The term Deja vu could easily be applied to this meeting, a sunny day in Rokkenjima was the backdrop as Serenity perched on her desk at Commonwealth House - her property in Rokkenjima, she was looking at the large screen on the wall of the study, it wasn't the USS Enterprise by any means but the screen was pretty decent in size, on it she could see the Round Table room in the Marble Palace and had video feeds to other advisors and heads of agencies as required. "Hit me with it what do we think?" Serenity asked
"I agree with Rion's assessment." Sally Barkley, the head of Achkaerinese Intelligence, said "This reads like a variation on the Ofdensen plot, but probably far more refined. If so then whatever Charles knew we have to assume these conspirators know and of course they will stuff that Charles didn't. I don't however think the destination is the same."
"Neither did I." Rion said
"Why?" Richard Chambers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, asked
"Because Charles's plot a year ago was to take a wrecking ball through the Anselmo's and create a Constitutional crisis. If Alex Rowe and Lucius Stanley are involved then we're talking about people who know very well that the Rokkenjiman public is loyal to the Crown these days, they know there's no appetite to remove that. Charles wanted a Presidency I think Stanley and Rowe know that a lame duck monarch is better." Rion said
"The journey is the same, take the Anselmo's out of the line of succession, but this isn't to create a crisis it's to clear a path." Sally said
"For?" Serenity asked
"I don't know yet." Rion said "But I will."
"How serious of a threat is this?" Mark Sharpe, the national security advisor, asked
"Rowe and Stanley can't move uninhibited, which is why Groves is involved," Rion said "He's there to clear the path. Stanley's there to be the voice in the ear and Rowe's the military man, it's a shadow government play."
"Rowe's an experienced soldier." Peter, Serenity's father, said "If anyone knows how to spot PTSD it's him."
"Which may be the play." Rion said "Groves clears the path and meanwhile Rowe keeps an eye on Asuna, pile on the stress and eventually she'll crack, she takes herself out."
"What's the endgame?" Peter asked
"I don't know yet but I'll find out." Rion said "Meanwhile I'm going to start operations to try and start getting to the bottom of this."
"What do we think their timescale is?" Serenity asked
"Your Majesty." Major Kirby of the MDI said "Based on everything said this reads like a long game, there's no value in moving quickly because everything changes in a week and we all know what happens if the Rokkenjiman Empress isn't in post tomorrow."
"Taking Asuna off the board now so soon after Kyoko would be very suspicious." Rion said "And very much a needless risk considering the PTSD, if you're Rowe you let her destroy herself and if she doesn't you take her out when it's safe."
"They don't have a quick run to the line so they're going to make it a marathon."  Serenity said "Ok then. Nettie tell me about this Sophia business."

"Considering what the implications are and how Mundus usually reacts to what Asuna is attempting to set up, Sophia's going to need something to base this whole thing on." Nettie said "It won't go down well in the Diet. I think the best bet is for someone to go looking in the archives of the Diet, somewhere in there there will be an Act that recognises the independence of Josai, it'll be from the Federal Republic days, so find it and then look at how Josai came back under Rokkenjiman control. If that's suspect and considering who Beatrice's advisors were at the time it's quite possible it is then Sophia has her smoking gun and you have the means to step into the staring contest."
"What exactly are we talking about in that regard?" Adam Sheppard, the Minister of Defence, asked
"If Sophia declares Josai independent then there's going to be pressure in Rokkenjima for Asuna to retake it." Serenity said "So if that declaration comes then we're going to get diplomacy going right out of the gate, we're going to guarantee the security of Josai think of it like what Rokkenjima used to do with the JPS."
"Counting on the fact that Rokkenjima isn't going to want to risk a fight." Peter said nodding "Rowe may just go looking for one then."
"If he does he exposes himself." Serenity said "We'll make sure Rokkenjima has reasons to think twice, giving Asuna enough to not order military action and hopefully this goes off without a shot being fired. And then when the dust settles Asuna and Sophia agree a treaty that establishes the relationship between the two."

