"Esmeralda! ESMERALDA!" A young girl was knocked out of her daydreaming while staring out at the landscape of Paris from her new balcony.
The girl in question, Esmeralda Valverde, turned towards her twin brother Enzo, short for Lorenzo, "What?"
Enzo gestured to the box in his hands, "Do you want to help and get your stuff from the truck?"
Esmeralda nodded and started to walk out but paused as she noticed her twin wasn't moving. She crossed her arms. "This is my room."
Enzo shrugged unconcerned. "Okay."
The female Valverde didn't let up, "I swear it Enzo, it's mine. "
"Do you really not trust me?" he scoffed.
"I've already marked it as mine."
Enzo raised his eyebrow challengingly. "Oh really?"
She pushed him out in front of her and close the door behind them, she then bent down and licked the handle. "No imagine what I've already done to the other surfaces."
The boy exclaimed in disgust and walked away, "Don't come to me for help with building your furniture, weirdo!"
Esmeralda rolled her eyes and started to make her way downstairs to help her parents.
"Did you really have to lick the door handle? Who knows what could have been on it?" Alvaa, Esmeralda's swan kwami asked as she flew out of her long locks.
The human shrugged, "I don't see him trying to go in now, do you?"
Esmeralda found Alvaa and her Miraculous swan cuff in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef. Alejandro Valverde was a wildlife conservationist that often dragged his family across the world during their holidays to the various locations his projects took him on.
This time he was working on efforts to help restore the reefs and Esmeralda found a box tucked under some rocks when scuba diving, thinking it was some kind of debris or litter she picked it up.
It was only later that night when she opened it up and found a beautiful black cuff shaped into a swan that she realised that it was treasure she found. Esmeralda immediately put the beautiful jewellery on.
There was a blinding light and suddenly a little bird creature was floating in front of her. Esmeralda squeaked in surprise and flapped her arms at the bird thing.
The flapping wasn't working so she started to whisper shout, 'Shoo! Shoo!"
The bird thing folded it's arm-wing-things and if a bird could look unimpressed, it did. "What are you trying to do?"
The girl froze, her arms hanging in the air mid-flap. "It talks. You talk."
The bird rolled it's eyes, "Of course I do, I'm a Kwami."
The girl couldn't get over the talking part. "YOU TALK!"
The Kwami shhhh'd her but continued. "Yes, I am Alvaa, the Kwami of the Swan Miraculous."
"K-kwami? Miraculous?" She staggered towards her bed and sat down in shock.
"Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created. These were... the Miraculous. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race."
"Three of these Miraculous are more powerful than the others; the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation; the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction; and the cuff of the Swan, which bestows the power of balance."
"According to legend, whoever controls all three of these jewels at the same time, will achieve absolute power."
Esmeralda still shellshocked nodded like she actually had any idea of what was happening. Alvaa sighed, "The previous wielder must have had to hide me to protect the power of the Swan Miraculous. They must have had to have been in trouble if they couldn't return me to the guardian of the Miraculouses."
The girl's eyes softened in sympathy, "Well at least I found you, do you know where I can send you so you can go back?"
The swan Kwami shook her head frantically, "No! No you can't! You are now the holder of the Swan Miraculous, it's your duty to provide balance to the world and protect the power of the Miraculous!"
"Provide balance? What?"
"Yeah, when you say "Alvaa, time to fly!" I'll go into the cuff, you'll transform and then be granted the powers of the Swan Miraculous. These powers are flight with your wings and 'Swan Song', when you say this you'll you'll be able to perform a sonic scream that creates a concussive blast with multiple uses. However you'll only have five minutes until you transform back to your civilian self after using it. You will also have Swan Sense which enhances your intuition and acts as a psychological awareness of your surroundings at all times, you'll be able to detect danger before it happens. You can fix any destruction caused by throwing your compact mirror/communicator in the air and saying "Miraculous Swan". Lastly your Miraculous's weapons are a pair of fans and do detransform you just need to say "Alvaa, time to land!"
Alvaa looked at her holder, the 14 year old was pale from taking in all that information. Esmeralda nodded to herself, "Okay, I need to go to sleep now."
"What?!" Alvaa flew over to Esmeralda and started to tug at her hair as she tucked herself into bed. The girl blindly batted at the Kwami, "If I wake up tomorrow and you are still here, we'll try out the transforming but right now I'm clearly sleep deprived to be making up things like this."
That was a month ago, it took a while to get Esmeralda to come around but really Alvaa could be prouder of how the young holder easily picked up the abilities of the Swan Miraculous.
Esmeralda and Enzo helped their parents unpack their belongings for the next few hours.
Giselle Valverde was originally from Paris but met Alejandro in New York City. She had just finished training at the Paris Ballet Opera School and was starting as a ballerina in the New York City Ballet, Alejandro was studying at NYC. They quickly fell in love despite their opposite personalities. They were like fire and ice but complemented each other well.
After marrying, The Valverdes started to travel around the world following Alejandro's free spirit that yearned for adventure. They had their first son Derek who was now 22 and at university in New York City, two years later they had Marcel who was also at university in New York. By this time, the nomadic lifestyle they had was really starting to grate on Giselle, she missed being a ballerina and having a steady routine.
They decided to settle down back in New York City, Giselle returned to ballet and Alejandro found a job organising wildlife conservation projects. This lasted two years until Alejandro then broke. He couldn't live watching other people do the work he wanted to do. It took a year of separation, arguments and struggles but eventually the couple came to a compromise. They loved each other dearly and passionately but needed someone who could balance out the aspects of their personalities that could never meld together.
This missing piece came with the inclusion of Honeymaren Everdeen, another dancer at the New York City Ballet. They quickly joined together as a triad, their love sharing equally between each other. Honeymaren loved Derek and Marcel like her own children, she was unable to have any and so took up the mantle of another mother with beautiful ease.
Alejandro started to travel around the world taking the family with him when they were able to take holidays and visiting when he could. By the time the twins Enzo and Esmeralda were born when Derek was 8 and Marcel was 6, the family had settled down to a comfortable arrangement.
Giselle was offered an opportunity as a Producer at the Paris Opera Ballet and eagerly accepted after discussions with the family, Honeymaren moved with her planning on opening her own dance studio to teach and the twins were the only children still underage who had to join them.
They moved to Paris two weeks before the twins had to start school, enough time for the family to settle in the new city.