A Time To Gather Stones Together

Terrace Ridge Maison

Araxes - Mu Draconis

September, 2521

Companion's Journal

I've noticed something about politics in the brief time I've stopped and actually paid attention to them: It's a bunch of people with a lot of money, influence, or power (frequently all three) sitting around arguing about what they think is best for everyone else... and when I say, 'What is best for everyone else,' I actually mean, 'What is actually in the best interests of the selfsame people sitting around arguing.' Generally, politicians aren't out to represent the people they represent.

So, when the Laandsrat council of Araxes decided that they needed to find Lily's son, K2, who has, incidentally, turned to stone and vanished, I kind of had a problem with that. It was mainly because his parents, Lily and Krakken, had come to a resolution about custody, and that ought to have been the end of it. Instead, the politicians presiding over the custody case decided it was in their best interests to study the boy, so ordered him brought to them when he was found.

Maybe I'm an upstanding citizen of the UAP, which is represented on that very council, but I find it difficult to remain 'upstanding' when the ethics of the situation suggest more of a prone position is appropriate - perhaps several feet below-ground, even.

I told Lily to find him before they did and to bring him to me.

Being a Registered Companion affords one certain amenities. It lifts one's status unto the highest echelons of society. It affords one large amounts of respect. It also allows one to operate above the indignities of such things as customs inspections.

Lily could not hope to get K2 off of Araxes. Perhaps she could have hidden him with the Desertborn, but that would have gone against the agreement with the boy's father. Likewise, Krakken could not hope to get K2 off of Araxes - the Myrmidons were already mistrusted and heavily scrutinized, and being caught smuggling his son off of Araxes would potentially start a war.

But I could.

Lining the pockets of customs inspectors is nothing new to anyone wanting to get their hands on some rare but illegal delicacy. I imagine that it was a practice Companions were familiar with, as I learned it from my own mentor - it's how the system operated. You could get anything your heart desired so long as you had the coin to grease the way. All it would take for me to get K2 off of Araxes is a wink, a teasing comment about a crate of Pule to entertain a client, and a smile as I slipped the agent a handful of credits, and no questions would be asked, nor would any eyebrows be raised. The 'crate of Pule' would be marked down as some trivial cargo that had been inspected.

It's been weeks since the custody hearing, and I'd not heard so much as a whisper about the boy. I was beginning to fear he'd been found by Araxian representatives. So frequently these things get hushed up, and if they had him, there wasn't much I could do to help.

I arrived on Araxes today to receive a client, however, and my fears were abolished. Standing next to the ornamental gong in the receiving area was a new statue: A stone boy. I couldn't help but smile at the simplicity, or at the irony. There he will remain until I can set things in motion, because who would think to search for him in the residence of a Registered Companion?

~I.F.

Unification Day

Xin Caodi City - Djinn's Bane

Kalidasa System

September 20, 2521 - Unification Day

Companion's Journal

Administrator Soong decided to hold a city-wide U-Day celebration in the garden district pavillion. Many questioned her sanity for that... it seems like every year on this day fist fights break out across the rim and border worlds. Unification supporters like to spend it gloating over their victory, while the Independents like to spend it trying to breathe a little life back into the cause, I suppose. The Administrator chose to present the holiday in a more diplomatic manner, attempting to embrace both sides of what could be considered a galactic feud.

Unification Day. The day the Unification War came to an end, the day the secessionists threw down arms and rejoined the Union of Allied Planets. Tensions still run high, though, beyond the core planets. It's one of those topics you can't ride the fence on - you're either for or against unificiation.

I hadn't been old enough to fight in the war. I'd been a teenager on Persephone when the 'Verse was fighting, and had been pretty sheltered. I was raised to be a very fine lady, and very fine ladies did not have opinions about things like secession. I did, however, develop an opinion once I left the shelter of my childhood home. It's hard to see all of the poverty, disease, starvation, and general suffering of people on the rim and even border worlds firsthand and not realize why they had wanted to break away from the UAP. The corruption, the abuses perpetrated by our own government, that have come to light over the last decade cemented it. So, I had spent a decade hating the Alliance beside my comrades, even taking up arms against them when it was necessary.

Here I am now, though: An Alliance citizen, licensed to work by a government I abhor. I'm supposed to be loyal and upstanding. I cannot ignore the malcontent I feel.

It makes Unification Day very confusing for me. I'm sure I am not alone.

Of course I attended the celebration. Quite aside from it being expected, it's a good opportunity to be seen, to make new acquaintances with visitors, to find new clients. It's a great opportunity to pick up on current events and gossip. And it's a perfect opportunity to do some side business.

I think it was more of a shock that there were no punches thrown than if the entire party had turned into one giant brawl. Xin Caodi City may be an Alliance world - well, a Blue Sun one - but it's still a rim world. Sort of, given that it's really an orbital platform over a gas giant. The majority of people here have plenty of reason to throw a punch at a mouthy purplebelly - miners, spacers, penniless indigents who got stuck here after the war ended and the local economy dried up.

Maybe it's a sign that things are starting to settle down and stabilize, that the Independent movement was dying off. If I was a betting woman, though, I'd put my money on another number.

Sure, there was some big talk, some muttering. Captain Lazarus Dieter of The Freya and Captain Stew MacPherson of The Gypsy Trader seemed intent, in the beginning, to rather loudly make their opinions known while standing around in their brown coats eating from the buffet table. Otherwise, it could have been any party on any day.

We had visiting dignitaries from other civilizations, as well, and I'm fairly certain they weren't much concerned with old political grudges. Casidhe Sionnach and Nieve Cepheus in particular didn't seem overly concerned with what could safely be called 'local politics,' but I suspect both of them have their own agendas. I've made a note to see if more information can be discovered regarding what their interests in Xin Caodi City entail, and whether House Athar ought to facilitate or disrupt any progress there.

Irritatingly enough, the closest anyone at the celebration came to throwing punches had nothing to do with U-Day hostilities. Adira's deal in procuring some contraband items hit a few bumps when the, ahem, gentleman contracted to deliver said shipments made an appearance in order to conclude business. The resulting argument over part of the agreement that was not fulfilled and the price raised more than a few eyebrows. Hopefully, this can be smoothed over easily enough to leave our reputations untarnished, but in the future, I believe it would be prudent for us to contract with more discerning members of the business community.

Overall, I feel the event was a success. While there could well have been bar brawls occurring across the city, that the party did not erupt into violence suggests that Administrator Soong's approach was wise and should potentially be embraced more widely. Perhaps it is an attitude that I should adopt, at least in public, since it shows support for both and alienates neither.

In light of all of this, I have much to meditate on, and more still to do.

~I.F.