No Hay Tiempo para el Silencio

[Natal]

Ander
11th of May 2023

Chaos started three days ago. The military randomly appeared on the street in what honestly shocked all of us so much, that we all felt numbed by it. I read a lot of history books and I still remember my days in high school when I was this overly active socialist that dreamt of redblocks, revolutions and others, but never in my life have I felt something like monday. We woke up early as the phones were ringing with the news of the military on the streets. My mother was going crazy, fearful for my health. After my father's demise, she talked with my sister and she decided to sell the house we grew up in from Rio Verde and moved to Tiltil, in the Baltras Archipelago, with my sister. She decided against coming to Callao, because she always said that she needed more of a beachside tropical retreat, than yet another big huge crazy city like Callao or Rio Verde.

Romina was hospitalised a few days ago, and we were with her, preparing for her birth, when we received the news of the military marching on the city. I had to go to the headquarters, only to find out that we were confined in the stations and barracks, with the army taking over policing duties, while Fernando learning at for the week, schools were closed. Even so, our weird family... well, group... or should I call it family already, was preparing to change forever as her labour started and any craziness taking place outside, at least for Romina was put on hold. It lasted about 6 hours. I was still at work when it happened, but Fernando was at the hospital. Julio was born, a completely healthy boy at 3,5 kilograms. When I finally saw him, I was mesmerised. I never thought that I would find a baby so beautiful, especially when I always knew myself that I couldn't stand around toddlers who were always crying and learning to talk but always impossible to understand. He was having blue eyes, but that is typical for all newlyborn babies, but somehow Fernando was always telling Romina that Julio will inherit her dark and deep blue eyes, while his skin was olive, clearly taking from his father.

Today, I went to work only again just to be told that I can leave, because the army's policy of policing the city continues, so I decided to go to the hospital, see Romina and Julio and then probably do some shopping before seeing what Fernando is up to. As I parked the black ENA Cumana on the pavement in front of the hospital (yes, lack of parking spots in general in Corrientes made most of pavements unusable to pedestrians as they are used as parking), which I got from Rio Verde, as it was my father's and my mother transferred it to my name, so we don't have to beg Doña Sabrina to let us use her ENA Selva, I immediately went inside. By now the personnel at the entry got used to me considering I was coming two or even three times a day and were even calling me the father at certain moments, so they let me in with no issue as they knew I was familiar with the directions.

Approaching Romina's ward, I hear laughing and I immediately remember that voice, something that I haven't heard in yearly a year, even if he was probably my best friend, before Romina, before Fernando, before last year's craziness... "Fabian," I say, as I sit in the door, unsure what to do. Somehow I hated myself for it, as I immediately felt going on guard and all my muscles tensing, and the first thing that came to my mind was that he always talked shit against Fernando, and he always tried to pull me away from him, then came the fact that he left Romina pregnant and then ran away... "Ander, hóla," he says, rising from a chair near Romina's bed and coming to shake my hand. He was coming at me meekly, and at first I made eye contact with Romina who smiled and nodded, so I shook his hand. I couldn't be a monster and act shitty when the guy just wanted to see the mother of his own child, and his newly born child too, of course, as Romina was breastfeeding Julio. "Everything good?" I asked; something neutral to get some form of conversation going. "Yeah, it's been great actually. I moved back in Callao, had a family issue back in Villa Tunari and now I'm back. I'm working quite a lot and managed to find a decent place to stay in Retiro," he says. "I'm quite happy to see you again, Fabito," I say, trying to be friendly and using the diminutive from the olden days, but Romina quickly interrupts us, clearly sensing that the chat will probably fall into awkwardness.

"Fabian, can you please let me and Ander talk for a bit, in private?" she says and he immediately got the messaged and left, but not before giving me an awkward smile. "He's back it seems," I say and I immediately regretted it, as I felt I sounded too mocking. "Don't be like this... In case you forgot, you already had a run in with him and nearly had a scuffle with him in a supermarket..." she says giving me an exaggerated frown and adjusting Julio's position who cooed for a while before he continued feeding. "True..." I say apologetically. To be honest, I was quite ashamed of that episode.

"He was really nice since then. Sent me money monthly, about 1,200 Quris, it paid for quite a lot of the expenses when I was pregnant and now it seems that a lot more will be needed... Babies seem to expensive, even if they are so beautiful and lovely as this one," she says as she started kissing Julio. "He's been quite close to me since that episode and honestly, I'd like him to hang out more," she continued. I tried to protest, but I decided to stop. If the mother wants him close, in the end, whom am I to be against it? That doesn't mean I want him close to Fernando or my relationship with him. "So, I don't know what are your plans, but I told you, I'm Zaran, I need some functional family around, and if he's around, it will make me and probably this little one too, happy," she said nodding towards the baby. "I need you to make peace with him," she added. I wanted to say something, but my phone rang once and then stopped.

I took it from my trousers' pocket and checked it. It was a missed call from Fernando. Right as I was preparing to call him back, I received a message: mira a twatter rapido. Fernando was quite the grammar nazi, if he forgot his exclamation marks and his capital letters, it meant something. I open up twitted and the flood of messages made my mouth fall open. "Hostia, tía," was the only thing I could say and I feel Romina understood my shock and Julio felt it too as he started crying. "What's happening?" she asks me and I just turn my phone towards her. It was a video, showing Marissa de Herrera, leading a small group of people, and she is shouting and crying: El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! The people, united, will never be defeated!. "Where is she?" Romina asks as she tries to calm Julio down. "Don't know for sure, it seems like Avenida Larga," I say.

My phone started ringing again. It was Fernando. "You need to come down, it's crazy! The people are flooding the streets! Herrera is leading them!" he was screaming, but I could barely hear him as people were screaming all over the place. Something in me started to burn, to feel alive. Finally I could feel the people waking up and I was happing to me too. I tried to talk with him, but we agreed to meet up and he dropped me a pin with his location so we can find each other. As I was telling Romina all this, she was quite cynical about it, but he let me go: "Just don't be a hero! Fabian may be back, but I'll need you and Fer," she said. I was exited her ward I met Fabian again, he wanted to talk, but I couldn't wait. I gave him a warm smile and we hugged, for the first time in more than 9 months, and then I ran out of the hospital.

I decided to leave the car by the hospital, as I felt that being the main University Hospital it could be protected by whatever craziness can unfold, so I just ran like crazy on the streets towards Avenida Larga where Fernando was. The Corrientes I knew was always filled with apathetic people and I always talked with Fernando about it. He always said that compared to the Monterrey he knew from his childhood, Correntines are much more indifferent to stuff around them, and honestly deep inside I always thought that it was because there was just too many of us around, everyone, making us a people who at best ignored each other, or at worst argued continuously, but now, everything changed.

The Callao I saw on my run from the hospital to Avenida Larga was something different. People coming together, hugging each other, yelling slogans. As much as it could end up badly, as there were armoured cars and tanks on the main squares of the city, many were probably hypnotised by Marissa de Herrera's charisma, simply believing that in the end, they can't simply shoot us all. I'm sure that deep inside everyone had this concern, especially the older generations who still remembered the violence of the late 70s and first half of the 80s, but today, I feel that any Chalaco around, will probably remember this moment and this vibe on the streets, for it was something one wouldn't experience again in a lifetime. It was hopeful... optimistic... uplifting. It made you feel that this was our generation's trial and we were at first failing, as we waited for a few days, scared and apathetic, but now, we finally woke up, better late than never or at least a few decades too late like in Gran Occidentia, or never, like in Tarusa.

I found Fernando by a churería, talking with some other people of all ages, many waving flags and others having banners with slogans calling for an end to caudillismo, calling for democracy and the one that caught my eye and probably was my favourite: "End the military's war against it's own people!". He just embraced and kissed me, but I didn't care anymore, especially as the people who saw us, started applauding. We all marched yelling slogans on Avenida Larga, up to the Plaza Dos de Mayo, where on one side stood Casa Azul, the palace of the presidency and government and on the other, the Capitol, the palace of the parliament. I understood from the others that Marissa de Herrera was in front, together with her husband and ex-president, Pedro Herrera and even with Mateo Restrepo, the ex-minister of Foreign Affairs and they were holding speeches.

The situation was tense, as one of the armed personnel carriers surrounding the Casa Azul started moving towards the people, but Marissa stood in front of it, scolding the driver like an angry mother would yell at a cheeky child, to the delight of many in the mod that was gathering. I felt that only later would we found out how close we were for that driver to just press the pedal and ram her and probably 50 more people before getting lynched, but even so, he stopped and in an act of complete defiance, the Herreras jumped on the armoured car and someone gave her a microphone.

"The people, united, will never be defeated," she shouted in the applauses and echoing of the mob. "I call the military out, to join us! We are the people! We are the ones you gave an oath to protect! We are the mothers, the sisters, the fathers, the daughters, the brothers, the children, wives, husbands, or anything else that you too love when you take off the uniform and dress in civilian clothing! Join us!" she shouted and I could feel that the people went crazy, shouting even more, as if her voice was electrifying. "General Ocampo, I give you this last chance and two hours to decide! Exile or prison for betrayal! For this, the Correntine people will not forget, nor forgive!" the people continued shouting slogans and applauding her. "We have allies on the outside too! I received a message this morning, that President Jose Constanza will be making us a visit, to join our celebration of liberty, democracy and solidarity!" that is when, the people really started shouting and screaming of pure joy.

"Is he pulling another Zara?" asked Fernando nearly screaming in my ear to cover the shouting. "Hopefully it'll end up better!" I scream back, but in my mind, I could only imagine that Romina would probably have flashbacks from her last day in Gonzaga when she hears this. ​

 

[Natal]

Romina
14th of May 2023

I used to call him the monster or the beast, when he was growing in my womb, making myself feel like I'll explode, giving me nausea every morning, giving me weird cravings. In the end, who else but me would think that some leftover chicken breast is best eaten solely with avocado slices? But then, as much as I felt dying when I was in labour, it ended, and I felt like my pains were taken away by hand and when I saw him, his sleepy eyes, his olive skin, his goofy faces and the little hair that he had on his head, I fell in love. Julio... he will become the most beautiful man I ever set my eyes on, but that will be in about 18 more years, until then, he's like my own alive teddy bear that I would just hug.

Ander and Fernando were always around for me, especially as a week ago, when I came to the hospital, I was hearing of the craziness that was taking place outside, with the military coup. I used to be interested of such events, but it was probably Julio that managed to keep me away from that stress, as having him in my arms and feeding me always soothed me. Of course, my sleeping has gone to hell, but I'm still in the hospital and will remain for the very least one more week, what comes after that stresses me out. Ander and Fernando and afterwards Doña Sabrina were visiting me everyday and bringing me all sorts of stuff, for example, the last things that Sabrina brought me were some Pelasgian blood oranges that I just craved after and I ate them all in one sitting, probably not doing the best for my own health.

Then Fabian appeared out of nowhere and when he met Julio, I could see it was love at first sight. Of course, Julio is too young to literally do anything, he's barely a little over a week old, but the way he's always calm in Fabian's arms, and the way Fabian looks at him, it makes me think that maybe the baby feels that he is his father, or it may be all in my mind, who knows. In the first days, I tried to speak with Ander and Fabian to try to have them avoid each other, so as to not make things weird. Fabian talked a lot of shit against Fer and then he left and ran away back home to Villa Tunari when I broke the news that I was pregnant. I was probably more hurt than angry when he ran away, and I feel that Ander channelled much of the anger I should have felt. Even so, it felt weird how everything changed from the two being best friends to even having a scuffle in a supermarket aisle at one point. A few days ago, I completely forgot Ander will be coming over, and the two met and I was happy that they managed to keep it civil.

Today, I was with Doña Sabrina, who brought me some flowers. "This is to make the other ladies here jealous," she says giggling, a bit too loud for my own taste, but clearly she wanted to make herself heard. "You all are too good with me. I feel my family back in Gallia doesn't really understand what I have here, especially as my mother nagged me all week about being alone here," I say and Doña Sabrina scoffs. "At the same time, I kind of understand them. You're Zarans, Italiotes, you may have a brother who might be younger than you, but you are their daughter and now, they're grandparents. Of course they're stressing out. You are an ocean away in what they imagine to be an unsafe country, filled with angry people who only argue all day, and to top it all you had a baby with a runaway father and right when you were giving birth, there was a military coup. Damn... That would be the perfect synopsis for a telenovela," she says, laughing at the end, and it makes me laugh too, which wakes Julio up, but I quickly start cradling him to get him back to sleep.

"Speaking of runaway fathers," I say grimacing. "Fabian is back, full time in the city, he said," I add. "It was time. He needed a bit more than I thought he will," said Dona Sabriana. "You knew he was coming back?" I ask and she nodded. "He asked me if I have a room about two months ago, if not more. I said that the only one I have is the one he left, and that will be open to him only with your approval," she continued. "Thank you for not pushing him on me," I said, sarcastically. "Oh, don't be like that," Sabrina says waving me off. "I'm here to do the real talk nobody will to you. He's a Correntino man. It means he's a momma's boy. He needs to be babysat and always congratulated on the shit he does. With men like this, how do you think Correntinas ended up being strong and independent women? We don't need idiots like that," she said as if she was holding a speech. I ignored the fact that the other women in the maternity were listening to our discussion and one of the dads was there too, feeling probably awkward. "Does that mean Ander and Fer are like that too?" I ask jockingly. "No, they're gay, they don't count. They're a mixture, Correntinaa personality in Correntino body," she says laughing. "But for real now. The problem is that you being Italiote, you need a man, just look at how your family nags you about it. Why not Fabian, considering he's crazy to come back and wants to be in Julito's life?" she asked, this time seriously.

"You mean I should get back with him? Doña Sabrina, may I remind you he ran away when I told him I'm pregnant?" I say, this time a bit outraged, but the grimace she had and the way she waved me off simply couldn't make me keep my frown. "You know how many times my husband ran away to El Eden to 'think it over', when I told him I was pregnant? Three times!" she says gesticulating. "I didn't know you had kids, let alone three," I say, but she continues unabated. "I don't. Never had... stilbirths... probably that's why he remained with me to the very end..." she says laughing. I quite liked the way Correntinos always did their best when they were talking depressing stuff to make fun of it. "Weird how so many Correntinos act like this, but statistically it seems we're the 2nd biggest nation in the world after Tianlong, population wise," she continued. "The idea is simple. You need to forgive and forget. He is around and that's what matters. If you want a man, you have a man, you just need to choose. Do you want to be right? If you want that, you can be angry at him for running away and turn your back on him. Or, you can do the mature thing and choose to be happy. Hug him, love him, be happy he loves Julito and get him back," she said.

For a while I remained quiet and she understood that she might have hit a sensitive part, so she respected it. Some time we talked about some trivial stuff, from what's on TV, to what might be happening in the presidential suite of Hotel Ecuador, when my phone rang. It was my mother. "Romina, love, I'm so glad you are okay," my mom said as I answered. This was her typical greeting since I came to Corrientes. "I'm okay, ma... why wouldn't I be?" I say and I nearly hear her letting a sob through what was clearly a brave face... or voice... over the phone. "Are you okay?" I ask. "Did you see the news? War is coming!" she said and I turned towards Dona Sabrina. "War?" I ask, a bit stressed, but Dona Sabrina just waves it off. "Some Tarusan rich vampires are killing eachother. I guess I might sell the car if we get no oil anymore," she said. "WAR, YES," nearly shouted my mother over the phone.

My mother, since I told her I was pregnant has been continuously talking about my need to marry and move to Rheinbund, to be with them. When Zara fell, they left for Rheinbund, but I didn't manage to get on a plane so I caught the very last one out of Gonzaga and it flew me to Callao. As refugees, we have open entry into our new homelands, but now we can't move anymore as we're not fully citizens and we're already in a safe environment. My family has been staying with my aunt, my dad's sister, who managed to get her Rheinian citizenship and with that, my family wanted to bring me over, as part of quite a generous family reunion program the Rheinians have. I may be a monster for saying this, but I didn't want to go there. Rheinbund may be richer and life might be nicer, but if there is something I started to appreciate while being here is how nice is to not be smothered by family. I still remember how my in-laws pretty much destroyed my marriage back in Zara for continuously intervening in everything me and my husband did. I couldn't tell me family that I don't want to join them, so I always made excuses, from getting some diploma degree to then being pregnant, but now, things are different. War? What war?

"But the war is between Tarusans," I say. "A civil war," I add. "Yes, and Csengia, with Zara, they're destroying our homeland again, plus they will fight it in Germania and every nation here seems to be taking a side," she said. She was full on hysterical. "The Gothic Sea Pact and CETO will clash very soon," she continued. She was building up for something, it was clear for me, but I wasn't sure what. "But Rheinbund is safe, isn't it?" I ask a bit confused. "It is, until rockets fall upon it. I know I talked a lot of bad stuff regarding Corrientes, but I'm just happy that you are on the other side of the world from this," she continued, this time full on crying. "Can we get you here too?" I ask. "Not yet, as no war started in itself, we're not refugees and don't have entry permission without visa. Your father called the Correntine embassy, it seems many people here are looking for refuge in Occidentia with such tensions and everyone is asking for a tourist visa, and the problem is that backlogs are huge, and were made even worse with the disruptions from the coup," she said.

I tried to think of nations around, trying to build the crazy mosaic of national relations around the Meridian to think of something. "What about Ebria? It's just nearby and not part of CETO," I try to reason with her. "Ebria is in the Meridian Union, together with Rheinbund and Radilo, CETO members. If they are attacked, Ebria is at war too," she says. Never in my life have I seen her like this. I turn towards Dona Sabrina, while the phone was still on.

"Doña Sabrina, can you give me some advice? My family is in Rheinbund but they want to leave, as they're afraid the war in Tarusa might spill over the border and CETO might intervene. Is there a way to bring them over to Corrientes?" I asked. She was scanning through an old magazine that was laying on a nearby bed and then stopped, thinking for a bit. "They can ask for a tourist visa. By the time it expires they can ask to remain as refugees, if the war starts," she says but I shake my head. "They tried that. It's such a huge backlog that by the time they receive it, the war will be over," I say and she looks at me with dead eyes. "I have some lawyer friends that used to cover my back and steps back in the day of the dictatorship. I might ask them," she said and went outside to make a call.

