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She folds forward, too far gone to hear Tereza’s choked gasp.
"Are you guys sure this is what you want to do?" the beastman says, voice thick, eyes hidden behind scraggly locks of hair. "The village can still fight, you know."
The minotaur looks up at the looming temple. "No," he declares, "too many would be hurt."
Niniver nods from his perch on the minotaur’s shoulder. "Justice and right, no matter the cost," he says in agreement. "We’re the guards. It’s our job to protect Goat Path."
Gemma’s mouth opens in a soundless scream as the memories flood in, childhood in a prison darker than any place she’s ever known, Niniver’s terrible loneliness as he finds himself in a strange new world without his parents or any friends, the iron spine of duty rising up to fill the void. A new teacher. Fienna, the first true friend in his life. Accelerating disasters, one after the next, awful truths and a stirring beneath the earth that threatens everything that exists in her new home, with its endless, impossibly beautiful stars. Apocalypse, and those who were lost, and what came after, and...
Two days later, the lemure appears in their home, sets the scroll on their ramshackle dining table mid-meal, bows to them, and vanishes again in a puff of black smoke.
DIMENSIONAL WHEEL NO. 1680
THE TRIAL COURT OF MECHANICUS 1680
ANU DISTRICT COURT
DOCKET NO. ∝5|XI|00110001
The Nine Hells of Baator, ss
THE PRISON DIMENSION CARCERI,
REQUEST FOR INTERROGATORIES
TO BE ANSWERED BY THE PLAINTIFF
The Defendant requests that the Plaintiff:
b) every name you or your incarnations have used in the past; and
c) the dates you have used each name.
b) every race you or your incarnations have manifested in the past; and
c) the dates you have incarnated as each race.
_ 3. State the date, dimension, plane, and planet of your birth.
_ 4. State your alignment.
_ 5. Please provide proof that the individual answering these questions is the plaintiff, an incarnation of the plaintiff, or an authorized representative acting on behalf thereof.
_ 4. Please state the names, races, addresses, qualifications, and alignments for all individuals from whom you intend to source the aforementioned proof.
Respectfully Submitted,
Signed: Hygabaizihr, paeliryon-at-law
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a true copy of the above document was served upon the Plaintiff by lemure at this address: Western Quadrant, Prime Material City of Redcliffe, Planet Tangenir, on 2nd Silismonth, Year 1340 (Tangenir Local Time).
Zeunoch, Hygabaixihr, and Bael-loth, LLBO;
representing for,
THE PRISON DIMENSION CARCERI
189th hour of the Rule of Loengrim, Acting Warden (Carceri Local Time)
"So what does it mean?" Tereza asks, bewildered, rubbing at her fingers where the scroll singed her.
"It means—it means they want me to stop, right?" Gemma asks, not at all sure she understood it herself.
"It means they’re trying to stop you," Lariashan corrects, putting the scroll back down on the sisters’ table and adjusting her gloves. "At least that’s what I’d guess. I think that they’re going to argue that because you’re not the one who initiated the case against Carceri, you can’t reinstate it."
"But..." Outrage swells up through Gemma’s chest. "But I am the same one! That was the whole point of all of this!" She gestures broadly to herself, her eyes gone blank white, her blue skin, her white-streaked hair.
"You know, I think I agree," the elf says, tapping her chin. "But you’re going up against what I’m sure must be some of Baator’s finest lawyers. They’ll make you prove it."
"But how do I do that?" Gemma deflates, bewildered. "I don’t—"
The two of them look over at Tereza, her distraught eyes, and her hands balled in the front of her skirt in determination.
"You know I’m not letting you go anywhere without me, right?"
Gemma opens her mouth to protest, but the memory nudges her, Fienna’s arms wrapped tightly around Niniver as he wept on her shoulder for everything he now knew. She remembers determination like Tereza’s—seeing it on the faces of the villagers, feeling it settle across Niniver’s features, watching it burn in Fienna’s eyes, exactly like it had in her brother Keinan’s, back at the beginning of everything.
She nods, meekly, and looks back at Lariashan, pleading.
"Well," their houseguest says, "I don’t know either. But if you’re still set on it—"
Gemma nods resolutely, reaching out and taking her sister’s hand. Lariashan grins.
"I think it sounds like a hell of an adventure to find out."