood. By judging him, the Guilds will see me overstepping. But if I don't judge him, the Ebon Council will decide I am weak.

A predicament, to be sure.

What are the Guilds' laws on murder?

Do you know why he did it?

[ that's the first thing that daylight wants to know about this sticky situation. though he has a shadow of an idea of an answer, he wants to be sure of something.

judging by how... lost he sounds as he uses this line, he's no doubt trying to still wrap his processors around the predicament that happened at the last meal. he wasn't there for when it initially happened, but the aftermath was enough to shake him up a bit. ]

Why would he do that to her? And her family? Why did it go that far?

The landens have rules against murder among themselves, those rules don't extend to the Blood. They don't ever consider killing the Blood to be murder.

The latter questions are easier to answer: anger, fear, resentment. Councilwoman Vera has always advocated for the Blood above the landens. She has insisted the money in the city's coffers goes first to the Blood to repair the damage caused by the Guilds a month ago. She also believes—believed that if the Guilds were willing to damage homes, the Guilds should be willing to repair those homes.

[Her voice is mournful.]

This harmed the young man's family. Were he Blood, I would ask him to let me into his mind to understand his motives. As he is landen, such a thing would destroy him, and he is unwilling to speak.

I don't suppose any of you considered treating each other as human beings first and all this Blood and landen crap second?

It is my hope to get to that point, but five thousand years of hatred is hard to overcome. [Compassion and hope fill her psychic voice, but there's wariness and uncertainty there, too.] One wrong step, and I offend two parties capable of destroying each other, themselves, and everyone caught between them.

[ The brush against his mind is a familiar one, and he lets her in without much of a fuss.

It's definitely a difficult matter and one that requires a good deal of consideration. Stakes are high on all sides, but that doesn't stop Haein from voicing the first thought that comes to mind. ]

He could meet an untimely death in his cell, or wherever it is you're keeping him. Accidents happen.

[ Problem Solving 101 with Haein, eyy. ]

[ he can't help but blurt out: ]

That's awful. [ for both sides. the family of vera for losing her because she pushed for her convictions, right or wrong. the family of the young man for getting hurt in this, over and over again.

daylight mulls over this for a bit, wondering if his suggestion would even work. it sounds like the guilds and the council aren't friends and won't be anytime soon, but he knows it wouldn't hurt to try- ]

Would the Guilds and the Council be willing to work together? Form a group from, um, members of each side so they can choose how to proceed with this? With how extreme the situation is, I think it's only fair to hear from both sides.

No!!

Can't you give him a proper trial? If you get a jury that consists of someone from the Guilds and the Council? It sounds like they'll have trouble coming to an agreement, but you can keep him in a holding cell during the trial until they can.

Why not?

[ Like what is even the issue here. ]

You all don't go half assed with messing your society up, do you? I can almost admire that. My mom would love you people.

[Wryly:] One of my Princes certainly agrees with you.

That option, of course, solves nothing of the larger problem while also opening up the Court for accusations of neglect in the best case.

[ ????? ]

Because it isn't right? We can't kill individuals just because we can. Especially if they're under custody! They're placed under that to be protected from harm, not to get harmed.

[This suggestion startles her, and her surprise ripples through the connection.]

Lady Mary suggested a trial as well, using a jury of... lay people? [She clearly doesn't understand precisely what lay people are, but she grasps the concept.] If three members of the Blood and three landens could, perhaps, agree on what ought to be done with him, then it will be much more difficult for either party to be angry with the other. Yes, that is actually—that's rather inspired.

[Her mind brushes against his again, this time with curiosity.]

You came in this month, did you not?

Yes, this is something Lord Calvin has suggested as well! [She sounds excited, hopeful.] I don't think they would be willing to work together so much as prove the other party wrong. But if, in their fighting, they did reach a conclusion they all agreed on, it would keep both the Guilds and the Council from lashing out lest they be seen as petty.

Which, well. They are. But the social pressure might keep them in check.

[She's absolutely taken aback by the hostility and accusation inherent in Alex's words, and that feeling ripples through the connection.]

Which is why I'm trying to focus on solutions to the problem. Grinding the bones of an old issue will only make more dust.

[ Props to the Prince who agrees with him. ]

Something else will come along to distract them. [ Wow, Haein, just shove it all under the rug. ] And if not, distractions can be made up.

Right? I mean you'll definitely want people on both the Council's side and the landen's... [ Still a weird term to him. ] side to make arguments for the defense. Uh, that is, the guy who shot her. Usually trials like that are held to determine whether or not the accused is even guilty, but it sounds like that's already kind of been determined, so you might consider having people make suggestions for what the punishment should be given instead, and then the six jurors can decide what they want to go with. In the meantime he's still kept in custody while given a fair deliberation, so people can't be too upset, right?

[ That's definitely a weird feeling, and he tries not to focus on it too much as he rambles off his solution. Honestly, he's trying not to think about how weird communicating like this is at all. ]

And, yeah... I did.

[ They're just going to ??? at each other. ]

And why should a known murderer be offered protection?

He did? Oh- Wow! That's awesome! That's good to hear.

[ it really is. daylight is glad to hear that someone else had brought it up first during these talks. it means there's more credibility to this idea, which is a relief for him. maybe this will be chosen as the best idea and the more aggressive solutions won't be considered as much.

~~(/stares at haein down the timeline.)~~ ]

Maybe... Maybe it'll be a good idea to sit on this idea for a bit before proposing it? Tensions are still running high and I- I feel like someone might have a knee jerk reaction to this. Go 'no' simply 'cause they can and stuff. [ it's a petty thing for someone to do but, er, she did describe them as that. can't hurt to be too careful. ]

Considering the Hunters lit the Bazaar on fire when you arrived, I can't imagine we'll want for distractions any time soon.

[She tsks.]

I would prefer, however, to find a solution that doesn't keep this young man locked away for the rest of his life in the hope that someone forgets about him.

[ Points to eyes, points to Daylight. ]

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