012.2 "Free will is the greatest blessing of Creation, withheld to none."

[Corwin]

[18:55] <Kotono> Light. Light and the sound of music. Music that stirs faraway memories, the music of the forest. Memories of Lifasa bubble within Jaela as she flies ahead, a feeling of liberation filling her as she flies onward.
[18:56] <Jaela> Having been overwhelmed a few times that day already, what's one more? It seems not even dying would change that.
[18:59] <Kotono> Forests. You fly through forests, racing ahead...trees? You stand before three great trees. A vast ring of light connects them...no. On further inspection it is three rings as one. The trees are enormous, rising up to form a forest all their own. Between these trees, a flickering set of eyes appear. In an instant you know you are home. Angharradh has taken you home, and you stand before a form of the Triune Goddess.
[19:01] <Jaela> "Thanks. For seeing me. My Lady," Jaela says, awkward and halting. "I died and I'm a soul, and I came here, so you know everything. Right? I think that's how it works."
[19:07] <Kotono> In this you hear a murmur of three voices. The voice speak as one in words you do not understand, cannot understand. Love. Love has brought you here. What comes is not words, but simple understanding. Behind the eyes you can see a golden heart appear, shining like the sun.
[19:10] <Jaela> "Find love where it takes root, huh?" Jaela quotes from memory. She squeezes her eyes tightly shut, a part of her still struggling to recall that she can use them both now. "Please help me. I don't know what to do anymore."
[19:18] <Kotono> Three voices speak again, this time as words that carry no meaning, yet transmit understanding to you. 'To chase romance is a lovely art, as is to turn evil away from evil. But can one living tree support a dead one, no matter how it loves? It has been done, but more often failure is the result.'
[19:23] <Jaela> "I know that. Of course. It makes sense. Doesn't it? If it were so easy, everyone would do it. You'd hear about all the time. Not once a decade, if that. It's hard." Jaela wraps her arms around herself. "Lord Helm thinks it's impossible. A god told me it's impossible. What can I say back? But even then, I just can't let go. I need to hear it from you. That there's no chance. No chance at all. What I do. That she'll never be swayed. That she'll never feel anything. That she can't, and I can't change her."
[19:36] <Kotono> 'There is always a chance.' The reply is within your, 'Free will is the greatest blessing of Creation, with-held to none. But...to follow her risks Helm enforcing his judgment on you, and even if you avert that, the chances are you will be dragged into a nightmare never ending. A nightmare that may rise to engulf your belowed Lifasa.' The golden heart before you glows dimmer, darkening before vanishing.
[19:42] <Jaela> "I didn't do anything wrong," Jaela says. She needs to say it, and to hear something, be it confirmation or judgement. "What I did when I freed her was right. If I'm ever in a situation like that, I would do the same thing. That sort of punishment wasn't right. It was cruel, needlessly cruel. To be impaled for all eternity, to suffer alone and without any chance of reprieve. That's what devils do! That's Hell. We can't do things like that! Please, if you agree, won't you help me?"
[19:56] <Kotono> 'How many suffered by her hand, died and damned forever because of her sweet seductions?' The voices speak as one, 'She is now free to hunt again.' A note of reproach joins that voice, 'She earned that punishment time and time again. Had Torm not fallen, it would have continued.'
[20:03] <Jaela> "Her soul couldn't be trapped, like Lord Helm wanted to do with mine? There was no more humane option? And she is so important He can't delay action, but was forgotten in the two thousand years Lord Helm took over Torm's duties?" Jaela understands the reproach, she really does, but all that she has left is frustration. "Has she hunted since I freed her? Has she... killed someone or hurt someone or subverted someone since I freed her? Is she doing it now, while I'm gone? Yes, she's manipulating me. But I won't be tricked so easily! So other than that...." Jaela trails off helplessly. "It's all about showing her the right way, isn't it? If she does all I ask, but I return and stab her in the back for it, how is that just?"
[20:10] <Kotono> There is a pause, this time the voices speaking aloud, "It is what should be." The three answer as one. "Jaela, you have a more important fate than to fall into her web. Petition Helm for a more humane inprisonment."
