Act 11: Conflicted Feelings

	Rue had no idea how long she and her mother stood hugging each 
other in Anneliese’s room, the both of them crying enough tears to fill a 
small lake. It could have been minutes, hours, or even days. The only 
thing Rue knew was that now that she had finally found her family, she 
never wanted to let go of her mother ever again.

	The two of them finally did break apart, though, when there was a 
soft knock on the door and her father poked his head inside.

	“Is everything all right in here?” he asked upon seeing their 
tear-streaked faces.

	“Oh, Karl, come in,” her mother said, waving him in with one hand 
while the other dabbed at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. “Come in, 
and welcome your first-born daughter home.”

	“You mean…she’s really our Gisela?” Coming forward, Rue’s father 
covered his mouth, his blue eyes watering from emotion. “She is really 
and truly our Gisela?” he asked again in a choked up voice from behind 
his hand.

	“She has the rosemary birthmark; there is no doubt.”

	“I…I can’t believe this. After all this time…”

	It was then her father’s turn to embrace Rue, bringing on another 
round of crying. He didn’t weep nearly as much as her mother, but Rue 
noticed a few wayward tears rolling down his cheeks, which he made no 
attempt to hide.

	“Oh, my baby girl,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “I 
never thought I would hold you in my arms again.”

	“Papa…” Her face buried in his shoulder, Rue inhaled deeply, 
taking in the scent of cigars that surrounded him. “Papa!”

	Rue’s heart felt as if it were bursting with happiness. No longer 
did she feel like a part of herself was missing. For the first time in 
her life, she was whole, the missing pieces of her past completing the 
puzzle of her life.

	She was Gisela Odile Hoffmann, and she couldn’t have been 
happier.

	After her reunion with her father, the three of them decided to 
go back downstairs to tell the rest of the family the good news. Rue’s 
mother took one hand and her father the other as they descended the 
staircase together. Uncle Henry, who was at the bottom of the stairs, 
about to go up, was the first to see them, and he knew instantly what had 
happened upstairs.

	“Gisela!”

	Rue broke free of her parents’ grasps and ran down the stairs, 
throwing herself in her uncle’s arms.

	The next few minutes were a blur of hugs and broken conversations 
as the rest of Rue’s family welcomed her home. Curious Anneliese kept 
asking if she really was a princess, while Josef wanted to know if it was 
true that she had been raised as the Raven’s daughter. Rue both laughed 
and cried as she tried to answer everybody’s questions, still in 
disbelief that after all these years, she had found her true family 
again.

	The only one who did not join in the celebration was Mytho. He 
stood off to the side, a serene, yet somewhat sad, smile on his lips, 
watching the happy reunion between his wife and his newly discovered in-
laws.

	Upon seeing her husband standing separate from the others, Rue 
managed to untangle herself from Anneliese’s clinging arms and walked 
over to Mytho. He hugged her and kissed her on her forehead.

	“I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am for you, Rue,” he said 
in a soft voice, embracing her tighter. “I’m so glad you were able to 
find your family.”

	“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Rue insisted. “You, and 
Ahiru, and Fakir -- you’ve all done so much for me, even after all the 
trouble I put you through when I still thought I was Princess Kraehe.” 
Thinking of the terrible things she had done while under the Raven’s 
influence, she shuddered. “In fact, I’m not sure I deser--.”

	Mytho shook his head, bringing a finger to her lips before she 
could finish her thought. “Don’t say that. What the Raven did to you was 
*not* your fault. He was the one who kidnapped you from this wonderful 
family and forced you to drink his blood. It‘s his fault that you did 
such hurtful things.”

	“I know, but --”

	“Just be happy, Rue,” he said, landing another kiss on the top of 
her head. “You deserve all the happiness in the world, even if it means I 
must lose you to give it to you.”

	“W-What?” Rue abruptly looked up, surprised by his words. “What 
do you mean, lose me? You aren‘t going to lose me, Mytho. Why would you 
say such a thing?”

	Her raised voice, louder than she had intended, caught the notice 
of her celebrating family, who immediately went silent. Aware of the 
attention they were drawing, Rue grabbed her husband’s hand and excused 
herself, leading him outside to the gardens where they could have some 
privacy.

