Between The Sea and Sand

[GloryRhodes]

[align=center]DUBIOUS DRAMATIZATIONS PRESENTS[/align]

[align=center]A Play by Eorzea's Most Thrilling Writer[/align]

[align=center]Spahro Llorn[/align]

 

 

[align=center]"BETWEEN THE SEA AND SAND"[/align]

 

 

[align=center]Under the blazing Thanalan sun, two women are caught up in events that could destroy Ul'Dah!  Torn between their love for The Crown and their love of two dashingly charming men, these Sultansworn must choose their loyalty, to love, to each other, or to both![/align]

 

 

[align=center]THE MOST STUNNING EPIC OF OUR TIME![/align]

[align=center]ROMANCE![/align]

[align=center]DRAMA![/align]

[align=center]ACTION![/align]

[align=center]SUSPENSE![/align]

[align=center]INTRIGUE![/align]

[align=center]And The Most Titillating Portrayal of Exotic Ala Mihgan Women Ever Seen On Stage![/align]

 

 

[align=center]FEEL THE HEAT![/align]

[align=center]FEEL THE PASSION![/align]

 

 

[align=center]"BETWEEN THE SEA AND SAND"[/align]

 

 

[align=center]STARRING:[/align]

 

 

[align=center]The Incomparable Beauty[/align]

[align=center]Aya Foxheart[/align]

 

 

[align=center]Seduced by money and power, torn apart by her own desires, watch as she succumbs to the charms of a man so sinful he's irresistible.[/align]

 

 

 

 

[align=center]"BETWEEN THE SEA AND SAND"[/align]

 

 

[align=center]COMING SOON![/align]

[GloryRhodes]

[align=center]Act I[/align]

[align=center]Scene I[/align]

 

 

[align=center]Scene: A dock in Vesper Bay.  A ship is burning.  Shouts of battle can be heard.  CRAFT and a pirate enter, swordfighting.  CRAFT is disarmed.[/align]

 

 

Craft: Foul fates!  Am I to be undone by a pirate?

 

[align=center]Enter RUNE who dispatches the pirate.[/align]

 

 

Rune: Do you fare well, my fast friend?

 

Craft: Well and better still now that you are here, Rune.  How goes the fighting?

 

Rune: I believe that brave McPork has the last of them at her mercy, Craft.  With luck we shall soon find ourselves in possession of a shipment of Garlean magitek, smuggled into our fair nation for purposes unknown.

 

Craft: Garleans?  Would that you had told me sooner, Rune.  I would have fought the harder for it.  Tis still fresh in my mind how they did destroy my homeland of Ala Mihgo, leaving me as naught but an orphan forced to...

 

Rune: Craft!  Feel no shame.  The past is the past, and you stand before us today a Sultansworn of Ul'Dah, and my truest friend.

 

Craft: Thank you, dear Rune.  Your words mean more to me than any save for the Sultana herself.  Pray, how did you become aware of this smuggled shipment?

 

Rune: Ah, well...  About that...

 

[align=center]RUNE seems pensive.  Just before she is about to speak MCPORK enters, interrupting her.[/align]

 

 

McPork: What ho, bitches!  Behold my greatness!  T'was a battle for legends.  No less than a full dozen of the foul bastards had me surrounded, but little did they expect my prowess.  Came the first, brandishing curved sword with which to penetrate me, but low did I weather his thrusts and soon he found his sword dulled and worthless.  Then came the second, a pugilist who sought to subdue me with his fist!  Well, I am no stranger to a fisting, and took his best with a smile.  When he was spent he fell to my feet just in time for the third to-

 

Craft {Interrupting}: Take you from behind?

 

McPork: Ah ha, so you did see!

 

Rune: Nay, but I wager she can well imagine any fight you might narrate.  Pray, McPork, ease off of your tales and speak plain, are the pirates subdued?

 

McPork: To a man!  And several women.  You should hear about what they did to me.

 

Craft: Pray I should not.  I have had quite enough already.  Have any spoken of to whom they were to deliver this illicit cargo?

 

McPork {Pensive}: Ah, not as such...  Perhaps tis best if we left the questioning to the Brass Blades.  This is more their element than our own.

 

Rune: Nay, smuggling Garlean technology into our fair Jewel is a direct threat to The Sultana herself, and thus we must remain true to our cause!  We shall see this through to the end!

 

[align=center]Brass Blades lead in HERO in chains.[/align]

 

 

Craft: This is the captain of this pirate vessel, is it not?  He will know the villain who sought such items.  Speak, rogue, or face the wrath of Ul'Dah.

 

Hero: I do not fear Ul'Dah's wrath, government slave, nor do I bow to your threats.  I am a free man, and free men bow to none.  I spit upon your masters and laugh at the chains in which they keep you.

 

Rune: Pray hold!  I know this man!

 

McPork: Why Rune, I was unaware you were quite so well traveled.  We shall have to share stories of your adventures with dashing sailors.

 

Rune: Nay, McPork, bite your tongue!  This man is the one who told me of this shipment!  He is our source!  Blades, leave us!

