11. Charlotte

Charlotte

“It’s time for change,” the president said for the fifth time during his speech. Once again pausing to look at the audience, allowing his point to sink in. “It’s time to stop the senseless slaughter of innocents. It’s time to end the hate, and the violence. It’s time to find our way forward together. Today’s tragedy was not the first, and I fear it will not be the last, but if we sit here and do nothing, then we condone these two deaths, and every single one that went before them.”

He held the audience in the palm of his hand. This was even better than she’d dreamed of. Even the human president looked impressed.

“It’s time for change,” he said again, this one the final time. “We can achieve so much together, but we have to take that first step. I’m asking you to walk with me, to come on a journey to a better future. The question is, will you come?”

When he said nothing else, the room erupted. Reporters began shouting questions, not waiting to be called on. Humans and shifters alike applauded him, his speech having called for mercy, for justice, for healing, and for reconciliation. They hadn’t railed at the humans, but they hadn’t allowed the incident to be swept under the carpet either. Hot on the heels of the court ruling earlier this morning, something that would now be forgotten in light of the announcements just made, it was a lot of data to overwhelm the public with.

First, the members of the media who were in attendance would ask their questions. Then everyone would go home and digest what was said. The pundits were already starting to discuss it on the evening news and late shows, but it would be days before a clear response came from the public. They could only hope and pray that their call for patience, for tolerance, and for understanding would lead the way, because the alternative was a steady decline into civil war. Something none of them could afford.

When the fracas didn’t calm for a moment, Charlotte stepped forward beside the president. Seeing her there, he stepped aside, allowing her command of the podium.

“I understand you are distressed,” she said calmly, the voices instantly quieting to hear what she had to say. “We realise you have questions, and we’re here to answer them to the best of our ability, but if you don’t all calm down, then we will be forced to leave. Please, ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats again, and we’ll resume.”

Several reporters gave her angry looks, clearly thinking they had the right to speak and be heard over their rivals, but she wasn’t having a bar of it, fixing them all with a steady gaze until there was full compliance.

“Thank you,” she said. “We’ll take questions from John over there, then Macy, Sheila, and Toby. Then we’ll pick some more of you, so don’t stress. We’re going to cover it all.”

“You’re only picking those who support you,” a strident voice cried out from the side.

She didn’t even need to look to see who it was, she’d recognise David Carlington-Jones’ voice anywhere. How the fuck did he get a pass to come in here? She needed to talk to security, he shouldn’t be allowed within half a mile of the president.

“On the contrary, David. I believe John has slammed shifter policy as much as he has human policy. He’s an equal opportunity sucker-punch when it comes to politics,” she replied, wanting to nip this in the bud. There were several chuckles around the room, everyone knowing she spoke the truth.

“Then why don’t you call on me?” David challenged, not backing down. “Or are you too afraid of the questions I’ll ask?”

“David,” she said, with a calm she didn’t feel, “I do believe we have a procedure established. If you wish to ask questions, then you need to wait your turn. I’m not afraid of what you’re going to ask. I will say, before we get there, once again, that no, Grace Diaz and I are not in a secret, sexual relationship. We are work colleagues, and our relationship is purely a professional one. Now, John, if you’d like to ask your first question?”

“How long have you been in a relationship with the president?” David shouted, before John could even open his mouth.

Charlotte blinked. Camera shutters clattered like the sound of rapid gunfire. While standing, John refused to speak, looking between David and her, and clearly waiting for an answer. David might have been a Dick, jumping the queue, but John was going to honour the question, and from the hungry looks of the other reporters in the room, so were they.

“David, I don’t know what your obsession is with my sex life, or lack thereof,” she ground out. “I also don’t know why you insist that I couldn’t get a job working for The Seat unless I slept my way there. How very nineteen fifties of you to suggest that a woman’s place is in the home, looking after her man, and not trying to keep up with the boys. I can assure you that my qualifications in political science and communications more than qualify me for the position I hold as Grace Diaz’s assistant. I am not now, nor have I ever been in a sexual relationship with anyone who works or has worked in The Seat. Now, could we please move past this and let the real reporters ask the questions that really need to be answered.”

“Follow-up,” David cried out, and Charlotte wanted to scream.

“If you’re not in a sexual relationship with the president, then why did he move you from your apartment into the room beside his in The Seat? And how on earth did you go from Grace Diaz’s assistant, to being here in her place?”

“For the love of—” she growled, before taking a deep breath. “I’m going to answer the second question first. Grace Diaz is currently at her home indisposed. She will likely be away for the next few weeks to convalesce. As part of the procedures for our people, any assistant of Grace — which would be me, as she only has one — is able to act in her stead pro tem. I may represent her at things like this press conference, I may give a speech to the human government with the approval of the shifter cabinet, I may even give advice to the shifter cabinet. Unlike Grace, however, I cannot vote on matters within the cabinet. Nor can I vote in the human senate, as Grace’s position is more like that of an ambassador. She can give advice, and my only vote on matters that affect shifters alone and not humans. I can’t even do that, although I am able to tell them what our government’s stance is on the issue.”

