"Urk..." Lelith seemed to be physically repulsed by the questions. She covered her face, she did not want to meet the eyes of the people before her as she answered. "His seduction was basically an attempt to put me in a trance, in a way. They appeared as visions in my mind whenever I rested. I could not see his face but I could see the vague shape of his body, always scantily dressed, more often than not it was a very personal dance and physical contact. Somehow, he knew what buttons to push. He was always very loving and gentle, whispering sweet nothings into my ears. His affection for me seems to be geniune. I do not know why."

"The kidnapping of the child was not a moment of weakness. I will deny that at every chance and I would have taken her away from that ranch, always. I will not allow a child to die when I can do something about it. Never. Ah, if you're curious about my promise to kill the people's elder for his insults. It was more or less fulfilled indirectly when I convinced my companions to turn away from the ranch. He most likely died at the undead's hands. If he did not, it is best he does not meet me at any point in the future," Lelith got distracted again on a tangent before she returned back to the core of the subject. "In any case, the moment of weakness was not that. It was when I expected my companions, people who I had considered my friends to some extent, to stand by me when I needed it but instead chose to stand against me. It was not my proposals that were the cause of the schism between us but rather what they called 'extreme' and 'disproportionate' retaliation against that condescending elderly Hylian." 

"Yes, disagreements can be unpleasant. I imagine that feeling the loss of the Twilight Embers' support for your decision made the familiarity of the visions in your mind seem like a refuge. But, what exactly happened when you finally gave in? How did you lose control of your actions to the Lord of Darkness?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. It was no different than the dozens of attempts before it. You could say that while they may not have been effective at first, the Lord of Darkness was nothing if not persistent and patient. Every attempt to claw into my mind were consistent and hardly deviated from each other. The only thing that was different then was that I failed to thwart his control. And so I acted within my general interests, I do not believe he could order me to directly harm my companions or drive me to suicide without losing control and so he was subtle with it at first as he deepened his control. We were already considering Hyrule Castle as a destination, and so it was not out of the ordinary for me to consider it and suggest it to the others. It is hard to describe, I was myself but I also was not? I was certainly conscious and aware while I was under his control but some of my core values had been altered, I could not find anything wrong in my actions during it. Such as fawning over a fiend or leading my companions to a trap." Lelith helpfully provided the desired context. 

Stasolya listens with her head bowed for a moment, and then looks up. "This sounds like a case of you being subtly manipulated, convinced, and you might call it duped, into believing that your actions were right that the Lord of Darkness wished you to take, but you were still in control of them. The choice of actions was still yours---although later you came to see that you had been misled, that it was a betrayal, thus inspiring the hatred and revulsion for the Lord of Darkness that you have expressed. Is that accurate?"

"That is incorrect. While my behaviour was not out of line as to what people would expect, they were fundamentally different. My first priority would have been to find the Princess, we already knew she would not be in Hyrule Castle. Even the Hero's Sword, which more often than not dwelt in the Temple of Time was under no risk. No one can draw the sword from its pedestal other than the Hero let alone the very beings the sword is meant to destroy, the sword's own protection is its very nature. Often it had been left in the wilderness for hundreds of years until the current incarnation of the Hero took it. Every single reason to go to the Castle was not my own. You seem to misunderstand, it was one of our options as a destination but it was not our first. And the Temple of Time would have certainly not been the first even if it was chosen, the royal quarters would have been a more likely target to discern the whereabouts of the Hylian royal family."

"The Lelith that acted after our departure from the Lon Lon Ranch up to the events at the door of the Temple of Time was not me, merely a facsimile, what the Lord of Darkness wanted me to be as his lover. I was aware of my actions, conscious you could say, but not in control. As I would not allow myself physical contact with a fiend, let alone a stranger I had never met, or alone walk my companions at his feet and speak the derogatory words I did that day. You imply I could be convinced or persuaded to betray them within that context or those circumstances. That is false," Lelith scoffed as if the mere thought was an insult, which it probably was to her.

"Well, Lelith," Stasolya says, almost apologetically, "you seem to be contradicting yourself a little. First you say that it was you, that you were conscious and aware but had been internally altered such that you could not find anything wrong with your actions while you were under his control, but now you say that it was not you, and that you would never allow such actions as touching a fiend or speaking derogatively to your companions. You seem to be speaking of two different people, two different Leliths. From what we have observed of your extreme emotional swings, I wonder if this is something that is part of your nature, rather than an imposition by the Lord of Darkness. This by itself wouldn't remove your culpability... if one side of you denies responsibility for what the other side does in an emotional moment, who then are you who stand before us seeking justice?"

