Mistwoven Healer

I still feel awful as I sit on the witness stand. Looking out into the crowd, I see shaking heads and angry expressions on many of the faces. However, none of those angry expressions are turned on me but instead on Councilor Brooks. Even with his practiced demeanor, I can tell the man must be starting to feel the pressure of sitting in a room packed full of pissed-off sentinels.

Despite the obvious tension in the room, Judge Carter still sounds calm as she speaks. "Councilor Nakamura, you may now cross-examine the witness."

The kindly looking Japanese man stands and nods thankfully to the judge. "Thank you, Your Honor."

With a practiced stride and the hopes of a nation resting on his shoulders, Nakamura strides up to the witness stand. "It's good to speak with you again, Miss Solace. I hope you are still holding up?"

Swallowing, I nod. "Y-Yes," I manage, firming my posture. "I'm alright."

"That's good," Nakamura says. "Although, if you would like to take a moment to gather yourself, we can call for a brief recess before we proceed with our cross-examination. If Your Honor would allow it, of course."

Nakamura glances to Judge Carter, who nods. "That would be fine if Miss Solace would like a break."

At this, Nakamura gives me a significant look, his brown eyes seeming to gleam with intensity. Within them, I feel as if I can read a hint of his intent. He wants me to accept the break.

Well, anything Nakamura wants will only be helpful to me, so I nod. "A break would be appreciated, Your Honor," I say, still hesitant.

Judge Carter nods, "Very well, we will reconvene in thirty minutes, and Councilor Nakamura can resume his cross-examination at that time."

At this, conversations begin all around the room as people start standing and moving to the exit. Among the crowd, I see various sentinels looking alternatively pissed and resigned.

As I climb down from the witness stand and move towards the gallery — and the exit — I once again expect the other sentinels to be angry at me, and yet they just throw me sympathetic looks. Indeed, as I move, I hear several interesting snippets of conversation as I pass.

"-can't believe they're doing this to a blue sentinel of all people. They specifically chose one of our most vulnerable to emotionally attack."

"Stars-damn that Brooks guy is good; I knew this would be close, but-"

"-don't they see that she's terrified up there? Stars, this isn't going well."

I wince, lowering my eyes and trying to slip through the crowd unnoticed. However, sentinels instantly start forming up around me as I move, almost protectively.

Slowly, I start to understand what's happening. The GDF has a culture centered around sentinel colors. Reds are known as hotheads, greens as protectors, and blues… everyone thinks of us as healers. In general, blues aren't great at combat and don't do well with confrontation. I like to think I'm better than the average blue sentinel in these regards, but… yeah, I'm certainly no stereotype breaker.

Quickly, others start forcing their way into the group of sentinels surrounding me, particularly my teammates along with Audrey and Kayne.

"Head up, kid," Audrey says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as we pass through the exit door and out into the hallway. "We have a plan."

This does make me perk up as all the sentinels attending the trial congregate around Audrey and me in the wide hallway. Conversations continue, but I see more than a few eyes glancing in our direction.

"What plan?" I ask semi-desperately.

"Nakamura will come and speak with you soon," Audrey whispers, leaning in close. "We were hoping it wouldn't come to this, but we're going to need to do something showstopping to pull the trial back in our direction."

"Show stopping?" I ask, thankful for all the sentinels sheltering me from the press of bodies as we continue moving away from the others who were attending the trial.

"I can't say here," Audrey says. "We don't want them to be ready for it. Here comes Nakamura now; go talk with him and listen to him. It's going to be hard, but we can pull it off."

Arriving at our group a moment later, Councilor Nakamura gives me a small smile before gently taking my arm. "Would you join me a moment, Miss Solace?"

A few minutes later, I stand alone in a small office with both Councilor Nakamura and Judge Carter. The office might be small, but it's clearly high-class — made of expensive wood and ornate furniture. Yet, it also feels… unused? I suppose this is the office that Judge Carter is using while she's here, and there's no point in her settling in.

I have to admit, I'm a bit confused as to why Councilor Nakamura took me to Judge Carter's office, but I feel like trying to understand the ways of lawyers might just be beyond me.

"Alright, Nakamura," Judge Carter says, sounding a lot less formal now that we're out of the courtroom. "What is this all for?"

At this, Councilor Nakamura allows a sly smile to cross his face. "I brought Serena here to your office so I can discuss the calling in of a rather… unconventional witness with her without any presumption of witness tampering."

Judge Carter narrows her eyes, "Go on…"

And, as Councilor Nakamura starts to explain what he intends, my eyes go wider and wider.

