Hello everyone, here is the next chapter. Originally, I was going to make it longer but felt that it did not fit the theme that aligned to the title of the chapter. I hope that you enjoy it, please take the chance to leave a comment on what you thought, thinking, or wish to see in the story thus far.
Also, I just saw the new trailer for Snezhnaya released and I was not disappointed at all. The voice of the Tsaritsa especially was especially what I imagined it to be. And I think that especially that my idea of what I thought was going to be elemental warfare is completely changed based on that trailer.
Here is my replied to comments:
1. [This wasn't a question really but I took it as one to respond] When do we see the Soviet and Abyssal Perspective in this story?
For the Soviet's, we will see them as Barbarossa starts as I realistically doubt that Stalin would take the Fatui seriously. For example, in real life, he was given warnings about the coming building and invasion from spies that he planted and the Allies as well as the USA. A recent youtube video from Mitsi Studio called The End Of Joseph Stalin, it's funny and summarizes where essentially Goring open his big mouth to Swedish Diplomat about the Invasion and the diplomat told the British and then told the Soviets. But Stalin did not take them seriously and so the Nazi's had the element of surprise by the sheer unbelievable unwillingness of Stalin to take the warnings (there were other factors that made it worse for sure but this is like the first big reason). Also in the series of Winds of War, we don't see Stalin until after the Invasion, so I am attempting to follow the formula.
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The Villa of Aaron Jastrow, Siena, Italy
June 1st, 1941
Natalie Henry and Aaron Jastrow were in the living room of Aaron's Villa in Siena sitting at two sofas as they stared at the wireless as the sound of Hitler speaking before the Reichstag could be heard.
"For two years I held out my hand to England in peace, and for two years England answered with the clenched fist of her warmongers and the financiers who own them. Let her keep her fist."
The sounds of loud cheering and clapping could be heard through the wireless as Aaron raised an eyebrow with amusement.
"So, the ice queen is officially in the war. One wonders whether she is a lunatic in her own right, or merely borrowing Hitler's orchestra for the occasion by provoking the British," Aaron questioned as Hitler continued with his speech.
"I'm still getting over the fact that we have been getting visits from these people lately," Natalie said.
Aaron made a small dismissive motion with his hand as he replied, "Inquiries and functionaries. A man came about my passport, another came about my health condition and doctor, and the other was asking about printing my work in their world."
"Aaron, he was also asking about my Jewish ancestry and marriage to Byron," Natalie replied, sounding stiff, "The masked man knew things about me that should not be easy to know like my ancestry…I haven't been going around saying it, especially since Warsaw. Plus the guy gave me the creeps."
They paused for a moment as Hitler's tone seemed to rise.
"England has shown the world what her friendship is worth. Let the world now see what ours is worth. The Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya does not abandon a brother-in-arms to the jackals. In answer to England's aggression she opens to the German soldier, and to our Italian comrades, the arsenals of her own world through the Dlan program. And what flows now from that open hand will be turned, to the last rifle and the last round, upon the men who wanted this war."
The sounds of the cheers of 'Sieg Heil' and claps went louder this time as it almost seemed deafening through the wireless.
"Odd," Aaron said.
"How so?" Natalie said.
"Dlan is a Russian word….not German nor Italian…..But then again the word Tsaritsa is Russian as well," Aaron mentioned, "I wonder how similar are the cultures between ours and all the ones in that world. And now this Tsaritsa is giving the Bohemian Corporal the arsenal of her world, god help us when he learns how to use it."
Natalie could tell that Aaron said as a joke, but she could not find the heart to laugh as she stared out the window. There was the sound of a car coming up the driveway. She noticed that it was a fancy Italian model car of the Fiat 2800 with on the front of the car was a small pennant of the blue pale star.
"Aaron, I think he's back again," Natalie called out.
"Oh dear," Aaron said as he stood up from the couch, "I think if we are going to host our questioning guest, I should have a glass of sherry. Care for one?"
Natalie did not move her eyes away from the car through the window.
"Probably not, if I even have a sip, then I might actually use it as an excuse to consider slapping him," Natalie replied.
