The early spring air held a chill, sun bright and skies clear. However, she felt little of it, the gazebo built with gss windows and wooden panels, as well as an iron firepce with a ey. A dozen fine chairs with slight padding surrounded an oval table. Pleasant sts lingered, geones from the apple wood burning, a hint of citrus from a perfume.

  It would be the perfect pce for a tea party. Indeed, she had hosted several already. The guests today, though, were not the kind to be so ined.

  “My Lady, the guests have arrived.”

  Her butler’s words cut through the gentle silence of a crag fire. She did not react, simply finishing her sip of tea with a nonce; only then did she gesture.

  She sat with her back to the door as her three particur guests ehe gazebo. Truly, it ce ill-suited to them. One was of such height that he had to walk with a stoop, another could not keep his nose from sg up, and the third looked around until he noticed a certain maid, then pointedly looked away.

  Their trouble did here as, sitting down, the chairs were a little too small to be fortable, the padding rather thin, and the table was low enough that it pressed against the rgest of the three’s legs.

  “Would my guests like a drink? There is fresh tea,” she said with a small smile.

  The judge cleared his throat. “My Lady, I think it would be best if we do not tarry and dey your… ter appoi.”

  “Well, Master Schulz, I suppose that would be best,” she said, a ck en her voice, then turo the dea. “I heard that the Bishop could not attend—am I correct that sir is here is in his stead?”

  He bowed his head. “Yes, I am afraid he has important matters to attend to with Easter approag, but he has veyed to me his wishes for this discussion.”

  For a moment longer, she stared at him, her smile unging a as if colder, the her gaze across the other two. “I did also invite Mr Hase to mediate; however, he thought it would be inappropriate to be involved with matters ing his rept. He truly is a man with great respect for the city’s institutions.”

  With that, she let out a sigh and a wrinkle formed between her eyes.

  “This really is a vexing situation. The letters grow lohe time between them shorter, and I follow less and less of what anyone is even writing. I pray that we have takeime to sider our own points carefully and would give each other the respect to speak without interruption. In the end, a debate should rely upos, not shouting over each other.”

  “Well said, My Lady,” the judge said, giving a polite d soft smile.

  She smiled back, then turo the other two. “Mr Mayor, Mr Schmitt, are we also in agreement on this?”

  “Yes, My Lady,” came the staggered replies.

  “Excellent. Then, as I uand it, this began with Mr Mayor and so I would like him to present his points first,” she said, settling her gaze on him.

  He sat there for a sed with his hand up to adjust his cap. After taking a breath in, he spoke.

  “It is like this. I grew up in the Church as an orphan, I grew up with the teags, and then I worked with a travelling mert. I know it is that each pce has its own rules and ws and they are to be duly followed. However, it is now the case that I am not a travelling mert. I have a home. It is not my pce to say what ws are written, I know. But it is my pce, as a Christian, to ask for clemency.

  “I months, I have sent these requests to My Lady and she has obliged. Yet the guild pins I bother them too much. So I thought, rather than bother the guild and save My Lady from signing the requests, the punishments could be brought in lih My Lady’s views.”

  Silence followed for a few seds before she picked up her cup and took a sip. “Mr Mayor puts forward his point suctly. Mr Schmitt, while the Church has been uninvolved so far, I would like to hear the Bishop’s views on this matter.”

  He sat pletely still, his gaze fixed at a distant point in front of him. At her invitation to speak, though, he brought up a hand and cleared his throat, theuro his position.

  “The Church preaches fiveness and salvation. While some would call how we made judgements in the past barbaric, what words in a book fails to capture is the reality of how the trials were ducted. Those with heavy hearts would fess, knowing the Lord would not spare them, and those with siy would uake the trials without hesitation.

  “Miracles are rare, but, rather than diviervention, we saw the accused’s siy when faced with hardship and judged them by that. Few who uook the trials were judged guilty, and we made the trials appear scarier tharuly were to deter the guilty.

