Brighter Than the Stars

Annabelle - War and Pasties (Mix Excellently)

If there was one place I hadn't expected to get the news that two countries had declared war, and the one I currently lived in might be next, it wasn't at the kitchen table with a cinnamon pastry and my feet resting on the bottom of James's stool, because I knew he hated that. Leo crunched on an apple across from me, Nicole beside him, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and her expression serious as she bent over one of Leo's history books.

"Atala and Aeloni have only gone to war once, but they've had little skirmishes in between, I guess," she said.

"Skirmishes," James repeated. We ignored him.

"Atala always loses," Nicole continued, glancing at Leo for confirmation; he nodded. "I guess they've got the better military. But...I lived in Aeloni. There's nothing there but farmland and more farmland. How could Atala, which is majorly cities, and a little bit of countryside, lose against them?"

"Resources," Leo explained. "Aeloni's all farmland, and they have plenty of food and materials for their troops. Maybe they aren't very advanced militaristically, but neither is Atala, and Atala lacks an abundance of natural resources, too."

"So that's bad," Nicole clarified, "because we don't want them to win. But is it worth it to have Itari enter the war?"

"That's the question," Leo said. "All the details will be discussed mostly within a Council meeting. But I think Madeline's wanting to wait...she's not super eager to get into the middle of all this. There's the virus to think about, too–we haven't gotten word of anything related to it, but it could only be a matter of time. Right now, she's just trying to keep people safe. Something that'll become increasingly harder the longer this goes on."

"Well, that sucks," I said.

James snorted. "Eloquently put as always, Belle."

"You know the word eloquently?"

"Funny."

Nicole pulled a newspaper to her end of the table, ignoring James and I. "When's this from?"

"Yesterday, I think," Leo said. "I haven't looked at it yet."

She flipped through the pages, black ink already beginning to stain her fingers. There was a brief pause (James finally shut up, for once), and then Nicole's head snapped up. She jabbed a finger at the page, scowling. "Look at this."

I leaned over–the first thing I noticed being myself. Or, what sort of looked like me. The ink clumped and ran, and made the entire photo hard to make out. But it looked like me (and James, I supposed) outside the palace gates–James clearly getting ready to push me. Next to it, there was one of Leo and Nicole on the street, holding ice cream cones (or, vaguely blurry shapes that might have been them).

"Hey, when did you get ice cream?" James protested.

"I think you might be smiling, Nicole," I said, pulling the newspaper closer to me. Her scowl deepened–this time directed at me. "No, no–it's a good thing. I mean, you, smiling? Never. And now we have proof!"

"I don't want myself in here," she said, her voice brittle. "Not in any way. Ever." Leo shot her a look and they proceeded to have one of their conversations where neither of them said a word. Personally, I liked to keep talking any moment I could, but to each their own. Leo turned the paper so he could read it, his eyes darting across the page.

He pursed his lips. "Regardless of the pictures, this isn't great news."

He turned the paper towards James and I, and I leaned forward, finally taking my feet off James's stool. I skimmed it quickly, hoping for something interesting–some sort of conspiracy theory, at least. That James was secretly an escaped troll who (barely) passed as human, and was attempting to take over the world. Unfortunately, there was no mentions of trolls. In fact, it was just really, really boring. It was the same spiel we'd been hearing–first, that we were too young, second, that either James or I (or both) had bribed our way in, third that Leo (it usually didn't mention Nicole–though, this one surprisingly did, portraying her as a dirt poor girl from out of the country who was running some sort of elaborate scam) was young and untried, and had no connections besides.

The usual.

I pushed it away, and James shot me a glare, pulling it back so he could finish it. "Is it really something we have to worry about? I mean, it was pretty far from front-page news, and it was just the same old, same old, anyway. Though, Nicole, I must say, your scam on the country is working fantastically."

She glared at me, her sweater falling off her shoulders as she shifted, revealing her black tank top–and the scars that criss-crossed her arms. Which was apparently what happened when you were pushed halfway through a window. "I don't want my picture in there. Or anything about me. They don't need to know who I am at all. And how'd they get that, anyway? Can I not leave the castle now, without someone getting some sort of picture or idea for an article, or anything?"

James sat up straighter. "How come I wasn't invited to the ice cream?"

"It's still not great," Leo said–ignoring James again. "I'd like to keep my position on the Council. And this sort of threatens that, if enough people start to believe it."

"But you're leaving it soon, anyway," Nicole said. "Most likely. And if this doesn't pick up by then–and it's unlikely that it will–then it doesn't matter so much. I still don't want the picture in there, but...I think you'll be okay. If not, people who agree can just...mysteriously go missing or something."

"You're leaving the Council?" James blurted–for once asking a reasonable question.

"Did I not tell you guys? It's not for sure yet, but most likely. I'll stay on as a sort of backup–I can fill positions or come in when they need another opinion. Maddie and I talked about it. But I have...other plans that I'm going to focus more on. Anyway," he said, "this is further in the future. I'm staying around for a while."

"Good," I said. "Who else would make me food?"

"His mom," James said. "He's replaceable."

"Oh, good–that means you are, too. Can we bring in a different version of James? I'm not a fan of this one."

"Too bad," James said. "You're all stuck with me."

Word Count: 1,079

I'm not dead