+------------+
| Blown Away |
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by Lendren Starfall

Concerning various and sundry events which might have been, during the years
when the cities were being built, and secrets were being kept that have since
been lost in the sands.

---------------------------------=======================================

Dedication

This play is dedicated to those who use secrecy, but are not used by it.

Thanks to Nejii, Amarysse, Brylle, Zia, Ialie, Anaria, and Linwe for their
contributions to making it better than it was. Thanks also to Angarox for his
book on the Skarch Desert which proved useful in my research.

=======================================---------------------------------
Dramatis Personae

Alsyana, Fang of Snake
dracnari Guildmaster of the Sandserpents

Hatchling Mabapyris, of First Scales
a mugwump novice of the Sandserpents

Deerassen, Glow of Sunrise
lucidian Guild Administrator of the Suncatchers

Jenmisa
a dracnari passerby.

---------------------------------=======================================

=======================================---------------------------------
Act I: Mirages

[Scene: Desert. Sand rises and falls, shifting in winds under the eternal heat
of Father Sun. Tracks of lizards and reptiles are sometimes visible, but the
creatures who left them are not.]

In all directions, sand, stirred by winds and baked by Father Sun, as if day
might last forever and summer never end.

ENTER: Alsyana, leading Mabapyris.

[Costume: Alsyana. Tall and lean, this dracnari woman wears only the minimum
necessary for modesty, a few patches and straps of leather that looks as
weather-worn, rough, and aged as she herself appears. Her graying scales have a
fine sheen, perturbed by the everpresent dusting of sand nestled between them.
Despite her apparent age, she shifts from stillness to swift movement and back
with a poise and confidence that matches the alertness in her wary eyes.]

[Costume: Mabapyris. This youthful mugwump has brightly-coloured skin, coloured
in rust-red with wedge-shaped stripes of yellow and brown. Her clothes, flowing
silk in a pale yellow edged with bright red, seem excessive for the desert
heat, as confirmed by her evident discomfort. She bends slightly under the
weight of a canvas backpack overstuffed with unknown wares.]

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "What do you see?"

Mabapyris: shading her eyes, sweeps a view over the bare dunes, turning a
half-circle and back.

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "Just the desert."

Alsyana: (with a smirk) "Describe it."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "Umm, it is broad, hot, harsh. Largely devoid of life.
Unforgiving and hostile."

Alsyana: laughs quietly.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "If that is all you see, then your first trial might go
ill for you, Hatchling."

Alsyana: raises her arms, causing the sand to swirl around her in a spiral that
soon spreads to envelop Mabapyris.

As the spiraling sands whip around Mabapyris, she begins to choke, grasping at
her throat.

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "What... are you... doing... to me?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "I don't suppose you brought some water with you?
You're probably getting very thirsty by now."

Mabapyris: grows visibly pale, her skin losing its usual mugwump moisture, as
she fumbles to pull a waterskin off her pack.

Mabapyris: opens the waterskin with shaking hands, then tilts it back and
immediately chokes, as only a slender trickle of sand falls into her mouth.

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: (through intermittent gasps and chokes) "You're going to
kill me, let me die? This is how you treat those who join your guild?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: (with a faintly amused smile) "Brother Snake has no time
for those who depend on others for their survival. The Skarch is harsh even to
her children, but hardship breeds strength as nothing else does. All
Sandserpents know this and live or die by it."

Mabapyris: pulls a hefty shovel from her pack and considers it, seeming
reluctant and conflicted.

Alsyana: watches Mabapyris curiously, though with a diffident air, trying to
seem like she's not paying much attention.

Mabapyris: coughs dryly, a rasping hack of desperation.

Mabapyris: shaking her head, falls to her knees and begins to dig, occasionally
glancing up at Alsyana with a worried expression, as if expecting a rebuke.

Alsyana: (as if to herself) "The leeward side would produce moisture nearer the
surface."

