ACT I, Scene II:

     [GUILLAUME and VALAN step into Juliet's Bower. The Bower is an exclusive rooftop restaurant serving an equally exclusive clientele. Stepping into the enclosed portion of the restaurant is like stepping into Shakespeare's Verona, which amazingly enough looks a lot like southern France. Strangely enough, no previous reservation seems necessary. Perhaps Guillaume is recognized. The two gentlemen are seated swiftly at a table outside, on the roof, overlooking the brilliance of the South Bank. Menus and waiters appear, glasses are filled, all without a word. They depart as silently.]

Guillaume: I do not personally have any memory of the actual embrace or of the two or three days of hiding in the village and then heading for the nearby coast. I know I was dying, and I know that I died. My first real memory after the injury was seeing a golden haired Arab, dressed in white kaftans. [Smiles.] I thought he was an angel and that I was in the ship being taken to God.

Valan: [Smiles.] That must be Ian, yes? And does the offer of a cigarette still stand? If so, I will take you up on it. [Opens the menu. Eyebrows lifting slightly.]

Guillaume: [Smiles.] Absolutement. [Removes the pack.] These are ... slightly different from the usual brand I send to you. You are old enough, I think, to handle them. Besides, it is all I have. [He takes out two cigarettes, a lighter. The cigarettes are blueish brown. When lit, they smell of cinnamon and cloves and something more herbal and electric.]

[The head waiter comes, he looks to Guillaume and there is recognition.]

Waiter: [In French.] It is good to see you again. Your brandy is on its way. [Turns to Valan.] Something else for you?

Valan: No, the brandy will be fine.

Waiter: [Smiles.] Good, I will give you a few moments to settle. [Leaves.]

Valan: You must come here a lot?

Guillaume: Actually, it is only twice a year, if that. But I tend to make them rich, so they tend to remember me. [Smiles.]

Valan: [Laughs.] I have to say, you and I, we are very different. But I like the style with which you move in this world. I suppose it is a king's style.

Guillaume: [Smiles a touch, shakes his head.] I was never king of anything, nor do I wish to be. But... thank you... I think.

Valan: [Lights his cigarette. Looks at it suspiciously.] It does not taste any different...

Guillaume: [Smirks.] Wait a few moments. And I recommend the Anjou fattened beef with pear. It will go well with the Normandy brandy. And yes, Montague, there is a theme. We are in a restaurant named for a Capulet, talking of my life and eating the best things from the lands I used to rule. Pieces of us both...

Valan: Very good. And I will take your recommendation. And for you?

Guillaume: [Smiles.] I only ever eat dessert.

[The brandy arrives.]

Guillaume: The golden arab was Ian. He was glorious, all gold and white. I had been very ill, very seriously wounded. So wounded, that if I had been embraced by a lesser man, I may still have perished. It was not a stretch to think of myself dying and on the way to heaven, borne upon a barge by one of God's own. It makes me laugh now, my thoughts on God and going to heaven. At the time, of course, it was very serious business.

Valan: [Smiles.] Did you know him before? Or had you even met?

Guillaume: Not to my recollection, no. I did not know him.

Valan: How did he tell you where you were or how you got there? Let alone what you were. How on earth did he make it that far with you? Three days? With you unconscious or semi-conscious? And wounded? I cannot imagine it.

Guillaume: [Smiles, Lights his cigarette. He takes a breath and holds it slightly.] Ian Dunross is very strong and very determined. When he wants something, he makes it happen. So I have come to understand over a period of many years. At the time, while I did not know him I was relieved -- and surprised -- to find out that this golden arab, this angel, spoke the French of the court as well as Latin. He spoke to me, he spoke my name and he calmed me. With everything else so strange, that was very comforting -- someone who knew me. I was not alone, be it on my way to heaven, hell or some other place. I was not alone. This angel was with me.

Valan: [Smiles slowly, cigarettes kicking in.] Did you fall in love with him then?

Guillaume: I was amazed by it then, but it was too soon for love. [Grins.] I just met him. I will get to love in a while.

