Chapter 3

 

With one nod, the room cleared out, save for two men and one little lady.

“Do take a seat, Lady Rathbone.” Alpha said with a satisfied glint in his jade eyes. He wore a simple black shirt and smoothed the imaginary creases over the cool blue denim jeans, his sleek brown hair tied back. Wheeler sat next to him in the same blue uniform coat as before.

Selene nervously took a seat in front of Alpha, placing her hands on the six-seat dinner table.

“She was able to apparate here. This must mean the restraining bonds must not be as strong as we thought.” Wheeler said, breaking the silence.

She fingered the empty chain that once held the locket of protection on the mention.

“Such bonds aren’t that easily breakable.” Alpha said placing his gloved hands folded on the table. “Maybe she’s just that strong. Don’t forget that this little one won the Royal Army tournament when she was eight.” He smiled at her.

“It doesn’t matter.” Selene replied. “It was a long time ago, and you know I’m not here for small talk.”

“I know. Your brother needs a transfusion doesn’t he? Lucky for you, Wheeler knows a doctor and a perfect donor.” Alpha said.

“But…” she started.

“Leave the details to us, Lady Rathbone.” Wheeler said. “Tomorrow your father will meet our doctor through a colleague at work who will run some tests for the match and ‘happen’ to find the perfect donor. By evening, the person in charge for the approval would ‘generously’ approve a permit and the procedure would start off right away. I believe it should take about three to four months for the transfusion to work out, depending on the health of the recipient.”

“All that remains is for you to sign on the figurative dotted line.” Alpha concluded.

Selene nodded. “What do I have to do?” She said.

Alpha gave Wheeler a nod and he stepped out of the room.

“He’s making all the necessary arrangements for your brother. We can now discuss your end of the terms without you worrying about him.” He drew a six-pointed star in a circle taking colored salt from a copper bowl at his end of the table and asked her to place her hand at one of the six triangles and hit the center of the star, activating a portal.

Selene found herself in a familiar room in the blink of an eye. The opulent furnishings and portraits of freedom fighters and previous presidents lined on the velvet walls were familiar to her. When she turned to her right, she nearly jumped when she realized why it was familiar to her.

“Meet President Llewyn Saini.” Alpha said.

The president nodded with a smile. “I see you have a friend with you today, Alpha.” He said, inconspicuously hetero-chromatic dark eyes focused in curiosity. He rested his chin on interlocked fingers. His sharp attire and carefully styled black hair gave the impression that he were just setting out to work, opposed to the fact that he was putting in nearly eighteen hours a day.

“This was the one I mentioned to you last time we met.” Alpha said. “She’s highly competent for what we plan to do.”

“I trust your judgment, Alpha.” He said.

“Well, dear.” He said, turning to her. “How much do you know about me?”

“You’re the first Alchemist president for Bantam and the youngest president at thirty-five.” She said, remembering the statistics she had read when he was elected. “You’re putting up a lot of ambitious plans for the country and recently secured an investment from the Empire to set up manufacturing plants for their transport system and are battling with the Feds to you’re your trade restrictions with the Empire.”

The President was surprised. “You’re quite aware for a high-school girl. You seem to be one, I presume?”

She nodded. “My father makes it a habit to makes sure I’m well-informed of the goings-on of the world. Knowledge is power and all that…”she shrugged.

“Knowledge is power indeed.” He said. “You might also be aware that even my party members do not particularly like me.” She did know that, but refrained from saying that out of politeness and kept her eyes trained on the mahogany table while Alpha chuckled.

“You see, when I presented these plans to the cabinet, they were appalled I could suggest such a thing �" to take help from the Empire that once ‘colonized’ us. The world has now changed beyond recognition in these sixty years yet these old idiots seem to hold on to their lies and hate when it was in fact a mutual agreement of separation of District Karta from the Empire to form the Republic of Bantam. We must learn to look beyond history and move to a bright future, even if it means trade relations with the Empire.”

She remembered the President’s daily struggle portrayed by the media in the parliament as he tried to bring up plans of investments from the Empire to strictly enforcing rules against anything that could bring an increase in hate crimes like rape and murder against the Alchemists and Mezzalites by each other.

