- Perry Straussler: [voiceover] It began with the Charter - stolen. It contained our history... signed by our elders, telling the story of our liberties and our pride - and it was taken. From that day on, it was as if a new story had begun; by the order of the king, I endeavor to write it. Times had already changed; new relationships, born in hope, now challenged.
- Boyden: [observing the crime scene after the Charter's theft] In sixth grade we took a class trip to see the Charter; who would've stolen it?
- Klotz: I don't know... but I hate them.
- King Silas Benjamin: You and I are gonna make this tragedy into an opportunity. You will go south, and do whatever is necessary to bring back what was stolen.
- David Shepherd: Sir - I know I lied to you about me and Michelle. I know that was wrong; I'd do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness.
- King Silas Benjamin: Prove you're better than the lie. The Charter was stolen; bring it back.
- David Shepherd: As you ask.
- King Silas Benjamin: You will go now, telling no one - not your family, not Michelle. Supported only by your wits, a gun, some money, and a phone - should you wish to call and declare failure. Succeed, and history will remember you... and you'll have my forgiveness *and* my daughter. But come back empty-handed, and that's all we'll see - empty hands.
- Thomasina: Two weeks, and no news from Captain Shepherd.
- King Silas Benjamin: Dangerous country, our southern border; perhaps he doesn't return at all.
- Thomasina: You don't sound concerned... Your faith was misplaced?
- King Silas Benjamin: All faith is misplaced; his lie belies his ambition, whether he knows it or not - but I see it.
- Thomasina: What of the Charter?
- King Silas Benjamin: To hell with the Charter; today we start a new one. It's time for *me* to be the hero of my country again.
- King Silas Benjamin: I owe my country an apology. The theft of a national treasure reflects not only on security but on me. The loss, a lesson - not to let stagnate a country that should lead. Today I make amends. The Charter spoke of ideals; Perry - Article Five...
- Perry Straussler: "Never to mistake yesterday's glory for tomorrow's security, but to always exercise genius, judgment and hope; never to rest assured of what we have, but to imagine - "
- King Silas Benjamin: "But to imagine what we have yet to achieve." So let us imagine - example: energy. How do we achieve a 100% self-sufficient, clean, energy-fueled Gilboa?... Don't be shy - give me, give me some ideas.
- Energy Minister: Resume renovation at Pella Dam?
- Michelle Benjamin: Plan for wind farms in the plains of Dan is in research stages.
- King Silas Benjamin: Resume... accelerate... talk to the young; learn to think how they think. Perry - start a new book, one to be read a thousand years from now, about what began here, today - how we found and followed a vision.
- Perry Straussler: The Book of Silas!
- Queen Rose Benjamin: [noting Jack as he watches Katrina try on her wedding dress] Seeing the gown before the wedding... No mind for superstition.
- Katrina Ghent: Well, young wives have nothing to fear from old wives' tales.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: [to Jack, as he leaves] Turn and laugh... hmmm? You had an eye on greatness and the grip to hold it, and you'd let a quarrel with me pair you to a laughingstock. You had a more interesting weakness than spite.
- Katrina Ghent: Did I lose more weight? Just drops off me when I'm happy.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: You blackmailed him into this.
- Katrina Ghent: Jack accepted my proposal freely, happily - once he saw the damage it would do you.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: It will never happen.
- Katrina Ghent: Of course it will; I'm his only chance at happiness left - I know exactly what Jack is, and I don't care. With me, Jack can be king by day, and a bad boy with whatever boy he wants at night; I might even join in. When I marry Jack and knock out an heir, that'll make you - what? The royal granny? While I take your place... as queen.
- David Shepherd: [sliding an envelope onto the bar] You hear a lot tending bar.
- Bartender: People pay twice that to keep me quiet.
- David Shepherd: I used to work in a garage; I know what it's like to be invisible. People forget you're there - they say things.
- Bartender: Trust me - you're not that anonymous. Errand boy for Silas, combing the south, looking for the Charter - hitting everyplace that moves product. Go home... before you get hurt.
- King Silas Benjamin: Your sacrifices haven't gone unnoticed - or your new discipline. We've had difficult conversations; I bade you retouch your image the same - feign lightness under the eyes, and you did.
- Jack Benjamin: I answer to you, sir.
- King Silas Benjamin: Can't have been easy - fabulising on that scale... taking a new fiancée when you could have been free. It wasn't for nothing - or for shame, or a lesson on the cruelty of being a king; well, you'll experience that soon enough.
- Jack Benjamin: Sir?
- King Silas Benjamin: You heard me - an engagement gift. On the day of your wedding, I will stand before all and designate this country a blood dynasty, with you as my heir - the future king... That's if you want it so.
- Jack Benjamin: With all that I am.
- King Silas Benjamin: I pass you when you are born, flailing in blood; I pass you again, and you're at an age for love.
- Michelle Benjamin: I never got to thank you - for taking care of David. Sending him on diplomatic training, I...
- King Silas Benjamin: Just want you happy.
