Ambassador Wilbart had spent a long while lost in thought before realizing that she really had acted rather foolishly.
But still, what truly surprised her was that she hadn't felt the slightest offense or displeasure. She was proud of herself. Perhaps thanks to her experience with her daughter, she was actually quite good at getting along with mystics like this.
The ambassador walked back to the door and looked out at the still-crowded street, then sighed.
"When this parade is over, while there's still a little free time before President Nishita arrives, I'll go see my daughter. I'll take Frey and give her a few days off. Yes, a few days off."
As she pondered this, she turned on the television out of habit. The screen showed the inside of the Alliance Congress building. In the sunken circular structure, much like a vast arena, a slim, elegant woman with a refined air floated toward the center on her personal flying platform, watched by tens of thousands of legislators and staff.
Marshal Esco, the acting president, stood on the central dais alongside the rest of the current government's leadership. They stared at the frail woman on her flying platform as if she were their natural enemy.
Then the whole hall erupted into thunderous cheers.
Ambassador Wilbart watched the Alliance senator, Ametha Pametin, with a complicated expression. For a moment, all she could think was, That is what a great woman should be. But she also knew that this woman really was the source of all the trouble Blue Star Commonwealth had faced lately.
At that moment, it was ten in the morning on the Nefi Gem Coast, and the legislators' battle was about to begin again.
But at the same time, in Nefi's equatorial region, in the City of Seven Seas