Thursday, July 7, 1066 SE, continued
Tonight’s penultimate dress rehearsal is about to start. The crew has assembled, the props have been checked and rechecked for any flaws or sabotage and have been found intact, and the costumes are all ready to go.
As the Grand Royal Opera fills up with dignitaries and invitees of Sir Sergeii, everyone backstage feels the tension. The future of Masha and the Bear in Konstantina may be short-lived and a financial flop if they can’t pull off an amazing performance in front of influencers and the Konstantina Sun’s art and theater critic, Lady Voloshyna. Taking a look at the audience, Branna spots Sir Sergeii sitting with Lady Voloshyna about a third of the way up the main seating area. More than a hundred other people are present as well. She recognizes several workers of the Grand Royal Opera, along with Ivan the teamster and his wife.
Branna and Marigold are backstage, ready to fix costumes or props as needed. Mon is part of the chorus. Using his magical abilities, he casts several spells to enhance the performance and its visual effect. Everyone else is ready.
The curtain rises with Masha, played by the actress Luba, in a forest with her friends collecting mushrooms. During the excursion, she becomes separated from her group. But before the story gets to the part where Masha is ambushed by a Bear, played by the actor Vadim, the bear steps out of the wings and enters the stage. Vadim must be drunk, because the bear staggers on stage and hits several of the prop trees, throwing them to the ground and damaging them. Confused, Luba continues to perform but adapts her movements based on the bear’s early entrance.
Seeing the chaos, Marigold turns herself invisible and starts fixing props, hoping to put them back up so that the damage done by the clumsy bear is quickly repaired. Branna examines the bear costume, wondering if someone is in the suit. The way it is shaped, she figures someone must be in there, but the way the fabric pools at the bottom indicates it is likely someone shorter than Vadim.
Realizing the danger of a rampaging bear, Mon turns himself invisible and steps behind the bear. He unzips the suit, but he turns visible. The bear ignores Mon, and he grabs Luba by the throat and strangles her. Mon casts disguise on himself, and he creates the illusion of a second bear resembling Vadim's costume. He then tackles the bear, releasing the pressure on Luba, who coughs as air returns to her lungs.
The crowd in the audience first thought this was part of the play, but this is clearly something else. As Mon struggles with the bear suit, he sends a message to Sir Sergeii to advise him that the play has been sabotaged. He then uses prestidigitation to completely unzip the bear suit, revealing to the audience that it is empty.
Marigold abandons the props and rushes to Luba's help, casting cure light wounds to help the actress regain her composure. Branna rushes backstage to Vadim's dressing room, wondering what happened to the actor. Questioning the crew, she learns that he was last seen before the beginning of the play as he was heading to his dressing room. She runs down the steps and enters his dressing room, and he is sprawled on the couch, passed out but with a smile on his face. He seems to be having a great dream. She finds Lilia, the Legendary's second crew stage manager, and she tells her to keep an eye on Vadim while she investigates the incident.
Seeing two bear suits fighting each other, Luba is confused. Marigold tells her Mon is in the second suit. With her friend under attack, Luba starts swinging at the first bear, using her walking stick. Branna sees the bears fighting on stage, but as she looks on, she is pushed by an animated tree, but manages not to stumble. Through the chaos on the scene, Mon sends a message to Marigold and asks her if she can dispel magic. Mon suspects someone backstage animated the bear suit and the tree, since the bear started backstage. Marigold replies she does not know that spell.
With chaos erupting on the scene, Branna tells the city guard hired by Sir Sergeii the play has been sabotaged, and the culprit might still be in the theater. The guard instructs other guards to start searching the facility. Marigold asks Lilia to pull the curtain closed, so they can reset the play. Mon casts hellish rebuke on the bear, destroying the costume and neutralizing the threat.
With the curtain closed, Marigold, Branna, Mon and Luba meet with Lilia. Marigold suggests they pick it up with Masha being in the lair. Marigold sends a props person to retrieve Sir Sergeii and bring him backstage. Sir Sergeii investigates the origin of the attack. Marigold then proceeds to mend some of the damage caused by the bear. Mon, as understudy for Vadim, heads back to stage in his bear illusion.
The crowd mutters its displeasure, but the play resumes with Masha in the bear's cave. Anya, who is backstage helping the stage manager, sends a hurried message to Mon, informing him she saw a cloaked figure up the catwalk. Mon redirects the message to Marigold, who turns towards the catwalk. Suddenly, the orchestra sounds dissonant, before they stop playing, and the theater's lights go dark. Screams of panic from the audience spread as the confusion infects those watching Masha and the Bear. Branna struggles to relight the Grand Royal Opera’s magical lights. She casts dancing lights, then light on the ceiling’s chandeliers, returning illumination to the audience and on the stage.
Luba, the second actress, was already bitter because she was left off the promotional posters for the performance of Masha and the Bear in Konstantina. Witnessing the chaos and the victim of an assault, Luba refuses to go on with the performance, claiming the production is "cursed" and that her "star is fading”. Albina, Luba’s understudy and currently a member of the chorus, is sent to get ready.
