Hi everyone!!

Here's the new chapter! Enjoy! Don't forget to vote and comment to let me know your thoughts! <3

Love, Luckycharms

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After everyone had taken their seats, the first little while was spent with some housekeeping– updating the President on the current state of things, telling him about completed projects and future projects, and just quickly getting the 'boring things out of the way,' as Niall had told Thea when preparing for the meeting.

Thea had never once seen the President in person before, and though his portrait was looming absolutely everywhere in Achlis, somehow, she still felt that this was really the first time she was seeing him, ever. He looked different than in the portraits, of course... he looked older and more tired, with bags under his eyes and wrinkles all over his face.

However, despite this, he was still handsome, with a strong figure and attractive features. Unlike most of the men in this room, aside from the actual military men, this man looked hardened... like a man who had the potential to be a leader. He wasn't a man who was a simple pencil pusher who sat behind a desk all day and just liked to talk big.

This man was big... at least, he had a large presence. Even from where he was sitting, leaning back in his seat with his elbow on the arm of his chair while he stroked his beard, he looked larger than life... frightening, even.

Soon however, once the head of the accounting division finished his report, the Vice-President adjusted his glasses as he looked down at his notes. "Alright, now that that's done, how about we move onto what everyone is really here for," the old, thin, bald man who literally looked like the polar opposite of the President, looked up at Niall. "General Killian?"

The President turned his spinning chair to face Niall, still leaning back, still looking relatively uninterested.

Niall stood, as everyone who was speaking did, but just as Thea expected, unlike some of the other speakers, when Niall stood up he had people's attention. Thea noticed that even the other two Generals, who looked uninterested for most of the meeting, looked up at him. "Thank you, Mr. Vice President," he started before he looked at the President. "I don't intend on wasting your time with a formal introduction, seeing as this issue has been on the top of my agenda for months now and we've already been through this, but to keep things simple, I've been lobbying the request of halting the execution of the Crow Rue simply because I believe we can extract a fair amount of information from him. Information that can assist us in finally bringing peace between us and the Crows."

Rivier snorted at that before he glanced around, looking as if anyone else was as amused as he was. Unfortunately, most were, some shaking her head in disapproval while others just smiled in amusement.

Niall, of course, seemed unbothered. "My team and I have been working with him for the last few months and I'm very happy to report–" he looked directly at Rivier– "that Miss. Theavi Rhaanan here, with the support of Mr. Milo Emary, has discovered more about him over the last month or so than anyone has in nearly five years."

Now some of the men began to look at each other, looking a little intrigued. Rivier, on the other hand, looked unhappy, his smile fading.

"And this is why I've brought her here with me," he said. "Miss. Rhaanan has become an expert of sorts on Rue, so who better to share the information she's discovered than the woman herself." With that, Niall looked down at her and Thea's throat went dry.

She felt light headed and had difficulty breathing seeing as with every breath she took, it felt like there was no air going into her lungs. However, she knew that this didn't matter at all. She had to get up. She had to do this.

So after giving Niall a tight lipped smile, she stood up next to him.

Everyone was looking at her.

Everyone.

Whether they found what she was going to talk about to be interesting or not, everyone was looking at her. And of course, the worst part of it all, Adrien was looking at her too, leaning forward, his small smile returning on his face for the first time since she re-entered the room with Niall.

She let out a breath, reminding herself of Rue's faith and Niall's trust. "Good afternoon," she smiled at her audience. "As already mentioned by Nai– General Killian... my name is Theavi Rhaanan. I'm a graduate of both the Aiverian National University and the University of Elore and I was in the midst of looking for a position in journalism before I was hired to work here–"

"A journalist," she heard one man scoff. She didn't know who it was, but she did notice General Ori, who was across from her but a little farther to the right, shoot a glare at someone who was sitting to his right. Though he was probably just annoyed at the interruption wasting his time rather than the disrespect the man was showing her, she certainly appreciated that.

