Rapunzel awoke to see Cass shuffling around her room, putting clothes and linens away in her drawers. Rapunzel sat up, confused for a moment as to how and when she fell asleep.
"Hey," she said groggily, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey."
Like everyone else in the kingdom, Cass had been acting unusual since Varian's assault on the castle. Rapunzel wouldn't be so concerned, if it wasn't for the fact that Cass seemed to be avoiding her as much as she could, for being her lady-in-waiting. And when they did talk, it seemed cold and curt. Rapunzel was beginning to wonder if Cass was upset with her.
Rapunzel watched as her friend expertly, meticulously, placed every article of clothing in its place. Rapunzel desperately wanted to talk with her, but she wasn't sure how to bring anything up. Cass was tricky - she didn't do heart-to-hearts all that much. And Rapunzel poking too hard at her emotional boundaries had already been a point of friction between them in the past. She didn't want that to happen again.
Cass finished putting everything away, and immediately stood up to leave.
"WAIT!" Rapunzel yelled, much louder than she had intended to, throwing out her arm as if she could catch her.
Cass jumped, and turned to raising an eyebrow. ". . . Yes?" she asked slowly.
"Um, uh," Rapunzel fidgeted with her hair, slightly embarrassed. "I was just wondering, if you were done with everything for the day, if you would go on a walk with me? Out to the fields, or somewhere...away from here?" Rapunzel sighed, folding her legs. "I just. . . need to get out of this castle."
Cassandra blanked for a second, then smirked. "Two days too long a wait for you, Princess?"
Rapunzel let out a timid laugh. "The closer we get to leaving, the more suffocating this place seems," she replied honestly.
Cassandra let out a sigh. Her face was impossible to read.
"Let me go change, and grab my owl," she said. "I'll meet you by the west gate in twenty minutes."
The west gate, as Rapunzel and a few others jokingly called it, was the smallest and simplest of the five entrances on the west side of the castle. Cass had explained to her that it had once been used by the kitchen staff, but the gardens had been relocated nearly a decade ago, and a new entrance was built. Rapunzel could see why - to get to the small double doors from the kitchen, you would have to walk past the maids' quarters, the guards' quarters, one of the cellar entrances, and down a long, empty cobblestone hallway. Now it was abandoned, except for when people wanted to sneak out of the castle unbothered by anyone. It was about the closest thing to a secret entrance that the castle had, as far as Rapunzel knew, anyway.
She sat on the stone floor, leaning against the wooden frame of the opened doors, and looked up at the bright, clear sky. She wondered how far they were going to travel. Would the sky look the same from wherever they ended up? Rapunzel noticed how exhausted, yet wide awake she felt.
A screeching owl shot past her, jolting Rapunzel out of her thoughts. She turned around to see Cass striding toward her. Rapunzel noticed, not for the first time, how much more comfortable Cassandra looked when she wore her tunic and leggings - or anything other than a dress, for that matter.
Rapunzel stood, and both women walked through the doors. Without a word, they headed toward the back entrance to the stables.
Rapunzel anxiously tried to think of what to say. She finally opened her mouth to speak, but Cassandra beat her to it.
"I know what you're doing, Raps," she accused.
Rapunzel sighed and ran her hands over her hair. "I'm sorry, Cass. . . I know you don't always like talking about . . . things. I'm not trying to be nosy, or make you talk about anything you don't want to," she pleaded. "It's just. . . I just," Rapunzel twisted a loose strand of hair. "It's just so hard to know what you're thinking sometimes." She folded her arms to her chest, looking at the ground. "Cass, you don't have to go on this trip if you don't want to," she said. "The last thing I want is for you to be forced to leave your home because of me. Or, if it's either of our dads, I can convince them to let you stay here. You. . . you don't have to do this."
Cassandra stopped dead in the middle of the dirt path, folding her arms. "Rapunzel, what on earth are you talking about?" she demanded. "Why would you think I don't want to go with you?!" Then, her face fell slightly. "Do. . . do you not want me to go?"
"Of course I do!" Rapunzel said hurriedly. "It's just, I know that it's been a terrible couple of weeks, and everyone is still upset with what happened, but it just seems like you're trying to avoid me. Like you're upset or something."
Cassandra's face went blank as she stared at the ground. Her arms remained folded stiffly. "I'm not mad at you, Rapunzel, I-"
Just then, a couple of patrol guards from behind the stables and walked past them, bowing slightly at the princess.
"Let's get out of here," Cass said curtly, continuing down the path.
They saddled and mounted their horses in silence. Rapunzel decided not to push it. She would let Cass talk when she was ready.
They rode out of town, over the bridge, and into the mainland without a word. When they reached the edge of the woods, Rapunzel leapt off of Fidela and onto the path.
Cass followed suit. They walked along the forest's edge, hearing only their own feet hitting the dirt. Just when Rapunzel thought she would have to break her silence, Cass finally spoke up.
"I should have seen it coming," she said gravely. "I never suspected him. Even after he came during the blizzard. I just never thought he'd be capable. . ." Her voice trailed off.
Rapunzel looked over and saw the torment on her friend's face. "Cass. . ."
"I know he had a thing for me," she said bluntly. "He said so himself, sort of." She paused, looking ahead as if she was seeing something else. "He helped me so much that day," she said quietly. "Just so that he could impress me. And it worked. I turned down an assignment from my father for him, I called him my friend!" she said angrily. "I. . . I thought of him as my friend."
"I know," was all Rapunzel could say.
"I thought that he was such a sweet kid," she continued. "I trusted him."
"We all did, Cass."
"I never should have let my guard down. It can't happen again, Rapunzel," she said desperately.
Rapunzel stopped and grabbed her shoulder, looking her in the eye. "Cass, I have my mom back because of you," she said earnestly. "You saved lives that night!" Rapunzel sighed, and the two continued walking. "If anyone should be feeling guilty, it's me. I snuck him in the castle, I let him take the flower. I thought it was the right thing to do, and I wanted so badly to make up for not helping him before. . ." Rapunzel winced, feeling the familiar sting of guilt once more. She took a deep breath. "But I can't keep blaming myself, and neither can you. At the end of the day, what Varian chose to do was out of our hands."
Cassandra drew her sword, slashing at the foliage as they walked.
"You're right. It was his choice," she said angrily, huffing as she swung at the innocent branches. "His choice to betray his friends. His kingdom. His choice to kidnap our Queen and assault the castle." Gripping the sword with both hands, she let out a yell as she hacked the blade into the side of a tree. She dropped her arms to her sides, and the sword stayed in place. She turned her back to Rapunzel.
"It was his choice to try and crush me to death while he hid inside a machine." Her voice shook with rage. She stared at the impaled tree for a moment, catching her breath. Then, she planted a boot against the trunk, and yanked it out.
Rapunzel said nothing, but stepped forward and hugged Cass from behind. Cass didn't move. "I trusted him," she whispered.
After a moment, Cass stepped away and turned around. Her face was unreadable once more.
"Rapunzel, you have to understand that when we're out there, we can't trust anyone," she said desperately, enunciating every syllable. "We cannot afford to let another snake in. It's going to be different out there."
"I know, Cass," Rapunzel said somberly. "But at the same time, you can't let this ruin how you see everyone else we meet moving forward. There are going to be times where we need help." When Cass didn't say anything, Rapunzel thought for a moment.
"Look, I'll try not to be so naïve about people, if you try to give them a chance," she offered, holding out her hand.
Cassandra's face softened, and she let out a small chuckle. "Fine, Princess," she agreed, mockingly shaking Rapunzel's hand. They both giggled, and continued down the path.
"I've been outside of Corona a few times," Cass mused. "But only ever on short trips with my dad. Honestly, rocks aside, it's kind of intimidating." She kicked a loose rock down the trail. "All my life, it's been all about Corona. Growing up, my father made sure I knew that protecting and serving this kingdom were the most important things I could do in life. Now that we're leaving. . . I don't know. I guess keeping you safe still counts as serving the kingdom." She kicked the rock again. "But other than that, I don't know who I am outside of these walls."
"I guess we're both going to have to find out," said Rapunzel.
The trail came to an end, and they found themselves at the back end of a recently tilled field. Rapunzel looked out across the expanse, and saw that it was completely empty. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She turned to face Cass.
"I want you to teach me how to fight. Not with swords or weapons. Just you and me, hand-to-hand. I need to learn how to protect myself when I don't have a frying pan.
Cassandra looked surprised for a moment, but then she smiled. "Alright, then." She surveyed the area for a moment, then pointed into the field. "There. The ground will be softer." Rapunzel swallowed nervously.
The fresh dirt was still damp from the previous night's rainstorm. Rapunzel felt the muddy earth squish between her toes.
"Alright, now, widen your stance, and bend your knees," Cass instructed. Rapunzel could tell that her friend was in her element. "Put your left foot forward a bit."
Rapunzel spent the next half hour methodically going through different offensive techniques. Throwing a punch, kicks, using her bodyweight to throw her opponent off balance.
"Alright, now come at me for real," Cass said. "Don't hold back."
Rapunzel hesitated. "Wait, Cass, are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."
Cassandra laughed. "Trust me Raps, you won't."
Rapunzel sighed. "Okay."
