Author's Notes. Oh, I'm so terrible! ;.; I know it's been so long since I updated... I haven't been around FF.net for quite a while and just recently came back to finish a fanfic by shirebound that I had been reading. And I realized then that I hadn't written in this fic in forever, and I felt so horrible. I'm so sorry!
Thank you, everyone, for you sweet and kind reviews. I know my story isn't perfect, but I'm doing my best, and it's good to know you enjoy it. Keiko, I'm glad it reminds you of Thumbelina - it's supposed to! And Momentum, you're right on the mark. There will be a lot more characters in this story once the plot gets moving. In fact, I'm so sneaky and so playing up the AU setting that I'm using both characters from the second season and some who only appeared in the first season! (But no Nova. Sigh.) I have lots of wonderful things in mind for this story, but I'm hoping to be surprised by how it goes - that's always much more fun.
Once again, thank you all so much for your encouragement! And once again, I'm so sorry this was so long in coming. There's quite a bit of somewhat boring description in this chapter, and a bit of repetition at times... Sigh. I hope it's worth the wait.
Disclaimer. Magic Knight Rayearth and all related characters are © CLAMP. I'm just a silly little girl who loves the characters and loves writing about them, and I am in no way associated with CLAMP. Also, because this is an alternate-universe story, some of the details of setting and character have been changed for plot purposes (for example, instead of being a Farl, Presea is a woman who lives in a forest and tends her mystical gardens). These details do not necessarily reflect the original ideas of CLAMP.
The Swallow Sang It to Me
Chapter Three
"Aie!" Presea's hand flew to her mouth and she sucked her injured finger miserably. "Heavens, I hate sewing."
Little Umi, perched on the edge of a saucer on the table nearby, peered up at the dress Presea was sewing. "Is that mine?"
"No, darling, this one's for Hikaru. Pink is a good color for her, don't you think?" Presea held up the tiny garment. "The stiches will be a bit big to you, but they're as tiny as I can make them."
The small girl kicked her heels against the table-top idly. "What color will mine be?"
Presea considered Umi's petite form, then said, "Perhaps white, or maybe a very dark blue. I'm not sure yet."
"Could you make it with a bow in the back?"
"Of course."
Fuu and Hikaru, meanwhile, were busy arranging their little "bedroom" on Presea's bedside table. The bottom of an empty large matchbox was big enough to serve as a comfortable bed for the three to share. Presea had collected cattail fluff and packed it inside a sewn-up scrap of cloth to serve as a mattress. Now Fuu was carefully making blankets, using glue to stick more cattail fluff on the backs of large leaves. It was awkward for her, using half a cotton swab that was nearly as big as her to smear glue from a thimble onto the backs of the leaves.
On the other hand, Hikaru was decorating the little wardrobe Presea had made (it was nothing more than the other half of the matchbox with a wooden splint stuck in to make a bar to hang clothing on). Hikaru was using the other half of the cotton swab and another thimble of glue to stick flower petals all over the makeshift wardrobe.
Presea glanced over at their handiwork as she fumbled with the needle on the miniscule stitching. "That looks lovely, girls!"
"You sound surprised." Hikaru giggled, pressing a large yellow petal onto the side of the wardrobe.
"Well, only that you got it done so fast. Fuu, dear, are you going to make pillows?"
"Oh!" Fuu dropped a ball of cattail fluff. "I had forgotten all about pillows." She paused thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, "What should I make them out of?"
"Whatever you want. Be innovative, you're very good at that." Presea smiled serenely as she turned back to finishing Hikaru's dress. The girls had only been here two days, but already her loneliness was completely washed away. With their bright smiles and innocent cheerfulness and occasional amusing but short-lived bickering (usually Umi's fault), Presea had been smiling almost all the time. And she loved having so much to do. She'd spent the whole day yesterday sewing them little nightgowns and talking with them, and today she was starting their day-clothing. Besides that, there had been making their bed, and there was still so much more to do. She wanted to make them boots and coats so they could go outside, little combs and plates, bowls, cups, and silverware their size, little chairs and a table and maybe a couch to sit on... there was so much to do.
And everything was so tiny! Umi was the tallest, exactly as big as Presea's thumb - about two inches. Fuu was a bit shorter, and Hikaru was tiny at just over one-and-a-half inches. To make clothing and furniture and other necessities for girls so small was a trying task, but Presea was being creative. Last night they had bathed in a teacup; a matchbox had gone to serve well as their bed. She was already envisioning winecork chairs.
