The Four Sisters
Komaru Mikomi releases "The Four Sisters" early in the theater season. This play is set in a fairy tale prehistory labeled Yuriko's Age. It tells the story of four sisters blessed by the stars. The first act covers their youth in the capital. The second act describes their rise to social and military prominence and sows the seeds of bitterness between them. The third act focuses on their struggle against one another to control Komaru.
FROM ACT ONE, SCENE 2: THE GIFTS OF THE STARS
Open on a moonlit garden, where KOMARU SEI (one of the four sisters) meets with the dashing MINAMET GENJIKI and they drink a light liquor together. She is sixteen, he twenty; this is indicated by the actors with dress appropriate for such age.
GENJIKI: I hope that you are adjusting to the capital well. I found it strange and frightening, when I first came---but, of course, you have your sisters as company, whereas I was alone. I suppose that this must do much to ease the load.
SEI: It is a fine thing to have sisters, except---
GENJIKI: Except?
SEI: I am an observer of people, you understand. It is in my nature. It seems, at times, that the capital only gives them more and greater opportunities to engage in acts that, when I should observe and reflect upon them, I find disturbing.
GENJIKI: Oh?
GENJIKI: I confess, I am unable to tell the lot of you apart.
SEI: She is the blonde; the one given the gift of healing by the stars.
GENJIKI: Ah.
SEI: We were walking together, the four of us, and came upon a dying fox. And Nyoko drew her blade and made to end its misery; but Solari held up a hand and said to halt. "It is a dirty thing," she said, "and no doubt as malicious as such a tiny mind may be. In this respect, it may be justice that it provide a meal for the insects and a home for their children, as it already begins to do." Nyoko nodded, of course, to show that this was wise.
GENJIKI: And your own feeling?
SEI: It was my first time to see a fox; and I confess, I was too lost in memorizing the cast of its features and the peculiar manner in which it displayed its agony to contribute to the discussion.
GENJIKI: I see.
SEI: Solari shrugged, most delicately, and said, "However, I cannot help but feel that the insects are dirtier yet, and more malicious. If we should save the fox's life, then we deny them their feast; and in the end, virtue is the victor." For a moment, a shadow passed over Miroko's face; but I remained lost in contemplation, and Nyoko nodded again. So, undisputed, Solari laid her hand upon the fox, and its wounds closed; and no sooner had it the strength to stand but it arched its back and bit her, and scurried off into the brush.
GENJIKI: My father says that one should never expect gratitude from a fox or mercy from the sea.
SEI: Oh, I do not object to the fox's behavior. It is my sister Solari that concerns me.
GENJIKI: Why so?
SEI: She rose to her feet, and the toothmarks closed, and a peculiarly satisfied look came to her face. "Well, it should show more thanks for the healing of the wounds; but at least I did not choose to restore its sight."
GENJIKI: You mean she said, had not time to restore its sight, surely?
SEI: My recollection is quite crisp. She made her judgment that the insects would not have their feast, but neither the fox its life; and, when I had finished recording my observations, some hours later, I chanced to think on this and become disturbed.
There is a moment's silence. Then a FIERCE WARRIOR, dressed in armor and brandishing a sword, bursts into the garden through the gate. GENJIKI, startled, drops his glass and springs to his feet, his own hand falling to his blade. SEI puts her hand on his arm.
SEI: Restrain your enthusiasm, dear Genjiki, and bide a moment. I find that such scenes as this are common, on pleasant and temperate nights.
FIERCE WARRIOR: [bellowed] Where is Nyoko? I come to prove my might against the sword-maiden of Higashiyama House!
SEI: On damp or unpleasantly warm nights, of course, a wise bravo generally remains in bed, or reads the stories of ancient martial struggles by candlelight.
KOMARU NYOKO, another sister, emerges from the house. She affects weariness, rubbing at her eyes and wearing a sleeping garment, but she has a sword belted at her hip.
NYOKO: What ruckus is this?
FIERCE WARRIOR: Nyoko! Is it true that you have never fallen in battle?
NYOKO: That is an honor shared by every living creature. But if you mean that I have never been defeated, that is also true.
FIERCE WARRIOR: Then we shall test this proposition and see if it endures until the morrow!
The WARRIOR lunges at NYOKO with sword outstretched. She steps neatly aside.
NYOKO: No one has cut me.