"I will be in contact with some lawyers. Calm down, don't despair. Just be sure that you have everything in order for a quick move," I say back on the phone with my mother and she started to calm down. When she closed the call, a few minutes later, I felt like crying. I felt bad for them. They built a life in Zara and it was destroyed. They rebuilt their life in Rheinbund and now it's getting destroyed too. And as I was mulling over all sorts of scenarios, I was just getting angrier and angrier that instead of coming over in the two years I was here, she always tried to push me there.​

 

[Natal]

Ander
19th of May 2023

Usually Friday was supposed to be quite a relaxing, short day, but since the coup, everything changed, from reports, to extra-training and to more patrols and probably for the first time in my life, people smiling and nodding in greetings when they see the dark grey uniform of the Cuerpo de Policia Armada. Since I got the car from Rio Verde, I used my not so great, but manageable persuasion skills to get a parking spot behind the station. That started to make life much easier. I parked the car and when I entered the station, I was greeted by Vanessa García Luque, my partner at work, and also my superior as she is a Captain, while I am an Alferez, a rank specifically created for us who sent through the indirect route into the service, between a Teniente and a Subteniente.

"It's good you came early, I have some news," she said as she took me right from the door, pretty much pulling me into her office. She was a woman in her early 40s, with dark hair but which she was dying it blonde. She spoke with a Gallian Ebrian accent, clearly showing her high status; if this language had a posh accent, it clearly was hers, a fancy received pronunciation, which I always imagined only the Ebrian King and the nobility in Valls spoked like.

"We have been asked to be part of the investigation for the Once de Mayo Commission," she said, right as we entered. "Does this mean..." I start saying something, but she quickly waves me off. "We are playing in the 1st league now. The government specifically wanted to use the Armed Police Corps for this investigation specifically because it is the youngest one and because of this, we had the least members as part of the conspiracy, as too little networking had been done by the time of the attempted coup. We have about 50 arrested which have been transferred to us and we need to write reports and interrogate them. Someone from the Prosecution´s Office will come this morning to debrief us," she said.

The morning was quite tense. Many understood what this all meant, even if they clearly tried to downplay it. We spent most of it talking about everything, yet nothing at the same time, just doing some small chat all while waiting to get the green light. I was talking with a colleague about his honeymoon last summer in Auskighinee, in Westernesse, in the north, when the sudden agitation meant that our guy finally arrived from the prosecutor's office. We all went to the briefing room, about 70 of us, where we were given dossiers filled with a report on the timeline of the events, the main characters who took part in the coup, about the people arrested in our station, and a guideline for the interrogation.

"Señores, señoras, the fact that the Armed Police Corps has received this duty must be seen as a privilege and the fact that you are here, actively taking part in the work of the Once de Mayo Committee is something that you will tell as stories to your children and nephews. President Marissa de Herrera has been clear and she is right. The way this coup has been organised and set up has been extremely professionally done and it's efficiency clear. It is for us, a true miracle that we managed to stop it, and it opened our eyes for something more... sinister... a deep state which functions within our security institutions. It is our duty here to destroy it and ensure that the democratic system in Corrientes flourishes," the man from he prosecutor's office said as he started debriefing us.

My mind started wandering off as I felt a lot of it was mere politicking and less policing. I looked at the man, and my first thought was that he was disappointing. I'm not exactly sure why I imagined him to be more... colossal... He was middle aged, with clear interior, mestizo features, olive skinned and black eyes. He was about 1.7 metres tall and talked very precipitously, as if he was telling us this big secret, and couldn't wait to spew it out. Considering how much he was hyped earlier, I was disappointed. To scanned through the documents in the dossier, and then my mind continued wandering off, thinking of Fernando, of Romina an Julio, of Fabian and of Doña Sabrina, or how nice would be an apartment in Retiro, rather than Bocagrande, about visiting my mom and sister in Tiltil and then again to Fernando. It would be nice to see myself wed to him. Then I came back and made eye contact with Vanessa. She winked and I gave her a shy smile, trying to look like I was extremely interested and following the political debriefing.

The meeting ended and we have all been organised in groups, to work at least one or two of the arrested plotters, to talk with them, find out their reasoning, the people they talked with, who brought them into the movement and so on. "You seem to be close to falling asleep," said Vanessa as we met outside the room, on the hall. "Yo, no... It's just that... the style of talking reminded me more of a demagogue, rather than a true debriefing," I say and she just shakes her head, although she gives off a shy smile. She took her radio: "Garcia. Put prison 6 in the 2nd interrogation room, over," she said, and in the ether one could immediately hear and acknowledgement.

"You were at the government back then, you might have met our guy or at least seen him," she says as we move on the halls. "We are the first ones here. The DAS took the big shots and we seem to have to work with the minnow," she continued as we entered a small kitchinette. "Un tintico?" she asked and I nodded in approval. A tinto, usually meant a red wine, tintico, using the diminutive, would have been a Correntine slang for a coffee, a synonym for cafecito. She bought three coffees from the machine and gave me one. "Why three?" I asked and she gave me a sly smile. "He might be arrested, but he's still human. We're not monsters or Tarusans," she said as we continued our walk along the halls, until we reached our room. "Be nice, magnanimous," she said smiling, before she opened the door.

The prisoner inside was a man in his 20s, younger than me. Probably 21 or 22. He was a quite pale criollo, with green eyes and dark hair. He was wearing the dark blue prison clothes and his hands were cuffed to the table. By the wall, on the other side stood a guard, but Vanessa quickly pushed him out. What shocked me was the way he looked. He was all beaten up. His bruises were a hew days old, but the swollen lips, broken nose, blackened eyes and the stitches on the back of his head showed that he suffered quite a lot. And that was only his face, God knows what bruises were there underneath his clothes. That shocked me and for a moment I panicked that it was us who beat him like that.

"Gabriel Morillo..." said Vanessa as she sat herself on one of the chairs in front of him and invited me to seat next to her. The man didn't say anything, just gave a slight nod. "I want a lawyer here," he said. I tried to keep my face straight, but Vanessa smirked and shook her head. She just rose up and smacked him with the back of her palm. He whimpered and then I observed he started tearing up. "Your guys would have made people disappear, kill them in the selva and dump them in mass graves or feed them to the sharks of the Azure Sea. We know that empirically from the past military dictatorships. Don't ask me for a lawyer when you wouldn't have provided me one. This whole investigation is under the auspices of the military courts. All your civilian rights have dissolved the moment you decided to drive an APC on the streets of Callao," she said sternly. I was still shocked by the slap, but I tried keeping my self composed.

"I was ordered! I couldn't simply say no!" he yelled, starting to cry, having a breakdown. I started to feel bad for him. As I looked at him, it was clear he was actually younger than what I first thought of; maybe 19 or so, clearly he was like me, like Fernando, one of the 20% who were unlucky to be called into the military service, and he simply couldn't have said no to an order. "Back in the selva, they still cane soldiers for indiscipline!" he said continuing to cry.

"Can you tell us how Sunday, Siete de Mayo, went for you?" asked Vanessa, this time with a more welcoming and nicer tone. The man... boy... Gabriel, continued to whimper a bit and after a few seconds, when Vanessa cleared her throat, he began talking. "The day started normally. We did some physical exercises in the morning, then some housekeeping and in the evening... the commander of the base called us all out and held a speech..." he began talking. "It needs to be confined in writing and recording... which base and which commander?" I ask and I see Vanessa giving me a wink. "Base 143832, in the Selva, between Cumana and Yape. The unit was the 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade, part of the 1st Division, 1st Army. The commander was Colonel Ricardo Andrade," he said quite robotically, but I flinched. He didn't care of me, but Vanessa observed it. I didn't remember exactly the number of his base, but I do remember that he was in the armoured formation of the 1st Division and he was always sent around Cumana. I will need to speak with him about this later.

"And what did they tell you in the speech?" Asked Vanessa. "They talked about the nation, how it's chaotic, how inequality reigns, how we're getting poorer and poorer, how chaos is everywhere, how we're transforming again in a narco-state," said Gabriel. Me and Vanessa shared a glance. "After the speech, we did consider a bit that it was weird, but we were told to continue our duties. Even so, many of us were okay with it, because... we already felt that..." he said, with the last part feeling like a cheeky addition. "In the evening, we were called again and this time, the commander said that we were issued a call," he added and then stopped.

"A call?" Vanessa asked. "Issued a call? Not received a call?" I ask, a bit surprised by his choice of words. "No, issued a call," Gabriel doubled down, and then it hit me. He meant a pronunciamiento. "We have been told that the people of Callao were calling us to save them from disaster. We were told that the city is rioting, that it is burning, and that there are reports that a civil war is close to start," he continued. "And you believed all of that?" Vanessa asked. Gabriel looked at us and his gaze changed. It used to be before hand as if he was dead on the inside. Now it changed. He looked at us like we were idiots. "Some did. Many didn't," he said in a dry tone. "And what made you do it?" Vanessa insisted. I wasn't really a fan of it, because it was clear in my opinion. An order is an order, and in the context of a coup, I wouldn't have been surprised if they even threatened to shoot potential deserters.

"Orders are orders..." he said, and then stopped, but kept his mouth open, as if he was ready to say more. "But we also were given money," he added. This immediately caught our attention. "Given money?" I asked and Gabriel nodded. "Given as in handed money or promised should you be successful?" Vanessa asked. Gabriel raised his gaze upon us again. "Both. We were each given 1,500 Quris and promised 13,500 more should we be successful," he said. I don't know about Vanessa, but my mouth fell open. That's about 300 Euromarks, so about a monthly minimum wage as an advance payment only, and nearly a year's wage should they success. It's no wonder so many of the impoverished and poor soldiers decided to go for it. "Did you take such money?" asked Vanessa and I could hear in her voice that she was surprised. "Yes, we received them in the night, once we signed up to participate to go to Callao," Gabriel said.

"Would you, by any chance have any idea where such money would be coming from?" I asked. Gabriel's gaze, who always fell on the table and at his handcuffed hands, again rose up and looked at me. He shrugged at first, but then, after a pause, his face enlightened. "I heard one say something along the lines of friends from Naccos and Taraira," he said. Vanessa looked at me and then stopped the camera. "We will take a short break," she said and told me to come out of the room.

"Naccos and Taraira... You think it can come from Monterrey or Gran Occidentia?" I ask her as we go out, and we stop on the hallway. "It can be anything, but I don't think Pablo Prats and the Regiomontañeros would do this, nor do I think there are any Integralists who organised that, considering that the government on Puerto Angeles went as far as to use WMDs on them," she said and then paused to think. "You were in the border guards around Taraira. Can you talk with your friends and other network you have in the border guard about smugglers and other stuff like that, which may bring inside the country large sums of money?" she asked me and I nodded. "Just be sure that you cover the fact that we are on this trail. Until we kill off this alleged deep state, we don't know which institution is trustworthy and which isn't" she added. "I might also have some networks at the military base our guy comes from, I could ask some more about of the events there in the past months," I say, as I thought that I might ask Fernando about it. "Just one question," I say. "He looks suffering and roughed up... badly... is that our doing?" I ask and Vanessa smirked at me. "He might have deserved it, but no. When Marissa de Herrera called the people out, he was standing at a checkpoint and he tried to be a hero to stop the mod marching towards Casa Azul. He was beaten up by the said mob," she said.​

 

[Natal]

Romina
1st of June 2023

Three weeks in hospital after giving birth, and now we're back home. I must be honest, it was easier in the hospital, as much as that sterile disinfectant smell was horrendous and the food was worse, having three other new mothers in the ward and nurses to help us, made everything easier. You had people who were going through the same issues like you to talk with, and you shared the care for the babies with them. Now, back home, I feel that the cold reality hit me and I understand what having the baby means. I don't remember how it is with a full night's sleep.

Even so, there was something about Julio, and maybe what I felt was a mother's love. My heart melted about everything he did, from sleeping, to feeding, to looking at me... that is, before he will start cooing and laughing, let alone walking and talking... at least before he will become an insufferable teenager. Even so, I must he honest... I am tired... dead tired... exhausted... terminated... What was worse about it all was that as much as I got 60 more days of the maternal leave, I felt that I would rather die than returning to being a manager in retail, plus, as much as I enjoyed the days off, some money was still necessary and even if I was dead exhausted I still took some translation requests from Italiote to Ebrian or Engell to Ebrian and vice-versa.

I woke up at 7 in the morning, and I probably woke up every 2nd hour as Julio woke and started crying. I was changing his diapers and was thinking that I must write somewhere that I need to go buy some new ones when I will be going to do some groceries, when I hear two knocks on the door. I go and open the door midway cleaning Julio, and I see it's Fernando and Doña Sabrina. "Brought you food, piba, I heard you were suffering embodied," said Fernando as he rushed through the door with some casseroles, going towards the kitchen. "I feel like dying," I say mumbling towards Dona Sabrina as she entered too and gave me a hug. "I felt it in my bones, that's why I came, and on the stairs, I met with that one," she said, pointing towards Fernando. I just smirked and hugged her. She entered the apartment, and then went to Julio, continuing to clean him up and preparing his new diaper, without needing me to tell her something.

As she was tending to Julio, I went to the kitchen. "You shaved your head again?" I ask Fernando as I put my hand through the very short and prickly hairs on his head. He had this haircut when I first met him and I thought he was intimidating and I was always wondering what Ander saw in him, but recently he allowed his hair to be longer, cutting the sides very short. Now he's back at the beginning. "Yeah, it seems that I am less approachable with this and I scare the students off," he said rolling his eyes. "I never thought a music teacher can be intimidating," I say, smirking. "It's usually not, especially when I don't have a voice to sing, just knowledge of theory and instruments," he says. "How are you? Do you want a coffee?" he asks. "I don't think I should, but I'll make you some," I said as I prepare to go towards the stove, but he stops me and pretty much pushes me down on a chair and then goes to take the moka pot and starts to prepare it. "You still didn't answer me," he said and I just shrugged. "Tired... exhausted... terminated... I feel like dying... but somehow I feel a mixture of being terrified and loving at the same time," I say and he shook his head. "I think you will feel a mixture of terror and love as long as Julio is alive," he said. "Yeah... but leave me... Doña Sabrina will be talking me out god knows how much, tell me about you and Ander, what's up?" I ask, preferring something more interesting, from school talk to some hot gossip.

He just shrugged. "The school is just as it is... we're nearing the end of the first semester and everyone is rowdy and bashful," he said, pouring the coffee in a cup. "And so are you? Rowdy and bashful?" I ask jokingly and he gave me a cheeky smile, "Jesus, no, I don't want to hear stories of being rowdy and bashful in bed," I add, laughing, but he just shook his head. "Nah, in the past days we didn't get really much of that. Ander is exhausted and stressed out by his whole work with the post-coup investigation," he said, giving a slight grimace. "Is he okay?" I ask. "To be honest, unsure...He is quite closed off these days and I kind of understand it, should it be a work secret, considering the whole Armed Police Corps work, but at the same time, it's not about being closed off in regards to details from the investigation, but rather, he himself doesn't open up and talk about how he feels, what he wants, he's grumpy all the time, and that is something new," he said, bitterly. "Maybe it will pass once this whole thing will end," I said, trying to be hopeful. "Hopefully," he said, and to be honest, I hoped he will be more hopeful, but I didn't really feel it.

He continued sipping his coffee, as I raised and made myself a mint tea. As I waited for the water to boil, I looked at the casseroles to see what Fernando brought. "It's just some lentil cream soup, made by me and some rice, with beans and chicken, which Fátima made," he said as he observed me inspecting them. I stopped for a bit to connect the dots and only afterwards, I remembered that Fátima was his mother... well... not mother, mother... foster mother... It was weird, usually it was Ander who loved to cook and never allowed foreign food in his apartment. Julio beginning to cry was what woke me up from this daydreaming and made me observe that the water was boiling. I wanted to go to check on him, but I could hear Doña Sabrina already singing to him and he began calming down. I made my tea, and right as I was ready to take a seat by Fernando, she came with the baby in her hands by the kitchen door. "Shall we go upstairs on the roof for some fresh air?" she asked. I look at Fernando and we both nodded, taking our cups with us.

I take Julio from Doña Sabrina, to her protests, and we go outside, to enjoy the sunrise and the 18 degrees. Even if it's officially the first day of winter, Corrientes is still very close to the equator that much of it is subtropical and there aren't great differences. The only place where the country has four seasons is Rio Verde, where in the nearby hills and mountains can even snow, but in Callao you can't really get that, unless it's a one in a century cold snap from Antarctica. On the patio on the roof, we find the two foreigners, Nina, the Gran Occidentian, and José, the Josefino. To be fair, I kind of forgot their surnames, but it's good that they are around our ages and are okay with being informal.

"I mean, the country has just be thrown into el cagadero.... Jesus, they just created the People's Battalions... it's the same as the old integralists, they just shifted their rhetoric," said Nina, visibly distraught. "It might be so, but that is why El Presidente visited Puerto Angeles, to try to ensure that such a lapse back into the dictatorship won't happen. Just look like how it went into Corrientes. It won't be a Zara," said José, apologetic towards his president. Nina was very close to laughing in his face. "You are very naïve," she just said bitterly. "And you are very cynical," he answered back. That is when Fernando, behind me and Doña Sabrina, made sure to slam the door behind us, to ensure that our presence is felt, and I am glad he did, because that broke the tension between the two. "It's just that my family has been situated in a very high position in the Integralist regime, that is why I left, because my personal beliefs stood in opposition with their own politics and positions. That is why I am here, because in the end, Callao is a safe heaven for pretty much everyone not wanting to be told by the government how to life and who would rather not have governmental informers up their asses. Of course, there's Implaria too, but they're all rich pendejos, " Nina said. José was preparing to protest, but Julio starting to cry stopped him.

I began unfolding his blanket and, at first I was feeling awkward, considering the two were there. I was okay and used to Fernando, Ander, Sabrina and Fabian, even the nurses and other new mothers in my ward, but it would be the first time outside this circle where I will be seen breastfeeding. I think it was the eye contact I made with Fernando, who understood my internal anxiety and immediately distracted them.

