Hereâs a story about changelings:Â
Mary was a beautiful baby, sweet and affectionate, but by the time sheâs three sheâs turned difficult and strange, with fey moods and a stubborn mouth that screams and bites but never says mama. But her motherâs well-used to hard work with little thanks, and when the village gossips wag their tongues she just shrugs, and pulls her difficult child away from their precious, perfect blossoms, before the bites draw blood. Maryâs mother doesnât drown her in a bucket of saltwater, and she doesnât take up the silver knife the wife of the village priest leaves out for her one Sunday brunch.Â
She gives her daughter yarn, instead, and instead of a rowan stake through her inhuman heart she gives her a childâs first loom, oak and ash. She lets her vicious, uncooperative fairy daughter entertain herself with games of her own devising, in as much peace and comfort as either of them can manage.
Mary grows up strangely, as a strange child would, learning everything in all the wrong order, and biting a great deal more than she should. But she also learns to weave, and takes to it with a grand passion. Soon enough she knows more than her motherâwhich isnât all that muchâand is striking out into unknown territory, turning out odd new knots and weaves, patterns as complex as spiderwebs and spellrings.Â
âArenât you clever,â her mother says, of her work, and leaves her to her wool and flax and whatnot. Maryâs not biting anymore, and she smiles more than she frowns, and thatâs about as much, her mother figures, as anyone should hope for from their child.Â
Mary still cries sometimes, when the other girls reject her for her strange graces, her odd slow way of talking, her restless reaching fluttering hands that have learned to spin but never to settle. The other girls call her freak, witchblood, hobgoblin.
âI donât remember girls being quite so stupid when I was that age,â her mother says, brushing Maryâs hair smooth and steady like theyâve both learned to enjoy, smooth as a skein of silk. âTime was, you knew not to insult anyone you might need to flatter later. âSpecially when you donât know if theyâre going to grow wings or horns or whatnot. Serve âem all right if you ever figure out curses.â
âI want to go back,â Mary says. âI want to go home, to where I came from, where thereâs people like me. If Iâm a fairyâs child I should be in fairyland, and no one would call me a freak.â
âAye, well, Iâd miss you though,â her mother says. âAnd I expect thereâs stupid folk everywhere, even in fairyland. Cruel folk, too. You just have to make the best of things where you are, being my child instead.â
Mary learns to read well enough, in between the weaving, especially when her mother tracks down the traveling booktraders and comes home with slim, precious manuals on dyes and stains and mordants, on pigments and patterns, diagrams too arcane for her own eyes but which make her daughterâs eyes shine.
âWe need an herb garden,â her daughter says, hands busy, flipping from page to page, pulling on her hair, twisting in her skirt, itching for a project. âYarrow, and madder, and woad and weldâŚâ
âWell, start digging,â her mother says. âWonât do you a harm to get out of the house nowân then.â
Mary doesnât like dirt but sheâs learned determination well enough from her mother. She digs and digs, and plants what sheâs given, and the first year doesnât turn out so well but the secondâs better, and by the third a cauldronâs always simmering something over the fire, and Maryâs taking in orders from girls five years older or more, turning out vivid bolts and spools and skeins of red and gold and blue, restless fingers dancing like theyâve summoned down the rainbow. Her mother figures she probably has.
âJust as well you never got the hang of curses,â she says, admiring her bright new skirts. âI like this sort of trick a lot better.â
Mary smiles, rocking back and forth on her heels, fingers already fluttering to find the next project.
She finally grows up tall and fair, if a bit stooped and squinty, and time and age seem to calm her unhappy mouth about as well as it does for human children. Word gets around she never lies or breaks a bargain, and if the first seems odd for a fairyâs child then the second one seems fit enough. The undyed stacks of taken orders grow taller, the dyed lots of filled orders grow brighter, the loom in the corner for Maryâs own creations grows stranger and more complex. Maryâs hands callus just like her motherâs, become as strong and tough and smooth as the oak and ash of her needles and frames, though they never fall still.
âDo you ever wonder what your real daughter would be like?â the priestâs wife asks, once.
Maryâs mother snorts. âShe wouldnât be worth a damn at weaving,â she says. âLord knows I never was. No, Iâll keep what Iâve been given and thank the givers kindly. It was a fair enough trade for me. Good day, maâam.â
Mary brings her mother sweet chamomile tea, that night, and a warm shawl in all the colors of a garden, and a hairbrush. In the morning, the priestâs son comes round, with payment for his motherâs pretty new dress and a shy smile just for Mary. He thinks her hair is nice, and her hands are even nicer, vibrant in their strength and skill and endless motion. Â
They all live happily ever after.