"Yes, a journalist," she responded. "My research while doing my degree revolved around seeking out Crows, and lots of others, really, and interviewing them to report and write on them as people rather than just... rebels or enemies–"

"And what exactly did you expect to get out of something like this?" Karney Senior suddenly asked her. "It seems like a waste of time if you ask me."

There were plenty of mumbles of agreement in response to that and Thea felt a panic rush through her.

Adrien's father was speaking to her.

She tried to collect her words, trying to figure out what to say to him without stuttering, trying to be the strong woman she wanted to be... not someone who crumbled in front of a frightening man. But just as her panic began to grow a little too much, causing her to choke on her words, she heard the door behind them swing open.

"Oh my goodness, look how late we are!"

Thea turned, baffled by the sound of Kaya's voice and even more baffled by the sight of her strutting in, very late, and Luana walking in with a big smile behind her.

"Sorry boys, I'm coming straight from some work in the East... glad I was able to make it, albeit a little late."

Thea actually completely forgot that Kaya should have been at this meeting. Of course she should have, she was an important higher up in Achlis, the head of the Logistics Division. But for her to walk in so late, with not a worry in a world... Thea would have laughed if she wasn't standing in front of a large group of serious looking men.

Even when she looked down at Niall, she saw him rubbing his face with his hand, looking annoyed. To that, though, Thea did chuckle.

When she turned back around, Kaya put a hand on Thea's shoulder. "Oh I really hope I didn't miss your presentation... I was so excited!"

"No... I... I just started," Thea responded, a smile growing on her face.

"Perfect!" Kaya took her seat next to Niall, but just as she did, Luana reached out and grabbed Thea's hand. "Good luck wishes from Mrs. Railer," she whispered in her ear before placing something in Thea's hand. "And this is from Aari."

Hesitating, Thea looked down at her hand, surprised by the sight of a penny.

"Lucky penny," Luana clarified. "We've all got your back," she added before taking a seat next to the wide eyed Milo.

Shocked, Thea stared at the old Elorian penny, a coin that had not been in commission since Aiveria took over, as a sudden flash of memory overwhelmed her.

She was suddenly thinking of Aaryan.

Aaryan also carried around a lucky Old Elorian penny. Staring at the penny, for the first time she suddenly noticed the similarities between the names Aaryan and Aari and though somewhat dumbfounded, she couldn't help but think that this must just be a coincidence.

There was no way...

There was no way.

Yes. There was no way.

"Please, Thea, I'm so sorry we interrupted you, go right back ahead when you're ready," Kaya responded.

Thea looked at her, and then at Niall, who had leaned back in his chair, looking both exhausted and annoyed though still managing to give her a smile when their eyes met. Then she turned and looked at Luana, Milo and Julian, all of whom were also smiling at her, even Julian. And then there was Mrs. Railer and... Aari.

She looked down at the penny, which she held between her thumb and index finger before she put it down on top of the poem Rue wrote for her.

And Rue.

They all had her back.

Thea looked back at the Premier. "No, Sir," she continued, "it certainly is not a waste of time." Her voice was suddenly firmer and more confident, her tone now matching her more confident body language as well and once again, just as when she walked back into the room with Niall, the way everyone looked at her shifted again. "Have you ever wondered if maybe the reason why all of us hate each other so much is because we just don't know each other? Don't you think that maybe if people could understand where others are coming from, even if they disagree, they could at least find ways to work out their differences... ways that don't involve fighting and hate?"

Thea anticipated that the Premier would disagree with her, of course, so she chose not to give him a chance to answer.

"Well, I do wonder about that, a lot. Which is why I thought it would be an interesting endeavor to see if pursuing a theory like that would come up with any interesting information... but before I could really do that though, I was hired by General Killian," she said. "General Killian was intrigued by my research and wanted to see if I could attempt to apply it onto Rue. He wanted me to go into Rue's cell, multiple times a week, sit with him and try to get him to truly believe that I just want to get to know him and his views and why he is the way he is."

