The Courier
Copyright 2008 by EC
EC's Erotic Fiction - /~caligula97030/

(warnings: erotic discipline, sex between adults, medical fetish, public nudity)


Chapter 19 – Two conspiracies

Maria Elena woke up the next morning, disoriented after dreaming about her 
more pleasant experiences in Colombia. At first she didn't recognize where 
she was. Then she looked down at her cellmate, who was sleeping on the floor 
with her back facing the rest of the room. She sat up. Immediately felt the 
welts and bruises that covered her backside and the burning soreness in her 
vagina and sphincter. She winced as she shifted on the mattress, and then 
noticed a spot of blood on the sheet, a reminder of the rough treatment she had 
received the day before.

She again glanced at her cellmate, finding it hard to believe her forlorn 
companion would have been capable of sleeping on a bare tile floor. She 
wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to tell the young Danubian to get up and 
lie on the mattress, but didn't dare because she knew that any spoken 
conversation could get them both in huge trouble. Finally she simply decided 
to use the toilet and wash her hands, hoping that the noise would be sufficient. 
The Danubian did wake up, with an expression of despair combined with sad 
resignation to her fate. She was completely withdrawn and did not want to 
look Maria Elena in the face. It was obvious that besides being depressed, she 
also was stiff and sore from having slept on the ground. 

Maria Elena pointed at the toilet and then turned to face the wall so the 
Danubian could relieve herself. The cell door opened shortly afterwards. Of 
course, the man standing at the door was her tormenter. Both servants 
immediately fell to their knees. 

Lord Vidmarkt put two plates of food on the floor, kicked both servants 
several times, and ordered them to eat. Maria Elena noticed that the Danubian 
had glanced at her with total hatred. As she nervously put her mouth into the 
food and tried to eat, she remembered having seen her cellmate eating 
normally the day before. She knew that eating with utensils was a privilege 
that came only when a servant had completed training. It also was a privilege 
that could be taken away at any moment if a servant was in disgrace. 
According to the logic of the household, the Danubian was in disgrace 
because of her association with Criminal # 101025, even though that 
association had been forced upon her. It was a cruel psychological trick that 
forced the servants to blame each other for their misfortunes instead of 
blaming the Grand Duchess and her entourage. 

Maria Elena shot back an angry look, resentful that she was being hated for 
something she had no control over. 

----------

Criminal # 101025 began her regular routine on the second full day she was at 
the Royal Residence. She spent much more of her time in silent training, 
learning how to serve food and drinks, practicing kneeling and standing for 
long periods of time, and coordinating her movements with the other servants. 
The Royal Servants had to rise and kneel in unison, walk a precise distance 
from the others, and establish a pace of walking as a group that was 
choreographed as a single clean movement.

Between Wednesday and Saturday, Maria Elena saw little of the Grand 
Duchess except at dinnertime, and even less of the Grand Duke and his three 
servants. The Grand Duchess had satisfied her curiosity about the Colombian 
and no longer had any particular interest in her. Eventually, when the Duchess 
got bored, Criminal # 101025 would be called back into her room for another 
round of sex, or a bath, or a massage. However, the Duchess had numerous 
other servants and liked to rotate them. From the beginning it was obvious that 
Maria Elena would not be one of her favorites.

Not seeing much of her official owner was of little consolation, because Maria 
Elena's other tormentor, the Lord who was training her, was a constant 
presence in her life. From the moment she got up until the moment she went 
to bed, Lord Vidmarkt was with her. His fascination with making her behave 
like a dog did not dissipate. He delighted in forcing her to go to the bathroom 
with him closely watching. Her hair remained loosened and her bottom 
remained covered with fresh welts from his belt. He was constantly slapping 
her across the face when she stood and kicking her when she was kneeling. 
All the while he insulted her and forced other servants to dishonor themselves 
by touching her. He also told her that she had little to look forward to, because 
it already was obvious that the Grand Duchess was bored with her and soon 
enough she would be turned over to him permanently.