  “pared to the expert judgement of clergy, cases are now decided by en being able te dots or bribe a dozen others to speak lies on their behalf. Even in cases which require juries, it seems as if the worst sinners should always have a friend on the jury, willing to vihe others of his innoce.

  “Regardless of how a w is written, if it is used to punish the i and spare the sinner, it is an affront to the Church.”

  He spoke with an unusual to least as far as she was ed, used to his more timid exges. How he spoke did not matter to her at this time, though.

  “The Church brings a valuable point-of-view to this discussion. My Thanks, Mr Schmitt. Last of all for this introdu, then, we have Master Schulz,” she said, her gaze turning to the judge.

  He had not sat fortably to begin with, what arguments had been made so far doing little to settle him either. However, he was not a man easily uled—aurned her look with assed as a warm smile.

  “My Lady, matters of justice are not simple things. This goes beyond i uilty. Our role in society is to maintain pead good order, which requires discing those with fickle hearts from scheming. I would not send a man to death unless I believed him guilty of such a crime as murder, rape, or treason. God knows my faith best.”

  She waited to see if he had more to say, but he looked tent to end it there.

  So she sat there and said nothing. For a while, she moved her gaze from oo the other, a frown upon her brow and a slight pout to her lips. In the end, she broke the silence by lifting her cup; her maid stepped over, took it, ao the firepce where a teapot kept warm upoop of it.

  As those light footsteps sounded out, she spoke. “Pray tell, do my guests believe we, God’s children, are fually good?”

  It was not a question any of the three expected and that showed on their faces, as much as they tried to ceal it. Of them, it was the dea who answered first. “We are made in the Lord’s image and it is through temptations in life that we stumble.”

  She gave a lopsided smile, yet made no ent, instead settling her gaze upon the judge.

  He sat firm for a moment and then said, “I fail to see the relevance of that question to this versation.”

  “Oh, but it is a most essential question to ask,” she said, pausing there to accept a fresh cup of tea. “After all, there are so many oners iy. Is it not the case that, if they are proo senseless violence, such things as cities could never exist?”

  “My Lady, philosophy is all well and good, but the reality is that our hard work is what keeps the city from falling into such violence—”

  She raised a hand and, after hesitating, he stopped there, then she said, “I do not believe sir.”

  It was a simple sentehat left behind such a heavy silence. His polite smile strained, eyes narrowed, and the chair felt more unfortable than before as he tensed.

  “Allow me to rephrase that. While I am sure sir truly believes in what he has said, I believe the oners would, without ws, simply enforce their own justice. However, as sir has said, justice is not a simple thing and, if left to oo enforce, it would be proo great injustices.”

  She paused there to have a sip of tea.

  “I shall be travelling to the capital soon and, there, I hope to speak to those educated on ws. Sir surely is an expert on enf ws, but I have need of someone who is an expert on writing ws.”

  He brought up a hand, only to cover his mouth and give a slight cough. “My Lady, our ws really are sound,” he said, a noticeable politeo his voice.

  “Ihey are,” she said and she tapped the side of her cup three times with her nail, tings ringing out. “This is something I have entered many times. Our aave us these wonderful gifts of civilisatio we are averse t to leave behind such gifts for our desdants. Sir—sirs—I appreciate this is not a simple matter, I do, and it is because of that that I would seek an expert to assist me in this matter. Perhaps, he will tell me that nothing need be done, in which case I do apologise for wasting our time….”

  Trailing off, she took a moment to meet each of their’s gaze, thely folded her hands on her p.

  “However, I believe that the illusion of the pursuit of justice is a worthy goal to strive for.”

  None present were people of simple minds. Each had their own thoughts on the meandering versation and where it would end and what that would mean, only for her st ent to be like a turning key, unlog a thought they had yet to sider.

  As if to give them a moment to prehend the shift in the discussion, she turned her head and looked out upon the grounds for a long sed, then turned back to them.