"A waste of time," Rivier responded.

Thea jerked her head back. "Actually it wasn't," she responded. "Sure the first few weeks were not very productive, but after getting him to warm up to me, over the span of the last couple weeks, myself and Milo were able to uncover more about him than you were after torturing him, covering his entire body with scars and wounds and even cutting a couple of his fingers off."

Though her words clearly annoyed Rivier, she knew she had successfully piqued the interest of many of the other people in the room. This brought her more confidence, and as she picked up her notebook, gently placing her new poem from Rue and the penny down on the table in front of her, she saw from the corner of her eye, even the President shift in his seat a little.

She glanced over at him, watching as he leaned forward, lowering his hand from his beard and lifting his head up a little bit.

He was interested.

She flipped open her notebook to her notes. "Rue... we still don't know his real name yet–"

Rivier snorted.

Thea looked up at him for a moment before she smiled, calmly looking back down at her notes. "Rue was born and raised in a tiny coastal village that was a walking distance away from Thanina City. He had a mother who was an at-home-wife, a father who worked on a merchant vessel at Thanina Port, and a brother who had a job working in Thanina City" she started, already seeing the eyes of some of these men widen. "He lived in this region during the Civil War, where it was immediately occupied by the Crows in late 1942. At this point, he was actually a pacifist for the most part, not believing that fighting a war was the best way to go. However, when Thanina was recaptured by the State in 1946, his opinion changed."

When Thea looked up at her audience again, she saw that everyone was suddenly interested. Even Adrien, whose eyes she was avoiding, seemed to pause his intent to make her uncomfortable and was just listening.

"His opinion on the war changed because his brother was one of the innocent Elorian men who were captured by the State Officers, pushed down onto his knees in Thanina's town square and shot in the back of the head," she said, rather bluntly. "You may remember... this was done because the officers occupying Thanina couldn't tell between a regular Elorian man and a Crow... so they just took a large number of able bodied men and slaughtered them."

The Premier narrowed his eyes while some of the other men began to look away... seeming maybe... embarrassed?

"But the decision to slaughter innocent lives backfired immensely because instead of scaring the population, our most recent research using the town's newspapers showed us that hundreds of young men who previously had no association with the Crows were angered enough by this to join them," she said. "The State ended up helping increase the number of Crows multiple fold and Rue, the Crow you know and love and is the topic of our discussion today, was also a product of this, despite previously being a pacifist."

"He told you this?" Rivier asked. "What makes you think you can trust his words? Obviously a Crow would blame the State."

"Sure," Thea responded. "But he didn't tell me this." She saw confusion cover the faces of the men in the room as she pulled out Rue's little notebook and held it up. "If people paid a little more attention to the men who they arrest and throw into prison, and took the time to organize their files and records properly, they may have realized that Rue had this notebook on him."

Thea saw the Premier look to Rivier, and from the corner of her eye, she saw the President glance over at him too.

Rivier, whose face was reddening just a little, scowled. "Get that for me," he snapped.

Suddenly, a State Soldier was behind Thea, snatching the book from her. "Hey!" Thea gasped as she turned after the soldier who marched away with it, but the sight of Niall looking at her with a calm expression before he closed his eyes and opened them again, telling her it was okay, made her relax.

The soldier walked over to Rivier, handing him the notebook and everyone waited in silence and watched as Rivier flipped through it. He was quick, brushing past the pages without even reading them. "These aren't... these aren't notes!" He looked pleased with himself, looking up at Thea. "Do you take me as a fool? These are poems!" And as soon as he said that, he threw the notebook back at her.

She caught it, thankfully, but the disrespect he was showing angered her. "And this is exactly why you've failed to find anything of importance about Rue," Thea said, suddenly not worried anymore about who he was. "The majority of the information I just told you was discovered from this notebook, which Rue told me about because he decided he trusted me–"

"You expect us to trust what you interpret from his poetry?" Rivier let out a laugh. "This is not a high school language class, girl. This is the Aiverian State Military. This is Achlis–"

"With all due respect, Sir, if you had paid more attention in your highschool literature classes then maybe you would know that poetry has the potential to reveal more about a character than most other means of writing."

Some men began to laugh, though Thea didn't know if they were laughing at her or at her comment about Rivier's potential lack of education. It seemed Rivier assumed they were laughing at her, seeing as he looked quite pleased with himself.

Thea took a deep breath and let it out. "Everything I have shared is accurate," she insisted. "Not only has Rue given me the reason to believe so, but Milo and I were able to validate the majority of it using multiple other sources, including newspapers from those years. We even found versions of these poems published anonymously before and during the Civil War years as well."

The Premier suddenly sighed loudly. "So what?" he asked, leaning to one side, looking rather lazy and unamused. "Even if all you said was true, what exactly is the point of all this? I still don't see the significance of spending State funds to keep this man alive."

"I'm trying to show you all what we were able to discover about this man within weeks," she responded. "I'm trying to show you that if we just needed a week or two to discover all of these details about his background, imagine what we could do if we were given more time and he trusted us. He could tell us more about the Crows, who he served, where he served, what his goal was, what the goal of his peers were–"

"And?" The Premier pushed.

Thea saw Adrien glance at his father before looking back at Thea with a smirk. It angered her to know that he probably thought that Thea was failing at making her point. "And we can use that information to potentially broker a peace with the Crows."

The Premier's brows rose slowly on his forehead as other men laughed.

"Rue's division is the most important Crow division out there... if Rue trusts us and we get enough information to get in contact with that group–"

More people laughed, louder now, cutting Thea off. Rivier seemed the most pleased by this, his smile widening. "A peace with the Crows," Jakob Karney let out a laugh as well. "So you really are as dumb as you look."

More laughter.

Thea saw Niall shift, looking like he was going to say something, however Thea held her hand up to stop him because... well, now she was really angry. Despite being surrounded by some of the most powerful men in the state, she suddenly felt like she was back in high school, where little boys and girls tried to get their point across through teasing.

"You must be a real fool to think for a second that the State would stoop as low as choosing to work with those rebels," he continued, "Unless whatever information you get from Rue can assist in exterminating those pests, we should be killing Rue too."

"Yes," Rivier agreed. "Precisely."

"Because we should most certainly trust your decisions in regards to handling Crows?" Thea asked, her voice low and annoyed, her eyes directly on Jakob Karney.

The Premier looked right back at her. "You say that like you're mocking me."

"I apologize if it came out like that, but I don't exactly see why you think your capacity to make decisions in regards to these kinds of situations is any better than mine. Because last I checked, you were the reason the Civil War even started."

Almost instantly, the remaining chuckles and laughter in the room faded.

"What?" The Premier scoffed. "Have you learned nothing in school? Apparently you've gone to multiple of them, you'd think one of them would teach you right. The Civil War started when Rhys and his group of hooligans threw a grenade at a truck filled with Aiverian State soldiers."

"Which they did in retaliation to your decision to send those very State Soldiers to the town of Krete to shut down a peaceful protest... which ended up resulting in the soldiers killing three innocent protesters."

He narrowed his eyes. "Rhys killed sixteen State Soldiers."

Thea nodded. "Yes, he did," she said, remembering the words of her brother. "Sixteen soldiers who had just finished wounding twenty-three Elorian civilians and killing three of them, all of them innocent and with no relationship to any Crows."

The room was silent now.

