“On to the failure conditions,” he said.

  Eluvie had lost interest, so she only casually listened to his words.

  “There are two failure criteria,” the speaker said. “Firstly, killing Lady Mirab Semit, or attempting to kill her, if the attempt would have succeeded without external interference. Secondly, successfully killing any enemies in anger or out of a desire for vengeance. Thirdly, the destruction of the planet Marovieka. Finally, any conduct that violates the behavior required of an Isei. I will now take questions.”

  No one spoke for several seconds.

  Accepting the silence, the speaker opened his mouth, and then a voice interrupted him.

  “I told you we were late,” the voice said.

  Everyone in the room turned toward the doorway, so Eluvie followed their gazes.

  Two men were walking in, a tall, burly man with a confident stride, and a lankier, bored-looking one.

  The tall one froze, then a smile bloomed in the middle of his shaggy black beard. “It’s Moonbeam! Good heavens! When did you get back?!”

  He disappeared from view and immediately appeared before Eluvie, while the other man continued his slow and steady progress.

  The bearded man looked down at Eluvie with a mischievous grin, then compounded it by violently rubbing her head. “You look like you got chewed up by a lion, digested, and then expelled via the other end. So, bad news, eh?”

  He was still rubbing her head.

  Eluvie swatted at the hand, but he dodged the attack, laughed, and rubbed her head again. “Aww, there’s that scowl. Don’t worry, no matter what happens here, I am on your side.”

  The speaker cleared his throat. “You are not permitted as a judge, Gree Zaniba.”

  Zaniba glared at him. “I know that, you stick in the mud. Obviously, I can only offer moral support,” he raised his voice so that he was addressing the entire room, “and my heartfelt gratitude to anyone who makes the correct ruling.”

  “Gree Zaniba!” The speaker spluttered. “Attempting to bribe the judges is prohibited!”

  “Your reaction only encourages him,” someone said. It was the other new arrival. “He won’t do anything nefarious. He’s only teasing you. We are here to observe the proceedings. I trust that that is permitted.”

  “Might I require a minimum of interruptions?” The speaker asked.

  “That is likely too much to ask,” the other man said, “but Zaniba knows when to be serious. He will behave.”

  Zaniba gave Eluvie a wink, then strutted over to the dais. Once there, he made two more chairs appear on the first row, then the two newcomers sat themselves. Eluvie had more time to inspect them during the process. Both wore neat clothing: white, like most of the room, and with red bands on their sleeves. Eluvie had determined that the red-ranked Illrum were the highest-ranking ones in attendance. It was an easy guess, since every person who was even mildly unruly had red sleeves. The speaker was also one of them.

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  Gree. Eluvie memorized the rank.

  “As I was saying," the speaker still sounded irritated, "now that we have heard the objectives, the watcher will present his report."

  The man standing beside the bookkeeper finally stirred. He moved over to the middle of the room and positioned himself so that the dais was on one side and Eluvie and the speaker were on the other.

  Something about him seemed familiar to Eluvie, but in the white clothes and pale blue sleeves, he could have been one of a large number of Illrum.

  Then, he spoke and everything fell into place.

  "Everything that needs to be said is in my report," Amu said flatly.

  "Please summarize it," the speaker said shortly.

  "As you wish," Amu said.

  He had not glanced at Eluvie. Not once. Not while he had waited his turn to speak, not while walking to his position, and not now, while speaking.

  But for his voice, she might never have recognized him. He had the same incredible beauty that all the Illrum shared, and he walked with a posture far more regal than she had ever seen on him. Even the sound of his footsteps, which she had listened to every day for two decades, was different. But his voice was the same.

  "As I said in my report, which every person here should have read after I spent thousands of hours of my life writing it, and which I have no reason to repeat..." he took a breath. "Of the three success conditions, none were completed. Of the failure conditions, two were met. Firstly, Isei Eluvie attempted to kill Lady Mirab and carried out the attempt in such a way that she is certain to have succeeded absent external intervention. Secondly, she displayed behavior not in keeping with her status as an Isei. She held consistent, long-lasting malicious intent toward those who harmed her, was unable to find the creator's path through her challenges, and allowed herself to be negatively affected by her difficult circumstances. Support for all these charges is present in my report."

  Eluvie kept staring at him, waiting for him to meet her gaze. Both anger and worry had drained out of her. Had she not been sitting, she would likely have been unable to support herself.

  "We have heard the watcher's summary," the speaker said. "Are there any questions or comments?"

  Eluvie sensed that the ceremony was reaching a critical point. She looked at the dais, heart pounding, and saw one solitary blue-sleeved hand go up.

  "Yes, Chi Brumi," the speaker said.

  Chi Brumi rose. He was a small-looking man on the back row, with a severe expression.

  "I have a question about page 14119 of the report," he said.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Eluvie saw Amu's face twitch. But when she turned to him, he remained as stoic as before. He did, however, finally meet her gaze. He smiled at her with some warmth, then turned back to the dais, leaving her to puzzle over his perplexing behavior.

  "On that page, Isei Eluvie attempts to kill the watcher, Eyi Amu. He convinces her to spare him temporarily, but uses strange words to do so. For example, he tells her that killing is ‘not for her' and says, I quote, ‘You are not that person and you don't want to be.' Here is my question: Eyi Amu, did you handle that scenario as Amu the doctor, in a believable attempt to preserve your supposedly human life, or were you attempting to give her a hint about the trial, as is prohibited?"

  “I was attempting to preserve my life,” Amu said.

  “Can you prove that?” Brumi, the questioner asked.

  “Can you prove that you haven’t been stealing yarn from the crafting academy?” Amu asked. “They have been suspiciously short lately, and I saw you in that vicinity once.”

  The man was unfazed. “Please, answer the question, Eyi Amu. I, personally, believe that you intended to properly carry out your duty. But, Isei Eluvie is your mentor and friend. When you addressed her on that night, you probably desired to keep her from killing you. But what percentage of that desire was commitment to your charade, and what percentage came from your knowledge that killing you then would doom her?”

  The room was deathly silent. Every eye was on Amu. Amu, in turn, was watching his interrogator with a murderous expression.

  Eluvie suspected that she was missing something about the situation, but she could not tell what it was.