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PROLOGUE
Enter Heimerdinger, instrument in hand
HEIMERDINGER
In sweet Piltover, where we lay our scene
Twice a city, bitter halves boiling unseen
A garden party filled with wealth and fame
Seeking daughter’s hand —The Kiramman name
Beneath porcelain masks painted with grins
Avarice tips tongues well fed on ruin
Save a forlorn heir high-born with no bent
Seething frustration with no way to vent
Wishing her pastime, justice her passion
(In noble eyes, a like out of fashion)
Tangled in image, her bonds made of gold
Holding her tongue lest she say something bold
Crossed o’er edge of night the fete grandly thrived
When, in the darkness, four strangers arrived.
Exit Heimerdinger
SCENE I The Kiramman Estate
Enter Caitlyn and Jayce
CAITLYN
Death first to vultures and scavengers!
A pox and fie on ev’ry prideful tongue
laced with poison and hiding gilded fangs!
Not a thimbleful of shame in their hearts?
JAYCE
Enraptured by possibility, sprout.
The world? Lost in the rising of the sun;
All they see is bright, they care not for fire.
CAITLYN
Fire their reward if I be the morn, Jayce.
Brimstone too, if these words be promises.
Brown-nosed gladhanding their own villainy
As though they sit beyond judgement and law,
Yet still they demand more. They demand me.
I am no one’s bauble, not on my life.
JAYCE
Remember now thy mother’s will.
CAITLYN
Will, you say? Less her will but her order,
Divine mandate as to Prometheus
Told plainly ‘suffer now at our pleasure’.
Only house be my chain, name be my liver.
JAYCE
Surely Her Grace dreams higher than thy gut?
Does she not strive to find a choice that thou
Would gladly accept, without fail abiding
Your every refusal once given?
CAITLYN
Aye, but thy truth spoken ‘gainst the clamor
Of eager, blindly self-confident fops
Falls on ears deaf as my mothers’ when I
Entreat her to understand mine own wants
And the flowers of discord they water.
JAYCE
Couldst thou speak of wants to me? Dost thou know?
I cannot champion a friend whose mind
Is a box made fast against all the world.
Sounds of voices approaching
CAITLYN
And like sun in mine eye, once more they come.
The night grows old, I must away with speed.
Wouldst thou cover mine escape, dearest friend?
JAYCE
Friendship may reign eternal, but not I
And less with thy mother’s gaze on my hide.
CAITLYN
Must I beg?
JAYCE
Thy mother take issue, later consequence
Falls all the more heavily on thee, sprout.
CAITLYN
If issue be hers, it leaves aught else mine.
JAYCE
Go, then.
But remember, tomorrow always comes.
And with it, hope that such veils between us
May be lifted. Secrecy pains me, sprout.
CAITLYN
Your trust has been a dear friend, ‘ere I strayed
From the empty throne Her Grace wishes filled.
To my shame, this darkness must not be breached.
Take heart Jayce Talis, and my thanks to thee!
Exit Caitlyn
Enter Mel, Revelers, and Suitors
MEL
The Man of Progress himself, what good chance.
Enjoying the night air, Master Talis?
JAYCE
Best among ways to fill one’s lungs at hand,
Second perhaps to a certain perfume
Whose memory never matches its truth.
MEL
A well-practiced answer I have no doubt.
JAYCE
Any who court thee without rehearsal
are surely undeserving of favor,
Lady Medarda. Of that I’m doubtless.
MEL
Confident as always. I hope it lasts.
JAYCE
Else, a valiant effort at the least.
What can confidence do for thee, this eve?
MEL
Confidant, more like. I am as envoy,
Or would be, did my charge not vanish soon
e’er I laid eyes upon her. Tell me, Jayce,
If war be failed statecraft, yet our mistress
And scion incline to it ‘tween themselves
What hope have I, loyal politician
In reconciling them?
JAYCE
For their sakes, pray.
The Duchess Kiramman, long may she reign,
Keeps ear to ground, while her heir’s eyes yearn high
Among the clouds. Their gazes never meet,
Thus neither e’er spies what t’other searches for.
