EMMA / ԷՄՄԱ
INT. BADASKHAN’S CHILDHOOD HOME (LIBRARY) - DAY
The library is filled with several potted plants and the walls are covered in photographs, art and political posters -- some old, some new. AZAD and 9-year-old B are sitting at a table covered in art supplies, paintings, plants, and an engraved wooden box. The box is open and its contents are spread out across the table, including a big pile of frankincense chunks and the photograph of Emma. AZAD is flipping through a book.
AZAD
So, where were we? Ah, here we go. The Boswelia Sacra tree tolerates the most critical situations and often grows on rocky slopes and ravines, up to an elevation of 1200 meters. It’s sap is used to make frankincense, did you know that?
B
(distracted by their own thoughts)
Will the O.N.E. soldiers come to our house and take our books away?
AZAD
(pauses, then looks directly at B)
Yes. They may come eventually.
B
Will you let them take our things?
AZAD
(grinning slyly)
Depends on how many of them show up.
B smiles, but it quickly fades into worry. They look down at their painting and AZAD looks intently at B, without breaking eye contact.
AZAD
(softly)
Hey…
B
What if they try to take you away too?
AZAD
Hokis…
(pause)
Look, I’m not gonna start lying to you now. People might come looking for me. They might come for you someday as well. Especially if you keep joining me on these protests.
B
(looks back up)
You said I could come today!
AZAD
You can. And I’m very proud of you for making that choice. I know it can be scary sometimes. You are so brave. I see it in your eyes, and I saw it in my grandmother’s eyes too. We are descendants of survivors, my love.
B
(looks down again)
But not everyone survives.
QUICK FLASH: B being pulled away from AZAD's dead body by O.N.E. soldiers.
AZAD
Yeah. You're right. We have lost so much already, and we will likely lose more. That’s exactly why we have to fight.
(pause)
Think about it this way… imagine how much determination it requires for a little seed to make its way to the surface, pushing its way through the earth towards the light. That’s how hard we have to try.
B glances over at one of the photographs on the table.
AZAD
(cont’d)
Listen, we didn’t lose everything. We’re still here. And our grandmothers were clever, especially your grandmother Emma. They found ways to pass things down…
AZAD looks at a particular plant on the table. It is the same one from Emma’s photograph, the same one that is growing in B’s studio.
QUICK FLASH: B looking at the mystery plant and Emma’s photograph side by side.
AZAD
(cont’d)
Like our friend here… my grandmother used to call it a whispering plant. Our foremothers used to speak to each other through them, like a telephone. Your great-great-great grandmother… She was a whisperer. Her and her twin sister used to sing to plants to help them grow, and sometimes the plants would sing back to them.
B
So… are you a whisperer too?
AZAD
Hm. In some ways, yes. But I can’t whisper to plants like they used to. That language is one of the things we lost.
B
What about me? Am I a whisperer?
AZAD
Maybe you will be. I am hopefu—
QUICK FLASHES: B’s childhood home on fire. The mystery plant with exposed roots dripping with blood, forming a pool below. B screaming (inaudible) and being pulled away from AZAD's dead body. B being thrown into a prison cell packed with several other Children of Resistors (CORs).