----------

Because Lord Vidmarkt held Maria Elena in such low regard, he was not 
particularly concerned about allowing her to see details of his life that he 
would have wanted to keep secret from anyone not wearing a collar. For 
example, he made her watch while he went to the bathroom, forced her to cut 
his toenails and put medicine on a planter's wart, pull hairs out of a mole on 
his back, and help him change his clothes. More importantly, he had a 
tendency to leave papers around that she could see. The documents were 
written in Danubian or English, but she could make out a few things, such as 
evidence of money transfers and correspondence with numerous foreign 
companies.

The official's lack of caution with his servants was even more evident when he 
met with various associates. It was obvious he had numerous financial 
dealings and was ambitious about international investments and purchases. He 
always seemed to be on the phone talking in Danubian or English about 
money. Because Maria Elena spoke both languages badly and was nothing 
more than dishonored property anyway, he was not worried about having her 
present when he was talking about sensitive topics.

During most afternoons Lord Horskti and Lord Vidmarkt hosted business 
meetings at a small administrative building that was separate from the main 
residence of the Royal Family, but still part of the property's compound. 
Several naked servants knelt in the room, ready to serve tea or to present 
themselves as foot-rests. If anyone in the room wanted to put up his feet, a 
servant was expected to get on her elbows and knees and present her back as a 
cushion. On Friday afternoon the Lords met with a group of businessmen 
from the US and Brazil. The men were a sinister-looking group with 
briefcases full of documents. Most of the documents were in English, but 
some of them were in Portuguese. The discussion drifted from English to 
Portuguese and back, with various translations for the US members of the 
group who did not speak the language of Brazil. As Maria Elena knelt with 
the heels of a foreigner's shoes digging into her back, she listened to the 
Portuguese portion of the conversation, hoping to get a clue when the 
gathering would end and she could get out of her uncomfortable position.

The meeting meandered on, without any hope for the kneeling servants that 
they would be relieved of being used as human foot-rests anytime soon. 
However, Maria Elena listened with increasing interest to what the Danubian 
Lords and their guests were talking about. From what she could understand, 
the men were representatives of the US conglomerate Mega-Town Associates. 
Apparently the Brazilians worked for a division that was in charge of Mega-
Town's lumber and wood products processing operations. Folders and 
documents casually set on the floor within the Colombian's field of vision 
confirmed that all the foreigners in the room were working for Mega-Town. 
That struck her as strange, because she knew that the Danubian government 
officially had declared war on Mega-Town Associates and anyone helping the 
company automatically would be prosecuted for treason. It was a capital 
offense for any Danubian citizen to associate with an employee from Mega-
Town Associates, and it also was a capital offense for any employee of Mega-
Town Associates to enter Danubian territory. All of the men in the room were 
risking their lives if the guests were indeed representatives of Mega-Town.

Because she spoke Spanish, Maria Elena understood about half of what was 
being said in Portuguese. The men talked about the Grand Duchess in detail, 
concentrating on her relationship with her husband and to what extent she 
could influence his decisions. Lord Horskti and Lord Vidmarkt were 
convinced that the Grand Duke was so disinterested in anything having to do 
with Danubia or the government that out of sheer laziness he would comply 
with whatever Anyia told him to do. That presented Mega-Town with the 
opportunity it needed to move against Vladim Dukov's government, because 
with a simple Royal Decree the troublesome Prime Minister could be put out 
of office. One of the US visitors commented:

"This is unreal. Four years ago we lost 20 billion dollars trying to take out that 
fucker, and you're telling us that we can do the exact same thing with a Royal 
Decree?"

"Yes my friend, that is what I am telling you. All we need is the word of the 
Grand Duke. He will listen to the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess will 
listen to us. It is that simple. It is that simple because the people of this 
country love the Grand Duchess and they love the Royal Family. There will 
be no argument, and the government of Vladim Dukov will be dissolved with 
a simple stroke of a pen. You see my friends, it is tradition."

