No Ordinary Exchange

where do we go when our prayers are answered (but the answer is no)

1. The richest 1% of Americans own 35% of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 80% owns only 11%. See the disparity? Fact: many multimillionaires currently pay a lower tax rate than the average US taxpayer. The rich avoid paying taxes by growing wealth through investments (to make their wages appear lower), selling their assets at strategic times, using business income loopholes (i.e. taxing business income under individual income tax rate rather than the corporate rate), using dynasty trusts (i.e. Trump's 2017 tax bill more than doubled the amount of assets that are exempt from the estate tax), and through tax havens (aka offshore bank accounts). The richest 1% is responsible for 70% of all unpaid taxes in the US. Trump is one of those people, having paid only $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017. A household that earns between only $20,000 and $25,000 a year paid more than him ($1,131 in taxes). If you live in the US and are 18 and older, vote. Him. Out. (Condensed from @ soyouwanttotalkabout on Instagram.)

Bonjour vous-autres! Quoi ça dit? Moi, ça peut faire. I survived another hurricane, lol. Didn't get much rain where I am, although part of our fence blew over. Other than that, no real damage done. Which means I'm able to deliver this update on time! Yay! This chapter has one of my favorite scenes in the entire fic, tbh, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much I did writing it. :)

xXxXxXx

Because of the time difference between Xadia and Katolis, Rayla had informed him earlier that Runaan and Ethari would be available around eight, which was only five in Xadia. She suggested that they just have a small date night to pass the time until then, which Callum had immediately agreed to. They'd both been busy all week, to the point where they'd seen each other only in class or in passing. Rayla had even been forced to cancel their weekly homework session because of football practice, extended an extra hour despite it being the team's bye week. According to Rayla, Coach Zhou was still pissed that their bye week had been scheduled for after the big game with Neolandia despite that he'd specifically requested it be before, and somehow that had translated into longer practices?

Callum didn't really understand.

But he did understand that, well, he'd missed his girlfriend, and he was therefore more than willing to spare time that evening to be with her for a few extra hours before he was officially introduced to Runaan and Ethari.

Also, he was obsessively anxious about their upcoming meeting, which meant he did not at all mind the idea of being distracted by his amazing girlfriend for even just a few hours.

No, not that kind of distraction. She had mentioned some sort of surprise, though.

Rayla showed up at his dorm exactly at six, a plastic grocery bag hanging from each arm. "Stress baking," she explained as she stepped inside. He locked the door behind her. "And also clean clothes to change into for when I inevitably get flour all over what I'm wearing."

"'Stress baking'?" Callum repeated, following her into the kitchen where she placed the two bags on the counter and began emptying out the one full of ingredients. "I didn't know you baked."

Rayla gave him a sideways glance as she pulled out a container of flour. "Like I said - only when I'm stressed. And only simple foods. Such as..." She placed a bag of chocolate chips on the counter. "Cookies!" She gave him a crooked, amused smile. "I'm grossly incompetent at pretty much anything else."

"Understood." He helped her finish unpacking the grocery bag full of ingredients for what was now obviously going to be chocolate chip cookies. He exhaled slowly. "So... Do you think the meeting with Runaan and Ethari is going to go... badly?"

Speaking for himself, Callum was extremely terrified. Besides his general anxiety around authority figures, he was also afraid that Runaan and Ethari wouldn't think he was worthy of Rayla. Which he supposed he technically wasn't, as humans did not need a partner to function or to live a happy and fulfilling life, but still. They'd chosen each other. She'd chosen him. And hopefully Runaan and Ethari would see that, and it wouldn't matter to them that she was from Xadia and he was from Katolis.