Quote:"And so you see, what this type of economic system does then is it gives us a lot of transparency so we can see the various components of the budget, you see, all of this makes this program, all these programs combine to form the budget of this ministry. That's one way but it doesn't give us a lot of leverage on either outcomes which we talked about earlier, nor does it provide us with a lot of flexibility when unexpected costs come up later in the year and we need to find the money for those things." The Empress was showing the young Hutorian King various budgeting models.

"And so you've gone with the one that allows the flexibility," King William XVII asked.

"Yes because it allows us to more effectively utilize our surplus if needed, where I no longer have to ask the legislature to pass a bill if I want something done. I just tell them to do it and then write the check."

"But the legislature doesn't like that," said King William.

"That may be true, but they don't really have much choice in the matter. The point is that when we need something done, I shouldn't have to beg a bunch of democrats to do what they should have already been doing, you see."

"I don't think it works quite like that back in Hutori," William said with a smile.

"Well, I will say, and if you haven't learned this since you have been here, I don't think you've learned anything, but as king, your word is law. I think a lot of the western monarchs are committed, for some strange reason to this notion that they should be limited, but I am telling you, you cannot effectively rule a nation if you do not have the ability to expect that your priorities will be funded, and at that point, really, what's the point of even having a king. If your yea and nay is always up for a vote, what purpose do you serve?"

"I mean, Head of state is a very important position," the young king responded.

"True, but if you want to be Luthorian, that's something you should concern yourself with. If your goal is to be sovereign monarch of Hutori, you shouldn't feel so limited to such a ceremonial role."

"Of course," answered William. "I just don't know that I could ever get away with it in Hutori."

"I assure you," answered Carolina. "You never know until you try, but also, I have a feeling that the people there are ready for a little bit more forward leaning and robust monarch. Nothing against your Grandmother, she was a wonderful and kind woman, but Hutori needs a leader, and elections only provide popular figures, not competent ones."

There was suddenly a buzz on the intercom and the voice of Her Imperial Majesty's Secretary said over the speaker, "The Lady Chancellor is here."

Carolina looked at William and winked. "Ok, here's something you haven't seen yet. This is how you handle an irate Head of Government."

William looked confused, "The Chancellor is irate?" he asked incredulously.

Carolina nodded. "You'll see." She pressed the button and said "Please send Lady Donahue in."

The door opened and the Chancellor of the Empire strode in. She was still buzzing after her disastrous press conference where she got into it with several reporters over Egelian sanctions. She stood before the desk, and lowered her head to the Empress, and then turned and did the same for the young Hutorian King. As she lifted her head, her gaze met his and the Chancellor quickly looked at the Empress. "Your Imperial Majesty, will you ask the King to excuse himself?"

Carolina looked at the Hutorian Monarch, and then back to the Chancellor. "Well considering that this meeting couldn't wait and you have interrupted this afternoon's lesson, we would like him to stay if its all the same."

The Chancellor lowered her head once more. "My Lady, it is not all the same. I request a private audience with you."

"Madame Chancellor, there is nothing that you could possibly say to me that is within the bounds of the law that he is not fit to hear. He is our brother; you will abide him." The Chancellor slowly raised her head, sent a look to the King, and then quickly back to the Empress. "Aye Madame," she said. The Empress looked at the King and gave a slightly imperceptible nod.

"Now, Madame, if you would be seated perhaps you will tell us what is vexxing you," the Empress asked.

"I'd rather stand, Your Imperial Majesty," said Lady Donahue.

"Very well then, while you stand may we prepare you some tea?" asked the Empress.

"No," the Chancellor snapped back, annoyed at the formality and the fact that the 18 year old Hutorian King was sitting in the room against her wishes. "No your Imperial Majesty, I would prefer it if you didn't. I don't want to take up any more of the King's school time than I absolutely need to."

"Alright then," said Carolina. "Let's have it. Why are you so upset? Why have you asked for this meeting today?"

"I--" she paused for a moment, unsure if she should go all the way. "I-- I can't continue any longer in this position, Your Imperial Majesty."

Carolina smiled. "Please Lady Ericka, there no need for melodrama. You are far too old for that and we are too far along in our relationship for you to not be straightforward with us. What is on your mind?"

Lady Ericka took a deep breath. "It's these... these... it's everything My Lady. I am retiring in two years, having served your family my entire adult life. And I am subjected to these ridiculous questions by the, excuse me, these... f--king... journalists, of all people who challenge you at every single turn, and I have to go out there and defend your choices and the problem is, they are right half the time! But I can't say so, so they pepper me..."

The Empress sat back in her chair surprised at the turn this meeting suddenly took. "Madame, I rely on your candor. What are they right about?" The Chancellor looked at the King then back to the Empress, then back to the King.

"My lady, not in front of him, please. I request a private aud..."

"Out with it, Lady Donahue or I have have you defenestrated right here," Carolina was growing impatient all of a sudden. "And stop asking for him to be removed. Forget he's here. He will need to deal with his own you someday, and he needs to stay here. Now tell me and be plain about it."

The Chancellor was a little shocked, "Madame, your pronouns..."

Carolina rose to her feet. "God damn pronouns. Give it to me straight ."

The Chancellor knew she had gone too far. She dropped to her knee and lowered her head. "Your Imperial Majesty, I can no longer defend your policy toward Egelion. I believe it to be flawed."

"In what way?" asked the Empress, who now felt forced to continue to stand, because otherwise she would not be able to see her Chancellor.

"Madame, I believe your plan is flawed because you should be preparing for war. Your Empire's reputation is on the line, and they are walking all over you. They act with impunity toward your crown and you won't even raise a finger to stop them or even do symbolic sanctions. And the people are demanding much stronger action from you than simply issuing a PNG which you won't even enforce. Your Imperial Majesty, I lost my bearing before the Press today because I am completely conflicted over your choices. And I cannot in good conscience go out there daily to defend them, because this was the day when I almost switched sides and turned against you."

