The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 19

ÁSTUR

08.01.8462 - 11:52 PM

Marta's living room was crowded. Everyone had just watched Charlotte's communiqué and had been in an argument for some time.

"Can she really do this?" Asked Mila.

"She can do much more than that, Mila," Marta replied.

"Oh, God! Forbid people to come and go. This is not possible. We are in a modern age to go through this," Mila continued. "She can't have that kind of power."

"Mila, she does. Trust your mother and me," said Nair. "Right after you were born, things got better, but you've all studied. You know very well how we got to the level we are today."

"Yes, for almost twenty years, Charlotte was the total catalyst of all the kingdoms of the globe, no policy could be adopted without her consent, but so far forbidding people to cross borders, this is unimaginable, it's fiction, just like the borders themselves."

"Mila, you're a representative; you know very well that borders do exist. If they didn't exist, for what purpose would you have your work?" Marta said.

"But mom, we are not in 8,200's. The concept of borders is and must continue in decay. It can be dangerous to see ourselves as different and not as we really are: components of a globe, singular, unique. When we understand each other as different, we risk not accepting differences in others, and this, historically, always served as a reason for violent actions. Charlotte erecting walls at this point only makes everything more sensitive."

"Mila, I understand. But Charlotte has done a lot worse in the past," Nair started.

"Yes, she did, and if we don't show that this time has passed, she can go back to being as oppressive as in the past. Actually, she never stopped being a tyrant. She simply calmed down because she put the world in the way she wanted..." interrupted Mila

"Of course, and we have to assume, she did a decent job," Nair said.

"Definitely, but do the ends justify the means?" Questioned Mila.

"...a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont to injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only ..," quoted Mário reading from his MC's screen. "I really need to read this to you?"

"By supporting the actions Charlotte took decades ago, you qualify as a pretty idiot, my brother. But no, I don't support what happened in the past so that we could have this peaceful and prosperous present," Mila began to get excited and turn red.

"Calm down, sis. I'm just saying that we didn't live at that time," said Mário.

"Mila, when I was still young, there was fear in taking a night walk," Nair said calmly. "When I was sixteen - seventeen, I could never imagine walking the streets of Ástur after dark alone. Rape was not a legend as it is today, it was a current reality, apart from assaults, robberies, murders. And Marta, you're quite younger than me, but if a young girl was raped sixty years ago, what was everyone saying?" Questioned Nair.

"It was common sense that it would be her fault. She was probably asking for it, for being in a short outfit or wearing red lipstick," said Marta.

"What?" Scarlet joined the conversation astounded.

"Yes, we were very involuted. Even after the arduous rise of a female head of state, we were seen as objects or someone who sought to be raped. It was real nonsense," said Marta looking down.