Mabapyris: looks up in a moment of hesitation, glancing at a nearby slope, then
resumes her digging with steely determination, finally crowing in a cracking cry
of triumph as she drops the shovel and scoops up a scant handful of water which
she swallows greedily.

Alsyana: lowers her hands, allowing the swirling sands to settle.

Mabapyris: stands up, her relief fading as she gazes down at the trough she
dug, an oozing scar in the sand's skin.

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "I suppose I am not meant to be a Sandserpent, then."

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "What makes you think so?"

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "Clearly, I've failed your test. The only way I could
find to survive it was to change the land around me to suit me. I should have
found a way to survive while remaining in harmony with my environment."

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: (with a wry little laugh) "Oh, such delightful nonsense!
You sound like one of those tree-dwellers of the forest communes. Which one are
you from, then, Serenwilde? Pompous self-righteous warhawks. No, must be
Gloriana, your kind likes the swamps. You have a certain darkness about you."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: (quirking an eyelid in surprise) "I had thought the
Skarch Commune was to be a commune?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: (waving her to follow as she starts striding up the
nearby slope) "Indeed, but not troubled by that particular folly. I've heard
the Ackleberry folk mouth something about leaving only footprints. Some deluded
vision of nature, that any effort to shape the world around you is unnatural. Is
the snake unnatural that digs a home in sand or soil? Is the bee in his hive a
crime against nature? Does the beaver building his lodge and dam leave only
footprints? Parch and rot, the lot of it."

[Scene: SandCity. Below a position on a high ridge of sand can be seen a
bowl-shaped valley in the desert, shimmering in the heat. What seems at first a
faint impression of a lake of oily black water proves just a mirage, melting in
the sunlight to reveal a magnificent city of sand. Buildings of all shapes,
curves and straight lines, flat sprawling adobe and tall towering spires,
joined by curving arches, and every bit of it fashioned entirely of sand, held
in place by nothing at all. It's as if the buildings were formed by sand just
hanging in the air and failing to fall down.]

As the two figures crest the rise, Mabapyris stops, gaping in astonishment at
the tableau before her. A mirage of shimmering heat melts away to reveal a
glistening, impossible city of sand. Buildings of all shapes, curves and
straight lines, flat sprawling adobe and tall towering spires, joined by
curving arches, and every bit of it fashioned entirely of sand, held in place
by nothing at all, as if sand just took the shapes of buildings and forgot to
fall.

Alsyana: watches Mabapyris's reaction, beaming with quiet pride.

Mabapyris: (eyes locked on the scene before her) "This... is the Skarch
Commune?"

Alsyana: "The tree-dwellers who heard the plans, decades ago, called it a sand
city, in derision and scorn. So in defiance we mock their mockery by using the
same term. But make no mistake: this is nothing like Celest, nor like the plans
for Gaudiguch. Those cities destroy the natural world where they stand, displace
it. But our home not only does not displace the living things that dwelled there
before we wove our spells of shaping, it benefits them. We shape the land to
better suit us as well as those with whom we share it."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: (slowly gathering her wits) "Why then do we have to keep
all this a secret, even from the other communes? For that matter, how?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "How what?"

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "How can you possibly keep secret... all this? What of
those who travel the desert, do they not see it?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "Have you ever, during your travels in the desert, seen
a mirage? An oasis which proved only to be a shimmering of hot air, retreating
as you approached, finally boiling away?"

Mabapyris: nods thoughtfully.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "We fashion such mirages. Those who come close to our
home find the easy path always leads another way. It is surprisingly easy, far
easier than, though similar in technique to, the spells we used to shape the
sand itself and bind it in place. All made possible by the power of the
Sunstone, which also protects us the same way the Flame of Glinshari protects
the Serenwilde."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: (with a nod) "But why? Should we not make allies of the
other communes?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "There are some who say we should. Decades ago, the idea
to found the commune first arose from discussions within the tree-dweller
communes, from a division within the commune, in fact, on the principle of
whether to shape the land, or leave only footprints. Those who opposed the
Skarch called us heretics, traitors, and worse."

