Chapter Text
Mihira Themis had no time for this. She stared at the pregnancy tests in her hand. Three of them. She screamed at the top of her lungs „KILLAM!“
„What is it, my love?“, her husband entered the bathroom, to find his wife standing tall, with a dark gaze.
Killam Lawson was physically no match for her. Ten centimeters shorter, a small belly, an already receding hairline, but fear had never been part of his emotional range. Not even in the face of his fiancee’s temper, which was infamous amongst all their classmates and probably even the professors.
„What. Did. You. Do?“, she squeezed out, between clenched teeth.
She was on track to become Runeterra’s youngest judge ever. This was really the last thing she could use.
Killam looked at the sticks under his nose and met the burning irises with a stoic, gentle smile.„Love, I don’t know – there is nothing I did different than all the other times. Statistically speaking, there is always a residual risk, we knew i–“
Mihira’s nose darted to a position within millimeters of her boyfriend’s. „Shut. Your. Mouth. This is your fault and you know it. You knocked me up, Killam! Did you ever think about my future when you shove that thing into me? That you hold the power to destroy my life, which you just did?!“
„There is no need to–“, he began calmly again, just to be interrupted yet again.
„You will be the one to take care of it. I don’t care. I don’t care what it’s to your career. I will not be the one to suffer from your mistake. I am not losing my future, the one I worked hard for all my life, for your lack of restraint.“, she hissed, her finger drumming against his chest.
„It will not ruin your future. I will take care of the child, happily, love. It will be like having a second you, and you focus on becoming the best judge Runeterra ever had.“, he tried another time to allay Mihira’s wrath.
Her features went sickly, her voice dripping with venomous sarcasm: „Oh yes, are you going to carry it for me? Hold my belly, puke for me, hurt for me, recover for me? You really are dumb, Killam Lawson. I regret the day I met you. I curse it!“
The man turned to the door. „Then, let’s go to Ixtal. There are very good doctors to undo this mishap. I will pay for it, whatever you want, love.“
„And have it exposed years later, have someone blackmail me, ruin my career with a crime I committed out of desperation? No, you would like that, huh, to see me at my knees, be at your mercy, to be the one holding the reins over my future. Is that why you did it? To have me in your hands? Plotter! Schemer!“ Mihira hurled the soap dispenser after him, and he deflected it with his hand, not letting on how he was at the end of his wits with her.
Five months later, Killam Lawson was called into the ER.
His heavily pregnant wife had been in a car accident and was beyond saving, but the two children she carried had barely made it. Two, that was double of what Killam Lawson had prepared for.
The day of the spring equinox, two girls had found their early way to the surface of Runeterra. He named the first one Kayle, the name his wife had picked to be regardless of the sex of the child. The other one was given the name Morgana, because it all seemed so unreal to him how his life had been turned upside down within a day.
They left alone with their father who took them to Demacia, to raise them with the help of their grandparents while he continued his business founded in Targon – Dikeosyne Consultants.
The girls were different, yet the same growing up – the radiant, dogmatic older one contrasted the brooding, sensitive younger sibling, with her golden eyes and blonde hair resembling the Demacian side of her genes, while Morgana’s darker features were a tribute to the Targonian heritage of her mother’s family.
They were never too long together and never too far apart, attracting each other with traits the other desired and repulsed by the ones that were an embodiment of their aversions.
What united both was the ambition and their love for justice, something their rarely present father fostered and that made them predestined to take over the lead within the company as soon as they finished law school.
Within time, they learned how to channel each of their strengths to share the work, but rarely ever worked together, knowing the conflict their opposing natures bore whenever they would meet.
When the presidency at Sunland A.F.C. became vacant, Kayle Lawson was approached by the board of the great old team to take over in a hope to tap the vast resources of the Lawson Trust. After having silently acquired a majority of shares in the cash-strapped Crescent Rovers under the account of Morgana Lawson, they instead saw the opportunity fit to pool their resources for their first common project.
Sitting next to Morgana on the one side of the courtroom alone annoyed Kayle beyond all measures. That heavy perfume, the lipstick, the long hair, everything itched her and she could not scratch. That small wrinkle around her nose was the only thing giving away her annoyance, and Morgana was probably the only person who could recognize it. Of all people, her.
The other side was empty. Viego vol Kalah would never be on time. He loved the eyes on him, and a late entrance was sure to raise maximal attention. It was supposed to be an advantage for his opponents that he disrespected the court, but lesser judges were drawn to put their attention onto him afterwards.
„Trial open to the public“. No normal public would want to attend a trial like this. The news though, they filled the room. All the sports newspapers had sent their Targon stringer, or, if they didn’t have one, their Shurima correspondent. SportsNews was outside with an entire coverage team, shooting live, trying to catch anyone involved. The Lawsons had been there early.
Diana had passed detected, but deemed not interesting enough. Her silver hair was caught by three large, anthracite hairslides behind her head and flowed down the backside of a black blazer. A black button-down shirt and matching dresspants along with clean chucks rounded off her outfit, and a little crescent dangled from each of her earlobes.
Next to her sat someone that only well-informed, tiny circles could determine to be Leona, and that by pure method of elimination. The blazer was blue, pearls drawing attention towards the neck for once. Her trademark mane was thoroughly hidden in a loose, dark blue scarf, and sunglasses covered the entire eyepart.
Leona knew she could have done a much better job disguising herself, but for once, the purpose of it all was to not look fully disguised because she was scheduled to be exposed.
And, who knows what else.
In the front row, close to the empty desk opposite of the Lawsons, sat a hunky woman with a platinum blond mane of locks, insistently talking to a bearded man with amber eyes that did his best to look interested in what she had to say.
