The Court Case

“Unhand me, officer!” the elderly gray wolf shouted out to the two police dragging her, one holding each of her arms and pulling her backwards down the busy street leading out from the courthouse. “I demand that you let me go and treat me as a respected, elder citizen of this community!”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Mrs. Hisake,” one of the dark-blue suited officers replied. “You have been found convicted of abuse and are going to the Moonrusher District jail for life imprisonment for your deeds. And don’t make me remind you that you are under the arm of the law, here!” the officer growled at the wolf.

“I don’t care!” the elderly wolf shouted again. “I want to be treated as a normal citizen!”

“Having been convicted of a crime under the eyes of the Pack Leader,” the other officer replied, “I’m afraid we can’t.”

“You can and you must! That trial was unfair! The Pack Leader is practically in love with the whole opposing side and thus was biased from the start! I was not given enough chance to give him my evidence and state my position!”

“I’m sure you had plenty of chances,” the second officer responded. “You just didn’t take them or take them seriously. And that little display wasn’t exactly the best defense, either. You did yourself in, lady, neither us nor the Pack Leader did.”

Following the officers out of the building was a group of four other anthropomorphic dogs. The leader of the group was a tall, forty-something steel gray and white wolf that had an aura of power that seemed to emanate from him a feeling of respect and even a little fear from the dignity and intelligence in his poise. His yellow eyes pierced out from behind his half-moon glasses, yet he was mourning along with the rest of the group he was with. He wore an gold-buttoned navy blue coat with a long split coattail just below his waist and had on a pair of the same colored pants that reached down to his ankles. A pair of black, military-issue boots covered up his paws and the bottom of his pants. He was busy talking with a strange coydog that was unlike any other the pack had ever seen.

The coydog was a little older than the wolf, but possessed an innate intelligence from years of training and study that surpassed that of the wolf next to her. Her fur was an odd combination of blue and white, blue on her back and white on her front with the two colors separated by a stripe of black that curved from below her arms to the sides of her body and down to the tops of her legs, passing just above her kneecaps. Her kind eyes were an odd mixture of orange and violet, and she wore a light blue, see-through dress that revealed the fur pattern underneath. She wore a strange purple pendant around her neck, often regarded as a good luck charm.

Walking on the other side of the gray wolf was a young Mexican wolf, barely in her early twenties. Her soot black fur along her back was interrupted by spots and flicks of red and her front was almost completely tan. Her facial mask of tan was stained brown by tear spots from her bright green eyes. Her red shirt and brown pants with brown shoes marked her as a warrior within the district, and a small insignia on the shirt indicated she had attained the job of a mentor to newer warriors within the pack. She was carefully carrying a young gray wolf out of the court.

The young wolf looked remarkably like the pack leader, but was a little lighter in color and much younger in years, having barely entered his third year of schooling not long ago. His bloody back was covered in little black tick marks around his shoulders and spinal cord. His blue eyes were barely open and appeared to be staring off into space, delirious and unaware of his situation. He wore no clothing except for a small pair of white shorts that fit loosely on him. His left arm was inside of a makeshift sling made to restrain its movement from more than was absolutely necessary, and his right leg was bandaged in a quick cast.

“Thank you so much, Moonrusher,” the Mexican wolf said to the gray wolf, a hint of adoration in her voice. “I don’t know what would have happened if he had been kept in that situation as long as he was.”

“For all we know,” the coydog replied in a silky and almost musical tone that still carried a hint of concern, “he’ll have to undergo intense therapy for weeks in order for his arm and leg to heal properly. Unfortunately that means he’ll probably miss a great deal of school, but if what you have said about him is correct, then he ought to make up the lost information just fine on his own or in an advanced course.”

“After that display,” the gray wolf said, “I’m glad we took him out of there. And Mrs. Incantare’s right. Kiye, you should keep the young one in your house and out of the way of potential dangers until his arm and leg appear to be healing.”

The Mexican wolf looked down at the young gray wolf in her arms and nodded solemnly.

* * *

Two hours ago, inside the courthouse.

“This session of the Moonrusher District Criminal Court is now in session,” stated a military officer in the front of the courtroom. “The honorable Moonrusher, beloved leader of our District, serving as the judge for this case.”

