Chapter 29: Fara III
She was sitting in First-Class on the Trans-Continental Rail reading a fascinating book on the history of Lupid Nationalism. Oftentimes, Fara sat in second class ("with the masses" as her mother often termed it). But she wanted a quiet, apolitical ride.
What she wanted was damned from the start when an ape, wearing a black uniform with the Androsian insignia and the three-pronged black flame of the Inquisitors, appeared by her side.
She put down the book, "May I help you, sir?"
"Representative Phoenix, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
She repeated herself, "May I help you, sir?"
"If you'd come with me, Madam Representative, we can just talk for a few minutes."
"Is this an official request?" She needed to know if she was being detained.
"No, ma'am." The pretense of a smile had left the Inquisitor's lips, "But I would prefer to discuss the incident that occurred recently in private."
Upon realizing that she too preferred privacy when names like McCloud were being thrown around, Fara elected to follow the Inquisitor to a train car with a number of compartments for passengers to close the door on outsiders and pull the shades down. The one he led her to had a digital sign over the door saying "Reserved." He opened the door and gestured for her to enter. Fara did so, finding a small table affixed to the wall below the window. On it was a small pot of tea and two cups. Fara sat down. The Inquisitor closed the door and sat opposite her. He punched a button on the panel below the window that tinted the windows until they were opaque. He then set the cups of tea in front of her and leaned back to sip at his own. Fara didn't touch her tea.
"Three days ago you were accosted by your ex-husband."
"My vehicle was rerouted to a location of Fox McCloud's choosing. He beat me and interrogated me for information."
"What kind of information?"
"It's all in the police file. I called them as soon as I got home."
"Documentation is for academics. I deal with people."
"This is why your department is inefficient."
"Why did you call the police a half-hour later?"
"I called them immediately after I got home."
"Yes. And the time between the event and the phone call was twenty-eight minutes and thirteen seconds."
"I was in an emotional state, and I was injured. I don't think my response was unusual."
"No. Of course not. Though hopping the train and making off immediately for Urga Central City so soon afterward is why I was requested to ask you these questions."
"Why would Urga be suspicious?"
"It's a known magnet for splittists and nonconformists."
"It's the location of the Senatorial Administration Office."
"And who are you meeting there?"
"I'd like to ask you to use a respectful tone of voice, Inquisitor. I've done nothing wrong and am here of my own free will."
"My apologies, Madam Representative. I'm merely doing my duty to the Empire."
"For your information, I'm meeting Arbiter O'Donnel."
"And how long will you be there for?"
"If I'm lucky, two days."
He smiled and put down the cup, now empty. He looked at Fara's, still steaming in front of her, "Thank you, Madam. Please enjoy the rest of your trip."
She stood, "Thank you." She went to open the door. It did not open at her command, but only after the Inquisitor apologized and allowed it to open for her.
A few hours later the train stopped and customs officers entered. Most passengers showed their passports that allowed them to easily cross Cornerian administrative boundaries. Fara closed her book and handed over her passport. The officer was a blue-uniformed Lupid with black spots covering her face. She had a bright smile when she saw Fara's name on the passport, "Welcome to the Capital, Representative Phoenix."
Fara smiled back and said, "Thank you."
Urga natives, having never been subdued by imperial authorities, proudly referred to their city and its metropolitan areas as "The Capital." The Senate may meet in Corneria City, and the Emperor may live there, but the Arbiter controls the Senate, and the Emperor had no legal power in Urga. Above the name badge of every officer was the city's emblem: a wolf's head foreground, crossed spears in the background. Below were the city's words: Never Kneel.
Fara turned her head back to the window. Outside, standing on the platform, was the Inquisitor. The train started again. He watched her leave as the train picked up speed and journeyed its final route into the heart of Lylatian democracy.
Urga Central Terminal was in the very center of the city, sitting just north of the river. Fara got up and followed so many passengers to the subway. The uniformed Inquisitor was left behind at the border, but the Inquisition was an espionage agency. Surely there were people still watching her.
A pair of teenagers were pushing each other and laughing. One almost fell onto the subway tracks. They laughed. A woman held her coffee close and spoke in a low tone into her phone. An aviad man was reading something on his comm link.
The train came. Fara stepped on and sat down next to an elderly lupid woman who looked at her and nodded. The train shot out of its berth and ran southward. The tunnel disappeared and soon the view of the city came into the window. Enormous high-rises circled them, and only a little farther off were the famous Mountains of the North. A river ran northward through the city, into the frozen seas that made up Corneria's arctic. Urga, because it would usually be shoulder-deep in marshlands was raised and drained to keep the swamps, and the diseases they brought, at bay. But rich mines, geothermal industries, and fresh-water plants benefited from those swamps and drains, and so in between the high rises and mountains were enormous chimneys with huge clouds of steam rising out of them. Between the obscured view of all of these things was the Yodo Mountain Island: a fortress that sat in the very center of the city, a piece of dry land surrounded by traditional marsh districts that served as a traditional summer base of lupid kings.
