Chapter One

Standing in a crowd full of people, with music, dancing, and laughter swirling all around me, I was the happiest I had ever been.

For the first time in my life, I had everything I could have ever wanted—two loving parents, a life outside of my tower, and Eugene. There was nothing more I needed. Isn't it funny how just when you think you have everything you could ever want, something comes along to change your perspective?

I didn't know it, but I should have paused and memorized that moment. What I didn't realize back then, was that I was quite possibly the happiest I would ever be, because whenever you reach your highest moment, the only place you can go from there is down. Sooner or later, gravity always catches up with you.

I knew it would be hard to adjust to a life I'd only ever dreamed of for so long. I knew there was be difficult moments and hard times, but what I never expected was to feel just as unsatisfied as I was back in my tower—asking myself the same questions I did back then. Maybe I'd always had a flawed sense of freedom. Perhaps there was no such thing, and that the trick was learning to be content in whatever cage you found yourself in.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning. Well, the beginning of a new chapter of my life, anyway…

When I was first reunited with my parents, they had been so happy to see me they never questioned who the man standing next to me on the balcony was. For that first day, there was just a lot of hugging and crying, with an overall sense of joy. Then came the questions.

My parents had assumed he was a prince, or maybe even a knight from some other kingdom, so they weren't too impressed to find out he was just a common thief who happened to stumble upon my tower. But since Eugene had been the one to save me and return me to my family, the King—er, I mean, my father—pardoned all his crimes and was willing to grant him one request.

He asked for my father's permission to court me.

Both Mother and Father expressed reservations about me courting a former thief—a thief who stole from them, no less—but I assured them that he was a changed man. Even so, they had hoped I would court, and eventually marry, a prince. But even though they weren't thrilled with my choice, they wanted me to be happy, so they agreed to give their consent…as long as we waited a while before getting engaged and married, to which I happily agreed.

I peeked into Eugene's new room in the palace to see him standing up on a pedestal. His arms were stretched out wide as the Royal Tailor, Mr. Helmut, made the finishing touches to his new clothes.

"Hey, Rapunzel, what do you think?" he asked when he finally noticed me standing there.

I gave him a smile as I walked into the room. "It looks great!"

"Ta da! Is finished!" Mr. Helmut announced with a thick French accent, jumping up and gesturing towards Eugene. "Spin! Spin! Show her full effect!"

Eugene smiled and gave a twirl before walking over to me. The new suit did look handsome on him. With a crisp white undershirt, a black leather buttoned-up vest, and tanned leather pants, he looked like a new man.

"You know, this is a lot more comfortable than my old clothes." He turned to Mr. Helmut and gave a nod. "Thank you!"

With a bow, Mr. Helmut turned and left. My eyes roamed over Eugene's new room—noting the similarities with my own bedroom just down the hall. Crisp, white wallpaper with gold trimming lined the walls. All around the room were various decorations featuring a golden sun—the crest of our kingdom. White roman pillars were placed around the room, holding up beams lined in gold that supported the dome-shaped roof.

Like the rest of the room, there was an image of a sun on the ceiling. Glass doors led out to a balcony that overlooked the palace gardens. On a good night, the lights from the village could be seen from over the palace walls. The color scheme of all the palace bedrooms seemed to be white and gold. It was a lot less colorful than the hand painted bedroom walls back in my tower, but this was my new home.

"How do you like your room?"

His brown eyes scanned over the huge room. "Eh, not quite up to my usual standard."

I smiled and put a hand on my hip, trying to look stern but unable to keep the smile from pulling at my lips. "Eugene."

"I'm kidding. It's really nice, Rapunzel. All of this—" He turned and gestured around. "It's all I've ever dreamed of, but I never thought it would actually come true."

"And let's not forget about me," I teased, reached forward to bring his gaze back to me. He smiled and wrapped both arms around my waist, pulling me close.

"Of course. You are my dream." He leaned forward and gave me a kiss.