Moonrusher stepped out from the back room in his navy blue coat and pants with the black boots as was customary of the Moonrusher District Pack Leader to wear when on duty. He stepped up onto the judge’s chair in the podium and reviewed the case for the second time that month. Kiye Tamaska was suing Mrs. Hisake for abuse of a pup that wasn’t even her own, and yet she was brave enough to stand up in front of the Pack Leader for the second time. She was persistent, that was for sure.

“I find it interesting that I am up here reviewing this case for the second time,” Moonrusher said as he sat down in the black chair and thanking God that it was comfortable; if this was anything like the last case, it might take a few hours to complete. “But, because of the possibility of different evidence, then we shall proceed. First of all, both parties need to swear upon the book.”

A low-ranking officer pulled a small, leather bound book from a shelf next to Moonrusher’s podium and proceeded to hold it out towards the Mexican wolf.

“Kiye Tamaska,” the officer said. “May you please place your right paw on the book and raise your left paw?”

Kiye Tamaska did as she was told.

“Repeat after me: I solemnly swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, else I risk the dishonor of the Moonrusher District and my own dishonor, so help me.”

“I solemnly swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, else I risk the dishonor of the Moonrusher District and my own dishonor, so help me.” It came out crystal clear to everyone in the courtroom, clear and full of determination. So what if it wasn’t her pup; she was going to win this case no matter what it took to convince Moonrusher.

The officer moved over to Mrs. Hisake, sitting down on a chair, her wooden cane leaning on the chair.

“Mrs. Hisake, may you please place your right paw on the book and raise your left paw so that you may take the oath?”

Mrs. Hisake did nothing but fold her paws and sit in place.

“Mrs. Hisake,” the officer repeated, running out of patience. “May you please put your right paw on the book and raise your left paw?”

Mrs. Hisake did nothing in response.

“Mrs. Hisake,” Moonrusher told the elderly wolf. “You might have a cane, but I know full well from when I saw you less than a month ago that your arms are in perfectly fine condition. Now swear upon the book, or else I’ll have you placed under arrest for civil disobedience in a criminal court.”

The elderly wolf reluctantly placed her hand on the book and recited the oath. Her tone was rigid and mechanical and almost seemed as if she hadn’t put her whole heart into it. Moonrusher couldn’t blame her, as he didn’t know why they were there as much as anyone else in the room did, though as Moonrusher looked over to the coydog in the corner serving as his extra set of eyes and ears, he noticed an unsettled feeling coming from the coydog’s eyes shining brightly from the shadows in the corner of the courtroom. All the same, he hoped this case was going to go as quickly and as smoothly as it had last time.

To his surprise, this was not going to end as smoothly as it had last time.

“The judge calls Kiye Tamaska to the stand,” Moonrusher stated as he had before.

Kiye Tamaska silently got up from her chair at the podium for the prosecution and sat in the chair behind the rail to the right of the judge’s podium. She sat herself down quietly and with a certain poise, as if ready for almost anything.

Moonrusher looked down at his list of questions he had prepared to ask each side.

“How long have you known the subject in question?” he said, reading the first question on his list, then turning to look at Kiye Tamaska sitting on the stand below him.

Kiye Tamaska breathed deeply and stated.

“I have known Earaza Hisake for about four years.” She was calm and without fear.

Moonrusher nodded and looked back at his list.

“And how did you come to know the subject?”

Another deep breath from Kiye Tamaska.

“I met him a year after my little brother died from a painful illness. I kind of knew his family then, and his mother came around to comfort me. I kind of developed a bond with him in those times that I was over at their house being consoled because he reminded me of my little brother. He had the same spunk and eagerness despite all that seemed to have happened to him, what with his father killed in the last war five years ago.”

Moonrusher looked over to see the coydog taking notes on a ream of paper he had given her before the case had started. She looked over at Moonrusher and nodded quickly and without a word, apparently as tense as Kiye was. Moonrusher turned back towards Kiye.

“Do you know anything about the subject’s current condition?”

“I went to see him one time when he was in the hospital. He said he knew most of the staff there because he had been there so many times after his mother died. He went there often, waking up in bouts of pain that came from Creator knows where. He often came over to spend the night at my house after we became friends, and I would try to teach him as much as I could. He would always ask questions, and he would always dread going back home the next morning. I asked him once why he always stayed the night over at my house, and he said it was because he couldn’t stand being at home for too long.”