"Rion how do you intend to start chipping away at this?" Peter asked
"I'm going to start trying to get under Rowe and Stanley's skin, there's a storage lock up that Rowe's got a unit in though we don't know which unit, so we're going to do a little B&E on that." Rion said "Stanley's apparently been meeting with a woman called Rika Miyano, not sure whether it's business or pleasure but that's irrelevant. We're going to do a deep dive on her and see how they run when the heat is turned up. The INIS mole isn't an issue because none of what we're doing runs through the INIS office, this is going to be a blindside. We start chipping at them and see what they do."
"Do it." Serenity said "Same time tomorrow."

The meeting over Serenity looked at Rion, who'd been in the study the whole time, "If Alex Rowe and Lucius Stanley were involved in Charles's plot then is it possible they were involved years ago?" Serenity asked
"Yes." Rion said "And I'd like to start assuming that to be the case."
"So if we want to confirm this we're not going to find anything electronically?" Serenity asked
"It'd be suspicious if we did, all of Charles's communications, ICON, phone records, emails they were all evidence weren't they?" Rion said
"They were." Serenity said
"I do need to ask this." Rion said "If Rowe or Stanley start to pose too much of a danger..."
"I know and I'll tell you when we get there if we get there." Serenity said "What do you think the endgame is?"
"I think they want a puppet, isolate Asuna and maybe you manage that but she's not isolated, Thomas, Evanthe, Emerson, McKenna, Gemma..." Rion said "They need someone else."
"Find out if you're right." Serenity said

By Roisin Shaughnessy: Chief Correspondent

The Empress has delivered the first Life Day Message of her reign, the pre recorded speech, typically done two to three days before Life Day is shown on television in the afternoon of the day. The Marble Palace also revealed a Festive postcard (pictured above) sent out to every home in the nation, a multitude of charities, Achkaerinese embassies abroad, foreign embassies based in Achkaerin and foreign governments, a short message wishing the receipient(s) well and looking forward to the new year is on the reverse side.

The Empress's Life Day Message was as follows:

Life Day Message 2023

"Good Afternoon and a Happy Life Day, Christmas, Yule, Hannukah and festive season to all of you. For many people across not only Achkaerin but Mundus this is a time for family and I'm reminded more of that this year than I have been before, at the start of the year things weren't looking brilliant on that front with my father in a coma but little did I know that my family is actually a whole lot bigger than I thought it was at least in the biological sense myself and Simon now have two sisters another niece and a nephew and so on, and then of course as a family we rejoiced when my father came out of his coma some months later. Having that support that guidance, that advice especially over the last few weeks has been of great assistance as Mundus continues to tackle the many issues that face it.

I gave this message once before a few years ago, with Simon, when my father was unable to do so and I keep trying to figure out if it feels any different doing it now. I guess it does because now I'm speaking with more years of diplomatic experience and of course the crown is now on my head. I will always fondly remember that day in Valtheim, the gathering of friends to attend the coronation and to support the friendships between our nations and theirs, to see all that was something truly humbling and unforgettable.

It's important to remember those who are no longer around to celebrate this festive season, tragically this year will go down as a year littered with terrorism, from Mersch to Daito, to Rokkenjima, to Kalasin and now Nya Aland, it is a stark reminder of the sacrifices we ask those brave men and women of the military to make to keep people safe, not since 2014 have we had such a sequence of events. With the international community we stared down the unthinkable if not once then twice this year, when some tried to reopen Pandora's Box we kept it closed, something only possible because people were prepared to put themselves in harms way to make it happen. The festive season is a time for giving and I would like to offer all those involved in that my thanks.

2024 is a landmark year, a decade on from the formation of what we could call the first international pillars being established, I'm looking forward to the many celebrations throughout the year marking that, I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for the family and I'm looking to see what bears fruit on the international landscape. Domestically it's a big year for our Government's environmental program many of the checkpoints under the Green Energy Transition Act are about to be hit and I'm sure we'll be up to the challenge there, terrorism must be combatted, diplomacy must be pursued and must be done in earnest, nations must get along for developing friendships breaks down the barriers, but all of that's for naught if we leave Mundus worse than when we found it, 2023 undoubtedly saw struggles in this respect so 2024 must be progressive, it must be better, it must move the needle. I hope that when I talk to you all this time next year that I can do so knowing that has been really achieved. I wish you all a joyful festive season and a happy new year.