Surrounding Yodo's Capital Complex was the Liberty Cemetary, where corpses from the Unification War laid their final rest. The restored walls of the old castle were higher. Several of the old buildings were now converted into museums and VIP lodgings. And then higher than that, contrasted with the medieval castle walls, the industrial steam-stacks, and the modern high-rises, was a space age structure that served as the administrative center.
Everything went black as the train went quickly back underground. The train slowed to a crawl as a voice announced their location in Lupisch, Tsudisch, and finally, standard Cornerian: "This stop is: Central Administration and Arbitration. Please get off here for Unification Memorial Cemetery and Museum."
Fara got off. Only a handful of people went her way towards the shuttle that led to the Administration basement. Everyone else – the old Lupid woman included – went for the Cemetery.
Moments later, she was flashing her ID and sitting in front of the office that read, "Jochi O'Donnel. First Arbiter."
A young lupid girl, in traditional clothing sans elaborate headdress, waved Fara into the office, "Madam Phoenix, the Arbiter will see you now."
The door opened with a mechanical swish and Fara walked inside. It closed behind her. The Arbiter was a very large man. He had a belly, almost protruding out of his suit, and had a shaggy beard hanging off his chin and long hair drawn together in a bearded braid. It was common knowledge that Lupid men put a bead in their hair for every enemy they've killed. In the traditional Northlands this involved taking the eye of an enemy. The custom produced a number of interesting mathematics and social customs that were the subject of the book she was reading. Arbiter O'Donnel had hundreds of beads in his hair. But Fara was not familiar that he'd ever been a soldier.
He stood and let out a big bellyful, "Madam Phoenix? Please come in!"
Fara mentally reminded herself that this man was the uncle of "Wolf" O'Donnel.
She stepped forward and bowed, "Mr. Arbiter, a pleasure to meet you again."
"The pleasure is all mine, Madam." He shook her hand and then waved her past the desk and toward the window where a small table and traditional pillow seats allowed them to sit comfortably and enjoy the skyline of mountains, steam stacks, and high rises.
He pulled out a large bottle with a woven skin, uncorked it and poured a small glass of ahrak for them both, "Madam Phoenix, here on the steppe, we seal trust with a glass of our native brew." He raised it. She picked up her own cup and drank with him.
"I heard you were accosted by an Inquisitor on the train."
She put down the cup, "Yes. He asked me about a recent event."
"Involving Fox McCloud?"
"Yes."
He sighed, folded his hands, and then gazed out the window, "Madam Representative, let me just say that I harbor few suspicions about you. Even more so that I do not care about any association you may or may not have with Fox McCloud."
"I see."
"What we are interested in, however, is the balance of power." He poured himself another small glass, "I do not appreciate the assumptions that the Emperor thinks he can make regarding the institutional structure of Corneria. The Unification Peace Urga signed with the Phoenix Dynasty was very important to not only my people, but yours as well."
"I agree."
"That peace has not been respected." He downed his glass, "My people have a saying: war is a failure of peace."
Fara looked down at her hands, and then back up at him, "What do you want from me?"
"Representative Phoenix, you've drunk ahrak from my bottle. Trust has been established between us."
"Yes," she said.
"The Imperial Authorities have abused you and your family for decades. Not counting what they did to Kalos."
Fara grew very still at the mention of her cousin's name.
"So, I will expect you to either move forward with us, or stay out of the way when we do move."
"It's hard for me to decide without knowing..."
"I understand. That's why I give you those options: either you promise full neutrality, and I promise you will retain your current role, sans any harassment. Or to join us." The look in the Arbiter's eyes frightened her, but she could never reveal that. She nodded, "We intend to initiate a coup next year. To capture and imprison Andrew Oikonny and install Dash Bowman as the Tanist."
"Governor Bowman already tried to recruit me to his side at the Tanistry Committee."
"I know. But what the Governor doesn't know is that he will also approve a takeover of the Redwood Palace, the House Arrest of the Emperor, and then we will replace the Oikonny family entirely."
Something in her gut feared the response the Arbiter would give her: "With whom?"
"With you of course."
She stared.
"There are conditions, of course. There are many who only approve of the change provided you marry a member of the Rehzawad clan."
"I'm already married."
