Late at night. The guests have gone. As ATTENDANTS clear the remains of the feast, they gather the banquet cloth around the central structure. Its folds catch a low glow; the table becomes a hearth. PENELOPE remains to direct cleanup.
PENELOPE
Thank you all for your service. You may leave now. Iasos, can you take the firewood back? We won’t need to keep it going.
IASOS and the rest of the ATTENDANTS exit. TELEMACHUS enters to find her staring into the fire.
TELEMACHUS
What a night. You must be exhausted, Mother.
PENELOPE
I’ll manage.
So—King Telemachus. How does that sound?
TELEMACHUS
Like something I have to get used to.
PENELOPE
You have a lifetime for that.
TELEMACHUS
I just wish Polycaste and Persepolis could see me tomorrow. I couldn’t wait to sail out after the hunt ended…
PENELOPE
To come right back? You’re all due back at the end of the month.
TELEMACHUS
But then I’d get to chase Persepolis around, and listen to the patter of his little feet. And how he laughs when he picks himself up after falling down.
PENELOPE
Just like you were at his age. You’d run full speed and bump your head, then you’d laugh it off instead of crying.
TELEMACHUS
I still do.
PENELOPE
You make your mother worry. Perhaps being crowned tomorrow is a good thing.
TELEMACHUS
To protect my head?
PENELOPE
The summer is nearly over, Telemachus. Let your family meet you here. Then you need not risk another crossing.
TELEMACHUS
But the Ionian is only water.
And Polycaste is on the other side of it.
PENELOPE
A little water won’t keep you from her, then?
He handles the bow with extra weight and care, then places it by the hearth.
TELEMACHUS
I’ve had a good example.
She smiles at him.
PENELOPE
Come, tell me about the hunt. Your men brought us wagons all month. You did very well.
TELEMACHUS
We did.
PENELOPE
We had plenty of fowl until you brought us back the stag.
TELEMACHUS
Yes.
PENELOPE
And your father? What did he catch?
He hesitates.
TELEMACHUS
He didn’t catch anything.
PENELOPE
Oh well. Not every hunt can be a success. What matters is the effort.
TELEMACHUS
He also didn’t try.
PENELOPE
Was it a contest?
TELEMACHUS
I rarely saw him outside of camp.
PENELOPE
Because he let you lead.
TELEMACHUS
No, Mother. That’s why I want to talk to you.
She looks directly at him.
TELEMACHUS
When I joined them a few days in, the men were already asking what was wrong with Father.
She crosses her arms.
PENELOPE
Rumours.
TELEMACHUS
I didn’t overhear gossip around a fire. They came up to me and reported as if in the court.
She takes the poker and tends the fire.
TELEMACHUS
When I gave orders, he stepped back—didn’t even watch me closely.
As if he was glad I took over.
She turns the coals one by one with the poker.
PENELOPE (sighing)
See that?
TELEMACHUS
What?
PENELOPE
It looks spent.
She turns a coal. A glow appears beneath.
PENELOPE
Not yet.
He shrugs.
TELEMACHUS
When we made camp for the night, he barely spoke to anyone. Even me.
She stops to look at him.
PENELOPE
Ah—I told Iasos too soon. I could use that firewood now.
She searches around the hearth.
But it will keep burning—it just won’t roar.
TELEMACHUS
He was quiet when there was still need for him. It’s not like we didn’t want him there.
PENELOPE
I’ll have Iasos bring more in the morning. These coals may last till—
TELEMACHUS
Mother. I was there.
Pause.
TELEMACHUS
Find me when you want to talk about Father.
He exits palace-side and leaves her still tending the fire. She sets down the poker and smooths the bow as if it were a bedspread.
PENELOPE
What am I missing, Ulysses?
She looks toward the harbour.
When have I had to ask? I know you throughYour voice alone: in sentences half-formed,Still undecided on which thought to take;Yet I can hear your answer in the danceOf syllables in step with syllables,The way your cadence sways before it haltsAt the little dot.
She steps toward the centre and stops short of crossing. Pause.
In these intervals,I know the different sounds your breath will make,If it will sharpen for command, or easeWith tenderness. When has your silence passedBeyond my senses? Have I not known youThrough twenty years of absence and acrossEvery sea? And tonight I find no answerWhen you but stand a single call away.
She sits by the hearth and tends the fire until she begins to doze. Setting the poker aside, she lies beside the bow and falls asleep with her arm across it.
TELEMACHUS reenters already speaking.
TELEMACHUS
And another thing. When I offered him the bow, he said—
He stops at the sight of her asleep by the hearth and kneels beside her.
PENELOPE
Ulysses?
Beat.
TELEMACHUS
No, Mother. Telemachus.
He lifts her into his arms and exits palace-side.
End Scene Two