By Zoe Tate: Entertainment Correspondent

The Chipmunks and Chipetes, a CGI and AI generated group spun off from a television series and based at the Royal University of Music, have taken Life Day number one spot in the charts with their cover of Bad Romance. It is a significant milestone for the prestigious honour as this is the first time the award has gone to technically animals instead of humans although as Dina Mellor (the bands 'manager') explains it's a little more complicated than that saying "This is a huge achievement for us, we're just a group of research students that produce a childrens music based show that runs for half an hour in the week, so to win something like this is great and shows that innovation in music can be successful, we only started using AI a few months ago in respect of the voices to create a more authentic vocal range for the six characters we have and then syncing that up with the CGI, we are considering using the AI to assist in other ways as well but for the moment we're really happy."

The winner of Life Day Number One traditionally headlines the New Years Day concert in Valtheim, it has been confirmed that the Chipmunks and Chipettes will be doing so, event organisers commented saying "When it became possible that they could be number one on Life Day we started planning for it and we believe that we can deliver a fully immersive experience for the audience even though we're talking about digitally generated characters singing as opposed to a live band."

At Questions for the Crown, Empress Serenity stated that there would be a response to the proposed Concert of Democracy, we have since that session seen a response to the concerns raised by the Empress provided by the Kōshaku. While we acknowledge that the Kōshaku is attempting to provide a view that the proposal is workable, it is not workable under the current text for the reasons Empress Serenity raised, we can assure the Kōshaku that she and the Empress were reading the same text and we would strongly encourage the Kōshaku to read it more closely, the concerns and reasoning stand as follows:

The first concern mentioned is that the proposal essentially has its members give up the right to defend themselves - this is raised in regards to the following two articles:

1. The Parties pledge never to use military force, and never to plan to use military force, against one another except in the event of a coup or revolution within a specified member nation.

7. Action pursuant to article four and consistent with the purposes of presently existing international law, including the use of military force, may be approved by a two-thirds majority of the parties.

Article one clearly rules out the possibility for a member to defend itself against armed attack by a fellow member, the article relies entirely on good faith something which organisations throughout Mundus's history have proven incapable of fostering. It is also evidenced in Mundus history that nations have signed treaties and then disregarded, or sought to disregard them when they became inconvenient. The existence of an organisation is not sufficient deterrent in this respect.

Article seven puts the ability of a nation to deploy military force in certain circumstances in the gift of an international organisation, which invokes foreign political agendas and to some extent means member nations would be giving up command authority over their militaries, that's not an acceptable set of circumstances. Ultimately there should be no mention of military elements in this proposal whatsoever.

The second concern raised by Empress Serenity is that the Concert ""impose(s) by proxy conformity to international treaties that its members may not be signatory to" we would at this point refer the Kōshaku to article 3 of the proposal:

3. The Parties commit to uphold internationally recognized civil and political rights for all their citizens and to make these rights enforceable by an independent judiciary, including rights recognized by the MCUR and Abrahamic Declaration.

The final part of article 3 is what raises the concern as presently worded it states that rights guaranteed under international law are to be enforced by the judiciaries of member states and that these include rights under the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration. Let's consider a nation such as Tytor which is not signatory to either of those treaties, if Tytor signed up to the Concert then by the current phrasing of that article Tytorian Courts would be required to enforce the rights of the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration despite the sovereign right of the Tytorian Government to determine which treaties it does and does not sign. In effect signing up to the Concert means a nation is by proxy signing the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration.

In the Imperial Address the Empress spoke about wanting to return to the Common forum, if the Concert is an attempt at that it presently falls short because it isn't open to all which a common forum must be. We would strongly encourage the Rokkenjiman Government to recognise the issues that exist and for them to do the necessary leg work to address concerns that they know exist if they wish their aims to come to fruition.