"A few days ago, I was called to answer some questions to the Armed Police Corps," he said. I knew about it, as both him and Ander told me, but Sabrina and the other two looked at him like he was a ghost. Jesus, if Ander fucks it up with this guy, I'm going to throw him off this roof. As they were looking at him, I began breastfeeding Julio. "Yeah, it was very relaxed, just Ander and his colleague and superior, I forgot her name, and they called me to ask me about life at the military base I served at during my military stage and call-ups. They wanted to know if I observed any weird movements, foreigners, civilians coming and going, and all I could say was that its true, there were a lot of civilian cars coming and going to the mechanised infantry units there, something I never saw in other bases when we were going around for exercises, but because I was at the armour formations, we didn't really have access to all that kerfuffle," he said. "And what did they say?" asked Doña Sabrina. "Si, they did find it weird and I think they are starting to make some connections between that and the fact that it seems that the coup was plotted there," he said.

They stood in silence for a moment. My attention was distracted by the vibrations on my phone. It was a text from Fabian: Hola, querida, que hacen mis bellezas? Querida? Dear? it is the first time since last winter, in August, since he called me that. His beauties? He's started flirting again. I didn't respond yet and I could listen to the others speaking in the background, but I was just mesmerised by it. I must be honest, I was flattened and was quite enjoying it. The phone vibrated again, another text: Sorry if it's too early, I was preparing to go to the agency to put some stamps on my translations and I saw you were active. I smiled at the idea that he checked my twatter account to see if I was active, and then I blushed, thinking that I act like a schoolgirl. Sabrina observed me. "Why are you smiling like that?" she said, giving me a quick nod, in a tone so hungry for gossip. "Eh, nothing..." I say and I start to be angry at myself even more, as I feel like ticking all the points of an infatuated immature girl. Even so, she left me alone, as her phone started ringing, and she left us for a bit to answer it. Julio finished eating in the meantime, and as he fell asleep again, I started feeling Fernando's arm resting on my right shoulder. I relaxed a bit, but I didn't really want him to see that I was messaging Fabian. I took my phone balancing it on one hand, while holding Julio on the other. At first I message Ander: Everything good? You've been weirdly quiet recently. Without waiting for him to respond, I turned towards the chat with Fabian and started to think of a reply, but Doña Sabrina returned all energetic and happy.

"Good news, chica!" she said, nearly shouting, and cathing the attention of everyone, including Nina and Jose, who were still arguing about Gran Occidentia. She immediately toned it down when I looked at her angrily, pointing towards Julio, which was, thankfully still sleeping and didn't wake up. "Remember when you told me about your parents?" she said, still enthusiastically, but with a whispering tone now. I nodded. "Well, I told you I'm going to do some digging and I called a friend of mine, from back in the day, during the last dictatorship. He was part of our network and was aiding disidents to escape the country, but now, he is an immigration lawyer and has some connections in the Immigration Service," she said. As she was talking, it hit me that as much as I liked Corrientes and Occidentia, it was annoying how much one needed some networking to sort yourself out and not be eaten alive by the local bureaucracy.

"And?" I ask, nervously and without any patience. "That's the key to your success," she said pointing at Julio. I look at the baby, confused, and as much as I tried to make sense of her shortcoming explanations, looking at him sleeping so quaintly, while around him, Nina and Jose were all but arguing and Doña Sabrina was agitating, it just melted my heart. "Right by soil, right?" Fernando said, and only then I still remembered his hand was still resting on my shoulder and that he was paying attention. "Exactly. The boy was born here, and even if you were a refugee and only have residency, and Fabian didn't officially recognise him, he is a citizen. I talked with this friend of mine about it and he said that with it, we can apply to bring the family together and that means that you will be given citizenship too and that your parents and sister can come to Corrientes too. They will be given residency permits, not full on citizenship, but will be given priority, hence they can avoid the backlogs and thus can come as quickly as possible," she said and I started to feel my heart racing and my eyes tearing up. I wanted to jump and hug her, but I remembered I held Julio. I gave him as easily as possible to Fernando, and then jumped and hugged Doña Sabrina.

"Of course, it will probably make everything easier should Fabian fully recognise him in papers too," she said after complaining that my hug was breaking her bones. "I will talk to him about it. I think he will be open to it," I say. "Jesus, from aiding people to run from this country, ending up to aiding people to come here..." murmured Doña Sabrina as I still hugged her.​

 

[Natal]

Ander
4th of June

"Que tenemos hasta ahora?" asked Lt. General Sebastián Pisani, the federal chairman of the Once de Mayo Committee, a big man, who probably was athletic in his youth, but now he was outright fat and was wearing a uniform that clearly was too small for him. "We made advances and discovered that much of the plotting was done at Base 143832, in the Selva, close to La Humada, where the border meets with both San Jose and Monterrey... Los Altos... Monterrey," said Major Godofredo Davide, the commander of our regional unit, ending it awkwardly, as he overly corrected himself. We were standing in the same briefing room of our precinct, where we last greeted the representative of the government.

Major Davide turned towards me and Vanessa. "What have we got?" he asked and at first I kept quiet, thinking that me, being a lower rank, they would avoid me, but both him and the general made eye contact with me and I already felt blushing as I started getting anxious. "We did get reports that for the whole past year the infantry units based there have been visited by countless civilians, visits which have not been written down in the dossiers and papers of the base and the administrative and supply departments completely lack papers for such visits," I do say once I observed that Vanessa looked at me too, waiting for me to say something, which made me blush even more.

"We still have more interrogations to go through," Vanessa added. "That is the main problem," said Lt. General Pisani, to the surprise of all of us. "What do you mean, General?" asked Major Davide. "We already have ten thousands subpoenas sent out and investigations on all of them, and I feel many are guilty of conspiring against the state, but the politicians are breathing down my neck. A war has started in Gallo-Germania and both Marissa de Herrera and Julio Moreno are afraid that Tianlong can and will attack the Tarusan island of Santa Catalina, starting a world war and with that, threatening Correntine oil production around Estado de Pascua and Puerto Garay. I had a meeting with la presidenta, and even her is shocked by the size of our investigation, but the problem is national security. If we go forward like this, we will be pretty much sending a very wrong message towards the armed forces and towards any potential enemies, as we would pretty much castrate the army and also create an unhealable rift between the civil society and the armed forces, which, especially in the context of the tensions, will be a disaster," said General Pisani. I looked at Major Davide, I looked at Vanessa and while the latter was clearly showing her disgust, the former failed into absurdity as he blushed and you could see his rage boiling beneath his skin.

"So... what does all this mean?" I ask as everyone else stopped and an awkward silence fell over all of us. "It means that unless we move as fast as possible, we will lose everything, because in the context of the tension, Herrera and Moreno will want to bring compromises on and befriend the army, so the committee will be shut down," said General Pisani. We all grew quiet. More people were in the debriefing room, but as the discussion was quite unofficial, many were talking with each other and when Pisani stopped, everyone stopped too.

"Señores, señoras," said Pisani, louder, to catch everyone's attention. "I need to say something very important, although a bit off record and unofficially. You heard me before, and I am concerned. You should be concerned. If this far right wing faction returns back and the government compromises with them, we will have a very hostile institution to us, to the Military Police, to the Ministry of Interior and to the Armed Police Corps, and none other but the military. My opinion on it all is that the higher ups will be tried because the mobs will need to be satisfied, but the middle tier and low tier conspirators will be forgotten, if not forgiven," said Pisani, as a murmur between all of us started.

"Even so, it must be understood, from what we all have seen, many low key members were pretty much persuaded, ordered or coerced, not that they fully wanted to replace the civilian government," said someone in the back, nearly shouting. "It's true," said major Davide. "but even so, we should not be blind to the reality. We must not ignore that there are big chances from what I've seen that general Ocampo Santander was less of a great conspirer, but rather just the icon of the movement. Always beware the 2nd row, because they always are desperate and vicious to take power and replace the old leadership," said Davide, and most of us observed, the glance General Pisani gave to the major. I smirked and Vanessa rolled her eyes. "The idea is, that the mid tier seems to have been the main conspirers, hence, what I want you all to do, is check that military base, number..." he continued to avoid the awkward moment from before, but stopped to check his notes. "...143832. That seems to be the centre of operations. We need to find out everything, and I want you all to report everything that came and left from that base. If we manage to find any deviation from the law, we can avoid the compromise our politicians are planning and still arrest those traitors, so please, listen up well. We will stop the interrogation of other military officials, lest they too will put pressure on the civilian government for the compromise to take place already. So, construct your cases on what reports we have. Dismissed," said Major Davide and we all rose up and saluted General Pisani as he left.

My phone vibrated. It was a text from Romina: Hey, you okay? You've been weirdly quiet in the past month. Will you be coming with us today? I read the text and something hit me. A month is since Julito was born, did I really disappear from her... their life? I wanted to texting: Come on, Romina, it's not I completely disappeared... but then my own anxiety took over and I wanted to ensure that I won't be called out on that, so before I sent it, I tried to look back into the past month, and to my own shame, I started to feel she was right. Most of my memories were about interrogating shitty military conspirationists, driving around state institutions from the Ministries to Casa Azul, to the headquarters of the Armed Police Corps, and writing reports... pages over pages of reports, I think I managed to write thousands of pages since the 11th of May until now. I deleted what I wanted to text her, but the screen changed as my phone started vibrating again. Fernando was calling. Somehow, I don't know why, I started panicking. Did I promise anything and I've completely forgotten?

"Hey," Vanessa said to me, and I immediately turned off the screen and ignored the call. "Everything good?" she asked, probably seeing me a bit shaken. "Y... yeah," I mumble. "I'd say we should head back to the archive and check those reports. There must be something there that can give us some clues about the origin of the funds for the coup," she said. I looked at her, thinking of Romina, of Julito and of Fernando... God... Fernando. I started to miss him as if it's not like we live together... She had eye shadows, like me, looked horrendously exhausted, like me. I did wonder if she had a partner, a kid, a husband, something... but she always seems 100% all job. And for a short moment, I felt that she was the feminine version of me but 15 years older. That thought was frightening.

"You coming?" she said as she took the lead. We spent about six hours, reading the reports of our interrogations again and again and again. It wasn't really the best way I wanted to spend a Sunday, especially as I started to feel really shitty as I feel I was abandoning the whole family I created in Callao, for work. But at the same time, it's one thing to be a civilian, outside this world, participate in some protests and think everything is well and good now. Now, looking at the past events, listening to what those arrested soldiers were saying and re-reading what they said, at this very moment, I was just shocked how much of our society is so vulnerable. And I felt so weird, how many people, maybe even Fernando and Romina, taking a stroll on the Rambla on the coast with Julito, were ignorant of everything and they were just enjoying their rights.

"What's an ocelot?" I ask, more like talking to myself as I was reading what they were saying. "An ocelot? like the big cat? You never heard of it?" Vanessa asked me back, bemused. "I forgot you're from Rio Verde... it's a big wild cat, found in the jungle, in San Jose, Monterrey, probably the south of Gran Occidentia too," she says as if she was an annoyed teacher repeating a whole definition she just said a few times to an idiotic pupil. "No... Jesus... of course I know what an ocelot is," I say, annoyed. "I meant the fact that a few of them felt the need to say that the ocelot was visiting... they even said El Ocelote... not un ocelote, so it's clearly something weird..." I say, more irritated than I would have wanted. "What did your friend who served there say about pets and mascots at the base?" she asked me and it made me conscient of how I presented Fernando as a friend, an amigo, not mi pareja, my partner. I wasn't out, Fernando wasn't out. That's the life we have to go through, I think, I bit bitter. "I know from his stories that they had a rooster as a mascot, the tank guys and there were some dogs, nothing about wild cats," I say, this time calmer, and probably with a resentful tone now.

Vanessa took my report and started reading it, while I went to the archive's computer and checked the reports for the keyword "Ocelot". I did find a few, but they felt allover the place. "Try some synonims for it," she said. "Like what?" I asked. "Try tigrillo, it's in the Josefino slang," she said, but the results were zero. "Cunaguaro? In the Implarian slang?" she asked, continuing to check the word thesaurus on her phone, but the results were zero. "So... It's not Gran Occidentian or Correntine, because then it would have been Ocelote. It's not Josefino or Implarian, because then it would have been tigrillo and the other one..." I state dryly, as if it's not information in front of us. "What if we go closer? Monterrey and all? Look for Jaguarcito," she said and I found about 30 odd results. "Che, ay de mierda!" I nearly yell, excited that we start to make a step forward. So this element... Jaguarcito was present in most of the reports done by our unit, not only by me and Vanessa.

"We need to find out who this guy is... if he is a guy... or someone," I say and Vanessa nodded. My phone vibrated, catching my attention. It was a text, from Fernando: Mi Sol, can you please give an ETA when you'll come home? I need to see Fátima and we promised to help Romina with Julito so that she can get some sleep. Fuck... I do remember now, that I promised to keep my Sundays lighter, so I can help her with the kid and pretty much enjoy some time with Fernando too. He still used that pet name for me, so I hoped he wasn't angry that I missed the day at the precinct again.

"I might know the place and the person who can help us," Vanessa said, still absorbed. "We need to go to the DAS, I have some friends there that can open us some gates," she added. "The DAS? Weren't we supposed to limit inter-institutional cooperation until this is sorted?" I asked. "That's why we're going there unofficially," she said a bit irritated. "Pisani and Davide want this solved and it cannot be done without the aid of the intelligence service, so we must go there, even if they like it or not," she added and she took her jacket. "Now?" I asked, looking at the clock on my phone, showing 6pm in the evening. "You've got anything better to do?" she said rolling her eyes. "The faster we do this, the quicker we solve this and we can return to normal," she added. Che, puta madre, is all I could think of...​

 

[Natal]

Fernando
7th of June

I was caught between that sweet spot of still being asleep and being on the brink of waking up. I could feel it was already light outside, but I didn't want to open my eyes, until my phone's alarm ranged. I could feel Ander moving about the room. When we slept, he spooned me and I could feel his arm resting on my chest, and his legs intertwined with mine, but when he woke up, it was probably this movement that was bringing me to the edge of waking up too. He went out the bedroom and to the bathroom and I could hear the water running down, his toothbrush, the flushing of the toilet. He came back, and began to change. I'll be honest, that's when I opened my eyes, but very slightly, to balance wanting a nice peek of him naked but also, not chasing away my sleep. As much as I started to hate how much this job keeps him busy and overworked, seeing him in the very dark grey uniform of the Cuerpo de Policia Armada was quite hot. I wouldn't have thought that I would end up having a thing for men in uniform. He went outside the room and I thought that he was leaving, so I closed my eyes again and went back to sleep.

Just a minute or two later, he came back and took something from his nightstand, probably his phone, and then crossed the room to come by my side of the bed. He leaned by my and kissed he cheek. "I'll be coming back this evening as early as possible. Can't wait for this to return to normal," he said whispering and I smiler, something he caught and kissed me on the lips, before leaving. As he left, I turned on the other side, to sleep a little more and moved to his side of the bed. I could still feel the shape of my on the mattress and of his head on the pillow, the smell of his perfume, it just made the think how much I missed him in the past month, as if we were just roommates that barely saw each other.

I had classes from 11, and thus had my alarm ring at 9, but with all this movement, I also felt I can't lay head down as I needed to go to the bathroom and my filled bladder made it uncomfortable. I turned heads up and took my phone from the nightstand, where it was charging and looked at the time. It was 8:30. It meant I managed to fall asleep after Ander left and probably slept a little over an hour. I woke up, went to the bathroom and then returned to the bedroom, where I opened up the window and made the bed. A chilly air came from outside. It was clear, winter was here, but Correntine winter is more about cool nights and mornings and mild middays and evenings, with overcast weather, a lot of fog and a lot of rain, so no winter wonderland like in the Hansa or Scania, or the Federation. No, the snows are solely in Rio Verde in the 2nd half of winter.

I went to the kitchen and then made myself a coffee and for breakfast I had a kefir, a Tarusan fermented milk drink, like a watery yoghurt and a banana. I dressed up, putting on some dark blue chinos, a black T-shirt and an opened red and black flannel shirt and my backback, in which I had a bottle of water, a charger for my phone, some markers to write on the whiteboard, and my notebook, which I always had with me for my Engellsh classes on Saturdays at the Westernesse Institute, the cultural institute of the Federation of Westernesse, so I can continue exercising my writing in some time off at school. I know Engell but I would enjoy taking the language exam and gaining a C1 as a proficiency level, which would give me the right to teach english too, here in Corrientes.

I take my headphones and

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, and then go out the apartment, but not before I put on some perfume too, which I stole from Ander. As I lock the door, I meet up with Nina, the Graña living right above us. "Que onda, güey!" she greets me in the weird slang of Gran Occidentia and I greet her quite silently with a nod. "Everything good?" she asked me, and I must be honest, I wasn't in the mood for talking a lot, so I take the one earphone out and shrug as a response to her. "Todo bien, chabona," I say. "Just waiting for these weeks to pass so that the winter break comes in July. You?" I ask her back. "Good, I'm literally trying to recover after the Oeste Festival," she said and then I remembered that she worked at a music club and much of Callao went crazy with the Tiburowave festival last weekend. I see that she was carrying a full on rucksack on her back. "Where are you going?" I asked. "To the airport. Now that the Paz del Oeste Agreement was signed, my passport is recognised again, so even if I have a refugee visa in Corrientes, I can leave the country and return and so on, so I will be visiting my family, whom have just left Gran Occidentia and are now settling up in Implaria. I have at 12 the flight to Cabo de la Paz," she said.

