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court, whatever that was. She and Vallant produced rather loud footsteps as they crossed the wide, empty floor to the proper stairway, and Jovvi was relieved to see that her companion was only faintly disturbed about being indoors. With all that emptiness around them, there wasn’t much feeling of confinement.
    The second floor corridor had windows at either end, but there were still lamps lit around the first set of double doors on the right. Opening one of the doors showed them where everyone had gathered, more than a dozen people in addition to the defendants. But the three high chairs up on the dais were empty, which meant that court wasn’t yet in session. An older man dressed like a bailiff stood near the doors they entered by, and when he saw them he came over.
    “Good mornin’,” he greeted them pleasantly, his accent sounding just like Vallant’s. “Can I help you folks with somethin’?”
    “This lady is here to observe the trial,” Vallant answered with a smile. “She’s the one they tried kidnappin’, but the officials said they wouldn’t need her testimony. Is it all right if she and I just sit down back here somewhere?”
    “You’re welcome to sit any place you like,” the bailiff replied with a smile of his own, one that seemed a bit warmer than the first one he’d produced. “If anyone has a right to observe the trial, I’d say this lady is it. And if one of you has any questions about what you see, don’t hesitate to ask.”
    “That’s really lovely of you,” Jovvi told him with one of her own best smiles. “I just might have some questions, so we’ll sit down right here.”
    The bailiff nodded to show that it was fine with him, so Jovvi urged Vallant to move to the bench first and let her sit on the end. Vallant hesitated very briefly, but the room was rather large and he wasn’t far from the door. It was possible to feel his clench-jawed efforts at self control, but they were successful enough to let him do as she wanted.
    Once they were seated, Jovvi made herself look around a bit more deliberately. Ark and Bar were seated not far from Allestine at the front of the room, but her two bullies were wearing chains while she was not. Jovvi had expected to find Allestine frantic and terrified, but in point of fact the woman was calm and a bit impatient. It was as though she considered the proceeding a formality, and was just waiting to have it over and done with.
    For a moment Jovvi wondered whether someone had lied to Allestine about what would happen, and then she realized that it didn’t matter. Someone could have lied, but it was just like the spoiled-brat Allestine to expect to get away with whatever she did. She’d gotten her own way for so many years that it was probably beyond her to picture any other outcome. Jovvi sighed and braced herself, anticipating what would happen if things went against the woman. Which they probably would…
    Everyone sat or stood around for a number of minutes, some of those at the front of the courtroom speaking together in soft, secretive voices. They were the prosecuting officials, Jovvi suddenly understood, and their thought patterns suggested that they didn’t know why they were there on a rest day. So much for the practice being an ordinary one.
    And there was someone probing gently at Jovvi with Spirit magic. She’d noticed as soon as the attempt began, but had made no effort to keep the practitioner away from her surface thoughts and emotions. As Vallant had said, if they were trying so hard to upset her, it would be foolish to make them think their efforts were wasted. Not to mention the fact that she
was
upset. If someone closer to her than Allestine were the accused, she would probably be as much of a nervous wreck as she now only pretended to be.
    At the end of the double handful of minutes, a door opened on the left side of the room and three men appeared. They all wore the heavy purple robes of judges, and filed up onto the dais and