The Grand Hall: Palace of Rabanastre

A/N: This is going to be a long one, I'm afraid – and yes I have been watching Pirate's of the Caribbean: At Worlds End – if anyone reading this might be wondering. ; )

There should be laws against this sort of thing, Balthier mused as he lounged in his chair behind the completely empty desk in front of the throne dais in the grand hall of the palace of Rabanastre.

Chief Justice Veniliss was busily interrogating Vann who currently stood fidgeting in the witness dock, clearly wondering what in all Ivalice was going on.

Balthier was entertaining similar thoughts. He had expected the first witness to be called would be the dim-witted oaf Balthier had had the grave misfortune of selling the Licence to that had landed him in this mess, instead Ashe's man had called Vaan – or rather Captain Vaan, to the stand.

'What is your past association with the Defendant?' Venilliss demanded a tad melodramatically of Vaan.

' Umm.' Vaan rubbed at the back of his neck and looked down at his metal booted feet which audibly scraped across the floor of the dock. Balthier bit back a smile as he caught Vaan's averted gaze.

Balthier had decided during their odd little quest to end tyranny in Ivalice two years ago, that Vaan simply could not be as stupid as he appeared on first acquaintance, or in fact, as the evidence of his actions suggested.

It strained the laws of credulity that he could have survived on his own for two years if he truly was as slow-witted as he appeared to be.

Once Balthier had come to this conclusion he had felt better about taking the boy under his wing, metaphorically speaking, and giving him custodianship of the Strahl while he and Fran had been otherwise indisposed.

Balthier knew something of playing a role, and while acting as the token idiot lacked a certain sophistication in his book, Balthier would at least admit Vaan was as dedicated to his performance as Balthier was to that of the leading man.

'I will rephrase the question Capain Vaan, can you tell me how you first came to meet the Defendant.'

Veniliss helpfully pointed to Balthier as he spoke and Balthier saw Vaan's tiny smile, surprisingly similar to a smirk, as he flicked his otherwise innocent eyes over to Balthier.

' Umm, I met him in the Palace Treasury during Vayne Solidor's consulship party.' Vaan said in that wonderfully insipid manner of his that could drive even the most avid listener into a state of catatonic boredom within minutes.

Thank you Vaan, whatever Ashe is paying you, you deserve more.

Balthier thought to the younger man, who took playing the fool to new and spectacular heights. Veniliss was not two minutes into his interrogation and already he looked ready to pull what little hair he had left on his head, clean out, at the roots.

'And could you please tell the jury what the Defendant was doing in the Palace Treasury?'

'Same thing I was, stealing stuff.' Vaan said stolidly.

Balthier raised a hand and feigned a cough to hide the laugh he couldn't smother; he was going to have to buy the newly minted Captain a pint when all this was over.

He allowed himself a glimpse up at Ashe on her throne and saw that she was flapping her beautifully decorated fan vigorously in front of her face; he could tell the gesture was designed to hide her own mirth.

'But you were attempting to make a political statement in support of the resistance by this theft, were you not? While as - '

Balthier rose easily to his feet and Veniliss stopped speaking, the pinched expression on his beaky face clearly demonstrated the Chief Justice knew exactly what objection Balthier was about to raise as he extended one hand languidly in the air and cleared his throat.

' Objection your Majesty, that is a leading statement. The Chief Justice cannot justify the witness' actions in such a way, without knowing the true purpose of my own presence in your Treasury. I too may well have been making a political statement in favour of the Rabanastran Resistance.'

Ashe sighed and folded away her black and green painted fan, which happened to compliment the dark, dark green of her tight fitting bodice with its dyed Chocobo feathered high collar.

' Objection upheld,' She declared regally.

' Chief Justice Veniliss both the Witness and the Defendant's actions on that night have been established as legitimate prior to this trial and cannot be used as evidence in these proceedings.'

Balthier bit back a smirk as the Chief Justice looked ready to commit an act of violence, he settled gracefully back down in his chair, satisfied.

' Very well, Your Highness.' Veniliss bowed smoothly and turned back towards Vaan.

' You were, for a short time, in the employ of the Defendant, were you not, Captain Vaan, before coming to the Queen's service?'

Vaan blinked surprised and Balthier swallowed down an irritated sigh, Veniliss was going for the jugular now.

' Well no, not exactly.' Vaan said awkwardly.

