art by Seth Alan Bareiss
Swan Song
I still don't talk much. After six years, I seem to have lost the habit. My fingers have never really healed from the years of weaving nettles. The servants think I'm still in shock from my near-burning, and that that's why I seem so unhappy.
No one except Raban, my youngest brother, understands that it's envy.
I watched my brothers fly away, and when my father found me weeping, he thought it was in fear for my brothers, or because I was lonely.
It was because I wanted to fly with them.
Enjoying this story? Don't miss the next one!
SUBSCRIBE TO DSF
Raban understands because he's the one the stories talk about, the brother with a swan's wing in place of an arm. He still dreams of the wind streaming past his feathers. But he's a man, and the human world holds distractions enough for him.
He wasn't plucked from a tree, like fruit, by a king who would wed a stranger just because she was comely and quiet, and couldn't speak a word to object.
Still, Raban understands enough of it that every day he gives me a feather plucked from his wing. Every night, it grows back, while I spin feathers into a garment as soft as clouds and light as air.
When it's finished, I'll wear it to the top of the tower and offer myself to the sky.
For my brother's sake, I pray that I'll fly.
The End
This story was first published on Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
We hope you're enjoying
Swan Song by
Melissa Mead.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come. You may also choose to support us via patreon.
Tell me more!
Support Daily Science Fiction
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):
Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.
4.7 Rocket Dragons Average
Please join our mailing list and
receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept
100% private):