Staying busy helped Presea more than she had ever thought it could. She was still occupied with tending to her gardens, cooking, and keeping the house clean, but those small chores left a lot of listless time. Now that time was full of fingers pricked on sewing needles and collecting cattails and chattering with the girls the whole time. For being so small, Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi had loud voices, and Presea could carry on a conversation with them from the other side of the small one-room cabin if they yelled a bit.
Hikaru's dress was done. She let Umi climb up onto her palm and took her over to the bedside table. There she knelt and called Hikaru over. The little redhead obediently pulled off her flower-petal dress and pulled on the practical pink dress Presea gave her. Hikaru gave a gasp of delight, twirling around to make the skirt flare. "Oh, Presea, it's wonderful!" she squealed. "It's so comfortable and pretty!"
Presea's ever-present smile widened. "I'm so glad you like it. I hope it's comfy enough to work in."
"Oh yes, I could do anything in this dress! It's just perfect!"
Presea clasped her hands together and sighed. "I'm so glad you like it."
----------------------
The sight of the frail, hollow-faced woman lying so still in the tiny bed turned Master Clef's heart. He softly laid one small hand over her deathly pale one, his fingers trembling. "Emeraude." She didn't stir. "Emeraude, please..."
"Master Clef."
Clef turned to glance over his shoulder at the tall shadow of a man haunting the doorway. "Zagato."
"How... is she?"
Turning back to Emeraude, Clef shook his head. "She... she is unresponsive. Her fever is raging and she seems to... to be wasting away even more. This morning she could open her eyes and recognize her brother for a moment, but now..." He squeezed his eyes shut against burning tears. "Now she will not even respond to my voice. Her eyes aren't even moving beneath their lids."
Zagato didn't move from his position. "Will she... make it through the night?"
The little Master's head was bowed over Emeraude's death-pale form. "I... no. We've tried for hours to lower her fever and cannot. She will not live."
Stiffly, almost mechanically, Zagato went and kneeled by the bedside. Clef pulled away and rose to his feet, leaving the room with his eyes downcast. When he was gone, Zagato reached out and gathered the feverish woman in his arms, pulling her close to him. She didn't stir or make a sound. He pressed his face into her hair, his unbridled tears sliding down the long blonde strands. His lips quivered as he spoke to her voicelessly.
Her head lolled against his chest limply. Only as he felt her furious heartbeat did he know she was still alive.
"Emeraude..."
----------------------
Fuu dipped her little hollowed-out acorn shell into the steaming water Presea was making soup in. As soon as Presea put her down on the side of the stove, the tiny blond girl picked up the acorn cap, which was full of spices that had been crushed to a fine powder and little tiny particles of noodle, and poured the cap's contents into the hot water before clamping the cap over the shell. Presea laughed softly, picked Fuu up on her palm, and carried her to the table. Fuu stood at the little table which stood by Presea's plate and shook up the soup in the acorn. "Come on, Hikaru."
Hikaru looked up from her work on the other side of the table, where she was experimenting with toothpicks and blunted rose thorns in an attempt to make... something. "Coming, Fuu!" She dropped her work and ran over as Umi sat in her little chair across from Fuu and Presea was cutting off little chunks of biscuit for the girls. Hikaru flopped down in her chair while Fuu poured soup out of the cumbersome acorn into the girls' bowls.
Presea sat down at her seat and folded her hands; Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu followed suit as presea bowed her head. "Thank you for the food we've been blessed with and the earth that's supplied all we need. Bless this food and thank you that we have each other."
"Amen!" Hikaru said, perhaps a bit prematurely, but Presea only smiled and let it go as Hikaru sampled the soup and complimented Fuu with a "It's delicious!"
Fuu gave a shy grin. "Thank you, Hikaru. Presea helped me crush up the spices and noodles. They were so big at first." She observed the noodle pieces floating in her soup. "Though the noodles are still a bit large..."
"Oh, it's perfect, Fuu," Umi said, breaking up her piece of biscuit and sprinkling the bits into her bowl. She glanced at Hikaru's handiwork at the other end of the big table and asked, "Hikaru, what on earth were you doing down there?"
"Making a towel rack."
"O-oh." Umi choked back her laughter. "Of course."
"So, Presea," Hikaru said in a business-like tone, "what's next?"
Presea chewed her biscuit thoughtfully. Nearly a month had passed already in a whirl. They had made a table and chairs, all the dishes they needed, three dresses for each, and a good sturdy pair of boots for all of them. She wasn't sure where the time had gone, but it already seemed that her little flower-girls had been with her forever. There were certainly still things that needed to be made, but she wasn't sure what to tackle first.
