Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Five

"I trust I may not trust thee."

November 17th

Surveying her courtroom, Lady Iden spotted a flock of fools.

The blustering debut of winter had been battering the roads, and sunlight grew more scarce by the day. Since yesterday morning, the conditions had been more forgiving - a slight warmth, roads that were not icy or even completely sodden - but they did not long promise to be. The sky-watchers predicted another storm would blow in after dusk. It was one thing to make the trek if one had a seat upon the floor, if present to give direct support. But to come only to watch? Lady Iden could not fathom such a thirst for drama, much less obeying it at one's own peril. There would be other, safer occasions to gawk at the Capulets.

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Four

"I have done nothing but in care of thee, o thee, my dear one - thee my daughter, who art ignorant of what thou art."

November 13th

Goneril sat alone in her study, basking in a quiet night, a warm fire, and a certain degree of satisfaction. She had fared reasonably well in court so far, both on her own merits and in comparison to her niece. Juliette did not know her place, but, with each passing day, the stupid girl was earning herself an ever-more painful reminder. Juliette, Hermia, and Tybalt had been born Capulets but chosen to be traitors. Goneril would make examples of them all. Verona would see what happened to those who tried to destroy the House of Capulet. After the traitors would come the Montagues. Although she would have enjoyed watching Antonio Montague humiliate and destroy his family across the years, she could not be so selfish. A safe and secure Verona would have its charms, too.

A knock at the door drew Goneril out of her thoughts. The only person who visited her study at this hour had returned home, though Goneril planned to call on her in the morning. Hal's grumblings had betrayed the seriousness of his intentions toward Bottom Summerdream. The response would have to be both swift and quiet; she and Regan would be safe from prying ears at Middleham. Goneril hoped this knock was not her son come to spew his feelings and test her patience. "Yes?"

"May I come in?"

Thank God. "Of course, dear." An evening's worth of Fae wine had warmed Goneril's manners considerably. She smiled at her child, who tarried at the door as she had so often done in the past. Tonight, however, she looked afraid rather than disdainful. "Come, sit with me."

Without a word, Miranda took her aunt's usual chair.

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Three

"When valour preys on reason, it eats the sword it fights with."

November 12th

The validity of Contessa Capulet's will was expected to dominate the second day of the trial. Goneril had concluded the first day with a cautious switch of tactics, and she had begun the second convinced that the will was invalid and thus could not be contested or consulted. She believed a favorable resolution would come more quickly if her mother's will was set aside. Afterward, Goneril would be generous enough to return her portion of the profits, that the estate might be divided up legally (which, in her view, would be just as it had been) by the Court. She had no concerns there, not when all that was due Lady Capulet would finally be hers. 

Naturally, the opposing side was against invalidating the will. Though she believed a fair hearing from Lady Iden was possible, Juliette was not so green as to not see how the court's discretion could be bent to serve other considerations. Fitzwilliam expressed all the indignation of a scholar, packed to bursting as he was with information he believed must contradict such an abuse of law. Of course, there would have been no call for indignation if he did not know that facts could be overcome. Facts were the cornerstones of their argument. If facts were overlooked in this trial, Juliette's cause was doomed.

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Two

"Admit me chorus to this history"

November 10th

"Court will reconvene in one hour." 

After a tedious first half of the day, the observers in the balcony were anxious for relief. Cherry Albion stood before the magistrate's echo stopped, already adjusting her tiara. It was a stunning piece she felt well worth the trouble of actually wearing on her head. "Father?"

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part One

"What perils past, what crosses to ensue"

November 10th

The first sovereign Duke of Verona had granted oversight of the law to those families who had most honorably upheld it before and during the Veronese Revolution. He had believed that the most dangerous corruption in a magistrate was the desire to keep a position that could be lost to the ever-changing whims of the powerful. A hereditary judiciary nullified that danger. It gave the law a sense of permanence, of timelessness. As his legal system had long outlasted his dynasty, the Duke's reasoning had been proven sound to the Veronese.