My Lady

Three days passed with little incident, Jane called witness after witness and somehow managed to sadistically torture each one with, what she assumed to be, an examination in chief. Alice would attempt to sow doubt with little impact and yet manage to thoroughly infuriate Jane each time.

"I must confess we have heard a very similar account nearly six times, will you be calling every single juror to make your point Jane?" Aro was visibly bored and agitated. I assume he expected drama in every passing sentence, where every witness would be some kind of battle between his guardswoman and Alice. He learned the hard way that work in the legal profession was not all about the glamour.

"While I am hesitant to agree with my colleague, the prosecution is making very similar points without expansion. This is not a jury trial and as judges I believe we can all reasonably assess the magnitude of this crime without the smoke and mirrors that usually facilitate a criminal trial. I appreciate the necessity of the statements but without expansion you simply hammer in the point it has occurred." Evelyn did not care about the time consumption, unlike her two counterparts; she held no love for either Volturi or Cullen, and yet each day she became a little bit more enraged. Aro's attempts to add more drama and intrigue to a trial that despite the subject matter, dulled somewhat, only served to infuriate her.

"My Lords and Ladies, if the prosecution is to get across the magnitude of the crimes committed, then it seems only fair we present each and every witness who has something to say." Jane responded, did Aro want her to rise to his challenge or was she openly defying him?

"I would agree if we were hearing multiple accounts of the same event, perspective matters and yet you have shown us six jurors who have the same story. You are entitled to present your case but I question the focus of it, we are judges not jurors who can draw reasonable conclusions without hearing from twenty four witnesses." I interrupted, she had made her point once already and while she was entitled to make it, did she need almost twenty more accounts?

"My intention was to show a consistent pattern between these jurors, that in itself would have corroborated a story and expanded my case," Oh she just had a way of sounding teasingly smart.

"I agree, however no relevant pattern has been distinguished as of yet, considering all witnesses have been from the second trial, you have yet to expand your case to the original basis for your charge of perversion. We cannot see a pattern you haven't firmly established and the prosecution has not completed that crucial role, either call a witness from the second case or elaborate. Provide witnesses outside your pool of jurors. Do anything just drop the fireworks." I half shouted in frustration. Jane responded with a simple smile.

"There is no impressionable jury here. There is no being on this bench who has not already observed the link you are making. There is no need to continually focus upon you point. We have already seen the same repetition between all six witnesses in this trial and I am in no hurry to see them played out again, if you are to present your case do so in a way that benefits the superiority of your audience," Aro may have taken things a drop too far, but his words were suddenly no longer coming from a judge, but instead a commanding superior. His voice dipped lower, his chin and face raised ever so slightly and he eyes were clearly looking down upon her.

Jane took a long moment, she then nodded slowly and twisted slightly on the spot. Her robes sweeping elegantly to the side.

"In which case the prosecution would like to directly make a statement to your Lord and Ladyships in order to build upon what has already been established." A smirk played across her face, defying our perception of her age with sheer smugness.

"As you wish." Aro smiled as she closed her eyes for a second, stretched out her hands and in the blink of an eye she composed herself.

"My Lords and Ladies, I will of course apologise for inflicting upon you the repetition in the witnesses, allow me to enlighten you with the narrative of what has been discussed." Wait what? This wasn't what we meant, me and Evelyn and least wanted her to simply build on what had been established. More witnesses, variation which gave room for both doubt and her to further her case. Not a narrative.

"I must object," Alice was on her feet

"Of course." Aro interrupted long before myself or Evelyn could voice our discontent, we both turned to each other, then we both nodded, allowing this objection play out.

"The prosecution exists only to present witnesses and make their case, they are not here to make a narrative clear to us. That is the job of their witnesses, if the prosecution desires to illustrate a point then they must do so while following the designated rules. My learned friend cannot spin us a story, she can only present witnesses which tell the story for her." Alice spoke forcefully and angrily, I suddenly understood her anger and wondered if myself and Evelyn had been led into a combined effort to extend the powers of the prosecution.

"I have attempted to do just that, but as Lady Swan made clear, the so called fireworks in my attempts to present my case needed to be dropped." I just glared until she finished.

"Fireworks are additions to the show, prosecuting counsel simple does not need to illustrate her points with dramatic flair, which she was doing by calling every witness and without fail, telling the same story. It was acceptable and yet the court does not need to hear each and every account, we have the statements, we have the trial material and more importantly we are judges not a jury who can make connections in absence of drama." I spoke clearly, and firmly wondering if this woman was going to do anything more to irk me, though I conceded perhaps all three of us had overstepped the boundary line. She was entitled to make her case, even if it bored us.

"Then what is the verdict on a narrative structure to this trial format?" Jane inquired gently, so gently it managed to irk me again, just a little bit more.

