Due South; The Fame of Lara; Varhan; The Magic Veil

originally posted August 17, 2006


We passed Vonda yesterday and continued south, intent upon our trek to the city at the confluence of the Vosk and Olni Rivers, Lara. It is difficult to think on the city of Lara without considering, perhaps, the world's most famous 'Lara', the once Tatrix of Tharna. Perhaps the city of Lara and those of Lara might contend that the land on which their Home Stone sits is, indeed, the world's most famous 'Lara' and they would have a point. With her abdication of the throne, I could not tell you where the once Tatrix of Tharna now resides or even conjecture what her status might be. I can say, however, with little fear of being incorrect that we are about three days of trekking the western bank of the Olni until we reach the gates of Lara. I can also tell you that Lara, with her Salerian and Vosk League affiliations, is very much free. I am not a stranger to her, having traveled the Vosk Road trail a few times en route to the Sardar, crossing then, the Vosk herself by ferry onto the northern banks. Varhan, too, has been known to frequent this city before moving on further north. As a port city, and a large one at that, he is able to fund his travels north by the selling his carvings to fellow travelers and those of Lara as well. It would be nice to see him again, although I rather doubt the Six Girl would feel the same way. Every time I see him, it seems, he chooses to reclaim his ownership of her. I do not gainsay him his right to the girl. He is my Brother and of the House, if largely absent from my life these days. The trepidation of the Six Girl notwithstanding, it would be pleasant to see him again.
We worked on the end portion of the Magic Veil of Anango last evening around the fire, the last third of it or so which features a large scene between saucy Brigella, devious Chino and the 'always last to know' Lecchio. The pompous Merchant, of course, figures greatly into this portion of the play as wel, so four of the five principals are involved. Bina, the rival of Brigella, is the only principal not involved in the last third of the play. I resolved to take an objective view to see how the dialogue flows from an audience perspective. Elise reprised the role of Brigella. Joy, for a time, read for Chino. Samantha was cast as Lecchio and Naked Slave read the lines of the Pompous Merchant. It was humorous to see the women take to the roles of men, if more than a little inappropriate. Naked Slave rubbed soot from the fire place about her upper lip to play the Merchant as a mustachioed gentleman. Joy eased herself into the character of Chino by tying the length of her red-brown mane about her chin, affecting a beard. Samantha was a bit more subtle, carrying her shoulders a bit differently and expressing herself, and this would be my best guess, as men she may have known who approximate Lecchio's mien.
After a time, having had an idea of how the play was flowing from an audience perspective, I reprised the role of the Merchant. I rubbed the soot from Naked Slave's mouth with the pad of my thumb and bade her off to bed. I sent Joy, too, off to bed that I might have Darwin read for Chino for a time. Also, it is pleasant to have one's bedplace girl-warmed well in advance of one's retiring for the evening. The short version of events is that I found Darwin's portrayal well-played and I will ask him to accept the role if I am able to edit the play to a reasonable length. That is a large 'if' of course. The dialogue, in my opinion, is difficult to parse as the farce works as a grand, if lengthy, component. I suppose the scene with the Initiates could be left out, though that would be ashame, it is damned funny. One might consider Bina's role as non-essential, but I hesitate to remove it as the timeliness of Bina's entrance, what with the situation in which she finds Brigella, is a rather brilliant section of physical comedy.