Pearl and Silk

I waited. And waited. For the most part, enduring six and a half hellish years here had given me a decent amount of patience, but it was hard not to become frustrated when absolutely nothing happened. Dawn was approaching and I had done nothing but amble around the pond like a dolt all night, just waiting.

I smiled unconsciously, suddenly recalling my father telling me countless times that I was too impatient for my own good. I could never sit still when I knew that Papa would be buying me new slippers the next day or that my uncle Owyn would be travelling to visit Papa and I all the way from Essex. Even Derek would remind me that we had all the time in the world to go exploring and that I didn’t need to rush him.

This thought made me laugh sarcastically. All the time in the world. Once upon a time I was naïve enough to believe it. But now I understood that I would never leave this place again. All I had were the memoies.

Suddenly there was a bright light at the corner of my eye, at the far edge of the large pond. I was forced to shield my eyes as I turned toward the blazing sunrise.

I sighed, dropped my arms at my side, and let the light overcome me. When I opened my eyes, I was covered with feathers of pearl and silk.

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I relished in the chilly water, savoring its cooling effect on my skin. A thick coating of feathers could most definitely intensify the sun’s rays when it wanted to.

I had been floating upon the water, just letting it take me wherever it liked, for about an hour now. There was not much one could do in this form. As a human, I had found many ways to occupy my time, but being a swan was much more dull. No legs to run with, no hands with which to grasp and feel the soft grass beneath my body. Only wings.

Of course, I always had the option of socializing with the other swans, but it was hard to sustain a conversation with them. Never being human, never seeing the world beyond the forest, their minds were so limited. When I first discovered that I could communicate with other animals, during the first week or so after the curse had been cast, I was so elated and conversed with them as much as possible, but one can only endure so much chat of shedding feathers and eating underwater vegetation.

Jean-Marc was, of course, excluded from this isolation I put myself in. Not a swan, but a toad, Jean-Marc was my dearest friend. I could not imagine this dreary, monotonous life without his sense of humor and constant energy. Unfortunately I could only communicate with him when I was in my feathered form, but we managed.

I closed my eyes and continued to float. Basking in the sunlight, I imagined myself in some far distant place, anyplace other than here….

“Odette!”

Pause.

“Odette!”

The voice was steadily getting louder, as if the source was running towards me.

“Yes, Jean-Marc?” I asked, lazily keeping my eyes closed.

He had been out finding food for himself for the past little while, and was probably anxious to tell me about the enormous fly he caught, which I quite honestly did not want to hear. I was glad that, even if Von Rothbart cast this terrible curse upon me, at least he didn’t turn me into some sort of animal that ate bugs or other animals. I most likely would have starved, or at least went hungry every day until I turned human again at nightfall.

Jean-Marc stopped as soon as he reached the edge of the pond where I was floating, and began to pant from his fervent hopping.

“Jean-Marc, I understand that you are very enthusiastic about your food-catching abilities, and I know that you are talented, but it really is rather gross—“ I was suddenly cut off by his overpowering voice. His tiny frog face was stone serious as he spoke.

“Odette. Hunter.”

I froze with shock. A hunter? So close to the lake?

“In the forest?” I asked. He nodded gravely. I paused to think. “Any weapons?” I interrogated.

“Only a stick-looking thing. Very short, but very sharp.”

I gulped. A dagger. He may not have a cross-bow, but a dagger was well enough to kill any animal he could catch.

“Jean-Marc, go hide. I’ll warn the others.” He nodded gravely, and then bounded off in the opposite direction. I quickly paddled off to the rest of the swans where they gathered and informed them of the human man approaching. There was a loud noise similar to several geese honking, and they had all flown away.

As I prepared to take off after them, i heard large footsteps approaching. There was no time to fly, for he would see me. So as fast as I possibly could, I scurried over to a deep bundle of cattails wading in the water and lodged myself far enough between them where I could barely be seen. Then I waited.

Waiting. I thought about how I had waited for so long. Waited all day for something, for an unexpected change that I somehow expected. Could this be it? Could this be what I had been waiting for all night and day, to be cornered and killed by a ruthless hunter? I guess all I could do was wait for the answer.

And then I heard a man mumble incoherently. Suddenly the leaves crunched even louder and even faster as the man ran towards where I was, and the water splashed as he stumbled into it.

“Could it be?” he whispered to himself. "Odette?" And then he was not whispering, but yelling for all to hear.

“ODETTE!”