"Awareness does not mean control,"  Lelith looked annoyed that there's a conversation to be had about this at all. "A person can be aware but their control out of their grasp .This was very much the same. You seem to think the two are mutually exclusive, this is untrue. I would not do the things that happened then, they run contrary to my personality, beliefs, and priorities. Thus it was not me, that much is clear. Under the control of the Lord of Darkness, under the altered personality and core beliefs, I acted differently into something that was clearly not who I am, doing things I would normally never do. Once out of his control, I could look back on those actions with a free mind and a clear head. Which do you blame, the victim that had been mind-controlled to do something against their will or the mastermind who took over their mind and gave the orders?"

"You grasp concepts poorly so I will explain further, centaur," Lelith sneered. "When I say I am aware, that means I am conscious. While I was controlled or if you prefer, altered into a different person, I was still Lelith. I was not possessed or had my soul displaced or replaced. Nor was I unaware, as in unconscious as someone else took the reins of my body. Lelith had the reins. Lelith was changed."

"I could not dumb it down any further, even a child would understand. I will not answer any further question on the specifics. Do be more creative in your attempts to incriminate me," Lelith rolled her eyes derisively. "My emotional swings are not a standard. We, the Eladrin, are defined by a single group of emotions that fall under four seasonal categories; Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. We are constant in that regard, we hardly deviate as we have an iron fist on our emotions but perfect consistency is impossible just as how you would feel happy in the morning and tired in the evening, we have our variable moments as well. I have been thrown into one situation after the other with barely any time in between to stabilize my emotional state. We are defined by our emotions to the point they affect our physiology and so they are supposed to be the first things we master, if our emotions were as variable as yours, it would be rather hectic. There are some who change wildly but even then it is a change in a matter of weeks, some do so following the change of seasons, both kind are known to be unstable and inconsistent."

Qlille listens to this back and forth, her eyes shifting from Stasolya, to Lelith, back to Stasolya as she nods the whole time.  

"There is only one point I will say isn't accurate.  It seems that the Lord of Darkness's intrusions were fewer than 'dozens', though, to her point, I want to make clear she believes that it was more than the number of times he actually attempted to seduce her.  In her mind, there is no discernment between the illusion of his attempts, which were probably just strategies to wear her down, and the actual times he was probing her mind for weaknesses."

Jek frowns beneath his face covering at Lelith's admonishment. It has been a day, and she already moved passed there death. He waves his hand and the illusions fall (Greko give Lelith one more look of disapproval, and shakes his head as he disappears). 

He sits back, mallet in hand, as he listens to Lelith and Stasolya's back and forth. Hmm, Jek still doesn't fully understand the concept of children. Why are they worth more than others? Oh wait, she's still talking. Hmmm.... ADULTS, that's the word he was looking for, between child and elderly. Oh wait, there's more. 

Jek leans forward as Lelith begins to mock Stasolya. He listens to Qlille and nods. "Thank you Qlille. Now, Lelith. There appears to be some confusion here. We are not here to lay blame on you. We are hear to find the truth. You do not dictate what we ask. And, keep this in mind, we are your last chance. You need to convince us that you are not responsible for your bandmates fates, either through your own hand or by your actions. Now, I have some questions for you. You've stated that the Lord of Darkness alerted your core beliefs and personality, but you were still Lelith. When you were under the Lord of Darkness's control, did it seem to you like you were doing the right thing at the time? Could he have done something to make you able to lie and believe your lies? Did you communicate with him while controlled? If so, how? And lastly, if you will permit, I might be able to see if he still has some control over you now."

Shavaris sits by while the centaur and eladrin elf parley back and forth.  She is glad Stasolya has taken the reins on this as she has a very thorough way of going through Lelith's story.  As she is learning who Lelith is, especially once they got to the ranch, kidnapping a child, threatening a scared rancher, her entire way of looking at things...  Is this how some are in the fey?  She doesn't seem anything like Delph, and Shavaris is surprised that they want the judges to do best for Lelith.  Maybe she has changed greatly since childhood.

