Eir was the next to testify. She was tense, a stress response to a new and unpleasant situation. She was sworn in, and Early started her questioning. "Do you have a surname?"
Eir gave her a Look I remembered well from when I had asked dumb questions. "Later in my afterlife, I did some work with a new valkyrie and we dated my death to 866 of the common era, when the Vikings invaded Eoforwic, which I believe is now called York. I was twenty-three. Since then I have existed for centuries using a valkyrie use name that Odin gave me. I haven't so much as thought about my birth name in over a thousand years."
Early let everybody mull that over. "If Odin gave you all valkyrie names, why don't you all go by them?"
Eir smiled at me. "As of late, Odin's attitude was changing and he was not as... rigid about the form of things as he used to be. Everyone got a formal name that was used when a valkyrie was tasked to retrieve souls. Carol was called Bodil, meaning 'battle will cure', Alex was Thyra, which means 'like thunder." And it takes time for one to become accustomed to the new name, but a valkyrie decides how she will be addressed in informal conversations." She paused and her expression turned mischievous. "Although Alex's name is quite apt. Her actions were often like a clap of thunder, a signal of great change to come." The other valkyries laughed and I grinned at her. Eir sobered, looking at the judge. "It says much about her that Odin elevated her to lead the valkyries despite their history of disagreements. Alex does not bend to the will of others when doing so would cause harm and Odin did respect that. He kept her as leader even when the older valkyries returned to prepare for Ragnarok."
"Valhalla sounds like a complicated place," Early commented.
"It was, and most likely still is," Eir acknowledged. "But Valhalla is an honored afterlife for warriors, not a paradise where all may loll about at their ease and accomplishing nothing with their time. We work, always." I smirked at the charge that everyone else were slackers.
"So you believe that it still exists?"
"Of course. Odin created it while he was the King of Asgard and was able to travel freely between Valhalla and this plane of existence while he lived. He is confined to Valhalla when he is not alive, and I have no doubt that my sisters who fell at Ragnarok have found their place there once more, as will we all, most likely, barring an attack of shameful cowardice. There will be other apocalypses, after all. But it is also possible that they will fall to someone else to avert." That caused an uproar, and the judge had trouble quieting the gallery.
"What do you mean by that?" Early asked urgently.
"History is cyclical. You have seen it in your own sciences, with the great extinctions your scientists have found and studied. The time of humanity is not infinite, and most likely we will bring about our end ourselves. We are a troublesome species. And as we prepared for Ragnarok, we found that the idea of cycles, where the world is destroyed and remade, is not uncommon across world religions. If the Norn have glimpsed the next apocalypse yet, they have not given word of it." Only somebody who knew Eir would know that she was holding back a lot of personal opinion and commentary, but she also firmly believed in keeping things in the family, which the court was not.
"Do you want to fight another battle like that?" Early was struggling with this.
"Of course not," Eir said impatiently. "But it might as well come to us. We have, as you say..." Her brow furrowed as she searched for the correct terminology. It took a couple of minutes for her frown to ease. "We have a proven 'track record' of success, we have the will and the ability to succeed. Better it befall us than others who might not be as well prepared or capable." I covered my mouth and my shoulders shook with the laughter I was suppressing. The courtroom started to buzz, and again it took the judge time to restore order.
"So why are you here, in this courtroom, joining this trial?" Early asked.
"Because I was appalled when it was explained to us what had happened. I did not consent for my image to be captured. This... woman" she said the word distastefully "I believe has torn away a part of my soul by recording my person and actions."
Kipp's lawyer got up. "You realize that it's an old wives tale, that taking a picture of someone doesn't actually capture your soul? It's not part of you in the image, just a picture." He spoke slowly, as if Eir was stupid.
"I know nothing of the sort," she said crisply. "I know what you believe. But isn't this court about what is fact? Prove it."
