Statesmanship

Bolor sat by the edge of the pool, watching silently as the turtle bobbed up and down in the turquoise blue water. Against her back, an old apricot tree rustled gently in the breeze and shook off a curtain of little pink petals, that bobbed in the water for a few seconds before greedy fish swallowed...

Tsezen loudly slurped broth from a soup spoon, holding a curtain of fat noodles in place with chopsticks in his other hand. He slurped too much, coughed, and spilled a few drops of the rich buttery liquid onto his poncho. He stared at the fabric for a few seconds, as if his brain were calculating a ...

Dry, bare, grey-brown crunched against Major Hakakian's riding boots as he shifted his weight to the left hand side. The monk had not heard him, and continued with his low rhythmic chanting as a circle of blue-robed novices emitted a deep whistling, humming melody from the depths of their throat. In...

It had been raining, and clear beads of water dripped from the thick green ferns and mosses that coated the hillside at regular intervals. Two men in green-and-grey fatigues crouched among the leaves, having comfortably locked their bodies into a Crataean squat  for the last four hours. No talking, ...

You felt it before you heard it, and you heard it before you saw it. A deep throb, rising through the pavement at regular intervals, quickly joined by erratic, schizophrenic sounds of electronic music drops. Then you turned the corner, and saw it - an unassuming courtyard, with a doorway wreathed in...

For the first time since in almost ten years, Chulbasan was woken by the strangled, throaty cry of a cockerel. He groaned and shifted in the small wooden bed, turning to face the window. The offending bird was perched on the frame, and they locked eyes for a few long seconds. The bird sized Chulbasa...

"I haven't been here in years". It was an overcast moonless night, and the tiny boat pitched violently as it rode the surf rushing into Beryngol, but Chulbasan knew that the city of his youth had irrecoverably changed. From what was once a sleepy and nondescript fishing town dozens of mode...

Testimony of witness "MZ-62" As called by the prosecution team of Case 103 "The Court versus Gunsoom Churchagiyan" Heard on May 19th 2016 Extraordinary International Court for the Sharfland My name is _______________________. I am 31 years old and I was born in Alchor, in Kehmka...

Arxat waved dust out of his eyes as he stepped into the blackened shell of a mud-bricked house, and pulled a bandanna with the motif of several angry-looking skulls up over his mouth and nose. He used the butt of his rifle to smash open the few remnants of furniture that survived the fire and then t...

Keshan was on the veranda, drinking a beer and tearing into a steak, when Hakakian's car pulled in to the Villa below him. Keshan watched the car for a second before taking another bite, and another swig, and waited for the Major to come find him. It took only a few minutes - Hakakian, looking unusu...