Mabapyris: frowns, listening intently.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "They look at the desert and see, as you did, nothing.
The complex interplay of living things just below the surface, far more
intricate and interrelated than anything in the water-heavy, nutrient-rich,
easy land of the forests, completely eludes them. They are not content to call
us fools to strive to do what they call impossible; they would destroy what we
do here to prove themselves right."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: "They wouldn't destroy a commune just out of pride,
would they?"

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "Some would. Out of pride and zealotry and personal
animosity. It's amazing what a person can sincerely believe when their own need
to be right moves behind them. Make no mistake: if they knew of us now, while we
are vulnerable in our early growth, they would be as quick to erase us as would
the upstarts building the shell of Gaudiguch, who would see us as rivals."

Mabapyris: nods thoughtfully.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "We find the world around us harsh and unwelcoming, and
we will grow in strength from hardship and self-sufficiency, as is the way of
Brother Snake. Like a cactus seed, we have waited long decades for them to
forget our plans, for the time to be right for growth. We would wait centuries
if necessary, but we will not perish just because the land is dry."

ENTER: Deerassen, hurriedly, trailed by his fae.

[Costume: Deerassen. Tall and lanky, this lucidian bears the somber, serious
expression of his kind. His faint yellow crystalline skin glistens brightly in
the sunlight, catching and refracting it into a sparkle of colours. He wears
only a rich orange silken shift strewn with loops, one holding his athame, and
around his neck, a large pendant formed of a ring of silver with a multifaceted
crystal suspended in its centre, glowing dimly with the light of the noonday
sun.]

[Scene: Deerassen. As SandCity, but with props below.]

[Prop: Fae. Trailing behind Deerassen are an assortment of wiccan fae, similar
to those oft seen behind Moondancers or Shadowdancers.]

[Prop: Katsina. Almost grotesque, this fae seems like a deformed, gnomish
person with angular features. Its arms are always outstretched, holding up an
arc of shifting ribbon in the colour of a sunrise.]

[Prop: Aspara. Small in stature but standing tall and proud, this fae looks
like a young woman, her smile a blessing of shining yellow light. She wears an
elaborate yellow gown that resembles a formal wedding gown apart from its sunny
hue.]

[Prop: Nunnehi. Shining with the colours of sunset, this curious fae tumbles
over itself as it moves, constantly shifting its shape. Each permutation
features an elongated face bearing reddish markings, a radiating pattern of
warming light.]

Deerassen, to Alsyana: (seeming not to notice Mabapyris) "Bad news. We've
detected a vibration. Someone within the Sunstone Circle has sent an aether
outside. Perhaps received a reply."

Alsyana: goes pale.

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "I think we've been found."

---------------------------------=======================================

=======================================---------------------------------
Interlude: Secrets Lost

That which must be never bared
May be done behind a veil.
Fragile is a secret shared,
Once lost, guarded to no avail.

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=======================================---------------------------------
Act II: Sunlight

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (worriedly) "Are you certain? Perhaps there's still
time to stop it before it goes too far. Do we know what was said?"

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "No, we don't. But it must have been very brief, perhaps
only a few words."

Alsyana, to Deerassen: "Then we must assume that nothing incriminating or
revealing has yet been sent, and move at once to find it. Can we prevent
further transmissions?"

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "Yes, but we're not. We are leaving the aethers free
because it's the only way to find the source. When the person sends again,
we'll be able to find them, and clamp down the transmission too."

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (with a pensive expression) "Hmmmm.... Risky. But I
approve."

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: (turning to her) "I'm sorry, it looks like your training
will have to wait a bit."

Mabapyris, to Alsyana: (pale at the news, listening intently) "I understand. Do
what must be done. Where should I wait?"

Alsyana: strokes her chin thoughtfully a moment.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "Stay with me. With any luck this will only take a few
minutes and you might learn something."

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (turning back to him) "Anything yet?"

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "No. Whoever it is has stopped. Maybe even knows that we
know. We'll widen the net."

Deerassen: takes in both hands the broad crystal pendant he wears and raises it
up to before his eye.

