Rashida (ラシーダ Rashīda) is an interpreter for Tobias within the CIA. She is secretly part of a Balkan group that wanted to force al-Qaeda out of the Balkans.
Appearance[]
Rashida is a young woman of half-Serbian and half-Bosnian descent. She has a skinny build, pale skin, light-colored eyes, and long dark hair tied into a ponytail. She wears round glasses and a dark-colored dress shirt.
Eda Initial Stage history[]
Rashida was born to one Serb parent and one Bosnian parent[1] in the western part of what was then the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in former Yugoslavia. Her parents were exiles, so she soon moved to Germany and grew up there. As an adult, during the Bosnian War, Rashida applied as an interpreter for the United Nations' peacekeeping forces, returning to Bosnia to see what was going on in her home country.[2] After the Dayton Agreement and the formation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities, she wanted to help rebuild their country in the peace finally achieved after the genocidal bloodshed. When foreign extremists, including mujahideen who were part of al-Qaeda, stayed in the country after the civil war in an attempt to start war again, Rashida wanted to push them out and accordingly joined a group of Balkan women who had the same objective. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she became an interpreter for the CIA agent Tobias and learned about the particular extremists, so she tipped off the collaborator about the CIA's intelligence on the extremists.[1]
Balkan crisis[]
When Tobias had secured a female informant who was married to one of the men in the Islamic extremist group using a charity as a front, he called for a female CIA agent to contact the woman. Once Eda arrived in the Balkans, Rashida picked her up in the Republika Srpska and drove her to the CIA base. On the way, she told Eda that they had arrived in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, confusing the latter. Rashida clarified that they could come and go as they please within the region since the two entities were both within Bosnia and therefore no border checkpoints were necessary. Finally arriving at the local town, she guided Eda to the base and waited for Tobias to brief her on her mission. Subsequently, Rashida helped the female agent don a hijab, though the latter was skeptical about its necessity because she saw many women throughout town who did not wear hijabs. The interpreter explained that the hijab would draw less suspicion because she attracted a lot of attention as a foreigner, teaching Eda how to use the hair pins and twist the fabric so that the clothing would stay in place.[3]
Several days later, Rashida prepared some food and ate a bit, then watching Eda angrily consume some of it. Worried, she asked if the food was bad, noting that the way she was eating showed off her sour mood. Eda complimented the food but continued to eat, causing Rashida to ask if her work was at a dead end. Hearing the agent retort that she could not discuss her secret work with the interpreter, Rashida glumly clarified that she had to do a lot of things too. The CIA agent asked her why she took the job and wondered if she was from the region. Rashida recalled her history of being born in Western Bosnia, mentioning her previous residence in Germany due to her parents' exile status. She elaborated that she came back to Bosnia when she applied for an interpreter role for the United Nations peacekeeping forces during the civil war. Hearing Rashida claim that she wanted to see what was happening with her own eyes, Eda asks her what she thought about it all, with the former answering that it was difficult to describe, concluding that she could not go back to Germany upon witnessing the chaos.[2]
Meanwhile, Rashida tipped off the collaborator about Eda's meetings with the informant, allowing the black-veiled woman to confront Eda and have her be captured by the mujahideen as part of the CIA's plan of creating pretext to attack the extremists. After the confrontation between the CIA and the mujahideen resulted in Osama bin Laden fleeing as well as Eda's chase causing the locals to become extremely wary of foreigners, Rashida was ordered to drive Eda back to the airport. On the way, she recalled Tobias's anger and the locals' hostility. When Eda orders her to stop the car, she asked what was wrong and turned around to see the agent pointing her gun at her. Declaring that she finally connected the dots, Eda accused the interpreter of being linked to the Serbian woman, but Rashida denied knowing what she spoke about. Warning her not to play dumb, Eda reminded her that she was crossed at every step and stated that she, the collaborator, and the mother were all linked since all three knew about the CIA and their presence. Expressing her bafflement and proclaiming that the CIA was not her ally despite the shared objective, Eda wondered why a Bosnian like Rashida desired to link up with Serbia, a country that was hostile to her own, in order to get rid of Bosnia-aligned extremists.
Though Rashida nervously smiled and claimed that she was crazy, the agent pressed her pistol against her neck, asserting that she was in a bad mood due to the lack of answers. Sweating profusely, the interpreter confessed that she was half-Serb and half-Bosnian, specifying that there were a few people like her throughout the region. Rashida additionally commented that having two nationalities was no longer allowed ever since the collapse of Yugoslavia. Saying that her people could only rebuild in the condition of peace, she said that she could not let foreigners, especially the extremists who wanted to rekindle war, have their way with Bosnia's future. Answering that she understood, Eda nonetheless sarcastically thanked her for using the CIA for her own benefit. Scared that Eda was going to shoot her, Rashida was confused when she did not hear anything. Hearing Eda claim that she was too exhausted to kill her in addition to her potential murder being too burdensome for Tobias, she sat still in shock but soon resumed driving the CIA agent to her destination.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 11: Balkan crisis Part 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 09: Balkan crisis Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 08: Balkan crisis Part 1