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Description
Sam walked into the lobby of the hotel, unlike yesterday it was clear and sunny. Aki was leant against a wall her hair carefully flicked now that she didn’t have to wear her headscarf. Tom walked over to her and she stood up. “So, where to first,”
“First, we shall head into the city centre from here, here being Heisgyarden,” Sam waited for a translation “Hillside, we can take the metro, come on,” she beckoned him to follow and they left the Hotel. As they stepped out of the revolving door, they were hit by a strong chilling breeze that shook any cobwebs that Sam had left from jetlag. “Thanks again for doing this,”
“Not at all, it gives you a new perspective on things,” she said, sporting a very Taurilian smile. To Sam’s surprise, they had already arrived at the Metro station, there were still a few people around as the Rush hour was beginning to end. They got their tickets from the machine and made their way out to the platforms. “Hey Englishman, check this out,”
“Please don’t call me that,”
“Sorry, Sam, how’s this for public transport?” Aki tapped her watch as the train approached the platform and stopped. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” she then gestured like Moses parting the Red sea and the doors opened, as the time hit ‘zero’. Sam whistled with amazement “Nice, Much better than Ealing,” he followed her onto the train,
“Who’s she?” they found a table and sat either side of it as the carriage was pretty empty.
“What? No, Ealing’s a place, in West London,” Aki shrugged and smirked as the train pulled out of the station “I had an Aunt name Ee-ling”

***

They walked out of the train station and were once again hit by the wind, Sam’s hair blew in his face, Aki’s standing steady through gel and hairspray. They walked out of the subway steps and stopped in front of a large building, with many people stood on its steps and walls as well as dotted around the square. Most carried signs or posters and all were shouted about one thing or another in a variety of different languages. “This, is protest square,”
“So I can see, You sure love your freedom of speech don’t you,” As they walked past a man handing out leaflets and wearing a T-shirt saying ‘King Lief=Giant Lizard!”
“they do,” Said Aki correcting him “It’s why I love it here, I do too, you can say anything here, well, not just here, anywhere, but the government prefer it here, hence the police presence,” She said as Sam looked over to a policeman who was intently watching all the protests. “An it harm none, do what you will, right?” Sam checked as they began walking across the square. “Exactly, freedom of speech as long as you don’t force it on others so instead they shout their longs out in the hope that similarly minded people hear it and join in, enough people and the government will begin to hear about it, in theory.”
A man in a pink robe was declaring Aki a sinner because of the colour of her hair when something caught her eye, “come on,” she said and walked over to a group of what seemed to be the tidiest and well kept anarchists he had ever seen, Sam followed. As he got closer he could read some of their signs, ‘BROGONIA OUT!’, ‘TWINKLE TOES IS A PUPPET!’ “[Sam this is Eric Turningstone, Eric, this is Sam, he’s just arrived from Britain and I’m showing him the sights of the city],” Sam and Eric swapped hellos and shook hands. Eric was about the same age as Sam and Aki, he wore a white shirt and Tie along with brown chinos, looking out of place compared to most of the political protesters Sam had seen in London. “So, what do you think of Taurilia?” said Eric in a seemingly posh accent. “Its” Sam paused thinking the Taurilian through, “It’s good, very, cosmopolitan, even for a capital city,”
“Its got a good balance, you see, not too extreme in either direction, which is always good,” they switched to speaking Taurilian, and to think this was the first person he had met who hadn’t spoken English,
“From what I’ve read, a lot of countries around here seem to lean right or left,”
“Or sometimes both,”
“Anyone paying attention today Eric?” Aki asked
“Not really, same as always, even if they did nothing would happen,”
“What are you protesting against?” Sam asked,
“My home country, Crockeria, is no longer governed by itself, subtly, the government was replaced by one that serves Brogonia, so they don’t have the best interests of their citizens at heart, does that seem right to you?”
“No, I can see how that would annoy Crockerians, but why are you protesting here,”
“Well, its here or outside the Brogonian or Crockerian Embassies, Taurilia is the only place they will let you protest, we’d be stopped in Crockeria, its pretty free on most things, but try and enter politics without prior permission and you’re toast,”
“Right,” Sam said plainly.
“Eric, we’ll catch you later ok, I was thinking of showing Sam the Royal palace,”
“Oh, ok,”