"Mm," Aaron crossed to the sideboard anyway and poured himself a careful measure, the decanter clicking once against the rim of the glass, "Whatever he wants this time, Natalie, let me do the talking."
Outside, the blue car door had opened. Natalie watched as a grey-uniformed driver came around the body of the Fiat and opened the rear door of the blue car. For a moment, Natalie thought that this was it…another round with that man but she remained silent as she watched as a person stepped out.
However, the person that stepped out was masked for sure, but it was not a man. Instead, it was a woman dressed as if she was a croupier from a casino with a weird cane that reminded Natalie of an arrow.
"Aaron," Natalie said, "It's not him. It's a different one."
Aaron came to the window with the sherry in his hand and looked down, and the glass stopped halfway.
"Ah," he said softly, and for once reached for no precedent at all, "They've sent us a whole repertory company."
A minute later, a knock was heard at the door and Aaron walked to the door and opened it. The woman stood on the step as the bright Tuscan morning behind her. Her mask was pale and smooth over the upper half of her face, while the lower half showed a mouth with strands of black hair visible.
Aaron lifted his sherry glass slightly.
"Good morning," he said. "I take it you are not here about the printing rights."
"No, Professor Jastrow," the woman said with her English cool and careful accent, "Unfortunately, not."
Aaron's eyebrow rose as he replied, "You have the advantage of me."
"My name is Lidia Snezhevna."
"Are you Russian?"
"Snezhnayan."
"Of course, I stand corrected," Aaron said as indicated for her to come inside.
She entered slowly as Aaron closed the door behind her. Lidia turned toward Natalie for a moment and made a graceful bow.
"Mrs. Henry," Lidia greeted.
Natalie said nothing as Lidia sat on the sofa facing them, and arranged the bladed cane across her knees, and folded her gloved hands upon it, and waited a moment, as though she meant to let them feel how comfortable she was before she said anything at all.
"You keep a beautiful house, Professor," she said, "I am told you have been here many years. It would be a hard thing to leave."
"It would," Aaron agreed pleasantly, lowering himself into his chair, sherry in hand, "Fortunately no one is asking me to."
"No, not yet," Lidia said.
Meanwhile, Hitler's speech continued when Natalie walked over to switch it off, as she did that allowed her to get a better look at the arrow-like cane in Lidia's hand. She noticed that the cane was not smooth like wood. Instead, the cane was made out of shiny metal and sharp like a sword with the sunlight caught on it with a brightness to it that it reflected. Natalie turned the knob as Hitler's voice died down in the middle of a sentence.
"Forgive me, Professor, on getting straight to the point as Father did not want me to waste any more of your than what my comrades had already done for you," Lidia said, "But I came because news had been brought to Father's attention that unauthorized and unspecified visits had been made on you and your niece asking some uncomfortable questions."
"Father?" Aaron repeated, "Of what church in Snezhnaya?"
"We are not a church, Professor," Lidia answered, "We are more of a house."
"A house?" Natalie questioned.
"We are known as the House of the Hearth," Lidia answered with amusement noticeable through the lower half of Lidias' face, "Father takes in those who have no home, orphans mainly. We are also where certain other things are taken in. Information and People, when they matter to Her Majesty's purposes."
"And which are we?" Natalie said. "Information, or people?"
Lidia turned the mask toward her, and for a moment said nothing at all.
"That," she said, "is the question that I am not able to answer, and I will not insult you by pretending that I have the answer to your concern."
"And who is this Father, you said of?" Natalie asked.
"She…" Lidia said with an emphasis on the pronoun, "is the harbinger that deals with problems that require silence. But she is known to both the worlds of both yours and mine as Arlecchino or the Knave."
Aaron sat the glass down slowly as the name had made a flicker behind his spectacles.
"Arlecchino…..a name that is not Russian but Italian…you know Signorina Snezhevna, I have taught at Yale and have been in Siena for more than a decade," Aaron said, "That is a name that belongs to the art of theater here in Italy. The masked servant of the old comedies. I wonder how long Snezhnaya has known of our world then."
"Unfortantely, I can't answer that with something that would insult your intellect, Professor," Lidia replied.
