(Dyn)

  At first, Dyn thought the uniformed men were Charles’ defeorneys. Or maybe attack attorneys? He wasn’t really sure how courts worked oh, let alone here on Mother ons. The gnomish woman walked past them and took her seat at the judge’s benbsp;

  As soon as the Judge sat down, Dyn shot to his feet. He didn’t know if standing was the right move, but he retty sure that’s eople did ba Earth. The st thing he wanted was to mess things up for Charles over some dumb etiquette mistake.

  Still settling into her seat, the Judge paused at the sudden movement from the chubby man. She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  Dyn looked between Charles and Nathan—they seemed just as fused as he anic surged, and before he could stop himself, Auto-manners kicked in. “Your Majesty.” He bowed. ‘Why am I bowing? Why isn’t anyone else standing?’

  Her eyes narrowed at him, and she leaned slightly forward. “Excuse me?”

  “I mean, yhness.” Dyn winced, dipping even lower, as if doubling down on his mistake might somehow fix it.

  The ers of her mouth twitched with amusement. “You may take your seat.”

  “Thank you.” Dyn dropped into his seat and leaned forward, wrag his brain for the right title. “Your Honor…?”

  Nathan leaned in close, his voice a low hiss. “Please, stop talking.”

  The judge took a deep breath, leveling a fi the rugged elf. “Listen, Charles, I don’t know what game you’re pying, but I don’t care how charming your friend is—I’ve no iion of going easy on you. We’re still processing the paperwork from yesterday’s double-murder.

  “And as for you.” Her gaze pinned Dyn in pce. “I’m not a queen or a monarch—just a civil servant. Judge Urvana will do.”

  Dyn slumped into his chair, his face burning with embarrassment. “Sorry, Judge Urvana.”

  “Yoing to be trouble, aren’t you?” Urvana shot Dyn a look and shook her head. “Alright. Let’s get started.”

  Dyn couldn’t stop himself. “Don’t we have to wait for the wyers?”

  His hand shot up to cover his mouth. ‘Goddamnit, Dyn.’ He bit his lip hard. “Sorry,” he mumbled through his fingers.

  Urvana shot him a withering look before shiftitention to Charles. “You’re fag the following charges, listed in ological order.” She picked up her tablet and began reading aloud.

  “Reckless driving on a mount—multiple ts. The final t is still pending.” She shot him a sharp look. “You jumped over pedestrians instead of going around them?”

  Charles gave a solemn nod, his expression unreadable. With a sigh, Urvauro her tablet.

  “Fleeing an officer. Upon seeing you—quite literally—bounding down the road, the officer ordered you to stop. You did not ply.” She scrolled to the offense.

  “Resisting arrest. The officer gave chase and caught up to you in front of the hospital. They attempted to detain you, but once again, you did not ply.”

  Urvana paused, staring at the tablet for a long moment. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she set it down with a soft thud. “Assaulting an officer. Your mount bit off the officer’s hand, Charles!” She pihe bridge of her nose. “Fortunately, the menders reattached it. He’s expected to make a full recovery.” Her voice was a mix of annoyand disbelief.

  Charles gave a small, curt nod at each charge, his jaw tightening with eae. He remained silent—there was o speak. His face stayed impassive, but a flicker ret darkened his eyes when Urvaiohe officer’s hand.

  She sighed and picked up the tablet with one hand. “Fleeing the se of a crime.” She held up one finger. “First t: failure to turn yourself in and self-report the i.”

  “Parking in a n zone.” Urvana arched a brow at Charles. “You summoned a vehicle right in front of the hospital’s loading zone?” She gnced down at her report. “And it’s still parked there?”

  Dyn’s stomach twisted as the charges piled up, eae nding like a punch to his gut—especially the bit about illegal parking. Charles had told him there wasn’t parking that close to the League of Adventurers’ Hall.

  ‘This is all because of me,’ Dyn thought as he slouched lower in his seat, guilt weighing heavily on him. He g Charles, w how he could stay so calm despite the ever-growing list of offenses.

  “Fleeing the se of a crime.” She held up two fingers. “Sed t: failure to turn yourself in.” She looked up from the tablet for a moment. “You could’ve at least moved the vehicle…” she muttered.

  “Reckless endangerment on a mount.” Urvana stopped and ran a hand through her hair, gathering her posure. After a steadying breath, she asked, “Why did you ride your mount inside the hospital?”

  Charles opened his mouth to speak, but the Judge silenced him with a raised hand. “That was rhetorical. We’ll go over everything once I finish this undry list of charges.” She took a breath. “Improperly stabling a mount…” She closed her eyes, ping the bridge of her nose.

  “An office without a door is not a proper pce to stable your mount…” She sighed but tinued. “Petty ry: you stole a gss jar filled with medical supplies.” A single ugh escaped her. “They’re free, you know that, right? You could’ve just asked.” She shook her head a reading.

  “Damage to hospital property: blog an office with medical ets so your mount couldn’t escape. I ’t wait to hear that expnation.” Urvana scrolled dowablet. “Fleeing the se of a crime.” She held up three fingers. “Third t—and you still hadn’t turned yourself in.”

  She had to scroll twice more to get past the list of items Vera had destroyed. “Negligence of a mount: you left a theropod—of all things—sitting in the middle of the hospital. Without food or water.”

  Nathan sat stiffly beside Dyn, arms crossed over his chest. He mostly maintained a posed fa?ade. It was his eyes that betrayed him—bck with the glimmer of frustration. His lips twitched, caught between a sigh and a grimace.

  Urvahe tablet down and fixed her gaze on Charles. “How do you plead?”

  Charles and Nathan both stood, but Nathan spoke first. “Judge Urvana, you remove the petty ry charge. I gave explicit instrus for Charles to retrieve the medical supplies on my behalf.”

