01-08-2024, 11:37 PM
“Seriously? Are you being serious right now?” Oliver Alberto of the Lauchenoirian Guardian said to his colleague, Yaotl, of the Thraxian international press corps. Yaotl, a Huenyan journalist, had just burst into the open-plan office shared by a number of foreign news outlets (it was one of the few air-conditioned buildings) in Castle Zargo and loudly blurted out something that made the entire foreign press corps turn to stare with mouths wide open.
Yaotl nodded. “Yup; we just published. Princess Leila has been missing since November and the royals didn’t bother to report it at all. She’s eleven. Eleven. I knew Shapur was crazy, but this is another level.”
“She’s the one who hates cats, right? Think Daddy engaged in a little filicide?” Karl Sorensen, a Zongongian tabloid journalist who nobody liked piped up.
“No, she was seen in the city before the disappearance, and the sources indicate she fled the palace at a time when Shapur was opening a new cat centre; he wasn’t home. And frankly, I doubt anyone would obey that order if he gave it,” Yaotl shrugged.
“Hashemi?” Alberto asked, and an uneasy silence fell over the room. Hashemi was not someone that one criticised while in Zargothrax. Even more so than the King, his opponents tended to disappear. The King was insane, yes, but people considered him the fun type of quirky, and he was mostly liked by the populace. Hashemi, on the other hand, was the shadowy figure that most people who were politically informed believed truly ran the country, cat laws aside.
“Well, she might have just run away,” Tristan Lamar, a Laeralian reporter, pointed out. “She is allergic to cats. I would not blame her; and if she ran of her own accord, reporting the disappearance would have just encouraged would-be kidnappers to seek her out. Perhaps the lack of reportage at the time was tactical.”
“I doubt Shapur would think of that,” Alberto replied. “Regardless; there has been a missing eleven-year-old princess for over a month. That is so unlikely as to be close to impossible in the modern world. And yet.”
“Well, the story’s out now,” Yaotl shrugged. “Only time will tell what the hell happened.”
*
Princess Leila had, in fact, run of her own accord. She and her Kerlian handler thought it prudent after her discovery in the attic. Hashemi was indeed a greater threat than her father, and now that she had discovered his secret, she needed to be whisked away somewhere safe. As for why her father had not reported her missing, well, that was a mystery that would remain unknown for the time being.
Leila and her Kerlian had decamped to a new location on the island of Samara – yes, the one now ruled by a cat. It was an odd place to be since the supposed independence; its own country and yet not, since nobody had actually planned for any kind of independence. It was easy to come and go, there were virtually no checks or screenings at all for anything. Smugglers were setting up home on the coasts, and nobody paid any attention to the pair, or the other Kerlians they later met up with.
The Kerlians had debated and theorised over what Hashemi was doing. They dug more deeply into the man, and discovered his links to Cosmic Infinity. They worked tirelessly, sometimes including Leila but more often working while the child slept. Slowly, a working theory started to form.
Hashemi wanted power, and had taken advantage of the Plague of ’96 to get rid of the brothers. Shapur either genuinely ended up brain damaged from the virus, or this was somehow deliberately engineered by Hashemi. Either way, Hashemi had then created the cult and led Shapur to it so that he had some element of religious control over the future King. And when this control was sufficiently solidified, Hashemi had somehow kidnapped and faked the death of the previous King to place his pawn on the throne.
This theory had several flaws. Firstly, if the brain damage was natural that was entirely too convenient, but if it was created then how? Furthermore, surely it would make more sense to assassinate King Navid than keep him prisoner in the attic. Then there were the cats, which surely weren’t part of any master plan; and the cat laws plus the Saladian War implied that Shapur was genuinely in power. Finally, there was the fact that this would be a hopelessly complex and insane plan, when there are easier ways to seize power of an absolute monarchy. Marriage, for example.
Yet the Kerlians could not come up with anything better.
One morning, the morning that news of her disappearance broke, Leila came down the stairs in the morning to challenge the group of Kerlians arguing around a table. “Hi, I’m sorry, but why are you trying so hard to work this out? Aren’t you from Project Belle? Isn’t your job to get women and girls who want out of patriarchies back to Kerlile? What does it matter if Hashemi, my father, or my grandfather are in charge here? They’re all the same!”
The first Kerlian, her Kerlian, her contact, smiled and came over to Leila, ushering her into the kitchen for breakfast. “We’re simply determining how this affects our operations, my dear; we’ll get you out of here as soon as we’ve figured out what’s going on. After all, we don’t want to be crossing the border if there’s a civil war or anything. Now, what would you like for breakfast?”
