Time moved slowly, as it often did, at Swan Lake. However, this was not a bad thing, it gave everyone time to enjoy the company of the people they loved, and no one enjoyed the company of loved ones like Derek, Odette, and Robin.
Of course, the happiness only lasted by day, when everyone was too preoccupied with each other to worry about the looming threat that was the Forbidden Arts. It was like a bad storm; everyone knew it was coming, and the time they spent together was just the calm before it.
However, when focusing on the moment at hand, Robin found she liked her new life. Of course, it could never compare to her time with her mother, but it was far better than being alone with her thoughts.
"I still miss you though" she said one night as she was thinking about Gwen. "I still wish you were here."
Then, a voice in her head: "I'm always here, Songbird."
Robin sighed. Some days, she didn't know if the voice in her head was her mother's, a memory, or just a bit of madness invoked by being lonely for so long. She hoped it wasn't the last. She needed something to help her hold onto her past, something to help her get through her new life.
Sure, Odette was kind and gentle and Derek was interesting and smart, but a life of royalty was not what Robin was born to. It was someone else's life, someone else's destiny.
Her mother's?
No. Gwen had made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing to do with being princess or queen or anything having to do with being royalty. It was a life that she didn't want, so she got away from it. Sometimes, Robin wondered why. Others, she was glad her mother had been that brave. If she hadn't, Robin would never have been born.
It was funny how one decision affected all the others for the rest of a person's life.
Robin blinked herself awake. It was late at night, but she didn't want to rest. However, in its exhaustion, her mind began to wander. There was too much on her mind to allow it to be unfocused. Between her mother and the man who murdered her and was surely coming to Swan Lake, there wasn't a lot of room in her mind for rest or idleness of mind.
But she had to sleep. Otherwise, Odette would worry.
She smiled.
It was funny that she would think of Odette's feelings. She realized that she was learning to be considerate again, learning to love again. She was changing more than she ever thought she would in such a short time.
"Go to sleep, Robin. You need to rest."
Robin shook her head and smiled.
Some things, however, would never change.
XxX
Odette too was stuck in thoughts about how things had changed. However, one thing had not.
The Forbidden Arts, it seemed, would always be a threat. Odette couldn't help but wonder what would happen if – or when, more accurately; she knew he was coming – Gwen's murderer would make his appearance. It wasn't an easy thought. She had grown to love Robin, and she could see exactly why Gwen did.
So, she was understandably afraid for her. Derek had sword to protect them both, but would that be enough? And if it was enough this time, then what about next time? And the time after that? And so on, and so on until the day she was killed from it all.
Derek, who had been listening to her think out loud, put a comforting hand on hers.
"Whatever happens, you're not alone. I'll be with you, I'll protect you. This will not kill you. You're too strong for it to kill you."
"And what about Gwen?" she asked. "She was stronger than I am, and well… look what happened to her."
"She was strong, but even the strongest among us are overpowered sometimes. And Gwen knew she had no way out. She'd been taken by surprise, and there wasn't time to defend herself."
He hugged her close to him and held her tight.
"We, however, can fight this. We know what we're up against and we both made a promise to ourselves and each other and Robin that we won't lose another loved one because of the Forbidden Arts."
She smiled and returned his embrace. His words were easy to believe.
"Because they're true," he said, smiling, when she mentioned this.
After a few more minutes of talk, Derek fell asleep.
Odette was awake for a little longer, still thinking about everything that had been said and everything that would happen, but she eventually found herself being lulled by Derek's rhythmic breathing.
She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Dreams came quickly to her, and although they were pleasant, the feeling of anticipation was still in the back of her mind.
XxX
Odette awoke in the middle of the night to a scream that could shatter glass.
For a moment, she had no idea who it could have been, but then she realized…
"Robin!"
Before Derek was even sitting up, Odette was gone.
As quickly as he could, Derek followed her to Robin's room.
Alone in the dark and terrified, Robin tried to calm herself, but her intense fear would not subside. Her breathing was ragged as her lungs begged for more air while her heart was at full gallop. She'd never had a dream that was so real that everything in it was nearly tangible and every emotion was felt in her very soul.
Coupling that with the content of the dream, the nightmare was definitely the worst Robin ever had.