Then her eyes brightened. Leaning forward and looking her girls in the eyes, Presea asked with a grin on her face, "What would you say to learning how to garden?"
Thank you, everyone, for you sweet and kind reviews. I know my story isn't perfect, but I'm doing my best, and it's good to know you enjoy it. Keiko, I'm glad it reminds you of Thumbelina - it's supposed to! And Momentum, you're right on the mark. There will be a lot more characters in this story once the plot gets moving. In fact, I'm so sneaky and so playing up the AU setting that I'm using both characters from the second season and some who only appeared in the first season! (But no Nova. Sigh.) I have lots of wonderful things in mind for this story, but I'm hoping to be surprised by how it goes - that's always much more fun.
Once again, thank you all so much for your encouragement! And once again, I'm so sorry this was so long in coming. There's quite a bit of somewhat boring description in this chapter, and a bit of repetition at times... Sigh. I hope it's worth the wait.
Disclaimer. Magic Knight Rayearth and all related characters are © CLAMP. I'm just a silly little girl who loves the characters and loves writing about them, and I am in no way associated with CLAMP. Also, because this is an alternate-universe story, some of the details of setting and character have been changed for plot purposes (for example, instead of being a Farl, Presea is a woman who lives in a forest and tends her mystical gardens). These details do not necessarily reflect the original ideas of CLAMP.
Chapter Three
"Aie!" Presea's hand flew to her mouth and she sucked her injured finger miserably. "Heavens, I hate sewing."
Little Umi, perched on the edge of a saucer on the table nearby, peered up at the dress Presea was sewing. "Is that mine?"
"No, darling, this one's for Hikaru. Pink is a good color for her, don't you think?" Presea held up the tiny garment. "The stiches will be a bit big to you, but they're as tiny as I can make them."
The small girl kicked her heels against the table-top idly. "What color will mine be?"
Presea considered Umi's petite form, then said, "Perhaps white, or maybe a very dark blue. I'm not sure yet."
"Could you make it with a bow in the back?"
"Of course."
Fuu and Hikaru, meanwhile, were busy arranging their little "bedroom" on Presea's bedside table. The bottom of an empty large matchbox was big enough to serve as a comfortable bed for the three to share. Presea had collected cattail fluff and packed it inside a sewn-up scrap of cloth to serve as a mattress. Now Fuu was carefully making blankets, using glue to stick more cattail fluff on the backs of large leaves. It was awkward for her, using half a cotton swab that was nearly as big as her to smear glue from a thimble onto the backs of the leaves.
On the other hand, Hikaru was decorating the little wardrobe Presea had made (it was nothing more than the other half of the matchbox with a wooden splint stuck in to make a bar to hang clothing on). Hikaru was using the other half of the cotton swab and another thimble of glue to stick flower petals all over the makeshift wardrobe.
Presea glanced over at their handiwork as she fumbled with the needle on the miniscule stitching. "That looks lovely, girls!"
"You sound surprised." Hikaru giggled, pressing a large yellow petal onto the side of the wardrobe.
"Well, only that you got it done so fast. Fuu, dear, are you going to make pillows?"
"Oh!" Fuu dropped a ball of cattail fluff. "I had forgotten all about pillows." She paused thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, "What should I make them out of?"
"Whatever you want. Be innovative, you're very good at that." Presea smiled serenely as she turned back to finishing Hikaru's dress. The girls had only been here two days, but already her loneliness was completely washed away. With their bright smiles and innocent cheerfulness and occasional amusing but short-lived bickering (usually Umi's fault), Presea had been smiling almost all the time. And she loved having so much to do. She'd spent the whole day yesterday sewing them little nightgowns and talking with them, and today she was starting their day-clothing. Besides that, there had been making their bed, and there was still so much more to do. She wanted to make them boots and coats so they could go outside, little combs and plates, bowls, cups, and silverware their size, little chairs and a table and maybe a couch to sit on... there was so much to do.
And everything was so tiny! Umi was the tallest, exactly as big as Presea's thumb - about two inches. Fuu was a bit shorter, and Hikaru was tiny at just over one-and-a-half inches. To make clothing and furniture and other necessities for girls so small was a trying task, but Presea was being creative. Last night they had bathed in a teacup; a matchbox had gone to serve well as their bed. She was already envisioning winecork chairs.
Staying busy helped Presea more than she had ever thought it could. She was still occupied with tending to her gardens, cooking, and keeping the house clean, but those small chores left a lot of listless time. Now that time was full of fingers pricked on sewing needles and collecting cattails and chattering with the girls the whole time. For being so small, Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi had loud voices, and Presea could carry on a conversation with them from the other side of the small one-room cabin if they yelled a bit.
