Page 98 of The Ruler
And then there was the summary from last night’s meeting with a video-report attached from Christina. I pressed play and sat back watching Christina smile at the camera.
“I’ve received your message that Kya and I are now in charge of reporting about the school project. So let me update you.” She crooked a finger at the person filming and walked through her breathtaking house with all the beautiful details from before the Toxic War.
“First of all, Kya has arrived,” Christina said and Kya came into the frame and waved at the camera with a girl by her side. “And this is the lovely Raven, who is our first student but not the last, since the others are arriving next week.”
Christina continued walking through the house until she came outside and placed her hand on Archer’s shoulder. “This is Archer Rex, who is the best teacher in the Northlands and happy to help with the project.” Archer gave a charming smile to the camera and looked handsome with his clean shave.
“And while we’re doing presentations, I want to introduce you all to my soulmate and best friend, Alexander.” Boulder stood by his large drone, and Christina walked straight up to him and snaked her arm around his waist. He too had a clean shave and his hair was short on the sides of his head.
“Let us take you to see the school where the children will live and work,” Christina said with a smile.
“It’s not completely done yet,” Boulder commented and got in the hybrid. The video showed a bit of the area from above and gave a good impression of where the church was compared to Boulder’s and Christina’s house.
They did a quick tour and then Boulder pulled Christina under his arm again, planting a loving kiss on her head. “I should thank your council for sending me the most amazing archeologist in the world,” he teased her.
“Yes, you should.” She grinned. “And if you’re listening, Pearl, then we want you to come back and finish all the great work you’ve started,” Christina said to the camera.
“No, we don’t.” Boulder grinned. “Pearl, you can stay in the Motherlands – we finally have our ruler back to normal.”
Archer laughed in the background. “Thank God.”
“Hey, that’s not fair; now the council thinks Pearl did something wrong,” Christina scolded them.
“She did!” Boulder said and wrinkled his nose. “She made our ruler soft in the head.”
“She didn’t,” Christina protested.
“She so did. You weren’t there when she made him stop killing people who were scheming to overrun him, or the time she made a wealthy man adopt a whole village of poor men.” Archer and Boulder were shaking their heads. “Tell the council to keep Pearl, because we were starting to wonder who was running our country, Khan or her.”
“Pearl is a good person,” Christina said firmly, “andImiss her.”
Boulder playfully placed a hand over her mouth and shook his head. “No, keep Pearl. We’re much happier with Raven,” he said and picked the little girl up in his arms. “At least Raven does as she’s told.”
The girl laughed and shook her head while placing her arms around his neck. “No, I don’t,” she said.
“You don’t?” Boulder made a mock expression of shock. “But I thought all little girls were easy to boss around,” he joked.
“Nah-uh.” Raven was grinning at him, and the two shared such a beautiful connection that it melted my heart.
“Okay, enough with you two.” Kya stepped in front of the camera. “I just want to say that I’m so excited to be part of this historic experiment and that I can’t wait to get started. Christina and I will keep you posted and if you have specific questions, just let us know and we’re happy to answer.”
Kya waved at the camera and ended the video.
I leaned back and pressed out a huge sigh, grateful to have friends like them. It didn’t escape me that none of the men had worn leather and that both Boulder and Archer had looked unnaturally groomed for Nmen.Yeah, definitely staged, but seeing that the council had summoned me for a talk today, it had worked.
Reading the council’s response to the video almost had me in tears. Statements like:
“Those two Nmen didn’t look scary, and did you see how the child willingly let him pick her up in his arms? I saw no fear in her eyes either.”
“Maybe we should have trusted Pearl.”
“Sounds like Pearl was working miracles in the Northlands.”
“I should like to hear Pearl explain more about making the ruler soft. Who votes to have her return to us?”
Luckily the vote had been in my favor.
When the time was right, I accessed the council meeting through my secure line. Seats were filling up with members in their red cloaks and even though it was virtual reality, it felt very real.
