Work Text:
In her lighthouse on the lonely rock, long she waited for people who never came.
Staring at the sky where her husband sailed, upon his brow was a jewel monsters claim,
Long gone he was, as a star, she had nothing but his light to show her a path.
Staring at the ocean where birds sang,
Suddenly they seemed full of wrath.
In her heart, a pain arose; burrowed deep was a thorn of grief,
For among the wrathful birds swam two children so young.
‘My children will be of their age,’ thought she for a moment brief.
‘Should they live,’ she said not, surely the monsters left none alive.
Or so she had thought long ago when she took the dive.
A song came from the children and she noticed their strange shape.
She rose and stretched her wings, long she had remained flightless.
In the ocean swam the boys, they had no legs but a green cape.
Below their bodies were twin tails, gracefully they moved in the water lightless.
‘Mother, mother,’ they called her, in her bosom they rushed towards.
She squealed and joyed and wondrous was her mood till suddenly they halted.
A shape fey and terrible swam away, till now it was quiet and still with many swords.
‘Oh lord fair, leave us not. The Lord of Water gave you the form much exalted,’
Said one of her sons and she despaired. ‘Fey he is, my child, step aside.’
‘Listen to your mother,’ the fell-voiced spoke and of to the depth he dove.
‘Father, father,’ said the other and she grieved for her lost sons in the tide.
‘He loved us, mother,’ comforted the two. ‘Good was our life in such love.’
‘Alas, alas. He had casted a spell,’ she wept, holding his face with much tenderness.
‘Nay, oh lady, no spell was casted,’ said the other twin,
‘We love him as we love you. He said we were to leave for reasons we can’t guess.’
‘Reasons I know and can tell you. They were to kill you for they were darkness akin.’
‘Then we shall leave after him,’ said the one in her arms, ‘it’s a pity you shall not learn our names.’
Horror came to her and she spoke in hurry, ‘did he ever repent for deeds done to my kin?’
‘Everyday for as long as we can remember and the jewel rejected him with much pain,’ said he mournful.
And there was a great jewel in his palm. ‘He wept and gave us it to atone for his sin.’
Long she remained quiet and the twins grew fearful but when she spoke, she was mirthful.
‘I shall invite him but he shall not,’ said she, ‘leave my reign. With you or with me, he shall remain,
An eternity atoning for sins he can’t not claim.’