Hi everyone, thanks again for all the reviews. This chapter is just a back story but there may be a slight hint or two as to what's going on. Enjoy and as always, please review. Peace. :)
Ch 11. The History of Mutantania.
"You Rats have got to be crazy!" Raph screamed out as he sat in the meeting room with Leo, the king and the six advisors.
Everyone looked at Raph in astonishment as he jumped out of his chair and glared angrily at them. He had been sitting in the meeting room for nearly five hours now and had been doing everything he could to keep his mouth quiet and force his mind to pay attention while he listened to the king's advisors go back and forth with the prince over the current situations the villages within the kingdom were enduring.
"You have villages out there with their people starvin' ta death, strugglin' ta find food for their kids, as well as shelter for their families and you sit in here on ya asses discussin' how ta cut back da monthly earnings and up da taxes like your exchangin' recipes or somethin'!"
"Raphael!" Leo stood and glared back at him. "They understand all too well what is happening out there, their clans are also struggling now please…..sit down and keep quiet!"
"Are ya kiddin' me princy?" Raph looked at him incredulously. "You of all people should be demandin' they go back to their rooms and read their findings again before they start robbin' from their citizens."
"Raphael enough!" Leo demanded again.
"And here ya sit and just let dem do what they want while da king sits behind ya lookin' like he's in some sort of trance," Raph took a breath and pointed behind Leo." What kinda fuc…."
"RAPHAEL….SHUT UP!" Leo yelled at him pounding his fist on the table. His eyes were blazing white hot and his breathing was hard. "Get out right now!" He pointed toward the door. "If you cannot control yourself while these proceedings are going on then you will leave."
Raph looked at Leo furiously; he looked from Leo to the king, who sat behind Leo in his velvet chair watching the exchange with narrowed eyes. But he did not intervene, he only watched, his eyes darkening slightly, as Raph took a calming breath and angrily stormed his way out of the meeting.
Leo took a breath and sat back down. He turned to the advisors who had been watching the exchange between the two turtles with open mouths. "I apologize for my friend." He told them with a slight bow of his head. "He is very passionate about what the kingdom is going through." He looked behind him at Splinter expecting to see a look of encouragement, but the rat only sat there watching him stoically. Leo turned back to the advisors. "Shall we continue with the meeting?"
"Actually prince Leonardo," The chief advisor stood and bowed to him. "Perhaps we should take a break and allow you to deal with your friend." He tapped his fingers on a pile of papers in front of him. "You have advised us that the terrapin leaders will be at the banquet and will speak with the other clans, maybe afterwards things will be different and we can check into this again next week." The rest of the advisors stood and bowed to the young prince and king. "We will see you tomorrow for the financial meeting."
Leo stood and bowed back to them. He watched with a disappointed look as the six advisors walked out of the meeting room. The king stood and walked over to Leo as he sat back down and placed his paw on the prince's shoulder. Although the tender touch was comforting, it did nothing to relieve the anger welling within the prince's soul.
"What troubles you my son?" Splinter asked as he sat in the chair next to him.
Leo looked up at him in surprise. "What troubles me?" He gave a slight shake of his. "A potential mate just humiliates me in front of your advisors and you have to ask that question?"
"Is this not what you wanted?" Leo startled slightly at his father's comment. "A potential mate who will stand behind you and help you get what you want?"
Leo shook his head and gave a light chuckle. "I'm finally getting what I want and now I feel guilty about it." Leo muttered. He looked at his father with a guilt-ridden expression. "But I suppose you know that already too, huh."
Splinter smiled at his son and shook his head. "As I have stated before, I am not blind as to what goes on around here." He patted Leo's arm and jerked his head in the direction of the door. "Go and speak with Raphael my son." He stood and began to leave. "While I will speak with my clan over tea."
Leo smiled as the rat walked out with a chuckle. He stood and left the room and went to find Raph. He began to make his way toward the hot head's room thinking him to be there but was surprised to see him standing just outside the meeting room looking at the portraits of past royal families. He was staring up at one particular picture of a regal looking dark green terrapin holding a scepter, the golden jeweled encrusted crown sat slightly tilted upon his head and the blue bandana around his eyes showed a clear sign he was of the water tribe.
Raph stood there feeling a sense of awe as he looked at the picture. The king's eyes were narrowed and his gruff features were hard and scowling. As he continued to look up at him, Raph almost felt as though the past king was scolding him, ready to punish him for being so ill-tempered and insolent to the advisors.
"He is the first ruler of Mutantania," Leo came up behind him so quietly Raph did not hear him and it was everything he could do not to jump out of his shell. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Leo said and chuckled as Raph smiled and waved him off. He looked up at the picture and stood next to Raph. "King Yuudai, some say he was twelve feet tall, had the strength of a hundred men and could breathe fire." Leo chuckled. "But that is just a rumor." Leo walked away and sat at a bench across from the picture. "But one thing that is fact was that over a thousand years ago, he saved our people from being slaves of the humans; got them out of the human kingdom and led them here where they would be safe."
Raph sat down next to Leo and watched as Leo got a thoughtful look in his eyes. "But before he could build this castle and the villages, they first had to make sure they were safe from the human kingdom." Leo stood up and made his way over to a tapestry at the side wall that showed a map of Mutantania. He pointed to the top part of the map where trees had been stitched in. "The human kingdom is on the other side of the forest. He sent his top general with several terrapins over here to keep look out." Now he pointed to the water. "He himself took a handful and kept lookout by the river." His finger traced the river up along the tapestry to a hillside between the river and trees. "Another general was sent here with the rest of the clan. Each group was given a special color mask to wear to identify themselves as to their location. Purple for the tree group, or wind, as they later came to be known, orange for the valley group since the sun showed brightly on them, and blue for the water group since they were on the river."
