A/N: Here it is! The story I've been procrastinating on for too long! This is based on an idea I've been tossing around in my head for a few months now, so I'm finally writing it down! I want to mention that I am aware some people think Rapunzel attended Elsa's coronation in Frozen, but given the events in Tangled: the Series I have decided it would be easier to have this be the first time she has visited Arendelle. I will try to add more chapters as quickly as I can. I really hope you enjoy this story because I have been dying to make it happen! Now, onward!
This is a bad idea.
Those were the words running through the mind of Cassandra, the young, black-haired woman who presently was putting on a purple dress and adjusting a blonde wig on the top of her head. She couldn't believe she had been talked into pulling off this stupid stunt. But that seemed to be her life now that she was a lady-in-waiting.
"I just hope the king doesn't see through this disguise," she muttered to herself as she took in her new appearance in the mirror.
Cassandra was not exactly the image of cheery optimism. That honor belonged to Rapunzel, the princess of Corona and her best friend. To Cassandra, the world could be dangerous and required one to always anticipate danger. Having been raised by Corona's captain of the guard, it made sense that she would come to see life in such a cynical manner. She had been training with the guards since she was six and knew castle protocol as well as anyone.
There was not much in the way of hobbies for her, unless you count the hours she spent training with her various weapons. Most young women would fill their wardrobes with dresses; Cassandra filled hers with weapons. She took great pride in her collection of swords, maces, axes, knives, bows, and other implements of mayhem.
When she had the time, Cassandra would sneak out into a secluded part of the castle grounds or to a field away from town to practice. She loved the freedom of the open space and the sounds of her sword swishing the air, her footfalls as she raced through obstacle courses, and the heavy panting that accompanied a good day's work-out.
But then Rapunzel returned. Lost for eighteen years, she finally was reunited with her family, the king and queen. They were happy, and so was everyone in Corona. Well, not Cassandra. Not right away at least. She had detested the return of the princess because it seemed the king was so protective of his long-lost daughter that the guards were being needlessly distracted, what with following her every movement for the first few weeks she was back.
And then, to make matters worse, Cassandra was picked to be Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting. Oh, how she hated the idea when it was announced. Her initial reaction was to run from the castle out into the woods, where she finally let out a scream she had stifled since the moment she heard the dreaded words come out of Rapunzel's mouth. Cassandra hated the thought of being a lady-in-waiting. All those chores? Those feminine things like sewing? No way. Not this woman. She wanted to focus on her training. She wanted to be on the guard. Being a lady-in-waiting was a waste of her talents.
That was then; things changed over the following months. Cassandra became close friends with Rapunzel, discovering that the princess had an irrepressible spirit for adventure, which worked quite nicely for a young aspiring guard. It turned out that Rapunzel's sunny optimism – rather excessive at first for Cassandra – was too much to be denied. While she often needed reminding about how people could be dishonest and even not like her, Rapunzel continued to look on the bright side and inspire joy in those around her. Cassandra found herself admiring that quality, and more importantly acknowledging that she had to allows Raps (the nickname she gave) to pursue her destiny just as much as the former had hers to follow.
The two were quite the combination. With Rapunzel's sunny personality and Cassandra's cynicism, it was remarkable that they became such good friends. They trusted each other – not with everything, mind you, but enough to keep certain secrets that even the princess couldn't tell her boyfriend, Eugene. Rapunzel wanted to explore, and Cassandra was willing to help.
Which brought them to the present moment, where Rapunzel was running off to judge a talent contest at the Snuggly Duckling, leaving Cassandra to cover for her. The latter was not exactly thrilled with the idea of impersonating the princess. Cassandra was very nervous as Rapunzel whipped out a dress and wig for her, but she couldn't resist the pleading look in her friend's eyes. Turns out she could be a bit of a softy after all.
One whirlwind of an afternoon later, after Rapunzel had returned just in time to dissuade her father from confining Cassandra to her quarters for impersonating royalty, the princess looked out her window onto the kingdom below.
"How was the contest?" Cassandra asked as she entered the room.
"It was great!" Rapunzel replied excitedly, turning around and giving a bright smile, one that would have blinded Cassandra not too long ago. "Everyone had something amazing to share, and it was so much fun!"
"Well, I'm glad you had fun with those guys," Cassandra smiled as she took a seat by Rapunzel. "It was not easy trying to keep your dad from recognizing me in that outfit. And how do you do it without shoes?"
Rapunzel glanced at her bare feet and shrugged. "I'm just used to it. Never really needed shoes before."
"In the future, don't expect me to wear that ridiculous wig again," Cassandra teased, "because that thing really weighs a lot."
Rapunzel shot her a look. "Try living with seventy feet of unbreakable hair." And she grabbed her massive braid and swung it in the direction of her lady-in-waiting, causing the latter to duck.
"Okay, okay! I get it," Cassandra cried as she leapt to her feet. "Don't mock the princess when it comes to hair problems."