"Mother?"

At the sound of my voice, my mother looked up from the book she had been reading and gave me a warm smile. A guard had come to my room minutes earlier and informed me that Mother wanted to speak with me in the library. Setting her book aside, she beckoned for me to come over. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, we have some things we need to talk about." She patted the empty space next to her on the sofa. I walked over and sat down just as a maid walked in with a tray. On the top was a white teapot decorated with golden sun designs. Two teacups sat on saucers that matched the designs on the teapot.

The girl looked to be about my age, I noticed, as her gaze met mine. As I took in her features, a shiver shot down my spine. She had black curls—just like Gothel, and her hair was the same length, reaching halfway down her back. Her eyes were a much bright shade of hazel than Gothel's grey gaze, but still reminded me of them all the same. She must have seen my unease, because she raised an amused eyebrow before shooting me a smile as she set down the tray.

"Thank you, Cassandra," my mother said. Cassandra dropped into a curtsy before leaving the room. Mother flipped the teacups over on their saucers and poured some tea before handing it to me. I took a small sip—noting the distinctly minty taste.

"Now that you're home, Rapunzel," Mother began, "there's some things we need to discuss. You've lived your whole life with barely any education, and since you are a princess, I think we should begin training you in your royal duties, as well as the basic training you may have missed out on."

"Oh, of course! That sounds like fun!"

"There will be classes on languages, penmanship, piano, embroidery, painting, and of course, horsemanship to begin with—all the usual accomplishments of a princess."

"I'm already really good at embroidery and penmanship. Mother Go—" I caught myself and quickly amended, "Uh, I mean, Gothel taught me reading, writing and sewing. I made a lot of my own dresses over the years, and I painted a lot too—you should have seen my tower, it was covered with paintings!"

Her smile was tight. "I'm sure, but I'd still like for you to take the classes."

Whenever I mentioned my tower or Gothel, Mother's expression would always harden. I knew she didn't like me talking about those years I was gone, or about the woman who kidnapped me, but it's not like I could pretend it never happened; it did happen. As fake as it may have been, I had a lot of good memories in that tower. I didn't want to pretend it never happened.

I gave a swallow and glanced down at the brown liquid in my cup. "Of course. Are there any other classes?"

"There are a lot of things to learn, but I'm sure you'll catch up quickly. You've missed out on eighteen years of training, so we'll start out small, all right, dear?"

"Yes, Mother. When will I start?" I glanced up with what I hoped was a determined look on my face.

"Well, tomorrow would be preferable, but we can wait a while if you need more time to get settled. Once you've become accomplished in these areas, your father and I will add more classes. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great. I can't wait to begin!"

Her eyes crinkled around the edges as her smile widened. "I'm happy to see you're so excited to learn." She stood and extended an elbow to me. "Would you like to meet your tutors?"

I gave a nod and stood, threading my arm through hers. Together we walked down the hall and as we came upon the throne room, two guards opened the doors for us. My father sat up on this throne, and before him stood was a man who looked to be a little older than my parents. He wore a stiff black suit, with his hair was neatly combed back. A pair of spectacles balanced precariously on the end of his long nose and thin lips were pressed into an even finer line.

As soon as Mother and I sat down, Father cleared his throat and bid the stranger to come forward. He did as Father commanded, and kneeled down at the first step before climbing up to the top. His sharp grey eyes scanned over me, as if assessing me.

"This is your new tutor, Rapunzel. His name is Mr. Abbott. He is the best there is in the areas of language, writing, and reading," my father said.

I gave him a smile and a nod. "Very nice to meet you, Mr. Abbott."

"The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness," he said, but something about the way his lips curled told me he didn't find meeting me a pleasure at all.

Mother turned and gave a nod to Mr. Abbott. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Abbott. We look forward to you instructing our daughter. She will be at the study room bright and early tomorrow morning." With a bow, he took this as his dismissal and left.

