As well as “She’s no goddess. Goddesses don’t return to hospitals. Punish them they dishonor the laws of the gods and the Empire!”
Jane looked at them all and wondered if she should say something. She stopped.
Jei and the guards stopped as well.
Jane raised her right hand to the crowd and in less than a minute, they quieted enough for her to speak. “Please people of the Capital City, I beg your forgiveness at my return. When I learned of the myth of Loi and Lee, and I realized I could return to my true other half, I begged the other gods to allow me what little I have left of this life again in this mortal form. The gods took pity on me and we made a compromise, seven lives of reincarnation for this one. You may not believe I am the goddess of humanity now, but you will see my glory when I am reborn the sacred seven times. I am lucky to walk in the light of the gods among you all again.”
Most of the crowd cheered at her as she turned and began walking towards the High Priestess’s trial chambers. She had never been there before, but she knew where they were from signs she had seen before when she visited the temple when she was still Head of House Human.
Jane and Jei were the last to arrive. When they walked into the dark room, only lit by candlelight and with the overwhelming smell of incense, everyone else was seated on either side of the room, with the High Priestess on a pedestal in the center.
Jei took a seat and Jane stood in front of the High Priestess.
Jane bowed, “May the gods be blessed we meet again High Priestess.”
“Yes, you seem to be a favorite with them, Jane Johnson, from Earth, former Head of House Human, goddess of humanity and now of House Rega?”
The last was a question because Jei had not registered Jane’s House in their marriage, only ‘goddess of humanity’. Because Mir and Sif were often being reborn there was actually a place to write goddess or god in the registration rather than ‘House.’
Jane ignored the High Priestess’s question and asked her own instead, “I assume you called this trial to prove my innocence. To make sure that I am here with the gods’ blessings?”
“Yes. On the 7th day of the 7th week of the year 18907 at the Capital City Hospital you took this mortal form again. Breaking both religious and Imperial laws. I have called all the witnesses to your reanimation here to testify. I have other witnesses in the waiting, Kara of House Zu for example if I need further evidence, but I hope to come to a fair judgement in the next few hours with the witnesses you see before you. Look over all their faces. Do you agree or disagree that these people will give a full account on your return?”
“I agree but I don’t understand why my word as a goddess is not enough?” Jane asked, the last thing she wanted was for all these people to speak. The more people that told the same story the more likely that someone would make a mistake.
“This is the gods’ way, the Imperial way and my way.” The High Priestess then motioned to Admiral Jei with her silver judgment sword, it’s blade dirty with dried blood, “Admiral since you are her true other half, you begin.”
Jane was directed by one of the High Priestess’s disciples to sit in a chair that immediately bound her behind a force field so she could not move or be heard by anyone in the room.
Jei stood and moved to stand in front of the High Priestess. He bowed and took a ceremonial dagger from a disciple and cut his hand. While blood dripped on the stone floor and on his black boots he said, “By the gods what I reveal now is the truth.”
When the High Priestess was satisfied with his blood offering, she nodded.
Jei spoke confidently and evenly, his booming voice taking over the dark room, “At the trial of Jane Johnson, she made the choice for me to kill her rather than to marry me. I knew well before the trial she might chose this option, so I asked my doctor to accompany me to the trial with his emergency medical field transport.”
“To break the law?” the High Priestess asked.
“No, to save our unborn female child that Jane was carrying,” Jei explained. “I had no intention after that of bringing Jane back. When she was made a goddess, I installed a statue of her in my home on Alliance Planet Two and on my ship. I respected her choice to leave me and join the gods in the Afterlife.”
“Then how was it you found yourself at the Capital City Hospital the other night?”
“High Priestess,” Dru said. “I think it’s better if I speak now.”
The High Priestess nodded and Dru stood up, walked over to stand in front of the High Priestess and cut her hand just as Admiral Jei had done. When the High Priestess was satisfied, she began, “Doctor Rea from the Kzi entrusted Jane’s lifeless body to me after they managed to successfully move the fetus to a Dulu womb.”
“An illegal womb,” the High Priestess interjected.
Dru repeated herself, including the word, ‘illegal,’ and then continued, “Doctor Rea explained that as I was the only human doctor it was right that I prepare her body for the next life.”
“How is it that you didn’t do that then?”
Dru made eye contact with Jane, “Because Jane was the only mother figure I ever had in my life and I couldn’t say ‘goodbye’ yet.”
“You had the intention of bringing her back with forbidden technology?” the High Priestess clarified.
“Yes, and for this I repent. But I must adamantly stress, I was unable to bring her back with said forbidden technology, even though I did try multiple times. She is a true goddess and her return was by her own choice and blessed by the gods.”
“Did you tell Admiral Jei you were trying?”
“No, I didn’t tell anyone,” Dru said.
“Not even your husband or your mother in-law?” the High Priestess asked.
“No, they would have stopped me,” Dru stated matter-of-factly. “I knew I was disobeying the gods and going against the law. My husband is also here and can testify that he did not know what I was doing.”
“How did your sister and Mir the god of peace become involved?”
“Mir visited me to ask if I might help his human wife. I couldn’t go but I could send my sister Jesse formerly of House Vo, she also is a human doctor.”
“Now an Outcast,” the High Priestess spat.
Dru looked at Ket and then repeated herself including the words, ‘my sister, now an Outcast.’ “In return for my help, I asked Mir if he might speak to the goddess of humanity in the Afterlife. At the same time, I wanted Jei to be there in case the goddess of humanity had anything in particular she wanted to say to him as their final moments together were not pleasant and I knew that Admiral Jei was struggling to understand his human ward.”
“What about Doctor Rea? It’s odd he was there,” the High Priestess pressed.
“He accompanied Jei for medical and emotional support. Admiral Jei has been depressed since Jane’s death,” Dru said and this pulled on everyone’s emotions in the room, helped by Ket using his influence to bring sympathy to Jane and Jei.
“That’s enough Doctor James, sit. God of peace, stand. Tell me why you needed to be with the body of Jane to speak to the goddess of humanity? You could have gone to any temple on Alliance Planet Four and spoken to her.”