These days Fakir was having a hard time keeping his cool.
A little male duck had found its way to their pond, and now was spending quite a bit of time with Duck. She seemed to enjoy his company, and would often either drag Fakir out to the pond or disappear there, leaving her usual scribbled note. Once there, she would hop into the water and swim around until the other duck showed up, and then they would chase each other around or have splash fights or dive underwater or do… duck things. Sometimes they would walk around and forage for food.
Fakir didn't understand what it was she saw in him. He didn't seem any smarter than the average duck, and had, for whatever reason, something against the writer. Whenever the male saw Fakir get close to Duck or to himself, he would chase after Fakir and try to attack him. What was worse, Duck would get mad at him if he ever said anything bad about the other duck, or if he was mean to him. After a week or so of this, Fakir was quite ready for the duck to move on and leave them be.
The writer had taken to calling the little male duck by the name Albern, which Duck hadn't protested about yet. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to notice that he was just calling the little male duck stupid in German.
One afternoon, out at the pond, Fakir wrote while the two birds quacked at each other and splashed around. He didn't appreciate their volume, but he knew if he complained, Duck would point out somehow that he could just leave if it bothered him that much. He didn't want to leave, though. He didn't want to leave Duck alone with Albern. And he didn't want to admit to himself or anyone else that he was jealous of him. So he kept his complaints to himself.
Fakir felt like he was losing to a duck, and that was dealing quite a blow to his ego even without letting Albern rub it in his face. He was left to sitting while the two frolicked and talked to each other in quacks and jumped from a small rise into the ground, trying to fly down to the water. Watching the two, he found that he came to hate little Albern more and more.
At one point, Duck tripped and Albern stopped her from hitting the ground, catching her dramatically in a wing. She blushed and quacked her gratitude, and Albern gave Fakir a smug look. The writer fumed. This was ridiculous! He was being showed up by a duck!
Over the next day and a half, Fakir and Albern found themselves competing against one another for Duck's attention. When Fakir got fed up and plucked Duck off the ground, getting her away from Albern, she got made at him and made him put her down. She then proceeded to ignore Fakir pointedly for the rest of the day. She and Albern continued playing their ducky games and Fakir sat at his desk, not at all happy at being ignored by Duck.
Duck definitely looked like she was having fun. More fun than when it was just her and Fakir, alone out at the pond, when she would swim alone and quietly while he wrote and watched over her to make sure she wasn't getting herself into trouble. This observation brought about the fear that maybe Duck liked being just a duck. If she had a friend, maybe she was content to live as she was. She would grow into an adult, stay with Albern, and they'd have ducklings together.
Fakir shivered at the thought. Could it be, he wondered as he watched her playing out in the pond, that, if she was with Albern, she didn't want to turn back into a human? Fakir flicked his attention to the little male, quacking loudly as he pushed her underwater. The writer couldn't let that stupid duck have her!
No, he realized, he couldn't decide for her. It would be selfish of him to claim her and drive away other ducks if there wasn't even a guaranteed way they could be together. He tapped his pen irritably on his parchment, dabbing ink onto the paper but not caring enough to stop doing so. He wanted her to be happy, more than anything else. If he really couldn't find a way to turn her back, then he had no right to dash her chance here at a happy and peaceful life.
Fakir sighed. He would, of course, try everything he could to turn her back. He couldn't let her go that easily. But he also couldn't force her to stay with him if there was no hope for them. That just wasn't fair to her. Unhappy and grumbling, he packed up his things, slung his bag over his shoulder, and left, resolving to make his search for a solution much more urgent. Until he could find a way, though, Duck's life and choices were her own.
Duck watched Fakir walk off, stopping to float there and wonder why he'd looked so angry and resigned before he left. Aldern quacked at her, trying to get her to resume their contest, which was to see who could dive the lowest under the surface.
She turned to the duck and saw his hope, his simple happiness. He was a nice duck, and over their time together had become her good friend. She looked back to the path that led toward the town. But something was troubling Fakir, and it didn't seem to be his usual annoyances. Duck was a little worried, and hoped that she could help him somehow. She told Albern that she had to go back, and that she would return soon.
With that, Duck left her disappointed friend behind as she followed Fakir. He was, of course, much faster than she was, and soon he had completely left her behind. Still, she faithfully trudged on, and eventually reached the little house they lived in together. Through the window of the study, she saw Fakir sitting at his desk, poring dedicatedly over his books. The window was open, thankfully, and she hopped up onto the windowsill and came inside. She quacked at Fakir to get his attention.
He seemed surprised when he saw her. "Hi," he greeted.
She quacked and jumped up on Fakir's lap, then onto the desk, and looked down at the book he'd been reading, quite aware that she was standing in his way. She quacked again, realizing that it was a history book, flipped to a page about the author Drosselmeyer.
Fakir picked her up and moved her. "I'm trying to see if it explains anything about the way he wrote. Maybe that will give me a clue on how to write you into a human."
Duck looked up at Fakir. He seemed a little more urgent about this than usual. There was something about the way he leaned over the book, quickly scanning over every line, then turned the page and did the same thing over.
"Where's Aldern?" he asked after a few minutes.
Duck quacked again and pointed in the general direction of the pond.
The writer nodded his understanding and went back to his book. "I bet he misses you," he said, and Duck thought she heard something like bitterness in his voice.
The little bird thought over the last week and put two and two together, a little frustrated that she hadn't noticed sooner. Fakir was jealous! Her gallant knight was jealous of a duck, and didn't strike her as happy to be so.
The writer was turning a page in the book when Duck settled in front of the book, this time not in his way, and read with him, looking intently for any clues. He understood at once what this meant, and what she was trying to tell him. She did want to be a human, and she wanted to help him look for a solution that could accomplish that. Fakir blushed in embarrassment as he also realized that this message likely meant she'd realized he was jealous. He found himself very thankful that she was watching the book instead of him, and wasn't able to see him blush.
She was doing this in a sort of roundabout way that wasn't poking fun at him or pointing it out. It seemed that the more time she spent as a duck, the better she got at subtlety. Silently, he thanked her for it, for telling him that she wanted to be with him and assuaging his fears that she preferred living life as a duck with Albern. All of this struck him as rather stupid, him being jealous of a duck and… well, everything.
He sighed and turned the page, and the two of them searched together through the tome for an answer to their predicament.
Ack, I haven't updated in forever! Sorry, guys. :( I'm not sure I can keep up the daily updates like before, but I'll try my best to update when I can. If anyone has any opinions on this chapter, I'd love to hear it! Especially things anyone didn't like. I'd like to improve my writing whenever possible. Thanks!