Carolina was silent for a moment. "Madame Chancellor, we talked about this together. We agreed there was nothing that could be done, and attempting to do anything at all would make us look even worse."

"Madame I understand that, I don't necessarily agree with that tack anymore."

The Empress continued, "Our job is to defend this Empire. And if that goddamned plagued nation was somehow able to melt New Verham into formless slag, we would still have the job to defend our nation regardless. The PNG was a message that we oppose their involvement. They have not answered us, nor do we believe they intend to, and so we will not escalate anything with Egelion. We have had the last word in the matter, and now we need to return to matters which are far more important for Kalistan and the Anantonese Empire, which is our first, last and only concern. What we have for dinner tonight is far more important to us than anything Egelion could possibly do in the middle of Dovani. Literally everything about this is a distraction that should not concern us at all. If, on the long chance, Egelion wants to someday treat us as their equal and actually work on regional security instead of just asking us how we can contribute to their empire or condescendingly offering us advice as if we need to learn something from them, our door is open. Otherwise, they are not our concern, on any level. Egelion is a non-issue for Kalsitan." The Empress sat in her chair.

The Chancellor still kneeling said "Your Imperial Majesty, I respectfully disagree. If they surpass us..."

"If..." interrupted the Empress. "If... Look. Lady Donahue, please stand up so we may see you." The Chancellor rose to her feet. "And now, sit down so we can talk like humans." The Chancellor hesitated and the Empress rolled her eyes. "Madame, your Empress commands you to sit down in that chair directly behind you. Please." The Chancellor, resigned, sat in the chair, though she sat forward, determined to not look relaxed.

The Empress inhaled sharply. "Madame, Egelion does what it wants. Literally nobody else bothers to stop it. It's not a situation of 'if'. They have surpassed us. They have five armadas that allow them to go where ever they want whenever they want without any problem. They can deploy air or land Marines at will and are successful at everything they do. And there is literally no international opposition to anything they do. They have the power to wave their hand and a whole continent is united. Meanwhile, Kalistan has to buy back our own land an acre at a time. There is no 'if'. It's not a hypothetical matter."

"So why aren't we doing anything to stop them?!" the Chancellor insisted. She was frustrated with having this conversation over and over again. The Empress did not answer but stared at the Chancellor. "Your Imperial Majesty, when are you going to take this threat seriously and start opposing it? Stand up for this country. My god. DO something." The Empress just let her speak. "Your Imperial Majesty..." Nothing. "Empress."

After a moment the Empress looked at her desk and shrugged. "Madame Chancellor. As much as it pains us to say, our Father and Mother's policy was incorrect. Their policy, largely directed by the Nationalists, made our Empire one of the most isolated nations in the world. Our Aunt wanted something different for our nation. She believed that we could engage with the world while still watching our own house. This is the view we also take. We are curious about the world. We would like for Kalistan to return to the world. We would like to open our doors again to the world. We will never be friends with Egelion--They have made it amply clear that they do not think of us as a valuable partner, let alone a friend or ally. But, it is not our job to be everyone's friend. They spend their life completely sidestepping Kalistan as if we aren't even in their way, let alone on their radar. But nothing prevents us from doing the same to them.

"And we can continue to do as we please, which is to reach out to the world while Egelion is sending an entire battle fleet against a developing nation in central Dovani which is so broken that it can't even stop its militias from killing each other. Why would Kalistan bother to involve itself in that conflict at all? That would be like dealing with an ant hill with a hydrogen bomb. Yet, they immediately resort to overwhelming force using global projection. How do they pay for it? Who cares? The fact is that every single aircraft carrier is bread they are not able to feed millions of their people with. Every bomb is a shot they are not able to give to a hundred children. They pay to maintain fleets on the opposite side of the world. Fleets are living breathing eating cities, and the base is another city. But unlike cities, fleets on the other side of the planet contribute nothing to the people of Egelion. They're just an expense. And they have a lot of those expenses that we don't have."

"Your Imperial Majesty... I..."

"Lady Donahue, you have been in your job for decades and you have served our family all that time and yet you still do not understand how we think, after all this time. I love you, Ericka, in a very personal way. You have always been with me, when my parents died and my aunt essentially lost her mind grieving for them, it was you who made sure I was taken care of. You are my friend, and you are like my older sister. But you are not an Ananto. And you can never know, in any real way, the mind of an Ananto."

The Chancellor looked at the Empress, and she knew she had lost the Empress' confidence. So it didn't really matter what she said next. Her time was up and she would be going into retirement a couple years ahead of time. So she asked, "Madame, hopefully you will enlighten me, so I may try to understand it."

The Empress looked at her, almost surprised that the Chancellor wasn't more forceful in her rhetorical request. She decided to answer anyway. "The simple matter of fact is, Kalistan is the only nation in the world that matters. The only nation. This is our nation. At the end of the day, I would sacrifice every single person in this nation, myself included, before I would let any enemy have a square inch of it. That is my sole function on this planet. I'm surprised that you don't remember that from our conclave. Or did you think those were just words?"

The Chancellor sat silently. "No Madame."

The Empress sat back and all three people sat in silence for a moment.

"I will provide Your Imperial Majesty a list by the end of the week," said the Chancellor.

"And we will thank you for your long service, Madame, and will wish you the happiest retirement. Neither you nor your husband will ever be in need in your lives, Madame."

"I appreciate it, Majesty." The Chancellor stood, bowed her head and backed out of the office. As soon as the door closed, the Hutorian King, who had sat silently watching this episode exhaled loudly.

"Your Imperial Majesty, I pray I never get onto your bad side."

"Your Majesty," said Carolina with a smile, "You never will." After a pause, the Empress said, "Shall we call it a day? I don't really have the heart to continue talking about budgets."

"I was going to suggest that," said King William.

"Will you be home tonight?"

"I'll be back for supper," said the King.

"I should be done crying by then," said the Empress.