Rapunzel leapt at her, swinging out a leg in an attempt to kick Cass's out from underneath her. Cass, however, ducked, grabbed Rapunzel's legs, and launched the princess off of her back.
Rapunzel landed with a squish into a previously unseen puddle. She quickly made it to her knees, just in time to see Cass turn around. For a second Rapunzel thought that Cass was going to come at her, however, as soon as she caught sight of Rapunzel, she burst into laughter.
Rapunzel looked down to see that she was covered in thick, wet mud from the chest down.
While Cass was nearly doubled over laughing, Rapunzel took the opportunity to scoop up two fistfuls of mud. She then launched herself at Cassandra, simultaneously tackling her to the ground and smearing mud all over the front of her.
Their sparring match quickly devolved into no-rules, no-holds-back mud wrestling.
Rapunzel wasn't sure how long it went on for, but it only stopped when both girls were laughing so hard that they could no longer breathe. They laid next to each other on their backs, trying to catch their breath.
"Well," Rapunzel said after a moment. "So much for training."
"We'll work on it," Cass replied breathlessly. She stood up, and reached out a hand to Rapunzel. When they were both on their feet, Rapunzel nearly lost it again once she got a good look at Cassandra – from head to toe, there was barely an inch of her that wasn't covered.
"The other maids are going to kill me," Cass said with a smile, looking at Rapunzel's dress. "Oh well."
The ride back to the castle was much more pleasant than the ride out (save two now-muddy, grumbling horses). Rapunzel and Cass talked about plans for the trip; different cities they might stop in, what they would bring, etc. When they arrived back at the stables, they were both in much higher spirits.
They tried their best to wipe off the now-dried mud before they entered the castle, but it was really no use.
"Let's just go straight to the laundry room," Cassandra suggested. "We can just change there. But let me do the talking."
"Fine," Rapunzel giggled.
Unfortunately, the laundry room was on the East side of the castle, so they would not be spared the shame. As they approached the gate, they were met by a group of guards and citizens working to rebuild a previously smashed wall. From the crowd, Lance emerged to greet them.
"Wow. That is quite the look, you two," he said charmingly, folding his arms. "Really brings out the eyes. Hey, where's Eugene?" he asked. "If he looks anything like you guys, I wanna rub it in. "Guy takes way too much pride in being clean," he said mischievously, rubbing his hands together.
Rapunzel and Cass looked at each other.
"He isn't with you?" Rapunzel asked. "He told me that he was going to come help out today."
"Nope. I just assumed he was with you." Lance put his hands on his hips.
Just then, Hookfoot walked over. "Slacker probably got distracted by a mirror or something," he said grumpily.
Cass and Lance let out a snicker, but Rapunzel frowned. After their conversation earlier in the day, Rapunzel doubted that Eugene would just skip out like that.
"Well boys, we'd love to stay and help, but I've got to go get Princess here cleaned up before we get in too much trouble," Cass said, taking Rapunzel by the shoulder and leading her toward the door.
"If you find Eugene before you change, give him a hug for me!" Lance called out behind them.
The girls walked down the corridor, trying not to be seen. Peeking around every corner, they finally made it to the laundry room.
As they were about to enter, however, they heard two very distinct voices.
"It's both of our dads," Rapunzel said surprisedly, straining to hear the conversation.
"Great," Cassandra moaned.
Then, Rapunzel heard Eugene's voice in the mix, as well as a woman's.
She looked at Cass, who simply shrugged.
Rapunzel sighed, and stepped through the door, apologies and explanations fully prepared.
She was, however, extremely confused at the sight in front of her. The King and the Captain stood over Eugene, who sat in a chair, with a rag held to his face by Esther, one of the laundry maids. She pulled it away slightly, revealing a bloody gash running down Eugene's face.
Rapunzel let out a small scream, and everyone looked over at them. Eugene tried to stand up, but
Esther pushed him back down in his chair. "Sit still, boy," she said sternly.
"What happened?!" Rapunzel cried.
"I could ask you the same thing, Blondie," Eugene said jokingly, wincing as Esther pressed a fresh cloth into the wound.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel growled angrily.
"It's just a scratch, Rapunzel, really," he said. But Rapunzel could tell by the look on his face that something bad had happened. She glanced at her father and the Captain, who were both silently avoiding her eye.
She took the cloth from Esther, holding it firmly against Eugene's neck. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, so she gently wiped the area dry.
She saw that the wound was not one, but four long scratches starting at his jaw and running down his neck.
They were exactly the spacing of four fingers.
"Eugene, who did this to you?" she asked in a trembling voice.
Eugene leaned his head on his hand, refusing to look her in the eye.
"Varian," he said quietly.
"WHAT!?"