Well, hello everyone! So... things happened. Remember when I said last chapter was the last introductory one? Err... I lied (to myself as well, let's admit that)! Apparently, we're still missing the introductory chapters for the kids. Anyways, this time I actually managed to get this written before my semester is over, so I hope that, since we have reached the children, things will start flowing more smoothly from now on.
I'm thrilled, and I'm so happy, I just want to tell you all about it, but... I'll rather let you read it!
PD: There's nothing too graphic here, just some mentions of bitterness, but if you read the first chapter and decided to stay here, you have nothing to worry about.
geminalupus' note:
Hey everyone! I'm really excited for this chapter because we finally get some one on one time with some VKs and start setting up plot lines for this story shhhhh don't say I told you ;) Karen, as always has done amazingly so don't mind me as I clean up my weeping heart from some angst she drops at the end.
Almost
If there was one thing Genevieve Gothel knew for a fact, it was that she had run out of luck a long time ago. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that she had been born out of it on a whole. Sometimes, she had found tiny specks of some sort of fortune in her days―when she arrived earlier than usual to the Isle's wharf and she was able to actually get a decent amount of food, when she gathered enough make-up from Auradon's leftovers and she managed to convince herself that, once she was pretty enough, Gothel would give her a second glance. Maybe the illusion of her mother's affection wasn't luck, Ginny mused over, but what did she know, anyways?
There was also the fact that she hadn't died yet―although, according to Hades that was far from a coincidence, so probably it didn't count either. However it was, ever since Mal had announced that they were leaving the Isle, Ginny had been convinced that all of her luck ―if she even had any― had been condensed into that one moment. It didn't matter how bad things had been for the last sixteen years of her life, she was finally escaping her prison—soon she would be free.
There was no way to fuck up Auradon. Except there was, because Mal dearest had decided that she was to stay with Rapunzel.
Ginny wouldn't have minded the whole tutoring affair. She wouldn't have cared if she actually had to do homework. As long as she wasn't forced to take a shoe-box worth of selfies, she could manage. Hell, she would have agreed to living under a bridge just to get out of the Isle.
But no, oh no, she couldn't even be granted a moment of peace. No, of the millions of citizens in Auradon, Mal had chosen to place her with Rapunzel, of all people. With sweet, golden-haired Rapunzel. With her pink dress and her sweet-as-honey smile. Of all the fucking people in the world Mal had placed her with the one person Gothel had ever loved.
Ginny was fuming, yet she couldn't help the broken chuckle that escaped her dry lips as she descended the ship. Barely two or three hours before she had been convinced that she was finally getting an ounce of the luck she had been denied for a lifetime. And, when she thought that things would actually start getting better, everything went to crash and burn right before her eyes.
Honestly, why did she even bother being surprised? That was the Isle's motto par excellence. If they even had a flag, someone should have embroidered the words to it. In golden letters, to show Auradon they could have something nicely done as well―Things never get better. They only worsen.
Logically speaking, she knew that the fact that she had gotten away from Gothel should have been enough to keep her blissful for life. This opportunity was way more than she had allowed herself to dream she'd ever get.
She wanted to strangle someone all the same.
What she saw when she dismounted of the ship was the boisterous mob that seemed strangely similar to the bazaar, back at the Isle. Funny, she thought, that Auradonians weren't as different to the islanders as they wanted to believe. Expect, of course, that the people in front of her were properly dressed and wore radiant smiles in their lips. Pathetic.
The crowd was remarkably smaller than when the vessel had first arrived, as Harriet's crew and Shui's tribe had already been dispatched. Her eyes scanned the crowd in the dock, but she couldn't find Rapunzel's willowy figure. After having heard Gothel's description of the Lost Princess so many times, Ginny had been convinced that she would have been able to recognize her immediately.
Try as she might, she couldn't make Rapunzel out of the mass. There were several blonde women, she could see that. However, no one was the right one. There was a petite lady that held the hand of small, blond boy. It couldn't be her. Ginny saw a flash of yellow and sky-blue as another presumed Rapunzel walked hurriedly from one side of the quay to the other, finally standing still once she reached a dark-skinned girl that towered over her. Now that she was something other than a blur, Ginny realized it wasn't Rapunzel―she was just a girl, younger than Ginny herself.
Last, but not least, Ginny saw a tall woman that stood to the right of the dock. She was far enough to be away from the best part of the noise, but she was close enough as not to miss anyone who disembarked or boarded the ship. She wore a blue gown and was about as tall as Ginny had imagined Rapunzel would be. However, the woman's braided hair was platinum blonde, instead of the golden locks Gothel was always talking about. That couldn't be the Queen of Corona.