Veniliss turned from the dock and looked out at the audience, word of the fun and frolics of the opening day of the trial had spread through Rabanastre and there were now close to seven hundred citizens packed into the hall.

Because of the sheer volume of bodies pressed into this relatively small space and the staggering desert heat pressing down on the hall from outside, it was unbelievable hot in the grand hall and the flap of various fans made Balthier feel as if he was trapped inside an aviary filled with irritable birds.

' Perhaps employ is the wrong word, I confess myself unfamiliar with the intricacies of a vocation in piracy.'

Veniliss was aiming for humour but did not have the right demeanour for it; he received a few disparate titters but little more. In Balthier's opinion the little man should stick to doom and gloom, which appeared to be his forte.

The Chief Justice cleared his throat sharply and turned back to Vaan, ' Captain Vaan please answer this question, if you will.'

Vaan nodded his head politely and assumed an expression of vacuous expectancy.

' Were you not the Defendant's apprentice for a period of some ten months before turning your back on piracy and taking up your current station?'

'No I was not.' Vaan said clearly.

Balthier bit down hard on his inside lip and caught in the periphery of his vision Fran shake out her long mane in amusement as she sat in a quiet shadowed corner in a private vestibule to the far side of the hall.

Fran could not abide crowds and would endure being jostled by profusely perspiring Rabanastrans about as well as she did Mist.

To avoid a repeat performance of her berserker rage onboard the light cruiser Shiva, Ashe had found her a private cloister for her to watch proceedings.

'You were not? I'm sorry, I was under the impression you and the Lady Penelo worked alongside the Defendant aiding him on many smuggling runs and other acts of international piracy.'

'Yeah, but I was never his apprentice.' Vaan said simply and then he decided to elaborate further, his own flair for the dramatic taking hold.

'You have to have a pirate contract and take an oath to be a sky pirate's apprentice; otherwise anyone would go about calling themselves a sky pirate. I helped Balthier and –'

Vaan hesitated stopping himself from saying Fran's name, who, presumably to avoid confusing the issue, Ashe had decided for the sake of this trial, did not exist.

'Umm, anyway, I did some jobs with Balthier but I was never a sky pirate because I didn't go through initiation.'

Balthier was nodding his head, for once grateful for the archaic peculiarities of his fellow pirates, Vaan had been due to take the pirate's mark tattoo, but had decided to become a replacement Basch in Ashe's service instead.

At the time Balthier had been exceedingly irritated with this decision, he had spent a lot of valuable time teaching the pick-pocket the tricks of the trade only to have him turn his back on sky piracy altogether, now he was pleased with how beneficial Vaan's unfortunate swing towards respectability had proved to be.

Balthier, catching a hold of his wandering thoughts and stifling a heat induced yawn, sat up in his chair and tried to concentrate on proceedings, it would not do to fall asleep in the middle of his own trial.

Vaan had finished explaining the formal process of becoming a Balfonheim accredited sky pirate and the hall was still tittering over the highly entertaining fact that it was harder to become a sky pirate than to enter most legitimate trades.

Veniliss was looking slightly purple in the face, Balthier supposed it could be due to the heat but somehow, as the man walked over to his neat stacks of paper on his table and shuffled them angrily, Balthier rather doubted the temperature had anything to do with it.

' Your Witness, sir.'

The officious little man snapped with strained formality. Balthier rose to his feet with a gracious smile and nod and took the time to stretch the kinks from his back.

He strolled nonchalantly over to Vaan who waited in the dock. The fetid heat in the crowded hall was causing him to sweat and Balthier was glad he had decided to forego a vest today and instead wore a fawn coloured plain waistcoat that could be unfastened over his white shirt.

'Good day to you Captain,'

He greeted Vaan cheerfully in slightly louder tones than strictly warranted, around him he heard the shuffling of bodies and the shifting of cloth as certain members of the audience woke themselves up, having fallen asleep in the heat.

' Would you be so kind as to explain to the good people gathered here today a little more about the politics of sky piracy?'

Balthier longed to take his gloves off as he flexed his fingers and leaned nonchalantly against the handrail of the dock.

Ashe now knew about his disfigurement and had been sufficiently guilty and grateful last night for his sacrifice onboard Bahamut that he now felt marginally better about the whole thing, but his vanity was not so easily abated.

'Umm, what about sky piracy, exactly?' Vaan asked a little lost.

