It's So Much More Than That (A Selection Story)

Chapter 38

Chapter 38:

"We're just about ready to go live. Ms Marlee and Stavros, are you all ready?" Gavril counts down.

Even though I'm not part of the report tonight, I sit a little off screen watching the advisors and Marlee take their places in the sub-level room where we typically film reports.

I glance at my best friend, who's sitting particular regally next to the rest of the advisors. Compared to them, however, she looks much more...radiant.

Glancing over all of the advisors on the board, I notice that there's no women. I frown slightly. I'll have to speak to Maxon about that. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he's never had a women advisor on one of his closest panels. That, or it might be just another thing that's left over from Clarkson's reign. If Maxon's concerned that it might make me jealous or something, I'll just let him know that I'll be giving whoever he appoints a thorough review.

The cameramen counts down and I give Marlee a thumbs up. Although she won't be featured for the entire report, I thought it would be good to have a figurehead representing us while Maxon is away.

Speaking of which, I know Maxon assumed that Marlee was my replacement, although he need not worry about the particulars here. He didn't say that I couldn't be on the report, he just said that he didn't recommend it. Marlee was perfectly capable, however, I wanted to give my own condolences on the unfortunate fire in Hansport. I smoothe my skirt over my legs, trying to relax while some of the advisors started their weekly report. I feel a bit uncomfortable for some reason, probably just because this room has always been obnoxiously stuffy and while I'm trying to sit like a queen, really, all I want to do is collapse on my bed.

It was my duty as queen to be there for my people, so why not try to express my condolences in person? There was only so much a relief check or a formal speech could offer; and although I knew that my friend had her lines memorized, there was something that I wanted to do.

There was only one thing stopping me - well, one thing and the fact that an entire nation would see it.

"And while we've had to deal with massive budget cuts this past year, these new bills we are proposing will make it easier for small businesses to get a grasp of the somewhat precarious market at the moment. It is our hope that we can start growing Illea from the bottom all the way to the top. We don't want to wait for change to come; we want to make it happen now." I listened off and on to the different advisors speak, each of them promising new spending and benefits for the people of Illea.

In recent months, I dare say, the country has been on an upswing both economically and in the news. There's less riots and there's been some improvement on the social infrastructure. I have no doubt that somehow the announcement of my pregnancy has played into this; ever since Maxon and I told the world months ago, it's all the tabloids and newspapers have been focusing on. There's been much speculation over the names we've picked, of course, and the genders. Some of the names that have been suggested in magazines were quite atrocious, if you ask me. I wanted my children's names to be unique but not overly pretentious or strange.

With this recent prosperity, it's been easier to deliver reports, even if I've been excluded from most of them. It almost feels like whenever the country is focused on something surrounding the royal family they forget the struggles around them.

Of course, most of the advisors, especially the ones that worked with Clarkson, have warned me against being in public at all, or even going on the report. They said it wasn't "proper" for a queen to show herself while she had a "condition". At every turn, I fought this, mostly because I thought it was preposterous and I don't care of what anyone thinks about my "condition". I wouldn't mind if all of Illea saw me as I was: saw how uncomfortable I'd been over the past many months. Did they know that I couldn't even leave the palace?