![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalNote: Finally. Just need to write a short epilogue and I think I'll have this finished by the end of the weekend.
* * *
The signal from Stellar Justice cut off, the judges disappeared, and suddenly the courtroom was buzzing as Aunt Razi and the rest of Ali's family let out loud whoops of joy, and Lady Melanie collapsed into her husband's arms sobbing. Leaving Ali to be hugged hard by Salli as she stood stunned.
“Wait, what just happened?” Ali demanded, regaining her voice. “Did I just get sentenced to do what I would have been doing anyway if they'd let me go free?”
“I believe so, yes,” Salli said, laughing and crying at the same time. “Clever of them, don't you think?”
Next Lady Melanie, Aunt Razi and Lu approached, the former still weeping. “Oh, Ali. I was scared for you,” Lady Melanie said, snuffling and hugging her. “I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I'm so sorry.”
“I'm happy because you're happy, Ali,” Aunt Razi said, looking a bit conflicted, “But doesn't this mean you're still considered a criminal?”
“Yeah, but I'm not dead, or in a cell. So I can live with it,” Ali said.
“But...” Razi looked to Salli. “You're not really going to have her breaking rocks with a hammer or something? That'd be mad!”
“No, no,” Salli reassured her. “I think Ali's current duties are labor enough.” She kept one armed wrapped around Ali's waist, giving her a possessive squeeze.
Lu tapped something on his personal comp, finishing with a jaunty flourish. “And on that note, I formally transfer control of Ali's tracking band to you, Lady Sallivera.”
Salli gave him a look, perhaps not quite so withering as before, and pulled out of her own comp. “Duly noted,” she said. She tapped command in, and the band around Ali's leg gave a short beep in response. “And now it's shut down. Ali, I want you to cut the damned thing off as soon as you get your arsenal back.” She smiled slightly. “Your word of honor you won't wander off?”
“Yes, milady,” Ali said, smiling in return.
They stepped outside the courtroom, heading in the general direction of Salli and Ali's residence. “What I'd like to know,” Lord Rolas said, giving his wife a glare that was somewhere between exasperation and pride, “is who bribed the judges into coming up with that rather creative sentence.”
“Rolas, you have a very suspicious mind,” Lady Melanie retorted. “For once it wasn't me.”
Actually that had been what Ali had suspected as well, except that bribing five separate judges on the notoriously independent Allied Worlds judiciary would have been an impressive feat even for the former Red Vixen. That and her brother Lu was keeping his gaze firmly on the clouds overhead in a very odd manner. “Did you do something?” she demanded of him.
“Well I might have made a mild suggestion to my CO when I was making my report on the trial's progress to him, and he might have mentioned something to his commander, who is friends with the head of the Justice Ministry,” Lu said. “After pointing out all the help Ali had been in apprehending Bloody Margo and rescuing Lady Salli, that is.”
“Why Lu, that was very well done of you,” Aunt Razi said, beaming at him.
He shrugged, “I love you, Aunt Razi. I didn't fancy having the whole family hating me for the rest of my life.”
“Well, you would have gotten an earful from me at least.”
“Does this mean you won't bring up me arresting her at every family reunion?”
Razi grinned evilly. “Well, you're out of luck there.”
“Thanks, Lu,” Ali cut in, pausing to reach over and hug him briefly.
Lu's ears reddened. “Don't thank me. I'm the one that got you into this mess in the first place.”
“No, you didn't,” she said. “That was Lady Margo, twenty years ago when she killed our family and stole me away. You're the one that found me, even when I didn't think I wanted to be found. For that I'm grateful, because now I have a family again. My old family, that I thought lost, and my new family, that I never thought I could ever deserve.”
She opened her arms up, gathering in Lu, Salli, Aunt Razi, and even Lady Melanie. All the ones that loved her, and who she loved back just as fiercely.
They felt warm.
She felt whole.
* * *
The signal from Stellar Justice cut off, the judges disappeared, and suddenly the courtroom was buzzing as Aunt Razi and the rest of Ali's family let out loud whoops of joy, and Lady Melanie collapsed into her husband's arms sobbing. Leaving Ali to be hugged hard by Salli as she stood stunned.
“Wait, what just happened?” Ali demanded, regaining her voice. “Did I just get sentenced to do what I would have been doing anyway if they'd let me go free?”
“I believe so, yes,” Salli said, laughing and crying at the same time. “Clever of them, don't you think?”
Next Lady Melanie, Aunt Razi and Lu approached, the former still weeping. “Oh, Ali. I was scared for you,” Lady Melanie said, snuffling and hugging her. “I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I'm so sorry.”
“I'm happy because you're happy, Ali,” Aunt Razi said, looking a bit conflicted, “But doesn't this mean you're still considered a criminal?”
“Yeah, but I'm not dead, or in a cell. So I can live with it,” Ali said.
“But...” Razi looked to Salli. “You're not really going to have her breaking rocks with a hammer or something? That'd be mad!”
“No, no,” Salli reassured her. “I think Ali's current duties are labor enough.” She kept one armed wrapped around Ali's waist, giving her a possessive squeeze.
Lu tapped something on his personal comp, finishing with a jaunty flourish. “And on that note, I formally transfer control of Ali's tracking band to you, Lady Sallivera.”
Salli gave him a look, perhaps not quite so withering as before, and pulled out of her own comp. “Duly noted,” she said. She tapped command in, and the band around Ali's leg gave a short beep in response. “And now it's shut down. Ali, I want you to cut the damned thing off as soon as you get your arsenal back.” She smiled slightly. “Your word of honor you won't wander off?”
“Yes, milady,” Ali said, smiling in return.
They stepped outside the courtroom, heading in the general direction of Salli and Ali's residence. “What I'd like to know,” Lord Rolas said, giving his wife a glare that was somewhere between exasperation and pride, “is who bribed the judges into coming up with that rather creative sentence.”
“Rolas, you have a very suspicious mind,” Lady Melanie retorted. “For once it wasn't me.”
Actually that had been what Ali had suspected as well, except that bribing five separate judges on the notoriously independent Allied Worlds judiciary would have been an impressive feat even for the former Red Vixen. That and her brother Lu was keeping his gaze firmly on the clouds overhead in a very odd manner. “Did you do something?” she demanded of him.
“Well I might have made a mild suggestion to my CO when I was making my report on the trial's progress to him, and he might have mentioned something to his commander, who is friends with the head of the Justice Ministry,” Lu said. “After pointing out all the help Ali had been in apprehending Bloody Margo and rescuing Lady Salli, that is.”
“Why Lu, that was very well done of you,” Aunt Razi said, beaming at him.
He shrugged, “I love you, Aunt Razi. I didn't fancy having the whole family hating me for the rest of my life.”
“Well, you would have gotten an earful from me at least.”
“Does this mean you won't bring up me arresting her at every family reunion?”
Razi grinned evilly. “Well, you're out of luck there.”
“Thanks, Lu,” Ali cut in, pausing to reach over and hug him briefly.
Lu's ears reddened. “Don't thank me. I'm the one that got you into this mess in the first place.”
“No, you didn't,” she said. “That was Lady Margo, twenty years ago when she killed our family and stole me away. You're the one that found me, even when I didn't think I wanted to be found. For that I'm grateful, because now I have a family again. My old family, that I thought lost, and my new family, that I never thought I could ever deserve.”
She opened her arms up, gathering in Lu, Salli, Aunt Razi, and even Lady Melanie. All the ones that loved her, and who she loved back just as fiercely.
They felt warm.
She felt whole.