"And might I add, those very State Soldiers were on their way to spend the night in a little community that they had pillaged and destroyed because there wasn't a military barack nearby for them to stay at. The same place where, the night before, they raped six women and kept them locked up for them to come back to the next day," Thea added, firmly. "And yes, since we're going on about your amazing record of decision making, I should also remind everyone of the fact that Rhys and his group, which he called the Elorian Revolutionary Armed Forces, was a group of just twelve men." She paused, looking around, noting who refused to make eye contact with her. She knew that those men were the ones who knew she was right but were too scared to say anything. "Only twelve men," she repeated, "twelve men who sent a grenade flying into the vehicle of State Soldiers who were tormenting a community. Twelve men whose actions then resulted in Premier Jackob Karney calling the people of Acteon to action and basically giving them the freedom and permission to destroy Elorian homes, burn down Elorian businesses, hang Elorian men, rape Elorian women and do whatever the hell they wanted with whatever and whoever was left."

Silence.

"That's what happened," Thea nodded, a tight lipped smile on her face. "Sure, the failed Siege of Thanina increased the number of Crows by quite a few fold, but that's not the best of it. Our Premier here, who is critiquing my teams way of wanting to bring peace to the Aiverian State, used his call to action in Acteon in 1942 to single handedly increase the number of Crows from twelve men to tens of thousands of them by giving them the perfect reason to be angry at the State and supportive of the Rebels."

More silence, though Thea could feel the rage seeping out of the Premier. He was infuriated... absolutely enraged.

"You cannot have a Civil War between the entirety of the State Military and twelve men, Sir," Thea kept her head up, looking down at him from where she was standing. "So yes. You are the one who started the Civil War between my people and yours. Not the grenade that Rhys threw."

No one said anything, though Kaya let out a breath which came out as a whistle.

"Your way didn't work," Thea continued before she gestured at the whole room. "None of your ways worked. Your way started a Civil War," she repeated once more, gesturing at the Premier but wanting to hammer down her point. Then she turned to Rivier, "And your way wasted millions before creating an angry man out of someone who has valuable information that we could potentially use to do things a different way."

Despite the fact that nearly everyone in the room was looking at her with either an expression of anger or disbelief, she surprised herself by not being scared. She wasn't scared. She wasn't shaking. She was... fine. Maybe because she was being honest.

"I can't understand why you are so adamant about not wanting to give this a shot. You have a key sitting there, locked up in a prison... he may not end up being the right key but he is a key nonetheless to a door you have no other working keys for... why wouldn't you give it a try?" She asked. "Sure, you may not trust me, but why don't you at the very least trust Nai–" she cut herself off but then decided otherwise. Killian wasn't really his name anyways. "Trust Niall. He won you this war... it's why you put him in the position he is to begin with, isn't it?"

When Thea turned and looked at Niall, she saw that he was looking at her intently... maybe even intensely.

She looked back at the rest of them. "This is his project. He has plans for Rue and I'm just doing what he asked me to... so if, even after this, you question my opinion or think I'm... as dumb as I look, or whatever..." she saw a few men smirk. August Ori in particular, for the first time since the meeting started, smiled as he watched her. "Then at least remind yourself that this is the idea of someone who you already know you can trust."

She only noticed then that the President was looking right at her.

In all honesty, her anger for both Rivier and the Premier had caused her to forget he was even there, and now, reminded of him again, she found herself looking at him. "Let me just say, as an Elorian... an Elorian who comes from a family who takes pride in our Elorian blood and our culture and our people... seeing the State be merciful to one of our own, Crow or not, is nothing less than a step in the right direction."

She watched as the President kept his eyes on her, and then after a moment, he narrowed them. "Well," he said. "If that is all, then I can go ahead and say that we have gone well past the allocated time I had set for this meeting."

Thea's brows rose.

He leaned forward, rubbing his eyes with his finger and thumb. "If no one else feels the need to argue like children in front of me, then you can all leave."

She blinked.

That was it? She hadn't even had a chance to finish going through all her notes!

Without another hesitation, everyone stood up but froze when the President spoke once more. "Killian," he called. "You. Stay."

Thea's heart raced in a panic.

Had she screwed up?

Yes, she went completely off script... but had she gone too far?

