(NOTE: Trailblazing English is used in this scene.)
Characters:
M-Hero – Hero, now a male. A young man of Sestos, in his mid-to-late twenties.
Keles – Cousin of the former femele Hero’s drowned lover, Leander. A young man of Abydos, in his mid-to-late twenties.
Setting: A small chamber in the Council Hall of an anachronistic Sestos, where the mindset and conveniences of the Contemporary West alternately converge and clash with those of Ancient Thrace.
Background: It is exactly one year after a femele Hero threw herself into the Hellespont after the drowning of her lover Leander and was turned into a man by the Sea Godde Poseidon. Now, as a male and member of the city-state Council since his “Blessed Transformation,” Hero prepares to be sworn into office as President of Sestos. He knows that the High Priest disapproves of his “radical” agenda of progressive reforms and rightly suspects that the cleric plans to use Keles, a newly arrived visitor from Abydos and Leander’s cousin, to somehow block tomorrow’s inauguration.
M-HERO
Tell me, Keles. Why has the High Priest brought you here now?
KELES
Brought?! – I came of my own accord. – to meet the lady Leander lost his life to love.
M-HERO
As you can see, that lady no longer exists.
KELES
When Leander spoke of a feminine Hero, he praised her mind as well as her looks. The femele form may be lost, but the wits remain.
M-HERO
What’s your point?
KELES
The essence of that Hero still resides in you!
M-HERO
Walking on the other side of gender alters one’s perception of the world. My name is the same, but I have changed in more than just appearance. I’m no longer the person I was a year ago, and it’s no use pretending that I am.
KELES
There came a point during those months when Leander swam across the Hellespont that I imagined myself doing the same…and for a similar reason. Then the night of that storm came, and he was gone. I’ve spent a year grieving for a cousin who was as dear to me as a brother…and looking for someone to blame. I didn’t know about the “Blessed Transformation” until we met this afternoon.
M-HERO
So did you come to Sestos to declare your love for a femele Hero or to wreak revenge upon her?
KELES
I figured where there is wit, there are wiles.— Like the sirens whose songs lure sailors to their deaths.
M-HERO
A siren is not in love with the sailor she lures.
KELES
No. (pause) You mentioned Leander would not be dissuaded from swimming the Hellespont that night. So you talked to him beforehand?
M-HERO
Talked…reasoned… pleaded…threatened…cried!
KELES
I assumed you had demanded. (pause) Then, what the High Priest said is true. Leander’s death was no more than an avoidable mishap.
M-HERO
We who loved him will always consider it a tragedy.
(M-HERO places his hand on KELES’’s shoulder.
KELES gives M-HERO a pat on the back.)
KELES
But why didn’t the High Priest tell me of your transformation when he phoned me?
M-HERO
He phoned you?
KELES
(hesitates an instant) Returned my call. I had left a message.
(M-HERO eyes KELES suspiciously.)
M-HERO
No doubt he intends to use you to protect the city-state.
(KELES picks up on M-HERO’s distrust of him.)
KELES
(nervously) From what?
M-HERO
A monster brazen enough to question a godde’s motives and bold enough to challenge the status quo.
KELES
Isn’t it too late for that? You’re being sworn in as President tomorrow morning!
M-HERO
— Unless he can find a way to prevent it tonight.
KELES
What makes you so sure he wants to?
M-HERO
You have noticed he’s not the most progressive prelate? He’s been trying to catch me out since the day of the transition.
KELES
(realizing) And he thought I wouldn’t come to Sestos if I knew you were now a man!
M-HERO
Clearly, for his machinations to work, you must play a role.
KELES
(half-jokingly) As what? — Leander’s stand-in?!
M-HERO
(in complete seriousness) Over whom I will undoubtedly swoon, thus revealing that the essence of Hero, as you put it, remains feminine.
KELES
To what end? The Council has already acknowledged the right of wenns to vote,—
M-HERO
But not to hold public office. —
KELES
– Like the Presidency of Sestos!
M-HERO
(nods) That proposal is still on the table.
KELES
So he wants to use me to stop the orderly transition of power tomorrow? (pause) – But that makes no sense. I now know you’re a man, and I’m not gay.
M-HERO
Neither am I.
KELES
So nothing will happen between us! Even if we were…so inclined, men do fall in love with each other occasionally. – and some of them hold elected office.
M-HERO
Cisgender men may fall in love with each other, but even then, their manhood and fitness are called into question. I’m transgender. – transsexual, actually.
KELES
But your transformation was the work of a godde! The High Priest, himself, called it “blessed”! And I assume you’re fully functional, unlike other transmen.
M-HERO
(offended and amused at once) Yes, Keles! I am fully functional.
KELES
(realizing his faux pas) Sorry! I was thinking out loud.
M-HERO
So many do!
KELES
My point is no one can question your transformation.
M-HERO
I question it, myself. What was the real reason Poseidon turned me into a man? – and why with the words, “Because I love you!”
KELES
Honestly, Hero, Poseidon’s pronouncement doesn’t sound half so cryptic as any coming from the Oracle of Delphi. The High Priest’s interpretation is the obvious one.
M-HERO
And what is “obvious” about it, Keles?
KELES
(uncomfortably) Well, you know!
M-HERO
Tell me.
KELES
Common knowledge holds that males are superior to femeles.
M-HERO
(flatly) Common knowledge is right up there with conventional wisdom!
(Awkward pause.)
KELES
Look, Hero, I applaud your championing the cause of wennen. Someone had to do it, sooner or later! But, for the time being, maybe you should just accept this gift at face value.
M-HERO
Play along? Be one of the boys?
KELES
Exactly!
M-HERO
That’s your advice? – Maintain the status quo?!
KELES
What’s so wrong with that?
M-HERO
Asks a man who has never had to forfeit his form to fulfill his function!
© Justy Fairfield 2007, 2025
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