On the other side of her, closest to the desk, sat a woman with a red wave of hair falling down to her back. Her blue eyes rested on the Lawsons in a contemptuous way before they wandered through the crowd as if she was looking for someone. They lingered for a bit more than just a moment on Diana, but in the end, the woman just moved on before huffing and returning to staring straight.
„Who’s that?“, Diana gave Leona a dig with her elbow. „Who?“ - „The one up there in the front by the other desk.“
Leona had so far avoided looking who was there – not because she wasn’t curious, but because she feared the more people she’d recognize, the more nervous to get. The quick glance to the front row did everything to send her heart to beat in her throat.
She turned towards the ear of her silver-haired companion – after making sure there was no attention from them aimed in their general direction – and whispered in her ear almost inaudibly: „That’s – you recognized my parents, right?“
„Those are your parents?“ Diana hissed while her eyebrows shot up. „Goddess, she has dyed her hair! I wouldn’t have recognized her ever. And your dad looks tired. He got old.“
„He does“, Leona agreed. „I think he misses getting out of the house. And sports. Kessi is too young, and doesn’t care about sports, so ever since Donny is a pro…“
„And that girl behind them?“
Leona moved a little to get a good sight and her pulse hit another spike. „Oh my goddesses, that is Fortune. Sarah. He brought one from the team. She is trouble. Did she see us?“
Diana laid her hand carefully on her girlfriend’s leg and stroked it softly.„Yes, but I don’t think she recognized you. Relax. They got nothing on us.“
All the attention shifted to the front in an instant as a door opened with a cracking sound and the judges came inside. Everyone shuffled to get to their feet to honour the court and remained there until they took their seat again, with Leona bending her knees slightly to not stick out of the crowd. To sit more towards the back was definitely an advantage now.
After taking a seat, the presiding judge indicated everyone to return to theirs. As if on command, the door to the courtroom opened and a man in a tailored suit to die for entered.
Viego vol Kalah sported golden hair, combed back, his eyes showed a gentle blue hue and he had put a light blue suit that radiated calmness. A matching vest covered a sand-colored shirt that was paired with the trousers. He bowed deeply. „My sincerest apologies, your honor, for my delay.“
The judge waved him off rather unimpressed. Maybe a good sign was the meaning of the look Diana threw to Leona from the corner of her eye, who was lucky the sunglasses hid the shocked look on her eyes upon the sight of a man that had entirely changed for his appearance in court.
Professional jealousy hit Leona upon seeing that perfect masquerade. Together with the familiar sense that came when facing a contender team – the feeling that today even your very best might not be enough. The man that entered had no resemblance to the grim leader she had met in Camavor. Free of the strange accent Leona knew, he had approached the court like the dream of any mother-in-law-to-be.
I hope the Lawsons have done their preparations to meet him, because it sure looks like a lot of aces fit up those sleeves.
After a tedious time, in which Viego emptied his bag meticulously onto the desk and took his seat, an assistant started reading the formalities; he presented the matter of the two different contracts that were received by the league – the one by Camavor, with the swift signature of Leona Iliadi, and the one by Targon, signed with an entirely different scratch of a pen.
The assistent went on to state that the comparison of signature with former contracts showed an overwhelming congruence with the one on Camavor’s contract, and closed his statement. The presiding judge indicated Kayle Lawson it was her turn to convince the court the case was less clear cut than it appeared.
The tall blonde raised from her feet and called with a firm voice upon Mrs. Polixeni Fliarou.
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„As you see, your honor, the signature on the contract signed with TMS the same date is identical to the one on the contract that Targon United F.C. has presented. And Mrs. Fliarou has without any doubt identified Leona Iliadi as the person to have signed the contract. So we have proven that the signature of Miss Iliadi on the contract with Targon United is in fact the real signature of Miss Iliadi, and thus the only valid contract of Miss Iliadi with a team of the Runeterra Premier League.“, Kayle Lawson stated.
Mrs. Fliarou added from the stand. „I know it was her, your honor, there is zero doubt. I have watched her so many years destroying our hopes and our attacks, there is no mistaking from my side! This was Miss Iliadi in my office.“
„Thank you, Mrs. Fliarou, you may return to your seat. You remain unsworn.“, the judge declared.
„Mrs. Fliarou“, resounded a voice from the far side as the bank clerk had taken a seat in the front row. Viego raised for the first time from his seat and slowly approached the witness beyond the barrier.
„Noone here doubts your ability to recognize Miss Iliadi. And noone here doubts that Miss Iliadi has passed by your bank to sign a contract. The question is rather“, he turned to address the judges „did Miss Iliadi counterfeit her own signature? This signature is clearly not the way Miss Iliadi usually signs anything – as Mrs. Fliarou here stated, it took her an enormous amount of time to put it under these papers.“
It’s true, it works both ways, Diana thought.
He walked back behind his desk and smiled at the Lawson sisters. „I doubt that Miss Iliadi herself would be able to muster the ingenuity, the deviousness to scheme something like that. Even more so since she has not shown any kind of regret joining us in Camavor; she is a valuable and active member of our community and is determined to reach our goals with us.“
„This is a bold claim, Mister vol Kalah.“, Morgana interposed. „If Miss Iliadi is such a staunch campaigner for Camavor F.C as you say, then how come she has not joined us here to clear this matter herself and support your claims? I believe her word would carry enormous weight with the court.“
She can bluff without the slightest bit of a tell. Remind me to never play poker with Morgana fucking Lawson.
