A visit to the countryside

[Ebria]

Camp Hill, Belvedere International Airport

The Aurarian governmental plane has landed in the morning in Camp Hill, without great pomp, as it was just a work visit by President Manuel Sanabria rather than a full blown state visit. The plane taxied between the Central Himyari Airways' Engellexic made Pegasus and Comet inter-continental airliners, Jacaranda Airlines' EAC 1-11 planes and even two Sylvanian made DC-3 planes used by Savanna Air to connect Camp Hill to remote cattle stations in the Sun Plain and stopped in front of the small Terminal D, the least used one, as it was mostly employed by business and diplomatic planes. On the tarmac, in front of the terminal and the control tower built to resemble Himyari native architecture and decorated with traditional motiffs, in the sweltering heat, as even if it was 10 in the morning, temperature was already showing 32 degrees, Lady Protector Adrianne Stone, together with her retinue from the INTAF and her personal aide, Prunella Bakone, who was a few years ago, the Premier of the Rozvi Kingdom. Stone was wearing her typical blonde hair in a braid around her head, resembling a crown and over her dark blue suit she was wearing a typical Natalian very thin cotton poncho-like veil, in a light purple colour. Besides her, Prunella Bakone, the Rozvian woman of "traditional build", weighting over 100kgs, was wearing a traditional colourful Rozvian dress, with gold and maroon traditional motifs.

The Aurarian president stepped out of the plane in the applauds of the Natalians present there. It was a part of the protocol to have the hosts applaud the foreign leader arriving, with the exception of the Lord/Lady Protector who is seen as an equal to the President. Manuel Sanabria, followed by his secretary, madam Petit and his retinue have shook hands with the hosts and the motorcade was getting ready to leave the airport as everyone was welcoming the Aurarians.

The motorcade itself was small, with two INTAF cars, two for the Republican guard and two for the politicians and their retinue. Adrianne Stone went to the third car, a Hartnett Auto SUV, and opened the door to the passenger's seat on the left side of the car. "May I be your driver today, Mr President?" she said smiling towards Sanabria. She then turned towards Prunella Bakone as she saw that her secretary was frowning: "Prunella, be a dear and take the other vehicle together with Madam Petit," she said. It was yet one another of the strange quirks of the Lady Protector as she usually liked to be a very involved and informal host in those non-state visits. She then turned to the INTAF officer: "We will be driving to Inyianga. Try to keep an eye around, but be subtle. I don't want the press to invade us and try to keep everything normal, no motorcate on the highway, no sirens and flashy lights on the streets, alright?" she said.

Afterwards she went to the right side of the car and seated herself to the driver's seat. After she closed the door and it was only her and Sanabria, she smiled towards him. "Quite a long time has passed, Manuel," she said in a correct Aurarian. She and the Aurarian president were colleagues as they were writing their PhDs at the Solis University, fifteen years before. "Inyianga is quite a ride away, we will have to go two hours on the highway, along the Natal River's gorge through the Grans and then another hour on a country road to the Station itself," she said.

 

[Oneida]

Susanna gave a notable scowl when the Natali Lady Protector offered to drive Manuel Sanabria instead of the regular INTAG or Republican Guard agents. She made great use of the opportunity to corner Manuel in a steel tube 40,000 ft in the sky for 10hr straight to try and talk him out of allowing it. He knew, though, it wasn’t her craziness but rather the last, desperate attempt by the Republican Guard to talk the President out of it. However, his decision was made.

“Consul Varela will make a fine President,” he would quip – although no one but him found it to be even remotely funny.

He was a far smarter man than to call Susanna Petit dear but he smiled at her in enough a way to force her to oblige.

“My Dear Lady Protector,” he smiled at Adrienne “I would be honored.”

The President sat in the passenger seat and immediately undid his tie and unbutton the top two buttons. He wasn’t wearing an undershirt as the Natali heat was no joke. His three strands of hair which served as a sad excuse for chest hour were visible however.

“Adrianne,” he exclaimed “It has been such a long time. I’ve got to say – the Guard is quite mad about all this. It reminds me of all the times professors would suggest how to do things and we just did the opposite for the pure joy of it.”

The Zapatero Academy of Government at the University of Solis had existed in some form of another for hundreds of years. It was a miracle – or perhaps a testament to their political teachings – that the place wasn’t burned down like virtually every other vestige of the Monarchy in 1819. There were only two ways to get into the Academy: 1) be a high brass member of the Elite with familial connections or 2) be a minority with a sad story lucky enough to apply at a time when the Catamarcan Board of Education was investigating “abnormal” enrollment methods.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. It’s embarrassing, but I haven’t been to Inyianga…I was going to look up pictures but I was confident they wouldn’t do it justice,” he paused for a bit “Let’s get the business out of the way quickly…uhhh, submarines are bad – we don’t like them. The economy is yet to be good enough for people to stop cursing me whenever the price of a pastry goes up. Serenierre and Eiffelland-Retalia may kill each other at any moment and plunge the continent into chaos. Uhhh…Loago seems unwell. Oh, and I think several members of the diplomatic corps had an aneurism trying to figure out whatever the fuck happened in Justosia over the last two months.”

“There!” Sanabria flung his arms up into the air “I think that covers it, so tell me – how are you?”