37. Chapter 37
After the dinner, all the guests gracing our table moved into a smaller room with the President and his mate. Graciously, he inquired about our choices of drinks and filled our glasses himself while the First Lady took a seat on one of the upholstered chairs.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable. As I said before, I'm very honored to finally meet you. I would like to hear what you have to say, and I want to assure you that whatever transpired with IC had nothing to do with the United States Government"," the President said, looking comfortable holding speeches of any length.
Rachel cleared her throat. We had chosen her before as our spokesperson because of her background as a reporter. As insecure as she had seemed a few times during dinner, all that fell off her as she tuned into her element. Self-confident, she filled the President in on Vandruk's history, leaving out that we had discovered some of our gallies alive. It wasn't that we were ashamed of this part of our history, but we had decided it would be better to show unity and strength in front of the humans rather than probable strife within our ranks.
Rachel had an uncanny ability with words. She linked our stories with IC's without laying blame on either. Her words were factual, yet compelling. My admiration for her grew with every moment.
At the end, the President leaned back in his chair, draining his drink. He stared at Rachel without really looking at her. "That's a lot to digest. I assume you have proof?"
"Some of that proof is, as far as I know, at the hospital right now, being checked out by doctors after having been freed from IC's prison," Rachel replied. "Other proof you may find in their records."
The President drummed his fingers on the empty glass. "And Doctor Weidenhof?"
"Is our guest for the time being," I stated.
"Guest?" The President raised an eyebrow but didn't push any further.
"I've met with Doctor Weidenhof a few times to catch up on the portal's progress. He never mentioned having had any contact with you"—he lifted his empty glass in my direction, circling the other khadahrs as well—"which supports your story."
"Let me refill your glasses"." The First Lady rose gracefully. She made her way from one of us to the next to see if we liked anything else to drink while the President continued. "It's needless to say that his entire situation warrants a special investigation. In the name of the United States, I would like to apologize for any wrongdoings that have taken place against your people."
He waited a beat as if expecting us to thank him, but everyone stayed silent. His mannerisms didn't change, but his expression turned a shade cooler. Amber had advised us before to toe a hard line , as she called it. Don't let him think you're a bunch of natives who can be bought off with a handful of beads , she had added. It had taken Jenna to explain this further so we could understand, but now we got it.
"As you can probably appreciate, by the same token, the United States cannot tolerate you holding any of our citizens against their will"," the President continued.
"Vandruk is a sovereign nation, just like Russia or any other country on Earth. As such, Vandruk has the right to incarcerate criminals for crimes that took place on their land"," Amber interjected coolly.
"Vandruk is not a land yet recognized by our government, Miss Seymore"," the President replied coolly.
"Khadahrshi Amber," Amber corrected, unimpressed by the President.
"It doesn't matter if you recognize our sovereignty or not," I interjected. "The fact of the matter is that it was humans who came to Vandruk, not the other way around. We have the right to defend our lands any way we see fit."
The President leaned back in his chair, the smile on his lips turned down slightly. Amber had been right. We did need to stand up for ourselves. He waved his hand. "We'll let the investigators figure all this out. In the meantime, I would very much like to improve our relations and form some trade agreements."
"Trading what?" Dzur-Khan asked.
"Well, we'll figure all the details out later. First and foremost, I'm very interested in sending more scientists if you can assure their safety, but I would also like to trade for your so-called firerocks and glanzor. They might make an interesting energy source for us." His grin returned, and Dzur-Khan and I exchanged a knowing look. It was just like Amber had predicted, and with a heavy heart, my one small hope that we could keep the portal open died.
"We could definitely discuss that."
"Good, thank you, dear"." The leader of the free world, as he was sometimes called, took the drink from his mate's offered hand, smiling again deeply; he nodded at Dzur-Khan.
"In the meantime, if there is anything you might need, just name it"." He made a flippant move with his hand.
"I do have a list"." Amber slid a piece of paper at the President, who scanned it quickly. "Medical supplies, hygiene articles, seeds, chocolate?" He gave Amber an amused, inquisitive look. She shrugged her shoulders. "Some of the women have cravings."
He laughed and handed the paper to one of his security agents. "See that these things are brought over right away."
Then he turned back to us. "No problem. To show our goodwill, your friends at the IC headquarters will receive these things immediately."
"Perfect, and to show our goodwill, we will have Weidenhof sent back through the portal tomorrow"." Amber's smile was cold.
"I'm sorry to hear what happened to your sister," the President said.
"Thank you. That was tragic indeed," Amber replied carefully.
"That incident, too, warrants further investigation"," the President assured her.
Dzur-Khan sat up, putting a protective hand on his mate.
"We would appreciate it if you would return with some further questions when the time comes." The President rose as well.
"Absolutely"." Amber nodded eagerly. "Just say when and I'll be there. I'm very much interested in bringing the people responsible for my sister's death to justice."
"Good, that's settled then"." He looked at his watch. "Oh, look how the time flies. I'm afraid I have to make some calls with associates who are in other time zones. Let's reconvene this meeting in the morning. After breakfast?" He rose without waiting for us to agree.
"We're looking forward to it," I said since nobody else responded.