If ever there was one unobjectionable argument for Hippogriffs over Seaponies, this is it, Coral wryly reflected as he carefully grasped the pen in his claws.
Now, let’s see…
The end of the North Zebrican War has proven decisively the futility of Crack Lightning’s ideology once and for all. What he had promised would be a swift and easy war has turned into perhaps the most gruesome war ever waged in Zebrica, matched only by the Storm King’s conquests. Now, well over four hundred thousand Arisians lie dead, and a similar number of Chiropterrans and Colthaginians too, and a peace has been achieved in favour of the Agzhat Pact.
Whilst I cannot support Chiropterra in its actions - slavery, warmongering, unethical experimentation and worse - I also cannot bring myself to mourn the defeat of Crack Lightning's regime, though I do mourn the ruin that he has brought to my homeland. I have seen pictures and spoken with refugees; they tell me of surveillance on levels unheard of, of chicks starving in the streets, of city blocks wiped off the map by enemy bombardment. These are the stories that both break my heart and harden it, for the Aris as I knew it is gone, and in its place has come something new, something different. I am not sure I like it.
Coral looked away from his writings out over the water, and sighed. Almost four years now, he’d been in Macawia, living as a political refugee. Thankfully, the community of Porto de Bico had welcomed him as one of their own - he was forever in their debt for that - but still he longed to return to Aris. Despite everything, it was still his birthplace.
But then the North Zebrican War had started in the winter of 1010. For over two years Crack Lightning had attempted to impose his ‘Hegemony’ upon North Zebrica, only to be repulsed by the armies of the Agzhat Pact. There had been a few Macawian reporters alongside the Colthaginian troops, who had written harrowing accounts of the war to the papers; Coral had read them with sadness, and then combined that information with the limited correspondence he still had with Aris; it painted a grim picture.
Still, it had taken almost two years for the Arisian economy to buckle completely; and then it had gone fast, the Zumidian front collapsing as the supply lines did, and by March Crack had been forced to sign a peace treaty that made him the loser.
And all that time, Coral had stayed in Macawia, occasionally venturing out of Porto de Bico to Rio de Jandaia to speak with other Arisian exiles; many of them had started reading his works, both his old columns and the few books he’d written in exile.
Hm… Perhaps ‘’Palms of Costa de Jandaia’’ is a good title for the next one? But what could I write about? Aris First might be crippled, but that is no reason to get cocky.
‘’Mr Coral! Mr Coral!’’
Coral turned his head towards the chick calling his name and smiled. ‘’Hello Mia!’’ he replied as he stood up. ‘’Can I help you?’’
‘’There’s another Hippogriffess here!’’ Mia answered as she came to a halt before him; she was just ten, but already she was taller than he’d been at that age. Still the chick I took for a flight four years ago at heart, of course.
‘’Is there now?’’ Coral asked. Interesting. They didn’t usually come here; the exiles respected each others’ privacy well enough for that - those that knew he lived here, anyway. ‘’What does she want?’’
‘’She wants to see you,’’ Mia replied. ‘’I dunno what about, but she said it was important.’’
Coral sighed. ‘’Then I had better go and see what she wants, no?’’ He rose from the floor and spread his wings, shaking the sand out of his feathers. ‘’Shall we?’’
‘’Can I be on your back again?’’
‘’Of course.’’
Coral didn’t have the heart to tell her that she would soon be too heavy for him to carry comfortably. Mia loved the sky; he’d never hear the end of it once he told her they could no longer go for flights. If he had to guess, she would probably leave town to become a pilot once she was a little older.
But that was an issue for the future. It was a grand, bright summer day, and he could take her for a flight still. ‘’Are you secure?’’ he asked once she was on his back.
‘’Yep!’’
‘’Great. Where did you leave the Hippogriffess?’’
‘’At the main square.’’
‘’Off we go, then.’’
Coral spread his wings wide, flapped them and leapt into the air. With the extra weight it took a moment longer to adjust, but he was well-used to it by now, and he easily flew through the sky, keeping to the height of the roofs.
This could be a trap.
But it’d be a careless trap.
And Crack doesn’t know this is where I live; though he’s probably guessed I live in Macawia.
Would he even care, though? He’s certainly got bigger things to worry about.
Soon enough, the main square came into sight, and despite the usual crowd of Harpies present going about their business it was remarkably easy to spot the sole Hippogriffess in the group. That she looked up at him and waved as he approached helped too.
Hm. A blue-coated, red-maned Hippogriffess? Here to visit me?
‘’Salina Blue!’’ Coral greeted - in Arisian - as he landed. ‘’I hadn’t expected to see you here! Truth be told I thought you were dead!’’
The Hippogriffess shook her head. ‘’Though not for lack of trying, let me tell you. But I’m still alive, and so are you. It’s good to see you again, Coral.’’
‘’Likewise, Salina.’’
They hadn’t run in the same circles, not really, but Salina had interviewed him twice on the radio before Crack had come to power - they were, if not friends, acquaintances, and Coral knew her well enough to know she would never come here on Crack’s orders. ‘’Well, welcome to Porto de Bico!’’ Coral said as Mia slid off his back. ‘’What brings you here?’’
‘’Princess Skystar,’’ Salina answered. ‘’She’s taken over the government. Crack has been dismissed as of two days ago, and Aris First has been disbanded. She would like to see you return.’’
