TRANSCRIPT: 



IPOLA:  So - hello, Mentl.

MENTL: Ma’am.  Uhh … your Majesty.  Ma’am. (oy)

IPOLA: You did it.

TULA: Yes.

IPOLA: Of course you did.  And so much more. I could not be more proud of you right now, Tula.

TULA: A lot more was at work than just us.

IPOLA: It always is. I’m still proud of you. Both of you.  My girls!

IPOLA: (To Mentl) And you.

MENTL: Your Majesty.

IPOLA: I need to balance a few things between us.

MENTL: Wha - no ma’am, you didn’t do anything …

IPOLA: I know what I did and what I didn’t do, Mentl.  I also know what I bear responsibility for.

MENTL: You were just trying to look out for your people.  I … freaked out. That’s on me, not you.

IPOLA: Yes it is, but not completely.  I was afraid. I acted and spoke out of fear and I passed that fear on to you when there wasn’t anything to gain by it.  To act out of fear alone is always an offense to the cha, no matter the cause.   There are always consequences. And I owe you for my part in it.  

MENTL: So - what do we do?

IPOLA: It can be very simple. Ask any honorable thing of me, and if it’s within my power I will grant it.

MENTL: Wow … well, I don’t need … I mean, you don’t have to.   You -

ZONA: Yes, she does.

TULA: Yes. She does.

MENTL: Oh.  Umm …



MENTL: Well, you know, now I think of it, yeah.  There is something.

JEEVIK: The climate here is a trifle warm for such a cloak, your Majesty, May I ?

IPOLA: You may, thank you, and these as well.  

JEEVIK: Very good, Majesty. 

IPOLA: Hm. Have we ever met before?

JEEVIK: The possibility is an extremely remote one, your Majesty. 

IPOLA: Zona ...

ZONA: Mother ...

IPOLA: Oh ... you’ve been through so much. My baby ...

ZONA: Mother!  I'm so sorry!  Cha na amanh ...

IPOLA: Me too, my child. Cha na amanh.

ZONA: I ... I said awful things ...

IPOLA: Some of them were well deserved. But it’s balanced, now. At least for me.

ZONA: We just need to go home now and it will be. 

TULA: Here she comes.  

ZONN: (terrified) Uhhhh …

Chera: Do you want some numbwort?

ZONN: No.

ZONA: (with a shove) Go, Your Majesty.  Greet the Queen of the Moon Tribe. We’ll all wait here.

TULA: If she starts to do more than just draw a little blood, we’ll intervene.

ZONN: Oh, thanks.


TULA: I made friends with one of your local hawks here and sent her a message practically as soon as we got out of the cave and you and Zona had stopped beating on each other. So - I guess she decided that she’d come and see you for herself.

ZONN: (incredulously) That’s … that’s Ipola?

ZONA: Oh yes. I can see her now.

MENTL: Good eyes.

ZONN: Ipola … coming here …

ZONA: Yep.

ZONN: And riding on the back of a giant bloody eagle! GODS can that woman make an entrance!

ZONA: Yep.

ZONN: (suddenly) Oh … oh God. She’s going to kill me.

ZONA: Don’t worry, Father. I’ll protect you.

ZONN: (Gazing into the sky) Just look at that!

MENTL: What - wait, I see it now. What …?

ZONN: It’s an Aburor. Don’t usually see them this far east.

MENTL: Okay, what the hell is -

JEEVIK: The Aburori are raptor birds of gigantic size. They are not numerous, and their territory is in the high mountains in northern Erogenia, so I am informed. I have never had the privilege of witnessing one in flight until now. They are friendly with the Hawk Tribe.

ZONN: Ipola used to have some friends among them. Made a pact during the war where we basically keep our arrows to ourselves, and they don’t steal our cattle or interfere with our troops.
It is a big fellow. Something odd about its head. It’s … something on it?

TULA: It’s Mother.

