One day, long ago, Franz was forced to make other laws as well, for constant exposure to the Gaje had made us more like them. In those early days, we had no wish to harm one another. At least until Pino the Horse Trader grew jealous of his brother Dmitri. You see, Dmitri owned a magic ring that granted him great strength several times a day. Pino coveted this ring and wanted it for his own. So he hid himself near his brother's vardo, and one night when Dmitri came home alone, Pino struck him from behind, killed him, and took the ring. He hoped that Dmitri would not remember the circumstances of his death, and his wish was granted. But a small child named Marta witnessed the dead. She ran to Franz and told all. Franz was shocked, but was certain that the child was not lying. He called together a group of objective Romani. Pino was called before them and heard the accusations. Pino admitted his crime and asked what harm had been done. Dmitri resurrected, after all. He promised to return the ring and make peace with his brother.
The council heard the place and decided to let the punishment fit the crime. Pino was executed, and the ring was returned to Dmitri. Pino resurrected successfully.
The compania traveled on. Winter seized them in a mountain pass. Snow clogged the wheels of the vardos while the wind battered them like a thousand maces smiting one shield. One woman's vardo caught fire, and she and her children spilled out into the snow seeking shelter. The first wagon they to was that of Pino. The woman pleaded with that skunk, asking to be let in lest her children freeze to death before they could reach the next wagon. She might as well have been talking to the wind, so cold was Pino's reply. He closed his door in their faces. The family pressed on to another vardo and received shelter there, but not before the smallest child met her death in the snow. The tiny spirit was too weak to resurrect. That child was Marta.
Pino was called before another council. This time, the punishment was more harsh. Pino was declared marhime -- outcast. As he had rejected other Romani, so would he be rejected. He could receive no shelter from us, no food. He would not be spoken to. Yes, it was a terrible punishment, but a fitting one, heh? As the sentence was pronounced, a cold wind broke open the door of the council's vardo and laid the fire low. Pino was seized with a terrible feeling of solitude. In his pain he sought to curse the council. "May my pouch never jingle if you do not lie dead at my feet," he said. But nothing happened. As he abandoned the earth's people, so had the earth abandoned him. The power of the Kris was born. And so it is that the leader of the Kris is one who knows our laws and the ways of our people well. When there is a transgression, the leader of the Kris calls forth four members from the Kumpania to hear the case, and presides over them. This is his only power, but it is a mighty and important one.