Part 8
The opera house of Dathyl was a lot less impressive than Duo imagined, it was certainly less fine than the Scarlet Arches. He thought that the pall curtains would be fabulous as he was sure that they should have been, and the stage was smaller, the chairs were soiled and the lights full of old wax. But he allowed Primaverra with her clucking and soft hands to dress him as a nobel, fixing his long honey blonde braid up under a cap. Tonight has the sense of finality, Duo thought as he looked around at the throng that had gathered for the performance. Mina was sat with Alister in the box, Heero and Mamoru sat behind them Duo was sure that he didn't care for opera. Tonight would be a triumph, Duo had been told, not because the queen was attending, or any of the other reasons but because the Tobin that they had heard so much about had would never perform again..
It was customary in the opera for the fashionable people to arrive between acts two and three but the house was already packed for one reason or another and the ballet corps were unused to performing for more than a hundred people found themselves dancing to over a thousand, but they moved beautifully back and forth, stretching, leaping and gliding. "They are quite good," Alister said grudgingly to Minako where she sat beside him, "a pity this is business."
"Alister," Aeka chided behind him through her heavy black veil, "stop worrying about your investment and for once enjoy the show."
"Yes, your majesty."
"Mina," Duo said turning to where Minako sat in the box, on a chair that meant she could see over their heads, "can I get some sweets please? I brought some money."
Alister and the queen looked at him with cold shock, it was clear that the prospect of him wandering around Dathyl at night, alone, brought them both to a cold sweat. "It's okay, your highness," Heero said from the far edge of the box, from where he stood watching over them. "I thought you might like some sweets so I bought some on the way in." He lifted the dainty box from the floor by his feet and passed them to Minako to pass along, "you are a bottomless stomach, aren't you?"
"The whole city is afire with word of this Tobin," Duo said popping one of the candies in his mouth, it was desiccated coconut dipped in a hard shell, it was unusual but not unpleasant. "When will he come on stage?"
"Not for a while yet," Alister answered leaning back over both Minako and Aeka to answer him, "I'll point him out."
"Something like that," Alister replied, "now what happens is that the person playing Selestin, the Pariako lord, will come out sing something like who will rid me of this troublesome peasant girl."
"That's not what he says," Minako protested as the dancers cleared the stage. "Look there he is now."
The curtain lifted to reveal a broken tower painted on the canvas at the rear, with large black birds circling, the actor playing Selestin stood centre stage, elaborate in his Paraiko armour, the wooden feathers like a bird's, clattering as he took his place and waving his shining sword began to sing.
In the dark, a hollow laugh reaches me
I alone wander about in the deep forest
A dying hope and withered flowers.
The whirling flames that drive me mad
I'm veiled in the black moon, I sense nothing at all
Tear up my body and take me away to the depths of the sea
"What's he talking about?" Duo asked, leaning in to ask Alister as Selestin continued to sing on the stage.
"I have no idea." Alister whispered back, "I'll tell you when I figure it out."
"Shush," Aeka muttered from behind them, "I know neither of you want to be here, so quiet."
"Yes, your majesty." They replied together.
"He's talking about how his people are dying," Minako whispered back, "and that there is no hope for him, that he'll die too, that the fates conspire against him."
"Thank you. Is that Alister's brother, Tobin?" Duo whispered back.
"No." Minako replied, "I'll point him out when he comes on stage."
Selestin removed his helmet and raised one leg on the wooden scenery which was supposed to be a wall, possibly, or a tree stump, behind him pulling his painted wooden sword from it's sheathe and waving it aloft. Behind him as he sang on and on, in Alister's opinion, about the portents of the black moon and his inevitable death, a death Alister was glad to offer at a reasonable rate if he didn't shut up, Onestra took the stage, hiding her face behind a delicate white lacquer fan. "That's Tobin." He whispered to Duo.
"Liar." he replied as Tobin mocked a stumble so that Selestin dropped his sword to catch him and he began to sing.
Not my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty,
And I do not need an arm to help me on my way.
On cue Onestra shirked the arm of Selestin with a nasty shrug and went to continue but Selestin, again, burst into song, continuing with the black moon song. Alister rolled his eyes and muttered "Mattaku."
I'm veiled in the black moon
to the another world of my memory
I vacantly see your image in my mind's eye
The vision of you beckons me to the faraway sea
The queen's fan caught him hard on the back of the head, "shush." She whispered, "Tobin's going to sing."