By David Woods: Political Correspondent

The Senate has concluded the calendar years business program with the final session of Questions for the Crown, the session which is a weekly occurrence when the Senate is sitting sees Senators pose questions to the Monarch, this the last session before Life Day is typically more jovial and light hearted, it sees those involved in the session turn up in festive jumpers as well. The questions posed to and answers given by Empress Serenity were as follows:

Can the Empress tell the Chamber what her engagements are for the festive period? (Consul Michael Williams, Unity Party)

"I intend to spend Life Day with family and friends, I'll be attending a Constellation Ball in a few days time, I'll probably be eating a fair bit more than I probably should, getting into snowball fights and building snowmen with my daughters."

What does the Empress think of the situation presently unfolding in Nya Aland? (Senator Barbara Mason, Endeavour Party)

"I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The situation in Nya Aland is one that we had hoped to see resolved without violence, sadly this hasn't happened. Appropriate steps in regards to safety will I'm sure be taken by the Foreign Office, and I can see the Minister nodding in his seat, the Government remains committed to supporting the people of Nya Aland at this time, the year 2023 will be remembered for many things including the reaffirmation across the international community that we stand against terrorism, and it doesn't matter who you vote for at the ballot box that remains the commitment. I have faith that the Nya Aland leadership are capable of handling this issue and if they need our help then we'll be there just as we were several years ago in Uppsalla."

What reaction does the Empress have to the Rokkenjiman Imperial Address? (Senator Ajax Semantar, Liberal Party)

"I found it underwhelming and greatly disappointing. To see the Empress of Rokkenjima take aim in the way that she did is not befitting of the office she holds. Neither King David nor Princess Freya need me to ride to the defence of East Moreland, because they've both articulated very well why the Rokkenjiman Empress is wrong. My reaction in more detail is this - The Empress of Rokkenjima speaks about how 'the Northfort Experiment has failed miserably, leading to losses of life not seen since before the Covenant/Commonwealth era' first is there such a thing as the Northfort Experiment? No. What I've seen over the last decade is that as the international community has grown the political landscape has changed, the CSTO is no longer fit for purpose, the international community is no longer as it was it's no longer a group led by Rokkenjima and a group led by the USR it has far more to it than that now. East Moreland are very good at not only making but keeping their friends, rather than criticising them Rokkenjima would do well to learn from them. The Empress states what is true insofar as the loss of life now is something not seen since before the the Covenant/Commonwealth era, but and it is a big but the Covenant/Commonwealth era extends from 2014 through to 2019, therefore it is also true that the loss of life during the Covenant/Commonwealth era was far greater than anything since. Insulting the armed forces of the two nations that carried so much of the load at the CTO is not going to help the Empress's pitch especially when we look at what happened in Marseilles and ask what happened to the 30,000 Rokkenjiman soldiers, fleet and aircraft that were promised. It makes you wonder how many people who died liberating Marseilles would still be alive if those Rokkenjiman's had shown up, how many civilians would have lived if more support had been on the ground. What would have helped the Empress's pitch is her taking a swing when the opportunity was there which was at the Festival of Sail."

What is the Empress's opinion of the Concert of Democracy proposal? (Senator Adam Lonsdale, Republican Party)

"For me it's a non starter, there will be a formal response once it is written but having read the proposal I will say this - no sovereign state would ever in their right mind give up their right to defend themselves and no organisation should ever attempt to impose by proxy conformity to international treaties that its members may not be signatory to. It's not a viable proposal and we will not be involving ourselves in it. If the Empress of Rokkenjima truly wishes to restore a common international forum then she must look at why the predecessor failed. And that's not a difficult answer, it failed because the same two nations, Achkaerin and East Moreland repeatedly bore the load of having to enforce what the resolutions required, it failed because nations preferred to rake over old ground rather than focus on the real issue of the moment, it failed because the overwhelmingly majority of its members treated it as box to tick rather than a serious diplomatic forum, as evidenced by who did and did not show up when push came to shove. It's not pride that causes us to avoid engaging in such endeavours, it's experience we've been there before and we've seen what it brings. Restoring a common international forum requires assurances that we have not yet seen."

Is the Empress looking forward to the Constellation Ball? (Senator Judith Roberts, Green Party)

"Yes I am, I'm going to be attending the one in Midvale and I'm taking my daughters along. I believe we're in for quite the season this year."

