12-31-2019, 08:53 PM
Olivia Pierre’s hotel room, Shuell
29th December 2019
“Just one moment, I like to check I haven’t left anything,” Olivia said to her bodyguards and slipped back into the room. Her belongings had been packed, and were sitting in the corridor ready to be taken to the airport. The room was empty and ready to be cleaned, and Olivia knew fine well she hadn’t forgotten anything.
She walked into the bathroom, however, and reached under her shirt, pulling out an envelope she had hidden there earlier. Then, she placed the envelope down on the counter, a name on the front of it, and slipped back out, shutting the bathroom door.
“Nope, just being paranoid. Let’s go,” she said to her guards as she exited once more, smiling and gesturing for them to head down the corridor. She pulled the hotel door shut behind her.
*
Airplane, en route from Shuell to Kerlile
29th December 2019
Councillor Electra Georgiou sat, reading a book on the history of Shuellian art. She was engrossed in the book, and so when Xia placed her sleeping 5-year-old daughter Jia nearby and asked Georgiou to watch her, she received a vague noise of assent from the Councillor and took it as permission. There were plenty bodyguards and servants nearby as well – she did not actually need the Councillor to look after Jia, but it was general tradition to ask another member of a Council family.
After leaving her sleeping daughter with the Councillor, Xia made her way to the back of the plane, where Olivia Pierre and Reena Patel were whispering. Olivia gestured for Xia to join them, and she did. Reena, however, crossed her arms and looked suspiciously at her.
“You have shown no indication of being in favour of reform before this trip,” Reena said in an accusatory tone.
“I…” hesitated Xia. “Well, no, I haven’t. I mean, I hadn’t really been involved in politics much at all. I just…”
“Oh, Reena, you can skip the interrogation,” sighed Olivia. “You know we need as much support as we can get, and Xia has a vested interest in helping us. We could also do with a diversity of opinions and political backgrounds.”
“What ‘vested interest’?” Reena said, curious all of a sudden.
“None of your business,” Olivia and Xia both said at the same time.
“Touchy,” noted Reena, but she leaned back, evidently a little more relaxed. “So, anyway, we need a new plan. We have to show that reform is a success so far – which is going to be kind of difficult given the economic figures.”
“The state of the economy is due to the sanctions, not the reformist economic policy,” argued Olivia.
“Yes, but people aren’t going to believe that. They won’t interpret things how they really are, they see what they want to see, or what they are told to see, and the traditionalists still have control of Kerlile’s media.”
“So, how do we get the message across given that the media is even more tightly controlled since the Trive incident and that Xiomeran censorship thing was installed?”
“Well, I have a couple of ideas. While I was in Xiomera I was speaking to a lot of people who were involved in the media, and I managed to learn quite a bit about operating under such a system… Xia, are you okay?”
Xia had been sitting, staring open mouthed at Olivia and Reena as they debated. The two women were younger than her, and should have been less experienced in the political affairs of the Matriarchy, and yet they spoke so fluently on the topic in a way that she just… couldn’t. She had spent so much of her life ignoring the rights and responsibilities she’d had placed on her by an accident of birth. It was time she paid attention.
“Sorry, I’m just struggling to follow. Could you start at the beginning, please?” she asked, calmly.
“Oh, yeah, of course,” nodded Reena. “So basically, we want to make Kerlile a better place. We have a plan for doing so. Here’s what the first part entails…”
*
Grapevale, Kerlile
30th December 2019
They had been in the car for some time before Xia realised where they were going. Upon arrival at the airport, a car had been waiting for them. It had been expected, she was second-in-line to a seat on the Council, after all. She had expected it to take her back to her current residence, a large house in the suburbs of the city… but she suddenly realised that her driver was heading for her grandmother’s.
“Um, sorry, Jia is tired, we weren’t planning to go to the family residence tonight,” Xia called to her driver, a nervousness growing inside her.
“Sorry, ma’am, I have orders from the Councillor to take you there immediately,” the driver responded.
“Sure, no problem!” Xia said with false cheer. She tried the door. Locked, naturally. She had the feeling she was in big trouble.
Upon arrival at the Chiu residence, her sister Mei appeared and called to Jia. The girl ran towards her aunt, excited to see her, and oblivious to the fact her mother was clearly terrified. She glanced around. There were more security personnel than usual. Still, she knew that for all her own sins, her family would not hurt Jia. Xia turned, about to run, when someone reached out and grabbed her arm, roughly.
“The Councillor wishes to see you immediately,” the woman, one of her grandmother’s high-ranking security guards said, and began pulling her towards the house. She glanced back at Jia, who was being led inside by Mei. Her sister met her eyes, and then turned away, a look of betrayal in them. Shit.
Xia was led into her grandmother’s office, where the Councillor sat behind her desk. The other chairs in the room had been removed, forcing Xia to stand.
“Xia… do you care to explain this?” said the Councillor, calmly, and placed a photograph on a table. It was Xia entering the Shen Embassy. “Or what about this?” she added another photograph, of Xia sitting near Wu Genbao and speaking with him.
