“You mean she might call me a stewed prune?” said AJ.
Noah snickered. “That or she might comment on your hair. Which looks great, by the way.”
He said it casually, without so much as a glance in her direction, but AJ heard a slight tightness in his voice that made her smile.
Step off, Allison Seabring.
Five minutes before the Arho discussion, Oona and Otto came to collect them.
“We’re having you enter from opposite sides of the stage,” said Oona.
“See you up there,” said Noah.
He and Oona disappeared toward stage left, while Otto dropped AJ at the foot of stage right. The crowd before them was a chessboard of white and black clad Anas and Rhos.
Amid their applause, Eudora was carefully picking her way off the stage. She stalled at the far stairs, and AJ felt a pang. Eudora must be well past eighty. Noah was there now, taking her arm in his. When they reached the landing, he bent down to kiss her cheek.
“Our next duo needs no introduction.” Otto’s voice trilled over the loudspeaker. Excitement rippled through the audience.
As he expounded on the significance of Arho, AJ placed one foot on her own stairs. Across the platform, Noah did the same. She gripped the banister, and so did he. As Otto called their names, they took the steps, eyes on each other, striding into the light.
The crowd burst into cheers as they crossed the stage. Noah’s gaze was fierce on hers. As they arrived at center, he drank her in.
It must have been the act of walking out. For the first time sinceSNL,AJ felt the channel between them blip on. Then, she felt him—a burst of intense relief, like August rain.
As a disbelieving smile spread across her face, Noah pulled her into his arms, crushing her to his chest. For an instant, their bodies were flush against each other’s. Then, quickly, he released her.
The crowd was still screaming as AJ and Noah greeted Otto and took their seats on either side of him. AJ could feel ten small points on her back where Noah’s fingers had just been.
“Okay, AJ,” said Otto, shuffling the questions. “In your opinion, why is Ana Tar drawn to Rho?”
“It’s the face tats,” said AJ, speaking into her mic.
The crowd laughed. AJ took a breath. These people were giving them so much love and so much money, she owed it to them to try.
“I think it’s a few things. Externally, Rho represents life beyond the crale—he’s different from everything she knows. And internally, he sees her power before she does, and that’s…appealing. When she meets Rho, she really begins to meet herself. He’s the conduit for her awakening.”
“And Noah?” said Otto. “Same question: why is Rho drawn to Ana?”
Noah was looking at AJ thoughtfully. “Also a few things,” he said. “At first, he’s intrigued by Ana’s abilities and her…upbringing. She places a lot of trust in him, and that kind of gets under his skin. He’s grown up in this privileged environment, but his life is sort of…meaningless. When he realizes he wants to protect Ana, he learns how much value there is in self-sacrifice.”
“And what about you, Noah?” asked Otto, with a tremor of excitement. “What drew you to AJ as a scene partner when she was basically an extra?”
What a question. Their eyes met, and Noah flashed her a grin. AJ felt the cord between them thrum. Then his face became impassive. “My dog liked her.”
The crowd laughed as a clip of Ana and Rho’s first interaction rolled above their heads.
The questions were thoughtful and fun and largely about their characters. Speaking with Noah about the show was a pleasure, and somehow, being onstage made their conversation feel less artificial, not more. AJ couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Noah smile this much.
The hour flew.
“Okay, final question. I know, boooo,” said Otto, echoing the crowd. “This one has multiple parts. Part one: AJ, in ‘Horses,’ how did you come up with the climactic sequence?”
“I didn’t,” said AJ. She backtracked. “I mean…Noah had introduced this really beautiful idea a few days before—I think it was during ‘Mating Season’—about the water weavers being able to draw horses out of the waves, so I was just playing that.”
Noah shifted in his chair. “Right,” he said. “But you had been playing this game from the start of the show—the Ana Tar Doesn’t Know What Animals Are game. So I was just building off something you had done.”
Before AJ could object, Otto returned to the question. “Second part: how did you and Em coordinate on the effects if it was all improvised?”