Viego smiled again and cast his eyes down. „Indeed, Miss Lawson, it is a great misfortune that Miss Iliadi is currently recovering from a viral infection that makes a travel as well as a video statement not viable. She would have made for an excellent witness; alas, we have to rely on the word of those closest to her since she can’t be here. I call upon Miss Sarah Fortune, a woman who has become already a very close friend with Miss Iliadi in their little time they had the opportunity to spend together in Camavor.“
Oh my goddess, he went right for it.
Diana felt nails digging into her arm. Her neighbor was cursing under her breath.
Did you not get what just happened, Leo? He has no clue where you are. They are probably still looking for you in Piltover. He feels so secure.
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„Miss Fortune, tell us about your relationship with Miss Iliadi.“, Viego led, distinctively trying hard to keep an emotional distance to the woman on the stance in a for her standards very modest white blouse with only two open buttons and an innocent smile.
Sarah did her best to play her role, and Diana was sure these shades on Leona had to work overtime to contain all the daggers she shot at the witness.
„She has won a place in all of our hearts so quickly, and we hope she will join us back as soon as possible!“
„I visited her several times a day in her sickness, she is part of our family at Camavor and we stand together, on and off the pitch.“
„I remember I liked her from the first day I saw her, when we both signed our contracts with Camavor. She has such an elegance and power in whatever she does, it made me admire her right away.“
Diana had a tough job keeping in a snort on that one.
Not that you’re wrong.
But you are not nearly gay enough to bring that across sincerely, hun.
„All in all, I believe she is as happy as one can be within our team, and we are looking forward to compete together in this season.“
„Are there any more questions to the witness from the petitioner?“, the presiding judge pattered his closing formula, directed at the Lawsons’ bench.
Kayle Lawson rose from her seat and stepped forward. „No questions, your honor, but we would like to move for Miss Fortune to affirm her statement by judicial oath.“
Viego furrowed his brow and for the first time, his features showed something like bother. „Why would you insist on an oath to such a circumstantial statement? To disassemble by proving she maybe did not visit her each and every day in the infirmary, or that someone on the team has some kind of reservation to Miss Iliadi, if only because she is their competition for a starting spot? I move to reject the motion of the petitioners, your honor!“
„Motion rejected“, the judge droned. „Should any further proceedings show inconsistencies within the statement of Miss Fortune, it will lead to the evaluation of the witness’s statement by the court accordingly. The witness stays unsworn and is dismissed.“
The redhead left the stance with her chin raised upwards, and Viego shot a quick look of satisfaction at Morgana, who smiled back calmly. Diana could’ve sworn she had never seen anybody so calm and at peace with themselves, especially in a contrast to that bag of nerves next to her.
The voice of the judge resounded again: „Does the petitioner or the respondent have any more witnesses to call upon or documents to present? Otherwise, the taking of evidence would be closed.“
„Your honor, I would like to call upon one more witness.“ Kayle Lawson knew all eyes to be on herself. She looked into a certain direction, nodded subtly and turned to the judge.
„I call Miss Leona Iliadi to the witness stand.“
The courtroom was entirely silent.
Noone knew whether to laugh. To jump up and scream. Where to look. Everyone waited.
You could have heard a pin drop, but all you heard was the quiet noise of a chair that glided a little backwards on its felt slides. The people right behind were the first to break the silence as they saw the auburn-haired woman rising from her chair with something that sounded like a sharp intake of air.
Leona focused on not kicking any feet of the other people in her row of chairs on her way to the aisle to avoid having to notice what happened around her. She had left the sunglasses and the headscarf in the hands of Diana as soon as she had received the nod.
Her companion had squeezed her hand.
It was all going to be fine, that meant.
It wasn’t anything special.
Just like, everything on the line.
And all the eyes on me.
Like a penalty shot in the last minute.
Leona raised her head and looked straight ahead into the arena, focusing the judge like a goalkeeper.
She didn’t hear any of the turmoil around her.
She didn’t hear Sarah Fortune gasp, she didn’t hear Mrs. Fliarou babble to her seat neighbor.
She didn’t hear her father crying out for her in surprise, while her mother was staring, unable to form anything.
She walked down the aisle, with all the tension falling off from her.
It was time to be a captain. And to convert a decisive penalty shot.
She opened the wooden gate to the court room and stepped into the booth in the center of it that was facing the judge, with all the mess behind her.
The first thing she heard was the assistant judge directing at Viego in a calm, bland voice. „Motion for a break rejected. Miss Iliadi is on the list of witnesses and thus, no surprise witness.“
The presiding judge remained equally unagitated as he followed through with the formalities.
„ Your name is Leona Iliadi, you are 25 years old, unmarried and a resident of Targon, is that correct?“
„Correct, your honor.“
„Miss Iliadi, as long as you are on the witness stand, your statements have to be truthful and answer the questions by the court, the petitioner or the respondent. All your answers have to be given truthfully, orally and clearly voiced. You have the right to refuse to give evidence if you were to incriminate yourself. Did you hear and understand these rules?“
„Yes, your honor.“
„Petitioner, it is your right to interrogate the witness first since you called upon her.“
It was Morgana Lawson that stood up and stepped closer. She radiated a smell for lilac, sweet and lovely.
The lawyer smiled warmly and tilted her head. „Good morning, Miss Iliadi. How are you? We have heard bad news concerning your health state from Mister vol Kalah and we hope you are fine after all.“
„I am in the best of health, Miss Lawson, thank you. I am happy to be here in Targon.“, Leona answered, grateful for the effort made to ease her into her role, and too focused to pay attention to the dig Morgana had just delivered at her opponent.
