Amanda hated the way Renault spoke. He managed to make accusations of murder sound like the most droll thing in existence and if it weren’t for the fact that it was Sirius standing up there being accused of it, she might have fallen asleep, just like the old vampire in the middle of the table. That annoyed her too. What sort of council retained members who couldn’t even keep their eyes open for the first ten minutes of a trial?

  And then there was the woman who basically stuttered her entire summary, making it hard to understand. At least the green-haired vampire had been easy to listen to. Despite his posture, his voice had carried across the room, and flowed like he was telling a story, with every word announced with precisely the importance it required. Amanda had been almost sad when he’d stopped speaking. She liked his look too. His black t-shirt had a punk band she listened to on the front of it and she had a t-shirt very similar to it back home. He didn’t fit in with being what she expected of a council member. He seemed more like her sort of person and they even had a literal child on the council. At least someone as grounded as Klaus was less likely to be judgy right? The rest were dressed far too fancy, except for the pudgy woman with the brown hair, who looked like she’d borrowed clothes from the lost at found at the local retirement home. Amanda liked her too. The woman knew what she liked and obviously didn’t care what anyone thought, even if her outfit was the ugliest one Amanda had ever seen. She bet it was extra comfy.

  “I propose we analyse both item one’s together,” suggested the chikari. “They’re obviously related."

  What had Sirius called him? It had been a long name starting with ‘m’. Mess or something like that? Mestofolies? She could have sworn she’d heard it somewhere before. He was dressed all fancy too, perhaps the most fancy. Definitely the most modern. He was stronger looking than the vampires but Amanda knew vampires were always stronger than they looked. She didn’t know much about chikari, other than that they mostly lived at the poles, didn’t eat meat, and were known to be pacifists. It was his eyes she got stuck on. Even from here she could see they were green, a colour that reminded her of Sirius’s own.

  She forgot the council and turned to look at Sirius. He sat up straight and tall and his voice had been even and strong when he’d spoken. All the same though, her heart ached for him, and she wished she could be up there next to him, giving him whatever comfort he needed.

  “I concur,” said a brown-haired, otherwise unremarkable man, seated on the centre-right of the table.

  Renault took a quick vote. There were no objections.

  “What about item two on Sirena’s list?” Beatrice asked. “It’s really more a consequence of item one rather than a separate charge.”

  “That really depends on whose fault you consider item one to be,” the comfy looking woman rebutted.

  Beatrice narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Does it?”

  She seemed about to say more but Renault held up a hand. “Reasoning?” he asked the comfy woman.

  “Well, if the containers were improperly opened by Sirius and his crew then there are multiple ways they could have dealt with what’s inside and the opening becomes a separate case from what happened afterward. If however, the creatures broke out then we can’t really judge how they responded in the moment,” the comfy woman explained.

  “Can’t we?” asked the brown-haired unremarkable man. “Surely you would expect someone shipping live animals to expect such possibilities and have a contingency plan in place?”

  The woman gave a nod. “In that case, I think they should be separate.”

  Renault called for a vote and Beatrice was overruled.

  “Right, item one,” began Renault. “On the one hand we have Sirena accusing Sirius of opening the crates containing live animals and on the other we have Sirius claiming that the animals broke free of the crates.”

  The red-headed councilman, who was apparently named Mickey, and who Amanda also liked, raised a hand. “I’m sorry but, is anyone else concerned that the live animals were in sealed crates for a journey lasting over a week?”

  Renault nodded. “Good point, good point.” He looked to Sirena. “Exactly what animals were in crates, can you list them all please, and your justification for their being so, as well as any evidence on the security of the containers they were in?”

  “Arasnids and beetles, were in crates,” Sirena replied. “Both regularly go long periods without food and are quite happy hibernating in a dark enclosure. The crates were not air-sealed. The arasnid’s crate was supposed to be acid proof. The only way they could have escaped is if someone broke the box or the infusement.”

  “And snakes,” Sirius added. His soft voice carried far in the echoy room.

  Sirena fixed her beady eyes on him. The woman gave Amanda the chills in a way she couldn’t explain. Perhaps it was the memories of being surrounded by tentacles with a knife against her throat. But the certainty in Sirius’s voice brought her warmth. She was glad that she was closer to him than she was to Sirena.

  “And snakes,” Sirena reluctantly agreed.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  That caused Beatrice’s head to snap in her direction. “What sort of snakes? “she demanded.

  “Morelia Spilota,” Sirena replied in a small voice.

  “The carpet python. What an outlandish, cruel way to ship a python!” Beatrice looked outraged.

  Sirena’s head jerked up and she jutted out her chin. “They like the dark, and they can go weeks without food.”

  “They are semi-solitary animals,” Beatrice shot back. “And their being hardy does not justify your treatment of them.” Beatrice turned to the other council members. “You all know I keep snakes of my own. You know I am familiar with their treatment. And I can have an expert here within the hour who will decry this sort of containment.”

  Sirena argued back rapidly. “It was only for the short period of shipping and then they get to live in a much larger enclosure. Do you know what it would cost to ship them all separately? No one would buy them. They’d be culled in favor of the pretty ones.”

  Renault held up a hand to remind them to keep orderly.

  “I too, have an expert who can attest that this treatment is perfectly normal in the snake trade.” Sirena gestured at the group of witnesses behind her.

