Aeka Takayama's Story

"This is ... well. It's a bit out of my wheelhouse," said Andrijana, smiling with a nervous edge. She glanced at Drulović, then quickly away again. "I'm only responsible for what happens here at Ĭtpraṽmår, not for anything involving foreign affairs. I don't even know what I'd say if someone else asks. I guess ... I'd say nothing. I didn't know."

"A wise response to be sure," Drulović nodded to Andrijana, her tone reassuring, in an odd way. "Besides, you hadn't known that Keiko Takayama had even been here in the first place. That she's now left had nothing to do with your capabilities - or lack thereof." Something soured a bit in her voice but her face remained neutral, impassive. Her gaze drifted back toward Yukiko. "Perhaps you may see it as a turning," she said. "Certainly, you wouldn't be the only one to hold that impression of things. I see this, too, as a service. My government now asks of me that I serve by remaining here for a time. Of course, some would like for me to die here. I'm old enough. But I mean to outlive such trifling grudges against me. This ought to be my last service now."

But the old woman had acted to ensure Keiko's freedom, and even now, Andrijana seemed to defer to her despite their positions. This could not be her last means of serving Terra.

"We must all do as our governments ask, to serve our people dutifully." Yukiko remarked. before she turned to the rest of her group, as Kendra smiled from the screen.

"Again, I owe you my life, Director." Kendra said over the feed, before she offered a smile, while one of the Shogunate officers came into view, and whispered something into the Shogun's ear.

"I wish you well." Kendra said with a soft smile, before she turned, and nodded to Gouda. "We're going to find Yosho." Kendra said, in Taiyou this time, as Sato stepped up beside her, with Keiko, and the three of them offered Drulovic a bow.

Gouda nodded, and reached for the laptop, pausing for just a moment to see if Drulovic had anything else to add.

The old woman returned the bow as best she could while seated. She'd long extolled the importance of manners - how it was equally important to know how to wield them as a weapon, and when to deliberately flout them. She'd gained infamy for that, in the leaked recordings of those early meetings with the Aschen, though those recordings had long been overshadowed by the events in the decades that followed. "Take care, Ms. Shaw," said Drulović, in Taiyou now. "The road on which you now embark is treacherous and lonely - and the ghouls you fear - or ought to - much more like to be your own than some other conspiracy or ambush. I hope you can find your peace." And to Keiko, "Please send my regards to your son Yosho as well." She smiled faintly, sadly, pain evident along her jawline and in her eyes. There was no use trying to hide it now. "Perhaps we'll be able to share in a meal together one day. I think I'd like that very much."

She was surrounded by people - but so rarely had friends come to visit. Everyone else had their own needs - emotional, political, it all became the same thing in the end. Hers were so easily forgotten.

They all offered one last smile, and bow, before Gouda entered a series of commands into the computer, and disconnected the display. He then moved to unplug the signal transceiver, and place everything back into his briefcase, while Yukiko looked to Andrijana. Then she turned back to Drulovic, offering a smile, and a brief nod.

“Minister Minamino has some business to attend to in Wing City, and then we will all be off to Shintenchi to reunite with my brother, hopefully afterwards, we can head to Niihama and see if we can deal with our Shimizu problem.” Yukiko said with an audible sigh, the demands of her station never giving her even the slightest break.

“I don’t want to keep you guys much longer, we have so much to do, what is the quickest, easiest way out of here?” Yukiko asked.

Andrijana finally spoke again, nodding as she rose from the table. "Yes, of course, I certainly don't mean to keep you," she said. "If you head out from the administration building, you can depart through the main gates, which I'm assuming is how you arrived earlier too. You'll just head back downstairs to the lobby - the elevator's still broken, unfortunately, but it's just down one floor at least." The goddamned elevator had been broken the day Andrijana had arrived, over ten years ago, and it had never been fixed. Budget shortage. A suspiciously larger budget shortage with each passing year. "I hope this has been ... well. Glad I could help." She sounded a bit dubious, though she was doing her best to be polite and courteous as the ostensible host of this impromptu meeting.

The old woman watched the others carefully, her eyes tracking each of them as they stood from the table too. Until she could convince someone in medical to finally approve the request for a cane, she'd need help. She could stand on her own, but she needed her hands free, unencumbered of the handcuffs, to do that. And she'd need her knees to stop screaming internally at her, which was the bigger problem most days since Andrade had unleashed his fury on her. She'd made the mistake of trying to escape that basement with its mildew and blood from women who had been like daughters. They were all her daughters, really, her daughters, her sons, her children, every one of the Terrans she'd sacrificed a lifetime to protect and defend. And as with her own children, the children of her blood, they'd now abandoned her.