Across Worlds

Ch 8 - Stories

They made good time according to Evan, reaching the northernmost point of a lake that he called Lake Calenhad by nightfall. Once again, they set up camp and Evan assigned two soldiers to watch and he took the third. This time when Wren returned from helping to gather firewood, Varric looked at her from where he was sitting and said, "So, Wren, I think tonight it's your turn to tell a story." He gave her a smug and challenging smile.

As much as she hated being the center of attention, she also wasn't one to back down from a challenge. "All right," she said, forcing a bright smile.

Varric looked pleasantly surprised at her acceptance and everyone settled in to listen with expectant expressions on their faces.

"This is the story of the Six Swans," she began, choosing the most recent of the Grimm fairy tales they had been assigned to read as it was fresh in her mind. It wouldn't be word-for-word, but she wanted to make a good story-telling impression on Varric, so refrained from getting the book out to read from.

"Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there ruled a kind and just king who was a widower. He had six sons and a daughter, whom he loved dearly. One day, while hunting in the woods he became lost. Suddenly, an old woman appeared and offered to help him, provided he marry her daughter. The king knew she must be a witch and didn't trust her, however he had no choice but to agree. As his wedding day approached, he feared that his new wife would treat his children unkindly, so he decided to hide them away in a remote country estate."

She paused and looked around the campfire, seeing that she had everyone's rapt attention.

"Unfortunately for the king, his new wife soon noticed a pattern to his absences as he visited his children, and one day she followed him and saw him with his sons. She knew that any child she bore wouldn't inherit the throne so long as the king's children from his first wife lived. So, having learned witchcraft from her mother, she sewed six magical shirts and made her way back to the country estate. The boys, thinking it was their father coming to visit, ran out to meet him. Their sister watched in horror from the window as the wicked queen threw the shirts over her brothers and transformed them all into swans."

"Why didn't she just kill them?" one of the soldiers interrupted her.

"Because then there would be no story," Solas replied for her, inclining his head for her to continue.

"Later, when the king finally did come to visit his children, he found only his daughter waiting for him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She told her father what had happened. He consoled her and told her not to despair for he would find a way to break the curse upon his sons."

"Oh, this'll be good," Varric murmured, excited to learn how the curse would be broken.

"Sure enough," Wren continued, "the king returned to his daughter having found the cure. But, alas, his heart was heavy. For to break the curse, his daughter must remain silent for one year for each of her brothers and sew each of them a shirt made from nettles during that time. If she didn't, they would remain swans forever. The king couldn't bear to think of his precious little girl enduring such pain and hardship. But she smiled bravely and told her father that it would be done. So, the princess left her father's estate and found an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. She spent her days gathering the nettles and weaving them into fibers that she then sewed into shirts. Three years passed and three shirts she completed. Until one day, a prince from another kingdom rode past her cabin with his hunting party and stopped for water. He was immediately taken by the princess' beauty and asked her name. She smiled sadly and did not answer him."

"Well, that's silly!" Dawson interjected, "Why didn't she just write it down for him?"

"Quiet!" Cassandra said, scowling at him. "Let Wren tell the story."