Chapter Text
“Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years. O dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet.”
Echo by Christina Rosetti
Mowgli met the girl shortly after he left Messua’s hut. His body ached like the red flower, it spread to his bones and muscles, he felt the burning in his abdomen. But as the hairless wolf cub that he was, he trudged on. The moon was glowing that night, he felt a dryness in his throat as his mind wandered thoughts about his adoptive human mother, how her arms leaped out towards him, her shaking voice pleading for him to return some day. “The door of my home will never be closed to you, oh my son, Nathoo.” His heart felt heavy remembering her voice.
Grey Brother waited outside of the thicket of trees, it was fresh at night and he wasn’t thirsty or sore like his hairless brother, so he remained hidden in a warm spot. Baloo sat beside the young wolf, he rested his tired blind eyes, but he observed Mowgli as he walked by him to enter the shroud of trees leading to a stream.
Mowgli halted in his steps as he realized he was not too far from another Man-Village, his eyes burned over the lights that glowed in the village, it was tranquil and quiet, he could not hear a single frog chatter. But the sound of footsteps softly pattering against the cool ground caught his attention, he quickly ducked down into the bushes, observing the figure standing above the water. A young woman, about his age, had an empty copper jug beside her feet. His heart jolted when his eyes seemed to meet hers.
“I can see you.” She spoke to him. Her voice sounded low, Mowgli did not get a sense of threat in her statement. But he kept cowering in the bushes, maybe she’d think he was just a ghost and she’d leave him alone. He was not in the right mood to deal with another Man-Villager. Let alone this one whose eyes can shoot through the dark, apparently.
Mowgli hesitated to answer, but the girl spoke again quickly. “Are you hungry? If you want, I can give you some food.” Her voice was still low as she whispered.
Mowgli was taken aback by her generosity, the first time he visited the Man-Village where he asked to be fed, he was met with annoying curiosity and constant chatter over his jungle appearance. He stood up from his hiding spot, he needed to find the words in his throat, he pointed to the water in front of them.
“If you want to go through all that work, go ahead, but all I need is a drink of water. You could let me have a drink from your jug.” His eyes glanced over to it.
The girl stayed quiet for a moment, she gave him a small smirk. “Then you’d have to come and get it, you'd have to jump across the stones and land over here next to me, that is if you desire a drink so badly.”
There was a tight ball of annoyance in Mowgli’s chest, it burned with the rest of his soreness. He thought the girl was as manipulative as a fox, her smirk reminded him of their snarling grins as they tricked foolish cubs for a piece of food. But he knew he could not be fooled by her childish trick. He was Mowgli after all, Leader of the Jungle. Man Wolf from the Council of Akela.
Mowgli let out a sigh, he decided to go along. “Alright, I shall cross.” He swiftly moved across by taking large steps over the stones instead of hopping. His years in the jungle made him powerful enough to leap and bound on anything, even as simple as a stream. He hated obeying this human girl, but he wanted to test her cunningness. His nosiness was as unrelenting as ever.
He took a few steps towards her, the girl dipped the jug into the stream, and they both watched it fill halfway. She stood up and with her strength, handed the heavy thing to him. Mowgli quickly took it from her hands, downing the cool water immediately, it refreshed his dry throat, washing away Messua in his mind. Water dripped down his chin and chest, he wiped it away easily with his hands.
The girl continued to stare at him, there was no fear in her dark eyes, Mowgli noticed how long her eyelashes were. They flitted as they shared a quiet gaze. He felt uneasy by how silent this villager was, most of the time he would be met with a flurry of questions.
“Tell me your name.” She said, Her face was unflinching. “I gave you water, now I want something back in return. I want to know who the stranger I let drink from my stream is.”
Mowgli threw his head back in laughter and dropped the empty jug. “Your stream? Man talk, nothing belongs to you.” He felt like snickering, he could just run away with the jug and leave the girl agape with nothing in return, not even a name, or a sense of identification of who he really was.