Onestra had tapped the Paraiko lord hard on the arm with her lacquered fan and pushed him away, swishing her skirts like a coquette and the queen laughed at him, he had obviously been watching the ladies of the court in the time he had been there, as he lifted the hem of his gown to show a small white shoe.
Not my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty,
And I do not need an arm to help me on my way.
"If he sings that Black moon song again," Alister growled.
"It's a running theme, it's called Selestin's song." Talia chided hitting him on the knee with a fan she pulled from the waistband of her gown, "get used to it, he sings it all the way through."
Selestin turned to Onestra, pulling her back by the very fan she had struck him with. She turned to face him her eyes dark and sparkling, she was the most beautiful girl in the world and she looked at him.
Would she but deign to hear me
And with one smile to cheer me
"She is milking you." Alister growled as he watched the Paraiko lord fawning over Onestra, although they were a long way from the stage everything they did was clear.
"Shush." The queen hushed him, hitting him on the head with her fan, Duo smirked with his lips sticky with the sweets Heero had given him.
Onestra looked at Selestin with a dark and sinister gaze that it wasn't hard to take as disgust as she tried to wrench away her fan at the same time that she drove at least three rows of the audience wild with a glimpse of her shoe. Then she opened her mouth to sing
Not my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty,
And I do not need an arm to help me on my way.
Her protestations, which were Alister noticed the same two lines again and again, were not swaying the Paraiko lord who, judging by the change in tone of the music the orchestra played, was about to burst into song, another one, Alister hoped, rather than the opening number which he was already annoyed with.
Touched by your eyes across the room,
A smile that brightens my soul.
Never has this weakness come over me
It is as if like a moth drawn to a flame,
I would wither in ecstasy of your presence,
Rather than continue alone.
I do not know what could make me happier.
Never have I known pure joy.
To revel in the beauty of your sights,
Breathing your breath,
Touching your hand,
Alister thought that with the full remonstration of Selestin's love for a girl who passed him in the street that he might vomit, however to her credit, Onestra was having none of it. She was a proud girl, beautiful and she would not be owned.
I can't go forward if I feel like this
Because the regrets of yesterday stop me
Going around and around a maze that I can't get out
Even if there's no exit I'll break out
Alister wanted to hug the girl, but Selestin's face was set, Alister wasn't sure why people at the opera had to gurn, but he thought it might be so that people at the back of the house could see their expressions, either that or they couldn't act. But Selestin had Onestra by the arm and with his wooden armour clacking to the beat of a Darin drum he led her off the stage and then back on up the flight of stairs and opened a concealed door through which he pushed her. He leant across to Minako, "if she starts singing about being locked in a tower, I'm leaving." Minako laughed and patted him on the knee. But Onestra did not sing about being locked in a tower, but he watched as Selestin took a bag of paste jewels to her parents, notable by a long song about the joys of working and having a beautiful daughter, and threw the at them to pay for the daughter he kidnapped, then the curtains closed.
"Is that it over?" Duo asked hopefully.
"No, that's the first scene." Minako answered and Alister groaned.
"He really is magnificent," Duo muttered, "I never expected it."
"I don't think I can stomach more of the bird man." Alister muttered, "if he starts whinging about the black moon again I'm going to get some fruit to throw," the whole crowd was muttering and the orchestra was trying things, but then they went silent as a hint to the crowd as the curtains opened again to reveal Amanitas, the home of Aeka and Menelaus. Menelaus was having some kind of tourney with his wife sat in the stalls with another Paraiko, though this one's feather armour was painted green, but Alister suspected it was just Selestin again in a different colour. There was a mock battle to show Menelaus off in a good light and then Aeka stepped down from her throne to wrap her arms about her husband's waist then she began to sing.
I love you
After the storm the blue skies are sure to unfurl
My darling heart
I'll deny this sadness
And keep you close, touching your hair
When she turned Alister noticed the feather design on her back, like the armour the Paraiko wore, grudgingly he admitted that there was something here, on the other side of the stage Selestin had come back on stage leading Onestra by a chain unto the stage, singing counterpoint to Aeka,
I love you
I believe your denial is probably a scream of love
My darling heart
We are far away though we can both see the stars of the night sky
Then Menelaus and Onestra began to sing together, the first time of what promised to be a lot of duets in denial of their Paraiko lovers.
Though the wind is transparent, the current brings life
Trees grow into a forest, and people hand down love
Needing one another, and giving one another
Life has the end, that is why it is sweet
Please remember...