Aaron's eyes narrowed behind his spectacles, "That is an elegant way of saying yes."
"Can we get to the part on why you are here?" Natalie suggested.
Lidia nodded with a smile as she replied, "Very well, as I mentioned, there were unauthorized inquiries made on the two of you and Father has personally stepped to where you will for now on fall under her purview and only hers. From now on, any future inquiries to you are to be done by her authority only and as the only House of the Hearth operative in Rome that deals in both diplomacy and culture, I will be the only one who should be visiting you."
"Then I am to expect you," Aaron said, "and no one else. I confess I am still waiting to hear what we have done to earn so much attention from another world."
"You have done nothing," Lidia said, "You have had the misfortune to become interesting to people who should not have found you interesting. Father has corrected that. As a result, she has delegated me to do what I can to talk to the American government through channels we have with President Roosevelt to bring your citizenship and immigration delays to their attention."
Natalie stepped closer to the sofa, "You can get a message to Roosevelt?"
Lidia's head nodded, "To the people that are near him at least."
Natalie sat down beside Aaron, though she remained stiff-backed, "And what exactly will this message say?"
"That an American citizen's ability to leave Italy is being obstructed by irregular handling of his documents. That delay may expose him and his family to hostile attention. That the matter is urgent."
Aaron folded his hands over one knee, "Signorina Snezhevna, may I trouble you with a question?"
"Of course," Lidia said.
"Why would your Tsaritsa care to help me? Someone who is known as a Jew, when your German ally announced that he is being armed by your nation and hates Jews," Aaron asked.
"Because the situation involving you and Mrs. Henry is too politically dangerous to allow it to continue," Lidia said as she pulled a card as well as a letter from her coat pocket and stood up to hand Aaron a card, "This is my number and the address to my office in Rome. I am not far from the Vatican. I will occasionally make an occasional visit and phone call to check on your condition. I will also update you on your situation in particular, Professor Jastrow. Also this is a letter that Father asked me to present to you."
Aaron took the letter from Lidia's gloved hand with the same care he might have used for a rare manuscript. He did not open it at once. He held it for a moment before breaking the seal of blue wax with the pale star stamped on it. His eyes moved across the page once, then again. His expression did not change, but his hand tightened slightly on the paper.
"She writes that she has no interest in my work," he said at last, "She writes that she does not require my knowledge, my assistance, or my allegiance. She writes that I am to be left alone because I am useful to her only insofar as I am not harmed. It includes everything that you said to me just now."
Lidia rose from the sofa, the bladed cane held loosely at her side. The morning light from the window caught the edge of the metal, glinting once.
She then spoke, "I will come by next week to briefly check on your condition, but I will ensure that you are informed of my coming arrival."
She walked to the door, and Aaron followed her. At the threshold, she paused and looked back at them.
"I will say, Professor, that Father has had the chance to read the first half of your book," she continued, "If copies were sold in Sumeru, it would be a popular piece of work."
Aaron said nothing as he opened the door and Tuscan light beamed on her as she walked outside. She stepped towards the car where the driver opened the door for her as she stepped into the back seat as the door closed. The driver walked into the driver seat and pulled away down the driveway with the blue pennant snapping in the warm breeze.
Lyminge, Kent, England
June 2nd, 1941
The road up to the village was narrow and green with hedgerows on both sides heavy with June. The whole morning drive was filled from going through London and the neighboring countryside with anti-aircraft positions, and barrage balloons around them until they were going through London. Pug felt that it would be important to meet this 'Alice' that Aether and Paimon were very much wanting to finally meet. From what he understood of this woman from the pair as they chatted on the ride was that she somehow has long known of Earth and its cultures. But apparently, she is also considered a sort of eccentric type of person as she has a daughter in Mondstadt that is a literal terrifying firebug. Pug wondered what kind of mother allows her daughter to be a bomb throwing fish murderer that has to be constantly placed into an area for solitary confinement by her babysitters.
As they kept driving, he thought of the recent message that he got from the President on Churchill's Declaration of War against Snezhnaya through the Embassy.
