Honored (Book 2 of the In Search of Honor series)

“Liv, what is your vote?” Richard was staring at me, waiting for me to speak up on whatever law they were discussing.

The whatever being the key here. “What exactly are you wanting my vote on?” Everything I’d heard so far was straightforward: no stealing of personal or public property.

He sighed, “We are debating what exactly is considered stealing public property and if public property can be stolen. Half the people believe as long as you are borrowing with intent to return you are not stealing public property.”

Public property? “What is your current definition of public property? What does stealing public property even mean?” All eyes at the table were glaring at me, clearly upset that I was not paying close attention to everything being said. Why did they expect me to care when this was about rules about mundane life in a city I was leaving?

Richard held up a stiff material of some sort with writing on it, “The example of public property given was tools at the stack. In the past, even accidentally misplacing a tool was considered theft if it was the tool that person was supposed to be in charge of. Seeing as a number of stack workers were already Dishonored, punishment was given by the guards as they saw fit. If they were Undesirables instead, well the guards still chose their punishment. Depending on how the guards were feeling, it might even be Dishonoring them, but since the Dishonored prison is already tightly packed it was often just a flogging for a tool misplacement.”

The thing he was waving with writing on it seemed to be important to the discussion at hand, “Is that the record of this law in the past?”

“Yes. I and other Honored have been collecting records from the guards of laws enforced in the past and how they were enforced.”

I didn’t really have much teaching on what to do about such a situation, but it sounded like misplacing yarn in the weaving shed. It didn’t seem worthy of Dishonor or even flogging. “In the village outside the Wall they called something like that a misdemeanor. You would normally have to pay for what you misplaced somehow. Maybe work a couple extra hours at your assigned work area, or giving up some of the food you would normally get in return for the production you were doing. Nothing as extreme as the way you were saying it was handled.”

Richard nodded, “I wish you had spoken up with that idea earlier.”

I shrugged, “It seemed like my opinions weren’t wanted so I’ve been keeping my mouth shut.”

Michael’s mouth twisted and he opened it to retort, but Richard cut him off, “Would having another classification for theft or misplacement of public property being a misdemeanor instead of a crime make those who wanted it to be a crime happy?”

The old lady’s eyebrows crinkled as if she were thinking hard, and then she shook her head, “As a person on the side of not making it a crime, I am currently not ok with even that since we have no classification in place other than it being considered a crime currently, and crime really meant whatever the guards or the King wanted it to mean depending on what they felt when taking the case. I think before deciding laws we need to define the levels of crime if we are going to say some laws are lesser crimes than others.”

A couple other people around the table nodded.

Richard looked around the table, and then over at his assistant. The bald man shrugged, and Richard gripped the back of the seat he’d stood behind most of the day. “Does anyone want to continue with the law discussion, or does everyone want to move to how we define crimes and their related punishments?”

A murmur of general agreement and some nodding came from the other eleven people gathered at the table.

“Then let’s begin our work on what our levels of crime are, and what their punishments are. I’d wanted to hold off on this since it was so loosely defined by the previous regime.”

The old lady’s lips softened into almost a smile, “Then let’s start with the smallest level first. I would call it a wrongdoing or accidental crime. Something like a child playing with a ball in the street and breaking something that belongs to a merchant. It was an accident, but something is still damaged. I would like to propose paying in work to earn food slips or just outright food slips to the wronged party.”

Food slips? What was that? I didn’t remember anything called a food slip in the past.

Richard nodded “Sarah, since you seem to have thought this part out very thoroughly, would you be interested in taking over this section?

Sarah’s face lit up in an uncharacteristic smile that softened her face and made me think maybe she wasn’t quite as stern as she seemed, “I’d love to lead this section. I’ve thought hard about changing the way laws are punished ever since my grandson was flogged for breaking a public well. Poor boy suffered greatly. Of course, I had those guards flogged for daring to hit an Honored little boy, but what if the King hadn’t backed me up? It’s common for guards to do whatever they want.”

Richard pulled out his chair from under the table and slumped into his chair. He looked relieved not to be leading this section.

“Does everyone agree with me on the first level considered a minor wrongdoing?” Sarah asked the table.

Everyone nodded, even Michael who seemed perpetually unhappy with all the proceedings.

“Then I would like to take the Exile’s suggestion for the next level. Misdemeanor. We might use it as suggested, or for other things, but the idea is for something that is not quite a minor accident, and is not congruent with keeping a peaceful and functioning society. My suggestion for the punishment is public labor separate from the person’s normal labor. Things such as sewer cleaning, stack work, street cleaning, or other tasks that benefit the city.”

It seemed like she already thought up these levels, but maybe hadn’t had words she liked for each level quite yet.

She let her words hang until those around the table gave her a nod to show approval. “After that level would be the level for things such as planned or purposeful theft or destruction of property. Maybe we just call it a normal or low crime or something. I don’t really have a name for this one. The person who does this crime would serve time as a Dishonored, but their family wouldn’t be dishonored, and they could regain their honored status through good behavior and hard work. This is of course assuming we do away with the current caste system. Everyone in that system would be born Honored, and Dishonorment was only for those who are truly criminals.” Sarah looked over at me as she finished, as if waiting for my disagreement.

It was fully getting rid of the caste system the way I envisioned it, but it would equalize everyone in the city and only punish the person who committed the crime. I wasn’t completely against it. I looked her in the eye and shrugged. She had my support so far.

A couple people seemed deep in thought and weren’t nodding or responding.

Tom ran his finger over his chin, and then let them rest on his chin, “Before I agree to this one, finish outlining your other levels.”

“Yes, that sounds smart,” an older gentleman voiced agreement.

Sarah took a breath and continued, “After that would be a medium crime. I am not quite sure what would constitute a medium crime, but the punishment is for only the criminal to be Dishonored for life or they can choose Exile as a branded Exile. The last level would be a high crime. Multiple planned murders. Attempted planned murder. Blowing up a city building and killing the people inside,” she glanced over at me as she said that example. “The punishment would be the old style Exile or Execution held for the worst criminals of the city in the past.”

Michael’s face twisted into the mimicry of a smile, “Over all it seems pretty decent, except that there is no level with a flogging punishment. The only way some people ever learn a lesson is a good flogging. Maybe repeat offenders of any lower level wrongdoing or misdemeanor get a flogging. Also we need a level for a Dishonored committing a crime. Can’t let those scum get off with just some more community labor. Maybe they go under the same repeat offender level and get a flogging too?”

Sarah grimaced, “Violence isn’t necessary to enforce basic societal laws. The only reason I could ever see for a flogging level is for those who have already inflicted violence like those guards who attacked my poor sweet grandson.”

I found myself agreeing with Sarah that flogging was distasteful.

Michael licked his lips, “So you agree flogging could be necessary as a level. I think we call it by the name of it’s punishment, a floggable crime.”

The older gentleman nodded, “This seems passable.”

“I don’t think the flogging level is necessary,” Sarah argued.

Revacks shrugged, “Who knows, it might be for something. I think having it as a level is useful as we go through making laws and deciding what level of crime they are.”

“I agree,” A middle aged man with quite short brown hair spoke up.

The rest of the table also gave their agreements.

Sarah looked at me, as if expecting me to support her, but she’d clearly called me out with the buildings comment, and I didn’t feel like speaking up unless there happened to be a tie.

She took a breath, “Then let us vote. Do people like the system with a flogging level included?”

Everyone except Tom, Richard, and Sara raised their hands. It looked like flogging was still in the books.