"All About Arvalyn"
Prologue
Prologue
The Golden Peacock, 3 Frost 121
“If eye for eye doth make the whole world blind,
Preserve thy sight and answer ev’ry loss
With stark severity. For nature’s state
Of balance favours cycles, and abhors
Asymmetry. Yea, shatter into shards
All swords that turn on thee, and smelt withal
The slivers into armour round thine heart.
Revenging doth return inverted when
Not practised with due diligence and care.
When executed well, solace be there.”
“Well done, Arvalyn, thank you.” Borys nodded approvingly. “I think that’s all we need to see from you for today. We’ll be posting the cast list later this week in the green room.”
“Thank you.” Arry smiled, and inclined his head in a slight bow, before turning to exit as the next auditioner slipped by to replace him in the room.
The intervening days between audition and announcement could not have moved more slowly for Arry. He haunted the green room day and night. Each time Borys entered the room, he perked up only to find the director had come for coffee not casting. Finally, on Wraedas, the stage manager entered and nailed the cast list to the wall. Arry leapt up, eyes darting to the top of the list to find:
“Wylan Royce as Aværys I Imperator?!” Arry blinked at the baffling document. Wylan Royce was a leading man at the Peacock, to be sure, but he was a human in his early forties being cast to play a Hytori-presenting elf who never aged past his early twenties. The description of Aværys in the script was so starkly similar to Arry that several of the other actors had noted that he was a shoe-in but instead, he was… It took a while of scanning down the list to find his name toward the bottom.
“Arvalyn Val’Cithaeron as Phædryn Sol’Aværys.” Arry’s face had gone red. By this point other actors were starting to swarm the list, and nudging him out of the way. Turning on his heel, he stalked out of the green room to find Borys in his office.
“Do you have a moment, Borys?”
“Arvalyn.” The director glanced up from a desk strewn with elaborate costume designs, “You look vexed. I suspect I know why…”
“I thought you said I did well, and…”
“And you did do well, Arry, but you’re still the newest member of the troupe. Wylan has seniority and he’s proven time and again that he has the chops to carry an epic like this. You gave a strong audition, but I’ve never seen you handle this much dense, layered material.” He paused, waiting for Arry to respond, but the elf remained silent. He sighed and continued, “ Phaedryn is a solid role in Act 5. If you handle his soliloquies adeptly, I’ll know for the future that you’re ready for something bigger, all right?”
“Very well.” Arry said through gritted teeth, “I’ll see you at the table read.” He pivoted round and began to stalk off, before Borys’ voice halted him.
“And Arvalyn?” The elf glanced over his shoulder, “You’ll go further in this business if you take a beat and don’t question the decisions of the creative team when you’re flustered or disappointed.”
“Noted.” And off Arry stalked.
