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A cool breeze blows into the long line people coming out of the Rhenick town hall. Johann Speidel smiles to himself. Rhenick was much cooler and far less humid then the places he was deployed with his Division. He also wasn’t 6 feet down in a trench below the ground, worried about what how he was going to die. Instead, he was worrying about the future of the country. Today, was election today.

The republic’s flag flutters in the breeze, hoisted above the town hall. People all around him were standing in line, waiting for their time to vote. His friend, Karl Hoffinger, stands behind him with a cigarette in hand. “So, Johann, how you think that Honorite fella’s gonna do here?” Johann shrugs. “Well, I know he won’t win, this district is too socialist for that. We don’t have to worry unless he gets a large margin of votes though. However, I think the Honor Party, if it does send some candidates up to Parliament, will get a chance to introduce some of it’s idea’s will they’ll be seen nationwide and then people will start to doubt them.” The line moves up a little as people, voters, start to leave from the Town hall exit. “I don’t know,” Karl replies, “as vindictive as we are-Ostarian’s I mean-I think a lot of people will vote for ‘em either way. You hear stories on TV all the time about neighborhood feuds. There was that one in the Glickner suburbs wear a man’s dog sh*t on his neighbor’s door mat so the neighbor bagged up his own sh*t and threw it in the other guy’s car, and no one said boo. If a Rhenick man is vindictive enough to bag up his own sh*t, then we may be in trouble.”

Johann contemplates that for a minute. Ostarian’s were vengeful folk, less so in the Basin, but still vengeful. That made Johann worry. He turns to Karl. “Look, we are also bound to gain ground. Once we do, we can finally teach the masses about the horrors of war, and we can show them that peace and solidarity are what make the world truly go ‘round.” Johann said it sternly, but if it was to comfort Karl or himself, he couldn’t tell. Karl sways his head side to side. “I believe what you say about peace and solidarity, but socialism has never been popular outside of places like this, hell, we’re one of the few area’s that actually supports socialism, most other SDP areas are just progressives or social democrats.”

The line starts to get smaller and smaller as more people come out of the town hall after voting, Johann and Karl keep moving up with the line without a second thought, until they hear shouts coming from the entrance of the town hall. “You hear that, Karl?”

“Yeah I...do.” Both men heard the shout. Both men look at each other in fear. They tilt to the left to see the commotion at the town hall entrance. They see two Honor Guard men in typical Honorite garb waving clubs around and shouting things like “Honor” and “down with the traitors!” A policeman at the townhall entrance comes up to them. “No electioneering! Back away you two!” The Honorite‘s step away a few steps, and one shouts “you’re scared of the truth you damn red!” The rather bulky police officer pulls out his taser and points it. “I said no electioneering, now get out of here before I arrest you two!” The two Honorite’s nod. “Alright, see you in Parliament, damn red!” The two men start marching away, but adjacent to line. “Honor!” They both shout it while giving the Honor Party salute, several men in the line returning the party chant and salute.

Though the scene is over, Karl and Johann’s fear remains. How could such a thing happen in such a solid red state? It wasn’t surprising to see the Honor Guard in Amsel or Marnik, hell, they were even common in Ruhmstadt and Artsbruck, but Rhenick? Johann shivers. And that was why he and Karl were there. The line continues to move forward until Karl and Johann were in the town hall itself. Johann, in front, gives the old woman at the front desk, a teacher, she appeared to be, his ID and full name. She checks his name off a list and sends him to a voting booth.

Johann walks straight in. He votes for the worker and for peace. He checks off every electable seat for the SDP and sighs, a neutral sigh, not one of joy or annoyance. That was that. He had done all he could do to defend Ostarian democracy.

He strolls out of the booth and heads outside, Karl close on his tail. “Welp,” he says. “Now we just gotta wait, I’ll be damned if I know how the future looks though.”

“That, I agree with my friend. The future doesn’t really look bleak or bright. Just uncertain.”

The two men, having done their civic duty and both coming to the same conclusion, start walking off the join in on the new national past time of drinking to forget.