[Fic] "I Shall Repay" -- original
Sep. 1st, 2020 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI keep forgetting to crosspost these because my brain interprets posting on ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fan_flashworks as functionally equivalent to posting on my own journal and making multiple posts on the same website feels weird.
Anyway!
Summary: "Take me anywhere but here!" the princess said when the fairy appeared in her tower prison. (515 words)
Note: Written 8/30/20 in response to thefan_flashworks challenge: anywhere but here, as part of the August 2020 amnesty round.
As per the community rules, this post will just be a link to the fic text onfan_flashworks until the current challenge closes, at which point I will move the actual ficlet over here. But for now, a link: I Shall Repay
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I Shall Repay
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The fairy frowned and said, "For your mother's sake, I will ask you once: are you quite certain of that?"
"I will die if I stay one more day in this castle!" the princess insisted, slashing her hands through the air. "Or no, fine, if you're so hung up on wording, I won't actually die. I'll just wish I were dead, when that-- that-- when he shoves me through a mockery of marriage and comes to my bed and-- when he--"
She whirled and punched the stone wall of her tower chamber, beautifully appointed and utterly without anything useful in terms of weapons or escape. The window bars cast long shadows across the carpeted floor.
The fairy stepped delicately forward, her feet barely seeming to dent the carpet as if her body and her robes weighed less than a feather. Her hand hovered over the princess's bloody fist in silent question.
The princess uncurled her fingers.
The fairy took the princess's hand within her own, raised it to her face, and breathed over the torn and bleeding knuckles. Her breath felt like a crisp autumn breeze, first a sting, then a relief, and in the distance the looming threat of snow.
"I don't doubt your need," the fairy said, still cradling the princess's hand between her own. "But 'anywhere but here' covers a vast number of possibilities, some of which I think you wouldn't consider much improvement. Words have great power, and many of my people take great joy in abiding by contracts to the letter. I give you this advice in return for the boredom you alleviated when you broke your mother's token and called upon my favor."
The princess clenched her other hand around the splintered remnants of her wooden pendant. "I accept your advice as fair payment, my lady. As for repayment of your debt to my mother..." She paused, licked her lips, and considered her words carefully. "I would like you to take me into your service for a year and day -- as counted in the mortal realm, not the otherworld! -- during which you will be my liege and protect me as I serve you, and when the contract is done, return me to a place in the mortal realm where I will have a good and fair chance to reap my own vengeance. That will be your payment."
"A large favor," the fairy said.
"Equal to your debt," the princess replied, "and I'm certain having a mortal princess in your court of my own free will may be of some use, if the tales my mother told of her childhood were all true."
Slowly, the fairy smiled. "They might have been. They might not. She chose the mortal world in the end, and lies are a mortal's gift, as careless words are your weakness. But I will always speak truth, and I say now, for your mother's sake and for your own: I accept your bargain."
Her fingers tightened around the princess's hand, nails sharp to the point of pain, and the autumn wind whirled them away to the otherworld.
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End of Ficlet
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Hands up anyone who's surprised I wrote a fairy-tale. Nobody? Yeah, I thought not. *wry*
fan_flashworks as functionally equivalent to posting on my own journal and making multiple posts on the same website feels weird.Anyway!
Summary: "Take me anywhere but here!" the princess said when the fairy appeared in her tower prison. (515 words)
Note: Written 8/30/20 in response to the
fan_flashworks challenge: anywhere but here, as part of the August 2020 amnesty round.As per the community rules, this post will just be a link to the fic text on
fan_flashworks until the current challenge closes, at which point I will move the actual ficlet over here. But for now, a link: I Shall Repay---------------------------------------------
I Shall Repay
---------------------------------------------
The fairy frowned and said, "For your mother's sake, I will ask you once: are you quite certain of that?"
"I will die if I stay one more day in this castle!" the princess insisted, slashing her hands through the air. "Or no, fine, if you're so hung up on wording, I won't actually die. I'll just wish I were dead, when that-- that-- when he shoves me through a mockery of marriage and comes to my bed and-- when he--"
She whirled and punched the stone wall of her tower chamber, beautifully appointed and utterly without anything useful in terms of weapons or escape. The window bars cast long shadows across the carpeted floor.
The fairy stepped delicately forward, her feet barely seeming to dent the carpet as if her body and her robes weighed less than a feather. Her hand hovered over the princess's bloody fist in silent question.
The princess uncurled her fingers.
The fairy took the princess's hand within her own, raised it to her face, and breathed over the torn and bleeding knuckles. Her breath felt like a crisp autumn breeze, first a sting, then a relief, and in the distance the looming threat of snow.
"I don't doubt your need," the fairy said, still cradling the princess's hand between her own. "But 'anywhere but here' covers a vast number of possibilities, some of which I think you wouldn't consider much improvement. Words have great power, and many of my people take great joy in abiding by contracts to the letter. I give you this advice in return for the boredom you alleviated when you broke your mother's token and called upon my favor."
The princess clenched her other hand around the splintered remnants of her wooden pendant. "I accept your advice as fair payment, my lady. As for repayment of your debt to my mother..." She paused, licked her lips, and considered her words carefully. "I would like you to take me into your service for a year and day -- as counted in the mortal realm, not the otherworld! -- during which you will be my liege and protect me as I serve you, and when the contract is done, return me to a place in the mortal realm where I will have a good and fair chance to reap my own vengeance. That will be your payment."
"A large favor," the fairy said.
"Equal to your debt," the princess replied, "and I'm certain having a mortal princess in your court of my own free will may be of some use, if the tales my mother told of her childhood were all true."
Slowly, the fairy smiled. "They might have been. They might not. She chose the mortal world in the end, and lies are a mortal's gift, as careless words are your weakness. But I will always speak truth, and I say now, for your mother's sake and for your own: I accept your bargain."
Her fingers tightened around the princess's hand, nails sharp to the point of pain, and the autumn wind whirled them away to the otherworld.
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End of Ficlet
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Hands up anyone who's surprised I wrote a fairy-tale. Nobody? Yeah, I thought not. *wry*
