Title: TMOC - S1.E7 - Published.fdx
Author: Thumbcat

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THE MADNESS OF CHARTRULEAN
A Gardeka Story

S1:E07 "WHERE IT BEGINS"

Written by

H.M. Radcliff

TMOC EPISODE 7: PROMISE KEEPERS

YOBA OPENING
YOBA (V.0)
It’s the dream of every young politico to be granted access to the library of Idrica, a cornucopia of ancient wisdom and the most complete repository of Arcasian knowledge in existence. When I was young, I was lucky enough to be given the honor, thanks to the good word someone put in on my behalf.
And so I spent several years in the seminary, studying the history of our planet.

A heritage site protected by the Mystics and the Saints before them, the seminary is rumored to harbor secrets beyond imagining for those who can solve its many puzzles. I was personally never that motivated, but one day I met someone who was.
[Sounds of crying]

YOUNG YOBA FINDS A GIRL IN DISTRESS
YOUNG YOBA
Are you all right, miss?
CRYING GIRL
I’ve never met anyone so rude.
YOUNG YOBA
I beg your pardon?
CRYING GIRL
Not you.
YOUNG YOBA
Then who?
CRYING GIRL
The messiah.
YOUNG YOBA
The messiah....is here?

CRYING GIRL
Everyone knows. He’s always lurking about in all the darkest places, hiding among us in plain sight.
YOUNG YOBA
That’s news to me, and I make it my business to know everything.
CRYING GIRL
Apparently not.
YOUNG YOBA
Are you sure it’s him?
CRYING GIRL
If I wasn’t before, I am now.
YOUNG YOBA
Tell me what happened.

YOBA MEETS CHARTRULEAN
YOBA (V.O.)
I followed the corridor to the place where the girl said he would be. There he was, dressed in a long Jhardeho tunic with his black eyes and a generally feral look. He was staring at some kind of butterfly contraption, a moving diorama of sorts. I was immediately obsessed.
[Transitional music. Footsteps]
YOUNG YOBA
At last, I think I’ve found the “superman”.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(annoyed)
Have you come to have your fortune told?

No.

Then why?

YOUNG YOBA
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN YOUNG YOBA

Entertainment.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
What cheap trick would you like the “superman” to perform for you?
YOUNG YOBA
No tricks. Just conversation.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
I don’t have any interest in politics.

[Beat]

YOUNG YOBA
How did you know I’m into politics?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Simple deduction. You’re wearing the Starbringer crest.
YOUNG YOBA
Maybe we’ll work together one day, me a Chamberlain to King Starbringer, and you doing whatever it is you do. All the more reason to get acquainted now.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
I don’t work for, or with, anyone.

YOUNG YOBA
What’s your name?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Chartrulean.
YOUNG YOBA

Yoba.
(beat)
What brings you to Idrica, Chartrulean?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(sarcastic)
Knowledge. Isn’t that why any of us are here?

YOUNG YOBA
What’s your intrigue?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Engineering.

YOUNG YOBA
Pft. What? Are you joking?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Why would I be?
YOUNG YOBA
Shouldn’t you be studying...I don’t know, something more Jharedho-y?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Technology is heavily intertwined with Jhardeho. Only recently has it been less so.
YOUNG YOBA
Will it help with all your messiah stuff?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Leave if you’re going to be purposefully ignorant.
YOUNG YOBA
I’m curious. What exactly is a messiah supposed to do in this modern world, anyway?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Same as always. Guide humanity towards an enlightened and prosperous future.
YOUNG YOBA
How?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
By choosing what happens next.
YOUNG YOBA
I’m told you can see the future.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Only what the gods allow me to see.
YOUNG YOBA
Then how is that a choice?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
That’s the problem. And exactly why I’m more interested in our past.

YOUNG YOBA
Let me get this straight...you have a gift that allows you to see into the future, but choose to look into the past?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Few people can look into the past very well.

[Beat]

YOUNG YOBA
Seems straightforward to me, you just open a book.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
You clearly lack the capacity to understand.
YOUNG YOBA
Then help me.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Look at this automaton.