They crossed the square again “Sorry about that, I didn’t want Eric to bore you, I sympathise with him, but he really wont achieve anything, whats the English phrase, he’s…” Sam pondered changing an English phrase into Taurilian,
“Fighting a battle up a hill” close enough, he thought,
“Yeah, or, I was thinking urinating into strong wind, but the same thing, fancy a Coffee?”
“Sure, is there a Starbucks or Costa around here?” Aki Laughed, and shook her head,
“In Taurilia? I doubt it,”

They sat sipping tea in a ‘traditional Crockerian Teahouse’ in the centre of Safehaven. They sat facing each other in large comfy armchairs. “Aki?” Sam asked, “Yes?” she replied putting down her cup.
“I’m sorry to be ignorant, but what happened between Brogonia and Crockeria? Is what Eric said true? Its kind of embarrassing how little the BBC and the others like report this region subject” She thought on the subject,
“It’s a pretty well known secret, after my home country, Warratatia invaded Crockeria, it was re-taken with with the help of Brogonia, who in turn managed to get their claws into the government of Crockeria, so Crockeria still governs itself, as long as it is to Brogonia’s intrest,”
“So Eric was telling the truth, just driving the point home,”
“Yes, and then my country was invaded by Crockeria, with Brogonian interests, they were ‘administered’ by Crockeria,”
“Who was in turn controlled by Brogonia,”
“Exactly, but no one can challenge Brogonia, well, those who can, don’t,”
“I see, doesn’t the United States or the EU do anything about this?”
“No, and the only multinational group we have is the Alliance of Nations, and they’re all in Brogonia’s pocket,” Sam looked up from his cup of Earl Grey,
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out there and sit behind a sign,”
“I have before, not that it makes a lot of difference, the Taurilian Idea of Passive protesting gets pretty annoying when its raining,”
“Which it does,”
“Which it does, exactly,”
“So, tour guide, where are we heading to next?”
“The Royal castle?”
“Sounds good,” Sam stood up and put his coat on. As Aki stood up she looked to Sam, “Of course, this means if I ever go to London, you have to give me a tour,”
“That’s fair enough,”

***

Sam and Aki walked into the ‘White Dragon’ Pub, worn out but satisfied. “So the king didn’t even know he was until about 20 years ago? A Pint of Ravenguard please” Sam said as they got to the bar
“And a Vodka and Coke thanks, nope, the Royal family had gone into exile when Spartisia invaded in the 1800’s, when Taurilia gained independence,” as Aki said this a cheer sounded from some nearby bearded Taurilians, one of whom was missing a leg, “The Taurilian Government traced the bloodline and found the future King Lief Kargrensen, living in Geneva,” They paid for their drinks and turned around
“That’s Brilliant, did he have any idea about it,”
“All he knew was he was of Taurian Nobility,” they looked across the room and saw Eric and some of his friend sat on some Sofas in the corner, they walked over. By this time, one of the bearded Taurilians had stood up and was proposing toast to the king, to which almost the entire bar replied. Aki and Sam sat down next to Eric and his friends. “So, how was the palace?” Eric asked,
“It was good, very medival, probably better than Buckingham palace,”
“We also went to the independence memorial, the Parliament Hall and the Jaaken Tor,”
“All I’m missing is the I love Taurilia T-shirt,” said Sam grinning as the Bearded men at the bar reached the final verse of the national anthem. “Well, I’m pretty sure one tourist stand or another sells them, as well as King Lief Action figures and little statues of the Tor,”
“Courtesy of Omnimunda industries,”
“Using Tradition and history for improved…pro…fit?” Eric Slowed to a stop as a group walked into the bar, all dressed in black leather, they saw Eric and walked over. “Excuse me,” said the girl in the centre in rather refined tones and grinning like a hyena. Eric looked up, “Guys this is Katrina Van Brogenstein, she’s one of my classmates at university. “I wouldn’t go so far as class ‘mate,’ anyway, Turningstone, is something wrong? You’re in our seats,”
“Oh come on Katrina, don’t be so childish,”
“Theres nothing childish, you come in here often and we’re always in those seats, so could you please move to another table,”
“No, we were here first, and one thing about Taurilia that may surprise you, it’s a free country,”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” her smile turned into a sneer, “It’s a very quaint idea, now, seriously, you’ve had your fun, move,” Sam stood up, right in front of Katrina, who looked him level in the eye,
“Excuse me, you don’t seem to grasp the ideas of democracy or freedom,”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Eric said to himself. Katrina stared down Sam then looked to the others, “Move!” she barked, “I wont tell you again,”
Aki stood next to Sam, moving between Katrina and the table, “You’re right, you wont,” she said as the barman looked over to them to see what was going on. Katrina’s friends took a few steps forwards, beginning to surround the table, all with similar expressions on their faces. Aki was the first to speak, “Taurilia, a union of the forces, of air, earth water and fire! Her spirit shining strongest of all!” the others joined in, including the bearded men at the bar, except Sam, who didn’t know the words, instead he merely stood in front of Katrina, smiling proudly, filled with unusual patriotism for his temporary home.
Katrina and the others backed off slightly, stilled staring down their opponents, her friends shouted a few threats, Katrina merely grinned that same fearsome grin as they left the bar. She stopped by the door and looked to Eric, smiled, looked down and shook her head, before leaving.

