Chapter Nine: Constellations
Open to the interior of the Resistance cavern base. Show light spilling in from the entryway indicating daytime. Guards patrol the walk ways.
Show the commons. Soldiers are training their swordsmanship and archery. Some are running drills.
Show an arrow hitting a target.
Show soldiers playing cards.
Cut to the dining area interior. The walls are lit with torches and candles. Soldiers are eating quietly at cramped tables. Dawn and Diando are tucked into a corner.
Remi joins them. He is carrying a plate.
He settles beside Diando.
He looks at the two of them.
Remi: “I see that we’re still not talking.”
Diando: “We’re talking just fine.”
Dawn grunts at her plate.
Remi sighs.
Remi: “Yes, a lovely conversation.”
Outside there is commotion. The group looks toward the entrance.
A Silvaran Messenger enters the dining area.
He passes the soldiers and stops at Dawn’s table.
Silvaran Messenger: “Princess. I have news. You must hear.”
Dawn: “Clearly. Go ahead and catch your breath, and then you can tell me.”
Silvaran Messenger: “Right.”
The Silvaran Messenger leans against the table and pants heavily.
He leans back against the wall and continues to pant.
He swallows.
Messenger: “Okay! Right, so, I have a message.”
Diando: “You said that already.
Remi pats Diando’s arm.
Remi: “Be nice.”
Remi looks at the Silvaran Messenger.
Remi: “Your message?”
Messenger: “Right, well, it seems some of our scouts have been taken hostage by the Fionan military. Worse yet, they traced them to another encampment, and so they took an entire squad.”
Diando and Dawn look across the table at each other.
Diando: “They may have our location.”
Dawn: “They would never reveal that.”
Remi: “Still, it may be better to be safe than sorry.”
Dawn: “But relocating may draw even more attention.”
Diando: “So we stay and fight?”
Diando grins.
Diando: “I can get behind that.”
Remi: “Cool your head, please. Princess, even if we barricade ourselves inside and make it a siege, they have superiority in numbers and resources. Beyond that, we have that creature to consider.”
Dawn: “True, but where else would we run? Where else do we have to hide?”
Remi: “Anywhere. It’s better than making our last stand.”
Diando: “That’s where you’re wrong. We’ll be dead either way. Hiding isn’t working. Best case scenario, they have a few of our troops and we’re just down on numbers. Worst case, they know we’re here and are sending in a clean-up crew, the monster included. In this situation, we either strike or are struck. I know you don’t want to get your people into anything, but we’re already there. So, we fight while we have the soldiers, and maybe we’ll win. If we move now, we might be able to save our people before they let anything slip, and at the very least we’ll let them know that Silvara isn’t dead yet.”
Dawn looks between them.
She sighs.
Dawn: “I’m sorry, Remi.”
Remi: “Yes, well…”
Remi stands.
Remi: “I support you whatever you do, m’lady. If you’ll excuse me.”
Remi leaves.
Dawn: “He’s mad.”
Diando: “He doesn’t like it when people disagree with him, but he’ll get over it. Right now, we have a raid to plan.”
Cut to a top view of the Anthem Chapel interior. Zara is sitting alone in a pew. She is wearing a cloak with the hood up. A few other patrons are inside. They bow before the palanquin and give offers of prayer and song.
Elsea approaches from the entrance.
Show Zara from the front, with the hood obscuring the sides of her face. Elsea is just behind her.
Elsea slips into the aisle.
Elsea sits beside Zara.
Elsea: “Miss Mary said that I could find you here.”
Zara: “Yes, Elsea?”
Elsea: “I was looking for you, m’lady. You missed breakfast, and I worried that you hadn’t ate.”
Zara: “Actually, now that I think about it, I didn’t eat.”
Elsea giggles.
Elsea: “Would you care to return to the mansion, m’lady?”
Zara stares at Aria.
Zara stands.
Zara: “I just needed to stretch my legs. Let’s go ahead and go back. I could do with a meal.”
They slide out of the pew.
Elsea walks beside Zara toward the entrance.
Elsea: “Miss Mary says you’ve been spending much of your time here as of late.”
Zara: “I’ve spent some. What else is there to do while we wait for Glenn? I’m growing terribly bored of those stalls.”
Elsea: “I see.”
Zara: “That girl in there, would you say she’s about my age?”
Elsea: “I haven’t thought about it much, but yes, if not a bit younger, m’lady.”
Zara: “So I thought, and they have her bound and displayed like an idol.”
Elsea: “Well, you are a princess.”
Zara: “That’s different. I have freedom to leave if I so choose.”
Elsea: “Some freedom, but you have less than others, wouldn’t you say? And you’re also a symbol to your people.”
Zara: “Okay, maybe there’s some similarities. I just wonder what she does when not there.”
