[Overture | solemn orchestra | no choir] [Aisling | dramatic lyric soprano | British RP | full operatic singing] They taught me every oath within these halls, Every name engraved in marble stone. They dressed me in the colours of the Empire And taught me what it meant to bear the name. They call me People's Princess. They call me young when I demand: If honour is the law above us, What honour can there be in chains? [Aria I | dark strings and horns | solo voice | no choir] Beyond the court are lives in ledgers, Hearts reduced to debt and claim. No crown is bright enough To gild a chain. No banner flies so high It hides the pain. If Empire asks that some must kneel So others may stand tall, Then let the Empire hear me: We must be greater than this. At Port Isabelle four thousand stood, Unbound at last, yet still without a home. The locks were gone, the contracts cast aside, But freedom left them nowhere else to go. Freedom is more than breaking iron chains, More than a promise spoken in a day. Without a home, without a place to turn, The brightest word can leave a soul betrayed. So Unchain bore the contracts we despised, A bitter weight we never meant to hold. Not to possess the lives we'd sworn to free, But shield them from abandonment and cold. I will not call it victory. I will not dress necessity as grace. [Aisling solo aria | orchestra rising | no choir] Unchain the debt from desperation. Unchain the law from ancient fear. Give them work without possession, Aid without command. Give them dignity no contract Has the right to take away. A gentler chain Is still a chain. And I will not look away. [Quiet aria | low strings and woodwinds | solo voice] Perhaps they call me young Because I still believe we can be more. But every law was written once, And what was written can be changed. An Empire is not weakened When injustice is abandoned. It becomes worthy Of the honour it proclaims. [Grand aria | full orchestra | solo voice | no choir] I do not ask you To tear the Empire down. I ask you now To make it worthy of the crown. Let honour mean no citizen is owned. Let service be freely given. Let mercy have no price. Let greatness be measured By the lives we refuse to sell. [Finale | choir enters for first time | full orchestra] Now hear me, Achenar! Every station, Every world beneath our banner— I am your daughter. I am your princess. And because I love this Empire, I demand that it become What it claims to be! [Aisling above choir | triumphant operatic singing] Unchain the living from the ledger! Unchain tomorrow from the past! Let no child inherit A debt designed to last. Let the final contract close. Let the final name be freed. Let those once called property Stand beside us equally. [Orchestra falls away | choir softens] And when that day arrives, Do not carve my name in stone. Simply open every door. Let them walk as citizens. Let them walk home. [Final reprise | lead and choir | broad sustained cadence] No crown is bright enough To gild a chain. No throne is high enough To hide another's pain. If the Empire would be noble, Let nobility begin With the freedom Of everyone within. Unchain. Unchain. Unchain. [Final orchestral cadence | choir fades]