That comment was followed by a long discussion about setting up a new 
government and what role Lord Horskti and Lord Vidmarkt would have in the 
project. Maria Elena understood only a portion of what was said, but she 
understood that the two Lords would take total control of the government, 
financed by Mega-Town money. In exchange, they would grant exclusive 
concessions to Mega-Town allowing the corporation to take complete control 
of Danubia's natural resources. There were a lot of jokes and laughter, 
followed by drinks. 

Maria Elena was appalled by what was about to happen; that those two 
hideous Lords were about to become the new leaders of the country. She was 
not as concerned about the fate of Danubia as she was about her own situation. 
Danubia she didn't care about, but there truly would be no escape from her 
horrid life if those two were successful in their plotting with the business 
leaders. 

And the plotters most definitely would be successful, because the people who 
control the most money are automatically successful. That was what life had 
always taught Maria Elena Rodriguez-Torres. She saw no reason why this 
time would be any different.

----------

Criminal # 101025 had lost any hope that she could ever escape from the 
distorted world into which the Grand Duchess had buried her and the other 
Royal Servants. She knew that her former Spokeswoman had no control over 
her. She despaired that her lover could do anything to extract her. As for the 
Prime Minister, it was apparent that his kindliness was totally deceptive, 
because has he wanted to stop the transfer, he could have done so. She was at 
the Grand Duchess’s residence because he had allowed it. Anyhow, the Prime 
Minister didn’t matter, because he would be out of office soon enough.

What Maria Elena had forgotten, however, was her conversation with the 
Priestess from the Temple of the Ancients. The Priestess certainly had not 
forgotten about the young Colombian, nor had she forgotten about the 
prospect of talking to her about what was going on in the Royal Residence. 
All of the Clergy's previous efforts to talk to Anyia's servants had been 
frustrated, but this time the Priestess had made sure that the permission to see 
a new servant for a confession and counseling was legally binding. She fully 
suspected that Anyia's assistants would "lose" the letter that had gone to the 
Royal Residence with the criminal's transfer papers and assume there would 
be no proof remaining that the Church had any claim to be able to talk with 
her. Several other such letters had disappeared and the Church, because it had 
trusted the Royal Household, did not make copies. Well, this time would be 
different. Not only had the Priestess retained the original with the stamps and 
signatures, but she had scanned it in color to create a duplicate that looked 
identical to the original. She turned over the scanned copy to the Royal 
Household to let Anyia's assistants think that, once again, the Royal 
Household had in its possession the only proof the Church had the right to talk 
to one of Anyia's servants. Undoubtedly that paper would be "lost", but 
unknown to Anyia and her staff, the original letter was still in the possession 
of the Church.

The day after Maria Elena had gone to the Royal Residence, the Priestess and 
her superior, Grand Prophet # 4, spoke with Prime Minister Vladim Dukov 
about authenticating the document. Dukov called in witnesses, including 
Jason Schmidt, Cecilia Sanchez, and Cynthia Lee, to verify the Priestess's 
claim that Criminal # 101025 had indeed requested the right to confess to a 
member of the Danubian Clergy. He personally drafted a letter to the Chief of 
Police of Danúbikt Móskt, granting him authority to enforce the order from 
the Danubian Church that Criminal # 101025 was to be escorted to a neutral 
location, out of earshot of anyone associated with the Royal Couple, so she 
could speak with her spiritual counselor. An official Church order superseded 
any order given by the Grand Duke. 

To make absolutely sure the Church's edict would be enforced, Dukov 
presented it at a meeting of his ministers, most of who were perplexed that he 
would make such a move against his own daughter and son-in-law. However, 
under the Danubian Constitution approval by the Cabinet was needed to make 
sure the Grand Duke could not delay by appealing to the full Parliament. On 
Sunday the Priestess would travel to the Royal Residence and speak with 
Maria Elena. If the Grand Duchess dared turn her away, she would return an 
hour later with an armed escort and the legal documents needed to enforce the 
edict. Dukov's letter included another condition, that Director Cecilia Sanchez 
would accompany the Priestess as a translator and witness.

