[b]Iron Lady, Part Two[/b]

Priscilla Aglipay-Rizal was doing her chores, helped by a few housekeepers from the old revolutionary days. All wore pistols at the belts of their skirts (with the safeties on, of course), as well as a dagger. As she dusted the shelves, Priscilla had the uncomfortable thought that perhaps, she was merely playing at doing the work of the working class and that for all her trouble, she had become one of the aristocrats and elites she abhorred. A shudder at that.

"Anything the matter, Commander?" It was Irene, a brawny woman with a deep scar at her left temple. It had left her without prospects for marriage back in her home village, so she had chosen to stay with her former commanding officer in Manila, helping the latter get not [i]too[/i] distracted from her household chores.

The Lady President smiled, "People call the 'new rich' peasants who play at being royalty. Do you think we are merely royalty playing at being peasants; people who pretend to be part of the poor when we've severed ourselves from them?" [i]We call ourselves 'Anti-Monopolist', but monopolies still exist. We hold a premium on force and the industries that underline our use of force. This system will not survive my retirement from politics.[/i]

Irene smiled and chided softly, "Keep thinking like that and it'll become true; keep dusting the furniture and it won't. But seriously, what does it matter if everyone is happy?' She then softly dusted a nearby vase whose flowers have wilted. "We'll cheer you up with a trip to the public market!" 

As the amazon chuckled, Priscilla smiled. She shouldn't be so concerned with high and mighty things today; the meeting with foriegn revolutionaries was done, and she should relax. 

------

The Public Market, or [i]Palengke[/i] in Filipino, was a group of several dozen open-air stalls similar to a bazaar, but more humid. Said stalls were filled with vegetables, seafood, meat and fruit, all fresh from the provinces. Briefly, she mused that the [i]Bangko Sentral[/i], now nationalized in the [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4470924]Dutch Model[/url], was exceptionally generous to have shelled out the money needed for the better roads that allowed for this fresh produce to be transported to the city. That bore investigation even if she was just being paranoid.

"You're at it again," Irene gently reminded her President, "Don't think too hard, relax." Priscilla gratefully nodded, before going to a stall and eyeing a pair of beef chops, her basket slung under her right arm. The owner of the stall, a fresh-faced young man with brown skin, was surprised at the appearance of the Lady President, even more when she said:

"I'm going to pay full price for this one." The young man looked set to object; his reply was:

"Lady President, you've done so much for us; surely a small gift -"

A smile from Priscilla. "If you want to give me a gift, pick some flowers for me. That aside, what have I done for you?"

The young man blinked, then said: "The Youth League taught me how to read and write and do sums, as well as put me through Technical School. I now know how to distill Ethanol, isn't that great?!" The hope in the young man's own smile caused the Lady President to smile, then muse as she put forward the Philippine Pesos that made up the full price.

"To be honest," Prisicilla said, "People told me that without the rich people and the Americans paying for Schools, there would be less reading and writing and maths than they were. I am glad to be proven wrong. Do you know any poems?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the young man said, "I know Jose Rizal's 'To the Flowers of Heidelberg' in both English and Tagalog. There is also [i]Mi Ultimo Adios[/i]. As I said, the Youth League taught me a lot."

Prisicilla asked, "Are you still in the Youth League? If so, who is your chapter leader?"

Footsteps approached the two and Prisiclla's housekeeper-bodyguards as a middle-aged woman approached the stall, carrying a heavy load upon her back. Priscilla instinctively moved to help her with her burden, but not before asking, "Can I help?" and receiving an affirmative nod.

Once the heavy load (more meat) was unloaded and the contents were laid out on the stall's rack, the middle-aged woman's face gaped in shock as she realized that the person who had helped her was the Lady President herself. She would then say:"[I]Salamat sa Diyos (Thanks be to God!)[/i]" before the young man greeted her with a wave, then spoke to Priscilla:

"This is the leader of the my branch of the Youth League. She is also my mother." This revelation caused Prisicilla's smile to widen, before she bowed to the middle-aged woman.

The Lady President then got up, and said, "So you are the mother of this accomplished young lad." She then reviewed the files on the Youth League held by her party. "Isabella, right?"

Isabella extended her hand, and when Priscilla took it, said, "Call me Isa. And yes, we are from down south, in Rizal Province. Travel here is much easier now; we have to thank you for that. That said, though, I want to talk to you about something; it's not a private favor as we are not in private."

[i]A petition?[/i] Priscilla's curiosity was piqued. "Very well; I am at your service."

"My son could use more experience with the world," she looked at the young man, "Education here is good, but he wants adventure, excitement, and the strange. So...can the Government pay for free passage to foriegn lands?"

Priscilla nodded; it was an easy request to grant. "As it so happens, I wish to forge deeper cultural ties with the Chinese, who have an international school for those who want to learn from the teachings of their 'Hou'. I will ask my ambassador to see if there are open slots for students..."