12-08-2020, 11:27 PM
It had been two and a half weeks since Olivia Pierre returned to Kerlile, and it had been two and a half weeks since Councillor Pauline Pierre had last visited the Council chamber. She had failed to appear at every session held in the interim, sending her second daughter Eva as a proxy where law allowed. There was speculation that the Councillor was ill, or even that she was dead and her death being covered up. Kerlile wanted answers, and they were about to get them. They just weren’t the answers anyone expected.
*
Council Chamber, Grapevale, Kerlile
8th December 2020
The door opened halfway through Councillor Hart’s speech about the merits of religious involvement in government and an attempt to establish a Secadualist Committee to advise the Council. Pauline Pierre slipped inside and took her seat. The assembled Councillors froze, shocked by her presence. Pierre gestured for them to continue.
“… and the Committee would be able to advise on spiritual matters primarily, however…” Hart stopped, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Councillors, I think we should pause this discussion to hear from Pierre. She looks…”
They all knew what Hart meant. Pierre looked thin, and she wore no make-up; her eyes appeared puffy from crying. Instead of her normal fashion style, described once by Jennifer Hale as ‘faux feminist feudalism’, she wore an outfit which leaned more towards the casual side of ‘smart-casual’. Nobody said anything, they just looked at Pierre, the permission to take the floor implicit in their shocked expressions.
Councillor Pierre stood up, looking around at her gathered peers. “Councillors, I… this is not easy for me to say. But I have been… I have been wrong about so many things in my life, and looking back I am horrified at myself. My daughter spent months as a prisoner, first in Lauchenoiria and then Xiomera. In Lauchenoiria she was mistreated and tortured because of what I did to her. I chased her out of this country because she could see what I could not.”
“We must change, Councillors,” Pierre continued, sniffing slightly and wiping away a tear. “We cannot continue upholding a system in which our own daughters, our own families, are chased from this country by our policies. I have pushed against the reform that so many of you have begun to support, but I’ve been wrong. I thought we had to protect our ideology but we aren’t protecting women, we’re destroying them.”
“History has shown – our own foundation was the result of men who refused to change. Nations that refuse to change, to progress, become stagnant, and stagnancy leads to destruction. Look at what’s left of Xiomera! They needed change, and those that refused to change have lost half their territory. We cannot become stagnant. We need to adapt to modern times and we need to acknowledge that we have made mistakes in our quest for women’s liberation.”
“Our families end up divided. We have splits, people sometimes flee the country, and there are plots and whatnot against our own blood. But we are the Council of Kerlile! Our ancestors did something remarkable. They gave their time, their money and all their efforts to creating a land where women were free from the discrimination of those times. In our founding documents, we were created to be a body that safeguards that mission. Not one that controls it. And have we been safeguarding that? I don’t think we have.”
“What is necessary, changes with the times. In order to ensure we fight for women’s liberation we should have been considering how things are changing and consistently striving to be better, rather than falling into the patterns of preserving what we have at all costs. I have been guilty of this my whole life – I thought defending the Kerlian status quo was defending the women’s revolution, but I was wrong.”
“That is why I have brought this legislation before you today,” Pierre took ten copies of a document out of her bag and handed them around to the Councillors. “The Education and Upbringing of Daughters of the Council (Amendment) Bill. This proposed legislation will permit Councillors and our direct relatives to keep and care for sons. It will also permit fathers to play a part in the raising of our daughters, and for us to marry.
“I know that I, of all people, bringing this forward will come as a massive surprise to, frankly, all of you. But that’s why I’m doing this. We can’t keep up a situation where we need to give up our own family members. I know the majority of you support this, and I want you to know that I am with you now. I know we need to change. We can’t keep up this constant infighting, plotting, this hatred of each other. Carmen, Councillor Robinson, I am so sorry for all my family has done to yours.”
“We are the Council of Kerlile, and we shouldn’t be fighting. We should be united. We should be working together to determine what is best for the people of Kerlile. We should be safeguarding the cause of women’s liberation and working with those who share our goals rather than being hostile to anyone who isn’t Kerlian.”
“I hate that it took me so long to work this out. And to Olivia, I am so, so deeply sorry for all I have done to you. You did not deserve any of this. I can’t ever make it right, but I will never let such things happen to any of our own again. We have become corrupt. Our quest for power has turned us from our own cause. We are not what our ancestors set out to be, we are not what we are meant to be and we need to change. We need to change.”
“This should be a space to discuss what we need to do to make sure women are supported in this world. We shouldn’t be undermining and fighting people. We should have discussions and then go to the world united. We shouldn’t be seeking ultimate power. We should be seeking information, to give advice, to make sure that the gender roles of the 1920s are gone for good. That is our purpose.
So, I will work with all of you. I will never hurt any of you again, I will never condone torture or abuse, and we need to work out some system of reparations for the people we have wronged. We must change now. And – you’re going to think I’ve gone mad – that’s why I also support Councillor Hale’s Democracy Bill, though I’ve a few amendment proposals. But in principle… we can’t concentrate power in our own hands, for that is how we become cruel and corrupt. That is how we stray from our given purpose.”
