[Lauchenoiria]

(Joint post with Xiomera)

Mariya Adema usually enjoyed waking up on a workday. Her (disturbing) profession was truly her vocation, and she loved it. That was before Cozamalotl. At first, she enjoyed interrogating the Huenya-loving traitor, encouraging him to confess his sins and admit fault. But months passed, and he remained stubbornly insisting he was right. She despised him.

This morning, she groaned as she switched off her alarm clock after hitting snooze three times. She grabbed a cereal bar and yesterday's clothes, tying her hair back carelessly and heading to work. She glared at the people on the street and they all shied back, knowing who she was.

Eventually she took a deep breath, composed her face into her signature sadistic smile, grabbed her equipment and unlocked Cozamalotl's cell, calling out to him in a false tone of cheer: "good morning, traitor scum!"

Cozamalotl was not as composed as he had been in the past few weeks. He still believed he was right, and that his cause was right. But he just wasn’t sure he had the will left to resist anymore. He could feel himself breaking, and losing himself. When Mariya walked in, he simply stared at her, not trusting himself to speak anymore.

"Aren't you going to say good morning?" Mariya said quizzically, tilting her head to the side. "It's rude to not say good morning. Rude people must be punished."

”Rude people must be punished. Polite people must be punished. Tall people, short people, men, women, everyone must be punished here,” Cozamalotl said dully. “It hardly matters what I do, now does it?”

"Of course it matters," grins Mariya. "If you would only admit your treason and recant your views, this could all be over."

”The torture would be over, maybe. But we both know Calhualyana too well to believe I will ever leave Xiomera alive. So why does it matter? Even if I speak the words you want me to, literally no one outside Xiomera will believe it. They will know it is a lie. Why does that have value to all of you when it will be a transparent fiction to the world?” Like Mariya, Cozamalotl was making one last effort to understand the stubborn people he was dealing with.

"You'd be surprised what the world will believe," Mariya mused. "You're not good at judging people, or you wouldn't have decided to come here. Why are you allowing yourself to suffer when you know we'll get what we want in the end?"

”Because I don’t have to help you get what you want. I don’t have to help the people who are destroying my country.” Normally, Cozamalotl would have added something about Calhualyana’s regime not being inevitable, but he couldn’t muster up the strength this time.

Mariya sighed. "This was your very last chance to do this the easy way. You will say what we want you to say in the courtroom; and I will look forward to watching your execution."

She turned her back to put her equipment case on the ground, trusting that the chains would hold Cozamalotl back far enough that he couldn't hurt her. She hummed as she sorted through her tools, before grabbing one and turning back to brandish it, grinning.

Cozamalotl looked at her with resignation. “So, if I say what you want me to say…..even though anyone with a functioning brain cell will recognize I am not saying it freely and thus it has no meaning….that’s really all it takes for you to cease your barbarity? A convenient lie?”

Mariya decided to drop the fake grin and speak frankly. "I'd prefer you truly regretted your actions, but at this point I'll take what I can get. The Empress instructed me to obtain your confession, I personally do not care what you believe deep in your heart if you say what we wish you to say."

Cozamalotl thought for a long time, until Mariya began to fidget impatiently from his silence. If I don’t truly renounce my beliefs, does it matter what I say? Those who truly know me will know it is false. The world, for that matter, will know it is false. The people who will not already believe what Calhualyana says, and suffering here will not change that.

Cozamalotl had gone into the Cauhloc determined to resist no matter what. In truth, he had held out far longer than almost anyone that Xiomera had held as a political prisoner.

But everyone’s will, if they don’t die, breaks in the end.

“Fine. I will tell your lies, which no one will believe anyway,” he whispered. “So pointless.”

Mariya let her arm holding the whip relax, dropping it onto the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief and let out a small laugh. "Finally! Oh, finally, you've seen sense! I'll get someone else to come in here with the paperwork, I am taking a week off."

”Sense? There is no sense to be had here. The entire Cauhloc is remarkably devoid of sense, as is the Palace of Flowers. Everyone knows what the Xiomeran Empire truly is. Any false words I speak will only confirm it. But let us complete the charade. Send in your paperwork, enjoy your vacation. Even in this, I still believe that in time, my sacrifice will be part of the undoing of this evil Empire. A small part, maybe, but we have our roles to play.”

"I think I finally understand you," Mariya mused as she packed up her things. "You believe your role is to suffer. Well, I can respect someone who is willing to accept their part in life. Even though I still want to see you die."

”There is just one more thing I must ask,” Cozamalotl said. “You believe you understand my role in the world, but I still do not understand yours. I’m not sure I want to. But I am a scholar at heart, so I have to ask. Why do you enjoy harming people so much? Why do you take so much pleasure in what you do? And why do you want to see me die, when I have done nothing to you?”

Mariya paused, thinking on the wisdom of whether or not to answer his question. And then decided, why not, it's not like he'll live much longer. She closed her work case and sat on top of it.

"I will answer your questions, in reverse. I want to see you die, not out of personal malice, but out of professional frustration. You are righteous, believing in a cause, and nothing shakes that. It's infuriating. You don't swear at me, or threaten vengeance, you don't beg for mercy... I tested your blood sample to make sure you were human. You have been the most irritating assignment of my career and only when you're dead will I be free of you."

She glanced over at the cell door, to see if anyone was going to come in and yell at her for speaking to the prisoner in this way. But all the staff were as scared of her as the prisoners were. She continued. "Since you've been my assignment, I have felt little pleasure in my job, I assure you. But appearing excited and happy unnerves most subjects. I take pleasure in a job well done, not in hurting people. I just happen to be good at hurting people; and so frequently do a good job of it. This is where my talents lie; and I believe one should always follow one's fated path."

”In that case, since we seem to be at our end, I will just say what I told you at the beginning: you can always change your path. Fate is something people tell themselves to justify staying on a path, for a million different reasons. You don’t have to stay on this one.”

"You may very well have convinced me to consider a career change," Mariya said, then grinned, this time with amusement rather than sadism behind it, "if only by being so annoying you've managed to make me dread coming to work!"

She stood up, grabbed her case and tapped her signature knock on the door to let her colleagues know she was finished. "I hate you... but I'm also impressed."

”I can take comfort in that small victory, at least.” When Mariya left the room, Cozamalotl sighed to himself, staring at the wall. He did not feel that Mariya should be impressed with him; at the end, he had broken. That reality made him feel almost as bad as the actions that had broken him.