10: Transitive Equality
Lissa wasn’t going to stand for this. At the very least, Taira needed to be warned.
She headed for the Capitol Building and lurked about a block away, waiting for her sister to come out. It was only a few minutes until the end of her workday so there was no reason to go through security and get sneered at by a bunch of politicians inside for showing up to the centre of government with no notice given, inferior blood and casual attire. (Lissa wondered if the Bee and ‘Pay politicians also got sneered at.)
Besides, there were some reporters handing out outside the building for some reason, and Lissa didn’t want to walk through them. Whatever drama they were here for (hopefully not Taira again), Lissa didn’t want to appear in the background of it.
Taira exited the building in a small group, and the reporters only filmed them in a cursory sort of way, so apparently they were waiting for someone else. Lissa relaxed, and peered at the crowd. Taira and one of the more conservative politicians from Madame’s circle, Bertrand, were the centre of it; they were deep in discussion (it looked important but friendly), and surrounded by various aides and attendants. Lissa recognised a handful of them, young Abby politicians at the start of their careers, working their way up, and a handful of ‘Pays and Bees at the height of theirs, proud to be aiding such important people. Merra, a watery-eyed Bee who’d been ready to quit politics last year, was there, looking much happier; good for her. Holland, a thin, serious-looking Taipay who had a lot of power in ‘Pay circles due to his significant stake in Herron Studios, an incredibly successful ‘Pay company. Lissa had often thought, privately, that he probably just bought a lot of his political influence.
Taira and Bertrand said their goodbyes, and Taira offered him a handshake. Some of the reporters perked up, perhaps hoping that she was going to do something showy and stupid like offer dominance, hand out with fingers spread to engulf his hand in hers. She didn’t, obviously. Bertrand and Taira were somewhat awkwardly ranked in relation to each other; Bertrand was more senior than she was, older in both years as a vampire and years as a politician, and a member of a very respected conservative alliance full of elders, but he wasn’t an elder himself. (And, it was worth noting, if only privately, that he was a man. Technically, the Yunor were a powerless, rather silly radical cult in vampire society, but it wasn’t like their ideas didn’t permeate said society to some degree. Women were more equal among equals, and men had to fight harder for less respect; it was easier to publicly overlook or disrespect a man and expect society to ignore or not notice the slight.)
If they’d been interacting at a bar or on the street, or perhaps even privately within politics, Bertrand would be able to demand submission from Taira if he chose, and get it. He was her social superior. But not by enough that equality was unseemly; he wasn’t Madame, and they were in a place where they were expected to work together as equals, and had clearly just been having a friendly conversation. A handshake that declared equality – hand flat, thumb up, ready to link fingers with the other party without anyone’s hand engulfing the other – was the most appropriate, and that’s what Taira offered, and what Bertrand accepted, and the reporters all looked a bit disappointed.
Then Taira turned to say goodbye to her various aides, and offered one of them a cursory handshake as well. The choice here was obvious; she was absolutely senior to all of these people in every important way. But the hand that she offered Holland was the same as Bertrand – hand flat, thumb up. And they shook hands as equals.
Right there in front of Bertrand. Immediately after declaring equality with a technical superior, in a situation that he had no inclination or opportunity to object to, she turned around and declared equality to some newbie hanger-on of inferior blood type.
Lissa stared in stunned silence. So did the reporters, and so did Bertrand. He’d get his wits back about him soon, but what was he supposed to do? Technically, his interaction with Lissa was concluded; it’d look incredibly petty if he, what, demanded a new goodbye handshake? Attacked her over his honour? Had they been in a club, that’s exactly what would happen, and Taira would walk away with less blood and some vicious bite wounds to remind her of basic decorum. But they were at work, and there was no way for Bertrand to defend his honour without looking impotent and petty.
Taira and Holland had clearly planned this little display; they were not shocked, and rapidly vanished before Bertrand could react. A couple of reporters followed Taira down the street, and Lissa decided that maybe this was not the best day to walk home with her sister.
She retreated, and headed for Taira’s apartment instead. Taira would take a roundabout route to lose the reporters (they could find out where she lived easily, but no sense in letting them follow her right there rather than putting in the work), so Lissa knew that she could beat her there and wait inside. There was simply no way that Taira would let any reporters inside.
There was a man outside Taira’s apartment.