And Leila shrugged, figured it made sense, and sat down to eat.
Yaotl nodded. “Yup; we just published. Princess Leila has been missing since November and the royals didn’t bother to report it at all. She’s eleven. Eleven. I knew Shapur was crazy, but this is another level.”
“She’s the one who hates cats, right? Think Daddy engaged in a little filicide?” Karl Sorensen, a Zongongian tabloid journalist who nobody liked piped up.
“No, she was seen in the city before the disappearance, and the sources indicate she fled the palace at a time when Shapur was opening a new cat centre; he wasn’t home. And frankly, I doubt anyone would obey that order if he gave it,” Yaotl shrugged.
“Hashemi?” Alberto asked, and an uneasy silence fell over the room. Hashemi was not someone that one criticised while in Zargothrax. Even more so than the King, his opponents tended to disappear. The King was insane, yes, but people considered him the fun type of quirky, and he was mostly liked by the populace. Hashemi, on the other hand, was the shadowy figure that most people who were politically informed believed truly ran the country, cat laws aside.
“Well, she might have just run away,” Tristan Lamar, a Laeralian reporter, pointed out. “She is allergic to cats. I would not blame her; and if she ran of her own accord, reporting the disappearance would have just encouraged would-be kidnappers to seek her out. Perhaps the lack of reportage at the time was tactical.”
“I doubt Shapur would think of that,” Alberto replied. “Regardless; there has been a missing eleven-year-old princess for over a month. That is so unlikely as to be close to impossible in the modern world. And yet.”
“Well, the story’s out now,” Yaotl shrugged. “Only time will tell what the hell happened.”
*
Princess Leila had, in fact, run of her own accord. She and her Kerlian handler thought it prudent after her discovery in the attic. Hashemi was indeed a greater threat than her father, and now that she had discovered his secret, she needed to be whisked away somewhere safe. As for why her father had not reported her missing, well, that was a mystery that would remain unknown for the time being.
Leila and her Kerlian had decamped to a new location on the island of Samara – yes, the one now ruled by a cat. It was an odd place to be since the supposed independence; its own country and yet not, since nobody had actually planned for any kind of independence. It was easy to come and go, there were virtually no checks or screenings at all for anything. Smugglers were setting up home on the coasts, and nobody paid any attention to the pair, or the other Kerlians they later met up with.
The Kerlians had debated and theorised over what Hashemi was doing. They dug more deeply into the man, and discovered his links to Cosmic Infinity. They worked tirelessly, sometimes including Leila but more often working while the child slept. Slowly, a working theory started to form.
Hashemi wanted power, and had taken advantage of the Plague of ’96 to get rid of the brothers. Shapur either genuinely ended up brain damaged from the virus, or this was somehow deliberately engineered by Hashemi. Either way, Hashemi had then created the cult and led Shapur to it so that he had some element of religious control over the future King. And when this control was sufficiently solidified, Hashemi had somehow kidnapped and faked the death of the previous King to place his pawn on the throne.
This theory had several flaws. Firstly, if the brain damage was natural that was entirely too convenient, but if it was created then how? Furthermore, surely it would make more sense to assassinate King Navid than keep him prisoner in the attic. Then there were the cats, which surely weren’t part of any master plan; and the cat laws plus the Saladian War implied that Shapur was genuinely in power. Finally, there was the fact that this would be a hopelessly complex and insane plan, when there are easier ways to seize power of an absolute monarchy. Marriage, for example.
Yet the Kerlians could not come up with anything better.
One morning, the morning that news of her disappearance broke, Leila came down the stairs in the morning to challenge the group of Kerlians arguing around a table. “Hi, I’m sorry, but why are you trying so hard to work this out? Aren’t you from Project Belle? Isn’t your job to get women and girls who want out of patriarchies back to Kerlile? What does it matter if Hashemi, my father, or my grandfather are in charge here? They’re all the same!”
The first Kerlian, her Kerlian, her contact, smiled and came over to Leila, ushering her into the kitchen for breakfast. “We’re simply determining how this affects our operations, my dear; we’ll get you out of here as soon as we’ve figured out what’s going on. After all, we don’t want to be crossing the border if there’s a civil war or anything. Now, what would you like for breakfast?”
And Leila shrugged, figured it made sense, and sat down to eat.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax