Tough Negotiations

"The Chairman will see you now, Miss Lynn." Zeirenne offered a nod to the doorman and gracefully walked to the chairman's office.

When the doors closed, she was greeted by the back of a man whose hair had gone white for spent years, obstructing the miniature cityscape below. Wilson Wang, or Chairman Wang, as the institute addressed him, stood there like a tyrant in his suit. A faint reflection from the polished window revealed a well-maintained face yet swallowed by a rigid expression.

"I've come to know more about my reassignment, Mr. Wang." Zeirenne said, still facing the chairman's back.

The chairman abruptly turned and went down on his knees, hands clasped together, eyes brimming with tears. "Please save the institute this one time, A-rin! We truly didn't want to involve you in this mess, but what can we do?! No matter how we pled, Gaya won't let us in!"

As the chairman's noble facade shattered, Zeirenne let out a sigh. This old man was a waste of noble features. If he remained completely still, he could intimidate anyone into following his orders. Yet he always digs the lowest approach.

Zeirenne steadied her breathing and also kneeled down to meet the man eye-level. "I'd very much prefer it if we talked while seated."

Thankfully, the doors were shut. Two people kneeling at an office would alarm anyone who saw.

Panic-stricken, the chairman jostled up to his feet. He wasn't crazy enough to let his godchild kneel with him. He ushered Zeirenne to a couch.

The chairman pulled the lapels of his suit together, ironing the earlier fumble with his hands. He took the seat across, his hands reached out, about to pour Zeirenne some tea. But Zeirenne intercepted his hands before he could do so, taking the pot and pouring its content into two cups.

Seriously, how much disrespect was this old man forcing her to commit?

Crazy as he may be, this old man was Zeirenne's immediate superior. For years they have worked together, he was always like this, playing the pitiful card whenever he needed something from her. Zeirenne thought herself used to his antics, but now she had to grit her teeth and suppress the urge glare at him like a gnat.

"We didn't want to get you involved." The chairman refused to meet her eyes, fidgeting his fingers like a kid. This was understandable. He, of all people, knew about her uncanny dream.

The chairman knew Zeirenne as a child, and her dreams weren't hard to guess. All she ever drew were pictures of a small girl, living alone at the top of a mountain. Elderlies would ask her why she was all alone and why she was at the top of a mountain, and she'd say. "I don't like how you sound"—referring to human voices.

He knew how much she wanted to be on that island. If the circumstances weren't tight, he really wouldn't think of pulling her out of that dream.

"Our sanctuary in Vinandra was hit by a bird flu, affecting several bird species. Unfortunately, the most alarming casualties were among the pea doves." the chairman recounted. "Vinandra considers them as sacred birds, and have tasked the IAC to secure their number. But when the birdflu striked, all the male pea doves died, and only half of the females survived."

Zeirenne maintained a straight face, offering no consolation to the chairman. "Oh, they're mad for sure."

"I know!" the chairman wept, his face burried in his hands. He tugged a fistfull of his hair, screaming, "All my hair had gone white from several sleepless nights!"

They've been white for as long as I can remember, Zeirenne thought. But there were more important things so she asked. "What happened? How in the world did some birdflu reach our sanctuary?"

The chairman bit his lips to supress his tears, though they already brimmed the edges of his eyes. "The person incharge failed to inform the authorities about imposing a travel ban from affected places. So now they're holding the IAC accountable."

 "I'm surprised the UN hasn't fired you yet," Zeirenne said in a mocking tone, earning another weep from the chairman. "So, which bastard's son was it?"

"Huh?" the chairman took longer to register the question. "Oh… it was… it was Director Brown's son."

Zeirenne scoffed. A useless spawn from a useless prawn.

Among IAC's board or directors, Freud Brown was the most useless. The lecherous man, balding, his belly protruding, simply sits in his office the entire day, collecting his workless salary every month. Zeirenne always considered him an eyesore.

"Then, shouldn't it be Director Brown begging on his knees, and not you, Chairman Wang?"

"Well, he already resigned so we can't do anything about it now."

Well, Zeirenne thought. It could be considered his fault as well. This chairman succumbs to power struggles, hiring useless people left and right simply because he knew them. 

"So, what do you want me to do?" Zeirenne asked. "Dig the birds out of their graves and bring them back to life?"

Director Wang wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. For all he could ascertain, Zeirenne was being sarcastic. 

"Please pay Gaya a visit." The chairman pouted, his eyes were like a puppy's. "If you can ask them for just one male pea dove, it would save us a lot of trouble."

"They hate Vinandrans to death, you think they'll spare even one bird?" she said.

If the history lessons she thoroughly despised would prove her correct, Zeirenne remembered Vinandra and Gaya were once a single country. After an internal conflict between its royal families, the country known as Ausmia were split into two. These two countries had been on constant feuds, warring for dozens of years.

Pea doves, which the IAC gravely needed some male of, were endemic to Ausmia. So, if Vinandra losses its population of peadoves, there may be some that's left in Gaya. Plus, they've locked their country out of the world. Surely, the birdflu took no casualities among their bird species.

But that was exactly the problem.

"How do you expect me to enter a country that closed itself from the world? Do I catapult my way in?" she added.

"Come on now," the chairman added. "You're the only person who can sway Gaya's monarch into letting you in."

Zeirenne nodded her head. "You're right. And it comes with the price that I can no longer go out."

As much as she hated to recall the memory, it ripped out like a nasty wound. Several years ago, Zeirenne bred dozens of peafowls at a sanctuary in Gaya to aid their failing number. She knew the locals considered these birds sacred, a messenger of the heavens, they believed. When a peafowl dies, harvest will be poor, storms are to be expected, or a family member will become sick. They had strong superstitions.

So when the number of peafowls suffered a landslide, Gayans fell in a hysteria, believing the world was about to end.

Zeirenne did no grandeur and merely accomplished her job. The people first offered her praises, going too far in extending their gratitude they would bring her packed boxes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snacks. Then things went out of hand.

One day, she received a summons from the Gayan monarch. The Gayan King and Queen prepared a banquet for the lady who saved the messenger of gods. Refusal was, of course, out of the question. Gaya still had guillotines, and Zeirenne would at least want to get burried in one piece. Perhaps, her icy aloofness dazzled the Gayan monarch too much. She was handed a Gayan Token—an equivalent to a permanent residency document. Though she remembered it wasn't handed but more of like shoved into her arms. They didn't even ask. She was claimed by Gaya from that moment on.

Then a tragedy almost incurred.

She was introduced to the Gayan Crown Prince. It was a trap and she knew where it would lead. So, she beat pinnochio at his game, spewing bullshit at the royal court of a foreign land, putting her head at stake.

"The Crown Prince is a fine man…" She wasn't lying with these words. The crown prince was extremely good looking. "But I am already bethroted to someone else, Your Majesties. Me and my beloved, we promised to marry by the end of the year. He is still waiting for my return, and I also, cannot wait to be with him again."

Barf!

Thanks to her sacrifice, the King shrugged the idea off, and the banquet ended in peace. But that night, she swore never to step foot into this country ever again once she's out.

Yet, here was an old man, begging on his knees, telling her to swim on treacherous waters again.

"If you're worried about that, I've already made some preparations." the chairman beamed, his eyes shimmered with pride… and mischief. With a press of the intercom beside him, the doors opened.

A handsome, well-built man marched inside. Even before he could introduce himself, Zeirenne knew this man was trouble. A sinister aura concealed by an innocent smile.

"Good day, Chairman Wang." the handsome man said. "I am Lieutenant Evans—here to assist you on your request."