Bryon had been notified by an errand Novice that the murderer had been caught and had been sent to the infirmary for a healing.  She would be sent to the brig afterward.  It amazed Bryon to find out that it had been a woman, but there were all sorts of people out there, even the evil women that no one thinks about.

 

Bryon didn't beleive that there was any doubt about who this woman was but he also beleived that it was best to give the girl a good trial.  He thought about anyone who he'd trust with the job of doing this task unbiased, but there was little in the yards to say anyone would be good at this. 

 

An unfortunate soul knocked on Bryon's door.  When he entered Bryon noted the young Tower Guard and figured he would do.  Jaisine came with what he had come for and he was about to leave before Bryon stopped him.  "Hold, Jaisine.  I have another task for you.  It won't be easy and I don't expect you to win the battle, but I do expect you to try to win with all your might.  It will be difficult, and I will give you whatever help and guidance I can in this.  It will take you an objective eye even if your feelings run in the opposite direction.  I trust you to do your duty with all that it is in you."

 

Bryon hoped that was enough of a pep talk.  "I want you to defend the murderer who has run rampant in our yards these past few weeks.  She is currently in the infirmary and will be later taken to the brig.  Do what you can to find a proper defense for her and her actions."

 

Bryon

"You want me to defend the murderer?" Jasine shock overcame his usual deference to the man and he didn't immediately realize he was questioning a direct order from his highest commander.  Master Bryon leveled his gaze at Jasine and let his words sink in, giving the man a moment to realize his actions before he rebuked him for his tone.  He'd known this wasn't an easy task he was giving and it would be up to the young Tower Guard to rise to the challenge.

 

Jasine colored as he did realize his error.  Master Bryon had that ability with his gaze to tell you everything you'd done wrong without saying a single word.  He bowed crisply to his boss and nodded. "By my honor as a Tower Guard, I will do my best to give her the objective defense she is due as a human, Sir."  He paused a moment, wondering if there was a dossier Master Bryon would give him.  After a few short seconds when it was apparent that the man was offering no packet of helpful info immediately, Jasine bowed again and left his office to try and find Kynwric. 

 

Kyn had been in charge of the investigation and that was probably the best place to start with figuring out what he could possibly saw to defend this monster who had killed his friends and colleagues. 

He couldn't find Kynwric, but he did find out from one of the Tower Guards on duty that the murderer had been taken to the Infirmary and was still there.  Jasine didn't want to talk to the woman, it was one of the things he wanted to do least of anything in his life, but he knew that he would have to at some point.  For the time being, the murderer - the alleged murderer? - would be incapacitated in the Infirmary and would be of no help to her own defense.

 

He headed for the office that had been set up for Kynwric running the investigation and chose to spend his time waiting for his former mentor that he would always deeply respect.

Kynwric came into his makeshift office and saw Jasine fidgiting just inside. He closed the door and nodded for him to sit. "I understand your to defend her?" After her assent he continued on. "The evidence is all in that room." He pointed to the door leading to the backroom, which had a heavy lock on it. He then turned back and reached into his pocket. "Here's a key." He set the key on his desk. "I've already had the ward modified so that you can enter. If you want to look at the catalog of other information it is all filed in there as well." He leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. "You know there is no way to get her off on the physical evidence, nevermind the fact she was caught red handed in the commission of one of the murders."

"I know there's no chance of defending her.  I didn't ask for this duty because I believe her to be innocent."  In a softer tone, just barely audible, he confessed. "I didn't ask for this duty at all."  In a stronger tone, as he rose from his chair to gather up the key and string it with one of the leather thongs he used to tie his hair back, "But I must do all I can and the first part to that is understanding exactly what has happened.  And if the Wheel wills it, coming to understand her as well."

 

"Do you know anything about her, Kyn?"  He tied the key around his neck and then let the cold metal rest against his skin inside his shirt.  "Do you know what could bring a woman to mercilessly kill so many good people?  Is she mad?"  Insanity, while a cause for sympathy and commiseration, would not protect the woman from justice.  It might keep her head attached to her shoulders, but she would never be left free to do this again.

Kyn shook his head. "She is clearly touched by the Dark One, but if she is mad or evil I cannot say. Either way she is a Murderess and in the end she must pay the price for that. I would think about seeking out her associations within the Tower, that might perhaps give you some insight into her personality."

"She has associations within the Tower?" He looked up from his hands to Kynwric, eyebrows raised.  "Just who is this girl?  All I was told by Master Bryon was that she called herself Cari."  He was troubled by the thought that this murderer could be someone they actually know, or knew.  His brows knitted together in concern and he rose to his feet.