Valan: How did he get you on the ship? There must have been co-conspirators...

Guillaume: I find that there usually are. But, no... he ... did it himself. And how did he tell me of my new life? That was your earlier question? [Smiles.] Slowly, but surely. When I first woke, there was little more that I could think about than the burning sensation that moved through me, under my skin like a sunburn in reverse, and a powerful thirst that would not go away.

[The waiter returns, smiling.]

Waiter: [In French.] Gentlemen, have you decided?

Guillaume: [Continuing in French.] Yes, monsieur Montague will succumb to the Anjou fattened beef and pears. I will have Juliet's specialty. And if she has time... later... ask her if she can spare a moment for Guillaume d'Angevin and Valan Montague.

[The waiter looks to both gentlemen, smiling.]

Waiter: Certainment. When you wish no more brandy, please let me know. Otherwise, you know the House, It will continue to flow.

Guillaume: [Laughs, relinquishing his menu.] This is why this is the only restaurant I frequent.

Waiter: [Grinning.] Very good, sir. And it is good to see you, and a pleasure to meet you, monsieur Montague. [Leaves.]

Valan: [Grins as the waiter leaves.] This is an amazing place. I will have to tell Edward...

Guillaume: [Continues to smoke, cigarette nearly fully smoked.] I am surprised he has not brought you here himself. It must have slipped his mind. It happens sometimes when you get old. You will see.

Valan: [Leans back in his chair, taking his brandy with him.] I will be sure to tell him that we discussed his senility over fine brandy and excellent service. [With sudden, mock accusation.] What is in these cigarettes, William?

Guillaume: Calming, aren't they. I find they help me... keep my energies in check where I may better manage them. I am quite high strung and prone to destruction. The electric taste you are experiencing is a trace amount of opium.

Valan: [Curls a grin.] A trace amount for you or a trace amount for regular people?

Guillaume: They are my cigarettes, Montague.

Valan: I should have known.

Guillaume: [Chuckles.] You are catching on quick. Not quite quick enough, but... quick.

Valan: [Stares across the table at William, smiling.] I am young. I have time.

Guillaume: [Chuckles smoke and extinguishes the cigarette.] This is true. One day I will regret picking on you, I am sure.

Valan: I want to hear more about Ian. Where was he trying to take you? To Scotland.

Guillaume: [Smiles.] Oui...to the top of the world as you call it. This, from what is modern day Israeli occupied Palestine, the port of Jaffa. With the Crusades in progress, this was not an easy feat. That he secured a ship -- let me just say that when it comes to acquiring ships, my mate has a...unique gift. [Takes up his brandy.] We were stowed, after some arrangements, in the far part of the hull, secreted there, secreted as much as possible. He stayed with me, he never left my side. With every feeling I expressed, he expressed an explanation. It was a dialogue of several tongues, and ever-increasing understanding. It was very Socratic, in that way. I offered Aristotelean logic, he replied with information on a universe I did not even know existed. My Medieval logic, though classically trained, could not withstand it. [Chuckles.]

Valan: [Smiles a little] Even when I knew it was being done and why, it was still strange. It still is, sometimes. But to not know. I can't imagine that.

Guillaume: [Sets his brandy aside after another swallow. He lights another cigarette.] I would get very easily overwhelmed -- I have a very quick temper, still. One early morning, early in our journey, I defied his warnings with a puffed out Plantagenet chest and like a proper commander, I went out on deck. It was then that it truly began to sink in that I was not as I was. I did not understand the term 'vampire'. It was a little too ... Holy Roman Empire for me. But I did understand that I was not simply Guillaume d'Angevin anymore. [Lifts a finger.] And that sunlight hurts very much. [Grins.] Or used to at any rate. My various wounds had all healed, not merely turning to scars like my earlier battle marks but disappeared as though they had never been. And my thirst. My thirst was tremendous. And the only thing that could quench it was him.

Valan: I know you were married but... had you... ever touched a man, been with a man? The... sensation... to call it sexual is an understatement.