“Grandmother…”
“You spoke with that man, Wu Zhou’s son. He paid for your meal. A Wu. He could have poisoned you, and your daughter! Thankfully he is dead, along with his mother. But then you didn’t stop there. You visited the Shen Embassy multiple times! And Chloe tells me you ordered her not to tell me this. You will explain what you were doing in that Embassy, immediately.”
“I was merely paying back the money for the meal, I did not ask him to do that.”
“No, you didn’t, but you didn’t object either,” her grandmother hissed, standing and walking around the desk until she was face to face with Xia. “And you would not need to visit the Embassy multiple times to do that. Why were you in that Embassy?”
Xia remained silent. The Councillor paused, and then raised her hand, and slapped Xia across the cheek, hard.
“Why were you in that Embassy?”
“I won’t tell you.”
“Then I will call some of our former Restricted Region employees and have them extract the information from you by force,” said the Councillor, reaching for the phone on her desk.
“You can’t do that!”
“Oh, I most certainly can. I guarantee nobody will stop me. So, if you want to spare yourself a world of pain, I suggest you answer my question.”
“I’m pregnant, you’ll kill the baby!”
The Councillor paused. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Get me a pregnancy test,” Xia replied.
The Councillor pressed a button, summoning an assistant who was sent for a test. The Chiu family kept some on hand: they were rather keen on expanding their family, it was not unusual for someone in that household to want such a test.
A few minutes, and a trip to the bathroom later, Xia was seated in the Councillor’s office, while Lia paced back and forth.
“Well, congratulations. However, you have still behaved in a very concerning manner. I may not be able to force you to talk – yet – but I will keep my eye on you. You will remain here for the duration of your pregnancy.”
“No, I won’t,” Xia said, standing up, and opening the door. She didn’t get far. Two of her grandmother’s guards grabbed her by the arms. At a signal from the Councillor, they began to drag her towards a staircase. She struggled against them, screaming and fighting, but it was futile.
She was taken to the top floor of the mansion, and marched along a corridor. She knew this wing, it was extra guest rooms that were rarely used. Struggling, she was pushed into one of the rooms, and the door was locked behind her. She banged on the door, but it was strong and didn’t budge. Exhausted, she sat down on the bed and examined her surroundings.
The room was nice enough, she supposed. It wasn’t overly fancy, but it was tastefully decorated. The bed was large and comfortable, and there was an en-suite bathroom. The window did not open. She lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, a prisoner in her grandmother’s home.
29th December 2019
“Just one moment, I like to check I haven’t left anything,” Olivia said to her bodyguards and slipped back into the room. Her belongings had been packed, and were sitting in the corridor ready to be taken to the airport. The room was empty and ready to be cleaned, and Olivia knew fine well she hadn’t forgotten anything.
She walked into the bathroom, however, and reached under her shirt, pulling out an envelope she had hidden there earlier. Then, she placed the envelope down on the counter, a name on the front of it, and slipped back out, shutting the bathroom door.
“Nope, just being paranoid. Let’s go,” she said to her guards as she exited once more, smiling and gesturing for them to head down the corridor. She pulled the hotel door shut behind her.
*
Airplane, en route from Shuell to Kerlile
29th December 2019
Councillor Electra Georgiou sat, reading a book on the history of Shuellian art. She was engrossed in the book, and so when Xia placed her sleeping 5-year-old daughter Jia nearby and asked Georgiou to watch her, she received a vague noise of assent from the Councillor and took it as permission. There were plenty bodyguards and servants nearby as well – she did not actually need the Councillor to look after Jia, but it was general tradition to ask another member of a Council family.
After leaving her sleeping daughter with the Councillor, Xia made her way to the back of the plane, where Olivia Pierre and Reena Patel were whispering. Olivia gestured for Xia to join them, and she did. Reena, however, crossed her arms and looked suspiciously at her.
“You have shown no indication of being in favour of reform before this trip,” Reena said in an accusatory tone.
“I…” hesitated Xia. “Well, no, I haven’t. I mean, I hadn’t really been involved in politics much at all. I just…”
“Oh, Reena, you can skip the interrogation,” sighed Olivia. “You know we need as much support as we can get, and Xia has a vested interest in helping us. We could also do with a diversity of opinions and political backgrounds.”
“What ‘vested interest’?” Reena said, curious all of a sudden.
“None of your business,” Olivia and Xia both said at the same time.
“Touchy,” noted Reena, but she leaned back, evidently a little more relaxed. “So, anyway, we need a new plan. We have to show that reform is a success so far – which is going to be kind of difficult given the economic figures.”
“The state of the economy is due to the sanctions, not the reformist economic policy,” argued Olivia.
“Yes, but people aren’t going to believe that. They won’t interpret things how they really are, they see what they want to see, or what they are told to see, and the traditionalists still have control of Kerlile’s media.”
“So, how do we get the message across given that the media is even more tightly controlled since the Trive incident and that Xiomeran censorship thing was installed?”
