Author's note: Another large update – okay, I'm bored, and I have nothing better to do. That's what happens when you get your wisdom teeth taken out. Enjoy.
Rosethorn: Hey, how's Gavin, is he behaving? ^_^ And who is Kirith? I am very curious about that…
Chien: Well thank you for the lovely (and long!) review! I'm glad you like it, and hope that this tale of mine will continue to entertain you until its end.
Beauty being okay with almost getting killed – well, her life wasn't really ever in actual danger. Yes, he lost control for a moment, and yes, it did look as if she was going to be killed (or at least severely maimed), but two important facts remain to combat this. First, she's an enchantress now so she could have fought him off if it came to that, and second, he wouldn't ever actually hurt her (meaning he would have realized what he was doing no matter what before anything really bad happened). So as for her being able to forgive him so quickly, it's really simply because she knew that he hadn't meant to act that way – she *sees* a bit more than that. And, before I get the story started now, you will learn of the Beast's real name very soon…in fact, you'll learn a lot about him in the very near future!
Disclaimer/claimer: Same as usual – own some of this, don't own some of this, it's up for you to decide, disclaimers are booooooring…
And now for something completely different.
Beauty:
Of Castles in the Clouds, Literally
A gigantic beanstalk, reaching far into the clouds…
That night changed everything between us. The Beast ceased to make himself scarce during the day and I found that he was, in addition to being quiet, grave, and even somewhat shy, really very kind and considerate, gifted with a stunning intellect, a charming wit, and an alarming intelligence. He knew all about the world and its ways and could tell me endless stories about things that I could have only imagined before. I don't quite know if he learned any more about my own character, but I tried to be as much myself as I could, since I was uninterested in playing a part.
With him, I felt that I could be whatever I wanted to be, could do whatever I wanted, could dream of anything.
He asked me about my life, and my family, since we had never spoken of them before and I had informed him that I really didn't mind recalling old memories. I told him about my early life and the places that Papa had taken me to, and I told him about Nelisia and Tizirra. And even though I tried very hard not to betray the unkindness and spite of my stepmother and sister, he guessed at it, much to my self-effacement.
I think it was then that he truly understood why I hadn't minded coming to the castle to live solely in his company.
* * *
We had created a habit, between the two of us, of having my lessons in magic and enchantment in the morning as soon as I had had my breakfast and dressed for the day. Then we would complete whatever he had planned for me to learn that day, and the castle grounds would receive a visit from the only two visitors that they ever had. I wondered, casually, from time to time, if this castle had ever been any different than it was now. Castles were generally the home of a royal family, or at least a lord or a wizard or something to that effect, and yet this one had a master who was neither human nor animal, and no one but the Beast, the Sprytes, and I lived there.
I didn't care to ask the Beast about it, however. Some secrets, it was said, were best left to themselves if someone didn't explain them immediately.
But I digress.
After our walk in the gardens, we would go our separate ways. I would return to my room, change clothing, and then have my lunch. Sometimes it would be provided in a dining hall; sometimes it would turn up in a spacious, warm drawing room, or even in the library, once or twice. When lunch was over, I would read either in the library or in my room until I grew bored of it, or was inspired to other action, and then I would sally forth into the unknown.
For that was what the castle, on the large, still was to me.
I can't remember how many times I lost myself within it, but it always seemed that I either found my way out, or my Sprytes would come to my aid, or I would run across the Beast. Ah, in those times – meaning when he rescued me from my aimless wanderings – the castle actually had a plan to it, and I could see where I was. The countless numbers of rooms focused into recognizable positions and I could find my way about. And then I would lose myself again, but it was all quite worth it.
My life was completely happy. I had everything I could have ever wanted, I had my new powers to train, I was treated like a princess, and I had the best of all company to be friends with. Wasn't this much better than being married off by my scheming stepmother to some fat, cruel old toad, or kept in drudgery at home?
I still wondered, of course, about how my family was faring.
I hoped that Papa wasn't worrying himself sick over fear for me, but when I learned that I could send him dreams of my wonderful new life, that concern completely dissipated. Papa knew that I was all right and that I was content, and that was all I need. Nelisia and Tizirra, I found, were still themselves, and I found myself wanting to seriously consider if there was any hope of them ever changing.
I was lying curled up on a large, amply-stuffed couch of sapphire silk with golden edging, thinking of all of this, in an open, elaborate tower room that was set high atop the castle when I heard steps coming up the stairwell behind me.
"Are you hiding from me, milady?" came a slightly amused voice.
I turned around, glancing at him over my shoulder, and smiled mischievously.
"Nooo…" I said, drawing out the word. "Just trying to think."
"Am I that terrible of a distraction?" the Beast asked plaintively, as he entered the room and crossed over to the window that the couch had been set nearby. He looked at me for a moment, as if considering something, and I noticed that he had taken the suggestion that I had given him a few weeks before, a number of nights after the strange episode in the library – the suggestion that perhaps he wouldn't be so depressed all of the time if he stopped wearing black so much. Today, he wore a deep, regal blue that was a vivid contrast against the darker colour of the couch that I was sprawled on.
I grinned to myself, reveling in this newest victory, as he continued, "I've had the Geckos out all this hour looking for you."
"Why?" I drawled, languorously sitting up and stretching my arms out above my head. "Haven't you been busy with your…" I hesitated then, not quite knowing how to term the things that he occupied himself with during the day – I knew that, as a result of being a master enchanter, he had his own dealings with his powers, but there was something else that he always seemed to be busy with.
Something that he wouldn't tell me about.
"With your studies?"
That was as good a word for it as any, I figured.
