Villainy
Look at you.
What? What is that supposed to mean?
Have you seen what you’re wearing?
Yes. Blue.
Like the sea. As requested.
You know that makes it worse, right?
How does that make it worse?
You’re being obtuse. Please stop it. You’re not actually stupid. You’re just apparently trying to be.
Well, maybe I’m not being obtuse. Maybe I’m just…thinking differently.
Do you know who you actually are?
Do I look like I’ve forgotten?
Actually, yes you do. You really do. I mean, let’s start with what you’re wearing.
I like blue.
Yes. Blue is a pretty colour. But who are you? Go on. Say it out loud. Or failing that, say it in your head. It’s where the rest of this particular Socratic dialogue is taking place.
Say your name. Just your name.
Ariadne Caligari.
Now say what that means.
I don’t like this conversation any more.
I don’t care. Say it.
Ariadne Caligari. Granddaughter of Prince Vincenzo Caligari of Caligari Island.
Sorte Strega.
And what does that mean?
It means I am not made for this stuff.
Keep going.
I am not made for sunshine and ribbons. I’m not made for adventures and excitement.
I’m not made for heroism.
I’m made for fate, for control, for marriage and for power. I’m made to work the Will of my Lord, who is my Grandfather and then will be my husband, when I have said my vows.
I am made for the veil and the tower. I am made for lace and velvet and I am made to watch and wait, and know.
I am not made for sunshine and ribbons.
I’m not made to smile.
Exactly that.
I know. I do know. And I won’t keep doing this. I know this is just…
Just what?
…a glimpse. No more. I know that it ends. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe today. But it will end. It doesn’t matter if my Captain makes excuses or if my companions pretend it won’t. It has to end.
I’m not one of them. I belong to my grandfather and he has promised me to Antonio Vespucci. I don’t think it matters, whatever my Captain says, if my betrothed is a good man, or a bad man, or a flat out heretic who sacrifices little children in the basement. That has never been Caligari’s concern. What matters is that he plays the game, he wins the game, and if I can help him do it.
I can help him do it.
Who is standing in his way?
A rag tag band of ne’er do wells from a pirate’s ship. Let us not pretend. And they will fail. I am sure they will fail. The price to my Lord will be less if I stand at his side. I know how I would kill each and every one of them. I know what their weaknesses are; dead wife, dead brother, lost brother, lost blade, lost ship…
…living Fate Witch.
I could make my Captain bleed.
So why are you even here?
Because this is the last chance I will get.
I know that I don’t have long now. Every time I think about it, this moment grows shorter.
And the longer you stay, the worse it gets. You know that?
Yes. I know that.
Your betrayal will be felt more keenly.
It isn’t betrayal. It can’t be betrayal. My loyalty was never theirs. They know that. I was always Ariadne Caligari.
You know that isn’t how they see it.
Then they are foreigners and fools. A Fate Witch is not a friendly helpful travelling companion. She can’t be. We are fear and fate. We the thing that everyone hides from, the women who watch from the dark.
They are foreigners…
…not all of them…
Then he is a fool.
He knows. I know he knows.
That isn’t what the strands say.
Please don’t.
You know you’re lying to yourself now.
Perhaps.
And it’s pathetic.
Yes.
So stop lying?
I don’t think I can.
Why not?
Because otherwise I can’t do this.
Do what?
I don’t know. Go back to the inn. Take the blue ribbons out of my hair. Close the shutters. Dress in black.
Say good bye.
Kiss him goodbye. I have to kiss him again. Or I can’t curse him. Kiss them all goodbye. I should do that. Pretend…lie….remember they are foreigners and fools and then walk across that Square.
Talk. Listen. Find out if my grandfather knows about this but I don’t think it matters if he does.
And then step into the dark.
…I have to keep lying. Because I know I have to leave. I have to do this.
Yes. You do. And what’s more, you should be happy about doing that. What the hell else did you expect from your life? This is a noble husband, a powerful man. He holds chunks of Eisen in his grasp. He plays the great game and he wins. What more could you want?
He even has the potential to care for you. Maybe he’ll care for another more, but what the hell do you care about that? Vodacce don’t marry for love. Vodacce barely even feel love. You heard your Captain talking about Courtesans.
Stop cooing like a foreigner. You are what you are. Embrace it. Be it. Live it.
I know.
I know.
You can’t keep doing this. Letting the strands wrap around you. Letting the strands wrap around them. Or they’ll drown you all.
You can’t be something you are not, Ariadne.
I know.
Do you?
I do. I have to leave.
So what will you do next?
I’ll take Lena back to the Inn. She needs to be safe. I’ll see her to her room and I’ll go upstairs and get changed. I’ll put my veil on and I will say goodbye. And then I go to Hainzl’s castle.
What then?
I don’t know. I find out what is happening. I find out if my grandfather knows. I tell him to make me a new wardrobe. I suppose I don’t come back…
…no, maybe I do come back. I said until I’d made my wedding vows…
…I don’t know.
I don’t know. But I have to get dressed again. I have to go to the castle.
And then I have to become the person I was always fated to be.