Menagerie

Blake Belladonna swung her legs up and wiggled those nonchalantly, yawning slightly. It was hard to tell if it was from boredom or the early morning hour she had woken up at. Of course, she would have preferred to sink back into slumber under any other circumstances…

However, her parents, were against it.

Ever since Blake had made clear her intention to become a Hunter, with both of them opposed to her intention, they had decided to put her to the test. Daily early morning wake-ups, physical training, lectures with personal tutors… It definitely cut her chances of napping.

Initially, Ghira and Kali had wanted to discourage Blake from becoming a Hunter, even from entering an Academy altogether, but her admiration for Hunters, along with perhaps a tinge of teenage rebellion, had allowed her to overcome such a test. But she kept with the program, and eventually forcing her parents to back down in the face of her pressure, but leaving the habit of waking up early for Blake….

Which, was not very pleasant for her. As much as she hates to admit it, she has more in common with her Faunus heritage than she likes to admit. If nothing else, at least the early morning practice had drilled in her the habit of waking up early. Something that she thinks would be very useful when she starts the Academy next month.

She doubts that her teachers would be very impressed with her excuses for being late. It doesn't work on her trainers, and she doubts that it'll start working any time soon.

Besides, Blake's own parents were up even earlier, so there's no trouble for her to wake up early as well…. And that included today, especially today, given that today's Uncle Jonathan's birthday.

Blake had a rather distant but generally positive impression of Jonathan, a family friend she'd seen periodically over the years since she was a child, close to both her father and her mother… Well, nowadays at least.

The relationship between her parents and Jonathan hadn't always been perfect, though, Blake was pretty sure they'd had a big fight three years ago, but it seemed to have been over, and Blake had stayed out of it. Not because she doesn't care though, she simply thought that being open about things, even things that like a fight, is much better than keeping things secret.

She even preferred those that are racists to display their hate openly rather than just keep it secret and spitting in their food while smiling… Well, okay, that might be a bit extreme of an example, but the point still stands!

Still, she thinks that dad and Jonathan had a big fight or something, she knew that mom always kept Blake away whenever dad and Jonathan met back then. It came to a head on Mom's birthday, mom might try to hide it, but Blake was sure that she was really nervous, and then seemed to be very happy the next day!

After a few weeks, the situation had improved considerably. Her father, who had been stressed and saddened whenever he came back from work, had become much more cheerful.

Blake hadn't realized until then how stressed he was by his work until he came home one day and was full of smiles, even when she was not in the room. She hadn't realized it until she'd seen what Ghira could be like, cheerful, active, and close to her… The latter fact, of course, made Blake a little uncomfortable – but it was much better than the usual sullenness and constant exhaustion.

Ghira had practically blossomed after his fight with uncle Jonathan, though in doing so, paradoxically, he seemed to be even more busy. For a long time, all he had done was meet with ministers, commanders, business magnates, first in Menagerie, then in Glenn, and eventually it had all culminated in the announcement of the creation of a unified Glenn and Menagerie Council.

An action that Blake didn't quite understand from her perspective, having little grasp of the political details. Glenn and Menagerie were already allies as it was, and their rulers were close friends, were they not? In that sense, was there any reason to create a large and cumbersome 'council', with superfluous officials, representatives, and meetings on sometimes meaningless measures like the width of roads?

Of course, Blake knew that these small steps were also necessary. Dad would talk about a Glenn-Menagerie confederation as a result of the council's activities, but Blake herself just saw it only as unnecessary bureaucracy and work for the sake of work. On the other hand, the result of this 'work for work's sake' seemed to please everyone, so it's not all useless she supposes.

Blake had recently visited Glenn, and had seen several branches of familiar Menagerie companies there, with some surprise that she hadn't seen them before. Glenn's companies were commonplace to Blake and any other Menagerie resident, but the brands she was familiar with had only recently begun to appear in Glenn… Blake was vaguely aware of exactly what that meant.