She stopped on the street, waiting for a taxi, while I continued down on Calle Nueva for the Subte, the subway station. As always for Callao subway trains, it was hellishly congested, even if it was a little over 10 in the morning. I continued to listen to my music, when my phone vibrated and a small cling could be heard over the music. It was the messaging application of twatter. A part of me really hoped it was Ander, sending me a meme as he always did, at least before, but not. It was my sister, Alicia. Guess what? she texted. I sent just a question mark. I said guess! she said, and I responded with a question and and exclamation mark. You're no fun, she continued. What's up???? I texted back. She then sent me a picture of a pregnancy test, with two lines. I was completely lacking in words what to say. I didn't even know what was her position on it. Yeah... she went a lot about the guessing game, so she was happy about it. Enhorabuena! I text her, followed by some heart eyes emojis. I'm also freaking out, she texted. Does Kristofru know? I write. She married just a few months ago, to a shitty Hamrunite, who is a slob and an idiot, but still, if she loves him, I'm all for it. Not yet. I'll tell him later. I'll call Fátima and Juan and I'll talk to you in the evening, she texted me and I just sent her a thumbs up. First Romina, now her. I feel everyone's lives are beginning to accelerate and move towards the next generation, while I start to panic mine stagnates.

After 6 stations, I got down, at the Antón Martín Station and went out, entering the Camila Vera Institute right during recess. Some students chilling in front, immediately saluted me enthusiastically, it seems that I managed to be one of the most popular teachers at the high school and I feel it's less about me and more about just being younger than most of the other teachers, so that the students find you more approachable. I manage to get to the teacher's lounge, when I meet head to head with the principal and Lila Campos, an Engell teacher. "Fer, you're here.... I was ready to call you. We have a problem," said the principal, a woman in her mid 50s, usually quite chill, but sometimes, far to easy to annoy. "Yours and Lila's class brought us some problems. Someone called the police, stating that students were smoking within the school grounds and now I have to write reports to the police stating that it's been a slip and that they don't need to sanction the school itself, only the perpetrators...." said the principal, and right as she wanted to leave, she stopped. "And of course, because I'm an idiot, I'll try to convince them that we will sanction them and there is no need to fine them," the continued, and then she turned towards the both of us. "Each of you have an hour off today, to patrol around the school, during that hour, take your hooligans and sort the issue. I'll text you the names," she said before she left.

We went to class. I had four classes today, with three 10th grade classes and one 11th grade, the class I was tutoring. During one of them, Ander started messaging me, as I was trying to write some definitions. I really liked that he started the chat, as I felt that recently it was me who was doing most of the effort. We went from him sending a selfie, with a coffee cup, mocking the whole auntie style motivational, breakfast, good morning coffee whatever messages, then followed some memes and then ended with a twatter power about the mayor of the Josefino city of Costa Ron being filmed as he sniffed panties in a supermarket. At the end of the day, I needed to take my class, the infamous XIG, the eleventh (junion) G, which was a maths and IT class with 32 boys and 2 girls. Infamous because they made literally three spanish literature teachers resign, they made their Engellsh teacher cry and they changed their tutors every year because nobody managed to resist them. Weirdly, they liked me, and when I usually say something, it's the law in class, and funnily, the most threatening thing I said once was that if they annoy me, they are done with me, as in the cordial relationship is over, not that I'm running away, and weirdly, they all calmed down.

"Profe, it wasn't us!" the typical moans came out as I brought forth the four guys in my classroom met with me on the halls when classes started, so that we can talk in silence. "Che, come on, Alex, we have you all filmed on the cctv cams of the school, plus, the local police, patrolling on the street reporting on you," I say. "Profe, can we do something? I can't have my dad find out about it," someone else said. "Your dad doesn't know you smoke? Don't your clothes smell of tobacco at home, when I always moan that you stink in class?" I ask. He shrugged. "He smokes too and doesn't feel it. It's not the smoking, but he always told me that I need to smarten up, and this scandal would be a big no-no," he said. I look at them, and just shake my head. "I always told you to to be smart about it.... Jesus... The fact that the police reported it, it's even more complicated. We will try to ensure you don't get fined, because you are all over 16 and can be sanctioned like that too, but we will need to take internal measures," I say and I stop looking at all four of them, a criollo and three mestizos. "I'm going to write you all up for a written sanction. Unless the principal will call for more, it will mean that you will be under supervision for the next 8 weeks. If you will act like saints in this probation period, you will be all good. If you do the slightest mistake, your grade for behaviour will go down by two points and if it repeats you will be suspended. Do you understand?" I ask them, explaining the internal regulations. "Si, profe," they all said like in a chorus. "But I'll be sure, that if you do something to annoy anyone, in those 8 weeks, I'm gonna put my foot up your asses so much you'll fly up to the Federation. You understand?" I say, with a slight smile, which relaxed the tension. I sent them to class and then went back to the lounge to write my report. The principal was quite happy with it, so after 15 more minutes of patrolling through the school, I went home.

It was a little to four pm when I left the school and I went back on the subway. A technical issue brought to a half the whole Line 5, which connected the east-end of the city to the coast, so I needed about an hour to get back home. I stopped at a supermarket to buy some groceries and was on the phone with Ander the whole time, who to my surprise and I found it weird, honestly was telling me that he'll arrive home as quick as possible. By the time I put the groceries in the fridge, it was half past six. We still had leftovers for dinner, so I didn't cook anything. I decided to have a beer and chill on the terrace, as it was quite a nice day, for the first week of the Chalaco winter: 18 degrees and overcast. As I went up the stairs I thought of Ander, who's new job allegedly lets him off early today, but he already worked from 8 to 6, which is a 10 hour day. It must be horrendous.

I went up and I see Jose was up there too, smoking a cigar, which I found weirdly fancy for a mere librarian, but who knows, maybe he was celebrating something. I seated myself on one of the chairs and stretched my legs on the raised edge of the roof. I called Alicia, but she didn't answer. I then opened up my beer using the edge of the bricks and took a sip, and without really wanting at first, I started eavesdropping on the Josefino. He was trying to find a truck for rent in Pata Mora and use it to cross the border into San Jose, for La Purisima Concepcion and then bring it back. That was honestly weird. Pata Mora was in the dead end of the world for a Correntine. It's weird that a librarian from Palmira, send in some experience exchange in Callao would want a truck for two shitty towns in the selva.

"What was that all about?" I ask him, honestly curious about it. He immediately jumps, being so caught into his call that he didn't see me coming around. "Oh... yeah... that... my... I have a friend who is moving. In Purisima Concepcion and I simply can't find a truck to help him in the city, and thus we ended up looking for one in Pata Mora, on this side of the border," he said, stumbling and stuttering at first, but I ignored it, as I found him a bit of a weirdo anyway. I did find it strange that a city like Purisima Concepcion, a department capital in San Jose, didn't have trucks for rent, but a sleeping and forgotten town in Corrientes did. Who knows? I shrugged and took another sip of my beer. "Hard day today?" he asked me and I shrugged again. "Same old, same old..." I say, shrugging for the third time and taking another sip. He looked at me, took another smoke of his cigar and shrugged, allowing a bit of an awkward silence to fall between us. I wanted him to go down, so I can listen to some music without making it weird, at least until Ander came, but he was alternating between looking at me and at the panorama of the Bocagrande neighbourhood which could be seen from the rooftop terrace of Dona Sabrina's building.

"It's good that El Presidente saved us, right?" he said after a pause. I looked at him, with a raised eyebrow. "Saved us?" I ask. "Yeah, the coup here, the crisis in Gran Occidentia, it's good that the situation was solved by him, now we can chill and enjoy the football," he said. I looked at him in the eyes and I didn't know if I should just roll my eyes or ignore him. As much as this moment was getting longer and longer, I hated the fact that I could feel my blood boiling, as much as I wanted to be chill. "Che, boludo, it's not some snoring speeches he held in Puerto Angeles that sorted it, it's money. Eight billion Quris pretty much functioning as a bribe to make them behave," I said. I think, he would have looked at me less offended if I could have cursed his mother. "I didn't think you're so cynical. We're talking about people here, Fer," he said and I nearly mumbled something about being him the one who was talking. "El Presidente was always there to help the emancipation of the people, look at Zara, look at Corrientes, look at Gran Occidentia, look at San Jose itself," he said and this time, I really felt like losing my shit. "Yes, I see a useless intervention which destroyed a semi-functional state that was at least resisting, not collapsing Csengian aggression, I see a PR stunt at the Pablo Herrera airport, when the coup here already failed because we rose up at the call of de Herrera, I see a stunt to turn Gran Occidentia from a flawed democracy into a socialistic dictatorship, and don't mind me, but looking at San Jose, I don't see emancipation, but rather, seeing so many Constanzas in power there, I see literally the sole monarchy of the western hemisphere," I say, nearly shouting at him, as I dropped my beer and it started leaking. He has gone fully red and a part of me was wondering if he would either start crying or full on jump at me and push me over the edge, four stories down.

"Zara was a mess, yes, the socialist republic didn't resist, but that council ruling it was a mess," he said apologetically. "It was an action that meant good," he added. "We have a person in our group here, who nearly missed the last refugee flight from Zara thanks to his stunt in Gonzaga. Romina literally had a panic attack as she was giving birth, when she heard that El Presidente landed in Callao. As for the Josefino paradise... why are you here and not in it?" I asked, this time, calm and probably sounding extremely bitter and threatening. He bit his lower lip and nodded as a greeting and then left.

Right as he went down the door inside, Romina and Ander came out. "Que cojones fue esa?" Romina asked, coming to kiss me as a greeting, and wearing Julito in some weird form of marsupium. "That idiot just simping over his dictator, got me annoyed," I say as I embrace and kiss Ander. "Don't sweat it. Though I learned something in my life: never argue with politics. It's so useless, all you do is burn bridges, because you'll never convince anyone," she said as she took a seat on my chair. I was preparing to go down and take a mop to clean my spilled beer, but Ander stopped me. "Remember I said something about... something special?" he says with a sly smile, which honestly, mixed in with his blueish eyes and black hair, made my heart melt. "Not really," I say smirking. "I have something for you," he says as he begins to look for something in the interior pocket of his uniform. "I managed to get my hands on those four tickets," he said as he gave me tickets for the matches of Corrientes with San Jose and of Monterrey with Radilo. "Oh my God," I murmur as I see them. I jump into his arms, kissing him, as I feel my cheeks burning. "I was thinking a remembering of Monterrey will send you down on memory lane and you'll love it," he added, kissing me back.​

 

[Ebria]

With most of my attention going towards Ebria, I decided to make a change with which I flirted a lot, namely moving Chalacos into an Ebrianos. I though of having a parallel story too, but I started to like Ander, Fer, Romina and the others too much, and I feel that if I write some other story, it might feel a sad copy of it.

So, with this change, there will be some changes in Chalacos:

1. The story is moved from Corrientes to Ebria. With much of the action happening in Valls over Callao.
2. Ander will be coming from Amérida, instead of Rio Verde. Will still work in the Armed Police Corps. His investigation will be closer to what I envisioned at first, when I first wanted to move the story to Ebria, namely instead of the coup in Corrientes, he will work on the separatists in Hamrun.
3. Fernando, instead of being from Monterrey, will probably be from the Frankish Empire or Bourdignie, born to Ebrian nationals there.
4. Romina will be trying to bring her family over to Ebria, and because of the Meridian Union, her struggle will be more about helping them settle down, rather than get visas and other stuff.

 

[Ebria]

Romina
24th of June

With the interest of the Ebrian authorities waning over the Hamrunite Crisis and now preparing for war with a potential Tarusan invasion, weirdly, Ander had some more free time than usual. Probably the preparations were more about the Ministry of Military Affairs than the Interior. Now, with the school year ending, Fernando had more time too, and they both were helping me with Julito, so that I can catch some break, to recover, to rest and relax for a bit, finally making good on their promises to help. Having a baby is just... something else. I love him, but it is extremely hard and I never thought of it, but being a single mother is horrible. I feel overwhelmed about 90% of the time and I am afraid that whatever I do, I will fuck Julio up and he will grow up being a frustrated, angry man who will hate me.

"I used to be a feminist," I say, moaning. Julio was taken by Doña Sabrina, as she went to do groceries. We just bought him a stroller, and I was shocked to see how expensive they were... Jesus, 800 reales, that's like 200EM or so. I was laying on the couch on the lounge, with Fernando vacuuming and Ander in the kitchen, doing... whatever he does. I'm not sure if he was cooking or cleaning... or both... I'd love if he'd do both. Fernando stopped the vacuum and looked at me. He nodded and raised an eyebrow. It was his weird ass way of saying that I shouldn't mumble and speak louder. At worse he's tell me to get a grip, or at best just be nice. "I was saying that I used to be a feminist!" I say, nearly shouting, which annoyed me, that it was too much over the previous attempt of speaking.

"And now you discovered that you like having men in your apartment doing house chores like vacuuming, dusting and cooking?" he says, rolling his eyes in a cheeky manner and shaking his head. I look at him, and then at my phone, which vibrated. It was about noon. Doña Sabrina sent me a picture of Julito sleeping in his stroller, wo which I replied with a heart emoji. I also had a message from Fabian, which was asking me how I cope with the heat, and sending me 500 Reales for food and other stuff for Julio. The first heatwave of the summer was here, and I was thanking the Gods of Geography that Valls was on the coast, as we had 35 degrees, but about 80 kilometres in the interior we have a prognosis of even 43 degrees. Fernando was wearing just shorts, while Ander had a tanktop too.

"No... I mean... God... I need a man," I say and then I start laughing, like a giggling schoolgirl, when I thought that it sounded more like a sexual comment rather than a familial one. Fernando grimaced and then smirked. "You have two here," he said, pointing to him and to the kitchen. "You don't count. You're gay,' I say. Fernando smirked and as I rose up from the couch, I could hear him make a joke about my hormones going crazy, but I already left the room and went to the kitchen.

There, Ander was attending a pan with some vegetables, rice and prawns in it. "I feel overwhelmed," I say and he looks at me after a short pause, in which he checked if every grain of rice was submerged in the stock. "That's why we're here," he said. "I know, but you have your hombre, and you're a nice pair, and as much as I love you both and thank you for being here and to Doña Sabrina for being the grandma I never had to Julito, I can't believe I'm at the point of being on the same side as my mother," I say, as I see him pouring himself a glass of vermouth over some ice and he offered it to me. "I'm still lactating, I can't" I say and he sits on a chair by the table and invites me for a seat. "You and your mom on the same side..." he said, smirking. "A recipe for disaster," he added and I just sighed. "Yeah, she nags me about getting a husband, and I start to feel that she might be right," I said and he looked at me with a weird gaze. Unsure if he wanted to comment something sarcastically or was just concerned.

"It's easy to say you can hold your shit when you take care only of yourself, but with a baby, it's much more difficult," he said as he rose, checking on the paella in the pan. "True. I am literally terrified 90% of the time and the rest of the time I'm sleeping and I am dreaming terrifying things that might happen to Julito," I say. "I never thought I'd say this, but I feel that a husband would make so much of it so much easier. Someone to lean on, someone to be there for you... and don't say that you are here, you know what I mean with a husband," I say, rising up and then wanting to go into the lounge, but I stop in the door, seeing Fernando dusting and then I return to the kitchen. "He's dusting," I say. Ander nodded. "Yeah, he said he'll help you clean. It usually involves dusting too," he said, rolling his eyes. "He's naked... Ander!" I say, nearly shouting, but then calming down, not wanting to be heard outside the kitchen. "Naked?" he said, with his eyes lightning up. He left the pan and slowly went towards the lounge, with me behind him. "He's not naked, tía, he's wearing shorts. You're just too weird, calm down," he says, laughing as we returned to the kitchen.

"A sexy man, dusting shirtless in my lounge, and here I am moaning about my stuff," I say mumbling, right when I hear the door opening. It was Doña Sabrina with the baby, and an older man, probably around her own age. I jump up, taking Julito from her, smothering him with kisses. "Look whom I met with," said Doña Sabrina, pointing towards the man. It was followed by a weird and awkward silence, as neither me, nor Ander knew him, and Fer was still in the lounge. The man himself was waiting for Sabrina to introduce him, but by the time she observed that this was needed the situation became comical. "Oh... si, this is Jose Miguel Márquez, that immigration lawyer friend of mine I told you about," she said. I presented myself, followed by Ander and that's when Fernando came too.

Márquez took me away into a corner to talk privately, but not before I observed that Doña Sabrina was pulling Ander to put a plate for the new invite too. "I want to express my sympathies and regrets for your plight," he first said. "Regarding Zara and now with the new situation, I want to say, that I will do anything possible to help your family come together," he said. I was a bit speechless, I wanted to thank him, but I knew the reality too. "Thank you... for the good words and for the efforts, but I can't pay an immigration attorney, as I only work as a shitty manager in retail and I do some translations as a side gig," I say, but h quickly hushes me off. "Sabrina and I have a long history and we worked together for four decades. She helped me with many things along this time and now her time has come to call back the favour, so nothing will have to be paid," he said, smiling. I couldn't stop myself from tearing up. I didn't know what to say, so literally what I could do was mutter a thank you and kiss Julito, which was resting in my arms.

Sabrina called us all to supper, to Fernando's amusement, that once she's in the house, she's always bossy and outright dethrones Ander from the kitchen, acting like the paella was her creation. "I know it's not polite to talk business at dinner, but I must be quick," said Márquez. I observed that while Doña Sabrina was wearing a summer dress, the attorney was wearing a nice shirt, us other three looked like hobos. I was wearing a shitty T-shirt that was going over the very short shorts that I was wearing, Ander was wearing a tanktop he used at the gym and Fernando was outright shirtless, so I can't really say we were quite a politce and formal group. "The idea is, that while you do have the class A refugee status, which means you're fully integrated and everything, you still need citizenship, to request the family reunion, even if both us and Rheinbund are in the Meridian Union. You still have a Zaran passport, which is kept alive only by your refugee status stamp, so that is the problem. The chico being born helps you, as he is a citizen, as the Crown follows the law of the land, not of blood, so that aids your case, but there are still many chances for it to be rejected. What you need to be 100% sure is citizenship," he says, stressing out on that. "And how do I get that?" I ask. "Is there some way to not wait?" I add. "Luckily, it is. You need to marry. If you're married, the time of residence falls from 5 to 3 years to gain the citizenship. But because you have the class A status, it means that the state sees you as naturalised already, so literally with a marriage paper, you can immediately request the citizenship. They can still reject it, but with the boy being born, you can clearly win it and show the marriage is real. If you're a citizen, you have 100% chances to bring your family from Rheinbund to Ebria," he said. "But it needs to be the boy's father and he needs to recognise the boy," Márquez noted sternly.

