25. The Show Must Go On

Sunday was proving to be no day of rest, as the house was whirling in a maelstrom of activity in preparation for the upcoming Press Conference. For security reasons General Barhydt had decided that the Minister's home was the best place to hold it, and now the driveway had temporary concrete barriers, the doors were blocked with metal detectors, and the floors seemed almost alive with undulating coaxial and power cables. They had blown the electricity, twice, and now had two huge generator trucks on the front drive. Lucia didn't flatter herself that this was all for her. The press had doubtless gotten the word that the Minister was returning today, and hoped to interview him as well.

But Lucia was going to make them wait, until she had a chance to speak with him herself. She had done a lot of thinking about what Karl had said, and had come to the unwanted, uncomfortable conclusion that he was right. She was acting like a little child, expecting to get away with things that grown-ups couldn't. Even with Illumi, she'd spent two of the five days since he'd come back into her life again bawling into his shirt! Had she had so much more backbone as a teenager? It was past time for her to have a serious adult conversation with her father about their mutual and divergent political goals, and to reach some kind of compromise. No longer was she going to just pretend that they weren't in conflict, and she certainly wouldn't have much of a career if all her successful candidates were going to be dropped like clay pigeons.

Katrina came up to her, holding the final draft of her opening statement. Her face looked drawn and pinched, and Lucia thought she knew why. Karl hadn't shown up at their shared flat.

"You know he's with Father. He must've gone back to him after he saw me."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Katrina smiled, but her eyes were still unconvinced. She was worried. Lucia almost envied Katrina this pain. It was proof of a bond she could never have. She had never had any siblings to care about. Is this what Illumi would feel if one of his brothers was late returning from an assassination?

"Father will be back in a few hours, we'll send the troops out after him if he doesn't show up then." Lucia cast an exaggerated look around the large hall, noting the men stationed at every window and door. "And boy, do we have a lot of troops!"

Katrina laughed a little at that. "You know I was kinda hoping he had spent the night here!" She winked, and turned to leave.

"Ha. Ha." Dream on Trina, Lucia thought. As much as she would like Katrina as a sister, she wasn't willing to pay the price of Karl as a husband.

A dais had been constructed at the end of the large ballroom that occupied virtually the entire second floor of the house. The video cameras would be operated by her own people, and there would be only one feed, so at least she knew she would look good on TV. The members of the press were being screened before they were let up the stairs, so in addition to stopping any potential threat, they could weed out the gadflies and troublemakers as well.

Even though these were highly controlled conditions, Lucia still saw it as a step toward her new professed adulthood. As she moved to a small anteroom, to wait for the start of the conference, she thought of her future, and of whom she wanted to spend it with, Illumi.

For ten years she had dreamed a fantasy of him, but after Friday night, she knew the truth. He was the most wonderful man on the face of the earth. Maybe the most wonderful there had ever been. He wasn't perfect; he was after all, a murderer. But that was because that was what his family's business was, if it had been the circus, he would have been part of a trapeze act, or he could have been an accountant in the family firm, or heaven help us, he could have been, like her, part of a political dynasty.

And if it had been a trapeze act, he would have been the guy hanging upside-down by his legs throughout the act, catching and boosting the star performers; an accounting firm, the guy way in the back pouring over and correcting all the misfiled ledgers; and in politics… He wouldn't have been her father, the man out front, who had the glory, he wouldn't even have been her, someone sought after and courted by important people. No, he would have been Katrina, toiling away night and day, faithfully and skillfully, for someone else, with no personal fame or accolades, completely unknown by most people, and completely indispensable to the workings of the job.

He had sharpened his skills to an almost superhuman level through years of torturous training, and then offered them in service to his superiors, who, at best, ignored him, and he only saw inadequacies in himself whenever he failed to reach some unattainable self imposed level. He had ruthlessly trained his siblings, because it had been asked of him, and because he had known they would need these skills to survive in their field, and had earned for himself alienation from the only companions he could have had as a Zaoldyeck, his brothers. He was the most loyal, selfless and giving person Lucia had ever met, and no one had ever told him. He had no idea.

It would not be easy for her. Lucia knew there were two kinds of people in this world, the givers and the takers. And she knew which one she was. She didn't think she could change her very nature, so she was going to have to be very careful and work hard to keep herself from taking advantage of him too. But it would be worth the effort!

She remembered how awed she had been of his physical beauty ten years ago on Kukuru Mountain. Now she knew that it was nothing compared to his beauty inside. He needed to be told, and she wanted the job. She wanted to look into those impossibly enigmatic eyes of his and tell him so, over and over, until he had no choice but to believe it. Because she was in politics, a field not exactly known for its veracity, this would probably take a long time, maybe a lifetime. That would be just fine with her.

Her mind then returned to less pleasant, more immediate issues, discussing her political ambitions with her father. She experienced a brief moment of uncharacteristic doubt. What if she wasn't worth her father's time to negotiate with? Maybe she only rated Karl. No, that couldn't be right; everyone knew she was the critical factor in Groesbeck's victory, even Dewalt. Childish or not, she was big time! Her eye caught the clock on the wall. On with this show!