[Lauchenoiria]

Patel Mansion, Primrose Region, Kerlile
PRESENT DAY

Reena Patel was curled up in a ball, sobbing. The 22-year-old Reformist granddaughter of Anita Patel hardly mourned her grandmother’s death. Reena was no fan of war crimes. No, Reena mourned for her own freedom. Her mother, Yamunda, was worse than her grandmother had been. Yamunda Patel, sister of Councillor Nirmala, worked in the Restricted Region in the same job Mariya once held. And her mother had now locked her up in the basement of the Patel family mansion with Nirmala’s approval.

Her mother and aunt accused her of conspiring against their family with the Reform Party. According to them, Reena surely knew who had murdered her grandmother, given that she was so close to all the treacherous reformists. Reena hadn’t a clue. But her mother never believed her. And nobody would look for her here: they could tell the world she was dead and they’d be believed. Reena had no hope of escape, and worse still she would probably be tortured by her own mother.

The Patel family mansion had been constructed to be as intimidating as possible. The Patel founder, Sunita, had believed that fear was the key to holding power. And as successive generations of Patels continued to enjoy the fine arts of torture and the imprisonment of their enemies, the basement levels had grown into what was basically a dungeon. Reena was not the only person down here. She had no idea who the others were: probably random dissidents Yamunda had stolen from the actual prisons. Yes, that was a thing Kerlian Councillors were known to do.

What had doomed Reena to suffer the ire of her own family were the video calls with Natasha Robinson in Zongongia. Neither her aunt, her mother, or her cousin the heir believed her when she said they were just chatting between friends, not political plotting. Even though it was the truth. But no, the rest of her family believed she’d been plotting with the Robinsons, the prime suspects in the crime given their double-agent Auroras. Now she was classed as an enemy by her own family.

A gust of cold air wafted into the cell Reena had been thrown into. She stiffened, knowing this probably meant somebody was coming. There were no footsteps, however. Then one of the other prisoners let out a scream. Reena pulled her legs closer to her body and glanced around, wide-eyed. Nothing happened. Perhaps this was just some kind of intimidation tactic? Her mother loved theatrics. Oh Goddess save me, Reena thought, as tears welled in the corners of her eyes.

*

In a Zongongian post office, members of the Zongongian Intelligence Agency wearing hazmat suits were scouring every inch of the place. Earlier the same day, a postal worker had suddenly dropped dead while spot-checking packages from abroad. It had transpired that the package checked was addressed to one Carmen Robinson, c/o King Osvald, Palace; and it had been sent from Kerlile.

The package, it would later be revealed, was sent by the Patel family. Inside was a note reading “for Anita”. Clearly, the Patels had decided who was guilty of the murder of their war-criminal mother. Whatever strong poison had been in the package killed, in the end, three postal workers and caused permanent damage to seven more. The Zongongian government announced sanctions against Kerlile in response.

Robinson, for her part, was horrified to hear of the incident. After all, she was not the person responsible for Anita Patel’s death. She hadn’t a clue who it was, but she knew it wasn’t her or her family (given that it was only her and her two daughters left). No, the real culprit was still unknown. And unsuspected.