World
of Dusk:
“The
Interview”
Anthony
Greer
© 2015, Anthony Greer. AG Creative Publications
All
rights reserved.
No
portion of this book may be used without sole permission of the copyright
holder except in use of a review.
“World of Dusk:
The Wedding” is one of several origin stories that all tie into “The Raven of
Dusk” and its respective titles. “The Raven of Dusk” is a series that stands on
its own, while the “World of Dusk” is meant to exist as a series of backstories
and pivotal events that occur in the world of Noreis. Some of these stories
will be mentioned in the series, while others will exist only in the “World of
Dusk” origins. I hope you enjoy.
World of Dusk: The Interview
Eliza unglued her hands
from the rectangular steering controls and stared at herself in the reflection
of the dome glass. Her dark shoulder length hair with soft sandy brown accents
curved inward and rounded out her otherwise hard face. Her emerald eyes had a
fiery determination within them. The diamond blue dress shirt her mother bought
her made her look both professional and pretty, much unlike her usual garbs.
For the moment she felt like a political princess. What she needed was the
confidence of a queen—and what she really needed was to stop quivering.
She pressed a button to retract the glass dome
of her air shuttle and stepped out of it and into the guest parking lot of the
main building on the academy's grounds. She nearly tripped on the bottom rails
that held the shuttle up. She'd never done that before.
There was no way she could appear before the
dean of admissions while seeming so shaken. This tension needed to go away.
She headed for the air lift platform a few
parking spaces away. A sliding glass door opened and closed behind her and she
pressed the button for the 42nd floor. Once it started upward, she
couldn't stand still. She tried to do all that she could to shake her nerves,
but nothing stopped her heart from racing. Her portfolio and her application slipped
from her hands and onto the ground. She cussed loudly and bent down to pick them
up, then she stood straight and didn't move. She needed to be as professional
as possible. She sighed, took a deep breath and, when the lift reached her destination,
a mature young woman exited out of it.
Eliza kept a regular, unchanging pace and
focused only on the admissions office in front of her where a kind-looking
grandmother type smiled sweetly at her.
“What can I do for you, dear?”
“My name is Eliza Bennihan. I have an interview
scheduled with the dean of admissions today.”
The receptionist opened up her telescreen. Her
eyes went back and forth as she inspected her holographic calendar in search of
Eliza’s name. “Oh yes, Miss Eliza Bennihan. Please, have a seat. I'll call you
when the Admissions Board is ready to see you.”
“Thank you,” Eliza said, backing away and
sitting in one of the office chairs along the wall.
Two seats away from her sat another girl, both a
little taller and older than she was. She was dressed in black and white and,
unlike Eliza, gave off the aura that she was more than ready for her
interview. Eliza took a glance at her
application and at the large portfolio on the seat in between them. The top of
her application read ‘Helena Cavill’ and beneath it 'Cardeau Advisory Academy:
Sophomore.'
“This is going to be my third year interviewing for
the academy,” Helena said, “I thought I had it last year but this... this is my
year.”
Eliza frowned. The last thing she needed to see
was someone who looked more together than was did telling her of her inability
to be one of the 3% of applicants that got accepted into the academy.
“Is this your first time applying? I imagine it
has to be. You look young.”
“I'm fifteen,” Eliza mumbled.
“I'm sorry?”
“I'm fifteen. If I get accepted I'll be sixteen
when I start.”
Helena smiled. Eliza couldn't tell if it was
legitimate or if there was deviousness behind it. “Well, I wish you the best of
luck then.”
“Thank you. And you as well.”
“Miss Bennihan,” the receptionist leaned forward
in her desk, “the Advisory Board will see you now.”
“Already?”
“Yes.”
Eliza turned to Helena. “You're not first?”
“Nope. I showed up an hour early. I think I'm
right after you.”
Eliza gulped and didn't say another word. She closed
her eyes for a second to gather herself. Once she did, the receptionist led her
down a corridor to a bland-looking door at the far end. She partook in the long
walk down the hall, where the kind grandmother-type seemed to morph into a last
rites guard. The clunking of her heels resembled the dramatic footsteps that
preluded her execution.
She told herself to stop being over-dramatic. It
didn't work.
Eliza entered the room where the three members
of the board all rose from their seats. The board meeting room rivaled most
hotel lobbies in size. Columns formed an octagon in the crème colored room,
which was easily thirty feet high. Behind them was a large window where she’d
be able to see the rest of the Barencos if it hadn't been a cloudy day. A light
orange fog concealed the air shuttles flying by until they were zooming across
the building. Even the neighboring skyscraper was barely visible. This was
probably a good thing. She'd be less distracted from the board members before
her.