For the moment, she stays quiet, waiting to hear Lelith's answers to Jeks questions.  The whole emotional thing is strange to her as well.  Tied to seasons?  There is so much about this elf she just doesn't understand.  Shavaris chuckles to herself, bet others would say that about her too if they had been at the ballroom in the labyrinth.

"Then let's make something clear. I am only here to humour you and show my goodwill to the Elders and the late Child Empress. This trial is a joke, none of you have any authority for this. The Elder has already confirmed I spoke the truth over the events and my innocence in the matter and really, her word is the only one I am willing to put any trust on over yours. I know I am innocent and so I am willing to go through the paces but don't test my patience by your feeble attempt at intimidation," Lelith glared at Jek. "You won't really understand why, and it's better this way. As long as the Elder does, that is all that matters and I will be out of this masquerade soon enough."

"Under that mind controlled state, it seemed like it was only right as I've already mentioned, once free of his control I could see the wrong in them. I am as much of a victim as Ro and Greko, though they lost their life. I nearly lost my soul. Words are power, I do not make a habit of lying, though that doesn't stop me from achieving my goals. Nothing is objective and truth is malleable. I suppose that was what the Lord of Darkness was relying on when I was under his control. I did not communicate with him at the time, I could not, but he could reach me. I could reach him now but I do not want to, the Lord of Darkness is no more. There is only Ganon now. I already have the Calamity's twisted affection for me, I do not wish to draw its attention any further. I am not under its control, as you can clearly see I can badmouth the Calamity and the Lord of Darkness easily enough, and even if that wasn't enough of an indication, Elder Qlille has guaranteed my mind is free of all influences," Lelith answered to the best of her ability. "Is that all? Are we done?"

Shavaris makes note of something that gnaws at her, and after a moment and a brief pause from the rest, she finally speaks up.  

"Excuse me, first off, you may see yourself as a victim, and since what you say you believe to be true, I can understand your sentiment.  But to say as much as those who have lost their lives?  That's a bit much.  You say you nearly lost your soul, but yet, here you are, clearly unperturbed by the whole situation.  You say you do not make a habit of lying.  This, well this concerns me.  As from what I have been told, fey CANNOT lie.  So, how is the truth malleable?  Especially to a fey?  Can you please explain this to me?"

Stasolya speaks up again. "You have not explained any mechanism of control that the Dark Lord had over you besides temptation and the changing of your morality and perception of truth. There was no obvious mind control spell, no sudden change in your attitude that your colleagues could discern. You have given no evidence of your actions being beyond your control except that you were manipulated. You say it wasn't you, then you say it was you. Even now you go back and forth defending your mindset at the time of your crimes. Your willingness to badmouth anyone and anything, the Lord of Darkness included, does not give me any certainty that you have truly turned your heart from evil."

"If the Dark Lord's suggestions seemed good to you once, may they not seem good to you again in the future, when you have a change in mood? Lives were lost because of your actions, will you not take responsibility for that? The purpose of the trial is not just to ascertain your culpability for what you did, but also to gauge if it is likely to happen again, and take steps to make sure it does not. Without a repentant heart for the damage you caused, you cannot be trusted... and Atreyu is likely to give you a far harsher sentence. Elder Qlille is not judging you. We are, because we have been asked to judge you by Atreyu. We have the authority that he has given us, and no more. If you wish to show goodwill, you ought to start by showing it, and not resorting to tantrums and insults when you encounter reluctance. This is behavior we have come to expect of those who have given their hearts to pride and evil. You must show in your actions that you value justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. You must show your contrition by your willingness to serve and bed pardon of those whom you have harmed. You must show in your actions that pride, entitlement, and self-pity are not your highest values, for one who cherishes these above all others will always lay the lives of others on the line for their own gain."

Jek sits quietly as the others speak. He is glad that Stasolya is able to better articulate what he was feeling. 

He will say again to Lelith "You and I are very different creatures, Lelith. You assume I am trying to find you guilty or intimidate you. That is not the case. I do not like tapping into the darker aspects of myself, but if I was to intimidate you, it would not be subtle. I am not a creature of words and subtlety. I've lived my life in the Shem away from most other creatures. You are all strange to me and your ways are foreign. You all twist words instead of speaking plainly, then assume I twist my words as well. I did not and do not. I showed you Greko and Ro so you could see the consequences of your failures. I was hoping for some humility. For something, really. Now, Delphinium asked us to hear you out and spoke highly of you. Shavaris has high opinions of Delphinium and I want to find you innocent, I really do. I want to help you, if I can. We have lost too much already, and I would hate to lose more."

