[Lauchenoiria]

Moore Residence, Buttercity Suburbs, Lauchenoiria
Late evening

Laura Moore and her husband Felipe sat on different couches in their living room, both holding cups of decaf tea and relaxing now that the kids were in bed. They sat in silence, not really speaking much – since the war, they’d slowly but surely drifted apart, the intimacy of their relationship lessened by the differing traumas both had faced three years ago, and the resulting outcomes. They wanted to work things out, but neither of them consciously knew what the problem was.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted the silence. Felipe got up to answer the door, as was custom given how often delivery people and cold callers would get flustered at the sight of Laura. He padded down the corridor, avoiding the creaky floorboard to not wake up the children, unlocked the door and pulled it open slightly to see who was outside. Then he stopped, staring and turned back around to where Laura had followed him into the hallway.

“I think it’s for you,” he said, stepping back towards the staircase as if he wanted to quickly get out of the way of whatever was about to happen.

Curious, Laura opened the door wider and then stopped to stare herself as she saw the new Prime Minister, Josephine Alvarez, on her doorstep with a number of secret service agents, some of whom she vaguely recognised from her own time in office.

“Hi Laura,” Alvarez said. “May I come in?”

“Um, sure?” Laura said, opening the door wider and stepping back. She had her own government-provided security, given everything, so her property was already protected meaning the accompanying agents seemed content to wait outside. Felipe had vanished upstairs out of the way as Laura led Josephine to her living room. “Please,” she gestured to an armchair. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, that’s okay. I just needed… well, I need some advice,” confessed Alvarez, as she sat down on the chair slumping forward a little. “I know we didn’t end things on the best of terms during the 2019 election, but we used to be on the same page about things, and you have experience I lack. I think I’ve messed up, Laura.”

“Well I’m not going to pretend I agree with every decision you’ve made,” Laura said frankly, “but I know how hard it is, and how easy it is for one mistake to derail everything. So why don’t you start by telling me exactly what it is you think you’ve messed up?”

So, Alvarez did. She started with the problems she’d inherited from Noguera’s provisional post-war government such as the Shuellian aid and strings attached, the conspiracy theories about Sanctarian, or Skodenian, or Shuellian, or Kerlian occupation (they varied, the only common theme was that Lauchenoiria was someone’s secret colony), the mess of the Aurora affair, the WOE protests, Yauhmi and Jennifer Hale. How every day there was a new crisis and everything she did seemed to make it worse. How she didn’t know how Laura had ever managed to do this. And when she was finished, she was in tears.

“Hey, Josephine,” Laura said, sitting next to the other woman, putting her arm around her. “It’s okay, we can fix this.”

“I’m not sure how,” sobbed Alvarez.

“First, let’s talk about Shuell and international relations. One of your main problems here is that you’ve been too reactive to what’s happening abroad. You’re letting the actions of foreign governments dictate what you do, not in the way the conspiracy theorists say, but in the way you react without first setting your own agenda. Look at what benefits we get from a trade deal with Shuell and set terms. Don’t let them write the thing uncontested just because they gave us a little crisis aid.”

“It’s not just Shuell though,” Josephine wiped a residual tear from her eyes and shifted to face Moore. “This situation with Huenya and Xiomera is a mess and I just don’t know what to do given the circumstances.”

“Huenya is the obvious ally here, but you say Pavía has issues? I know you and Yauhmi have some kind of history, you… forgive me for saying, but you seem frightened of her. She’s no longer in power, though. I believe you when you say Calhualyana is saying the right things but I’d be sceptical of her intentions. Everyone wants something. Except you, it seems. And therein lies the source of your trouble – you haven’t decided what you want.”

Alvarez was quiet for a few moments, thinking. Then she turned back to Moore with yet another question. “What about WOE? They were escalating things in a really concerning way, but I can’t help but feel we’re in bad company the way we’ve treated them. But at the same time, the helicopter incident is terrorism.”

“Is it? They were volunteering with Milinticans, who were officially at war. Yes, they were our citizens but we don’t technically ban our citizens from fighting for foreign forces. What they did wasn’t a war crime, just a normal act of war and they were operating under the command of another power. That’s not our problem. Your instinct is right, it looks bad to lock them up for the non-violent stuff they were doing here. I’d urge you to consider rescinding the ban on the group and let them go, if you want these rumours about you being a wannabe dictator to stop.”

“I get that, it’s just that Sandra says…”

“Let me stop you right there,” Laura interrupted. “Why is the Foreign Minister making domestic justice decisions? And why is the Foreign Minister cosying up to dictators at the expense of our relations with democratic states? You’ve held that position before, you know what the role entails. I’d take a good long look at why Pavía has so much power, and what she’s using it for. And if you don’t like what you see, perhaps consider a reshuffle.”

Josephine paused, then spoke quickly, not making eye contact. “Is it too late? I know what people say about me, I’ve made so many mistakes. Is it too late to fix things or should I just resign so someone less tainted can take the helm?”

“It’s not too late,” Moore replied firmly. “I know you can redeem yourself, these issues are not insurmountable but you need to make a choice. You need to decide if you’re going to stick to your principles, set your own agenda and try to make things better… or if you’re going to keep reacting to crises, letting others dictate what you do and letting certain people have undue influence over you.”

“It’s just that…” Josephine sighed. “I feel like a different person since the war. Like everything good about me was just sucked out and destroyed. I doubt everything about the past and the future, and I don’t know what to do. Maybe Finlay was right.”

“Finlay?”

“Finlay Hale, Jennifer’s cousin. He said I didn’t deserve her.”

“I don’t think he gets to decide that,” Laura pointed out. “Only she gets to decide that, and Sonja or Jennifer, whoever she is, clearly chose you. It’s the worst kept secret in the world that she’s still in love with you. May I ask, how do you feel about her, now that time has passed?”

“I… I miss Sonja,” confessed Alvarez. “I just don’t know if she ever existed. Was it just a fake name or was it an entirely fake person? How can I tell the difference when everything has changed and the world will never be the same again?”

“I don’t know, Josephine. I never knew her as well as you did. My advice to you would be this: listen to your heart. It will tell you how you feel about Sonja, about Jennifer, and all of this. If you want to give her a second chance, only you can make that decision. I know this is a lot, it’s hard and you didn’t expect any of this. I can only ask that you really, truly think about what you want. Only then can you make the necessary changes.”

As Alvarez thanked Moore for speaking with her, especially when she showed up late at night uninvited, and took her leave of the Moore house, she was thinking a lot about what Laura had said. It was true that Alvarez had been far too reactive in her policy agenda, allowing events to overtake her. As for Jennifer… she didn’t know what to feel. But as the car drove back to her own residence, she tried listening to her heart about all of this, and came to one very solid conclusion. An announcement would be made tomorrow.