Over the years, Father and her teachers spoke at length about the functions of the separation of powers and the importance of the Constitution, but she had not been able to draw far-reaching conclusions from the small differences… Which caused a lot of headaches for Ghira, given the fact that she was supposed to be the heiress of Menagerie.

But, what was youth for if not to let it go to adventures in the profession of a Hunter, no?! She could take the lessons about the boring stuffs later!

Blake was not too eager to learn the political stuff, though, while Ghira was too eager to force her to learn the wisdom of ruling and governing.

Apparently, he was seriously concerned with creating a government that was independent of the actions of Father's presence, well, or any other ruler, to fulfil the basic functions of government.

Father seemed to hate the position of King for some reason.

That's why Sienna Khan, formerly the Commander-in-Chief of the army, had been appointed as Prime Minister of Menagerie following an internal reshuffle of the kingdom and election. Really, she was more of a backup plan in case Blake fucked up as a Queen, or doesn't take the job at all. With the creation of the united Glenn and menagerie council in case Sienna got some bad ideas into her head. It was a system of balances and checks…

Blake might not know much about politics, but she knew all about counterweights and intrigue! Because her favorite books tended to concentrate on those, rather than the intricacies of taxing agriculture!

Blake was probably even a little jealous of Auntie Cinder, not only was she great at intrigue, but also at such managerial minutiae. She even have a cool title to boot!

Deputy Director of Internal Security for RATS, even though Auntie Cinder trained as a Hunter, she still took the mostly managerial job. But what could be done? It's hard to find people that were cut out for all those political and managerial jobs!

Even so, Blake was well aware of just how grand job her father was doing. Daily reports, decisions, meetings, that is only from the outside they seemed pointless but is the reason Menagerie is how it is. Blake, from childhood, was used to seeing Ghira bone tired after seemingly ordinary conversations over a cup of tea, or worried about the next fraction of a percent that didn't match the forecast in a report. What to speak of when all Remnant's newspapers wrote articles about him…

I mean, of course, Ghira was the head of a state, the newspapers regularly mentioned him, especially in Glenn and Menagerie. But, after his speech a year and a half ago, it was as if all the newspapers had gone mad, printing and reprinting his speech and words. After all, his statement and proposal was probably the most ambitious project since the birth of Glenn as a separate state and the declaration of the revival of the monarchy.

An Organization of a United Remnant. OUR for short.

Perhaps the most ambitious project since the creation of Menagerie, without the veiled insult, proposed by the ruler of one of the youngest states of Remnant. A large official Council designed to end, once and for all, effectively all strife between the states of Remnant. Aimed at moving all conflicts into the realm of diplomacy, uniting Remnant under a single government to fight the Grimm and creating a forum for all nations to share a dialogue… The embodiment of Grandpa's dream, one that father had inherited.

Peace, equality, brotherhood.

Or at least that's how it was supposed to, on paper at least. Blake, being not yet even eighteenth, she still had six months to go, had stopped believing in fairy tales long ago. She knows full well that no ideal of universal equality and brotherhood, even the most lofty and perfect one, had ever survived a collision with reality. And universal peace, equality and the end of all conflicts in Remnant, and transferring such an occasion to the plane of diplomacy and the search for compromise, was the most idealistic idealism of all.

And yet, it doesn't mean that reaching for such a dream should be belittled.

Aside from the shock of such a bold proposal from the young state, moreso one ruled by Faunus, who was once the victim of discrimination, if such a step is successful, it would mean the world. If the OUR, did get organized and fully operational, it would be one of the greatest steps any Remnant had taken to unite the states into a single system of equals.

Uncle Jonathan and the Kingdom of Glenn, as well as the Kingdom of Mantle and Atlas, which had recently been granted a very broad autonomy under the new Queen Fiona Thymes, were in favor of such an initiative. Something that surprised Blake to no end.