Balthier stifled a sigh, the downside of Vaan's masterly and nuanced performance as a fool was that it never ended. He was a fool all day, every day.

'Tell me Captain, you have explained that there is a complex initiation process that any would-be sky pirate must undertake to join the ignoble fraternity of pirates, is there also, perhaps, a hierarchy in existence among sky pirates?'

'Oh, yeah.' Vaan nodded vigorously.

' Marvellous.' Balthier plucked his damp sleeves from his arms and hid his distaste at the feel of the damp cloth.

'Please would you be so kind as to inform this court of my placement within said hierarchy?'

Vaan blinked confused and clearly wondering why Balthier would want everybody to know a secret that other pirates would kill to keep from general knowledge.

' Umm, you're one of the Pirate Lords.'

A ripple of excitement ran through the wilting audience and there was a general shifting of backsides on wooden benches as the great and the not so good of Dalmasca and beyond sat up and took note.

' Hmmm, indeed.'

Balthier caught sight of Fran whose empathic look told him that he had better know what he was doing here because she would have nothing to do with it once Rikken and the other Pirate Lords found out about this massive breach in pirate protocol.

Thankfully Balthier rather thought he did know what he was doing and simply winked at her cheekily before turning back to Vaan.

Much like Vaan had two years ago, the land locked and wide-eyed poor of this city had a great and abounding love of all things pirate, Balthier intended to play up to that macabre and insatiable hunger for nefarious deeds.

'And what does this illustrious title mean, within the hallowed ranks of sea-dogs and sky-curs that make up the ranks of the pirate court?'

He enquired dryly, as the common folk in the galleries leaned dangerously over the sides of the balconies to hear every salacious detail.

'It means you help to run things. If there's a pirate that's broken contract or robbed another pirate you or one of the other Pirate Lords help sort it out.' Vaan supplied helpfully.

Balthier nodded leaning his back against the dock and stretching his arms out across the hand rail in a deliberately nonchalant recline.

' A crude but accurate summation, thank you Captain.' Balthier let his gaze drift up over the serried rows of galleries, thick with all the races of Ivalice united by an abiding love of scandal and gossip.

' Tell me Captain,' Balthier continued in conversational tones,

' Does it seem likely, in your opinion, that a Pirate Lord, a sky pirate charged with the commission of seeing that other pirates behave themselves with at least a semblance of dignity, could make such an amateurish mistake as to create so poor a forgery as the one I am accused of?'

Veniliss launched himself up from his chair, 'Objection your Majesty, the Defendant is attempting to lead the Witness to make a declaration on the Defendant's guilt or innocence that the Witness is not able to make.'

'Nonsense sir,' Balthier spoke up before Ashe could draw breath, he could not help but notice that Ashe was wilting fast, sitting on her throne, under the heavy weight of her fine clothes and heavy crown.

' I am merely asking the informed opinion of the witness regards…'

' Chief Justice Veniliss, Master Balthier.' Ashe interrupted him, 'you will both step up to the dais.'

Chief Justice Veniliss bowed and Balthier joined him in the act, adding his own flourish to the gesture and rising up to see Ashe's lips twist in an irritated smile, which she quickly suppressed for proprieties sake.

'Sir Veniliss, Master Balthier, I think perhaps you have both finished with the Witness now and should move on to the next.' Her Majesty informed them both with cool, but definite command, her cheeks pink and breathing rapid.

Balthier was delighted to notice that she had unfastened against the heat, the first latch on her bodice at the square neckline, which revealed a lovely display of décolletage; he wrenched his gaze up to her face with difficulty.

'As you wish your majesty; I have no further questions.' He purred.

Veniliss looked between he and Ashe and for a moment something like dawning suspicion widened the little man's eyes, then he quickly controlled the reaction.

Balthier hid a frown as he made his way back to his table and licked his dry lips. All fun and games aside it could bode ill if the Chief Justice began to suspect the trial was rigged.

Balthier knew Ashe well enough to know that if push came to shove, he would be the one getting the shove, should her throne look to be in jeopardy.

Veniliss stood to attention and in loud, clear voice, called his next witness for the prosecution.

'I call to the stand Mr. Hubert Tamberlio, of High Bizarre Terrace, Rabanastre.'

For a moment Balthier had no idea who this was and then he saw the balding, overweight middle aged man wearing the ill-fitting britches and frock coat in the Archadian style waddle up to the dock.