She approached them and shook their hands one by
one. They introduced themselves, but she already knew who they were. She'd been
doing research on them ever since she'd gotten the interview scheduled. On the
right was Adviser Merchant, a man in his sixties and a former Adviser of the
city-state of Magent. On the left was former Senator Shander, a woman in her
forties who served in Barencos for more than half her life. In the center was
Dean Stockton, the head of the admissions for the BAA as well as a former
monarch.
Once she sat down she was panic stricken. They
didn't say anything right away. Dean Stockton put her application aside and
picked apart her portfolio like a surgeon dissecting a body to see how it
worked. Pages were removed and spread across the table for the three of them to
see. They analyzed her recommendations, essays and grades carefully while Eliza
sat in silence, feeling her soul be picked apart document by document. She
didn't know if they wanted her to speak, so she didn't say anything. She
remained silent with her hands in her lap and her eyes unblinking. As they
pried apart her life, she needed to stay focused and professional.
“This portfolio is...” Dean Stockton paused. It
was the longest moment of Eliza's life.
“It's quite good,” Adviser Merchant concluded.
She immediately felt at ease. She sat straight
up and waited to hear more.
Dean Stockton went next. “You spent three years
on Representative Gerald’s campaign, starting on your twelfth birthday? That’s
quite young. What was that experience like for you?”
“I loved it,” Eliza said, “When he first met me,
he was a little skeptical about my age, but once we became better acquainted I
went from doing lunch runs for the staff to becoming a speech writer, editor of
his campaign, and before my family moved from Larcos to Kalia, he asked me to
stay onboard as his campaign manager. If I took the job, I would have been the
youngest campaign manager in Larcosian history. Unfortunately, my mother wasn’t
keen on letting me live alone in a continent away from them.”
“That’s a shame,” Adviser Merchant said. “But
your mother is wise, and you will have other opportunities.”
“If you were to be admitted into the Barencos
Advisory Academy, you wouldn’t be able to live anywhere near Kalia,” Senator
Shander said. “Barencos is a half-day’s drive away. Would your mother allow you
to come, then?”
“My father promised me that, if I got in, he
would leave his job to try and find one in this city if my mother requires that
of him,” Eliza explained. “He is much more in tune with my dream than she is.
He wanted to get into politics once, too, but my mother convinced him to become
an ecologist when she became pregnant with me. He found his own way to improve
the world. I am hoping that this will be a great way for me to find my way.”
“Your aspirations can change a million times
between now and then,” Senator Shander said. “It’s the risk that comes with
being so young. The median age of accepted applicants into the academy is
nineteen, and even some of the older ones waver.”
Eliza thought about defending her age, but she
remained quiet. Refutations were her strong suit, but didn’t know how to talk
to these people. What one official would think of as complimentary could offend
another. The last thing she needed was for any of them to get a sour taste in
their mouths while the interview was ongoing.
“She is quite young,” Dean Stockton said, “but
age doesn't necessarily matter all the time. Miss Bennihan, how well do you
know the political system of Noreis and those who run it?”
“I can tell you what every position does and the
variations of laws in all four city-states of the Pecorwin Continent. I also
did intensive studies on both Barencosian law and Hewenian law.”
“Hewenian law?” Dean Stockton’s octave raised
with his surprise. “That’s an unusual study.”
“It’s an unusual place.”
Along with humans, the world of Noreis was home to two
other intelligible species: the Hennians and the Trewanians. Hennians were
creatures that were often six feet tall and with blue skin covered in scales.
Many of them took jobs that required a lot of use of their hands, considering
that they had four as opposed to two. They also had some of the brightest, most
beautiful eyes that Eliza had ever seen. Trewanians were often seven feet
tall—some ever taller, and had a light green skin that was almost transparent.
Many of them would look sickly if they weren’t also brute.
Despite looking dissimilar, Hennians and Trewanians
had very common core beliefs and lived their lives by them. Just a century
earlier, religious zealots, wealthy financial backers, and many hard workers
erected Hewenia, a city-state where the two races could live under a government
that fused church and state. While not all Hennians and Trewanians lived there,
Hewenia was seldom a place where you’d see many humans—and the humans that were there were almost always tourists.