She was so caught up trying to figure out where Rapunzel was that she didn't notice when, out of the Auradonians, a young man walked over to her.
"Excuse me, miss, are you Ginny Gothel?" he questioned, offering her a gentle smile that, for once, seemed genuine.
"I am," she replied, her voice coming out weaker than she had intended. Contrary to what she expected, at her response the man's smile enlarged.
"My name is Eugene Fitzherbert, I am Rapunzel's husband, perhaps you have―"
"Wait," Ginny cut him, finally taking in his strong jawline and kind honey eyes. "I know you."
"Well, I am Rapunzel of Corona's husband, otherwise I don't think you―"
"No," she interrupted again. "You are the guy from the pier. The one who takes Auradon's leftovers to the Isle."
Instantly, Eugene's eyes filled with compassion―kind, aching and disgusting.
"I get the supplies to the Isle, that would be correct. At least I did before the embargo," he said. "You are a very observant young girl, I didn't think anyone would recognize me."
"Did you expect that?" Ginny snapped, feeling the coals of her fury turn into full-blown blazes again. This man, despite his tender gestures and sincere smile had still married someone like Rapunzel. He knew nothing about the hundreds of days Ginny had stood by the shore, under the scathing sun as she waited for the supplies to arrive. Eugene had no idea that she had attentively watched the waves of the sea in the futile hope that, if she tried hard enough, she would disappear into them. "Are you doing this undercover or something of the sort?"
Instead of anything that logic would have dictated, Eugene let out a fruity laugh.
"Not at all, Ginny, not at all," the man offered, the same calm tone of voice as before. "Corona, along with Bourgogne, Auradon City and some other provinces and separate kingdoms are in charge of taking the supplies to the islanders. We run mostly on donations, and I understand that what we deliver to the Isle is not nearly enough, but... we try our best."
"I suppose you're glad the embargo is here, now that you don't have to―"
"Please don't say that," the king denied. "The embargo is a direct order from the Fairy Godmother. Personally, I think it's not doing any good, but... there's only so much I can do."
"Are you saying you would... lift the embargo if you could?" Ginny couldn't stop herself from saying as she arched her eyebrows.
"This is not the place to discuss such... political decisions," Eugene smiled again. "But I would. Contrary to what you may be thinking, no one forced me to help out. True, most didn't want to have anything to do with the Isle, but I can handle myself with a small vessel, and I can assure you that taking supplies once a month was no trouble."
Knowing for a fact that she couldn't deal with Eugene's kind eyes, Ginny opted for staring back at him in silence. Before the king's smile had time to become strangled, a third voice called him from behind.
"Honey, is that her?" a woman inquired.
"Yeah, Blondie, this is her," Eugene replied, shooting another disarming smile in the newcomer's direction.
"Excuse me?" Ginny questioned, carefully eyeing the woman. She wore a red dress with puffed-out shoulder pads that had a golden sun sewn to them. Her auburn locks fell until they reached her lower back in graceful curls.
"Ginny, this is my wife, Rapunzel," Eugene introduced them calmly. In return, the newcomer's smile enlarged. The woman looked like one of Auradon's commercials.
Ginny's thoughts stopped with a halt. This couldn't be her. This woman, with the faintest trace of crow's feet in the commissures of her eyes and a garnet red gown could not be her mother's beloved child. The queen before her, with dark, short hair was not the joyful girl Gothel had spent years comparing Ginny to.
"Welcome, darling!" the woman said, stepping forward without a trace of shame.
"Don't touch me," Ginny snapped when she realized that the raising of the woman's arms could only mean one thing.
"That's alright, sweetheart," she said, not losing her radiant smile for a second. She stepped back.
For a moment, Ginny merely eyed the people with whom she was to stay henceforth. Bright smiles and calm stares. They didn't even seem offended by her words.
"Very well. Girls, I think it's time to leave," Eugene prompted, taking a small step forward before stopping, as if in a second thought. "Can I help you with your luggage, Ginny?"
"I'll handle it," she replied dryly. She had only taken a handbag with her, what made them think that she would even need help with it?
"Wonderful," the king offered without a trace if mockery. "In that case, let's get going."
"There's a couple of people we'd like you to meet before we get on our way to Corona," the woman ―Rapunzel― added.
