"I am Ygritte Green, president since 2992 to the present year, 2998. I will be concedin' my role as president back to my older brother Shane in three days." The woman grinned.
"I began my rule when my brothers went to war against the nation Kevran, the western province that seceded from our nation Aquinon two hundred years ago. Shane, my older brother and actin' president, left me behind to handle the governance of the nation."
The woman frowned. "H'okay. I ain't readin' from this stupid script anymore." The image disappeared for a moment. The sound of a scuffle came from the recording before her image reappeared. "Yeah, you better run!" she called to someone. Her gaze flicked back to the camera, to her audience. "So here's the real deal. My brothers went to war, and my older brother didn't trust his council to do a good job of runnin' the country while he was away. So he asked me to do it. Hell if I know why he thought I'd be much better, but I guess I was."
The image leaned forward, and when she reappeared she had a cigar clamped between her teeth. "The council had already made plans to start reworkin' some of Aquinon's social programs. They wanted to take away money from healthcare and stuff like that and put it back in their pockets, and invest it in more war efforts. Now considering that Aquinon's only war threat in the past two hundred years has been Kevran, that got me to wonderin' just what they were tryin' to do." She chuckled. "I have a pretty faithful little servant. He's this li'l robot, super stealthy. Well, I sent him in to listen to the council, and found out they'd made some arrangements with guerilla fighters in Kevran to upset the peace and get our nations back into war. Somethin' about energy sources Kevran owns." She made a face, blowing cigar smoke into the camera. The smoke drifted around her, reminiscent of what gun smoke in the really old movies looked like.
"So naturally, I wanted to end their plans. They weren't too keen on that. Didn't like me much, ya' see. Too meddlesome, too much like my brother. They'd expected some wilting flower of a girl." She grinned again. "Well the schemin' sleaze bags had made arrangements to have my brothers captured by the guerrilla fighters...a convenient way to get rid of them in wartime. As a result, I contacted the Minister of Kevran. Despite some natural skepticism about my intentions, he agreed to a peace meetin' at one of the neutral border territories."
"Council found out about it. When I set out to meet with the Minister behind their backs, their men nabbed me. Fortunately, my robot buddy escaped and went on to the meetin' place. And man am I ever glad he did! The council had arranged for some ditz who looked like me to go to the meetin' and screw it all up. She nearly managed it. Minister was, accordin' to my robot, all puffed up and gettin' red in the face, and about ready to storm out. My robot hopped up on the table, though, and smoothed things over. He played a recordin' I'd made in case of abduction, explainin' the situation to the Minister. Well, the Minister, bein' the judicious man he is, sent in a black ops squad to extricate me from the prison the council had banished me to."
"The Minister and I worked out a rescue plan for my brothers, and I called off the army. And then I headed home to take care of the council. I bet'cha can imagine their surprise when I waltzed into their meetin' room." She laughed, a wicked gleam lighting her eyes. "By that point, the country was in an uproar. I'd been missin' for three months, and the council'd been workin' to get money away from social programs to fund the war effort. So I decided to make things easy. My brother, he doesn't agree with my method of handlin' things, but I think it was...most effective."
"Ya' see, when I came into the council chamber, I came in with a couple of pistols on my hips. I asked the council, plain and simple, if they preferred I take care of them right then and there, nice and quiet-like, or if I threw them to the angry mobs swarmin' outside the gates of the capitol buildin'. Of course they blustered and bumbled and told me I was outrageous and unfit to lead. I shot one of 'em in the arm, to show 'em I meant business. And so they made their decision. Especially when they realized all their hired goons had defected to my side with a little bit of monetary persuasion."
"They chose t' take their chances with the mobs...and weeell...I don't think this is the right venue to tell that portion of the story."
"Anyway. Four years later, my brothers are restored. I am steppin' down as president, and I will be marryin' the Minister of Kevran in two months. There was, ya' see, a bit of romance amid all that war stuff, too. But I'm not much for the flowery business and airin' my laundry like that." She grinned again, and the image flickered off, leaving the little girl staring in wide-eyed awe.
"Woooow! SHE'S SO COOL!"
The tour guide laughed, ducking his head ever so slightly. "Yeah. You could certainly say that. Want to watch the next o-"
Before he could even finish his question, the little girl had scooted over to the next hologram cell, punching the button with excitement. The image of another blonde woman, very similar to the first, appeared.
"The name is Mynara Peltier, daughter of Ygritte Green..."
Author's Note: This story is a retelling of The Princess Rosette. I made a lot of changes between the original story and this retelling. Rosette is a very sweet and mild-mannered princess in the original story, sort of the classic lovely princess. The original story centers around her desire to marry the peacock king. Her brothers set up the match, send for her, and on the way her nurse and the nurse's daughter throw her overboard with her dog and scheme to have the nurse's daughter take her place. The king thinks the brothers have deceived him over their sister's beauty and sweetness because the nurse's daughter is quite ugly and foul-tempered, and he intends to put them to death for the deception. During all of this, the princess washes up on the shores of the peacock kingdom, and an old man rescues her. She sends her dog to find the best food he can and bring it back to them, so the dog raids the king's pantry until there is nothing left. The king has his men follow the dog, and brings the old man and the princess to his castle. When he discovers who the princess is, all is forgiven, and they all live happily ever after.
For my retelling, I didn't want to write the mild-mannered, sweet little Rosette. Ygritte instead became a gritty, tough woman whose initial interest in the position she obtains is minimal. The brothers are still there, still imprisoned and eventually freed, but I turned the nurse and nurse's daughter into a corrupt council. I included a brief allusion to the romance between the Minister of Kevran and Ygritte, but I did not want it to be a central part of the story. Instead I wanted to highlight just how Ygritte earned a spot in the history books by rooting out the corruption of the council and effectively working to keep her country safe, and a neighboring country as well.
Story Title: The Princess Rosette
Book Title: The Fairy Tales of Madame D'Aulnoy
Book Author: Marie Catherine Baronne D'Aulnoy
Year Published: 1892
Web Source: SurLaLune Fairy Tales
Images:
Cyberpunk Woman, Web Source: Presidia Creative