Firefly - Odile
Title: Odile
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Characters: Tam Family
Rating: PG
Notes: Part of the Giselle verse.
Summary: Odette has fallen and we must mourn her passing. But Odile's still here.
Odile
Once upon a time, there was a girl beloved of father, mother and brother. Born with hair as black of ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood, the queen named her child Odette.
The daughter of a long line of witches, the queen had been promised to her husband, the king, when she was just two steps out of childhood. Given to him on the cusp of womanhood, the queen quickly fell in love with her king, despite his stuffy manners and the way he’d try to yank his off ear when he was nervous.
As a symbol of her love, the queen gave him a boy child as his heir. The young prince was a little clumsy, but remarkably intelligent and if he couldn’t properly compliment a woman on her dress without at the same time wondering when she’d gained so much weight, at least that kept him away from the vicious claws of the spiteful little cats looking to marry above their station.
The prince was for the king, but the princess, she was for the queen. The moment they placed Odette in her arms, the queen knew she held her own heir.
As Odette grew, it quickly became clear that besides being incredibly brilliant and full of grace and beauty that the child held the same spark inside her as her mother. The queen loved her daughter and rejoiced in teaching her how to use her gift. Explain a concept once and the child would latch onto it immediately, mastering the magic within a moment.
Beloved of all and so very clever, it’s difficult to imagine for even a moment that this bright girl’s future was filled with thorns and darkness. But that is so often the way of a gifted child such as Odette. Born so blessed, the universe must balance out that life with great hardship.
As Odette danced along the fine knife point that is girlhood and womanhood, her father realized that it was now time to find his beloved daughter a husband. The king, he found was not what you or I would consider a proper candidate for Odette for he was older than her own father and he kept millions of bats locked up in cages hanging down from his rafters and he beat his servants black and blue. But then, we don’t live in the kingdom of Osiris where money speaks louder than love. Daughters are little more than currency.
Odette did not want to marry the old king, but she knew that at the end of the day, she would have no choice as it was the father’s duty to find his daughter a husband, not the daughter’s, and Odette’s father had chosen. On her sixteenth birthday she would be wed to the old king.
Her father tried to comfort her by imagining how happy Odette would be surrounded by all the wealth the old king had hoarded up over the years - wealth that would save his own kingdom from ruin. Odette smiled like a good daughter and promised her father she would be happy.
Only Odette’s mother knew the truth. In the darkness of night, she stole from her husband’s side to glide into her daughter’s room and cradle the young girl in her arms as she had done when Odette was a baby. In the darkness, she whispered promises that she’d do everything she could to save her darling Odette.
Odette believed her mother, because the queen was a witch like herself, but she was impatient. She had looked into the old king and she knew his true face. He was not the husband for her - that man was still out there, waiting for Odette to find him.
For some reason, whenever Odette imagined her knight, he was always complaining that he was getting tired of waiting around on his ass for her and would she hurry up already as he had other things to do besides wait around for the love of his life. Who was awfully lazy for somebody who insisted on prancing around everywhere.
Because she wanted to escape marriage to the old king, Odette decided the knight was better then nothing. Besides, the sooner she found him, the sooner she’d get to slap him.
So, Odette performed a secret spell the queen had taught her. It was a very dangerous spell; the type of spell that only the most powerful of witches could perform. Odette was that sort of witch. Under the light of a full moon, she gathered up her herbs and her feathers and her flowers and her stones, and mixed them all together. She begged the moon to show her the way to the man who was her soul mate.
The moon answered.
The thing about powerful spells, which one must always remember, especially the ones where you ask to see the future, is that sometimes they work a little too well.
Odette crumpled to the ground and soundlessly screamed as image after horrible image was shown to her. Men with bright blue hands chased her along each path and caught her. They then dragged her into a dragon’s cave where Odette was overcome with a darkness that was so unlike the welcoming chill of the night sky.
Cool hands grasped Odette’s and the queen ripped the girl from the clutches of the spell. As the queen pressed kiss after kiss in her daughter’s hair, Odette showed her some of the visions she had received from the moon. The queen cried and sobbed.
“Mother,” the princess said. “If I am to be saved, I must willingly walk into the dragon’s cave.”
The queen begged her daughter to reconsider, that there must be some other way, but the girl held firm. It was only after she was shown more visions that the queen bowed her head in defeat.
“I will make it happen,” she promised her daughter.
And the queen did. Through persuasive arts and just a little magic, she convinced her husband that they must send Odette off to school, so that she might learn how to be a proper wife and a true queen.
Hence father and mother kissed their child on the forehead and sent her off to the darkness. Odette blew them both kisses and went willing into the dragon’s cave where she was consumed.
Four long years passed. Four years of the dragon feeding on Odette and moulding the princess into a new shape. The girl took on a new name, Odile.
Odile was smarter than Odette, harder, better.
And Odile wanted out. In the fourth year, she breathed words on the wind, sending a message to her brother, begging him to come and rescue Odette.
On the fourth year, Odile was rescued.
