“I did nothing of the sort,” said Rhialto.

“Bah! The evidence is clear, straightforward and unambiguous!”

“Is it, indeed? Mune the Mage and Perdustin were both present at Falu during the experiment. They saw me create four lumes of plasm. One drifted through my delicate silvanissa tendrils, doing no harm. Mune walked through another and failed to complain of odor. We watched all four lumes dwindle to sparks and die. None escaped; none departed the area adjacent to Falu.”

Zilifant looked uncertainly from Mune the Mage to Perdustin. “Are these allegations accurate?”

“In a word: yes,” said Mune the Mage.

“Why did you not so inform me?”

“Since Rhialto was guilty of other offenses, it seemed unimportant.”

“Not to me,” said Rhialto.

“Possibly not to you.”

“Who informed you of my boasts and insults?”

Zilifant glanced uncertainly toward Hache-Moncour. “I am not sure that I remember properly.”

Rhialto turned back to Ildefonse. “What are these other crimes of which I am guilty?”

Hurtiancz responded to the challenge. “You cast a spell upon my hat! You sent out mocking pictures!”

“I did nothing of the sort.”

“I suppose you can prove otherwise.”

“What does the pattern of events suggest? Clearly, the act was performed by the same person who beat Gilgad’s beast and vandalized Zilifant’s tree. That person was not I.”

Hurtiancz uttered a sour grunt. “So much seems to the point. I retract the charge.”

Rhialto stepped forward. “Now then: what other crimes have I committed?”

No one spoke.

“In that case, I must now place counter-charges. I accuse the members of this association, singly and jointly, with the exception of myself, of several felonies.”

Rhialto presented a tablet to Ildefonse. “There-on I detail the charges. Preceptor, be good enough to read them off.”

With a grimace of distaste Ildefonse took the tablet. “Rhialto, are you sure that you wish to go so far? Mistakes have been made; so much we acknowledge! Let us all, yourself included, make a virtue of humility, and proceed with renewed faith into the future! Each of your comrades will advise and assist you in every convenient way, and soon your situation will repair itself! Rhialto, is not this the better way?”

Rhialto enthusiastically clapped his hands together. “Ildefonse, as always, your wisdom is profound! Why, indeed, should we undergo the sordid excesses of a full-blown legal action? Each member of this group need only tender his apology, restore my goods along with triple damages, and we will return to the old footing. Hache-Moncour, why do you not set the example?”

“Gladly,” declared Hache-Moncour. “However, I would thereby compromise the others of the group. Whatever my personal concepts, I must await a vote.”

Rhialto asked: “Hurtiancz, what of you? Do you care to come forward and apologize?”

Hurtiancz shouted something incomprehensible.

Rhialto turned to Ildefonse: “What of yourself?”

Ildefonse cleared his throat. “I will now read the bill of accusations brought by Rhialto against this association. In detail the charges occupy eighteen pages. I will first read the ‘Topic Headings’:

TITLE ONE:

TRESPASS.

TITLE TWO:

LARCENY, GRAND.

TITLE THREE:

LARCENY, PETTY.

TITLE FOUR:

VANDALISM.

TITLE FIVE:

ASSAULT, UPON THE PERSON OF FROLE.

TITLE SIX:

SLANDER.

TITLE SEVEN:

DISHONOUR TO THE MONSTRAMENT, INCLUDING WILFUL MUTILATION AND CASTING DOWN OF A CERTIFIED COPY THEREOF.

TITLE EIGHT:

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT THE ABOVE CRIMES.

TITLE NINE:

WILFUL RETENTION OF STOLEN PROPERTY.

TITLE TEN:

FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THE BLUE PRINCIPLES, AS PROPOUNDED IN THE MONSTRAMENT.

Ildefonse put the tablet down upon his desk. “I will read the full charges presently, but at this moment, let me ask this: your topics and titles — are they not excessive to the case?”

Rhialto shrugged. “They describe most of the crimes involved, but not all.”