When the couple turned on their heels and walked straight into the center of the crowd, Ginny decided that her best shot was to follow them. If living with Gothel had taught her one thing, it was that she had to choose her battles. It would have made no sense that she threw a fit right then and there, barely ten minutes after arriving to Auradon. She didn't know Auradon, she knew nothing of its people or of its geography. If she wanted this to work, she needed to fuse into the crowd and, as much as Eugene's and Rapunzel's bright smiles and laid-back attitude made her skin crawl, at the moment she had no weapons to start an attack. She would have to wait.
With a new resolution, Ginny followed the royal couple through the crowd. She held her head high even when she noticed Auradonians sending glances in her direction. War had begun, but this was a small truce.
Eugene and Rapunzel, ignorant to her inner turmoil, guided her to the edge of the mob. Before long, Ginny recognized the platinum blonde in a blue gown she had noticed while looking for Rapunzel. The woman, a queen, Ginny assumed by the sparkly tiara on top of her head, was now calmly talking to two young girls.
"Um, Ginny…" Rapunzel trailed off with an apologetic smile as soon as the trio noticed them. "This is my cousin, Elsa of Arrendelle."
"And these are our daughters," Eugene continued, voice firmer than his wife's as he pointed towards the young women, each one standing at a side of Elsa. "Rose and Anxellin."
Interrupting her train of thought, Ginny paid attention to the young girls in front of her. The first one, Rose, apparently, had to be at least twenty years old. She had hazel eyes and light brunette hair that surrounded her like a cascade, too straight for Ginny's liking. Next to Rose, Anxellin seemed to be around eighteen or seventeen years of age. Her hair was a shade darker than her sister's, but she had bright, emerald eyes, just like her mother.
As a greeting, Elsa gave a curt nod with her head, piercing blue eyes scanning Ginny up and down. To her right, Rose offered a small smile.
"Welcome," she said in a business-like voice. "It's an honor to have you with us."
If they expected Ginny to believe any of it, they thought she was stupid. In contrast to her stern sister, Anxellin simply offered a shy smile and a small wave of her hand. If Ginny was supposed to do a courtesy or exhibit some kind or royal respect towards them, they had the wrong person.
"We have to go now, Elsa," Rapunzel started to talk again. "I'm sure they'll call you soon."
"Have you seen the deck of that ship?" the queen replied. "I wouldn't have thought there so many children living at the Isle."
Ginny wanted to strangle them right there, to hell with etiquette. She settled for taking a furious intake of breath.
"We can start walking to the carriage, if that's alright with you," Anxellin offered. It took Ginny three solid seconds to realize the princess had been talking to her.
"Excuse me?"
"It's pure tradition," Rose pipped in with a playful roll of her eyes. "Usually, we travel by car. However, when it comes to an important meeting or to something more... serious, royalty is forced to attend in carriages. For the good old days, nothing more."
Right. These two girls, joyful and perfectly groomed were talking to her about royalty and tradition as if owing both a car and carriage was normal. In the Isle, there were two main options move around as well―either you walked, or you were kicked out of the way. For a wonderful, split second, Ginny imagined the look of horror in the princesses' face if she had said that.
Without losing her commercial-worth smile, Anxellin bid farewell to her aunt and took Ginny's right hand. If she noticed the daughter of Gothel's muscles immediately stiffening, she didn't give it away.
"Like I was telling you, it's only tradition. Take Aunt Elsa, for example," Anxellin continued as soon as they were out of earshot. "She arrived in a carriage and she will leave Auradon City in it. However, she's forced to take a plane in order to return to Arrendelle. Oh, that's her kingdom."
Of course. Ginny had forgotten―Auradon had planes as well.
"Fortunately, Corona is not that separated from Auradon City," Rose supplied. "If we get going now we'll get home by eight or nine."
That was roughly five hours of sitting next to them. Five long hours of only staring at the family that Gothel was convinced should have been hers.
"If we get going now?" Anxellin echoed with a laugh, uncaring to Ginny's rage. "Mom's talking to Aunt Elsa, I give it a solid half an hour before they remember we're supposed to get going."
"Fair point," Rose rolled her eyes, as she finally stopped. Anxellin imitated her sister, which forced Ginny to come to a halt as well, as the younger of Rapunzel's daughters was still tightly holding her hand.
"Here we are," Anxellin announced, as she pointed towards two carriages. Both vehicles were painted a light purple, with golden suns, identical to the ones on Rapunzel's dress, painted on the door. Each carriage had four spotless white horses attached to it.