A suffusion of sunlight spreads from the crystal, sunbeams shifting and
twisting through the air, wrapping around strands of the aether as if weaving a
lattice, sunlight warp against aether weft. The curling beams of sunlight and
aether strands spread into the distance, gradually fading into invisibility as
they broaden into the distance.

(pause)

Alsyana, to Deerassen: "Anything?"

Deerassen: (his eyes unfocused) "No. Whoever it is, must have stopped for
whatever-- Wait. There's someone... outside the Circle but nearby. Perhaps
just left?"

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (visibly excited) "Which way?"

Alsyana falls into stride behind Deerassen.

Deerassen: "Near the hills. Follow me."

Deerassen: sets out immediately, his eyes still focused on an unseen distance
as he moves unerringly and swiftly over the sands, trailed by Alsyana and
Mabapyris.

The trio pass quickly over a broad expanse of sweltering sands, scattering
before them dozens of wakabi, snakes, and other creatures of the desert along
the way, before they finally come into sight of a lone figure.

ENTER: Jenmisa (silent)

[Costume: Jenmisa. A young dracnari with iridescent green scales, she wears
simple gray trousers and a pale blue shirt. A claymore hangs from her belt.]

Alsyana: "Wait, she can see us. Quick, stun and blind her before she can do
anything."

Deerassen: gestures violently with the pendant around his neck, casting a
bright beam of noonday sun over the distance towards the distant figure.

Jenmisa: looks up just in time to be dazed by the sunbeam.

Alsyana: lopes at a rapid sprint towards Jenmisa, trailed by twirling dust
devils spiraling out below her outstretched arms.

Deerassen: hurries behind Alsyana, his fae clustered behind him.

Mabapyris: follows at a short distance, uncertainty in her expression.

Deerassen: casts another net of sunlight, binding and entrapping the aether
threads around Jenmisa.

Jenmisa: blindly reaches for and draws her claymore, her movements
inexperienced and awkward.

Alsyana: stops just before Jenmisa, casting scourging sands in a swirling storm
around the girl.

Deerassen: stops beside Alsyana, waving his fae ahead.

The fae swarm around Jenmisa, tripping her and keeping her off balance.

Alsyana: gestures sharply, causing the air around Jenmisa to freeze, the sand
falling out of it.

Jenmisa: gasps and clutches at her throat, letting her sword fall to the sands
unnoticed.

Deerassen: draws and points his athame at Jenmisa, muttering a brief
incantation.

Jenmisa: collapses to the sand in a heap, still and silent.

(pause)

Mabapyris: (in a shaky voice) "Is she dead?"

Deerassen: (moving forward to the fallen girl) "No, merely unconscious. She'll
offer no threat while we bring her back for questioning."

Alsyana: scoops the girl up and turns around to lead the trio back, over
intervening hillocks of sand and finally down into the sand city. As they pass
people within the sand city, alone or in groups, she nods cordially but stiffly
to them in response to their questioning stares.

Mabapyris: looks around as they walk through the sand city, her eyes full of
wonder and curiosity.

[Scene: Interrogation. In the midst of the sand city, spiraling towers of sand
gleam brightly in the early afternoon sun. In the distance, a tall cactus can
be seen, looming over the top of even the tallest structures. Nearer stands a
glowing orb of yellow light, a stone so suffused with sunlight that it glows as
if to match Father Sun. This stone stands on a pedestal of sand, ringed with
refracting clear crystals in silver circles.]

[Prop: Sunstone. A pedestal of sand stands here, ringed by circles of spun
silver, similar to Deerassen's pendant, each bearing a large clear crystal at
its centre. Atop it is a large stone, as broad as a wakabi. It's impossible to
tell the kind of stone it is, since it glows with an intense suffusion of
sunlight, making it painful to look at directly. The colour of the stone's
light shifts from the red of sunrise, through the oranges and yellows of day,
and back to the red of sunset; occasionally, beams of sunlight can be seen
refracting through the crystals to form a twinkling net of light which flares
out, surrounding the whole city in a protective shield.]

The three figures pass by buildings of all shapes and sizes, wondrous in their
miraculous construction, each standing firm as stone despite being made of
nothing but sand suspended in the air by unseen spells. Finally, not far from
the centre of the sand city, they stop before a great, shining stone, radiating
sunlight from atop a sand pedestal.

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (looking nervously at the Sunstone) "Why here?"

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "With the blessing of Father Sun so near we can easily
prevent her from doing anything dangerous or contacting anyone else, while we
can determine the truth of her words. I'll keep her blinded so she won't see
anything, in case she proves innocent and we have to release her."

Mabapyris: stares raptly at the Sunstone, fascinated by it.

Alsyana: nods, then sets Jenmisa down at the foot of the pedestal and shakes
her awake.

Jenmisa: (slowly coming around) "What, who? What did I do?"

Deerassen: casts a net of sunlight from his pendant, weaving a binding sphere
around the group.

Deerassen: "It's done. No aethers can enter or leave this area."

Alsyana, to Jenmisa: (in a stern voice) "With whom did you communicate by
aethers?"

Jenmisa: (staring around blindly, her voice panicked) "My boyfriend! I was
trying to get a gila lizard for him, he said there's a venom in it he could
extract for my sword! Only I didn't know what a gila lizard looked like."

Alsyana: looks questioningly at Deerassen.

Deerassen: nods to Alsyana.

Alsyana: "You were only hunting, then? Did you see anything unusual?"

Mabapyris: reaches out and touches the Sunstone with one finger, withdrawing it
immediately to suck gently on it as if burned.

Jenmisa: "No! Who are you? The people building Gaudiguch? I don't mean any
trouble, I'll go right back to Gloriana, just let me go!"

Deerassen, to Alsyana: (nodding) "She speaks the truth."

Alsyana: lets out a long exhalation of relief.

Alsyana: "False alarm. We'll return her to her home and that will be the end of
it."

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "Yes."

Mabapyris: (turning to face Alsyana and Deerassen from beside the Sunstone)
"No, you won't. I'm afraid you've found the wrong person."

Mabapyris: smiles a toothy grin as she raises her hands towards Alsyana and
Deerassen, coruscating energies swirling around her clenched fists.

---------------------------------=======================================

=======================================---------------------------------
Interlude: Secrets Kept

Secrets may be kept with spells;
Need for silence all accept.
Yet betrayal always dwells
Just behind the secrets kept.

---------------------------------=======================================

=======================================---------------------------------
Act III: Hardship

Alsyana: spins clockwise, spreading her arms wide, a shimmering white orb
springing up around her.

Mabapyris: releases balls of raging energy, which slam into Deerassen and
Alsyana.

Deerassen: falls backward, twitching and writhing, as energies swirl over his
body.

Alsyana: staggers under the blow as the energies shudder over the protective
orb, until both disappear in a flash of colourful light.

Alsyana: raises her arms, causing the sand to swirl around and slam into
Mabapyris, scouring her flesh and raising long lines of blood.

Mabapyris: shrugs off the blow, tossing another sphere of raw power into
Alsyana's midsection.

Alsyana: falls back, blinking in pain.

Mabapyris: turns towards the pedestal and begins to unleash blast after blast
of energy into it, frequently drawing some kind of glowing orb out of her
bulging backpack to use as a source of more power.

The sunlight swelling inside the Sunstone fights back against the blasts,
growing dimmer with each.

Jenmisa: staggers blindly out of the way of the shuddering energies.

EXIT: Jenmisa (silent)

Deerassen: stumbles to his feet, staring in stunned silence at the battle of
powers.

Deerassen: "But how can one person combat the Sunstone itself? Father Sun, aid
your servant!"

Mabapyris: (gesturing with one of her glowing orbs) "Did you think I would come
unprepared for the task before me? I carry the stored power of a hundred men
here."

The Sunstone shudders and buckles under the onslaught.