So meetings started occupying most of her Father time, negotiations over specific details and figures, which Blake was not privy to, nor did she care to be, were still underway. But, judging by Father's exhausted but satisfied look, no one seemed to doubt their outcome, and the talk was not about the existence of the OUR, but about the specific rights, obligations, and membership fees of the states.

Though, again, Blake did not know the specifics, nor did she care to know them.

What Blake was interested in was much more down-to-earth and simple things, like her training as a Hunter. After a long discussion, and some fights and arguing, Glenn's Academy had been chosen as. An obvious choice, Blake would be studying somewhere at the control of Menageries's ally, only half an hour away from home through portals, and under the supervision of Jonathan, the academy's director.

And for those reasons, Blake was very unhappy with this decision.

How much longer does her parents plans to coddle her?! All her childhood, she'd been protected like a princess on top of a tower! She could never leave the house without guards, all her friends were thoroughly vetted, doubly so by Menagerie's Intelligence Service and Glenn's, even her packages were screened thoroughly!

And, finally, when she'd finally reached the age of majority, almost, they'd tried to put her under Jonathan's control as a VIP again!

Blake was not a princess! Well, she was, but not only that! She was also a young woman in the prime of her life, she was supposed to be having crazy adventures and youthful indiscretions, not to be locked away. She was perfectly capable of fending for herself!

And it's not like she could go on forever with guards all her life! Aunt Cinder was a secret agent, and Aunt Neo was even a bodyguard for her father! Meanwhile, Blake couldn't even be trusted to go to another state on her own, for training even!

She couldn't wait until Menagerie had its own Hunter's Academy so that her parents would be a little more comfortable with her independence. It had only been under construction for six months, so it would probably be up and running by the time Blake graduated, way too late…

Not to mention the fact that such a decision killed the original purpose of Blake's enrollment in the Academy, what kind of parties and fun adventures could there be, under her parents' noses?! Well, Jonathan's… But she suspects that the moment she even show a guy, or a girl she really doesn't know herself yet, Jonathan would have a full report about them on her parent's desk before Blake could even ask their name!

Still, it's not like there's any other choice…

Her parents didn't want to let Blake go to Vale, Atlas had only recently started to accept future Hunters again after the reorganization. And thanks to Atlas' legacy, Faunus students wouldn't appear within its walls for a long time, Glenn, and Menagerie in the future, to choose from. So there's no the Princess of Menagerie would even darken the halls of Atlas' Academy.

Mistral was forbidden by her parents for much the same reason, and there was no need to talk about Vacuo.

So Blake had to decide the best option from the remaining two, Glenn, or not becoming a Hunter at all. With that in mind, Blake picked Glenn.

"At least," The future heiress to the throne of the Kingdom of Menagerie hoped as she rose from her bed remembering the names she had read on Glenn Academy's roster, "the company at the Academy is interesting."

Nora Valkyrie… To be honest, that girl frightened Blake a little, not overtly, but some underlying sense of nervousness accompanied every conversation she had with the pink-haired girl. Blake knew that Nora was an orphan, rescued by Jonathan at Cinder's request, and for that Nora responded with utter loyalty, trying to be like Cinder in every way.

But if she had been used to Cinder since she was a little girl, there's no way that she would remain the girl that she met one of Jonathan's visit. Just being near Cinder, and with her expectation, Blake figures that she would have to get used to the girl all over again.

Pyrrha Nikos, Blake had heard of her once, the rising star, champion of Mistral, though she had disappeared from the scene after her stellar debut. Many had touted as the future strongest Hunter since Summer Rose. And just as many had decried her victory as nothing more as luck, and her disappearance from the competitive scene as a result of cowardice, not wanting to lose against better trained opponents. Whether that was the case or not, Blake didn't know, but like so many other things, she didn't care.