Jek nods toward Elder Qlille. "Elder Qlille is telling us that you speak the truth as you see it. However, correct me if I'm wrong, she is not looking to see if you are still under any curses or enchantments. You want us to trust you, but you must trust us as well. Please, let me check if you are under any additional enchantments. Let me help you." 

"By Hylia, save me from these fools," Lelith muttered under her breath. "Are you being purposefully obnoxious? For the third time, I am not under any curse or enchantment, I am free, my will and mind is my own. Elder Qlille has guaranteed this by her own hands. Am I really to be tried by these people who cannot even communicate properly?"

She looked at the Elder in askance and exasperation before turning back to the three. "Do not speak all at once, I can only handle so much idiocy. I will do my best to answer you one by one, however."

"I have yet to twist any of my words, Jek. As you already know, I cannot lie. I am grateful for Delphinium's high opinion of me. However, you will find I am among the mildest of the Fey. We are expressions of emotional extremes. My pride cannot and will not falter. If you expect me to bend it for you, your expectations will have to be cut short. I am going to be straightforward with you, as well. Do not show me Greko and Ro again, or I will hunt you down and make you suffer the most painful of all tortures. Do so again at your own risk, my word is my life. I cannot go back on it," Lelith glowered dangerously as her eyes flashed red for a moment.

"Perhaps you did not get the memo when I spoke earlier as well as in front of the other bands. Our emotions affect our physiology. As can anger affect me so can grief. It is an emotion that strikes pain into my core. Physical pain. It is a torture, I have felt it more than enough following the time after their loss. They were once my friends but now they are nothing but dust. I have moved on in all aspects, your attempts at reminding me will not work and if it did, I will be writhing on the floor, crying for their pain and for mine," Lelith was done speaking to Jek and turned to the centaur next.

"You presume much, centaur. How am I supposed to know?" Lelith was looking annoyed the more the conversation dragged on. "I am not the one who cast the spell. If it was a spell at all and not one of the fiend's innate abilities for all I know. That is simply the truth. I cannot detail what you ask of me. Your heart is too soft and your skin too thin if you feel that my barbed tongue to be the origin of all evil. There are no contradictions in my words, I physically cannot lie and even if that wasn't enough for you, Elder Qlille here is ascertaining the veracity of my words.," Lelith gestured toward the silent Elder. "You cannot lay the blame at my feet for your lack of comprehension. I will not explain any further. I dislike repeating myself and I have already done so more than twice."

"Never has the Lord of  Darkness' suggestion ever seem good to me. Once again, and I will only say this once. I have thwarted all attempts and refused all suggestions until in a moment of weakness, he twisted my mind. None of the actions the Lelith of that time were something I am willing to do or entertain. You expect virtues out of me that I cannot show. No more than a Spring Eladrin is willing to show patience and sit for a few hours. The emotions I show are ones I am defined by, changing them also changes who I am. It is practically a death of self. It has only happened twice. Once done willingly where I changed into Spring and another at the Lord of Darkness' hands. I do not /beg/ for pardon, I do not grovel. You are sorely mistaken if you expect that of me.  And yes, justice is one of my finest qualities. I do not show remorse nor guilt simply because I have moved on.," with that done, Lelith turned finally toward the elf.

"A bit much, you say? I would rather die than experience that pain again. There's nothing quite like feeling your heart being wrenched into pieces and your soul picked apart. At least in death there is peace. I do not care about your presumptions about me. I have explained yet you do not understand, there is very little I can do about that. You are correct that I cannot lie but I cannot do so directly. I can omit information or speak truth in such a way it would benefit me. Ro had told me once that was effectively lying hence my earlier words. If you are worried I am doing so right now,  I can assure I have not. Ever since I stepped into this room, I have not twisted any truth or done anything that would be considered a lie through technicalities. I have spoken of the facts as they are. I have not omitted anything of the circumstances surrounding my situation and what led up to the Lord of Darkness' control over me," Lelith looked at the elf in the eyes, "there now. Are you satisfied?" 

Stasolya shakes her head. "You claim that your emotions control you through pain, and you back this up with threats. Your idea of justice is related only to how you are affected, not to how others are affected. That is not justice, for justice is a virtue that deals with what is due to others. Many have suffered deeply, as intensely as you, and have not chosen to act in the way that you have chosen, nor used their pain as an excuse for treating others harmfully."