What.
Coral blinked thrice. ‘’I beg your pardon?’’
‘’I had a feeling you wouldn’t be convinced, but it’s true. The Princess led a coup and literally held Crack at gunpoint. That was enough to get him to resign. Deradicalisation efforts and reconstruction efforts are being started, but we’re going to need every claw and fin we can get.’’
‘’And you want to invite me back in?’’
‘’Well,’’ Salina admitted, ‘’you are considered one of the most important exiles. The Princess reasoned that if you were willing to return, most of the other refugees would follow suit.’’
‘’Hm.’’
He had to think. He couldn’t make a decision like this on the fly. ‘’Walk with me, please? There’s some good ocean here. I know you prefer being a Seapony.’’
‘’So do you, and yet here you are.’’
‘’Indeed.’’
Oh right, Mia’s still here.
‘’Mia,’’ Coral addressed her in Macawian, ‘’you can go back to whatever you were doing. Thanks for coming to get me.’’
‘’No problem, Mr Coral! Goodbye!’’
‘’Goodbye.’’
‘’You speak Macawian?’’ Salina questioned as Mia ran away, probably to join her friends.
‘’It would be difficult to survive here otherwise,’’ Coral pointed out wryly. ‘’Now come. Let us walk.’’
‘’I’ll follow your lead.’’
They set down upon the road to the beach. ‘’So,’’ Coral began, ‘’the Princess finally decided to take matters into her own claws?’’
‘’You know it wasn’t that easy,’’ Salina retorted. ‘’Until the war stalled, Crack enjoyed the support of well over half of the populace. It was only when the war started going bad that people realised their mistake.’’
‘’But that was almost a year ago,’’ Coral argued. ‘’Why take so long?’’
‘’A coup during the war would have probably led to civil war, and almost certain defeat in the war. Skystar didn’t want to risk it.’’
‘’We were never going to win that war.’’
‘’There was a chance,’’ Salina pointed out. ‘’I spoke with some of the generals who joined Skystar’s side; they all agree that the odds were stacked against us, but if the Firstport Landings had managed to succeed, we would have been able to knock out Chiropterra early.’’
‘’And drive Colthage to sign a peace deal? Unlikely, but not impossible.’’
‘’Precisely.’’
‘’But after the landings…’’
‘’There were a few opportunities, but none so good as that one. And after the Thunder Offensive failed, most generals agreed any chance of a victory was lost.’’
‘’The coup as it happened still almost went wrong,’’ Salina said. ‘’If Crack had called for the Phalanx to storm the mansion he was being held hostage in, Skystar would have shot him and the whole thing would have spiralled out of control. Then we might still have had a civil war.’’
‘’Thankfully Crack made the sensible choice for the first time in his life.’’
They had reached the beach now, and Coral took a moment to head over to his writings and make sure they were secured. ‘’Alright,’’ he said, ‘’we can head into the water if you want. Or we can stay on the beach.’’
‘’The beach will suffice.’’
‘’Suit yourself.’’
Coral looked away from Salina and out over the beach as silence fell between them. Salina obviously had something else to say, but judging by her silence she wasn’t sure how to say. Fair enough.
‘’Truth be told,’’ Salina spoke up, ‘’I’m not sure what to think of you.’’
‘’Oh? Do elaborate.’’
‘’You left us,’’ Salina said softly. ‘’Crack got into power and you ran.’’
‘’Of course I did.’’ Coral gave her a flat look. ‘’I was not going to stay in an Aris ran by that mad idiot.’’
‘’You could have stayed,’’ Salina argued. ‘’We survived. If we had all ran, Crack would still be in charge.’’
‘’I didn’t know that at the time,’’ Coral pointed out. ‘’I was fearing for my life. Crack was liable to purge anyone that disagreed with his vision for Aris’ future. I would have either been killed or been forced to live my life in continual fear of being killed. I was not willing to subject myself to that.’’
‘’Some would call that selfish.’’
‘’Some can go fuck themselves.’’
Salina’s mouth twitched. ‘’I agree. For the record, I don’t disagree with your choice. I wanted to run too, for a time. But then I realised that I had to stay, because I knew that Crack wouldn’t stay in charge forever, and someone would have to pick up the pieces after he…’’
‘’Cracked?’’ Coral couldn’t help suggesting.
‘’Precisely.’’ Salina sighed. ‘’But. You ran when you could have stayed, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive you for that. I cannot blame you… but I feel like I should do so, anyway.’’
‘’I can understand that,’’ Coral said carefully. ‘’I didn’t take the decision to flee easily. But it was the only option I saw. And I’ve done my best to help from here.’’
‘’So you have,’’ Salina agreed. ‘’That much cannot be denied. Speaking of…’’ she reached into her saddlebags and ruffled around in them for a few moments, before pulling out a set of files clipped together. ‘’We found this file for you in the National Intelligence Agency headquarters. It covers all of the info Crack had on you that we know of. We’re going to be giving these out to the people they cover, as a way to rebuild trust in the government. I figured I’d give you yours now.’’
‘’Thank you.’’ Coral said as he took the files. ‘’I’ll take a look at these later.’’ He sighed. ‘’Alright, I could go for a drink right about now. There’s a good bar down that way, do you mind? It’s a great summer day, after all.’’
‘’A drink sounds lovely, thank you.’’
‘’Perfect.’’