I emptied my pockets and went through the metal detector. “Do you think my mithril would set it off?” I asked the district attorney as he followed me through. “Do not summon anything in here,” he warned. Then he relaxed. “But maybe we can borrow a wand and check outside sometime.” Talon Axelson was all about upholding the law and had a track record to prove it. But outside the courtroom, he was more relaxed. Don’t expect him to even bend the law, but if that wasn’t an issue, he was open to most ideas. He had been one of those more accepting of me. “The video’s ready?” He asked as he led me to the courtroom. “I have several with the most likely combinations.” Talon looked back at me. “Several, even with you missing two days of work?” “A day and a half. Once I had the scene built, and the paths programed, switching the order wasn’t difficult.” “Good.” We each took our respective seats in the courtroom. The defense attorney frowned when he saw me. He said something to the defendant who looked at me and nodded. Keiran Blackwell was the opposite of Talon. His only goal was to get his clients off regardless of guilt, and he wasn’t particular as to how he did it or who his clients were. Keiran was quick to try to get anything I said or did thrown out. I waited patiently to be called. As was typical, Sam was called before I was. He had a way of explaining things. Then I was called to the stand. As I made my way forward, Keiran stood. “Your Honor…” “Mr. Blackwell, do not protest Mr. Reilly’s testimony on the grounds he isn’t human. I will hold you in contempt for wasting this court’s time.” Keiran sat down, frowning. Then his expression changed as if he thought of something. After I was sworn in, we went through the usual confusion of what to call me. The recorder seemed happy she didn’t have to use my elven name. “Mr. Reilly, please explain what we see here,” Talon requested. “It’s a video recreation of the fireworks set off in the house.” “A video recreation? What’s that?” “It’s a computer-generated recreation. It’s not actual footage. It’s the same type of thing many cartoons are made of these days, just different software, perhaps.” That was a standard question and answer we usually started with. Most people are familiar with CGI as special effects and movies. They don’t realize its practical applications. “And can you explain what’s happening?” “It shows the path of each bottle rocket and Roman candle as they were launched. It shows how many come close to catching the flammables in the building on fire.” Talon let the video play and then allowed Keiran to question me. “Where did this video come from?” He asked. “I created it on a computer.” “How?” “What do you mean how? Are you asking for a tutorial?” “No, sorry. I forget that English isn’t your native tongue. How did you know what went where and when?” “The when is mostly estimation. We don’t know which item was set off first with a few exceptions. He raised an eyebrow. “Exceptions?” “Some of the bottle rockets landed on others. Obviously, the bottom ones went off first. I have other videos with other possible timelines if you’d prefer.” “Not now. How do you know what path they took? Magic?” And I understood his look earlier. He planned to discredit my video by claiming it couldn’t be real because magic doesn’t exist. And I’m not allowed to cast in the courtroom to prove otherwise, nor was I recovered enough to cast after summoning my weapons last night. “No, sir. This was based on evidence and science.” “Your primary reason for working for the department is to cast for them. Maybe you supplemented the video with some magic.” “No, I didn’t. I never cast at the crime scene. I was given pictures and videos of the area. I also went out to see some of it with Detective Jiu to supervise me.” “But without seeing it, how could you possibly know what happened?” “Evidence,” I repeated. I wondered how many times the judge would let him repeat the same questions this time. “Based on the position of the spent rockets and where the pipes were, we were able to tell what came from where.” “Don’t you need a trajectory?” “Yes. That can be figured out. This brand was high quality and is consistent with its trajectory.” “This isn’t like a bullet that travels in an almost straight line.” Talon stood, “Your honor, we had an expert marksman find the trajectories.” Keiran turned to him, “How can the department afford another consultant? “They didn’t. He was already consulting for us. Mr. Reilly was the one to do it.” “How can someone who has done mostly trade jobs be considered an expert?” Kieran demanded. “Four hundred years of being a soldier before guns were invented helps,” I pointed out. “I had to know where my arrows would go.” “Your honor, I have a signed statement from a Major Flannigan that while on North Ridge Army Base Mr. Reilly was able to find a sniper while under fire and hit him with an arrow from two blocks away through a five-inch hole in a fifth story window.” He handed a paper to the bailiff who showed it to both the judge and the defense. “What were you doing on the base?” Keiran asked. “That’s classified.” I fell back on the easy answer. It would make Gillman happy. I wondered what kind of strings Talon had to pull to even get a statement confirming I had been there. Very few of the soldiers and scientists on the base had known. “And what kind of qualifications, do you have to make you an expert?” Keiran pressed. “My military service isn’t enough?” “You haven’t served in hundreds of years.” “Actually, I have. I fought in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.” “Nothing since?” “How many wars have you fought in?” I deflected. “Not as many as I’ve been in. Not one of your human experts could possibly have the amount of experience I have. It’s physically impossible.” “You can’t possibly know that.” “Sure, I can. Humans don’t live as long as elves.” “And how old are you?” “I don’t know.” “How can you not know?” “I’ve lost track. It’s a bit over a thousand years.” “How can you know that if you don’t keep track?” “It was shortly before Sweyn Forkbeard invaded England. You humans put that at about 1013. For about four hundred years, I was a soldier. How many humans live that