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Etty is awoken not by her transformation, but by her summons, a few minutes after dark. In her sleep, she drifted to shore; she's lying in human form - arm intact - half in and half out of the water when she feels it.
It's very insistent.
She cannot bring herself to move. She tries - she does; intellectually she knows it's the smart thing to do - but - she can't. Cannot get up and go to him.
mute_pen
mute_pen
"Well - like compared to what - if I were going to do that it would be because I'm desperate," murmurs Etty. "I - I think I like almost anything you could do better than staying here."
growcrooked
"Well, yeah," says Nona, "I like lots of things better than the Baron that I don't actually like at all. But - but don't," she says helplessly.
mute_pen
Etty nibbles her lip, flexes her hurt foot, puts it somewhere more comfortable. "If you can't - satisfy the curse - I don't see another chance. I'm going to turn into a swanbrained - thing - if I can't get out of here - my mind is going to go - and that's the worst part, the worst, even though the rest is -" She shudders. "I don't have long. A few years isn't long."
growcrooked
Nona hugs her.
"But - I can't," she says, "I mean, if I don't know that you're really the person you are, if I can't know that you're okay when I think you're okay, if I don't know you then I can't love you forever because I wouldn't be loving you in the first place." She takes a deep breath. "So - promise," she says. "Promise you won't pretend like that."
"But - I can't," she says, "I mean, if I don't know that you're really the person you are, if I can't know that you're okay when I think you're okay, if I don't know you then I can't love you forever because I wouldn't be loving you in the first place." She takes a deep breath. "So - promise," she says. "Promise you won't pretend like that."
mute_pen
Etty swallows.
If you love me, you don't get another chance with another swan, ever again -
But for all Etty knows the curse agrees with Nona about what it means for someone to love her.
"I promise," Etty says.
If you love me, you don't get another chance with another swan, ever again -
But for all Etty knows the curse agrees with Nona about what it means for someone to love her.
"I promise," Etty says.
growcrooked
"Me too," says Nona. "And even if I did promise - we'd still have to do something about the Baron, after. Or he'd just do it all over again."
growcrooked
"I think I could," she says. "If I surprised him. I know where to stab somebody so it really hurts."
mute_pen
Hugs.
"If Carl is dead I don't even know what I'd do, where I'd go, but it would have to be better than here."
"If Carl is dead I don't even know what I'd do, where I'd go, but it would have to be better than here."
growcrooked
"Anywhere would be better than here," says Nona. "Dead would be better than here, for me."
mute_pen
Etty thinks.
"Dead would be better than swanbrained," she says slowly. "I'm not sure how fast swanbraining happens so I don't know when it would get that way. I'm not suicidal yet."
"Dead would be better than swanbrained," she says slowly. "I'm not sure how fast swanbraining happens so I don't know when it would get that way. I'm not suicidal yet."
mute_pen
"If he dies do you suppose the curse on the library will go away? There must be - better things to do with sorcery than curse girls to turn into swans."