In the Plantesa Court, five judges were sitting on their root-thrones. The air was so thick with ancient magic it felt breathable, heavy in the lungs of the lesser beings gathered. The judge, Orrian stood up, his hands glowing green.
"I, Orrian of the Themenor Woods, on behalf of Yggdrasil, bind this creature to the Geas of Detritus." His voice boomed through the court.
A green chain made of what seemed to be glowing roots snaked through the air and wrapped around Jack's cage. His cage shattered into leaves, revealing a blue slime. But that was not the worst of it.
The chains slithered closer to him.
[Geas of Detritus has been applied]
[Titles received: Bearer of Detritus.]
The green roots entered Jack's gelatinous body. There was no pain, only an incredibly chilling cold that seeped into his very core, an unnatural frost in a world of vibrant elven life.
[Breaking the Geas will lead to the immediate destruction of your core through Yggdrasil's root.]
The slime shivered. But he calmed himself with a few tentacle slaps.
"Now, the Plantesa Court will continue with the case of Jeanne D'Amain," Lyren announced, his bark-face stern as ever.
Leena had to wipe of the sweat from her brow. This was the worse first case for a lawyer. She stratched her finger before standing up to address the court.
"Mrs. D'Amain is a priestess of Rethia. She is a victim of the Church's indoctrination."
Murmurs erupted from the crowds. There was no such thing as a victim if they serve the Goddess willingly. Jeanne swallowed. She felt every eye on her back. Yet the thing she wished to say was that she was not a victim.
The goddess didn't betray her, in fact, Jeanne was the one who betrayed her goddes for summoning a slime. But she couldn't say that. Or didn't wish to.
"As proof of her renounciation to the Church, your honors, Mrs D'Amain has broken her sacred vow of purity by forming a union with the slime."
Jeanne blushed.
"She entered a union of marriage and also engaged in multiple unholy acts of handholding with said creature."
This was what made all the judges gasp. Including Solana who was in the public seating and looked at Jeanne with a mixture of awe and envy.
With shock on her face, Sylva stood up, "It is not possible to be married to a slime." Her face was trying to stay calm.
She looked at the little girl for support. However she was met with the exact same shocked expression from the little girl's face. Even this royal descendant wasn't expecting this.
"A monster and a woman of the cloth? Absurd!" Orrian shouted, his disbelief echoing.
Lyren intervened, "Now now." He looked at Leena who stood firm and professional.
"Surely you have evidence. Because I do not recall seeing a marriage certificate being submitted with the request." Lyren continued, his voice dropping to a low, investigative tone.
Their lawyer turned to Solana, her grandmother.
"The marriage was authenticated by Runesmith Vatris," Leena's gaze did not falter.
All eyes, including the five judges, turned to the Flower Elf in the audience. Solana did not falter; this wasn't her first time being judged in front of her peers, she simply nodded.
"The union is real. The slime bears the title 'Husband of Jeanne D'Amain'," she declared. Her casual tone suggested she was confirming that the sky was blue, not revealing the existence of a holy matrimony between a human and a puddle.
"Yggdrasil as my witness," Lyren said, but he wasn't talking to them. He turned to the little girl.
Five minutes passed as the judges conversed again in silence.
Then the little judge turned her attention to the blue slime with a spider companion, a bow tie, and a curse that would kill him if he as much as scratched an elven chair.
Jack's core tingled. They were going to ask him to hold hands again, he thought. He braced himself.
However the little girl did something that made him drop a glob. She stood up from her throne and walked towards him. Her small feet were silent on the root-floor. The room's collective breath hitched. The guards by the doors tensed, their hands on their wooden blades, ready to intervene but terrified of moving.
The little girl stopped before Jack, her eyes were piercing him. She reached out her hand, a glove made of Yggdrasil's leaf, and held it over him, not touching.
"Show the court," her childish voice commanded.
He didn't need to guess what she meant. He extended a tentacle and brushed it against her divine glove. Her gloves glowed green.
[Core Fusion Attempt in Progress... Warning: Host's core cannot withstand a fusion with an ancient being.]
What Jack didn't know was that the little girl had actually attempted to create a child of the tree with a slime. She pulled her hand back. Her announcement was flat.
"The slime is capable of holding hands."
She returned to her throne amid disbelief and headshaking. And then her eyes locked on Jeanne.
"Priestess Jeanne D'Amain." The title rolled from her childlike tongue like a royal edict. "You will be stripped of your priestess title in the eyes of Yggdrasil and bound by the same Slime Pact your 'husband' has offered Ms. Voss."
Silence.
Jack and Aria stared at the little judge in disbelief.
"This does not mean the slime has been granted asylum," the girl continued, her voice gaining an unsettling chill. "Only that the precedent for recognizing Slime Pacts has been established."
A gavel banged by the root of the little girl's throne cracking down. "The court will take half a Sun-Bell's recess."
Leena practically melted into a puddle in her seat. "I was not taught that. Any of this."
On the other hand, Jeanne stood rigid. The Church's control she'd spent her whole life submitting to had been ripped away by an elf. A part of her wanted this yet she feared losing the connection to the Holy Mother who was.
"That wasn't so bad," Jack said wobbly back at the holding room. He looked between Jeanne and Aria with forced cheerfulness.
He nodded up and down, "Yes I've only been marked for death, stripped of any defense, and bound to two extremely volatile individuals." His blobby form shrunk. "Actually this is terrible."
The slime turned to his two companion that will be bound to him soon via his Slime Pact.
"And I still have to stand in my own trial."
Jeanne took off the glove the elven caretakers had given her earlier. She grabbed him with no warning. She wasn't gentle nor kind. She squeezed. Hard.
"Jack," she said. Her grip was iron.
"Stop acting like a jesting fool," Jeanne whispered, her one good arm trembling with repressed fury. "You will man up,act like a husband and save yourself." She held up her missing limb. "I sacrificed for you."
"You did it because you love me," he wiggled out a single tentacle, and gave her a thumbs up. A joke was necessary to lighten this grave mood. Instead it made her face crumple. For a second, Jack thought he saw a tear forming.
"Okay okay I'll act serious," he said quickly.
For Jack acting like this was a way to survive. A coping mechanism. The reality of his situation was too grim to confront head-on. But he still had an ace up his sleeve, the skill he bought.
--- Ten minutes later.
"The court is back in session," Lyren announced.