Dressing For Successes

Sometimes, if you are very clever more than brave, you can win a war before a single shot is fired. I’m not the kind who is truly brave – I’ve never sacrificed for peace (or war, really) but sometimes we can achieve great things by more than just accident. It’s been a long time since you could make bombs and be a hero. It’s been even longer since you could be called a lawyer and be a hero. Until today I’d thought no one could be a lawyer and a hero both.

She entered the courtroom slowly without expression. The mayor’s office had taken me into their confidence. Told me about Callie. I’d hard stories about things. You don’t get into the law profession without hearing some. They say there’s an entire law firm of fae somewhere, if they fae are real, that entire legal departments exist for the well-being of Bigfoot. Silly stories, mostly. Like the ones of gods that can be eaten or the Loch Ness Monster is a transplanted dinosaur or that the illuminati control the world with toothpaste and shower gel. You hear a lot of things, when you’re a junior partner and get saddled with weird cases.

I won enough of them that the mayor’s office noticed me. Offered me this brief. Explained what Callie Perron was. I didn’t believe them, not until she walked into the court room. She didn’t do anything. She didn’t say anything. But she had the kind of presence that drew everyone in the room toward her. I’d been briefed and prepared, but that only goes so far. In that moment, it felt as if she was more real than I was, realer than anyone here could ever dream of being. And it took every ounce of professionalism I had to just nod hello. I barely managed to avoid flinching when Judge Dowling said my name and she studied me for a brief moment.

I explained the prosecution’s case. That she was going to be banned from a 300’ radius around city hall due to her interfering in the affairs of local government, that the mayor’s restraining order was even more explicit regarding her and the mayor – including any mayor past or present – and failure to abide by this injunction would lead to legal entanglements.

“You are forbidding me access to city hall.” The words were soft, but what lay under them was hard and flat. Judge Dowling warned her once about contempt of court and the look she turned him caused the Judge to almost fall back from his chair. “I see,” she said softly, in a more civil tone.

“This is, of course, a binding on power and nature,” I continued, using the words I’d been coached on.

The magician blinked, once. She didn’t move otherwise.

I had my best suit on, the one I’d only worn for doing my bar exams and one interview. I was dressed for success. I told myself it mattered, and I think it did. The law is an ass, as the old joke goes, but it does offer protections of its own. I explained the terms and conditions of the banishment, and the magician listened in silence. A suit and tie have power, and it and the weight of the law somehow kept the magician silent until I had laid out every term and condition.

She had brought no lawyer. She just looked at the judge. “No contest.”

I’ve never heard agreement sound so much like a challenge before.

“It will, of course, hold for all other magicians and their associates rather than just myself?” Callie asked.

The judge agreed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that had somehow been a trap. The magician left the courtroom and I was taken out for drinks afterwards. Was told that no one had ever done this before in a courtroom, and that I would be a legend.

I couldn’t shake the suspicion that there was a good reason no one had done this before.

I made it back home from the night of partying and found that my suit was unarmed. I put it away, for the next time I would need to dress for success, and part of me hoped I’d never have to wear it again.