The Witch Trial

“Please be seated, everyone.” A tall eladrin, his head clean shaven and stenciled with runes, gestured to the comfortable chairs and took a seat himself by the stenographer, an elderly gnome with huge spectacles and a silver pen.  He took a quick peek at the unfurled scroll before him, then gazed back up to the younger female gnome seated opposite to him.  

She fidgeted nervously and eyed the school council members before her.  Some smiled kindly to her, some scowled.  More than a few looked amused.  

The eladrin addressed the board, “This meeting is to discuss Miss Sundew’s research regarding the development of fae attributes on the offspring of earthbound races and creatures.  Specifically, we are focusing on the methods employed by Miss Sundew and addressing moral concerns, as well as the possibility of cancelling further school funding in light of them.”

“FOOLS!  I WILL DESTROY YOU!”  The female gnome´s voice suddenly thundered as she banged her fists against the table.  “Err… argument-wise, that is.” She added with a grimace, remembering her plight.

“We feel obliged to mention that Miss Sundew has chosen to represent herself despite our advice to the contrary.” The eladrin added calmly.  He was familiar with Sundew’s temperament, and was not fazed by it, save perhaps for a pang of endearment which he was quick to brush off.  He had to remain professional, after all.

Sundew crossed her arms and looked huffy, though there was no disguising her blush.  “If we could hurry this along.  I have experiments that cannot wait.”

“We are forced to wonder why they cannot, and fear we may not like the answers.” The eladrin pointed out.  “We can only hope this is not a repetition of your experiments trying to cross blink dogs and displacer beasts.”

“Hey!” Sundew protested.  “I fully complied with the school board’s unreasonable requests and aborted my enlightening experiments with nary a complaint!”  Subdued chuckles tittered in the room at this.  “And anyway, I don’t see how I could repeat these experiments, seeing as how I had to dispose of all my specimens.”  Here she paused, growing nervous.  “At least, I think I did.  It’s so hard to tell.” She admitted off-handedly.

The eladrin was less amused, and some of the runes on his scalp pulsed with the warning of an incoming headache.  “Sundew, no one here denies the useful applications of your research, nor can we deny that we’ve failed to give the subject the attention it deserved until you arrived.  We’ve been far more lenient with you than with many a brighter student…”

This was the wrong thing to say, and the eladrin realized his mistake too late.  “Brighter?  Many?  Ha!  SUNDEW SHINES BRIGHTER THAN THE COMBINED INTELLECTUAL TWINKLE OF ANY OF THE SHAMBLING MOUNDS STOMPING THROUGH THE GROUNDS OF THIS ACADEMY!” she cried, flashing a ferocious smile.

“… but your latest experiments try our patience beyond any semblance of wisdom.  We knew the time would come when you would need to start doing population studies on sentient races through selective breeding…”

“They were all volunteers!” Sundew squealed, though no longer sounding confident.

“Volunteers?” The eladrin interrupted, frowning and looking at the scroll before him.  “Drugging an elf?  Stripping him, binding him, and placing him inside a cake at a half-orc bachelorette party?”

“He was a drow!  As long as he’s not trying to swallow his tongue, it counts as consensual!”

“Running a eugenics program under the guise of a fertility clinic?

“LIES!” Sundew cried, her ears glowing red.  “Those who turned to Sundew for help got exactly what they wanted!  And what they wanted was a bouncing baby gnome, of course!  Who wouldn’t?   I cannot be faulted for helping them see the light of reason, with enlightening pictures of all the horrible diseases they would spare their child this way.”

“Impersonating a marriage councellor?” The eladrin continued to list off, calmly.

“That’s just a personal hobby.” The gnome shrugged off.  “Too many romantics out there who cannot see the wisdom of letting go of self-conceit and seek something better for their offspring.”

“Miss Sundew…” the eladrin interrupted, and this time he could not hide the sadness in his voice.  “You are very passionate, but you lack the empathy and sincerity that are the prerequisites of your line of research.”

Sundew’s eyebrow twitched and she opened her mouth to voice a silent protest.

“We cannot in good conscience continue to support your efforts.  Your funding is cut off pending a full investigation, and your research is put on hold until further notice.”

Tears swelled on the gnome’s eyes.



Later that day.



“So how was yer trial, dear?” the Halfling asked.  He always insisted on climbing up to Sundew’s quarters through the vines outside her window.  As he was always quick to point out, a rogue can’t allow his years to catch up with him, any more than any of his other pursuers.

“It wasn’t a trial, father.” The gnome said sullenly.  “And anyway, you can see for yourself.”

The Halfling nodded at the rising pile of crates and baskets that replaced the usual furnishings.  “You know yer mum and I will be happy to have you back for a spell.” He said with a chuckle at the pun.  “Yer cousing Pye’s renting yer room now, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to share it with ya.  He always did take a shining to ya.”

“Pfhah!” Sundew laughed grimly.  “Cousin Pyrite’s ‘shining’ for me is not the least of the many, many reasons I left home!” she growled.

The Halfling smiled.  He too was familiar with Sundew’s temperament.  “Yer mum and I could do something nasty to him, if ye fancy.”

Sundew finally smiled as well, though it was strained.  She gave her father a hug.  “I know.” She whispered gratefully, then realized she could not bring herself to release him.  “This is but a temporary setback!  I swear, Sundew will make you proud!” she said loudly, despite her face being buried on his shoulder.

“Prouder, my dear.  Prouder.” Her father corrected, and kissed his daughter’s cheek.

He waited for Sundew to release him.  He was in no hurry.  It was rare to see Sundew display such open affection.  He felt her grip on his shoulders finally soften... but noticed in alarm that his own grip weakened as his daughter was pulled away from him. Or spirited away, rather.

This was not one of his daughter's vanishing tricks. He was sure of it, and the old rogue found a panicked scream escape his throat for the first time in two decades.

"SUNNY!"

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I'll have to make some concessions for the use of an Eladrin but it can be explained away.

100 experience!

Whoops. Now that I think about it, you requested that our backstory end with our characters 'blacking out', not 'passing out'. I hadn't thought about it meaning that our characters might have been teleported or something, rather than simply going unconscious. I can rewrite the ending if need be.

If you can, please do.

I edited the ending accordingly. Also, I absolutely loved your intro to the story, BTW! Instantly likeable NPCs.