MEL
Ne’er do I. Half a season’s masquerades
And the gulf only grows. ‘Tween riverbanks,
Current hastens. Now is for boldness
But bold does not into ignorance, go.
Insight is crucial. A favor for yours?
JAYCE
From thy lips? Worth far more than a penny.
Methinks Kirammans do nothing by halves,
Thus compromise and defeat share a bed
Never to reconcile lest it prove either wrong.
Her Grace seeks to secure a legacy
Caitlyn can hardly stomach her part in.
MEL
She must, even if ‘t break with tradition
Else tradition shall break her House in turn
For ‘tis a House much needed at present.
Few things endanger well as war-wishes
By those ignorant of all such entails.
If I’ve so much as a hope of success
I must know what drives her.
JAYCE
Is ’t yours to know?
Or mine, at that? ‘Tis her life, after all.
Is the knot between heir and house so tight
As to be inextricable?
MEL
Doubtless.
House Kiramman’s enemies take no heed
Of life when profit and peril loom large.
A path she must choose, even if less traveled.
‘Tis not a safe time for the unaligned.
JAYCE
‘Haps ‘tis time for an outside perspective.
Prideful as I am, it pains to admit
My shortcomings; hers is a will without peer,
Least mine. Where it leads her I cannot see.
MEL
The curse of the daring; so often ‘tis done
In solitude.
JAYCE
A grave injustice, mark.
Thou art no suitor. Thou wish her no harm.
MEL
Much the opposite. She is dear to me,
Though I remain too close to the world she
Spurns to claim us friends. She has my respect.
I simply wish her to survive long enough
For the chance to accept mine assistance.
JAYCE
For thee, this I will do: go thee due south,
To a grove of Ionian willows.
You’ll know it by firelights without, and
Understand this a place of refuge, Mel.
If I know a thimble of her thinking,
There she shall be. Likely pacing a deep divot
Into the earth, consumed by riotous thought.
MEL
Two favors owed. Call at thy convenience.
A pause
Awareness, confidence, and loyalty.
‘Tis A miscarriage of courtship, that you
Remain unwed, Jayce Talis. We shall see.
Exit Mel
JAYCE
[Aside] Said she to he from whom not one, but two
Eligible bachelorettes have thus far
Fled to go cavorting into the woods.
Exeunt
SCENE II A Secluded Grove
Enter Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor, masked
MYLO
A rich king’s ransom for a taste of ale!
Mine are surely not arms meant for rowing
Least of all across the Pilt with only
Scant few stars and prayer to guide our way.
POWDER
My brother, the greatest of mariners
In dire need of the stars to find a shore
Plainly visible from its opposite.
MYLO
How natural, my friends, that she who makes
Light was ‘course herself unburdened by oars.
POWDER
Burdened by sense, rather.
MYLO
Burdened by my fist, soonest!
VI
Burdened by two thunderous fools, lauding
their success while it still evades their grasps.
Hush now, and pray keep watch for enforcers.
CLAGGOR
Hark! Steps on the wind, someone approaches!
MYLO
Damn it all! Caught so far off we’ve no chance.
VI
Be quiet or so help me I’ll disquiet you!
Whence do they come, Claggor, and how many?
CLAGGOR
From the fête, seems, and alone, Janna be praised.
Well-dressed and well-heeled, if a sabre rattles
The same on the gilded side of the Pilt.
There she is! See there under moonlight’s glare?
Enter Caitlyn, unmasked.
POWDER
Sharply built, like a double-headed oar.
MYLO
That is, ridden hard and put away wet.
Vi lightly smacks them both
VI
In spite of thy most crass editorial,
There she is indeed. The moon hath hardly
Cause to butt in against her radiance.
POWDER
Steady, sister dear. Cast thy gaze lower.
The moon shows glitter of badge on her waist,
Dressed to kill our hopes of discrete entry.
CLAGGOR
Time draws short. Unfashionably tardy
And scrutiny weighs heavy upon masks
Far too crude to bear it. We must away
Or turn back empty handed.
VI
Not this night.
On with you, thou know well thy given tasks.
What can be carried, and what won’t be missed.
Here I shall distract this moonbeam errant
Leaving shadows plenty for shadow work.
Go now! And may good fortune favor thee!
Exit Powder, Claggor, and Mylo
As they leave, Caitlyn begins to softly sing to herself
CAITLYN
Dear friend across the river,
What balm could freedom be?
Dear friend across the river,
Would you share it with me?
VI
Dear friend the moon delivers,
I see you in the sky,
Dear friend the moon delivers,
I wish as you go by.
CAITLYN
Who draws near? Show thyself! Lest wrath find ye.
Vi emerges
VI
Peace, fair lady, and thy judgement match thee!
Just a dear friend, from… just down the river.
Taking in this gorgeous night, and other sights
Which pale at thine auspicious arrival.
CAITLYN
[Aside] Another suitor, one more handsome fool.
I’ll hear ‘t if I must, eyes rolling all while.
To Vi
Emerging from dusk, honeyed words at hand.
Art thou of the fey folk, come hence to steal
Me away to the unsleeping cities?
VI
Mayhaps I’m of night itself, bidden here
By cosmic coincidence to thy call.
CAITLYN
Honeyed words indeed, and not a single
Scrap of identity revealed therein.
VI
‘Tis a masquerade, no? Verse be’t my face.
Speak e’er as though an audience abounds
And thine ev’ry word shall be without compare.
Thus, in good company, with your highness.
CAITLYN
Highness? Dost thou spy a crown upon me?
VI
Crowns are for the clueless and unknowing.
Thou art queen by thy grace, by the piquance
Of thy gaze. Thou art captain by thy steel
And the ease with which thy thumb caresses
That gleaming pommel like a long lost friend.
Thou art divine by moonlight’s conference
Which shirks all duty save brightening thine eyes.
CAITLYN
Flowery speech. But after roots or petals?
Well met are we, but only just, stranger,
How knowing canst thou truly be, so soon?
Thy verse paints strokes as broad as they are thin.
Am I so simply described that thou need’st
Merely a glance to make naked my soul?
Or, perhaps, it is novelty you seek
And each hint of true connection fostered
Dulls the forthcoming notch on thy bedpost?
Mine eyes spy only a hound before me.
Dashing, quick of tongue, and not one thing more.
VI
A wound! And without a hint of steel drawn.
If thou judge me solely by my tongue’s edge,
Know that to speak is the least of its uses.
CAITLYN
An edge that travels familiar roads.
Judgement lives beyond the shadows of doubt
Of which I have none. Rote is the music
Though the musician may be fresh and fair.
Speak you well of exactly those same traits
Each simpering suitor does: those you crave.
VI
I’ve spine enough not to regret wanting
But I know well as the scars on my hide
That coldest of empties: of the unheard.
If I’m of the fey here to steal thee away
Allow me instead the theft of thy woes.
Speak now, and spirit them away tonight.
Enter Mel, unseen
CAITLYN
Thou art kinder than I deserve, stranger.
Sharp secrets have habits in Piltover,
Untoward trends. “Speak oft yet say nothing”
Be’t our creed, lest our words find own backs at
First hint of weakness. Thus is first among
My pains: none, beloved nor beloathed, can
Be trusted when life is the cost of truth.
VI
‘Twould be no small gamble, in fair circles.
But mine is a voice of no consequence.
CAITLYN
No consequence save my interest piqued,
Prithee unmask, thou oddest of knaves.
VI
Fast at thine order, your royal highness.
She unmasks
CAITLYN
I know not thy face but its tale reads plain
Common, Zaun-born, to a house with no name.
Am I known to thee?
MEL
[Aside] Soon enough, methinks,
If the rose at thy cheek brightens further.
VI
Only as much as the sun knows the moon
By reputation alone. Enforcer,
Noble, to mine eyes opposites somehow
Fused into form. Thou art impossible,
A beautiful, dangerous mystery.
CAITLYN
Yet thou dost not flee? I know well the scars
Left in badge’s wake. ‘Tis one among many
wrongs I had hoped to stop, in my joining.
VI
Can it be? A topsider with conscience?
Naive, yet noble by intent. ‘Tis hard
To rid cancer of itself from within.
CAITLYN
From within, far too right. From atop, though,
No better a place from which to shine an
Inquisitive glare upon proceedings.
If there is to be justice, it must lead
From on-high, and follow through with vengeance.
Twill be no easy task, but one required
Of my conscience to at least attempt.
VI
Good.
CAITLYN
Good? Nay, mine end apparent. My mother
Wishes to vouchsafe my future against
The perils of the very order I
Intend to uproot. If Her Grace believes
Me rebellious in matters of taste?
All the better. Underestimated,
I’ll be dismissed in the halls of power
Until the moment I fill them with teeth.
MEL
[Aside] By many, no doubt. No longer by me.
The path less traveled indeed, Kiramman.
VI
Explaining thy distaste of all suitors,
Chiefly among them mine own advances.
Thy denial all the more vehement
With each passing palpitation lest you
Fall prey to that oldest of ailments:
CAITLYN
Love.
VI
Thou must be exhausted.
CAITLYN
And how, fey friend.
‘Tis the City of Progress, yet the sole
Metric in which such can be quantified
Is in cogs and our ability to
Cannibalize our neighbors to make them.
Mother is no poor matchmaker, alas.
There are decent, magnificent people,
though few, in their ranks, behind each of whom’s
goodly hearts lurks a future in which they
Or their houses are held hostage against me.
Thus is the price of my taking a stand:
For want of a blade, armed I am alone.
VI
Tripe. With blade in hand thou art incarnate.
They embrace
MEL
[Aside] Twould seem Caitlyn’s match is found, Duchess.
Wolf preserving, Piltover may survive ‘t.
A distant bell
CAITLYN
Didst thou hear the faintest of noises, then?
VI
Was that not the beating of mine own heart?
Faint, far off shouting: “Thieves! Thieves!”--”Guards to the southern wood!”--”They make for the river!”
CAITLYN
Thieves? At a bustling party? What madness-
VI
No! Fools, the ruinous Janna-damned fools!
She pulls away
CAITLYN
Wait! Thou givest the world yet leave unnamed??
VI
If thou truly believe love an anchor
Then know my timbers weigh heavy with chain.
I came accompanied by kin, bound by blood,
Now they stand a hair’s breadth from shattering.
Thou claim thine aims required by thy conscience?
Believe this required by mine, and then some.
Mel emerges
MEL
Then thou would do well to bring help.
CAITLYN
Lady Medarda?! What eaves hath thou dropped?
MEL
‘Nough to have seen something sacred in bloom,
But time is not with us. We must make haste
And fetch Lord Talis if this night is to
End bloodlessly and without pointless grief.
VI
Why help me?
MEL
Because, my darling, I’m exhausted too.
Now, prithee, follow you both with all speed.
Exit Mel
VI
Thou would aid the unnamed, without question?
CAITLYN
Interrogation comes after safety.
For what I feel for thee, against all sense,
I would ride a horse foaled of an acorn.
VI
Take this then, as both a promise and thanks.
They kiss briefly
Exeunt Vi and Caitlyn severally
SCENE III A Riverbank
Enter Powder, Mylo, and Claggor, all bound, followed by Marcus, and Enforcers
MYLO
‘Tis a grand eve for brutality, nay?
The airs inspire such vigorous fancy
that liberate the humors and call one
Towards false imprisonment, do they not?
MARCUS
Be quiet!
MYLO
Yet one must consider, in earnest, if
In fact nature’s whims hold any purchase
Over attitudes born out of cowardice
Rather than conviction, prejudice in
Place of procedure. ‘Tis terror made flesh
To imagine such fervor commonplace.
MARCUS
Hark! Thou shalt be silent! Now, plainly tell,
What further sumpscum taints these grounds this night?
