Rhivera (Complete Novel)

~Chapter Seventeen- The Conference~

~Chapter Seventeen- The Conference~

~Lena~

"Come on, you have to come." Korina pleads with me.

I rub my temples, "Korina, I won't get in your way, but I really don't support the Equality zone."

"That's why I want you to come. You'll see why the Equality Zone will work. Xander is sure of it." She says, "It would mean a lot to me if you came."

Korina is an older cousin of mine by a few years. When we were little, she would have me try dresses on, along with makeup and other more lady-like things. I never took to it, but Korina adores that sort of thing. She could convince me to do just about anything back then. Even now, she's hard to say no to.

I sighed breathily, "Fine, I'll drop in and see."

Korina gave that wonderfully genuine smile that only she could give.

On the day of the conference, I gather my escorts and leave for the region of Rhy. The conference is taking place at a beautiful building only a few miles from the original Equality Zone.

The southern side of the building has a glass pane windows spanning the entire wall, providing a view of to Mount Rhive in the distance. A bitter memory for me.

The building is owned by Alexander Montoya, who very enthusiastically supports the project. He's prepared to put forth a great deal in funding.

I can see a crowd around the place of the conference. I expected it would mostly be news outlets, draining as much information out of Xander as possible, but surprisingly there are a large number of civilians there. Outside of the building is a small group protesting the Equality Zone, but only the news outlets pay them any mind.

As I step out with my escorts, a news crew notices and begins to surround me, "General Lena! What do you think of-"

I wave my hand at them, "I'll be making no statements at this time." My escorts guard me and I pass through the masses to the building.

There is a small security post at the entrance of the building with metal detectors. When I walked through, the alarm unsurprisingly went off, I was always armed with a pistol, a privilege very few had.

A security guard blocks my way, "Maam, err General. Can we ask that you disarm yourself before entering the conference?"

"That won't be necessary." I say flatly.

"Sorry General. Xander Veran has insisted we make the environment inside as welcoming as possible." Security responds.

I roll my eyes. I'm not going to challenge Xander's authority so I oblige. I hand my pistol to my escorts and ask them to wait outside for my return.

Inside the building are various booths. There's a portrait gallery composed of photos taken while the original Equality Zone was still in its infancy. Before the surge of people moving in caused the population density to become too great. The photos chosen make the zone look tranquil, with its resident content and few in number. In one photo, it shows the old Equality Zone's cafeteria with people being served. Each day in the Equality Zone, the residents would be fed their portions at set points in the day.

Another booth seems to act as an open forum Q&A for the zone on how it would function, allowing people to express their concerns for the Zone and make suggestions. Another was for registration, allowing people to secure their spots in the Zone.