But they were deaf to their mortal lovers and continued to sing their protestations of love whilst their mortal concubines denied that love, which Alister knew was wrong because Aeka had been mortal in the Akheniad and Menelaus had loved her. Then Aeka led Menelaus off stage left. Whilst Selestin, of the black moon song, sang to Onestra about loving her and pleasing her.
It is deep place of your heart where the tears are born
where answer is asleep
Lights and shadows are in your same heart
wait for your next choice
Onestra brought herself to her feet despite the leash around her throat, throwing back her shining black curls with a show of pride and said the only spoken line of the entire opera. "Bring me the head of the dragon in the gorge by the bay." The curtain swished shut.
"Well that was a bit hurried," Duo murmured, "it was all mock battle."
"I don't know," Alister replied, "that was the first bit I liked."
"You should like the next bit then," Mina said in a firm manner, "there's a dragon in it."
"The last opera I saw with a dragon in it," Alister began as they orchestra made a normal cacophony in the pit, "was a lizard on a leash."
"Give Tonio some credit," Minako replied as the orchestra fell quiet, "they couldn't afford a lizard." The curtains opened to reveal a painted gorge with a sunset above and a few lonely pines, at the bottom were piles of painted bones and armour.
Then there was a whoosh of flame on the stage and the audience gasped. "Wow," Alister said aloud, "how did they do that?"
"I'll tell you later," Mamoru replied, "now be quiet, and you'll see what we do when we can't afford a dragon." There was a second jet of flame and about four men wearing a green coverlet walked on stage, they had obviously prepared for it because they walked in synch one up when one was down to gave a serpentine appearance to the dragon. It did however not look very good.
"A lizard would have looked better," Alister whispered.
"But a lizard can't breathe fire." The queen said leaning down Duo had, despite the noise, gone to sleep on Alister's shoulder.
"If it sings…" Alister said.
"I know," Talia answered, "you're leaving."
A few knights in answer to Onestra's challenge had come on stage and were mockfighting the dragon, and it was kicking, because it had no arms, with wooden claws on it's feet, the knights had the good graces to not sing just to make ooh and ahh noises and die loudly, then the dragon leant down on the last knight it had slain and with it's jaws, or an arm through the jaw Alister suspected, pulled a few lengths of red cloth from his jumper, and the curtain closed again.
"I liked that bit," Alister said, "no one sang."
"If no one sang," Minako said firmly smacking him hard on the hand with her fan, "then it wouldn't be opera, it would be theatre."
"They'd act better in theatre." Alister replied, then the curtain opened to reveal Onestra alone in atop her tower and Danan stood up holding The Submarine Cathedral as they prepared, alone, to play.
You look just like the moon
getting thinner for the bitterness and the pain.
On the other side of the stage, raised slightly but not as high as where Onestra stood Menelaus stood in full armour with his Paraiko wife, Aeka and for the first time the famous tenor sang alone.
Before the new day comes,
let's wash away the lump in your throat.
I can't be you for him though,
at least, I'd like to weep with you.
He embraced her though he was singing the same song as Onestra, which Alister thought boded badly, he kept expecting Selestin to come back on stage singing about the dreaded black moon. Onestra took up the refrain, her voice deftly matched to Danan's playing and Alister was willing to admit the boy was very talented, but that tune had become more familiar, and together Onestra and Menelaus sang.
In the dark, a hollow laugh reaches me
I alone wander about in the deep forest
A dying hope and withered flowers.
The whirling flames that drive me mad
I'm veiled in the black moon, I sense nothing at all
Tear up my body and take me away to the depths of the sea
"The black moon song." Alister snarled, "it's that bloody black moon song."
Aeka kissed him silent, holding his face between her hands and he sang to her.
Lover, stay with me always in my heart
The journey that goes with the wish but
Hold me! hold me! this world is nothing
Compared to anyone or anything, just the two of us
Compared to anyone or anything, just the two of us
More than anything Alister wanted to shout out, go and let the cloth dragon kill you already. He had been watching this thing for the best part of an hour and Onestra and Menelaus hadn't even met yet. The curtains closed again and Alister breathed a sigh of relief as the audience exploded with applause for the young violinist who had played those parts on his own. He clapped with them because Danan deserved the applause, he had played wonderfully. Then the curtain opened again to reveal the gorge again and Menelaus wearing a very heavy looking helmet mocked parries with the dragon and then killed it, it was hurried and looked very false. Then he cut off it's wooden head and held it aloft and Alister waited patiently for a verse of "I killed the dragon," but it was not forthcoming, though Menelaus did burst into song.
