"I move that there be an immediate referendum regarding joining the Circum-Terra Stepping-Path Agreement. The people deserve to have their will heard and followed through on." 

On other Earths, someone in Orca Blackfish's position would certainly have to fear reprisals from the current government. But there are very few guns on Whiterock Isle, though there is a small prison. In a population of a mere ten thousand citizens there is rarely if ever a call for lethal violence. 

Orca Blackfish does not fear for her life - not that the present government could not kill her, but that in doing so it would almost certainly doom itself to breakup and absorption by Asterion even in excess of what may come of this vote. She is almost certain to complete the task she has set out to do as her political calling, dead or alive; and so she is unafraid. If any should die, better it be her than anyone else. 

And in the end, this is really a formality. This course was set when the present government fumbled the resource fund.

She almost feels a little sorry for President Heliantha. Almost.

This is not the worst day of President Heliantha's life. That would be the day her wife suffered a (thank the graces and modern medicine, non-fatal) stroke eight years ago. But it is a very bad day, nonetheless. 

Her position is impossible, politically. She is attempting to hold back the incoming tide with a wall of sandbags. No matter how high she stacks her pile, the water is always going to sweep away her little queendom - and when that happens, she can kiss her generous salary as a high-ranking state official goodbye. Money that goes largely to improving her disabled wife's quality of life. 

She is not such an idiot as to have deliberately plundered the treasury, as some humans on other earths might well do in her position. But it has been harder to keep the resource fund intact of late, for rather obvious reasons. Her attention has been elsewhere. 

If she stalls, she'll simply be impeached. Blackfish has the mandate she needs from the people. 

So, the only way to win is... 

Put on a bright smile, and give them your full cooperation. Demonstrate integrity and a commitment to your people. And hope to all the graces that Asterion can use your expertise in some role in their new government. 

"This moment has been coming for a long, long time. I daresay it will be the end of a way of life for our people. But I'm not such a damn fool as to contravene the clear will of my constituents. You'll have your referendum, Blackfish." 

Witness Whitefur is not a particularly high-ranking diplomat. She is a functionary, first and foremost, here to ensure that the island has a fair referendum and joins the Stepping-Path of its own heart and mind. 

It remains to be seen how badly the investment fund has been pilfered from, and how Whiterock Island can recover from its debts. But neither of these things are her concern, in this moment. In this moment, all she has to say is:

"I witness the motion for a binding referendum on behalf of the Constellation of Asterion. President Heliantha, my staff will be expecting full cooperation with independent checks of ballot counts."

"You'll have it, Witness."

Better to go out with a smile. 

Thistle... 

I hope you can forgive me. 

The session of the legislature goes on from there, making its last arrangements before the critical vote. Little remains to be done: Heliantha has been expecting the vote to be called for weeks, now, ever since Witness Whitefur first arrived on the island. 

Blackfish is magnanimous in her presumed victory, and does not gloat. There will be time for that later, if at all.

Over the next few weeks, the elections branch of the island government, working in collaboration with Witness Whitefur's supervisory staff, sets up the polling stations for Whiterock Isle's last referendum as a sovereign nation.

And quietly at home, Orca Blackfish pens notes to her subordinates, and has a quiet conversation with her system-mates.

Do you think we're doing the right thing? Shark asks, her thoughts tinged with anxiety the system has long since learned to hide. Asterion has good press, but how much will they care about our island when the time comes to join? How will they administrate? Will they be fair and just, or will they mishandle us and make us into something lesser than we are? 

I don't know for certain what will become of us, but other small member substates of the Constellation have been treated well in the past. Asterion is a vast place, too large perhaps for us to get a sense of its scale. It covers most of three continents alone, and the Stepping-Path nearly contains the other three inhabitable ones. We are barely a drop in the bucket compared to it, a large town in an odd location at most. I believe we will be treated well, not because we are significant to them, but because most large towns in Asterion are treated well, even those on isthmuses and isles. 

And it is a small feather in Asterion's cap for another of the few holdout nation-states to finally "get steppied", as the pundits call it so casually. There is more than a little truth to the comparison. After all, are we not becoming Asterion's Kept in this arrangement? 

They will not want to spoil their good publicity. We'll be welcomed with open arms. 

After all, it's hardly as if we're one of those Asrai theocracies that makes it hard for anyone to leave, Dolphin chimes in. We're a developed nation and everyone who is here remains because they want to. 

You hardly need to trill about it so eagerly, Dolphin.

Come now, can't you find a little pride in holding on this long? 

Dolphin makes a little trilling click of laughter in their head. 

If you have nothing interesting to say, then please let me file these documents.

Of course.

Tomorrow morning when the polls open is going to be fun.

Meanwhile, the President is having a rather different internal conversation... 

I still say we should've taken the money and ran. There are still places left that'd take us. 

Where, precisely? Rising-Flame Derim, where we'd have to pretend Asrai faith for the rest of our lives? Galantha, or is it Recandar, I can't remember who's winning the civil war at the moment. Another tiny micronation like Ohalu? Oh, wait, they have an extradition treaty with Asterion. And are we just going to leave behind our precious Thistle? She still needs a wheelchair to get anywhere reliably with her bad leg. Hardly the most inconspicuous flight. 

No, the time to flee has long since gone. We're stuck with Asterion's tender mercies. 

We should accept defeat gracefully and spend this time comforting our Thistle. She's taking the news hard. 

Our life is going to get tougher in the months ahead, but we've been through worse. Remember physical therapy?

Graces, don't remind me. 

But we got through it. Just like we will get through this. 

Have a little faith, Honeysuckle. We're stronger than you think. 

Alright, Heliantha. Have it your way.