Elsea: “Perhaps you should ask?”
Zara: “I don’t think that’s allowed. Mary told me the tradition is that the girl holds back a terrible power which is expressed through her voice. I don’t see people speaking with her often, or ever, really.”
Elsea: “I see.”
Zara: “Seems lonely, doesn’t it? She could probably due with a conversation. I know, if I were her, I’d be dying for something to pass the time.”
They walk in silence down an alley and start the ascent to the mansion.
Zara: “Do you think she has family?”
Elsea: “I imagine so, m’lady.”
Zara: “And do you think she misses them?”
Elsea: “Of course, though she must feel some pride in her role.”
Zara hangs her head and sighs.
Zara: “Maybe, but no amount of pride or worship can replace a family.”
They slow to a stop.
Elsea hugs Zara. Zara hugs back.
Elsea: “M’lady, Dawn is alive.”
Zara smiles and rests her head on Elsea’s shoulder.
Zara: “I know.”
Elsea cups Zara’s chin. They stare at each other.
Elsea: “I mean it. She is alive.”
Zara: “I know.”
Zara wipes her eyes. She lets out a breath.
Zara: “Come on, I’m starving.”
Elsea: “Of course, m’lady.”
Show they walk down the street together, side-by-side.
Hold that image with them growing gradually smaller.
Cut to the forest by night. The moon is high and large. The forest floor is well-lit. The trees are greening.
Show an owl perched atop a branch. It stares wide-eyed into the darkness.
Show the underbrush. A mouse scurries about on the floor.
Show the mouse from a front view as it leaps over a small root.
Show the mouse from above. A great, avian shadow is falling over it.
Show the mouse again, this time with the shadow larger.
Show the owl grasping the mice.
Show the Resistance cavern mouth. Two guards stand watch. One is yawning. The other has his head slumped and his helm down over his eyes.
Show the cavern interior. The torches are out.
Show Diando and Remi in bed together. Diando is shirtless. Remi has a sleeping shirt on. Diando has his head resting on Remi’s chest.
Show Sir Thomas in the infirmary. He is walking between the many cots. Injured soldiers are all around him. He has an empty cup in his hand.
Show the cavern exterior, this time from above. There is a cliff hanging over it. Grass is growing atop the stone. Niva sits on the edge with her legs hanging off. She is watching the stars.
Show Niva from the front. Dawn is approaching from behind. She is wearing nightgown.
Dawn: “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Niva looks back.
Niva: “Yes. Shouldn’t you?”
Dawn sits beside Niva.
Dawn: “Probably, but with everything that’s happening I’m too worked up.”
Niva nods.
They stare at the moon.
Show the moon. It is enormous from their vantage point.
Dawn: “When we were little, Zara and I used to watch the stars. Aurora, too. Sometimes, we’d sneak out of bed and meet at the tallest tower of the castle, and we would climb onto the roof, and we’d count them until Zara fell asleep. She was always falling asleep. One time, Siri, my handmaiden, she caught us. We all got scolded and scolded, and when my dad woke up we were spanked so hard I couldn’t sit for a week. And the next night we were at it again.”
Dawn laughs.
Niva laughs too.
Niva: “That sounds funny.”
Dawn: “Wasn’t at the time. My dad gave the worst spankings.”
Dawn sigh and hugs her knees.
Dawn: “Still, I miss the old man.”
NIva: “They were better times, I think.”
Dawn: “Definitely. Did you ever have anything like that with your sister? Like, stuff your parents hated?”
Niva: “Well, no. No, not my—My parents died when I was young. They were sick. We were taken away, and they were left quarantined in the village to prevent the spread. I’m not sure when they—But anyway, Umber always took care of me.”
Dawn: “Oh, Niva, I’m sorry, I…”
Niva: “It’s fine. I mean, I never really knew them, so it’s hard to be sad about them, and I always had Umber.”
Dawn: “I see.”
Niva: “We never watched the stars, though. She didn’t have time, she was always working. She had a job at the local tavern. All the men loved her. She was so beautiful and strong. Sometimes, she would take me to the market with her, and I swear, everyday someone new would propose to her.”
Dawn: “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Niva laughs.
Niva: “Nope. Every day, someone would ask. Some even had rings, and she’d always turn them down. She said that she had enough in her life to keep her busy, that she didn’t need a man to take care of.”
Dawn smiles and laughs.
Dawn: “She loved you.”
Niva: “She did, but…”
Niva looks down and fiddles with her thumbs.
Niva: “I felt like a burden, like I was holding her back. She was so—her. She could do anything, be anything, and if I wasn’t there—When Fiona attacked, Umber was first in line to fight back. I cried, and I begged her to stay, and said how I couldn’t go on without her, but she insisted that she had to do it. She said that sometimes you have to fight to protect the things you love. Then, she hugged me, and she just…”
They go quiet.
