"After." I took a deep breath, opened the door, and strode in, Jez behind me. An enormous auditorium stretched before me. Rows of ledges crossed it, offering a place to lie and sit, all facing a wide stage lit by electric lamps and braziers cradling open flame. A giant desk with a chair waited in the middle of the stage. Usually it was flanked by two chairs. Only one chair this time. My chair.
The bottom rows were filled. Shapeshifters sprawled here and there, some by themselves, some in couples. At least a hundred people, maybe more. Petitions rarely attracted that kind of audience. Something was up.
I raised my head, walked across the stage to the desk, and sat. To the left, just below me, a second desk stood perpendicular to the stage. The desk was occupied by a dark-haired woman about my age. She had curly brown hair, large dark eyes, and an infectious laugh. She also introduced herself as George. George's full name was actually Georgetta, and she tended to break people's bones when they used it. Her parents were the only two beings on Earth able to say it without consequences, and since her father was Mahon, the Pack's Executioner, I didn't want to try my luck. During petitions, George acted as the neutral third party, who prepared summaries of the cases and ran the hearings.
George rose and rang the bell. "We're now in session."
The crowd quieted.
Damn, there were a lot of people here. Shapeshifters gossiped like old Southern ladies at church. If they got hold of some juicy rumor, they showed up in droves to watch it unfold. So far today I'd been cut, burned, bruised, advised that we were facing a secret society, and emotionally compromised. I didn't need any more bloody surprises.
"Case of Donovan versus Perollo," George announced.
Two shapeshifters rose from the audience and went down to the first row.
I opened the first file.
The first four cases were routine. A dispute over an abandoned car on the border of the rats' territory. One of the cats had found it and spent a few hours hauling it out of the ravine. Technically all of the shapeshifter territory was Pack territory, but each clan house had a few square miles of exclusively their land, so the clans could meet in private. The car went to the rats. I ruled that the cat had no business on their land in the first place.
The second case was a domestic dispute between ex-spouses belonging to different clans. When the couple had porced, the rat father took the children, and the jackal mother claimed that she didn't have to pay child support because both kids turned into rats. I decided she did.
The third and fourth cases involved a business jointly owned by Clan Heavy and Clan Jackal. It was long and complicated, and I had to check my notes more times than I could count. When all interested parties finally sat down, I had to squish the urge to collapse in relief on my desk. Another couple stepped up. The man's right arm was in a sling and he held himself like he was spoiling for a fight. He looked to be in his early twenties. Hard to say for sure--shapeshifters were long lived, and some people I could've sworn were in their late forties were pushing seventy.
The woman appeared to be about the same age. Slender, she had a pretty face framed by a waterfall of blond hair that spilled below her waist. She seemed on edge, as if she expected me to throw something at her at any moment.
The man raised his head. "Kenneth Thompson, Clan Wolf, petitioner."
The woman squared her shoulders. "Sandra Martin, Clan Wolf, defendant."
A warning bell went off in my head.
Ken looked at me. "I exercise my right of inpidual appeal. I appeal to have my petition judged by the Consort."
That meant that he wanted me to make the judgment. If Curran were here, he could offer his opinion, but the decision was my responsibility. Except Curran wasn't here.
"I'm the only person here," I told him. "I have to judge your case by default."
Ken looked a bit confused. "I was told to ask for direct appeal."
I glanced at George. She made a winding motion with her left hand. Keep going. Right.
Barabas had made me memorize the protocol, so at least I wasn't completely lost. I looked at Sandra. "Do you have any objections?"
She swallowed. "No."
"The request for inpidual appeal is granted," I said.
The audience focused on me. So this was it. That was why every busybody in the Pack was here. I glanced at the wolf alpha couple. Daniel was impassive and Jennifer had a small smile on her long face.
Okay. You want a fight, you'll get one. I opened the file and pulled out the summary--two typed pages. With Andrea and her conspiracy theories, this was the one case I had failed to preview.
George gave me a reassuring wink from her desk.
I scanned the summary. Oh boy.
"These are the facts of the case: You, Kenneth, were romantically pursuing Sandra. In an effort to court her, you broke into her house on Friday. She woke up, found you in her bedroom, and shot you with a Glock 21, damaging three of your ribs and shattering the bones of your right arm. You feel that her reaction was excessive and want compensation for the pain and suffering and medical bills. Is this correct?" Ken nodded. "Yes, Consort."
I glanced at the summary. "It says here that when Sandra woke up, you were nude and carrying a bouquet of sticks."
Ken turned a shade redder, but I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or outrage. "They were roses. I tore the petals off and put them on the carpet."
If Curran were here, he'd be closing his eyes and counting to ten in his head.
"Can I say something?" Sandra asked.
I looked at her. "No, you can't. You have to wait your turn."
She clamped her mouth shut.
I turned back to Ken. "Did Sandra encourage your ... courtship? Did she give you any indication that she liked you?"
"Some," Kenneth said.
"Be specific," George said.
"She told me that I looked nice. I've been trying to get her for a while, so she knew I liked her."
"Can I say something?" Sandra asked.
"No. And if you ask me one more time, I'll have you removed and we'll proceed without you."
She blinked.
I looked back at Ken. "What else did Sandra do to encourage you?"
Ken considered. "She looked at me."
Great. Just peachy.
"So because Sandra looked at you and said that you looked nice, you decided to break into her house and surprise her in her bed naked?"
A light laugh ran through the audience. I glared at them. The laugh died.
Ken turned bright red and turned back to glare at the shapeshifters in the stands. All we needed now was for him to go furry and rip into our spectators.