FIERCE WARRIOR: [growled] Hold still!
The WARRIOR snatches at Nyoko's wrist, his swordpoint bearing in again; but again she steps aside.
NYOKO: No one has caught me.
GENJIKI: [aside] And this is a regular display, here at your house?
SEI: As I have said.
NYOKO draws her blade, turns, and cuts the WARRIOR down.
NYOKO: And no one has defeated me, for these are considerable assets in battle. [yawns] Such is the lot of excellence, I suppose. One enjoys great repute but very little sleep.
NYOKO turns to go back into the house.
GENJIKI: Wait. Should you not do something with the body?
NYOKO: My; you are a diligent fellow!
GENJIKI: It seems only right.
NYOKO: I did not ask him to come; let him bury himself, and weep for himself as well.
GENJIKI: To embrace the path of war is to relate to others on a martial footing. Some shall cross swords with you; others shall fear you. The consequences and the responsibility are yours to bear.
NYOKO: You assert that I attract such deaths as these, simply by being invincible?
GENJIKI: I have never lost a duel; but as I do not call myself invincible, I have yet to be woken from my sleep by warriors in my garden.
NYOKO: An entertaining philosophy. Still, one might as well assert that it is the standards of the times---of which such bravos as that corpse are leading proponents---that have pushed talented young ladies such as myself to embrace the blade. Without their encouragement, I would scarcely have had reason to take up arms. Thus, again, responsibility devolves to him.
GENJIKI: That is convenient, for he is unable to dispute you.
NYOKO: It has never been proven to my satisfaction that the men I have slain are unable to argue further. Perhaps they have simply learned their lesson, and no longer desire to dispute my philosophy! Did not the sage say, "Death makes men meek"?
SEI: "The death of others makes men meek".
NYOKO: In any event, the quotation's essence is similar. Deal with the body as you choose. I have a rudely interrupted erotic dream to return to.
NYOKO departs.
GENJIKI: Her bladework is formidable; but her perspective chills me.
SEI: This is a common response, I find, when a man encounters a form of honor that differs from his own.
GENJIKI: You assert that she acted with honor?
SEI: Do not be deceived by her whimsical manner; Nyoko has passionate opinions on the subject of responsibility. She quoted to me once an obscure legend dealing with the four great warriors our ancestor sent to subdue Otomo. Arriving at Otomo's castle, the first warrior said, "We must discover the reason for his treachery." So he went in to dine with the betrayer, and never emerged. The second warrior said, "We must verify our orders." He returned to his master, who slew him as a derelict. The third said, "If we slay Otomo, will not his wife and daughter weep?" So he fought hesitantly, and Otomo slew him. Only the fourth warrior survived; his resolution was pure. This story she has taken as her guiding light in life. To accept responsibility for the consequences of another man's actions, she feels, would pollute her resolve and make her less of a warrior. It would render her incapable of defending herself and the things she loves. Therefore, she cannot consider the reasons for another's action; the motives for her own; or the consequences of her ruthlessness. This is her honor; and she fulfills it well.
GENJIKI: Yet, still, a man is dead, and his corpse will rot here unless someone moves it from the garden.
SEI: I do not assert, dear Genjiki, that she wields an unblemished philosophy.
GENJIKI: And what, then, of your last sister, Miroko? Perhaps she is a pleasant reprieve from the madness of the others.
SEI: If only that were so! You must beware Miroko, Genjiki. The stars gave her the power to bewitch the mind and confuse the senses. She may snare your mind and seize your will with a softly-spoken word; and her unveiled beauty has reduced dukes and duchesses to tears.
GENJIKI: I sometimes fear that that is true of all women, for me.
SEI: If you should believe Miroko's claims, then you are correct, and she has simply developed her natural artifice, beauty, and sense of manners to a fever pitch. However, you should not confuse such witchcraft as hers with the wholesome process of affection and social engagement! Genjiki, accept so much as a smile from her lips or a meeting of your gaze and you are hers; and this is a profoundly unnatural thing.
GENJIKI: Perhaps so.
