514 - To My Face?

A comment came to Assembly a few days afterwards, to be added to the Mahid debate.  It was a letter from Ilesias Mahid, from Yeola-e.  It was very short, no more than two lines.  “After the Sack, when Clan Mahid seemed to be ended, I thanked my Great Noble God that no child would ever again be raised as I was.  To the Assembly’s consideration… please let that remain so.”

It looked like it was going to be a short debate today, with mostly public commentary being added to the Mahid debate, which looked like it would be adopted, with modifications to Rafas’s original proposal, to assuage people’s fears and concerns, and to improve upon the idea of Mahid as far as the Empire was concerned.

The last item up on the list that I had read the night before while I dried out in the Heir’s library and tried not to smirk at Ilesias’s complaints of how the Mahid girls had thrown him into the Grand Allee fountain.  It said simply ‘Presentation of Petition.  Request for validation of papers.”

Everyone was stirring a bit when Assemblyman Bagofas, from Shika District began his presentation.  He seemed a little embarrassed by what he was presenting though nothing he’d said yet was anything special.

“… the petition I bring before my fellow Assemblymen and women… because there are sufficient signatures… I must.

“We, the undersigned, do not believe that Minis Kurkas Joras Amitzas Aan is legitimately a candidate for Imperator, because his birth certificate, for Muunas the First, is a fake and admittedly faked.  There is no legitimate day that exists in the Arkan calendar that is a valid birthday for the aformentioned Minis Aan.  We contend that the official date of this person is a day that officially does not exist, therefore anyone born upon such a day cannot officially exist, at least not in any governmental or official capacity.”  The Assemblyman kept his composure well while he read this argument, but there was a blush creeping up the back of his neck that I could see all the way over to my chair.

There was a moment of silence and then a wave of laughter rose up in the Assembly, but mixed in I could hear a few voices calling for real debate…  a ten or so of the most conservative Assemblymen were on their feet, raising their hands for attention and speaking turns, the looks on their faces as if someone had just handed them a gem or a treat of some kind.  Did they honestly think they could use this petition?

The question had to be debated because it was a valid petition, correctly presented, but truly? Honestly?  They were going to try and argue – to my face?—that I did not exist in a governmental capacity?