Intermission: Rivers and Spoilers
Some time later...
After the lights go up in the hall, they rapidly diminish again, until the five audience members once more find themselves sitting in a single circle of light amidst an endless sea of darkness.
Chokhan waves his hand, and a small flame and an iron kettle appear in the center. "This intermission may take some time; I will prepare tea while we wait." The five sit in silence until the the tea is ready; Chokhan wordlessly pours it into five earthenware cups that might not exist.
Sapphire River at Midnight is the first to speak. "I, for one, thought that was much happier than the first act."
Storm of Amber nods. "Indeed. I appreciated the symmetry involved. It very much reminds me of our brother's sensibilities."
Leaf Shakes the Wind frowns as he sips is tea. "What I want to know is, what's the relationship between Boameth and Nameless Ravine? Boameth's Iconic Banner looks just like Ravine's did when he lost his mind at Varsi."
"Oh, that's easy. It says right here in the synopsis that Boameth is Torrent of Woe's real name; Torrent is just a sobriquet that he picks up in one of the later acts."
Everyone turns to stare at Rivers Between Us, who is clutching a piece of paper. Leaf frowns. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep, it's a brochure."
They all stare blankly at him.
"What? This all due to the Unity of Dreams, right? So I split my consciousness into three - I've gotten really good at it - and I sent one backstage, only he couldn't make it there because there's a trio of Lion Dogs on guard. I sent the other one to the lobby, and he tried to open the front doors of the theater, only there's nothing out there to see, just more of this inky blackness. But on the way back to our seats, I found this pile of playbills. See, there's a cast listing - It says right there, "Arun -as- Dread Lord Alarun", and so on. And there's a complete summary of the story. For example, in the next act..." Rivers stops.
Storm of Amber says "Rivers? What about the next act?"
Rivers' face gets progressively paler as he reads further on. "Oh, I don't like this. I really don't like this at all. In fact, I... I think I'm going to go. You can tell me how it turns out later. I'll be in my lab."
Rivers winks out of existence, taking the program with him. Chokhan shakes his head in disgust. "Sorcerers. No appreciation for Theater".
The lights come up again, revealing the hall, and the curtain is opened once again.