SEI: We were set upon by a highwayman, on our journey to this capital; and Nyoko was wearing a fine but poorly-tailored coat that made it difficult for her to draw her blade. I had no real fear, for Solari was there, and so we could come to little harm; but it was Miroko who put an end to the man. "You are cold," she told him, "and hungry, and you are tired of the road; but this is not your answer." And his eyes glittered, like a rat's, and he said, "I have taken the wealth and sometimes the lives of women like you for two cycles of the dark moon." And she smiled and said, "So long as that? It is time to lay this burden down. Go to the magistrate, and confess your crimes; this will ease the burden on your soul." I could see the war within him; but in the end he growled and left. That is her power; and, you can see, it lies beyond and outside the furthest extent of empathy and charm.
KOMARU MIROKO wanders from the house. She is dressed in finery, and pauses in distraction to smell a rose that climbs the garden gate.
SEI: Quickly, Genjiki! She comes! You must flee!
GENJIKI hesitates for a moment, and then shrugs and rapidly departs.
MIROKO: Sometimes I wonder what you tell your paramours about me, Sei. I should think that they are handsome men, but I can hardly tell, as I have seen nothing but their backs.
SEI: I do nothing, dear sister, but inform them of the danger that you pose.
MIROKO: Really, Sei. I am inoffensive and meek.
SEI: You mock me for my care with my paramours; but I have fewer men on a string in any given year than you have in a single week.
MIROKO: I am considered charming, yes.
SEI: Enough to talk the sun down from the sky or a highwayman from his crimes.
MIROKO: Are you still going on about him, sister? For shame.
SEI: Shame?
MIROKO: You recognized him, of course?
SEI: Gekko Kaneda. He served in our castle when we were young. Before, I believe, he enacted some crime and was first whipped and then sent away.
MIROKO: Then you should understand the conflict in his eyes when he recognized us and remembered our history together; for we ourselves had never done him any harm.
SEI: I do not dispute the historic value of this information, nor the presence of uncertainty in his heart. But his defining characteristic was that of a highwayman and thief. Normal women, Miroko, cannot turn such folk aside with words.
MIROKO: I did not speak to the highwayman, dear, but to Gekko. Perhaps it is there that our stories differ; for had I not done so, no amount of magic from the stars would ever have turned him from his self-destructive course, or brought us safely past.
SEI: I am not sure that sending him to confess his sins and face execution "turned" him from a self-destructive course.
MIROKO: No. Perhaps not. Perhaps it was just the best conclusion to it.
FROM ACT TWO, SCENE 2: TURMOIL
Half the stage is a library. A DASHING PRINCE sits across from NYOKO, with books scattered in an unruly fashion between them. Through a door is the other half of the stage, decorated as a garden, where GENERAL IENOBU and KOMARU KINNOSUKE sit. During the first part of the scene, IENOBU and KINNOSUKE do not move.
[There are rumors that Kinnosuke was not a Komaru in the original draft; but it is unclear why such a cosmetic detail should change.]
PRINCE: I find this text on tactics particularly interesting; it claims to be written by Minamet's own hand. Many of the stratagems strike me as impractical, but I find this intriguing as well. It suggests that our ancestors' limits differed from our own.
NYOKO: They do not seem so impractical to me.
PRINCE: Perhaps---but hold. You look unwell.
NYOKO: I am finding it difficult, your highness, to concentrate fully on the tedious details of tactics and military history.
PRINCE: You astonish me; I had understood it among your favorite activities.---but hold again. I have heard a rumor that you had some argument with the most glorious general Ienobu?
NYOKO: I was foolish.
PRINCE: Not you!
NYOKO: I believed that a man of his esteemed station could hold feelings for me; but he has kindly explained my error.
PRINCE: An unfeeling brute.
NYOKO: So claims my sister Sei; but I have learned that it does not make one happy to listen overmuch to Sei.
PRINCE: There is a proposal that I had thought to make to you this month; and now, I think, it is as good a time as any.
NYOKO: Your highness?
PRINCE: My brother and I often differ on matters regarding the disposition, training, and leadership of Komaru's military force. As a rule, his opinion carries the day; for he is the King, and I but his heir.
NYOKO: Understood.
PRINCE: Of late, our differences have grown so grievous that he no longer wishes to engage in argument. For this reason, he has assigned me the fourth and seventh legion as an army of my own. "Disport them as you see fit!" he cried. "Structure and order them as you choose! Only have the sense to bring them with us when we go to battle, and let me not hear of your thoughts on the military again!"
NYOKO: A fifth of the Crown's armies! Congratulations, highness; you are greatly honored.