We all craned around to look at the lawyer, who was sputtering incoherently, but he pulled himself together. "Your honor!" he protested. "It's been long established that there's no evidence that anybody's soul is in a photograph!"
Early stood. "Actually, your honor, I don't think that it's been proven. It's been labeled as superstition, but I don't know that it's been proven. It wouldn't have to be a big piece of soul, in fact it would probably be pretty tiny. But you can see where somebody would object to part of their soul being ripped away. This plaintiff believes that she has been materially harmed by the defendant and there isn't any actual evidence to say she's wrong."
The lawyers spatted back and forth for a bit until the judge put a stop to it and had Eir step down. Thor was called to the stand. His testimony was brief and quite pointed, saying that his faith that humans would adhere to the rule of law as outlined in the treaty he'd signed was in serious doubt and that he was closing the embassy until the situation was made right. That made the judge frown; the first delivery of rare and novel raw materials from Alfheimr was set for the next week, and it wouldn't happen if the Bifrost was closed. The other lawyer suggested that Thor was overreacting. Thor's freezing glare was almost physical, something he had to have learned from Loki, but all he said was that he would not ally himself with people without honor. "What do you want the court to do?" Andrews said. "We can't make people unsee the documentary."
"I want the full breadth and weight of human law to be applied to these people." He gestured to the defense table. "I want every available punishment to be applied to their limits. I think the term is "throw the book at them.""
Thor then stepped down and a recess for lunch was called.
Damian had made reservations for us, the other valkyries, Eira, Thor, Steve, Emma, Tony, and Bucky in a private room at a nearby restaurant, which is where we adjourned. "I thought you were still testing in the Pacific, Sparky," I said to Tony. "Not that I'm not glad to see you."
"Ann is busy with the algae, although the bacteria is showing more promise in the warmer water," he said. "I was literally sitting on the beach, of no use. I've got ideas for bots to disperse our organisms later in our trials. So I came back, with Ann's support. I think she was glad to get me out of her hair, actually. Good job, Tiger. Take the offensive, don't roll over and show your belly."
Bucky didn't say anything, but he gave me one of his special hugs before we were seated. Damian waited until we had ordered and were left alone before saying, "I thought you were going to leap to your feet, snap out your wings, and give that lawyer hell for implying that you were a vapid killer."
I sipped my water primly. "The wings are molting, you know that. It wouldn't be impressive. You know I'm vain about them." The table burst out laughing, relaxing the tension. After the excellent lunch, we went back to the courthouse, Emma falling into step beside me.
"I always appreciate it when somebody makes sure that the record is straight where Bucky is concerned," she said quietly. "It bothers me that people are still trying to label him as a killer, full stop. After all this time and all the good he's done." I nodded, in total agreement. "Sigurd and Torburn are going to be thrilled by the recognition of them as intelligent people," she said in a normal tone as Staeina joined us.
"They will most likely enjoy being freed from the restraint of leashes," Staeina observed, and we chatted about that until we had to stand in line for the x ray machine again. I was going to be glad to put the armor away again. It got hot under it in the spring sun.
To my surprise, Daniel was called as a defense witness to account for his participation as a backer of the film.
"How did you come to be involved with the project?" the defense lawyer asked.
"My grandma is in it," Daniel said steadily. "It was my intention to become a backer in order to keep Ms Kipp honest in her portrayal of the events and not exploitative. I never thought she would defy the court order."
"Your grandma?" the lawyer said, cutting him off.
"Alex Barnes is my grandma," he said, and I grinned at him. "We've never sat down to figure out how many 'greats' there are in there. It would be kind of depressing."
"She doesn't look like a grandmother, especially in that costume."
Daniel sighed and adopted the tone he used with willful, obstreperous board members. "She's returned, so of course she doesn't look like an old woman. But there's no template for a grandmother, anyway. I can assure you that she's baked me cookies, if that's the kind of activity you're looking for. And her 'costume,' as you put it, is her battle armor, not an affectation."
"Do you feel responsible for the controversy surrounding the film?"