Niall, who was standing next to her, nodded his head at the President, "yes, sir," he said before turning to Thea. His expression was unreadable at first, but then he smiled at her. "Meet me in my office," he said to her. "We will talk when I'm done here."

Thea nodded, her brows knotting together in worry.

Before she could ask any more questions however, Julian had his arm on her back, "Let's go," he said, rather seriously.

She didn't argue with him, feeling the angry eyes of the Premier and Rivier... and of course, Adrien.

She wanted to look back at Niall though, at least one more time before she left, but Luana and Milo were by her side first, the two of them hissing in delight at Thea's words as they left the room. Even Milo was excited... thrilled even... unable to believe that Thea had faced those two so head on.

They wanted to celebrate... whatever the President decided, they wanted to celebrate Thea's success in being brave. However, unfortunately, she wasn't really in the mood.

She figured she wouldn't be until she knew what was going to happen to Rue. She couldn't think of anything else.

Niall stood at attention until everyone left the room and it was silent again, and once it finally was, President Reichavar stood. "Quite the show you put on... was this what you anticipated?"

Niall didn't move, watching as the President headed over to the door he came through, which opened to an office. "Actually no, Sir," he responded. "She's been practicing and it was always rather tame."

The President nodded. "Get in here," he then said. "I need a drink after all this."

Niall let out a breath.

Honestly... so did he.

When they made it into the office, the President shut the door on the other soldiers, leaving both Niall and him alone. He then walked over to the small bar in the room and began pouring two glasses of whiskey. "I'll admit," he started, staring at the glasses as he filled them, "I find it rather hard to believe that a little Elorian girl in a pretty dress with a pretty braid would go as far as looking Karney straight in the eye and accusing him of starting the Civil War."

Niall felt his heart skip a beat.

Though he did not like the idea of the President calling Thea a 'little Elorian girl,' he couldn't pretend even to himself that he wasn't thoroughly impressed by that. Even for Niall, though he despised the man, he couldn't deny that the man didn't intimidate him at times. Karney was the epitome of evil. Niall knew not of a good bone in his body... he was just hateful and power hungry... a man who should be feared.

So seeing Thea speak to the man like that... well, it took nearly all of Niall's energy to not gawk as she spoke.

The intense look on her face, the determination... even the anger and annoyance... somehow, it made him feel a way he hadn't felt in a very long time.

Rue's voice suddenly echoed in the back of his mind.

Your romantic feelings for her cloud your judgment.

I've written about love in a thousand different ways. I know how it looks.

Niall frowned.

The President walked over to him, handing him a glass. "You disagree?"

"You underestimate her," he said. "She's not just a little Elorian girl."

The President smirked before taking a sip of his drink. "I suppose she isn't," he said before sitting down in one of the very expensive looking leather seats. Sure, Niall knew luxury, but this office was even more luxurious than that. "Though... you know, she is right about that," he added. "She's right about all of that... sit."

Niall hesitated, before taking a seat in the chair across from him and allowing the President to tap his own glass against his.

"Do you know why Karney hates Elorian's so much?"

Niall's brows rose before he took a big gulp of his drink. "I don't, Sir."

"His wife ran away with one," the man looked amused, looking down at his drink, not noticing Niall nearly choke on his own. "Some Elorian village boy she'd fallen for... ran away with him and never came back, left the kid... Adrien... too. Can you imagine how much of a shit that Karney must be for his wife to leave all that money and luxury and comfort behind for some unknown Elorian village boy?"

Niall did not know this, but was astounded. This must have been an insanely well kept secret, seeing as even Julian was unable to unearth that. And here the President was... telling Niall over a glass of whiskey.

Niall's relationship with the President was quite an odd one. It had become clear to Niall that the President tolerated him... maybe more than most others in Achlis... but that being said, he knew for certain the President didn't actually like him.

So why the President was going ahead and letting this information loose was beyond him.

"And Rivier too," he continued. "Do you know why he hates the Crows so much?"

