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SILVER: Tales from the Fringes of Reality. Episode 33 – The Dragon and the Man in the Moon

(frantic pounding upon a door)

SILVER: Woah, hey, Whim, are you alright? Hey, hey, easy, Whim, what’s wrong? What’s– Oh! Okay, yes, following, following. Whatever it is–

(door)

GUILLERMO: And you’re certain?

LUNA: Memo, do you really think I would be here if I wasn’t certain? I could feel it while I was sleeping and when I woke up– Oh, Whimsy, you felt it too didn’t you? Come here, darling, it’s going to be okay.

SILVER: What’s going on?

GUILLERMO: It’s Winston. He’s… Gone. Or, at the very least, gone from the moon’s plane and appears to be somewhere that Luna’s reality doesn’t touch.

SILVER: And given that the moon is almost constant…

GUILLERMO: Precisely. I’m going to go and wake up Mari, can you start taking a look to see if his recordings are coming in?

SILVER: Of course, dad. (tapping) Well, lady Luna, I have good news: I can find his recordings. Which should mean that me and dad can find him. 

(door)

MARIGOLD: Oh, Luna– Come here. It’s alright, lovely, we’re going to find him. I can still feel your heartline, it isn’t like last time, I promise. I promise.

LUNA: I’m just worried, Mari, I promise I’ll be alright. But when I woke up and he was gone, well. This was the only place I could think to go.

MARIGOLD: And that was a smart move on your part. We can find him; we’re the only people in this universe who could find him for you.

GUILLERMO: And we will. Kiddo, you got the recording?

SILVER: All set, dad. 

GUILLERMO: Alright. Let’s start finding our boy.

WINSTON: Oof. Gods, that smarts. I don’t even remember being that close to the edge of the bed, how– No. No no no no no. No, this isn’t happening again. This can’t be happening again I just got home–

WINSTON (CONT.): Luna? Lulu, come on, this isn’t funny! Whim? Whim, kid, please– Luna, my love, come on– Please, please, this has to be a joke, a prank, I can’t– I can’t be gone again, please.

WINSTON (CONT.): Please. I can’t be on my own again. I can’t. My family needs me, I need them, please–

SAI B: Easy, little groundling. You’re working yourself into a panic. Please, try to match my breathing. Come on, you can do it. Good job, groundling. You’ve done well. 

WINSTON: Who are you? Where are you? I don’t see– (shimmering sound) Stars above.

SAI B: Ah, apologies. I tend to try and ease people into seeing a full dragon form but you seemed more distressed by not being able to see me. My name is Sai B, little groundling. You had fallen onto my beach.

WINSTON: I’ve… I’ve never seen a dragon before. Lulu told me about them, said that if I really wanted to see some she would show me but I– I’m sorry, I’m being rude. My name is Winston.

SAI B: I do not think you rude, groundling Winston. You’ve had a serious shock, of course your natural inclination would not be to state your name. I have never seen a ground creature quite like you before– are you from this world?

WINSTON: I’m… No, I’m not. What are the creatures like in this world?

SAI B: Smaller. Skittering about on all fours most of the time. Some have big, bushy tails while others do not. They have a fondness for the nuts that grow in the forest– thankfully you didn’t fall there, as you likely would’ve been impaled. They talk in the same way that I do– not with the mouth but with the mind.

WINSTON: Is… Is this world just full of talking squirrels and chipmunks?

SAI B: Hmm… Ah, yes. I believe that is what they are called in other worlds– at least the ones I can commune with. And you are… human? Is that what they call it? But you are heavily brushed with magic, much like the Ones Above and yet not like them at all. You’re a strange creature, groundling Winston. I think I like that.

WINSTON: You can commune with other worlds? Do any of them know the moon goddess? Luna?

SAI B: …Unfortunately I do not receive any information from the other worlds related to any moon goddess. The sky egg lies dormant in most worlds I can commune with– a few have had the great lunar phoenix hatch from the egg already. Is this what you mean?

WINSTON: No, not– In my world, and many like it, the moon… She’s my wife.

SAI B: You’re married to the sky egg?

WINSTON: That’s not– She’s a person, in my world. Like me, only more magical and more beautiful than you can even imagine. Luna– that’s her name– she resides on the moon and keeps it aligned with the realities it touches. She’s not a part of the Council– I think that’s what you meant by Ones Above? But she’s good friends with them. It’s how she became the moon, actually; Guillermo brought her there because she was searching for me. And I was searching for her and found her on the moon and– 

WINSTON (CONT.): And now I’m here. And she’s probably back home, still asleep, not even knowing… Gods, she probably doesn’t even know yet and she’ll wake up and be so worried. What if she thinks I abandoned her? Stars know I never would, but this is the second time this has happened and what if she thinks I just gave it all up? What if she thinks I’m not planning on coming home? Luna! Luna, I promise–

SAI B: Shh, groundling. You’re panicking again, little one, it’s alright. I’m sorry to say that she likely cannot hear you, but I doubt she would think you would abandon her. Even not knowing her and barely knowing you, I can tell that you would not leave her without justification.

WINSTON: Is being taken truly a justification? 

SAI B: You did not choose to go, groundling. Having the choice taken from you is certainly a justification, and one your wife would understand.