Quote:"Her Imperial Majesty will see you now, Sir," said Lady Rene Houston to the Chancellor of the Empire. "You may go right in." The Chancellor waited until he heard a buzz at the door before entering. Once inside, he approached the Empress, who was sitting on he small couch. He stopped about 15 feet from her and lowered his head in respect for her position. She nodded acceptance of the salute, and invited him to sit with her in the small chair next to the table. He did as she bade him.

"Mr. Hanson, would you like some tea," she asked. He knew her tea tended to make him drowsy, but he was nearing the end of the work day, so he smiled and accepted her offer graciously. He also knew this signified the beginning of an informal audience with the Empress. He knew he was being called in to be questioned by Her Imperial Majesty, but he valued the opportunities he had to speak with her. She was elegant but forthright and did not like to waste time on small talk or unimportant matters.

She rose very gently, and moved to her tea service, prepared the hot water, poured it into her ceramic carafe, and brought the entire set to the table. There she carefully measured out loose tea into each cup, and with a much smaller, pure silver spoon, measured about an 1th of a teaspoon of dark brown powder, which the Chancellor knew to be opium, into each cup. She then inserted a small ceramic strainer into the bottom of the cup and poured the boiling water over the top of it. She gently stirred the water in both cups, and then placed the Chancellors' tea cup onto a saucer and placed it in front of him, repeating the process with her own cup. The strainer was made of mesh and was designed to separate the leaves from the tea, while allowing them to continue to steep, changing the flavor of the tea each time it was tasted.

"Thank you Your Imperial Majesty."

"You are quite welcomed, Mr. Hanson." She said as she sipped her first draught. The Chancellor sipped his tea as well, and almost immediately he felt the effects of the opium on his system. The Empress' opium was made of dried and processed poppy latex that has had most of the morphine removed, so the effects are significantly milder than full strength opium, but they were still noticeable, and the sense of ease and calm washed over the Chancellor. He had begun enjoying this feeling that he associated with taking weekly tea with the Empress, but knew that he should begin refusing tea more often than not: His predecessor, Lady Donahue had cautioned to refuse tea all together.

As the first wave went past, the Empress spoke. "Mr. Hanson, We understand that you have completed your Party's nominations and are preparing for the elections. And we are interested in your predictions."

The Chancellor nodded and answered, "Yes, Your Majesty. The Party has selected its candidates who will stand for election in January. Our internal polling suggests that the Moderates will make significant gains though we aren't sure if it will allow us to overcome the Nationalists in terms of gaining the upper hand."

"Will this make your faction’s agenda difficult to move through?" she asked.

"I am afraid so, Your Imperial Majesty. As you do not permit active advertising on political races, it may be a little difficult to overcome their incumbent advantage."

"We understand that the Institutional Party would like to change the policy on electioneering to permit candidates to spend money on their campaigns."

"Yes, Your Majesty, we did want that. What are the chances that we would be able to move that measure to the floor in the National Assembly?"

The Chancellor took another long sip, smiled and said, "There is no chance, Sir. We have no intention of altering our thinking on elections. You have your factions, we would like to see if they can win with ideas alone."

The Chancellor smiled politely. "Madame, you know politics very well, but surely you do not expect that a candidate can win simply with good ideas if he lacks the money to get those ideas out to the public."

The Empress nodded. "What you may consider to be a disadvantage, we view as an equal opportunity—everyone has the same disadvantage. The last thing we would want is someone with significant means utilizing those means to obtain a political office. Surely you do not advocate the purchasing of political offices. As you well know, this is how democracies are captured. We do not wish our National Assembly to be similarly captured."

The Chancellor noted to himself a measure of frustration--He did not believe democracies behaved this way. But there was no point in arguing about it with the Empress. Perhaps he could try a different tack. "Your Majesty, what if it was considered as voter education: the population needs to know what politicians believe before they cast their vote for the candidate. Resources, even if its air time on tv would allow candidates to present themselves to the voters, give them their credentials and let the voters make an informed decision."

"But Lord Hanson, your candidates may do that already. We still do have public funding for elections, is tis correct?"

"Yes Madame," he said, though he knew the sum of money was paltry compared to what was usually brought to bear in democracies.

"Money is corrosive in politics, Mr. Hanson," the Empress continued. "Not only does it allow politicians to more easily convince the people of untruth, but it also makes the office something to be used to provide a return on investment. If a person puts so much in, they will want the equivalent out of the office. Public service is just that: Service. This is a responsibility, not an opportunity. We are not a liberal nation, with all sorts of avenues with which to enrich one's self at the expense of the entire society. The resources that are available are adequate for our candidates to stand for election. That is adequate. But at the end of the day what matters is that you have 79 votes in the National Assembly: If your arguments are persuasive, it really doesn't matter which faction controls the plurality. What matters is that you will be effectively doing your job and serving the people of our Nation."

"Aye Madame," said the Chancellor, resigning to her now more definite statement.

"And what do you hear of Turkarali?" she said switching subjects.

"Your Majesty, it would appear that they are beginning to adopt the trappings of a leftist revolutionary government."

The Empress sat silently for a moment.

"Madame?" he asked.

"We were thinking," said the Empress after a moment. "Our father and mother were quite opposed to communism especially. Our previous Chancellor would go out and make statements opposing this thing or that thing to see what the reaction would be. If she went too far, which she did quite frequently, because Lady Donahue was an excellent politician, but she had a big mouth and didn't know quite when to stop talking, she would end up making my father and mother look bad internationally. We cannot fault her. She was, and now you are in a far better spot to more freely make statements than we are."

"Would you like me to craft a moderate statement on Tukarali?" he asked.

The Empress considered the offer. "What would it say?"

"Something to the effect of, we condemn any efforts to establish a revolutionary communist outpost here in Seleya. Something like this."

"But..." she paused. "Do we?"

The Chancellor was not sure he heard the Empress correctly, or completely. "Madame?"

"Do we oppose Communism?"

"I..." he stammered. "I... I assume so, Madame."