Once the allotted time for the break is up, I quickly find myself up on the witness stand again as the proceedings begin once more.

To be honest, I can't decide whether I'm more or less nervous about the turn things have taken. Knowing what Councilor Nakamura intends… I'll be honest, I'm really not sure it will work.

[I can feel you worrying,] Celeste comments from where she sits proudly on my shoulder, visible to the room. [Don't worry, she'll come.]

"I know… that's what I'm worried about," I respond as Judge Carter bangs her gavel, and the room falls into silence once more.

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"This marks the end of our recess," Carter announces, casting Councilor Nakamura an annoyed glance. "I hope everyone is ready to proceed. Councilor Nakamura, I believe that you were just beginning your cross-examination of Miss Solace."

Nakamura stands, his previous smile gone but for the slight twinkle of his eyes. "Yes, Your Honor."

Once more, Nakamura returns to the lectern, placing his hands on it and looking up at me with confidence.

"Miss Solace, I trust you are feeling better after our recess?" Nakamura asks, inclining his head toward me.

I swallow nervously, hating all the attention on me, but nod. "Yes, Councilor."

"That's good. Now, I was hoping to start by addressing some of the questions that Councilor Brooks posed, but you didn't have the opportunity to answer. During his questioning, Councilor Brooks insinuated that one soldier, no matter how talented, cannot have an effect on a war at large. This is widely known to be true, but would you say the same thing applies to sentinels?" Nakamura asks.

I narrow my eyes, thinking, then shake my head. "From my experience, some sentinels can absolutely be more powerful than others. A Rank sentinels, such as my mentor Audrey, prove that the presence of one individual can turn the tides of an entire battlefield."

"You see, that's interesting," Nakamura says. "And, becoming A Rank, or higher rank in general, could greatly increase one's value on the battlefield, is that correct?"

I nod, "That is correct, yes."

"So, an attempt to push young sentinels into situations where they can increase their rank early in their career would make sense. Especially during desperate wartime situations. Wouldn't you agree?" Nakamura asks.

At this, Councilor Brooks shoots to his feet. "Objection, Your Honor, counsel is leading the witness!"

"Overruled," Judge Carter snaps, "these are topics you yourself brought up, Counselor Brooks."

Looking around hesitantly at Judge Carter and Councilor Brooks, I continue. "I would agree with that statement, Councilor."

Nakamura nods, "Now, in the case of a normal sentinel, I believe we can all agree that sending them into battle to increase their rank without going through the entire normal training regimen would be a massive risk. However, would you consider yourself an average sentinel?"

A chill runs down my spine; I know where Nakamura is going with this. Still, if I want any chance of staying in Shinara, I'll need to play his game.

"No, Councilor," I say, doing my best to be as vague as possible. The last thing I want to do in a room full of sentinels is give them all the impression that I think I'm better than them.

"Yes…" Councilor Nakamura says, clasping his hands behind his back. "I understand that you have a somewhat… unusual connection to a specific Centurion backer. She is your familiar's mother, is she not?"

And finally, we get to what we discussed, and I agreed to, in Judge Carter's office.

To bring up my connection to Althia in this trial has a lot of implications, which are, sadly, already becoming widely known — even before the trial began. Many GDF branches already knew that there was something special about our sentinel team in particular, and according to Councilor Nakamura, the best way to keep me in Shinara is to reveal to the GDF at large what it is that makes us special — particularly the information revealed to me when I first met Althia.

This, obviously, isn't something we want to get out to the general public. Everyone allowed to attend this trial, my father and grandfather included, will be sworn to secrecy about my connection to Althia. However, there is always the possibility of a leak occurring, and thus, Nakamura specifically pulled me aside to ask for my permission to reveal these things.

I'll be honest; it wasn't permission that I was willing to give lightly. Revealing my connection to Althia will put me a cut above regular sentinels, make me a greater target for organizations like the Stygian Reavers and the Apostles of the Maw, and will generally push into the light the primary reason for the treatment of my team. While it won't be revealed that each of my team members have a familiar with a similar connection, implications could also be made.

This, then, forced me to take the time to quickly pull the members of my team aside and get explicit permission from them to go through with this.

Even so, this isn't a step I would have ever agreed to if I didn't feel like the trial revolved around this showstopping move. I'm fully aware that Brooks currently has the trial in hand. Without revealing to Judge Carter and the GDF at large the real reasons these actions were taken, I would likely find myself on the way to America before the week was out.