Dawn stares out at the forest.
Show the forest silent in the night. Niva sniffles.
Niva: “That’s why I wanted to come with you, you know. I don’t know if I’ll ever find her, but I’m tired of waiting around at home while she’s off fighting. I’m an adult now, and I can—I WILL take care of myself.”
Dawn: “Yeah, and when you find her, she’ll be so proud of how much you’ve grown.”
Niva smiles.
She wipes her eyes.
Niva: “Yes, and then maybe I can protect her for a change.”
Dawn: “Exactly!”
They go quiet again.
Show them and the moon. The moon makes them look small on the hill.
Niva looks at Dawn.
Niva: “Hey, Dawn, do you really think we’ll find her?”
Dawn: “I don’t want to lie to you and say of course. I don’t know for sure, but I can tell you this much, we won’t give up until we try everything.”
Niva: “Thank you. So much.”
Dawn: “Eh, don’t mention it.”
Cut to Anthem by night. Show the city from the sea. It is lit up by the moon.
Show the sky. A full moon is high. Stars dot the night. A few clouds are painted black into the sky.
Show an Anthem street. A stall worker is closing up the night.
Show another street. A couple is walking hand-in-hand. One of them is holding a lantern.
Show the Anthem Chapel interior. Light from the moon outside spills into the empty halls. A lone clergyman is dousing torches.
Show Aria sitting in her palanquin. Her expression is blank.
Cut to a hill overlooking Anthem. In the distance the city lights up the night.
Show the black sky above. The clouds are sparse. The moon is high and bright, and the stars fill the sky.
Zara crests the hill and bends at the waist. She is panting. Elsea is behind her carrying a blanket and a basket.
Elsea: “M’lady?”
Zara: “I’m. Fine. Elsea. Just. Catching. My. Breath.”
She rights herself and sighs.
Zara: “And to think, only three weeks ago we walked from the Black City to Silverthrone.”
Elsea laughs.
Elsea: “Times do change, m’lady.”
Zara: “Sometimes they change too quickly. I guess here is as good a place as any.”
Elsea unfolds the blanket and spreads it on the grass.
She and Zara settle on the center. Zara already has the basket open and is nibbling on bread.
She offers Elsea a roll, and Elsea politely refuses.
Zara sets the basket aside and looks at the stars.
Zara: “It’s been a while since we’ve watched the stars, hasn’t it?”
Elsea: “Yes, m’lady, it has.”
Zara: “Do you remember how we used to sneak around the castle and up that tower?”
They giggle.
Zara pauses. She looks down at her roll.
Zara: “A lot has happened lately.”
Elsea nods. Zara looks at her.
Zara: “Do you really think Dawn is okay?”
Elsea: “Of course. If anyone can survive, she can.”
Zara: “Yeah, but what about the kingdom?”
Elsea: “The people of Silvara are strong, princess. They will endure.”
Zara: “I’m not sure strength is the issue.”
Elsea takes Zara’s hand.
Elsea: “They will be fine. It will all work out, I promise.”
Zara wipes her eyes.
Zara: “Thank you, Elsea. You’ve done so much for me, and I really appreciate it.”
Elsea blushes.
Elsea: “I haven’t done anything other than my duty, princess.”
Zara cries.
Elsea turns and holds her.
Fade to black.
Cut to the hill later in the night. Elsea and Zara are lying side-by-side.
Elsea shivers.
Zara lifts her cloak.
Elsea shakes her head.
Zara scoots closer and puts the cloak over both of them.
Zara: “It’s chill out, but it feels nice to escape the mansion. With how things are, that place is beginning to feel like a prison.”
Elsea: “Yes, but I feel guilty about leaving Miss Mary behind.”
Zara: “Don’t. I don’t think that she, of all people, is in any danger.”
Elsea: “No, of course not, but I do still worry. She gets so lonely.”
Zara: “She’ll find ways to entertain herself. Besides…”
Zara yawns and stretches.
Zara: “I need time away from her, too, especially after your trip. She’s so nosy.”
Elsea: “She just cares.”
Zara: “A bit too much for my taste.”
Zara cuddles up to Elsea and closes her eyes.
Elsea: “Princess, if you’re going to sleep then we should head back.”
Zara: “No, no, let’s stay here a bit longer. I won’t sleep, I just want to…”
Yawn.
Zara: “Rest my eyes.”
Elsea: “M’lady.”
Zara: “Shhh, Elsea, shhhh.”
Elsea looks at Zara.
She looks back up at the sky.
Elsea: “Fine, m’lady, but only for five minutes and then we’ll return.”
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