It was yet another warm, sunny day on the outskirts of Palaestra, with a gentle breeze to help cool down those working outdoors. One such being was Gath Tsoriou, who had been working hard all morning, clearing rubble and working out what he could salvage from the remains of his burnt down house. Most of it was ruined, but Gath had found a few promising bits and pieces, most of which he’d placed in the back of his hovercraft.
Considering that Gath had been alone all morning, he did not expect to hear someone else’s voice, let alone the nasally squeak of a Cassid.
“General Gath, how are you?”
Gath spun around to see who it was. “Baxavius! I… Sorry, you have caught me at a bad time. As you can tell…”
Baxavius bowed his neck. “It is I who should be sorry. Clearly you are busy. May I offer my assistance, in exchange for a few words?”
The Rethan grunted. “Sure. Is there a problem? Something I can help with? There must be a reason why you’ve driven to my home in the middle of nowhere…”
“I have but a single question for you, General Gath…”
“… It’s just Gath. There is no need to stand on ceremony.”
“Gath… I would like to know if it is possible for me to become a citizen of the Retha.”
Gath paused for a moment, not sure how to answer. “You wish to become a Rethan?”
Baxavius laughed awkwardly. “No. You have heard of the Cexit vote coming up, correct?”
The Rethan nodded as he resumed his job of moving large pieces of debris to one side.
“Well, the vote does not look like it is going to go well. There are uninformed cries on both sides, for insanity and death and destruction. It is all chaos and I fear, should the Leave side lose, there will be even more chaos.”
“What does this have to do with becoming a Rethan citizen?” Gath asked.
“If the Cassids vote to leave the Maza, it will be a disaster for them, economically and in the case of defence, and in a myriad of other ways as well. I am not normally someone to look out for number one and only number one, but I want to make sure that I am secure, both financially, physically and via my job as a fighter in the Dessaron Battle System.”
Gath heaved a large, burnt, wooden beam across the ground and threw it into a pile of similarly burnt pieces. The thud of the wood did little to make Baxavius feel better.
“You really think things will change that quickly?” Gath asked. “Even if the Cassids are as stupid as they are making themselves look, it’ll take years for everything to go through.”
“I would rather be safe than sorry. I want to cover all my bases. I already have plans to move my money into Vrekan bank accounts if I need to, but citizenship is a big problem. I want to retain my financial and defensive assets, no matter what the rest of my kind vote to do.”
Baxavius stopped, noticing that Gath wasn’t paying attention. He was staring at something partially hidden in the ash. A delicate, intricately carved dagger. After a moment of silence, the Cassid realised that he shouldn’t have been here.
“I apologise, Gath. I will leave you to it.”
Gath shook his head, snapping back to reality. “Huh. No, don’t be. It’s fine. I got distracted. Tell you what, Baxavius, I can’t actually answer your questions right now, you’ll have to speak to the Rethan Embassy in Portalia City. But if you give me a hand loading my hovercraft, I’ll put a good word in for you, help your case get through more quickly. Deal?”
Baxavius smiled. “Deal.”