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The local militia captain rapped on the doorframe, "We've found the suspect, Judge."
"Excellent! Bring me to him. Let's get this headache over with," Theod replied.
A short walk later, the captain gestured to a door. "He's in here."
Theod held himself tall and thought of the ideals that had brought him to The Judge's Order. He hasn't been out in the field long, but even a new judge's rough cloth robe and wooden badge of office can project the presence of the original for long enough to make an imposing entrance.
Stepping through the door to a suddenly hushed room, he asks "Which is the accused?"
He's presented with a slightly bruised man, hands tied with ropes.
"Do you swear to tell me the truth today, as I have sworn to use that knowledge well?"
The man growls "Yes", which Theod knows is true, and then "Much good may it do you!"
There is a feeling of overwhelming light, and cracks in it, spreading through space.
When he can make sense of his surroundings, he is... not there.
fairshot
winterlight
"That is your choice, of course. Kaja, go ahead and put him in the dormitory and find an initiate to get him started with the language, someone who needs practice with the language gift."
"Yes Sister," says Kaja, bowing, and she leads Theod away.
"Yes Sister," says Kaja, bowing, and she leads Theod away.
fairshot
"Thank you, Sister." Theod bows slightly as they turn to leave.
Once they've left, he turns to Kaja and says "That seemed like it went well."
Once they've left, he turns to Kaja and says "That seemed like it went well."
winterlight
"Cirth," she nods. "But if you do read you may find it easiest to start with the alphabet and someone who did not have any alphabets already might not."
fairshot
"Sensible. Judges are all expected to learn as well. It makes it easier to learn from old examples. Especially unusual situations that no living judge has encountered; I imagine you'd read about recognizing unusual dark things sometimes."
winterlight
"There aren't any dark things so obscure that we won't see them in our lifetimes, but yes, the novices read about them rather than go into the field with only hearsay."
fairshot
"What kinds of dark thing exist? I saw the zombies, but I don't know what I'll want to be on the lookout for."
winterlight
"There are zombies, imps, liches, woken shadows, tainted beasts - sometimes tainted people too - wraiths and banshees and ghouls."
fairshot
"If I stick to relatively civilized areas, which ones am I most likely to need to run away from?"
winterlight
"The shadows. They're good at hiding. Maybe imps, but not because they're common, just because the shadows - running doesn't work."
fairshot
"Monstrous things are not pleasant, but there are a lot of shadows anywhere there are people. If some of them are 'woken'... well, I suspect you have more paranoids than home does."
winterlight
"If you are plagued by a woke shadow it is more likely to hide in your ear than under your bed."
winterlight
"Most people wouldn't make them and many people who would can't, but when someone knows how they can make huge numbers before we track them down at the source."
winterlight
"It would be very useful if we could simply lie-detect people who might have been manufacturing them," Kaja nods.
fairshot
He smiles. "The judge gift is very useful. On a previous topic, was there a library or something where I should find materials for learning the alphabet?"
winterlight
"I was going to just write out the alphabet for you and then have an initiate who could use the practice with their language gift help you with the rest."