Vice President Nadia Zivar Zadeh had flown into Valtheim that morning. Unlike the President, Nadia was a consumerate aristocrat. Her family rose to power as administrative magistrates under the Maziar Sultanate, scheming their way into nobility during the seventeenth century, and largely maintaining their position in the chaos of the Asharid Revolt and subsequent conquest of what would become Saheristan by Balticum. Educated at the world's most prestigious schools and universities, and being an avid consumer of high culture, the was far from Nadia's first visit to Achkaerin.
The Vice President had opted for businesswear, and was not wearing a headscarf, as she often did not when abroad or in less conservative parts of Saheristan, but was swathed in a longcoat for now; the world might be warming, but Achkaerin remained far colder than her native country.
Arriving and being shown into the palace, the Vice President found His Imperial Highness, the Emperor, Her Imperial Highness Esme, and His Holiness the Pope. Such a prestigious gathering brought out the worst of Nadia's blue-blooded pomposity, and despite elegance and charisma, her perfect Achkaerinese exuded the kind of aristocratic imperiousness that betrayed ruthlessness and narcissism.
"Your Imperial Highnesses; Your Holiness, might I say it is an honour to be here in such illustrious company. I am indebted to the Morris Shelf, but I hope to meet you all under less concerning circumstances next time."