BELLRAM V01 - Ambivalence of Light and Shadow I

BP001-P04 - Cherry Wine 3

Her father folded up the newspaper and switched to the mail.

"May I have this?", Meia asked him.

Wordlessly and without making eye contact, her father pushed the paper towards her, then he puffed, as if it had been a big act to lean over the tishc for once.

~I didn't want a kidney.~

Meia pulled the newspaper the last bit, unfolded it and laid it next to her dining area.

The newspaper was called 'Tinte Jena'. It was the largest newspaper in the country. Depending on where she lived, it contained small variations, which is why the header also said: 'Jena Southwest Region, Wiestahl Prefecture'. As the administrator of this prefecture, her father received this version of the newspaper every day free of charge.

The reading material Meia had gained prompted her to maltreat a third sandwich. While doing so she read the front page.

'Peace Negotiations Failed', was the headline for today.

'Peace remains a long way off. After three days of talks, the negotiations with Ceramare ended without a result again. The object of the dispute remains the landmass of Neu Jena, which formerly belonged to Ceramare. For both sides, the main focus is on the existing raw material deposits. Ceramare's demand is the complete return of all war booty and reparation payments for everything irreplaceable. Jena's current counter-offer is still being kept under wraps. Meanwhile, the calls for peace are growing louder.

Mr Richard Fellner, Minister of War, asks the citizens for more patience: "Of course everyone wishes that the negotiations can be concluded quickly. But one must also take into account that we cannot simply hand over Neu Jena completely to Ceramare, as some would like. When you go to buy a cooking pot, the metal from which it was made is very likely to be from Neu Jena. The same applies to almost all everyday objects. The prosperity of Jena hangs on this piece of land. We are in a dependency. We need the mines. In my eyes, moreover, a complete surrender would also be an insult to all the soldiers who fought for it."

At present there is no date for further negotiations. Nevertheless, Minister Fellner considers the chance of Ceramare breaking the truce to be slim.

"The ceasefire has been in place for a year. I see no reason why Ceramare should suddenly decide to break it. The citizens need not to worry. Peace is assured. It just needs to be put in writing. I would also like to emphasise once again that we have not forgotten the victims, nor their relatives. In Neu Jena, for one thing, a memorial will be erected for all the fallen. This has already been agreed with Ceramare. In addition, we will distribute appropriate compensation payments to all affected families before the end of the year. This has already been done. The financial means for this are ready".

After twenty-three years, the frightening balance sheet for Jena alone is 226,112 fallen soldiers and 36,240 war-disabled. According to experts, these figures would be much higher if the battle line had not already come to a standstill for the most part within the third year of the war.

In the spring, King Maximilian Brandt Von Rosenberg had still announced that the conscripted soldiers could be released in the summer. Now the call-up was extended until the beginning of autumn. All soldiers thus remained in service for the time being. The naval blockade to Ceramare and the accompanying trade bans also remain in place indefinitely. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters will still not return home. King Brandt Von Rosenberg could not keep his promise'.

Meia had finished her last slice of bread and started peeling the egg. Meanwhile, she looked at the picture that was with the article.

On the right was the elongated island of Jena and to the left the continent of Gravia with the land section of New Jena and the adjoining land of Ceramare. Jena was like a broken-off piece of Gravia that drifted away southeastwards. The coasts were very similar. Wiestahl was also marked on the map and in the lower third of Jena rather to the left, but still not close to the centre of the picture. New Jena had much more area than Jena. On the map, the land was hatched in red and the mountain range on the southern border had a lot of resources marked on it. They were always on the map. Meia saw this map several times a year. An article like this was nothing new for her either. There was a similar one every few months. Meia did not know it any different. It had always been like this. The war started long before she was born. Yet she never heard anything about it, except through the newspapers. Wiestahl was a remote place and the war was on the other side of the mountains, far beyond the sea, at the borders of a foreign country. For Meia, the article was just a story, like any other.

.../ End Part