He left his attache a girl named Anna in my care to continue on the specifics and I arranged for her to have a desk and office across the hallway from mine, in Oliver's old space. She was barely a girl of twenty and a recent graduate of university. She reminded me of Sophie.
The foreigners had odd customs and one of which was they carried no last names. Anna was simply that and somehow they knew how to address the correct Anna as both her mother and aunt had the same name. Another was they avoided eating alone and she spent every lunch hour in my office sharing a box lunch. This attracted the attention of many of the young attaches who always found an excuse to walk past her office and offer invitation to dine together.
She became somewhat of a famous legend during her month long stay that extended well past the trade delegation and she remained for a year. I asked her directly if she was counter intelligence and she demurred and promised to be honest with me. Her intentions were well meaning and tactics and methods the same. She brought message from the foreigners that they indeed wished for peace and were approaching every avenue and possibility to ensure a productive outcome. She was tasked by her Commissar to do everything to be as hospitable a host. I asked of her assistance and youthful optimism on a new charter and legislation that we were attempting to craft.
Her eyes widen as she read our attempts at world peace without unholy weapons. She laughed and thought it was an impossible dream and this sounded very much something an Artesian would dare pen. She had studied everything about me and knew of Karl Knutmudsen and that he was a friend of mine and Sophie was even an able convert. I was specifically chosen, nay targeted for this very reason as she had hope that it was true.
I told her she is sitting in the office of another friend who was a disciple of Karl who thought the same thing and for ten years waited patiently for any sign. He laughed himself to death when he discovered I am not. She found it odd and too much of a coincidence that I was surrounded by the Artesians, was in the absolute inner core and sanctum with Karl, Oliver, Ingrid and now Sophie and yet I knew nothing of it. Anyone would be in disbelief, but she knew of the forced re education, the camps and helpful fists and boot kicks that confirmed I am just a fool.
Not quite clear as to why, the idea popped in my head and I saw in Anna's reflection of poor John. I quickly gave young Anna advice not to become like Karl's last attache who died for no good reason for a cause he didn't even understand or believe in, but merely by association with the Knutmudsen name and legacy. It was as if my old friend's arms continued to stretched past decades still and tapping on my desk, nudging my shoulders and now in the embrace of a beautiful young girl. How I yearned for the Knut to go away.
The League of Nations charter was something we all had studied in school and known was from a bygone era. It was an utter failure and while it gave rise to another institution by a different name, much like the Central Administration it too failed horribly. But that dream always seemed to be reborn and take fresh vitality after each major conflict. It was the Colonel's idea and grand concept to try once more and he found a kindred spirit in the trade delegation.
Anna was quite surprising in the depth of her keen awareness of our culture and history. She knew more about me and Gustaf than most long time residents. But with her foreign face and customs she stood out and was perfectly at ease with the constant gawking. Her only visible emotion and distress was at the sight of the half breeds, the orphans of the war who had grown up and were often shunned by polite society.
She mourned for them and spent every moment of her spare time not in a musuem or cultural center at the local orphanage. She immediately bonded with a tiny little girl named Anna and who carried on the tradition of not having a last name, but not by choice, only her birth mother abandoned little Anna and wanted to ensure she could never be found.
It was this I found the main catalyst for her extending her visit past the year and she asked a favor in allowing her to adopt the girl. She didn't need my assistance as the orphans were eventually shushed out the door once they were a certain age and any offer to relieve them from the overcrowding was eagerly accepted. But I accepted and arranged for Anna to adopt little Anna who I had to call Anna Two to avoid confusion. It was after Anna Two that Anna One confided in me that she too was a war orphan. The trade Commissar was her adoptive father. It was a vulnerability she did not want shared and offered it to me like someone would hand a loaded pistol to take great care for them. Their customs were foreign and hence odd and I couldn't understand why such a fact was so dangerous, but promised to keep it a secret.
Anna's mood continued to brighten and she became even more endearing, refusing any invitation for the others and spending all her spare time with me and Anna Two. My Colonel nudged me and did so a bit forcefully and I nodded that she was very skilled an operator, that could best any on the secret police. We joked it would take only a big fool to consider her switching sides and becoming an agent of ours and an even bigger fool to actually succeed.
Put I pitied them both and saw their brief happiness as the reason for the League of Nations and wiped the opportunity from my mind. We continued our work and planned to the final draft with Commissariat and with the trade delegates the following year.
Anna had now become a common and pleasing fixture and I quickly forgot she was still very much the enemy and the gentle caress of Sophie's hand and her fingers on my tatter rags that felt like my death bed always quickly awakened me from that haze that only Anna somehow was so skilled at ensnaring everyone else.
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