[Gentle mechanical sounds]
YOUNG YOBA
This weird butterfly thing?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
It doesn’t operate by magic. Someone built it. Imagine it as a metaphor for the past. When you look into the past, you can see the whole automaton. Who built it, how it works, the previous failed automatons, et cetera.
YOUNG YOBA
I think I follow.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Now imagine someone from the future is trying to sell you this same automaton, but they’re only showing you the finished butterfly.
YOUNG YOBA
Ah.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Our entire story is contained here in the seminary. In books, and if you know where to look, hiding right in plain sight.
[Sound of compartment opening]
YOUNG YOBA
What did you just do?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
The seminary is full of little curiosities. Hidden doors, and secret compartments. And in them, wisdom.

YOUNG YOBA
Don’t leave me in suspense, what’d you just find?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
A message.
YOUNG YOBA
What’s it say?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
“A butterfly cannot see the beauty of its own wings.”
(disappointed)
Or something like that.
YOUNG YOBA
That doesn’t seem very useful.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Not everything here is. This one’s a little disappointing actually.
[Sound of compartment snapping closed]
YOUNG YOBA
Do all messiahs run around solving puzzles?
[Distant bell chimes]
^YOUNG ^YOBA (CONT'D)
I have to go. How can I find you again?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
If you’re as clever as you think you are, I’m sure you’ll figure something out.
[Transitional music]

YOBA FINDS CHARTRULEAN BY THE MURAL
YOBA (V.O.)
I ruminated on our meeting for days, thinking of the automaton and its hidden message. Then in passing I heard a conversation between one of the Mystics and a groundskeeper. There was some growing anxiety around Chartrulean’s penchant for exploration. There was something there they didn’t want him to find.

Then one day I found him again in the lower levels of the seminary. People were saying he hadn’t come up for days. By the time I reached him, he was manic. He had surrounded himself in piles of open books and stood in front of a giant fresco depicting a city half- consumed by flames at the foot of a mountain. When I approached, he somehow knew it was me without looking.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Do you see this mural?
YOUNG YOBA
Hard not to.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
It’s called “Ebtu Vulf Dobra Kai.” The Path of Abomination. Do you understand what it means?
YOUNG YOBA
Sure. There’s what looks like a horned dog standing on a rock, another big scary dog, and a man.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
No.
(condescending)
(MORE)

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)
Is the dog the only animal you know?

YOUNG YOBA
(embarrassed) Evidently.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
This is everything. (beat)
There’s something hiding here that I need.

YOUNG YOBA
How long have you been staring at it?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(ignoring)
The first figure, the horned dog, as you called it, is a goat. A wolf
-- again, not dog -- is the center figure.

YOUNG YOBA
And the man?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
It’s not a man, it’s a child.
YOUNG YOBA
Wouldn’t the child come first?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Is explaining this as hopeless as it seems?

YOUNG YOBA
No, I think I get it. The goat must be us. The mountain, something liken to knowledge? Now, the wolf, I’m not so sure. Could be many things. But the child could be some sort of rebirth. Is that close?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, yes and no.
YOUNG YOBA
I give up. What’s the wolf?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
It’s what concerns me. The wolf is survival.
(MORE)

(beat)

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)

These symbols tell the story of our evolution, and the city below, the potential consequences of our actions.

YOUNG YOBA
I don’t get it.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(manic)
Don’t you see? The wolf is abomination.
YOUNG YOBA
That sounds scary. (sighing)
I was content with dog.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(ignoring)
The path of abomination threatens everything that’s constant. It’s destroyed everything once before, a thousand years ago. It was so devastating that they tried to erase it from history.
YOUNG YOBA
Why did it fail?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
The mountain represents the challenges we face on the path to true enlightenment. If we, the goat, has not apexed the mountain before the path of abomination is invoked	chaos.
YOUNG YOBA
Is that what all this fire means? This really is on the morbid side, now that I really look at it...
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
It could be wonderful. And it starts right here, where we’re standing right now.
YOUNG YOBA
Is this one of those choices?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Yes. But it’s more dangerous than I ever anticipated.
(beat)
I need to be convinced that humanity is worth the risk. The more I learn about our past, the more I’m starting to doubt it.
YOUNG YOBA
That’s a glib outlook for the messiah. Aren’t you supposed to save us all?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Save? Don’t misunderstand. An enlightened and prosperous future could be one without man. The starmakers don’t care if we live or die, only that our potential endures. To that end, I am their puppet.