„I am very pleased to hear that, and I believe I am speaking for all of us here. We are so glad you could make it, aren’t we?“ Morgana smiled again, this time in the general direction of the bench to her left, where Viego had to be sitting. „Now, after the pleasantries, let’s focus at the matter at hand. Did you sign a contract with Targon Mutual Savings on 14th of July of this year?“
„Yes, Miss Lawson. In the morning, I signed a contract at the office of Mrs. Fliarou in Moonsby.“, Leona answered dutifully.
Morgana seemed to be determined to walk her slowly through a plan she had. „And what did you do next?“
„I went right after to sign my contract with Targon United in the presence of president Kayle Lawson.“, she stated with a calm voice. So far, so easy.
Morgana turned around and addressed the judge as well as the audience, pacing up and down the space in front of Leona. „This contract, as we know now, has not been the only one that has been presented to the Runeterra Premier League, establishing a contractual relationship between Miss Iliadi and a side of the RPL. Camavor F.C. has deposited a contract as well, that bears a signature of Miss Iliadi. Now, the contract she has with Targon United F.C. – we established that – has been signed on the 14th of July, which is confirmed by the date next to it.“
The dark-haired lawyer paused, took the contract from the judge’s desk and returned to her spot in front of Leona.
She addressed her protégée, pointing her pen to the bottom of a page. „The contract that Camavor F.C. has deposited, though, bears an entirely different signature, and is dated to July 12th, two days prior. Where have you been on July 12th, Miss Iliadi?“
Leona was unable to answer. She felt that at this moment, she maybe had the most stupid of all expressions ever seen in a courtroom.
What? 12th of July? Did my mother sign it before I was even back? That explains the tickets and everything.
It was all done before even I had the chance to think.
I was her pawn. Her toy. Her tool.
A pale face with dark makeup slipped into her field of vision and roused her out of her thoughts. „Miss Iliadi, please answer my question. Just answer it. Where have you been on July 12th?“
„In, in, I was in Khawaii. On vacation, that day.“, she stammered, trying to focus at the task at hand again.
Penalty. Ball in goal. Nothing else. That else is for afterwards.
„You were on vacation in Khawaii? So did you meet there with Miss Fortune and a representative from Camavor F.C. to sign the contract?“, Morgana inquired further.
Leona was crawling her way back to her senses, and this easy question helped. „No. I had no contact to anyone from Camavor F.C. in my holidays. I don’t know who signed that contract, but it cannot have been me. Neither have I met Miss Fortune in Khawaii or anywhere else before my first day in Camavor, July 15th. Except of course during matches in the seasons before.“, she added hastily to stay technically truthful.
„Alright, Miss Iliadi. The flight records we requested from Gamma Airlines show you boarded flight number GA 4207 on July 13th, 5 a.m. from Khawaii to Shurima. So it is safe to assume you spent July 12th in Khawaii, without meeting any representative of Camavor F.C..“
The dark-haired lawyer turned her back to her witness again. „But if Miss Iliadi did not sign the contract on 12th of July, that leaves us with two possibilities.“
She made a step towards the desk of the respondent, and for the first time Leona turned her head to look at Viego. His grim expression had a smile playing around the corners of his mouth, and his unusually blue eyes set lazily on Morgana Lawson as she explained further.
„First, the contract has been signed by Miss Iliadi on the 15th of July, the day she arrived in Camavor and when she met Miss Fortune. Subsequently, the date has been falsified to indicate a signature prior to the date Miss Iliadi signed her contract with Targon United F.C.. Bear in mind that for that opportunity, Miss Iliadi then used an entirely different signature, just one day later, to sign a contract with a second side. In this case, the contract between Miss Iliadi and Camavor F.C. would be self-evidently null and void due to the falsified date of signature.“
The lawyer moved back in front of Leona and set her explanation forth.
„The other possibility is that the signature on the contract has not been rendered by Miss Iliadi. In this case, the contract is an entire fabrication and equally null and void.“
Morgana pivoted on her heel.
„Final question for you from me now, Miss Iliadi: Did you ever express the wish to play for Camavor F.C.?“
Leona felt warm in her chest. She was going to sink that penalty.
„I do not want, nor have I ever wanted to play for Camavor F.C. and I have never signed a contract with Camavor F.C.. I have expressed at several opportunities my intention to play for Targon United and I want to fulfill the contract I have signed with them on July 14th.“
She saw Morgana’s warm smile before the lawyer turned again.
She felt Diana’s smirky smile in her back.
She wanted to lift her hands to celebrate.
„I rest my case, your honor“, the black-haired lawyer stated and walked back to her desk. Kayle Lawson could not help but nod in appreciation at her sister, as painful as it looked.
On the other side of the court room, though, Viego meticulously buttoned his suit coat and got up to walk as slowly as possible to the center of the court. He positioned himself right in front of Leona, but his eyes looked past her into the audience.
„Things seem to be really easy if we decide to believe only one of our witnesses. Just ten minutes ago, Miss Iliadi here–“, the blond man spoke and put his hand on Leona’s shoulder. She flinched at the touch and wound herself away from it, making him just walk past her. She felt her face turn red and her blood boil.
„–Miss Iliadi was an integral part of our team at Camavor F.C.. Beloved by all, if you believe Miss Fortune, cared for by all her team and fighting for our goal.“
Diana narrowed her eyes to slits.
You have the insolence to repeat that bullshit after it got debunked for good.
„Now, if you listened to what Miss Iliadi answered to the people responsible at Targon United, you will probably think that she is loyal to an entirely different cause. But why is that, that Miss Iliadi seems to have two faces?“
Because you are the one painting the second picture with all the wrong colors, fucker?