Rapunzel tried her best to put on a smug face, but her smile was just a little too cheery. "You got that right," she said as she walked out of her room arm in arm with her best friend.
Several days later, Rapunzel came bounding into Cassandra's room.
"Cass! You'll never guess where I'm going!"
Cassandra looked up from sharpening her favorite sword. Knowing the princess, it could be literally anywhere. Everything was exciting to her. "I dunno, Raps, the market? The forest? The docks?"
"Actually," Rapunzel said as she turned and sauntered over to the collection of maps Cassandra kept in her room, "you're on the right track about the docks. I'll be getting on a ship next week to go to Arendelle!" She faced Cassandra, looking as if she had just realized that today was her birthday. "Isn't it exciting?!"
A look of uncertainty briefly crossed Cassandra's face, but she settled for a more cautious optimism in her voice. "That's great. I expect you'll be visiting royalty there?"
"Oh yes! There's a new queen and she sounds really cool!" Rapunzel was bouncing with energy, she looked like she might break a hole in the floor from her vibrating with so much excitement.
"Yeah," Cassandra replied nervously, "I bet you'll have a lot of fun."
"But you're coming, too!" Rapunzel cried, rushing over and taking her hands.
As her sword clanged to the floor, Cassandra had to process what she had just heard. "What? You want me to come to Arendelle with you?"
"Of course!" Once again, the princess' sunny persona was working its charm, shining bright as ever. "You're my friend, and I want you to be there. It's going to be an adventure!" Twirling around the room, she continued, "Just imagine all the things we'll see and do! I can't wait to see the ocean and the…what do they call those things?"
Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Rapunzel thought hard trying to pronounce a certain word. "Fords…no, no, it was like a bay but they have a different name there… what was it?"
"Oh, the fjords," Cassandra chimed in. "In that part of the world, that's the term they use for the bays that are surrounded by mountains. It makes them narrow and harder to navigate, in a way."
Rapunzel clapped her hands and said, "See? You should come! I'm sure there's a lot of things you know and could help me out with on this trip. I'm gonna need all the help I can get if I'm meeting with royalty!" And with that, she ran off with a quick wave.
While the princess was eagerly preparing for the upcoming trip, Cassandra spent the next few days going over everything she could find about Arendelle. From what she found in the library, it seemed like there was little to worry Rapunzel. The kingdom was well north of Corona. It was small and peaceful, with no major enemies or rivals. Its trade was modest, but the people by all accounts lived comfortably. The books consistently portrayed the kingdom as a place straight out of a fairy tale.
But Cassandra was looking for information about the ruling family, because she could have sworn she had heard something about the new queen. Years ago, Arendelle had briefly come up in a discussion the king had with the captain. From what Cassandra overheard, the king and queen of Arendelle had closed the castle gates and forbidden contact with the outside world. Something to do with their daughter. Even after the monarchs died at sea, the mysterious princess still did not emerge to the public until her coronation day. For a while, all Cassandra knew about this princess was that she never left the castle, and no one knew what she looked like.
Then, she found it. She was combing through an itinerary of a merchant who happened to travel to Arendelle several months ago. According to his report, there were stories circulating about some freak snowstorm that broke out the night of the coronation. The queen was said to be the cause of this incident, which turned out to be some kind of eternal winter. What made it stranger to Cassandra was that this 'eternal winter' not only happened in July, but was over in a few days. No reported damage to any buildings or the land. It was as if the storm never happened. And this was also attributed to the queen.
This was why Cassandra was skeptical upon hearing Rapunzel's announcement. She remembered hearing a rumor about a mysterious queen of the north who set off a blizzard in her own kingdom. Nobody seemed to agree on what exactly happened, with some alleging the new ruler was a wicked sorceress while others claimed the stress of the coronation must have caused her to panic and create the storm by accident. Cassandra wasn't sure what to believe. She may have seen magic in Corona when dealing with the black rocks that were responsible for the return of Rapunzel's golden hair, but she wasn't a big believer in the existence of magic. If the rumors about this queen of Arendelle were true, however, then Rapunzel might need a little help after all. Cassandra felt sick at the thought of her best friend being trapped in a foreign land at the mercy of a queen with power over ice and snow, with no way of knowing what might set off this mysterious ruler.
As she prepared to leave, the one thing Cassandra found most aggravating was that she could not pin down a reliable depiction of what this queen looked like. She tried searching through the library for additional books that might provide a picture, but none existed for Arendellian royalty. She asked a local portrait dealer if there were any images of the queen available, but none were to be found. All she had were scraps of information and rumors about the queen's personality. For all she knew, the queen could be much older than Rapunzel or bald or have an appearance that screamed villainous intentions. It bothered Cassandra that she was about to go on a voyage to a distant kingdom with insufficient knowledge of the one person she should be prepared to meet. The night before the departure, she tried her best to get to sleep, but found herself lying on her side staring into the darkness as she wondered what would await her and her friends in Arendelle.
This is a bad idea, she thought as she drifted into an uneasy sleep.