Yet, there is still another reason I decided to go through with this. It's something Nakamura didn't mention in front of Judge Carter, but I picked up on the implication. If something of enough magnitude is revealed at the trial, then Judge Carter might be forced to defer to a higher authority once more. The next logical person to send would be Nightsong, the member of the Council of A-Ranks in charge of Japan and a sentinel that even Audrey fears.

Bringing everything to the Council of A-Ranks is certainly a risk, but I have to imagine that they won't want to fight Althia too hard on her wanting to preserve Japan.

So, holding all this reasoning in my mind, I respond to Nakamura's question. "Yes, Councilor. I have a connection to my familiar's mother; she is a centurion going by the name Althia the Golden, and I have come to understand that she is one of the rulers of her kind."

Nakamura smiles, "And, using your connection, would we be able to call her to the stand with you as a proxy?"

Once again, Brooks shoots to his feet, looking annoyed. "Your Honor! This is highly unusual!"

"Calm down, Brooks," Judge Carter says, although she too looks slightly cross at the execution of Nakamura's plan. "Centurions are intelligent beings fully capable of giving testimony. This has precedent from several other cases in which familiars gave testimony directly."

"But, Your Honor, does she intend to speak on behalf of this centurion?" Brooks asks, his tone calmer now.

At this, Judge Carter turns to me. "Miss Solace, how do you intend to proxy for this centurion backer?"

I wince; well, here we go. "I-" I start before a voice slips into my mind.

[Perhaps you should apologize before asking things of me,] Althia whispers. [What was it you called me when we last spoke? A "fucking psycho," if I remember correctly.]

"I will admit that was probably uncalled for," I respond mentally, trying to ignore the stares of the people around the room. "I still don't like how you consider yourself my mother, but… fine, I'm sorry."

[Good enough, I suppose,] Althia says, her voice growing stronger in my mind. [What is a mother if not forgiving. Tell the room that I am more than capable of speaking for myself directly. Also, when this is all over, I expect a conversation about this new path of yours.]

I stew angrily at her words. I know that Althia is very important to Celeste, but even if Celeste and I are technically one being now, I don't like her calling herself that. My mother was extremely important to me, and someone attempting to assume that title makes me feel nothing but discomfort and genuine anger. Still, I need her help… even if I don't like it.

Responding to Judge Carter, I say, "Althia told me that she is more than capable of speaking for herself."

Judge Carter nods, "Very well then, proceed, Miss Solace. Also, if you are not required to stay on the witness stand for this, you may return to the gallery."

[It isn't necessary,] Althia says in my mind, her voice strong and forceful. [My connection to you is enough that your being in the room will serve our purposes.]

Nodding to Judge Carter, I silently stand and return to my seat behind Counselor Nakamura. As I move, golden energy begins to radiate off of me in powerful waves — feeling extremely similar to what I felt from the Celestial Truths during my ascension.

Althia's power warps the air around me with power, and I feel a slight tugging sensation — as if someone just seized my bond with Celeste and is using it to draw themselves closer. I shiver as I take my seat, the power of Althia feeling like the coming of some ancient god of the stars.

Counselor Nakamura, apparently not one to miss a dramatic moment, speaks up. "Your Honor, the defense would like to call the Centurion, Althia the Golden, to the witness stand."

The room flashes with golden power, and I feel a sudden shift — my world momentarily going black. And then, I find myself sitting in an exact replica of the room save for one detail having changed. The back wall is missing, instead opening into a sky swirling with clouds and mist.

Within those clouds, her unfathomably massive golden body stretching off into the clouds is a white-gold dragon that practically hums with power.

The reaction is immediate and abrupt. Honestly, I'm not sure what Nakamura expected to happen, but this is about what I figured Althia would do when asked to provide testimony. Celeste's mother does seem to love a spectacle.

Still, dozens of sentinels shoot to their feet, bodies flashing as they shift into their assault states. From the power radiating off of Althia, I get the feeling that she could knock them all to their knees with a thought, but she doesn't. The third rule of her path is to never strike down the defenseless, and before her we are all defenseless.

Or… perhaps not. While Althia appears to actually be here, the back wall that vanished still appears to fuzz and shimmer. I would guess that she's straining our connection in order to do this, but I expected her to just draw us all into a vision. From the feeling I get, though, she's only done so partially. This room is still real, but the missing back wall and the dragon beyond it are not.

[Ah, a court of law, I approve,] Althia says, her voice booming in my mind. [As requested by my daughter, I have come to provide testimony.]