The door suddenly burst open, momentarily adding to her fear until she realized it was only Odette and Derek.
"What's wrong?" Odette asked urgently the moment the door was open. Relieved that Robin was safe – if only physically – she dashed in and sat down on the bed next to Robin. She lowered her voice to a more calming tone and put her hands on Robin's shoulders. "What happened?"
As Robin looked up to Odette to answer, she saw how much she looked like Gwen. Overcome with a sudden sense of immeasurable grief, Robin burst into tears and cried into Odette's shoulder.
Shocked for a moment, Odette glanced over at Derek, who looked just as surprised. She had never seen Robin cry – or even show grief – so openly.
Where was the girl who bravely smiled through hide her pain?
Had it all finally become too much? After all, she'd been bearing a year's worth of pain all by herself. She talked about Gwen, told about how she died, but Robin didn't show how much it hurt. She only revealed a fraction of her pain.
Whatever the reason for her tears, Robin could not repress them.
Snapping out of her shock, Odette put a comforting arm around Robin.
"It's alright," she whispered soothingly. She wasn't sure what was alright, but she had to say something. She loved her niece and it hurt her to see Robin cry the way she was.
Robin could only cry harder. A year's worth of tears, a year's worth of pain flooded from her eyes and onto Odette's shoulder. Odette could feel the girl shake beneath her hands.
Finally, the sounds of crying stopped, and Robin was still.
Gently, Odette pushed Robin back so that she could see her niece's face. She pushed Robin's now damp hair from her face so she could get a better look. "What happened? Tell me all about it."
"I had a dream, a nightmare," she began, drying her eyes. "And in it, I saw my mother die, just as I did when it was a reality, but... I could feel everything. When the man who murdered her came into the house, I could sense his hatred for her. It was so heavy, so strong that… I can't begin to describe it to you.
"And then, I could feel my mother's fear. I knew she was afraid. How could she not be? But I had no idea how intense it was, not until now.
"And when she was killed… I felt her pain, physical pain. It wasn't a fleeting moment that ended as quickly as it started… It felt like a lifetime burning. And to know that death was coming, that it was her last moment… Feeling that firsthand… I never imagined what it was like."
Odette knew exactly what it felt like to see her death coming toward her. She remembered, in vivid detail, the feelings of fear and regret and grief and so many other things she had when Zelda's fireball was coming closer to her. In what she was sure would be her last act on Earth, she pushed Puffin, who had been trying to free her from the vines that she was tangled in, away so that he wouldn't be killed along with her.
In that moment, when she knew she was going to die, there was no escape from the terror she faced. Odette understood what Robin had just experienced.
"And then…" Robin said, quietly so that she was almost whispering. "She said something strange to me… 'He's coming for you.'"
Odette stared at Robin for a moment.
"It was a warning," she whispered.
Robin nodded. "I know. But from who?"
Odette shivered. Surely Gwen would never show Robin such a terrible dream.
"She worries," Odette heard Gwen say. "She's stressed and her imagination has taken its hold. You must understand that Robin feels every emotion with great impact. And right now, she's scared. She'll never admit it to you, but she is scared."
Then it wasn't a warning, just a manifestation of Robin's fear.
Odette opted to say nothing about it. Rather, she decided to distract Robin.
"Listen, he's not going to hurt you. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe here."
As Derek watched and listened from the doorway, he found himself impressed by Odette. He had never seen her so motherly before. Of course she had compassion and kindness; those were attributes that she'd had all her life though he didn't notice until the night he realized just how much he loved her.
Odette had grown up. She, like Derek, had become wise and more loving than she had ever expected in herself. However, Derek had great expectations for her, and he knew that she would one day become the wonderful woman he saw before him. Now that he was seeing her for what she had become, he was in awe.
And, because of that, he loved her that much more.
And because of that, he wanted to protect her that much more.
The situation would not be just a battle with the Forbidden Arts. It would be a battle with their own nerves. The anticipation was taxing on all of them. All they could do was wait and endure. It was enough to make Derek wish that the murderer would show himself and be done with it.
He had no idea how very soon he would be getting his wish and how terrible the consequences of that wish would be.