“Well, I have a couple of ideas. While I was in Xiomera I was speaking to a lot of people who were involved in the media, and I managed to learn quite a bit about operating under such a system… Xia, are you okay?”
Xia had been sitting, staring open mouthed at Olivia and Reena as they debated. The two women were younger than her, and should have been less experienced in the political affairs of the Matriarchy, and yet they spoke so fluently on the topic in a way that she just… couldn’t. She had spent so much of her life ignoring the rights and responsibilities she’d had placed on her by an accident of birth. It was time she paid attention.
“Sorry, I’m just struggling to follow. Could you start at the beginning, please?” she asked, calmly.
“Oh, yeah, of course,” nodded Reena. “So basically, we want to make Kerlile a better place. We have a plan for doing so. Here’s what the first part entails…”
*
Grapevale, Kerlile
30th December 2019
They had been in the car for some time before Xia realised where they were going. Upon arrival at the airport, a car had been waiting for them. It had been expected, she was second-in-line to a seat on the Council, after all. She had expected it to take her back to her current residence, a large house in the suburbs of the city… but she suddenly realised that her driver was heading for her grandmother’s.
“Um, sorry, Jia is tired, we weren’t planning to go to the family residence tonight,” Xia called to her driver, a nervousness growing inside her.
“Sorry, ma’am, I have orders from the Councillor to take you there immediately,” the driver responded.
“Sure, no problem!” Xia said with false cheer. She tried the door. Locked, naturally. She had the feeling she was in big trouble.
Upon arrival at the Chiu residence, her sister Mei appeared and called to Jia. The girl ran towards her aunt, excited to see her, and oblivious to the fact her mother was clearly terrified. She glanced around. There were more security personnel than usual. Still, she knew that for all her own sins, her family would not hurt Jia. Xia turned, about to run, when someone reached out and grabbed her arm, roughly.
“The Councillor wishes to see you immediately,” the woman, one of her grandmother’s high-ranking security guards said, and began pulling her towards the house. She glanced back at Jia, who was being led inside by Mei. Her sister met her eyes, and then turned away, a look of betrayal in them. Shit.
Xia was led into her grandmother’s office, where the Councillor sat behind her desk. The other chairs in the room had been removed, forcing Xia to stand.
“Xia… do you care to explain this?” said the Councillor, calmly, and placed a photograph on a table. It was Xia entering the Shen Embassy. “Or what about this?” she added another photograph, of Xia sitting near Wu Genbao and speaking with him.
“Grandmother…”
“You spoke with that man, Wu Zhou’s son. He paid for your meal. A Wu. He could have poisoned you, and your daughter! Thankfully he is dead, along with his mother. But then you didn’t stop there. You visited the Shen Embassy multiple times! And Chloe tells me you ordered her not to tell me this. You will explain what you were doing in that Embassy, immediately.”
“I was merely paying back the money for the meal, I did not ask him to do that.”
“No, you didn’t, but you didn’t object either,” her grandmother hissed, standing and walking around the desk until she was face to face with Xia. “And you would not need to visit the Embassy multiple times to do that. Why were you in that Embassy?”
Xia remained silent. The Councillor paused, and then raised her hand, and slapped Xia across the cheek, hard.
“Why were you in that Embassy?”
“I won’t tell you.”
“Then I will call some of our former Restricted Region employees and have them extract the information from you by force,” said the Councillor, reaching for the phone on her desk.
“You can’t do that!”
“Oh, I most certainly can. I guarantee nobody will stop me. So, if you want to spare yourself a world of pain, I suggest you answer my question.”
“I’m pregnant, you’ll kill the baby!”
The Councillor paused. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Get me a pregnancy test,” Xia replied.
The Councillor pressed a button, summoning an assistant who was sent for a test. The Chiu family kept some on hand: they were rather keen on expanding their family, it was not unusual for someone in that household to want such a test.
A few minutes, and a trip to the bathroom later, Xia was seated in the Councillor’s office, while Lia paced back and forth.
“Well, congratulations. However, you have still behaved in a very concerning manner. I may not be able to force you to talk – yet – but I will keep my eye on you. You will remain here for the duration of your pregnancy.”
“No, I won’t,” Xia said, standing up, and opening the door. She didn’t get far. Two of her grandmother’s guards grabbed her by the arms. At a signal from the Councillor, they began to drag her towards a staircase. She struggled against them, screaming and fighting, but it was futile.
She was taken to the top floor of the mansion, and marched along a corridor. She knew this wing, it was extra guest rooms that were rarely used. Struggling, she was pushed into one of the rooms, and the door was locked behind her. She banged on the door, but it was strong and didn’t budge. Exhausted, she sat down on the bed and examined her surroundings.
The room was nice enough, she supposed. It wasn’t overly fancy, but it was tastefully decorated. The bed was large and comfortable, and there was an en-suite bathroom. The window did not open. She lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, a prisoner in her grandmother’s home.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax