The Soldier and the Dancer

The Soldier and the Dancer is a story written by u/jakartaboi18. The story takes place during the Laotian Civil War.

## Story

This is a draft that I had lying around a long time ago, decided to post it because why not. Also I am really bad at writing dialogue so bear that in mind. Enjoy :)

The smell of burning villages and human flesh permeates the air. The once thriving village of Ban Ang is now a flaming husk. Soldiers from the Royal Lao Army scour around looking for any survivors of the village.

“Phouvieng!!! Phouvieng!!!” Screamed Sang, the only soldier who does not seem to be focused on finding survivors.

His only intent is to find Phouvieng, his childhood love.

2020, 14 year old Sang is a boy in the small village of Ban Ang in rural northern Laos. He wishes to see the greater world beyond just his home village and the surrounding rice farms. He wonders what kind of people, nations, cultures are there around the world. The only thing keeping him from leaving is his duty to taking care of his ailing grandparents, as his parents died in a flood 2 years ago. Also keeping him there is his attraction to a particular village girl named Phouvieng.

Phouvieng is groomed to be the ritual dancer of the village, bound to serve the village as its shrine maiden and priestess. This would also mean that her entire life is planned for her. Sang, being the child he is, does not care about all this.

“Here, have this flower as my gift to you” Sang flirtingly said to Phouvieng. The whole village gasped as this was during an important ceremony. Phouvieng only smiled back.

Sang was pulled by his grandfather away from the ritual area. “Do not ever interrupt Phouvieng again, especially during a ceremony.” Reprimanded Sang’s grandfather.

Sang wondered if this is truly what Phouvieng wanted for in her life.

4 years passed by and Phouvieng has blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Impressed by Sang’s boldness, Phouvieng herself became attracted to this rowdy boy. They would secretly spend a lot of time together as she was not allowed to interact with the opposite gender until she got engaged to whoever the village elders wanted her to be engaged with.

One night during their secret meetings, they would finally confess their true feelings with each other. However, Phouvieng has other things to say. Bad things

“Sang, I love you but I am afraid we could not be together.”

“What do you mean? You might be the village dancer but that is not going to stop us?

“I am recently engaged to the son of the neighbouring village chief. We will be getting married next month.”

“Run away with me and we do not have to worry about anything ever again”

“I have a responsibility to this village and I will not shy away from my responsibility. However, I want this to be a special night for us.”

They would make love that night inside a small shack Sang built over the years. Despite having the time of his life, Sang felt really sad knowing this might be the last time he is this intimate with Phouvieng. Phouvieng would cut her braid using a knife she smuggled and gave the braid to Sang.

The next morning, a heartbroken Sang left the village without telling anybody, not even Phouvieng. He just ran south, not knowing what to do with his life. A few days later, a hungry and thirsty Sang came across a group of soldiers doing what seems to be a military drill.

Colonel Suvon, the commanding officer of the group, offered food and drink to the hungry boy. A grateful Sang, desperately looking for a purpose in life, joined Colonel Suvon’s unit. He would learn how to read and write and he became Colonel Suvon’s most trusted aide in 2 years.

Sang would not expect that Laos will experience such great change. The sole party, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party is getting more and more unpopular amongst the middle class as well as the army as they have been pandering too much to the Chinese. The Chinese came over and took over a lot of local businesses at the expense of the locals. Other ASEAN member states have been supporting these revolutionaries, headed by Prince Anouratha who is an exiled member of the deposed Lao royal family. As Colonel Suvong’s aide, who is a high ranking member of the revolutionaries, Sang has met and interacted with people from places he has never heard before. He would see people with blonde hair, huge frames, nothing he could have ever expected.

To counter the growing sentiment, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party would do a massive campaign to recruit rural people into its ranks, going back into their roots. Ban Ang is one such village. The villagers who have no political knowledge, simply joined up as the party gave the village water buffaloes and free rice. Phouvieng would become a famous dancer for the party in her region, becoming well known as a symbol of the party amongst rural people.

In September 2026, the revolutionaries finally launched their coup supported by Indonesian and Vietnamese special forces. With China simply not caring enough about it to intervene, the communist government in the major cities fell down. The army seized control of most major population centers and declared the restoration of the Kingdom of Laos.

To secure their grip on the country, the military immediately began working to purge remnants of the Communist Party in the rural parts. They would pillage and burn any villages known to have many members of the communist party. Ban Ang being one of them.

Sang would take part in this campaign, now knowing his home village will be destroyed. When he found out, he requested permission from his commanding officer in order to possibly save Phouvieng from death, as she is now famous as the Communist Party’s dancer.

He searched and searched for his long lost love, hoping to save her as unlikely as it is.

He would go over all the burning villages as well as their favorite secret meeting spots. There are also no signs of her in the secret tree house where they made love. Maybe, just maybe Phouvieng could escape and live a happy life. Sang knew that this idealized thought is just a far fetched wish.

After a week of looking for her or her remains, he came back to his army base to fully be a part of the reborn Lao Royal Army.

2056, General Sang is now leading the Lao Royal Army in a combined offensive with Indonesian and Vietnamese forces against India in the battle to take Mandalay back. He clutched the braid Phouvieng gave to him, still thinking what he could have done to save her.

“Sir, our soldiers are ready to launch the offensive” Shouted a young soldier shouting to General Sang’s tent.

“Give the order! For the Kingdom!!!” General Sang replied, with a strong yet weirdly sad tone.