Day Four-Fifty-Seven: Elimination round

I was muddling over potential home-grown jurors before I left Pubton two weeks ago. I got far enough that I had a couple dozen potential candidates, and with some more work last night the list has been narrowed yet again.

I wish I'd spent more time on it, now. The group that made the cut… is not… ideal. Not for a proper trial, anyway.

The problem with selecting people from Pubton to judge Jeffrey's fate is that most of them have already decided that he's guilty. And, well, yeah, he is guilty. We all know as much. But if we're to be democratic and show Daena and her family the respect they've earned, we have to go through the motions. I had to pick people who are neutral to Jeffrey.

By the end of yesterday I had this list of candidates available to me:

- The head Weekendist

- Bora

- One of Jeffrey's former bannermen

- A scraggly bard with a pet monkey

- Edmund

- Mom and / or dad

- The noblewoman with the silly hats

- Morris

- Horace

- Lonnie, because he insisted he get in on the action

- And, surprisingly, Celine, because in the few conversations we've had she's seemed amazingly impartial as to her father's fate - I don't know if I'll ever understand that kid

I took another look at the list this morning with Pagan and Edmund looking over my shoulder, and we began cutting down the unsuitable people. Bora can't do it because she's always staffing the Beefiary, and her assistants can't handle her workload. The bannerman got the boot when Edmund revealed just how anti-Jeffrey the guy is (which I suppose shouldn't surprise me - he gave me socks for Allofusmas with stitched images of Jeffrey getting punched in the face). Edmund himself is too busy tending to the jurors to be one himself. Dad… is just a no. Horace, I remembered, had joined Robert's strike against Jeffrey, so he's out. Lonnie is another emphatic no.

Edmund and Pagan both recommended I cut Celine. They were amazed that I'd included her. I recommended they go have a chat with the girl. When they came back, they no longer objected to her spot on the jury. She leaves a lasting first impression on everyone she meets, does that girl.

That, then, is that. We have our jury. Two Weekendists, a baker, a retired military man, two aristocrats (one of which wears silly hats), a scraggly bard, an entertainer (I'm told he specializes in juggling), Morris, my mom, a… platypus… and, weird of all weirds, the ex-king's daughter.

It's probably not apparent why this is a poor list. The fact that they aren't all totally impartial plays a part. I would have preferred jurors from outside town only. None of them have any trial experience, and I get the feeling that several of them won't take kindly to being penned up in Pagan's manor for a few weeks. Morris, at least, is gonna be annoyed that he's being taken away from his cows, and I bet the two Weekendists will want to break their sequestered status to announce the incoming weekend on Fridays. Last, and this would be true of anybody in town, I fear they might harbour some grudges towards Jeffrey that they've so far kept hidden.

But they're the best I've got. Ugh. The trial's gonna be a big mess. Thank the gods that Evangelina and Pagan both have some experience with the law, or we'd get nowhere.

I have to go around town and tell everybody they're up for jury duty tomorrow. It will be… an interesting experience. Yeah.

Sigh.

Sincerely,

Dragomir the Mayor