The three members of the admissions board pondered her
interest in Hewenia for a second longer, and then it was back to questioning.
The dean continued. “Can you name the last ten Monarch Superiors of
Noreis?”
“I can name the last eighty,” she replied instantly.
“Who was Superior Parker's successor,” Adviser
Merchant asked.
“Which Superior Parker?” Eliza asked. “Shaya
Parker’s successor was Superior Wen Fawn while Maya's was Superior Damon
Morelli.”
“Superior Shaya Parker's successor was actually
Gavin Malloy,” Adviser Merchant said.
“Actually, Miss Bennihan
is right,” Dean Stockton replied. “Fawn was the official Superior for two
cycles before she resigned. Superior Gavin Malloy was his successor.” The dean
gave her a smile, which made her light up inside. “So Eliza, if you were to
gain admittance into the academy, what are you looking to study?”
Eliza stalled for a moment and discreetly bit
her lip. It was the most obvious question that she'd be asked, but even after
weeks of preparation, she didn't have a proper answer for it. “I'm still trying
to figure that out. I know that I want to continue studying Norean Law. It's my
passion and it always has been but, with regards to a career afterward, I'm
still in the process of discovering what my exact path should be.”
Senator Shander nodded. “That's common.
Especially for our younger applicants.”
“But—” Eliza went pale. She thought that the senator
was done, but Shander opened her mouth to continue speaking. Stifled, Eliza
decided to not further with her interruption.
“Were you going to say something?” the senator
asked.
“I,” Eliza bit her lip. It was noticeable this
time. “What I was going to say was that even though I don't know what I'd like
to do yet, there are many who have attended the Barencos Advisory Academy with
the same thoughts and have done many great things for Noreis. People like you, Senator
Shander. Your motion to restructure the districts of Barencos allowed for your
government to obtain the abilities it needed to become more efficient and to
drop the unemployment rate back down into low single digits—at one point
three-point-five percent!
“Adviser Merchant, you are still known today as
one of the greatest Advisers that Magent has ever had. Your backing of the
outdoor conditioning technology has saved thousands from heatstroke in your
city-state every year, and yet it still didn't add any heat or electric taxes
despite what so many people believed. And now, if I may, your daughter is
finishing her final year at the academy. She had no idea what she wanted to do
before entering, and she's thinking about working for the same district that
you got your start in.
“And lastly there's you, Dean Stockton. It took
you four interviews before you were finally admitted to this academy, and even
then it was just a two-to-one vote. Not only did you surpass the doubts of your
advisers, but you became the head of your class and now you're the dean of the
academy—and if I remember correctly, you had changed your major four times
within your first two years here.”
Dean Stockton smiled. “Actually, it was five
times. I was a Common Law Major twice, but I can't imagine that you'd have any
way of knowing that.”
Eliza kept quiet. She knew she didn't need to
say anymore.
“You're definitely one of our more impressive applicants,”
the dean said.
“I agree,” added Senator Shander.
Eliza smiled and looked from the senator to the
dean.
Adviser Merchant was still busy sifting through
the remnants of her portfolio. He reached the end and started examining the
documents on their desk.
“Is something wrong,” the dean asked him.
“Yes,” the adviser said, “I notice that you have
copious amounts of praise from Representative Gerald, but you don’t have a
second letter of recommendation from another government official.
Eliza felt all of the blood rush to her face.
She feared the next words that would come out of her mouth. “Representative
Carlton, also from Larcos, was going to write me one, but there was a money
laundering scandal that he ended up on the wrong side of and he was forced to
resign. My family just moved to Kalia. I do not know that city-state like I
knew my home, so I don’t know if I can get a second letter of recommendation
any time soon. Carlton will vouch for me, despite what’s happened to him. I was
hoping that it would be a satisfactory enough requirement.”
A shockwave of silence reverberated through the
admissions board. Three pairs of eyes narrowed in and saw right through hers.
She had to sit on her hands to prevent them from shaking.
“That uh... that unfortunately changes things,
Miss Bennihan,” the dean said.
Eliza nodded on like a convict found guilty and
awaiting a sentence.
“Two letters of recommendation from political figures
actively in power is one of the requirements to be admitted into the school,” Senator
Shander explained. “You're a very impressive young woman, but we cannot make
any exceptions. If one of our own children was unable to meet one of those
requirements, we'd be unable to admit them as well.”
“I... I understand.” She felt her body slowly
melt. At any moment she would surely become a mere puddle on their white-tiled
floor. “Is there anything I can do?”
