"Your parents are scared too," she pointed out gently. "I think a lot of people are going to be scared if they find out you're being tried, but more because they'll be afraid that if one noblewoman has to be held accountable, they all will."

Dierdre stopped. "So they're not..." She frowned. "Of course they're not being indignant on anyone else's behalf," she said, a bit angrily. "Most of them don't even like me."

"Your parents are frightened because they love you and you're their only child and they don't want to lose you," Morgana said patiently. "And because in their eyes, you're being done an indignity and they'd be terrible parents if they allowed it to happen."

Dierdre straightened up. "Then why are they mad at me for objecting to their interference?" she asked. "I want this. I mean, I don't want to die, but I don't think I can really...I don't think the bards will find me guilty of murder. I think the Queen will send me away if they do, not kill me. And I...if I do stand trial...I want to set that precedent, because that would mean Auberon and Titania can't happen again."

Morgana gave Dierdre a more sympathetic look. "Because sometimes people who are very frightened show it by being angry."

"Why do they have to be angry at me?" Dierdre asked plaintively.

Morgana held up her palms. "That I could not tell you. Save that they're your parents, they are charged to protect you, and the fact that you object, no matter how strong your reasons, make their duty more difficult."

Dierdre clutched her hands together. "What would you do, if it was Nialla in my place and not me?"

"There you have an advantage. Your parents know the law, they know the Courts, and I don't. I'd have to trust by her judgement on knowledge alone, and if she sent me away, I would hate it, but I'd likely go just the same." She looked sad. "But then again, if I believed as your parents seem to, that she was being mistreated or unfairly judged, I'd probably make as much a hindrance of myself as I could."

Dierdre smiled slightly at that. "Nialla said she would talk to my parents with me," she said, not mentioning that that was actually about her sexual proclivities. "I want them to know we have support."