by Gold, Amelia
“You’re a survivor. That gives you celebrity. People listen to what their survivors tell them.” He replies.
“And you want me to pacify them.” I laugh with understanding.
“I want you to tell them what they want to hear.” He smiles.
*_*
“You’re really going to go through with it?” Iv asks me in the mirror as she finishes up my hair because there will be cameras present when the peacekeepers get here.
“Pav’s right. Despite how horrible the last six months have been, no one wants an all-out war.” I reply.
“This might not even work. We’re talking about trying to stop a military coup with talks.” She exclaims.
“The coup will only work if Vinn has majority support.” I tell her. “Right now he does because he’s doing everything in his brother’s name. Everyone thinks that Vann is the ruthless one and that Vinn is just following his orders.”
“What? You think Vann is any better than Vinn?” She asks me.
“He’s the lesser of both evils.” I smile.
“You know that if he gets his way, we will still be hunted.” She tells me.
“Not in the same way.” I reply.
“Yeah but it’s not going to end.” She says with despair.
“It never does.” I tell her quietly. “One day, someone is going to use what happened in this campaign to justify doing something terrible against the Venry. Pretty much the media are the only winners in any of this. They’ll have more violence to report on.”
“You’re saying that we brought this on ourselves?” She accuses.
“No. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t be the ones to perpetuate it.” I clarify.
“Can I have a word with her?” There is a knock at the door and Hash enters the room.
“Sure.” Iv gets up to leave.
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive him?” I ask Hash.
“That depends on whether or not we go to war after this.” He smiles.
“You know what I mean.” I shake my head.
“He’s not certain of how he feels.” He replies.
“She is.” I tell him.
“What are you going to tell the cameras?” Hash asks me.
“That the V brothers are arseholes and no one should trust them with a fifty foot pole.” I reply.
“Is that what you’re really going to say?” He raises an eyebrow.
“No. But it’s what I’d like to say.” I sigh.
“What you say or don’t say is completely up to you.” Says Hash. “Just don’t go thinking that you can really change what people think from this one meeting with the peacekeepers. They’re not going to change overnight. And most of them have already made up their minds anyway.”
“But I have to at least try.” I tell him. “They can’t get rid of Vann just to have him replaced with someone like Vinn.”
“What did you get out of Vann from your chat?” He asks me.
“He doesn’t like us but he doesn’t want a war either. His call for peace seems to be genuine but you won’t get a reconciliation from him.” I reply.
“So he wants you to give him the silence of our people to preserve the status quo?” Hash says, more to himself than to me.
“Do you think that we’re doing the right thing?” I ask him.
“I know that Pav thinks we’re doing the right thing. Iv finds the idea of the government trying to silence us to be nauseating and I’m having trouble believing that any of this peacekeeping business is actually going to work.” He tells me.
“You know what?” I ask him.
“What?” He replies in surprise.
“Since my capture, there have been at least three separate occasions where I should have died but didn’t.” I tell him.
“I promise you there’s not going to be a fourth.” He says with a look of determination.
“That’s not what I meant.” I shake my head. “I just meant that there was always a way to get out of it. If it got too much – I just wait and hope that it will all end.”
“Not going to happen.” He continues to voice his protectionist thoughts.
“This is so different.” I try to explain. “There is no way to get out of this.”
“All you can do is to tell them the truth.” He encourages me. “Tell them everything that happened. Don’t skip over the details. Then tell them to go and do what they feel is right. What the majority wants will happen if you don’t try to spin it either way.”
Disclaimer
Just thought I should address this because I know that people are going to draw comparisons and ask. The genocide described in this book is a fictional event and was not based upon any specific modern genocide from the real world.
Thank You
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Amelia Gold
2014