forgotten

[mute_pen]

It's past dark, but when you need the outhouse, you need the outhouse.

Isabel picks her way across the yard of her father's house in the moonlight, hoping to sneak back into bed without waking him.

Comments

[mute_pen]

"You think he's - away, then. Going back to Astgabels."

[growcrooked]

"I don't know where he is, but he's not here."

[mute_pen]

"All right. Am I going to think like a swan when I'm a swan, do you know?"

[growcrooked]

"If you do, I'm going to have a hell of a time getting you out of my room," she giggles.

[mute_pen]

"Yes, probably," says Etty with a weak chuckle.

[growcrooked]

The baron's daughter hugs her.

[mute_pen]

Hugs.

Etty really may fall asleep.

She closes her eyes.

[growcrooked]

Snuggle snuggle.

[mute_pen]

Sleepy and warm and sleepy -

Etty drops off into sleep and begins murmuring soft words.

[growcrooked]

It's sweet. She smiles.

Eventually, dawn comes, and the baron's daughter is cuddling a white swan with beautiful soft feathers.

[mute_pen]

The transformation doesn't wake Etty; she sleeps a few hours longer.

And then she opens her eyes.

Being a swan is strange. It doesn't hurt - it doesn't feel like she's been mangled into this shape - but it's not fully natural either; she's the bird equivalent of an infant who can't find her toes. (Though she is a grown swan, not a cygnet. She figures this out in the course of learning how to operate her spectacularly flexible neck; her wings and feet are quite pinned in the cuddling.)

[growcrooked]

The baron's daughter sleeps on.

[mute_pen]

She really is very pretty.

Etty bends her neck every which way, which takes a long while given all the options, and then she starts trying to extract a wing.

[growcrooked]

The blankets aren't so tangled as to make escape truly impossible.

[mute_pen]

With her wings out, Etty manages to fumble her way across the bed so she won't disturb the baron's daughter as she experiments with the new joints and the sensation of wind resistance when she moves. Her feet also take some figuring; the knees bend the wrong way and she's got the wrong number of toes.

[growcrooked]

The baron's daughter wakes.

"Oh, you," she murmurs. "Aren't you pretty."

[mute_pen]

Etty dips her head.

[growcrooked]

"You are," she says, delighted. "D'you want the window or the door?"

[mute_pen]

Etty's pretty sure she can't really walk, let alone fly - though she's definitely going to try flying, soon - and she turns her head in the direction of the door.

[growcrooked]

"Okay."

She walks over and picks Etty up, and then she carries her out of the room and down the tower stairs.

[mute_pen]

Etty nestles comfortably in her arms for this trip. But halfway down the stairs she finds her voice and peeps a soft swan noise.

[growcrooked]

"Mm? What is it?"

[mute_pen]

Can swans give withering looks? This one is going to try. She cannot answer the question. But she can lift her head up and look over the baron's daughter's shoulder back the way they came.

[growcrooked]

"Okay," she says, puzzled, and she carries Etty back up.

[mute_pen]

Etty points her beak at the scroll and ink and pen.