“Well it belongs to us now, since you have drank our water, you are now obligated to tell me your name.” The annoying smirk returned. Mowgli gritted his teeth behind his lips, frowning at this girl’s insistence.
He spoke slowly. “I am Mowgli the Frog.” He smiled back and stared into the girl’s eyes.
The girl’s smile remained. “I am Shanti the Tiger.” Her eyes creased as her smile got higher.
Mowgli’s heart paused for almost a second. Just hearing the name of the species caused rage to burl inside his fists. His smile disappeared from his face, his eyes lowered to the ground but his pride quickly caused him to look back up at Shanti. He swallowed hard.
“You are not deserving of that title, you would not know the true story of the tiger, you don’t incite fear in anything, not even the monkeys would notice you and they are the most annoying creature in the jungle, such as you, you're lucky you don’t even compare to them in that aspect.” His eyes glowered.
Shanti’s face no longer looked pleased either, she cocked her head to the side. “Forgive me my lord, I had no idea you might’ve gone through something terrible with such a beast, hopefully you can take my apology to heart, or you might as well slay me here, alerting my people that a man has taken a human life. And perhaps you are the real tiger that frightens every living creature and my life is still just as worthy as an ape.”
Mowgli was quiet, he was baffled by this interaction, it was the oddest one he’d ever had with another villager.
“Yes. You’re right about one thing, it would be scandalous if a tiger were to hunt a human.” The only comparison he got from Shanti to a tiger, was the shamelessness, oh the fool she was. If Mowgli were to explain the long history between him and the late Shere Khan, she would surely take back her silly statement. But he didn’t want to waste any time here, Baloo and Grey Brother would notice if he had been gone for too long.
He lowered down and picked up the empty jug, and handed it gently towards Shanti. She stayed quiet again, it made his heart want to flip, he wanted to shake her out of it, it was so unusual he thought.
Mowgli didn’t know what to say to her, but he had been raised by wolves, he still had some compliancy for certain humans, and perhaps he’d add this one to the list.
“Thank you. I won’t forget your kind generosity, and be wary of who you speak to, if you had spoken so carelessly like that in the jungle, you could be ripped to shreds by the wrong being.” He hopped over the stones and landed onto the other side. It was bothering him at how eerily quiet the girl was. She had stared at him like he was the most fascinating type of leaf.
“Can I meet you again in three nights?” She finally spoke out.
Mowgli stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around. “I don’t have time nor do I really want to make any promises to Man-People, all of your kind I despise.”
“How dare you, I let you drink from my cup of water and this is what I get? A rather flawed assumption based on just me? Do you need me to get down on my knees and clean your feet of impurities? Oh great one, he who holds his head high will surely drown in his own pride.” Shanti huffed, she placed both of her hands on her hips.
Mowgli could see her glare in the moonlight. Silly humans and their temperament. He mumbled an annoyance under his breath and walked off slowly on his tired feet, he glanced over his shoulder, he watched Shanti walk away in the opposite direction. Leaving the jug behind. The pain was like a knife gliding across his belly, the guilt arises in his chest. He turned around and made a large hop over the stream, he didn’t use the stones anymore, the pure annoyance and embarrassment gave him a great burst of energy.
He dipped the jug once again into the stream, he didn’t pull it out until it was filled to the brim. He left it standing there, hoping the girl would return for it soon, he knew Shanti would get a heavy scolding from her parents since she came back empty-handed and in a rage. Mowgli stared off at the village, the lights began to dim, for a moment he felt regret that he did not go after Shanti and stop her. He turned back around, instead of leaping over the stream, he walked right into it instead. Letting the cool waves splash his ankles as he moved against the current.
Leaving footprints behind, he returned through the thicket, Baloo’s eyes opened at the scent of him.
“What’s got you looking so down, Little Brother?” He yawned
“Nothing, but there is a village beyond this point.” Mowgli sighed. “I will return here in three nights time.”
******