Leo sighed and went back to the bench. "For three years they kept a lookout while they began to form the tribes. Eventually, some of the terrapins made their way to the mountain and set up a look out at the base. They took red for fire since living at the bottom of a mountain can be cold and they needed to have a fire going throughout the day and night."
"That makes sense, we still do it." Raph told him.
Leo nodded. "After those three years had passed, the humans finally attacked. They came by water and through the trees. King Yuudai had traps set up all around the valley and before the humans knew what hit them, the water and mountain tribe attacked on the river while the valley and forest tribes attacked from the trees. Eventually, the humans were overpowered and defeated. The king of the human clan agreed to leave the terrapin tribe and all mutant species alone, he released all slaves and the kingdom of Mutantania was born. King Yuudai was crowned and after he built this castle, he named his second born son leader of the water tribe while he trained his first born to be ruler of the kingdom upon his death."
Leo and Raph stood and began to walk down the hall. "King Yuudai had a dream for this land," Leo continued. "He opened the kingdom up to everyone in the realm to come here and start a new life." Raph nodded in agreement as he continued to listen to Leo. "The rodentia clan took up much of the inner valley closest to the river by the water tribe and soon a few others followed. And for over a thousand years, the kingdom lived in harmony, the land was rich and farms grew. Then, a hundred years ago, something changed. The kingdom had always been ruled by terrapins of the water tribe, descendants of the king's first born son while the water tribe continued to be ruled by descendants of the king's second born son."
They stopped in front of a portrait of another terrapin also wearing a blue bandana. "But then this ruler, King Sadao, had no heirs so toward the end of his life, he had to name a successor. He was supposed to name a son or relative of the leader of the water tribe as was custom to do so but instead…"
"He named a leader's son from the rodentia clan." Raph finished. Leo turned to see him by a portrait of the first rodent king, a tall brown rat with caring, soft brown eyes.
"Yes, and this ruler, King Yoshi, is one of Splinter's ancestors." Leo said. "This decision caused quite the uproar among the kingdom but the king's word is law and king Yoshi was crowned king thus creating a new monarchy." Leo shook his head and the two turtles continued to walk the hallway. "And once I am crowned king, I will be the first terrapin crowned in almost a hundred years, but I will also be the first king ever…" Leo took a deep breath. "Without a tribe."
Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo in wonder. "I thought the king determined you were of the water tribe?" He pointed to Leo's blue bandana. "I know the king found you with the blue bandana and even though lord Tokkra refuses to accept that, it shouldn't matter, right?"
Leo shook his head. "The masks are only symbols Raphael." The two walked into the dining room. "For all anyone knows, I could belong to your clan." He sighed and sat in his chair. "But regardless, the fact that no clan accepts me is one reason why I'm sure lord Tokkra as well as the others refuse to stand behind me."
Raph sat in the chair next to him. "Still," Raph furrowed his eye ridges in thought. "You are a terrapin and to turn you or your parents away from any clan is just wrong." Raph shook his head. "And the way they did it. I mean why would they wait till ya hatched and let someone take care of ya for a month?" Leo looked at Raph; he could almost see his mind reeling with the possibility of his father being the one to have deliberately attempted to murder a baby.
"I have asked myself those questions many times Raph." Leo smiled ruefully. "What happened to my parents? Why was I hatched only to be thrown away? Are my parents even still alive?" Leo shook his head. "It is possible that my parents are dead and the clan I belonged to could not take care of me and thought the best way to get rid of me was to drown me instead of letting me starve to death but still…." Leo again shook his head in dismay. "Did no one love me enough to want to keep me?" His mind wandered away as he thought of a turtle out there holding him and looking at him with loving tender eyes.
"But someone did love ya Leo." Raph was saying, pulling Leo away from his thoughts. "Someone took care of ya for a month and placed that bandana inside ya plastron so ya would know ya belonged to a tribe." Raph placed a hand on Leo's hand and the two stared at each other for a moment and Leo smiled at him.
Leo smiled at him and nodded. "Someone still loves me Raph." Leo told him. "I am not ignorant of my beginnings, I know Splinter found me in the river and nursed me back to health and he has taken care of me since." Leo sighed. "He gave me a life I never would have had and it's because of him I want to make sure others have that chance."
"Just like the orphans?" Raph and Leo looked at each other, their eyes locked again and Leo stared intently into amber orbs that looked back at him with a deep longing.
Leo nodded and blushed lightly. "Just like the orphans." He repeated.
Raph took a breath and turned away from the prince. "Look Leo." He started. "I…I uh…." Leo watched, somewhat bemused, as Raph struggled to get the words out. "I just wanted to say…" Raph took another deep breath. "For what happened in the meeting, I…uh…"
"It's alright Raph." Leo said, chuckling. "Besides, you should not be apologizing." Raph raised his eye ridges quizzically at him. "If anyone should apologize, it should be me." He looked away from Raph for a moment before smiling back at him. "I should have told you ahead of time what to expect when you went in there. The advisors have been trying for a while now to find ways to cut back on giving the villages money and up the taxes but so far I've been able to get them to wait." Leo looked down at his empty plate in disappointment. "The kingdom is on the verge of bankruptcy and I don't know what to do anymore. We have to get the terrapin clans to agree to these trade routes or else….clans may be forced to leave the kingdom."