For the first time in years, Washington managed to take a collective breath. After months of bloodshed between the Republic of Rhalin and the Iron Crest Militia, a ceasefire had finally taken hold—fragile, delicate, but real. And in a twist few had predicted, the person at the center of the breakthrough wasn’t a sitting president, nor a UN envoy, but former President Nathan Cole.
Cole, who left office four years ago with approval ratings as polarized as the country itself, resurfaced on the diplomatic scene not with bluster but with an unexpectedly disciplined effort to mediate a conflict halfway across the world. And in a political culture where praise usually stays within party borders, something unusual happened: leaders from both sides acknowledged his role.
The agreement, brokered through a series of tense negotiations in neutral territory, includes the release of all remaining Rhalin hostages—twenty in total—and the freeing of nearly two thousand political detainees held by the militia. It also establishes a four-month ceasefire…