Hikaru's dress was done. She let Umi climb up onto her palm and took her over to the bedside table. There she knelt and called Hikaru over. The little redhead obediently pulled off her flower-petal dress and pulled on the practical pink dress Presea gave her. Hikaru gave a gasp of delight, twirling around to make the skirt flare. "Oh, Presea, it's wonderful!" she squealed. "It's so comfortable and pretty!"
Presea's ever-present smile widened. "I'm so glad you like it. I hope it's comfy enough to work in."
"Oh yes, I could do anything in this dress! It's just perfect!"
Presea clasped her hands together and sighed. "I'm so glad you like it."
The sight of the frail, hollow-faced woman lying so still in the tiny bed turned Master Clef's heart. He softly laid one small hand over her deathly pale one, his fingers trembling. "Emeraude." She didn't stir. "Emeraude, please..."
"Master Clef."
Clef turned to glance over his shoulder at the tall shadow of a man haunting the doorway. "Zagato."
"How... is she?"
Turning back to Emeraude, Clef shook his head. "She... she is unresponsive. Her fever is raging and she seems to... to be wasting away even more. This morning she could open her eyes and recognize her brother for a moment, but now..." He squeezed his eyes shut against burning tears. "Now she will not even respond to my voice. Her eyes aren't even moving beneath their lids."
Zagato didn't move from his position. "Will she... make it through the night?"
The little Master's head was bowed over Emeraude's death-pale form. "I... no. We've tried for hours to lower her fever and cannot. She will not live."
Stiffly, almost mechanically, Zagato went and kneeled by the bedside. Clef pulled away and rose to his feet, leaving the room with his eyes downcast. When he was gone, Zagato reached out and gathered the feverish woman in his arms, pulling her close to him. She didn't stir or make a sound. He pressed his face into her hair, his unbridled tears sliding down the long blonde strands. His lips quivered as he spoke to her voicelessly.
Her head lolled against his chest limply. Only as he felt her furious heartbeat did he know she was still alive.
"Emeraude..."
Fuu dipped her little hollowed-out acorn shell into the steaming water Presea was making soup in. As soon as Presea put her down on the side of the stove, the tiny blond girl picked up the acorn cap, which was full of spices that had been crushed to a fine powder and little tiny particles of noodle, and poured the cap's contents into the hot water before clamping the cap over the shell. Presea laughed softly, picked Fuu up on her palm, and carried her to the table. Fuu stood at the little table which stood by Presea's plate and shook up the soup in the acorn. "Come on, Hikaru."
Hikaru looked up from her work on the other side of the table, where she was experimenting with toothpicks and blunted rose thorns in an attempt to make... something. "Coming, Fuu!" She dropped her work and ran over as Umi sat in her little chair across from Fuu and Presea was cutting off little chunks of biscuit for the girls. Hikaru flopped down in her chair while Fuu poured soup out of the cumbersome acorn into the girls' bowls.
Presea sat down at her seat and folded her hands; Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu followed suit as presea bowed her head. "Thank you for the food we've been blessed with and the earth that's supplied all we need. Bless this food and thank you that we have each other."
"Amen!" Hikaru said, perhaps a bit prematurely, but Presea only smiled and let it go as Hikaru sampled the soup and complimented Fuu with a "It's delicious!"
Fuu gave a shy grin. "Thank you, Hikaru. Presea helped me crush up the spices and noodles. They were so big at first." She observed the noodle pieces floating in her soup. "Though the noodles are still a bit large..."
"Oh, it's perfect, Fuu," Umi said, breaking up her piece of biscuit and sprinkling the bits into her bowl. She glanced at Hikaru's handiwork at the other end of the big table and asked, "Hikaru, what on earth were you doing down there?"
"Making a towel rack."
"O-oh." Umi choked back her laughter. "Of course."
"So, Presea," Hikaru said in a business-like tone, "what's next?"
Presea chewed her biscuit thoughtfully. Nearly a month had passed already in a whirl. They had made a table and chairs, all the dishes they needed, three dresses for each, and a good sturdy pair of boots for all of them. She wasn't sure where the time had gone, but it already seemed that her little flower-girls had been with her forever. There were certainly still things that needed to be made, but she wasn't sure what to tackle first.
Then her eyes brightened. Leaning forward and looking her girls in the eyes, Presea asked with a grin on her face, "What would you say to learning how to garden?"