All remain silent
Well? Time wastes!
POWDER
‘Tis such an odd custom, striving for silence
Yet demanding sound once peace be acquired.
MARCUS
We shall see if thy glibness keeps after
A stay in Stillwater where you belong!
Enter Grayson
GRAYSON
Report, officer.
MARCUS
Sir! Our patrol caught three trencher brigands
In flight from the Kiramman Estate, with
Masks obviously meant to aid trespass
And grand theft from the lands of their betters.
POWDER
Thou speak of theft as experts, naturally.
MARCUS
Watch your tongue!
POWDER
‘Tis cleaner than thine own, absent a boot!
MARCUS
Right!
He moves to strike her, but is stopped by Grayson
GRAYSON
Need I remind you, officer, of when
Last Zaunite blood spilled this side ‘the Pilt!?
The tides of chaos and anarchy which rose
In its wake, nearly plunging this city
Into out-and-out war with itself?
MARCUS
What courtesy is owed to trencher scum?
GRAYSON
It is owed to thyself, that thou shalt ne’er
Come to see such a day as I once did!
Go thee now down the riverbank, with torches.
MARCUS
At once, Reeve. For what are we searching, hence?
GRAYSON
For their boat, you fool! Unless the discharge
Of thy duties developed competence
Only during their return trip, thy ‘thieves’
Did not arrive by land.
MARCUS
But the prisoners-
GRAYSON
That was not a suggestion, officer!
MYLO
[Aside to Marcus] This be the time when thou runneth away.
Exit Marcus and Enforcers
GRAYSON
Hath thee no sense within thy heads?
Restraint lies far from Piltovan thoughts with
Tensions so tight-gripping triggers and hilts
from the Sun Gates to the Gold Way. Prithee,
What possessed thee to risk this tinderbox?
POWDER
Risk? Fair-weather concept from those for whom
Rain is irritant rather than life-blood.
Nay, survival and this alone our prize.
GRAYSON
A fair prize threatened by thine own presence.
The Duchess does approach, our speech must be quick.
Thou art proud, but pride cometh ‘fore a fall
Ne’er more so than now. If thou care an inch
For thy lives, look thee most lost and afraid.
By my honor, I shall aid as I can.
CLAGGOR
To Mylo and Powder
By her tone’s cut, we do well to obey.
Enter Cassandra and her train, Hoskel, and Shoola
CASSANDRA
We bid thee a good eve fast turned sour, Reeve.
Grayson bows
GRAYSON
Just so, your Grace, deepest apologies
For the interruption and caused alarm.
CASSANDRA
Simply thy duty and no foul, at ease.
By our ears’ intimations We expected
An invading army, half the Lanes on
The march. Before Us sit three youths. Explain.
HOSKEL
Children? Old enough to know right from wrong,
now having made their choice with abandon.
GRAYSON
The Grey weighs heavily at hand, your Grace.
No treasures nor materials were found
Among their few possessions, when searched.
SHOOLA
Cached on the grounds, no doubt, thievery
Being inveterate pastime well mastered
to those born in the undercity, mark.
GRAYSON
Begging pardon, dwindling recourse remains
In pursuing judgement in search of crime;
Pushed into reversal, justice oft’ break
Afore ‘t bend. At risk of opining
Beyond my station, we have little need
Of jagged edges where peace may be cut.
CASSANDRA
Neither can precedent be set implying
Those who err do so with impunity.
HOSKEL
What manner of reeve suggests pardoning
Those who menace the public? Nay, a stay
In the Hold teach fears falsely forgotten.
Enter Caitlyn, speaking immediately, followed by Mel, Jayce, and Vi
CAITLYN
One who hath shivered the hopeless chill clung
fast to every brick of that fell dungeon,
‘Nough to know it a place of last resort
To the just and a thing far worse to Zaun.
A fact which gracefully deposits us
At the sight ‘fore me, with a fair question:
Why are my honored guest’s attendants in chains?
POWDER
[Aside to Mylo] Honored guests?