YOUNG YOBA
What happens to our potential if everyone dies?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Someone somewhere else starts over. Or the knowledge we leave behind is inherited.

YOUNG YOBA
Sounds like a waste of time.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
The starmakers don’t experience time as we do.
YOUNG YOBA
Real quick, is there a difference between gods and starmakers, because the nomenclature is getting a little confusing.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(manic)
There. Are. No. Gods. I know that now. You praise gods. Fear gods. The starmakers just are.
YOUNG YOBA
Maybe you should go easy.

[Beat]

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Maybe you should wake up.

^YOUNG ^CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)
Our vanity causes us to look only at ourselves, but look out there. The Rau also have potential. We aren’t unique, or irreplaceable. We’re just confusing potential with control.

YOUNG YOBA
So where do we go from here if both success and failure are hardwired in?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
I have found a way to give us both life and potential--if I can be convinced it’s worth the risk.
YOUNG YOBA
Are you asking for some outside perspective?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
I lack compassion, or a sense of righteousness. But you do not.
(pleading)
Could you show me that humanity is worth saving?
YOUNG YOBA
I could try. But what would be in it for me?

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
(chuckling)
Maldoro warned me about people like you.

YOUNG YOBA
Like what exactly?
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
People who would try to use me. Everybody.
(challenging)
Why did you really come down here?

YOUNG YOBA
I’m just trying to be fair. If I help you, I want something in return. It should be no work for you.

[Beat]

What.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN

YOUNG YOBA

So much is kept from us. Jhardeho is largely ignored by normal people. Written off as folklore, and the stuff of fantasy. But here, I’m learning that it’s much more than that. It’s a failure of evolution. We were given a boon to our existence that we just could not embrace, for all our flaws. A tragedy of existential proportions, and we continue to make it worse.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Get to your point.
YOUNG YOBA
You’re my access. I want you to show me--prove to me--that these “Starmakers” are real.
YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
Why?
YOUNG YOBA

[Beat]

Because as troubled as we are, people can be inherently good. If I’m going to spend my life as a public servant, I need to know that we can beat the darker aspects of our nature. That there’s more to us than I can see.

YOUNG CHARTRULEAN
I think you have a deal. Now let’s begin.

[Transitional music]

KSB GROWS IMPATIENT WITH NEGOTIATIONS NARRATOR
King Starbringer, Yoba, and the council sat in uncomfortable silenc. Some pursed their lips and stared at the tabletop, others jotted down notes. The rest fixed their gazes on the empty chairs at the other end of the table.

At last, the doors swung open and Drechen, Grobien and their security entourage entered the chamber. Twenty minutes late.

The room remained silent as the ambassadors found their chairs, took their time adjusting their robes, arranging paperwork, and allowing servants to pour them glasses of water. A long few minutes passed before the silence was finally broken.
[Gulping of water, shuffling of paper]
DRECHEN
Our tardiness is on account of poor sleep.

YOBA
Is there a problem with your accommodations?
DRECHEN
Your planet is very bright, and the nights short. We’re used to a less demanding schedule.
GROBIEN
The salt is everywhere. Is there no relief from it? My elbows are cracking.

YOBA
I’ll have something sent for your elbows.

GROBIEN
Don’t bother.
YOBA
Where’s Cydar? Is his health not improving?

DRECHEN
He’s not long for this world. Your doctor is with him now.

YOBA
Does he need to be returned to your colony?

KING STARBRINGER
If we can just speed things along here, the three of you could return all the sooner.
GROBIEN
These things cannot be rushed. Besides, the stress of the journey would do him in anyways. He wants to be part of these negotiations until his last breath. Grant him that.

[Silence]

DRECHEN
Noble to the very end. Actually, there is something you can do. As a symbol of our alliance moving forward, Cydar has tasked me to request for his passing to be observed by your religious authority.

^DRECHEN (CONT'D)
I sense some hesitation. Is there a problem with his request?
KING STARBRINGER
No. No problem.
DRECHEN
Good.
GROBIEN

[Beat]

Maybe we’ll even get to meet one of your gods in the process.

KING STARBRINGER
Consider it done. Now onto business.

GROBIEN
We have a few requests. Please give this counter proposal to his highness to look over.
[Sounds of paper shuffling]

KING STARBRINGER
These are	extensive.
DRECHEN
This treaty thing is a quite a complicated ordeal. And all this paper...

