~~~ Amendments ~~~

 

"Sorry, Jamus. I did everything I could..." two men walked out of the hall of the Treegum Courthouse. The rest of the attendees including the judge and guards had already left before them, the trial completed not an hour earlier.

 

"It's alright, Gen." Jamus sighed, "But I swear the ox bit me first!"

 

"I know, friend, I know," Gen said, giving the defendant, his client, a comforting pat on the back. "But next time," he continued, "maybe you shouldn't bite back..." he stifled a chuckle as he ushered Jamus to the door. Out the corner of his eye, he could swear he saw something move, but upon a second glance, nothing was there. The foyer of the courthouse was silent and still. He glanced at the book of laws that lay open on a pedestal a moment before he was interrupted.

 

"Can I get you a drink with my last gold piece?" Came Jamus' voice.

 

Gen turned back to his friend and smiled, "This one's on me."

 

As the two men exited the building a peaceful quiet fell over the courthouse. All was still, not even a gentle breeze swept through the windows... probably because they were closed...

 

Then suddenly, a figure appeared from out of nowhere. Seemingly stepping out of the light patterns in the room, a very short, winged elf now stood before the open book of laws. She peered over them once more before reading the introductory statement aloud to herself.

 

"Heretofore the following laws are established as the code of Treegum as," she paused, going over the rest of the sentence in her head before continuing, "...as ratified by the Offices of the Council of Treegum."

 

Sarah propped her elbow on the book and rested her cheek in her hand. "Now isn't that funny." She said to herself, scanning the words over once more, "It seems the 'Council of Treegum' passed a bunch of laws... now the last time I checked, I was part of that. I guess they just forgot to send my invitation?"

 

She tapped a finger to her chin repeatedly, scanning over the laws that were listed under the introductory paragraph.

 

"No illegal dueling... no pickpocketing..." the next few were lost in mumbles, "Dangerous displays of magic? That's kinda vague... mm... no kidnapping, yah... oh." as she came to the ninth, and last law written in the book, it gave her pause.

 

She gave it the once over before reading it aloud to herself, "Treegum Law: Representatives of the Drow or other dark races are not afforded the rights of citizenship and are considered enemies of the realm: Punishable by imprisonment, forfeiture of goods, and death."

 

She stood upright again and reached into a pouch to take out a small bottle of ink and a golden-feathered quill, that had a remarkable resemblance to the feathers of her wings. She giggled softly to herself as she dipped the feather into the ink and drew the tip to the last lines of the book.

 

"Silly colleagues, you put in way too many words. No matter. We'll call this my contribution to the ratification process." with a sly grin, she quickly scratched out a good bit of writing before stopping to admire her handiwork.

 

Punishable by imprisonment, forfeiture of goods, and death.

 

As she giggled once again, the sound of the door opening caught her attention. She quickly packed up her writing materials and faded from view. As her honor the judge entered the hall of the courthouse, she payed little mind to the gentle breeze that passed by her, oblivious to the fact that it was blowing in the wrong direction.

 

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