Goodbye Oina
“Your existence is problematic.”
~ Oina
C onou!… I’m trying hard to hold the tears back and calm my feelings, trying to hold my emotions in check, as maybe he doesn’t have feelings for me anymore. He has changed a lot. He seems to be ashamed, ashamed of becoming a normal person, of him dragging those trees behind him, of his clothes and the way he looks. He seemed to fight his tears, He avoided looking into my eyes, and that made me cry. Crying, I threw my shoes, my bracelets, and all my jewelry at him. I touched his face, and I asked him to look at me. Finally, he did with his big brown eyes that transcend time and space. I could see him finally. I told him that I don’t have much time left anymore.
We went to a small, wooden house, up on its roof. He offered me the best herbs, and I sat patiently as he served me tea. We exchanged smiles on an amazing summer night. A full moon, and the sky was full of stars like I had never seen before.
I told him that it was easy for me to find him, as I sent him a telegraph to see him one more time before starting my sentence in jail for high treason. I didn’t want to run away. The women unleashed their hatred all in one against me. I knew they will end up knowing about the meeting, and that was the price I had to pay, even if in the end I paid double as they hated me for taking your side and betraying them.
“After a while, they released me after piecing together all the story.”
“They released you mainly because they didn’t want the great Oina to die in prison. Your district wouldn’t allow that.”
“Yes, that’s true. Konu, the world changed a lot since you left.”
“Did Jazir made it alive?”
“Yes, he did.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Oris committed suicide in his cell.”
“Really?”
“He couldn’t live with the way he ended up, betrayed by his family, the ones he was trying to protect all his life.”
“How?”
“Fuvo, knowing that he was a temporary emperor, managed to strike a deal with the royal family to protect him from the oligarchs. He proposed to save the family by marrying the queen mother. By doing that, he could count on the population to start a civil war against the oligarchs if something bad happened to him.”
“The smart coward, although Oris wasn’t in the deal, I guess.”
“His mother betrayed him to save the family. But he took it as she did that only to keep her royal title of Queen. He couldn’t live with it, I guess.”
“Betrayed by his own mother for the sake of the royalty, what a fate…”
“Oh, now, you are hooked again!”
“A little bit, as I think it’s the cowards' fight. Fuvo is scared of death, the oligarchs are scared of losing wealth, the royals are scared of losing their titles. The population is scared of losing a country that never supported them. They have a blind commitment to the royals as the permanent authoritarian oppressor that hates them back. Everyone and everything is guilty, and they well deserve their chaotic, miserable, and laughable empire. One can argue that they are oppressed. They have no other way to live safely than complying with the authorities, and I agree. But you can comply and hate, just as when love becomes abusive, hate becomes noble.”
“Sometimes I don’t understand you. You are so compassionate and, at the same time, so harsh.”
“And I’m not done yet with hate as I think that even the Amians are the same, loving a country that is abusing them cruelly. It’s not even a country. It’s a market, ruled by the wealthiest, protected by mercenaries, loved by…, well…, I should stop here.”
“Is there anyone else to hate?”
“Yes, the League. After what they did to you, my hate for them is perfect.”
“We are a wolf pack, Konu. We don’t hesitate to kill a betrayer, without mercy – and if he makes it out alive, he will be alone, abandoned, injured – and the scars hurt, Konu. They hurt a lot.”
“Criminals! They don’t deserve you.”
“You might be right after all. Hate is the only thing left for us.”
“And a nice roll, like this one. Isn’t it beautiful, Oina?”
“Look at this perfection, let me have a puff…niceee… By the way, Banume dissolved the party and abolished the religious regime. Against all the odds, everyone approved that, and the people even loved him even more. They named him ‘The Prophet’”
“What?”
“He then disappeared. Our services tracked him to the mountains of Higashi. He became a monk in a small temple there.”
“Unbelievable…”
“… Said the man who could be the master of the world, and who is now a lumberjack,” she added, laughing. “Konu, Banume spoke with me after your meeting. Something deep in him changed. What happened there?”
“Nothing, really. Although at the end of the meeting, he gave me something very precious. He said something about consciousness that touched me deeply. He is not a dictator nor a politician Oina. And I think his uniqueness created a problem for him.
He couldn’t categorize himself, so he relied heavily on religion, and even that one, in the end, was too small for him. He probably tried to kill himself, but in an epic way, he did the undoable by clearing the table. He expected to be killed and go as a martyr – a good way to go out, in my opinion. That didn’t happen as they loved him even more, and that multiplied his first problem of uniqueness.
So probably, he is still looking for himself now. And if he makes it alive and sane, then probably he will come back stronger than ever, and they
