you have hatched...
On this fine spring evening, the small town square is full of people, many of them in costume as animals, or garlanded with flowers. They're eating, drinking, dancing, laughing, and the main street is lit with magnificent flaming torches.
Two strangers to the town, Phelim (who is fourteen) and Alexia (who is also fourteen), make their way through the crowd. They look travel-weary, but are quickly cheered up by the joyful crowd.
They're offered a drink, some food, a dance. Alexia seems to think they shouldn't join in, but Phelim can't see any reason why not. They've got to stay somewhere tonight, haven't they? Might as well be this town. Make a change from sleeping on leaves and dirt.
Alexia calls Phelim by his full name: Phelim Green. Someone hears this, and Phelim takes up the offer of a costume from them: a green shirt for the Green Man! He takes off his own shirt and throws it to Alexia to hold. She rolls her eyes as he puts on his costume and bows to the crowd.
The people cheer their new Green Man. They dance with him, feed him, laud him. Alexia watches from the sidelines. In the distant trees, a shadowy figure leaps as close as possible.
A cry goes up: bless the town, Green Man! Bless it with fire! The crowd chant, and clap, and Phelim is a little drunk on cider so he cheers with them. Alexia moves in to pull him away, but the crowd won't let her get near.
A pitchfork is brought, and stuck into a bale of hay. Then the bale is lifted high overhead on the fork, and handed to Phelim. It's heavy. He's tired. He sways but they cheer and they clap, and he manages to hold it up.
Alexia tries to call out to him, but he can't hear her over the crowd and she can't get closer. The shadowy figure leaps from tree to roof and comes closer: a man, a young man on the roof, calling out to Phelim, but he can't be heard either.
Phelim is groggy now, swaying under the weight of the hay. Suddenly he smells smoke, something burning. Someone pushes him. Someone shouts - run, Green Man, run!
The bale of hay is on fire. Phelim is pushed, and runs. Blessed with fire, they chant, all down the main street, but Phelim can't hold it and at any moment he will be smothered with burning hay.
Alexia dunks Phelim's shirt in the fountain and puts it on as she runs towards him, runs with him.
She grabs the pitchfork. He doesn't resist.
She runs. The hay burns.
Burning embers float down around her, onto the shirt, drying it, and still she runs, and still they shout: blessed with fire.
Alexia runs. The embers start to burn. The shirt catches on fire. The crowd yell and scream and chant: blessed with fire.
Alexia is at the end of the street. She is burning. She falls.
Phelim stumbles over to her, sober, awake. The young man from the roof comes down. He comes down to the ground and runs to her.
Alexia is dead. She is embers. She is shadow and bones. Blessed with fire.
The crowd is silent. The young man from the roof takes a shopping bag from his pocket. He carefully picks up Alexia's bones and places them in the bag, one by one, until he's sure he has all of them, even the tiny bones from inside her ear.
Phelim stares at the burnt remnants of his shirt, and hears his sister's voice: Look what you've done now, Phee McBrainless. Look what you've done now.
