A/N: This is a short little thing I found somewhere in the dusty files of my PC. I rather liked it, so I polished it up and here it is.
Disclamer: Troy was real, so technically I don't have to pay homage to any particular author, but this fic was inspired by Cassandra in the book The Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney. Cassandra was a prophetess and the sister of Paris. She was blesssed with the Sight but cursed with the torment of never being believed. (Or at least, that's how this book tells it...) Also, I put this in the section of the movie Troy because The Goddess of Yesterday is nowhere on this site and I didn't know where to put it. I'm not totally sure if that is against the rules or not, but I think this could fit in either category.
The line that inspired this: ' We walked on. I dreamed of swans and cold clear gods.
' "Swans are vicious," said Tenedos. "Be careful of swans, my princess." ' Pg. 71
There was rejoicing in Troy when Paris returned with Helen. People lined the streets like so many children flocking to see a dream. They tossed petals in the wake of their Prince's smiling bride. They sang her praises to the late-morning sky: Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen, the daughter of a swan. Helen their princess, Helen their pride. I watched it all from the balcony of my tower and felt shadows come in the train of her gown.
The wind was strong up here, and it worked to pick me up and fling me from my perch up high, all the way down to the streets of the city below. I stood still and let it clutch at my black hair, whipping the tangled locks around my face and body. The wind could take a dance with my hair, it could waltz with my white shift, but I would stay still to watch the shadows gather.
The gods had given me the Sight. I could see what lurked behind the world where normal mortals just kept walking. I could see the future in the wind, the pattern of sun-spots in my eyes, the dazzling beauty of Helen at my brother's side. While my people shouted her perfection, I saw her evil. Helen brought the doom of Troy. Helen's beauty would topple my city. Hate for her became tears in my eyes.
Oh, god-borne child, do you know what evil you bring? Do you know how Troy will fall? With the cries of your name, that is how. With a shout of "Helen!" will our gates shatter. Perhaps that is what you wish. I see in you a great vanity.
"Three cheers for Helen, our beautiful daughter of a swan!" A cry reached my ears, carried by a breeze to my perch above Troy. Cheers and shouts rose and rumbled, like the sound of our city crumbling.
Oh, my people, my Trojans, you must be wary of swans.
They are vicious.