I wanted to say something, but there were knocks on the door. The kitchen was small and with 5 persons... well 5 and a tenth, it was quite hard to go around the table, so Fernando rose up and went himself to the door. As much as I wanted to hear more what he was saying, I don't know what caught my attention at the door. I still blame Fernando's shirtlessness. "Hi, sorry, I'm the postman. I am supposed to offer this letter in person to someone in the apartment opposite to yours and nobody is answering there. I can leave it at the post office, but I was wondering if you knew the persons there to give it to them, it would make it easier for them too," he said. "It's ours... the apartment, you can give it to me," Fernando said. I observed that this attracted the attention of Ander.

"Chinga de hostia puta madre," said Fernando, in what probably wanted to be a complex profanity but ended up just a weird string of profanities. "What's up?" asked Ander, but when he saw the envelope, I could feel his eyes sinking. The envelope carried the coat of arms of the ministry of military affairs. "It's for me. My periodic call for the next two weeks," Fernando said as he broke the envelope and read the letter. "Still at the base in Sahagún?" Ander asked and Fernando nodded. "It seems the government always pushes me to that shitty town," he commented. Knowing him I managed to catch the substance of the comment, referring to the shitty orphanage he spent his late childhood and early teens. We continued eating in silence. "My son was called in last month... he was in the engineer corps. It was his last recall, as he was 35," Márquez said, but nobody commented on anything.

"Shit, I really wanted to enjoy this summer. The first one as a titular teacher, with no exams, no grading, no selectividad participation, no oposiciones, no nothing, and I receive this shit," Fernando later commented. I saw Ander wanting to say something, but then all of our phones started vibrating and ringing at the same time. I could feel a wave of cold sweat forming on my back, as the last time this happened, the Hamrunite crisis started or the terrorist bomb attack took place in Amérida. It was the national alert system. Julio was woken up and he started crying by them. "Mierda," said Ander and then stopped as he looked on his phone. "What happened?" I asked as I was calming down Julio and that's when it hit me. This is one of the moments, from the many to come, where I have to be strong and composed, for Julio at least. "A patrol ship hit a mine in the Bonaventura bay," said Márquez. "A mine?" I ask, a bit baffled. "The Tarusans are there, fucking up Csengia, as if it's not fucked up already," Ander said. I looked at Sabrina, which was conentrating on her phone, and then at Fernando, who was looking around with dead eyes. "Does it mean war starts?" I ask, this time panicking, but keeping my composure. "We'll see. It has to be something crazy to really bring war declarations. It all depends on how the next weeks unfold," said Fernando, and that's when I also remembered that he was recalled exactly at this time.​

 

[Ebria]

Ander
29th of June

I spent most of the week writing reports. I feel by now more than 10,000 pages have been written on the Hamrunite secession crisis, that is... if I did not miss a zero... This whole craze made me observe two things: first, that I hate Ebrian bureaucracy... it's so overecumbering... and secondly, that the government is clearly set on making sure Abram Biancardi will spend much of the rest of his life in prison. I looked at the clock, which already showed it was 5:30 in the afternoon. Fernando's foster parents invited us to a dinner at eight, so a part of me started panicking that I'll be late anyway, as I'll probably spend over an hour in the car in the crazy traffic of Valls at rush hour.

I managed to convince Vanessa to allow me to leave, and spent much of the next hour in the car, the dark blue ENA Calatrava I brought from Amérida, the car my father used before his untimely demise and which my sister and mother didn't want, so it ended up to me. I parked it by our building in Bocagrande, and went upstairs. I did expect to find Fernando in the apartment, as we've talked to go together. He knew that I felt a bit weird by Juan and Fátima, as I felt the former was a bit too stern with me, while the latter felt a bit allover the place and too smothering. I always found it weird how Fernando was telling me stories about being such an annoying and cheeky kid, because all I can imagine would be Juan smacking the shit out of him when he was a teenager, to calm his hormones down, but it seems he never did. I messaged him, and quickly he responded: Lo siento, te voy a esperar en la casa. Tuve que ayudar a Fátima con la compras. I literally growl at the phone. He'll wait for me there as he had to help Fatima... the phone vibrated again. Hay muchos más invitados de los que nos dijeron. I replied only with an :/ emoji. Much more invitees than we were told? What's happening? I thought that the Torrezes wanted a chill family dinner, well, with whomever from their family is in town... their son, biological son, is fucking around in Radilo, somewhere in the Stato da Mar; Alicia, Fernando's sister is living the life in San Lawrenz, not caring about the whole upheaval there and that left only Fernando and me as his extension. Maybe both Alicia and their son... what was his name? I forgot... are back in town.

I quickly undressed from the grey uniform of the Armed Police Corps and jumped in a shower. It was irritated that Fernando still left the shower gel bottle around even if it was empty, so I used the shampoo as a 2-in-1. I then quickly dried, gave my hair a rough dry and then put on some clothes. I put on some dark blue chinos, and a white shirt. It felt casual and decent for the summer outside. There were over 35 degrees today. I thought at first to take the car, but then, being a dinner first and foremost, I'd probably have either a beer or a glass of wine, and probably Fernando did too, so I decided to take a taxi. As I waited for it, I saw José and Nina coming it, I greeted them. José wanted to talk some more, but my car coming, we had to cut it short.

The taxi avoided the Las Letras neighbourhood, which was hellish in the evening traffic wise, as it was also the historical spot, the very centre of the Valls de los Radileños, the Valls of the Radilans, from the 1600s, when the Ebrian Crown was held by the Dandolo family for three generations, and now it was also a party spot in the city, with people, from locals to tourists swarming it in the evening, every day of the week, as there always was a fiesta, or two, or three, or ten, going on. It went down the Rambla, along the coast until it reached the Santander Avenue and went past the Alcazar of the city, and then reached San Isidro, the very fancy villa neighbourhood, where the Torrez family lived. Juan used to be a state secretary and quite well positioned both with the Chartist and the Labour Party and once even was a minister for social welfare, so the family lived quite well.

As we arrived, I was quite surprised by how many cars were parked around and on the driveway towards the garage. I always looked at the very nice mid century style villas of San Isidro, with their whitewash, perfect to keep cool in the Meridian Summer and their green or blue wooden decorations, such as doors, shutters or bannisters on the balconies. I knocked on the door, and I could hear Fátima inside shouting she's coming, but then I also heard her telling someone to open for her. As the door opened, I saw a man in his early 50s with a clean shaven face, quite athletic, with a charming smile, short dark hair which was beginning to grey out. My mouth fell open. An awkward moment followed, which I felt lasted a million years, even if it might have been just a few seconds. Dario Rios... the minister of military affairs... que cojones esta pasando?

"Aaaah...señor..." I start muttering. He just greeted me with a nod, quite bemused and was preparing to shake my hand when Fátima interrupted us. "Ander, you arrived! Meet Dario Rios!" she said as she came to introduce us and hugged me as a welcome. "I... Minister of Military Affairs," I say still shocked. He shakes my hand, smiling. He was preparing to say something, again, but this time he's interrupted by Juan Torrez. "Ay, Ander, finally," he came up and shook my hand. He then turned to Minister Rios. "Sebastian, this is the boy I told you about. I'm sure you'll talk a lot, he's in the Armed Police Corps," Juan said and Rios lightened up. "In the Armed Police Corps?" he asked, but was again interrupted by Juan. "He's even in the Hamrun Secession Crisis Commission, but I'm pretty sure you can talk from General to Teniente at work, here I want you two to be more relaxed?" Juan said. I look at him, he was quite excited, if not outright agitated. "That's the Ministry of Interior, Juan, I'm not his boss," Rios said, smirking. I wanted to say something but I heard Fátima calling me into the kitchen, so I used that as an excuse to run away.

"Everything feels shockingly surreal, what is happening?" I ask as I get into the kitchen. "Juan invited some of his friends and let's say... things just snowballed from there," Fátima said. That's when Fernando came into the kitchen too. He welcomed me with a long kiss. "You should calm down, who knows what positions people in here do take?" Fátima said, and I immediately tensed up. Fernando didn't seem to care, but it was clear to him too to be chill in the lounge and probably just spice it up in the kitchen or away from prying eyes. "It was a ruse, you should run away," he said, smiling and I saw Fátima mimicking that she wants to slap him. I was confused. "We were invited as guests, but we're the waiters," said Fernando, whispering, trying to keep the comment away from Fátima's ears, but as the typical Ebrian mother, she was omnipresence and omniscient on everything happening in her household, so of course she heard him. "You're just helping, don't be cheeky," she added. She gave me a huge stack of plates and Fernando got the tableware.

We carried them into the lounge and I was shocked to see the people there. There were about 15 or so. I recognised Sebastian Valverde, Ana Isabel Gallego, the leaders of the Labour and Green Party, I saw the mayor of Valls, even the Governor of Nuoria and some politica talk show hosts from Antena 1. "Que cojones esta pasando?" I ask both Fernando and Fátima as we returned to the kitchen. "I'm overwhelmed. I had to go crazy over the phone to find some caterers for food. I was told it was a family dinner and then they all came, I think I'm throwing Juan out the window for all of this," said Fátima as he was giving me and Fernando platters of pisto valleño, a vegetable stew-like concoction, empanadas, pan con jamon, olives, croquetas, pimientos de Sahagún, and other tapas. At least it was supposed to be a light meal with those, rather than something big.

The people sat down around three tables and started snacking and drinking. I was sat between Sebastian Valverde and Fernando, with Juan and Fatima in front of me. I was quite happy, as I felt that I had around people I knew, as much as I felt that Juan invited both me and Fernando to network with those people. A part of me just wanted to leave and I don't know... take a dip on the beach to cool down and chill.

"It's important, I'm telling you. I see Vargas Gomez is shutting up about our calls to keep Ebrian democracy alive. I'm telling you, Juan, the same, señor Rios, they do have a plan to sign a situation of emergency decree and ensure that until the Tarusan threat passes, we will not have a real democracy here in this country. That is why, it is important to make it clear to the government and both the Chartists and Restorers that we will never allow our rights and freedoms be squashed over this continuous threat of security, which we all know that it's an excuse," stated Valverde. "He's right. Under a spell of populism, promising security in these times, we can have a lot of democratic backsliding," said Fernando, to the surprise of many at our table. He was also smiling mischievously, clearly proud of himself that he managed to impress the others at the table and only afterwards I understood why he was so mischievous, as I started to feel his hand under the table resting on my right leg, first around the knee and as discussions were going on and on, he was going up and up.

"The boy is right. You taught him well, Juan," said Valverde. "Señor Rios, I know you share my concerns about this, can't you somehow force Vargas Gomez from within the government to issue a memorandum or something like that?" he continued, as he turned towards the Minister of Military Affairs. "Señor Valverde, you know me, we worked together before and you know we share a lot ideologically and politically speaking, but I fear that I can't help you here, as I am quite outside the main Chancellery of the Government. They wanted to technocrat for the Army and they found it in a retired Catholic and Royal Army General. They don't really keep me within the loop in regards to their governing plans, especially as they know I'm quite critical to their cooperation with the Restorers," said Sebastian Rios. His comments enflamed Ana Isabel Gallego, the Green Party Leader.

"That's the main problem. They still believe that the old paradigm where the monarch is a norm, and the Chartists are the liberal progressive Manuelists, while the Restorers are the conservative absolutist Alfonists, is still alive. They forget that the 19th century has passed and they forget that the last time Ebrians killed each other for a king, rather than die for the nation, was over a century ago. Their rhetoric of Manuelism vs Alfonsism is dead. They will wake up too late to understand that it is more about a republic vs a monarchy than ever," she said. I quite liked her. It was at this moment when I started to regret that I wasted so many of my votes on the Chartists, and ignored the Greens and Labour. Fernando was slowly moving his hand up. He stopped for a bit, when he observed Fátima was eyeing him, and as if he was a chastised child, he put both of his hands on the table, showing he knew manners. That made me smirk, which made Fátima roll her eyes, and Fernando to return to his impish smiles.

"I understand you and your ideas, but the situation is so complicated, we have a Tarusan Civil War, speculations that it might become a world war, should CETO grow some cojones, and we are supporting this Csengian dissident group which we have already promised that we will allow them to keep a monarchy, albeit elective, should they take power," Sebastian Rios said, this time towards Valverde, which I too felt was more moderate than Ana Gallego. "I know, that's why it must be as streamlined as possible. We must make the change without ruffling any feathers," said Valverde. "You might have the church who will be against it, you might have hidalgos against it, a republic, will bring flashbacks to it's last iteration," said Fátima, entering the talk. "It was a bloody affair the first time," she added.

Valverde stopped for a bit to think, as Juan and Minister Rios were talking. The other guests seemed to enjoy themselves too. Fernando was acting chill, even if he was still doing his thing on my leg to distract me and amuse himself. "Radilo is a republic, yet aristocratic. The Thaumantic Commons, their main state, Nieveland, is a republic, yet catholic... even more, socialist, yet catholic. Republicanism doesn't necessarily have to take a positivist outlook on the world and force radicalism. As we are pragmatic with Csengia, I'd say we should be pragmatic with our own too. A republic not as a response to the King being bad...but rather, a republic because we want to ensure that we don't want such an executive role to be played for life, by heredity. We will be friendly to the Church and to the Hidalgos," said Valverde. The last comment enflamed Juan who turned towards me and caught everyone's attention with his agitation.

"That's why we have our own Hidalgo from Amérida, right here!" he said, nearly shouting, much louder than I would have enjoyed it. That's when Fernando went full on machiavelic and grabbed my groin and with Juan's ambush I choked on the wine I was sipping. I quickly brush Fernando off and recolect myself. "Well... unsure how much of a good representative I am..." I say after I cough the wine that came out even through my nose. "My grandfather was a hidalgo de bragueta - a fly of the trouser hidalgo. He received the title just because he had seven sons. We were pretty much middle class and there never was too much income per se to actually have it exempted. Even so, to my own shame, probably from the family education, I always voted Chartist, out of inertia, but truth be told. I feel..." I say as a stop for a bit, and I look at them as they were closely listening, even Fernando who made his joke and now he was back to his serious brooding self. "... I feel that we were taught too much that it's communism we must fear being exported, with the likes of Thaumantica to our west and Bezonvaux to our north, and we might begin to do a reality check and observe that if there is an ideology which is exported is this autocratic neo-absolutism. I see how Csengia transformed into this neo-feudal, clientelist, fully closed off Hermit Kingdom and how Zara and Pojazerna are outright hellish. I see how Tarusans kill each other and others too, not only themselves, not for a sense of the nation, but for their Tsar. It see that so many nations are still kept with this subject, rather than citizen mentality and I am more afraid that this might come and infect our society too. What is to stop us from turning this whole craze into yet another Alfonsist war? What if Ebria provokes Tarusa and we end up with a weird proclamation that the Tarusans are pushing an Alfonsist pretender? I'd rather have no throne in Valls than have have this vulnerability," I say to the applauses of both Juan and Valverde, and to the approving nods of Gallego and Rios.

"That means that any change must be made with the approval of as many sections of society as possible," said Minister Rios. "We cannot have societal elements against it, and even worse if you get institutions against the Change," he added. I turned to Valverde and I saw him turn towards Gallego, which nodded towards him. "That's why, I decide to sort it out by making it known," he said and then he rose up, asking Fátima to fill his glass of wine. "Damas y caballeros, I want to offer a toast to our host, first and foremost and to thank you for your presence to what is the 1st Meeting of the Valls Jacobin Club. I want to announce to you in an avant-premiere what me and señora Gallego have discussed about. In the following days, we will hold a conference. I have been mandated by the Labour Party, as she has been by the Green Party, to change our republican position from an open secret, to the main issue of the next elections... provided we will have them in July, if Vargas Gomez doesn't go full Tarusan on us. With that, I announce that at this conference, we will proclaim the unification of Labour and Green Parties into the Republican Union, and will invite extra-parliamentary pro-republican groups in it, to ensure that we have a standing change to win against both the Chartists and the Restorers," he said, to the applauses of those in the room.

As he sat down, Gallego added: "The an open request and call for a republic, makes it clear that those elections aren't just for the Cortes, but rather are a referendum for the future of the monarchy in this country". I went with Fernando and Fátima back into the kitchen to bring the deserts. The dinner party began to lighten up and discussions began to be less politically loaded, even if the ideals of the republic were pretty much talked upon. From my take on what both Gallego and Valverde were discussing, I felt the republic was a form without substance. They wanted to make everyone happy so they were coming up with plans to retain some hidalgo privileges, to keep the aristocratic element so that they don't turn against the change, retain the relationship with the church and many other elements of the Crown. In my own mind, it felt that the republican proposal was just a change of symbolism and semantics. Even so, you could feel how hope was electrifying everyone and it was something that I really hoped to see for the coming month.

The party was dying down, and with the main guests leaving, Fernando was pushing me to leave too. Juan remained with Rios and Valverde and others to have some drinks and play cards, to the desperation of Fátima which was already stressing out about them getting too drunk. "You were really hot giving that speech," said Fernando, as we waited for a car. I felt bad for leaving Fátima to clean everything up, but I also knew that she probably just went to sleep and tomorrow some Zaran refugee maid will come and curse herself for working there as she had to clean that up. "Yeah? Too bad you literally scared the shit out of me through it as you grabbed by polla," I say smirking and he laughs. "I needed to relax the atmosphere a bit," he said laughing, his head always falling either on my shoulder or resting his forehead of my temple, in what was clearly a case of him being both too tired and too drunk. The car finally came, and by the time we arrived home, I observed he was nearly passing out, so I pretty much pulled him into the apartment, took his clothes down and threw him in the bed naked to sleep.​

 

[Josepania]

Francesco
6th of July

The library was fortunately quiet today, a regression into the stereotype rather than the reality that consistently confronted the Oltremarino and, indeed, most other Ebrianos who worked in the same field. Being a public building meant all kinds of characters were bound to show up, most willing to keep to themselves and mind their own business, but some were more willing to share their thoughts and feelings to the rest of the public, a bold strategy that rarely resulted in positive results, much to the chagrin of Francesco. He always saw the library not just as a public good, but also as a refuge of peace and quiet from the outside world, and so any disturbance of that serenity was met with mild consternation as he reprimanded the perpetrators.

