Pyrettania-Nakim Line

[Beatrice]

Evanthe picked up her secured line with the Lakhzovs and, once the signal that the line was indeed secured sounded, she proceeded.

"Yes, this is Empress Evanthe. I would wish to speak with President Kadassa, should he be available." With that she waited, as she was quite certain that a recent endorsement was by now well known within Lakhzovia's halls of power.

[Lakhzovia]

Kadassa stared at the blinking light on the phone indicating a secure line from Rokkenjima, still reeling from the news of Evanthe's endorsement of Cikniye he hesitated, his hand hovering over the receiver, before answering "Your Majesty." he said icily "I am surprised to receive your call, unless perhaps you mixed up my number with that of Cikniye?"

[Beatrice]

Evanthe chuckled, "I've nothing to talk with Cikniye about, though I apologize for dropping that on you without any warning, any reaction would have to be genuine after all. I understand there are some divisions with certain voices decrying your economic and domestic reforms while also calling you out for being too cozy with the international community; under that light, tell me what an endorsement from me would do to your bid for another term? I know we won't find out, but I'm sure someone with your cunning can use my endorsement of Cikniye to your advantage and at least reclaim a part of the messaging prior to the elections. Meanwhile you and I can maintain appearances in public, exchange some petty words, and your "internationalist reputation" fades as he hopefully finds a controversy or two appear in his own path to office."

After pausing for a moment Eva continued, "We've our issues, you and I, but they're issues we both know and seem to accommodate. I'll take that any day over Cikniye's unknowns." She left the words to sit for a while in Kadassa's mind, saying nothing further until he spoke.

[Lakhzovia]

"Well I must say, you are far more attuned to political manipulation than I have given you credit for in the past. Though it must be said your endorsement makes more sense now, my analysts could not understand why you would give backing to Cikniye given his candidacy rests on the support of groups that are determined opponents of Rokkenjima. I suppose there is little harm then of giving you a wider picture of the situation.

Cikniye has always been a man of principle, leaning towards to right of the LNC but never one to endorse the agenda of the Lakhzov Home or Emetist Democrats, he is a pragmatist at heart yet his biggest flaw is that his overriding loyalty is to himself. The truth is that there is no prospect of him ever being elected, the real competition is between myself and Tsagarai and this is known to both him and his backers. Our suspicion is that they are using this as leverage to get what they really want; at some point they will offer his withdrawal from the race in exchange for the release of Shalmi Meira and other Lakhzov Home leaders involved in the last electoral crisis, and Cikniye will demand a new Ministerial portfolio." He paused briefly considering his next words "You are playing a dangerous game here, if your manipulations are revealed then it is likely to harm me a great deal and almost guarantee a victory for Tsagarai... given that his policies align much more closely with your vision of the world what assurances do I have that your ultimate goal is not to see him handed the Presidency? I apologise if I seem overly suspicious, but it has always been my understanding that you would not shed a tear to see the end of my administration."

[Beatrice]

"It is thus fortunate that my actions are known only between you and I," Evanthe would respond, "so should this information come to light you and I would instantly know the source. As for any guarantees you have beyond my actions thus far, I only wished to remove the unknown, that being Cikniye, from a viable position without any potential for a path to the Presidency. I'll continue to drop hints of support for Cikniye in the days leading up to the election, which I hope you and your people will exploit to maximum effect, essentially transforming him into the internationalist candidate, and we'll see where democracy leads us. Should you win, I'll set aside personal differences for the mutual interests of our nations; after all, Asuna has made clear that she sees Rokkenjiman-Lakhzovian friendship as a priority, so if I'm giving her a firm foundation to work from our personal differences must decidedly be set aside."