They stopped outside the hotel as the distant palace bells tolled 11, they had said goobye to Eric and his friends before taking the last Metro to Heisgyarden they were both thoroughly drunk. They had said goodbye to Eric and his friends before taking the last tube back to Heisgyarden “Well, here we are,” Sam said, stating the obvious in a typically British way. “Yes, Yes we are,” Aki said as she sat backwards onto a bench. Followed by Sam, who then looked to Aki, only to discover she was already looking at him. “So, what do you think of Taurilia?”
“Its good, except for a few leather fascists, and they aren’t native,”
“Yeah, fight leather with words I say,”
“Do you?”
“Yes, I just did,” she replied smiling, “Are you going to stay?”
“Yeah, visit a few more cities, maybe the mountains,”
“No, I mean stay” she stressed the last word,
“Maybe,” he smiled, “I can think of worse places, but I want to explore the area a bit more though,”
“Well, there’s a Regional culture festival in Crockeria, it would give you a taste of everything,” she said unintentionally leaning on Sam Sam looked confused, and then looked up at the stars sleepily
“But I don’t speak Crockerian,”
“I do,” grinned Aki
“So you want me to take you along,”
“I know more about the region than you do, besides, do you really want to travel alone? you might end up in Brogonia,” Sam pondered an entire nation of Katrina’s,
“Ok, Lets go, we can get a boat or something tomorrow,” he paused to yawn,
“nothing too expensive, mind you,” Sam looked back at Aki, to see her asleep on his shoulder. He smiled and looked up at the clear night sky, disturbed only by the hazy light of the city ahead of him and the street lamps casting a pale white glow across the street, “Lovely weather,”

Description
Sam walked into the lobby of the hotel, unlike yesterday it was clear and sunny. Aki was leant against a wall her hair carefully flicked now that she didn’t have to wear her headscarf. Tom walked over to her and she stood up. “So, where to first,”
“First, we shall head into the city centre from here, here being Heisgyarden,” Sam waited for a translation “Hillside, we can take the metro, come on,” she beckoned him to follow and they left the Hotel. As they stepped out of the revolving door, they were hit by a strong chilling breeze that shook any cobwebs that Sam had left from jetlag. “Thanks again for doing this,”
“Not at all, it gives you a new perspective on things,” she said, sporting a very Taurilian smile. To Sam’s surprise, they had already arrived at the Metro station, there were still a few people around as the Rush hour was beginning to end. They got their tickets from the machine and made their way out to the platforms. “Hey Englishman, check this out,”
“Please don’t call me that,”
“Sorry, Sam, how’s this for public transport?” Aki tapped her watch as the train approached the platform and stopped. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” she then gestured like Moses parting the Red sea and the doors opened, as the time hit ‘zero’. Sam whistled with amazement “Nice, Much better than Ealing,” he followed her onto the train,
“Who’s she?” they found a table and sat either side of it as the carriage was pretty empty.
“What? No, Ealing’s a place, in West London,” Aki shrugged and smirked as the train pulled out of the station “I had an Aunt name Ee-ling”