	“Now, what in the world did you mean when you said that?” she 
demanded to know as soon as they were out of earshot.

	Mytho sighed, taking a seat on a swinging bench and motioning for 
Rue to join him, which she did, some of her jubilation beginning to fade 
away when she saw the serious look on his face.

	“Mytho?”

	“I can’t ask you to leave again,” he said after a long pause, his 
voice so low, Rue could barely hear him.

	“What?”

	“To take you back to my kingdom… I can’t,” Mytho repeated in a 
slightly clearer voice. “It would be selfish of me.”

	Rue didn’t understand. Where was this coming from? “Mytho, I’m 
your wife,” she reminded him, holding up her left hand to show him the 
golden wedding band she wore on her ring finger. “We vowed to stay 
together forever, until death do us part.”

	“That was…before. Rue, the first time I took you to my kingdom, 
you had no real ties to this world. You and Ahiru had become friends, 
yes, but she understood how much we wanted to be together and never would 
have tried to stop you from leaving, even if she hadn‘t become a duck 
again. That made it easy for you to decide to leave Kinkan and become my 
princess. However…”

	“However, now I have a family here: a mother, father, brother, 
and sister who I all want to know better,” Rue said, completing Mytho‘s 
sentence for him. Things were starting to become clearer.

	“Exactly. Your family has waited almost two decades for Gisela to 
return to them. Now that you have, I can’t take you away from them again, 
not like the Raven did.”

	“Does it have to be either/or?” Rue asked. “I mean, Fakir brought 
us here once with his story spinning powers. Couldn’t he do it again?”

	“He could, but would that be fair to him? You know he doesn’t 
like to use his powers. Ahiru convinced him to do it this time, but…” He 
trailed off. “Besides, you wouldn’t have any way to communicate with him 
in my world. Your visits here would be solely at the mercy of his pen. 
That’s no way to live, Rue. Believe me, I’ve lived through it with 
Drosselmeyer.”

	Rue sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t 
like having to depend on Fakir’s powers to see my family. I want to be 
able to see them whenever I want, which I couldn‘t do if I went back to 
your world.”

	Sitting back on the bench, Rue looked up at the sky and closed 
her eyes as she thought over her dilemma. She had no idea what to do. She 
had been so focused on the idea of reuniting with her family, she didn’t 
even think about what would happen afterwards. Of course she wanted the 
chance to know her parents and new siblings, but she didn’t want to lose 
Mytho in the process.

	Mytho… Had he been aware the whole time of what might happen if 
she found her birth parents? If so, that made his determination to help 
her find them all the more touching. He loved her so much, he had been 
willing to lose her if it meant making her happy.

	How could she possibly let him go? There had to be some way to 
stay with both Mytho and her family.

	“What about if we both stayed here in Kinkan?” Rue suggested, 
finally breaking the silence between them. Even as she asked the 
question, though, she already knew the answer.

	Sure enough, Mytho mournfully shook his head. “I can’t, Rue,” he 
said. “I don’t belong here. I’m a storybook character. The first time I 
escaped from the book, my presence ended up blurring the worlds of 
fantasy and reality. I don’t want that happening again. In fact, to be 
honest, I probably shouldn’t even be here now.”

	“Nothing’s happened so far.”

	“But that doesn’t mean it won’t. From what I remember, the change 
wasn’t instant the first time I came either, but the longer I stayed, the 
more strange things began to appear. As long as I don’t stay here too 
long and Fakir burns the story that brought us here, it should be okay, 
but I wouldn’t want to take a chance by moving back here permanently.” 
Mytho smiled sadly. “Besides, I have a kingdom to rule. To the people of 
this world, it may only be a place of fantasy, a figment of a twisted 
author’s imagination, but to me, it’s my true home, as real as anything 
you can find here.”

	“Then what else can we do?” Rue tearfully asked as Mytho pulled 
her close. “Is our only choice to say good-bye?”

	Try as they might, neither could think of another answer.




DISCLAIMER: "Princess Tutu" doesn't belong to me. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com.