"Details. Too far in the future, any way. Urgites and Lupids are not opposed to authoritarian rule, Madam. Only in certain sectors. For example: daily life, science and engineering, most realms of finances. In other words, all of the realms we secured for popular governance with the Phoenix Dynasty. All realms that the Oikonnys have trampled."
"Who are you planning on using for this is I refuse?"
He waved a hand, "There are many options: Dash himself in the absolute worst case. Your brother, Faresh, would be a suitable figurehead. Many preferred him for malleability, but in terms where strong leadership would be necessary: the military, the governors, the civil service, infrastructure, we preferred an administrator and non-figurehead. If things go absolutely wrong… well, then I guess we'd just directly install a Rehzawad. Or something of the sort."
He poured Fara another glass, "You're our first choice. Your brother our second. Your sister, obviously, will not do. Dash is an acceptable, if distasteful, option after the last twenty years. And to shift entirely to a Lupid Dynasty will be…" bloody, Fara thought, very, very, bloody, "unpleasant."
She sipped at her cup as she contemplated the words: Empress Fara I, "This is dangerous."
"Quite," the Arbiter agreed, "Madam, for over a century, our city held out against your ancestors and all their power. We held out ground and even advanced. No one surrendered. My ancestors and yours signed a Peace. One that was broken by Andross."
"I understand. But..."
"If we lose?"
She gazed out the window.
"Andross rules through fear. I sympathize. For twenty years they have terrorized you and your husband, and the remaining members of your dynasty. Hiding in the dark has become normal. If you say yes, my people will raise you to the throne that is rightfully yours. If you say no, all I ask is that you will not interfere when it begins."
She thought back to the Tanistry committee on the Rift Junction Isles. When she abstained from voting, this was not the reason.
"Think it over, Madam. Get back to me in a week." He stood and walked her to the door. There, he raised the glass, which still had some liquid in it and said, "To you. Fara Phoenix."
She thought of those words in her hotel room that night. And on the train back to the Abburros Coast the next day. And every second of the trip, every passing tree and building seemed to remind her of watching steam rise from between buildings as the Arbiter spoke of storming the Palace, and raising an Empress in place of the enemy…
The sound rattled through her brain right up until she opened the door to her house and walked inside. Everything was dark, but the room's sensors quickly registered her presence and brightened.
Fara noticed that the lights were on in the kitchen.
Her first thought was that Falco was home. No, she thought, he would have told me he was returning from Sauria. Her next thought was that the Inquisitor, or another sort of Imperial goon had come for her. That too was a silly thought that they might leave a light on…
She was standing next to an air vent by the floor. She crouched down quietly and brushed her ID card next to it. The vent opened, revealing a hidden compartment. Fara reached in and pulled out a pistol.
She held it in front of her as she inched her way towards the kitchen. She was close enough that she should be able to see anyone inside, but the breakfast bar hid the floor from view. The refrigerator door was ajar, and there was a small drip of water pouring onto the floor. Fara rounded the bar.
Slouched on the floor, her head against the fridge, her eyes bloodshot and struggling to stay open, in her hands was a kitchen knife, previously lying unwashed ni the sink. Fara put the gun on the counter and dropped down, "Kyera!"
"Don't worry, baby sister," she said, "I was keeping the house safe."
"Damn it. How long have you been here?" She carefully took the knife from Kyera's hand and tossed it in the sink.
"I just got here." Kyera said. Fara put a hand on her forehead and realized she was overheating.
"I need to help you out of this jacket." She tried to slip Kyera's arm out of the coat, which reeked of an urban alley. She could hear the klink of glass bottles in her pocket.
"But I'm so cold."
"You need to get a bath and rest."
Kyera stopped her and shoved a hand into her coat pocket, "Look, baby sis. Look." She pulled out two glass bottles. They were both filled, "I didn't take them. Yesterday I didn't take any and I wanted to show you. OK?" She dropped them and her body lost a lot of its tenseness. Fara helped her out of the jacket. Kyera started violently shivering, "I did right, sis?"
She let out the tears she didn't know she was holding back. Fara marched on with her life. Faresh ignored reality. Kyera couldn't seem to escape. She might have had a promising life if it wasn't for the war, if it wasn't for the purge, if it wasn't for Andross…
Fara cradled Kyera as the tears streamed down her face and onto Kyera's coat. Kyera had long since passed out by the time Fara managed to get her to the bed, undressed, and asleep in a safe manner. She threw the drugs in a paper bag and took them to the kitchen. Her fear and sadness was gone. All she could feel was rage. She crumpled the bag and took it out back to the grill. She set it there on the machine and doused it in oil. She dared not speak at the risk of being heard, but she promised Kyera, and Andross, and herself most of all, that she would join the Arbiter. She would go to Venom and meet Dash. She would not let Andross win.
