"May I request the floor?"
The Court Speaker gave the Field General an attentive look. "Your reason?" Sir Gerson had just finished a rather-long and detailed report about all the benefits the humans and monsters have earned whilst working together, which had been quite...boring. Not boring due to how he presented it, far from it. The energy and passion as he painted with expert strokes how humans have benefited from magic not only to be able to understand themselves better, but also more robust and measured means too.
Food supply, culture, infrastructure, new settlements in areas thought inhabitable before, and economical growth citing easier ore and lumber production as well as water trading in Xoff. Both in terms of internally within the country and also trading huge slices of the glaciers of Hjearta in exchange for wind-sheared sand found in the golden dunes in the desert areas of Xoff being more efficient for mixing mortar.
Plus Xoff had quite a lot of it to part ways with too.
"Each year there is trade that could not be thought possible due to monster cooperation and human magic. This year the Royal Mage of Ice, Terri Fyed, blessed the first shipment of glacier ice with his magic, shielding it against the summer time heat that the shipment will have to go through as it reaches Xoff. Monsters with affinity towards stasis magic keep each kernel of minuscule sand inside the massive caravan shipments as they travel across the golden dunes of the Xoff landscape all the way to the mountainous regions of Hjearta."
Few times did the shipments pass each other by.
"This trade would not be possible without monsters or human magic, and it represents the height of what the Cooperative Connection can achieve. Economical and cooperative stimulation which encourages development in areas thought impossible beforehand, but which blossom like desert roses. Speaking of those, because of the magically protected transport of glacial ice the desert roses have begun to lose their analogy as something rare beyond belief."
If Sir Gerson had papers to go through he'd lick his finger.
"As my carriage rode through Noitaidarr earlier this week I saw bouquets of them being sold like any other flower. Their beauty and splendor can now be enjoyed by the common folk. Due to monster cooperation and human magic, something that was only legend and witnessed by only few can now be cultivated with such regularity that the saying that something is as rare as a desert rose will lose its meaning."
Sir Gerson held the entire court in suspense as he inhaled to regain his breath, stretching his back and shell tall and proud.
"And isn't that beautiful? A legend made mundane? Desert roses available for all that have taken the legend to heart? If anything it makes the legend more alive, doesn't it? It has become something that all of Xoff can say that they have lived. A living legend placed in a vase on the window sill, thanks to monster cooperation and human magic. New legends will be born from seeing Mt. Ebott next to a vase with a desert rose. New legends today that will be mundane tomorrow, bringing a more fantastical existence for all to enjoy, both human and monster. It is a future we have no clue what it will bring us, but that we know that we will prosper from."
He drank some water.
"Continuing on.."
A boring argument about fiscal stability and economical growth still captivated the court without the need to magically exhaust and to declare a martyr.
Just...boring.
Which was good. Boring had Cter feeling slightly relaxed in her designated chair for the first time throughout the length of the trial. Numbers, statistics, laws, Queen Toriel's Royal Decree which both human kingdoms helped shape and mold with enthusiasm. King Asgore's friendship with the Xoff king and their bond over gardening that was passed down to them from their fathers.
The newly breed species of chicken which could produce a soft shell to their eggs which the humans wouldn't have to peel. Each example Sir Gerson rattled off in quick succession he counted on his fingers. Repeatedly he had to count over again.
"The fields of Golden Flowers that stretch across the Hjearta and Monster Kingdom border being able to be cultivated in Xoff due to monsters."
And again.
"The exploration of Mt. Ebott's vast underground caverns being considered."
And again.
"Refinements in the metallurgy of the Hjearta mines."
And again.
"A human in Jarasevo eating a sandwich with cheese from Hjearta and cured meat from Xoff after failing to get a good look at a foreign prince riding through the town won't have to feel disappointed. In that moment when the sharpness of the northern cheese comes together with the gentle thickness of the meat on top of a slice of bread baked with magical fire it will be just as if the foreign prince rode just past the human like if the driver took a wrong turn."
Sir Gerson could go on for days, if not weeks.
"I could go on for days, if not weeks, yet I still would not be anywhere near close to listing up all the fantastical events monster cooperation and human magic have allowed. There are too many to count. Too many that are happening each and every single day. It has become mundane to us, all of it. We see monsters on human streets, and we see humans on monster streets. We see families form between human and monsters, and we sing and drink together in one cheerful voice during the wedding parties between the humans and monsters. We are unlike in the most shallow of ways. It is in our heart of hearts, and in our soul of souls, that we will forever be the same."
Cter caught a few humans and monsters up in the audience trading smiling glances between the other.
"It is us that need to understand the event we created on top of Clinic Hill. Us. Together. Cter, throughout her endeavors to be as much human as she is monsters, becoming more of one side on one day and striving to reach that height with her other side the next, called upon all of you to blame her solely for what happened at Clinic Hill. She did so, for she is the embodiment of the two sides who walk upon this world. Forced to face the twisted image of what we have all prospered from, she felt it right to be the one to blame, for that is what it means to be a Monster Mage. Her love for both humans and monsters made her determined to take the blame for something that was meant to balance out all the good we have enjoyed throughout centuries."
