[Closed]

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin was no stranger to being thrown into cells. Uther had thrown him in there on several occasions. Arthur had every now and then too. And on the plus side, this was much nicer than Camelot's cells.

Still, he felt anxious. He didn't understand how there was apparently nothing wrong with his magic, but there was with taking Iniss out of Tom. He didn't know how things worked here. He didn't know what punishments he might get. He didn't even know how long it would take.

He just hoped that Tom was okay.

[[ooc: this is for characters who need to talk to Merlin regarding yeerk stuff. Please PM/IM/email me if you have someone who wants to talk to him]]

Comments

[nevergetscredit]

"Yes. That's what the creature that brought me here said." Merlin wavered for a moment, looking anxious. "What...what's going to happen now?"

[hexyeah]

LOOK AT THAT FACE! How can you convict that face?!

Wanda wanted to hug him. "You're going to be tried in court. I will be defending you. If we win, you're free to go. If not... well, you might be staying in here for a while."

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin frowned. Technically Uther had held trials, but usually he had already decided what the outcome would be. Only for nobles would he actually take his time to decide on a judgement. "So you'll be advising the Captain then? On what to decide?"

[hexyeah]

Wanda took a deep breath and organized her thoughts. Then she walked Merlin through the concept of a criminal justice system that wasn't all decided by a king. It took some time, and a lot of confusion on Merlin's part, but finally he got it.

Wanda hoped.

"Now do you understand?"

[nevergetscredit]

"Apart from the fact that all of this is completely ridiculous? Yes."

[hexyeah]

"Honestly? I agree completely. But, that doesn't change the law." Or the Council's decision, which she had fought against. "Please, tell me everything that happened from the moment you met Tom or Iniss."

[nevergetscredit]

"Everything?" Merlin hesitated for a moment. This might take a while. "Well...I first met Tom after I woke up? He was pretty friendly, but he mentioned that he had a slug in his brain and...then I was talking to Iniss instead."

[hexyeah]

Wanda nodded, forcing herself to let him finish his story. "And then what?"

[nevergetscredit]

"Iniss said he was Tom's 'unwelcome house guest'. I asked him to let Tom have control again, but he said no. He..." Merlin paused. "He said that Tom's body was his as much it was Tom's. That the only reason Tom was even allowed to use it was because he let him! That's not right! It's Tom's body! He shouldn't have to ask just to be able to use it. Even slaves don't have to do that."

[hexyeah]

"No, it's not." Wanda whispered. She shook herself mentally. She couldn't allow her personal feelings to interfere. Not if she was going to do her job right. "And then you used your magic to remove him from Tom?"

[nevergetscredit]

"Not right then," Merlin admitted. "I needed to look up the spell, and make sure I did it right. I didn't want to hurt Tom."

[hexyeah]

"What did Tom say about Iniss? Did he ever say that he wanted him out or that he wanted to keep Iniss there?"

[nevergetscredit]

"He didn't say anything. After Iniss took control, he wouldn't let me talk to Tom again. I didn't even get to talk to him for very long."

[hexyeah]

Wanda frowned. "And then you left and looked up the spell? Did anyone ever tell you about Yeerks or their rights as crew members? Did anyone ever tell you about the laws on Stacy?" She wasn't being judgmental, quite the contrary.

[nevergetscredit]

"No, no one told me anything about Yeerks." Merlin frowned. "But I don't understand. How can a slug that possesses people have rights?"

Nobles had rights. And if their lords were particularly generous, peasants sometimes had them too. But...slugs?

[hexyeah]

"Because here, everyone has rights. Even criminals." Even if they should be in stasis. "Merlin, I think we have a case on the grounds that you didn't know the rules of the ship. You didn't know it was illegal to take Iniss out of Tom and you thought you were doing something good." Which he did.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin stared. "Criminals have rights?!" How could these people just keep getting more and more ridiculous? "And wait, they'll just let me go for...not knowing?" Kings never cared about whether people knew someone broke the law. All that mattered to them was that the law had been broken - whether someone knew or not didn't factor into it.