━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter thirty-two! 032. two sides of the same coin
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ODETTE WAS tired. She was tired, and she was so hungry. She had forgotten what it was like to be this hungry. And she thought she could handle it▬give what she could to those who were less fortunate than she was. But in the end, she found herself lost. She couldn't steal food from the kitchens, Morgana didn't have anything she could secretly pass over to her young handmaiden from her breakfast platter, Guinevere had no smoked pigeon sandwiches. Merlin had no strawberries to sneak away. Most girls her age had someone to go. They had a roof to hide under from the harsh weather, a bed that was their own to sleep under▬whether it was thin blankets or silk sheets. They had a father who would give them his food instead and kiss her forehead, telling her that he was proud of her for her generosity. They had a mother who hugged them and tried to defy the heavens, begging the Lord to take their hunger from them; to suffer so they could not.
She had nowhere to go▬she didn't have a specific home. Four walls that had a bed that was always hers, and food on the table. Odette called the castle her home, and it was, but at the same time, it was not. She worked it. She scrubbed the floors and nearly dropped to exhaustion as she woke up into the early hours of the morning whenever Morgana had a night terror. She was always working▬she never stopped.
And yet, somehow, she always seemed to find herself back here. Outside of Gaius's chambers. When it got too much, Odette found herself here.
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, feeling herself ready to drop. Odette reached out and knocked on the door.
"Come in," she heard the voice echo from inside.
Odette took a deep breath and pushed the door ajar. She peered inside. Meeting Gaius's gaze who glanced up, she pursed her lips. He frowned, stepping away from his worktable, "Odette?" asked the physician. "What is it? Are you ill?"
She shook her head. "No ... I just ..." Odette stepped inside, fragile. "I'm just ... sorry. I'm sorry, I'm just ... I'm tired and ... and this was the only place I ..."
Gaius's frown lifted. Odette often used to think that she annoyed the court physician. She had been this little girl that was passed off to him when her mother couldn't look after her, no matter how hard she tried. Even now, here she ended up, passing herself off to him▬hovering around▬, when she couldn't look after herself, no matter how hard she tried.
"I'm sorry," she said again, growing emotional. "I tried▬I didn't want to▬I should be with Morgana but I just ... I'm so tired ..." Odette slumped, ashamed, "... a▬and I'm so hungry ..."
The physician pursed his lips. He gazed at this young handmaiden in his doorway, and all he saw was girl who believed all she had in this world was herself.
