The Ministry Of Demiliens

"The trouble with the demilien community," Indrani exploded, emphasising each words with a thump on the polished mahogany round table, "is that the Ministry doesn’t have a complete representation. There's the Demilien’s council and there's a Human Council, and the thing the Demiliens’s call the law. Surprising is the fact that how often it is used as a weapon to choke other creatures! And to what end? To discourage originality and progress?" The Prime Minister, Kingsley Rutherford, moved slightly deeper into the chair he was sitting, sliding from left to right. He saw the newspaper report that Indrani had so vehemently read aloud to the room full of ministry employees. He raised a hand and asked softly, “But my sources confirm that the demilien was just threatened…”

“By a tiny dwarf?” screeched Indrani turning towards the prime minister, “Be honest Mr. Rutherford, did anyone of them actually attack or assault the demilien Effie in any way?”

“No, but…”

“Then why has the Canneti Dawn reported “…a couple of slave dwarfs attacked their master at midnight…. Linked to the terrorist organisation I is Free. Since when ‘I is Free’ is a terrorist organisation?”

“I didn’t…”

“I bet you didn’t Prime Minister and neither did you bother to clear this statement to the Dawn before release…”

“Stop it!” Kingsley bumped his fist on the table and turned to face Indrani, “what’s done is done, it cannot be taken back. The Dawn doesn’t consult me before its releases, Mrs. Indrani”

Indrani raised her hand in protest, “Don’t be so harsh on him Indrani, The prime minister knows what he’s doing” said McIntyre, the undersecretary to the Minister.

“If it’s done then I’d like to leave. I have a case to follow” The prime minister said glaring at the crowd in front of him. The room began to empty and just when Indrani stood up from her chair Kingsley said, “I’d like a word with you alone.”

Indrani knew Kingsley’s interest in the case wasn’t purely academic. He had too much to worry about, let alone two slave dwarf’s assault on one of the demiliens who was a celebrity in his own right. But he had bitter memories of the ministry as did everyone who had the chance to fight the previous government, the human led Congress.

“Being a member of the APN…”

“Former member…” said Indrani sitting back down, “You hold the office of the prime minister and you cannot hold one single ideology.”

“Former member of the APN, I know it’s a tough job. Reporters are complicated and make a way lot more of a news than there is. Cut them some slack.”

“You think so, do you?” Indrani snarled at Kingsley. “Well let me tell you, ‘Minister’ your average demilien hasn’t got a clue about it. Do you know dwarfs are a much older species than the demiliens or the humans and do you know…? ” Her pitch was rising with each ‘do you know’ “…they had colonies and different social strata and do you know that after the demiliens dominated the humans in the 3011’s they have nothing but the lowest of the social strata left that is of the slaver’s dwarf?”

Kingsley put all his scepticism into a smile and said, “And they now have their own ministry thanks to you…”

“But that’s not enough, is it? They need representation. They need to get out of centuries of oppression”

“Look we talked about this Indrani, I cannot pass a law without cabinet support and the cabinet doesn’t approve your reservation system”

“I have hundreds of pages of research on Dwarf’s social structure before and after Demilien dominion and if it doesn’t move you, I doubt anything will.” Said Indrani bitterly.

Kingsley could see her tottering on the verge of crying, eyes full of tears.

“The cabinet has his reasons…”

“The cabinet’s wrong” screeched Indrani with moist eyes.

“No they are not. Demiliens and Humans both fought the slave wars and won. It’s not just our responsibility… “

“Just because humans were also part of it, you want them take the blame?”

“That’s not what I meant. Your system of reservation cripples the Dwarf society. Freedom is what they need, not a golden crutch. Your brand of justice will be a blow to equality.”

“You are wrong” Indrani said softly, tears streaming down her eyes.

She picked up her briefs and papers in an unceremonious bunch and stalked out of the room, turned the corner and locked the door to her office.

She had never imagined she would hate the demiliens so much. She couldn’t understand how the prime minister could be so hard boiled that he would straight away refuse to see the effect of centuries of cruelty that had led to the extinction of an entire social structure in a species.

The warrior dwarf’s, the healer dwarf’s and the monarch dwarfs had disappeared and were soaked up into one single class. The one class beneficial to the demiliens.

The worker dwarfs.

The slave dwarfs.

How could the prime minister not see this!

And then a thought occurred to her.

She will end this once and for all. The prime minister will have to listen when he will have resistance. It was time she needed Kane’s enterprise to make some noise.