The Royal Pets
King Siegfried and Queen Rue ambled arm in arm through their garden as they took their customary evening stroll. It was always a short stroll, but the royal pair made sure to take one every day after dinner for a breath of fresh air before the evening merriment began. The royal pair strolled in the direction of a copse of trees, hidden within was a sparkling pond screened from prying eyes within the palace by the trees. Siegfried and Rue came up to the very edge of the little pond, the Rue's skirts flirting dangerously with the water gently lapping at the shore, as she lowered herself to an elegant crouch she pulled a pure white handkerchief from a pocket hidden in the folds of her matching pure white dress and unfolded it to reveal a small hunk of bread. The nearby swans all swam eagerly forward but the Siegfried and Rue ignored them, waiting for a pair of very ordinary ducks, one yellow as sunshine and the other dark as an evergreen forest, swam cheerfully up to the royal pair. The yellow duck waggled its tail happily, Rue giggled in response as she tore the bread to pieces and spread the resulting crumbs on the pond for the ducks to greedily gobble up.
"I expected you to be greedy, Duckie, but not Fakir," Rue giggled again, reaching out to pet Duckie's head affectionately.
Siegfried smiled gently as he leaned over and pet Fakir just as affectionately, "You never saw him as a child when Charon made his favorite meal." Fakir spared an aggravated glare at Siegfried, but softened as he continued to stroke the duck's head. The group stayed that way for a while, the ducks had finished their crumbs and simply floated within reach of the royal pair while being showered with affection and occasionally quacking in contentment, Siegfried and Rue chatting amiably to each other about their day and reminiscing of days gone by that felt a life time ago. The servants often teased that if they didn't know better they'd think their rulers were talking to their pets rather than each other, but they all knew that if their noble swans couldn't understand more than basic commands then certainly no mere ducks could.
All too soon the light shifted and the royal pair realized the sun was about to set. With one last pet Siegfried and Rue bid the ducks goodnight and strolled back towards the palace. Once out of sight of the pond Rue buried her face in Siegfried's shoulder, "Oh, I wish we could break the spell on them. It doesn't seem fair after all they've done for us, sacrificing so much to give us our happy ending…" A sob prevented her from saying more, Siegfried gently pulled her closer as he fought to keep a straight face.
"I know, Rue, but we both know that Duckie's not under a spell at all. And Fakir chose this to be closer to her, to break his spell would be cruel to them both. If they are happy like this, we should be happy for them."
"Yes, I remember. Sometimes I just need to be reminded, thank you Mytho." Rue gave a watery smile as she looked back to her husband. He gently dried her tears, smiling just as uncertainly as they composed themselves to face their court again. No one in the castle suspected who the ducks really were and the royal pair were determined to let their old friends lead happy, peaceful lives.
A scant two hours later, well after the last echoes of sunlight had faded from even the highest spire of the castle though the windows blazed within, something strange and wholly unexpected happened. Fakir and Duckie had left their warm nest to glide across the still pond, the swans also cautiously floated onto the pond's surface though they wisely kept to the edges. Shortly after the ducks floated into the center of the pond the moon rose, its silver light washing over the whole garden. The crickets ceased their chirping, the whole garden stilled as the air became heavy with the scent of magic. Where the ducks had once floated now stood a young man and woman, the water beneath them firm as the ground though the swans still swam as if it were water.
The man, dark as the forest and dressed in dark greens and blacks, held out his hand to the woman, wearing a frothy yellow and orange tutu. Without a word she took his hand and they began to dance, their footsteps causing gentle ripples across the pond as they stepped in time with the music gently floating from within the palace. They both smiled gently as they continued their pas de deux, the swans gliding about them to act as their corps de ballet. As they danced the woman smiled happily, radiant as sunshine as the man's arms held her gently yet firmly; he in kind smiled more quietly, his happiness shining from his forest eyes. Long ago, when they first danced upon their little pond words were exchanged, she asking if he were truly happy and he repeating that he can't be happy without her, his despair at not being to do more for her and her delight at being able to dance again, reminiscing together of the past and talking of their peaceful future, sometimes toying with the idea of joining Mytho and Rue at the ball they held that night or perhaps the next one though neither truly wanted to tell their friends about this spell… not just yet.
Their pas de deux continued through the rest of night, long after the final dance ended within the palace. They continued until the first rays of the sun crept over the distant mountains, the spell that hung thick over the royal garden broke and faded away as the rays pieced the fog hanging over the pond. The swans and two little ducks blinked sleepily then glided not quite so gracefully as the night before back to the shore where they could tuck weary heads under feathered wings and sleep until the sun was high in the sky. After all, tonight was another night and another dance.
A.N.: I don't know where this idea came from, it just hit me and I decided to write. Perhaps this is connected to Sacrifice or perhaps not, that is up for you to decide. I don't think Fakir planned this though, I think that after he turned himself into a duck they maybe went into the story on a whim (and a place much safer to live than out in the wild) and found out they were both human by night purely by accident. Or perhaps he had planned it all along, Fakir's sneaky like that. Maybe after I finally get to some of my older ideas I'll come back to this and have Fakir and Duckie join Mytho and Rue for a dance, wouldn't that be a splendid surprise for them? I dunno, we'll see.
And good news to anyone that cares, I finally got the rough draft to that multi-chapter fic finished. Yes, the rough draft for the whole fic, I was afraid what would happen if I didn't write it all at once so I decided that I had to get the whole thing done as a rough draft, that's why it was taking so long. It currently sits at 35 pages of 10 point Book Antiqua text, the next step is to do my usual in draft edits I do for these and then to re-type it one chapter at a time. So that means I can get the first chapter posted before I finish editing the rest of the chapters or I can wait until it's all done to ensure there are no long waits in between chapters, we shall see.
As a fun aside: this story with all the imagery I had of Fakir as an evergreen forest inspired an Alphonse Mucha style image in my head that I want to draw once my fever goes down a little. Yay for fever ideas! :D