Mon steps in front of Luba and holds the actress close to him. He gives her a motivational speech, tying her personal acting legacy to the honor of the Legendary. She can rise above the hardship, he tells her, and demonstrate to those who are trying to undermine her acting that she will not be cowed. Luba wipes her tears, and, looking in Mon's eyes, tells the actor she will deliver the performance of her life.
Marigold dispatches a guard to the catwalk, but he returns, reporting that no one is there anymore.
With the show and the audience in an uproar, Sir Sergeii takes the stage, and politely informs the audience that the performance was sabotaged, but that the artisans of the Legendary wish to reboot the performance and start from the beginning. The murmurs in the crowd seem disinclined to agree, until Lady Voloshyna stands and agree, stating she wishes to see the whole performance. The rest of the crowd reluctantly agrees, indicating the relative social weight Lady Voloshyna possesses in Konstantina.
There are no further disturbances. The show is a success, the crowd politely applauds, but it ends an hour and ten minutes later than it should have. Mon considers charming Lady Voloshyna, but then decides not to. Branna speaks with Lady Voloshyna as the art critic heads towards the exit. Lady Voloshyna gives Branna a generally positive review, but tells her to watch for her critique in tomorrow’s newspaper.
With the play now completed, Sir Sergeii wonders whether they should attend the benefit gala hosted by House Volkov. Since all of Konstantina’s elites are expected to attend, Sir Sergeii thought this would be a ripe opportunity to further promote Masha and the Bear, but now it feels forced. He polls the crew, and after some discussion, they agree that some representatives should go, at least the actors and a few others.
As the actors prepare to depart for House Volkov’s estate, the Wolf Landing, Marigold examines Vadim and realizes he was bespelled. She discovers that Vadim sports a kissing mark on his neck. She suspects that is how the magical sleep was delivered. Branna helps her move the actor to his couch and covers him with a blanket.
Mon and Luba go to the gala, along with Sir Sergeii, Solomiya, the conductor of the orchestra, Lilia the stage manager, and a few others. Marigold and the prop crew will work through the night to fix all broken props, while Branna and her costumiers spend the night building another bear costume.
Friday, July 8, 1066 SE, continued
Sir Sergeii’s carriage takes them to House Volkov’s estate, the Wolf Landing, which is so named because the family is pretty rigid and "unmoving,” and claims to control the political flow of the area. House Volkov wants everyone to know exactly whose territory they're stepping into when they enter the Wolf Landing.
Duke Volkov personally welcomes Mon and Luba to his estate and thanks them ahead of time for performing a wonderful song. Circulating throughout the room, Sir Sergeii introduces Mon to Ambassador Volodymyr, the Natavian representative to Sezja, before showing the Legendary’s crew to other notables. As Mon discusses Masha and the Bear, he also overhears conversations about a "ghost" that stalks the palace halls, and subtle jokes about an "unseen princess.”
Mon and Luba perform the keystone duet of Masha and the Bear, to the rapturous applause of the rich crowd. Luba is thrilled with her performance, and several nobles fawn over her, asking her questions. Ambassador Volodymyr intercepts Mon, and initiates a conversation about the power of art and music, noting that Natavia has nothing of the caliber of the Grand Royal Opera, and, by the sound of it, the Legendary is even above that threshold.
As Mon and Ambassador Volodymyr discuss the arts, they are rudely interrupted by a short, bald noble. He harangues the Ambassador: "How fitting that the Natavian delegation finds such kinship with the Legendary troupe, Volodymyr. Both spend their lives in borrowed finery, reciting lines written by their betters, and pretending a stage-set is a kingdom. Tell me, when the curtain falls on your King’s health, what role have you rehearsed for the silence that follows?”
After the bald man and his cronies leave laughing, Ambassador Volodymyr identifies him to Mon as Sir Danylo Zhiva, of House Zhiva. Sir Zhiva has been harassing the Ambassador for the last month. The Ambassador is perplexed as to his hostility. Sir Zhiva returns later in the night and threatens the Ambassador: "You bask in the glow of a dying hearth, Ambassador. But even now, the shadows grow long. There are stars—black and cold—that do not care for your 'arts' or your 'refinement.' When the Black Sun rises, I wonder... will the art you profer to like, and their pretty singers, be able to drown out the sound of a kingdom being purged of its... excesses?”
Mon tells the Ambassador about the Black Sun project and the cult behind it. They may be ready to co-op or overthrow the King. The Cardinal may be behind this. The Ambassador reports that Sir Zhiva is a loyal supporter of the Cardinal.
Sir Zhiva returns one more time. Clearly intoxicated, but now accompanied by five other individuals, he belches out a series of insults: "You speak of 'unseen princesses' as if they were fairy tales, Volodymyr. Perhaps in Natavia, you are used to chasing ghosts. But here in Konstantina, we prefer our royalty to have... substance. It is a pity your influence is as invisible as the specters you supposedly champion. One might mistake your presence here for an empty chair at a banquet."
Ambassador Volodymyr expresses concerns that once Sir Zhiva leaves, his life is in danger. Mon and the Ambassador make an appointment to meet during lunchtime on Saturday at the embassy.
When Mon returns to the South Gate Hotel, he finds the building in a frenzy. There have been a series of burglaries, and rooms have been broken into ...
