Author Topic: A Tamoran Operative in Rokkenjima  (Read 1792 times)

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Offline Markus

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A Tamoran Operative in Rokkenjima
« on: April 27, 2020, 05:25:15 PM »
As Zara boarded the Morelander EMAC - Heyra Airlines plane from Elysium she was nervous. It wasn’t because of security issues. She knew she had no reason to fear the Elysium authorities, after all Tamorans were doing part of the policing in Elysium and that made her feel safe. No, what she was anxious about going to Rokkenjima and doing her mission. She had the feeling she was doing something wrong and that somehow the Rokkenjimans would immediately know her intentions. 

As the plane took off for Cocytus, in Rokkejima, she tried to relax and think about she will do once she got to Rokkejima. She would be staying in the Ashinxao University campus so getting there should be the first thing she would need to do. She wondered what roommates she will have. Will they be from MidAranye? Probably not, she hoped at least it would be from friendly nations like Quintelia and Phuebra. That was also not very likely. She realized thinking about her roommates wasn’t helping her relax much.

She decided that reading was the better approach, she took her ebook reader from her purse and started reading a book about geopolitics “Destined for War: Can Tamora and the Helusian Empire Escape Thucydides's Trap?”. The book was about how Tamora’s increasing power (increasing population, expansion of its religion and increasing influence in MidAranye) would inevitable lead to war between it and the current hegemonic cartel of Mundus that would not allow Tamora to rise without a war. As much as she loved geopolitics she didn’t really feel like reading that under the current circumstances. She eventually settled to listening some music. She was a major fan and though she would never admit to herself she had a crush for Mohsen Yeganeh. His songs always made her relax no matter the circumstances and this was no exception.


Despite her fears she had no issues with customs authorities in Cocytus and mainland Rokkenjima. She raised a few eyebrows with her ethnic background as a Rokkenjiman, her hijab and her Tamoran passport but that was to be expected and she didn’t mind.     

In the train to Pyrettania she did some small talk with the other passengers. She was curious to hear their opinion about the change of Empresses that Rokkenjima had recently witnessed. As she was talking she became more aware of the issues with her Rokkenjiman language. The Rokkenjiman community in Tamora was more or less isolated culturally from the First Empire of Rokkenjima, her dialect used many words that fallen out of use in Rokkenjima and were considered archaic. She imagined she must have sounded like coming from the most backwater rural village in Rokkenjima which didn’t help her self-esteem. Even more than that, since Parthian was the lingua franca in Tamora, Rokkejiman speakers in Tamora often translated idioms from Parthian to Rokkejiman which mainland Rokkejimans had trouble understanding as she had just realized from the confused looks her interlocutors were given her. And of course her accent was different, stronger because of the Parthian influence, which made her interlocutors ask what part of Rokkenjima was she from since they did not recognize her accent.  This made her fully aware that while because of her race she didn’t feel completely at place in Tamora, Rokkenjima certainly didn’t make her feel more at home. This was a different country, with different values and while she shared a language with them that same language also reminded her she did not belong here.     

After a ride of a few hours by train and a taxi she finally reached the campus of the Ashinxao University.  She went to the information center for foreign students and addressed the person there:

“Blessed be the Proph…” she quickly stopped realizing she was in Rokkenjima and that greeting would not be appropriate like it was in Djerb “Good afternoon Madam! I am sorry to interrupt.  Would you be so kind as to help me? My name is Zara Sato, my parents are Glosa and Kayan Sato” as soon as she said that she realized she made another blunder since mentioning who her parents were was alien to Rokkenjimans but it was too late to do anything about it so she continued: ”and I have just arrived from Tamora and I am a bit lost about what to do next!” she said almost pleading.


Zara Sato asking for information at the center for foreign students at the Ashinxao University in Rokkenjima