The Swan Princess

Chapter 3: Finder's Keepers

As I fly, I draw up my mental map of the castle in my head. Odile's room is down the hall, so I don't need to fly very far. But first, I want to fly by her window to see if anyone is inside. Despite nobody knowing I'm a swan, it would still look weird for a swan to be loitering in a bedroom all alone.

So I swoop down the guest wing, using my left eye to peek through Odile's window. In my quick perusal, I see Odile (ugh) and a few servants milling about. Disappointed, I glide down to a quaint pond in the middle of the castle gardens and wait.

As I float on the pond, I look around. The castle gardens are beautiful. There are cobblestone pathways leading between lilac wisteria trees, blooming red rose bushes, and soft pink cherry blossoms. The koi fish under me scattered when I landed, but are now slowly returning back to their usual patterns. It's getting late, and the lightning bugs are starting to illuminate the air with tiny orange dots.

As I float, I listen. Despite the people in Odile's room, I end up listening to the sounds of muffled voices from another direction.

"Are you ready to turn 21, Sieg?" an older, feminine voice asked.

"Yes, mother." A younger male voice sarcastically answered. "I aspire to lose my ability to drink, to party, and to engage with whatever female I please."

"Siegfried!" she sharply reprimanded. "That is not talk befitting of a future King!" she boiled, and suddenly I was fully invested in this conversation.

"If you were in this situation-" Sieg replied, before being cut off.

"When I was in this situation, I married your father, and I did not complain about it."

Their footsteps grew louder, and I realized they were coming closer. I glide a little further down the pond and debate flying away, but my inner desire to listen to gossip glued me to where I was.

"I need you to take this seriously. You have until the end of this year to marry," Queen Sera continued.

"I have not only invited all the eligible royalty to this ball, but have also given you an unlimited amount of golden invites. Any other fiendish male friends of yours are welcome to come, if that is what it takes to keep you entertained."

"My friends are hardly fiendish," Sieg sardonically replied, "And I'm sure they'll be glad to know that my mother extended them invites just to entertain me when I tire of women."

With surprise, I felt my feathers start to ruffle. The invitation I received - was the fake jester boy one of his friends? If so, why give me his ticket? Was it possible that Prince Siegfried gave all his friends multiple tickets, and told them to bring more guys to the ball to prevent him from being swarmed with females?

Were the golden tickets specifically for men? Did women get a different color invite? My head spins as I realize: this somewhat insulting ticket I have with me might not even get me in. I might have to ask Emilia and the other servants discreetly if they know how people got invited, and determine whether the ticket I got is even going to work. If I decide to use it, that is.

As I mull this over, I realize none of this matters without the dress, and I tune out of the Prince and Queen's conversation to plot. I need to think of a way to get into Odile's room, now that I know where it is. More importantly, I need to figure out how to tell when nobody is in her room, and then how to get the dress out (whether in swan or human form), and then how to design the dress so that it is unrecognizable as hers, and then wear it to the ball tonight. I probably should have come up with this plan beforehand, but now, I need to improvise with what I've got.

I glance up at her window again. Maybe I should just wait until she takes a bath? Then I can fly in, take the dress, and fly out the window.

No, that won't do. People would definitely notice a swan flying out a window with a ball gown in its mouth. Also, that would probably weigh down my flying, which wouldn't be fun.

Maybe I should go in a swan, transform into a human, and run out with the dress that way?

No, people would definitely notice a running servant. As I float across the pond, I see a laundry hamper in the corner of my eye, and my plan begins.

I carefully listen to the chatter coming from her room until I hear the sound fading. At that point, I can assume that Odile and all her maids went into her bathing chamber, and away from the main window. So, I flap my wings quietly, cautiously, until I can glide up the wind to the ledge of her window.

There's nobody here, thankfully, so I rapidly transform into my human self and grab the laundry hamper. I rotate to the huge brown armoire on the wall of the finely decorated room.

I fling it open, see the pink and blue dress I designed during my apprenticeship for Odile, and throw it into the hamper. Suddenly, I hear the voices get louder, and I realize that the voices are getting louder because they're moving from the bathing chamber to the bedchamber.

Panicking, I throw the dress into the hamper, and go with plan B: chaos.

In a swirl of silver dust and chaotic energy, I transform into my swan self, and start flying around the room and honking.

"EEEEE!" Odile shrieked, seeing me in the room. "Why is there a WATERFOWL in MY ROOM!"

Seeing my opportunity, I flew up, knocking a book off the table.

"How'd that get in there?" one of the servants yelled.

I flew sideways, with a loud "HONK!" and scattered makeup all over the floor.

"Where did that thing come from?" another servant gasped, as I swooped toward her.

"HONK!"

"Away from me, you crazy bird!" Odile screamed, throwing a pillow at me.

"HONK!"

I dodged the pillow and dove straight toward her.

"Get out, you vermin!" a protective servant shrieked, running towards me with one of the books that had fallen to the ground. I let her corral me backward, honking, flapping, causing panic and destruction the whole way, until I knocked straight into the hamper by the ledge.

Then the hamper, the dress, and I tumbled unceremoniously out the window, and into the rose bushes below.