Dissolve.

Fade in on Icarus Island. Small sandy clearing on otherwise rocky beach. Assembled: Daedalus, Icarus, Coach, Caissa, Revue, Frurtle, Mercury, Arachne.

I: But, but ...

D: Sh, son, be quiet and please lie upon this bed of feathers.

I: [does as commanded, reluctantly]

Co: [hands those standing a candle and feather for the ceremony.] Revu, you'll go last, as this is for you and you need to time to sit with your feelings.

R: Sure.

Co: Daedalus.

D: As your father, perhaps I should have kept you tethered to me. I had not thought you would not obey ... But you were a youth on the cusp of manhood, and stronger of limbs than of reason. I grieve my error. Please, by Zeus and all the gods of Olympus, forgive me for you had much promise. [puts feather on Icarus's forehead, blows out candle.]

A: I can speak my part. Icarus, i am but a maid, and you a youth, we are of the same time of life, perhaps we could have been friends, lovers even better for I see you are of fine proportions and muscled. Later in my life I fear I will speak beyond my years for I am at times over-proud of my skills as a weaver as you were surprised by the thrills of flying. For now, I will observe your lesson and weave you a tapestry. [puts feather on Icarus's heart, blows out candle.]

Ca: I speak next. I wish only that I had flown aside you, Icarus, so I could have used my special gifts of planning ahead and anticipating consequences to assist you in both enjoying you new wings and thrills and also landing safely. [puts feather on Icarus's eyes, blows out candle.]

M: I guess Icarus you might have looked to me as a tutor for flying. Frankly, I never ever gave it much thought. I always knew how to fly. Never had an accident. The message from the gods to us is that your fall is as much the product of the rest of us not being attentive enough to you as it is something in yourself. [puts feather on Icarus's feet, blows out candle.]

F: Icarus, oh Icarus. (cries). I was talking with Sisyphus and he said that at least I had a puzzle, some pieces to reassemble, his work was all tedium. I imagine without having to find scattered pieces my time will evolve to ... I cannot say. [puts feathers on Icarus's hands, blows out candle.]

Co: I coach clients at times to throw caution to the side and step off into the unknown. But they are too timid. For you Icarus, just flying should have been enough. I would have said joy's are never pure, and the purer it feels the more suspect you should be. I would have said ... [stops & is silent. puts feather on Icarus's solar plexus, blows out candle.]

Revu2: Now it comes to me. You're not the first I've buried or I've seen grow up and leave my life. Huck Finn, that adolescent adventurer, had no intimate relationships. I had to find him as a young adult and meet his girlfriend, then I let him drift on into his adult life. I hope he is well.

Quasimodo, loved Esmeralda, but is was all longing and unrequited. As he was grieving her departure with the handsome but shallow actor, a fair maiden with a fetish for hunchbacks seduced him and was surprised to discovered his hunchback was actually unfurled wings. They had not been free at the proper time of development and thus they turned into a hunchback. He turned into a scholar researcher, and learning from Don Carlo's alchemy books he unfurled the wings. Secretly at night he practiced flying until he had it well understood.

His face restored to its natural beauty, his hearing returned by the use of drops formulated by alchemy, he left the belltower and wandered France doing odd jobs. By luck (?) one day a young woman dropped some books, and looking into her eyes, he said, "Esmeralda"!

Excuse me, do I know you?

Sanctuary!!

Quasimodo!?

Now to bury you. I, too, as a youth had trouble obeying my elders. I too, have flown too high (mania) and to close to the sun (happiness) and have crashed. I had thought the damages would always be small (a ripped shirt, maybe a misspoke word), but in my morning mediation to prepare for today I saw this flying and crashing was scattered throughout my life. I'm saddened imagining where I might find my life had I not suffered all these crashes. But the past lies beyond improvement.

In the life left to me, gods willing, I know those peak highs you were so drawn to will probably never again find a home in my breast. I grieve, but to leave Mania with you is best.

I trust that—with the help of Mercury—my flights and landings will be perfect and leave me intact and whole.

With Caissa and Arachne I will plan and weave and play well.

Icarus, Icarus, I love you. I bury you. I love you, I bury you. I love you, I bury you. [stops & is silent. sweeps feather up and down the length of Icarus. The others stir slightly in the breeze created. Puts feather on Icarus's throat, blows out candle.]

Coach: [after a few minutes.] Icarus. the ritual is over. You can get up now.

Icarus lies still.

Icarus is truly dead.

A wail leaves Revu2 like a trapped spirit escaping and he collapses by the lifeless form of Icarus, weeping.

Fade out.