The queen was sitting with a book in her hand, her legs unceremoniously tucked underneath herself. She felt more comfortable that way, instead of keeping her back straight, her legs kept stiff in front of her like a proper lady. Even queens had the moments when they just wanted to let themselves be, well, themselves. Just read a mild romance novel and be considered a tart by any Manners Tutor in the world, even then, she didn't mind at all.
She stretched out an arm and rubbed one of her emerald green eyes, her head light from reading for so long that day. Marking a page in her book, she stood and let the feeling grow back into her limbs, gently brushing out the wrinkles in the fine silk of her dress. As she carefully put the volume away on her personal bookshelf, she heard a soft knock at her door. "Come in," she said, turning towards the opening and saw the lovely cropped chestnut hair of her beautiful daughter.
"Mother?" Rapunzel's voice was unsure about the word, unsure of whether or not she should direct it to the queen. This fact, though hurt her deeply, did not mar her love towards her daughter.
"Hello, honey," she said with a dazzling smile, and the girl couldn't help but smile back, her nervousness noticeably dissipating with every step she took forward towards her mother. The queen hugged her princess tightly, trying to put eighteen years of love into every embrace she shared with her little girl. Sadly, she knew it would never be enough, she would never get back those years with Rapunzel. She'd never be the one to tuck her in at night after reading her a story, to kiss her bumps and bruises and pretend that made them better, to teach her about boys and show her the other princesses around the world. To dress her up and do her hair, and tell her how beautiful she is.
To give her real mother's love.
For a moment, she needed to compose herself to avoid crying herself silly, and let Rapunzel go as soon as she knew she wouldn't look sad. "Mother," she said, testing out the word again. "I have a question for you." This cheered the queen up immensely. She loved being able to tell Rapunzel things she didn't know, to teach her about the world. It made up for those days when she couldn't.
Taking Rapunzel by the hand, she sat them down on the sofa, holding her grip lightly. "What would you like to know?"
She looked nervous, and shy, and the queen couldn't help but smile at her. "When," she started, her voice very quiet, "when I was traveling, before," she took a deep breath, "I spoke with my mo—ah, with Gothel," the queen hid her pain behind her smile, and Rapunzel took no notice. "She told me she was proud of me, but she said it so... meanly. I didn't understand if she was proud of me, why would she say it that way?"
The queen didn't know what to say for a moment. "What was she talking about?"
Here, Rapunzel grew silent for almost a full minute. "Eugene," she whispered, looking at their entwined hands to avoid watching her mother's eyes. "I told her I met someone, and she said I'm so proud of you with the thief. She never said she was proud of me before, but that didn't seem like... the right moment for her to say it. Was it?" Her heart broke at the slight glimmer of hope in her daughter's eyes that perhaps, that women, Gothel, wasn't as cruel as she had seemed.
Years of training with tact and diplomacy had not prepared her for something of this caliber, for hurting her daughter, for telling the truth. But she swore to herself and to her husband, who agreed wholeheartedly, she would never lie to Rapunzel, she wouldn't keep her from anything—or anyone—she loved. Ever. "She was not truly proud of you, sweetheart," the queen said with a sigh, as Rapunzel clenched her hands tighter than before. "She was being cruel to you, saying that you had made a poor choice in judgment trusting and loving Eugene. That Eugene wasn't good enough for you, though I'm sure you could have chosen a rich prince and she still would have felt the same way."
Rapunzel frowned. "But why would she say she was proud of me being with Eugene if she didn't mean it?"
"Because she wanted to make you feel like your choices weren't good enough to be considered by anyone," she replied, once more trying to hold back her tears. This wasn't good for her, this constant comparison between Rapunzel's former life and false mother and her new life with her real mother. Her heart could hardly take it.
Her daughter considered this quietly, her mind whirring quickly behind those intelligent green eyes of hers. "Are you proud of my choices?"
The queen's words had been stripped from her mind, and she was rendered speechless. Everything she had heard about Rapunzel from Eugene, that Rapunzel had offered up herself, flickered through her mind all at once. Her bravery, her kindness, her tenacity and her love. The way she could move people with her heart and her words without ever knowing she was a princess was simply an incredible talent. She even made Flynn Rider, the most wanted and devious thief in the continent, turn over a new leaf, and somehow, the queen knew how she truly felt.
"Rapunzel," she said, taking her daughter's face in her hands and stroking her cheek, "I have never felt more proud of anything or anyone in my life. You are brave, you are strong, you are talented. You're intelligent, and beautiful, you're loving and truthful. You have everything I could have ever hoped my daughter to have. There is nothing about you I am not proud of."
"Even Eugene?" she questioned, curling up with her mother, and the queen put her arms around the girl, hugging her tight. The queen laughed at this, a kind laugh she hoped, so Rapunzel would not think she was being teased or belittled.
She whispered, tucking Rapunzel's hair behind her ears, "Especially Eugene." She kissed her forehead and added, "But please, do not let him know that. He still thinks I'm intimidating, I need to have some sort of advantage over that charm of his." Her daughter laughed, like the tinkling of silver bells in the crisp morning and she couldn't help but laugh with her, a free sort of laugh that she had never experienced before she got her daughter back.
"Your majesties?" Rapunzel looked over and the queen saw the brightest smile grace her face, and met the brown eyes of one of the bravest men she knew standing in the doorway. Waiting for permission, her daughter watched the queen, who nodded once and smiled at her. Rapunzel bounded across the room and leaped into Eugene Fitzherbert's arms. He lifted her off the ground, her bare feet nearly a foot away from the marble floors. He refrained from kissing her in front of the queen, but, with amusement, she watched Rapunzel kiss him so sweetly it made her smile. "Hey, Goldie, I'm going to have a word with your mother, if that's okay with you."
Rapunzel nodded and blew her mother a kiss before tearing down the corridor, her feet making dull thuds until they faded into silence. The queen stood to meet the man halfway across the study, and he bowed to her with a flourish of his hand that she found particularly endearing, not that she'd ever let him know that. If she were to be honest, she found this man rather interesting, never having been so closely connected to someone of such little means.
Constantly he surprised her with his patience, with his kindness towards her daughter. The way she showered her with affection with just the right levels of chastity, how he showed her how to do so many things she never would have known otherwise. Ride a horse, sword fight, and generally terrorize most of the palace attendants, though the queen and king pretended they didn't notice simple because their daughter looked like she was having too much fun to interrupt.
Eugene took the seat where Rapunzel had just been sitting, and the queen stood before him, her hands pressed together. "What would you like to say to me, Mr. Fitzherbert?" Her tone was welcoming, and he took it as an invitation. With him though, she knew she had to be careful, because with a single inch he would take one hundred miles.
"Your majesty," he said respectfully, "I would just like to thank you for letting me stay here with Blondie, instead of throwing me out like the rogue I am."
She said, her tone cool, "I would never separate my daughter from anything she loves." He nodded in acceptance of this, stroking that beard on his chin that the queen never really found quite attractive on him, but Rapunzel seemed to love. He looked much less like a rogue now, dressed in fine clothing made of silks and velvets that he wasn't used to. The queen had seen his previous clothes, coarse cottons and ratty fabrics that truly got a lot of use.
"So," he added, turning back to look at her, wagging his eyebrows. She broke her train of thought and watched him suspiciously. "You think I'm charming?"
"Mr. Fitzherbert, I suggest you find somewhere to be before I find somewhere for you to be." It was a light threat that he took to heart, bowing once more before dashing down the hallway, looking for his princess. She watched after him, a fond expression on her face.
Yes, she was most definitely proud of her daughter's choices.