Dukov already was thinking past the anticipated confrontation with his 
daughter. On Friday afternoon he called Spokeswoman Kimberly Lee-
Dolkivna and instructed her to draft a formal request that the custody of 
Criminal # 101025 be transferred back to the Ministry of Justice. The request 
was post-dated to Sunday the day of the planned visit by the Priestess, in 
anticipation that the Church would find grounds to terminate Anyia's custody 
arrangement. The Priestess would have to add her signature to the document, 
but Dukov was convinced that after talking to the criminal her approval would 
be guaranteed.

----------

Kim drafted the letter as ordered and was about to walk it over to the 
Parliament Building, when she heard a knock on the door to her inner office. 
When she opened, she was shocked to see the Prime Minister standing alone, 
waiting to be let in as though he were any ordinary citizen or criminal. She 
immediately saluted him, and he sadly saluted back. 

Kim could tell that Dukov was extremely depressed. He said nothing as he sat 
in one of her guest chairs. While the Spokeswoman prepared him some tea, he 
quietly read the draft of her letter. For a long time he sat quietly, sipping his 
cup. Finally he made a strange request:

"Kimberly, I wish to ask a favor of you. I would like to sit at my old desk for a 
few minutes."

"Of course, Prime Minister."

Once Dukov had moved behind the desk that Kim now used, he again sat 
quietly. After a few moments he commented: "You know, when I sat at this 
desk and this was where I pursued my Path in Life, everything made sense to 
me. My life... it made sense... but that was a long time ago, wasn't it, 
Kimberly?"

"It does seem like it's been a long time, Prime Minister Dukov."

Dukov responded another strange request. "Kimberly, I do not wish to hear 
‘Prime Minister’ for a few minutes. I would be grateful if you could call me 
Spokesman Dukov, just for now, just until we leave this office. Spokesman 
Dukov... that is what I wish to be called. I wish that... because in my dreams 
and fantasies... it is what I still am... a simple Spokesman... and not... what I 
am now... a man who works in the most dishonored profession there is... a 
profession that is even lower than that of a career criminal... dishonored...”

"Prime... I mean Spokesman... you're not dishonored... no one is saying that 
about you...”

"Kimberly... to be a politician is to live in dishonor... to be a politician is to 
live in duplicity, to operate in secret, to distort reality to achieve questionable 
goals... to plot... to conspire... and now I must conspire against my own 
daughter. What father would do such a thing... other than a father who is a 
politician and the father of a public figure such as my daughter? Who other, 
than a dishonored politician?"

"But... Spokesman... it's your daughter who's... doing all that stuff... not you... 
you didn't do anything... and... all you're doing is just trying to stop her."

"Kimberly, consider this. Had I not become Prime Minister... had I continued 
my life as a humble public employee... and had Anyia not met the Grand 
Duke... she would have not become what she is now. She would be in 
college... or married... and leading an ordinary honorable life. If only I had not 
become Prime Minister...”

"Maybe… but, Spokesman... you had to become Prime Minister... you didn't 
have any choice. What would have happened to Danubia if you hadn't been 
here to lead us?"

"I... I don't know Kimberly. I don't know what would have happened...”

"I can tell you, Spokesman Dukov. We'd have had logging companies in here 
right now clearing out our forests. We'd be building a super-highway with our 
own money to make a bunch of foreigners happy. Danúbikt Móskt would be 
full of foreign cars and all polluted. Everyone would be in debt so we could 
import junk from China. Our criminals would all be locked up in jail instead 
of working. We would still be having border problems with our neighbors 
instead of peace. We would have become just another dependency of Mega-
Town Associates, and they'd be even more in control of the world than they 
are now. We wouldn't be producing anything and everyone would be going 
out of business and everyone would be unemployed and the country would be 
broke. That's what would have happened if you hadn't been elected. There is 
nothing dishonorable about anything you've done. Nothing. You've fought 
with honor and you've saved the country."

