Nowhere
Cast List:
Zephyra (Zeh-fear-uh), played by Cora Fraim
Puritan, played by Heather Chang
Mehite(Muh-heat-ee), off screen cat
At Rise:
1690s, Zephyra, a 20-year-old healer enters the room excitedly. Mehite, her familiar, sits in the corner
Zephyra: Oh, Mehite I’ve found it.
Mehite stares
Zephyra: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It took me ages and cost me our whole supply of Ginseng for the next three months.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: It was worth it. I swear. (pause) This is it. We’ll change the world with this.
Zephyra sits at her desk, Mehite on the ledge across from her
Zephyra: Its logos magic the words change in the hands of a witch. I’ve been tracking down their stories for months now. The mages of old. This is the last piece of the puzzle. Efeus Istrea. He’ll lead us to Erehwon
Zephyra opens the novel and begins to read
Zephyra: Once upon a time there were two doors. These doors sat at the end of one long path that split into two. One was white, brimmed in gold with a shiny gold doorknob. The other, black, brimmed in silver with a frosted silver doorknob. Each path was equally tread. Efeus stood between the two doors. Each door had a knocker drilled into the center. “One of these leads nowhere” says the golden knocker. “The other leads to everything” says the silver one. “Make a choice” they say simultaneously. And so, he did.
Zephyra: That’s it?
She leaves through the pages once more quickly, looks at the back, then the front, and then she tosses it on the ground.
Zephyra: That makes no goddamn sense
Mehite meows
Zephyra: I know all the stories are linked Mehite, and I've spent the last few months pouring over the Adventures of Daegal Cross and Lamiere La Croix: A Biography, and Alaric Stone and even Sirene fucking Ash and it still makes no sense. None of them talk about a door in gold or silver. None of them have this riddle
Mehite purrs
Zephyra: Of course, I didn’t think I'd be easy, I just. I dunno. I guess I thought it’d make more sense than this. They all had stories and quests. His has nothing. Just a choice that it doesn’t even show him making.
A chime or jingle sounds
Zephyra: Whatever, we have patients. It’s a problem for another day.
End of scene one
Scene two opens, Zephyra is sitting at her desk. The books in front of her and she pages through it, clearly frustrated.
Zephyra: I’ve been at it for ages and it still makes no sense.
Mehite ignores her. Licking her fur.
Zephyra: Well you’re no help. Lamiere La Croix does mention a frog dipped in gold in one of her stories, but Daegal Cross talks about a silver-tongued serpent in the Willow woods.
Zephyra sits back in chair
Zephyra: This is starting to feel pointless. It’s starting to feel like I wasted half a year of my life chasing a fantasy.
Loud knocking comes from the door
Zephyra: Who could that be at this hour?
She leans over her desk to take a peek out the window.
Zephyra: (fearfully) There’s a Puritan at my door!
Mehite meows
Zephyra: I know what a Puritan looks like Mehite and I'm telling you there’s one at my door. (pause) What do you think they know? They must know something or they wouldn’t be here.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: How can I not worry? They hung a girl a week ago because they suspected her and she wasn’t even a witch.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: They don’t need evidence. A healthy amount of suspicion is enough to have my head. They’re hysterical, facts are no longer enough to contain it.
(Pause)
Zephyra: Who is it?
Puritan: I’m an emissary from the church.
Zephyra: The church?
Zephyra opens the door
Zephyra: Can I help you with something?
Puritan: Are you Zephyra Latimer? The healer?
Zephyra: I am
Puritan: I have some questions for you
Zephyra: Regarding?
Puritan: We’ve had reports, of your (pause) business?
Zephyra: I’m a healer, ma’am
Puritan: We’ve had reports that you may be fooling around with devil’s worship in here
Zephyra: No ma’am. I only work with science.
Puritan: Well that remains to be seen. I have some questions for you.
Zephyra: I understand
Door closes. Scene goes black. End of scene 2
Scene 3 opens up, Zephyra stands in her room visibly anxious
Zephyra: She knows
Mehite meows
Zephyra: She suspects! And that’s more than enough
Zephyra: We can’t stay here. We need to go.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: To Erehwon obviously.
Mehite meows. She ignores him
Zephyra: They probably have people watching the house.
Mehite meows. She ignores him
Zephyra: We can’t pack heavy. We can’t pack at all, if they think I'm making a run for it it’s over. Just you and the books. Maybe some of the more expensive herbs. Enough to fit in a bag. A small bag
Mehite meows. She ignores him
Zephyra: I’m a healer, even as woman, that holds value. It won’t be too hard to start fresh somewhere. Lay low until we fig—
Mehite hisses
Zephyra: You’re right. You’re right. I’m freaking out. Panicking isn’t gonna fix anything. They’re waiting for me to slip up. It all means nothing if I don’t figure it out. And I can’t do that if I'm not levelheaded
She calms down, pulls the book
Zephyra: What else? What else is similar? Alaric Stone was on a quest where his path diverged in two, that was when his story crossed with Sirene Ash, the first meeting between any of the mages of old. But the path led nowhere. It was a dead end.
Zephyra: Oh my god! That’s it.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: Do you see. The path led nowhere!
Mehite meows
Zephyra: Erehwon, nowhere. It’s not about every time they found something! It’s about every time they didn’t.
Zephyra: Lamiere La Croix on her quest for the sorcerer’s stones got lost in the tunnels, Daegal Cross, in his fight with the manticore nearly died and ended up lost in the mountains.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: You’re right! That’s where they overlap! That's where it is!
End of scene 3
Scene 4 opens, Zephyra is tidying up her clinic when she hears a chime or jingle sound.
Zephyra: First patient of the day.
Mehite meows
Zephyra: Cheer up. We leave for Erehwon soon. You get to revert to your natural form. I know you’re ready you stretch your legs again. A tigress reduced to a mere kitten. Not for long.
Mehite purrs
Zephyra: Clinic’s open
Zephyra shouts this over her shoulder and pays no attention to the person. Mehite meows
Puritan: Miss Latimer.
Zephyra: Oh. I’m sorry I didn't realize it was you. Is there something I can help you with?
Puritan: There is. Zephyra Latimer you have hereby been accused of practicing witchcraft, the Devils magic.
Mehite hisses
Zephyra: I- No there, there must be some mistake. I'm- I'm no witch
Puritan: That remains to be seen. You will be put on trial.
Zephyra: No way. It’s a death sentence. It's ridiculous
Puritan: Miss Latimer come with me. I won’t as you again
The Puritan holds out the spray bottle
Puritan: You’re a healer. I’m sure you know what happens if I spray this in your eyes. Now come with me. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be. If you’re innocent you have nothing to worry about
Zephyra: You know as well as I do that, that isn’t true.
Mehite hisses. The Puritan turns the bottle toward Mehite.
Puritan: What’s wrong with it. Is it possessed? Your cat is a devil worshipper to?
Zephyra: Leave her alone
Zephyra shoves the woman and Mehite pounces on her screeching and howling.
Zephyra: Mehite no. I can’t.
Mehite hisses over the woman’s screams
Zephyra: It was supposed to be the both of us. We were supposed to find our way toget—
Mehite hisses and screeches as she’s sprayed. Zephyra grabs her book and runs out of the door.
Zephyra: I’m sorry
Zephyra runs through the door leaving Mehite and the Puritan.
The End