Her brother acted just as a clever prince should. He sneaked past the dragon, not bothering to directly engage the beast for then he would surely perish and delivered his sister back to the stars.
It wasn’t until later that he realized he’d rescued the wrong girl. Odile was only a shadow of what Odette had been. A mockery. While she still retained Odette’s features and her intelligence, the prince could still see that this Odile was not his sister.
He raged and he cried and he tried to love Odile as he’d loved Odette. Odile knew he couldn’t love her as he once had and she forgave him. She clung to the little scraps of love he was able to toss her way and tried not to be too jealous of the girl who had come before her, the girl who had never had to earn his love.
There were others there on that little ship, the prince had taken her to, but Odile had trouble bringing herself to care as much as she should about them when she had to deal with her brother's rejection. She tried to be the girl he'd loved, to be Odette again, but she couldn't remember ever being that girl.
Odile daily fed on the taste of bitter disappointment. She tried to be understanding of the fact that her brother considered himself a failure because he allowed this to happen to her. She longed to tell him that it wasn’t his fault that she had chosen this route because she was selfish and wanted to be rescued; but she didn’t dare tell him for that would cast a black mark against his memory of Odette.
Slowly the bitterness receded and the prince’s bitter disappointment faded away. There were still spikes every now and then, but he learned how to love Odile just as much as Odette even if Odile’s darker nature still scared him. More importantly, Odile learned Odile and discovered that she liked Odile just as much as she had Odette.
Odile danced as Odette had danced, but there was a darkness to her and as she spun round and round on the tips of her toes, it was possible to see that darkness. But in the comfort of that little ship and in her brother's growing love, she found the courage to reveal the little bit of light she'd kept hidden away deep inside her chest when the dragon tried to consume her.
She was neither light nor dark, she was just a girl. A human girl governed by love like all the best people are. Surrounded by people who were all hiding that piece of light deep within themselves (despite how much the men might try to deny it), Odile danced for the joy of that feeling and purged her demons.
As she continued to travel on that little ship, Odile realized that she would have to concentrate on Odile now. She would move forward and she would remember Odette with fondness, but it was Odile’s time now. She was Odette and she was Odile and one day she’d be someone else. Because that was what growing up was.
~*~
"The end."
"What about the knight? Did the princess ever meet him?"
"What do you think?"
"She had to meet him or it won't be a happy ending!"
"No, it wouldn't be."
~*~
As for meeting her knight? Odile did meet him and ended up beating him up on more than one occasion. She found that that was best way of knocking it into his head that she was as madly in love with him as he was with her. But that's another story for another day.
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Characters: Tam Family
Rating: PG
Notes: Part of the Giselle verse.
Summary: Odette has fallen and we must mourn her passing. But Odile's still here.
Odile
Once upon a time, there was a girl beloved of father, mother and brother. Born with hair as black of ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood, the queen named her child Odette.
The daughter of a long line of witches, the queen had been promised to her husband, the king, when she was just two steps out of childhood. Given to him on the cusp of womanhood, the queen quickly fell in love with her king, despite his stuffy manners and the way he’d try to yank his off ear when he was nervous.
As a symbol of her love, the queen gave him a boy child as his heir. The young prince was a little clumsy, but remarkably intelligent and if he couldn’t properly compliment a woman on her dress without at the same time wondering when she’d gained so much weight, at least that kept him away from the vicious claws of the spiteful little cats looking to marry above their station.
The prince was for the king, but the princess, she was for the queen. The moment they placed Odette in her arms, the queen knew she held her own heir.
As Odette grew, it quickly became clear that besides being incredibly brilliant and full of grace and beauty that the child held the same spark inside her as her mother. The queen loved her daughter and rejoiced in teaching her how to use her gift. Explain a concept once and the child would latch onto it immediately, mastering the magic within a moment.
Beloved of all and so very clever, it’s difficult to imagine for even a moment that this bright girl’s future was filled with thorns and darkness. But that is so often the way of a gifted child such as Odette. Born so blessed, the universe must balance out that life with great hardship.
As Odette danced along the fine knife point that is girlhood and womanhood, her father realized that it was now time to find his beloved daughter a husband. The king, he found was not what you or I would consider a proper candidate for Odette for he was older than her own father and he kept millions of bats locked up in cages hanging down from his rafters and he beat his servants black and blue. But then, we don’t live in the kingdom of Osiris where money speaks louder than love. Daughters are little more than currency.
Odette did not want to marry the old king, but she knew that at the end of the day, she would have no choice as it was the father’s duty to find his daughter a husband, not the daughter’s, and Odette’s father had chosen. On her sixteenth birthday she would be wed to the old king.
Her father tried to comfort her by imagining how happy Odette would be surrounded by all the wealth the old king had hoarded up over the years - wealth that would save his own kingdom from ruin. Odette smiled like a good daughter and promised her father she would be happy.
Only Odette’s mother knew the truth. In the darkness of night, she stole from her husband’s side to glide into her daughter’s room and cradle the young girl in her arms as she had done when Odette was a baby. In the darkness, she whispered promises that she’d do everything she could to save her darling Odette.
