ONE WEEK AFTER VICTORY - INTEGRATION COUNCIL
"The defectors are causing PROBLEMS."
General Helena stood before the council, exhausted but ALERT. "Not military problems. CULTURAL problems. They're from twenty-three different KINGDOMS. Different languages. Different customs. Different BELIEFS. And they're all crammed into our city, trying to integrate."
"What kind of problems?" I asked.
"Fights. DISPUTES. Cultural misunderstandings that escalate into VIOLENCE. Yesterday, three soldiers from the Northern Monarchist territories attacked two from the Southern territories over a RELIGIOUS disagreement. We had to separate them by FORCE."
Lily leaned forward. "We need cultural integration programs. IMMEDIATELY. Education. Mediation. UNDERSTANDING."
"We also need SPACE," Kassandra added. "Fifty thousand new people in a city designed for HALF that population. We're OVERCROWDED. Resources are stretched THIN. People are living on top of each other. That breeds CONFLICT."
