To signify the beginning of the flashback, Young Achilles and Young Patroclus run across the stage, passing in front of the tent, singing messy snatches of “Where You Go.” They exit

The tent fades out of view. Lights brighten to shimmering evening. The “Interlude” theme plays. Adolescent Achilles and Adolescent Patroclus enter. They are duelling with wooden swords

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Incoming

Careful. Watch your back

Hard feint. Don’t fall for that again

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Are you supposed to be helping me win?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I’m not. I’m talking through the moves

Adolescent Patroclus reaches out and grabs Adolescent Achilles’ sword by its wooden “blade.” He tosses it to the side

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
What do you call that one?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Cheating

Adolescent Patroclus throws down his own sword
[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
What will you do with yourself when I’m at Troy? You won’t have a dueling partner to boss around. Even Ajax is going

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I don’t think I’ll stay on Mount Pelion long, Patroclus

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You’re leaving, too?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I’ll be talking it over with Father during our visit home. He wants me to return for good and start preparing for kingship

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
We knew it was coming

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I don’t see a reason to stay here without Chiron

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
And without Ajax

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Are you trying to convince me to stay?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Stop it
[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES] a great, careful confession
Father says it is time for me to marry

Adolescent Patroclus bursts out laughing

What?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS] still laughing
Who?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
It hasn’t been decided. I will hold off as long as I can

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS] teasing
You don’t wish to find a wife?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Not particularly. I must, sooner or later

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS] sobering
Yes

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
But not particularly

Adolescent Achilles picks a long blade of grass and puts it in Adolescent Patroclus hair
Your helmet, noble Patroclus

It sticks out ridiculously. Adolescent Patroclus retaliates and sticks one in Adolescent Achilles’ hair, too

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Your crown, Prince Achilles

They look utterly ludicrous. The twin birds-of-paradise look at each other and laugh

You look like a confused peacock

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
You look--well, you look worse

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You look worse

Adolescent Achilles reaches for Adolescent Patroclus and tries to pull him to the ground

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Do you really have to go?

Adolescent Patroclus pulls back

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I registered for the draft. I have to fight for Agamemnon whether I like it or not

Adolescent Achilles tugs

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Well, I don’t like it

Adolescent Patroclus tugs back

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Whether you like it or not

Adolescent Patroclus gives in to Adolescent Achilles’ final tug. Settling next to his friend, he idly sticks more grass in Adolescent Achilles’ hair

I might as well go to Troy, anyway. I don’t have anywhere else to go

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Not my father’s house?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I was there as a child exile. That’s your kingdom, Achilles. Not mine

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
You can stay there. You know you can stay there

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You’ll soon be married

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
That changes nothing. Why would it change anything?

Patroclus does not turn him down, but does not fully accept

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I have to fight a war first

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
The war can’t last long, can it? It’s only an expedition to bring home a king’s wife

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
That’s not what it’s really about. Greece has been looking for an excuse to sack Troy for ages. They’d gain full control of the Aegean, the allyship of the surrounding kingdoms--I’m surprised they didn’t send armies sooner

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Chiron would have had thoughts on the situation. You would’ve debated politics over dinner until your pork roast got cold

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I wish we could

The air turns contemplative as they think about their late mentor

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Patroclus? Are you going to war because of Chiron?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
How do you mean?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
You’ve seemed older since he passed. Not in a bad way, but--older

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I think it made me consider things

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Like what?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I don’t know. The usual platitudes

Achilles points up at the sky and its rising constellations

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
The constellation Centaurus

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
There he is

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
From now on, we’ll always pretend that’s him

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Of course it is

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Now Chiron can go with you to Troy and bring you safely home

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
All right

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I can go with you, too

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Sailing the blue Aegean, gazing on the mountains of Ilion…

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Fighting at your side until the city turns to ash

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You’re serious

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Why wouldn’t I be?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Achilles, your mother wouldn’t let you

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
That doesn’t matter

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You would go against her?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
You said it yourself, Patroclus. This war could be important. My father must know it as well as anyone. It’s only a matter of time before he sends our troop of Myrmidons to join the fight. And if he does…

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You don’t have to lead them

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I am their prince

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Other princes are resisting the call. Even Prince Odysseus of Ithaka

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Do you think I cannot lead?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS] softening
Of course not, Achilles. But the troops aren’t the only ones who need leaders. Greece can send all the men it wants, but they need a country to return to

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES] accepting the turn
And where will Patroclus return to?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I’ll do what I’ve sworn to do. I’ll bring the runaway queen back home. I won’t stay in the war a heartbeat longer

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Then you will return to us?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Yes

After a moment, Adolescent Achilles accepts

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Don’t do anything I would do

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Like what?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I don’t know. Seize Troy, for instance

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Me? Take Troy?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
You can be stubborn. You never know

Adolescent Patroclus throws a handful of grass at him, and the two mellow down

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You know how the Myrmidons look at me, next to you. I’m the exile living on borrowed glory. Perhaps it’s for the best that I go off for a while and win my own

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Is that why you’re going?

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I would have to either way, wouldn’t I? I’ve sworn an oath to fight

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I didn’t know you felt that way

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
I guess it’s time for both of us to grow up

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
My mother always says that. I hate it. I feel so behind

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS] surprised
You?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Doesn’t everyone? We look around, we see the world moving faster than we are, and we run as fast as we can so we aren’t left behind. We’re all scared into growing up

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
You call me the philosophical one

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I’m catching up

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Are you?

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
I learned from the best

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
Hm

Adolescent Patroclus rises and reaches down to help Adolescent Achilles up. They begin to walk offstage. Lights up on the tent, where present-day Achilles and Patroclus are eating their breakfast

[ACHILLES]
I’m sorry about last night. I fell asleep before you got back

[PATROCLUS]
Don’t worry about it

For the first time, Patroclus smiles genuinely, but there is something secret about that smile that makes Achilles afraid

[ACHILLES]
You’re--smiling

[PATROCLUS]
Does Prince Achilles forbid me to smile?

[ACHILLES]
Can I guess what you’re thinking?

[PATROCLUS]
No, you can’t

Achilles is encouraged by Patroclus’ good mood, even if he doesn’t understand the secret it contains

[ACHILLES]
You’ll tell me soon enough. You always do

Patroclus’ sad look begins to return

[PATROCLUS]
Perhaps

[ACHILLES]
We can go swimming later, if you’d like

[PATROCLUS]
Not today, I think

The dialogue from the past begins to weave into the dialogue from the present

[ADOLESCENT ACHILLES]
Okay. After we pack for our journey, then. One last swim in the river

Achilles notices the tears in Patroclus’ eyes. He doesn’t understand what he did wrong

[ACHILLES]
Patroclus?

Their dialogue begins to overlap

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
We’re not leaving forever, Achill / es

[PATROCLUS]
/ We can go tomorrow, or the next day, or the / next

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS]
/ We’ll be back on Mount Pelion before we know it

Achilles reaches out to comfort Patroclus as he says the following line

[ADOLESCENT PATROCLUS & PATROCLUS]
We have all the time in the world