"I smell trouble. Ask away."
"Don't you think it would be nice,” Eleal said carefully, “if we could give D'ward a small part in one of the plays? So as he could feel like one of the group?"
Golfren cleared his throat. “Well, that depends. What part did you have in mind?"
"Oh, I was thinking he would make a very good Tion, in the right sort of play."
"You were, were you? Well I think he might—in the right sort of play."
"I knew you would agree with me,” Eleal said.
Piol was talking with D'ward all the way, and Eleal did not get a chance to talk with him until after they had arrived at the amphitheater. She changed quickly into her herald costume. As this was not Narsh, she did not need extra clothes to keep warm. She went in search of Piol, and found him in the middle of a circle of props, spread out on the grass.
"Piol Poet?"
"Yes?” he muttered abstractly. The trouble with Piol was that he so often had his mind on other things.
"Don't you think D'ward is a wonderful actor?"
Scratching his stubbly beard, the little man said, “Mm?” and then, “Hmm? Yes, I do.” He glanced at his list and then peered all around.
"Good! Don't you think it would be advisable to give him a small part in one of the plays?"
"Mmm? But which part?"
"I think he would make a great Tion in the Trastos! Golfren thinks so too, and Trong agrees."
"Can you see Karzon's sword anywhere?"
Eleal sighed and picked up the sword, which was lying right by her feet. She poked at Piol's tummy with it. “Why not let D'ward play Tion when we do the Trastos?"
Piol spoke to his list. “What? Who? But Tion has to play his pipes!"
Sussians preferred plays that made Tion seem like the most important god in the Pentatheon, of course, but this year Piol had ignored tradition, as he so often did. He had written Tion's part for Golfren. Golfren looked splendid in a skimpy loincloth, but he couldn't act. So Tion mostly just stood by while the other gods argued. D'ward could do that just as well as Golfren, even if he didn't have golden curls!
At the end, when the doomed Trastos Tyrant fell into despair and called on Tion to help him—when the audience would be expecting Tion to make a big speech—Golfren came in and played his pipes instead. It was a big surprise. It had gone over well in Mapvale, fairly well in Lappinvale. What Narshians thought didn't matter.
"No he doesn't!” Eleal said crossly. “You just wrote it that way because you don't trust Golfren not to butcher his lines!"
"We can talk about it some other time. Take this flask over to the spring and fill it, will you? And stop threatening me with that sword!"
"No, listen!” Eleal poked him again. “Tion inspires Trastos with courage to go and fight even though he knows he's doomed. Of course you could give Tion more lines to speak instead of the silly piping, so the audience would know what it meant. A rousing speech like the one D'ward did tonight, but in Joalian, of course, and why are you laughing?"
"Me, laughing? I wasn't laughing! I was thinking about the soldier in the Varilian."
That was Golfren Piper's other role, and he was just terrible in it.
"What of it?” she demanded warily.
"We could turn him into a general."
"D'ward could do that very well, too,” she said. “But we can't change the Varilian now, in the middle of a run. And it really wouldn't be fair to steal all Golfren's parts. No, I think D'ward should play Tion in the Trastos."
"I'll think about it.” Piol knelt down to look in the makeup box. “Golfren might not mind losing his lines, but he loves to play his pipes. Fetch that water."
Fortunately Eleal had a spare string for her lute. “This is a tragedy we're talking about, not a masque! Now admit it—the only reason you have Tion play his pipes to encourage the tyrant is that Golfren can't act. Well, why not have Tion play his pipes to summon Gunuu?"
Piol finished counting greasepaint and closed the box. He reached for a pile of ... He looked up. “Who?"
"Gunuu, god of courage,” Eleal said airily. “An avatar of the Youth, of course. He's not very well known hereabouts, I admit, because his temple's down in Rinooland or somewhere, and there are some arguments about where he fits in the Pentatheon.” She had accosted a pair of priestesses in the street that morning and asked them all about courage and who was god of courage, and she must know a lot more about Gunuu at the moment than Piol Poet did.
"What sort of arguments?” Piol was interested now.
"Oh, one school of thought considers him an aspect of Astina, as she is goddess of warriors. But no one will argue that in Suss. So Tion pipes and Gunuu comes on stage and speaks! A god can summon one of his own avatars, can't he?"
Piol stared at her as if she was crazy. “I never heard ... Visek preserve me! Side by side?"
"Why not?” Eleal laid down the sword. “I think D'ward would make an ideal god of courage, don't you? He's a born actor!"
"And you're a born playwright!” The old man was staring blankly into space already. Recognizing the signs of genius at work, she crept quietly away to let him concentrate. She was glad to have that settled! Not that she'd been in any doubt how the conversation would turn out. It was written in the prophecy: D'ward shall become Tion, D'ward shall become Courage.
The amphitheater was a natural hollow on the cliff edge outside the walls. It was not as large as the one at the temple, but Eleal thought it had better acoustics, and there were two shacks in the bushes for the cast dressing rooms. The arena at the temple had only one dressing room.
Members of the troupe moved around with the money bowls as the audience trickled down the path. Later she overheard Gartol Costumer wondering how D'ward had managed to collect twice as much as he had. The play began at sunset, with Klip blowing a fanfare on his trumpet. The first act was played in twilight. The bonfires were lit during the intermission and again players went around with the bowls. This time everyone was interested to know how the play was being received, and again D'ward had collected the most.
In the second act Eleal made her entrance as the herald and said her line. She had played in Suss for the first time in her life! As she walked off into the shadows, wielding her staff so her limp would not show, someone began to clap, and then the whole audience followed, and that really did sound like the biggest applause of the evening. She had a strong suspicion that it had been D'ward who had begun that clapping, but she couldn't be sure, and of course she was too proud to ask.
At the end, as the audience trooped out under the moons, the actors offered the bowls again, and then some people did put real gold in D'ward's, exactly as Eleal Singer had predicted. He had not even had a part in the play, but he had such a nice smile!
56
THE NEXT DAY THE TROUPE MOVED TO MORE RESPECTAble quarters and the meals improved considerably.
Before that, though, Ambria announced that she was going to the temple. Her expression suggested that everyone ought to go to the temple. There were a few grumbles, but most people nodded to show they thought this was a good idea. Eleal knew that she should go, to thank Tion for returning her safely to her family, certainly D'ward should. Obviously he did not want to.
"I shall not,” he said firmly. “And I should be very grateful if you would not mention the Liberator in your prayers. Do you need someone to stay behind and look after your baggage?"
Ambria disapproved, but she could hardly force him to go to the temple against his will, and even she was not proof against his smile. Piol announced that he had some work to do, so he would stay behind also. Everyone else went.