„The question we have to find the answer to is, do we have reason to believe Miss Iliadi to be telling us the truth now? Or have I been underestimating her, by not thinking she would be capable of executing a scheme like this? After all, it was her who sat in our midst in disguise. So, let us ask some questions that they help us get a better picture of what Miss Iliadi is really like.“
He spun on his heel and stepped to a position halfway between the judge and Leona, offset to the side of the Lawsons, effectively blocking her view of her lawful support. His blue eyes anchored on amber ones with an unnerving intensity.
Let’s go back to what worked before.
I have to retake the penalty.
Easy as that.
The goalkeeper is different now, but it’s in my hand.
Just convert. That’s all I have to do.
Done it once, can do it twice.
„Miss Iliadi, it was first of all a big surprise to me and to all of us to find you at best health here in Targon, while you had all your team fearing for your health. Do you mind telling us how you came all the way from Camavor to Targon?“
Leona took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Don’t let his fidgeting distract you.
Ball.
Into.
Goal.
She opened them and looked Viego in the eyes. „I did never intend on letting anyone fear for my well-being, even if those are members of a team I never signed a contract to play for. As for the details of my travel, I would like to use my right to remain silent. I don’t see how this is relevant for the case in question either.“
She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and was taken aback by her own audacity.
Did I really just say that? Should I apologize?
Viego hesitated for a moment, and that might have looked normal, but Leona knew this man never hesitated.
He had his plan. He had it laid out to walk all over me, and he now understood he underestimated me indeed.
Maybe I should not apologize.
Viego continued, in the same tone, but his voice was slightly faltering, Leona thought. „There has been plenty of time on July 12th to travel, sign a contract and go back to Khawaii just to keep up the story. After all, I doubt you had someone following your every step all day in Khawaii, Miss Iliadi.“
„In fact, I did.“
Viego, who despite talking to her had gone to smirk at the audience, whipped around. He had meant to make a theatrical pause, and Leona’s firm voice had caught him flat-footed. She heard her mother intensely whispering, probably at her dad, and she was sure to feel Diana was holding her breath.
I’m so sorry, my love. I never meant it to go this way.
„What did you say, Miss Iliadi? There is someone who can say for every hour of the entire day that is the 12th of July, with certainty say where you have been?“, Viego drawled, trying hard for a smug expression.
There is no way back now. I have him on the back foot, I have to follow through.
She looked up into his eyes. For the first time, in the icy eyes she spotted fear. Fear of a defeat. It gave her the last bit of confidence she needed.
„Not only is there a person, she is also here in this courtroom and can confirm I have spent the entire 12th of July in her company, all twenty-four hours. If you want, interrogate her. She might even have pictures for you that prove that. And she is on the list of witnesses, as I know for a matter of fact.“
Viego’s eyes stood still, locked at the fiery gaze that he suddenly realized was at level with his. Leona, with a straightened back, was as tall as him, but she felt even taller at this moment.
It was the judge who asked after a small eternity for the name of the person in question.
Take the shot.
„Diana Selinis, your honor.“
The murmur behind her went from a curious waft to a fully fledged storm.
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Leona had stayed unsworn and taken her seat next to Mrs. Fliarou who had grabbed her hand and could not stop babbling at her, all giddy.
Leona did not pay attention to that.
She turned around at the witness that had been called and that made her way through the turmoil.
Her eyes searched out the silver ones in panic and thus completely missed out as well on the enraged expression on the face of Melia Iliadi and the contempt in her dad’s eyes for the Lunari hero.
Without ever asking you. I am so sorry, Diana. Oh my goddesses, am I sorry.
Once Diana had reached the aisle, her eyes wandered and met the auburn ones that looked desperate. Guilty. Looking for the tiniest hint of a benign expression in the pale face.
She smiled her brightest smirky smile.
Everything inside Leona melted with that smile, and suddenly she started to notice the rest of the room.
The tension in the journalists about the trial had fallen off of them, exchanged for a frenzy of jotting down notes, texting their editorial offices and preparing their questions for afterwards. Sarah Fortune was smiling at her and mouthing her a „no harm done, eh?“ from the other side of the witnesses’ chairs.
The judge took Diana’s identity and Viego looked already defeated as he got up from his chair. He did his job to finish the match in grace, but there was no way he was turning it around now.
„Miss Selinis, Miss Iliadi has claimed you spent every waking and sleeping minute of July 12th in her company in Khawaii. Is that correct?“, he asked dutifully.
„Yes, Mister vol Kalah, that day and all the other days of the four weeks from the day after the last match day. And at no point she has been close to signing any kind of paper.“, she answered, almost teasing.
Viego wouldn’t let her go without leaving everything on the field though, and Diana knew she wanted to leave everything there. She felt the amber gaze on her back, resolved.
„How come the former star player of the Crescent Rovers and the captain of Sunland A.F.C. go together on holidays for four weeks right after the Battle of Targon?“
Diana laughed. This was fun.
„Well, we couldn’t go before that, since we had matches to play, no?“
She earned herself not more than a smirk and a raised eyebrow from Viego.
She continued with a smile. „Mister vol Kalah; Miss Iliadi, that is Leona, and I, we are together. A couple for many years. Off-season is our ti–“
„My daughter is no clam-slurper!“ Diana was interrupted by a shrill yell from the bench behind her. She whipped her head around to watch a crimson Melia Iliadi clinging to the wooden barrier separating the courtroom from the spectators. Her teeth bared, she was short from losing it, and that was a look Diana loved at first sight.
