// CHARM MANSION //


It has been less than a daypass since Caleb Vatore has learned of his friend’s death. His emotions have been stirred but the feeling is complex, laced with anger.

CALEB

WHAT SURPRISES ME IS THAT HE THINKS I CARE.

I DIDN’T KNOW HER FAMILY OR FRIENDS…

I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF SHE HAD ANY BROTHERS OR SISTERS.

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS NEWS?

TRENTE

HE’S MOCKING YOU.

MAKING LIGHT OF YOUR EMPATHY. YOUR SYMPATHY.

YOUR COMPASSION.

CALEB

HE’S NEVER THOUGHT MUCH OF MY FAMILY TRADITIONS.

TRENTE

NO, HE WOULDN’T.

BACK IN THE OLD KINGDOM, WE ALWAYS NOTIFIED THE PEOPLE OF A DEATH IN THE COLLECTIVE BUT LOSS OF SOULS WAS MUCH RARER FOR US THAN IT IS FOR THE NATIVE PEOPLES OF EARTH.

IT’S TRAGIC, REALLY.

AND WHAT PEOPLE DIE FROM…MOST ALL OF OUR DEPARTURES WERE VOLUNTARY ON THE SUBJECT’S PART –

PEOPLE WENT OF THEIR OWN ACCORD AT THE END OF LIVES DEEMED COMPLETE.


Caleb’s idle hands gravitated toward his hair; he swept a few stray strands back from his face.

CALEB

I CAN’T SEE WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS NEWS.

TRENTE

I WOULDN’T THINK ON IT TOO LONG.

IT’S JUST YET ANOTHER OF THE THIEF’S MACHINATIONS.

CALEB

HE ACTS LIKE HE CARES SO MUCH ABOUT THEM, YET STILL PARTICIPATES IN THE BLOODFEAST.

TRENTE

HE’S NOT LIKE YOU.

YOUR FATHER’S TREES – NO – YOUR TREES – WILL SAVE US ALL.

CALEB

I WISH HE COULD SEE THAT.

TRENTE

YOU MAY JUST HAVE TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND.

SOMETIMES WE OUTGROW PEOPLE.

CERTAINLY HE THOUGHT HE OUTGREW US EONS AGO.


The house suddenly feels very empty. He was glad that the Moon Magus and the children were on vacation, but they’d be back soon. And his courtship would be peppered with evasion; their freedom curtailed.

CALEB

WHAT WAS HE LIKE, ALL THOSE YEARS AGO?


Trente sweeps a lock of bright pink hair behind her ear.

TRENTE

I DON’T KNOW, AS YOU WOULD SAY, PERSONALLY.

BUT I’VE RECEIVED SENSE-MEMORIES OF HIM.

I DON’T THINK HE’S CHANGED MUCH OVER THE YEARS, SINCE HE WAS A CHILD.

HE WAS BORN THIS WAY, THIS RECLUSIVE EXTROVERT.

AND FOR MY PEOPLE, TO BE SUCH A WAY IS AN EGREGIOUS INSULT.

TO DENY THE PEOPLE YOUR GIFTS IS, AS YOU SAY, SACRILEGE.

I DON’T LIKE THE WORD AS IT MENTIONS RELIGION AND WE WERE NOT ACTING ON BEHALF OF A GOD OR GODDESS BUT INSTEAD A MAJORITY CONSENSUS THAT HAD DEVELOPED IN OUR CIVILIZATION UNANIMOUSLY FOR CENTURIES…MILLENIA…?

OH SHIT I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG IT WAS IN YOUR TIME FRAMES BUT A LONG ENOUGH TIME THAT FOR HIM TO MAKE A DEPARTURE REPRESENTED A SIGNIFICANT BLOW TO THE STATUS QUO.

CALEB

I CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE, TO SHARE MINDS.

TRENTE

IT WAS WONDERFUL.

TO ABOLISH SECRETS, TO ELIMINATE FALSEHOOD…

WE LIVED IN TRUE PARADISE.

CALEB

WHERE DOES THE NICKNAME OF “THIEF” COME FROM?


She takes a moment to fill her lungs with air, gathering her words.

TRENTE

IT WAS A GENERAL TERM FOR HE WHO CHOSE TO KEEP SECRETS.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN THROWN TOWARD ANYONE.

