Tale – A Midnight Phone Call

“What is it now, sister?” The voice on the other end of the line growled.

“I have an amazing idea!” Mavri Thyra beamed, spinning round in her comfy chair. “I really amazing idea!”

“What idea.”

“Oh come on, Phovos, you’ve got to be more excited!”

The voice growled again. “I haven’t slept in days. I’ve been unfortunately rather ill. I finally get to close my eyes and drift off and what happens? You fucking call me and wake me up.”

Mavri Thyra didn’t really care. She had an idea. Thymos wasn’t around and Phovos was her next best bet when it came to her many ideas.

“Waaaaait, I thought you didn’t geeeeeet ill!” Mavri was still beaming.

“No, you’ve got it wrong again. I don’t get dead. I can get ill just as often as any other Thanatian. Now what do you want so I can go back to sleep?”

Mavri took a deep breath. There was only so far one could push Phovos before she’d get on the next spacecraft, fly to one’s house and do something mean and nasty.

“Alright, calm down, big sister. But this idea, it’s a biggie. A great idea. It’ll make us a greater race, on par with all those… democratic races…”

“What is it?”

Mavri paused dramatically. “WE SHOULD HAVE ELECTIONS!”

With a loud sigh, Phovos hung up and the line went dead. Mavri waited for a moment, before calling her back.

“WHAT?”

“Come on, it’s a good idea, right?”

“Yes, it’s a great idea if you’re planning on no longer being Queen of the Thanatians.”

“What do you mean?” Mavri blinked. “Everyone loves me. I have like an 80% approval rate. I know I’ll almost certainly win, but I want to look more… legitimate.”

“What if you lose? Have you thought this through?”

“It’s an election. What is there to think through? Other races think we are dumb animals. This is a good thing for us.”

“That’s not what I mean. If you lose, you lose all your power. The Sixteen won’t help you. I won’t be able to help you. Goodness knows what Thymos would do. You’d have to wait years for a legitimate chance to get back into power and it’s highly unlikely that you’d never get your power back once you lose it.”

“Oooh, seems like big sister is sounding rather tyrannical and dictator-y. You scared of progress, sister? Scared of change?”

“That’s not what I said at all.” Phovos seemed not to much angry, just annoyed.

“Admit it, you’re scared!” Mavri teased.

“What I am scared of is, because we don’t have the proper functions in place, like a constitution or anything, that someone will kick you off your throne and become a tyrant, and we won’t be able to do anything to stop it.”

“You worry too much about things that won’t happen, sister.”

“Maybe I do, Mavri. Do your election. Have fun with it. Be fair and legitimate. Just make sure that you have some sort of plan B in place, in case everything goes wrong, you hear me?”

Mavri sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful and do everything properly. You planning on running?”

“Fuck no. I have a city to run. Listen, little sister, I have to go. I’m exhausted. If you want to talk, call me in, say, seven hours. You know, normal non-sleeping hours.”

“Of course, Phovos. Love you!”

“Sigh, love you too, Mavri.”

Phovos hung up, and Mavri bounced with glee in her chair.

The Thanatians were about to have their first official elections.