7:50 AM
July 10, 2017
Liūčaris Manor
Outside of Kalnaspilis, Aucuria
The first car to pull onto the roundabout in front of Liūčaris Manor was not one of the limousines that would be used to ferry the twenty-three visiting world leaders from their hotel in downtown Kalnaspilis out to the manor seventeen kilometers away, but a comparatively simple black sedan with lightly tinted windows. Thank goodness, thought President Pantaleimonas Uspelevičius, standing in front of the double doors that served as the entrance to the vacation residence of the Aucurian president. They're here.
Two men stepped out of the car into the morning's cool breeze: Feliksas Juozapauskas, the governor of Masialia, and Vilhelmas Kiedis, mayor of Kalnaspilis. The two were not participating in the summit, but they would be present- alongside a few select members of the press- for the formal greeting of the leaders visiting the summit as they arrived, one by one, at the manor. "Mayor Kiedis, Governor Juozapauskas, welcome to Liūčaris!" Uspelevičius said, trying to keep his tone more in line with the tone a white collar worker might use with a respected colleague. "Thank you, Pan- President Uspelevičius," Governor Juozapauskas replied. "Yes, thank you," Kiedis added. "Do you think the summit will go well?"
Uspelevičius snorted. "That bad, then?" Kiedis replied, raising an eyebrow. "Of the past three summits, only one- Xiangmen- has produced a final declaration," Uspelevičius noted. "Three of five articles of that declaration were filled with vague, meaningless platitudes. I don't have nearly the global political capital that Antelope Shohai has, and the agenda we've set is much tougher given the group of leaders we are dealing with." "The Aucurian voters wouldn't have it any other way, I assume?" Juozapauskas asked, triggering a nod from Uspelevičius. "Gruduškas and Margraitis would have had a field day. You recall the outrage over the concept of extraditing Kobi Aschan, and that dealt with a liberal democratic country," he remarked. "People would be outraged if I didn't bring up human rights here. We could say goodbye to 2018." All three men knew what that meant- Uspelevičius and Juozapauskas were members of the Labor Party and Kiedis was a Social Democrat, and both parties were part of Uspelevičius's governing coalition. A substantial swing to the right in 2018's legislative elections would make governing much harder for all of them, and could quite possibly end badly for them when their offices did eventually come up for reelection.
Quiet fell over the group for several seconds, the only noise being the sound of wind rustling through the trees that surrounded the manor. "Well, at least the weather's nice," Juozapauskas commented, breaking the silence. The sun was inching its way up a clear, cloudless sky, and the temperature was only 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit); the forecast predicted it would heat up to a still pleasant 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the afternoon. A slight breeze- just strong enough to prevent the air from growing stagnant- ruffled its way through the trees and hills. "Yeah, it's a nice change from Xiangmen," Uspelevičius replied. "It felt like Antelope Shohai was trying to roast us alive there." "With weather this nice it's a shame the summit's not being hosted outside, I suppose," Kiedis remarked. "Some of these leaders could use the fresh air."
"Thinking of that, who all is attending?" Juozapauskas inquired. "I hear there were some very last minute invitations." Uspelevičius nodded. "You've got the various permanent attendees of course, standard roster of world powers- Ainin, Ankoren, Namor, Luziyca, Tuthina, Teutonia, Vjaarland, Lyonsland, so on and so forth- but after last night we are now up to nine invitees. I believe the three that came in just before the cutoff were Fjalland, Sjealand, and Xiaodong. So we are now up to 25 total attendees, including Aucuria." "You'll have your hands full," Juozapauskas noted.
"Maybe we can tell them the history of this place to quiet some of the more autocratic ones," Uspelevičius joked, eliciting a laugh from Juozapauskas and a smile from Kiedis. "Show them we mean business." Liūčaris Manor had been built for Aleirikas Kalvaitis, an Aucurian military commander and Speaker of the Saeimas for two non-consecutive periods in the 1940s and very early 1950s, during the late "Grey Period". During the "Grey Period", which began in 1872 and ended in 1952, the Aucurian government was an authoritarian regime controlled by the nationalist Democratic-Republican Party and its paramilitary, the Greyshirts. By the time Kalvaitis rose to power, though, the regime was split between two factions: the Gryphons, who believed that the authoritarian regime that had been established in 1872 was to exist perpetually, and the Wolves, who believed that it was a necessary temporary measure and that Aucurian democracy would eventually have to be restored. Kalvaitis was the leader of the Gryphons and a commander of the Greyshirts, and was implicated in the deaths of several prominent Wolves, including Aucurian President Feliksas Lupeikis. In the end, the Grey regime was overthrown by the Aucurian people in the 1952 Velvet Revolution; Kalvaitis was ultimately executed and his home confiscated by the Aucurian government.
"You also won't have any issues with protesters disrupting the summit," Kiedis noted. "A certain benefit to holding the summit in the middle of the woods, I suppose." "Also very true," Uspelevičius agreed. "And hopefully the cellular signal is weak enough out here that nobody will be able to live-tweet," he quipped, drawing a laugh from the other two. "You might have to confiscate their cell phones, you know," Juozapauskas added, still chuckling, drawing even more laughter.
The sound of the door opening behind them quieted their laughter. "Mister President," said a member of the Aucurian Armed Forces, "we've been told that the first of the limousines has passed through the gates and is now on the property. They should be at the manor soon." "Good. Thank you," Uspelevičius replied, turning around. The soldier nodded, saluted, then headed back inside.
Fixing his tie, Uspelevičius turned back around. "Alright," he said, donning a diplomatic grin. "Let's begin."