Odette believed her mother, because the queen was a witch like herself, but she was impatient. She had looked into the old king and she knew his true face. He was not the husband for her - that man was still out there, waiting for Odette to find him.
For some reason, whenever Odette imagined her knight, he was always complaining that he was getting tired of waiting around on his ass for her and would she hurry up already as he had other things to do besides wait around for the love of his life. Who was awfully lazy for somebody who insisted on prancing around everywhere.
Because she wanted to escape marriage to the old king, Odette decided the knight was better then nothing. Besides, the sooner she found him, the sooner she’d get to slap him.
So, Odette performed a secret spell the queen had taught her. It was a very dangerous spell; the type of spell that only the most powerful of witches could perform. Odette was that sort of witch. Under the light of a full moon, she gathered up her herbs and her feathers and her flowers and her stones, and mixed them all together. She begged the moon to show her the way to the man who was her soul mate.
The moon answered.
The thing about powerful spells, which one must always remember, especially the ones where you ask to see the future, is that sometimes they work a little too well.
Odette crumpled to the ground and soundlessly screamed as image after horrible image was shown to her. Men with bright blue hands chased her along each path and caught her. They then dragged her into a dragon’s cave where Odette was overcome with a darkness that was so unlike the welcoming chill of the night sky.
Cool hands grasped Odette’s and the queen ripped the girl from the clutches of the spell. As the queen pressed kiss after kiss in her daughter’s hair, Odette showed her some of the visions she had received from the moon. The queen cried and sobbed.
“Mother,” the princess said. “If I am to be saved, I must willingly walk into the dragon’s cave.”
The queen begged her daughter to reconsider, that there must be some other way, but the girl held firm. It was only after she was shown more visions that the queen bowed her head in defeat.
“I will make it happen,” she promised her daughter.
And the queen did. Through persuasive arts and just a little magic, she convinced her husband that they must send Odette off to school, so that she might learn how to be a proper wife and a true queen.
Hence father and mother kissed their child on the forehead and sent her off to the darkness. Odette blew them both kisses and went willing into the dragon’s cave where she was consumed.
Four long years passed. Four years of the dragon feeding on Odette and moulding the princess into a new shape. The girl took on a new name, Odile.
Odile was smarter than Odette, harder, better.
And Odile wanted out. In the fourth year, she breathed words on the wind, sending a message to her brother, begging him to come and rescue Odette.
On the fourth year, Odile was rescued.
Her brother acted just as a clever prince should. He sneaked past the dragon, not bothering to directly engage the beast for then he would surely perish and delivered his sister back to the stars.
It wasn’t until later that he realized he’d rescued the wrong girl. Odile was only a shadow of what Odette had been. A mockery. While she still retained Odette’s features and her intelligence, the prince could still see that this Odile was not his sister.
He raged and he cried and he tried to love Odile as he’d loved Odette. Odile knew he couldn’t love her as he once had and she forgave him. She clung to the little scraps of love he was able to toss her way and tried not to be too jealous of the girl who had come before her, the girl who had never had to earn his love.
There were others there on that little ship, the prince had taken her to, but Odile had trouble bringing herself to care as much as she should about them when she had to deal with her brother's rejection. She tried to be the girl he'd loved, to be Odette again, but she couldn't remember ever being that girl.
Odile daily fed on the taste of bitter disappointment. She tried to be understanding of the fact that her brother considered himself a failure because he allowed this to happen to her. She longed to tell him that it wasn’t his fault that she had chosen this route because she was selfish and wanted to be rescued; but she didn’t dare tell him for that would cast a black mark against his memory of Odette.
Slowly the bitterness receded and the prince’s bitter disappointment faded away. There were still spikes every now and then, but he learned how to love Odile just as much as Odette even if Odile’s darker nature still scared him. More importantly, Odile learned Odile and discovered that she liked Odile just as much as she had Odette.
Odile danced as Odette had danced, but there was a darkness to her and as she spun round and round on the tips of her toes, it was possible to see that darkness. But in the comfort of that little ship and in her brother's growing love, she found the courage to reveal the little bit of light she'd kept hidden away deep inside her chest when the dragon tried to consume her.
She was neither light nor dark, she was just a girl. A human girl governed by love like all the best people are. Surrounded by people who were all hiding that piece of light deep within themselves (despite how much the men might try to deny it), Odile danced for the joy of that feeling and purged her demons.
As she continued to travel on that little ship, Odile realized that she would have to concentrate on Odile now. She would move forward and she would remember Odette with fondness, but it was Odile’s time now. She was Odette and she was Odile and one day she’d be someone else. Because that was what growing up was.
~*~
"The end."
"What about the knight? Did the princess ever meet him?"
"What do you think?"
"She had to meet him or it won't be a happy ending!"
"No, it wouldn't be."
~*~
As for meeting her knight? Odile did meet him and ended up beating him up on more than one occasion. She found that that was best way of knocking it into his head that she was as madly in love with him as he was with her. But that's another story for another day.