"We do not necessarily think so," said the Empress.

The Chancellor was silent for a moment. "Madame, this will likely be a military backed communist, or far leftist government. This sets a very dangerous precedent here in Seleya. I think we should explicitly oppose the coup there by these communists."

"We just read something about their goals being to empower workers, and to obtain aid from places like Xsampa to begin working on improving their agriculture. This hardly seems like a recipe for external destabilization, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, but Madame, Xsampa is communist," said the Chancellor. "Of course they will help..."

"Yes and our ancestor and name sake, Carolina I helped communist Xsampa when they were bombed. Helping people need surely transcends ideology, don't you agree?"

The Chancellor studied her: he knew the Empress, even in his very short period of time, to be very inquisitive, and despite her looks, to be an almost cloistered bookworm. But was she making an argument for communism? This Empress? An Ananto? "Madame, you aren't... a communist, are you?"

The Empress smiled. "Perhaps we are, Mr. Chancellor. If so what would you do about it?"

"Madame, I would have to remind you of your own law, against Communism."

"Which law is that, Comrade Chancellor?"

The word comrade had been spoken by the Empress. That was completely unexpected. "Your Majesty, the single party act forbids radical ideology like communism and fascism.

The Empress finished the tea in her cup with a satisfied smile. "Relax, Friend," she meant in the Brethrenist sense, "a communist Empress is even unfathomable for us. We would like you to continue to observe Tukarali. It is possible that their little Revolution there may yield some benefits for the people of that nation for once. And we wish for them to consider our Nation friendly toward them."

"For what purpose, Your Highness? They are communists. We should strongly condemn their overthrow of the legitimate government in Tukarali."

"We will hold off on that, Mr. Chancellor." said the Empress definitely. "It is our desire to learn more about them, if not directly than through their paper, before we set a final policy toward them. We have already been internationally criticized for not taking more measured approaches to foreign relations. If Tukarali requires no immediate reaction from us, we will be content to completely hold off of making any statement whatsoever, to give them a chance to visit us."

The Chancellor came into this meeting ready to push out a draft of his speech against Communism in Seleya. But the Empress had made the decision for him. And the Chancellor's job was to turn her decisions into policy, so this would be what he worked on.

Throughout the remainder of the conference, the Chancellor updated the Empress on Kalistan's expected agriculture yield (Lower than expected, but will still enough to keep Kalistani refrigerators, pantries and plates fed--there just would not be a lot left for exportation this year. The Chancellor also noted that manufacturing was flat if you account for the slow but steady growth in the Kalistani population. Most sectors were like this: Modest output stable pries. "Over all we aren't doing bad," said the Chancellor.

"We thank you for coming to visit with us today," said the Empress. "And how is Mrs. Hanson doing?"

"She is doing well, we are expecting our second child next May"

"We are very happy for you and your family, Chancellor."

"Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty," he said back to her. "I will pass your well wishes to my wife. Is there anything else, Your Imperial Majesty?"

"Thank you, this will be all for today. You may rise." The Chancellor took that as his cue. He stood, and bowed his head, and then backed out of the room.

"Communist Empress," he thought to himself with a smile. "THAT would be funny." As he closed the door and turned about smartly, he said good by to Lady Houston, and she smiled and nodded back to him.

Quote:"Welcome, Mr. Rosenfeld," said the Empress. "We trust you had no problem finding us?"

The tall Vrassan, intellectual and teacher Elliot Rosenfeld, who had recently defeated Her Imperial Majesty in the Kalistani National Open Go Tournament entered the room and stood before the seated Empress, with his head lowered respectfully. "I had no trouble finding the Imperial Seat if that is what Her Imperial Majesty meant."

"Indeed," said the Empress. She looked the man over, and then invited him to sit opposite her at the table. It was a Sunday, and she had cleared her entire afternoon's schedule for this audience. It had been more than a month since Rosenfeld had defeated her, and she was very excited to see him and talk with him again.

"We hope you do not mind, but we have asked our Aunt to attend this Audience with us today. She shall arrive momentarily."

"If it pleases Her Imperial Majesty, I have no objection," said Rosenfeld.

"And, all of that stuff about the protocol, we can leave all that. We would like you to speak to us directly," said the Empress. "And don't listen to our Aunt when she comes in here and tries to enforce it. It is our desire that this meeting shall be truly informal."

"As Her Imperial Majesty wishes," said Rosenfeld again, unable to fully comply though he might wish to. Just then, the Princess of the Empire, Nicolette Ananto-Collins swiftly entered the large, empty room, politely bowed to the Empress, and then turned to shake Rosenfeld's hand. He stood up and bowed his head.

"Alright Mr. Rosenfeld, let's have a look at you," she said. She looked at him for a second and did not move.

"Is everything alright, Your Highness," said Rosenfeld.

"Yes, I am afraid it is," she said with a slightly audible sigh. She then invited him to sit back down, and pulled over a chair to the table.

"Mr. Rosenfeld," said the Empress, "Would you like some tea?"

Rosenfeld, who had been up most of the previous night, unable to sleep in his hotel room in Kaliburg due to the loud music in the club across the street that was playing thumping RF all night long, realized he might need something stronger than tea. "I would prefer coffee, but I can get it, if Her Imperial Majesty would tell me where the pot is."

The Empress looked at the Princess, who raised her eyebrow. The Empress then turned back to Rosenfeld and said, "We do not have coffee here at the Imperial Seat, but our tea is very excellent. It is Earl Gray, flavored with bergamot. Quite refreshing." She stood up and moved to the counter where Rosenfeld now saw a full tea service, a detail he had not known before.