[20:14] <Jaela> "I... can do that," Jaela says cautiosly, "if this is your command, My Lady. But Lord Helm refused my request to keep her under guard by forces loyal to Him. Will He really be swayed this time?" The question that really worries her is next, however, and she hesitantly asks, "If He refuses and tells me to break my vows and torture her, or have my soul torn and imprisoned, am I... on my own?"
[20:16] <Kotono> "We have an agreement with Helm - when one of our followers commits a grave crime against the other, we abide by the other's judgment. Should you choose that path, Helm and Helm alone shall decide your fate. He has taken on Torm's responsibilities since his Fall, and you are in his judgment."
[20:21] <Jaela> "I... well, I have no chance but to try, do I?" Jaela asks, close to hysterics by now. "Before you send me back, My Lady, can you at least arm me with knowledge? Of risen fiends and successes? Of Annalise's victims, and who they were? Of the circumstances, of how she became what she is and why? Of why she cannot be killed?"

[Corwin]

[19:32] <Kotono> Knowledge flows into Jaela, granted by the Triune Goddess's mercy. It makes itself known in her mind, filling up with this gift.
[19:37] <Jaela> It takes a while for Jaela to process, but when she does, she only gives a slight nod. "I understand." She forces a smile onto her face. "All of this made me remember something I told Naliel. If you forget what you stand for, it's all over. Better a fate worse than death than just become like those. Does it matter if Annalise does it or Helm's court? The end result of abandoning my code's the same." Her time is short, she knows that much. Even if Helm gave her twenty one hours, deities are busy and her patron is no different. "Would you send someone to see my final defense before that court?"
[19:40] <Kotono> This time there is no voice - simply an understanding, a comforting knowledge that brings a reverie's calmness to Jaela. One will be there, of that you are certain.
[19:42] <Jaela> "I have one final card to play," Jaela asserts. "Just one. Then, it depends on how much Lord Helm values integrity." There is so much she wants to ask. Was Naliel right? Is her mother disappointed with her, or does she understand? But she has to focus on this, and with a bit of an effort all such questions fade away. "I, uh, don't know how this works," Jaela admits awkwardly when nothing happens for a few moments. "But I'm ready. As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."
[19:44] <Kotono> There is but a moment's haze before Jaela returns. She finds herself in her body once more, blinking as if awakening from a deep sleep. Her sense are not addled, nor is she tired. She has returned to the court, Helm before her and impassive. "It is time," He intones, his voice the sound of a gavel calling a court to order.
[19:48] <Jaela> Jaela nods jerkily, standing before the court. "I'm... sorry," she says, adjusting to the transition and to having her flawed, real body back. "All this time, I was defending myself under the laws of the Seldarine. Lady Angharradh taught me better, and I would like to defend myself once more. Properly, this time." She takes a look around the court. Would she find a friendly face? Adrian, or another of her Lady's followers? Or would Naliel glare at her accusingly? "I'm pleading not guilty. May I proceed?"
[19:50] <Kotono> Behind you is now a gallery of seats. Most are filled with celestials and archons of various stripes, though you do see one elven eladrin. It stands out with it's vibrant, almost mismatched beauty, watching. He has a mane of bright red hair, nodding once to Jaela as her gaze passes him. "Proceed," Helm says.
[19:52] <Jaela> "When I was accused, I was asked a few simple questions," Jaela speaks, refusing to sigh in relief. "All I ask, in fairness, is for the chance to ask the same of the court. Lord Helm, what is your duty towards Annalise? Is it to make certain she is never freed from her eternal imprisonment?"
[20:14] <Kotono> A moment of murmurings are heard behind you, outraged little noises. But the merest shift by Helm silences them to the last, a stone cold silence reigning. The knowledge fills you without words, appearing in your mind. The evil Torm and his faithful sealed away was meant to be sealed forever. It is an oversight that she has been freed, and thus it is His duty to correct it.
[20:16] * Jaela nods, thinking with an inner shudder that if this enrages them, they haven't heard anything yet. "As I expected," she says respectfully. "This court has informed me that with Torm's Fall, Lord Helm took over all of his duties," she continues, looking over at the magistrate that told her as much, awaiting confirmation.
[20:17] <Kotono> Without any movement, Helm replies in the silent court. "It is so."