MYLO
[Aside to Powder] Attendants?
CLAGGOR
[Aside to both] Quiet, while we have tongues left to query.
HOSKEL
Come now, young Kiramman, these—
CAITLYN
Hold. Thy. Tongue.
Thou shalt know when to speak by the wither
Of thy spine against my gaze, Don Hoskel,
And thou shalt address me as Officer.
HOSKEL
To Cassandra
You Grace I hardly imagine—
CASSANDRA
Leave us.
Exit Hoskel, Shoola, and others
It would appear there is much overdue
Discussion to be had entre-nous , so
Smoothly released now after much silence.
To Mel
Your doing, Lady Medarda?
MEL
Not I, your Grace.
Much as admission cramps, liberation
Of tongues springs wholly from another’s lips.
CASSANDRA
To Jayce
And you?
JAYCE
My lips are innocent, your Grace,
And thus owed no credit for the rare chance
Thy daughter’s actions hath placed at our feet.
But if I hath earned a sprig of thy trust
During my years in your service, listen,
Your Grace, for the sake of all Piltover.
CASSANDRA
Chance being a close bedfellow to risk,
Necessary for prosperity, yet
Deserving of care before ‘tis embraced.
To Caitlyn
This I have well taught thee from thy first steps.
Thy sparkling eyes speak of… other concerns,
Namely mine ignorance of ‘honored guests’
Let alone those whose ‘attendants’ indeed
Hail from the undercity, far past strange.
What hast thou brought upon us, daughter mine?
CAITLYN
Taking Vi’s hand
My heart, finally roused from leaden sleep
With impossible speed, spiting caution
By way of honest words in dulcet tones,
Mutual infatuation not most
In flesh but in relief, sweetest solace
Of a siblinghood found in shared fatigue.
Before you stands Violet. She is my other.
POWDER
[Aside] Sister sister, what madness hast thou made?
CASSANDRA
No made match of mine, clear to be seen.
To Vi
A twilight romance, love at first sight?
VI
Verily. Stumbling in the dark, at first
Blinded, soon beheld, matched now in lock-step
Most sure-footed for the other’s luster.
CASSANDRA
Then, daughter, thou hast truly lost thy way.
CAITLYN
It is not loss to be other than you,
Making of marriage naught but one more tool
In thy chest, for therein dwells not a heart,
But an engine ‘burns dreams in place of blood!
CASSANDRA
Didst think me e’er smitten with thy father,
That I cherished no one else ‘fore him?
Improper passions tearfully left fallow?
Thou hast partaken of our shared doom, child,
As thou art not other to me, but same!
My hubris is no weak belief I am
In some respect better, but in thinking
That with labors I might spare thee such pain.
CAITLYN
Strangled with silken cord, stealing glimpses
Of the world in gasps, scarless and starving
For anything ‘sides the quiet passage
Of time as I discharge makework duties
With no impact to those in most dire need.
Truly, absent agony I flourish.
CASSANDRA
A point beyond made, but answer me this:
In this moment thou art filled with courage.
When comes morrow, with it slings and arrows
Abstract as the driftwood lining this beach,
Will thou manage to stomach a love felt
Only across battle lines and barricades?
Will it remain a worthy aching then?
This I ask in earnest, not rhetoric.
VI
Remains are chaos’ only sure reward.
From whence I hail, a sight utterly common,
Grown rote to children ‘neath the Entresol
Yet never welcome, save by the Barons
And all Topside, or so I long believed.
Of all things I thought to find in yon heights,
Last among them was an inspiration.
CASSANDRA
Honeyed words.
CAITLYN
Her well-slaked inclination.
MEL
Your Grace, they speak truth by my testament;
At thine order I hath searched for a match
Whose standing would shield thy heir against a
Coming war. In true Kiramman grandeur,
She hath scorned all odds, finding one herself
well-suited towards birthing its prevention.
CASSANDRA
Scion of a high house and a nameless rogue?
The scandal alone halt the warmongers
Firstly by sending their jaws to the floor.