PRINCE: You may speak freely, Nyoko-san.
NYOKO: The fourth and seventh legions have many deeply traditional soldiers high in their command structures. They are also excellent minds; to remove them from their posts would demonstrate your incompetence. To leave them there is to establish a shadow command within your army that will cling to the established military patterns of your brother and your father before him. He expects you to stumble, and them to rescue you.---but still, it is an honor, your highness!
PRINCE: An honor; a lesson; an opportunity; an intemperate outburst. A man of many motivations is our King! Nyoko, I wish you to take command of the Prince's Guard. Prove yourself a better leader than the most glorious general Ienobu. This is your revenge for his disrespect!
NYOKO: I had not thought to issue revenge.
PRINCE: Nyoko, he laughs of your folly in strategic meetings and shares jests on the matter with the King himself. I had meant to pretend ignorance of these things, to spare your heart; but if you would forgive him in your naivete, I ask you think again.
NYOKO: I will kill him.
PRINCE: And be arraigned as traitor?
NYOKO: I will challenge him to a duel.
PRINCE: And if he names a champion? His leg has stiffened since the war.
NYOKO: Then I shall kill his champion, and challenge him again. Eventually, he will run out of champions.
PRINCE: I give you a chance to destroy his pride, Nyoko. You would settle for his flesh?
NYOKO: I would.
PRINCE: Well enough. If you should change your mind before Ienobu lies dead, the position I offer remains open to you.
The PRINCE rises and departs. NYOKO begins tidying up the books, but before she can place them on the shelf, KOMARU SOLARI enters. She looks haggard.
NYOKO: Solari! You look unwell.
SOLARI: It is a black day.
NYOKO: How so?
SOLARI: Do you know Komaru Kinnosuke?
NYOKO: Only by reputation. He is a military man of some prowess, is he not?
SOLARI: A monster as well. He came to me some weeks back complaining of his father's illness; some lingering disease of the lungs, painful and apparently fatal, that he wished me to cure.
NYOKO: I do not see the monstrosity.
SOLARI: I refused him, Nyoko, on the grounds that his father's estate is well out of the way of the capital, and traveling in this season is quite inconvenient. He was most upset, but departed in peace. Then, today, he said that a letter had reached him that his father had died.
NYOKO: Again---
SOLARI: So he came to me, with several of his soldiers, and he explained that he wished to express his deep emotional pain. And then he kicked and broke my knee. So I healed it. And then he broke my other knee. And then---I lose track---
NYOKO: At least you are well again.
SOLARI: Over and over again, until I'd managed to hurt them enough times defending myself that I could move faster than they.
NYOKO's face twitches.
NYOKO: You should press charges.
SOLARI: It does not suffice.
NYOKO: Oh. . . . I could kill them. If you liked.
SOLARI: It does not suffice.
NYOKO: Then the situation exceeds my capabilities.
NYOKO places the books on the shelf. SEI enters.
SOLARI: It is a black day.
SEI: I know.
SOLARI: How could you know?
SEI: I dreamed of it last night. This is the Kinnosuke event?
SOLARI: You knew it would happen?
SEI: I am sorry for your pain; still, all things balance out in the end.
A young MILITARY AIDE enters from offstage and begins searching through the books.
SOLARI: And you did not prevent it?
SEI: I have many dreams, and cannot be accountable for all of them. Did you know that Nyoko intends to duel Ienobu to the death?
The AIDE looks startled.
SOLARI: What?
NYOKO: The urgency of his insult seems somehow less; still, I suppose that I will continue with this plan.
SOLARI: Your souls are locked in ice.
SEI: On the contrary, Solari, all three of us grieve for you. But we must grieve in a manner appropriate to our own particular natures. Nyoko presents a bluff front. Miroko, if I recall correctly, will be quite distraught when you inform her---but she will remove herself from your presence before collapsing into tears of rage. As for myself, I meditate on how we may avoid such incidents in the future. In any event, right now, the duel is a more pressing matter.
SEI points at the AIDE.
SEI: You there. Report to the most glorious general Ienobu on his impending duel, and convey to him this message.
SEI presents the AIDE with a scroll. The AIDE gulps, shrugs, and departs with it through the garden door. There, he pantomimes speaking with GENERAL IENOBU and KINNOSUKE.
SOLARI: More pressing?
