Pearl
(seuneaeryk/lisan)
From this prompt:
Burn Notice, Fiona, She was once called Pearl. To walk on legs, she sacrified her voice; to get it back and gain control of those legs she killed a prince. And she has never regretted the choice. (The Little Mermaid)
The theme is fairytales. . ?thread=37970403#t37970403
For rise-your-dead.
As I always say, I'm always either two years early or two years late for everything. Rise- your-dead, I hope you're still interested. What an amazing prompt!
They called her Fiona.
She had not yet learned to laugh, or to cry, but hearing the name, for the first time she had the urge to do both. Fiona, her new mother called her-Fiona the White, Fiona the Fair-marveling at the paleness of her skin, as if it had never been touched by the sun. Like a treasure long hidden, like a pearl in an oyster.
Oh yes, if she could have, she would have laughed.
Once upon a time, she had been white as snow, weak as straw, timid as a lamb. Back then she'd been a princess, pampered and spoiled. She did not think twice about selling her voice; after all, a fish does very well without one.
Humans don't fall in love with mermaids, her sisters said, so she stopped being one. And princesses don't murder princes, not even to save their own lives, but by then she was no longer one either.
Not a mermaid, not a princess, she walked out of the sea, into a bigger story.
Fiona, they called her, the family who found her-Fiona the White, Fiona the Fair. Her new brothers would tease her so, in high singsong voices full of sunshine and laughter.
She missed her mermaid sisters, but was no longer certain their voices ever sounded as sweet.
Kissed by their sun, she grew tall and strong and golden. She grew into her limbs, bought with blood and magic. She learned to leap, to run, to dance. She even learned to swim again, frightening her brothers with how far she would go—past the reefs, beyond their sight. None of her sisters ever showed, but soon she had a new one, and she stopped looking.
The day Claire was born, Fiona held her sister in her arms, her heart filled with love, and learned, once more, to sing.
The day Claire died, Fiona held her sister in her arms, her soul devoured by hate, and all she could do was scream.
She was once called Pearl. She was a child of water, a daughter of the sea.
She traded her voice for legs, and murdered a prince to keep them.
She has never regretted her choices.
She is Fiona now-Fiona the Warrior, Fiona the Fierce. She has found that this land has magic of its own, learned to call down fire and destruction with a flick of her fingers.
On her sister's blood she swore: whoever they were, wherever they fled, she would hunt them down and see them burn.
The first time their eyes meet, she knows at once that Michael McBride is no prince. But then again, Fiona is no princess.
13 August 2010/12 October 2012
End Notes
For those not as obsessed with names as I am, especially names of the Gaelic variety, Fiona means "fair" and/or "pale."
"She was once called Pearl." How utterly perfect!
Also, "Claire" means "clear," bright," and/or "shining." Also perfect.