“We change today. And we send a message to the world that we have changed. Maybe this time, with us united behind it, and giving up our power, they will believe us.”
*
Council Chamber, Grapevale, Kerlile
8th December 2020
The door opened halfway through Councillor Hart’s speech about the merits of religious involvement in government and an attempt to establish a Secadualist Committee to advise the Council. Pauline Pierre slipped inside and took her seat. The assembled Councillors froze, shocked by her presence. Pierre gestured for them to continue.
“… and the Committee would be able to advise on spiritual matters primarily, however…” Hart stopped, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Councillors, I think we should pause this discussion to hear from Pierre. She looks…”
They all knew what Hart meant. Pierre looked thin, and she wore no make-up; her eyes appeared puffy from crying. Instead of her normal fashion style, described once by Jennifer Hale as ‘faux feminist feudalism’, she wore an outfit which leaned more towards the casual side of ‘smart-casual’. Nobody said anything, they just looked at Pierre, the permission to take the floor implicit in their shocked expressions.
Councillor Pierre stood up, looking around at her gathered peers. “Councillors, I… this is not easy for me to say. But I have been… I have been wrong about so many things in my life, and looking back I am horrified at myself. My daughter spent months as a prisoner, first in Lauchenoiria and then Xiomera. In Lauchenoiria she was mistreated and tortured because of what I did to her. I chased her out of this country because she could see what I could not.”
“We must change, Councillors,” Pierre continued, sniffing slightly and wiping away a tear. “We cannot continue upholding a system in which our own daughters, our own families, are chased from this country by our policies. I have pushed against the reform that so many of you have begun to support, but I’ve been wrong. I thought we had to protect our ideology but we aren’t protecting women, we’re destroying them.”
“History has shown – our own foundation was the result of men who refused to change. Nations that refuse to change, to progress, become stagnant, and stagnancy leads to destruction. Look at what’s left of Xiomera! They needed change, and those that refused to change have lost half their territory. We cannot become stagnant. We need to adapt to modern times and we need to acknowledge that we have made mistakes in our quest for women’s liberation.”
“Our families end up divided. We have splits, people sometimes flee the country, and there are plots and whatnot against our own blood. But we are the Council of Kerlile! Our ancestors did something remarkable. They gave their time, their money and all their efforts to creating a land where women were free from the discrimination of those times. In our founding documents, we were created to be a body that safeguards that mission. Not one that controls it. And have we been safeguarding that? I don’t think we have.”
“What is necessary, changes with the times. In order to ensure we fight for women’s liberation we should have been considering how things are changing and consistently striving to be better, rather than falling into the patterns of preserving what we have at all costs. I have been guilty of this my whole life – I thought defending the Kerlian status quo was defending the women’s revolution, but I was wrong.”
“That is why I have brought this legislation before you today,” Pierre took ten copies of a document out of her bag and handed them around to the Councillors. “The Education and Upbringing of Daughters of the Council (Amendment) Bill. This proposed legislation will permit Councillors and our direct relatives to keep and care for sons. It will also permit fathers to play a part in the raising of our daughters, and for us to marry.
“I know that I, of all people, bringing this forward will come as a massive surprise to, frankly, all of you. But that’s why I’m doing this. We can’t keep up a situation where we need to give up our own family members. I know the majority of you support this, and I want you to know that I am with you now. I know we need to change. We can’t keep up this constant infighting, plotting, this hatred of each other. Carmen, Councillor Robinson, I am so sorry for all my family has done to yours.”
“We are the Council of Kerlile, and we shouldn’t be fighting. We should be united. We should be working together to determine what is best for the people of Kerlile. We should be safeguarding the cause of women’s liberation and working with those who share our goals rather than being hostile to anyone who isn’t Kerlian.”
“I hate that it took me so long to work this out. And to Olivia, I am so, so deeply sorry for all I have done to you. You did not deserve any of this. I can’t ever make it right, but I will never let such things happen to any of our own again. We have become corrupt. Our quest for power has turned us from our own cause. We are not what our ancestors set out to be, we are not what we are meant to be and we need to change. We need to change.”
“This should be a space to discuss what we need to do to make sure women are supported in this world. We shouldn’t be undermining and fighting people. We should have discussions and then go to the world united. We shouldn’t be seeking ultimate power. We should be seeking information, to give advice, to make sure that the gender roles of the 1920s are gone for good. That is our purpose.
So, I will work with all of you. I will never hurt any of you again, I will never condone torture or abuse, and we need to work out some system of reparations for the people we have wronged. We must change now. And – you’re going to think I’ve gone mad – that’s why I also support Councillor Hale’s Democracy Bill, though I’ve a few amendment proposals. But in principle… we can’t concentrate power in our own hands, for that is how we become cruel and corrupt. That is how we stray from our given purpose.”
“We change today. And we send a message to the world that we have changed. Maybe this time, with us united behind it, and giving up our power, they will believe us.”
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax