ARYA

¹⁶ [ 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 ]

                                  [ 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟰𝟴 ]

           As Queen, you have moments where you just kick up your feet on your desk, reminisce, and sigh. I do that often, followed by a groan, realizing that the job is nowhere near finished. In less than a month, I will be formally celebrating my silver jubilee. That formal celebration was the final grand celebration in Liberia. During the jubilee year, celebrations start months before, as early as January. This is because Africa has so many countries that I need to pay visits to; and so many cultures that I need to pay homage to. Me and Tyler have been bussling around the continent, trying new foods, speaking new languages, and wearing special clothes.

Last night, Angel, my youngest lady-in-waiting, only forty-two—two years younger than me—told me that today, we will be starting the planning phase of my jubilee. It is a bittersweet event because even though a jubilee celebrates a milestone anniversary, it also reminds us of the loss of our former monarch. Though my father never stepped foot in Africa to reign, he did create quite the campaign beforehand, and having spent his adolescence in Liberia, people knew him and were excited. I guess they felt closer to him. Being a middle-aged man who grew up on the continent, my father was favored by the African people. I, on the other hand, had to work for that respect. It hasn't been easy, but I guess you could say I've done a pretty good job. Across the continent, I have an 84% approval rating. Twenty-five years ago, I had a 57% percent approval rating. In individual countries, that rating was even lower.

       Africa isn't all the way there, but man can I say, we are much, much, different as a continent. Many laws have been passed through me, laws that protect women, children, and people in general and set the upcoming generations up for success. Now and then I give out grants to families for all sorts of reasons, given there is so much money coming in every year from the five richest worldwide countries that helped make this whole ordeal possible. The crime rate isn't perfect, as some countries still give me a terribly hard time, but it is a lot lower than before. I have come to realize that even though violence is not the answer, it can scare people straight. I implemented several federal laws that make it hard for anybody to even want to hurt or kill others. I call it the "eye for an eye," except the offender is the eye. Some people are selfish and don't care for their loved ones as much as we may hope, so I figured that doing things this way would make a difference. Everybody cares about their own well-being and wouldn't want to suffer a terrible pain like the one that they might have inflicted on someone else.