Melusine part 1

[Jacob]

Hilton Head, April 1998

“long ago in France, a young king went out for a ride in his woods. Growing thirsty, he went to look for a spring for him and his horse. Far off the path, he finds one, water sparkling as the sun broke through the trees. And besides a tree by the water, a beautiful, black-haired maiden sat, watching over the spring. Clearly, the king stumbled upon a Fey's magical spring. But Fey are friendly, and this one was too beautiful to not introduce himself.

So the king walked to the maiden, asking her name and if he could rest by her spring. 'Melusine', she said, and she invited the king to sit with her and talk. So they talked, they joked and they sang. Melusine wasn't just pretty, she was clever and charming, so the king quickly fell for Melusine's charms, and asked her to come with him as his queen. Melusine was charmed by the king too, but fey can't just leave with mortals, they have to make a deal. So Melusine agreed, on one condition: the king must never see her on Sunday.”

“But why Sunday?” a pig-tailed Catherine interjected from under the covers. Her mother, sitting at the foot of the bed, replied “You'll see, sweetie. But she needs a little time away from her husband, right?” Catherine nodded at this and her mother continued:

“Now the king thought this was strange too, but he didn't mind and he agreed to never see her Sunday. And so they were married and Melusine became queen. And for years life was happy: the two had children and under Melusine the kingdom grew strong, almost like magic! And every Sunday, the queen hid in the bath with her children. But one Sunday, the king grew restless: why couldn't he see his family on Sunday? It was his kingdom, after all, and they were his children! So he peeked into the door of the path and saw his queen bathing with the children, and then saw her serpent tail! Melusine was half dragon! He did not know, he was not supposed to see a fairy when she rested her magic

Shocked, the king burst open the door and shouted at his queen, this horrible beast! And enraged, Melusine jumped from her bath and flew into the sky, wings on her back and her legs a tail. She shrieked at the king, he had broken their wedding promise! So now their marriage is over and she must leave! So she flew up into the sky, leaving her king shocked and broken hearted. Though the king betrayed her trust, she still protected him and her family. She was never seen by mortals again, Melusine's cry could be heard whenever her family was in danger, ready to protect them. And to this day, she protects her ancestors from afar. The end. ”

Catherine took a moment to process the story before speaking again, “So, why did Melusine have to hide she was a dragon?”
“People are scared of dragons, right? You saw how the king reacted! She didn't want to scare people away when she was trying to help them, so she used some of her magic to look human.”
“If I were dragon, I wouldn’t hide it though!”
“No honey, I know, you would scare everyone away.” Her mother grinned patting Catherine on the knee , “wouldn’t you want to be a friendly dragon though?”
Catherine replied “I'd still be a friendly dragon, some people wouldn’t be scared of me,” little Catherine paused, “the king still shouldn’t have seen, he broke his promise and that was rude.”
“Try telling a king not to do something though. Sometimes they let power get to their head!”
“Silly kings” Catherine said matter-of-fact as her mother god up. Catherine then asked “will daddy be around tomorrow? He still promised to take me on a sailboat.”
“Maybe, Catherine, you know he's very busy but he'll try to make some time for us tomorrow and go to the harbor. Good night, sweet dragon.”
“Good Night, rawr!” Catherine giggled to herself as her mother closed the bedroom door behind her.

The two spent the next day, and most of the vacation, alone together.