[20:22] <Jaela> "When I went to where Annalise was sealed, a building on Astral converted for a church of the old Torm," Jaela continues, "it was abandoned. The only living being that was still there was Naliel, a lantern archon in charge of the church's armory. He--" Jaela pauses, shaking her head. "Sorry, she was entirely unaware of Torm's fall or of the state of the church as a whole. Once she discovered that I have freed Annalise, she displayed a commendable zeal to her cause, but did not even know of Annalise's immortality, not to mention how we might be able to seal her once again, if we listened to her. Does this court agree that Naliel cannot be considered a competent guardian by any measure, and that none others existed, as the church itself had been isolated from the world and any clergy, Torm's or Lord Helm's, for millennia?"
[20:29] <Kotono> "It is regretable than the location of Annalise was lost during Torm's Fall," Helm's answer silences any murmurs that threaten to erupt. "The status of Naliel's guardianship is irrelevant, as she was meant to oversee the armory and serve the Master of the Cathedral."
[20:34] <Jaela> "I agree, Lord Helm," Jaela speaks. "It's not intended as a slight against Naliel, but to display the state Annalise's prison was in. And now, my final question. It concerns the circumstances of that day. We, those of us that day, were all survivors of the invasion of Lifasa. A fellow survivor, Adrian, was leading us. And he, in turn, was lead by the Celestial Key, an artifact we got on Elysium earlier. The key clouded his mind. I remember because I took it from him when we reached the church, and he commented on it, while I felt the attempt on my own mind." Jaela pauses for a moment. This is a crucial point, and she needs to secure some form of agreement on it or it all may be in vain. "Even if I had died defending Lifasa," she continues, knowing how close she came to that, "I want to state that the rest of the survivors would still be there, at that church, due to these circumstances. And while I keep all responsibility for freeing Annalise and don't intend to give any of it up, others with me supported the act and would have done the same if I weren't there. If there's need, Naliel can testify that Afina would have done it in my absence. Call it fate or destiny or whatever else, but Annalise was getting freed that day. It was an inevitability."
[20:35] * Jaela pauses once more, before realizing she forgot to actually ask, and does so. "Does this court agree with that claim?"
[20:39] <Kotono> At length and after a long moment of silence, "This court does not. The fact that you made the choice to free her is relevant, while speculations of what may have came if you had not been there are not. There is no mitigation in the possibility of another committing the crime in your place."
[20:41] <Jaela> "It's alright that I'm misunderstood," Jaela responds, shaking her head. "It's alright. Let me rephrase it, then. Does this court agree with the claim that I was not the sole person who could ever free Annalise from imprisonment? That there's nothing particularly unique about me that has to exist for it to happen?" That will have to do.
[20:46] <Kotono> Now that gets noise. Several cries of shock and anger, this time Helm doing nothing to silence them for a few moments. "You dare-!" One voice is heard, another calling, "How can you-!" Silence. Silence follows after that. "This court finds the claim irrelevant," Helm declares, "The uniqueness you possess, or the lack thereof, is not relevant to the crime you have committed. Do you plan to build
[20:46] <Kotono> your defense around this claim, mortal?"
[21:08] <Jaela> "Dereliction of duty," Jaela says, certain to shut up the gallery. She just needs to proceed quickly enough, shock them again and again so that she gets enough of her argument out before the angry voices erupt anew. "That is a very serious charge. It is not what I feel happened here, since that needs to be intentional. But however I look at it, Lord Helm, this was a failure of duty."
[21:08] <Jaela> She steels herself, because even though she got the idea from Angharradh's words, there is no guarantee he would not simply strike her out of existence in an outburst of rage. Gods should be above that, the good ones. But they're not. "Lord Helm, I accuse you and your followers in failing at the sacred duty of keeping Annalise imprisoned. This court accused me of the crime, but that crime would have been committed one day. If not by my friends, then another time. How many millennia has the church stood forgotten? How many more would it have continued?"
[21:08] <Jaela> Jaela shakes her head. "It was due to no fault of your own or any of your followers, but that is an excuse. A mitigating circumstance. It does not erase all responsibility for that failure, no more than I could return to Annalise now, find her with her teeth in an innocent and then claim I was not responsible for this crime because I was held here, at the House of the Triad, against my will and that if I were allowed to be around her it would not have happened."
[21:09] <Jaela> That was a brief diversion, but now Jaela returns to her argument. "When I saw her, Annalise's prison was already breaking. The sword keeping her pinned, once a Holy Avenger belonging to a servant of the old Torm, was reduced to a brittle state, so frail it would shatter if it crossed blade with anyone. That was then." Jaela draws the empowered Holy Avenger, holding it high. "This is now! This symbol of duty to keep Annalise in check is strong again. I returned it to its former glory, and while it's nowhere near what it used to be, I'm getting there. To compare it in my hands, and forgotten in the hands of Lord Helm's followers... it's not even a contest!"
[21:09] <Jaela> And this is where her argument is truly made, for better or for worse. "What should we do when this happens? Lord Helm himself had shown us the way, by seizing duties Torm was no longer able to perform properly. That was thousands of years ago, but throughout the years His opinion never changed. We can see that precedent followed once more, mere year prior. When Shar was stealing souls that did not belong to her and Lord Kelemvor stood by and did not do enough to stop her, Lord Helm stepped in and took that duty for himself. If that is the way, then so do I, from the moment I took hold of this symbol of duty, claim said duty for myself on behalf of the Seldarine!"
[21:09] <Jaela> Has she really gotten this far? That means she's still alive, and she can't stop here, not when she's nearly done. "The crime remains the same, but it should be judged in the court of the Seldarine. The same agreement between them and the House of the Triad and Lord Helm that has been used to try me here even though I follow different laws ensures that they, and only they, are the ones with jurisdiction to decide my fate!"
[21:09] <Jaela> Jaela pauses, and then gives the court a crooked smile. "Of course, that only holds true if my argument is accepted. Is Lord Helm the sort of god that would dictate to his followers, 'Do as I say, not as I do'? This is what I ask this court to determine! Is the seizure of duty not executed properly, whatever the reasons, valid under the laws of Lord Helm? This is not a trick! Lord Helm, you yourself have judged me. You know my duty is true. You know this is how I feel. Can you deny it to me now, because it is inconvenient?"
[21:24] <Kotono> To your surprise the galleries behind you are silent. Again there is no noise, only Helm's gaze on you. A hidden gaze, but one that weights on you like a thousand pounds. The reply is thus, "You are bold," Helm states, and for a terrible moment you feel power surge. A power that could shatter you like glass, fry you like an egg and freeze you solid. "Your argument is that duty was forgotten and
[21:24] <Kotono> failed, so it was your right to take it on as your own?"
[21:34] <Jaela> "It is!" Jaela insists, not backing down. What does she have to lose, truly? "Our courts hold different values, Lord Helm! What you see as me protecting and coddling an abomination, my patrons view as a chance of redemption! True redemption, which is rare but happens. You told me, Lord. 'You cannot save someone who does not want to be saved'." Jaela shakes her head furiously. "This is not true! It is the farthest thing from the truth! Did Antenora want to be saved, when she first met her would-be savior? Did any single case in known history? No! It's always a trick, or a trap, or a try at damnation. But there are some, once in a while. Exceptional people. They manage to turn it around, and find hope where there was none. How could I do any less, following Lady Angharradh? "We both want to stop the menace Annalise presents to the world. But what is better? Eternal imprisonment, a torturous existence that is tolerated merely because she is a horrible person, or getting her to forsake the curse of vampirism altogether and turn her life around?"
[21:34] <Jaela> Jaela clenches her fists. "My Lady told me I had a great destiny before me. She must refer to Lifasa, and my quest to free it of Bel. But how can I even think of doing it, if my code changes at the first threat? Who can push devils be from our violated world, but exceptional people? I wasn't born one, so that means I'm gonna have to become one, and I'm starting with this! The duty of Annalise will be mine, and I'll bring her about or reseal her with this," Jaela glances at her Holy Avenger, "but it's one I'll do on my terms, with the Seldarine's support! I'm doing what I feel is right, working towards a noble goal! I'm trying to fix an injustice that goes back thousands of years! How is this different from the precedent you set time and again, Lord Helm? How can you deny me this?"