 

[align=center]The Brass Blades leave.  RUNE unties HERO.[/align]

 

Craft: What madness is this?  He would condemn himself?  To what end?

 

Hero: An end to poverty, my poor woman.  You are Ala Mihgan, are you not?  Pray, do not answer, I can see it in your features and your build.  The wages of regret lie heavy upon your shoulders.  Your people starve in poverty as those you serve feast with gold flakes upon their kebabs.  It is to end such injustice that I cast myself upon the shields of the Sultansworn as a wave crashes against the rocks.

 

Rune: Pray, sir captain, speak plain.  To what purpose did you come to me the night previous and speak to me of this crime?

 

McPork: Truly, Rune, you do not intend to trust a pirate!  While true, he is attractive, I did not think you one so easily swayed by the urges of your ovaries.

 

Craft: Silence, McPork!  Whatever this madman's reasons, I too would hear them before he is to see the gaol.

 

Hero: If you would hear of who employed me to this task of smuggling, then by your honor I must be set free.  I have much and more to do, and so I risk my life on this mission.  Tis for freedom I fight, and so tis freedom which I must be granted.  Give me your word.

 

Rune: It is given.

 

Craft: Rune!

 

Rune: Tis given, I said, and I shall not deny it.  Speak, pirate cpatin, and tell us who tasked you.

 

Hero: My name is Hero Lazarus, and you have my thanks, fair knight.  I shall give unto you the means by which to slay a great evil upon Ul'Dah.  i shall give you the name of he who seeks Garlean magitek.  Though his plans I know not, his goal is clear.  He seeks the subjugation of his fellow man, and the solidification of his own power.  He is an agent of The Syndicate, and wields his power like a blade to bleed dry those who can least defend themselves.

 

McPork: Sounds like a load of chocobo shite to me.

 

Rune: Pray, what is the name of this villain?

 

Hero: His name is Jonathan Talos!

 

Craft: Talos?  What lie is this?

 

Rune: Talos is none other than a patron of The Sultansworn!  He oversees this very group you see before you!

 

McPork: I told you it was chocobo shite.

 

Hero: Nay, tis no shite at all!  Tis true.  Talos did pay me to smuggle unto him these weapons, and fearing for the freedom of Ul'Dah, I did warn you, Ser Rune.  I had heard of how he persecuted you in times past.  You were arrested for treason, and he prosecuted you, but you were proven innocent and reinstated.  I knew that you, of all of the Sworn, could see his villainy.

 

Craft: Villainy, you say?  The man is a model citizen of Ul'Dah.

 

Hero: And thus a villain in any other land!

 

Rune: Thank you, Hero.  I shall investigate this further.  You may leave.

 

McPork: Truly, you must be joking.  You do not actually believe this man.

 

Hero: I shall prove it to you!  In Limsa Lominsa there is a warehouse, and in that warehouse are stored a collection of Garlean goods that make what you found here tonight a mere pittance.  This warehouse is owned by Talos, though under a different name.  Go there, and you shall find your proof.

 

McPork: Bah!  A warehouse?  One which you yourself own, no doubt.

 

Rune: Quiet, McPork.  I would investigate this warehouse.  We have naught to lose.

 

Craft: Except our heads!  Sultansworn operating in Limsa Lominsa?  the Admiral will not be pleased, and The Sultana less so.  Pray, but I would keep my head and disregard this pirate's lies before he damns us all.

 

Rune: No!  If what he says is true, then we must go.  How clearly do I remember Talos's smile as he put me on the stand.  there is something wrong about that man, something sinister, and I would have it out.

 

McPork: Fine, if fools you want to be, then more the fool shall I be.  I will investigate this warehouse myself.  I know how to keep quiet, and I am twice the swordarm of either of you.  No!  I shall hear no complaints.  Tomorrow I shall take ship to the pirate city, and on the third day from now I shall return with news.  Pray, be patient, and do not let on what you have heard here tonight.  When i return all shall be made clear, in the one way or the other.

 

[align=center]END SCENE[/align]

[GloryRhodes]

Posters have begun appearing in all of the city states advertising this new play by Spahro Llorn, most thrilling playwrite of our times!  It should be noted that they are rather quickly removed in Ishgard, but very rarely actually destroyed.

 

 

[align=center]

[/align]

 

 

[align=center]((Infinite thanks to Rhea for the unsolicited poster!  Everyone give her a round of applause!)[/align]

[111]

Damascus stops when she sees the poster, carved wooden mask swiveling to regard it impassively. A few moments later, she sets down her bag of groceries, seemingly unable to move on.

 

Irritated Ul'dahns begin to flow around her in the well traveled avenue, and she becomes a small island of stillness in that flood of life and commerce. The shadows change, and the crowds morph, different groups of people heading towards different places. Noon morphs slowly into evening, and the Miqo'te still stands. 

 

Finally, she reaches down to retrieve her parcel, shaking out soreness from her stiff knees. The mask gives the poster one last look, hiding whatever expression the face below might show. Damascus turns, her voice a whisper among the low roar of the throng, "...all for the best."

 

Then she rejoins that great stream, back towards her home.