"Yes," Daniel said immediately. "I did not accomplish my goal, which was to prevent the battle at Asgard from becoming sensationalized. And I should have insisted on more control, but I thought Cal was going to live up to his promise to make sure the film was edited to the court's specifications."
Andrews had some questions about the agreement Daniel thought he had with Cal Strouse, the other financial backer, establishing that Daniel had trusted Strouse, who had volunteered to work with Kipp, and believed that Kipp would comply with the verdict. Daniel produced recordings and documents to support his assertions, to which the defense objected. The judge ruled that he'd opened the door to that questioning by asking about Daniel's responsibility.
My mind wandered a bit during the testimony of the festival officials; our lawyers had gone after the organizer who was responsible for the timely submission of the films and the one who had actually viewed the film when it was submitted. Because the deadline was early December, the film that had been submitted was the one we'd sued over initially. Both of the officials were aware of the court order and produced documentation that Kipp had said she intended to comply. Her incarceration on Asgard had put her behind on the edits, and the live orchestra and the in-person narration were used because they weren't finished at the time she'd submitted the final work to the festival, three days before it was screened. And there is where they fell off the moral high ground. They'd seen the film when Kipp had hand-delivered it and had been blown away. They realized that it violated the court order, but they wanted the sensation the film would bring and allowed it to be shown anyway.
By the time Cal Strouse was called to testify, I was tired (hadn't slept very well the night before), irritated by the show of the hearing since Kipp had plainly violated the will of the court, I'd had too much water at lunch and needed to use the bathroom, and my wings were itching something fierce. I leaned around Serena to ask Lee if we could have a bathroom break, and the judge agreed with the request. So I got to do something about one of my problems anyway, and another problem was addressed when I was stumping back to the courtroom. My daughter appeared and gave me a big hug before handing me a venti white chocolate mocha with two extra shots, which cut the sweetness perfectly and added caffeine. Bliss. My husband came up and scratched my back, which provided a small relief somehow.
"Gotta say, Mom, you look completely badass." Xander came down the hall too, having paused to greet Eira. He was working on a short-term project in the Stockholm branch and gave both his father and me a hug and peck on the cheek. He punched his sister lightly on the arm. He made me smile, he reminded me so much of J.
We went back into the courtroom. Two more witnesses and we were done. Strouse was called. He admitted to misleading Daniel about the edits, but he said that the footage was too good to be destroyed and that once you were in for a penny, you were in for a pound. He'd encouraged Kipp to make the extended festival edit and gave her more money for the orchestration, original song, new narration, to clean up the print by stabilizing some of the jumpy images and making everything sharper, and to improve the odors they used for the enhanced viewings. I scowled at him and he looked away from the plaintiffs' table.
Then it was down to Kipp. She looked pretty composed as she took the stand. "You knew that failing to edit the film to the court's specifications would lead to... well, this. Why did you do it?" her lawyer asked.
"Because that battle is too important to be mutilated because a few people don't want their feelings hurt," she said passionately. I wanted to slap the sanctimonious smirk off her face. "The film is an important historical record. If the order hadn't been to destroy the footage, I could have complied, because after the plaintiffs dies, their objections would have been void and the full story could have been revealed." Serena grasped the arms of her chair so tightly you could hear the wood creak. There were more of these bullshit justifications as her testimony went on. She laid some of the blame on Strouse for encouraging her and providing the money. I had to stop listening because my wings wanted to come out and I really had to focus to control myself.
Early sat in her chair long enough to make Kipp uneasy, then she got slowly to her feet. "This is very interesting," she observed mildly. "You and your lawyer never made the argument that the footage could be retained for future use, when you were appealing to the jury the first time. Why not?"
Kipp looked like she wanted to swear. "I didn't think of that."
"Never thought to appeal the order at any time?"
"No." Her face was purpling now.
