[Lauchenoiria]

Hale Estate, Virtus Region, Kerlile
April 27, 2023

“How old are you, hm? Are you going to tell the camera how old you are today?” came a voice from behind the smartphone that was recording the scene unfolding in the Hale Family estate.

“FOUR!” yelled Amelia Hale, sticking four fingers out too close to the camera. Then she went back to running around the room, throwing wrapping paper in the air as she circled around all the gifts she’d unwrapped earlier. The adults chuckled, and Jennifer stopped recording as Amelia ran out into the garden after a gaggle of similarly-aged Chiu cousins.

“I remember it like yesterday when we had to force you to agree to even produce an heir,” chuckled President Rebecca Arnott.

“I wanted a child; I did not want that child to become a tool of totalitarian gynarchy,” Jennifer snapped back. “As I told you and the late Anita Patel at the time.”

“Uh, Kerlians force people to have kids? Kerlians?” came a voice from a laptop which was displaying a video link. Josephine Alvarez had agreed to attend Amelia’s birthday party virtually; the best she could do under the circumstances.

“It’s a long story,” Jennifer groaned. “And no, Rebecca, you are not about to tell it.”

Given that the story was they forced her to agree to IVF in exchange for refraining from executing Josephine while she was in their custody; that was for the best. Some cans of worms were best left closed, especially when there were probably at least ten Lauchenoirian spies eavesdropping on the call. Regardless, Jennifer was glad she’d agreed – and her only regret was not doing so uncoerced.

“Mum! Cheung bit me!” Jia Chiu ran up to her mother Xia, who was pregnant once again. Her two-year-old brother was in the garden chasing the girls around flashing his teeth. He was the only boy in the group.

“Shh, not in front of the Councillors,” Xia whispered to her daughter, quickly leading her out of the room where the rest of the conversation wouldn’t be overheard. Reform was such a difficult process; best not to allow the policymakers of the Matriarchy to see a male partaking in such misogynistic behaviour as biting his sister – even if he was literally a toddler. That had never stopped the Council in the past.

The party continued, the children playing and the adults sipping drinks. Josephine stayed for a mere fifteen minutes; she had a country to run (so did half the other adults, but one should never let reality get in the way of a good time). Once some time had passed, and the sky began to turn red as the sunset approached, Rebecca Arnott took Jennifer Hale’s arm and led her into a side room.

“I expect you will leave in July,” Arnott said. Hale remained silent. She did not intend to let Kerlile know of her plans in advance, even if they suspected. “You don’t need to answer,” Arnott shook her head.

“Listen, EUDCA is still in place, even amended. What are you going to do about Amelia’s schooling?”

“In ten years, if the Council of Kerlile still exists, I will have failed,” Jennifer replied.

“Jennifer could you please go one day without threatening to commit treason?” the President of Kerlile said, exasperated.

“Once upon a time, you sat next to me by a river and talked treason yourself,” Jennifer pointed out. “And you told me that you would support reform – out of self-interest. You offered me terms to support your campaign for the presidency. Well, you won. You have not yet met my terms. So, don’t tell me that things will be different if I stay; I am well aware that progress no longer suits your self-interest.”

Councillor Hale pushed past the President, back to the party. Rebecca Arnott looked after her, sighed, and shook her head, and then followed – only to burst into hysterical laughter at the scene in front of her.

Amelia Hale, age four and with all the confidence that comes with that, had the Xiomeran Ambassador Imaxochitl by the hand, and was dragging her into a playhouse on a patio by the garden, much to the Ambassador’s horror. As the ambassador tried to pull away, Amelia giggled and pushed her through the door into the playhouse, which was barely larger than the ambassador herself.

The Huenyan ambassador, Tiacuichpana, who’d been suspiciously eyeing her Xiomeran counterpart since the beginning of the party, couldn’t help but start chuckling to herself at the sight of it, turning away to hide the smile on her face. Suddenly, she felt something slam into her back and she jumped around, alert. Amelia was grabbing her leg and trying to climb up her body.

“Earring!” Amelia shrieked, revealing her reason to climb an ambassador like a tree. Her mother quickly appeared, picking Amelia off the ambassador and, while mouthing sorry, returned Amelia to the garden, past where a very red-faced Imaxochitl was untangling herself from the playhouse.