She then caught Sir Gerson's eyes rounded and gentle. He extended his arm towards her, with the entirety of the court following where his opened palm pointed towards.
"Yet she defeated it."
The opened palm balled into a righteous fist.
"She defeated what could have been the downfall of all the good humans and monsters have worked together to create. A tragedy by the loss of the good Dr. Sallus and the Third Monster Mage Sund was halted by Cter's determination as a human and her emotional courage as a monster. None, neither monster or human, can ever understand the weight of the world which she had to carry in that very moment. To see friends turned into something beyond the wildest nightmare, and be forced to kill it knowing what it had been. It branded her, and had it not been for the help of Sarbor, it would have taken her too. If that had happened then..."
For the first time since Sir Gerson took the court floor for the first time, his words failed him.
"I am not capable of beginning to think about what it might have entailed. None are, not even Cter or the other Monster Mages. That is not something we do have to imagine though. It is not something that we will ever have to worry about again. As Cter told, and showed, the prerequisite for the fusion to form required steps to be taken that could never be reproduced on accident. A tragedy beyond tragedies."
Sir Gerson inhaled deeply, allowing him to find light among the thick, dark cloud he had brought upon the court room. He exhaled, dispersing it to let more of the late Xoff sun into the court room once more.
"A tragedy that we will end today. A tragedy that we today will understand together. The discovery of the human soul will become the same as the underlying theory that allows for the Cooperative Connection. Both have been about conquering death, and both times we have conquered it. I remember a similar hearing when the Cooperative Connection's connection to the way humans and monsters view death was discovered. It was understood that just because something was found through discussing death it did not mean that it had any relevancy to death in its application and usage. The human soul will be the same, given time. When the flowers bloom once again on Clinic Hill the human soul will only be shuddered at when mentioned its origin, but never its understanding and usage."
Sir Gerson bowed his head.
"Thank you."
The court room had to halt itself from applauding, but the energy of a roaring applause hung thick in the air. With how much Sir Gerson's aura wiggled with pride and a sense of upheld duty he was hearing the applause in his head louder than anything, supported by him being aloof to Kry telling him that he did a good job. It wasn't his usually stoic look ahead where he acknowledged the praise, but didn't let it show. No, it was different. He didn't hear it at all.
Perhaps he was thinking back to the previous time he held the court stage as the lead actor delivering the emotional core of the ballet of law. Last time he did receive applause, Cter had managed to gather. During the aftermath of King Kheydan and how the Xoff lineage would be restored, Sir Gerson did something similar. However, due to the slightly lower stakes, he pushed it further.
He pushed it to the brink of applause, and beyond. Not because it benefited the case he was presenting, but because it benefited him. Few times does his self-indulgence break surface, allowing him to make grand who he was and what he could do.
Cter had only seen his self-indulgence scratch at the surface. She had never seen it break through. To be honest, she did not want to see it break through. Sir Gerson riding on his emotions was frightening to her. He had already let excited smirks paint deep dimples on his cheeks, and hearing and seeing the Field General request the floor and then explain his reasoning for why he needed it brought forth another.
"The bishops or the king and queen," purred Sir Gerson under his breath with his flat hands folding under his widened nostrils. "Which ones are you going for, Field General?"
Rasliela was surely lapping up Sir Gerson's aura with how his was thick like porridge. She did not lean in to the Field General before he stood up though. Her large hat made it impossible for Cter not to notice the motion which she had done a handful of times already. Didn't she have time to? Did the Field General stand up as a reaction to what Sir Gerson had said?
Was he about to do the same that Cter did?
"My reason, Court Speaker, is to show the court that what Sir Gerson has said was not in a position of mediating between the two sides as he stated, but to downplay the involvement the monsters had in the event at Clinic Hill. Added to that, I would also like to bring up a point which I believe the monsters have overlooked. With this reasoning I would ask of the floor from you."
The shell-hollowed chair creaked as Sir Gerson leaned back in it with his arms folded. His slightly impressed gaze met the Field General's for a moment. Whether or not the smile they traded between each other was genuine or threatening, Cter could not tell. By the look that Kurant and Kry had too they could not tell either.
"Straight towards the offensive castle then," pondered Sir Gerson, lost in his own thoughts. "Too far, in your opinion?" If Cter didn't know better she would have thought that there was something boiling inside the turtle monster's shell with how restless he suddenly became. Restless with excitement and eagerness to hear what the Field General had to say. "Say your piece, and grab it. Move it on the board. Where are you placing me?"
"I would also like to reveal to the court the truth of the Cooperative Connection," added the Field General while observing Sir Gerson's reaction. When he received none his weathered brow sank down, observing harder.
"Not the truth about how it pertains to how humans and monsters view death. That the monsters are ever so eager to make sure is in the light. A dark secret that the Cooperative Connection stands up on, and which human mages are taught early in their education. Had it not been so widely talked about it would have been a taboo, if not a sinister undertone to its perception and acceptance wide and far throughout the countries."
Sir Gerson still did not move.
So the Field General continued. "The truth of the Cooperative Connection is not that it is not the common ground between the human and monster perspectives on death." He held the suspense of the court room just as well as Sir Gerson did. A collective breath inhaled and held in unison. "It is that–"
"Objection!" interrupted Sir Gerson, on cue where the Field General wanted. "When is the Court Speaker going to inform the Field General that he has yet to be given the floor?"
But not for the reason that the Field General wanted.
"It is disappointing how long the Field General has been allowed to utilize the floor without it being given to him." With stern eyes, Sir Gerson looked to both the Field General and the Court Speaker. "It is disappointing too how the Field General believes himself to be above the law here." He unfolded one arm and threw it accusingly at the Field General hard enough that it ricocheted up in the air, hanging for a full second of deliberate denouncing.
"The Hero of Xoff was the title given to the Field General for his service to bringing a shattered country together, but here he stands, sworn in with his hand on the most important of books, yet willingly making a mockery of the country he restored?"
Genuine anger echoed against the marble walls.
"Why, Field General?" Genuine anger that the man had ignored court room rules. "Why do you believe yourself above the law? Why isn't the Court Speaker enforcing the courtroom conduct the Field General swore to follow?"
A curious silence fell over the large room, perhaps over the entire castle, as Sir Gerson refolded his extended arm over his chest. His glare did not let up at neither the Field General nor the Court Speaker. Even Rasliela's hat had turned to look at the turtle monster fuming because of the lack of court conduct on display. The wind the Field General had caught in his sails had deflated into a shameful pile of cloth.
It would still sail what it was he was rigging to reveal to the court audience, but the energy of it Sir Gerson had snatched right out of the Field General's hands. Stolen away like a teacher snatching away a toy from a pupil disturbing the class.
Actually...no.
Sir Gerson was another pupil snatching the toy away because the teacher was letting the disruptive child go about his disrupting business. Both the disrupting child and the teacher knew that it was wrong, yet they were going along with it. How was it supposed to be a fair trial if one side was blatantly favored over the other by the one tasked with preserving the unbiased nature of the law?
That Sir Gerson asked. That he demanded to know!
All the while Cter was sat next to him having talked to both Rasliela, the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr Castle representing the other side, as well as Lerjung, the former Royal Mage of Fenkeep Castle. Was Sir Gerson aware that she had spoken to the two? If he was, did he ignore the hypocrisy of his objection? Was he willing to sacrifice his own sense of justice to protect his people?
"It is appalling that this is what is considered fair conduct! It is blatant bias from the Court Speaker!"
Apparently so since he kept going well after his point was made and told loud and clear. He was testing to see how far he could himself go without the Court Speaker's approval. Normally he was supposed to be granted his objection rather than grant it himself, no?
"Your objection has been noted, Sir Gerson, Leader of the Royal Guard of Jarasevo," said the Court Speaker after some writing on a parchment of his. "I will also note that you spoke your objection without being granted the word from me. Considering the nature of your objection I will record it as mediated since you explained it through the same wrong that you objected to." The Court Speaker seemed to be keen to what Sir Gerson was playing. "Will that suffice?"
It would, since the reason wasn't for Sir Gerson to call out the bias. Frankly, he was most likely saving it to use himself once he had the chance. What he whispered to Kurant about playing it as human as possible before she took the floor earlier was most certain about just that.
She didn't need to play to that bias though due to her knee brace squeaking in the perfect moment for her to garner sympathy when she was giving her testimony as to why she chose to leave her country behind to be a Monster Mage for the monsters rather than a potential Royal Mage for the humans.
"My choice was, and still is, rooted in that I believe that monsters can reach new potentials when cooperating with humans. By being a Monster Mage I can help the monsters reach new heights which have only come to improve the relationship between humans and monsters, and thus the benefits they can bring to Xoff. If not by themselves, then by the further understanding of how the two races can cooperate and prosper together."
Her testimony was the shortest, even shorter than Terri Fyed being called up to the floor by the Field General to explain why Hjearta was invited too. However, while Kurant's spoke the shortest, it was nothing but eloquent and sharp. She did not speak longer because she had nothing more to say, but because she had said all that she had to.
A slight difference in semantics, yet massive in its weight and impact.
And because Kurant explained herself so beautifully, both her reasoning to become a Monster Mage as well as the story of her knee from her point of view, Sir Gerson was given the chance to interrupt the Field General just before he reached a crescendo of suspense. He would have to present what he wanted of the Cooperative Connection as if it was just another piece of evidence and not the evidence everything he had said inside the court room walls had been leading up to.
Barring the sky crashing down over Monster Country, but landing softly on the overcast clouds, Sir Gerson saved more monsters than anyone in history had ever done!
"It will suffice, Court Speaker."
However though, clouds were still only clouds.
"Then with that settled I now allow the Field General the floor."
At any moment in time they could break up.
"Thank you, Court Speaker."
And the sky could come crashing down regardless.
"I will now reveal the truth of the Cooperative Connection that the monsters have kept hidden from the humans ever since its conception."