But not today though. Today there truly was peace. Perhaps it was because of the news from Los Tiempos de Valls of Presidente Vargas Gomez signing the memorandum, caving to the unions that were striking and bringing the Ebrian economy to a grinding halt. It was a fairly shocking turn of events, and as the Ebrianos settled back into a new normal, pondering their newfound power, they chose to do so away from the library, at least for today. Maybe they were still partying, or maybe they had gone back to work, thinking that all would be well once again and nothing more interesting would be happening.

Francesco knew better, though. He had seen the poll numbers regarding the rise of republicanism within this country, a shocking turn of events that, he felt, too few Ebrianos were really comprehending. 'Their power is greater than these people realize. They pulled off a general strike and have sowed the seeds of a new political reality. La Cospirazione dello Sfruttamento Globale is going to try and crack down on this trend... or worse yet, manipulate it to ensure they remain in power even if the monarchy is overthrown...'

You should help these people. Guide them towards a brighter future free of the invisible shackles that chain them to misery and dissatisfaction. Maybe start recommending books by republican thinkers, philosophers? Or socialism, that would be a pretty good idea too.

'Maybe... I'm sure we've got a couple of options here.' Now Francesco was a bit disappointed the day was slow, but he would use this time to prepare. So now, rather than just mindlessly scrolling through Twatter and seeing what Il Governatore was up to today, he would start finding some of the most accessible options for republicans-to-be in Ebria, and think up strategies on how to get them to check out the books, see if it sparks something within them to ensure that what started with the general strike would continue.

The day passed relatively quickly from there, and still nobody showed up. But now Francesco had managed to come up with a fairly comprehensive flowchart on how to get people to start reading the material he felt would continue the positive trend. It wasn't perfect, a rough draft of a rough draft, but it was a start, and it filled in an otherwise depressingly dull day. He rushed home quickly afterwards, his mood from earlier changed as he transitioned into a somewhat more... manic outlook on how the day should've gone rather than the usual, stereotypical librarian outlook. He was no longer a librarian though, he was an activist, an underground one at that, and he needed to do his part to push back on la Cospirazione dello Sfruttamento Globale before they seized back the initiative stolen from them by the Ebrianos.

He got back to his apartment complex, and was so wrapped up in his own plots and thoughts he didn't notice Dona Sabrina calling to him until the third try. "Ah! Lo siento Señora Sabrina, what can I do for you?"

She cocked an inquisitive eyebrow, as if not fully certain Francesco understood his surroundings, "Have you already forgotten? Your rent is due. You said you'd have it ready by-"

"By today! Yes, I'm so sorry, I do have it right here." Blushing with mild embarrassment, he fumbled for his wallet in his pocket and pulled out the amount owed, plus a little extra to cover what he considered was a late fee. "Please excuse me, it should all be there. I promise I'll be more on top of it by next month."

Dona Sabrina studied the amount in her hand, then looked back up at Francesco, which only increased his flustered demeanor, try as he did to tamp down on that. She then took out the late fee and handed it back to Francesco, a stern expression on her face that did nothing to ease the Oltremarino's worries. "Francisco, forget the late fee today. It's been an interesting week. Come up to the rooftop once you're settled and we shall speak of it."

There was a moment of confusion before Francesco realized what she meant, and relief flooded into him like cool water over a parched riverbed, and he nodded in gratitude before moving on to his room. He wasted no time changing into his usual relaxation garb: tan shorts and a white shirt, sandals on his feet and his marijuana ready to go. He found the landlady already there, as if she had always been there, an empty chair next to hers and well into her first joint. Without a word he sat next to her and lit up his own stash, feeling instant relief as the smoke was inhaled and the drugs began coursing through his veins.

"Rough day today?" Dona Sabrina asked.

"No... slow. Unbearably slow. Normally I'd like that but... not today. The memorandum has gotten my attention and I'm not sure everyone else truly understands what's going to happen."

She pondered his response, then nodded knowingly, "Your heritage is showing... you want to start stirring up trouble, don't you?"

'I wouldn't put it like that, necessarily...' "More just... help educate the people on what it is they're embarking on. This is a big deal, Ebria hasn't truly had a republican movement since... god I can't even remember when, and the people are rightly celebrating this, but are they ready to really be shown what it's going to be like? The last time I tried to talk about this kind of stuff I got an... unpleasant response."

You still feel some of the anger, don't you? The indignation that Fer would just dismiss you like that, dismiss the work of Il Governatore without even bothering to consider the upsides to his mission in the world. You can't begin to understand why he'd just make you feel so... useless.

Dona Sabrina once again turned to look at Francesco, studying him like a scientist would a specimen, and once again Francesco felt unnerved by her focus, softened only by the weed he inhaled with another long drag. She broke the silence shortly afterwards, "Fer's insults are nothing more than projection, he has his own issues he's working through. Don't let his own insecurities get to you so easily."

"What does he have to be insecure about?" Francesco inquired, deciding not to ponder how Sabrina had managed to deduce the source of his anxiety so easily.

At that, Dona Sabrina sighed, "He's like most Ebrian men. 'Oh woah is me, my childhood was so hard, I'm an orphan and nobody taught me how to be responsible or help me feel loved or wanted. But you know what? I lived, I survived and now I'm a hard, strong man for it. Let me prove it to you and to everyone around me by being a puto and learning nothing from before.' Nonsense like that, but even worse for him. He's gay, and he needs to prove it's not a problem to other Ebrians by being even more of an idiot."

"But it's not a pr-"

"I know you know that, and I know others here know that too. But it's one thing to know, and another to know." Sabrina interrupted, prompting Francesco to pause and ponder her emphasis. 'Perhaps... that's how the Ebrianos are reacting to republicanism too...? They know, but they don't truly know how to go about this.'

Before he could proceed any further down that particular rabbit hole of thought, Romina appeared, little Julito cradled in her arms. "Ah! Buenas noches Señorita Romina, care to join us? Perhaps Julio can too, can never get started too early in Oltremare." Francesco called out, making sure to be as obvious as could be that he was joking. He knew Romina still regarded him with some wariness given his constant preaching about Il Governatore who she had... history with, and he didn't want to destroy any bridges he was building with her by saying something too stupid.

She fortunately looked like she knew it was a jest, but there was a mild edge to her voice as she replied, "We are fine, we're not ready yet to embrace the Oltremarino way."

Francesco laughed to dull that edge, "Not tonight then. Very well. Where's Ander? He's usually here by now complaining about something happening at work."

"You haven't heard? There's a summit planned in Valls, big international conference. The Armed Police Corps were ordered to be on high alert until further notice with all the dignitaries expected to show up, so Ander's going to be working overtime until that passes. Your beloved Il Governatore is probably going to show up too." Romina responded, genuinely surprised the Oltremarino wasn't more in the loop.

"... Dios mío, hoy estuvo raro. The library was absolutely dead, but I had a... project to finish. Didn't have time to scroll through Twatter and see the news. No wonder Ander isn't here then, hope he doesn't get too overwhelmed. But what about you, Señorita? Your day has been pleasant and not overwhelming, I hope?"

She paused, as though considering her words carefully, then said, "It was... I actually saw Fabian again. Yesterday I mean, but we uh... we spent the night together."

"You fucked?" Sabrina's inquiry was so blunt that it seemed to suck the air out of the area, a stunned silence falling upon the group as the double bombshell was processed by all involved, save perhaps for Julio who was mercifully ignorant to the intrigues of sex and romance.

Dona Sabrina used no subtlety. Though you're still learning the nuances of the Ebrian language, you can still pick up occasional quirks, including the word follar. There's no romantic innuendo that normally lingers around a word like that, it's direct and to the point. Your shock is surpassed only by Romina, who probably looks like she's about to implode out of pure embarrassment, the poor thing.

"We... uh... we just slept. Nothing much happened." She replied, her voice almost inaudible as though it were trying to hide in some nearby hole.

Before Sabrina could continue to pummel Romina any further Francesco stepped in with his own, much gentler inquiry, "Did you sleep well with him?"

Romina paused again, her surprise morphing into pensiveness as she considered his words. "... yeah. First time I had a full night of sleep for some time now, actually."

At that Francesco smiled warmly, "Then that's all that matters to me." and he turned away towards the balcony again, enjoying the view of the sun setting as he took another drag from his joint. He couldn't see Romina's response, nor did he pay much attention to whatever conversation between her and Sabrina that immediately followed, but he could feel Romina's relief from the lack of judgement from Francesco, and that filled him with some momentary satisfaction, helped along by the weed now coursing through his veins and easing the tensions of an otherwise manic day.

 

[Ebria]

Romina
21st of July

I was sleeping so well, as the months passed, Julio's sleep started to become more and more regular, as he was approaching 3 months of age. He began to sleep the whole nights, he began to laugh, smile and thoroughly respond to stimuli. I was sleeping when I started hearing him cry besides me, in his crib. I was ready to wake up and rise to snuggle him and calm him down, maybe feed him and change his diaper, but I felt movement in the bed besides me. Fabian woke up faster and he went to Julito, took him from his crib and I could even hear him whispering to him: "Shhhh, it's okay, we don't need to wake up mommy". I decided then to just turn to the other side and go to sleep again. I woke up only when my clock rang for the 9am alarm. It was the last week of my Childcare Vacation, and the idea of having to return to that shitty job as a manager in retail, while in parallel do translations from Ebrian to Italiote or Engwahlian and vice-versa, all while caring for Julio, gave me chills.

I looked around in the room. Fabian was away and Julio was not in his crib. I checked my phone and saw a message from Fabian: I left Julio with Doña Sabrina, who was more than happy to take care of him as I had to go to work and we decided to let you rest. I smiled, and then I thought that it's for the first time that I was quite at peace with it, rather than getting panicky over who takes care of Julio and where he is. I was even planning to ask Dona Sabria if she could help me with someone to take care of Julio while both me and Fabian would be at work, but if she will be open to do it, it would be even better, as I really felt that she could become a 2nd grandmother to him, after my own mother, in Rheinbund... okay, probably the 3rd one after Fabian's in Gzira, in Hamrun, but still, the two biological ones are far away and she's the only one around, so at least a honourable grandmother.

I go to the kitchen and begin to put the moka pot on the stove. As I waited for it to boil, and I thought of Ander. He had a crazy program since he joined the Armed Police Corps, with one weekend off, one at work. In the weeks when he was working the weekend he had a day off in the middle of the week, so one week had 3 days off, the other week had one day off. I wasn't sure if he was working or not now, but he was around the last weekend, because he spent it with me, as Fernando was away for his military recalls. I decided to message him. Usually by 9 he was awake too, even if he had a day off. I sent him a message to invite him for a coffee and until he responded, I saw Sabrina sent me a picture with Julio sleeping at her place. I called her and asked her if she could take car of him a few hours more. She had milk at her place too and it seemed she was delighted by it. Ander came quickly, without even responding to the messages I sent him.

"You could have replied back," I say, mimicking some irritation, but he just shrugged it off. "You asked if I want to come for a coffee if I'm around. Well... I'm around and I'll never say no to that," he said. I just shake my head and he rolls his eyes and mimics me mockingly. "Where's Julito?" he asked as he sat himself down. "Fabian and Dona Sabrina seem to have been taking care of him currently," I say. He looks at me absently and then checks his phone. When he does the same two more times, I decide to say something. "Do you think Sabrina would be a good babysitter for him? Next Monday I'll have to start working again," I say. I looked at me again absently, and then checked his phone again. "Did you hear me?" I ask, a bit annoyed by now. "Yeah, but I don't get what stresses you about her," he said and a part of me was shocked by that outlandish statement. "Ander, she's a pothead. She grows her own weed. Do you think she's okay to be around a 3 month baby?" I ask. "You stress too much. Just look at her. When you told her you don't want weed near the baby, she always respected it. I don't know why you stress about it so much," he said, shrugging, like it was the most normal thing ever, to have a babysitter be both a week grower and a pothead. I looked at Ander, who again checked his phone but when the coffee was done, he rose up to prepare two cups.

"It's decaf. I made it for myself first," I say, and I could hear him sigh. He poured my coffee and offered me the cup and then went to prepare the pot for some caffeinated one. I looked at him and I observed that in the year they've been together, it felt that both him and Fernando changed. As if they have allowed a little of the other to influence themselves, with Ander now being much more chill and... I don't know how to call it... absent? Not really... maybe detached, which was clearly a Fer trait, whereas the other became much more involved in stuff emotionally, something that was completely absent in him when he met Ander last summer.

As he waited for the coffee to boil, I could see Ander checking his phone again and again, typing a little from time to time. He usually was quite intimate with his phone, not really making it so obvious that he was caring of what was happening on his phone more than real face to face talk. "Everything alright?" I asked him and only then I felt he observed that maybe he checked his phone a little bit too... psychotically. That's when his coffee was done too. "Yeah, Fernando is returning today and I was thinking of going to take him from the train station, as he should be arriving soon from Ávila," he said. Yeah, that clicked, he clearly misses him after a two week re-call, which became a three week one when the Santiago de Campo Army was mobilised along the Serrault Isthmus. Now the army was demobilised and they're sending the reserves back, after it seems some sort of agreement was reached with Konstantin, the Csengians and the Tarusans. "Do you want to come?" he asked me and took a little by surprise as I was day dreaming about it all. "I don't know..." I say, thinking of Julio and Sabrina. "I should take Julio..." I say, but he just scoffs. "You need to trust Sabrina. Come, some air on a hot Friday will do you well," he says. "But what if Sabrina doesn't cope with him?" I ask and he just laughs. "She coped with me and Fabian, hell even with Francesco the Ultramarino. Actually, even worse... she coped with you. Probably Julio is the easiest of us all," he said, laughing. Coping with me, I think... that's probably the most Fer thing I ever heard Ander say.

"Fine, okay, but I want to eat first, then we will see Sabrina and I'll give her some more diapers and milk and then we'll go," I say and he just went crazy as if I just made the best decision in my life. "You're weirdly happy for all of this," I say. "Yeah... for we won't be going together, but with Juan too," he said and I was confused. Juan... quien porco dio esto Juan? And yes, I still kept the italiote curses, for they felt more visceral than the Ebrian mierdas, hostias, cagas and pollas. "Fernando's foster dad," said Ander as if observing my confusion. "He leaves this afternoon for Frescania as the new Ebrian diplomat for the European Forum and he wants to take the car as his wife is spending the summer in Hamrun, away from the city. So he will drive us to the train station, take Fer, then drive Juan to the airport and then take the car back," he said. I was trying to process the weird organisation. "Why... Jesus... who even thought of this whole concoction of a travel schedule? why not take the taxi?" I ask and Ander just shrugged.

I ended up making a platter with some cheeses and chorizo I had in the fridge and some bread for breakfast. "What do you think of Francesco?" Ander randomly asked me as we were eating. "A socialist pothead. And he's staning for the Provveditore, the same guy who ended up paving the way for Zaran fuckery and Csengia. Him as a person? unsure to be fair, although not a fan of his pot so close to Julio, he seems decent," I say and Ander smirked. "Quite a weird and specific question," I comment. "You gave a too specific answer too," he said laughing. "Dunno, he feels nice and genuine, although I feel he might be trying too much, or it may be the Ultramarino culture in him, being allover the place being polite. If he could chill, he'll be nicer. I had a beer with him a day ago on the rooftop terrace and he was quite nice, although we talked more about football," he said and I started laughing, remembering something. He looked at me weird. "Did you tell him to suck it?" I say outright laughing like crazy. He looked a mixture of confused, a bit outraged but starting to laugh too. "When I first met you and Fabian, I came into Dona Sabrina's apartment to talk to her about the rent. Right before entering, I could hear you yelling at Fabian, and telling him to suck it," I say still laughing. "Ay, mierda, si... I remember, we were playing on the console... yeah, we decided to come there to give Sabrina some company, but we got too competitive," he said laughing.

"But seriously now, what's the deal with Fabian?" he asked me, this time seriously. "Look, I know you and him had some issues and the great friendship you two had might be over, especially as him and Fer and quite cold to each other, but as much as I hate myself for falling into it, I feel I still love him... and I feel he was really helpful with Julio, especially after he was born," I say and I see he was looking at me concerned. "Don't look at me like that... you of all people should know that you can't simply choose with whom you'll fall in love," I say, maybe a bit defensively, and I feel that took him aback a bit. "If you are ready to give him a chance, of course I'll support whatever you chose to do," he said, but then his phone vibrated and he answered. It was Juan Torrez. It seems he arrived and was waiting for him. He told him that I'm coming too and that we'll be coming down.

I take about three diapers and I had a bottle of fresh milk that I kept in the fridge that I took. We went upstairst first to Sabrina's apartment. She was in, reading a book with some flamenco music on the background. Julio was sleeping soundly. I kiss the baby and then gave Sabrina the milk and the diapers. We then went down and saw a blue ENA Sotillo, which was owned by the Torrez family.

"So you must be the famous Romina," said Juan Torrez, as he invited me to ride shotgun and he literally gestured to Ander to fuck off as he tried to get seated in front. He went as far as to gallantly, kiss my hand when I entered the car, which I must say, Ebrian and Italiote men are just something else... "Fernando told me a lot about you. Ander too, but probably the main portrait comes from Fer," he said. "Señor Torrez, I must say I hear some stuff about you too," I say but he laughs it off. "I'm sure, leave the lying to the diplomats," he says laughing. "To be honest, just from when Fernando told be his life story and afterwards the name dropped here and there," I say a bit blushing. "It's okay," he says as he starts driving towards the railway station which about about 4 kilometres from us in the Legazpi district.