Saini sighed. “I want our country to be free from this humiliating mindset of bigotry and racism. I need to bring these radicalizing elements under control and set an example for the public. I know for sure that deep down, nobody really cares much about whether their neighbor is an Alchemist or Mezzalite or whatnot.”

She thought of Jaken Honda and Julie Myers and begged to differ, but didn’t voice the same.

“What do I do, then?” she asked.

“Do you know how they instigate the Mezzalites against the Alchemists? They say we’re abnormalities because of our powers and it makes us greedy, arrogant monsters. It doesn’t matter that the first thing we’re taught is to never use our powers for any malignant purpose. Fighting is always a last resort.” At her questioning gaze, he said, “Well, it’s time we showed them a taste of their nightmares.”

“So you want me to go rogue on possibly the most powerful people in the limelight? What happened to violence being a last resort?” she said.

“Oh, I meant no grave harm! All they need is a little scaring-off.” He smiled.

“What happens when the police shows up on my doorstep?” she retorted.

“That’s what I’m here for!” he said. “This is a long-term covert operation owing the fact that I have so little time since I’m not sure I’ll see a second term. Of course, I’ve instructed Alpha to provide a respectable compensation for your efforts and that you’re free to leave anytime, provided that you keep everything that happens here a secret.”

Selene didn’t buy it. “Why did you bother joining politics?” she asked curiously. “You’re from a respectable Alchemist family with ties to the Empire. You could’ve gone ahead and settled down there like the rest of the people who move out there to live a better life. You surely had the education to seek it out. Doesn’t the dirty business and slugfest wear you out?”

Saini comprehended the questions. “Growing up, I was pushed by my parents to do the exact same things you mentioned just like any family does, Alchemist or otherwise. After all, who would want to stay and waste their lives away in this rundown country that is so fixated on having its people hate each other and make the poor stay poor for their personal gains? No parent wants their child’s talents and skills to be shoved aside for an entry in a birth certificate and let them spend their lives fighting like dogs for overpriced food, housing and education because their jobs and incomes were determined by an age old and bungled population statistic twisted beyond recognition by lawmakers for their personal gain. People are taxed beyond measure and their land is stripped away in the name of financial equality even though nothing ever reaches the needy and the corrupt fill their pockets to burst. Nobody wants to be a part of the unlucky thirty percent whose tax money runs this country with failing infrastructure and a hole-ridden system run by fringe elements that hold control over the unemployed and illiterate through fear and sops. I could do what ,y parents wanted �" move to the Empire or any Alchemist Nation or the Federation for that matter where ironically, they celebrate the Spring Festival with fervor whereas the most I can do is to light a tiny lamp in a corner of my home and hope nobody sets a lynch mob on my home and family.”

She winced at the remark. The Spring Festival celebrations had been banned six years after the formation of Bantam. A family was attacked by a lynch mob for ‘participating in a communal display with all sorts of lecherous connotations attached to it’. Their house was burned down after the family was murdered and the case was used by members on both sides to stir people to suit their personal gains.

“I could do what everyone else does and leave this country like the best of our talent does, but for better or worse, this is the country where I was born and raised. This is the land where I took my first steps and said my first words, gained my education and my employment. This is the soil that gave the food to my belly and water for my thirst. I owe a debt to this country for making me the person I am and when I won the election, I promised the people I would make this country a better place and as you know, an Alchemist’s word is as good as gold.”

Selene didn’t care one bit about social service, but she did know a thing or two about promises. “Alright.” she said.

“Wonderful.” The President replied. “Like I said before, you will be handsomely compensated for your efforts.”

“Alpha’s taken care of that.” She replied.

On that note, Alpha drew out the six-pointed star on a nearby coffee table and signaled her to come over. “Rest assured your plans will be put in action soon, President.” He said.

Once they apparated back to the room, Alpha cheekily asked “Are you feeling inspired?”

“It was a waste of time.” She said. “I was in the moment Wheeler walked out the door.”

“Even if it meant doing something dangerous and illegal?” he said.

“I owe you a debt and like Saini said, an Alchemist’s word is as good as gold.”

Author's Note

A warm New Year wishes to all :)