"I am forced to decline it, the prosecution must not exceed their role." I sighed dejectedly.

"As must I, you may make your case even if the evidence presented has less probative value than it once did." I must confess I relished the look of anger on Jane's face who no doubt had been expected to illustrate a narrative in her compelling way, but speeches were best confined to the opening and closing of a case.

"As you wish." Aro sulked angrily, waving his hands around irritability and gesturing for Jane to continue.

Chambers

"We were played Bella," Evelyn muttered the moment we reached the safety of her chambers, Aro had already excused himself but both of us were angry.

"I know, Aro wanted a speedy trial ending, no doubt, in speedy and select executions and we almost gave his minion the tools to mould the case because we were bored." I half spat, feeling ashamed for falling for whatever it was they were trying.

"Oh more than that, he wanted to firmly establish that Volturi trials were outside normal legal procedure, and how better to do that than bore us both to death," Evelyn muttered to me, suddenly glancing at the door and coming to the same conclusion I did.

"They're listening?" I half questioned, half stated and received little more than a court nod. Evelyn spun on her heel and gestured for me to sit opposite her on the ornate desk. I complied and from there we spoke in hushed whispers.

"It seems apparent the Volturi are using this trial for far more than simple prosecution," She whispered, could they hear us now? I could recall Edward and the rest of his family having intense hearing but could they hear us now? Between walls and whispers?

"More than that, Aro seems to be involved in the trial far more than judicially. It seems oddly coincidental that he spearheaded the motion without actually doing so." I commented, was Aro intending for this to happen? For us to get so fed up with the repetitive nature of the questions we demanded a change?

"That was always clear, but it does set an alarming precedent for the rest of the trial. I wonder if Aro himself intended this, appointing both himself and you as judges. Ignoring conflict of interest, expanded our role and our power, overextended even. Now he attempts to increase the power of the prosecution to become something akin a storyteller, he almost had our consent." Yes it was clumsily suggested by Jane, though Aro didn't seem to have opinion of his meals, actively drinking blood in front of in that stained wine glass.

"What do you think he's doing?" I asked and Evelyn took a long deep breath,

"The Volturi made an agreement with an empire, a virtual superpower which supplied them with blood in exchange for power and dominance. The agreement persists and yet the blood supply wanes, it is no wonder why the Volturi suddenly seek to increase their presences and power." She answered as a chill crept down my spine, I looked towards the door and then back again. Only now realising my hands and been clenched so tightly they echoed movement with bursts of pain.

"So what do we do? Resist him?" I suggested, surely he couldn't act if his other two judges turned against him, but then again what was stopping him simply replacing us, or worse.

"No, doing so would only harden his resolve. Aro is a lot of things, flighty, easily excited and hungry for drama but he also has a ruthless streak. The Volturi did not get where they are today by playing nice," Evelyn assured me, it was quite hard to imagine the almost childlike vampire being ruthless but then again he was vampire royalty, it would be unwise to underestimate him.

"So instead we simply what, play our role." I suggested, Evelyn smiled.

"Exactly, we follow the letter of the law. As of now we don't make allowances, Aro can make this trial drag for months, even years, if he wishes but neither you nor I shall give him any ground. We do what we are required to do, nothing more and nothing less." That seemed simple and yet it came in worryingly hushed tones which resonated with connotations of necessity.

"Are we at threat?" I mouthed, she read my lips so easily and yet she shrugged in response that was all the answer we had.

We didn't actually go back into court, the afternoon was passed with Aro absent for no given reason, we only saw him as the clock ticked over to four and he emerged with a swagger and a smile.

"I do apologise for my absence but my afternoon was taken up with a particular concern of dear Caius, who discovered an unusual disturbance in this fair city." He announced grandly, he had already dismissed Jane and allowed Alice to leave.

"You see we discovered an unusual scent around the area and do our dismay feared creatures we once thought extinct existed in the surrounding area. Caius found and fought this being of particular nuisance and yet it escaped into the wilds, but fear not the Volturi have already dispatched our guard to find and neutralise this issue." He spoke in a refined disinterested tone and yet I knew immediately what he was referring to.

"What creatures?" I spoke well after it was polite to initiate conversation and yet I received an answer.

"We call them children of the boon, savage beasts who pose a threat akin to their nature to the civilized society of vampires across the globe. We had thought them hunted to extinction yet one bearing a similar scent to what once was, we found. Thankfully the creature has fled and shortly it should be captured and disposed of." He told me with no particular curiosity as to why I had asked and yet there was no hint of accusation or suspicion in his voice. I zoned around that time however as I came to the inevitable conclusion. Jacob was gone, and I was almost entirely alone with the Volturi.