[He observes his Omen--watches through her eyes, really--as she roots among the glass and comes up with a dropper-capped whiskey bottle no more than two inches tall. Lazarus' swift answer gets a smile out of him, nearly a laugh, but he stifles it, lest it be misunderstood. The avidity of response is delightful but in no wise worth mockery.]
We hold such an ideal of justice, yes, though it is not so easily executed. Where jurisdictions and laws conflict, even punishing a known murderer must sometimes be left to the black gods.
[How bitterly he knows that.
Iskierka retrieves a second tiny bottle, this one of wine.]
But, I am thinking, we have overflown the mark here--yes? Think before all this is done. There may be a time, between determining that there is someone who has committed a crime, and attaching her true name to her, that you must speak of her, yes? Then, she is Jane Doe or Tizia or for whom no name is given.
Is this not to name her again in reference to what she has done? That all may speak of her, and know of whom they speak, even if they do not know what name she carries in her heart, nor what her parents first called her?
So it is if one of my people is to be spoken of by many outsiders. If she is truly infamous, or a criminal, there are of course those of other peoples who believe it their right and role to discover her name and publish it widely. We are preferring, [the emphasis is delicate, but has fangs behind it,] that they work with us instead to bring her to justice, but--as I say--the world is far from being perfect.
no subject
We hold such an ideal of justice, yes, though it is not so easily executed. Where jurisdictions and laws conflict, even punishing a known murderer must sometimes be left to the black gods.
[How bitterly he knows that.
Iskierka retrieves a second tiny bottle, this one of wine.]
But, I am thinking, we have overflown the mark here--yes? Think before all this is done. There may be a time, between determining that there is someone who has committed a crime, and attaching her true name to her, that you must speak of her, yes? Then, she is Jane Doe or Tizia or for whom no name is given.
Is this not to name her again in reference to what she has done? That all may speak of her, and know of whom they speak, even if they do not know what name she carries in her heart, nor what her parents first called her?
So it is if one of my people is to be spoken of by many outsiders. If she is truly infamous, or a criminal, there are of course those of other peoples who believe it their right and role to discover her name and publish it widely. We are preferring, [the emphasis is delicate, but has fangs behind it,] that they work with us instead to bring her to justice, but--as I say--the world is far from being perfect.