SEI: For what it is worth, I have had an excellent morning. The King has taken me into his councils. This is an opportunity I have sought, to shape the policy of the realm.
NYOKO: Congratulations.
SEI: Thank you.
There is a brief silence, and the AIDE bursts back into the room. IENOBU and KINNOSUKE stand.
AIDE: Ienobu accepts your terms. He requests that the three of you meet him in the south garden.
SOLARI narrows her eyes, but all three accompany the aide into the garden. On seeing KINNOSUKE, she shrinks back behind SEI.
IENOBU: One day, Nyoko, you seek my bed; the next you seek my life! It is indeed a fickle heart that beats within your breast.
NYOKO: Tend rather to your own heart; it has few beats left to sound.
IENOBU: I have chosen to name a champion, Nyoko; that is Komaru Kinnosuke, who stands beside me.
NYOKO: What is this? A strange coincidence indeed.
IENOBU: I have been informed that this is my strongest opportunity for survival; although I know not why, or why my life should be in danger.
NYOKO: Sei! What story is this?
IENOBU: It is all in the greatest glory of the realm.
SEI shrugs. NYOKO squares off with KINNOSUKE, and they begin to fence. Seven quick blows later, KINNOSUKE lies bleeding on the ground.
NYOKO: I challenge you again, Ienobu, and again to the death.
There is a pause.
SOLARI: Hold, Nyoko. I think there is some life left in this champion.
SOLARI kneels beside KINNOSUKE, and lays a hand upon his arm; then he rises. NYOKO shrugs, waits for SOLARI to back away, and then begins to fence again. This time, KINNOSUKE lasts for but six blows.
NYOKO: Look, I have cut his throat. He is dead; I demand a new opponent.
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; you are mistaken. I think there is some life left in this champion.
Again, SOLARI touches KINNOSUKE. Again, he rises. Again, NYOKO duels.
NYOKO: Look, I have carved out his heart. He is dead; I demand a new opponent.
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; you are mistaken. I think there is some life left in this champion.
Again, SOLARI touches KINNOSUKE. Again, he rises. Again, NYOKO duels; but KINNOSUKE is moving more slowly.
SEI: Look, Ienobu. She has never before brought back a man so many times from death. His flesh is growing sallow.
NYOKO: Look, I have spilled his intestines on the ground. He is dead; I demand a new opponent.
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; you are mistaken.
SEI: I do believe that Kinnosuke is rotting from within. How glorious!
NYOKO: Look, I have speared him through the eye. He is dead. I demand a new opponent.
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; you are mistaken.
SEI: His teeth are falling from his jaw. His hair is coming down in clumps. I have often wondered if there were such limits as this on my sister's power.
NYOKO: Look, his blood runs in rivulets across the ground. He is dead! I demand a new opponent!
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; I think you are mistaken.
SEI: He shuffles now, like a corpse might walk. He is no worthy opponent to her blade; but I think the cuts she deals him hurt less now. Ienobu-sama, have you ever seen such wonders?
NYOKO: Look, his sword arm lies across the ground. He is dead, and did he live, he could not fight! I demand a new opponent!
SOLARI: No, Nyoko; I think you are mistaken.
SEI: Ah. It ends. The spark of mind has gone out in his eyes. Only the memory of battle keeps his corpse upright.
IENOBU: ENOUGH!
NYOKO: What?
IENOBU: I will duel you myself, if you will fight in a wholesome manner, and leave my corpse to lie upon the ground.
NYOKO cuts down the shambling corpse of KINNOSUKE, and looks thoughtfully at IENOBU.
SOLARI: I am as satisfied as I may ever be.
NYOKO squares off against IENOBU; the battle lasts twenty strokes of the blade, and then the glorious general lies sprawled upon the ground.
SEI: Honor is satisfied. The duel is complete. But its terms should not be met. Rouse him, Solari; raise him from the grave. The realm will need his sword, and Nyoko will not kill him again.
FROM ACT THREE, SCENE 4: THE LAND CRIES OUT
The stage backdrop illustrates a plain at the base of the mountains. A representation of a crude hut, open so that the audience can see within, stands at one end of a stage. MIROKO, SOLARI, and SEI sit within; then NYOKO enters.
SOLARI: So are we all assembled.
NYOKO: Good day.