- Michelle Benjamin: You've been telling me for years to live my life; you were right.
- King Silas Benjamin: No regrets? For your vow?
- Michelle Benjamin: Dolls and stories... scared of the dark; I couldn't stay a little girl forever.
- King Silas Benjamin: ...I thought you might.
- Jack Benjamin: I'll be king on my own soon enough; your coup - we don't need to ally ourselves with the enemy. No innocent people have to die. It may take more than a month, like we want, but it will happen. We save all that blood. You'll still be by my side - as planned.
- William Cross: If you only had half as much mind as charm. Your father has no intention of announcing anything - or going anywhere, heaven or hell. You've seen his lies.
- Jack Benjamin: This is different; he's...
- William Cross: [he slaps Jack in the head, startling him] Hey! No one *ever* changes. You were given an offer, and you accepted; in exchange, you ceded your right to whim. The change of power happens on *my* clock - not his, not yours - with *you* at *my* side. Silas falls - and soon. And be sure there will be all the blood required. The only turning back now leaves you in the same ditch. Go back to your fiancée; get used to your life - you're engaged now.
- [in his dream, David finds himself next to his father at the piano]
- Judah Shepherd: Follow the time, David; you know the meter... One and two... one and two... one and two...
- David Shepherd: Dad - is it really you?
- Judah Shepherd: You haven't learned your lesson, David.
- David Shepherd: My lesson?
- Judah Shepherd: Keep playing; if you stop, I'll have to go... One and two... one and two... one and two... Look at you - you *have* practiced.
- David Shepherd: But I failed...
- Judah Shepherd: Remember what I always told you - if you find yourself lost, follow the time; you'll find your way.
- [in his dream, David now finds himself in the king's boardroom, with Silas standing behind his chair facing him]
- King Silas Benjamin: It's time you learned your lesson, David.
- [now David finds himself at the front of the boardroom, with the queen, Michelle, Thomasina and other court members around the table; in front of them, he is faced by his own self, dressed in business attire]
- King David Shepherd: Follow the time.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: Your scores in protocol training were impressive; a gift for remembering names - now, that's good. Uh, you also have appointments this week - medical exam, psychological evaluation, and background check. It's all routine; but, uh, if there is anything rattling in your cupboard - spare us the embarrassment... Dear, you're blushing.
- Lucinda Wolfson: I flush when I talk about myself.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: Well, it's hard to stay shy in *this* home; a level of public exposure is to be expected. Your periods regular?
- Lucinda Wolfson: I beg your pardon?
- Queen Rose Benjamin: Your fertility. At issue, front and center. Have you ever been pregnant?
- Lucinda Wolfson: No... well, I thought... once... I'll be a good wife to Jack.
- Queen Rose Benjamin: No; you're mistaken. You're not marrying Jack - you're marrying this country. You accept that ring, you've become a vessel for the propagation of his kind. If you can't manage that, you will have failed your only employment.
- King Silas Benjamin: You've been waiting here some time; can I help you?
- Jessie Shepherd: I only wait for David.
- King Silas Benjamin: We wait on him too... I'd be happy to send you word of his return, should he forget his upbringing and neglect to tell his mother.
- Jessie Shepherd: You sent him somewhere; I know it. You've done something to him.
- King Silas Benjamin: ...If David *was* charged somehow, I can assure you it was for a good cause, and you'll be proud.
- Jessie Shepherd: You don't have good causes; you pretend to be a good man, like you pretend to be a young man. But I don't wait here out of worry, but to see it when he comes home victorious - which he will. His course is set on something; I tried to change it - you set that monster loose. And the shame of it is, you and I will be the only ones who will wish it never happened. And we'll have to *watch*.
- Michelle Benjamin: Geothermal drilling also on hold due to seismic disturbance; construction on the wind farms halted, pending assessment. At this time, the timetable for the king's renewal initiative remains... indefinite.
- Rev. Ephram Samuels: You can still renew the land; perhaps it is not our energy that needs to be clean first.
- King Silas Benjamin: What then? Why does He reject all my offerings?
- King Silas Benjamin: Must have been a hell of an adventure.
- David Shepherd: It tested my faith - in many things. Did you intend for me to rescue your Charter, or to die trying - as perhaps you've sent others to die before?
- King Silas Benjamin: I intended it a test of mettle, no less than I would ask my own natural-born son - to come out deserving or dead.
- David Shepherd: Then here I am.
- King Silas Benjamin: Here you are.
- David Shepherd: My eyes opened.
- King Silas Benjamin: To see my arms opened wide, rejoicing in your triumph - and giving you leave to press any noble intentions on my daughter. Our country welcomes home its Charter - and its hero.
- Perry Straussler: [voiceover] It is the historian's compulsion to look at events and see in them the story, as it needs be remembered. As charged by the king, a new book did begin, and a new day did dawn - and on that day a leader rose whose name would be carried as long as there is wind, one who suffered and stumbled but did not fall. Not as Silas would have it, but as fate, or necessity... or God would. It falls to me to write his story.