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chapter sixteen,
theodora salvatore tells a story
February 16th, 1967
It was late at night, but six-year-old Beatrice Salvatore couldn't sleep. "It's not fair Mummy! Sera's parents let her stay up all night long!"
Theodora chuckled at her daughter's antics. "Now, Beatrice, I highly doubt that is true."
"It is! It is! And Sera's big brother doesn't sleep at all!"
"Well you are not Seraphina's big brother, are you? You are my little girl and you need a good night's sleep if you want to go to Diagon Alley with me tomorrow. Unless you would rather stay behind...?" Beatrice shook her head hastily and pulled her duvet cover up to her cheeks. "That is what I thought."
Theodora sat up from her daughter's bed and turned to walk away when the young girl called out to her once more: "Mummy! Could you please please please tell me a story first?"
The twenty-four year old witch smiled wearily and sat back down on her daughter's bed again. "Oh, alright then." She appeared to be thinking for a moment before she launched into the act: "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers-"
Beatrice shook her head rapidly. "No no no, Mummy! You've told that story a bajillion times! I counted!"
Theodora laughed, "A bajillion, huh? That sure is a lot... what story should I tell you, then?"
Beatrice smiled widely, glad she had been asked. "Hmmm..." the six year-old paused for a moment, before clapping her hands together excitedly. "I know! Tell me about our antsesters!"
"Antsesters?"
"Yes, yes! Sera says one of her antsesters was the Lady of the Lake - she helped Merlin with loads of stuff."
"Oh, you mean ancestors."
"Yes, antsesters. Like the Lady of the Lake who-"
Theodora held her pointer finger against her mouth, shushing her daughter who was becoming over-excited again. "Yes, Beatrice. I know who the Lady of the Lake is. So you would like to hear some old, Malfoy tales?"
Beatrice looked confused. "Who are the Malfoys?"
"They are our are family, - oh, never mind. Stories of Salvatores, then?"
Beatrice gave another large smile and wriggled in her bed. "Yes, yes! Stories of Salvatores!"
"Hmm... Okay then." She cleared her throat, and put on her most serious story-telling voice. "There was once a young wife, living a luxurious life in the green country-side of Italy. But regardless of the many jewels and lands her husband owned, she could never feel truly happy. For years of being unable to become with child made her husband a cruel man, with a hole in his heart that even she could not fill. So one day when he had snapped, and struck her hard across the face, the young wife ran out, out, out into the night!" Theodora watched as her daughter's eyes widened, still tucked right beneath her covers.
"But the young wife knew not where to go, for she rarely left the grounds of her husband's estate. She became anxious, scared of what could befall her, and began to RUN, and tumbled right into a young man. Frightened, she pulled out her wand, only for him to drop his on the ground in surrender. 'I am terribly sorry,' said the boy, 'I did not mean to frighten you.' The young wife caught her breath and reassured him that it was okay.
"But it was not, for night had not yet lifted yet, and the young wife was frightened and alone. Yet the young boy was brave. He had noticed her beauty before, and did not hesitate to invite her back to his home. When the pair arrived back at his small cottage, the boy was abashed, but the young wife cared not for his lack of fancy things. She knew that beauty came from within, not from the frivolous objects one possessed. And she told him this. The young wife shared all her troubles with the boy, and he admired her strength. Completely infatuated, the boy asked the girl to marry him on the spot. And oh how the young wife loved him, her salvatore."
"But Mummy," Beatrice interrupted, "the young wife already has a husband!"
"I know, Beatrice. I am just getting to that part. Shoosh, now.
"And so the young couple began to live out their new life together, and not long passed before the young wife found herself with child.
"The happy news spread throughout the village, until it made itself back up the cool stone steps of the cruel husband's castle. Enraged that a man of so little had stolen his wife from him and given her his child, the cruel husband made his way down to the young boy's cottage. When he arrived, the young boy was working in the village, so the young wife opened the door.
Seeing her round belly infuriated him, so the cruel husband pulled out his wand and cursed her unborn child. 'With these words, the child of adultery shall be cursed, as will every third descendant. One generation for my stolen wife, one generation for the sin it comes from, and one generation for the shame it has brought upon me, repeating until the bloodline runs dry!' The young wife clutched her stomach in pain, tumbling over as the cruel husband fled the cottage. When the young boy returned home, he was horrified by what he saw: the young wife breathed no more, and his new-born child was wailing out to him.
Devastated though he was, the young boy raised the child as the young wife would have wanted. The baby girl was kind, and forgiving. She brought smiles to the faces of all wizards, no matter if they were rich or poor, young or old, ugly or beautiful. Although she was awfully sick from the curse the cruel husband had placed bloodline, she lived out her short life happily, eventually marrying and becoming with child herself.
"On her deathbed, an old, ugly man came to her, and she treated him with the same kindness she treated all. The cruel husband had become hideous in time, withering away on his own guilt. And yet, the girl forgave him, for she knew-" Theodora faltered when she noticed Beatrice's wet face.
"I don't like that story, Mummy. Can't you tell me something else?"
"I- of course, Beatrice." Theodora mentally slapped herself. Not all suffering could be romanticized. She cleared her throat, and started from scratch: "Once upon a time, there was a woman named Babbitty Rabbitty, and she had the most peculiar cackling stump...
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author's note: i'm still not quite satisfied with her faceclaim, but here's jessie mei li as (young!) theodora salvatore <33