SOLARI: The land cries out, dear sisters. We must find some way to avoid this war, that hangs the four of us on the four pillars of the realm, and turns our gaze on one another in hate.
SEI: I protest my innocence; I serve the rightful King of this land.
NYOKO: In his dotage, Sei, he has become Ienobu's puppet, and your own. He is not fit to rule. And if he should not see this and step down, then my Prince Motoshige must needs force him to it.
SOLARI: You know as well as I that I care not who sits upon the throne.
NYOKO: Granted, Solari; you are an equal-opportunity traitor.
SOLARI: There is no hope for any in this land while both crowns persecute the Order of the Shrouded Sun. We---the Order and I---deal with greater threats than treachery and war. If we must use force to help the Kings to see it, then so we shall.
SEI: Miroko? You remain silent?
MIROKO: I have little to confess.
SEI: You have seized the capital and appointed yourself its lord.
MIROKO: I cannot help that society adores me; nor that my acquaintances would prefer my governance to that of your squabbling masters. But I have long resigned myself to appearing blasphemous in my sisters' eyes.
SOLARI: You could avoid it, did you let us in the city to conduct our rituals there.
MIROKO: I am not sure the inhabitants would find that healthy.
NYOKO: Or accept your title as seneschal from the Prince's hands.
MIROKO: Please, Nyoko, do not jest; if I should take sides while both armies are fresh, I should not likely enjoy the result.
SEI: We are here to avert war, not to embrace it.
MIROKO: How strange, Sei, that you cannot see your own naivete, nor I convince you of it.
SEI: This conclave could end in many ways, and peace is one among them.
NYOKO: I await your proposal.
SEI: Both armies shall stand down. We shall dismiss Ienobu from our service; this may assuage the Prince's fears. The Prince shall accept exile to his estates until such time as our King dies; then he may assume the throne. The Order of the Shrouded Sun shall have the ban lifted against its practice; but it will not gain the ear of the King. As for Miroko, she may deliver the capital to our hands and return to a life of leisure, without consequence. It would be unpopular and risky to punish her in any case.
NYOKO: I hear a strange and piquant flight of fantasy; but perhaps the proposal will come next?
SEI: The terms are reasonable. Should you refuse them, you will die on the battlefield, as will your men.
NYOKO: No one can cut me.
SEI: So I have heard. Perhaps your killer will use a blunt object.
NYOKO: Your terms are unacceptable.
SOLARI: We require nothing less than the full backing of the throne. I can make no compromise.
MIROKO: I will happily deliver the capital to the victor at the end of this pointless war. They will need at least one city whose walls are still standing wherein to hold their victory celebration.
SOLARI: A convenient position to take.
MIROKO: I find it so.
SOLARI: And if the victor has not the strength to wrest it from you? Will you yield it so freely then?
MIROKO: I find it tiresome to engage in speculation.
NYOKO: I shall leave you live, Sei, though it is against my better judgment; but capitulate to you, never.
SOLARI: I feel the same.
SEI: So be it, then.
Various SOLDIERS begin to filter onto the 'plains' part of the stage, outside the hut. There are roughly ten, five wearing red uniforms, five wearing blue.
SOLARI: Do you know the story of these mountains, sisters?
NYOKO: I, for one, do not.
SOLARI: It is said that a monstrous serpent died here, after millennia roaming the cosmos; and that over time, its flesh accreted stone and trees, until these mountains formed from the ridges in its flesh.
MIROKO: A shorter legend than most.
SOLARI: I give the three of you but one more warning; then the Shrouded Sun shall rain down such devastation as the land has never seen.
SEI smiles brightly. NYOKO shrugs. MIROKO looks distant. NYOKO and SEI depart the hut, placing themselves with blue and red soldiers respectively. SOLARI takes on an expression of deep concentration, as MIROKO watches.
A battle begins. It occurs in silence. The soldiers on stage spar, disengage, and spar, but their wooden swords are cloth-shrouded to minimize the noise they make. They stay away from where SEI and NYOKO stand. Then NYOKO moves slowly out into the fray, in equal silence. She comes near a red-garbed soldier; he falls. She passes by another; he falls.
SEI: This is the moment of crux. I have seen it in my dreams. I have but to order a retreat, and I shall have it all; the King, Komaru, and victory.
NYOKO brings down another red-garbed soldier.
SEI: And so I shall. Retreat!