 

"I think I should get started on looking through the evidence immediately.  Once she has been healed she should be in the Brig.  I'll look there next and see about speaking to the woman."  As he listened to Kyn's reply he took out the key again and started to gather the material he would need to copy his own notes from.

"Cari, huh? SO that is her name... I didn't know. I really haven't even had a good look at her. I am not positive, but I have reasoned that it had to be. She has spent an inordinate amount of time in the Tower during a time when we were under heightened alert and on the look out for suspicious people. She at least knows how to move and talk like someone who belongs here and that would require a source of knowledge at the very least. If she wasn't actually Tower trained." Kyn stopped and thought on that for a moment. "Hmmm..."

"You don't think a woman of that level of skill with weapons could have been an Aes Sedai, do you?"  The thought left him a little queasy and breathless.  He gathered a file of papers and brought it with him back to Kynwric's desk to begin copying them over.  "There aren't any oaths about killing with weapons not of the one power, are there?"

 

He did agree that the woman knew just too much about their patrols and when to strike for someone who was completely ignorant of the ways of an organized command.  He'd just hoped to himself that she had been a whitecloak or a darkfriend of some sort.  The idea that she could be a Tower Guard was beyond unnerving.

Kynwric shook his head. "An Aes Sedai can kill with a weapon just like any other. It is part of the reason the Greens carry there own weapons in addition to the One Power. But, I do not htink she is Aes Sedai, or even a runaway Novice. I would not have caught her so easily if she had been... I am afraid that Tower Guard of some ilk is the only real explanation."

"Thera would have records on the Tower Guards that had come through our Yards, I may have to ask her to help me in identifying her.  Unless, of course, she simply states who she is." He kept his eyes on his work as he copied Kynwric's findings in his own neat and precise hand.  It was quick work, for all the mayhem that the woman had caused to the Tower, there had been very little actual evidence aside from a string of bodies and then a woman who had been caught red-handed in the act.  Kynwric hadn't written up a report on the latest murder, the one that she had been caught at.  He didn't remind Kynwric to get that report to him as soon as it was written, Kyn knew his work and was good at it.  He'd be thorough.

 

"I'm off to the brig next, to see if she's been moved there yet.  I'll likely be back to see you again, Kyn.  I don't know how I'm supposed to defend this woman, but I have to at least try or this trial will be as much a mockery of our justice system as those Whitecloak  trials.  And I won't let that happen."

 

He gathered his papers and stood up, dropping into a precise bow to his old mentor and friend.  "Thanks the Light it's over, eh Kyn?"  He gave a brief nod to the man and then left with his thoughts whirling at maddening speed as he tried to take in everything and form some kind of defense.

 

 

Jasine al'Thorin

Public Defender

"Wait." And he gestured to the chair across from him. "Jasine, whether this woman is crazed or not she cannot be allowed to roam free. Even if she is found to be insane, I will recommend that she be sealed away for the rest of her days at the least." He paused long enough to reach open a drawer and produce a couple of sheafs of paper. "This is my report on the night she was apprehended. To the best of my recollection it is complete."

 

"Also, I want to invite you to dinner. There are things I need to discuss with you. It is time you were made aware of what it is we face... but it has to be private."

Jasine stopped at the door and then turned back to Kyn, reaching for the papers.  "I would not see a mad woman free, Kyn.  The thought of her doing this again turns my blood to ice, no matter how I hold onto the void.  If I am able to form some kind of defense for her, and by some unlikeliness it is found to be valid and true under the Light, it will be only to stay the executioner's hand.  I do not know of any kind of cure for this kind of madness, though the Yellows claim anything short of death can be cured.  If they could cure madness, then we would not have fear of another breaking."  He paused, thinking unsettling thoughts about men who can channel free to exercise their maddened whims upon the world.

 

He shook his head and gave the man a thin smile.  "I am always happy to join you for dinner, Kyn.  Even when your lovely Aes Sedai is the one doing the cooking."  He managed a warmer smile then, briefly, and nodded.  "Private, then?  Not with Thera along to make it a double-date?"  He hadn't yet spoken to Thera about his role defending the woman who had killed so many of the Tower Guards she had seen come up as trainees.  He didn't know if she would be fair about the role, and he didn't want to find out just yet if she was not.

 

Kyn shook his head. "Thera is I am sure aware of what I am going to tell you. If you wish her to be there then bring her, Loraine is busy tonight, something about a Sister being raised, and this cannot wait."

 

He leaned back in the chair and sized Jasine up one last time, for after tonight he would know a secret of dire consequences. "You know the Stag and Unicorn on the Avenue? Meet me there just after dark."

 

OOC: I'll start a new thread for that one here shortly.