Dukov remained silent.

"This is just another fight, Spokesman. That's all it is... just one more thing 
you have to do for Danubia. Get Anyia under control."

"Not just Anyia. The Grand Duke as well. He has dishonored himself every 
bit as much as she has. If there were any justice in this world, both of them 
would go before this nation's courts and both of them would be condemned to 
'Life without Honor'."

Kim was shocked. "'Life without Honor'? You'd actually do that to them?"

"That is what would be fair, Kimberly. A 'Life without Honor' is what should 
happen to a person who squanders something as precious as the trust our 
people have in the Crown. When the moment comes for me to confront my 
daughter, I will tell her that what she truly deserves is a life of serving the pig. 
But, I have talked this issue over with the Clergy, and we have decided what 
would be best for the Royal Family, for the Crown, and for the Danubian 
people. I suppose that what is best for our people is not that everyone is 
punished justly, but instead that we resolve this incident with as little stress to 
our nation as possible. That means that Anyia and her husband will be spared 
the punishment they truly deserve. They will live out their lives with their 
current titles, and the nation will continue to look upon them as our monarchs 
and the guardians of our traditions. However, I will assure that Anyia, and the 
Dukes and Duchesses who come after her, never again will be in a position to 
disrupt the peace of our society."

Dukov held out a copy of the Danubian Constitution with a series of 
typewritten amendments. 

"You will notice that the role of the Grand Duke will change under this 
proposal. The Grand Duke will become a public employee and will have to 
answer to Parliament. The Crown will become a public service position, with 
a contract and responsibilities. Failure to uphold that contract will result in 
dismissal. The Duke's ability to interfere with the affairs of Parliament will be 
abolished and, as I've stated, the Royal Family will become public servants, 
no better than someone like my son Vladik, or yourself."

Dukov turned the page: "Here I am proposing that all Royal Estate lands will 
become part of our National Park System. The Royal Family will retain an 
advisory role in the maintenance of those properties, but ultimately they will 
become public domain. Even the Royal Residence will become property of the 
National Park System. The members of the Royal Family will have the right 
to nothing except their regular salary and benefits. The household staff on all 
properties occupied by the Royal Family will be employees of the National 
Park Service and will not be under the orders of the Royal Family members. 
The right to hold custody over collared criminals will disappear."

Kim looked over the proposals. She knew enough of Danubia's history to 
understand the significance of what was about to happen. The Danubian 
Crown had ceded power to the Parliament over several centuries, always with 
the idea that if they made limited concessions at the moment, the nobility 
would not have to make deeper ones in the future. The process started in 1780, 
with further concessions by the Crown in 1895, 1946, and 1972. The 
concessions followed a time of crisis or change, but always resulted in further 
reduction of the real power exercised by the Grand Duke. After the reform of 
1972, the Royal Family had managed to maintain the formal right to dissolve 
Parliament and to retain control of all its properties. Now, a new crisis had 
arisen thanks to the Grand Duchess, and the result would be a final set of 
reforms that would turn the Royal Family into ordinary civilians.

Kim had little doubt that the Grand Duke would go along with the Prime 
Minister's reforms. He really had little choice because the only alternative was 
for him and the Grand Duchess to face trial for the mistreatment of their 
servants. The charges would include rape, assault, human trafficking, 
prostitution on unwilling persons, forced pornography, violation of a position 
of public trust, and the violation of the integrity of personal honor. The 
scandal would shock Danubia and destroy the entire legacy of the Danubian 
nobility. There was no way the Grand Duke would be willing to dishonor his 
ancestors. However much he wanted to placate Grand Duchess Anyia, 
ultimately the reputation and perceived honor of the Royal Family would 
come first. Besides, the Grand Duke really cared little about exercising power. 
If he could continue undisturbed with his various leisure activities he would 
be content with his life. The problem would be dealing with Anyia.

