━━ ⦗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 forty-five! 045. odette's sacrifice
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ODETTE MISSEDsummer dearly. She missed the sweet golden sunlight instead of the dreary grey clouds that always held the smell of rain. She missed the birds and the bright smiles▬she missed the certain flowers that only bloomed in the gentile heat. But as she always did every year, Odette had to say goodbye to the summer until she saw it next. She had to watch the leaves off the trees slowly fall, and she'd be walking through copper and orange-filled pathways▬almost like a river that would part as soon as her feet brushed through. With the fall of the leaves, meant they had to begin to prepare for winter, and so days became busier than most for farmers and peasants. The guards, too, would always spend most of their days gathering provisions for the castle vaults. But while Odette missed summer, she always did welcome the change of the weather with a smile. Because those leaves were falling off the trees in order to make room for new ones when spring arrived. And from the roots in the castle gardens that Odette would walk through with Morgana, started to bloom the helianthuses and the dahlias▬and dahlias were beautiful in colour amongst the fallen leaves; a brilliant soft pinkish yellow that looked like the sunrise had fallen from the sky to then grow into sweet, lovely petals.
Odette picked the dahlias that grew on their own just outside the castle walls near where her mother was buried▬or at least where Odette has marked a grave herself, since her mother was instead buried somewhere, unmarked in a mass grave much like others who had perished by illness at that same time. Ivette Mason loved the dahlias, and so Odette would always decorate her small grave with the flowers as soon as they bloomed. Every time she saw a dahlia, Odette liked to think it was her mother letting her know from Heaven that she was still looking over her; still around.
She was in an unmarked grave. She hadn't been blessed. But Odette knew she was in Heaven.
Odette glanced over at Bedivere who had offered to join her in the early morning. He awkwardly carried a sword that was too big for him at his hip, but when he saw the Lady Morgana's second handmaiden travel towards the castle walls alone, he was determined to follow in order to give her protection against any dangers beyond the gates. She smiled at him as she stood up, brushing her skirts. "Thank you for keeping me company, Bedivere."
He waved his hand dismissively. Bedivere was dressed simply this morning. His dark blue tunic was rolled up at the sleeves and messily tucked into his pants. He wore a vest over the top to keep himself warm in the slight chill and a belt tied loosely around his waist where his sword was sheathed. Odette met Bedivere at the Jousting Tournament (well, ran into him▬literally) and the two of them sparked a quick and delightful friendship. He was originally from a village on the north border of Camelot where his mother was married to the residing Lord. However, Bedivere was the bastard son of his mother and held no inheritance nor title other than Lord Bedrydant's goodwill when he allowed him to keep his name. It was his name that let him travel to Camelot under the seal of a noble to work as a Knight's squire for Sir Leon Gaunnes. Though, despite how easily he told Odette of his parentage, only she and Sir Leon knew the truth. If the King or the Prince ever found out that the rumours surrounding his birth were true, Bedivere would never get to become a Knight he so wished to one day be.