From the furrow now apparent in her brow, Mrs. Hisake was not agreeing with Kiye Tamaska’s testimony one bit. The coydog sat in the corner, an eye widened and staring down Mrs. Hisake. Moonrusher didn’t notice either of them.

“Why do you feel the subject needs to be removed from his current position?”

“I feel that Earaza Hisake has undergone too much physical pain in his current position. I believe that I, as a registered trainer and member of the beta class, would be able to provide the medical care and attention he needs in order to repair his weakening joints and would allow him a decent education, something he is currently missing because of how much time he is spending in the hospital.”

Moonrusher looked over at the coydog, who motioned over to Mrs. Hisake with her pencil. Moonrusher’s vision scanned over to the elderly wolf still sitting in her chair to see her almost seething, the anger apparent in her eyes, almost as if a fire has been ignited in her brain and the fuel the testimony that Kiye Tamaska had just given.

“That is all the questions I have for you, Mrs. Kiye Tamaska,” Moonrusher said. “You may return to your podium.”

Kiye Tamaska got silently up and returned to her podium on Moonrusher’s left.

The coydog pulled out a few pieces of paper from the reams and gave them to Moonrusher, who read over the notes as she returned to her seat in the shadows. The coydog had noted Kiye’s unwavering faith in her defense and little resilience in answering Moonrusher’s questions. A little quick breath was all that was needed in order to calm herself down and relieve stress. Moonrusher put the papers in a tray on his podium marked “Plaintiff” before continuing onwards.

“The judge calls Mrs. Hisake to the stand,” Moonrusher said.

The elderly wolf grabbed her wooden cane and used it to walk up to the seat and sit down with much grumbling and mumbling to herself.

Moonrusher switched papers to ask his questions to the defendant.

“Do you believe,” he read, “that the subject in question should be removed from his current position?” It was a stupid question, but he felt compelled to ask it.

The answer was hard and rigid. “No.”

“And why not?”

“I am his family. I am his guardian. It is my legal duty to have him in my custody and take care of him.”

Moonrusher noted that the coydog was furiously scribbling, no doubt noting more than just the answer. He looked back to his sheet.

“Do you have any proof that what the plaintiff said is, in any way, false when concerning her knowledge of how she met the subject in question?”

“No.” Same tone as before.

“Do you have any proof that what the plaintiff said is, in any way, false when concerning her knowledge of the subject’s current condition?”

“No.”

The questions on that end were wrapped up fairly quickly.

“Thank you, Mrs. Hisake. You may return to your seat.”

Mrs. Hisake did as she was asked, though obviously with much complaint.

Moonrusher looked over the notes that the coydog had just brought him. Pretty much the same thing as before.

“Does either party have evidence they wish to produce and show to the court?”

“I do.”

Moonrusher sensed things were a little different than last time when he heard Kiye Tamaska speak up and state that she had evidence. The statement seemed to even shock Mrs. Hisake and cause the coydog to stop in her tracks, pencil only half completing a line of notes.

“And what evidence do you have to present to the court, Mrs. Tamaska?”

“Hospital records for Earaza Hisake.”

“How many?”

“Eleven over the course of the past month and a half between the court cases.”

Mrs. Hisake stood up, outraged.

“How did you get those files!?” she demanded angrily.

Moonrusher banged the gavel on the podium.

“Settle down, Mrs. Hisake!” he nearly shouted, causing Mrs. Hisake to sit down out of reverence and fear. “Now, I am as curious to know how you got those hospital and medical records for Earaza Hisake, and as to why so many of them were to come up within this past month. If you could, please give them to Officer Elkhound so that I may see them for myself.”

Kiye Tamaska willingly relinquished the medical records, and the officer took the numerous slips over to Moonrusher. While the number of records seemed impossible, Kiye Tamaska had definitely gotten some proof of Earaza Hisake’s condition. The forms were dated between April 19 and May 27 from the Moonrusher District Hospital in the Delta Section, all eleven of them as Kiye Tamaska had said, each of them stating that Earaza Hisake was in for physical wounds to various areas of his body, from his arms and legs to his back and even his head. The causes were all diagnosed as physical abuse, and the person who submitted him to the hospital was never noted as Mrs. Hisake. In fact, eight out of the eleven records had the person submitting Earaza Hisake to the hospital as Kiye Tamaska herself.

