Part 140, Chapter 1429
Chapter Two Thousand Four Hundred Twenty-Nine
25th December 1975
Mitte, Berlin
The studio was located in the penthouse apartment that belonged to the Hohenzollern family. Zella had visited it several times before because Kiki frequently stayed there whenever she was in Berlin and didn’t want to go through the bother of opening up her cottage on the grounds of the Winter Residence in Plänterwald.
Normally, Zella would have been a bit put out over having to work on a holiday. This however was different. Perhaps Kiki had talked her brother into it, or Freddy had decided to request Zella on his own, she wasn’t sure exactly, but she had been asked to give the interview that would be the follow-up to the Emperor’s Christmas address to the Empire. It would be going out on all the major radio stations and television broadcast channels, so it was the sort of thing that defined an entire career.
For Zella herself, this had come at the perfect time. She had found that she was running out of time. At the Hospital, she had been told that her pregnancy was progressing normally. The trouble was that her employers expected her to go on maternity leave at six months, which was the beginning of January. The other wrinkle was that ARD was a public broadcaster and they were looking at the political aspect of all this. Zella felt that her life outside of what she did in front of the camera was no one’s business but hers. The Chairman of ARD’s Berlin affiliate disagreed. He had told her that her marriage status and gender made this a political issue. Zella had seen that this was one of those times when arguing would make things worse. The physical realty wasn’t helping as she was nearly six months along and anyone who saw her could tell.
Yuri had offered to marry her but hadn’t thought this through. He was technically Zella’s subordinate even if they hadn’t worked together in months. Despite ARD’s policies when it came to interpersonal relationships, Zella knew that they would not hesitate to land on her with both feet. As it was, she was going away and taking the problems she presented with her, so they didn’t have to think about it.
Then there was Yuri’s mother.
Yuliya Kozlova saw nothing wrong with Zella’s situation, which was exactly the opposite of how Zella’s own mother saw things. She felt that it was tame compared to what she had faced when Yuri had been born three decades earlier. She had never told Zella the details, but it didn’t take much effort to fill in the blanks. Yuri’s paternity being totally unknown told a story in itself. For Yuliya this was her first grandchild and Zella saw her constantly because of that. She was also one of the Russian sisters and Zella had heard the rumors about what they were capable of, so it was difficult to tell her “No” when Yuliya became too intrusive.
Today’s interview would be the last hurrah before Zella would be required to bow out for the next year. Then she would have a few months to try to get things together before she would have the baby. It all seemed so daunting.
Watching Freddy giving his address, Zella thought that she heard a bit of dislike creep into his voice as he mentioned the present Chancellor. Zella had heard talk about some of the minor parties that were part of the governing coalition with the National Liberals. Mostly about how they had a mindset that would have fit in well in the Court of the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. To their great disappointment pogroms and witch burnings were no longer fashionable. Like his father before him, Freddy tried to have a somewhat progressive outlook, something that was made difficult by occupying an Office that was essentially a Medieval institution. Zella had several questions addressing that very topic.
Then Freddy mentioned that the family had new addition with his children receiving a puppy from retired Generalfeldmarschall Manfred König von Richthofen zu Silesia. Apparently, it was of the weird mixed breed dogs that von Richthofen had on his estate that were descended from Friedrich and Wilhelm, a pair of Dachshunds he had been given as a joke several years earlier and what he thought were local terriers. It seemed strange to hear about how all three of the Emperor’s children were old enough to have a dog, but with the youngest, Prince Eduard being four years old, that was true. Like most people, Zella thought of them as being small children, but Princess Mirai was nearly twelve.
While Zella was not planning on giving the sort of interview that might be called “Soft Ball” there were a few questions that she had for Freddy. Namely how he would handle having a daughter who would probably be every bit as wild as Zella had been in a couple of years. Freddy would probably respond with a bit of humor and joke about sending Mirai to a convent. That was where Zella’s relationship with Kiki would trip him up. She knew that his father had done that once to Rea and Vicky when they had gone too with one of their pranks when they had been teenagers.
With that, Freddy concluded his address and Zella glanced at her notes. This was going to be the biggest moment of her career and she was intending to make the most of it. As the production crew signaled that they were in a break, two chairs were brought out. Freddy gave he a smile before taking his seat and Zella couldn’t help but notice the direction his eyes went as she walked towards hers. He had probably known for months because he had talked to his younger sister. If he thought that would cause Zella to go easy on him today, he was mistaken. Zella retuned his smile and thought about how this was actually going to be fun.
