Chapter Two: Edmund Yeager's trial

"As many of us feared, it has been impossible to succeed in keeping your entity hidden, and since several non-discreet verifications have surfaced, we are trying to bring out a new possible threat to public order. Therefore, today we should decide which entity should be entrusted with your custody."

I spontaneously tightened my lips, turning my gaze to my right to the Custodial Corps and to my left to the Recognition Army. I scrutinized the cadets, focusing on two boys who must have been the same age as Edmund: the girl had red eyes and hair of the exact same color falling over her shoulders; in contrast, the boy was short and blond, with a blue eye color that left one spellbound. They were restless, and I could not blame them for that, since I could not discuss directly with the commander to see what decision he had made about their comrade.

Without knowing it, my eyes landed on two characters I knew perfectly: Chris Mandara stared at me even before I looked at him and gave me a slight nod. Finally, the man I had been rid of for five years and who had left to follow his new future, rested all his attention on me. He did not look away from my eyes, scrutinizing every detail that covered and uncovered my image.

We each retained our own vulnerability that we did not manifest to the first comer, and mine was the very one with whom I had shared my entire childhood, giving him everything, every beautiful and ugly part of me. I looked away from his dry eyes, feeling my heart pulsing violently inside my ribcage and sweat spreading in the hands that went to suck him in. This is a joke, I thought. It's just an absurd twist of fate.

"Well, now we will listen to the proposal of the Custodial Corps." Announced the commander, giving the floor to Section Captain Liam Doak.

"Thank you, sir! I am Section Commander Liam Doak of the Custodial Corps. We feel that once the physical structure of Edmund Yeager has been thoroughly analyzed, it is appropriate to provide for his killing."

Liam, you are just a cowardly, petty buffoon.

I turned in Edmund's direction, taking his face with my hand and sinking my fingers into the hollow of his cheeks. "What are your charges, cadet?"

The intimidated boy squinted his eyes and inhaled sharply. Immediately he returned to look at me with his green eyes.

"I am ... a colossus, General Schwarz."

I relaxed my grip on his cheeks until my fingertips grazed his dry lips, remaining to stare at him with an astonished expression. Edmund had sensed my bewilderment and lowered his gaze. "I mean no harm to anyone General Schwarz, believe me." He said in a low voice. "I wish to extinguish the giants more than anyone else," he lifted his muzzle and gave me a look full of determination, "and I can help you fight them."

I took a deep breath. "Just call me Kesey, Edmund." I smiled reassuringly, resting a hand on his shoulder. Edmund parted his lips. "It's the Recognition Army that wants to save your skin, isn't it?" He nodded, as I tried to come up with something alternative. "Giants can regenerate their own wounds, as long as the wound is not deep enough to force you to transform, or is it?" I asked him, even though I already knew where to position myself.

"Yes, exactly... But what does that have to do with anything that has happened now?" I turned a glance to Chris and watched his expression of assent, almost as if he had already figured out what I really wanted to do. I turned abruptly to Edmund and knelt down. "General!" He called, trying to get my attention.

"I asked you to call me Kesey, Edmund." I rebuked him with a hiss, casting a glance at the ropes that cuffed his wrists. Edmund gasped without saying a word, and I took the opportunity to understand the consistency of the ropes.

"Very well... and now let's move on to listen to the request of the Recognition Army." Announced the commander.

After that I got back to my feet.

"Yes, sir! Thank you sir... I am Captain Chris Mandara, 13th Recognition Army Division, and our proposal is this: we would like to take Edmund Yeager into our troops and use his strength to protect the Districts and find out the truth. That's all."

"...Have you already concluded?" Khalis asked in amazement.

"Yes, sir, with your help we could protect the entire District, and it is obvious how important that would be for us. Uncovering the truth behind this story is one of the fundamental tasks of our division." Chris added, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

The process continued and a great stir began to build among the traders and the Recognition Army who wanted Edmund Yeager's head at all costs. The idea that flashed through my mind to convince Commander Khalis to consider the request of the First Division of the Recognition Army was rather violent, the classic situation in which no one would want to be in, but everyone watched as mere spectators. The traders kept repeating how unthinkable such a thing was and how dangerous the cadet was. Some officers of the Custodial Corps sank their finger in, saying that during Edmund's first transformation, the latter had lost control and attacked civilians.

I had to intervene if I wanted Edmund's head to remain on his neck.

"Shut up, you pig. Maybe the guarantee is that the giants in the meantime will be good to wait? And when you refer to your group, do you include those who allow you to get so fat?" Rivaille intervened, and I could not hold back my laughter, despite the situation we were in. I ran my fingers over my lips, making my chest vibrate. "Citizens who, for lack of cultivated land, go hungry and you don't even see them," he said.

"Look, I just said that by strengthening the gates we could all be safer," the trader was interrupted by the reverend who turned on him.

"Damn you, you don't even know what you're saying! How can an inferior being fortify the Districts and discover the truth hidden in the very word of God?" He screamed. "Is it possible that you cannot understand? Man cannot discover the work of God." The speech was devoid of any logic and my hands were beginning to pinch, so, without thinking about the repercussions of my every action, I turned toward the Reverend.

"Shut up!" I growled, locking my hands in both fists. "God's word has nothing to do with this whole thing, and much less, if there really was a God, He would not have allowed human beings to live like caged animals within the Districts to which you worship so much!" I shouted, thus calling attention to myself. I approached the Reverend, staring at him from under my eyelashes, furious. "Don't say another word if you don't want your tongue to be used to clean the floors." I hissed, watching him pale from the threat. "Your contentions about the church and the word of God, bring them on another occasion. Damned swine that you are."

"How dare you?!" He shrieked so loudly that an annoying trickle of saliva escaped him. "You are just a female general recommended by Commander Khalis and you dare to address me like this?!" I narrowed my gaze into two slits, digging my nails into my palms. "Women like you only rise to certain ranks for pleasing in sexual performance a person of high rank, without taking advantage of it to get married!"

"Did he just call me a whore?" I blurted out. "Why don't you tell me in plain words, Reverend? Maybe the word prostitute in the Bible does not exist? Instead, words like: war, blood and violence are written in big letters." I burst out laughing bitterly, feeling the blood boiling in my veins. "Explain to me, Reverend, how should your God take it, having just called a woman a prostitute in the place from which she came? Well?" I squealed, clapping my hands on the jury box where he sat, staring him straight in the eye. "She doesn't know what it means to make a living...." I pointed to the gold necklace he wore around his neck and gave a wry smile. "... And she dares to wear a gold necklace when our people are starving?" The reverend fell silent, as did the committee. I took the sunken-eyed man by the lapel and dragged him forward. "Don't add another word, Reverend, or I swear I will take you out of District 14 and hang you from a tree as bait for the behemoths." I hissed in a threatening tone, but he gritted his teeth at the strong grip I was pulling him with.

"General, please stop." Houston appeared from behind, trying to get me to back down and let go of the Reverend's lapel, but to no avail. I just wanted to take out my frustrations on him. "General!"

"Don't touch me!" I railed at Houston, shoving him with my free hand. The NCO was paralyzed by my reaction. I imagined for myself how furious I was at that juncture.

"She ... is just a woman who could encapsulate the context of harlot like the devious sinner she is, General Schwarz," he whispered, keeping his eyes dug into mine that were now filled with anger and rage. There was a time when I would have cried if such a person had attacked me like that, but by then I had become the strong woman my mother had always wanted.

I pulled back my forehead and delivered a blow to his head, right in his face. The Reverend began to bleed from his nose and, to my satisfaction, I broke it. He felt me being pulled from behind and I tried to free myself. "I told you not to touch me, Houston. Let go of me!" I shouted, as I felt my uniform jacket being removed.

"I'm not Houston!" He murmured in my ear, suddenly immobilizing my body. His hot breath beat against the back of my neck as his hands clasped my arms to calm me.

I gasped for breath, but could not find the courage to breathe. A sob however betrayed my armor and fortunately only my ex-husband heard it. "Now get a grip, we have a trial going on and the last thing we want is to propagate it." I tightened my lips unintentionally and nodded my head several times so as not to respond in words.

I turned my gaze to Commander Khalis, Edmund and the committee, feeling Rivaille's chest stiffen behind me. "I'm sorry...." I mumbled feebly as Rivaille led me to sit over the balustrade, behind which Chris was also standing.

"Bitch! You are going to burn in hell along with all the other leftists of this world." The Reverend shouted, pointing his finger at me from across the room, and Rivaille decreased his pace and stared at an unspecified point in front of him. I could no longer say anything. "...Bitch that you are. If you demand that I pay you respect after this, then know that there is a better chance of being mauled by the behemoths." Suddenly, the Reverend was interrupted by a loud burst of broken bones and I jerked my head up, catching sight of Rivaille delivering a direct punch to the Reverend's jaw, who looked at him expressionless since he was whimpering from too much pain.

"Churchman, don't you dare address her like this again, or else...." She grabbed his hairline and, without hesitation, splashed his face on the pew, smearing it with her own blood. Finished, he pulled a cloth napkin from his pocket and wiped his hands in disgust. "It's disgusting all this blood, wipe it off, you pig." And, after saying this, he threw the napkin he had wiped his hands with in his face, returning as if nothing had happened.

The process continued and I stood motionless between Chris and Rivaille, looking at an unspecified spot in front of me. My ears were plugged and I was following the Departments' minimal and essential discussions, which made me absent. A hand rested at the base of my neck and gently stroked my hair, causing me to stop breathing. "Calm down..." he murmured without giving me a glance and continued at the caresses. It was easier said than done.

"Don't... touch me, Rivaille." were the only words that came out of my mouth. Rivaille blocked the hand he was stroking me with, though not moving it from the back of my head, and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, noting that he was doing the same. "You have no right to touch me. We are no longer married," I hissed between my teeth, and saw his pupils widen, which were immediately masked by his icy stare. He shifted his hand and brought it behind his straight back, his gaze fixed in front of him.

The decisive conclusion of the trial came when Edmund began railing like a madman toward the defense and Commander Khalis, claiming that he would annihilate all the giants and with his help unveil the source of truth. But, just as scripted, Rivaille, who was not satisfied with the lesson given to the Reverend, turned right on Edmund, filling him with kicks and punches. I stood by and watched him, for it was the only thing I could do, and I realized that the plan in my head coincided with Chris and Rivaille's thinking: to make Edmund weak in the eyes of others in order to save his pens.