The Alben Moore Company tours the world with much-vaunted theatrical productions. However, their latest performance of ‘Chione at Abydos’ in Sverdlosk has left the audience strangely quiet.
I can no longer keep myslef separate from such matters. Where snow and silence fall, curiosity always leads me here first.
When I was cloistered I spent five months reciting Chione at Abydos to myself. It was a great comfort, until my saliva turned to ice and I could not speak for another month. I wonder if the cures my friars used on me might work in Sverdlosk…
With this, I’m due for a trip to the Soviet Union. I need to feel a good chill in my bones once again.
Madeline found a winter-remedy that the friars had once used on her, and went off to Sverdlosk.
I almost joined the Alben Moore Company. When I was more active.
I don’t involve myself with the arts so much anymore, but I do try and quell any unnecessary threats. If I’m to investigate in Sverdlosk, I’d best understand exactly how quiet it will be.
I’ll need to be judicious about this… I know some Athenians who might help me round up a few attendees, if I know how to ask. Thank you, Librarian.
Manly went to contact a group of Athenians to round up the silenced attendees.
There is a beauty, even peace, in keeping silence - but only when it is sought.‘
A talkative friend of mine was in the audience, and now she is quiet, unnervingly still. It’s worrying, and I need to find a way to release her from this condition; for her, and for anyone else who falls under this story’s spell.‘
Cold preserves as much as it subdues, so the voices remains; if I can call to it, perhaps it will thaw her out from the inside. The Conspiracy of Shouts was mounted from within, after all. Thank you, Librarian.‘
Dr Chiri sought to lift this unnatural silence from her friend, and from anyone else who suffered it.
I heard about the performance. Or rather, I heard that there was nothing to hear.‘
It gets quiet in these mountains sometimes, but nothing at all like the silence I heard in the Urals. Some say there were nine years when not even a rockfall could be heard. I wonder how those mountains felt hearing the old stories put on…’
Seems like Sverdlosk is due for another long silence. I ought tell the rest not to plan any trips for the next decade. Thank you.‘
Bartolina determined the silence in the Urals was there to stay, and went to warn her fellow travelers to steer clear.
The Alben Moore Company… they’re planning to continue the tour. We’ll see about that.‘
My friends in the governments don’t much mind art, so long as it doesn’t create ice zombies. I need to know what other unwanted surprises might result from granting visas to the company.‘
Well. I suppose I ought to speak to the director, and ask him some challenging questions about his artistic choices. I appreciate your willingness to advise.‘
Paloma went to ‘question’ (interrogate?) the director personally, to see if it was safe to let the company continue touring.
Information is a weapon; valuable, but it can always turn against its owner. If you could completely control its dissemination… well, I can think of a few parties eager to know how.‘
I doubt the Company chose Sverdlovsk for no reason, and I suspect the local authorities played a part in their decision. My line of work has taught me that there’s almost always a greater power at work. A hard truth for some to believe; but that’s the point of this place, is it not?‘
The Nowhere-Hour named the Rising Spider, she benefits when others fall, and she’s adept at arranging failures. If I warn them of her designs, they might hire me to help escape them. If they don’t, I’m sure they’ll hire me once it all goes awry.‘
Tte. Anatolio believed the Rising Spider to be behind the events in Sverdlovsk, and devised a plan for him to profit from her involvement.
’Chione loved the Sun, and so she sought to emplace herself in his memory.'
'The Sun remembers what his Light touches. Chione made the world in white, to be the only one remembered. But snow is a mirror; he could not forget himself. So her love was doomed.‘
’The blind see no signs. The deaf hear no warning. So none of Chione’s barriers could stop the Chiliarch.'
'What Chione buries no longer exists - or rather, she denies it to be anything but another of her crystal forms: transient, an illusion. That was Chione’s error, and the Colonel’s opportunity.‘
'Chione is a Name of the Snow. The Names of those in Nowhere are always unwise to speak of. When one speaks a Name of the Snow, one is unwise to speak of it again. So I will speak no longer.‘