KING STARBRINGER
We need to build a strong foundation for this relationship if it’s to exist at all. Otherwise you can find somewhere else to park your armada.
GROBIEN
(laughing)
I like a hard bargain.
YOBA
We’ll take the afternoon to look this over. Why don’t you get caught up on rest and we’ll reconvene in a few hours.

DRECHEN
Yes. Do take your time analysing these papers.
[Angry grumbles of other councilmen]
YOBA
Uhm. How exactly do you expect to satisfy their request for Cydar?
KING STARBRINGER
Well, we start by asking nicely. If that doesn’t work, and it probably won’t, we’ll have to come up with something else.
YOBA
Right.
[Frustrated king sounds; paper rustling]
KING STARBRINGER
(sighing)
I need a diversion.

A MESSENGER ARRIVES
[Footsteps approaching]

MESSENGER
Excuse me, sirs. There’s a woman and some children here seeking an audience with King Starbringer.
KING STARBRINGER
I’m busy.
MESSENGER
They’re from Boethema.
KING STARBRINGER
Great. They’ve probably come to beg us not to pull our support. That’s very lowbrow of them, using children like that.
YOBA
Is there no compromise? Your late wife put in a lot of effort to foster a relationship with Boethema.

KING STARBRINGER
And look how they repaid her.
YOBA
(sarcastic) But the children.
KING STARBRINGER
Boethema is under Maldoro’s jurisdiction. If I don’t get to see what goes on behind closed doors, it doesn’t get my support.
YOBA
Why not send Sophrosyne to seen them? It will give her something to do.

KING STARBRINGER
Good idea. I’ll tell her.
YOBA
I’ll go make sure they’re comfortable. Where will you be?
KING STARBRINGER
Astreus. I’m craving some more of the admiral’s wine.
YOBA
Go ahead, I’ll catch up.

[Footsteps]
^YOBA (CONT'D)
As for you, here’s a token for your trouble.

NARRATOR

MESSENGER
Thank you sir.

Yoba pulled a slip of currency from his breast pocket and handed it to the messenger. As it changed hands, so did something else. Two names.
YOBA
(seething)
Pytra and Lybender. What are you up to?
[Transitional music]

CHARTRULEAN SHOWS SOPHROSYNE THE BERSERKER
[Medical sounds]
SOPHROSYNE
Are they in pain?
CHARTRULEAN
No. Not physical pain. But who knows what horrors they face in the void.
[Sophrosyne breathing heavily]
^CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)
Does seeing them bother you?
SOPHROSYNE
No, of course not. I mean I think I knew what to expect, but was just less ready for it than I’d hoped.
CHARTRULEAN
In what way do you mean?
SOPHROSYNE
I didn’t think seeing this kind of thing again would trigger all these feelings.

CHARTRULEAN
Again? You mean you’ve seen this before?

SOPHROSYNE
The last time I was in an environment like this was with Mother.

^SOPHROSYNE (CONT'D)
“Berserker”...it’s such an ugly word. Why do you call it that anyway?

CHARTRULEAN
It changes you. Strips you of who you are, and turns you into the worst version of yourself. We use the term “madness” lightly. But it really is like a slow destruction of one’s self. A blurring of the lines between what’s perceived and what’s imagined until the loss of dignity is total. In a way these two were lucky, their fates were rendered quickly. For others, it’s been coming on more slowly.
SOPHROSYNE
I’m so sorry. Who’s that woman looking after them?
CHARTRULEAN
My old matron. At least until we can find our doctor.
SOPHROSYNE
What do you mean “find your doctor”? They haven’t been seen by an actual doctor?
CHARTRULEAN
We need someone with knowledge beyond what academic medicine provides. And there’s only one person like that I can trust. However, he is in the north. We lost communication after a blizzard overtook his encampment. We have no choice but to wait until it subsides.

SOPHROSYNE
How long has it been?

CHARTRULEAN
Weeks. Could be several more.
SOPHROSYNE
But there’s no time. Can no one just go in there and get him?
CHARTRULEAN
There are efforts in progress.
SOPHROSYNE
Is there no one else who can help in the meantime? Boethema! They have doctors.