Pug,
So Winston has said it on the wireless, and the realm of snow is an enemy in the Gazette at last. I had hoped for a quieter June. He has never once been late to a fight he could see, and he has found the one fight no one else will look at squarely.
It has made things warmer here than I would like. Our guest in New York has grown a good deal less charming since the broadcast. Cordell tells me the gentleman has stopped pretending the talks are a courtesy. He is waiting now to hear from our favorite ice lady before he says his next word and the word he is plainly hoping to say concerns what we send to England, and whether we will go on sending it.
One last thing, and you may set it down to an old man at a long distance with too much time to think. I told you once I should like to meet someone from that other world who is not the lady's creature. I have not stopped wanting it. If the war ever sets such a person in front of you, Pug, you will know what to do about it before I have to ask.
Get me your read soonest, by the usual road, and not one word of it through State.
F.D.R.
Pug folded the message back into his mind as they drove up to the supposed house that this 'Alice' telephoned Aether and Paimon, when the two were talking to Pug again about America back in Pamela's apartment the other day. As they stepped out, Pug immediately tried to process the site of this house looking like it belonged to someone that should be in a sanatorium. On the porch of the red brick house were cream-colored little furred creatures that were each the size of a melon. They each had a small solemn face and tail, while arranged along the wall and flower pots. These objects were not alive, but were odd sorts of things.
"Oh those are Dodoco's," Paimon explained, "They are like fictional creatures Alice made and are Klee's favorite."
"I see," Pug replied as they walked up to the door.
Before anyone could politely knock on the door with its unique symbol engraved on it, it opened as no sound could be heard.
"Alice?" Aether said calling out quietly.
When no response could be heard, they walked into the house with Pug following Aether and Paimon behind. He took off his hat and placed it under his arm. They walked for a few seconds as they examined a table filled with sweets with a tea seat as well. Then a voice with a humorous female laugh could be heard.
"Mwahahaha! Alas, your journey ends here, now prepare to meet the Final Boss of England"
Pug looked around to where the sound of the voice came from and found nothing.
"Hello?" Pug called out while confused on the meaning of a 'final boss.'
"Where did that voice come from?" Paimon asked.
The laugh could be heard again as it continued, "The final boss is right to your left on the window."
The group turned to the window as they saw on the windowstill a fat Dodoco with an eye patch and a pipe connected to its mouth.
"But that's just a Dodoco…also wait….." Paimon said as looked as if she recognized something.
"That voice is very familiar," Aether said.
The laugh softer now came again as the voice spoke, "Alright, the jig is up. I guess that it is time to stop teasing you considering what you have been through. I am coming down."
The sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs could be heard as they watched a figure come down.
"I know that I can always leave an impression on you without having to see my face," the figure said as she walked up to them as she tilted her hat down an angle with a smile and gave a V-sign with her other hand.
The smiling woman stood in front of them. She was tall with blonde hair and an odd golden frame shaped like a witches hat that had some sort of ornament with a red jewel on it. Her outfit was startlingly more suited to a stage than a Kentish parlor with how theatrical that it looked.
"Alice, is that really you?" Paimon asked, flying around her as if to inspect her like an Admiral who inspects the uniform of a sailor.
"Why, yes, in the flesh," Alice replied to Paimon, but her eyes had already gone past the small floating one to the Traveller and stayed there.
Pug watched as the performance in the woman simply stopped as if she finally let the weight of something deep inside her take hold with a strong grip.
"You're here," she said quietly to Aether, "I sent you into the dark and could not find you. I am very glad to see that you are alive to get through being in a world of trouble."
"We landed in Berlin," Aether said.
"Berlin," Alice said as she closed her eyes briefly, "We will come to that soon. I would like to hear what happened and the trouble my error had put you through."
She guided them through to the table, where she served many different sweets that Pug was familiar with but some not so much like La Lettre a Focalors, which reminded Pug more of Tiramisu with icing on top. The tea was also different as it had a more honey-like taste on it without even adding sugar or any other sweetener to it. The whole spread of food on the table looked so lavish that it was almost criminal in wartime British standards, but Pug got the sense that in a way all of this was not from Earth at all.
"So tell me what you encountered in Berlin," Alice said to Aether, "Not the whole thing but the transit and how you got out of Berlin."