"It seems to me that the Lord of Darkness did not control you in the manner of directly forcing your actions against your will, he merely manipulated the emotional forces that you already allow yourself to be controlled by, and you give no indication of desiring to commit to a higher standard of behavior, defensive remediation to protecting yourself from it happening again, or acquiesce to others' expectations of your conduct not to put yourself and your own feelings over the well-being of others. I had one more question to ask, but you have already answered it. You will not bend your pride to change your behavior or renounce the tools that the Dark Lord used to control you. If you will, say so now. If not, and if there is no other evidence, and you have nothing new to say, I think that I have heard enough to have a judgment..." The centaur looks disappointed, and stands silently for a minute, then looks up as she speaks again.

"I believe you guilty of your actions. You do not see the door that you left open for the Dark Lord's control, and so you will not shut it. You have no concern for how your actions have affected others. This makes you a danger to Hyboria. Atreyu has not asked us for a sentence, only a judgment. In light of the current evidence, this is mine."

She turns to Shavaris and Jek. "Have you heard enough to have a judgment? Do you know of any other evidence that we have not heard yet?"

Shavaris looks solemnly back at Lelith as she answers.  "No, I am not satisfied.  I am disheartened though."  She pushes her chair back and stands up.

"From your own admission, you let the Lord of Darkness in when your friends turned against you, which from what I am witnessing here, I am shocked it didn't happen more often.  As Stasolya said, I too believe it was more of a manipulation of your emotions than directly forcing you.  And maybe that is due to your fey nature, but be it as it may, here we are.  I do not see an avenue where this wouldn't happen again.  In fact, I feel the possibility of it is now stronger as he knows how to manipulate you and your emotions seem to have gotten the better of you."

Shavaris looks to Stasolya as she addresses the two other judges, "I believe I have heard enough."  She looks back to Lelith,  "I too, find the accused guilty of her actions." 

Jek listens as his compatriots cast there votes. He takes a deep breath and looks sadly towards Lelith.  "Lelith, I must say, you are probably the least frightening thing to have threatened me over the past few days. I don't think you are bad. I think you are trying to do what's right. But I am still a bit bothered. Your unwilling betrayal of the Twilight Embers happened yesterday. They showed up, beaten and exhausted yesterday. Ro... fell to his darker urges yesterday. Yet you say that you were able to put this behind you already. You were able to feel these deep emotions and pass through them so quickly. Please answer me, how is that possible? I want to understand you before I pass any judgment." 

"What  a lofty idea of justice you have. Justice is merely retribution for the breaking of the code or the law if you prefer. The law is dictated by an entity that can enforce it. It's no virtue, it is merely a byproduct of civilization. I am bored of your meaningless philosophies, however. If this trial was not a joke enough, it is now. Rather than adhere to the objective truth, you have stuck to what 'seems' to you to be right due to your bias because of my personality, something defined by my race. You are set in your ways, you cannot comprehend me as an Eladrin, asking me to feel grief and remorse in front of you for vindication and justification of innocence when you are well aware of what that means for me. My grief and remorse for them has come and gone. I have dealt with it to continue as an actual functioning sapient being. My pride was not what led to my weakness, it was my strength and what helped me overcome his control over me. I was not manipulated into betraying them. I had been controlled into doing so. There is evidence enough in me colluding at all with a fiend, let alone fawning over one or considering one as my lover. One of my defining core values is that I dislike unnatural pairings, two lovers of different species are abhorrent to my moral values. That is not something I can be manipulated into accepting, much less for others let alone for myself," the very idea disgusted Lelith to no end.

"This is no court of law or a trial, it is a comedic masquerade which has long outlasted its entertainment. Already you have changed the parameters of the trial, it is no longer about the possible culpability of my past actions but the threat of future actions. I have already spoken the undeniable truth, and I can speak nothing but the truth as a Fey, that I had no control over my actions as the free Lelith that I am today. These words themselves were confirmed to be true by Elder Qlille. What a twisted logic you have and this is coming from a Fey. Following how you dictate culpability, you are all guilty for the given potential of murder of the innocent and being manipulated into it. Few at all can claim to be invulnerable to Ganon's corruption, I know that you certainly cannot claim it so. Once again, following your own logic, you are all guilty for the possibility of being corrupted. You are the worst judges I ever had the 'pleasure' to see in action," Lelith chuckled mirthlessly.

