Aw'wal.
It is the practise in the Cities of the Desert that trials, such as the one to which Orlando, Fiamma and Shadya are summoned, are not open to the public. Fiamma, whose concept of justice is that of summary judgement by a feudal lord, is properly respectful of the judge in this impressive courtroom. As the trial starts, the Accused is not present.
The Caravan Master is summoned to tell of delivering the Accused to this city. Shadya is then summoned to tell of the arrest and subsequent activities of the Accused. Fiamma is then summoned and, with Shadya translating where necessary, starts to describe the Evil Wizard's cage-room. The judge requires that Fiamma go back to the original encounter with the bandits... and the descriptions run from there. Orlando is summoned and gives his name as Orlando, a lord of Arval. Orlando then tells his story: of seeking shelter, of the drink and the cage and his observations of the progressive changes in his fellow captive creatures. Orlando claims they were more human than now.
An expert witness is called. First Wizard is a dour, silent personage and his apprentice delivers his findings: the Accused, as can be deduced from the workbooks, has been experimenting with an elixir for shrinking and for having permanent effects. He, by deduction, therefore has very little education or very little respect for the classics on the subject, as the procedures to evoke permanence are very harmful. The ingredient of the basilisk is that which makes the potion strong and permanent, although not, heretofore, fatal.
The Accused is brought in. The First Wizard speaks! And SOMETHING can be felt hovering over the proceedings. The Accused replies; Fiamma and Orlando may be the only ones present who understand his language.
We proceed to tag-team translation: the Accused, Fiamma, and Shadya. The Accused admits to the workbooks and Orlando and the critters, although he claims that the critters were always animals. The First Wizard has his apprentice note that a ranking cleric can determine the truth of that claim.
A Cleric is brought in so rapidly that it is clear that this is not an uncommon element in such trials. The Cleric's skill reveals that all 24 living victims of the Accused have human souls, "some familiar." A ghost of one of those who died is raised and questioned. The judge rules that that ghost was human, transformed, and died of the transformation.
The next expert witness, a Second Wizard, is more pleasant than his colleague and speaks for himself albeit he too has an attending apprentice. He believes the transformations to be permanent and therefore there are only three possible ways to dispel the Accused's enchantment.
Based on the difficulty with which his spells can be undone, the Accused is sentenced to a Living Death in the desert, the prey of a particularly gruesome insect. Fiamma, expecting "off with his head," is horrified at this evidence of barbarity. Shadya is caught in a conflict of cultures trying to explain justice - and Fiamma opts to champion the Accused. Thus Fiamma volunteers to achieve whichever of the above quests it takes to restore Orlando, both for Orlando's sake and to allow the Evil Wizard a clean death.
Once the Judge understands, he tells Fiamma, "You may not have been born of us, but there is something in you like the Children of the Desert."
As the trial ends, Shadya seeks out the Caravan Master. Fiamma had said "we" when she volunteered, and it is clear to Shadya that a little singer and an even smaller lordling are going to need a bit more assistance in their questing. It is time to buy out a caravan guard contract, if possible.
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