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[DRUZHNA, CHORUS.]
O Tundra, She has returned!
Our Mother of the frozen wastes,
Who conquers the unconquerable
Upon whose unflinching shoulders we stand;
She who praises loudly and blames softly
She who writes history upon the flesh
Of Fae and man alike.
Behold!
Gaze upon her snowy countenance, thee wastrels
And despair.
[ALYOSHA, THE OPPOSING VOICE;
HE IS QUIET BUT UNFLINCHING.]
Behold: the monster is enormous. She is disgusting
Wielding a hundred barking mouths.
Beneath her wand lies the peasant
Who, in serfdom, has no rights.
To the empire above he is nothing.
What man, woman, or child, can but doubt
The so-called mercy of Her Majesty the Tsaritsa?
[ODETTE, CONCILIATORY,
STANDING BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.]
Behold– She is our pillar of faith
As regal and untouched as the virgin snow.
I have danced upon the ice of Her judgement
Which did not crack beneath my sorry feet.
She sees our suffering and rises to meet it;
It is she who shields us
From the sun’s venomous rays.
[SPELLBINDING VODYANITSA, WHO CANNOT STOMACH
WHAT HAS BEEN LOST TO HISTORY.]
I want to ask Her why.
I want to ask if She knew–
Knew what suffering we Fae would endure
As She turned Her back on us
Casting the longest shadow.
How long, Your Majesty? Behold.
How many years of torment must I weather
Singing your praises, serenading Your people
As I pay the price of a family that will never come home.
Have you thought of the Water Imps, scattered as flotsam
Since You assumed the throne?
[MITYA, WHO SPEAKS FROM WITHIN
THE PRESS AND GRIND OF THE MACHINE.]
Death hangs above us like a pendulum
Or a Nail, if you prefer.
So, behold!
What I see in Her face is
The naked desire to shoulder all great things.
Yet when I look into the light that shall become Mistilteinn
I see what Death does not want us to know.
Therein lies a power hungry for all I am;
Only Her Majesty, perhaps, can wield it
Without surrendering Herself to the flame.
[VALERIY, SO DEVOTED;
HIS VOICE IS ITSELF A DOORWAY.]
I am not paid to speak thus, for I have not wanted
Anything from Her Majesty.
I give to Her the law, She the most despotic sovereign.
Snezhnaya knows nothing but the touch of frost.
I have observed
How love blooms atop snowtopped fields,
Sat amidst those four who channel it so powerfully.
Not even they can compare to the brilliance
Of the light that spills through the steeple of Her hands.
Behold.
[PIERRO, HE WHO BENT HIS SINFUL HEAD.]
Behold: I revere the Saint Her Majesty, the Semiramis of the North
Who, akin to the greatness of Khaenri’ah
Permits us to walk the path trod against
That of the Heavenly Principles.
The nations no longer tremble with fear;
They admire.
This old voice I use to celebrate
Her Imperial Majesty.
You are the only philosopher on your throne.
Death shall never touch You;
You shall exceed its boundaries.
[PAVLINA, SO-CALLED
GRAND DUCHESS OF THE SNEGUROCHKA.]
I behold you, who have done nothing to provide the Snegovik or Snegurochka
A complete soul;
How dare you sit where He sat!
[PULCINELLA, THE MAYOR.]
She has imparted Her wisdom upon our many peoples.
Behold! Her Majesty the Tsaritsa allows even dissidents
To speak in the halls of the Veche.
[VENTI, BUT NOT THE BARD;
THEY SING AS BARBATOS.]
Five hundred years ago, You shunned
The slightest touch.
Will I ever hear Your voice again? Behold this, my regret.
[YELIZAROV, A MERE DOMOVOY NOBLE
UNDER THE FOOT OF THE TSARITSA.]
Behold– no greater betrayal has been perpetuated against us
Than by her.
Too proud to kill us herself, she permits her lackeys
To starve us! To let the cold take us!
[THE COY CHUCKLE OF A SHADE AND A SINNER;
NABERIUS-RHINEDOTTIR TWIRLS HERSELF LIKE A BLADE.]
Behold: a god, bound by Divine Law to love mankind more than Her own people
Nevertheless fighting to overturn that which gives Her power and prestige.
Will You, as did Focalors, shatter Your throne?
Or will You come for our throat next?
I delightedly await the results of Your grand experiment.
[AJAX OF MOREPESOK; TARTAGLIA; “THE FISHER”.]
Behold! Her Imperial Majesty takes chaos and reforms it into peace.
I am a hound keen for blood. She looses me as She would an arrow
And I am gone, tearing out the throats of Her enemies.
[AJAX OF LEGEND, HE WHO DISCOVERED HYPERBOREA,
HE WHO BECAME THE POWER OF THE GODS.]
Where gold is the root of all evil, I took only
What my dear friends needed to survive.
Now my body is reshaped into Heaven’s Weapon.
I am no longer able to behold Your grace.
HAIL
The blaring trumpet of Death.
Thou art disfavoured. The Lord is upon thee.
Let Death arise, let Her enemies be scattered.
Obey the voice of the natural Law!
RONOVA.
[therefore, be wise, o king.
be still and know that i am god.
you shall kiss me, lest i be angry, and bring you to perish.]
HAIL
The self-brought pestilence.
Thou make all cities drink of the wine of the wrath of thy fornication
And the angels come to say your kingdom shall fall.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, thy shame seen;
Plagues shall come in one day, Death, and mourning, and famine
And thee shall be utterly burned with fire.
RONOVA.
[you have changed the truth of god into a lie.
rejoice with trembling.
your every joyful noise belongs to me.
you shall sing my every name.]
HAIL
She who comes quickly
To give every man according to his work shall be;
All kings shall fall before Her!
Sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of the Throne–
Howl for her your forlorn kingdom.
RONOVA.
[be you faithful unto DEATH, and i will give you a crown of life.
make yourself ready as wife; array yourself in fine linen, clean and white.
to you i say come hither;
DEATH is near.]