In Elias's absence, the shadows of Amhara grow long and lonely. He still doesn't know how much so.
At Ophir's estate, the walia ibex graze. The billies' horns haven't gotten much bigger. That also applies to the billilings; male goats who aren't quite kids, but not yet billies, either. As of now, the billilings' horns are dagger-shaped.
In a hedge corner, a walia nanny stands. She's alone...and seems lonely. She's lost someone.
A billy with big horns marches up to her. He shakes his horns, rears, paws the grass, and snorts several times. He backs away, slightly, and anticipates her reaction...
Sadly for him, she wanders off...towards the stock tank. Indeed, her grief cocoon is finely-woven. No one's courting her anytime soon. Her heart belongs to someone else.
At the facade, a strange car is parked. By the looks of it, Afroasia's President has a visitor.
He's a sailor from Djibouti. More specifically, he's a vice admiral. Like most from his state, he's a Somali. Like many Somali sailors, he was a pirate before the Afroasian Navy privateered him. And just to be clear, the Afroasian MoD doesn't give away admirals' commissions to privateers who constantly disappoint their handlers.
Tonight, they both just drink coffee. Admiral Reuben doesn't see himself as a Muslim, but he was raised by a mosque. At least, though, he wasn't raised IN a mosque; if so, his chances at irreligion would've been doomed.
Tonight, things move slowly. Reuben's not sure how he feels about this. After all, he's a man of the sea. And it hasn't made much of a difference that contemporary warships don't have sails.
He tries to keep things spiced up. He asks her about her military career, and if she ever talks to her old amazon buddies anymore. Alas, the President is mostly passive.
Ms. Ophir misses her little German. She misses him a lot. She blames herself for having lost him. When she was a girl, her father once tried to warn her that most guys wouldn't want to be with her if she kept treating them like punching bags in a gym. Most times since then, though, Ms. Ophir would sense no cause to believe that he was right. And then Elias came into her life...and vanished, after she allowed herself to be herself around him once.
She also hasn't completely ruled out the possibility that he's been kidnapped. It's not improbable; as President, Ms. Ophir would have just as many enemies as she did friends. And yet, one would think that if Elias had been kidnapped, his nappers would've sent a ransom note.
But this, in Ms. Ophir's mind, is the prevailing theory; if Elias did try to run away from her, he would've been abandoning the frying pan for the fire. (His thoughts, not the truth; Ms. Ophir never MEANT to be the frying pan to him.) Meanwhile, lots of Afroasians are racist against Germans. Or rather, they're more counter-racist, than anything else...with the Holocaust being the summit of the reasons why. Hence, if someone did kidnap Elias, and if they were local, most would rather kill him than hold him for ransom. A German Nazi, for instance, would never hold a Jew hostage if he thought the Jew was worthless.
As the night passes, Adm. Reuben decides to cut to the chase. He makes one more appeal, to Ms. Ophir, about the possibility of enlarging the navy...as well as the Afroasian Defense Force in general. The NAU, after all, has a conservative president now. He's also commander-in-chief. And naturally, conservatives tend to have bigger ideas about foreign invasions than the left ever does. Hence, it stands to reason that Afroasia needs to be ready to defend itself, just in case the incumbent NAU president gets elected. Also, the Russian Oblasts are ruled by conservative leaders, too, which makes them invaders-more-likely as well. France and England are ruled by conservatives, too. And then there are the Brazilian States, whose leaders are as good as fascist. Japan, too, is ruled by conservatives; plus, they've tried to take over the world in the past. There's also a Dravidian nation in South Asia called Karnataka, that's also ruled by conservative leaders. A lot of them hate Africa...despite mostly looking like Africans.
Ms. Ophir listens to this braggadocio as much as she can stand to. It's hard for her, of course. Having a broken heart makes it hard to do a lot of things...especially if you're a federation's president.
As usual, Ms. Ophir takes a socialist stance. She denies Reuben his request, insisting that as a federation with a bad reputation, it is in this society's better interests to take steps towards modernization. And the middle generation, these days, stands for liberalism. They want to be free. Not only that, but many generations who've come before them, in other countries, have long-proven that it's more than possible to be a free citizen without being a criminal. And most of the world's better-reputed societies seem to believe this; Afroasia's one of few that would still rather take the stance of a patriotic brooder who needs to get decapitated just to adjust.
As a left-wing politician, the military is far from Ms. Ophir's priority. She was raised in a conscripted society; hence, she's no stranger to that regrettable phenomenon, that has to do with big militaries, that such militaries are just as often to recruit people who they're not supposed to, as they are to deny recruitment to those who'd make better warriors. Plus, there's also the sexism factor; conservatives dream of a military that's either all-male, or all-male-and-lesbian. And naturally, Ms. Ophir's an ex-amazon. Of course she's not going to stand for an all-male military. And hence, she's just as biased against a big military. A big German military, after all, is what encouraged the Holocaust.
As a leftist, the proletariat is Ms. Ophir's business. And based on her experience, conscription does more to damage the proletariat than heal it. Naturally, Ms. Ophir would expand the Red Menorah any day...if only the Red Menorah was the state's to expand. And she gives thanks, every Saturday, that it isn't.
Reuben admits that while her sentiments are admirable, he won't be a vice admiral forever. And ever since getting promoted, he can't help but feel like he's just a supermodel who poses for photographs. He wants to be more involved. He'd never ask Ms. Ophir to invade another country, but just in case there are more state lands that need protection...
Ms. Ophir cuts him off, and reminds him that he's more than just a warrior; he's a man who deters war. In the eyes of most stupid societies, an admiral in a shiny uniform is more intimidating than a country whose navy has no admirals at all. Hence, Reuben should be prouder. Also, a little more gratefulness, on his part, would better encourage the MoD to keep him wearing those admiral stars for a little longer. An admiral's career is short; hence, Reuben should be treating his more like gold.
It takes Reuben a while...but he settles his case. Even so, Ms. Ophir grants him and his business the essentials: enhancements, replacements, and renewals of all of its non-destructive capital...as well as more funding for its sick bays, its trainers, and its chapels.
Despite having been rejected, Reuben would still like to court her more... But since he's already over-established that she's not in a receptive mood, he stays his power. He wishes her good night, and takes his leave. He mounts his transport just outside, and heads back towards the coast.
Reuben's wished her good night...but Ms. Ophir knows that tonight won't be good. She still longs for her Elias. She still blames herself for his vanishing. And she still worries that some anti-white subject of hers has killed him for the sport of it.
What's even worse, she's just as worried that one of her old amazon buddies might've killed him. She met a variety of amazons when she was in Afroasia's military, after all. Not all of them were as fond of the proletariat as she is. And not all of them loved German boys as much as she has.