I was there at last, my old life abandoned, my new one before me. It was an escape, an ambition achieved, but I was not full of hope. I worried about everything and everyone I had left behind me. I missed my apartment and its view, even though I had exchanged the narrow vista of three islands for the full reality of the hundreds of thousands. Leaving behind the piano on which I had played and composed for so many years was painful, a real wrench. I was still missing Alynna, even though I knew I had lost her forever. Also, whatever my negative experiences and feelings about Glaund it was still my birthplace. It was politically stagnant, and I could see no end to that. The military coup had taken place around the time I was born, so I had never known any other kind of government or society in Glaund. Though it was repellent and repressive, the junta had at least brought a form of stability – the allegedly liberal republic that preceded it had been capitalistic, decadent and corrupt. That was what the history books said, reflecting the junta’s own version of history.