"So you're Zaran, right?" he asked me, although I felt it was quite a useless question if he heard so much about me. I nodded in approval. "Fernando told me... and Ander too," he added rolling his eyes and pointing towards him in the back, "... that you have family in Rheinbund and you want to bring them here," he said. "Yeah, they simply can't adapt there, German is too different to Neo-Tiburan and it's hard for them to learn it. Plus, they feel that Zarans aren't seen very nicely by the Rheinbunders and they find it hard to have and keep jobs. I want to bring them here, but because we're all on refugee visas, we can't enjoy the Meridian Union privileges as we're officially citizens of a defunct nation or at best Csengian citizens... to be fair, I'd take the former than the latter," I say. Juan just nodded as he drove.

"Did you talk to an immigration lawyer about it?" he asked me when we stopped at a semaphone. "Yes, but even with a baby born here, who is an Ebrian citizen, I still need to marry a citizen to get the citizenship myself and only then to request the family reunion visa," I explain. We talked about half an hour through the mid-Friday Valls traffic about the crazy imigration system Ebria has which is somehow called being "lax" by many news outlets, and then he dropped the bomb. "I can speak to the Immigration office. I know there are backlogs for tourism, but if you give me the names and some IDs of the persons you want, you can give them to Fer and he's forward them to me and then through the office, to aid them so that they can be put on the A1-level of Refugee Visa, like yours, which gives them residence and work permit. It's a bit of a corrupt loophole, but it's a family reunion and you don't need to find someone to marry to get the citizenship," he said, right as he parked the car in the parking lot of the Puerta de Legazpi Station, which was Vall's central station.

I literally felt a knot building up in my throat and my eyes getting teary. "Wait, you mean..." I try to say but I stop as I feel my voice cracking, and I always felt that makes you lose dignity. "Yes, give me the full names and some ID that they had in Zara, and what ID the Renians gave them, and we might sort it out," he said. I wanted to hug him, but I didn't want to feel that desperate, plus I felt I would just destroy his image too. I looked at Ander, who was just smiling, as if he clearly knew, and that was why he insisted I come with him. ​

 

[Ebria]

Ander
25th of July

A few days have passed with Fernando back home and honestly I felt content, even if around us the world was feeling like going to hell. Siren exercises, people talking about the war and many even making plans to leave for the country-side to escape potential bombardments. I was in my car, driving towards the headquarters of the Armed Police Corps, when I was just thankful to Juan Torrez that he found me this job and managed to save me from being continuously re-called to the border guards. I was thinking that there must be a way for Fernando to escape the tank units too, but even before I even thought of talking to my superiors if they there interested in someone new to be transferred from Santiago del Campo to them, I just heard him that he started some first aid and response courses to become an ambulance driver in case the war started. As he was a reservist, he won't be called immediately, but as he was a tankist, it also meant that probably by the time he was called and mobilised, the chances for there to still be tanks around are slim, so he would be just an infantryman. And he preferred to drive an ambulance or something than die in the mud in Lethonia. Honestly, I was sharing his concerns and I was thanking God that the Armed Police Corps was to become part of the Territorial Defence Corps should the war start.

I parked my car and as I entered the building I was surprised everyone was rushing about and panicking. I managed to see Vanessa and stopped her in her tracks to ask her what's going on. "The new Minister of Military Affairs is here. It seems they want to do some changes in preparation of the potential war," she said, trying to keep calm, even shrugging as he was still mixing in some instant coffee in a cup with a small spoon. I looked at her and I could see she was stressed out a bit. I let her go and went to the changing room, where I put on the grey uniform. There were many men around and while some were relaxed and were making some jokes, many others were stern. I preferred to just greet them, and even if they were stern and concerned, they answered back warmly, which made me happy as I felt I truly integrated in the institution. One of them tried to make a joke, but the others quickly turned his down, showing they were quite nervous and agitated.

I went down and Vanessa quickly grabbed me by the elbow to drag me in the briefing room beside her. "I need some familial faces nearby... the whole place is swarming with the normals, or worse... the military," she said. By normals she referred to the National Police, or as we called it the "normal" police. As she was a detective, she was wearing civilian clothes and was one of the few in the building who did. She was right though. So many new faces around, and dark blue and nutria uniforms dominating. I always found funny how the Ebrian soldiers looked like middle aged anglers in the nutria uniforms, but then I saw Fer in his and let's say... he was more like a sexy angler. Still a caricatural angler, but at least a hot one. Vanessa then turned to me and put her hand in my hair. First on the top of my head and then on the sides too. "You might get some complaints, as it's getting too big on top," she said, and I didn't really know how to react. "Are you sure you're okay?" I ask her. I never saw her this neurotic. "I had a gas mask exercise yesterday and I got stressed. Now this new polla visits," she said.

The new Minister of Military Affairs, Amilcar Jose Durán, was a middle aged man, quite slender, and quite short, and compared to Dario Rios, the president, who always did his ministerial visits in his general uniform. Then again, this one was a civilian, not a retired general and he was quite a disappointment even at that. His entry made first the soldiers and then us to rise up and to stand at attention. I could see Vanessa was not impressed and was quite relaxed in her position. We were then invited to sit down.

"Señoras, señores, damas y caballeros, my name is Amilcar Jose Durán. I wish first and foremost to apologise that so much has passed since the coming to power of the current cabinet, and my visit to you now, but I assure you that it is not because I forgot of the Armed Police Corps or the Territorial Defence units, but rather, it's because we have been extremely hard at work to ensure that the nation is as ready as possible to face the whirlwind that Tarusa wishes to unleash upon Gallo-Germania," he started speaking and a part of me, as much as I wanted to listen to him, was irritated by his voice which felt like a duck was being strangled, and it was made even worse as he had a Sahagunite accent that felt like he was mumbling and eating up letters within the words. I didn't follow as closely as I should have when I observed that he began talking less on what the preparations for the war mean, but more about what the government was doing for it, even more, trying to do some advertisements for the Republic, as probably everyone knew that the armed and security forces were a stronghold for the monarchy. Hell, now that I was thinking of it, I never heard the new official name "National Republican Army" being used by nobody. Everyone was calling it either army or even using the Catholic and Royal monkier for it.

Vanessa poked me with her elbow, right in my ribs, and I was close to moan, but then I heard her whisper a curse and I began paying attention. "... problem is, that we expect the war to start very soon, and that it will be fought in three main land fronts, one in Gutarike, should the Pirate Republic be invaded, one in the Hansa, in Thurigau-Lethonia, and one in Himyar, in Hajr and Al-Magrab. We have promised aid to the Hanseatics, and the Ebrian Legion might be sent to Hajr, while an Expeditionary Corps will be created out of the Santiango del Campo Army, to move it to Germania, to ensure the war will be fought as farther away from the homeland as possible. That means that the homeland will have the 2nd Army and the Reserve Army to defend it and that also means that the Hamrunite Archipelago is defenceless, without the Legion. That is why, you are all here. We will create a Hamrunite Territorial Defence Force, and I am touring the whole nation, to find quality men for it," said Duran and he stopped as people started talking between themselves.

"I want no comments on this!" yelled Lt. General Sebastián Pisani, the commander of the Armed Police Corps in the Comarca de Valls. "It is an extraordinary measure, and honestly, if the war starts, unless you want to volunteer from the frontlines, you will be as far from it as possible! I know some of you imagine Hamrun to be weird, hot like the depths of hell and just alien to what you know in the mainland, but they are still our compatriots and we cannot allow them to feel uncovered. This transfer to Hamrun, until the Ebrian Legion moves back to the archipelago is non-voluntary. We are setting up new troops for what will be in the future a new reserve army, which will be needed if Ivanists overwhelm Hansa and Csengia, as then the war reaches our own lands and reserves will be needed. We need people with administrative skills and instructors and the list of them all has been compiled even before this meeting, based on each of your educational history," stated Lt. General Pisani. I could literally feel my cheeks burning from it and my stomach going crazy. Jesus fucking christ, I'm literally the perfect candidate, as I have an administration degree and am in the Armed Police Corps through the indirect route.

He dismissed us, and everyone just jumped out of the room to see the list of whom will be transferred to Hamrun, which was just put up on the wall of the hallway. The army of outright desperate men jumping to it pretty much scared the secretary which just finished putting it up. Normally, I would have found this to be funny scene, but my stomach was going crazy and my knees were weak. I didn't want to leave Valls, but I just knew that it will happen. Cutting my way through the wave of bodies jumping on each other to see the list, I quickly found the last page and then saw it, in capital letters. SUAREZ BLANCO, ANDER ALEJANDRO, TENIENTE. Then on the other side on the paper, the roles we will play, some had intructor, other had just soldier, or policeman, which meant that they will have the same responsibilities as here, but then I saw mine. ADMINISTRATION. It was clear. It will be Hamrun, but at least it will be at the offices.

"You okay?" Vanessa asked me and I shrugged. "Hamrun. Administration," I mutter. "Could be worse, you could have been moved to the border police," she said and I gave her a glance that quickly killed off her smirk. "I know it's Hamrun, but still, it could be worse. It could be an infantryman somewhere that ends up in Hajr or Germania..." she said, but as she saw me not saying anything, she continued. "I'm leaving the Armed Police Corps," she said and that caught my attention. "What?!" I ask shocked. "Yeah, we were here for the Once de Mayo Committee, the separatist crisis. We finished that. Abram Biancardi is behind bars. I wouldn't be shocked if in ten years we found out he was sponsored by Tarusans to weaken Ebria, but with the war so close, the Armed Police Corps is slowly being transformed into the Territorial Defence, and as a detective, I will move back to the National Police," she said and I was in shock. I thought we will spend literally years as partners, as she was one of the best teachers for this profession I had. "Don't make this face, when you return back to Valls, if there will ever be a Valls, I'll buy you a beer. Don't imagine you can escape my mockery so easily," she says, smiling and giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder.

So it was Hamrun. My mother moved from Amerida after dad died, to live with my sister, in Chiste. It wasn't Hamrun, but Nuoria, but still. And island is still an island. Fernando's sister moved to Hamrun. I remember when we were to her wedding and if I remember correctly, Fatima, was spending the summer in Hamrun, so it can't be that bad, right? I didn't even know what to say or how to break the news to Fernando. Maybe he will be happy that probably, I will truly be as far from the far as possible. But what about him? and what about the others? How do I break these news to Romina, Fabian and Dona Sabrina?​

 

[Ebria]

Fernando
26th of July

I sighed. It was early in the afternoon, after we had some salmorejo de almendras, a typical Valleño cold soup that was perfect for the summer, made from almonds and thickened with rusk. I looked at the thermometer the thermostat had, and it showed 43 degrees outside and 30 degrees inside. I was used with the typical summer heat, even if originally I'm from Sahagún, where temperatures are milder thanks to the breeze from Lago Serralto, but I was still sweating. I put my hand across my hair, and I could still feel the sweat drops on my scalp, even if my hair was barely cur and was like 2-3mm on the sides and probably 5 on top of my head. No, the sweating wasn't about the heat, I was nervous. I was nervous as I was sitting lounged on a chair, with my legs extended on another one, hypnotised as I was looking at Ander, shirtless, in this heat, making his luggage and stopping to iron the three grey uniforms he had from the Armed Police Corps. He was going to surrender them and will receive nutria ones.

He was preparing to leave for Hamrun. I didn't know what to say about it. I know what it all meant when he moved into the militarised structures and that an order can't be discussed, especially with war so close, but I feel that he was apologetic by it and through that my silence was because I wasn't accepting it. That is why, I nearly yelled at him last night, after he told me, he asked be about a thousand times if I'm okay with it, and I just couldn't take it anymore. And now I regret it. It's not that I don't accept it, but I never thought I'd end up so emotionally attached by someone. We got used to being at times away from eachother for weeks with the military recalls, but with the war looming and his transfer Hamrun, soemhow, I just felt it more permanent than anything before, because I knew, that if the war comes, Valls being a capital, it will be hit and somehow, tonight felt like the last night we'll spend together in this apartment. It felt like a conclusion. I accepted it was happening, but I didn't had to be happy about it, because for the first time, besides the two years I lived with my sister and our foster parents, Juan and Fátima Torrez, living here with him felt like home. Then again, because I was accepting it, I wasn't angry at it either. I was just accepting... in the end, wasn't that saying about how change is the only constant, true, in the end?

I felt like people were weirded out by my resignation to all of it, and probably why they pushed me on the edge spamming me with questions if I'm okay or not. I didn't want them to spend so much time on my own shit when Ander was leaving. I hated it that instead of making the best out of his last moments with us, when we were all together, they were all stressing out about me, when I'm... maybe not okay... but fine.... ¡Jesucristo!

«¿Fer, estas bien?» ("Fer, are you okay?") Ander asked me, and I then observed I zoned out. «Si, claro» ("Yes, of course"), I quickly answer back. I didn't observe he finished ironing his grey uniforms and was now preparing his luggage. «¿Me puedes ayudar con las uniformas? Necesito enviarlos de regreso a la sede del Cuerpo de Policia Armada, pero ya temprano mañana estaré en el avion» ("Can you help me with the uniforms? I need to send them back to the headquarters of the Armed Police Corps, but early tomorrow morning I'll be already on the plane"), he said and I just nodded. «¡Por supuesto! Iré mañana» ("Of course! I'll go tomorrow), I say, still looking a bit hypnotised at him, as if I'm not around, in my body, and I'm just looking through everything. He continued preparing his things, as I continued looking at him. I offered to help, but he said he'll sort the luggage himself and he'd rather have me around to chat, but I feel I'm quite useless for that too. He was already quite athletic when I met him, but I feel the 10 months in the Armed Police Corps made him even buffer.

«¿Crees que Juan fue exiliado a Frescania?» ("Do you think Juan was exiled to Frescania?"), I randomly asked, as I saw how quick everything moved with Ander's transfer, the same with Juan. Ander was taken a bit by surprise and thought about it a bit before answering. «No me sorprendería» ("It wouldn't surprise me"), he said and then shrugged. «Fue demasiado radical y vocal. Enviandolo a Frescania, para ser diplomático allí, era la mejor manera de asegurarse de que estuviera lejos.» ("He was too radical and vocal. Sending him to Frescania to be a diplomat there, was the best way of ensuring he was far away"), he continued and I nodded. «Sí... fue extraño, porque un día, los periódicos dicen que el puesto estará vacante, y al día siguiente, estaba en el avión rumbo al Foro Europeo.» ("Yes, it was strange, because one day, the newspapers say the post will be vacant, and the next day, he is on a plane to the European Forum"), I say and Ander nodded. «Solía ser el favorito de muchos en los círculos progresista, y ahora, cuando están en el poder, simplemente lo apartaron.» ("He used to be the go to person for many in the progressive circles, and now, when they're in power, they simply pushed him away"), I add, a bit too bitterly for my own liking, but still. As much as I loved Juan, for he always was the father I wanted to have in my childhood, I hated the fact that he tried so much to return to politics, especially now, after quite a decent career 20 years ago.

Someone knocked on the door and Ander went to open it before he had the chance to reply back. It was Romina, who just arrived from work. «Fui en mi casa y he visto que Julio esta durmiendo. Dona Sabrina esta haciendo una siesta allí con el.» ("I went to my place and saw that Julio was sleeping and Dona Sabrina was napping there with him"), she said as she entered, instead of greeting us. «Que país de mierda» ("What a shitty country"), I say, still thinking of my discussion with Ander. She comes in, seeing me lounged on two chairs in the kitchen. «No te caga en mi patria adoptiva» ("Don't shit on my adoptive motherland"), she says and comes besides me as Ander continued to prepare his clothes. «¿Estas bien?» ("Are you okay?"), she asked me and I just breathed deeply and let out a sigh. I started to really hate the fact that they ask me that... they should be concentrating on Ander... fuck me... He's the one literally being sent away as part of his job, not me. They should be ensuring that he's feeling okay, not come and gravite around me, thinking that... unsure what they think, but still. «Es melancólico hoy» ("He's melancholic today"), Ander says, hearing her. I just shrug.

«Deberíamos tener un reunion. No quiero que Ander se vaya sin lo» ("We should have a get together. I don't want Ander to leave without it"), I whisper to Romina, to ensure Ander didn't hear it. She just nodded and I saw her taking her phone out. «¿Quieres a Francesco y Fabian también, o solo la Doña Sabrina?» ("Do you want Francesco and Fabian too, or just Dona Sabrina?"), she asked me. She knew my history with Fabian and probably heard that I was a bit rough to the Oltremarino, but I felt Ander would enjoy everyone. «Todos» ("Everyone"), I say.

Romina quickly left, giving Ander some weird ass excuse that made me even laugh, but I tried my best to keep my composure because I felt he would then get suspicious of it. I washed the plates Ander left in the sink, something that usually always annoyed me, but now made me happy, and then cleaned up the kitchen a bit to make it presentable. About an hour after she left, Romina made her entrance again, holding Julio in her hands, who was snoozing, followed by Doña Sabrina, Fabian and Francesco.

«¡Es el final de una era! ¡Mi bebé está volando el nido!» ("It's the end of an era! My baby is flying the nest!"), Doña Sabrina nearly shouted as she entered, as always making sure everyone knew that Ander and Fabian were her first renters of this current generation and her favourites, acting like they were her kids. Romina immediately shushed her, so that she won't wake up Julio. Ander was surprised and nearly shocked that the others brought some snacks and some beers, but as I looked at him, I saw that he really loved it. As they were putting some stuff around the room, Romina opened herself a beer too. That shocked me, as she had the baby, but she quickly pointed to the 0% label on it, rolling her eyes.

I looked at them as they were drinking and having fun, Fabian and Ander talking shit from her early days at Doña Sabrina's, returning to the good old flirting they always had, as you never sure knew who was the straight one between them. Francesco felt a bit outside the box at first, but it was natural, as he joined the group the latest. Just to rile him us, Fabian asked him what he thinks of the whole referendum thing, and at first played a role of an arch monarchist and conservative, just to make fun of him, but he too laughed at the end when he observed it. After a while, the three, with Ander, moved to watching TV and as they continued drinking they were watching an laughing at some cringe Neustrian reality show about some rich influencers finding love on the beaches of lake Serrault. Romina went to feed Julio and then joined the others.