CHARTRULEAN
It’s not possible.
SOPHROSYNE
Not possible, or you haven’t tried?
CHARTRULEAN
Can you imagine the alarms we would raise? Fugitives walking into Boethema, with an unidentified malignant disease, no less.
SOPHROSYNE
There has to be something you haven’t thought of.
CHARTRULEAN
Do you think we haven’t tried everything we could think of by now?

SOPHROSYNE
I’m not entirely convinced you have.

CHARTRULEAN
And what would you do differently?
SOPHROSYNE
I’m not sure. But I certainly wouldn’t be content just waiting around.

CHARTRULEAN
Content waiting ar-- (collecting)
First you dislike my ships. Then you disapprove of the summit.
(MORE)

CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)
And now you disapprove of how I handle the very few people in this world that I actually care about. Is there anything I am doing well?
SOPHROSYNE
I don’t mean to criticize, I just want to do more to help you. Just please let me try.
CHARTRULEAN
(incensed)
Help? Is this constant criticism the kind of help I have to look forward to from you? Because if it is, it does me no good. You got your hour out of me, now play-time is over. I am contending with real. Serious. Problems.

SOPHROSYNE
I’m sorry, I--

^CHARTRULEAN (CONT'D)
And whatever time I give to you is taking it away from time I should be spending helping them.
^SOPHROSYNE (CONT'D)

Don’t you dare talk to me like my time is worth less than yours. You forget who I am.
CHARTRULEAN
And who do you think you are talking to exactly? I have told you once before, do not belittle me.
SOPHROSYNE
Look. I’m sorry you’re hurting, but-
-
CHARTRULEAN
Hurting? Spare me your pity. (beat)
And never walk through my door again if your sole intention is to be a drain.
SOPHROSYNE
That was not my intention.
CHARTRULEAN
(through teeth)
So much arrogance coming from someone who knows nothing.

[Breathing heavily]
SOPHROSYNE
Please look at me.
CHARTRULEAN
I require a moment to myself.
SOPHROSYNE
I had no idea you’d ever take me so seriously. I guess I just thought I could make it sound like you needed m--

CHARTRULEAN
I do not.
SOPHROSYNE
(under breath) I’m so stupid...
[Footsteps away. Chartrulean exhales, breathes heavily]

SHAN ANTAGONIZES CHARTRULEAN
[Door opens]
SHAN
Your woman is very pretty. Albeit on the younger side.
CHARTRULEAN
She is not my woman.
SHAN
And I am not an idiot. Now stop that.

CHARTRULEAN
Stop what?
SHAN
You’re all up here. Relax the arms, relax the shoulders, breathe...
[Chartrulean exhales]
CHARTRULEAN
Look at this.
SHAN
That looks a lot like your hand.

CHARTRULEAN
It stopped shaking.
SHAN
Oh? Is this hand having a better day than that hand?
CHARTRULEAN
You are insufferable.
SHAN
Did you need something else?
CHARTRULEAN

No.
Bye-bye. What?!
[Door slams]

SHAN CHARTRULEAN

KSB ARRIVES AT ASTREUS
KING STARBRINGER
(yelling) Hello?
(beat) That’s odd.
BORSHA
(surprised) King Starbringer!
KING STARBRINGER
Everything all right, girl? Where is everybody?
BORSHA
Well, Chartrulean is off somewhere with the princess, and Havelion took Cythaelia to the gym. Should I fetch them, or the admiral?
KING STARBRINGER
Ah. The admiral, please. I don’t want to ruin any of the kids’ fun.
BORSHA
Ok. Be back in a moment.

[Footsteps away]
KING STARBRINGER
(talking to self) Daughter with a grown man,
unchaperoned. Me, sober. Huh. This is all right. Right? Would you have allowed it? Of course you would have. You were more trusting. Too trusting. You were fool enough to marry me.

HAVELION GREETS KSB
[Footsteps approaching]
CYTHAELIA
Your majesty!
KING STARBRINGER
Ah! I was wondering where everyone was hiding.
CYTHAELIA
What are you doing here?
KING STARBRINGER
I needed a distraction. Ah! I know these two heroes! Havelion, and Abruc, if I remember?

ABRUC
Yes, your Majesty.

HAVELION
Your Majesty.
KING STARBRINGER

[Beat]

Please. I’m in your house.

