HtH75 – The Spring Gala Performance: The Tyrant-King Bids Farewell To His Consort
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Part 2 and conclusion to the Spring Gala performance!
The two came out on the lotus stage with the loudest pop.
The crowd made even the sound of the waves brushing against the harbor rocks sound distant!
Somehow, the wind picks up pace alongside the zither strings.
Without a doubt, this is the final part of the show.
The girl, dressed in traditional dancer's robes, floating shawl bathed in the lantern lights.
The boy, wearing ornate lacquered armor, lion-pattern across his waist, and a copper general's mask.
The stagelights below them flicker like a sigh.
A good show is about to begin, this is---
"[The Tyrant-King Bids Farewell To His Consort]..."
The words tumbled out of Eclair's mouth. Less a play and more a dance sequence, the two on stage moved in tandem with each other, telling of countless stories, heartbreaks, promises, hesitations, confusion, mischief, and of mad, mad courage to continue walking down a sovereign's road.
"Mistrál wonders, has Eclair ever seen this play before?"
"Yes...! No... I mean..."
The dramaturg understood the 'pattern' of it.
The dance sequence where her senior leaps and is carried by the boy when she couldn't.
The way they spoke to each other while voiceless.
And how they gave each other back their laughter.
It is a pattern repeated in almost every Vespana story.
Surrounded by danger on all sides, the Tyrant-King has a final dance with his consort.
It is sadness. It is madness. There is also laughter, and there is also elation.
And then...
... she recognizes the boy.
Beneath the spiked general's mask, she saw him clearly.
He has not aged at all since she the first and last time she saw him, in her hometown of Arcadia.
The one who pointed her down this path...
... the Stage-Saint.
"Miss Delulz...?"
While the other girls were cheering on their senior from beyond the fourth wall, Eclair noticed; Miss Delulz stayed completely still, even during the most dramatic and dangerous dance moves!
What did she see?
What was reflected in her violet eyes?
Perhaps, she didn't need to answer.
The dance between the lovers continued past their lowest point, they offered each other laughter when they had no voice to speak, keeping each other alive through a dark winter.
At last, the dance must conclude.
Leaning together, shoulder to shoulder, a thousand lives well-lived.
Yukino began the only words of this dance,
"Oh my lord, you have always been kind to your ghosts.
You forgave my failings, again and again.
And still, you stayed. Still, you tried.
You reached for the sky, not to force anyone to be free,
but to give us the choice of freedom.
So what am I thinking now?"
Yukino draws silver against her neck, holding the handle with both hands.
"I'm thinking:
I will hold this memory closest to my chest,
even if I forget what's inside.
And if some owl, or ghost or law should one day
scatter
the rest of me into silence —
— this will be the last piece to fade..."
As if on cue, the heavens wept lightly.
The catgirl with orange hair has a contented look on her face even as raindrops drip on silver.
Yes, traditionally, the play ends with this scene.
The consort dies, one way or another.
In truth, there was another part to be played after this.
Nobody would fault them if the story ended right here on account of rain.
It is a good ending already.
Man calculates, heaven decides.
In the end, you cannot fight fate...
"... no."
The Stage-Saint turns suddenly, and takes his consort into his arms! One arm cradling her back, the other hand raising her sword-hand with his into the sky, the Tyrant-King lowers his consort into the ground, the bodies hanging in a v-shape while leaning away from each other! So dangerously so, the back of Yukino's hairpin touches the lotus stage! One leg balancing herself, the other raised into the air by the angle of the posture! From the heavens, the first signs of drizzle begin to fall on the stage!
"You really are crazy, my beloved. You know full well that's a promise you cannot keep!"
"No, wait, what are you thinking...?!" For the first time since the dance started, Yukino appears startled. Yet, the fast zithers and percussion continue, her signal to stop the show unheeded! His fingers nibble on the consort's wrist, and the blade clatters on the stage to her widening eyes and a gasping audience!
"Just a little rain and snow.
How can that stop a Tyrant-King?
If the heavens conspire to tear us apart...
Then.
I,
shall...
... right the heavens!"
When those words land, the Tyrant-King raises a single finger onstage.
The moment he does, the dark clouds that loomed above---
[Boom!]
... tear and burst apart!
Rain scatters, but away from the crowds, away from the stage, becoming passing sea mist!
The shattered moon is revealed from underneath, having been watching all along!
The crowd points and shouts at the parted clouds, believing that this too, is part of the show!
The Stage-Saint looks the orange catgirl's ಠ_ಠ-face as he rights her back on her feet again.
He laughs, a genuine, in-character laugh,
"Is this continuation, satisfactory?"