[22:05] <Kotono> To all this Helm listens, an expectant silence after. It waits and waits for reply, until, "You are a brave soul, a dedicated one. In that regard I respect you." Helm's answer begins as a slow introspection, growing in tone and volume as he speaks, "But I will not surrender this duty. Far too much has been lost with Torm's Fall. More shall not be forsaken. I shall not allow it to fall to the
[22:05] <Kotono> Seladrine...or to your hands, mortal. Of your argument that the duty was neglected, I find it lacking, as do I find the assertion that you are mitigated because it may have happened in the future. Of the argument that it was your right to take the duty, I reject it. There is no way that you properly understood the ramifications of your actions, but instead acted to your code. A code that trapped
[22:05] <Kotono> you and lead you to folly, releasing a great evil. Are you not a paladin, even one of chaos? Is not what is right in this Creation as important as freedom? Does not this Creation have a right to be free of the menace of Annalise?" After that and another moment's pause, "Your heart is not dark. If you throw yourself at the mercy of this court and accept my previous offer, I see no reason to
[22:05] <Kotono> inflict the full weight and measure of this law."
[22:19] <Jaela> "The assertion that it was fated to happen with or without me only exists to show the extent of the failure. It wasn't some last minute ploy to gain a lighter sentence, and it's sad it was seen as such," Jaela says, shaking her head once more, far more sedately this time around. "How nice it is, to be able to fail so completely at a sworn, sacred duty, but still claim said duty because the one who points it out is just a mortal and not a stronger god." If she sounds bitter, it's because she never expected things to turn so hypocritical. Struck down for insolence, or vidicated, yes. But this... it's enough to make her despair. "Creation has a right to be free of Annalise," she agrees with a shrug. "But something tells me Creation will not be free of her, or she would have been slain long again. I could turn her around, but this isn't what it's all about. It's not about saving Creation, but about vengeance for Annalise's past crimes. What this really means is that Annalise will be kept in an existence that tortures her while Creation gets a reprieve, and some time in the future she might escape once more. She's done it more than the once I was involved in, or so I heard." Another shake of her head. "I know another place where that form of 'imprisonment' was also used," Jaela spits. "On Lifasa, at the ashes of the Great Tree, where a hundred thousand elves were crucified to cry in pain forever. They did it because they're devils and they're bad. You do it because your victims are bad. A fine distinction." She scoffs, throwing the Avenger down on the ground. "I would not be part of something so heartless, whoever the target or however large their sins. Mercy? In this court? I can't believe I'm standing in Ilmater's domain and I'm the one preaching about it! This disgusts me. This court's justice disgusts me. I've misjudged you, Lord Helm. Do as I say, indeed."
[23:04] <Kotono> Through all of this Helm listens impassively, the slam of the holy avenger echoing throughout the court. The blade rises up and flies into Helm's grasp. "You have made your choice, then?" Helm at last replies.
[23:14] <Jaela> "I'm afraid. Having my soul sealed is what I fear the most. Figures that would be the first thing on the menu. Never passing on, never seeing my mom. But I want her to be proud of me. Naliel told me she'd be ashamed of me for what I did, but I wanna think that's the only way she would be. If I just laughed it off and took that sword and went back to Annalise and stabbed her in the back with it when I hugged her." Jaela glances back at the silent gallery. "I don't know who you are," she addresses the eladrin, "but think you could do me a favor and bring my body to the Aurora? I wanna get buried on Lifasa one day, when they free it." She returns her gaze upon Helm. "I suppose this is where I say something profound, like how I did what was right, not what was easy? Those are nice words. Can I have them on my soul marker?"
[23:28] <Kotono> The eladrin spector nods once, expression painfully solemn. "Those are fine words," Helm admits, "It is with a heavy heart that I do this, but the duty I have taken on is an absolute one." Light surrounds Jaela, the courtroom around her vanishing. "Are you prepared?"
[23:35] <Jaela> "Of course not," Jaela scoffs. "I'm terrified out of my mind. I won't have any left after a few months, if that. You should know that too since you took a look inside me." She snorts. "Just like you'd know I would never be corrupted by her. I can't. All that eternity bullshit goes against my nature." A sigh is next. "I wonder if it would've turned her. Lady Angharradh said there has to be a spark. I bet no one before tried to stand up to a god to his face for her, because it was right. Think she would've accepted me as an equal then? I guess I'll keep wondering. If anything I said today matters, then stop torturing people when you imprison them. No, it's not okay when they're bad. It can't be."
