The Council
I reach out and shake his hand. He lets go of my hand and crosses his arms.
The friendly smile he wore a second ago is gone. Now he just silently stares at me-He stares at me as if I have been a pebble in his shoe, like he finally found this bothersome pebble and is now just looking at the damn thing, probably wondering how it got in there in the first place.
Finally, he opens his mouth to speak. “I am a member of the Council. I was assigned to work on your case. Well, more like forced to take up your case because my grandson Damon is involved.”
“Y-You are Damon’s grandfather? I thought you would be an older man?”
He ignores my question and continues, “Our spies have been following you and anybody who has come in contact with you. They have gathered evidence. The most recent being that you have been mating with Damon.”
My eyes widen, “Mating? No, we haven’t. He’s not my mate.” I nervously look away.
He reaches into his jacket pocket and takes something out. He turns his hand over and shows me a metal bumblebee. “You can deny it, but we tested your blood. It showed that Damon’s DNA was in your blood.”
I stay quiet and look down to the floor, and I feel shame knowing that they have this evidence. But it’s not my fault. Damon is the one who bit me. Still, this is embarrassing.
“Look at me,” He puts the bumblebee back in his pocket. “This room is soundproof. Nobody can hear us right now.”
"Oh, good. Please don't tell anyone. That was a private moment between Damon and me."
I look at his soul-piercing eyes, and he continues, “I want you to listen very carefully. My grandson will one day serve alongside me on this Council. Damon comes from a long line of Lamia Royalty. My family is responsible for making sure Lamia has political power in Azure.”
Is political power all he cares about? “Damon is a prince?”
He clenches his jaw, “Do you understand what I’m trying to say? I will not have a human ruin his future! Stay away from my grandson.” He shows anger, but I also see worry.
Maybe I shouldn't piss him off too much, “I understand. I’ll stay away from Damon.”
He begins to pace, just thinking. I understand what Damon’s grandfather is saying, but he also warns me, suggesting that the Council might not execute me, and I’m starting to feel some hope.
He stops his pacing and leans in. “What a shame that we didn’t find you sooner. We could have given you the death penalty and left no trace of you. But our leaders took it upon themselves to work you into the system. I have no idea what they were thinking, allowing a weak, helpless, and pathetic human to exist in this world and hold a higher status.”
“Send me home, and you won’t have to deal with me.”
He laughs, “You foolish human, you will never go home.”
My eyes brim with tears. His words are like knives. He backs up with a satisfied look on his face. I can see what Damon means about his grandfather being cruel. How dare he say that to my face? His stare makes me angry, “If you want to kill me so badly, why not just do it yourself?”
His lips twist upward, “I would if it were up to me.”
“Yes, fortunately, it’s not up to you. I want to see the council.” The metal chair suddenly releases me, allowing me to stand.
“It seems our time is up. You will meet the Council, and we will discuss what will happen next. Come along.”
He walks towards a door and into a large room. The lonely seat at the front of the room is for the person that will stand trial. In front of it, only feet away, a long table seats about twenty men and women. They turn to look at me as I enter the room. I follow Ambrose and try to ignore the stares. He motions to sit at the front, and I sit down. I look at the people staring at me. Some of them stare at me with varying looks of curiosity, some are serious, and some are hard to read. It’s intimidating to be the center of attention. To my left, I see familiar faces. It calms my nerves a bit to see Ivan, Ethan, Emerald, Damon, and the girls sitting on my left side. They don’t react and only watch.
Ambrose is the only one standing, and he motions his hand to the larger audience. “These are the members of the Council. While you have been living your life in Azure, we have debated what course of action to take. What should your fate be? We struggled at times to agree. As time passed, it got more complicated. As I explained, our leaders got involved,” he says while walking toward Damon. He stands in front of him, and Damon avoids eye contact.
Ambrose turns back around and walks to the center of the room. “Normally, we would have a trial. But this is a unique case. We have had individuals from other planets come to Azure without permission before, but those planets are advanced, like us. They know our laws, abide by them, and know the consequences of breaking them. A human has never set foot in Azure before, and we had not expected a situation like this.”
Ambrose comes closer to me. “Do you have any questions or have something to say?”
I look at my team and then at the Council. I take a deep breath and try to word what I’m going to say carefully. “As you may be aware, I am not a threat. I did not come here with the intent to cause harm. I came here by accident. I ask the Council for their permission to allow me to go back home safely, back to Planet Earth. I will not speak of you, and I will not take any evidence back from this world. Please, I ask that you send me back.”
Nobody reacts. Only Ivan looks at me with a bit of sadness in his eyes. Ambrose looks at my team, at the Council, then back at me, and crosses his arms. I realize that they might have already decided my fate.