What are the Empress's early engagements in 2024 and what is she looking forward to? (Senator Carolyn Oakes, Progressive Party)

"We're going to be hosting the President of Kalasin early in the new year to discuss the post war situation in that country and what we can do to support the rebuilding effort there. In January we will mark ten years of the Fair Seas Concordat, one of the pillars of international law. I'm looking forward to following the Senate's business when it returns because it will be getting to grips with the matter of artificial intelligence. There is the matter of my niece's wedding to attend and we'll see what else comes up."

"You've got absolutely nothing." Rion said "Beyond mere coincidence, you've got nothing solid, Groves is a former member of the Imperial Diet, Lucius Stanley is Attorney for the Crown, there's a very long list of legitimate reasons why those two could be meeting." she paused for a second to make a quick phone call "Hazel kindly remind Lucinda that putting her stiletto's in a sensitive investigation is not helpful, if the threat is against either the state or the Anselmo's then she has to stay out of it." Rion put her phone away "Now where was I? Ah yes, there are multiple reasons both current and historic as why to Groves, Stanley and even Rowe would all be within close proximity so that's ridiculously thin, it's not really suspect and it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny so you don't have anything incriminating. Rowe and Stanley are new figures in this, if this goes back years and it likely does then they've stayed undetected so their not going to be using ICON or anything like that to communicate, also remember who Rowe is, he'll be more than aware of what you can do. He's also an experienced soldier if anyone's going to have picked up on the signs that Asuna's suffering from PTSD it'll be him."

Taking a moment to look at the whiteboard she ran her eyes from left to right "To be able to take down a plot you must first be able to see the shape of the game then you can plan an effective counter." she continued "This is a variation on Charles's plot you can see his fingerprints on it. But where we might have assumed a bridge to far with Charles I don't think we can in this case. Charles wanted to create a Constitutional crisis, essentially remove the monarchy for his own gain, he failed because he didn't know the big IVF secret. Now here we are almost a year later everyone in this knows that secret, this plot will have adapted to deal with that. So they'll have a plan to clear everyone out of the path but that won't help them because the Royal Family is beloved of the public, there's an endgame we're not seeing yet." she took a breath "Get me Groves's travel records, he's known to be an Ofdensen ally so that at least would look routine. Tell <0 they need to answer to you on this, if Lucinda pries around too much this could get a whole lot messier than either us would like and I doubt the Empress would be happy with having to say goodbye to her mother again having just had to negotiate bringing her home." she put what looked like a business card on Kado's desk except it had the contact details of a Justicar front on it. "Flip it over and hold under a uv light." she said "That's how you get hold of me while I'm out there shaking trees to see what falls out ok?"

Serenity looked at Asuna "When people look at Rokkenjima, at least since the second Patriotic War, what they see is a nation of great promise, a nation that ten years ago was arguably the most prominent nation on the planet in international affairs and then they see how it all went wrong. I'm the biggest critic of your mother in my opinion she's foolish and stubborn, yet for all that criticism we can say that between her ascension to the throne in 2004 and the Andean Genocide she was the undisputed titan of domestic politics in Rokkenjima, an effective ruler at home but abroad? No. However what she did have was Evanthe who without question was the other side of the coin, what Beatrice had domestically Evanthe had when it came to international affairs, like it or not she has all the experience in that arena when it comes to any Rokkenjiman, which these days isn't saying much. But there's only so many times you get to play the inexperienced girl card and not do anything about it, you want to know what Evanthe can do? She can advise you, which frankly is something you need especially in the international arena." she said

---

Rion meanwhile was making multiple phone calls as she sat in her car, she didn't like making moves without knowing the players and there were a lot of questions involved in this. Still she did have options "Paul." she said over the phone "I need you to send Robyn's team down here with Michelle and Misty."
"Will do." came the voice of Paul Kessel "What's happening?"
"We've got to get in somewhere, put a bully in his place and uproot a snitch." Rion said
"Busy schedule then." Paul said
"I know." Rion said "Just get them down here."