[23:39] <Kotono> "It was possible you would fall, but." Helm's reply is quieter as you stand alone in white nothingness, "It would have been best to have never freed her. I have no love for torture or what must be done to stop her, but Creation does not deserve Annalise unleashed. Even then..." Helm's voice stays resolute, but you can sense a certain sorrow, "Had you not come to my realm, perhaps you would have
[23:39] <Kotono> had time to lend more power to your words with evidence."
[23:45] <Jaela> "So if I let an old man who saved scores of our people from devil rape by shielding them with his own body continue to suffer from the pit fiend's poison to save myself, you'd judge me worthy?" Jaela scoffs. She steels her resolve anew, then, and faces Helm. "Look, is this drawn out to torture me? I'm not kidding, I'm seriously scared. If you're just trying to find reasons not to hurt me, then why not just give me the chance I asked for in the first place? Why not make it a delayed sentence? Geas the fuck out of me or whatever, I won't even resist. Do you really doubt I'd try to run away if I fucked up with Annalise? Do you think I have illusions about what she really is, or that I won't take every precaution? Can you promise she'll never escape? Ever? Why is it such an anathema to let me try, even for a little while?" Frustration is mounting, and Jaela asks, "We're supposed to follow gods based on faith. Well, how the fuck about getting some of that faith back?! Just give me that damned chance! Just once! You can't say it would have been okay if you never saw me, because you're a god! It's your call! You can choose whatever you want! If you want to pretend I never came and cast me away, that becomes the damn law!"
[23:53] <Kotono> "Because of what I am." Helm's fist goes to his breastplate, striking against that. In that strike you feel the sound of it resonate within you, like a hundred bells rung together. "I AM duty. I AM law. As much as you are flesh and blood I am those. I brought you here to punish you because of my duty to deliver justice. I can no more defy that you can forsake your homeland. The law cannot save
[23:53] <Kotono> you, your crime deserves nothing less than this." He lowers his hand away from his chest. "The final, ultimate duty I have taken is to take up what Torm left behind. That duty - a duty of justice, mercy and righteousness - compels me to give you that chance."
[23:58] <Jaela> The mounting terror is just too much for Jaela, and tears slip out of her eye. She wipes at them furiously with a shaking hand, angry at herself for slipping so low. "You're giving us a chance after all?" she asks, uncertainty in her voice. "For me to save her? Really? It's not a trick? Because it won't be fair if it is. I can't. I--"
[00:02] <Kotono> "As much as I have no choice but to condemn you under the law, I have no choice but to go beyond the law. It is a lesson that Torm taught to the wisest, that no law can account for everything, no matter how well written. You will have your chance - but as a convicted criminal, you will be an enemy of this realm." A moment's pause as Jaela weeps, "Matters here beyond your ken play here, mortal."
[00:05] <Jaela> "I understand," Jaela forces herself to say, no longer caring about how her voice sounds. "Just don't... don't make my friends into those enemies too. Old man Tepen has nowhere else to go. If he's tossed out, he'll die in agony of his wounds. Can I ask just for that?"
[00:08] <Kotono> "I will not harm them, for the crime is yours. They are innocent of it."
[00:11] * Jaela gives up and buries her face in her hands.
[00:12] <Kotono> By the time Jaela looks up again, she finds herself back in Water. She is at the village, standing within Elder Magi Tepen's now empty abode.
[00:16] <Jaela> Adrian. He was left at the House of the Triad, but he should be with the old man. And if not, there is the eladrin who could help him. There is also Naliel-- Jaela shakes her head firmly. To think she called that bitch a friend. Would it have killed her to speak up at the trial, futile though it would be? Just a friendly face, that would've made it more bearable. Back to Adrian. He should be safe, Helm said as much. He'll find his way to the Aurora, he just needs to make it to Ysgard and follow the sounds of battle. They'll make it work out.
[00:16] <Jaela> Gathering her determination, Jaela leaves the makeshift hut to seek out Annalise and the remaining survivors.