"You didn't see the whole battle," Early pointed out. "Nobody could. You only saw where you were looking. So by definition the whole story can't be told, only the part you caught during your illegal trespass. Why don't you just be honest?"
"I caught the most important parts!" Kipp shouted.
"According to you," Early said, unimpressed. "You certainly filmed the most showy, dramatic moments, but who's to say they were the most important?" She continued to bait Kipp until she was so red-faced that I thought she might pop a blood vessel, and my mind wandered as I wondered if, since I had medical training, I'd have to try to save her if she did. After Kipp had completely lost her composure, Early ended her questioning and sat down. Then it was time for both sides to give their closing arguments to the judge.
"Your Honor, there's not a jury to play to, so I'm just going to state the facts and what we want for our remedy," Lee said, standing up. "The filmmaker, Melanie Kipp, has freely admitted that she defied your original order to recut the film to remove the valkyries' identities. She did it for recognition, for fame, trampling over the rights of others so that she could get what she wanted. She came up with a lot of self-serving justifications for why she did so, never seeking to appeal any of the ruling, so all I can conclude is that her justifications were probably spun out of thin air before she had to take the stand. One of the backers has admitted to misleading the other backer and funding the violation of the court order very handsomely. The other backer failed to pay attention to the editing. The two organizers admit that their desire for a sensation overrode their respect for the law.
"There's nothing to be done now that the film has been released. You can't put the genie back into the bottle, and illegal downloads of the film are all over the internet. It's not possible to have them all taken down or removed from the people who saved copies to their personal computers." She sighed. "The damage to my clients is real and severe and personal. They've been threatened and their right to live in peace and build new lives has been substantially compromised. There is absolutely nothing that any of the defendants can do to make up for this. But in lieu of ways to make the plaintiffs whole, we have remedies that we are asking the court to impose. First of all, Daniel Wayne should pay damages. He has a reputation for being an astute businessman, and he should have used his acumen better here. Cal Strouse should also pay a much larger fine and we additionally ask for jail time. For the two organizers of the festival, we ask that they should donate the profits from the film festival to the two best national film schools at USC and NYU Tisch to fund ethics classes. Additionally, we ask for jail time for them as well since they knowingly violated the court order too, and that they revoke the prize that was awarded to the film and Ms Kipp. For Ms Kipp... this is difficult because she so thoroughly trampled the concerns and rights of the plaintiffs and shrugged off the order like it meant nothing. We want the film to be withdrawn from the festivals where we know it has been submitted, which is Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, Berlin, SXSW, AFI, BFI, and Chicago, as well as any other film festivals or venues that the defendants have neglected to name. We want a substantial fine for Ms Kipp and garnishment of her wages until the fine is repaid, we want a professional to edit the film so that the opening no longer resembles Nazi propaganda, paid for by Strouse, and we want jail time. This is hardly sufficient, but it's the best we can do. Kipp knew what it meant to the plaintiffs to be identified, and instead of complying with a few judicious edits, she spitefully added footage to make it as damaging as possible."
Lee sat down. Kipp's lawyer stood up, and I felt a small niggle of sympathy for him, having to defend the indefensible. His closing was brief and pretty ineffectual, but then, he didn't have a leg to stand on. He portrayed Kipp as a talented young woman who had been tempted beyond her reason and noted the priceless historical worth of the footage.
The court took a break that lasted a little over an hour, then we reconvened to hear the judge's decision. There was no real doubt that a can of whoop ass was going to opened on the defendants, the question was just how much.
"First of all, I have been in contact with the mayor and city council and the state government regarding the Asgardian dog-like beings to inform them of this court's decision, and I have been assured that my order will be upheld; Eira and any other Asgardian dogs not party to this suit will receive legal protections that may surpass the earlier order of this court." I smiled and stroked Eira's soft fur when she walked over to me.
"After some deliberation, I find the defendants guilty for the violation of my earlier order concerning the film. Here are my orders. First, concerning Daniel Wayne: given that you were misled regarding the editing of the film and given that your experience with film making is limited, your fine is a million dollars, to be distributed equally among the plaintiffs because you failed to use your position to ensure that the order was being complied with." Daniel nodded without complaint. "For Cal Strouse, because you actively disregarded the order and encouraged additional violations, your fine is ten million dollars. Half of that sum is to be set up as donations to USC and NYU Tisch for education in ethics and law in filmmaking and the other half to be distributed equally to the plaintiffs. You are to be jailed for two years, the maximum sentence for contempt. For Edwin Lafitte and Sherice Scott, the profits of the film are to be given to any other accredited film schools that want to educate their students in ethics and law, you are to rescind the prize for best film that was awarded to Ms Kipp, and a sentence of a year in jail for each of you. Ms Kipp." The judge's voice was heavy and flat. "Your greed and spite are remarkable, and I say that as someone who has been a judge in this city for twenty-three years. Your lawyer will withdraw your film from all festivals where it has been submitted and any other venues that you might have made agreements to show the festival cut. The version that was edited suitably can continue to be shown and sold. He will turn over all materials to a professional editor, who will recut the opening to remove the resemblance to "Triumph of the Will." Following this editing, all frames of the unused material are to be turned over to the court." She paused. "The defendants are correct in saying that this footage has incredible historic importance. We order it held, until such a time as all plaintiffs are dead, at which time arguments for releasing more or all of the footage can be made. Ms Kipp will forfeit all profits of the film to the plaintiffs in perpetuity and she will also be imprisoned for two years. Given that she will not be working during that period, it will not be necessary to garnish her wages. She will forfeit all prizes and awards that the documentary may receive. The defendants have two days during which they are to get their affairs in order, and then those who are facing jail time will be surrendered to King Thor for incarceration on Asgard. He is to permit international observers to visit four times during the two years that he will be incarcerating the defendants so that they can ascertain that they are being held in safe, clean cells, given access to sanitation, fed three times a day, and receiving appropriate medical care. Strouse, Lafitte, and Scott are to pay the plaintiff's legal fees and expenses." The judge slapped the gavel down and that was that.
The courtroom buzzed loudly as the spectators discussed the verdict and I rubbed my eyes before standing to shake our lawyers' hands. Early left to take questions from the journalists on the courthouse steps, and the rest of us filed out of the courtroom and down the stairs. We avoided the melee surrounded Ms Early, but a few reporters broke away and shoved microphones in our faces.
"No comment," I said, pushing my past and down to the street where my family was waiting for me. Eira trotted along beside me, pleased not to be on a leash. I turned when I heard Eir.
"Keep you distance and ask your questions in a respectful manner," she barked, knocking the recorder out of her face. I grinned. The reporters, scared of her by their expressions, asked a couple of questions about how she felt, then hastily returned to the safety of the larger fold of reporters still asking our lawyer questions.
There was plenty of transportation and we parted. Thor was hosting a dinner that night for all of us before the other valkyries returned to their homes. I went home with Damian where he gently scratched my wings for me, and we relaxed until it was time for the dinner.
When Eira and I returned later, she had a new collar, made for her by the embassy, that had a tiny holographic projector of her credentials that could be placed on other collars. Daniel had been incredibly prompt with the payment of his fine, sending credit chips to the embassy for Serena, Carol, Dagny, Thor, and me with our portions, and little ingots of gold and silver for the other valkyries that could be used in payment or trade on their worlds where US currency was worthless. We'd signed the receipts for the court, and found, to our surprise, that he'd doubled the fine of his own accord and provided handwritten apologies to each of us. When it was time for the others to return to their homes, I was sad they were going but glad to have seen them again. "It's not like I won't see them again; we'll meet in Valhalla," I pointed out to Damian, who had forgotten about that.
After the excitement, I was glad to go back to class and prepare for finals. It took considerably longer for the other defendants to pony up their fines to us; in fact, finals were over before they hit my bank account.