This case was going to take longer than Moonrusher had originally presumed it would.

“I ask that Earaza Hisake be brought forth to testify.”

* * *

Outside the courtroom, the young wolf began to whine and whimper. His arm had slid out of the grasp of Kiye Tamaska, who was so busy paying attention to Moonrusher that she had barely even noticed until a light tapping on her waist brought her to attention and she readjusted the arm so that it was over the wolf’s chest.

“Perhaps it is best that you should take the pup home,” Moonrusher suggested. “It’s been a long day as it is for him. Go home and give him something warm to eat. That ought to ease some of the pain. And a doctor would help.”

“I would gladly apply some therapy,” the coydog offered.

“No, thank you,” Kiye Tamaska said, looking down at the young wolf in her arms, almost asleep from the gentle rocking. “But I would like it if you could watch over him for a while so I can get a doctor to get him a real cast. They ought to know about his condition and the case, so it shouldn’t take me very long.”

“I would be glad to,” the coydog said. “It was nice seeing you, Moonrusher, and thank you for calling me down here.”

“Your assistance helped,” Moonrusher said, “as if you were my moral guide.”

With that, the coydog and Kiye walked down the street away from the courthouse, Moonrusher walking in the opposite direction. As Kiye and the coydog walked, they still couldn’t get the frightening images of what happened inside that courthouse out of their minds.

“Talk about carnal rage,” the coydog said. “You did well to act on behalf of the young one and to be persistent about it, as well.”

“It was something like that that I was afraid of happening to him,” Kiye responded defensively. “He’s like a little brother to me, and looks damn near to what he looked like, as well. I couldn’t leave him there to have that treatment continued on him. Probably going to have problems with those limbs for life for how many times he’s had that gone on to him. And thank you for stopping it so quickly.”

“It was the least that I could do,” the coydog replied, “though he needs your attention.”

Kiye looked down. The young wolf appeared to be trying to say something.

“Something the matter?” Kiye asked.

“Am I… going… to die?” he managed to get out between sobs of pain.

Both Kiye and the coydog inwardly agreed that they were afraid of that being the situation, and it might have been had not the last display been stopped when it was. But the neither said this, the only thing being gentle reassuring words coming from the coydog’s mouth that seemed to soothe the young wolf though he had never heard the voice.

* * *

One and a half hours ago, inside the courthouse.

Earaza Hisake had to be carried in, his limbs were so weak. He tried to walk down the aisles of seating along either side of the courtroom facing Moonrusher, but fell over numerous times and an officer had to bring him up to the chair by supporting over half his weight. Earaza looked around the room, eyes darting from one end to the other, from the steel eyes of his grandmother to the warm eyes of Kiye Tamaska to the piercing eyes of the coydog sitting in the corner until they finally met Moonrusher’s warm face a minute or two later.

“No need to worry, Earaza,” Moonrusher said in a kind voice. “I just want to ask you a couple of questions, that’s all.”

Earaza Hisake nodded.

“Do you know both the plaintiff and the defendant?”

“Y…Yes.” The answer came out as almost a whimper, and it took a while before it even came out of his mouth.

“Has the plaintiff, in any way, shown you any reason or motivation for hurting you or ever laid a hand on you?”

“She’s never… never laid a hand… on me. Just hugging is all… all I can remember.”

Moonrusher noticed the young pup’s voice was shaking, his tail curled beneath his legs and he was fidgeting with it as if it had a problem with it. He never sat all the way back on the chair, and always slumped over, wincing as if with pain when his back was straight as many times as he tried to keep it that way.

“Has the defendant, in any way, shown you any reason or motivation for hurting you or ever laid a hand on you?”

“Not as far as I can remember. But… but I…” Earaza Hisake looked over at Mrs. Hisake sitting in the chair of the defendant’s podium and immediately went silent.

“But what, Earaza?”

Moonrusher could see the fear in Earaza’s eyes as he looked between his grandmother sitting at the defendant’s podium and Moonrusher himself sitting up in the judge’s podium. He wasn’t sure what to make of the pup and whether or not it was afraid of him or afraid of his own grandmother even more so.

Just then, Earaza Hisake let out a long and mournful howl and commenced sobbing, all while pointing across the room at Mrs. Hisake, a note of conviction in the words sputtering out of his mouth.

