Sentence…

The jury-eel quickly conversed with itself, 7 heads nodding, 2 shaking from side to side and one appeared to be observing.

I struggled against my urchin bindings, pain replied in little pinpricks in my wrists. My Public thought-defender mentally re-gripped its hold on my defenseless mind, my resistance ceased…

9 Heads suddenly nodded, the 10^th nodded once in agreement. “Guilty” The heads spoke in perfect harmony and coordination but also with a chilling finality.

“Eyladd, you have been found guilty by the council of salt-water proper. This verdict carries only one possible sentence…”

The Genoctopuss judges read my sentence as I was gently pushed towards them by the thought-defender. They numbered in the hundreds and parted from our path, barely causing a ripple on the courtroom’s water surface.

“You are banished to the dry-land until you…die”