25th December 1975
Mitte, Berlin
The studio was located in the penthouse apartment that belonged to the Hohenzollern family. Zella had visited it several times before because Kiki frequently stayed there whenever she was in Berlin and didn’t want to go through the bother of opening up her cottage on the grounds of the Winter Residence in Plänterwald.
Normally, Zella would have been a bit put out over having to work on a holiday. This however was different. Perhaps Kiki had talked her brother into it, or Freddy had decided to request Zella on his own, she wasn’t sure exactly, but she had been asked to give the interview that would be the follow-up to the Emperor’s Christmas address to the Empire. It would be going out on all the major radio stations and television broadcast channels, so it was the sort of thing that defined an entire career.
For Zella herself, this had come at the perfect time. She had found that she was running out of time. At the Hospital, she had been told that her pregnancy was progressing normally. The trouble was that her employers expected her to go on maternity leave at six months, which was the beginning of January. The other wrinkle was that ARD was a public broadcaster and they were looking at the political aspect of all this. Zella felt that her life outside of what she did in front of the camera was no one’s business but hers. The Chairman of ARD’s Berlin affiliate disagreed. He had told her that her marriage status and gender made this a political issue. Zella had seen that this was one of those times when arguing would make things worse. The physical realty wasn’t helping as she was nearly six months along and anyone who saw her could tell.
Yuri had offered to marry her but hadn’t thought this through. He was technically Zella’s subordinate even if they hadn’t worked together in months. Despite ARD’s policies when it came to interpersonal relationships, Zella knew that they would not hesitate to land on her with both feet. As it was, she was going away and taking the problems she presented with her, so they didn’t have to think about it.
Then there was Yuri’s mother.
Yuliya Kozlova saw nothing wrong with Zella’s situation, which was exactly the opposite of how Zella’s own mother saw things. She felt that it was tame compared to what she had faced when Yuri had been born three decades earlier. She had never told Zella the details, but it didn’t take much effort to fill in the blanks. Yuri’s paternity being totally unknown told a story in itself. For Yuliya this was her first grandchild and Zella saw her constantly because of that. She was also one of the Russian sisters and Zella had heard the rumors about what they were capable of, so it was difficult to tell her “No” when Yuliya became too intrusive.
Today’s interview would be the last hurrah before Zella would be required to bow out for the next year. Then she would have a few months to try to get things together before she would have the baby. It all seemed so daunting.
Watching Freddy giving his address, Zella thought that she heard a bit of dislike creep into his voice as he mentioned the present Chancellor. Zella had heard talk about some of the minor parties that were part of the governing coalition with the National Liberals. Mostly about how they had a mindset that would have fit in well in the Court of the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. To their great disappointment pogroms and witch burnings were no longer fashionable. Like his father before him, Freddy tried to have a somewhat progressive outlook, something that was made difficult by occupying an Office that was essentially a Medieval institution. Zella had several questions addressing that very topic.
Then Freddy mentioned that the family had new addition with his children receiving a puppy from retired Generalfeldmarschall Manfred König von Richthofen zu Silesia. Apparently, it was of the weird mixed breed dogs that von Richthofen had on his estate that were descended from Friedrich and Wilhelm, a pair of Dachshunds he had been given as a joke several years earlier and what he thought were local terriers. It seemed strange to hear about how all three of the Emperor’s children were old enough to have a dog, but with the youngest, Prince Eduard being four years old, that was true. Like most people, Zella thought of them as being small children, but Princess Mirai was nearly twelve.
While Zella was not planning on giving the sort of interview that might be called “Soft Ball” there were a few questions that she had for Freddy. Namely how he would handle having a daughter who would probably be every bit as wild as Zella had been in a couple of years. Freddy would probably respond with a bit of humor and joke about sending Mirai to a convent. That was where Zella’s relationship with Kiki would trip him up. She knew that his father had done that once to Rea and Vicky when they had gone too with one of their pranks when they had been teenagers.
With that, Freddy concluded his address and Zella glanced at her notes. This was going to be the biggest moment of her career and she was intending to make the most of it. As the production crew signaled that they were in a break, two chairs were brought out. Freddy gave he a smile before taking his seat and Zella couldn’t help but notice the direction his eyes went as she walked towards hers. He had probably known for months because he had talked to his younger sister. If he thought that would cause Zella to go easy on him today, he was mistaken. Zella retuned his smile and thought about how this was actually going to be fun.