Yang Xiao-Long is the daughter of the aforementioned Summer Rose, who lives in Glenn, the most famous Hunter of the previous generation, the step-daughter that is. Her birth parent being Raven Branwen, another of the most powerful Hunter, the head of Glenn's War Office and commander of one of the most famous military units in all of Remnant. By genealogy and training, she lacked neither.

Blake, of course, was not jealous, she herself would be attending, and she is the Crown Princess of Menagerie. There's no need to be jealous.

Lastly, and maybe sadly also least, Ilia Amitola, a chameleon faunus whom Blake had once encountered and had been in occasional contact with ever since, more on Ilia's own initiative, but Blake generally didn't mind that sort of thing…

Blake didn't fail to notice that all the people she mentioned were girls.

Ah, right, speaking of her friend!

Blake reached for her scroll and opened it, unlocking it, and then, predictably, her gaze fell upon a message from Ilia… Five of them.

The first was a picture of Ilia in the new suit she'd bought for the start of her training at the Hunter Academy. Next was a request to rate how the suit looked on Ilia, an apology for taking Blake away from her important business, then an apology for her last message, then a bidding Blake a good night's sleep. And last, as recently as ten minutes ago, bidding her good morning…

In response, Blake simply typed 'k', then, remembering her diplomatic training, a good morning greeting as well. She was getting more and more messages of that sort, without any sort of content, lately… Why was Ilia so anxious?

Well, she would have more time figuring that out when they meet at the Academy.

***

By the time Blake had got out of bed, Ghira had drunk his coffee, eaten breakfast, kissed his wife and started his job for half an hour. Sorting through the reports and letters that had accumulated in the few hours of sleep.

For the most part, it was mostly the little things he sometimes might not even open.

All the congratulations and well-wishes were always horribly uniform, delivered by his secretary in a separate folder labelled 'low priority', but the remaining reports still tended to pile up when Ghira wasn't looking. Although today was, strictly speaking, supposed to be a day off for Ghira, given Jonathan's birthday party in the afternoon, in reality it only meant that he had to double the workload during the first half of the day.

Real holidays were not afforded to persons of the highest level of government.

On the other hand, the current work, while definitely labor-intensive, mentally that is, was the sort of work that Ghira himself enjoyed. Not specifically the filling out of forms or looking at the multitude of rows and columns of numbers that flickered until they merged into a single whole. Though there was something subtly attractive and hypnotizing about that too.

No, he simply enjoyed what those numbers and signatures meant.

Who could have imagined, Ghira Belladonna, who ten years ago was a failed politician, believed to be soon removed as head of the White Fang, would turn out to be one of the founders of Remnant's most ambitious political project?

Ghira very rarely suffered from any bouts of overt pride, much less possessing ambition or arrogance – he considered himself, and very deservedly so, lackluster as an administrator, politician, diplomat, strategist, or Grimm who knows what else. Instead, Ghira considered himself simply lucky. His entire core ability turned out to be solely in being in the right place at the right time… And taking the chance that fell to him.

But, as rare as it was for Ghira to suffer from bouts of narcissism, at least sometimes, at least to himself, he also wanted to fluff his tail and hum that he was a man! After all, one had to know how to take advantage of the conditions – and if nothing else, at least Ghira had mastered this science to the fullest.

After all, who would have thought that Menagerie, ten years ago barely resembling a state at all, would, at his suggestion, be among the founders of the OUR, the largest and most ambitious project of Remnant. Perhaps even in its entire history?

And he was the man who had first proposed the idea…

Sometimes, just sometimes, Ghira could feel proud of himself, couldn't he?

And it was with such an ambitious idea that the stack of reports on his desk and the number of reports he had to go through seemed to multiply overnight. All sorts of replies and other correspondence littered his desk – had it not been for Jonathan, Ghira would have drowned in new obligations and tasks.

More than he already is, at least.

