Chapter 7

It was a cloudy afternoon in the kingdom. Day fifteen after the Tower crumbled. Day seventeen after the Gothel incident. The garden was solitary except for Eugene. He hadn't seen Rapunzel all day. She was in some important tutoring session in the castle, and he had the freedom of lounging around all day if he chose to. But Eugene wanted to test himself. He wanted to know if he could do the tasks he used to do. There was a large tree with strong branches standing in front of him.

"Okay, Rider, show me what you've got," Eugene breathed in and let go off his cane. He put one leg up on a foothold, a gnarled bark of the tree and heaved himself up to a hanging branch. He felt a sharp pain shot through his thigh up to his back and he breathed out in a gasp. He waited to see if the pain would disappear if he just be still. And fortunately, the pain passed and he made his next move. He moved up and up as the pain dulled every time he made a new move, his heart soared every time he reached a new height.

At last, he reached the topmost branch that was able to bear his weight and saw the view of the garden from above.

"Ah, the view..." he sighed. Such views from above had changed his life. The view from the top of the castle, the view from the tower, the view as he hovered over his own body. He wondered what kind of view he will see next.

Suddenly, he saw a flash of languid form amongst the greenery. A lady in lavender and a shock of dark brown hair. It was Rapunzel. How he missed her! Eugene retraced his steps back towards the ground when he saw two men in heavy cape appeared from the surrounding bushes and shrubberies. In the space of seconds, the two stood right in the middle of Rapunzel's path. Eugene halted in mid action to evaluate the situation. One of the men was tall and wiry and the other was short and stocky. He knew them! The memory was as fresh as if it was branded in his mind. And at the very moment, the tall, wiry one was brandishing a long scythe to Rapunzel's face.

"Rapunzel!" Eugene shouted. As fast as his legs could manage, he shimmied down. No, he lurched down. And he almost dropped to the earth, but he kept himself on his feet and ran towards the two attackers.

"Leave her alone, you lunatics!" Eugene shouted. Like in slow motion, the one holding the scythe brought the scythe up and around as he turned to face Eugene's yelling voice. In one fluid movement, Eugene grabbed the scythe from the man's hand and flung it far from the scene.

"Guards!" Eugene yelled.

"Eugene! Please!" Rapunzel yelled, her eyes wide with horror.

The two cowered at such display of violence from the man they should know as the one who brought their princess home.

"Did they hurt you, Princess?"

"Hurt me? No, Eugene, they were just telling me how they wish the weather would be better. They have so much work to do in the garden."

The two men, carers of the royal garden, according to Rapunzel, bowed hurriedly and made themselves scarce.

"They're what?"

"They're gardeners. You scared them to death, Eugene," Rapunzel said in complete disbelieve of what had just happened.

"But – the scythe –"

"As I said, they're gardeners. The scythe is a standard equipment around gardens, it seems."

"But they – they look familiar –" Eugene almost made a run for the two, who had disappeared as quickly as they had materialised into the scene.

"Eugene, stop!" Rapunzel begged him. Eugene relented, knowing he couldn't track them now. If he could, he knew they posed no threat. But if they have disappeared, then his instinct had been precise. Either way, it was already a lost cause. Eugene faced Rapunzel in exasperation. Then, suddenly, like an outburst of light after a dark curtain had been pulled aside, Rapunzel made a small jump and pulled his collar down to her seeking mouth.

"Uh!" Eugene responded quite unreadily. But then, seeing that Rapunzel was not letting him go any sooner, he responded in both melancholy and gratitude. He was so close to losing her for the second time and the third, and he didn't know how many more of these cycles of test he could take. Their kiss was deep and their breaths one as they savour the moments as if they were their last. Finally, after both had carved the past tortured days on the stones of their memory, they let go, their eyes misty with tears.

"I miss so much, Eugene!"

"I thought they were going to hurt you, Princess."

"I know you're worried about me, but you mustn't kill yourself with that worry. You could have fallen off that tree and hurt yourself, again."

"Your majesty! I heard you call for the guards."

Two guards appeared. Rapunzel dismissed them but they insisted that they escort the pair back to the castle as twilight was already approaching. Vigilance was the order of the season. They had to obey, and take every alarm, even false ones with the seriousness of a war cry. Eugene, even though deprived from private moments with his beloved, was greatly pleased. He wondered what was she doing alone in the vast garden.

Well, at least he knew that his legs are completely healed.

He would have tomorrow to plan his next course of action with the king.

Rapunzel walked the corridors to Eugene's sleeping quarters. At every interval of ten meters was a guard placed. After smiling innocently at the one guarding at Eugene's door, Rapunzel knocked on the door. It was promptly answered. Eugene was still in his sleeping attire, a white cotton shirt unbuttoned, Miss Wilhelmina's journal in his hands. And was that reading glasses on his perfectly formed nose? Eugene let Rapunzel into his sleeping quarters. He put the book on the bed and patted a spot next to him for her to sit on.

"You wear glasses?"

"Only at night –" Eugene took it off immediately, but it was too late.

" My vision is perfect during the day and in daylight. I do not need it during the course of my adventures."

"Except in dark towers and caves," Rapunzel chided.

"Ahah," Eugene snorted.

"I thought you'd never visit," he continued.

"I've been waiting so I could process all the knowledge I've had and thus it brought me here to this moment."

"What's on your mind, Princess?"

"I've been seeing a lot of people in two weeks,"

"And?"

"None of them have the same effect as you have on me when I see you."

"And when I saw them prod and poke you in the sick bay, I thought, do they feel the same as I do when I look at you?"

"I doubt it, but thank you, love."

"That word. Love. Do you say it like it meant in those books?"

Rapunzel looked into Eugene's eyes. The man gave a sigh and his eyes became soft. His lips gave a smile so languid it sent a flutter in her stomach. It was that feeling again. And the heaviness of the heart. Heavy and sorrowful, but with a tinge of gladness.

"You make me happy, but why do I feel sad when I look at you?"

"I don't know, Princess. Maybe you're worried about the future. Because you're so happy now that you don't want that snatched away from you."

"Yes. You put that into the exact words! How did you know?"

"Because I feel as you do."

Eugene pulled Rapunzel's head to his chest. She could hear his beating heart, so loud and constant. There were moments when that sound was stolen away from her. She shuddered just thinking about it. The warmth of his skin comforts her being and for the first time, she could smell him in his purest form, just with her senses and the stimulations coming from his essence. There was no fear, no tears that would deceive her memory from remembering how he smelled. He smelled of the wind from her tower window in summer. Her hand began to travel along the whole breadth of his shoulders.

"I want to see you – whole," she said. It was a command and a request.

"I thought you'd never ask." The response was a complete and utter submission.

Outside, a dark and violent gale was forming, its howling sound making ones who listened to it think of darkness and the evil hides in its many folds.