The vote ended with a tie. In other words,
it failed.
There's been more news of that crazy
rock-thrower in the Imperium. Sounds like he's headed our way, and wreaking
more and more destruction as he goes along. The latest report is that he
levelled a supermarket and demolished a wall fleeing the city once guards
caught on to him. Was screaming something about a 'great reptile in the sky'.
He's a wanted man by many, many people.
Another kingdom fell. Not too far south of
here. Some people think it's the same guy who gave Pagan this land in the first
place. There are whispers of it all having something to do with the Grand
Chasm, 'cause all these places are going butt-up along the chasm.
Pagan came looking for his rent today. He
decided to up it by 100 gold. Said he has to pay for extra guards. He promises
to repay at least part of the excess at the end of the year.
My butt is itchy.
I don't care about any of these problems.
Because the only thing that matters right
now is Eve.
When I woke up today, the first thing I
thought of was Eve. Easy to do, as I was slumped in a chair by her bed. We have
her set up in Edmund's house. Everyone else has 'charitably' moved out, to give
Eve space. I'm not dumb - I know they fear her. They fear what she was.
But not me. Not anymore. She's my little
girl. And when I saw her eyes were open, I squealed with absolute and pure joy.
She didn't respond. Her eyes are blank,
watching the ceiling. She doesn't care about waved hands or the sound of her
name or any words. She just stares and stares, pausing for the occasional
blink. But she's there, in there, somewhere. I know it. I can feel it. Now I
have to draw her out.
A few people came to visit today. June in
particular. She wanted to examine Eve. I was fine with that. She might be
batty, but June knows how to heal people. She's the closest thing Pubton has to
a doctor. She watched Eve for a while, testing her reflexes and feeling her
chest, and eventually she stepped away and shook her head.
"Strange. She's healthy enough, her
reflexes are… delayed, but there… her muscles are nothing like people made them
out to be… I suppose her brain's the real problem. It's out ta lunch
somewheres."
"When will it be back?"
She shrugged. "Dunno. Depends where it
went. Judgin' by the feel of this girl, it mighta travelled somewhere mighty
queer… could be a long time before she does much more than this, Mr.
Mayor."
I squeezed Eve's hand. She squeezed back,
slowly, carefully. No power in it. "That's okay. I'll stay with her 'til
she works through it. Don't care how long it takes."
Packing her things and hefting her
umbrella, June frowned at me. At Eve. "You're still mayor, y'know. You
can't sit here all day. Still got a vote to resolve, as I recall. Kinda need ya
for that."
I smiled and waved her away. "No you
don't. I was on the fence. Still am. Doesn't much matter t'me what you all do,
so long as you do whatcha think is right."
"Ain't that the problem? We can't
figure OUT what's right?"
"Hm." I thought about it,
shrugged, and laughed. "Guess democracy ain't as good as those Imperials
say, eh?"
June grinned, though there was some
annoyance in her eyes. "Yeah. Guess not."
She left. Other people came, cautiously,
paying their respects, asking my opinion on day-to-day operations. I gave them
half-answers, ignoring most of what they said. I was too fixated on my
daughter. Probably will be until she gets out of this.
And when she does, we can have the family I
always wanted.
Yeah. I can't wait.
Sincerely,
Dragomir the Father
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