The Unforgiven and The Exile 4 Chapter 4

"Do not judge her quickly, my boy. She worries that an innocent soul will be found guilty before the truth is known."

The hooded man grunted in acknowledgement as the old man moved on. "On that we are of the same mind, O-fa."

The old man glanced back at the strange, hushed words. The seat was empty, save the ghost of a breeze that rustled the robes of a nearby couple deep in conversation. The hooded stranger was already receding into the far shadows of the council hall.

Shava chose a seat at the front of the gathered crowd. The smooth swirls of the wooden bench should have been comfortable—they had been shaped by woodweavers to promote balance and harmonic discussions of civic duty—but the old woman could not find a comfortable position. She glanced at her husband, who was now settled patiently on a creaky stool, waiting to be called. Beside Asa, a bailiff stood and picked his teeth with a sliver of wood. The old woman recognized the bailiff as Melker, leader of the riders that had come for Riven. She glared at him, but Melker took no notice. He was watching the doors at the back of the room. When they opened and closed behind three darkly robed figures, he straightened quickly, tossing aside the bit of wood in his mouth.

The magistrates, their smooth vestments settling behind them as they took their place at the head table, looked out at the crowded hall. The noise in the great room dropped to an uneven silence. One of the three, a tall, slim woman with a falcon nose, stood solemnly.

"This tribunal has been called to take in new attestations in the matter of Elder Souma's death."

A hum of murmurs, like a hundred locusts, began to build from somewhere in the middle of the crush of people. Some had heard of the new evidence the judge spoke, but most had gathered at the rumor there was a Noxian in their midst. But rumors didn't change what they all knew: Elder Souma's death was no mystery. The wind technique, the magic that scoured his meditation hall was all the evidence that was necessary. Only one besides Souma himself could have executed such a maneuver.

A wound, unevenly healed, opened. The hive mind of the crowd coalesced in a moment of communal pain. If the elder had not fallen, they shouted to each other, the village would not have taken such heavy casualties. Shortly after the murder, half of a Noxian warband had slaughtered many on the way to Navori. So many sons and daughters had been lost in the Noxian engagement, an engagement that swelled in the distressing imbalance of Souma's death. Worse yet, the village laid the blame on one of their own.

The thrum found a clear voice.

"We already know who murdered Elder Souma," Shava spoke through weathered lips. "It was that traitor, Yasuo."

The crowd nodded and a biting agreement rippled through the mob.

"Who knew Elder Souma's wind techniques? Yasuo!" Shava added. "And now Yone has not returned from the pursuit of his unforgivable brother. Most likely the coward is responsible for that as well."

The crowd's gnashing grew again, this time crying out for Yasuo's blood. Shava settled more easily on the bench, satisfied that the question of guilt had been pointed back at the correct person.

The falcon-nosed judge came from a long line of woodweavers, ones famed for being able to untwist and straighten even the heaviest burls. She lifted a perfectly round sphere of hard worn chestnut and brought it down definitively against its jet-black cradle. The sharp sound wrenched the crowd into silence and order returned to the hall.

"This court seeks knowledge and enlightenment about the facts of Elder Souma's death," the judge said. "Do you wish to stand in way of enlightenment, Mistress…?"

The old woman looked to her husband and felt heat rise in the skin of her cheeks. "Konte. Shava Konte," she said much less boldly. She dipped her head. The old man on the stool watched her and mopped the sheen of sweat from his own balding crown.
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"As I was saying, we are here to take in new evidence." The falcon judge looked out at the crowd for any other stubborn burls and nodded to the bailiff, Melker. "Please bring her in."

Chapter end