Stars Rise

LXXXI. "Who Should I Vote For?"

Claudia Solace, taking her father's place on the executive board just hours before the company election,  felt anxious. Now it was her responsibility to attend events and represent the family. 

She should have arrived fashionably late to the end of the world party; no one even looked up when she came in.

Even so, it was already insanely crowded, all of the lounge seats and bar stools were taken, the waiters were all on a break, and the line for the buffet was infinite.

It took her forever to get a drink, not because the crowd at the bar was big, but because she had a hard time getting the bartender's attention; Claudia wasn't assertive enough, and every time someone came up after her and waved the bartender down, they had their order taken while she awkwardly pretended she didn't want anything anyway. Avoiding eye contact, she acted as if she were only standing pushed up against the backs of the people on stools trying not to get jabbed by people dancing behind her because that was the best place from which to enjoy the party.

Finally, staring down at the black suit jacketed back in front of her and about to back away without a drink, the bartender's voice shocked her into looking up as it asked, "Can I get you anything, Exequi?" and when she looked up she found with profound relief that the bartender was speaking to her. Waiting for her to order.

With a stammer that the loud music and shouting effectively covered, she asked for "just a glass of wine," had to yell to repeat herself, had to be asked whether white or red, felt stupid for not having specified, and asked for a vadio bairrada when she would have preferred something red. Claudia was served, and with no more reason to linger around the bar, she moved out onto the party floor with her glass in hand, wondering what on earth to do next.

She saw no one she knew, no one she could sidle up to so she wouldn't look so alone and terrified. Trying to look as if she were enjoying herself, she simultaneously took a sip of her drink and danced a little bit to the music, but she choked a little on the wine when she moved rhythmically to the beat, and coughed, her eyes watering.

She peeked around to make sure no one had seen and noticed a young man had sidled up by her. Accidentally meeting his eyes, she could see he was about to speak to her and had probably seen her nearly killed by her beverage, so she pointedly avoided eye contact until he went away.

At which point she realized that chatting with him would have been infinitely less awkward than dancing by herself.

About to die of anxiety and without thinking or deciding or realizing, she set off toward the windows at the end of the bar. Giant, cold glass windows with a winter's worth of snow on the other side. Claudia put out her hand to touch the cold glass, and the party behind her that she couldn't see seemed to be muted so she couldn't hear it either.

She wasn't sure how long she was going to stare out the window for, but she was considering until the world ended, or the party ended, or forever, whichever came first.

A voice from behind her said the last words she was expecting anyone to actually say: "Exequi Solace, it's nice to see you. I'm glad you came tonight."

Reluctant but curious, she turned away from the view of nothing but white, and there was Exequi Ilan Potestas himself, welcoming her to the party as if she were a very important person. She gave an adorable curtsey and thanked him, and meant it with infinite gratefulness, particularly when he proceeded to launch into a long winded speech. She smiled and nodded while he commented on the sun rising early, the sun setting early, President Solin's murder, current events at Constellation, the board meeting at crepesculum less than four hours from now, her father's health, the importance of guiding the company in the right direction, the hopes and dreams he had for the company, the fears he had for the company under the wrong leadership.