"Four people can be comfortably fit, but, since we didn't know how many guests we were expecting..." Rose continued. "We brought both of them."
"What do you mean 'you didn't know'? They didn't tell you?"
"We didn't know anything," Anxellin supplied. "We didn't know the gender, the age―"
"The parentage―"
"How many," the youngest of Rapunzel's daughters concluded. "Mal ―is that her name?― said that, since you guys had no idea about the tutoring project, it was only fair that we didn't know much about you either."
"Like I was saying," Rose pipped in once more, turning to face Ginny. "Each carriage can comfortably fit four people, would you rather us three went in one and our parents in the other?"
"Or you could go with our parents and―"
"No," Gothel's daughter hissed, a feral look to her eyes.
"If you'd feel more comfortable, perhaps we can all go in one and you can take the other one," Rose supplied in a calm voice, despite the nervous glimmer that crossed her eyes.
"No, that's... fine. Just... not with Rapunzel," Ginny snapped, suddenly feeling her face grow hotter for a split second. If either of the princesses noticed the spiteful tone to her words, they didn't mention it. Instead, Anxellin offered another warm smile, so natural to the royal family, apparently.
"In that case, the three of us can share one of them," and without further ado, Anxellin boarded the carriage, giving a fast greeter to the driver.
"You've heard her," Rose echoed, offering Ginny a small inclination of her head, which the girl took as an invitation to step into the carriage first.
"How far is this place from Paris?" Ginny questioned once the three of them were settled in the vehicle.
"Not that far," Rose replied. "Maybe forty minutes or an hour."
"Now, from Corona..." her sister offered. "Maybe eight hours?"
"Something around that," Rose nodded.
"In carriage?"
"In car," Rose continued. Both of them had the decency to not question the reason behind Ginny's interest.
In the end, it took twenty minutes for Rapunzel and her husband to arrive to the parking lot, but contrary to her expectations, Ginny wasn't bored out of her mind. Corona's princesses were in fact quite entertaining. Most of times, they said things she didn't fully understand, but there was no mockery in her voices. Perhaps it was because she wasn't used to the way people in Auradon taunted the weakest, but Ginny thought that, whether it was in Auradon or at the Isle it couldn't make much of a difference.
Barely half an hour into their voyage, Anxellin was already sleeping, her head supported on the pane. Both princesses had sat across Ginny, which allowed the daughter of Gothel to use the other half of her seat for her handbag.
"Forgive my sister," Rose offered calmly. "She has made a habit of sleeping every chance she gets. Of course it helps that we travel so much, as it enables her to sleep more."
"I... see," Ginny replied, not really sure about what Rose expected her to answer.
"If you would rather take a nap, please go ahead. You're very welcome to do it," the princess continued.
"Would that be etiquette-ly appropriate?"
"Technically, no," she answered, the trace of a laugh in the corner of her lips. "But we're all friends here, correct? Who's gonna say that you both fell asleep in the carriage? I must confess I am guilty of such sin myself."
For a moment, Ginny didn't dare say anything else, and instead let her sight wander out of the window. The landscape was... something else. She had seen the pictures of impossibly blue skies and endless forests. She had let herself wonder what it would be like to be there, to feel so close to the sky that you could touch it just by extending your fingers.
Try as she might, she had never been able to imagine the strong smell of newly cut grass. She had no idea that the mere act of staying under the sunlight was different―in the Isle, it was always cold. You could have stayed in the scorching sun, but it only burnt and didn't warm up.
She was only three or four hours away from the Isle, and she wanted to ask how she had even lived surrounded by nothing other than the smell of rotten fruits.
"Is this still Auradon?" Ginny questioned after a long moment of silence.
"It is Auradon, but it isn't Auradon City anymore," Rose supplied. "We entered Bourgogne's territory like half an hour ago. That's Cinderella's kingdom."
Perhaps Gothel's daughter didn't notice the way her expression fell. Rose, used to read the tiniest change in her interlocutor's countenance, was quick to offer her a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry. There are a lot of names you will be hearing, but there's no need for you to try to learn them all in one go," she said. "I can assure you that most kings and queens only know the names of their immediate family."
"Does that include you?"
"Sometimes," Rose let out a sweet laugh. "If you only pretend to know who you're talking to, they'll believe you. And don't be scared to ask. I think it's better to ask when you have a question than once you've made a mistake."
Ginny didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't even turn to face the princess, her eyes still glued to the window.
"Are you hungry?" Rose offered, reaching for a handbag under her seat.