Lissa hesitated. He just stood in the hall, watching her neutrally. A reporter who managed to get ahead of the game, maybe? But when she approached, he backed up and watched her let herself into her sister’s apartment.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I work with Taira.”
“You work with Taira.”
“Security.”
Ah. That made sense. She had been making the kind of waves that might call some rather violent attention from some of the more impulsive Bees, or possibly even assassins hired by her rivals. What if he was one such assassin? No; he would’ve sent her away if he wanted to kill Taira without witnesses. Letting her in would mean taking on them both, and while a professional assassin surely would be able to, a professional assassin wouldn’t be so unnecessarily messy.
She figured. She didn’t know anything about assassins.
When Taira did arrive, she greeted the man neutrally and without surprise, so the worry was probably for nothing. She stepped inside and froze, brows raising in surprise, at the sight of her sister in the middle of her living room, arms crossed, glaring.
“Lissa. How’s your day going?”
“Quietly, until about ten minutes ago. What the fuck was that?”
“Ah. You saw that.”
“Everyone’s probably seen it by now! I bet it’s on every television in the City as we speak! Are you actually actively trying to get yourself killed?!”
“I’m not going to get – ”
“Yes, you are! They’re not going to just stand by and let you grandstand like this! The Abbies – ”
“I’m one of ‘the Abbies’, in case you’d forgotten! Would you calm down and stop thinking like a Bee for two minutes?”
“Okay; okay. I’m calming down. I’m listening. This had better be good.”
“I don’t owe you any justification, sister dear, but if it’ll set your mind at ease, who do you think they’re going to blame for that little fiasco? Do you really think it’s a good look, council member against council member, Abby against Abby? They won’t turn on me unless they have to. Unless they think I’m dangerous, or there’s no other choice.”
“You are dangerous; aren’t you trying to bring the system down? And you turned on them out there.”
“That’s one way of viewing the situation, yes. Now what’s the way that’s more beneficial to Bertrand and his friends?”
Lissa narrowed her eyes. “You’re setting up Holland to take the fall.”
“Trust me, he deserves it. His name is up there on the expansion bill right below mine, and boy was he eager to gain a population advantage in the stupid little ‘Pay/Bee turf war.”
“You’re setting yourself up as his patsy, so you can turn against him at the eleventh hour and have the conservatives enact their wrath on him.”
“And on his various low-ranking cronies that he’s managed to buy. His money and his company is a cancer in our government, and I’m handing our dear opponents and excuse to excise it on a silver platter. But they won’t get that done before the Type A population expansion. It’ll serve as a nice distraction while their numbers go up and once the corruption that allowed such a thing is exposed, well, of course the only recourse will be to allow a comparable increase in Type B’s. My people are in the sweet spot of small numbers and high individual power, but when we’re outnumbered so unbelievably thoroughly by ‘Pays and Bees, the balance of power will shift, and everyone will be more equal.”
“And you’ll go down in history as that idiot who let a mere ‘Pay manipulate her into enacting his grand plan. Your fellow Abbies might accept your apology and keep you in the fold, but they’ll never give you any measurable level of power within their ranks again.”
Taira shrugged. “It’s worth it. You know it’s worth it. If we can pull this off…”
“What makes you so sure that you can? Do you really think that your opponents won’t see right through you?”
“They think they already have. They think this is about Holland, and my political allies, and squabbling for power at the top levels. They’ll be distracted by ‘defeating’ Holland and humiliating me up there, not worrying about the general population.”
“I went to see Madame today.”
“Oh. How’d that go?”
“We had a talk about Benny, and the whole human murder spree thing.”
“The wha – ? Oh, right; that. So sorry to hear about it.”
“He’s innocent.”
“Well, if you say so.”
“No; that’s my point. Listen. He’s innocent; Madame basically admitted as much to my face. She’s setting him up. To set me up.”
Taira blinked. “What?”
“Don’t you think it’s weird that he hasn’t been arrested yet? That he’s still allowed up to the surface? They’re not pulling that trigger because it’s aimed at you, through me. All the evidence against him applies equally to me, and that’s the point. If you step too far out of line, I get convicted of murder. I’m a hostage they’re holding against you.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“How are you going to stop it, if you keep fucking around with dangerous stunts like this?”
“You don’t think I can protect you?”
“Taira. I don’t think you can even protect yourself.”
Derin Edala 