***

They walked out of the train station and were once again hit by the wind, Sam’s hair blew in his face, Aki’s standing steady through gel and hairspray. They walked out of the subway steps and stopped in front of a large building, with many people stood on its steps and walls as well as dotted around the square. Most carried signs or posters and all were shouted about one thing or another in a variety of different languages. “This, is protest square,”
“So I can see, You sure love your freedom of speech don’t you,” As they walked past a man handing out leaflets and wearing a T-shirt saying ‘King Lief=Giant Lizard!”
“they do,” Said Aki correcting him “It’s why I love it here, I do too, you can say anything here, well, not just here, anywhere, but the government prefer it here, hence the police presence,” She said as Sam looked over to a policeman who was intently watching all the protests. “An it harm none, do what you will, right?” Sam checked as they began walking across the square. “Exactly, freedom of speech as long as you don’t force it on others so instead they shout their longs out in the hope that similarly minded people hear it and join in, enough people and the government will begin to hear about it, in theory.”
A man in a pink robe was declaring Aki a sinner because of the colour of her hair when something caught her eye, “come on,” she said and walked over to a group of what seemed to be the tidiest and well kept anarchists he had ever seen, Sam followed. As he got closer he could read some of their signs, ‘BROGONIA OUT!’, ‘TWINKLE TOES IS A PUPPET!’ “[Sam this is Eric Turningstone, Eric, this is Sam, he’s just arrived from Britain and I’m showing him the sights of the city],” Sam and Eric swapped hellos and shook hands. Eric was about the same age as Sam and Aki, he wore a white shirt and Tie along with brown chinos, looking out of place compared to most of the political protesters Sam had seen in London. “So, what do you think of Taurilia?” said Eric in a seemingly posh accent. “Its” Sam paused thinking the Taurilian through, “It’s good, very, cosmopolitan, even for a capital city,”
“Its got a good balance, you see, not too extreme in either direction, which is always good,” they switched to speaking Taurilian, and to think this was the first person he had met who hadn’t spoken English,
“From what I’ve read, a lot of countries around here seem to lean right or left,”
“Or sometimes both,”
“Anyone paying attention today Eric?” Aki asked
“Not really, same as always, even if they did nothing would happen,”
“What are you protesting against?” Sam asked,
“My home country, Crockeria, is no longer governed by itself, subtly, the government was replaced by one that serves Brogonia, so they don’t have the best interests of their citizens at heart, does that seem right to you?”
“No, I can see how that would annoy Crockerians, but why are you protesting here,”
“Well, its here or outside the Brogonian or Crockerian Embassies, Taurilia is the only place they will let you protest, we’d be stopped in Crockeria, its pretty free on most things, but try and enter politics without prior permission and you’re toast,”
“Right,” Sam said plainly.
“Eric, we’ll catch you later ok, I was thinking of showing Sam the Royal palace,”
“Oh, ok,”

They crossed the square again “Sorry about that, I didn’t want Eric to bore you, I sympathise with him, but he really wont achieve anything, whats the English phrase, he’s…” Sam pondered changing an English phrase into Taurilian,
“Fighting a battle up a hill” close enough, he thought,
“Yeah, or, I was thinking urinating into strong wind, but the same thing, fancy a Coffee?”
“Sure, is there a Starbucks or Costa around here?” Aki Laughed, and shook her head,
“In Taurilia? I doubt it,”

They sat sipping tea in a ‘traditional Crockerian Teahouse’ in the centre of Safehaven. They sat facing each other in large comfy armchairs. “Aki?” Sam asked, “Yes?” she replied putting down her cup.
“I’m sorry to be ignorant, but what happened between Brogonia and Crockeria? Is what Eric said true? Its kind of embarrassing how little the BBC and the others like report this region subject” She thought on the subject,
“It’s a pretty well known secret, after my home country, Warratatia invaded Crockeria, it was re-taken with with the help of Brogonia, who in turn managed to get their claws into the government of Crockeria, so Crockeria still governs itself, as long as it is to Brogonia’s intrest,”
“So Eric was telling the truth, just driving the point home,”
“Yes, and then my country was invaded by Crockeria, with Brogonian interests, they were ‘administered’ by Crockeria,”
“Who was in turn controlled by Brogonia,”
“Exactly, but no one can challenge Brogonia, well, those who can, don’t,”
“I see, doesn’t the United States or the EU do anything about this?”
“No, and the only multinational group we have is the Alliance of Nations, and they’re all in Brogonia’s pocket,” Sam looked up from his cup of Earl Grey,
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out there and sit behind a sign,”
“I have before, not that it makes a lot of difference, the Taurilian Idea of Passive protesting gets pretty annoying when its raining,”
“Which it does,”
“Which it does, exactly,”
“So, tour guide, where are we heading to next?”
“The Royal castle?”
“Sounds good,” Sam stood up and put his coat on. As Aki stood up she looked to Sam, “Of course, this means if I ever go to London, you have to give me a tour,”
“That’s fair enough,”

***

Sam and Aki walked into the ‘White Dragon’ Pub, worn out but satisfied. “So the king didn’t even know he was until about 20 years ago? A Pint of Ravenguard please” Sam said as they got to the bar
“And a Vodka and Coke thanks, nope, the Royal family had gone into exile when Spartisia invaded in the 1800’s, when Taurilia gained independence,” as Aki said this a cheer sounded from some nearby bearded Taurilians, one of whom was missing a leg, “The Taurilian Government traced the bloodline and found the future King Lief Kargrensen, living in Geneva,” They paid for their drinks and turned around
“That’s Brilliant, did he have any idea about it,”
“All he knew was he was of Taurian Nobility,” they looked across the room and saw Eric and some of his friend sat on some Sofas in the corner, they walked over. By this time, one of the bearded Taurilians had stood up and was proposing toast to the king, to which almost the entire bar replied. Aki and Sam sat down next to Eric and his friends. “So, how was the palace?” Eric asked,
“It was good, very medival, probably better than Buckingham palace,”
“We also went to the independence memorial, the Parliament Hall and the Jaaken Tor,”
“All I’m missing is the I love Taurilia T-shirt,” said Sam grinning as the Bearded men at the bar reached the final verse of the national anthem. “Well, I’m pretty sure one tourist stand or another sells them, as well as King Lief Action figures and little statues of the Tor,”
“Courtesy of Omnimunda industries,”
“Using Tradition and history for improved…pro…fit?” Eric Slowed to a stop as a group walked into the bar, all dressed in black leather, they saw Eric and walked over. “Excuse me,” said the girl in the centre in rather refined tones and grinning like a hyena. Eric looked up, “Guys this is Katrina Van Brogenstein, she’s one of my classmates at university. “I wouldn’t go so far as class ‘mate,’ anyway, Turningstone, is something wrong? You’re in our seats,”
“Oh come on Katrina, don’t be so childish,”
“Theres nothing childish, you come in here often and we’re always in those seats, so could you please move to another table,”
“No, we were here first, and one thing about Taurilia that may surprise you, it’s a free country,”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” her smile turned into a sneer, “It’s a very quaint idea, now, seriously, you’ve had your fun, move,” Sam stood up, right in front of Katrina, who looked him level in the eye,
“Excuse me, you don’t seem to grasp the ideas of democracy or freedom,”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Eric said to himself. Katrina stared down Sam then looked to the others, “Move!” she barked, “I wont tell you again,”
Aki stood next to Sam, moving between Katrina and the table, “You’re right, you wont,” she said as the barman looked over to them to see what was going on. Katrina’s friends took a few steps forwards, beginning to surround the table, all with similar expressions on their faces. Aki was the first to speak, “Taurilia, a union of the forces, of air, earth water and fire! Her spirit shining strongest of all!” the others joined in, including the bearded men at the bar, except Sam, who didn’t know the words, instead he merely stood in front of Katrina, smiling proudly, filled with unusual patriotism for his temporary home.
Katrina and the others backed off slightly, stilled staring down their opponents, her friends shouted a few threats, Katrina merely grinned that same fearsome grin as they left the bar. She stopped by the door and looked to Eric, smiled, looked down and shook her head, before leaving.

They stopped outside the hotel as the distant palace bells tolled 11, they had said goobye to Eric and his friends before taking the last Metro to Heisgyarden they were both thoroughly drunk. They had said goodbye to Eric and his friends before taking the last tube back to Heisgyarden “Well, here we are,” Sam said, stating the obvious in a typically British way. “Yes, Yes we are,” Aki said as she sat backwards onto a bench. Followed by Sam, who then looked to Aki, only to discover she was already looking at him. “So, what do you think of Taurilia?”
“Its good, except for a few leather fascists, and they aren’t native,”
“Yeah, fight leather with words I say,”
“Do you?”
“Yes, I just did,” she replied smiling, “Are you going to stay?”
“Yeah, visit a few more cities, maybe the mountains,”
“No, I mean stay” she stressed the last word,
“Maybe,” he smiled, “I can think of worse places, but I want to explore the area a bit more though,”
“Well, there’s a Regional culture festival in Crockeria, it would give you a taste of everything,” she said unintentionally leaning on Sam Sam looked confused, and then looked up at the stars sleepily
“But I don’t speak Crockerian,”
“I do,” grinned Aki
“So you want me to take you along,”
“I know more about the region than you do, besides, do you really want to travel alone? you might end up in Brogonia,” Sam pondered an entire nation of Katrina’s,
“Ok, Lets go, we can get a boat or something tomorrow,” he paused to yawn,
“nothing too expensive, mind you,” Sam looked back at Aki, to see her asleep on his shoulder. He smiled and looked up at the clear night sky, disturbed only by the hazy light of the city ahead of him and the street lamps casting a pale white glow across the street, “Lovely weather,”