So here I firmly establish the time of year this is taking place, Chanchalla arrived in Late November shortly after Thanksgiving and by this point it's probably early December I admit I borrowed the idea of the Turtles hibernating like normal reptiles from the Fanfic Dark Winter by Amicitia Revenant the author communicated with me and said that in her mind the boys can skip hibernation (Like I imagine they did during their exile to Northampton) but too many winters in a row and they'll start to feel run down in that sense they actually need to hibernate like a need for sleep normally they make to Christmas but by January they begin their hibernation
Upon waking the next morning, Chanchalla reported her dream to the Turtles and Splinter, April and Casey were also there.
"Shell…" Mikey said when hearing the story of Chanchalla's Mother "…It's like in my comic books where the hero falls in love with a pretty lady cat burglar and her Mom is a Black Cat and…"
"Mikey…" Don gave a warning
"What I mean…" Mikey said "…Is it's a lot less fun than it is in the comic books."
"It's all right Mikey, I understand what you mean, we have our own stories like that, like one I read about an Isvar who fell in love with a scullery maid only turns out she was really a Sunborn being punished by wicked stepmother but he didn't know that when he asked her to marry her…"
"Wow…" Raph snickered "…Every place has its own trashy romance novels…" Causing April to give him the side-eye.
Leo sighed "That poor woman…" as he realized the severity of the situation "…I can only imagine what she's thinking, first she believed giving birth to an odd child was the Karma for her crimes…Now the entire family has been dishonored and sold into slavery! I really hope she's still alive…" As he feared the Black Cat may have done the Dardunah equivalent of Seppuku believing her Karma has destroyed an entire noble family just because she married into that family!
"I hope she is still alive too…" Chanchalla said "For it is actually my oddness that enabled me to be sent to this world for I could bare the truth that Janah were once Suthra."
"This…Oddness…" April said "…Could…Could you describe it to me? I have a hunch but I just want to make sure."
Chanchalla described her habit of saying inappropriate things when she was a child and the times she had embarrassed her family throwing fits at Holidays and other important gatherings when the loud noises and too many Janah being around became too much for her.
"I think I know what this 'oddness' is." April said "Chanchalla, I think you have Asperger's Syndrome!"
"Is…Is that unclean?" Chanchalla asked
"If by that you mean it's an illness that's contagious, no." April said "Asperger's Syndrome is also known as high functioning Autism and…How to I explain this to someone from a Medieval Society…It has something to do with your mind and how you see things differently than other people…You see Don's computer over there…" April gestured toward where the computer was "The computer has wires that carry electricity that carry information, a living creatures brain is like a computer, in a person with Autism…The wires get tangled somehow…Even in this day and age we still don't completely understand but people with Autism Disorders struggle with understanding social rules and are often over stimulated by too much noise and being around too many people hence what are called 'meltdowns' it is believed people on the Autism Spectrum have always existed in human history it's just in earlier times they were called eccentrics or sometimes worse depending on how high or low functioning they were…I think Samtra is right, it is your disability that causes you to not care about social rules like most other people do that gives you the ability to be calm when realizing what your religion said about your people's origins isn't exactly the truth."
Chanchalla took a deep breath "So the curse…Was actually a blessing…" She said "…Weather or not my Mother had married my Father and if I had never been born, my Father still would have enemies who were planning his destruction…I am the only one who can save my family now."
She jumped out of the chair "I want to see the world above!" She said "I want to move forward in my training!"
The Turtles turned to Splinter who said "I believe this night is all right." He said "You may take her out for a bit."
Splinter knew the weather report, this night the sky would be completely covered by clouds as the first snow would fall and there would be no stars to be seen.
Because the piece of the sundered planet the Janah landed on is in the Southern Hemisphere the farther North you go the warmer it gets, and it only really snows on the highest mountains, so this was Chanchalla's first time seeing snow up close and personal…She wasn't cold because of her wool coat so she was only wearing her sports bra, shorts and sneakers
"Oh…My!" Chanchalla said as she caught snowflakes in her cupped hands "…It is like beautiful white crystals falling softly from the sky…And they don't hurt like the crystal storms we have in Dardunah!"
"You haven't seen anything yet." Mikey said as he jumped on a nearby fire escape, "Follow us for a real view!"
Chanchalla lived in a large city but really seeing just how massive New York City was "This place could be its own country!" She exclaimed
"Yeah…" Don chuckled "Really the Burroughs of New York should be their own cities."
"This world is so much larger than Dardunah…" Chanchalla said "…And beings like us have to hide in the sewers and can never show our faces…" She began thinking of the story of the Turtles and Splinter's Origin
She turned to them "That ooze that transformed you was being taken somewhere right?" She said
"To a disposal site," Don said "As is typical of toxic waste."
"What if we could find these disposal sites?" Chanchalla said "Find the ooze that made you what you are and give the gifts of speech and intelligence to other poor creatures!"
The Turtles felt an icy chill go down their backs when they heard that
"We could create an army!" Chanchalla said "Our own nation perhaps! So that we may have some bargaining power against the humans who would shun us so that we may have the right to walk in the sun!"
Then Chanchalla saw the expressions of horror and the Turtles' faces like she had suggested blood sacrifice to summon demons! She honestly didn't think her idea was unreasonable.
"Challa…" Don's face was quite pale. "I realize your heart's in the right place with that suggestion but I need to point out the issues with that…Firstly there isn't enough room in the sewers, Mutating a bunch of animals…I mean even if we mutated full grown adults we'd have to teach them everything, reading writing all that stuff…It was hard enough for Splinter doing all that stuff for the four of us…But a whole bunch of different species?! Plus we don't know if the animals want to be mutated I mean the four of us Splinter and Leatherhead handled it just fine but who knows someone might not be able to handle being intelligent and totally flip out, if we Mutated them we'd be responsible for them! We'd essentially be their parents and we can't handle that responsibility bringing them into a world where they could never be free…"
Yeah…Don points out the Frankenstein Problem that any Animals they Mutate they'd essentially be the parents of