Rosenfeld was a bit disappointed by the lack of coffee, but Earl Gray did have caffeine in it, so he reluctantly acquiesced. "I suppose tea will do then, Your Majesty." The comment drew a little glare from the Princess, but Rosenfeld did not notice. The Empress heated the water, scooped the loose tea into the cup, put in the strainer, and when the water was done, poured the boiling water over the strainer to steep the tea leaves. She then brought the platter with the three tea cups to the table, presented one to Rosenfeld, the second to her Aunt, and the last was for her. She opened a small jar with a very fine brown powder in it, and scooped a half of a small teaspoon of it into her tea. Her aunt waved her hand to pass, and then she asked Rosenfeld if he would like some.

"What is that," asked Rosenfeld.

"It is opium," said the Empress. "It's customary to add it."

Rosenfeld, who was blowing on his tea to cool it smiled, "Opium? You have got to be putting me, on Your Majesty," to which the Princess smiled, but in a way that suggested she was a touch annoyed. This time Rosenfeld noticed, and smiled back. He could tell she was a little agitated, but had no idea why.

"No, its processed raw opium," answered the Empress matter of factly. "We have the Growers Syndicate prepare is especially for us. They take the latex and more or less dehydrate it completely, so it can be powdered, and then consumed. It adds flavoring, but the effects are quite mild."

Rosenfeld squinted his eyes at the Empress, and kind of cocked his head to the side with a smile, as if to say, "really?" But then he straightened himself up and said "Thanks, Your Majesty but I think opium is the last thing I need right now. But I appreciate your kind offer." Referring to the Empress as Your Majesty for the third time was enough for the Princess.

"Mr. Rosenfeld," she said politely but a little sharply. "I am sure they went over the rules of protocol with you before you were permitted to enter this room. Please observe them."

Elliot looked at the Empress who had her back to the Princess as if he were saying, "what did I do wrong.". The Empress shot him a look and a smile that seemed to say "I know, I know, what a pain, but, go ahead and answer her." In reality, the Empress was waiting to see how he would respond.

"Madame," he said. "I was ordered by Her Imperial Majesty to treat this as an informal audience," he started.

"I see," she said. "You were no doubt given special instructions by my niece here?"

"I was, Madame," he responded, not exactly passing the buck, but explaining the extenuating circumstances. The Princess shot a look to Carolina, who smiled slightly and nodded once. The Princess thought for a moment. "Mr. Rosenfeld, please observe the protocol..." she started, "and use your discretion with regard to how far you bend it. She is your Empress, and when you violate the protocol, you disrespect the office." And then she added, "... and the law."

"Aye Your Highness," said Rosenfeld. "I will try to be more mindful." He looked at the Empress, who gave him another pitiful smile, as if to say she was sorry.

"Our Aunt is a very traditional woman," said the Empress, trying not to insult Nicolette, but signaling mild disagreement with the letter of the law thinking of the Princess of the Empire. "But perhaps she is correct. This is our first meeting. It is our hope it will not be the last."

Rosenfeld accepted her softy apology. "We appreciate Her Imperial Majesty's sentiment and will do as we are required by the law. But what would Her Imperial Majesty have to meet more often with me about? I assumed this had something to do with the Tournament."

The Empress sat up, almost as if she had never considered the question herself. Why would she want to meet with him? Why did she want to meet with him this time? She scrambled for an answer, suddenly flustered. She took a sip of her tea and then responded. "Well, we were going over the notes for our match... and... that battle at the end, that sealed things for us... We should like to try that one again with you, if you are willing. We have been studying it and think we understand what went wrong, and would like you to speak with us and tell us what you were thinking in that moment so we can... rather improve our play."

Rosenfeld sat up. The answer was unexpected, and certainly a more mundane request that he was preparing to hear in that moment. "Her Imperial Majesty wants to play go?" he asked incredulously.

"Well..." stammered the Empress. "... yes, it is our desire to play go and to learn how and why you did those things in the match."

Rosenfeld couldn't believe that the Empress had asked him to fly all the way back to Kaliburg to play go. "Surely Her Imperial Majesty could find any number of players here in the capital to play go with. Why not ask any one of them? I am sure it would have been far more convenient, especially for Her Imperial Majesty, to do that. But I can't just, you know... uh drop everything to fly to Kaliburg to play go whenever she summons me."

The Empress was taken aback. She was unaccustomed to people refusing her. "We could command you, Mr. Rosenfeld, but would prefer that you would want to play a rematch willingly. Were we not an acceptable opponent?"

"It's..." he laughed. "Your Majesty..."

Princess Nicolette immediately interrupted, "Mr. Rosenfeld!"

He shot her a glance and she had a very stern and frighteningly beautiful look on her face. Though her dogmatic adherence to the tradition of the Protocol was incomprehensible to him, he could tell she was dead serious. These people were crazy, he immediately thought. But then shoved that idea out of his mind.

"I would say to Her Imperial Majesty, that she was one of the finest opponents I have faced yet. She was graceful yet daring. She attacked confidently and defended bravely. She never backed down but her touch was so light it was almost difficult for me to even approach her structures. But I have a life, in Razar. I have a job. I have students. I can't just come to the capital and play go every time Her Imperial Majesty wishes a game, whether she commands me or asks me and I comply willingly, and to expect that from a subject is itself quite disrespectful."

The Empress sat up straight. "Well, will you consent to a single game then?" she asked, more frustrated than sad that he didn't agree immediately to visit her more often.

Rosenfeld thought for a moment. He looked at the two women each in turn. The Empress had renewed hope in her eyes, while the Princess of the Empire shot daggers at him from hers. And his heart melted a bit. He nodded slightly and said "I will play a rematch against Her Imperial Majesty."

The Empress broke into smiles and stood up immediately. Both Rosenfeld and Princess Nicolette jumped to their feet, as protocol dictated. "Good," she answered. "Give us a couple minutes to get the board and the stones. We shall return. Meanwhile, if you require more tea, our Aunt will get it for you. We will be right back." And with that she exited the room leaving Princess Nicolette and Elliot Rosenfeld alone.

"Your Highness, I did not intend to be rude. It was just... unexpected... that's all."

"Will you need more tea, Mr. Rosenfeld?" she asked curtly.