"I assumed it was because Rue made a fool out of him."

The president shook his head. "Oh, Rivier hated Crows long before that... did you know the man had a daughter?"

"Yes," Niall said. "She died."

The President nodded. "Beautiful, beautiful Aiverian girl... the loveliest of them all with these large bright green eyes and long chocolate brown hair. But she was smart and educated, and disagreed with everything her father stood for," he said. "Apparently she wanted to go see Eloria for herself... she wanted to travel alone, without the influence of all the hateful people in her family, and in her travels she found herself falling for a Crow."

Niall raised his brow. More information he was never privy to.

"They got married, her and this Crow fella... and then she wanted to come home to her father," he took another sip of his drink. "But on her way home, some other Crow fella killed her when they found out she was Rivier's daughter. Cut her up and sent her body parts to him, they say."

Niall blinked.

"What a complicated world we live in," the President continued. "A world where we don't know who we can trust, or who is right and who is wrong."

Niall raised his glass to that.

"Whatever the case, my point is that your not-so-little Elorian girl is right."

Your.

She wasn't his.

And right then, Niall noted that this whiskey was extremely strong... he was already feeling the buzz.

"Those men are bad at making decisions. The decisions they do make are based on personal feelings and gripes that they have and so those decisions are always bad decisions," he said. "I mean I hate those Crows just as much as most of those men but even I shake my head at how things have been handled."

Niall nodded, pleased with the President's words.

"She's right," he said again. "We need to try a new approach."

Niall didn't say anything, waiting for the President to continue, and they ended up being silent for some time. Finally, when the President began speaking again, Niall straightened up a little. "When the late Secretary of Defense... your father... came to me and asked me to appoint you as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, I thought the man was insane. But he guaranteed me that you would change things... you would find new ways to make this place better."

Niall responded by taking a drink from his glass. He was aware of this. He was aware of the role his adoptive father had expected him to play.

"It seems like he was right," he sighed. "Though I am quite curious about one thing, Killian."

"Yes, Sir?"

"How is it that you manage to get that little team of yours to be so devoted to you?"

Niall raised a brow. "I'm not sure what you mean, Sir."

"There is no way in hell that that girl would have stood up in front of all of these men and spoken the way she did if she didn't have faith in what it is that you're doing," he said. "You've made yourself a good team... odd ones, sure, but good. Tell me, how do you do it?"

Niall smiled and shook his head. "I'm just honest with them, Sir."

"You make it seem too easy."

Niall chuckled.

The President then leaned forward. "Well, go buy her a drink when you're done here," he said.

"Sir?"

He smiled. "I'm putting Rue completely under your authority. Do as you please with him, so long as the results from it benefit us."

Niall stopped breathing, his lips parting a little.

"If I haven't made it clear already, my intentions have been to replace Rivier with you for quite some time now. Rivier lacks the competence, control and patience that a position such as the Secretary of Defense requires, and like the girl said, he makes bad decisions," President Reichavar said. "Never liked the man, and after seeing his childish display and how easily he loses control of his emotions in front of someone as supposedly insignificant as a young Elorian girl simply proves my point of his lack of competence."

Niall didn't like that he was calling her insignificant... even if he added 'supposedly' before it. But he wasn't going to complain... not when the man was saying what Niall thought he was saying.

"The only thing holding me back from getting rid of Rivier and replacing him with you is the fact that you are half Elorian and I know you know that that is the problem. People would be outraged, and so if you want this to go through, then you need to give me something good. The rhetoric that you ended the war is overplayed and people care little about that now. So give everyone a reason to believe that you deserve to be the Secretary of Defense. Use Rue to get there if that's the case. Do you understand?"

Niall nodded, maybe a little too quickly. "Yes, Sir," he said. "Thank you."

President Reichavar leaned back in his seat. "Just keep doing whatever it is you're doing... and teach me how to get the people who work for me to adore me the way your people adore you."