My apologies for not including a subject in the former post.



http://ca.geocities.com/therealsilentnova/

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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: btp.txt

By the Pond

Princess Tutu and its characters are the creation of
Ikuto Ito.

***

The ending of the monster raven had led to a new
beginning, felt Fakir for certain. The prince and his
princess had left Kinkan, each there for each other, to
lead a new life together, away from where the monster
raven had forever irrevocably changed their lives.

He also felt they had left also because of the monster
raven blood flowing in their veins, perhaps fearful of
themselves. When they had left though, he didn't ask,
because he didn't want to know for certain. It was how
an ending was to be, filled with parting, and an
uncertain future.

Truly all you could bring with you was hope.

Meaning you needed to leave behind you your pain and
regrets.

Fakir watched the tiny duck swim through the water,
floating so casually towards nowhere in particular. He
often found he could watch no longer than it took for
him to remember the expression on Princess Tutu's face
when the prince had said he wished to make Rue his
princess.

It wasn't an expression of loss on Princess Tutu's face,
but of love, despite her own deep and endless devotion
for the prince.

He knew though, it was the affection for why she had the
smile filled with love for him and for Rue which allowed
her to accept the prince's decision.

Her love pushed her to return the final piece of the
prince's heart to him, which broke the spell allowing
her to be Princess Tutu. She willingly sacrificed what
she had, which was all she had.

Princess Tutu was Ahiro, and a duck, in truth. She was
just a normal duck, who only had in her heart a wish to
help and serve the prince. It was all she had, and she
gave it all.

Then the ending had come, and the prince defeated at
last the monster raven, and took Rue to be his princess,
leaving behind his regrets and painful memories.

It was selfish of him, and Fakir himself felt selfish
too because even he, Fakir, had moved along. And it was
Ahiro who had been left behind to be forgotten, to live
out the rest of her life among the memories.

She swam among the memories, leaving behind small
ripples in the water. The ripples spread outward,
affecting the whole pond. It was how she had lived, and
they all thanked her for being her, and then moved
along, leaving her to her pond.

She hadn't even changed either, when in the days
following the ending he visited her to tell her of her
friends and Kinkan town. She remained the same Ahiro,
and the same shape.

He told her of the story he had written for her, which
concluded Drosselmeyer's tale of the prince and the
monster raven.

The mistake of Drosselmeyer was to tell the story he
wanted to tell, not to allow the story to live its own
life, which is why he had been defeated, for his story
was too lively to contain.

It was Fakir's lesson he had learned so terribly the day
he finished the tale, and looked at his hands to see
they were wrinkled from old age.

He had rushed to the pond, for it had been ages since he
been there, and was expecting there to be no trace of
Ahiro.

She was there, and she was exactly the same as when he
had left her, much to his surprise and guilt.

He told her the tale she knew so well, having lived it.
The tale of Princess Tutu and Prince Mytho, and how they
loved and lived, and then parted ways, for it wasn't
just their tale any longer.

Drosselmeyer had wanted to create an ever repeating
tragedy, where the prince and the monster raven fought
for ever, as a lesson to the people who feared his
stories. But he had failed, and so left.

But Fakir wondered, did Drosselmeyer take some
satisfaction in that although he didn't create his ever
repeating tragedy, he did manage to leave an ever
lasting tear in the heart of Kinkan town?

It was such a small tear that only if you already knew
it was there would you manage to see it. But it would be
there for ever.

It was there because Ahiro allowed the three closest to
her heart to leave unto her their burdens.

And Fakir was certain she had chosen to bear this burden
for ever, because it was this burden which kept her
frozen in her form, that of a duck, seemingly for ever.

But forever was too long a time for Fakir. He didn't
want for his burden to hold Ahiro chained to the past,
while he... No! He was resolved to do what he could for
her, while he could, with what he had, which was all he
had left to give.

Drosselmeyer was able to write stories which came true,
and so was Fakir, who was Drosselmeyer's direct
descendent. But Fakir never took advantage of his gift,
unlike his ancestor, for it was wrong.

But now, it would no longer be wrong, though it may be
painful, though not necessarily for him. Not any longer
at least.

For time moved along, slowly at times, and too quickly
at others.

Fakir had aged. He was an old man, and at the end of his
life.

Stories need both a beginning and ending, he had learned
long ago. But because one story ends, doesn't mean the
life behind it quits. No, it instead changes, and from
the ashes of the old it lives again.

And all he had left to give Ahiro was one final thought,
which was why he was by the pond.

He had watched the duck swim slowly about, not taking
his eyes off her, for he needed to lift his burden off
her by remembering everything he had left to her. By
acknowledging all she had given him, and all he had
taken from her.

He had the story of Princess Tutu, and the Prince and
the Raven, with him. There was one line left before it
was truly complete, 'And so, the prince whispered to
Ahiro, "Thank you, Princess Tutu."'

Fakir gently smiled, as he slowly put down his pen. He
had forgotten the prince had said that to Ahiro, when
leaving Ahiro, even though he then knew about who
Princess Tutu truly was.

But it was the seed of a new life.

Fakir had learned long ago that a story without an end
is cruel. It was too cruel a fate to leave Ahiro to her
pond, bound by the burdens placed upon her by the three
closest to her.

His own story was to end, but Ahiro would again live.
With hope brimming in his chest, Fakir then slowly
closed the book, so he could leave Ahiro, for the last
time.

***




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