At Last
She was beautiful. At last.
Oh, she knew that she, herself, wasn't beautiful. Odette was beautiful. But since she was in Odette's body... that made her beautiful, no?
Bridget gave the heavy wooden door a few knocks. She knew she was late. Master had insisted, calling that 'fashionably late'.
Bridget thought that the most fashionable thing was the black dress she had on. Slinky and tight, it showed off her body very nicely. Well, Odette's body. But surely, she could count it as her own for this one night?
Her musings were interrupted by the door swinging open. And who would stand on the other side but the delicious man that had been in Master's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" number.
Now, Bridget was pleasantly surprised. Personally, she had thought that he was just another one of Master's illusions, but no! He was real and he was right in front of her with the most adorable open-mouthed look on his face. Oh, what she would give to kiss that mouth...
Anyway, that wasn't why Master had sent her.
Focus, Bridget told her mind. He may be the most handsome man you have ever seen, but you are not here for him. You are here for Prince Derek. If you do a good job, Master might even let you go.
Infinitely cheered up by that, Bridget, well, to everyone else, Odette, gave that delicious man a wink and made her way to Prince Derek, gracefully. This body carried out everything gracefully. Bridget had a feeling that even her wink had been graceful.
"Well, it's not the milkman," her adorable love interest announced belatedly. Bridget had no idea what he was going on about, but his voice was wonderful to her. Once her task was finished, she would have more time to spend with her beloved.
For now, she had to contend herself with walking towards the Prince, slowly and gracefully. Again, Bridget noticed that her new body did everything slowly and gracefully. Ah well. All the more time for her to take note of the shocked expressions on all of the richly-dressed guests' faces. Really, you would think that as royalty, they would know that gawping is never polite.
She reached the Prince, and right away, he started talking, "I was so worried, I almost thought – "
"Nothing could keep me away," said Bridget, more to silence than to reassure him, her new voice melodious and sweet to her ears, just a teeny bit generic. Truly, Odette's voice reminded Bridget of her friends' Drizella and Anastasia's stepsister.
That was not a good thing.
She somehow summoned a smile when the Prince snapped his fingers for music and let him take her in his arms.
If she did this job well, Master might release her and she would be able to devote herself to the true man of her dreams.
She had an instinct that he would not care that she was less than beautiful, or as some might even say, ugly.
She saw it in his eyes. He was a kind man, a good man, and he would not bully her or push her around like Master did.
He would love her and be kind to her, of that she was sure.
She would have her chance of freedom and happiness. At last.
A/N: I loved The Swan Princess when I was young and I always loved the scene when "Odette" is at the ball. I couldn't help but wonder what Bridget (thank you Wikipedia for the name!) was thinking and I was just struck to write this. Leave a review!