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((Triple Saturday -- Page 2 of 3))
‘Atreya is indebted to Korgum and Dozer?’ said Garovel. ‘How the hell did that happen?’

“A parting gift from my incarcerated brother, Luther,” she said. “And it is no insignificant sum, mind you.”

‘Goddamn,’ said Garovel privately. Then, publicly, he said, ‘Okay, well, is that all we’d be getting out of the deal? Debt removal?’

“No,” said Helen. “Intar would also grant an additional four billion troa to each of the great houses of Atreya. Which would include you, by the way.”

Hector just blinked at that.

‘The “equivalent” of four billion troa, you mean,’ said Mehlsanz.

“Yes,” said Helen. “The troa would become a defunct form of currency. We would have to transfer over to the Intarian tero.”

‘I can’t imagine that the exchange rate on the troa is doing so great, at the moment,’ said Garovel.

“I am aware,” said the Queen. “I assure you, I would never agree to such a deal without being entirely certain of such details.”

‘Of course,’ said Garovel. ‘But still, is that all? Money is great and all, but it takes more than that to make a nation whole.’

“Yes, Atreya would also be formally recognized as a ‘territory’ within Intar and granted all accompanying rights,” said the Queen. “Every Atreyan citizen would be granted full Intarian citizenship, as would any child born in Atreya in the future.”

‘Ah.’ Garovel paused. ‘Alright, now THAT does sweeten the deal quite a bit, if you ask me.’

“Indeed,” said Helen.

‘But still, are they offering anything else?’ said Garovel.

‘Is that not enough for you?’ said Mehlsanz.

‘What can I say? I’m greedy. And if we’re gonna go through with this, we should aim for the best deal possible, shouldn’t we?’

“No other beneficial stipulations were put forward,” said the Queen, “but there is time yet for further negotiations.”

‘Ooh, interesting,’ said Garovel. ‘So you could theoretically still swing for maybe another few billion for new infrastructure or schooling, eh?’

A faint smile crossed the woman’s lips again. “That would be pushing it, I imagine.”

‘Maybe a nice, big park for every city?’ said Garovel. ‘Gray Rock could use a nice, big park. Weirdly enough, Gray Rock has a lot of actually gray rocks everywhere. Not much greenery for all the proud, Atreyan families to raise their healthy, Atreyan kids in.’

The Queen tilted her head at the reaper. “I can no longer tell if you are for or against this deal.”

‘Why, I’m neither. Yet. You still haven’t told us what they want us to give up. Specifically.’

The Queen’s frown returned. “First and foremost, I would have to relinquish all governmental authority.”

‘Mm,’ hummed Garovel.

“I would still remain Queen of Atreya, but I would have no actual power. I would become a figurehead.” She did not look like she much cared for that idea.