Group A

Medusalin 1-4 Achkaerin
Valen 2-1 Floodwater
Ui Cenneslaig 0-1 East Moreland

Group B

Nya Aland 0-2 Abertone
Themyscira 1-1 Kaitaine
Neu Uburzis 2-1 Daito

Group C

Cantabria 0-5 Theocracy of Kaitaine
Jugland 2-2 Mktvartvelo
Kalasin 1-2 Semelberg

Group D

Tytor 2-3 Lodja
Asadal 0-2 Reenberg
Rokkenjima 3-1 Weibenwald

Current Womens Standings

Group C

East Moreland 1-2 Lodja
Floodwater 0-1 Kalasin
Medusalin 4-2 Asadal

Group D

Semelberg 0-7 Achkaerin
Tytor 2-1 Ui Cenneslaig
Neu Uburzis 3-1 Rokkenjima

Current Mens Standings

Group A

Themyscira 1-2 Abertone
Valen 2-0 Cantabria
Daito 3-1 Jugland

Group B

Mktvartvelo 0-3 Nya Aland
Weibenwald 5-2 Marseilles
Kaitaine 2-2 Reenberg

Current Mens Standings

Group A

Jugland 2-2 Medusalin
Kalasin 1-1 Themyscira

Group B

Theocracy of Kaitaine 2-0 Floodwater
Reenberg 2-3 Kaitaine

Group C

Semelberg 3-0 Rokkenjima
Achkaerin 2-1 East Moreland

Group D

Nya Aland 2-0 Mktvartvelo
Abertone 1-0 Valen

Current Blind Womens Standings

"Then let me take you for a spin." Serenity said guiding Asuna to the ladder that she'd climbed up before their conversation had started and then down it onto the Blue Vixen, well more specifically the small sundeck that sat between the two wings. The 'ekranoyacht' was fast becoming Serenity's preferred transport method of choice, especially because she could fly it, Serenity headed inside and steered them away from the United States just enough to let the liner head for port as suggested earlier.

Returning to the sundeck once it was just them Serenity smiled "She's not as old and grand as your yachts and liners but she's sleek, innovative and fast." she said "And she has a barbecue and chill box right here." she opened up the box and picked out a drink "If you'd like one help yourself. So what's on your mind?"

"No pomp and circumstance, no interviews and we have the assigned person travel with her." Serenity said "Nell who are you wanting for the approval stuff?"
"Ms Pryde would you do it?" Nettie asked looking at where the current head of Rokkenjima's security Kayleigh Pryde stood "Makes sense for it to be you."
"Ok." Kayleigh said her Seaforthian accent unmistakable "I'll need a couple of hours to talk to certain people, find out who Beatrice's shadow is going to be and so on, it's going to be a fairly dull amount of form filling I think."

"Which will undoubtedly be very boring and tiresome." Serenity giggled she looked at Asuna "So if this fine liner of yours could get the people who need to be ashore ashore, how about you and I take a spin on my ride?"

OOC - Operating on the basis of this post having occurred in terms of arrival and who's present.

"Your certainly your mothers daughter, stubborn to the point of foolishness," Serenity said "Primarily your conversation here isn't with me it's with Lieutenant Foster and Lieutenant Newton, I'm fairly confident Nell's itching to give you a law crash course by the way, but they are the attorney's of record for the case so it doesn't matter what I think, I've seen what they've come up with because Nell knows I used to be in Gary's position and I'm happy with it and I would recommend you agree to it. My other bit of advice, and this is because I can somewhat guess what's about to be said - seriously consider whether Lucius Stanley is competent in his role." she leaned back on the seat as Nell leaned forward

"Your Majesty when we talk about introducing drugs as evidence especially in the manner that you did we're talking in a legal sense about the defence of diminished responsbility essentially that means the person committed the crime but was not of sound mind and judgement due to something pertaining to their mental state, think about manslaughter operates you have the act but not the intent if you want something similar, what this defence does is you get a special verdict of guilty by diminished responsibility it's not like provocation or self defence which are what you argue at trial, diminished responsibility is what we call a mitigation defence, it reduces your liability because you're not of sound mind, basically you did it but did not understand what you were doing, but it doesn't eliminate the liability. So you see why a former member of our office." she indicated Serenity "Would tell you to drop the legal challenge to the plea? Because your mother already has a guilty plea, introducing evidence of her being drugged does not change the plea because you'd be arguing diminished responsibility. In short it won't go anywhere and it probably gets dismissed within five minutes."

