铁扇公主 Rakshasi
朝夕经营多苦辛，日夜持家无闲情。
天不怜人人自怜，谁家灯火最难明。
From dawn to dusk, toil's bitter strain,
Day and night, home's burdens remain.
Destiny shows no mercy, merciful she became
Why is her household light the hardest to sustain?
灵山，鹫峰，雷音宝刹前。
铁扇公主捏紧交叠的手，稳住微颤的身，让自己看起来平静又祥和。
她此行去了好些地方，下界交好的妖王，天上结识的神仙，海外的仙岛，幽冥的地府，她都访了个遍。
她还去兜率宫求见了师父。
师父只是语重心长地劝道:“叫你养个孩子不用真就做个母亲。此事尽他去闹，你夫妻只要不管，可保无虞。”
师父的话，让她彻底寒了心。
她知道，火焰山请不到救兵。
这，是天意。
但她何其了解自己的儿子，肆意狷狂，有仇必报，这些年吃了那么多苦头除非他能喘平这口气，否则就只能打断他的脊骨，才可解了火焰山之围。
是以，她来了这里——
为了报仇。
怎么报?
她毫无头绪，脑中一片虚无。
“公主，师父招你进去。“阿傩站在殿门前，话语一如既往的温柔
她挺了挺背，握紧了早已放在手中芭蕉扇，干哑地答道:“有劳尊者。”
一路步入殿中，两旁侍立着八大金刚，五百阿罗，她似有似无地听到了笑声，但余光所及，一众法相庄严。
行至宝莲台下，她昂首跪着，捏紧了手中的扇子。
“罗刹女，汝有何事，求见于我?”
她沉默着，使劲把住扇子，确保随时可一下扇出神风，大殿里一片寂静。
所有的目光朝她望来，她能感到金刚正在睁大怒目，罗汉正在瞪圆嗔眼一切法相正在幻作忿怒相。
我……“她垂下了头:“弟子……”
“弟子代师父，来向您问安。”
洪亮的笑声，振聋发聩。
她在这笑声里，听到了婴孩的啼哭，稚童的憨笑，少年的怒吼，听到了千百年的花开花谢，草长莺飞。
听到余烬，熄灭在了火焰山。
Mount Lingshan, Vulture Peak, before the Thunderclap Temple.
Rakshasi clasped her intertwined hands tightly, steadying her trembling body, striving to appear calm and serene.
She had traveled to many places on this journey: domains of the yaoguai kings she befriended in the mortal realm, abodes of the gods she met in the celestial realm, the immortal islands on the sea, and even the underworld. She had visited them all.
She also went to the Tushita Palace to seek advice from her master. Yet the latter had only offered a heartfelt persuasion: "I ordered you to raise a child, but I did not ask you to be a true mother. Let the boy stir his trouble; as long as you and your husband stay out of it, you will be safe."
Her master's words left her in despair. She knew that no protection would the Flaming Mountains receive. This was their destiny ordained.
But she knew her son all too well—reckless and wild, vengeful and unforgiving. After all the suffering he had endured over the years, unless he could vent his anger, the only way to resolve the siege of Flaming Mountains would be to break his spine.
Thus, she came here—
For revenge.
How to exact it?
She had no idea, her mind a blank void.
"Lady Rakshasi, the master summons you inside." Ananda stood at the temple door, his voice as gentle as ever.
She straightened her back, gripping the Plantain Fan tightly in her hand, and hoarsely replied, "Thank you, Venerable."
As she walked into the hall, flanked by the Eight Great Vajras and five hundred Arhats, she seemed to hear faint laughter, but all she saw in her peripheral vision were solemn and dignified figures.
Reaching the base of the lotus throne, she knelt with her head held high, clutching the fan tightly.
"Rakshasi, what brings you here to seek an audience with me?"
She remained silent, gripping the fan with all her might, ready to unleash its divine wind at any moment.
The hall was deathly quiet.
All eyes were on her; she could feel the Vajras glaring with their angry eyes, the Arhats staring with their wrathful gazes, and all the divine figures transforming into fierce visages.
"I..." She lowered her head. "I..."
"I greet you on behalf of my master."
A booming laughter echoed, deafening. Within that laughter, she heard the cries of an infant, the innocent giggles of a child, the roars of an adolescent, and the cycle of blooming and withering flowers, the growth of grass and the flight of orioles over millennia.
She heard the embers extinguishing in the Flaming Mountains.