Aether told her and Pug listened with unbreakable observation. The part that he especially caught on was the involvement of Leslie Slote in getting Aether's name to the British. Pug remembered Leslie by name especially when he got the telegram through the State Department from the man where he explained thatByron and Natalie were alright during the German Invasion of Poland and that they were waiting to get the neutrals out. He was very grateful to the man for the reassurance that he gave through the message.
Pug continued to listen where he explained about a man named Father Brauer and then the whole story in how Paimon was to act as a baby throughout the escape.
"So, the migration worked," she said to herself as if to reassure herself for a second, "The door opened and worked. But it landed you somewhere that might as well be a death sentence to you."
"Yea, but why, Alice?" Paimon asked.
"I suspect it might have been possibly that there are more gates from Teyvat to Earth than the one that I knew for sure," Alice said as she stirred her cup of tea, "and it could have acted as a magnet to where it deviated the landing point and pulled you closer to it from Kent."
"A magnet," Aether said slowly, "So the door worked. It just pulled toward something you couldn't see."
"Toward something I cannot see yet," Alice said, "which is more troubling than a clean failure. If there is a second gate, I cannot find it, and I have spent a great deal of my life finding gates."
"Mrs. Alice, forgive me for asking," Pug said, "But Mr. Aether and Paimon reassure that if there is one person that has a good answer on this stuff then it would be you. But why would the Fatui care about our world so much that they would take a side in our conflicts? I mean for them, they have those elements in their weapons and things that only the British would dream of, why would they care about building their industry through our wars. If they want industry, they could have just tried diplomacy with us before they even talked to Hitler."
Alice did not answer at once as she looked over Pug passed the rim of her cup.
"Your reasoning is very strong, Commander Henry. But you have asked the question the way a strong man asks it, and I think you are asking the wrong half of it, Alice replied as she set the cup down, "You ask why they would take a side in your wars. The better one is what is it that your world has that mine doesn't, such that they would cross the boundary between realities and kneel beside a ranting little man in Berlin to reach it. Because they did not come to your world just for its industry, Commander. They have makers of their own, I have been to Snezhnaya before myself…it is full of factories. They came for something your world possesses in a quantity mine has never once held, and cannot make, and cannot fake."
"And what's that?" Pug asked.
"You. All of you," Alice said pointing at Pug then at a globe of the Earth, "Hundreds of millions of people, organized, marched in step, dying for words shouted off a wireless ...not just once but even now twice. At a scale that Teyvat has only had since the Cataclysm, which five hundred years ago for us was our most recent Great War. That is what your world is to them, Commander. And the thing about a power that has begun to think of people as a quantity is that it does not, in my experience, ever ask the quantity what it wants."
"A quantity of what, though?" Pug asked as the officer in him had heard and was not going to stop, "If we're a quantity to them….whether by number or weight….then they're counting toward something. What's the number for?"
Alice dropped her cup to the table and thought for a moment, "I can feel the shape and not the center; I will not hand you a guess dressed as a fact."
Aether finally decided to join in the discussions on his own thoughts that he was having, "Alice, what is the news in Teyvat since we left?"
"Sit back, then," Alice said gently, and reached for the pot, "I will tell you what I know. Some of it is even good."
She refilled her cup and placed some sugar into her tea.
"Mondstadt and the other nations still stands, the war has not reached Teyvat thankfully," Alice explained, "But Hitler's Submarine have been getting more of those Ruin guard parts from Fontaine and Liyue through the Fatui channels of shell companies…which got the Tianquan's attention lately…Inazuma had a visit from the other member of the Axis…Japan…"
This seemed to have Pug's attention in light of the current tensions between the US and Japan, "What they want?"
"The story is that Japan wanted to invite Inazuma to the Greater East-Asian Co-propersity Sphere," Alice explained, "But they over reached apparently, now Inazuma is building a secret network with the other nations of Teyvat. From what I understand Jean said 'yes' especially to it."
"What about Fontaine and Sumeru?" Aether asked as hearing about jean resolved some tension that he felt since they left Teyvat.