long?” “Arrows are not the same as bottle rockets,” Keiran pointed out. “We are prepared to demonstrate Mr. Reilly’s abilities,” Talon offered. “You did not bring fireworks into this courtroom, did you?” the judge demanded. “No, sir, they are outside with a licensed Pyrotechnician,” Talon assured him. “He has a secure area to set them off in.” The judge nodded and soon we were outside. Someone had several bottle rockets and a few Roman candles of the brand found at the construction site. “Mr. Reilly, can you tell us where this bottle rocket will land?” Talon asked, gesturing to one of the rockets. “It will hit that bush. You might want to aim it elsewhere. The pyrotechnician frowned but nodded. “Here?” He asked after making an adjustment. I nodded. “That will work. It will be about two feet from the left of the bush.” He set off the rocket. It landed where I predicted. Then he did a few more. I was within a few inches of each. Then they had me and a bailiff stand around the corner, out of view of where they were lighting them off. When I returned, they had shot off more rockets and wanted me to tell them which one had come from where. The first three were simple enough, but the fourth didn’t match the location of the pipe. “Either this rocket’s been moved, or the pipe was,” I called from where I was standing near the spent bottle rocket. “And where should it be from?” Keiran asked. “If the rocket was shot from that location, it would have landed over there.” I pointed. “For it to have landed here, it would have had to have been shot from where that juror is standing. Juror grinned and stepped back, revealing a chalk “X” on the ground. Keiran sighed. “We concede that Mr. Reilly is an expert in calculating trajectories.” We went back inside where we watched the video again. I answered questions. Keiran proceeded to talk down to me and act like I barely spoke English. The problem was, it agitated me which made my accent more pronounced. That made it seem like he was right. *** I sighed and hesitated before knocking on Kara’s door. I didn’t know if I should spend the evening with her. Court had been brutal today. If I hadn’t agreed to come over tonight, I wouldn’t bother. I didn’t know how good of company I’d be. But I do try to keep my word so I knocked. She was on the phone when she opened the door. She beckoned me in silently and pressed a kiss to my cheek. That was a first. I started to the couch to wait for her to finish. “It’s just my boyfriend, Sean,” she told whoever was on the phone. My head whipped around. That was exactly what I wanted to hear tonight. Did she mean it? “No, he just got off work. It looks like he had a rough day.” “He’s a police consultant. He said he had to go to court today.” She rolled her eyes in response to something the person said. “No, Mom, he wasn’t on trial. He had to testify.” She listened again for a moment. I wondered what her mother was saying. “I don’t know. He helps the forensics team. He probably had to testify about something with that. He can’t tell me about the cases.” Another pause. “He’s nothing like Emmet. He’s a gentleman.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to keep something from him. He’s met Emmet. We met just before I dumped him.” She frowned. “Don’t start, Mother,” she warned. Her mom must have backed off because Kara relaxed a little. “He doesn’t want to talk to you, Mom.” “I can talk to her,” I offered. Her mom was bossy and controlling. She would pressure Kara into putting me on the phone so I decided to make it easier. Kara handed me the phone. “Hello?” “You don’t sound Irish,” was the first thing she said. “I’m not. I’m from Denmark. In Europe, we don’t restrict our names to only what nationality we are.” “No, of course not. I just assumed since Kara said you were from Europe. How long have you two been dating? Tonight is the first she’s mentioned that.” “Only a few weeks.” “And how did you meet?” “I live down the hall. I broke my leg last fall and Kara was nice enough to keep an eye on me while I got used to the crutches.” “Kara’s always been nice like that. How did you break your leg?” “It was an accident.” “Well of course it was an accident. You don’t break your leg on purpose. What happened?” I froze. I didn’t know what Kara wanted her mom to know about me. Kara grabbed the phone. “Mom, he doesn’t need the third degree. I’ll call you back later and tell you all about him.” There was a pause. “Okay, bye, Mom.” “Did you mean that?” I asked. “What?” “That I’m your boyfriend?” She kissed me. “Yeah.” I pulled her to me on the couch. “Really? You aren’t just upset because you were talking to your mom?” “I’m not going to date someone just to make her happy.” “No, but are you jumping into a relationship for comfort?” I pressed. I wanted this, but she needed to want it too. “No. I do want to be your girlfriend.” “You’re sure?” “Yes. I’d decided that before my mom called.” My heart soared. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.” “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to jump into bed with you.” I held her tighter. “Who needs a bed?” She started to pull away “Sean.” “I’m teasing. I know what you mean. Even if English is my fourth language and I’ve only spoken it for about three hundred years.” “Had trouble with it?” “I wasn’t trying. I mostly kept to myself back then. I only went into town a few times a year. I knew a few words.” “How old are you?” “I don’t know. I’m over a thousand, but I don’t think by much. Am I too old for you?” “That depends on who you ask. I don’t think so.” “What about your mom?” “Why? Are you planning on dating us both?” “No. But how will she feel about you dating someone so old?” “That doesn’t matter.” “What are you planning on telling her about me?” “As little as possible.” “So you want me to use a glamour when she’s around?” “No. I’m not going to lie to her. But she’s a nosy busybody. She’ll ask way too personal of details. Well, maybe not for you. You like to brag. But she doesn’t need to know all of that. I don’t want you to have to hide what you are.” She turned and kissed me. It was a lasting kiss like I had dreamed of, one that would invade my dreams for days. One that would turn my dreams into more.