I went to the very small, outright caricatural balcony that we had in the kitchen, like less than a square meter, where Doña Sabrina joined me. «Te entiendo» ("I get you"), she said, as she offered me a joint of hers. I smiled in gratitude and lightened it up and took a long puff out of it. «Las cosas se cambian, y nunca es fácil» ("Things are changing and it's never easy"), she continued. «Tu generación cree que Valls es el mejor lugar de Ebria. Hace mucho tiempo, cuando tenía tu edad, creí que es lo Amérida,» ("Your generation thinks Valls is the best place. A long time ago, when I was your age, I thought it was Amérida"), she said, lightening up her own joint. «Viví cinco años en Amérida, en la época en que era un centro de hippies, amor libre e independencia, pero me mudé a Valls. ¿Sabes por qué?» ("I lived five years in Amerida, in an age when it was a centre of hippies, free love and independence, but I moved to Valls. Do you know why?"), she said as she took another puff and I felt she waited for a rely from me, but even if I was intrigued, I just shook my head. «Mi novio encontró trabajo aquí y tuvo que mudarse.» ("My boyfriend, found a job here and had to move"), she said and I turned towards her. «Fuiste con el» ("You went with him"), I added, as a conclusion, and she nodded, smiling. «Muchas personas buscan su mitad, y a veces lo encuentro» ("Many people search for their half, and sometimes they find it"), she adds, taking another puff. «Creo que tu y Ander habéis encontradose» ("I think you and Ander found each other"), she said taking another puff.

«¿Qué te mantiene aquí?» ("What is keeping you here?") she asks me after a short break where our attention was caught by the people in the lounge as they were laughing at something on TV. I just shrugged as a response and took another puff. «Hablé con Fátima, hace unos meses. Me dijo que encontraste algunos puestos de profesor de engüal y no los tomaste porque estaban en Hamrun.» ("I talked with Fatima, some months ago. She told me that you found some Engwahlian teacher posts, but you didn't take them for they were in Hamrun"), she said and I smirked. «Sí, pero entonces todo el mundo estaba en Valls. No quería dejar a Ander, Romina, Julito, Fátima, Juan... ni siquiera a ti.», ("Yes, but back then, everyone was in Valls. I didn't want to leave Ander, Romina, Julito, Fatima, Juan, not even you"), I say, smirking a bit and even cringing at that very end. She just laughs it off. «Las cosas se cambian. Juan esta en Frescania. Fátima esta con tu hermana y su marido en San Lawrenz. Ander va a estar a San Lawrenz tambien. Más aún, la guerra se acerca. Romina y Fabián también observarán que nada los retiene aquí, ya que hacen traducciones y la mayoría pueden trabajar desde casa. Con la llegada de la guerra, ellos también querrán estar en el lejano Hamrun.» ("Things are changing. Juan is in Frescania. Fatima is with your sister and her husband in San Lawrenz. Ander will be in San Lawrenz too. Even more, the war is approaching. Romina and Fabian will to observe that nothing keeps them here, as they work in translation and they can mostly work from home. With the war coming, they too will want to be in faraway Hamrun"), she said, taking one last puff.

«Sí, sinceramente, si llega la guerra, no quiero ser comandante de tanque. Si me mudo a Hamrun, puedo trabajar como maestro como civil, el próximo otoño, y si comienza la guerra, probablemente me trasladarán a la defensa territorial.» ("Yeah, honestly, if the war comes, I don't want to be a tank commander. If I move to Hamrun, I can work in civilian life as a teacher, coming autumn, and if the war starts, they will probably move me to the territorial defence"), I say, taking my last puff and finishing the joint. «¿Pero qué hay de ti?» ("But what about you?"), I ask her and she just scoffed, nearly laughing it off. «Puedo ser viejo, pero conozco mi camino en la vida. Encontraré otros inquilinos, no te preocupes. Además, no significará que perderemos el contacto. Lo importante es que seas maduro ahora y comprendas que una familia debe mantenerse unida. Las relaciones a larga distancia no funcionan. Ahora, yo realmente quiero ir al baño.» ("I may be old, but I know my way around life. I'll find other renters, don't you worry. Plus, it won't mean that we will lose contact. What is important is that you do the mature thing now, and understand that a family must be kept together. Long distance relationships don't work. Now, I really want to go to the bathroom."), she said, going through a rollercoaster of emotions as she talked, from the stern family comment, to the last comment which just made her wave everything off, as if she was talking shit the whole time. As she left, I extinguished the rolled up joint and decided to join the others.​

 

[Josepania]

Francesco
26th of July

The assembled group roared with laughter after a particularly ridiculous scene, its television characters visibly straining against the bonds of realism with their over the top dialogue, in favor of grasping the absurd with both metaphorical hands and vowing to never let go. In an objective vacuum, the scene itself might've elicited a chuckle or two but nothing more, though it was quite impressive what a couple of beers and some weed could do to loosen any commitment to seriousness.

This is not the work of intoxicants alone. There is tension within this room, an undercurrent of sadness, of uncertainty. You're not fully clear on whether it's moreso in the realm of personal with Ander's imminent departure, or the realm of existential with war clearly on the horizon. Perhaps it is both to equal degrees, but the need to enjoy the absurd is deliberate escapism, a way to cope with the pain of what is to come. You're quite familiar with that need for escapism when confronting the grand, malicious majesty of la Cospirazione dello Sfruttamento Globale, aren't you?

'Ugh... not now. Nobody wants to hear anything about that at the moment...' Francesco reminded himself, covering up his brief moment of pondering the vibes with another swig of beer, letting the alcohol seemingly flow into his veins and relax the tensions within his muscles. Throughout this whole event, he had been forcing himself outside his comfort zone by trying to actively participate, even though his official inclusion in the group was... vaguely defined to say the least. In past get-togethers he had just... happened to be there, on the periphery and more a passive observer than a true member of "the gang."

Can you blame them? Romina doesn't fully accept you because of personal grudges against Il Governatore, something you will never truly understand. Fer sees you more as a convenient punching bag for his own problems than someone to talk things out with. Ander is too distracted by his work-life balance to really give you the time of day, and Fabian... well, he's concentrating on digging out of the hole he had made not too long ago thanks to relationship drama. Passivity will never truly work, decisive self-inclusion is the only path to acceptance.

Hence why he was here, why he was deliberately in the middle of it all, why he said yes when Romina, surprisingly, asked him if he wanted to take part in this farewell party. He wanted that acceptance, discomfort be damned, because the truth was that he was lonely, consumed more often in his own thoughts than in group settings. That was ultimately more uncomfortable than this temporary awkwardness he was working his way through, to say nothing of the more existential awkwardness that his nation was about to go to war with the arch-conspirators themselves, the Tarusans, along with Ebria, the group's nation, and in a way his own semi-adoptive nation.

With the group about to splinter and separate, he felt that anxiety of loneliness creeping up within him again. Much as the Mondo Libero needed to stand united against la Cospirazione dello Sfruttamento Globale, he felt in his heart of hearts that the group needed to stick together against the stresses of conflict to come... 'Perhaps there was a way it could be facilitated, made easy for everyone involved to ensure we stay together... and I can have some friends.' Francesco thought to himself as he sunk further and further into his pondering, now oblivious to the TV show in front of him and the raucous reactions around him.

The Oltremarino remembered that, recently, he had been contacted by some powers-that-be back home in San Polo. With war imminent, it was expected that refugees would become an issue, and because of some vague handshake arrangements between d'Oltremare, Radilo, and Ebria in the context of the Meridian Union, bureaucrats, data analysts, and administrators would need to be distributed to ensure people were moved to where they needed to go as smoothly and efficiently as possible. It also helped that the Oltremarino mafiosos that Francesco had contacts in wanted to shift operations away from Valls and towards quieter, more prospective markets for their various goods of varying degrees of legality, and conveniently, Hamrun was seen as one of the places Francesco was asked to go to, along some other options including heading back home.

Initially, Francesco had been leaning towards home... But that's not really what you want, is it? There isn't much for you back there except distant familiarity. Old friends you barely speak to anymore, family you keep some minor contact with, and being closer to Il Governatore. But what about this new life here in Ebria? New friends, maybe even new family? And a chance to show the doubtful here that Il Governatore isn't so bad. Hamrun could be home.

'Home... it could be-'

"¡Ey! ¡Ultramarino! ¿Estás borracho?" the query jolted Francesco out of his thoughts, and he swiftly realized he had been too silent for too long, to the point that Fer had to drag him back into the real world.

Thinking fast, he laughed it off. "Non abbastanza vicino." he began, before realizing he was speaking in his native tongue and switched back to Ebriano. "No I just... was thinking of a job offer I got awhile ago. A friend of mine back home let me know there was a need for some data analysts in Hamrun, for an expected refugee crisis if things keep going the way they are. It's not a library, but it's better pay, and maybe a bit safer if things get worse. I was going to decline it, but Ander got me thinking..."

The pause was pregnant enough for Ander to raise an eyebrow in utter confusion, wondering how he could possibly be involved in this weird Oltremarino's career, but Francesco continued before anyone could interrupt, "What if we don't have to make this a goodbye party? What if we all go to Hamrun? I mean... Fer, you want to be with Ander, who would want to do anything long-distance for a long period of time? I tried that five years ago... it didn't go well." There was a small pang of regret as he brought up that particular memory, before it was suppressed and he moved forward, noting the visible flinch as Fer contemplated such a scenario for himself, "Romina, Julito needs to be raised somewhere as far from danger as possible, that goes without saying. Valls is safe, of course... but Hamrun could be safer, for him and for your family if they're able to get out of Rheinbund." Notably, he was also looking at Fabian as he was speaking of Romina's family, and that wasn't lost on either Fabian or Romina, who shared a glance of something between unease and curiosity.

The pause was even more pregnant, rivaling Romina's late-term days as the group considered Francesco's points, the TV show essentially a distant memory with the thought the Oltremarino planted in their heads and was desperately watering, nurturing to some sort of healthy sprout. He sighed, "I don't know how realistic it is. Moving isn't fun... but I don't want to lose... this."

That did it, that definitely got their attention. See how they look at each other, reminiscing about the good times and the bad?

Francesco decided to finish his thoughts with a smile directed towards Ander and raising his beer bottle in what could've been a toast should the others choose to make it such, "I'm willing to be a neighbor in Hamrun if you want, Ander, make the move a bit easier."

It was his boldest attempt to be part of the group yet, it could blow up in his face at any moment... but Francesco felt this was right, and it'd work... god he hoped it worked.

 

[Ebria]

Romina
26th of July

I looked at Francesco a bit dumbfounded. Leaving together for Hamrun? I turned towards Fabian and made a short eye contact before I withdrew my gaze. I knew his position. With the potential war, he'd rather have me and Julio together with his family, which was coming from Hamrun... well, Gzira, about a 2 hours' drive from San Lawrenz, but still, on the main island of Hamrun. I turned my gaze on Julio, the baby which became my reason to live starting very early May. I would love to have him grow up somewhere safe. Somewhere where he doesn't grow up in fear, nor feel the sheer terror I felt when I took the last plane out of Gonzaga, or even before, when I heard about my brother, Marco and how he was "disappeared" when the socialist revolution in Kispest was suppressed by the Csengian nobility when they proclaimed their kingdom. If it would be after me, he will grow up happy, with no fears and concerns, but it seems the world isn't like that. Even so I must do my best for him.

"If you want to get away from Valls, why don't you return to San Paulo?" Fernando asked Francesco, as if he woke me up from my own daydreaming, as I was holding Julio, who was sleeping in my arms. He seemed to do four things in his life: east, sleep, cry for more food, soil his diapers. It was a good life. I looked at Francesco, who looked again absent, as if Fernando's question took him completely by surprise. But then, speaking of surprise, something caught my attention, that I ignored beforehand. Fernando was sitting in Ander's arms, on his lap. Unsually they were the ones that would have died before showing any display of affection, and I would have taken it as a joke if Fabian would have just put his fat ass on Ander's lap, but like this, I felt it was cute, even if it was probably utilitarian, as the apartment literally missed the necessary space and amenities to host 6.2 persons.

"San Polo feels like a gathering of all the skeletons in my past," Francesco said, and the way he did, it made it clear for them that the joking was behind and the whole gathering got a more intimate approach. "After my dad died, my mom moved with her sister, and I have quite a horrible relationship and she made my stay with them quite horrendous. Then there's also a past relationship that ended badly. So yeah, the memories I have of that place is only of hostile people, family to whom I can talk over the phone, messages of videocalls and absent friends with whom I haven't spoken in years," the Ultramarino said, maybe a bit too sober for the atmosphere of the gathering.

"To be fair, I'd rather die than return to Sahagún. Me and Alicia did a trip when she just turned 18, I was 20, so like 7 years ago... to see the city we grew up in and try somehow to retrace our childhood before our parents' accident. It wasn't nice. It's like, memories of the city are still there, but without the persons in them, it just feels like a collection of bricks and cement to tie them together. Dead, lifeless, soulless..." Fernando said and then I could just see Fabian's impish smirk preparing for a jab.

"At least you kept the Sahagúnite culture in your blood... if you get what I mean..." Fabian said mockingly, showing the five or so beers bottles around Fernando. I looked at him, but I could saw Fernando just offered a smirk back, so I knew it was alright. "At least that's my northerner's vice, didn't you miss having no goats around to shag in the city, Hamrunite?" responded Fer and I smirked, as as Ander did, but then I saw why Ander started laughing like crazy and it hit me, that I did sleep with Fabian... "Did you just call me a goat?" I Fernando sternly, and when he processes the whole thing, I could see he was visibly shocked and horrified. "Yes, he did... but at least, I have my lamb right here," said Fabian, laughing, but the went and kissed Julio's forehead. "The lamb is the baby of the goat, you tonto," said Ander looking bemused at the whole scene. Fabian rose up and looked at us confused. "Then what's the goat's baby?" he asked. "Cabritillo," said Francesco in his very intelectual manner. "It's just a double diminutive," he added.

I looked at him and I felt he was shocked by the whole scene and probably added all of that to change the subject. "You see, that's what spending all the time in the library gets, you... it makes you smart, unlike others here," added Fer, to which Fabian quipped back, but I decided to ignore their fight, especially as it turned out to become quite physical on the couch between him the two. "If both of you wake up Julito, I'm gonna throw you both out the window," I threaten them, but it's not like they care of what I say. Doña Sabrina took the baby, as she was on the chair, further away.

"The Ultramarino is right though. My family would want to come here, but I don't want to have them go through changing homelands again after running from Zara, then leaving Rheinbund and now running from Valls, should war start, to run to Hamrun and from there so on," I say to who was still listening to me, namely Dona Sabrina, Francesco and Ander. "Yeah, the islands would be for the best," Ander said, "but then again, I can't give advice now and can't really put myself in your shoes, as I already have to leave, so it's not a decision I actively took," he added and I could just see Dona Sabrina puffin and waving him off, something that made my heart skip a beat because if she would wake the baby up, he'll stay up for the rest of the night.

"You talk like you're old people. Be more adaptive. Shit happens. Wars come.... wars go too... Neither of you works at some factory in Valls to say that he has his life tied down here. I mean... Francesco is right. He got an option, Ander is outright exiled, and both you and Fabian work in translations and most of it you do it from home," she says. I open my mouth to protest something, but she waves me off and stops me. "Yes, you work as a manager in retail too, I know. But be realistic. You can't be a single mother, with two jobs. It's clear Valls is expensive and as much as I'd love you all around here, bringing your family here doesn't mean they have the promise of prosperity and acceptance. There may be other things, that blocks them. I'm sorry, I don't want to be a bitch, but it's true and you must understand that and expect any sorts of problems," she said and as much as it kind of hurt to hear it, she was right too. The baby, the management job and the translations literally took many more hours than there are in a day.

"You think Hamrun can help?" I asked her and she nodded. "San Lawrenz is not as big as Valls, but it's a big city and there are oportunities. You can bring your family there, you will have Fernando's sister and foster mom, you will have Fabian's family too and an island away, in Nuoria will have Ander's sister and mother too. It's a much better security web," she added. By now Fernando and Fabian ended their fight and started to calm down.

"I suppose, but to bring my family in, with the republicans losing support and Juan Torrez unable to truly help, I will still need to go on the classical approach. I will need to marry," I say and then it hit me that it was the first time I said it with Fabian around, and it made me cringe a bit, because I didn't want him to believe I was insinuating it. I looked at him and for a moment, we locked gazes and I felt that it lasted an eternity. I loved him, as much as he acted like an idiot a lot of times. I saw him blushing and he rose up, to the surprise of the others. He mumbled something and left the apartment, slamming the door, and waking up Julio, to my annoyance.

"Que cojones? Where did he run?" asked Ander. "What did you tell him to scare him off?" asked Fernando, but funnily, he was looking at Francisco, as if he was to blame, it made me smirk and took the edge off, especially as Dona Sabrina was calming Julio down, but still, it was weird. We asked each other what could have happened, for a few minutes, coming with no real answer, when he returned.

"I know I was preparing this for something nicer or a better environment, than the shitty apartment of Ander and Fer," said Fabian as he returned. "It's my apartment and it was uncalled for," mumbled Dona Sabrina. "But still, I knew from the start that you wanted to bring your family together, and I knew you hated me for running away scared when you told me, last august that you're pregnant, and I want to thank you for giving me another chance," he said and I began to think what was to follow up and I could feel my heartbeat racing. I looked at Ander, then at Francesco, both with shocked big eyes, and then at Fer with his impish smile, and then I turned to Fabian. "I want to give a chance to your dreams too. I want to help you with that, and with Julio, so that officially, he can have a father, and so that you won't need to work your ass off to pay Sabrina's prohibitive rents," he said more and I could see her rolling her eyes, but when he kneeled it felt like we all gasped and I could feel my eyes tearing up. "Romina Betrani, would you, fully forgive me for my past transgressions and want to be my wife?" he asked as he took out a ring out of his pocket.

Before I could say anything, I could just hear Fernando. "Your family told you to come with a wife and kid, like a real man, next time on the islands?" he asked, Fabian just rolled his eyes and told him to fuck off. I just nodded, as I couldn't say anything as I felt my voice would be cracking. But in the cheers of others, and his embrace, I started crying.​