Ginny was so absorbed in the scenery that it took her three solid seconds to realize the princess had spoken to her. When a blank stare was all the answer Rose received, she tried again.
"I don't want to ruin my mother's surprise for you, but we've still got a long way to go to get home, so..."
Without further ado, Rose dug into her bag. Carefully, she took out a dish and removed the lid. Taking a slice from something that seemed like a juicy fruit, she offered the container to Ginny.
With her mind still trying to make sense of Rose's carefree actions, Ginny accepted the bowl. The smell of the fruit was strong, but not disgusting. Rather, Ginny found herself leaning closer onto the dish in her hands in an attempt to carve that savor into her memory.
"Is this... is this an apple?" she questioned without even thinking.
"Yes, it is," Rose replied, tilting her head. "If you don't like it I also have a pineapple jelly sandwich, I can..."
Ginny stopped listening. How could someone not like something like that? She had seen apples, of course, but never one that smelled so good. In the Isle food always reeked of putrefaction, of decomposition. And, after having eaten the food that arrived to the Isle, Ginny was almost surprised that something she'd tasted a million times and found disgusting suddenly came up as so good.
The slice of fruit was crunchy and sweet, almost to the point where Ginny wanted to stop eating, as she wasn't used to something so syrupy. Except it was also sort of addicting. Yes, it was strong but it was also good. It was so juicy that Ginny didn't notice when drops of the nectar escaped the corner of her lips.
When she came to her senses again, she had eaten almost half of the container. So used to the feeling of an empty stomach, Ginny hadn't stopped to realize she was, in fact, hungry, until Rose had pointed it out.
"I..." she let out, offering the dish back to Rose.
"Keep it," she denied, pulling out a bright wrapper from her purse. Carefully removing the packaging, she revealed a sandwich perfectly cut in half.
Without a second thought ―or so it seemed to Ginny― Rose stretched out to Gothel's daughter.
"Take one," she instructed calmly, seeing Ginny's hesitancy. Ginny obeyed, and Rose continued to munch on the remaining piece of sandwich.
Focusing on the food, Ginny didn't notice that Anxellin was finally stirring.
"Mom told you not to be having snacks, did she not?" she murmured, voice heavy with sleep.
"It's still two hours before we get home, like hell I'm gonna be here going hungry because Mom decided she wanted to be mysterious," Rose concluded, returning her attention to her sandwich. "Besides, you're only jealous that I had the right mind to actually prepare something to eat. Unlike you, who overslept."
"Wait, you prepared this?" Ginny questioned before she could stop herself. "Don't you have, like, servants or something to do that for you?"
"Technically, yes," Rose nodded. "But I didn't want to bother them with something so simple. Besides, Mom gathered the best cooks in Corona and put them in charge of tonight's dinner, so a jelly sandwich wouldn't have been their priority."
"She's only saying that because she goes crazy about jelly sandwiches," Anxellin piped-in, leaning closer to Ginny in a mock attempt at a whisper. "If it were for her, we'd probably only eat that every day."
Quite honestly, Ginny would have taken the jelly sandwiches over anything she'd ever eaten at the Isle too.
"Keep talking and I won't give you the extra sandwich I brought," the eldest of the sisters nagged.
"Oh, you brought one for me!" Anxellin clapped. "How lovely!"
"I brought an extra sandwich for me. And if you continue to make fun of my eating habits I won't give you anything."
"Forgive me, then," Anxellin echoed. "I will henceforth respect the power of the sandwich," laughing care-freely, the princess reached for her sister's handbag and dug into it until she found the other sandwich. Shrugging her shoulders, she took one of the halves and offered the other one to Ginny.
"No, no, I already..."
"Take it," she insisted. "You'll have time to grow sick and tired of them soon enough." Ginny found that extremely hard to believe, but she accepted the food all the same.
After that, the rest of the journey was mostly done in silence. Anxellin and Rose sung a few melodies, to Ginny's great amusement. In fact, Ginny must have fallen asleep at some point too, as the next thing she knew was that Anxellin was tugging at her left knee.
"We're just entering Corona's frontier with Baidenburg," she explained. "In a little over half an hour we'll arrive home."
It seemed so simple for them, Ginny thought. They woke early to fix their breakfasts, however they wanted them. They fell asleep in their own carriages, without a care in the world because they trusted each other not to kill them while they were unconscious. They called a mansion ―no doubt it was a mansion― 'home' and they seemed actually happy to return to it.