JAYCE
Better scandal than the dark age we tempt
In turning tools of labor to battle.
CASSANDRA
Flimsy.
MEL
As are all things freshly built and newborn.
A pause
CASSANDRA
Reeve Grayson, seems thy trade found no purchase
This night, your thieves conjured by drunken fools.
Ensure our guests reach the bridge unmolested,
A duty befitting a particular
Officer in thy ranks, I imagine.
GRAYSON
At thy order, your Grace.
She unbinds those shackled
POWDER
With the moon comes mercy, touch feather-light?
CAITLYN
Justice, not mercy, duly avowed.
CASSANDRA
See not this act as final, nor shielding.
In my allowance I loose wolves ‘pon thee,
Too many wielding claws of ink and gold.
CAITLYN
‘Tis not Kiramman to know surrender.
CASSANDRA
‘Tis not motherhood to withhold one’s pride.
Quicken thee now, ‘fore time quickens us all.
Exit Caitlyn, Vi, Mylo, Powder, and Claggor
MEL
Our work completes, yet the night remains young.
JAYCE
‘Nough for favors rendered?
MEL
At thy convenience.
Exit Mel and Jayce
GRAYSON
“Improper passions tearfully left fallow?”
CASSANDRA
Not another word.
GRAYSON
As you wish, your Grace.
Exeunt
Scene IV A Bridge
Enter Caitlyn, Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor
CLAGGOR
Lost in the current, painter ‘round driftwood
cleat failed its given task. Our craft made off
Into the yawning night taking all chance
Of flight with ‘t, no one ashore the wiser.
MYLO
Puzzle for the Gate minders, come morning,
Source of shame for she charged with securing ‘t.
POWDER
[Aside] Insecurity closer at thy hand.
CAITLYN
Good that she did; proof of intent makes the ruse
Of ‘honored guests’ all the more frayed in twine.
Though thy sodden boots imply another
Story, of who failed to beach the vessel
Properly to begin with, prithee?
POWDER
To Vi
Can we keep her?
VI
Survive us the night afore the morrow
Bears consideration. ‘Til the Howler
Reach the bedrock, hold thy celebration.
MYLO
Pray what remains for us to celebrate?
VI
That thou hast breath yet left to complain, fool!
POWDER
Plus the new gleam in thine eyes, starstruck sap.
CLAGGOR
To be expected, given her tendency
Of being struck, from whence stars often spring.
VI
Would that be aspirational, brother?
CAITLYN
Observational, darling, and sharply so.
A metallic screeching, followed by a hollow bell
CLAGGOR
The clarion call; our buckboard beckons.
CAITLYN
If that wail calls hither, I shudder to
Imagine its cheer.
CLAGGOR
‘Tis the sound of home.
MYLO
‘Tis a sound meaning we must hurry,
I’ve no wish to descend on foot so late.
CAITLYN
[Aside] Damnable alacrity, worst in time.
‘Tis… punctual, if broadly cacophonous…
VI
[Aside] Blasted hourglass, forcing such brevity,
Ignorant of sweet nothings left unsaid…
‘Haps ‘tis better as scheme, smiling memory
As reality frowns; in descent I might vanish
With me all inconvenience from her life…
POWDER
[Aside to Vi] Let time shatter; be no servant to sand.
Thy self-assigned duty bears fruits in our
Liberty and, thus, lies done. Assign thee
Thine own keeper, see there thy worthy keep.
Let not thy worries squander thy wishes.
VI
[Aside to Powder] Worries well-founded and starkly proven.
POWDER
[Aside to Vi] “Well-founded” Thou art impossible, mark.
The longing ‘tween thine eyes soon reach the moon
And thus, for this, thou shalt thank me later:
If you insist, dear sister, stay. Follow
Soon after thou hast sufficiently… liaised.
CAITLYN
Oh?
MYLO
Alone? Why would—
Claggor covers Mylo’s mouth and drags him along
CLAGGOR
Good night, Vi, and good luck.