He shrugged, his powerful shoulders rolling underneath the blue velvet, and I discovered, as I continued to look at him, that he had quite an attractive figure – if you left off the dragon's face, which could, I supposed, unnerve some people. It didn't bother me, not anymore. He was very tall, with broad, strong shoulders and a slender build that was incredibly elegant and very graceful. It almost seemed, at times, that he was more of a cross between a man and a beast, rather than all beast. After all, his hands were…well, very much like hands, with the exception of the scales that completely covered them instead of skin, and the long, sharp claws that tipped the fingers. When I wasn't looking at his face, it was hard not to think of him as a man. His voice was certainly close enough to being either faery or human – it was a clear, soft tenor except for when he was irritated or angry. I only knew this because of that night in the library, and because sometimes the Sprytes managed to annoy him.
"I felt like seeing you. When I stop doing something, it's for me to decide."
I raised a questioning eyebrow.
"So it's master-apprentice, is it? Well, what did you want, Master?"
I stood and faced him, my eyes sparkling with the merriment of teasing him.
"You didn't come all of this way just to put me back in my place, did you?"
"No." he pretended to snap, although the way that the corners of his mouth were twitching and the sparkle in his own yellow eyes made it clear that, even if I hadn't been entirely sure of his playfulness, it would have soon surfaced into reality. "No, I came here to ask you – milady," he said the formal title pointedly, bowing with a courtly flourish, "If you would permit me to join you during your lunch today. As the weather outside is growing quite spectacular today, I thought that perhaps you would like to have it somewhere you can see it. And I was bored anyway, so…"
"I would very much enjoy your company, milord," I told him, putting down the book that I had been reading and moving towards the door. He offered me his arm and I wove mine through it, scarcely even stopping to wonder at the fact that we now allowed ourselves contact with one another when, some months before, we had hardly dared to look one another in the face.
"But you'll have to actually join me or I'll feel very guilty."
The winding stairway was dark and cool, and I could only tell that his demeanor was suddenly a bit more serious and melancholy than before by the tone of his voice.
"You can't really want that, Beauty."
I felt my heart flutter a bit, for some odd, unexplained reason, and then I said, smiling up at him, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want it. Please, Beast."
There was a pause, as if he was deciding what to do, and then I caught a flash of what might have been considered the exposing of far too many long, white teeth, and I heard the soft chuckle that he allowed himself.
"Alright, little Beauty. I can deny you nothing."
* * *
Surprise of all surprises then – during lunch, which we had picnic-style in the library's sunny reading room, the Beast actually ate with me. He was reluctant about it at first, but I managed to convince him, even though he still somewhat balked when I offered to help him. Soon enough, however, we were talking and laughing and enjoying ourselves as if there wasn't anything else in the world to concern ourselves with.
Oh, but there was. There was.
It all started when he left me momentarily to summon a few Sprytes to take care of the things left over from lunch.
I decided to walk around a bit while I was waiting for him and look more closely at the part of the gardens that the library overlooked – after all, I hadn't yet visited all of them, and this one was certainly new territory to me.
There were birds singing cheerfully in the trees all about me, the sun was shining, and a bit of a breeze had come up, blowing a few large, fluffy white clouds into the crystal blue sky. I spotted a long walkway, which had been made into a sort of tunnel by the branches of the trees which stood on either side of it, woven perfectly together, and I moved towards it, interested in seeing what lay beyond it.
As the snowflake-and-icicle-laced end of the tunnel came up towards me, I saw that the Beast had returned: a dark figure, hooded and robed, was walking down the passage in my direction. I wondered why he had changed clothing, for now he quite clearly wore black – he had been wearing royal blue that day…
Oddly, he stopped when we had come to almost fifteen feet of one another, and stood, watching me from beneath the hood that he wore. I felt that my lips had curved upwards in a bit of a smile, but I knew that I was also frowning slightly, as I was very puzzled indeed. There seemed to be a bit of a chill in the air just then.
"Milady?"
His voice seemed different. Perhaps the tunnel caused sounds to echo, or change somehow. I didn't know; so, confused, I replied, "Yes…"
He didn't move, but instead spoke again.
"My, what tiny hands you have."
All right, what is this? Something's wrong here. This isn't the Beast.
I eyed my companion for a moment, wondering exactly what was going on. Well…if this wasn't the Beast, I would just have to deal with it.
"My, what big feet you have." I fired back.
"All the better to walk through these gardens with," was the reply.
"My, what a strange voice you have."
Now tell me who you are. I'm getting irritated with you and your little game.
"All the better to speak to you with."
I took a step backwards, letting my fingers curve and lock so that it appeared as if I was holding two invisible globes. A warm, tense feeling pressed up against my palms and a faint light grew into being, seemingly emitted by my skin. I raised my hands and flung them out to either side of myself, and twin beams of dazzling light rushed away from me, hurtling through the air to run up the snowy walls of the tunnel and collect at its roof. Now everything was lit and I could clearly see the imposter.
"My, what gigantic hands you have." I commented coolly.
He reached up with those same hands and threw the hood back off of his head, revealing a head completely bereft of any hair, with two large ears, and a broad, flat face with scraggly gray eyebrows, beady brown eyes, a hooked nose, a mouth full of uneven teeth, and a double, almost triple, chin. And he was nine feet tall.
A giant – of course. Just my luck.
"All the better to carry you off with."
And then he threw his cloak at me. I turned to run, simultaneously trying to think up a way to fight him, but the heavy, dingy black material hit me and I fell down into a seeming pit of blackness.
My last thought before I thought no more was, All right – now what?
* * *
Author's note: A giant – now what fairy tale could this be from, I wonder? It's not the first fairy tale to be featured in here, and it won't be the last – read on! (And if anybody can tell me all of the fairy tales that have been in this fic so far, I will see to it personally that that person gets a bouquet of enchanted roses…) ^_^