„Your daughter is the best fucking clam-slurper in all of Targon“, Diana shot back with a lazy expression before she lifted her right hand in front of her face, connecting her index and middle finger at the tips and sticking her tongue in between.
Iasur Iliadi did his best to keep his wife from vaulting over or just tearing down the barrier, and it was barely enough. „Lies!“, the woman screamed at the top of her lungs.
„You disgusting, filthy, motherless scum will not besmirch my daughter with your false accusations! You, you and your kind of, of dykes, of unnaturals, of perverts, you will lie for anything! My daughter would never touch you!“, she spat, stuttering in her rage.
Diana’s eyes narrowed as she forced herself to veil her fury as much as possible. „I speak only truth, Mrs. Iliadi. And your daughter touches me with more love than she has ever felt from her mother, and you can be sure I touch her with the same tenderness. From the first day.“
„Order! Silence!“, the presiding judge boomed and two ushers took upon this command Iasur Iliadi’s spot in dragging Leona’s mother back from the barrier to her seat. „Miss Selinis, please only answer to questions either of the two sides or I direct at you.“
Upon seeing Diana nod in understanding, he continued: „As for any person that is neither one of the parties or currently in the witness stand, any further interference will lead to your expulsion from this courtroom.“ After a moment of silence, the judge’s features softened satisfied. „Continue, Mr. vol Kalah.“
As the blue eyes of the Camavorian met again with silver, they were looking at her differently, and Diana was not sure what to make of it. The aura that surrounded Viego had changed entirely, so Diana braced herself for a new round of attack.
„Do you love her, Miss Selinis? Do you love Miss Iliadi?“, he asked with a soft tone that bewildered her. She could not detect any aggression behind it.
Is that...empathy?
She stayed wary, trying not to offer any point of attack to from wherever a follow-up question would ambush her; still, her voice was adapting automatically to the mellow inflexion of her adversary. „I do. As does she.“
Viego’s eyes remained on her for some time, and they seemed to pierce and search for something inside of hers. Then he turned to the judge. „Your honor, the will of Miss Iliadi has been found clear. On behalf of Camavor F.C., I seek to annul the contract produced between Camavor F.C. and Miss Iliadi and recognize the contract between Targon United F.C. and–“
„No! This contract has been signed, and it will be fulfilled!“, the blonde woman in the first row once again interrupted, yelling and cancelling out Viego’s declaration, who closed his eyes. When they opened again, turned to the back, Diana saw the old determination back in his stare.
Between clenched teeth, he pressed out: „No more questions for Miss Selinis, your honor. I would like to call upon Mistress Melia Iliadi as a witness.“ Turning to the Lawsons’ bench, where Kayle was ready to protest, the blond man added: „Nothing changes from my declaration from before. But if you would like to move against me calling a witness not on the list, do so.“
Kayle waved to consent and dismiss Diana, who took her seat on the chairs in front of the barrier next to Leona. A slender, pale hand snaked its way into the bigger, tan one, that squeezed it firmly three times, as she resisted the urge for their eyes to connect.
Else I would kiss you in front of everybody. And we had enough of a scene already.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
„The contract has been signed, and it will be fulfilled!“
„Mistress Iliadi, we have found that the contract between Camavor F.C. and Miss Leona Iliadi can not have been signed by her on the date given.“ The judge looked at Melia Iliadi, tired. „Besides, Mister vol Kalah has already declared his intention to recognize the contract between Targon United F.C. and Miss Iliadi. I can’t see any reason why you would intervene.“
The blonde woman was having none of it. „It was me who signed the contract on behalf of Leona! As her agent and her mother, I signed the contract before she could do anything stupid, and I demand it to be fulfilled. Pacta sunt servanda, is I believe your technical term!“
Kayle Lawson tilted her head to the side. „Mistress Iliadi, did you just state that you signed the contract in lieu of your daughter? Do you have any kind of warrant, a power of attorney of sorts, to act on Miss Iliadi’s behalf?“
„I don’t need one! I am her mother! I have always taken care of her business, for the best sake of her future and the one of her family! And I am not going to let anyone take that future away, not for some perverted mental illness, and not by some useless lawyers with their backroom deals to screw us over!“, Melia lectured as Diana could not believe her ears.
She really speaks to anyone like that. It makes it easier to ignore these slurs, to know that woman is living in her own world.
Leona next to her was staring straight ahead, the eyes widened in shock. Diana grabbed her hand tighter and whispered. „Don’t worry. It’s over. She has no chance. Do not worry.“
„You have signed the contract as a falsus procurator?“, a voice from the far side of the room chimed in. Viego had his intimidatingly confident demeanor back as he zeroed in on the new culprit for his troubles. He planted himself in front of the witness, who seemed determined not to let anything stop her.
„What in the name of the Void is that?“, Melia tilted her head.
Viego raised an eyebrow and huffed in contempt. „For someone throwing around Latin as if she knew what she talked about, you understand very little. You signed the contract without your daughter’s explicit consent?“
„I had to! She said she had signed with Targon and she would never sign with Camavor, what was I supposed to do? I had to act quickly!“
Fools rush in where celestials fear to tread, huh?
Kayle Lawson resounded from the other side, thundering. „Mistress Iliadi, you just testified that not only did you sign the contract of your daughter with Camavor F.C. as a false legal representative; furthermore, you testified that you have predated the signature – effectively admitting to forgery of documents – and that you did such against the clearly expressed will of the person you claim to represent.
Unless you wish to confess to further felonies, I advise you for your own good to stop talking in this instant!“
And to everyone’s surprise, Melia Iliadi did just that. Her eyes filled with tears, her lower lip trembled, but she did not say one more word.