Guillaume: [Breathes blueish smoke.] No. No, I had not. Not even with a squire, which was not an unusual custom, particularly in France. Ian was my first experience, my first hunt, my first kiss with a capital K. It took me... a while to process it all. Perhaps longer than it should have for one so reputedly quick witted. Earlier you asked about love. I think the...complexities of my feelings for him were already developing by the time we skirted Malta. They deepened as he told me how he found me. It had not been accidental.

Valan: [Smiles a little.] Serendipity again, false serendipity. I am beginning to understand your position on the matter. [Drinks his brandy.] I was curious on that point. I can imagine that the battlefield was very large, and battles fought during the day. If I did not know better, if I were just...[Gestures with his glass.] ...a casual observer, I would say it was a miracle.

Guillaume: [Grins.] You can say it was a miracle. It was. No matter how well positioned he was. But that, of course, was not the first time he had seen me. From Jaffa to the Adriatic, he told me who he was and how he had come to know of me and come to find me in Arsuf. He had been in the courts of Paris and Aquitaine since before my birth, in Poitiers and Paris. He had known of both of my grandfathers, my mother, my father, and he was there when I was an infant. He even saw l'enfant Guillaume XI when I was presented to the court of Poitiers, my court.

[Brandy is finally refilled. The waiter smiles, but does not speak. Nor does he linger.]

Valan: [Curls up with his second brandy. He shakes his head.] That is amazing. Did he plan it that early? Was it something that, for you, was fated?

Guillaume: [Nurses his cigarette.] Not that early. Fated yes, but not yet. It was not until he saw me many years later, he said, when I was invested as the Duke of Normandy that he began to take a more significant interest in me. He remained in Rouen and Paris and Poitiers, to be near me when he could. He also began to explain some of the politics... the complexity of immortal politics... that were involved. Of course, politics were nothing new to me. I drank the milk of intrigue from one of the foremost political teats. But not even I was prepared for the labyrinth of it.

Valan: [Sips at the brandy, reaches for another cigarette. Slightly wide-eyed.] This amazes me. I was not expecting this. Something epic, yes I was prepared for that. But so much of it... no wonder it was overwhelming to you.

Guillaume: [Smiles sympathetically.] Hmm... it is so. It is good, in a way, that we had such a long journey. He told me how the immortal courts had been divided between Franks and Normans, each vying for power. But overlying that was the internecine struggle among Toreador and Ventrue and Brujah specifically. These struggles had been going on for centuries already. One of the greatest of these was between England and France, Ventrue and Toreador.

[The water approaches with assistants. The Angevin beef, aromatic with the pear and pear chutney, is set before Valan. Before Guillaume, a plate of goat cheese, olive oil, bread and fruit.]

Waiter: [In French.] Anything else, sirs? Monsieur d'Angevin, your dessert will be out after the course of goat cheese and fruit.

Valan: This smells and looks amazing. Merci.

Guillaume: No, Charles... we are in beautiful standing. Thank you.

Waiter: [Bowing.] Good. I shall be back to check on your brandy in a few minutes.

Valan: [Sets brandy and cigarette aside.] I have not had beef make my mouth water in a year. Thank you.

Guillaume: You are welcome. Enjoy. I will keep talking.

Valan: [Chuckles.] Please do... if I moan, ignore me. I might need a glass of water thrown on me.

Guillaume: [Grins.] I will keep that in mind. [Looks into his brandy, then takes a drink.] Ian explained to me that the Ventrue -- which is, he explained, the clan or family to which I now belonged -- had sided with and backed my father's side of the family. They were fighting to hold onto England and whittle away at France, much as my own family had been doing. The Toreador were behind my mother's Court of Love in Poitiers. They were not only trying to hold onto the Ille of France but Aquitaine. They were also trying to make inroads in England. I had long been watched, and it was planned that I would eventually be embraced to seal a deal between Ventrue and Toreador. The intention, Ian told me, was not to embrace me right away, but to get from me an heir or two to carry the deal forward. But Catherine's death and the child's death... negated that deal and the Crusade was mounted swiftly after.