"I have not heard much on Fontaine lately, but I have been in silent touch with the Dendro Archon and she tells me that Sumeru will take the opportunity. Apparently, they are trying to replicate the technology that the Fatui are using to make those portals," Alice explained as she took a sip of her tea, "Who knows? Maybe they will be successful in the near future."
"And if they are?" Pug asked as he set his cup down again.
Alice glanced at him as she replied, "Then the Fatui will not be the only ones who can build roads."
"How long would it take?" Pug asked.
"Not fast enough, maybe months at worst. The science behind it is not simple and requires many resources as well as attempts before it will finally work," Alice admitted.
Pug nodded as he grab his fork to take a small bite of the La Lettre à Focalors. He watched as the Traveller was still eating and half-listened to Paimon press Alice on whether she could have a whole cake to take back to Pamela's flat to at least something good to eat through her time in this wartime rationing. The flying girl was nearly begging for it with tears. But Pug went back on his focus to Aether as he looked like any young man who had come a long way and was glad to have a chair.
"Has the Fatui released news in Teyvat of Churchill's declaration of War to Snezhnaya?" Pug decided to ask.
Alice shook her head side to side, "Not officially to the public. Me and the other members of the Hexenzirkel listened to it, we liked it. But the news has not reached Teyvat, the biggest news in Teyvat at the moment is the recent leak to the press to Steambird about a huge steel warship docked not far from the Fatui base in Nod-Krai."
Pug immediately stopped as he sensed something about and curiosity took over him, "What about this huge steel warship? Did the article say a name?"
Alice looked up as if she was recalling the article itself by the words written, "Let's see..the news came to the Steambird by an anonymous source in Nod-Krai; so, half of it is probably fishermen's talk. The source did say that it carried that crooked cross of yours, painted on both its bow and stern. The Steambird did ask the local Snezhnayan delegation in Fontaine for a comment, but were not provided one. However, the source specifically mentioned that the ship seemed to be damaged with a hole on its front section, leaking enough oil that the local fishermen were complaining about their nets, and oddly settled low into the water."
Alice seemed to stop for a moment until something seemed to pop in her head," Oh, and the Fatui had to tow it in apparently as it seemed to not be able to move under its own power."
Pug set the fork down as he ingested the information. The facts were clear on what she described. Towed in for repairs, damage on its bow, leaking oil, and leaning by the stern. The damage and information could only be one ship that fit that description as of lately.
"Mrs. Alice, you seemed to be the only person who is able to bring news to Teyvat besides the Fatui, why haven't you released that news of Churchill's declaration?" Pug asked curiously.
For the first time since they entered the house, the room seemed to have lost some of its absolute cheer. As Alice's expression had gone into grim with her eyes closed.
"Because, Commander," Alice said at last, "truth is not useful merely because it is true. Not when it comes to the Fatui."
"You are worried that they would deny?" Aether asked.
"Teyvat is still trying to accept the fact that there is another world out there and that the Fatui have connections there," Alice replied, "Even if I released a recording of Churchill's speech to Teyvat, there will still be plenty of questions. The leaders of Teyvat won't question it as they know the Fatui. But the civilians…the Fatui could claim that Britain is trying to expand Imperialism to Teyvat through Snezhnaya first. The British Empire in its early period does not have a good track record to help defend itself on Imperialism."
"So that's it then?" Paimon asked frustrated, "The Fatui can get away with starting a war and make the message?"
"Not really," Alice said, "The news of the German Warship has made people in Teyvat ask some questions on what is going on and compare it to the statements from the Fatui. The appearance of it hiding in Nod-Krai has people asking how far the cooperation between the Fatui and the Germans goes and what happened."
"Questions are not the same as knowing," Pug said as the room turned to him, "A man can wonder about a thing for years and never do anything about it. I assume that the Fatui can live with a Teyvat that wonders. Now, being told by someone it has reason to believe…now that changes the game."
Alice looked at him for a long moment, and something in her face said he had reached the place she had been circling and declining to land on.
"Yes," she said quietly, "that is the whole of it, Commander. A recording can be called a forgery and a rumor is something that can cool down. But a person that has stood on both sides of the gate and is famous throughout the nations of…."
