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

Chapter 20

Chapter 20   

The next month passes by quickly. There was lots to do concerning the removal of the caste system. I had broken up more than a few heated meetings about it. Now that we were much more sure about the safety of our own home, Maxon and I turned to sorting out our advisors. There were quite a few that I was still skeptical about in all different areas, mostly because they had been close to Clarkson. Maxon assured me that they weren't plotting anything against us, and that a couple of them were really needed because of their expertise in those areas. Besides that, our removal of the caste system was going to be a slow process, but we had already gained a little support from some of our closest allies and have implemented more programs that could dramatically help the sevens and eights by the end of this year.

Since we were getting pretty far into Fall, I decided to bring up something else that was on my mind. Luckily, I ran into Maxon as he was coming out of a budget meeting.

"Oh, sorry." He says. He must not realize that it was me, because he keeps going.

"Maxon, wait!" I call out. He turned around and immediately looks guilty for almost missing me.

He runs over to my side. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Ames. I didn't realize that it was you."

"It's okay." I say, brushing myself off. "Where were you heading?"

"I was going to my study. There's a bunch of things I have to figure out for this year's budget. We're not even close to January, but the advisors keep stressing about all the money going to our new programs and how we won't have anything left by the end of the year for other things."

"I'm sure they could take some of the funding from some of the departments. It's not like we couldn't spare some money from let's see...the selection fund or our own savings. I bet one of the crowns upstairs could feed a hundred people." I put my hands on my hips, not really knowing why I'm so assertive today.

Surprisingly, Maxon chuckles. "I agree with you. The only problem is, that I think there would be a lot of advisors and two's that would want to take advantage if we seemed a lot less like a royal family, and part of being royal means that you have a lot of money."

"Well I could do with a lot less. Seeing all those sevens and eights, I remember how fortunate we are."

"Me too." He agrees. "Sometimes I think we could make do with a lot less, but even with the caste system gone, the people really do love their royals."

"Do you count having approval ratings of 46% loving us?"

"It's a lot more than my father had, love. Actually, it's the highest it's been in years. I don't think you know how significant that is, America."

 "Really?"

"Oh yes. At least we have most of the lower castes, even if many of the upper castes are still hesitant. They're take a long time to warm up to the idea, but there's a fair amount of threes, fours, and fives that are supportive of us. It'll take a while, but don't loose faith, Ames."

"Okay." I agree, wrapping my arms around him. He awkwardly shifts the papers in his hands so that he can wrap his arms around me.

We stand there in the middle of the hall until he whispers in my ear "so, you really think we should we should quit funding the selection?"

"Of course. I'm not making my child go through that unless they want to! I can't believe that they're planning something like that when we both know that that's not going to be happening in at least twenty years! Plus, what if we only have daughters? I am NOT trading them off to New Asia, Swedenway or anywhere like that unless they want to. I am also not going to let my daughter have the crown given to her younger brother if she was born first!" I don't know why I'm going on with this little rant, but I'd been thinking a lot about amending the laws of inheritance in the last few days.