Oh him, Balthier thought contemptuously. It was the mark. The avaricious fool Balthier had swindled out of ten thousand Gil for the faulty Licence for an Ultima Blade.

The Licence that Balthier had known was out-dated and had been planning to scrap until the greedy Dalmascan had approached him and Balthier had spied an easy way to make a few thousand Gil.

Despite the fact that it was not really the rotund Dalmascan's fault that the swindle had turned sour, Balthier decided to blame him for it in any case. He smiled slyly as the frightened man was sworn in and took his place in the dock.

The gambit he had decided to employ to defend himself against the eye-witness testimony of this man, which Veniliss surely thought was air-tight, was risky certainly. Foolhardy and doomed to failure, even, for anyone except the leading man, that is.

Nevertheless, Balthier was going to need to employ all his charm to pull off this verbal sleight of hand, if he managed to discredit the testimony of the man who could actually prove his guilt, he would be free to roam the skies aboard his beloved airship by nightfall.

Veniliss walked confidently over to the dock, casting a remarkably smug look towards Balthier, which caused the pirate to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

The over-zealous public servant seemed to have made this sham trial a personal crusade against Balthier, though he could not fathom why. As far as he knew they had never met before and he certainly didn't think he had ever robbed the man in times passed.

' Mr Tamberlio, please could you explain for the benefit of the jury how it is you came to be in possession of a counterfeit Licence certificate for an Ultima Blade, which you then attempted to use to legitimise your purchase of said item in Rabanastre's bazaar?'

With the jerky movements of the guilty and untrustworthy the sweaty man flailed his ham-fisted hand and pointed a fat finger straight towards Balthier, as he lounged with elegant indolence in his chair.

'He sold it to me!' The Witness exclaimed and the hall erupted into titters and whispers, more excited than appalled.

'I would like it noted by the scribes that the Witness has positively identified the Defendant as the man who sold him the forged Licence certificate.' Veniliss all but crowed.

Seated on her throne high on her dais Ashe shifted slightly, trying to smooth out the stiff, shimmering greenish-black material of her skirts. There was a slight frown on her face, as she gestured for one of her ever-attendant servants to bring her a glass of water.

'Mr Tamberlio, can you tell me where you attained this Licence from the Defendant and how you came to wish to purchase illegal goods in the first place.'

'I –' The man licked his lips furtively and his next words were so quiet Balthier could not hear him and the audience in the galleries certainly couldn't.

'Mr Tamberlio you must speak up.' Veniliss said and the desperate wretch perspiring in the dock all but quaked with embarrassment.

' I couldn't pass the competency test for a Licence.'

He muttered and the hall began tittering once more with laughter, competency tests were barely more complicated than being able to tell a blade from a Chocobo, the mind boggled that the man could fail the test repeatedly.

'That damned Moogle Licenser has it in for me!' Mr Tamberlio retorted angrily and the hall descended into ruptures of laughter at the pompous man's expense.

Balthier smiled contentedly and relaxed in his chair. The Witness was doing a better job of discrediting himself in the eyes of the audience than Balthier could ever do.

In the end Ashe had to rise from her throne and call the court to order, her own ladies-in-waiting struggling to smother their giggles.

'Mr Tamberlio, please could you explain me how you came to purchase the counterfeit Licence from the Defendant.' Veniliss instructed the Witness failing to see the humour of the situation.

' My brother knew a man, who knew a man, who knew Old Dalan.'

Mr Tamberlio explained and Balthier almost rolled his eyes. Old Dalan? Well that was even better, he had very little real business with that ancient relic of criminal intent. It would be relatively easy to cast doubt on this vague association.

' Old Dalan said that if I wanted a Licence quick I should go to Nalbina and ask for a man called Balthier who sometimes travelled the Highwaste with a Viera.'

Balthier resisted shaking his head or looking towards Fran, still as a statue in the shadows to his far right.

Fran was in many ways the best thing to ever happen to him in his life, she was also ironically his most damning piece of circumstantial evidence pinning him to any crime scene. Viera, through no fault of their own, tended to stand out in a crowd.

'Indeed.'

Veniliss looked swiftly to his Queen at the veiled mention of Fran and Balthier caught Ashe's minute shake of her head, warning her Chief Justice from pursuing that angle. Veniliss frowned slightly but continued unperturbed.