"You'd also probably get a fine for wasting court time." Gary said "We're about to get very busy with the legal fallout from the Kalasin conflict that's going to take up a lot of legal hours and hearings, time will be at a premium."

"That said." Nell continued "The idea of you being able to get your mother home is not reliant on a legal appeal. The reasons the Court has previously declined to send her back to serve her time in Rokkenjima are firstly because she was so beloved of the public that if she were sent back there was no guarantee she would actually serve the time in prison, that subsided as time moved on but then of course Ofdensen happened, your aunt Kyoko happened and everything became a bit of a mess."

"The current position is that your mother is under house arrest I can file with the Court a motion that the location of that be moved to somewhere of the Prosecution's i.e. Lieutenant Foster's choosing in Rokkenjima, subject to whatever conditions she wishes to impose, think of it like bail terms." Gary said "Just as Empress Serenity has I've seen the list and as technically your mothers counsel I'm happy with the terms." he paused "However these terms will need to be complied with by your nation , so it's down to you. I am recommending as your mother's attorney that you sign them."

"I do need to make one thing clear." Nell said opening her briefcase and getting out the papers "I know you diplomats don't often hear this, yes I know she's your mother and I don't believe her to be an evil witch or anything and it pains me saying this but I have those who instruct me just as Gary does, these conditions are not negotiable." she took a breath "Do you want to say anything before I show you?"

Empress Sutaraito,

As you will be aware when making what has been regarded around here as an ill advised press statement on the matter you invited Empress Serenity aboard the United States to discuss this matter with you. She left not that long ago and is en route, she is accompanied by people who have legal knowledge and relevance to the situation. I recommend you discuss this with them in person. I do reiterate that is in the best interests of everyone concerned that Rokkenjima abandon this challenge to the plea of the Saisei Empress as surely Mr Stanley has informed you of the weakness of it and it is not going to be worth pursuing a forlorn hope when those Courts are about to get extremely busy in relation to sorting out the criminal matters regarding the Kalasin conflict. Once again put the suggestions to the Empress when you talk to her.

Signed

Robert Westbrooke
Attorney General

The rowing wasn't that bad for Peter and Serenity, one of the things that the Achkaerinese Naval Academy did in its first weeks of training was put cadets together in groups and have them row like this, Peter had also competed many years earlier in the Artaxia-Freshwater annual boat race for the University of Artaxia and won. However while the motions were the same the differences were even more apparent, there was large difference between rowing on an inland lake or the river in Valtheim and rowing on the Mhorish Sea. When came the time for scrubbing with the brooms both Peter and Serenity joined in, Peter making sure to use primarily his left arm as he didn't want to over exert his right, he wasn't going at a fast pace either he knew better than to risk another episode and wasn't about to bring on the stress. Serenity meanwhile was going a little bit quicker with it, however it was perhaps inevitable that at some point her left foot would factor into it and sure enough it numbed up. The ceremony itself had concepts that the Achkaerinese understood, it struck both Peter and Serenity as very like a libation something common to Achkaerinese ceremonies though those generally involved pouring something away not throwing gifts away.

The inevitable happened between the end of the ceremony at the banks and the start of the return of the journey back to the castle, Serenity lost her footing and with a rather loud and obvious splash landed in the water. Upon surfacing she looked over at where Renee had her phone out, presumably taking a picture of the moment. "One thoroughly soaked and smelly Achkaerinese Empress." Serenity muttered to herself as with the help of a couple of the navy personnel she pulled herself out of the water "Stop it." she said in reference to the look on her father's face which basically translated to the fact that he'd been laughing for a few moments, or was glad that it had been her and not him who'd ended up taking a dip.
"Euphy's going to love that picture." Renee said with a giggle

Serenity just rolled her eyes but the irony of the moment wasn't lost on her, the night she'd met Isaac she'd been at a celebration ball and ended up with someone elses drink all over her, talk about what you leave behind and going full circle.

When they hit dry land, both Peter and Serenity went to get changed, it was perhaps expected that the former Emperor wouldn't take as long on account of Serenity having been drenched, Peter returned in his clothes and a good half an hour later Serenity turned up now much more dry now.