„I still can’t believe you said that to her. Diana, that was, that was so raw! The only thing I regret is that there is no audio record of that line. You have ovaries made of titanium!“, Leona started over, as she pushed a forkload of aubergine and lamb into her mouth. Her counterpart put her fork down.
„How can you be so untouched by what she said? I mean, did you not understand her? She literally threw that ‚I wish I would have never found you that day, or let you lie there‘ in your face!“
Leona swallowed the exquisite food way too quickly. „I don’t know! Basically - do you know the story of the guy that took minimum amounts of arsenic to build an immunity against it? Okay, only to get poisoned with cyanide, but the point is – I have lived through 25 years of smaller and bigger insults. Maybe they don’t get to me any more after this. Maybe this whole thing flipped a switch and she doesn’t get to me any more.“ She sipped on her glass. „All it does to me is show me how mean and small she is.“
„Wow. I was this close to breaking her damn nose, there and then, and smash in her teeth. She was so lucky I left her at well, you did everything to bring her there, but apparently you couldn’t finish the job. And you didn’t even bat an eye.“
„I would have paid for that though. Pfhfhf, imagine her with a crooked nose and a missing tooth!“
„She had it so coming. That bigot bitch thinks she made it to Dawnston and is on top, but on the top, the scum collects. Literally.“
„When you turned around and did that gesture in the court, I was sure she was going to kill you. Or die of a heart attack. That would have solved things. The latter, I mean.“
„Things are solved, Leo. Everything is solved.“
„I still can’t believe it.“
„And tomorrow morning you’re coming to practice and everything. Thank Morgana she intervened or I would have to face Alune in an hour. I bet my ass they saw everything at lunch.“
„The way I know SportNews, we are going to be on every half an hour.“
When the court had closed, having been rendered expendable by the two sides miraculously agreeing, the two footballers had flung their arms around each other. They closed their eyes, ignoring all the eyes on them.
They shook the hand of Viego vol Kalah, who exited the courtroom right after, weirdly seeming at peace with himself. Sarah Fortune followed, blowing them a kiss and a something that looked like a sincere smile.
They took a respectful handshake from Kayle and a tight hug from Morgana Lawson, who answered her sister’s vexed, disparaging smirk with a mischievous one.
They allowed Mrs. Fliarou to hug them shyly, with a conspiratorial grin that reached up to both ears.
They aptly ignored any of the nasty looks a blonde woman shot at them.
They registered a pair of amber eyes locked on them that they couldn’t determine their intent. Iasur Iliadi wasn’t displaying any of the aggressive abhorrence like his wife; he looked more disappointed, betrayed, and that made Leona avert her eyes in a less proud way.
They made their way outside of the courthouse, not without that mentioned exchange between Melia Iliadi and Diana, hissed and hopefully going unnoticed by any journalist.
They stepped in front of the armada of waiting cameras, summoned by nimble fingers sending messages from the audience. They weathered the flurry of the flashes, standing side by side, as warm, fleshy fingers snuck their way between cool, pale ones, were squeezed together, prompting them to shoot each other a sparkling glance.
They even posed with their arms raised in victory for a page one shot. They refused to kiss, for that was still reserved for their privacy.
They answered the few remarkably dull questions by the reporters in their practiced ways, well aware that whatever they said was standing the risk to be printed in every Targonian newspaper the next day. It was better to be able to control your fate.
They had decided right after to go for some real fine lunch date, because word was gonna be out everywhere and they were sure that they weren’t going to have the opportunity to enter any public space in Targon undisturbed for the next some weeks.
They had been right in picking one of the most expensive ones with haute Shuriman cuisine, because there noone had enabled any notifications on football or gossip news apps. The waiter didn’t even recognize them, and their table was next to the kitchen door, but it was a table for two, with a candle in the middle and the chairs opposite of each other. Most people had to crane their neck to watch them.
They could guffaw and be themselves at any pitch they wanted, right there in Targon.
They could talk about any topic they wanted, and never once looked over their shoulders.
They ordered three desserts and lined them in the middle, sharing them with two spoons. And when the bill came, Leona grabbed it before Diana could even lift a finger; to give back for everything Diana had done for her. Then she remembered she had no card, no cash, nothing, so she had to slide the booklet over turning beet-red, before she felt a hand on her knee under the table sliding her Diana’s credit card.
And then they were back in Diana’s car, and it was time to face the aftermath that was to come before any new reality; and that was way easier with a full and happy stomach.
Diana pulled the car into the old Sunland club premises shining in fresh blue and white, and parked it on her reserved spot, careful to not run over any of the fans and journalists who had overrun the area.
At least no eggs like in the first week.
Not for the first time she was grateful for the tinted windows shielding her and in this case them from the curious looks outside. She looked over to her passenger that the mirth in her look had glazed over and was threatened to be replaced by fright.
„Ready to be on a team with me?“
The eyes lit up again, and the smile went as wide as it had been the hours before. „You know that that was what I wanted, always. Thank you.“ A hint of sorrow darkened her face: „And – sorry again for making all this public without asking you, for forcing you on the stand and spill the–“
A silver glance at her over the top of the frame of sunglasses cut her off. „This again? Leo, I am telling you, I couldn’t be happier! You were the one who stood for us, who came clear about us out there, and I even got to take part and win the fight alongside of you! We won, Leo. We won!“
She pushed the shades back up, grinned and saw her girlfriend duplicate that expression. „Let’s go out there and be winners.“
It was hard enough to open the doors with everyone trying to be the first to catch a glimpse. The noise suddenly hit the ears like as if they were exciting the tunnel for a derby. All the questions blurted at them blended with festive chants, excited yells and buzzling babble into an unintelligible tempest of disjointed noise.