IT WAS A DISMISSIVE TERM, A LIGHT CURSE, AN INSULT, A CONDEMNATION.

BUT IT WAS ALWAYS MEANT IN JEST.

IT WASN’T MEANT TO STRIKE AT THE HEART.

THE CLOSEST THING I CAN THINK OF IS THAT CURSE IN NIHONGO.

WHAT IS IT…


She halts her speech to deliver an impression, and it’s a good facsimile.

TRENTE

BAKA!


Caleb laughs.

TRENTE

ANYWAY, THE TERM, TRANSLATED BEST I CAN INTO YOUR TONGUE, WAS USED SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

REFUSING THE REFUSAL.

BUT AFTER HE DECLARED WAR ON HIS PEOPLE THE TERM CAME TO REFER EXCLUSIVELY TO HIM.

CALEB

HE STOLE SOMETHING FROM YOU?

TRENTE

HE STOLE HIMSELF FROM OUR SOCIETY, THE SOCIETY THAT CREATED HIM, THE SOCIETY THAT HE OWED A DEBT OF GRATITUDE.

IN DOING SO, HE HARDENED HIS SOUL AND BECAME A, AS YOU SAY, LITERAL THIEF.

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOUR FATHER NEVER TOLD YOU THIS PLAIN AND SIMPLE FACT.

VLADISLAUS STRAUD STOLE THE METALS FROM OUR HOME PLANET AND SENT THEM TO PRIMORDIAL EARTH.

NO –


She stammers.

TRENTE

NOT PRIMORDIAL. PREHISTORIC.

PREHISTORIC.

YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH CHICXULUB CRATER?

THAT ASTEROID CAME FROM MY PLANET.

AND IT WAS THAT MAN THAT SENT IT THERE.

CALEB

NO…THAT CAN’T BE.

TRENTE

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND, CALEB.

HE WAS NOT THEN WHAT HE IS NOW.

HE WAS MAGICAL ON MY PLANET.

WE WERE ALL MAGICAL THERE.

NOT LIKE WE ARE HERE.

HERE WE ALL JUST SCRAPE BY.

SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH PLANET EARTH AND WE MUST TRY TO FIX IT.

BUT WE CAN’T DO THAT UNTIL WE’VE ELIMINATED HIM.

WE MISSED THE CHANCE TO DO SO WHEN THE FIRST WARNING SIGNS SHOWED THEMSELVES.

WE WON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN.

CALEB

WHY DON’T YOU JUST HAVE YOUR FOOT SOLDIERS SURROUND HIS –

TRENTE

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN GET THERE DOESN’T MEAN THE REST OF US CAN.

CALEB

YOU’RE SAYING THAT WHEN HE LIVED ON YOUR HOME PLANET, HE WAS ABLE TO CONTROL METALS?

THAT SOUNDS LIKE FANTASY.

TRENTE

BELIEVE WHATEVER YOU WANT, ALTHOUGH IT DOES NOT BENEFIT YOU TO UNDERESTIMATE HIM.

THIS WAS BEFORE HE WAS CURSED TO APPEAR TO YOU AS HE DOES NOW.

CALEB

I JUST FIND IT RATHER FAR-FETCHED THAT A SINGLE MAN –

TRENTE

HAS LIVED SO LONG WITHOUT INTERVENTION?

MY PEOPLE WERE NOT ACCUSTOMED TO CRIME OR PUNISHMENT.

WE PRACTICALLY LET HIM ESCAPE.

BUT WHAT RECOURSE DID WE HAVE SINCE HE STOLE OUR PLANET’S VITAL MATERIALS?

CALEB

BUT THAT CRATER LANDED…

SIXTY-FIVE MILLION YEARS AGO.

TRENTE

SPACE DOES FUNNY THINGS WITH TIME.

HE DID NOT LAND ON THIS PLANET THAT LONG AGO.

NO, AFTER HE HURLED OUR RESOURCES INTO THE ETHER, WE EXILED HIM AND BEGAN THE TASK OF MAKING PROGRESS WITHOUT METALS.

BUT WE DID IT, OR YOU’D NOT SEE ME IN FRONT OF YOU TODAY.

CALEB

YOUR PEOPLE MADE SPACESHIPS WITHOUT METALS?

TRENTE

IT WAS NOT THE WAY THINGS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE…

BUT WE DID IT.