In an unending, brawling battle, bleed valour!
Help the weak until you gain a victory for peace
In a brawling battle let the sparks fly!
Make it through the sunny days,
the rainy days, and the hard days, fly again
That went on for some time and Alister wished for the headless dead dragon at his feet to silence him, he had a good voice, but Alister was sure he did not care for opera and stopped paying attention scanning the crowd to see if anything interesting was happening, the Lady of Meirin and her husband were sat as still as statues, and it looked like Grace who had arranged this hadn't managed to get away, and Terenz was still off somewhere, Adam was sat alone in his box, the one he was meant to share with Grace, writing, and people were getting up in the aisles down below. It seemed that Alister was not the only one to be bored by this performance. Menelaus went to walk off stage and climbed unto the dais as Onestra appeared at her tower room, all the fidgeting stopped. Holding up the head Menelaus began to sing.
The playing of a reed flute carries in the wind
Crossing the sea of wheat
The day that two beats meet
Was the destiny of last night
Onestra to her credit ignored his pitiful wooing but he continued to woo her, and she continued to ignore him, weighing up her jewels in her hand to check their sparkle, he really has been paying attention, Alister thought to himself, he could be my wife.
Nobody can hinder already
Accept my kiss
I want to see just our love more
Before the day breaks
It still wasn't working, she was still more interested in her jewellery and ignoring the knight at the base of her tower bringing her devotions of love and the head of the dragon from the gorge by the bay. Then for whatever reason, perhaps an off-stage hint from the composer Onestra saw him for the first time.
Like a halved seashell becoming one
We'll softly snuggle together
Remembering the first time we met
It's a red thread that sees through an insinuating look...
I was born to fall in love with you
No matter how the winds of fate violently blow
I want to be protected by you
"Stop this!" The shout echoed from the back of the hall and every head turned to see a full contingent of twenty Seraphim and Alister was half out of his chair before Tobin stumbled halfway through his note at the interruption, and Matt D'Karioni continued. "I have word that foul demons have been summoned from the aether and that in my role as Seraphim Lord it is my place to sacrifice them for the glory of the Goddess." Alister sighed and rolled his eyes.
Tobin had not moved from the stage but still stood on the dais but Alister could see his breath heaving in his chest like he was about to be sick. Then he began to move, and Alister turned his head to see the Seraphim to see if he could see why.
"Who do I think I am?" Tobin asked him loudly, it was obvious that he was making this loud enough for everyone to hear, but Alister didn't understand his motives. "Do you think I did this," he was referring to the spoiled performance, "because I wanted to forget her. I want it known for the record," He took a deep breath, Alister could see it swell against his gown, and he was still dressed as Onestra in the shining white frock with jewels in her hair and a beautiful necklet, "I have no use for god nor women. So when the demons come to take my soul I will push aside the Seraphim lest they protect me like they protect my wife." He spat on the floor at their feet. "Will you cross me, Matt? Knowing what I know, being who I am?"
Alister shrugged Minako's hand on his knee and left the box at a near run, taking the steps two at a time until he reached the main auditorium where the Seraphim had invaded, Tobin amongst them like a lily in thorns shouting at the Lord of the Seraphim in a dangerous fashion with the greave hanging beneath his arm and glinting in the lamp light, when Alister threw open the door he expected to find Tobin eviscerated and the pristine white gown ruined with blood, but to his surprise Matt had not reacted against Tobin in the moments it took him to leave the box and enter the auditorium. "The boys are under royal protection at the moment, my lord of Jacurutu." Alister said moving like a juggernaut amongst the armed Seraphim, a think no lesser lord would have dared to do, the Seraphim did not obey the law or fear it.
"Of course, secretary." Matt smiled, "if they are boys then they cannot be witches, but if they proved to be demons I trust that you will relinquish them to my command for testing."
"That is the law." Alister said lowering his head, "but they are boys, travellers by their own admission, not demons."
"The girl has visions." The Seraphim lord countered, looking up at the box, but not at Duo where he rubbed his eyes sleepily, but at Heero stood behind him. "She will need to be tested."
Alister laughed. "They're both boys," he answered calmly, "both of them, check with Brisen in the Scarlet Arches," he said, "they bathed there this afternoon, and under the protection of the Queen and the Darin ambassador."
"Women," Matherion D'Karioni said firmly, "I have no use for god nor women, Tobin?" He asked with a light laugh, "did you truly lose so much?" Then in a swirl of his white cloak he turned and walked away and his seraphim turned and followed him.