  “There is no crime which God will not judge. Master Schulz, I agree there is a o maintain good order. What I disagree with is how the guild’s resources are being used. I doubt it shall ever be the case that every criminal will find justi life, so it is the case that we must carefully sider how best to use the guild’s resources.”

  He took a deep breath, his hands finding it difficult to find a fortable position. “My Lady, what you are saying is certainly wise. However, with all due respect, I already do sider how to best use the guild’s resources, among many other matters.”

  “I am sure sir does. What sir ot sider, though, is which ws are the best use of resources to enforce,” she said.

  His smile slipped, mouth pressed into a line. “What is the point of a w if it may be broken?”

  “Indeed, what is the point?” she said, a muted humour to her voice that still showed in her smile.

  As careful as his expression had been so far, a crack appeared as he fell into a frown while ping the bridge of his nose. “My Lady, I appreciate your uanding this far, but it seems that we are moving farther away from the… purpose of this meeting.”

  “Are we?” she asked, tilting her head. “Then pray do allow me to tie this discussion back to its roots. As of this moment, I am deg that capital punishments are only permitted for verdicts of treason against the King, myself, or the city. For verdiurder, rape, and coer, they are to be jailed until my return. For verdicts of burgry and other non-violent thefts, they are to be fined an appropriate amount; if they are uo pay it, they are to be jailed for a time equal to how long it would take a man to earn that amount at a respectable job.”

  Pausing there, she asked him, “Does sir follow thus far?”

  “My Lady, if we are to keep all these men in jail, I fear we shall—”

  “Sir is not answering the question I asked.”

  Her voieither raised nor quiet, cut him off and filled the gazebo with a silehat stretched for a sed, seds, approag a minute before he broke it.

  “I uand.”

  She gave a small smile, pig up her tea for a sip, only to frown and hold it out, her maid walking over in quick, light steps to take it away.

  “Of course, if sir is in need of certain assistance, Mr Mayor shall deploy the militia in a suitable manner. It would be good practice for if there es a time when we must hold prisoners of war,” she said, her hauring at her uest.

  The mayor bowed his head in agreement. “As My Lady wishes,” he said.

  “Oher hand,” she said, turniher hand to her uest, “if the Church wishes to judge, thehem judge. Minor disputes and matters of sin may be entrusted to them—drunkenness, prostitution, these kinds of things where no major harm has been itted to another person.”

  The dea bowed his head. “I believe this is agreeable with the Bishop’s instrus,” he said.

  So she brought both her hands together, a gentle cp sounding out, and turned her attention once more to the judge. “Master Schulz, I truly do believe in the good work of the guild. Sir has been gracious enough already to recruit more clerks, which has helped matters of business proceed more smoothly, and now I ask sir to share some of the burden so that sir may focus on the crimes which most disrupt the city’s peace.

  “Of course, I would not ask for something while nothing iurn. To better iigate these most serious crimes, I shall be looking to form something like a small militia whose members would be trained in taking ats, questioning suspected criminals, and afforded powers of arrest.”

  After listening closely, he took a moment, then asked, “How would such people much differ from wat?”

  “Well, Master Schulz, they would be petent for a start,” she said lightly, c her mouth as she the out a titter. “This group would be in my employ, not the city’s, and they would report to the judge of the case. I would also like for them to be trained such that they would be able to act as notary for rec witness statements.”

  Her maid walking over, she paused there to accept the fresh cup of tea and, after a sip, she tinued.

  “I believe that the public would be put at ease by such men. Someone of good-standing, polite in their speech, who may assure the victims that we are doing our best t about justice for them,” she said, aone held a secretiveo it, as if bringing the judge into a scheme.

  Then, as if to add to that allusion, she leaned forward in her seat and now spoke little louder than a whisper.

  “Master Schulz, I believe that we must set an example for the oners. Let us no longer be people who repay violeh violence. If I am wrong, then we shall at least know what does not work, and we may tell our desdants such. However, if I am correct—I believe it is worth trying for that ce.”

  Silence, for a sed, seds, trig by until he finally nodded.

  A smile bloomed on her lips.