Exit Powder, Mylo, and Claggor
CAITLYN
Coordination to rival any fleet.
I come to appreciate thy labors.
VI
Years of training. Siblinghood is but war
Absent flags and moral hesitancy,
On a battlefield of good intentions.
CAITLYN
‘Tis a foreign shore. Piltovan nobles
Lack Noxus’ need for redundant heirs;
What once meant security brings only
Competition comes the majority.
So slight a glance of thy lifestyle still grants
a taste of the undiscovered, to me.
VI
A stalwart ache, at times, but of the sort
Whose hurt sparks joy rather than lament.
For whom selfhood martyrs in kinship’s favor.
CAITLYN
‘Tis said martyrs find paradise within
Conflagration. Worthy reward, methinks.
Ne’er did I ask, what brought thee hence this night?
VI
I would think it obvious?
CAITLYN
Perhaps so. Safety now found and at hand,
Interrogation my inclined action.
Prithee, speak me the truth from thine own tongue.
VI
At the start, what always brings us across.
A lack. We e’er lack for how much is took
From our mouths, ‘haps to be soon discarded
Near the close of a grand garden party.
Though at present, thought strays to abundance
Who sleeps a bridge long as the world away.
CAITLYN
Always with honey, yet I demand steel,
Wisdom catching as folly’s quickness fades.
I know my chief wish, even now becalmed.
“Speak e’er as though an audience abounds.”
Since birth I have known a crowd’s scrutiny
And abhorred it; e’er watched for slightest err.
For so long the swell of witness has meant
Masks, barriers, layered meanings, stinging
Barbs made of object subject pronoun verb.
Yet somehow thou hast made of my heart a
Marvel with ten thousand voices all saying
The same thing: savor this, for ‘tis only
The start and what follows is eternal.
Answer, in truth, does thy heart say the same?
More urgently, dost thou care to listen?
VI
The truth is honey, for my steel is rust.
The truth eludes my throat as a fox flees
A hunter’s snare: out of preservation.
The truth is that thou hath spurred within me
A lifetime’s longing with a single smile
In spite of that life’s time spent burying
all precious softness which bleeds in the sun,
Rationing care to feed a ravenous heart,
Careful and cautious and passive and safe.
In thine arms, all bares and nothing is safe.
A beautiful, dangerous mystery
boldly able to find love for a wretch
Chronically absent such for herself.
Thus, wildly enamored, I am terrified.
In my fear, I suspect myself asleep,
For surely ‘tis dream to feel so strongly
For a stranger, and surely delusion
To discover thou art stranger no more.
CAITLYN
Then ‘tis done. Each other’s, plain and always.
VI
Just like that? No contracts, ceremonies?
Caitlyn takes Vi’s hands in her own
CAITLYN
The moment worthy of celebration
Comes when holding you is ordinary
Rather than revolution. Until such day,
I need no cartographer to affirm
no bridge will e’er part me from thy sunset,
And eternal I await thee as dawn.
VI
Now who speaks honey?
CAITLYN
Naught but thine insidious influence.
VI
‘Tis humbly given. Sweetness becomes thee.
CAITLYN
Shared it shall be, once more before the now
Ends and tomorrow begins. Let this
Moment be ours, and this bridge our bastion,
By the moon witnessed, and by ourselves freed.
They embrace, kissing, before slowly separating
Exit Caitlyn to one side, Vi to the other
EPILOGUE
Enter Heimerdinger, instrument in hand
HEIMERDINGER
One hailed from towers, the other a trench
Yet each had in them a thirst needing quench
Spellbound by brilliance, conjoined against wrong
Apart mere verses, together a song
I hope thou join me in wishing them well
Their tale continues, but not ours to tell
That potential, hereby, persists in you
Knowing what’s possible, what shalt thou do?
Let thought remain raw, as curtain doth fall
Lest all has been said be lost in the squall
Chiefly, always to thine own heart follow
For lacking such, all progress is hollow
Keep in thy minds, as we bid thee anon:
‘Tis we are the stuff as dreams are made on.
Exit Heimerdinger