Chapter 25 – Epilogue
Ah, Talvi. My secret weapon.
I've known her for years, but sometimes I feel like I don't know anything about her at all. She's an open book, but it's all in Finnish and I can't understand a single word of it.
She's a gifted mage, and inhumanly beautiful in the way that elves are, but she can be really uptight and hard to deal with sometimes. There's a certain...coldness...to her, and I get the impression that she's not the sort of person who would ever let anyone get close to her.
And I feel bad for saying this, but she's got a really thick accent, and sometimes I want to laugh at the way she pronounces certain words.
Oh, and I've never met anyone who's more hopeless with tech than she is. She ought to be kept as far away as possible from any cyberterminals or any piece of technology, because they always malfunction (or explode) whenever she tries to use them. It's totally weird, and I've never seen this happen with anyone else. One of life's little mysteries, I suppose.
Monika's private cyberterminal entry had been burned into Talvi's brain, to the point where she could recall every word from memory. She did not know why she remembered this bit of information in particular. It did not even accurately describe her; Talvi certainly never thought of herself as being "cold" or distant.
There was no use in dwelling on such painful memories, but she could not help herself. If only Monika had listened, if only she hadn't put that ghastly piece of metal into her head, then Talvi would not have had to watch helplessly as her friend died in her arms.
Her cyberterminal began beeping, indicating an incoming call. Everyone who know her knew never to call her on that device unless it was an absolute emergency, so it was with some degree of trepidation that she approached the infernal machine and answered the call.
The blurry image of a dark-haired woman appeared on the display, which had become so degraded over the years that making out anything but the vaguest details was impossible.
"Talvi, I'm surprised! You answered this call in a matter of seconds. More often it takes half a dozen attempts or more to reach you."
"Azadeh? What is this about? You would not have called me like this if it were not important."
"It would appear that the shadow of war darkens my homeland once again," she said in that overly-dramatic tone she always spoke in (Azadeh claimed it was a habit she had picked up from her time as a court poet for Darius the Great). "The UCAS is preparing for an invasion, and I do not think the Artesh alone can hold them back."
"The UCAS makes threats against Iran all the time, as predictably as the sun rising. Why should this time be any different?"
"I cannot explain; I simply know that their threats are not idle ones, and I will need your aid if we are to repel their onslaught. The Americans have been longing to subjugate us since 1979, and the disintegration of the United States has not abated this desire one bit."
Talvi's eyes widened. "You want me to help you repel a military invasion? I think that might be significantly beyond my capabilities."
"Is it not? You sank the battleship Yamato, humiliated the UCAS navy with your chimpanzee gambit, and you have faced down Angra Mainyu himself. I don't see why one nation's army should prove insurmountable."
There was a certain logic to her words, she had to admit. "Assuming I choose to help you, where should we meet?"
"In the city of Yazd. You know the location."
With that the image on the screen winked out of existence.
This was insanity, Talvi knew. Going up against the entire UCAS military? Even though it was a pale shadow of what it once was, it still remained one of the most powerful armed forces on the planet. Nothing good could come of getting involved in her friend's mad scheme.
She stood up and began packing her things.