ZONN: WHAT

TULA: So - as pleasant as this has been, we need to start thinking about how to get ourselves back to the Valley Of The Moon.

ZONN: I can probably help you there. For you three, it shouldn’t be impossible to climb over the blocked pass and strike southwest over the lower peaks. That way you’ll avoid the worst of the Urtt territory - well, what was the Urtt territory twenty five years ago. If you take my advice you’ll head due south for at least two weeks of solid trekking before you go west again.

ZONA: It will take months of walking to finally get home.

MENTL: I dunno. Maybe we can work out something else. We have some … resources. Maybe I can figure out how all three of us can … (Sees them all staring up at the sky) All right - what, what?

GUDIK: … No. I can’t. It’s impossible at this point.

TETHIK: You must!

GUDIK: Tethik, I make a lot of allowances for you, but don’t you dare ever tell me what the king “must” do.

TETHIK: Then don’t listen to me. Listen to your own common sense. I know it’s in there, buried somewhere under your thick-headed arrogance.

TETHIK: If you don’t leave off this folly now, Kivalia and Erogenia may very well fall to the Urtts. A thousand years of history, all we’ve built will be razed by the enemy to make their own hellscape in Shuach’s image. Then what a nice little petty kingdom you will have here in Greymouth to defend against our enemy that’s stronger than ever!

GUDIK: How am I supposed to do it!? You understand I’ve spent the better part of a year making dead corpses and live enemies of these people. You think they’ll let me just walk away?

Shall we just say, “Oh, sorry - this is Greymouth? We thought it was Greenmouth! Our mistake. Have to pop off now. You don’t mind tidying up for us, do you? There’s a good chap!”

YANORA: Really, dear, it’s not the time to try to be witty.

GUDIK: Mother -

YANORA: And fail.

GUDIK: You see? This is why I’d rather be at war than at home.

YANORA: Proceed, darling. I’m going to sit and have a drink, if no one minds.

THERIK: Your Majesty - I must protest! This … this illusion may be some Draconian trick.

GUDIK: Therik.


THERIK: The Church does not approve of this magick, I am sure. Some power may be trying to deceive you ...

GUDIK: Therik.

THERIK: My lord, I must -

GUDIK: And you just did. Well done. Now kindly shut up.

GUDIK: Believe me, no one can counterfeit my mother, not like this. This is her, in all her insufferable glory.

YANORA: Oh, I love you too, sweet boy.

GUDIK: (pours a wine for himself.) All right, Tethik. Let us hear it. And for your sake this had better be absolutely everything you say it is.

YANORA: You would already know that if you’d taken the ring I offered you when you left, darling.

GUDIK: I travelled two thousand miles to get away from you, Mother. I wasn’t about to take a trinket along with me that lets you nag me from Normos, criticizing every bloody little mistake I make, driving me insane ...

YANORA: And would it be “nagging” to point out that that was, itself, a mistake that could bring down the whole kingdom?

GUDIK: Oh Thrasu’s arsehole, Mother!

THERIK: Your Majesty!

GUDIK: I’ll confess later.

YANORA: As if anything makes a dent in your brain, anyway. You’re solid as a rock, completely direct and literal. Anything bothers you, you just chop it out of your way.

GUDIK: I suppose you’d have me weave webs and deceits like you, then? If I have an enemy I deal with them in the open!

YANORA: Yes, just like your father. And you have all his other faults, as well.

GUDIK: Oh, so now we’re cataloging faults, are we? Shall we open the Tome-sized book of your faults and start reciting, Mother?


YANORA: I’m sure it would be amusing, but we haven’t the time.

GUDIK: It would take an age to get through, wouldn’t it?

TETHIK: Gudik, your Majesties! If I may, perhaps I could answer Gudik’s quite reasonable question and explain the reason for all this time, effort and use of magick.

IPOLA: Of us all I think you can probably explain it best, my friend.