' And so I and the Jury can assume you made a visit to Nalbina in search of the Defendant?'

' Three times, he weren't there the first two.' Mr Tamberlio nodded.

' I see and on the third occasion how was it that you were able to positively identify the Defendant, had you met before?'

' No, Old Dalan said to look out for the dandy toff with the fancy clothes acting like he owned the place in the Tower Tavern.'

Again the hall erupted in laughter and Balthier shook his head in rueful amusement, catching Ashe fighting a losing battle not to laugh out loud herself as Penelo almost doubled over in giggles next to the throne.

' And after you had located the Defendant how did you progress to the point where he sold you the Licence?' Veniliss continued once the general mirth had subsided.

Mr Tamberlio frowned. 'I told him Old Dalan sent me and I wanted a Licence, he asked me if I thought he looked like a Moogle and pointed out the Licenser's stall outside.'

Balthier remembered that particular exchange. He had been nursing a pint and plotting his next venture, Fran having retired for the night unusually early, when the pompous and over-bearing fool had barged over to him, very loudly demanding items of an illegal nature.

'And yet you were able to attain the Licence from the Defendant were you not?'

Mr Tamberlio nodded slowly, a furtive expression on his face, ' Not then, I had to wait until morning, I caught up to him when he was waiting for someone out by the opening to the Highwaste.'

Balthier also remembered that, he was waiting for Fran who had in turn gone in search of Nono, who was gods only knew where doing gods only knew what, when the man had accosted him again, refusing to go away.

'He charged me ten thousand Gil for the Licence.' Mr Tamberlio declared angrily. 'And as a businessman myself I didn't think much of his customer service.'

Balthier shook his head as their pretty little trial turned into a delightful farce, the audience treated to some high entertainment indeed.

Veniliss, sensing that there was little more of value he could extract from the Witness and wanting to wash his hands of the whole thing it seemed, turned to the throne with a tired bow.

'I have no further questions for the Witness, Your Majesty.'

Ashe, leaning one elbow against the arm of her throne, lethargically batting her fan about in her other hand, roused herself slightly and nodded.

'Your Witness, Master Balthier.' She said and only he heard the dry note of amusement in her cool, commanding tones.

Balthier peeled himself out of his chair, the stifling heat filling the hall now carrying the rank and ripe scent of sweat like a miasma in the air; he bowed to her majesty and walked over to the Witness.

He would have his work cut out for him, waking this crowd up, already he could feel a yawn trying to escape his jaws and he had to work not to show his lethargy in his movements.

He strolled up to Mr Tamberlio, while flapping the open sides of his waistcoat, trying to get a breath of air in this swelter.

' A dandy toff with fancy clothes acting like he owns the place?' Balthier quoted back at him, lips curving into a smile which he turned on the audience, 'Well that doesn't sound very much like me.'

The galleries rumbled with guffaws of laughter and he thought he heard one wag in the darkest reaches of the public galleries shout out something along the lines of:

'Got you bang to rights, pal.' To the sound of more laughter.

Veniliss rose to his feet in a rush of officious irritation, ' Objection Your Highness, the Defendant is merely pandering to..'

Ashe raised a hand and frowned at Balthier, ' Get to your point, Master Balthier.'

He dropped into a deep bow, hiding his grin; he had already made his point. He had the crowd behind him.

' Of course Your Highness.'

He turned to the Witness, ' Mr Tamberlio, we have no past association, do we? Aside from an alleged business transaction in the Tower Tavern, Nalbina.'

Mr Tamberlio paused and then shock his head, ' Never met you before that time in Nalbina.' He agreed cautiously.

' Hmm, and you were given my name third, or would that be fourth, hand by a less than reputable source, am I correct?'

' Hey! My brother is very respectable, he runs the fish mongers on….' Mr Tamberlio decried.

Balthier resisted rolling his eyes and with elaborate patience clarified his statement over further ripples of sniggering from the cheap seats. ' I am referring to Old Dalan, Mr Tamberlio.'

Mr Tamberlio shrugged, 'My Pa always said you have to talk to a thief to find a thief.'

Balthier gritted his teeth and smiled through it; behind him he thought he heard Chief Justice Veniliss unconvincingly try to stifle rather dry, wheezing snickers of laughter.

' Quite.' Balthier drawled, ' And did your Pa also mention that one should not trust the word of a thief, especially in regards to other thieves?'