"Your highness, you shouldn't be serving me," he answered. "That is beneath you. Let me get it."

Her face softened in that instant and she forced a little smile. "You have no idea, do you?"

"About what?'' he asked.

"You don't know what this informal audience means to her."

"To whom, Madame?" he asked, not following.

"Who else?" she asked.

"Oh you mean the Empress?" he said.

"Yes, idiot," laughed the Princess. She didn't mean it in a cruel way. But she has always been rougher around the edges than her more refined relatives. "She's been waiting for this meeting since she lost to you in the tournament."

"Wow," he said. "Is she that upset about losing? I mean what was I supposed to do? I'm not going to throw the game, after all, and besides, she beat me on points. I won on a technicality. She knows it and so do I. So what? Is she gonna try to take revenge for her bruised ego in a rematch here? What's the story."

The Princess stepped closer to Rosenfeld, in case the Empress should burst back into the room unexpectedly. "No, you fool. She's flirting with you."

Rosenfeld laughed. "Yeah right," he said. "Excuse me your highness, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck last night, you know."

Suddenly they both could hear her approaching from down the hall. Was it, singing? The both listened again. Sure enough, the Empress was singing, albeit quite out of tune, so much so in fact that neither of them could make out the song.

"I know, she's not a good singer," said Nicolette, with her first genuine smile of the afternoon. "But before she comes in here, if she wasn't just giddy as a schoolgirl that you are here today and have agreed to spend time with her, what would cause her to do that? All this month its been Elliot this and Elliot that. She's fascinated by you. Why do you think I am here?"

Rosenfeld realized that it had never occurred to him to ask why the Princess was here. "I just thought the law required it,"

"No, Mr. Rosenfeld, she is the law. I was asked to serve as a sort of chapperone. She doesn't talk to a lot of men who aren't bowing and scraping and asking her for things. So, I'm what you might call a baby sitter of sorts."

"But she's a grown woman," said Rosenfeld, incredulously.

"Yes a grown woman with no experience in men. I'm here to make sure she doesn't completely blow it with you. So be cool and be kind to her. You'll find that whatever you two end up as, she's the person you will want to know. Trust me on that."

"Well, Madame, what do you think about me?"

"I do not," answered the Princess. "But I am not Carolina."

"I mean am I acceptable for her to be friends with?" he asked kind of haughtily, as if he was slightly offended that he was being interviewed for a job he didn't know he applied for.

"Not yet. Keep disregarding the protocol though and it won't really matter." she answered, losing her friendly vibe immediately as the Empress re-entered the room.

Quote:Chancellor Reg Hanson closed the folder in front of him. "Ladies and gentlemen, I really do not know how else to say this, but the decision to leave Gaduridos is going to make almost no difference in the interest rates or monetary supply in Kalistan. I don't know what liberals you have been talking to, but any massive influx of capital you all were predicting last month is simply not materializing. There is not enough independent capital in Gaduridos to buy Kalistani investments at a 1 for 1 basis. Any inflationary spikes this group was predicting simply have not happened, because our investors are having to heavily discount their property just to get rid of it. Gaduridos is rapidly turning into a black hole."

The Finance Minister, Dr. Roger Berry spoke up. "I am not sure why our investors need to sell. That doesn't make sense. If Her Imperial Majesty wants to bring that money back to Kalistan, selling it all, 845 Billion Imperial Rubles worth of investments in machinery, buildings, infrastructure, transportation... selling all that in two years when it took 135 years to build just... it just doesn't make sense."

Reg took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. This meeting was just the recent one in a long series of meetings since Her Imperial Majesty had declared that Kalistan's commitment to Gaduridos was at an end. The Chancellor was tired of having to repeat himself. "Look. I am sure you are all tired of hearing this from me, over and over and over... We do as she tells us. She tells us what we are doing, and we figure out how to do it. There aren't any questions about that. Nobody in this room thinks otherwise."

The Minister of Defense spoke up. "Well, Lord Hanson, maybe that is not true. A few of the Deputies have been discussing a matter with me that I think I need to bring to your attention."

"What is it Commander?" said the exasperated Chancellor.

"What if the navy took its time getting out of Bentasur?" she asked.

"How do you mean, 'took its time'?" asked the Chancellor.

"The proclamation reads that when the stand down in Bentasur is completed, our time in Gaduridos will be done, yes? Well, what if that stand down never happens?"

"Commander, you have your orders, and they are to return the Third Fleet to Kalistan."

"I think those orders are not so clear. Nothing in the Proclamation says what date we are to return the Fleet to Kalistan."

The Chancellor stared at the Defense Minister for a moment. "Have you lost your mind?" he asked.

"Yes, we were wondering that ourselves," said Her Imperial Majesty who suddenly appeared at the door of the Cabinet room. Upon her appearance, all members of the cabinet stood and lowered their heads. She entered the room, moved to her empty seat near the Chancellor, and asked everyone to be seated. "Please, Madame Minister, enlighten us. What schemes were you ministers hatching while we were not present?"

All cabinet members sat down. "If it please Her Imperial Majesty," began the Defense Minister. "Some of her Nationalists are quite angry at the decision to abandon Bentasur, and have asked me to raise the matter to the cabinet."

The Empress stared at the Minister, who averted her eyes. "They have, have they? We were under the impression that our Nationalists had been put in their proper place. Are we to understand now that this is not true?"

The Defense Minister did not respond that that question, but continued her speech. "Majesty, Bentasur was occupied by Kalistan when Gaduridos joined the Empire. It was originally a forward base of Lourenne which was transferred at the time of accession to the Anantonese Empire. And if we leave it, we forsake half the ocean. Bentasur is under no obligation to return to Gaduridos, and Her Imperial Majesty has decreed that it is to be dismantled entirely. But why should we do that when it is far more strategically important that we maintain not only the base but our presence there? We have been responsible for that stretch of ocean for more than a century. To leave without replacing it with anything would open our southern flank to any number of threats. The Nationalists would certainly revolt. Surely Her Imperial Majesty must see the folly of at least this part of her decision to abandon Gaduridos."