"Who will teach me the other subjects?"

"I am quite accomplished at embroidery, so I will be teaching you, and your painting instructor should be arriving in the next day or so. I believe you have already met the man who will teach you piano. His name escapes me at the moment, but I remember him being there at the celebration for your return."

"Oh, his name is Hookhand!" I exclaimed, happy to hear that there would be a familiar face around.

Mother chuckled. "I meant his real name, dear."

"That is his real name. He's a Viking, and he said Vikings believe that giving their child a terrible name will scare off gnomes and trolls."

Mother raised a single eyebrow at that piece of information. "Oh…I see." Clearing her throat, she continued, "As for your instructor in horsemanship, it will be overseen by the Stable Master. Come, we can meet him right now."

Mother led me out to the stable grounds behind the castle. I caught sight of Maximus standing in the training field, inspecting the castle guard. Each man was now equipped with a frying pan. As we entered the stables the smell of fresh straw and the musky scent of horse fur hit my nose. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, but when I opened my eyes, I saw my mother had scrunched her nose up at the smell. We passed horses of various colors, and I patted each one on the snout, enjoying the feeling of their soft fur beneath my hand. I loved animals, and was especially looking forward to my horsemanship lessons.

Turning a corner, I caught sight of a man standing with his back to us. From what I could see of him, he wore a plain, dark green shirt that fit snugly around his slim form with tanned brown pants beneath that. On one foot he wore a leather shoe, and on the other was a shoe that looked very similar—but with bite marks and bits of spit on it. He must not have noticed us standing there, because he kept on talking to the horse in front of him.

"Yeah, I see that sparkle in your eyes," he said, running a hand down the brown horses' snout. "I know you were the one who chewed on my boot. I can see it in your eyes, so it's best to fess up now. I'll ask you again, did you do it?"

I raised a hand to my mouth to hold back a giggle. Seeing this boy talk to the horse reminded me of the way Pascal and I talked to each other—we were so in sync it didn't matter that we couldn't speak the same language. We knew what the other meant.

The horse let out a whinny and nodded. The boy nodded his head up and down, copying the motion. "Yeah, I thought so. Bad horse, very bad!" He scolded, holding up a finger and wagging it in front of the horse, but I could hear the slight teasing tone to his words—the amused lilt in his speech. "No more chewing on my boot, do you understand?"

Mother came to a stop and cleared her throat. The man jumped, and spun around with a startled look on his face. I was immediately surprised by how young he was—especially for someone with the title of Stable Master. He looked around my age, maybe a year or two older.

"Oh, Your Majesty. Hi, hello. Hey," he stammered, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck as a pink blush spread across his cheeks. "I, uh, didn't see you there. Sorry about my appearance." He looked down at his dirty clothes and quickly wiped both hands on his pants.

"It's quite all right, Mr. Haddock. I just wanted to introduce you to my daughter, Rapunzel. I spoke with you yesterday about instructing her in the art of horsemanship."

"Oh, yes. Of course. Nice to meet you, Your Highness," he said, extending a hand. I was just reaching out to shake it when Mother cleared her throat, and the boy's smile instantly faded, replaced by an embarrassed look. He pulled his hand away, dropping it back to his side. "Oh, right. Sorry." He gave a stiff bow.

As he rose I suddenly noticed how green his eyes were—almost the same shade as mine, but lighter, and so full of spirit. He had brown hair that stuck out in nearly every direction, with a few loose strands that hung in his eyes. He quickly brushed them aside when he noticed my stare, biting down nervously on his lip.

"I look forward to our lessons," I said. "I really love animals."

At this his eyes widened slightly in surprise, and a smile spread across his face. "Yeah, me too."

Mother's hand on my arm brought my attention back to her. "We had best get back inside, dinner will be served shortly. You may return to your duties, Mr. Haddock."

As Mother and I walked away I turned my head back to catch his gaze. I gave a small wave and right before I turned around, I saw him wave back, lips parting to reveal a smile.