Ghira's gaze came across his wife sitting next to him. Of course, she couldn't help him with the resolution of his reports and other letters, but her very presence beside Ghira served to give him as support that he couldn't get from anyone else in this world. The mere knowledge that his wife, who still loved him in spite of everything that had happened in the past, was by his side gave him strength… And they had gone through a lot of things in the past.

What happened with Jonathan, Ghira revealed to Kali later, when it became clear that Jonathan had not lied in his offer of friendship and Ghira had trusted his old friend, which he respected for a reason. By then, however, Kali had figured it all out for herself, without the specific details, but enough to understand the nature of the conflict that had taken place then and caused Ghira countless nights of sleep.

Jonathan, for his part, did indeed continue to follow through on his offer… Ghira didn't know if that meant Jonathan had changed, or if it had always been his nature, with politics making demons out of all of them. There was a reason why he had once saved all of Mount Glenn from imminent doom, even at the cost of his own health.

Still, whatever reason it might be, the Cold War between the two of them ended like it had never existed in the first place. Of course, Ghira waited for the other shoe to drop before he made any long-term plan. Long term, here being more than a day ahead.

But after one week, then two weeks, then one whole month when he didn't wake up to the barrel of a gun from a RATS agent, or simply didn't wake up at all, Ghira could finally relax.

The treaty of Friendship and Allied Intentions that he had signed with Jonathan on Kali's birthday years ago, finally felt like what it's called…

Changes even beginning to show in Mantle. Jonathan's formerly extremely competent official in charge of it, former Atlas's councilman, Kaiser, was removed from his position, and the army stationed in Mantle, seemingly stationed there for eternity, began to slowly withdraw. The army being returned to duty in Glenn, ranging from Grimm cleaning to patrol.

Mantle itself, which had hitherto had a sham administration, began to start ruling itself. Robyn Hill was never able to return to a leadership position, there were rumors that Jonathan had visited her personally, but she flatly refused to discuss her return to the front-stage of politics. In her place, the new Queen of Mantle and Atlas, Robyn's former deputy, Fiona Thymes, who was slowly beginning to rebuild the social and medical spheres of the state.

Judging by the fact that she had begun meeting with the other cities that had so far refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new state, the Kingdom of Mantle and Atlas was about to become the Kingdom of Solitas. Whether or not this was quick or not, was hard to say, but the last thing that reached Ghira's own ears was that after stalling for so long, the dialogue was slowly moving. And for the first time, there were tentative attempts at diplomatic contact between the two sides.

Considering that this 'new' Atlas was supported by Jonathan and the 'old' Atlas by Ozpin, the process, no matter how long it took, would have resolved very positively in the end.

Slowly, Atlas Academy were beginning its reopening. There were very generous budgets allocated to that project, jointly from Fiona and Jonathan's coffers. Joanna, Robin's second-in-command, was planned to be appointed as its headmaster.

There was no news about the previous ruler of Atlas, though. Kaiser quickly disappeared from public view after 'stepping down' from his position. And while Ghira realized his fate was most likely something he would never learn, believing in Jonathan, Ghira could only hope that he deserved his fate.

The formerly decimated Schnee Dust Corporation was slowly beginning to rebuild under Willow's leadership. As far as Ghira himself knew, a few specialists provided by Jonathan had begun the long and torturous process of taking inventory of her past holdings and the assets they had left. The process had begun two and a half years ago and continued to this day, and from the looks of it, would continue for many more years to come.

Against this backdrop, according to Ghira's own information, Willow had made contact with her children, who had fled to Vale before the Mantle Revolution began. They had even visited Willow at her mansion, which was being rebuilt… But Ghira was not interested in personal and family matters, so he didn't know the specifics.

It could be said without hesitation that Ghira could see them as extremely positive signs of change in Jonathan's actions and policies. Ghira was able to be a little bolder and hesitantly try to take a step away from Jonathan's policies, to instruct his deputies to stand up for their interests during the next meeting of the united economic council.

