“Ah, uhh...” Jint’s mouth apparently didn’t want to produce words.
“What Till said is true. We can’t exactly throw together a big to-do for your return, but I’ll whip up a fun dinner party, just us and our relatives. I’ll even make you your favorite, Melohn Oh Shoo.”
“I’d have loved to have some,” said Jint. “But it’s no use. I’ve got my own responsibilities to deal with.”
“What responsibilities? Your responsibilities as an Abh? As a conqueror? As an invader? Are they more important to you than us, Jint?”
“Lina, I’m sorry,” said Jint. “I really can’t come back.”
“Tell the truth. You met a girl you like.”
“That’s not it!” he lied.
“No? Because if you did, I’d be relieved.”
“So you’re saying you’d understand if I couldn’t come back just because I met a girl I like?”
“That’d be far easier to understand,” said Lina. “You are at that age.”
“Easier to understand than having responsibilities?”
“You need to be responsible when it comes to your girlfriend, too.”
“I’m talking about bigger stuff, here. You’ve gotta know where I’m coming from.”
“I suppose, but you don’t need to worry your head about the big stuff just yet. You’re in the prime of your youth. Don’t you want to let loose?”
“I know you still think of me as a little kid, but...”
“It’s fine. Say no more.”
“You’re never going to stop treating me like your little one, huh. I’m already grown enough to be having kids of my own, you know.”
“But you don’t have any, do you?”
“Well, no, but...”
“You are once and forever our baby boy, Jint.”
“That’s no fair, putting it that way, Lina.”
“But it’s true!”
“Let’s table the family talk for now — there’s something more pressing to go over,” said Jint. “You’re listening, right, Till?”
“I’m listening all right. But I’m not about to talk politics. Not while you’re still an Abh.”
“Then let’s talk as fellow Martinese. I’m already voting age.”
“Abhs don’t have the right to vote,” said Till bluntly.
“I know that. But I am old enough to talk politics. And while I may be an Abh, I love the Martinese wife-land, and the people who live on it. I don’t care if that love is one-sided. I love every place the light of Hyde’s sun shines upon.”
“Then why do you refuse to come back to us?”
“Argh!” Jint shouted in pent-up frustration. “Because if I switched sides, there’d be no one left to stop the Hyde System from collapsing!”
“I see you’ve made quite some headway in your career,” he said scornfully.
“I don’t want to hear your sarcasm. What happened to the Forr Da Antohbeeta?”
“That is an internal affair for the government to worry about,” said Till, after a moment’s pause. “I can’t leak that information to outside agents. Plus, it’s not exactly a topic for family to be getting into.”
“It is family talk. The Star Forces didn’t even attack the Forr Da Antohbeeta with anything close to their real firepower.”
“That wasn’t their real firepower?” A note of surprise in his voice. “Are you saying it was a limited strike? I mean, we know they could have bombed more—”
“No, as in, it wasn’t even a ‘limited strike.’ All that was, was a little show of annoyance. They thought you were throwing a wrench into their training exercise. I’ll give you all the details next time — that is, if you give me a next time. But let me ask you something — if the same level of attack that destroyed the Forr Da Antohbeeta were to hit Crandon, what would happen?”
“I never said the Forr Da Antohbeeta were destroyed.”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not they got destroyed. I’m asking you what would happen if the Star Forces were to vent their annoyance on Crandon?”
“Many citizens would die,” he admitted (reluctantly, if his tone was any indication).
“And among those dead might be my family. That’s why this is a topic for family!”
“I see you’ve become quite the sophist, Jint.”
“That’s a bad habit of yours, Till. As soon as you’re about to lose an argument, you call the other guy a sophist.”
“Only if the ‘other guy’ is a kid. Logic doesn’t go down with kids.”
“Lucky I’m not a kid. I’m all for logic.”
“All right then. Fine. Let’s talk. I just can’t talk about it right this second. I haven’t prepared myself to talk to you — to Count Hyde of the Empire — in an official capacity.”
“Not a problem. I want some time, too. I’ll call again sometime soon. Then we can find the best way forward for our system together.”
After dropping the line, Jint called together the interested persons of the Hyde Countdom.
“How did it go?” Lafier asked him.
“I managed to make a bit of progress,” he said, shaking his head, “but we ended up just talking about family stuff.”
“Nothing more important than family,” said Samson. “That said, is that really making progress?”
“I got them to agree to meet with me in person.”
Samson raised an eyebrow. “You’ll be representing us by your lonesome?”
“That, I don’t know for sure yet. I do think that’s the best way to handle this, though.”
“Where will you meet?” asked Lafier.
“That hasn’t been settled yet, either.”
“We can’t just let you go to the surface by yourself,” said Lafier.
“Whoa, Your Highness, you took the words right outta my mouth,” said Samson. “I can’t let my young Lord betake himself to the lap of danger.”
“Uhh, guess this where I say I’d follow His Excellency through a towering inferno?” said Paveryua.
“If Her Highness decides to go, then I will accompany her,” said Sehrnye flatly.
“Thanks, you guys,” said Jint. He organized his thoughts. “First thing’s first, we call over the Baucbiruch. Is its conveyance ship already out and about?”
“I imagine so,” said Lafier. “It went right after the exercise ended.”
“When’s its next scheduled fligh— ah, wait, hold on a sec.” Jint realized there was no point asking the people here, so he took a peek at the conveyance ship service schedule using his wristgear. Fortunately for them, now that the exercise was over, the schedule was no longer locked behind a firewall of confidentiality, allowing an outsider like Jint to access it without any issue. And evidently, the next flight would depart in around an hour.
“I’m taking the liberty to board this conveyance ship. The Baucbiruch should be arriving in three days’ time. Let’s decide on our policy in that time.”
“Spoken like a true lord, Jint,” said Lafier.
Jint had to wonder whether that was a compliment.