The room was silent for a moment. At length, the Empress breathed in sharply. "We are... we are tired."

The Chancellor looked up. "Madame, do you require assistance?"

The Empress smiled and said "No, our children were up late last night with a cough, and we spent all night fussing over them. It's lack of sleep more than anything." She looked around the room. "You must all think me to be petulant and rash. Spoiled perhaps--If the Empress can't get her way, she cuts and runs. She burns everything to the ground. All this over something as small and stupid as the Gaduris flat out ignoring our requests for their participation with our team in the Olympics. But there is a larger issue here which I cannot adequately communicate to the public, but which I must tell you: The Anantonese Empire has been a paper Empire for a long time. My predecessors dreamed of a union of states in the Northern Anantonese. Instead what we got were two countries, neither of whom really wanted much to do with us. We were able to keep Gaduridos longer than Lodamun, but in the end, Lodamun would not even agree to having a Viceroy of our choosing let alone allow this nation to coordinate foreign policy. And Gaduridos, despite all of our efforts has long merely tolerated Kalistan, but never once saw themselves as part of a greater union.

"This is the sad fact of the Anantonese Empire," she continued. "To keep them, we had to offer them local autonomy. But if they had local autonomy, they had no political ties whatsoever to Kalistan. So in the end, it no longer even makes sense to try to keep Gaduridos, just like it stopped making sense to try to keep Lodamun. There is no benefit to Kalistan except some sort of bragging rights of having a transnational union, on paper. But there are a lot of costs: As our Finance Minister said, it cost Kalistan nearly a trillion Imperial Rubles to subsidize a dead nation like Gaduridos for more than a century, and much of that money we are never going to see again. We can't sell, really because sell to whom? Foreigners can't come in and buy the infrastructure, and the imperial system there disincentivized both local investment and even government for more than four decades, or a full quarter of the time we have held Gaduridos into an empire it quite frankly has long resented, for far longer than I have even been alive."

The Cabinet members were rather shocked to hear this matter put so bluntly. "If Her Imperial Majesty would indulge me," said the Finance Minister, "I have been over the books, I am intimately familiar with the amount of money our nation has dumped into Gaduridos. If her Imperial Majesty understood this fact that she has just spoken, why did Kalistan continue to invest?"

The Empress smiled. "Well, we, as in my family, loved Gaduridos. Surely the Finance Minister will remember from our history that there was a time when Gaduridos offered Pavlina Hulanevek shelter in Vaspiano as Kalistan descended into civil strife. We had a very personal affection for Gaduridos, and of course, our crown and historical right entitles us to Gaduridos as well. But mostly it was the personal affection. We wanted to see Gaduridos thrive, to be a fully realized and developed partner for Kalistan in the Anantonese region. Sadly, the period where it shared that vision was far too short, and not at all recent. Kalistan has been trying to revive a corpse for decades. It is time to let it go. We are never going to be allowed to rule that nation directly, and Gaduridos has no inclination to rule itself directly, so, there it is. The Empire has been over for years, we just did not want to admit it."

The room sat silently as the ministers looked at one another.

"So all that money, all those hundreds of billions of Imperial Rubles, are just... gone?" asked the HHS Minister Dr. Susan Abernathy.

"Well, not gone," said the Finance Minister. "As we predict, we are projecting a recovery of about 60% of the investment to Kalistanis. The rest can be written off as depreciation: Much of that investment was made generations ago--The Gaduris have been absolutely ignoring our requests to improve and update it, and the last new major investments in Gaduridos were from the end of Mary's reign. Kalistani investors have been living on dividends for the last 80 or so years. But yes, according to Her Imperial Majesty's proclamation, Kalistan will own no property, real estate, assets, or infrastructure in Gaduridos as of early 5709. We are guessing we will have sold what we can by the second quarter of 5708 at any rate."

"So you see, Mr. Minister: Given the absolute bar of any new or improved investment in Gaduridos for forty years, or as a matter of fact any sort of activity whatsoever in Gaduridos, which seems insane that we couldn't even do that, we are now at the point of diminishing returns on our investments. We will get 60% today. Tomorrow, we will get 57%," said the Empress. "We should have divested ten years ago." She smiled dolorously. "It will end whatever chance Gaduridos had, and if they ever elect anyone to try to restart that economy, it will be an incredibly difficult task for them, but entropy being what it is, Gaduridos is now an anchor headed to the bottom of the ocean, and we can either cut the rope or go down with it. It's literally becoming yet another Baltusia. Pathetic, but too predictable. Luckily this was not Lodamun's fate at least."

The Defense Minister spoke up. "And what of Bentsur? Will her Imperial Majesty just abandon that base, when we literally have no reason to, and it would cost us far more to do so, in terms of strategic position?"

The Empress thought for a moment, and then she turned to the IBSI director. "Madame Trumball. What would it take to move our OTH radars from Marlingantos to Bentasur?"

The IBSI director thought, "It's not ideal, but it would be easy to do if we needed to."

"And Bentasur looks at the Aldegar Gulf, is this correct?

"If it please Her Imperial Majesty, That is its strategic advantage."

The Empress thought for a moment. "And if we were to lease the base? How much would that cost annually?"

The Foreign Minister spoke up, "Madame, if I may point out: there is nobody there to cash the checks. Her Excellency the Viceroy is literally the last Imperial Official in Gaduridos that is not associated with defense or intelligence activities. But at any rate, Bentasur is our base and there is nobody there to kick us out. There's no reason to even speak of leasing the base. We cannot lease it from ourselves."

The Empress stared at the Foreign Minister for a moment, then back at the suddenly more hopeful Defense Minister. Then at the table for a moment. "Madame Commander. If you are still in contact with your Nationalist Deputy friends, we shall require a favor of them. We will need them to revolt."

"M... Madame?" Asked the Defense Minister.

