Kalistani Major History

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Empress returns to Empire
Visits Odufaray for the first time and volunteers with Eshar rebuilding effort
Eshar Free City, Duchy of Odufaray
July 19, 5558


Empress stresses public service as she pitches in to the ongoing cleanup in Eshar

With six of the ten most wanted conspirators in the late Kalistani Insurgency now in custody of the IBSI, Acting Chancellor of the Empire, Dame Jacqueline DuMont has concurred with the Her Imperial Majesty's decision to return to the Empire from her six month sojourn in Gaduridos. But the Empress did return to Kaliburg. Instead, she directed that she be flown to Sulari International and then on to Eshar. Once in Eshar, she met with the Lord Mayor of the Free City and volunteered to join a civic work crew that was forming as an auxiliary to the NSP crews working in the area. Despite repeated requests for the Empress to let others work, Her Imperial Majesty would not be dissuaded from her efforts. She formally suspended her Imperial Prerogative "until further notice" and was assigned to a labor crew working to clear the Shore Park Neighborhood, a very badly damaged area that remains vacant even months after the fighting in the area was over.

After the day of work with the volunteers, the Empress was invited to give a speech. Though she still spoke slowly and carefully, with a fairly heavy Lurrian accent, her words were felt by those who remained to hear her speak, and were welcomed.

"We were not able to perform National Service as teenager before we came to Kalistan 7 years ago. But we recognize value of National Service to our Nation, and we wish to participate in service along with you, our People. Though it will not be in traditional manner, helping to rebuild is one way we can contribute to National Service Program that has made Kalistan great country. We appreciate opportunity, even limited to get to know our neighbors and fellow countrymen here. Today, and every day since these horrific events shook Nation, the people of Kalistan have worked very hard to put their lives back together. We cannot imagine hardship that people of this community and this Duchy have faced over last year because of the actions of few. But we wish for you all to know that we will stand here beside you until your community is rebuilt. We have suffered our own losses, and that hurt is irreparable, but working together, we can work through it, heal, and become stronger as one people. We intend to remain in Odufaray until job is done and your home is rebuilt better than before."

Following her first day of work, the Empress shook hands of several people she worked with and then left the cleanup scene along with Imperial Security to her ducal estate outside Eshar, which was itself badly damaged in the fighting, but remains mostly in tact--This was in fact the first opportunty she has had to spend a night in her own mansion since being named Duchess of Odufaray. Most of the volunteers she worked with were impressed by the Empress' appearance and contribution to the work effort. "I think I got to know the Empress a little better today," said Monica Sheffield of Eshar who worked on the same crew as the Empress. "She always seemed very remote but when she is standing 15 feet away from you, lifting planks and cinder blocks and getting cuts and scrapes just like the rest of us, it's really difficult to hate someone like that, and you can start to see a little bit of yourself in her."

"Well, I was one of the people who was taken in by the Democracy Forum folks," said Bert Felliciano of Gendaris, who was recently parolled and was performing public service as part of his sentence. "They spent years saying what a wicked person she is, but even knowing who I am, being introduced as Bert, who was an insurgent, she still spoke to me kindly and offered me water. I think she did a lot to really improve her image here today. Who know if she'll ever be back, but I can tell people pretty proudly that I got to meet her once."

"The Empress asked to be placed on the regular labor gang," said site supervisor E-6 Walter Conrad from the NSP. "We were initially going to have her do something light but she insisted that she, and her security officers, actually be put into physical hard labor. I think she is working through a lot of things and she said work serves as a distraction, but mostly she just wanted to be of some use to our work here. So we put her on the demolition and clearing crew, and we can sure use it, as we have about six square blocks of demolished homes to clear out." The Empress was part of the team that not only cleared away parts of homes that were demolished in the fighting but also catalogued and secured any personal property that was discovered, so that the former occupants of the cleared homes can collect whatever belongings are left. "The Empress' team cleared and cataloged items from two full houses today."

While the NSP was thankful for the Empress to have appeared for a day of work, they were doubly surprised when she turned out for morning muster the next day and resumed her position with her labor gang. Her two security officers also turned out for another shift. The Empress told us that she intends to return daily until this neighborhood is cleared and rebuilt. Upon receiving the news of the Empress' choosing to continue in Eshar for the time being, she said "Her Imperial Majesty has informed me that I am to continue on as I have been since February, that she intends to return to Kaliburg in a few months, and that if I need her for something, I know where she can be reached. I am wondering if she will ever return to Kaliburg, but she also said to me that the idea of returning to the empty mansion on Wilson Hill where she and the Emperor lived and raised the Crown Princess Carolina is 'too difficult' an idea to face right now. So I think she is still grieving the loss of Emperor Fredrick and has thrown herself into work in Eshar while she processes his death. She believes that getting to know some of the parolees who she will work with will help her heal, and help the whole country heal, and healing is what we need most now. So Her Government is prepared to give her all the time she needs and will welcome her home when she returns."

The Crown Princess Carolina remains in Ciudad de Gaduri with the late Emperor's Cousin and his family, and is reportedly learning how to ride horses while attending school and learning Egelian. She is expected to return to Kalistan next month so she can begin classes in Eshar and be reunited with the Empress. "When the house is repaired," said Dame DuMont.