Not to sabotage the negotiations, of course.

Ghira might've learned that being a potential enemy of Jonathan was something he could wall back from, being an actual enemy would invite swift, and violent response. Ghira has no interest in being a second Ironwood or Jacques Schnee.

Jonathan might seem to calm down somewhat from his previous cavalier attitude to murder and State changes, but Ghira does not want to push his luck. There's no need for anything drastic anyway, he could see the benefits of deep economic cooperation between the two states.

Ghira simply wanted to assert Menageries' independence. Sure, it was just small adjustments to council negotiations and documents to not blatantly put forward Glenn's interest over Menagerie, or even just slightly better compromise, but it was something. Ghira found it funny however that the councillors, clearly unaccustomed to such actions by Menagerie, dragged out the negotiations, before making concessions after all.

Not the symbolic 'I'll give you some scraps while I eat the rest, but actual compromises where both sides benefit, and not just Glenn.

Ghira remembered the agreement he'd chosen as a test of Jonathan's 'trust policy', a business deal about exporting Menagerie's timber, cut at an industrial pace to expand the territory of Menagerie's cities. Then, in its usual fashion, the Glenn Commission demanded that the transport of timber through Glenn territory should only take place if the logistics are licensed by the Glenn Logistics Bureau.

Something that would cut off any benefits Menagerie might get from the deal.

With the Glenn portals as the only major trade artery, this meant virtually complete control over Menagerie's timber exports. Due to local climates, there was no valuable timber in Menagerie, which meant that shipping by ship, let alone air, was unprofitable, and there was no demand for timber in Menagerie that could balance the major surplus of supply either.

Without Glenn, the surplus of wood would crash the price of wood in Menagerie, killing the small business that rely on the price of wood being stable.

The wood had to be cut down, so Menagerie had to get rid of it, but Glenn wanted to control the trade fully. It could only be done now with Glenn's permission, which would not only control all the ways of selling it, but also who could be the exporter, who could sell where and to whom. And, understandably, would get almost most of the profits from such actions.

The official, and even quite real, reason for such a thing was the need to logistically work out new routes through the already constantly clogged portals and streets of Glenn, to assess the competence of exporters, and many other minor reasons. But there's no need to get full control of Menagerie's exports for that!

And so, after trying to argue this position for days on end… It worked.

The signed agreement did not fully satisfy either side, that's what compromise meant after all, but at least it didn't fully fucked Menagerie over either. The Glenn Logistics Bureau would take over the export of timber for six months, laying out several 'free export routes' in the meantime. And then during the period would certify the Menagerie Logistics Service to issue its own licenses after six months of training, where Glenn would still inspect the licensee by random inspection. Furthermore, after two years after this system proved to be stable, the logistical expertise of the two states was simply equalized.

As a result, no one was completely satisfied, Glenn lost the ability to freely control Menagerie exports. While Menagerie were forced to pay a considerable sum for certification and even continue to pay a percentage fee, not anything excessive, but still noticeable in the expense column, for the use of Glenn's logistics facilities.

But it was an actual deal. A compromise. A trust.

And gradually, Ghira crawled out from under his hiding spot, figuratively that is, and went back to work. Slowly his nervousness went away, beginning to be replaced by confidence.

Now nearing his fiftieth year of life, Ghira suddenly felt a slight adventurous streak in him.

Slowly, the tone of the whole council's work began to change. Gone were the days where Glenn could simply dictate Menagerie's policies, replaced by rounds of haggling and negotiations. Negotiations in which the young and previously deprived of work diplomats, lawyers, and administrators of Menagerie began to gradually probe the boundaries of what was permissible and to bite back a little.

Then suddenly there was a delegation from a forgotten member of the Equal Economic Union.

Three years after the founding of the 'equal' economic union and a year after talking to Jonathan about their 'trust policy', under Fiona's leadership, the first delegation of Mantle did come to the council to defend their own position.

