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It's past dark, but when you need the outhouse, you need the outhouse.
Isabel picks her way across the yard of her father's house in the moonlight, hoping to sneak back into bed without waking him.
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mute_pen
mute_pen
Etty waits to be put down. Not particularly impatiently. The baron's daughter is pleasant to be held by.
growcrooked
Just outside another of the side doors, the baron's daughter puts her down, then leans down and kisses her on the beak.
mute_pen
Etty is not sure.
She tries walking a step.
It doesn't work very well, and she's not used to catching herself when she's working with wings instead of arms.
She tries walking a step.
It doesn't work very well, and she's not used to catching herself when she's working with wings instead of arms.
mute_pen
Etty nods again, then tries walking some more. She's not very good at it; if she thinks through each step in full detail she overbalances halfway through and if she tries to speed up she forgets how her joints work.
mute_pen
Etty clacks her beak at the baron's daughter. She stumbles over to the water, where at least she can expect to float if she forgets how to work her legs.
growcrooked
The baron's daughter goes back inside.
A little while later, she hides pen and ink and scroll in the orchard.
A little while later, she hides pen and ink and scroll in the orchard.
mute_pen
Etty divides her day between napping - so she'll be able to stay up all night - and figuring out how swans work. She can flap her wings by the end of the day, but hasn't worked out how to actually take off.
She sits on the shore when the sun starts going down.
She sits on the shore when the sun starts going down.
growcrooked
The other swans all cluster on the shore by the castle as the sun sets.
There is a definite warning - a heaviness in her limbs, a fizzing in her bones. It goes on for a little while, as the sun sinks below the treetops; when the glow is fading from the western horizon, the change finally happens. All at once, she's a woman again, complete with pretty white dress.
There is a definite warning - a heaviness in her limbs, a fizzing in her bones. It goes on for a little while, as the sun sinks below the treetops; when the glow is fading from the western horizon, the change finally happens. All at once, she's a woman again, complete with pretty white dress.
mute_pen
Well -
Strange sensation, that, not something she'd do recreationally, but it could be worse.
Etty gets up and heads for the orchard.
Strange sensation, that, not something she'd do recreationally, but it could be worse.
Etty gets up and heads for the orchard.
growcrooked
The orchard is right up next to the castle, and of its four walls, the one that it shares with the castle grounds is thick enough to walk on.
Someone is standing on it.
Someone is standing on it.
growcrooked
The baron's daughter waves back. She appears to have put on clothes of some kind.
Then she climbs over the edge of the wall and drops to the floor of the orchard. It makes an unpleasant sound when she lands.
Then she climbs over the edge of the wall and drops to the floor of the orchard. It makes an unpleasant sound when she lands.
mute_pen
Etty blinks.
Then she moves - at a brisk walk; she knows how these legs work but that doesn't mean they work well - around to the gate and into the orchard.
Then she moves - at a brisk walk; she knows how these legs work but that doesn't mean they work well - around to the gate and into the orchard.
growcrooked
She walks up to the orchard gate not long after Etty steps through it.
The clothes are her fathers - is her father's, a shirt and nothing else. It hangs loose, half-buttoned. She isn't wearing shoes. If the fall injured her, she shows no sign of it.
The clothes are her fathers - is her father's, a shirt and nothing else. It hangs loose, half-buttoned. She isn't wearing shoes. If the fall injured her, she shows no sign of it.
growcrooked
"I'm immortal," she shrugs. "And the Baron thinks scars are unladylike, so I heal clean."