SAI B (CONT.): Why don’t you tell me about her? Perhaps that will calm you down enough for us to think of a plan to get you home.

WINSTON: Luna… She’s everything. My best friend, the love of my life, the mother of our child, the moon itself. I was an astronomer prior to meeting her– fell in love with the Classical myths that painted the night with constellations and devoted my life to the sky from there on out. Every night I would look at the moon and it felt like it was calling to me, trying to pull me up to the heavens and hold me in its arms. It turns out she was calling to me, just as I was calling to her. 

WINSTON (CONT.): I’ll never forget the feeling of my feet leaving the ground. It felt like an impossibility being brought to life and tugging me upward into a sky that should’ve killed me but didn’t. When my feet finally hit the ground again, it was on the moon. She was there– hair as black as the night sky floating around her head in waves like ink, a surprised smile on her face as she saw me. Falling into her embrace felt like coming home– like everything I had been searching for my entire life finally snapping into place.

WINSTON (CONT.): Our kid, Whim, they’re the only other thing I’ve ever wanted outside of Luna. When Lulu told me that she wanted a kid, I was floored– even after being married for years, I still couldn’t quite believe that this beautiful, magical woman would want anything to do with me. But she loves me, and I love her, and we love our child and– Oh! I have… Ah ha! I have a picture of us. Whim takes after their mother and I wouldn’t want it any other way. These two… They’re my whole life. I fell in love with the night sky and thought that I would never find true happiness because I would be longing for the heavens forever, but then I found Luna. She found me. We found each other, and our kid, and our friends and–

SAI B: Groundling, you’re glowing.

WINSTON: What?

SAI B: Your chest– look! It’s glowing gold, like a million suns compacted into one singular point. Do humans always have glowing chests?

(tapping)

SILVER: Mari–

MARIGOLD: She’s glowing too. Luna, I need you to pull as hard as you can, alright? Stars, I’ve never seen anything like this before, usually you can’t see the heartlines at all unless you’re me. Memo?

GUILLERMO: You know as well as anyone else that I’ve never seen anything like this. 

SILVER: Dad, look!

GUILLERMO: There’s something moving through reality and fast. Luna–

LUNA: I’m pulling as hard as I can, damn it! I– Oh, Whim, I’m not sure–

MARIGOLD: No, look! They’ve got a hand on it. Come on, you two can do this. You just gotta pull.

LUNA: Alright, darling. On three, ready? One. Two. THREE!

(shimmering magic sounds)

LUNA (CONT.): Wind?

WINSTON: Lulu…

LUNA: Don’t you ever scare me like that again, Winston, I swear to Alexandria I will have your head for that! 

WINSTON: I’m sorry, Luna, my love. I didn’t mean–

LUNA: I know you didn’t, darling. Gods, those things you were saying to the dragon… I know you would never abandon us. And I know this was outside of your control. But I need you to know, lovely, that I felt it the moment you were taken from us; Whim did too. You’re just as important to me as I am to you, okay? Don’t ever doubt that, darling. Never. I would’ve torn this world apart to find you if I had to.

GUILLERMO: Thankfully it didn’t come to that.

LUNA: But if it had–

WINSTON: I believe you, Lulu. I promise I do. It just gets a little… Nerve wracking, to be away from you and Whim and the Council. To know that I had somehow managed to fall through the cracks and land somewhere without any mention of you.

GUILLERMO: About that… Minerva has been a bit more… Precise, in what she has been doing. She’s trying to bait Silver into reality. I think that this particular instance was her trying to bait Silver via baiting Whim out to you. There’s no way Silver wouldn’t have gone with Whim to check in on you, Luna.

LUNA: But I came here first.

MARIGOLD: And that may be the difference in Silver still being here versus being lost to us again.

WINSTON: Do you think this could happen again?

GUILLERMO: I would need to check with Alasdair, but if I had to guess… You’re much less powerful than L is, Wind. If this were to happen again, it would be you being taken. Given that this failed this time, I’m not sure that Minerva would bother but…

MARIGOLD: Best to be on the safe side. She can’t get you here, hasn’t found a way to get past the Fringes’ security. You’d be safe here– safer anyway.

WINSTON: What do you think?

LUNA: I don’t want to risk you getting taken away again, Wind. Not when it could be preventable.

SILVER: If I may, this would also be better for Whim. Having their family here watching out for them while we work to find Minerva, giving them a sense that their family is safe… Even if she wouldn’t go after you again, there would still be that doubt.

Plus if you stayed, you could help us try to find Minerva. More eyes on this problem is always better than fewer.

LUNA: We’ll stay. At least until we can find that meddling piece of technology and cast it to the pits of hell where it belongs.

WINSTON: Luna, I’m not sure–

MARIGOLD: She’s right, Winston. Minerva is a threat that needs to be neutralized. 

SILVER: …it’s becoming more and more clear every day that there might not be a way to save her. But I’m going to try. Or at the very least, I’m going to be the one to do it.

GUILLERMO: Sil–

SILVER: Mari is right, dad. Minerva is a threat; but death isn’t the only form of neutralization. And if it is, well… then it should be me.

GUILLERMO: …We can talk about this later, kiddo. It’s still the middle of the night, why don’t we all go back to sleep? We can talk more in the morning, with everyone. Alright?