Valan: [Swallowing, eyes closing a half moment.] Incroyable. So...[peering at Guillaume, sitting forward]...I wonder how much politics was involved in that. Maybe someone who didn't want you to be embraced at all, or by those who were considering it hastened the wars along. Fanned the flames...

Guillaume: It would not surprise me, but I do not spend time thinking about it. The sudden, apparent change in plans required such designs to be put on hold. Ian followed me, along with several others, through the defeats, the carousing, the delays, the sickness, the bickering. It was widely anticipated that I would be embraced by the Toreador of the Gascon court, which would have been fucking miserable for me. Or, if not them, a contingent of Parisian Toreador, which would have been worse. But then Arsuf happened. I was fatally wounded -- and Ian swept in and stole the prize. Bargain or no bargain. Promise or no promise. Not that Ian himself was concerned with the promises that others had made based upon whether I did, or did not, exist -- or in what manner I existed.

Valan: [Pauses his eating. Smiles.] When I first met him in Switzerland, I thought he was very compassionate, very wise, very intelligent. That is the feeling I got from him. I admire him very much -- and he seems to have a kind heart. But to be that bold. One who seems so quiet. This stuns me. [Shakes his head and goes back to eating.] This whole story stuns me.

Guillaume: [Smiles.] He is amazing, isn't he. And it impresses me, what you have gleaned from him in your time with him. Not many have been as studious as you. Perhaps as tenacious. I will make sure to tell him. My friends, my closest friends are only just now beginning to understand what he is to me. When Edward told me you were smart, brilliant -- he wasn't understating it.

Valan: [Smiles. Takes a pause from eating.] I am a quick study. But thank you.

Guillaume: [Smiles, settles back with a little goat cheese and olive oil.] You are welcome. Believe me, I share in your amazement. It stuns me even now to think what we were up against, what he was up against, and to have been successful? It should not have been. He had taken what was not really his to take, and I lived when I should have died. Add to this that at that time in history, Ian was not a major player in politics. He was virtually unknown in France. In England, he was merely disregarded. And he and I were on the run. Perhaps the safest place in the entire world for us was the leaky ship that was carrying us from Jaffa to Scotland.

Valan: A very long journey. The seas were not safe, I cannot imagine. A land journey of that magnitude would have been very difficult.

Guillaume: [Finishes his brandy.] And it did not stop there. In a month's time we had made it to Italy. It would be another two months before we would round Gibraltar, land at Nantes and then push on to Scotland on an Irish Sea that would then be turbulent with Winter storms. We could only assume that we were being followed, we had to assume this. [Chases the goat cheese and olive oil with two grapes.] The very vampires who had orchestrated the deal I represented were all over France and in England. Any ship coming from the Holy Land could be subject to seizure, to boarding. Add to this the mortal politics of the day, the usual perils of crossing the Mediterranean and dodging privateers. It is amazing we made it. We were very fortunate. Very fortunate even though we had nothing, really, by the time we landed. We had very little, and in the beginning nothing was assured, certainly nothing guaranteed. The trip from Jaffa was just the beginning...

Valan: [Settles back, beef suddenly gone. He takes up his brandy, staring at Guillaume a moment before speaking.] From the outside, you and he seem to have this fantastic existence. That it in many ways doesn't seem real or ... realistic. But... of the two of us. [Motioning between himself and Guillaume.] Between you and I, I am the one with the fairytale. And I thought that... my beginning was modern and gritty...[Pauses.] I see what you mean, Guillaume, about epiphanies...

Guillaume: [Takes up his brandy. Smile held in the background of his expression, unrealized. He nods.] It is amazing the sheer amount of what we do not know, oc? What I did not know then, what I couldn't have known. In 1189, how could I have known that in just two short years, I would go from being the heir of an empire, a general at war, the would-be King of Jerusalem living in palaces and commanding armies to living in the midlands of Scotland in an old abandoned keep with a dirt floor, half a roof, no servants or armies in sight. Just me and one golden-haired boy. [Finishes brandy.]

Posted by rowan at November 26, 2003 10:33 PM