Trial by Jury

After Thisbe and Fifer ironed things out between them, Thisbe pointed to Queen Eagala’s books. “What are these?”

Fifer quickly explained Queen Eagala’s journals and how she and Sky had obtained them. When Rohan returned, he and Thisbe started reading through them, looking for clues that would help them understand the Revinir.

Fifer left them and joined up with her fellow panelists, who’d gathered in the entryway. They talked through their strategy, then went to work interviewing dissenters, starting with the ones who seemed to have done the least amount of damage and appeared the most remorseful.

Over the next several days the panel drilled the dissenters one at a time about their roles in the civil war. Sometimes Seth or Carina sat in to give one of the others a break, but Fifer wanted to hear from each person herself. Simber, Florence, and the dragons had a pretty good idea of who the bad seeds were, having watched over them since the battle began. Their true colors showed through the longer they had to wait to be interviewed. There were several who were more than a little angry at Fifer. And some who threatened her for what she’d done.

Aaron traveled back and forth between the Island of Shipwrecks and Artimé, fetching tools and bringing materials he found from ship wreckages to reconstruct the three tube panels that had been destroyed. As promised, he listened in on the interviews without being seen, and gave Fifer feedback whenever she asked for it. Simber listened in as well from his spot in front of the hospital ward. Every now and then Fifer would catch Simber’s eye and nod or frown, and Simber would respond nonverbally to indicate his opinion. Gorgrun and Quince gave their verdicts about the hearts of the people, and Maiven proved to have the most poised and thoughtful questions to get at the heart of the individual’s motivations. There was something about her royal presence that brought many of the dissenters to understand what serious harm they’d done and show deep shame for it.

It was a relief to discover that many of them were sorry for their actions. They’d gotten caught up in it, they said. Interview after interview, that was the common thread. Looking back at the way things had escalated, they couldn’t believe they’d let Frieda’s fear- and hate-based momentum carry them to do such awful things to their fellow Unwanteds. Many of them confessed to not wanting to participate in the siege but also not knowing what to do about it at that point. Things had gone too far. They feared for their own lives, if Frieda had discovered that they wanted out.

Several of the dissenters begged to speak to the ones who’d been trapped in the remote rooms so they could confess and apologize. Others wrote letters to the ones they’d harmed.

“I froze Seth and put him in the tube to the lounge,” sobbed one man. “I’m so sorry. I used to help care for him when he was a little boy, while Carina was gone with Alex rescuing people. I can’t believe I did it. I don’t know how I turned into this person.”