----------

A few minutes later Prime Minister Vladim Dukov and Spokeswoman 
Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna decided to go for a walk. Dusk was settling over the 
city and already the streets were becoming quiet as the government employees 
left for the day. Without thinking about where they were going or what they 
were doing, eventually Kim and Dukov ended up in front of the Temple of the 
Ancients. They passed through the building and emerged into the forested 
park behind the Old Temple, into the holiest land of the nation, the spot where 
Danubia began thousands of years before. The weight of all that history 
pressed down upon them. 

Kim suddenly felt the irresistible urge to do something extremely strange, 
given that she was a public employee walking with the nation's leader. She 
grabbed his hand. He was surprised, but did not resist. She felt driven as she 
led him through the darkness to a bench near the river. It was the exact spot 
where she had been arrested almost a decade before. She knelt on the ground, 
precisely where she had been smoking marijuana when Officer Malka Chorno 
spotted her and pulled out her revolver. The Prime Minister knelt beside her.

"You know Spokesman Dukov; every time I come here it seems that 
something significant happens to me and to those I care about. The first time I 
was here, I got arrested. A year later I came back and Officer Chorno ended 
up losing her badge. I came back a year after that, and made up with my sister. 
I came back again and made up with Malka Chorno. I came here again with 
her, and her husband found her sister's body."

"Yes Kimberly, indeed... an interesting coincidence, if that is what it is."

Kim took a deep breath and continued:

"Spokesman, that is why I needed you to come here, so I can do something 
significant with you. I want to tell you that... you are the most important 
person in my life. Not my parents, not my sister, not my husband, not my 
friend Eloisa. None of them comes close to meaning to me what you mean to 
me. None of them comes even close to what you have done for me. I owe you 
my life. I want you to understand that."

Dukov pondered Kim's confession of her feelings towards him. Finally he 
responded:

"Kimberly, you will understand that my Path in Life as a Spokesman for the 
Criminal was to do for all of my clients precisely what I did for you. That was 
my calling."

"But you didn't see me as different? Unique in some way?"

"I did, Kimberly. Much. That I cannot deny. Yes, you were one of many 
clients, but from the moment I saw you kneeling in my office, I knew that you 
were special and that because of you my life was about to change. That I did 
understand."

Kim was not sure how to respond. She was thinking about asking whether or 
not Dukov felt that her presence in the house might have had an impact on 
Anyia's behavior, but before she could think of how to put that thought into 
words, he continued:

"Kimberly, you feel that you owe me a debt. That is what you are expressing 
to me, is that not so?"

"Yes, Spokesman. I guess that's what I'm trying to say."

"Very well, Kimberly. Then there is something I wish to burden you with. I 
will tell you something that I have told no one other than Maritza."

"Yes, Spokesman?"

"You will understand that it was during the Fall Equinox the year after you 
finished your sentence. It was when my son participated in the Day of the 
Dead procession with Criminal # 98946. That night, the dead chose to speak 
to me, and I witnessed something that haunts me to this day. After all this time, 
I still have nightmares about it. It remains in my mind constantly. Every time I 
sign a law, or sit with my cabinet, or negotiate a treaty I think about it."

"A vision, Spokesman Dukov?"

"Yes, Kimberly. A vision of what you alluded to when we were conversing in 
our office. I had a vision and this is what I saw. I witnessed the death of our 
nation, the end of Danubia. Not only the demise itself, but also how that 
demise was to transpire. It wasn't just the end that I saw, but also the changes 
and events that led up to it.”

A frightening change came over the Prime Minister’s expression. He was 
trembling and clenching his fists. Sweat trickled down his face. It was obvious 
that he was tormented, but he forced himself to speak.

