Wisdom's Kiss (63 page)

A whoop offstage. Benevolence and Wisdom enter riding brooms.They alight.

WISDOM:
Our best flight yet, I daresay! Did not you see that owl's glare? We've speed he lacks—he doth resent us!

BENEVOLENCE:
Good evening, both. I hope our transport did not jolt you. We witches cast our spells exclusively for good.

WISDOM
[aside]
: For good and for sport! Magic is the world's best pleasure.

TEMPERANCE:
My heart beats yet in awful fright ... But I must be brave, or so it's told me.

PROVIDENCE:
To fly, to soar—I must confess, I long to know that happiness.

WISDOM:
If brooms held two, I'd take us both, for earthbound bliss is no match for flight.

TEMPERANCE:
O Mother, no! Your hankering will harm you!

PROVIDENCE:
Remember the first pony rides you girls enjoyed—a groom on either side to hold the bridle and protect you? 'Tis a pity there's no saddle here, nor groom to walk beside me.

WISDOM:
Perhaps we'd serve ... Nonna Ben, think you the same?

BENEVOLENCE:
It might well work ... Sit here and I will guide you.

PROVIDENCE:
I've always dreamed—now at last my dream comes true!

TEMPERANCE:
Mama, I fear so much ... You and I lack magic blood and should not tempt what witches might.

WISDOM:
I'll clasp th'broom here. Mama, look solely where you want to go. Whither your gaze, the broom doth follow.

BENEVOLENCE:
It works! She rides!

PROVIDENCE:
There's naught to fear! I'm full of joy! Behold the stars above me!

BENEVOLENCE:
Do not look up!

WISDOM:
The broom has strength—it pulls away! My grip is gone!

PROVIDENCE:
Help me, please! I fly away—I'm o'er the cliffs—they drop so far; I can't see bottom! Help—I fall! I'm lost—I'm falling.

Providence plunges over the balustrade.

TEMPERANCE:
She is dead, far below! Mama! I come—

BENEVOLENCE:
No! Stay here! Don't draw attention! If the world learns that we fly on brooms...

WISDOM:
Then witches burn, and all our country. Mama, in your memory I vow to spell no more.
My magic dies within me
.

BENEVOLENCE:
And me as well. The queen is dead ... Long live our queen. I hail you.

Benevolence kneels to Temperance. Wisdom kneels to Benevolence.

TEMPERANCE:
I can't be queen!

BENEVOLENCE:
You are one. We're here to help, Wisdom and I; we'll never leave you, ever.

TEMPERANCE:
I'm queen? O woe!

WISDOM:
O woe, O woe ... I'm in Montagne forever?

***

An afternoon fete with musicians.

Enter Duke Roger of Farina and Queen Temperance of Montagne.

ROGER:
This terrace is lovely, is it not? Your Majesty?

TEMPERANCE:
Alas, my poor mother! She adored this terrace. My sister and I would play here and she, laughing, would applaud ... But that was before ... O woe!

ROGER:
Take my handkerchief. Please, consider it a token of my affection...
[Aside]
I also mourn for my brother, but life must move past death.

TEMPERANCE:
Were she alive, I would yet be cultivating herbaceous shrubberies ... Now I am obliged to rule, though the throne holds no magic for me.

ROGER
[
aside]:
How can I woo this Temperance? "Queen Melancholia" is a name more suitable.

TEMPERANCE:
And, they say, I must take a husband.

ROGER:
Surely some man would tolerate—er, desire you. I myself would delight...
[Aside]
No! I cannot speak the words! Rather bachelordom and my mother's wrath than this!

TEMPERANCE:
Behold—a weed amongst the rhododendrons. I must attend to it...

Exit Temperance.

ROGER:
What a miserable female! What a miserable day!

Enter Princess Wisdom of Montagne.

WISDOM:
A miserable day indeed. Your Grace, do not look so abashed! I do not envy you the challenge of courting my sister; 'twould foil Cupid himself.