  “What is normal is-” Beatrice started to reply.

  Renault cut in with a clearing of his throat. “We will hear from both experts with regards to the quality of containment for all animals. This is technically item two though so let us get back on track. Item one, the security of the crates. Did the snakes escape?”

  Sirius shook his head. Sirena replied, “They were released. All of the animals in question were released.”

  “Sirius?” Renault asked.

  “The crate housing the snakes was opened by us. After the beetles and the arasnids escaped, we were worried about more animals that had not been mentioned so we completed a full search. The snakes were discovered during this search.”

  “That is a lie,” Sirena replied. “Those beetles do not eat through wood and the arasnids were magically sealed.”

  “Do you still have the crates?” Renault asked.

  “Or a picture of the seal,” added Sandy.

  “They are in Scarlett,” Sirena replied.

  Renault turned toward the council. “Do we have a seer? A long distance walker? Or a teleporter?”

  Glory raised her hand weakly.

  “Yes Glory,” acknowledged Renault.

  “I know a teleporter.”

  “Excellent, get him to jump to Scarlett and take some photographs of the conditions of the crate. As much detail as he can, understand?”

  Glory nodded. Then after a moment she timidly raised her hand again.

  “Yes Glory?”

  “Do I do that now or…”

  “In the recess.”

  “Okay.”

  “I have a question for Sirius,” Sandy said

  Renault gave a nod.

  To Sirius, Sandy said, “Which animal broke out first? And how much time was there between each?”

  “Objection!” Sirena interrupted. “His question presumes the animals escaped.”

  “There are no objections in this court,” Renault reminded her, “And any councilor may ask his question any way he sees fit.” He indicated for Sirius to answer the question.

  “The arasnids were discovered first, several hours before the beetles,” Sirius explained.

  “Thank you.” Sandy gave a nod to show he had no more questions.

  “Okay,” Renault said as his red eyes scanned the room, “We will hear evidence later on the structure and possible method of opening of the crates. On the point of communication of the animals on board, Sirena, did you notify Sirius of which animals you were shipping?”

  “I gave him some examples. He never asked for specifics,” she replied.

  Amanda tried to read Sirius’s reaction from behind, but it was difficult to do without being able to see his face.

  “Sirius, do you agree?” Renault asked.

  “I told her I don’t normally ship live animals and I asked her what she had.”

  “But not for a list of each item?”

  “I assumed the list she gave was the full list. Anyhow, the log book states each item individually and the snakes were listed as ‘scarves’.”

  “That is not inaccurate,” Sirena replied. “Several of those snakes were to be shipped to Riverden where live animals as attire is all the rage right now.”

  “So they were to be worn and when the fashion changed then what?” Beatrice asked, her eyes blazing. “Just disposed of?”

  “Not at all,” replied Sirena. “They were to go to a business owner I know who was planning to loan them out during the season and any that could not be sold at the end of it would then be donated to the local animal sanctuary and education facility, who, for the record, take absolute excellent care of their animals.”

  “What about the arasnids and beetles, what were they labeled as?” Renault asked Sirius.

  “The beetles were labeled as ‘desert jewels’-”

  “That’s what they are. The Desert Jewel Beetle!” Sirena argued.

  Sirius continued on undeterred. “And the arasnids were labeled as books.”

  Amanda smiled. He had her now.

  They were all looking at Sirena, waiting for her explanation.

  “Yes, well, Books is the name of the merchant who supplies them,” Sirena replied, but her tone said she knew it was a weak argument.

  Silence filled the room except for the scratching of pens across paper.

  Amanda’s smile turned into a grin. So far, this was going swimmingly.

  But their luck was about to take a turn. Renault turned to Sirius and asked, “What plan did you have in place in the event of such an incident and how closely was it followed?”

  “We do not normally ship live animals,” Sirius replied, repeating his earlier statement.

  “So you had no plan in place then?”

  Sirius gave the barest shake of his head.

  There was more scratching of pens on paper.

  “What was your response when you found out the arasnids had escaped?”

  “To protect the ship and contain the creatures with as minimal damage to both the creatures and the crew as possible.”

  “And what did you do to achieve that?”

  “We had to kill the first few to preserve the structure of the ship, and then we had our materiokinetic craft a new container for them. Our infuser aided him.”

  “And no more were lost after that?”

  “No.”

  “What about the beetles?”

  “Those we had to kill. The infuser and materiokinetic were preoccupied with the arasnids and lacked the capacity to help with the beetles.”

  Sirius continued, giving a description of how they had handled the beetles, including all injuries incurred in the process. More note-taking occurred. They interrogated him about the vampire bones and the choice of where to place different cargo. All the while, Amanda could see Sirena growing more and more smug with every word.

  She tried to assess whose side the council were on. Beatrice and Sandy were on theirs obviously but there was the unremarkable brown-haired one who Renault referred to as Ren, that kept asking pointed questions. When they got to the accusation about Sirena smuggling goods, she was only too happy to point the finger back in Sirius’s direction.

  “Perhaps it would prudent to go through all of the ship’s logs,” suggested Ren, as he looked up after writing something on the paper in front of him.

  “Since when do we concern ourselves with other regions laws?” Eddie asked.

  “Since we have trade agreements with them,” Mephistopheles pointed out.

  “That’s right,” agreed Renault. “Sirius, please have someone fetch your logs.”