“It was her! It was her all along! She asked me to be quiet during the court cases, otherwise she’d lay a paw on me! I never said a word before because she looked like she would make good with her promises, and now I don’t care anymore! I just want out! Please, Moonrusher! Please get me out of there!”

Moonrusher was startled by the boy’s sudden realization of his voice and predicament and his earnest plea, as if he knew who Moonrusher was having only heard him by name and only seeing him once in his entire life. Even the coydog was sitting still in her seat, her normally flopped-over right ear standing almost straight up.

“I told you what would happen, boy!” Mrs. Hisake was standing straight up now, no longer looking as infirm or frail as she had been before in refusing to even stand for the oath. She took her cane and walked over to Earaza, who appeared to be looking for a way out. Her growling continued: “I told you and warned you quite well what would happen if you said a damn thing. And now I’m gonna make good on my promise!”

Things happened so fast that Moonrusher was startled out of his chair and the whole courtroom went into pandemonium. Mrs. Hisake lifted up her cane and began to swing it at Earaza so fast the wood was just a blur. Howls of pain shot up across the courtroom and out of the courthouse, and curious residents began to peer in at the scene from outside. Residents tried to stream through the door as Earaza’s gray fur was stained a crimson hue, officers rushing to the courtroom to block the door and prevent the scene from becoming even worse than it already was. Kiye and a senior officer shot up from the plaintiff’s podium and began to try pulling Earaza away, while a lower-ranking officer tried to pull Mrs. Hisake off Earaza, but the cane’s reach was long enough that no amount of separation mattered. There was two successive cracks and Earaza was whining, whimpering, and howling in desperation on the floor of the courtroom, blood and bone coming from the scratches and gashes on his skin.

Everything slowed down as the coydog’s protective instincts kicked in. Without a sound, she slipped in between Earaza and Mrs. Hisake and growled as she put a paw up to defend Earaza from the next blow. The cane came to within inches of Earaza’s head and was stopped dead by a strange force emanating from the coydog’s paw, pushing the cane back and away and eventually throwing it out of Mrs. Hisake’s paw. Mrs. Hisake made a move on Earaza as if to hit him with her paw, but the coydog glided across the floor and caught the paw in a swift move and put her other paw up, apparently freezing Mrs. Hisake and holding her in place inches from a snarl on the coydog’s face. Though Mrs. Hisake was obviously furious with the coydog as noted by the furrow in her brow, her ears went flat against her head.

“I think you’d do best, old woman, if you never laid a hand on him again,” the coydog said in a steely voice that matched and overcame Mrs. Hisake’s disposition. “I’ll tell you right now that while that pup may not have been my own, I’ll treat him the same as if he was my own son. And because of that, I’m not going to let some bastard like you treat him like you just did. I’ll lay my life on the line for him, so you better not touch him or your life’s the one I’m taking next.”

“You couldn’t do nothing to me,” Mrs. Hisake fired back.

“You wouldn’t mess with a gypsy enchantress who can take away your sanity before your life, would you?” She held out her purple, crystalline pendant hanging around her neck and began to swing it back and forth in front of Mrs. Hisake’s face.

Mrs. Hisake backed away from the coydog’s malicious snarl and into the paws of two officers, who pinned her down on the floor and handcuffed her paws together, and began to lead her out of the courtroom and into an adjacent one while Moonrusher regained his posture and came over to inspect the damages.

The coydog was now kneeling on the floor, taking Earaza’s left arm and gently pushing on the dislocated bone. Earaza began to howl and scream even louder with the pain as crack! noted the coydog that his arm had been replaced. She then proceeded to take pieces of a damp cloth she requested from an officer and wrapped them around Earaza’s left arm, thickest over the spot where the open wound was still clearly visible. She repeated the process with his right leg, then lifted Earaza onto a couch to lay down on one side of the courtroom.

“I am no doctor,” she told Moonrusher and Kiye Tamaska, “but those casts ought to do until he gets some real medical attention. My years in Tel’Anan’s military regiments have taught me well in basic medical procedures, but you’re going to have to get a real doctor to check him over.”

“Thank you, Lumota,” Kiye said, grasping the coydog’s paw in her own. “Thank you so much. I feel as if I owe you something.”

