Have I mentioned that I hate being a princess? 'Cause I do. And I especially hate it when my mum forces me to participate to these boring dinners with people from countries that I've never even heard of.
Tonight was one of those times.
It was mum's birthday (don't ask me how old she was, I don't think anyone would survive her death-glare after asking that), and she and dad had invited the three clans, a Viking village from an island called Brek (or something) and the royalty from a country called Corona.
I'd been sitting next to mum and the triplets for over an hour, half-heartedly thinking of ways to sneaking out without anyone noticing. Since mum was sitting so close to me our elbows were touching, my chances at success weren't exactly high. I was trying to entertain myself by studying the guests, but after about forty minutes they had started to seem a bit boring.
The only one who had really caught my eye anyway was a boy from the Viking tribe, a wee little thing, though probably about my age, and the only reason I even looked at him twice was because he looked so different from the others. He was one of the few Vikings who had brought their dragon with them (yes, they had actual dragons in their village! They even rode them sometimes, dad once told me) too, and he was really only paying attention to it, even though some people had been trying to talk to him at first.
Other than that, the boredom might've been horrible enough to kill me.
That was, until I saw her. The most amazing, glowing girl that I'd ever met. She was sitting beside the queen, chatting excitedly with one of the servants from Corona. She had probably just taken her seat moments earlier, otherwise I definitely would've noticed her before! She was smiling brightly, looking happy and so… full of life, I guess. Her long, blond hair was braided and filled with flowers and tiny beads that shined every time the light hit them, and I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of them.
Until I saw her eyes, that is. They were so, unbelievably green! Her smile lit them up in the most extraordinary way, and I swear I'd never seen anything like it. I guess she could feel me stare or something, since soon enough she raised her gaze from the servant to me. I felt like she enchanted me somehow, right then and there with her magical eyes! I froze completely, just meeting her eyes with my widened once. She then suddenly chuckled and waved at me, and it took all my effort to snap out of my trance and return the gesture.
"Mum?" I asked, turning towards my mother. She smiled and gave me an expectant look. "Who's the girl sitting next to the queen?"
"You mean yourself?" she asked. "Merida, I hope."
I rolled my eyes. "No, I meant the other queen; the one from Corona! And the girl is the one right opposite to us, the one with the blond hair." Mum looked at her quickly, probably not wanting to get caught staring at someone like I had.
"Oh, that's Rapunzel. She's the king and queen's daughter. Such a sweet child, she is. Never lost her happiness, even with what happened to her", mum told me, giving the girl a proper look. I was just about to ask what she meant, but some foreign oaf started talking to her about some great storm or something and I lost her attention.
I turned back to the gi… Rapunzel. She was chatting with her mother now, her whole being just glowing with some sort of light that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I didn't want to either, it was part of the newfound fascination I had toward her. I wondered if this was what I'd supposed to have felt towards the boy I'd been supposed to marry a while back, but abandoned that thought quickly. She was a girl, I couldn't marry one of those.
Whatever this strange thing she made me feel was, I wanted to act upon it. I knew that if I didn't, my curiosity would never let me be. I was about to get up to go and talk to her, but as I did I noticed she had disappeared. I let out a disappointed moan and sank to my chair, going back to blocking out everything around me and just waiting for the evening to end.
Rapunzel giggled, trying to hide her blush. "You're not serious, right? I did not enchant you, you're just making that up." Merida smiled and kissed her wife's cheek.
"Of course I'm serious! How could I have thought anything less? You were gorgeous! Still are", Merida announced, smirk playing with the corners of her lips. Jack laughed.
"Somebody's gonna get lucky tonight", he whispered loudly to Hiccup. The viking snorted and Merida threw a pillow at Jack. Rapunzel decided to ignore the two and turned to Hiccup.
"Alright, your turn. How did you and Mr. Snow over there first meet up? Or, well, how did you first see him?" Hiccup smiled at the question. That was certainly something he'd never forget.