A Few Key Sunnydale Alum

They're standing side by side, at an approximation of attention, backs straight, heads high.

(It's not as though they've been prisoners on the farm. They've had the run of the place; they've had trips to town for the asking, free time to spend however they like; they've had the option of going home anytime. Just say the word.)

Compared to the original hearing, this one's mercifully brief. The Council has already discussed the matter. They've each been given a chance to make a statement.

(They talked about it one night, the three of them, in whispers in their darkened bedroom. They could quit, and go home, and just ... be on their own. No more Council authority; no more fighting evil. Essentially the same deal Beth Lehrer got, only without being stripped of their powers. They'd be watched, of course, but ... )

Sara speaks a little longer, Tricia barely at all. Their statements are all more or less the same: we're ready to come back to the fold.

(In the end there really wasn't any question.)

Mr. Giles pronounces their sentence over, and welcomes them back to active Slayer duty.

And Jordie smiles.

It's not a ( trial. )

---

He's left to cool his heels outside afterwards, for about fifteen minutes. No sound at all emerges from the room -- and no psychic aura either, if he's listening for one.

The door opens, and closes again very quickly behind the person who's slipped through.

It's Andrew.

There was a note in her inbox this afternoon: Please see me after your last class. -Giles.

When she comes to his office, this time there's nobody there but him and Ms. Harkness.