The dean and the senator exchanged glances. It
was the dean who answered her. “We are unable to make an official decision
regarding who gets accepted into the academy until we've met with all of the
applicants. The process will take months. If you can get the letter of
recommendation from a second official, then we can add it to your portfolio.”
“While we cannot guarantee even then that you'll
be admitted, I will say that your chances are better than most of our
applicants,” the senator said.
She let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “I can
do this. I swear it on my potential future at your academy.”
Eliza stood and shook all of their hands again
and the dean wished her luck. After, she left them and passed through the
corridor, the receptionist and Helena, and headed for the air lift.
It’s not the end of the world, she told herself. Just another hurdle. She tried to keep
her focus on the positives of the interview. They liked her more than she
thought they would. That was the biggest relief, mainly because most people
that Eliza had come across in her life didn't particularly care for her. Her peers
made fun of the way she dressed and how she knew everything, while her mother was
both overprotective and inattentive at the same time. That was all right
though. If she got admitted into the academy, the people she'd known in her
life up to that point wouldn't matter anyway. She just needed to find a
political official that inspired her.
Eliza was relieved when she saw that she beat
her mother home. She didn’t tell her that she had an interview scheduled across
the continent before her mother left to go visit her best friend back in
Larcos. Eliza’s was the first of the family air shuttles to park in front of
their new crystal two-story home in the city-state of Kalia.
Kalia was mostly known for its tourism and science
programs. The entire city-state was made up of crystals and water. The ground
was coated in tiny rock crystals with a consistency barely greater than powder.
It made up the buildings and shimmered in the light of Hela, and in the moon
and stars above. Tiny streams of neon water etched the sidewalks and shuttle
lots from the main roads, and then went to light the city-state with
hydroelectric power. If Eliza were to follow the streams of water all to their
origins, she would come across one of the several hydrodomes in Kalia, which
were two hundred feet in height and funneled water from its core through to
millions of pipes dispersed from it.
Most natives even wore crystal beaded shirts and
dresses, further blending in with the city-state they’ve grown to love. The
Bennihans had only moved there recently. Eliza’s father said that they were
there only temporarily while he worked on a project for his company that
required them to transplant from their cozy home in Larcos. Eliza never wanted
to be there, already having made a positive dent in Larcosian politics. Her
mother wasn’t thrilled either, seeing that she spent most of her days cleaning,
cooking, and then getting cocktails with “the girls.” The Bennihans needed the
money though. The raise that came with the transition would be enough for them
to buy a larger house upon their return to Larcos, and help pay for some of
Eliza’s schooling.
In truth, Eliza didn’t miss anything in Larcos
beyond her job. School in Kalia was the same as it was in Larcos, except now
different students rolled their eyes when she answered questions in class, and
their library was a little larger and easier to find a spot to read during
lunchtime. The names she was called were different, but they were just as
uncreative as those in Larcos. When it came to a battle of wits, Eliza won
every time. Unfortunately, responding to sophomoric insults with deep cutting
truths didn’t result in lifelong friendships. She was as excited in Kalia as
she was in Larcos to graduate two years early.
She stepped inside their small empty home.
Father must have gone home and went straight to sleep the night before. He was
supposed to take her to the interview, but work called him in at the last
minute. She would need to let him know that she did the best she could when he
came home, and that the reason she didn’t get in was out of control.
When he returned home an hour later, he didn’t
share her sentiment. Before Eliza got to tell him anymore, he put his gear down
and took her to a local diner that reminded them both of home. There was
absolutely nothing special about it, except for that it looked like every other
diner in Noreis. Back in Larcos, when Father came home late and Eliza was still
up, he would sometimes take her to their diner and they would talk about their
day for hours. It was rare for either of them to have anything significant to
say, but just talking to him meant the world to her. Father was the only one
who understood her, which was probably why he was so upset when she told him
the news.
“I’m so sorry Eliza,” he said as the two shared
a plate of fries and tempura. “If I didn’t have this job—”
“Carlton’s letter would still be ineligible,”
Eliza replied. “Unfortunately, I don’t know the other representatives in Larcos
well enough to get a letter that would hold weight. Dean Stockton recommended
that I find someone here in Kalia to work for.”
Father took a minute, trying to swallow a
mouthful of food. “Do you know anyone?”
