Liana

The following creative writing piece is a winner of the 2022 Summer Writing & Arts Competition.

Dramatis Personae

ALEXIS: Queen of Thiliko
ACESTES: Queen consort
LIANA: Queen’s daughter
BERANICE: A peasant
ARGOS: Son of Beranice
ALETHIA: Daughter of Beranice
CHORUS: Thiliko elders
GUARD

[Before the royal palace of Alexis, Queen of Thiliko. The palace steps lead up to the central door, which has pillars on either side. Above the central door is the palace balcony, decorated with olive leaves. At the beginning of the action, the palace yard is crowded with commoners awaiting the Queen’s address. The Queen and Queen consort enter from the balcony. ]

♛

Prologue

ALEXIS

Children, under my reign we’ve lived in peace.
I’ve laid clear rules for you to follow,
do you assume that one traitor makes our system void?
Things will be as they have been;
You will love and respect each other as family.
You will procreate and expand our city.
And most importantly, all male-born children will be exiled.
I’d not speak to you through messengers,
I’ve come myself to you-
I’m sure that hungry ears cannot resist loose whispers.
I only come to confirm the rumors-
There’s a male in our city.

ACESTES
Be not afraid. My wife and I solemnly
promise to never allow such a sin to defile our city again.
This male will be exiled before he threatens our utopia.
His mother will be sentenced to death on Moon’s day.
Be not afraid. We know the pain of exiling one of our own,
which is why this act has angered us all.
Why should she be allowed to keep what
has been deprived us?

Parados

CHORUS
Before the change, men dictated women.
Forced to cook, clean and take care of children;
Earning half for the same work,
laws for women made by men thrice their age.
The people called for a revolution.
It was genetically possible
for women to have children together.
What need for a man was there?

        Alexis was only a commoner, 
        she left the city with nothing except
        an army of women following her.
        It was these women who built Thiliko. 
        Alexis naturally became Queen,
        marrying Acestes to rule. 
        Queen Alexis was smart, beautiful, kind
        and ruled with one unbreakable law,
        all male-born children were to be exiled.
        Sun shone on the city of Thiliko,
        until one day when heart overcame law.

        Beranice was only a commoner, 
        living in the city of Thiliko. 
        It was during birth that she knew, 
        one of her twins was destined to exile. 
        But challenging fate’s ideas, 
        she claimed just one child had survived.
        She had done a good job of hiding him,
        but children have an inquiring nature
        and it was not long before her daughter
        began noticing differences in
        her sister’s appearance and mannerisms. 
        Alethia told stories of Argos, 
        to curious children in Thiliko. 
        Children would encircle Alethia, 
        with alert ears and dumb-founded faces. 
        Intriguing tales of a girl who never
        attended the balneae or market. 
        A girl who was never seen on the street.
        A girl unlike any girl seen before. 
        Tales spread from low streets to the palace. 
        And now Alexis is aware of 
        the unbreakable law that lies broken.

[Beranice enters the palace hall with Argos and Alethia at her side. The Queen and queen consort sit on their throne.]

♕

Episode 1

ALEXIS
Beranice, you’re accused of breaking our foundational law.
I know what your daughter really is,
I ask you this only out of interest;
why did you do it?

BERANICE
For the same reason you built this city;
I realized something was wrong with our society.
Innocent children are being murdered under your order!
How do you plead?!

GUARD
You’re speaking to your Queen.

BERANICE
I only mean that the Queen should reconsider this law;
we no longer live in her age.

ALEXIS
Time has no involvement here.
Men have been and always will be beasts.
It’s easy for you to talk when you’ve not lived in the conditions I’ve.
Have you met a man?

BERANICE
I need not have met one.
What is this division between the genders?
Do you not see that you do to them as they have done to you?
There’s more to humanity than being man or woman.
I may not have met a man, but I know my son.
My son is kind-hearted, he would not harm an insect.

ALEXIS
Your son is a cloistered boy.
How old is he now?

BERANICE
He is 6 years ol-

ALEXIS
6 years.
He is kind now, had I permitted this for longer,
he would have grown into a monster.
You do not know men. There are certain natural traits
that they possess. Do you wish to break down what I’ve built up?

BERANICE
I’m only trying to protect that which Hestia has blessed me with.
Surely you’d understand that?
You’ve a daughter of your own.

ALEXIS
This issue doesn’t concern my family.
What does your daughter have to say for herself?
She is the reason this secret was revealed after all.

ALETHIA
It was never my intention to hurt my family, or my sister.
I know my sister looks different from you and I,
from most people in fact.
But my sister is good.

ALEXIS
I’ve grown tired of this,
have them taken down to their cell.

[The guards grab Beranice and her children and drag them to the dungeon. The children scream while their mother tries to console them. Alexis orders the guards to leave.]

♛

Episode 2

ALEXIS
I will not have my power questioned.