"I will give you one more chance," Lelith looked at the two of them, Shavaris and Stasolya in the eye. "You have one chance of judging me as not guility. That is all you have. Otherwise, we will see how you can handle the wrath of the Queen of Winter and the Fey Winter Court. I wonder, can Hyboria currently afford the hostility of an entire realm like the Feywild for judging one of their Princesses a criminal when they already have a world-ending crisis at hand? I did not wish for things to come to this but you have forced my hand."

Lelith nodded at Jek's question. She looked far more agreeable already when Jek took a milder and more understanding stance. "That is a fair question. As I've already explained, there are a group of emotions that define each group of Eladrin. These groups of emotions are relatively constant for each kind of Eladrin bar extreme circumstances. It... is not healthy for us to stray too far from them, not for our mind and as our mind affects our bodies, it isn't acceptable for our overall physical health as well. Though the other kind of Eladrin may handle it in different ways, we of the Winter are sorrowful and cold, more often than not with a heavy dose of cynicism. I... had been forced out of this more times than I can count throughout my adventures with the Twilight Embers either because of unforeseen events or my companions mistakenly trying to 'brighten' my mood. A few months ago, it was already fantastical for me to speak for so long and in so much detail. Yet here we are. We are a long-lived species, by your metrics we are ageless and death is very hard to find, and so we do not worry about the losses of friends and family in the Feywild overly much. It is a dreaded experience, some do not survive the experience of their grief and pain. You could say that throughout aeons far longer than your civilizations have learned to make their first mud huts, we have learned to either efficiently deal with it as quickly as possible or suffer torture that may lead to their own death or forgo personal connections altogether. The latter had been my initial goal but once again, things didn't exactly work out as planned as my companions were not satisfied with the social distances I had kept. Your mortal lives are so fickle..." Lelith shook her head sadly.

"Was my answer to your satisfaction? Or should I expect you to dismiss the specifics of my race as merely an excuse I hide behind like the others? For such a highly heterogenous realm, you can be quite stubborn in the face of something that does not follow your accepted norms. I pray you progress further before you decide to venture to other realms or you will be offending everyone you meet," Lelith offered an advice in good-nature.

Jek listens to Lelith's threats and as she speaks with as much ignorance as she claims that the judges have. Jek laughs at the absurdity of it. "Hahahaha. You talk of others not understand your kind, do you even know what I am? I am a Shade of the Bright Lady. The people of this Hyboria call us Lightless because, well, look." 

With that, Jek will place the meat tenderizer down and remove one of his glovesto show his hand to those in the room. What you see is.... void. Jet black would only begin to describe it. All the light that touches his skin is just absorbed. All you see is just an outline of his hand, no detail escapes from the surface of his skin. "You speak of agelessness. I don't think you truly understand the concept. You were a child once. You will grow old, perhaps slower than other, but still it will happen. This concept is foreign to me. I was born as you see me, I was able to walk, to speak, to bend shadows the moment I was born. And I will be like this when I die. Do you know how lightless die? As my brother Hrar put it, we die of curiosity. If we sat and did nothing, then perhaps we would only die when the last lights of this world go out. Maybe not even then. But that is not our nature. We follow the path that the Bright Lady sets for us. I left my home to help save this world and to see the wonders it holds, but my path now leads here." Jek puts the glove back on, then stands. He walks around the desk and moves to the front, hands behind his back. He stares at Lelith, his bright yellow eyes the only feature underneath his hood. There is some sadness in them now. 

"Do you know why the Bright Lady put me on the path to make me one of the Judges for you. It was most likely because I understand not being understood. I tried to get you to look at your actions, and see your mistakes. And I truly think you have not even noticed it yet. Your greatest failure is you did not talk to your friends. You did not trust them. So they could not trust you. You expected them to follow your lead wherever and without question. But they were not your subjects, they were supposed to be your friends and compatriots. I do not think you are guilty of what you did while being controlled by the Dark Lord. You are a victim in that regard. But you are guilty of giving him the opportunity to control you without your friends realizing it. And you are also guilty of not accepting the possibility that it could happen again. I want to help you, I really do. But first you must admit that you need help. If you can do that, we can try to break whatever connection the Dark Lord has over you. He might not be controlling you now, but we can find a way to ensure it never happens again. Please, I ask you again. Let us help you. "