The last two red-garbed soldiers back from the stage, as SEI turns towards the hut. She walks towards it slowly.
NYOKO: Victory! It is simple, I think, with such a commander as I.
The blue-garbed soldiers cheer. On the other side of the stage, a monstrous serpent crawls into view. (This is a many-person costume, much like dragon-dance costumes, complete with an ornate head.) In the hut, MIROKO rises fiercely to her feet.
MIROKO: Solari! What have you done?
SOLARI: I shake the mountains with my footsteps. I wake the dead. Miroko, I have ended this war.
The serpent washes across two blue soldiers, and they fall.
NYOKO: Perhaps my victory is not so clear cut as all that.
The serpent washes across two more blue soldiers, and they fall.
NYOKO: This is unacceptable!
NYOKO moves into the serpent's path. Her blade licks out to touch it on its nose. It lunges towards her, and she skips aside.
NYOKO: You will not cut me!
The serpent lunges again. The last blue soldier is in its path; he falls. NYOKO again dances out of the way.
NYOKO: You will not catch me!
The serpent snorts.
NYOKO: I would like, I think, to be quite so confident as I sound.
NYOKO beats the serpent about the head with her blade, and then shoves it deep into the serpent's eye. (The costume tears.) She tries to pull it out, and cannot; then the serpent lunges again, and NYOKO falls beneath it. The people in the costume collapse, and neither NYOKO nor the serpent moves. The blade remains buried in its eye.
MIROKO peers out the window of the hut.
MIROKO: I am inclined, I think, to concede the capital at this point. If this prudence will keep you from bringing that thing to life again.
SOLARI: I appreciate your concession.
SEI enters the hut.
SEI: I have come to witness an interesting phenomenon.
MIROKO: That being?
SEI: I wish to inform you that my army will begin its march on the capital; it is, you note, the only army remaining on the field.
MIROKO: Have you some preparation against a reawakening of the serpent? I should not like to see it ravage Komaru, without Nyoko in its way.
SEI: I have indeed; to wit, without Nyoko in its way, it will ravage Komaru. This renders Solari's threat obsolete.
MIROKO: Strange.
SOLARI: Strange? It is outrageous and false.
MIROKO: Precisely. Why should Sei so misjudge your character?
SOLARI: I do not know; but, Sei, you shall concede, or the serpent will wake.
SEI: I call your bluff, sister; rouse it if you will.
SOLARI: You have a prophetic nature; but I dare not fear your vision and thus turn aside. I close my eyes, dear Sei. The mountains shake.
MIROKO: I do hope you know what you are doing, Sei.
On the stage, the SERPENT stirs slightly.
SOLARI: I understand now. She believes that I have not the strength. It is very hard to move so great a thing to life; and twice, in so short a time. But the tides of life that wash against this mortal shore are not held back by my exhaustion. My full and deepest dedication could wake Mourn's Bones themselves.
SEI: Repent, Solari; I wield a greater force than you.
On the stage, the SERPENT stirs again.
SOLARI: The dead begins to wake.
SEI pulls a dagger from her sleeve, steps forward, and thrusts it full into SOLARI's heart.
SOLARI: I weaken, and I know not why.
SEI: It is the coming of your death, dear Solari.
SOLARI: Death? I feel no wound.
SEI: Your full and deepest dedication stirs the serpent's heart; but will you not pause to heal your own?
SOLARI: It is a trick. I feel no wound. You seek to pull me back from the brink of my completion. I am the spirit of life; I cannot die.
MIROKO: But, Sei, the monster!
The SERPENT pulls itself shakily to its feet, as SOLARI falls.
SEI: It lives, I judge, but lives not long, with Nyoko's blade stuck through its eye.
The SERPENT falls.
SEI: And that leaves just two; and only one of us shall leave this room alive.
MIROKO: Surely you jest; the neither of us are duelists.
SEI: Miroko, I would wish that things had been different. That it had been Nyoko who survived this long, or Solari. But you are my only remaining sister; my only remaining competitor; and I fear you most of all.
MIROKO: I have done you no harm, dear Sei, and you would kill me. Yet our Nyoko was a reckless thief of lives. She valued no man's existence more than any flea's; and you would have let her live.