“I saw what would become of our country if we ever were to submit to 
corporatist globalization. I… I saw Danubia as an impoverished, polluted, 
deforested wasteland. Danúbikt Móskt’s historical buildings were torn down 
and its smoky streets jammed with cars. I watched as street gangs roamed 
freely, attacking at random. I saw desperate pensioners as they stood outside 
the dilapidated Parliament Building clamoring for what little the government 
could provide them in food relief. I walked through the plazas and parks. They 
were full of drug addicts, and the hospitals full of AIDS patients. Billboards 
and advertising for foreign products filled the landscape, but from all the 
closed stores and factories it was obvious our people no longer were 
producing anything, not even food. As my mind traveled through my vision of 
our country, it seemed the only industries doing well were casinos and sex 
tourism. That was what I saw, Kimberly.”

“In other words, what we’ve managed to avoid so far, thanks to your 
government.”

Dukov continued:

“What I saw was what you mentioned, but then an even more frightening 
scene filled my mind. My soul was carried east to the recently deforested 
mountains of Rika Chorna province. I watched as heavy rains washed vast 
amounts of mud from nearby hills into the Rika Chorna Reservoir. Suddenly, 
huge landslides plunged into the lake, breaking the dam and sending 
floodwaters downstream. The wall of water annihilated provincial capitols… 
Starivktaki Móskt, Rika Héckt-namát, Dagurúckt-Tók… and many villages. 
Throughout the western valley, not a building remained standing, not a soul 
remained un-separated from its body. Then the flood completely leveled 
Danúbikt Móskt. My last vision was of a Danubian flag floating in muddy 
water, among thousands of corpses. I caught a fleeting glimpse of King 
Vladik's empty throne, and then I came back to the Realm of the Living.”

Kim said nothing while she waited for the Prime Minister to calm down. He 
took a deep breath and concluded:

"To this day I do not know if what I saw is an event that is about to transpire, 
or an event that could transpire if I do not work to prevent it. The Creator has 
not revealed that to me yet. But I can tell you that flood was real, as real as us 
kneeling together at this moment, here in the darkness. I could feel the 
raindrops on my face... I could smell the river... I could hear the screams of 
the dying. I watched the Danubian people die as a nation. When I looked back 
upon that event, I understood that our death really did not come with the flood. 
Before our people died, everything that was good and worthwhile about 
Danubia already had passed into memory. The society that vanished in the 
flood was but a shell of its former self."

Finally, Kim felt that she could respond.

"You know Spokesman, when I was marching the year before, I also saw 
something. I knew what was going to happen to you, but I was afraid to say 
anything because I didn’t want to spoil it. I saw you a bit older, speaking in 
the Central Plaza to thousands of cheering people. I realized that the Creator 
had something much greater in store for you than just being a Spokesman."

"I do not believe that being a politician is greater than being a Spokesman, 
Kimberly."

"Then… I’d think that must be the reason why the Creator made you the 
Prime Minister. Precisely because the Creator knew it wouldn't go to your 
head."

Dukov felt uneasy with the compliment and decided to change the subject.

"Kimberly, you will understand that I am determined to remove your 
Colombian client from my daughter's house. I regret that she had to go there at 
all, in the same way that I regret that the other servants have gone there. My 
hope is that the dishonorable treatment they are receiving will cease by next 
week. If you wish to take my hands, we can make a request of the Creator. We 
should ask that by this day next week Criminal # 101025 will be returned to 
your custody and again will sleep in the house of my brother."

"Yes, Spokesman."

For a long time Vladim Dukov and Kimberly Annette Lee-Dolkivna held 
hands and prayed. The request was simple, that the Ministry of Justice would 
find justification to remove Criminal # 101025 from the household of the 
Grand Duchess. After they finished praying, the former Spokesman and his 
former client walked to the river's edge to contemplate the moon and its 
reflection on the water. They stood quietly for a long time, not saying 
anything because they both understood that words were not needed.

Finally they left the shoreline and walked back through the woods to the 
Temple. As they passed through the main chamber, Kim saw the Priestess to 
whom her client would confess within a couple of days. The two women 
exchanged glances and at that moment Kim knew that her prayer with the 
Prime Minister would be answered.