(Video; UN: sing of the rage)

[glorioussong]

(Three days have passed since his arrival. Three days spent in confinement while he recovers from...something. He recalls white powder on his fingertips - Patroclus would know the name of it - but that's all. Now he is in his benefactor's wing. Vannozza Spina.

As ever, he is blunt.)

I do not care for this welcome. (It feels like a ploy to pull the wool over his eyes. Achilles has never fallen for ploys and he won't start now.) This is where I introduce myself. I am Achilles Peleides and if you are at war, show me where the men are fighting.

(He will drink wine and party after.)

Comments

[glorioussong]

I am not a diplomat.

[downswing]

Few claim the mantle.

[glorioussong]

Few deserve it! Kings are often full of hot air.

[downswing]

Impatience will mislead you to pyre and grave.

[glorioussong]

Is it impatience or is it truth? I'm not afraid to take the first step.

[downswing]

Breathe.

[glorioussong]

I'm breathing. (And the helmet is removed. The robes given him are laid out - to be worn after bathing. He will soon be a glistening prince with his lyre tucked under his arm.)

[downswing]

Meditate.

[glorioussong]

I've never done that.

I can be still. So still that animals walk right by me.

[downswing]

And the dead take you for their own?

[glorioussong]

I've never stopped my breath for that long.

[downswing]

You have learned out purpose here?

To flee east.

[glorioussong]

To play at politics? To put on a show?

Ah yes, that too. What lies in the East?

[downswing]

The witch Karsa speaks of beacons to deliver us home.

[glorioussong]

Then let us set out. All we need to carry is food, water and our weapons.

[downswing]

A pathway rests in this citadel. Dormant.

[glorioussong]

Where? My mother can't hear me or I would seek her aid. For once.

[downswing]

The beacon sleeps. You may seek it out.

[glorioussong]

What a shame it lacks ears.

[downswing]

The liege's successors may revive it.

We toil to leave.

[glorioussong]

The ones we serve?

You must miss home.

[downswing]

We each have duty.

[glorioussong]

I've never taken orders well.

[downswing]

What alternative?