ACESTES
I understand. I stand with you.
But, consider our daughter-

ALEXIS
Did I not say our daughter is no part of this?

[Acestes stands up and leaves the hall. The queen sits alone.]

LIANA
Mother, what is all the commotion ?

ALEXIS
What are you doing out of your chamber?

LIANA
I was just concerned. I heard screaming.

ALEXIS
It’s hard enough for me to bear the burden of you being in this city.
Why do you torment me so? Go back to your chamber immediately.

[Liana begins walking back.]

ALEXIS
And Liana, take that dress off. You and I both know what you are,
no need for you to pretend.

[Liana says nothing and leaves the hall. The queen sits alone.]

Stasimon 1

CHORUS
When it came to the unbreakable law,
she ruled the city with an iron fist.
The one exception to this law,
now roamed freely within the palace walls.
How disappointed she was after a
twelve hour labor that brought her close to death;
to look down at that which she once loved,
and be met with a sense of revulsion.
But as she held the boy over the cliff ,
she looked into his eyes and her hand froze.
She decided to break her very own law.
Later she would wonder why she
had not been strong enough to kill the boy;
Sometimes she would still think about doing it,
but she could never bring herself to.

♕

Episode 3

[In Liana’s chamber, she sits alone on her bed.]

LIANA
One January dawn when I closed my eyes,
my soul opened up its petals to the sky
like a sacrifice on a golden altar and inside
the white meat of all my lives there stood,
Caeneus, dew-damp and unbreakable.

        He pointed at the heart in my chest, told me
        tenderly, There lies the golden bird,
        so I’ve been searching for a way to free it.
        Every day I rifle back through my bones to see
        how far I’ve become, what I’ve become. 

[The day of Beranice’s barathron. A large crowd are gathered around the pit, while Queen Alexis and the Queen consort sit elevated above the rest. Beranice is brought in handcuffs, her son walks behind her in handcuffs as well.]

CHORUS LEADER
When I look at her I forget my place.
I lose restraint and can’t hold back my tears—
Beranice sent to the pit where all are laid to rest in death.

ACESTES
What is the boy doing here? Is he not to be exiled?

ALEXIS
Do not question me.

ALEXIS
Beranice, you’ve committed the greatest crime that one could commit.
For such crime, there can be no mercy.
You chose pride in your child,
so you will carry that pride with you to your death.
Guards, push them down the pit.

ACESTES
Alexis, this is irrational, you’ve done as she has done.
Do not play a part in this child’s death.

ALEXIS
I’ve not sought counsel from you, why offer it?

ACESTES
Out of love. I only wish to stop you from doing something you will regret.

ALEXIS
Guards, push the traitors down the pit!

BERANICE
Mercy please! If not for me, then for my child.
Please, I’m sorry. Mercy!

[The Queen looks at her guards and nods her head, they push both Beranice and her son into the pit.]

Stasimon 2

CHORUS
She’s thrown down to those below someone from up above—
in her arrogance she’s moved a living soul into a grave,
leaving here a body owned by gods below—
That’s no concern of hers or gods above.
In this she violates the ones below.
And so destroying avengers wait for her, Furies of Hades and the gods,
who’ll see her caught up in this very wickedness.
It will not be long before she loses a child of her own loins,
a corpse in payment of these corpses.

♛

Episode 4

[In the palace hall, the Queen sits alone on her throne. Liana storms in to confront her mother.]

LIANA
Mother, how could you?!

ALEXIS
How could I what?

LIANA
That child was six years old and you murdered
him in front of the city.

ALEXIS
Do not regard me as a murderer,
I had no direct involvement in their sentence.

LIANA
It was your word that sent them down that pit.
It’s your law, take some responsibility.

ALEXIS
Yes, it’s my law and my position that allows you to still be here.
Do you think it easy for me to do what I did?
Do you think it easy for me to look at you after what I did?

LIANA
But I do not feel like a man!
If I could rip this flesh from my bones, I’d.
I’ve always obeyed you. Why do you still not accept me?

ALEXIS
You will never be a woman.

[Liana says nothing and storms out of the hall. The guards return a few hours later to report to the Queen.]

GUARD
My Queen, I come bearing terrible news.
Liana is missing from her chamber.

ALEXIS
Who was she last with?

GUARD
We’re unsure, she has disappeared.

ALEXIS
Go and find her, make this top priority.
When she is found, bring her to me.

Stasimon 3

CHORUS
Liana stood with both feet on the edge
of the city wall, with a knife in hand.
She questioned what made her so masculine,
and dragged the blade across her nude body.
It slithered from her cheek down to her breast
and came to a halt just between her legs.
Her mother’s cruel words echoed in each ear,
you will never be a real woman.
Flesh is so easily broken, she thought
as the knife glided through her organ and
emerged with blood dripping down from its point.
She wrapped her drapes around her neck and made
a knot tight enough to withstand the strength
of ten thousand women, and took the leap.

THE END

Illustrated by Yanxi Xia