ROGER:
Your High ness. The day grows brighter with your approach, and the very sun slows its descent to linger in your presence...
[Aside]
If Temperance is melancholia, then Wisdom represents happiness supreme.

WISDOM:
Your flirtation is more craft than art—though I am flattered nonetheless. In return I shall tender a confidence: I used to dance upon this balustrade when I was young.

ROGER:
Step back! You shall fall and perish!

WISDOM:
Your Grace, you are as green as this leaf! I shan't perish: observe how far I lean over...

ROGER
[aside]
: Such courage! She has pluck enough for two. With her beside me...

WISDOM:
I send this leaf on a great adventure. Fortunate leaf! How I envy you floating away ... O, I yearn to see the world, yet never once have I left Montagne. Is that not piteous?

ROGER:
Piteous indeed, for the world has wonders past counting, and I'd delight in presenting them all to you. But please: I have too little valor. Step away from the precipice or I shall be ill.

WISDOM
[aside]:
"Too little valor"—this I hear too much! All these suitors full of fear. But this one states it at least. And he has a handsome face...

ROGER:
Your Highness—I am overcome. I fall to one knee to beg your hand in marriage.

WISDOM:
To see the world is the richest of offers! Yet you mock me, Your Grace. It is my older sister you desire, not me. Farina has far too much ambition to wed a princess in lieu of a queen.

ROGER:
'Tis true my mother sent me to garner a kingdom with my bride. But with brave Wisdom beside me, I know I shall sway her otherwise. My life rests on this moment. Say the word and I shall be the most blissful of men.

WISDOM:
I cannot resist such promise ... Yes, Roger. Yes.

***

Wisdom enters.

WISDOM:
Behold that flash of gold! A dragonfly much finer than any in Montagne. That cloud—knows it our staid chateau? Ha! It floats for me alone. I'm free!

Enter Benevolence carrying the cat Escoffier; also Lady Modesty, Lady Patience, and others walking beside the carriage.

MODESTY:
My feet hurt so!

PATIENCE:
My body aches! Bedbugs gnaw my tender skin—

MODESTY
and
PATIENCE:
We itch!

BENEVOLENCE:
Six days late for Phraugheloch's gates—this nuptial journey has been pure disaster.

WISDOM:
Hear you not yon stormy brook? It sings its song so sweetly.

PATIENCE:
These swollen streams have sunk our barge.

MODESTY:
The flooding makes us walk, not ride.

WISDOM:
Of course we must walk up the hills—our carriage horses struggle too with this ascent ... and lugging all your luggage.

BENEVOLENCE:
My stomach aches, but more my heart: your timid sister rules alone.

WISDOM:
Who cares? By which I mean to say: I crave adventure; she does not. Each situation suits the girl.

BENEVOLENCE:
I dearly hope excitement shuns our Kingdom of Montagne.

WISDOM:
Fear not; it always has before. Behold that bird, its plumage bright, a jewel among the flowers.

BENEVOLENCE:
Let's hope your sister perseveres, and we as well, and feline.

***

Morning. A great spread of food.

TAVERN KEEPER:
It is the dream of my life to serve a queen—particularly one so receptive to the culinary arts! This meal shall be remembered forever...

Enter Benevolence carrying Escoffier, and Wisdom, Lady Modesty, Lady Patience, and others.

BENEVOLENCE:
Good morn to you, my fine man. What glories have you prepared us? I vowed after last night's feast I should never eat again, yet my sable companion and I find ourselves ravenous once more.

TAVERN KEEPER:
My chefs toiled through the night ... I have for you fine omelets, sweet pastries, and my personal masterpiece: oysters.

PATIENCE:
Oysters! What a tremendous delicacy! O, they taste divine!

MODESTY:
The crust so delicate—the interior so creamy ... I believe I shall have four if it does not appear too greedy.