“Don’t you need to be ratified by the human government?” another reporter, a woman this time, asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “It goes back to the ambassador thing. I represent the shifter government, I’m like a liaison. Now, your government can refuse me entry to the building, but they don’t get to declare whether I am a suitable representative of shifters. Denying me access to their government wouldn’t change the fact that this is the role I hold until Grace returns to work. We don’t need human permission to do this.”

There were murmurs in the room, but Charlotte refused to back down. If they paid half the attention to the actual laws of the place as they did to who designed the suit she wore, then these questions wouldn’t have been raised in the first place. Although thinking about it, she was kind of glad this one had been, because now it had been addressed and people’s minds set at ease.

“And moving his mistress into the room beside him?” David pressed.

She rolled her eyes, exasperated beyond measure. “Once I answer this, and put this ridiculousness to rest for good, can we please have him escorted from the room? I won’t have his page three, clickbait tactics disrupting this process any further.”

There were several nods from the audience, and a couple of people clapped. Good, then she wasn’t the only one pissed off by this. As she prepared to speak, Charlotte saw human guards making their way toward David. That was good, because if it had been shifters, the man would have kicked up an even bigger stink. As it was, she knew he wouldn’t believe her, and would make up his own story for the internet. There was nothing she could do about that, but hopefully she could convince the rest of them that there was nothing going on.

She half turned to face the president, ensuring her voice could still be clearly heard over the microphone. “We’re on the same floor?” Charlotte asked him, and he nodded, also rolling his eyes, which told her everything she needed to know. Yes, they were on the same floor, but no, her room was not near his.

“Alright then. Today, when I agreed to be pro tem for Grace, my security clearance, and thus the threat level against me, rose significantly. The apartment where I have lived for the last five years was no longer a secure enough location for me to reside in. Now, given we’d only just been informed of today’s tragic events, and the need for us to come together as a cabinet and discuss what we could do to ameliorate the situation in whatever way we could, it meant I didn’t have time to go house hunting. I also need somewhere to sleep tonight that is secure.”

Charlotte paused, reaching under the podium for her bottle of water and taking a sip.

“Please excuse me, I’ve been talking all day, and I’m a little parched,” she explained. “Not knowing where they were, or what they consisted of, I asked the president if there were any secure locations where visiting dignitaries were housed, somewhere secure that was fully furnished and wouldn’t be a drama for me to check into for a few days. He agreed that was a suitable suggestion, and passed me over to an aide to organise it. Given I have no time to pack, nor unpack, this was done for me by staff at The Seat. All I knew was what floor I was on.”

There was no way she was divulging that kind of information, the less humans knew about the interior layout of the building, and where people could be found, the better.

“This afternoon, having spent all day in the conference room with the cabinet, I was led to the lifts, and escorted to the correct floor. We then had the choice of a corridor to one side, and a door on the other. The corridor also had a door, but it was propped open, which made me suspect the door on the other side would also lead to the same thing. It was like a hotel, doors on the left, doors on the right. I was taken to one, shown how to enter, and then left to my own devices to shower and change. At no time did I see anyone else, other than the two women who very kindly helped me get ready, and my own assistant.”

A warmth at her back let her know the president was there, and he leaned over her shoulder. “The door on the landing she referred to, does indeed lead to where I reside. While we are on the same floor, we are not in the same corridor, and our apartments are nowhere near each other. Ms Bailey was given a three room apartment as she needed an office, and space for her belongings until such time as she finds alternative secure accommodation.”

“I hope now that we can put this aside and focus on the real task, of how to ensure a day like today never happens again.”

She slipped out of the way as John began to ask his questions, and the president began to answer him. Time and again, Charlotte stepped in, taking turns with the human press secretary to choose the next four reporters who were allowed to ask questions of either president.

After two solid hours, with all the details being picked over like vultures on a corpse, the press were finally satisfied with their meal.

“Are there any more questions?” Charlotte asked, almost groaning when a woman at the back raised her hand. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember your name. What is your question, please?”

“Can we all go home now?” the woman asked with a chuckle.

“You can,” Charlotte said, smiling. “I’m going to head back to my temporary lodgings and start sorting through what needs to stay, and what needs to go into storage while I’m staying at The Seat. I’ll take volunteers if anyone wants to put up their hand?”

There was more laughter as people began to rise, packing up equipment, and getting ready to go.

“Thank you everyone for coming here today, we appreciate your time, your honesty in your questions, and your courtesy. Please travel home safely,” the human press secretary told them all.

If only things stayed that civil.