As it seemed to Ghira, Fiona styled herself as the 'people's' leader, positioning herself a favorite among the common people. She was not a bad administrator, but utterly without any bite to her, if not to say naive in terms of negotiation. And therefore probably genuinely believed that the establishment of her governmental body in Mantle was not a change in Jonathan's policy, but its natural continuation.

After 'stabilizing' the situation in Mantle, with the beginning of the withdrawal of troops, suddenly there was a need for the Queen of Mantle to be at the negotiating table. To say that Ghira was surprised by it would be a grave understatement.

The negotiating delegation from Mantle crashed into the Glenn and Menagerie negotiations like a torpedo into an oncoming ship, starting from the very beginning to defend its own positions in all sorts of matter.

And gradually, with some missteps and even nearing total breakdown, and once even descending into brawls in the negotiation table, the actual economic council started to take form. An actual council, and not just the paper thin disguise for the Glenn Empire. Not the previous routine of Glenn announcing its decision, but a real partnership of the states among themselves.

The process was not without its frustrations, sometimes getting into a tizzy when discussing strategic issues like Dust exports or deploying weapons production, sometimes even requiring face-to-face meetings between the rulers of the states to handle… But there it was.

Gradually Ghira, feeling the winds of change blowing at his back, began to slowly put his hand to the past treaties. Old and dangerous and unprofitable treaties were revised, and the economic council of the Union itself acquired first its 'legal' hypostasis. Then it's 'technological', 'informational', and 'social', and before Ghira knew it, there were three dozen committees already meeting every day on various issues. Ranging from agreeing on the recognition of mutual licenses for workers in the mining industry, to the construction of pilot production portals on the territory of secret facilities in the allied states.

Somehow, even a 'committee of martial forces interaction' appeared in a completely routine and ordinary way.

And slowly, with the support of the rulers of the three states, the idea of creating a confederate began to hover in the air. Feeling elated by the fact that after many years of 'brotherhood' finally encountering trust in politics, on the basis of the relation between the three states, decided to venture into the creation of a common Organization of a United Remnant.

In Ghira's idealistic plans, of course, this would end all wars, lead to universal prosperity and erase all borders between nations… But it was worth starting at least with a place for dialogue and declarations of states.

The first step always seemed so small compared to the whole path that remained to be travelled. But gradually diplomats and envoys began to arrive at Ghira's door, councillors, and individuals began to inquire about the location of the Organization's Headquarters, the text of the first declaration on the creation of the OUR… And gradually it came to the point that the OUR would be established. The six states of Remnant, seven, if Solitas would not unite by then, would, for the first time, have a place for common dialogue.

Jonathan was also supportive of this endeavor, but not so much by personal interaction with Ghira, Jonathan had only talked about the subject a few times, and each time the conversation had been fairly brief.

In the last year and a half, Jonathan had retreated considerably from politics. Reports indicated that RATS agents had significantly changed the focus of their activities, many of them had begun to take an interest in ancient libraries and artifacts, ruins of past civilizations, fairy tales and legends… Some were focusing on eliminating the Grimm, others had begun communicating with the bandit clans of Mistral, at least three Agents were inquiring about the ancient beliefs of Menagerie.

Under different circumstances, three years ago, perhaps, Ghira would have been disturbed by such a change of direction for RATS and Jonathan, paranoid about the secret undertones of Glenn's actions. Today, however, on this day and hour, Ghira had faith in Jonathan.

Looking to the future, Ghira, already an old man, though hopefully not a grandfather anytime soon, could finally feel the wind on his aged wings. And for a moment, Ghira soared above the clouds to see it, the very bright tomorrow he had been striving for all his life.

And so, tearing himself away from the reports for a moment, Ghira could smile slightly, looking somewhere in the distance, at the man that he truly respected immensely.

"Good luck, Jonathan. Whatever you're planning… Good luck to you."