Balthier stalked away from the dock and cast his gaze over the galleries.

'You were told that a man going by the name of Balthier with a penchant for fine tailoring and of refined character would have the means to aid you in your illegal endeavour to purchase the sword you desired. Correct?'

' He told me you could help, yes.' Mr Tamberlio stated stolidly.

Blathier pivoted dramatically and gracefully on his heel.

'Ah, but that is where you are mistaken. You were in fact given my name, but the description is hardly what one could consider definitive. I am, contrary to the evidence of the moment, not the only man in Ivalice with a sense of style and who minds never to drop his 'H's' when he speaks, sir.'

Mr Tamberlio opened his mouth, but Balthier was not going to let the stupid, dull witted man spoil this gambit and quickly spoke over him, turning to the gathered rabble and opening his arms wide.

'Ladies and Gentleman of Dalmasca, I have been nothing but forthcoming in regards my former wrong doing as both smuggler and Pirate Lord. I now put it to you, that a man of my reputation is often the victim of base imitators, those lowly criminals with not enough native wit to make a living for themselves and would trade upon my name to make a pretty Gil.'

Balthier sauntered over to the Dock once more, the audience sufficiently stirred and following his movements intently with their many eyes.

' Mr Tamberlio, I ask you, had I been dressed as a labourer, or if perhaps I started to tawk t'yer like a right common scally-wag from the lowest sodding dumps in Old Archades, in that pub in Nalb'na…..'

Balthier switched effortlessly into a fair imitation of the language of the Archadian Vulgar's and let his perfect posture collapse and his shoulders slope unbecomingly.

'….would yer 'ave thought me this Balthier chap, I'm wondering?'

The hall was filled with a mixture of murmurs and chuckles at his impromptu little performance and the little seed of doubt regards the veracity of his identification by the Witness started to grow.

' Ladies and Gentleman, Your Royal Highness Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca.' Balthier first addressed the citizens of Dalmasca and then looked directly up at Ashe returning to his more natural voice and state of being.

' I am known throughout Ivalice as the pirate who helped a queen regain her throne, and alas, as a rarefied toff with a fancy for white shirts.'

He paused dutifully for the obligatory laughter, watching Ashe's eyes as she realised the nature of his gambit, they widened almost imperceptibly.

' Your Majesty, it would be a stunningly simple thing for a forger of some petty skill, who had seen me in passing along the Highwaste, to impersonate me in the presence of Mr Tamberlio, who by his own admission has no first hand knowledge of me in person.'

Balthier saw the spark of excitement in Ashe's clear, cloud grey eyes as she saw the potential for the win in the game he had artfully played throughout the trial. He could not deny his infamy and so he had found a way for his notoriety to save him.

It weren't me guv, tis all a case of mistaken identity t'was.

He thought ironically, lips twitching into a grin. He had spent years creating and perfecting the character of Balthier Sky Pirate, it was not entirely inconceivable that someone else might imitate his act.

It was all a matter of plausible deniability, that and the drama of the thing. He thought that Ashe understood this as well as he did.

'Objection Your Highness,' Veniliss' voice interrupted the shared moment between Balthier and his Queen and both he and Ashe turned irritable frowns towards the little man.

Veniliss blinked owlishly but stood his ground, 'The Defendant is supposed to be cross examining the Witness, instead he seems to have moved onto his closing statements, does the gentleman wish to rest his case, perchance?'

Balthier felt his smile slide across his face, sly and unperturbed by the snide tone to the Chief Justice's words.

'I assure you sir, I have most assuredly not closed my case. You will know when I am ready to make my closing summation.'

He purred, flicking his gaze towards Ashe who averted her gaze mildly, but not before he saw her slight smile.

'Be that as it may, Master Balthier, may one assume you have no further questions for the Witness?'

'Indeed, Your Highness.' He bowed slightly, hiding his smirk.

' Then I believe it is time for the Defendant to call his Witness for the Defence, is it not Chief Justice Veniliss?'

Veniliss looked exceedingly unhappy, but there was nothing he could do, the law was on Balthier's side and there was nothing the weedy bureaucrat could do against the summons.

'As you say, Your Highness.'

Balthier smirked, supremely confident that the game was his to win.

' The Defence calls Her Royal Highness Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca to the stand.'

He declared boldly and Ashe rose from her throne as the hall erupted into a tremendous whirlwind of audible excitement.