HAVELION
I‘m sorry about yesterday. No matter what I thought I was saying at the time, there was no excuse for it.

KING STARBRINGER
No harm, no foul, boy. To be honest I enjoyed watching those old war hawks sweat a little.
HAVELION
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little fun.

ABRUC
We really were excited. I haven’t taken my medal off since yesterday.
HAVELION
Me neither. I doubt the others have, too.

ABRUC
No kidding.
[Footsteps]
KING STARBRINGER
Careful, boys. Don’t inflate this old man’s ego.

LAPADINE INVITES KSB FOR WINE
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Buehl! Hopefully I didn’t keep you waiting. Oh! Sorry, King Starbringer, I didn’t see the kids there.
[Sounds of man hug]
KING STARBRINGER
Look at us Lapadine--the old guard back together again.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
I’ve picked the perfect wine for the occasion.
[Sounds of footsteps approaching]
KING STARBRINGER
Phrosy, there you are!
SOPHROSYNE
Dad!
KING STARBRINGER
Are you all right?
SOPHROSYNE
Why wouldn’t I be?
[Footsteps approach. Leery dad sounds]

KING STARBRINGER
So, Chartrulean? Did the two of you make any progress on the ship?
CHARTRULEAN
Sophrosyne had some very interesting ideas.
SOPHROSYNE
(sarcastic) Oh did I now?
KING STARBRINGER
Does that mean you’ll take the commission?
SOPHROSYNE
Wait. Don’t you want to hear about it first?

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
If my opinion has any weight, I’m going to need Chartrulean’s full attention for the next phase. We have a lot of work to do.
CHARTRULEAN
Actually, I have some thoughts.
SOPHROSYNE
(surprised) Seriously?

KING STARBRINGER
Wonderful!
SOPHROSYNE
(whispering) What are you doing?
CHARTRULEAN
Eh--
KING STARBRINGER
Let’s unwind a bit and you can tell me all about it. I’ve come to get drunk.

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Oh boy.
SOPHROSYNE
You really should lay off the wine.

KING STARBRINGER
Well if that’s going to be your attitude, why don’t you head home and entertain our visitors from Boethema. They’ve brought some children to parade around the capital.

SOPHROSYNE
Children?!
[Sounds transition to]

Children?!

CYTHAELIA

KSB GETS DRUNK WITH LAPADINE
[King Starbringer and Lapadine laugh]
YOBA
Am I crashing the party?
KING STARBRINGER
No. But I’ve almost got enough liquid courage going now to look at the Rau’s amendments.
YOBA
I glanced through it all after you left. It’s going to be a long day.
KING STARBRINGER
What are your takeaways?
YOBA
They want more concessions from us.
KING STARBRINGER
On what grounds?
YOBA
Whatever grounds we’re willing to give them.
[Sounds of wine pouring]
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
How about a toast?
YOBA
Thank you, Admiral. but I think I should pass. Give it to Chartrulean.

CHARTRULEAN
I can tolerate it.
KING STARBRINGER
Come on, Lapadine, don’t be stingy!
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
There’s only so much in the bottle and you drank half already.
KING STARBRINGER
A toast -- to the old guard, and
the new.
[Wine glasses clinking, people drinking. Chartrulean being grossed out. More laughter]
CHARTRULEAN
I will never acquire a taste for that.

KING STARBRINGER
You’d live longer.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Is that your excuse?
KING STARBRINGER
I’m the king. I don’t need an excuse.
[Footsteps entering]
BORSHA
Some tea for the Chamberlain, and a little something to settle the stomach.
[Footsteps leaving]
YOBA
My goodness, have you been hiding her all this time? She’s very attentive.

CHARTRULEAN
Too attentive.
YOBA
Is there such a thing?
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
The poor woman just wants you to be well.

Tsch.

CHARTRULEAN

ADMIRAL LAPADINE

[Sipping]

How about you, Yoba? Chartruelan is letting a good woman go to waste.

YOBA
The tea is good. I’ll give her that.

KING STARBRINGER
(sounds of drinking)
Ah. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Time like this is in rare supply these days.
KING STARBRINGER
Verily. Better enjoy it while we can.

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
How are negotiations going?
[Awkward silence]
YOBA
Why are you looking at me like that?