How amazing is noise reduction in cars nowadays?
Diana single-mindedly put her head up and shouldered her way towards the other side, where Leona had the vanguard of all journalists to face and despite the borrowed shades looked like a fawn in the camera lights, too polite to clear her path in a similar fashion. To answer any questions was both impossible and futile: neither could one be singled out, nor an answer perceived, and any of meaning was to be addressed at the presser.
Diana waved at a group of fans she recognized as regulars at the training grounds and made her way towards the side door of the building with her newly public girlfriend in tow. The door closed behind them as a security guard made sure the visitors stayed outside and once again, you could feel human.
A long-haired man stood in the narrow hallway between his crutches and smiled at them.
„Welcome to Targon United, Leona! I am so looking forward to never playing against you again. You were the worst!“
The brunette seemed to thaw in an instant, shifting her shades up into her hair and grinning nervously. „Taric Praetorius! Good idea not to return to the pitch, old man. You were the one match-up that never made me sweat.“
„Oh, I am going to change that in your first practice!“, Taric laughed and shook her hand in the firm, perfectly pleasant fashion Leona knew from any of their matches, when they were the two captains who were able to keep things civil in front of the referees. „And, I have to say, you made quite the catch. Congratulations to this girlfriend, Leona, and the same to you, Diana! I am wishing the both of you all the best and eternal happiness.“
Diana had arrived and laid her hand on Leona’s arm. It wasn’t easy to know how to act in public with your girlfriend if you weren’t on holidays and people knew you as a secretive loner. „Thanks, Taric, that means a lot. Where are we headed?“
„We finished practice half an hour ago, but everyone’s still here. Alune will do the presser together with us as the captain, but before that, we have to get Leona dressed. If you want, you can come along, we have everything set up for you in the refs’ locker room.“
They followed Taric, who was leading with surprising proficiency between his crutches through the maze of halls Leona knew by heart and that still confused Diana. They passed the rooms of accounting, where still proud Sunland mugs adorned the same years old desks, followed down some stairs, through the medical wing with an annoyingly enthusiastic „Hiii!“ to Leona from that obnoxious physio called Sebina, another two flights of stairs down into the basement and finally past the kit stacks to the locker rooms.
The voices that had to come from the team’s room became louder with every step between the recently painted baby blue brick walls under the earth. A distant static grew into a vivid murmur, amplified by the echoes in the narrow corridor, jumbling cackles, yells and rumbles into a familiar cacophony.
Diana could watch Leona’s confidence grow with every step, her shoulders moving upwards and falling back behind the line of her spine, the steps growing more extensive and fleet-footed as her line of sight rose like the sun from the ground towards the level of her own hairline.
As they arrived at the refs’ dresser, there was nothing left of the fawn. She looked every bit like that vanguard of Zenith, of Sunland, that she was known as, and only Diana knew that this state was just a few minutes walking removed from being an anxious young woman grateful for any kind of person that would not just rally behind her, but beside and in front of her.
It had always been like that, and Diana had been among the few who knew about this dichotomy. With her, Leona allowed herself not to be what she was expected to be. While it was the golden girl who won everyone’s hearts, the faltering, vulnerable soul was desperate to feed off of any indication there was more to their affection than admiration, and there were few who had to give what she yearned.
Most turned away, not to see, not to know another side. Those who looked, judged and scolded to drive that pitiful, unwanted creature back to the shadows behind the shining paragon it should never come back from. It was with Diana where it could live in soft light, and unfold into shapes and colours way more quirky, intriguing and lovely than any of the Solari crown jewel that presented itself on the field.
Taric let them in and excused himself to get back to his squad, and Diana didn’t even waste a second thinking about joining him, but scurried behind Leona into the room to close the door before curious eyes could catch a glimpse from the team’s locker room door to be opened any moment soon.
Spread out across a small table lay the new kit, to give Leona a chance to take it all in. A solid cobalt blue jersey, interspersed with tiny white lines, mimicked a sky embellished with cirrus. The sky was framed by a white collar ending in a gentle hint of a V. The badge stitched onto it showed the sharp white silhouette of the peak of Targon, separating a tiny golden sun and silvered waxing crescent in a deeply blue sky, surrounded by a white wreath of olive leaves.
Definitely the result of a design competition with clear specifications, won by some artist from Ionia with no clue of football. It’s so pretty.
She inspected the inside of the neck, where the badges of Sunland and the Rovers were embroided, between the same olive wreath, uncannily peaceful next to each other. On the back, it had her number 4, and above that it read in big, bold, spaced out caps:
L E O N A.
Not „Iliadi“ or „L. Iliadi“ like Sunland used to do it; Leona.
She felt her chest rise. She loved it at first sight. This wasn’t someone else’s shirt, one of the offspring of a Solari dynasty, this was hers.
And she bet there was a Number 7 with the same clean letters, spelling the first name of the woman standing by the door watching her every reaction with anticipation and sympathy.
Then there were matching shorts, socks, three pairs of new shoes for different surfaces; shin guards, sports bras, gloves, thermals, hairbands and finally a new track suit to wear to the presser. It had midnight blue shoulders and sleeves, separated with a white seam from the solid cobalt torso that sported her initials underneath the number above the heart. Unagitated letters on the lower back disclosed „Targon United“, and that was about it. Clean and peaceful.
But it could’ve been any uniform; what mattered, was the person that would wear the same. Leona turned around and beamed at Diana, who was smirking about as wide as she ever could.
„It’s so pretty, isn’t it? Come on, try it on!“