Eliza shook her head. “I’ve spent the last
couple of months perfecting my portfolio as is. Between that and finals, I
haven’t had time to look. No one stands out, though. If they did, I would’ve
known who they were before we moved out here.”
“Before I moved
us out here,” her father replied. He took a large gulp of his soda and
continued to stuff his face. It took Eliza a few minutes to figure out why her
father was so hungry, then realized that their mother wasn’t there to make him
lunch that day.
“They liked me, though,” she said, sliding a fry
from one side of the plate to the other. “I don’t think they tell just anyone that
their portfolios are impressive. I think I have a legitimate shot at this.”
“Of course you do. You are one of the brightest,
most driven people that I’ve ever met.”
I know. “I’m not even from a
royal family, or from a prestigious line like the Donnick’s or the Xeras’… no
offense.”
“No, I understand,” father replied. “I guess we
just need to find someone that inspires you.”
Eliza frowned. She’d barely eaten all day, but
suddenly she no longer felt hungry. “I wish you would go back to politics. You
had a seat in our housing board and you were thinking about city council before
we left.”
Father shook his head. “No, I think I’m exactly
where I need to be. I have no desire to go back now.”
“But I’ve seen you speak,” she retorted. “I’ve
watched you stand up in a crowded room and argue your ideas; I’ve seen people’s
faces go from indifference to cheering for you. You were well on your way to
following your dreams before you and mom became parents.”
He chortled. “You mean before we had you?”
Eliza nodded.
Father stopped eating to take a look at her. His
eyes were almost as green as hers, but dimmed with age and responsibility. Mr.
Bennihan was more calm and collected now than he was gregarious and
influential. Through him, Eliza saw a path that she could easily go down
herself one day, if she were to find love and marry (though her lack of
prospects made this unlikely). “You know what your mother always says about you
is true, right?”
“That my clothes look like that they should be
worn by homeless children as punishment by other homeless children with nicer
looking clothes?”
“No… what?”
“Oh no, that was a barista,” Eliza replied.
“Which is awkward because he’s also blind.”
“No, the stuff that your mother says when I’m
actually around to hear it.”
She shrugged.
Father took another sip of his soda. “She said
that you can’t wait to get your life started. Eliza, you were born three weeks
early and your mother was in labor for less than twenty minutes. If we weren’t
already at the hospital, I would’ve had to deliver you myself. You’ve been
reading books before most children even learn to talk, and you started watching
televised senate hearings at five. You’re the only kid I know that actually
finishes their homework right after school so that you can go to the
library—where the entire staff know you by name. You read, and you study, and
for fun you read some more. I used to have to read the constitution to you
because you preferred that to a bedtime story. We’ve been raising an adult from
the moment you were born. At first it was cute, but most of your childhood
years have gone by already.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that maybe your mother is a little
right,” he winced upon speaking.
“Right about what?”
“That you need to be a kid while you still can
be. Maybe make some friends—real ones, this time.”
“I—”
“I love my job, and I loved having you. When
your mother and I talked about our future together as a family, it didn’t take
much for her to convince me to not run for a position of power. We didn’t want
the stress of campaigning and mudslinging and to be put on a stage. We just
wanted to have our own little family unit.”
Eliza couldn’t believe that these words were
coming out of her father. “So get married, have a kid, and then get some simple
job with a modest income. Is that the path you wish for me to take?”
“No! No, of course not. You are probably going
to lead a very unique and interesting life. I just hope that it’s going to be
one that you enjoy. Does all of this make you happy?”
“You’re starting to sound like her.”
“Who? Your mother? The woman who has raised and
loved you even though you go out of your way to not have anything in common with
her?”
She had no response. Did her parents somehow
manage to switch bodies while she’d been in Barencos? What was this foreign
language that he was speaking to her?
“Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t look
for someone to try and admire, I’m simply saying that maybe this is a sign.
Maybe you should take the year and enjoy yourself after graduation—or during
school, since you’re still in it. The Barencos Advisory Academy will still be
there in a year, and the admissions board would be foolish to not accept you.
You learned that for yourself today.”
“I will not wait another year,” she hissed.
“This is my year. I will not be like you and mother and compromise my dreams
for someone else. I’m going to get into the best school in the world and I’ll
graduate before even hitting the median age of those admitted—”
“And then what?” Her father asked. “I know you
want to change the world, but how can you change something you’ve barely spent
any time around? What happens if you accomplish all of this and then realize
that you know nothing of the world you wish to better? Where will you start?”
“I’ll have years to figure that out.”