SEI: Nyoko was harmless, Miroko. You should know that as well as I. There was no greater soldier, duelist, or general in all this land; but she had no ambitions of her own. She desired only to fulfill her function: to fight honorably in another's name. She loved the process of war, not its ends. If she had but once given thought to its ends, so compassionate a soul as Nyoko's could never have fought; and that would have destroyed her. Tell me, Miroko; could I have put such a magnificent tool to use?
MIROKO: You could have, Sei. And why did you not?
SEI: Because you lived, and I feared her in your hand.
MIROKO: I have done you no harm, dear Sei, and you would kill me. Yet our Solari was a monster of dispassion; her life was a masterful demonstration that the power to end suffering is only virtuous if its wielder should wish it so. Not once did she use her gift but that it served her; and yet you would have let her live.
SEI: Solari was harmless, Miroko. You should have known that too. She was a slave to her own vanity, unable to think beyond the moment's desires. Did you know how she came to join the Order of the Shrouded Sun?
MIROKO: I did not.
SEI: They flattered her. They told her that only their actions could save the world; that without their perspective, Komaru was doomed; and that they, wisest of men and women, needed her to achieve it. They spoke to her with an occultist's vanity, and she found it harmonious with her own. Look at the legions of dead on the plains below, and you shall see the outcome. Again, tell me, Miroko; could I have put such a fallible miracle to use?
MIROKO: Indeed you could; and I suppose you did not for fear that I would do the same.
SEI: I had to take them off the board before you and I could finish this. Any other course held too much risk.
MIROKO: Sei, why do you fear me so?
SEI: Because you are a mirror, and I cannot see your heart.
MIROKO: That seems a woefully insufficient reason to kill your own sister. . . . do you intend to use your soldiers?
SEI: It had occurred to me; but you would subvert them.
MIROKO: Well, and certainly, if you would allow me to share a glass of wine, dancing, and some light conversation with them first. Perhaps I might say, "You do understand that Komaru Sei is a madwoman who has ordered the death of her own sister simply to protect her ambition from unreasonable fears?"
SEI: Perhaps you might; or perhaps you might simply look at them and say, "I think you should kill Sei instead." And those not so lovestruck as to die on the spot would do so.
MIROKO: That would also be an option, I suppose. So how do you intend it?
SEI: We are the neither of us duelists; but I can anticipate your every move and fumble, which you cannot do for mine. After twenty-seven exchanges of blows, I shall score an accidental hit that spills your intestines on the floor. The rest is history.
MIROKO: Hm.
SEI: Hm?
MIROKO: I am thinking on your comment, earlier, that you fear me because I am a mirror.
SEI: I spoke metaphorically.
MIROKO: Look out the window, will you, Sei, and tell me what you see?
SEI: Dead bodies, Miroko. Three legions of them.
MIROKO: Indeed. And what of their lives? Can you see those?
SEI: I can; their passions and their histories are written on their unmoving forms.
MIROKO: Brought, indeed, to perfect conclusion here. Sei, have you ever seen such a wonder as this?
SEI: Do not think to distract me from my purpose.
MIROKO: You did not live until this moment, Sei. Not until you saw the faces of thirty thousand men, caught in the perfect conclusion of death. Every human passion, writ so large. The mortal condition, so brilliantly displayed!
SEI: I saw this moment in my dreams, Miroko. I swore I would be strong.
MIROKO: Then look away, Sei. Look away from the window, and abandon the vista that opens there.
SEI: I cannot.
MIROKO: You are a sad and broken woman, Sei.
SEI: I am harmless, Miroko. You should have known that. I am a creature of knowledge and experience. I have no greater ambition than this: to see, and know, and understand.
MIROKO: And control.
SEI: That was never my desire, Miroko. To stand alone at the King's side---that is my goal, but not to govern. Ruled I the King, I could see every permutation of the human experience. I could craft such wonders and visions from the fallible lives of this realm! I could crack the secrets of every arcane library and every hidden lore, in my King's name, did I but stand alone there. Could I but turn my head from this window where you stand reflected in the glass.
MIROKO: These are great wonders, Sei, but they are but dreams and portents; while the horrid scene of death that lies beyond the glass is real.
SEI: You have won, Miroko. Depart.
MIROKO: How long will it take you to die of thirst, dear Sei?
SEI: A week, in all.
MIROKO: I will sit with you; though I will drink, and you will not.
SEI: I am blessed to have such a mirror as you.
THE CURTAINS CLOSE