KING STARBRINGER
Because Yoba wonders why we’re even going through the motions.
YOBA
And he wants us to give them the benefit of the doubt.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Interesting.
KING STARBRINGER
Why? What have you observed?
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
So far no indication they’re preparing to retaliate.
(MORE)

ADMIRAL LAPADINE (CONT'D)
The Xisuthros is right where they left it, along with the rest of their armada.
YOBA
Things could get complicated if Cydar dies on our watch.
KING STARBRINGER
They don’t seem too worried about that either.
YOBA
(flustered) Eh-I--

KING STARBRINGER
So! How do you kids plan on spending all our money?
CHARTRULEAN
I--
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
I for one would like to get moving on the Jhardekai recruits.
KING STARBRINGER
Oh yes? What’s your plan there?
CHARTRULEAN
Havelion and I travel to Idrica in less than a week’s time. I’m not sure exactly what we’re doing when we get there.
KING STARBRINGER
Get people good and excited. Hold an assembly or two.
CHARTRULEAN
I’ll think about it. Havelion has some good ideas.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
We’ll also need to get Astreus ready to expand our little family. So far, people have been hesitant to involve themselves in our business for political reasons.
What we really need is someone of Yoba’s talents.

KING STARBRINGER
I need him at the negotiation table.

YOBA
Thank you very much, talk about me like I’m not here.
[Strange animal sounds]
^YOBA (CONT'D)
What’s that out in the flats? Just south of the ridge.
ADMIRAL LAPADINE
Now that’s a rare sight.
KING STARBRINGER
Looks like herd of moss boar, far from home. I’ve seen them out around our country residence.
YOBA
They must be desperate to be all the way out here looking for food. Still hard to imagine this was a sea long ago.
KING STARBRINGER
There are lichen out there that they can eat. But agreed, troubling.

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
That one bringing up the rear is not a boar, but a lone wolf. No doubt he’ll soon be making dinner of one of them.
KING STARBRINGER
It’s not what you think. Even the animals have learned that food is scarce. Sometimes, a pack will find a herd and protect it from the other predators. Occasionally a member of the herd falls behind, and that’s what sustains the pack.
YOBA
Isn’t the herd afraid of the wolf?
KING STARBRINGER
Probably. But they seem to have an understanding.

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
An interesting phenomenon.
YOBA
Hm. [Music cue] NARRATOR
Chartrulean was transfixed on the wolf. One of the last surviving predators in the wild, the wolves were impressive creatures, and a sighting was incredibly rare.

It was monstrous, much larger than any man, but this one appeared old and ragged. Its head swayed listlessly as it walked, nearly dragging its long shaggy mane across the ground. Is snout hung open, revealing teeth the length and girth of a man’s finger. Its eyes were blood red from the stress of the journey, and it’s large paws were weighed down by caked salt. The last thing Chartrulean noticed disturbed him the most. It was emaciated. The wolf was so dedicated to its mission that it’d rather starve than attack the herd.

Suddenly, almost as if it felt Chartrulean’s gaze, the monster stopped in its tracks and looked directly at him. Even from that distance, the sudden awareness of one another sent shudders down his spine.
^YOBA (CONT'D)
If they can change their nature, why can’t we?
KING STARBRINGER
Hm. Waxing poetic. And a sentiment I’d like to finish my wine to.
[Sipping. Beat]
^KING ^STARBRINGER (CONT'D)
(sighing)
I cannot wait until all this stuff is behind us. We should be focusing all our energy on finding ways to solve bigger problems. Not reneging on peace.

ADMIRAL LAPADINE
I doubt it will come to that.

KING STARBRINGER
Perhaps, but if we ever do leave Arcas, will we just take these problems with us, or can they die here?
[Wind blows, sounds of sifting sand]
^KING ^STARBRINGER (CONT'D)
Look at this god forsaken wasteland. Arcas was once a utopia. Now it’s a boneyard. I won’t stand still and watch us be swallowed by the blight. The “Starbringer Kings” were so named because that was what we were destined to do: bring the stars to the people. If I’m going to be the last, I’ll be damned if I fail at destiny.

[Beat]

KING STARBRINGER _(CONT'D)
You’ve been quiet, Chartrulean. What are you thinking?
CHARTRULEAN
I am thinking about the ship I would like to build your daughter.