Deerassen: raises his pendant, then frowns to find almost no sunlight left in
it. With a gesture, he drains what little remains in it, casting it at
Mabapyris, causing her clothes to catch aflame, inflicting terrible burns on
her flesh.

Mabapyris: ignores the agonizing fire, focusing her efforts on the Sunstone,
now barely glowing at all.

Alsyana: (struggling to her feet) "The Sunstone! How can she..."

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "We have only been building its power for scarcely a
year. Even with Father Sun's grace we are vulnerable. And my aether net means
we can't even call for help. If she succeeds..."

Deerassen: looks around significantly at the buildings around them.

Alsyana: raises her hands, nodding to Deerassen, and sends swirling plumes of
sand at Mabapyris, filling her eyes and throat with choking dryness.

Mabapyris: chokes and sputters, falling forward, but still carrying out her
onslaught on the rapidly dwindling Sunstone.

Alsyana, to Mabapyris: "Give up now and you might escape with your life."

Mabapyris: "My life means nothing. I will not leave here alive, but my purpose
will be completed."

Deerassen: points his athame at Mabapyris, causing bloody lesions to erupt from
her burns, making her sink weakly to her knees.

Alsyana: "But why?"

Mabapyris: "It is impressive what you've done in secret, but this must not be."

Deerassen: "Who sent you? Gaudiguch? The communes? Celest?"

Mabapyris: (with a wry grin) "Does it matter?"

(pause)

Alsyana, to Deerassen: (turning to him, staggering slightly at her wounds)
"Together, we must try one more time to stop her."

Deerassen, to Alsyana: (shaking his head) "No, it is too late. We cannot stop
her in time. We must leave before it's too late."

Alsyana: "No, I won't give up!"

Alsyana: raises her arms again, though the sands barely respond to her, feebly
shifting in small swirls.

Deerassen, to Alsyana: (weakly putting a hand on her shoulder) "No. The seed is
more important than the cactus."

Deerassen: watching the light of the Sunstone flicker and sputter, pulls
Alsyana feebly away from Mabapyris.

EXIT: Mabapyris (silent)

They stumble weakly, grievously injured and drained of energy, through the
city's winding alleys, and finally emerge to climb the slope beyond, stumbling
from time to time.

[Scene: SandCity.]

Within the sand city, the sputtering light of the Sunstone can be seen
flickering, casting shadows around the valley.

(pause)

With a momentary blinding flash, the Sunstone finally goes dark.

In an instant, the sand city, hundreds of majestic buildings, towering spires,
curving archways, and sprawling edifices, shudder and then, caught by a bright
breeze, blow away, settling into nothing in a single blink, as if the city had
never existed.

[Scene: Ruins. There is no sign that anything ever stood here but a low
bowl-shaped depression in the constantly shifting sands. It looks just like any
other stretch of desert, except for a scattering of a few dozen bodies, already
being scoured by the shifting sands to skeletons.]

A silence falls over the desert, where the only sign anything had ever been
here is a handful of bodies half-buried in the sand, already being scoured to
skeletons.

Alsyana: (in a flat voice, numbed with shock) "It's all gone."

Deerassen: "Blown away."

Alsyana, to Deerassen: "As if it never was. What now?"

Deerassen: bends down to pick up a tiny cactus seed, covered in a hard, spiny
shell, and holds it up in the sunlight.

Deerassen: "This seed has waited a century for the rains to come, to sprout and
bloom. We will wait. Our day will come again, and we will be ready for it."

Alsyana, to Deerassen: "The world will never allow another Skarch Commune after
this."

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "Then we must remove the final traces. It will be as if
we never were. No one will remember us. When the rains come, we can start
again."

Deerassen: brushes sand off himself, wincing with pain at his wounds.

Deerassen, to Alsyana: "Come, we have work to do before we rest."

Deerassen: takes Alsyana's hand and leads her down the slope.

The cactus seed falls from Deerassen's hand and settles on the sand, waiting
patiently for the rains to come.

---------------------------------=======================================