WISDOM
[aside]:
That is a spectacle well worth forgetting ... This roll is still warm. I am quite content with it alone for the moment.

TAVERN KEEPER:
Your Majesty, you do not dine? Are the oysters not quite to your satisfaction?

BENEVOLENCE:
My friend turns up his nose—this cat knows more of cookery than most men.

TAVERN KEEPER:
These oysters arrived only this morning, packed in ice ... I could not resist their purchase, however dear, as I knew my guests deserved the best.

BENEVOLENCE:
Of course you shall be justly compensated. But when traversing mountains, I prefer mountain fare. I recall a leg of lamb that left last night's table only half-consumed ... Wisdom! You cannot depart so soon! You have barely swallowed two mouthfuls!

WISDOM:
There is a man outside juggling! That entertainment is all the nourishment I require.

Exit Wisdom.

BENEVOLENCE:
His Grace will find it quite the chore to tame his feral bride ... Come, Escoffier, let us break our fast. Truly this meal will never be forgotten.

***

Benevolence, Wisdom, Lady Modesty, Lady Patience, and others ride.

WISDOM
[aside]:
How dull this is to ride, not stroll.

MODESTY:
How nice this is to ride at last. A carriage is for ladies.

PATIENCE:
The swaying does not suit me well ... O no! I'm sick!

BENEVOLENCE:
The window! To it!

MODESTY:
I'm sick as well—please move aside! I need the window also!

PATIENCE:
Something toxic broods within—I fear it is the oysters.

WISDOM:
A ride that's interesting for once. And lo, the guards puke too.

BENEVOLENCE:
Your language, child!

WISDOM:
At least I speak, not moan or curse ... Yes, clearly it is oysters.

MODESTY:
Again I'm sick, and then once more—Death comes for me, I know it!

BENEVOLENCE:
Now hold her head and wipe her chin—

WISDOM:
Nursing's not my forte. Instead I'll leave this stinking car and serve our troupe as stableman. The horses thrive—they've dined on oats—but wander without guidance. Ho there, steed! I'll take your reins. Your rider has concerns beyond you. "The Retching Road" I'll call this tale when I've occasion to relate it.

Exit Wisdom.

MODESTY:
To jest at this—she mocks me so!

BENEVOLENCE:
She mocks not you but circumstance ... Our Wisdom's more Indifference.

***

Rüdiger and others sit. Enter Wilhelmina and Roger.

WILHELMINA:
I cannot discern which insults me more: Montagne's offensive tardiness or this band of aberrations. Gross effluent this circus is, however it's dubbed "Primus."

ROGER:
Dearest Mother, let us hope the spectacle shall bring you satisfaction.

WILHELMINA:
Your hopefulness affirms you're witless ... But we feign delight for Rüdiger.

Enter Benevolence, Wisdom, and Fortitude.

BENEVOLENCE:
We've lost our ladies to ill health but gained a commoner so dear ... Fortitude, attend our trunks. We must look chic this coming morn, and every day thereafter.

FORTITUDE:
Your Majesty, I'll see to all. I delight to serve you.

Exit Fortitude.

WISDOM:
To think: a circus! With me as witness! Already I am happiest in all the many lands of Lax.

BENEVOLENCE:
Remember your position, child. Observe the duchess opposite, seated with His Majesty; exhibit the solemnity to which they're both entitled.

Music. The Globe d'Or rises.

WISDOM:
O! 'Tis better than I ever hoped!

WILHELMINA
[to
Roger]:
Observe the princess with a visage imbecilic. You will dominate her easily; we shall both do so.

Tips leaps from the Globe d'Or, toward Wisdom.

BENEVOLENCE:
Help, we perish! I shield my head!

WISDOM:
What a spectacle ... I am thrilled!

TIPS:
May I present this golden rose, a gift of the emperor, to Her Royal Highness. It is almost as lovely as she.
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