"It's for political cover, so that we may make a concession. They need to make it loud and public. Can you handle that Commander?"

The Defense Minister nodded and said "Aye Ma'am." And she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Are we all satisfied here?" asked the Empress. A chorus of "Yes Madam" "Yes Madam" came from around the table. "Mr. Berry continue to sell the Kalistani investments aggressively. Do not turn down reasonable offers. Our goal is to cut our losses there as soon as possible." And then to the IBSI Director, "Madame Trumball, we will ask you to call upon us at Cliff House later, you and Sir Hanson. As for now, we have to visit our physician on a family matter. We wish you all well, and will speak more with each of you soon." The Empress stood, and all in the room stood and bowed their heads, as Her Imperial Majesty existed and then moved swiftly down the hall way toward her car.

"What... was that?" asked Sir Harney, saying what was on most of the other ministers' minds about the way the Empress quickly excused herself.

The Chancellor Smiled, "Her Imperial Majesty is on her way to visit her obstetrician."

Quote:"Please show the Marquess in," said the Empress to her secretary. The door buzzed and the former Gaduri Viceroy turned Special Envoy of Her Imperial Majesty to the government of Nadiya entered. She entered and performed her bow, after which the Empress welcomed her to take a seat, as she herself rose to go prepare her tea. As she warmed the water in the induction boiler, Lady Marisol Paz Alvarez-Navarro waited. The Empress soon brought the tea pot to the table, and added the infusers to the cups, and then added loose tea, letting them steep for just a few moments, before taking the infusers out and adding a gram of opium to both cups. Silently the two women sipped the tincture, before the Empress spoke.

"Your report Madame?"

"Well, it is difficult to tell, Your Imperial Majesty," said Lady Alvarez.

"Oh--we thought the length of time you had spent speaking with them would yield something a little more definite," said the Empress.

"Yeah, much of the time was spent waiting, until I just stopped waiting, and the team simply returned home," said the Marquess, placing her spoon next to her saucer. A cloud seemed to pass the Empress' face. "They expressed their desire to restore relations, we made no further plans. Ultimately they seemed to forget that they were still supposed to be meeting with me. Perhaps something else caught their attention? I have no other way to account for it. All of a sudden, they just stopped showing up."

"Hmm," said the Empress. "Was there an issue with translation?"

"I don't think so," said Lady Alvarez. "We both spoke Luthorian well enough."

"Did you mention our concerns about the safety of our diplomats?" asked the Empress.

"We did mention that, Your Imperial Majesty, but I think they thought I was making a comment on their democracy and the quality of their police force," said Lady Alvarez. "They informed me that they have the lowest crime rate in Keris for some reason."

"Hmmm, that isn't what we meant at all," said the Empress. "We were concerned that their security forces were a little too zealous in their work and did not respect normal diplomatic protocols, given their willingness to imprison their own monarch. Did they give you no assurances on those points?"

"Well, at first I thought so, but they merely assured me that they host other consulates in Zarvospol," said Lady Alvarez. "I honestly didn't feel like they wanted to talk about the one issue I raised repeatedly, but instead they told me that they are willing to forgive the 'unorthodox statements' we have made about Nadiya and that they only wished you recognize Nadiya as the sole legitimate government of the isles."

"Who else would we recognize? Is there some other claimant to those, or some successor state that we don't know about those?" asked the Empress, rhetorically. "But what about extraterritoriality for our diplomats and immunity from capricious prosecution?"

Lady Marisol Paz took another sip. "Your Imperial Majesty, I think that was the magic word. I began proposing initial terms for the establishment of our Consulate, and mentioned those two points, and that was when they went silent. I even explicitly tried to regain their attention and got nothing for months."

The Empress took her final sip of tea, and sat back. "Perhaps Kalistan is not a priority," she said.

"I got that distinct impression, Madame. We may be, but our counterparts certainly did not seem to think so. So I eventually cancelled further meetings, without coming to any final agreement on anything other than a mutual desire to eventually recognize one another... I think. I did discover that there are close to 9000 Nadiyans living in Kalistan, though. Who they are, why they are here, or what they are doing while they are here was not identified."

"Yes, that statistic is unimportant," said the Empress. "We wish to apologize to you, Lady Alvarez, for wasting your time."

"Thank you for saying that, Your Imperial Majesty, but it wasn't a complete waste of time," said Lady Alvarez. "We did at least demonstrate that you are willing to make the effort, even if others are not, and I did leave a written message for the Nadiyans, that if we ever become a priority for their nation, they can feel free to visit us here in Kaliburg."

"Yeah, we suppose at least it wasn't a set back," said the Empress. "Perhaps we will write the effort down as a tentative first step. We have let it be known that we are interested. But we have not lost anything that we had before. Status quo it remains, and the next move will be the Nadiyans."

"Madame, I wouldn't lose any sleep over the matter," said Lady Alvarez. "Even if we have excellent relations with Nadiya, there is very little that they have that our nation wants, and I suppose vice versa. I think the Nadiyans would like recognition and legitimization by more external nations: that may be the only thing we have that they want actually, but it really doesn't even have to be Kalistan. It could literally be anyone. That's the impression I got from the meeting at least."

"Well, Nadiya is technically our allies now through the Altea Accords," said the Empress. "We are beginning to wonder if that wouldn't have served us better as bilateral, rather than multi-lateral agreements. Disappointment after disappointment."

"Madame, if I may, I think the meeting was a wash, in general. Neither overly negative, nor particularly positive. on a scale of all possible outcomes, from Minus 100 to Plus 100, I'd give this set of talks about a positive 4. It really was more strange than anything else. To be expected from the Nadiyans."

The Empress gave the Marquess a wry bittersweet smile. "Then we guess it is a win for us then." She looked at Marisol Paz' tea cup. "Would you like a refill, Lady Alvarez?"

"If it pleases Her Imperial Majesty," she said. "Also, would you be willing to bring over one of those blueberry scones?" The Empress smiled and collected the Marquess' cup.