Her eyes then went to Aether for a few seconds, who was reaching across the table to rescue the last of the cake from Paimon. Aether had not heard the turn that the conversation had taken, while Alice watched him do the ordinary thing for a second longer.
"Teyvat is hard to come by though," Alice finished, "There are not many who can cross at the moment. I will not pretend I have not thought about it."
She then took another sip of her tea.
"I have thought about it a great deal. And then I think of what the door cost the last time I asked it to carry someone, and I find I would rather Teyvat wondered a while longer."
Pug said nothing as he thought about and the words on Roosvelt's telegram echoed in his mind. Someone from that other world who is not the lady's creature. He could just hear it in his mind through Roosevelt's own tone. Roosevelt had asked for such a man in the wistful way of an old man at a long distance, and Alice had just spent five minutes describing the same man without once saying his name, and the man was three feet away and did not know he had been the answer to two questions at once.
Afterwards, the conversation did not continue as the afternoon went long and gold over the hedgerows. Paimon went first clutching a parcel of cake that Alice finally surrendered to her amusement. Alice saw them to the step and not past it, where she stood on the porch with the Dodocos around her. When Aether looked back, she gave him a wave and a small theatrical V again.
As they walked to the car, Pug let Paimon get a few steps ahead toward the car, fussing over her prize, before he spoke. He kept his voice low but level in a way that he had to use on Byron when he suggested that his son sign up for Submarine School.
"You should get to Washington," he said to Aether, "As soon as it can be arranged. The President should hear what you are from you, and not from a file."
Aether looked at him as he did not look surprised as much.
"But I promised to help where I can," Aether said, "I am not sure that I can do more."
"I'm not asking you to swear anything to Roosevelt," Pug said, "I'm telling you he is going to want to look at you and when he does, it will matter more than a hundred cables that I could send him. He's not a King asking for loyalty. He needs to be able to see the thing with his own eyes before he can take action. You of all people know what it's worth to be believed."
Aether went silent. Somewhere behind that young blonde face of a man, Pug knew, was a sister still missing and a promise to an island that the young man could not finish keeping until he found her. It was as if one thing wanted to pile on another. Then an expression went through the boy, one that Pug recognized on Byron for thinking, as his lips pressed together for a moment.
"I'll think on it," Aether said at last, to which Pug felt that it was going to be the best answer that he was going to get for now.
"That's all I ask."
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I hope that this chapter was good for you, like I said leave a comment if you have the chance to leave a comment, kudo, subscription, and even a bookmark if you feel that the story deserves it.
Here is the historical facts for this chapter thus far:
1. Italy towards Jews: In 1938, Italy under Benito Mussolini had adopted a form of the racial antisemtic laws that Hilter made in the Nuremberg Laws that stripped Jews in Italy of their citizenship, marriage, and relationships with non-Jewish Italians. In the story, it does not affect Aaron and Natalie as much as they are Americans but it could put them in watch as the series seemed to show that their letters were being watched when mailed.
2800: this was a real car model that was produced between 1938-1944 which was mainly for a senior-official and a state vehicle. I felt that it would realistic would be a car that the Facist regime in Italy would allow them to have as part of the alliance.
Engagement Questions (I am going to keep the question about Yalta like location up one more time):
1. [Previously used in the previous chapter]: If FDR and Churchill, for example, had to come to Teyvat to meet with the Leaders of Teyvat that are against the Fatui in a sort of Atlantic Charter or Yalta like conference about Snezhnaya. Where do you think would be a great place for the conference in Teyvat? My thoughts were on Wangshu Inn in Liyue or the House of Daena in Sumeru. Give me your thoughts and opinions.
2. I like to hear your theories on the Fatui for this story: Why do you think that they (or at least Dottore) were initially interested in the Jastrow's until Arlecchino had to step in?
3. When we get to Barbarossa by no later Chapter 21, considering what we know either from the story, the actual game, and the recent trailer (if you have seen it yet), what do think might the Eastern Front be like? Like I already have it planned with even a military simulation map for my own usage but now I have to update it with the new trailer based on the elemental warfare I saw.