  Urvana gave him an approving nod and picked up her tablet, tapping the s as she updated the case. “Charge withdrawn. Now, how do you plead?”

  Nathan gave a small nod and eased bato his seat, arms folded once more across his chest.

  Charles drew a breath. “Gu—”

  Dyn shot to his feet, his chair screeg as it skidded bad crashed into the half-wall behind them. He wi the sound and fshed a weak smile. “Sorry…”

  Then it hit him—what he was supposed to say. “Obje!” he blurted.

  Charles, Nathan, and Urvana stared at him in a mix of bewilderment and disbelief.

  Dyn had their attention. And sino one had stopped him yet, he pressed on. “Teically, since Charles was just following Nathan’s instrus to get the medical supplies, none of these charges should be his fault.” He smiled to himself, thinking he was clever.

  Urvana raised an eyebrow. “So, you think I should charge Nathan instead?” She motiooward the mender.

  Armed, Nathan’s head snapped from Dyn to the Judge. “Wait, what?”

  “No! No, no, no!” Dyn shook his head, waving his hands wildly. “Nathan only did it to keep me alive. I was going to die, and—”

  Urvana cut him off, shifting in her seat. “So, you wao charge you instead?” Her fusion mirrored Dyn’s perfectly.

  Dyn opened his mouth, closed it, then ope again, struggling to find a way out. At st, he looked up at the Judge. “ I get a mulligan?”

  Urvana tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “A what?”

  “A do-over. I get a do-over? I’d like to withdraw my obje.” Dyn dropped into his seat. “That is my final answer.” He cmped his mouth shut, determined not to say another word.

  Urvana closed her eyes, chug softly to herself. “I’ll give you points for being cute aertaining, but you o stop talking, or we’ll never get through this.”

  Dyn nodded, eyes locked on the desk in front of him, desperately avoiding Nathan and Charles’ incredulous stares.

  Urvana folded her hands ly. “Now, the only person I want to hear speak is Charles.”

  “Guilty on all charges,” Charles said, promptly taking his seat. A fresh wound split open above his right eyebrow—a lingering effect of the Dah Death debuff. Green blood trickled down his temple before he retrieved a needle and pricked his fihe wound closed, and he pulled out a handkerchief, wiping away the mess.

  “Charles, why are you bleeding in my courtroom?” Urvana’s voice brimmed with exasperation.

  Charles folded the cloth with care and tucked it into his pocket. “My apologies. It’s a lingering dition from yesterday’s fight.”

  Urvana leaned forward, resting her elbows on the bench. “The same fight where you killed two lised adventurers?”

  Dyn furrowed his brow. “Wait, the double-murder was yours?” He turo the rugged elf beside him. Charles gave a single solemn nod.

  Dyn blinked. ‘Charles killed two people?!’ he thought. ‘Well, teically, he’s killed me three times.’ His brow furrowed deeper. ‘Yeah, that checks out. Not sure why I’m surprised. We’ll have to work on this whole murderhobo phase he’s going through.’

  Notig everyoaring at him again, Dyn shook his head and waved a dismissive hand. “Sorry. Never mind.”

  “So,” Urvana said, “since we have no dispute about what happened, please expin why it happened.” She settled back, reag behind the bench to grab a pitcher of water and a mug.

  This didn’t line up with Dyn’s limited uanding of the Ameri legal system. As far as he khe w only cared about the what—the why didn’t really matter, except for proving motive. And evehat only mattered before vi, not after.

  Charles expined Dyn’s dire situation and the pn to save him. He reted Nathan’s instrus—get to the hospital, retrieve the medical supplies, aurn as quickly as possible. He came up with a pn to ride his mount to the hospital and teleport back with one of his magic abilities.

  Charles had ridden Vera tless times, having helped raise and train her from a chick. To him, it wasn’t reckless—he knew her exact capabilities as a mount. Urvana frowned but ceded, teically, there wasn’t a w against jumping over people. She removed the charge from his record.

  Charles agreed the officer was just doing his job by iigating a potentially dangerous situation, but there hadn’t been time to stop and expin. The chase, the fight, and the officer’s brief maiming were unfortunate sequences.

  “Saving one life doesn’t excuse endangering others,” Urvana warned. “Those charges will stay on your record.” She poured herself anss of water, the first already gone.

  Urvana asked about the vehiext. Charles expihat he khere would be sequences and he wouldn’t have access to his ste ability after turning himself in. So, he summoned his treehouse and grabbed as much fk as he could carry—it was the only food Dyn could safely eat.

  She pressed him to expin. “Why didn’t you dismiss it afterward?”

  Relut to give details about his abilities, the rugged elf said, ‘It has a daily cooldown, and I might’ve needed something else.’ He offered no further expnation.

  The Judge agreed that was a logical approach, but still vioted the w. The charge would stay on his record, though she promised to be le.

  Charles anded everyone’s attention as he expined why he had to ride Vera through the hospital. Leaving her alone was too dangerous—someone else might temporarily lose the use of a hand. So, he kept Vera close. As they moved through the hallways, staff, patients, and visitave them a wide berth.

  Relutly, Charles expined Vera would bee a threat the moment he left her aloo teleport back with the medie. He filled the sink with water, barricaded the exits, and asked Nathan to send a recovery team as soon as possible. He would have gone back for Vera, but he turned himself in as soon as Dyn had the medie.

  Urvana sat ba silence, drumming her fingers lightly on the bench as she mulled over her thoughts.

  “Filling the sink was quick thinking—and an ht in our iigation. Since you turned yourself in before causing more trouble, I’ll remove the negligence charge. The rest, including reckless endangerment, stays.” She tapped ooablet.

  Urvana g the trio. “I hesitate to ask, but if anyone has anything to add, raise your hand.”