So it is done

Menagerie

Ghira Belladonna faced away from the desk filled with documents before collapsing, exhausted, onto the back of his chair. After a heavy sigh, he ran his hands over his tired face, as if trying to gather the fatigue and shed it, knowing that his working day was not yet over.

As a top-level politician, being King of Menagerie, not that he liked being called that, Ghira's working day was never over. He's the first faunus to receive all the news inside and outside the state, the first faunus to determine the direction and reaction of the state, and the first faunus to issue orders and instructions... At least, that's what his position required, as evidenced by the ever-growing reports on his desk.

Ghira finding himself buried under the pressure and volume of work is a daily occurrence. And unfortunately, Ghira Belladonna was only one imperfect faunus that could not, alone, replace the work of dozens and hundreds of administrators. They were always hated by ordinary citizens, not realizing just how much they needed their work.

Ghira required allies, subordinates, deputies, people able to share his burden of work, his responsibilities, and to help him to tide the unstoppable flow of needs, complaints, and suggestions gathering on his desk every day. That is, he required more of them.

Of course, Ghira chose some suitable deputies, the Albain brothers had demonstrated themselves perfectly at home in the field of financial and media control. Sienna was settling nicely into her new role as commander of the army. And Kali was still, from old memory, training his personal guards at times.

And therein lay the problem.

The alliance with Glenn was made at a time of desperate need for the two nations, both of them, young kingdoms struggling to survive. Each of them clinging to each other in the storm of open ocean that is international politics together.

No one could have imagined the dividends that the pressured pact would bring.

As time passed, Glenn's star rose sharply, demonstrating miracle after miracle, and all Menagerie needed to do was to 'stick' to the leader. All it needed to do was to follow behind Glenn, and it would also rise to new heights. And that was exactly what Ghira did, and what happened.

Lien began to flow into Menagerie, with opportunities for development popping up, making the whole of Menagerie richer. For the first time in a long time, the faunus of Menagerie looked to the future not with the thought of how to preserve what little they had, but how to multiply it. For the first time, social programs to support the poor began to appear, with the semi-legal White Fang gangs replaced by an actual police and army. The roadside bazaars began to be transformed into large shopping centers.

Following such developments, Ghira's power had grown stronger along with it, and Menagerie found that they could finally breathe freely.

And at that moment, Ghira suddenly discovered that Menagerie had become firmly tied to Glenn.

A common economic initiative, a common trade area, joint military exercises, Menagerie found almost all its way of life tied with Glenn's. Though strictly speaking, there was nothing inherently wrong with it, after all, if everyone involved in the integration benefited from it, what could be wrong with that? Wasn't it a natural extension of friendship, if the states were allies, then eventually their movement would lead to a gradual creation of commonality, until the differences between the two states disappear altogether.

And with Ghira never considering himself a man fit to rule, then wouldn't the opportunity to lean on the friendly shoulder of an ally seem advantageous to him? After all, he did not want to retain his crown at all costs, with him only accepting his crown solely because Jonathan had done so? Using Jonathan's model of rulership to legitimize his own power and rule, especially for a young nation like Menagerie, whose position in global politics is shaky at best.