After dinner that evening I felt like taking a stroll around the village and visiting some of the friends I'd made. I grabbed a cloak from my room before setting off. I was halfway down the main staircase when I heard Mother's voice.

"Rapunzel?" Turning around, I saw her descending down the stairs. I paused and waited for her to reach me. There was a slightly confused look on her face, and worry in her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to visit some friends in the village," I explained, gesturing towards the doors. The worry in her eyes grew. What was wrong? Did something bad happen in the village?

"Rapunzel, I don't think that…I think you should stay here," she said, clasping both hands in front of her.

"Why?"

"It's not safe out there. What if something happened to you? I know your hair has lost its magic, but somebody could still try and kidnap you. They might hold you for ransom because you're the princess. You're safe inside the palace."

A sudden feeling of déjà vu gripped me—making my heart clench painfully as I was reminded of the excuses Mother Gothel gave me when I asked if I could leave my tower. Shaking away the cold feeling, I gave her a reassuring smile. "Mother, I'll be fine—" I started, but when I saw the scared look in her eyes I stopped mid-sentence.

"Rapunzel…I just don't want to lose you a second time. It was hard enough the first time. When you were taken away from me, it felt like a part of me died, but if I had to lose you again, I'd…" Her sentence trailed off as emotion choked her voice and tears filled her eyes. I didn't want to upset her, so I stayed quiet and nodded obediently.

"Yes, Mother."

She blinked the tears away and gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, dear, but I just want to keep you safe."

So did Gothel, I thought, and immediately regretted it. Mother was nothing like Gothel. One wanted to use me for my powers, while the other just wanted to keep me safe. "But you have this whole palace to explore. There's enough in here to keep you entertained, and if you want to see your friends I can send a servant to invite them here for a visit. How does that sound?"

I could tell she was trying to make me happy, so I gave her a bright smile. Gothel never tried to compromise like Mother was trying to do now. "That sounds great."

She reached forward and brushed a few strands of brown hair away from my face. "I'll walk you back to your room."

As we walked down the hallways I wondered whether Mother would ever relent about me going out into the village. I'd only been home a couple weeks, so maybe it would take a while for her to soften up to the idea. After all, she'd just gotten me back after eighteen years of being apart. When we reached my door, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on my forehead before taking off down the hall.

I hung my cloak back up in the wardrobe, then walked out onto my balcony. The sun was low—painting the sky various shades of pink and purple. Leaning forward on the white marble railing, I let out a content sigh as I looked down at the village rooftops I could see from over the palace walls. I could still remember the crowded marketplace—bustling with life and excitement. All the smells and colors and sounds I experienced mixed together in such a wonderful way. I could still smell the scent of roasted chestnuts wafting over from the merchants stand; I could still feel the hard stone ground beneath my bare feet; I could still hear the melody of the song I had danced to in the streets.

I felt a frown tug at my lips and let out another sigh—this time it wasn't so happy. Would I ever be able to experience all those things again? Would I ever be able to leave the palace walls? There was so much out there I wanted to see—so much of the world that I still needed to know about.

All I had to do was convince Mother and Father that I would be safe out there.

This story has been a work-in-progress for almost a couple years now. While it's still not finished, I do have a lot written, and I figured that with the release of the TV series, it was time to post this. It will have certain elements that were featured in the TV series, (like the character Cassandra) but other things have been changed. This plotline was inspired by a picture I found on DevaintArt called "Hiccunzel. Week-Day 2: Royalty" by moonlight-dragonart. All I had to do was read the first line of the description: "It's said in the court that princess Rapunzel is getting maybe to close to a boy working in the stables," and my mind was racing with ideas.

I'm just concentrating on having fun with this one, so it's a bit more laid-back than my other stories, and meant to help me get back into my writing groove after not writing for about a year. However, I hope you still enjoy it! Leave a comment letting me know what you think :)