“But it’s the one question that you couldn’t
answer during the interview,” her father retorted. “It’s a question that most
everyone else going there will already have a memorized answer for.”
“Well, I don’t!” she shouted. If the diner was
even remotely busy, people would’ve stopped to turn their heads to see a girl
feuding with her father for what might’ve been the first time.
An uncomfortable and unfamiliar silence corroded
their table as if Eliza was in the middle of a terrible dream. Father was and
always had been her main supporter. If he wasn’t with her now, then she needed
to find a political figure to follow as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to
spend another year in the Bennihan household, where one parent could never
relate to her while the other wanted her to become someone else.
She stood from the table and turned to him with
the fire in her eyes that had been extinguished in his. “I’ll walk home from
here. Have a good night, father.”
The buildings shimmered navy blues and greens in
the moonlight. Some of the trees had glowing branches and leaves, and nearby
there was a large fountain that spouted out water in brilliant designs that
often caught the attention of tourists and passerby’s. Eliza had no interest in
the beauty of Kalia that night, though. All she wanted to do was go to bed and
pretend that nothing that night had ever happened. Father was always her
defender. Without him, and without Representative Gerald to assist with
campaign management while he acted as a second father to her, she had no one to
depend on but herself.
The walk home was a somber one. She passed
groups of people in the streets, all interacting with each other on their way
to a late night dinner, drinks, or the park. None of them paid her much
attention. They were too engrossed in their own worlds and their own social
circles and, for the most part, they also all seemed to enjoy their group’s
company. She was willing to bet her allowance that none of these people worked
half as hard she did to struggle to make a change in the world, and yet that
didn’t seem to bother them. Maybe her parents were right; maybe she needed a
childhood, or at least friends.
The very concept made her nauseous. Aside from a
couple of scholars at the library, there was no one that she could think of
that she’d want to befriend.
She grimaced when she saw that her mother’s air
shuttle was in front of their house. She didn’t want to get the same advice
repeated to her by a woman who didn’t understand why she wanted to go to the
BAA at all. Thankfully, Eliza came home to find the lights all off and a tepid
snoring coming from her parent’s bedroom. She slinked by and headed into her
own bedroom, feeling immediately more secure with her door shut behind her.
Neither of her parents would bother her for the rest of the night. She would
have plenty of time to start searching for someone in Kalia to follow.
She sat at her desk and swiped her textbooks
away from the keyboard to her telescreen, which gave off the same glow as the
cerulean crystals that the moon shined upon outside her window. The screen
divided up into three parts: her e-mail to the left, a series of scrolling breaking
stories to the right, and a blank black screen in the center waited for her
voice commands.
“What…?” she muttered as she glanced to her
right. A story titled ‘Progressive Representative Vila Pirral introduces a bill
to the Hewenian House of Representatives to Separate Religion from Government
Regulation.’ She clicked on the story, which opened up to an image of
Representative Pirral, a Hennian creature with bright fiery purple eyes and
lavender furs. Her white feathery hair draped across her shoulders and over her
blue scaly skin as she stood behind a podium with a look of such defiance that
Eliza imagined that the whole House fell silent when she spoke.
“Since the creation of Hewenia,” Eliza said,
reading one of Vila’s quotes aloud, “We have believed that religion and
government are fused together in our city-state. What we as Hennians and
Trewanians have neglected to acknowledge in the last century is that it is
actually our culture that defines our primary differences between our races and
humans, and that our culture is what brought us together to form this
city-state. Religious zealots have ruled Hewenia for too long, using the ‘Book
of Gods’ as a weapon and not as a text in which to follow with our own
personal, private beliefs. We as a city-state should continue to celebrate our
culture but, now that we are strong enough to stand on our own feet, it is time
to separate the beliefs we have and the rules and regulations that we are to
follow.”
Eliza read the next paragraph and blinked with
surprise. “Shockingly, Representative Pirral’s bill did not die upon its birth.
While the House of Representatives voted it down, Pirral’s own district has
decided to add it to their list of legislation to consider. If it passes in
Pirral’s district, it may return to the House with strong support.”
Wow… a progressive woman
administering a drastic, seemingly positive change in her district.
“Hmm,” she muttered. A human girl goes to Hewenia, interns for a district representative
there while that representative alters the course of her city-state’s future,
and then gets a letter of recommendation to show to the BAA admissions board.
For the first time that day, Eliza smiled. “Now that’s a way to get admitted…”