“A quick rest, a warm bed, and a warm meal before I leave for my village tomorrow will suffice,” the coydog responded, “but it is of no concern as of this moment. Moonrusher, what are you going to do about Mrs. Hisake?”

“She’ll be given her just desserts,” Moonrusher stated. “Mark my words.” With that, he turned around, coat billowing out behind him, and walked through a door behind an officer into the adjacent courtroom.

* * *

By the time that Kiye Tamaska and the strange, blue and white coydog had reached the house of Kiye Tamaska in the middle-class residential area, the sun was beginning to set over the western horizon. Earaza was transferred from Kiye to the coydog, who took Earaza and set him down on the soft bed in what had been Kiye’s guest bedroom. Kiye went around with a match and lit numerous oil lamps around the house and lighting it up in the darkening light.

“Do you think you could go and get the doctor for me, Lumota?” Kiye asked the coydog.

“No,” the coydog responded. “I’ll stay here and make sure he’s alright. You go and get the doctor. Likely you’ll come back here faster because the doctors know you a little better and you’re a little faster than me in my old age.”

“You don’t look that old to me.”

“Ah, but I feel old. But, seeing young Earaza here and how much he’s gone through and survived, I feel revitalized. I ought to travel a bit more and rediscover my inner youth.”

“Alright,” Kiye shrugged. “If you insist.” She turned around and ran out the door to the local hospital a few blocks away.

The coydog looked after Kiye until she was out of sight, then turned around and faced the body of Earaza, moaning with pain on the bed. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a wooden chair, and set it down at Earaza’s side, facing towards the other edge of the bed and Earaza’s broken right foot. The wounds already appeared to be healing, no more of the hot, dry, nasty-smelling crimson blood was coming out of the gashes anymore.

“M… mother?”

The sound startled the coydog and she turned around to see Earaza looking at her with his eyes half open, obviously delirious with the pain again.

“I am not your mother, per say,” she responded in her usual silky voice, “but know that I am here for you. I am a friend of Kiye’s.”

“Kiye…. Is… is she alright?”

“Kiye is fine,” the coydog responded softly, almost a whisper so as not to frighten the young pup. “She went to get a doctor to look at your wounds. I’m staying here while she’s gone.”

“Thanks…”

“You’re welcome.”

The two of them sat there in silence for a while. The coydog could hear Earaza relaxing himself on the bed and turned to see him close his eyes.

“Do you…” Earaza asked, “ever think… that I’ll see… her… again?”

The coydog wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Who?”

“I know Kiye… will return. But what… about… her?”

The coydog sighed.

“You probably will never see your grandmother again in your life,” she responded. “Not if Moonrusher can help it. Which he already did.”

“That’s good to hear. After that… those three years of torture… I really don’t want to.” Earaza shuffled himself around a little bit on the bed again. “Tell Kiye, when she comes back, that I’m… going to sleep for a little while.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” the coydog said softly. “You can go ahead and rest. I’ll tell Kiye and the doctor when they come back.”

The coydog had a feeling that her words fell on deaf ears. But, when the coydog turned around, she noticed that Earaza had taken the liberty of falling asleep anyways, not really waiting for a response. She chuckled quietly to herself, then resumed her vigil. She knew that the pup would learn fast, and eventually be taught by her. Until then, she would bide her time in her village in Tel’Anan.

* * *

Kiye Tamaska was almost in tears when Moonrusher announced the outcome of the new court case one hour later, but they were no longer tears of sadness at Earaza’s condition, but celebrated in the newfound life that Earaza would gain and the positive turn it would have, and her at the center of it, as if big sister and little brother were united again.

“For crimes of abuse,” Moonrusher announced, “I sentence Mrs. Hisake to a life in prison and that the custody of the subject in question, Earaza Hisake, shall be transferred into the care of Mrs. Kiye Tamaska. Mrs. Tamaska, take care of Earaza and teach him to grow in our just and intelligent ways as if he was your own son.”

The gavel banged on the tile, and a wave of relief swept over the courtroom.

The drama was finally over, and Kiye Tamaska carried Earaza Hisake, with pride for standing up for what she believed was right and dignity for doing so with as much truth and determination as she could ever muster, out of the courtroom and into the bright sun outside, with Moonrusher and the coydog following close behind.