Back at the Isle, Ginny had never learned to cook anything, even if it were as simple as coffee or putting a sandwich together. Everything already tasted like crap, trying to season it was just a waste of time. On top of that, she had always spent as much time as possible as far as she could from Gothel. She would have preferred to stay at the bazaar or at the wharf, even at Dragon Hall rather than go back to the shack she shared with her so-called mother.
She supposed she could have escaped at any time. Run away to the woods, hide in the streets, take sanctuary in... in Notre Dame, that would have been an option, too. She never had, because, just like with the edibles, there was no point. Gothel wouldn't have missed her. Chances were she wouldn't have even realized she was gone, but even if Ginny left Gothel behind, what then? She had no chances to escape the Isle, no reason to believe she would even have a shot at a better life. So she stayed.
The princesses before her had never had such problems. They could probably sleep in if they wanted, in their perfect rooms, lit by the warm sun she'd felt for the first time that afternoon. They talked about cooks and feasts as if they were common things―because, to them, they were.
Ginny still wasn't sure of what to make of them; she supposed she would have enough time to figure that out. For the moment, she felt so at ease with them that she almost forgot that they were Rapunzel's daughters.
When they finally arrived to Corona it was almost 8:30 and the sun was already going down. Scratch the mansion, Ginny thought, they lived in a palace.
"We're finally here!" Anxellin announced once the carriage stopped.
Coming out of the vehicle, Ginny had no time to actually take in the magnificence of the building, given that immediately after the three of them were out the carriage, Rapunzel and Eugene caught up with them.
Dark as it was, Ginny hadn't noticed that they'd crossed a bridge before officially entering to Corona's domains. Majestic, a waxing crescent moon was reflected in the calm waters that surrounded the kingdom.
"What would you like to do first?" Rapunzel asked. Ginny wasn't even sure if she'd been talking to her. "We could start eating right away or we could show you to your room, Ginny, would you like that?"
"I... I don't think..."
"We should eat first," Rose rescued her. "It's late already."
"Great idea!" Rapunzel applauded. "I'm starving!"
Ginny rolled her eyes―Rapunzel had no idea of what starving was. Regardless, the daughter of Gothel followed the royal family up the stairway and into the castle.
Ginny recognized rose bushes planted in vast planters at each side of the door. From the height, they guarded the entrance to the palace, proudly. That probably explained the scent of the air.
"Tomorrow we'll give you a tour around the castle first thing in the morning," Eugene stated calmly, offering his hand to Ginny in a motion to help her with her luggage. Like the first time, she refused. "For now let's just get you to the dining room and then we'll accompany you to your chamber."
Before Ginny could reply anything, Rapunzel's overly-sweet voice came into the picture again.
"We have a big surprise for you, girls!" she giggled.
Ginny didn't have the time to say she didn't want anything to do with her. In fact, it all started happening so fast that she even forgot to look disgusted at the luxury of Rapunzel's house.
She had been out of the Isle for less than 24 hours and she was firmly convinced there was already a list of 50 things she would have missed if she found out it had all been a dream after all.
And a dream it had to be, as almost immediately after Rapunzel's upbeat words, Ginny was lead to what had to be the dining room.
The floor, a color halfway between orange and russet, looked pristine. What looked like several windows separated the dining room from a sitting room. Upon closer examination, Ginny realized they were crystal doors, elegantly placed between the white walls. At the same time, the walls were engraved with golden motifs. The roof was embellished with various paintings. With no time to focus on the masterpieces, Ginny only allowed herself a split second to appreciate one of the paintings, placed over one of the glass doors―a flower, blindingly golden with a purple center.
A long table stood proudly in the middle of the room. Going around the room, ten or fifteen round tables displayed various dishes. A single one of those tables bore more food than Ginny had ever seen in one place.
"Take a seat, darling," Rapunzel chirped behind her, breaking the awestruck spell Ginny had fallen in.
When Ginny didn't move ―not because she was consciously trying to get on Rapunzel's nerves, but rather because she did not know how carry out her orders―, Rose gently tapped Ginny's left shoulder. As Ginny turned around to face the princess, Rose pointed to one of the chairs. Thankful that she had a clearer instruction, Ginny walked over to that chair. She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until Rose took a seat next to her.
Rapunzel took off her coat, once again revealing her garnet dress. Rearranging her hair, she sat at the head of the table, to Rose's right. Eugene took the other head of the table, and Anxellin sat in front of her sister, with an empty space to her left.
"We're still missing Cass, perhaps if we wait a few minutes―"
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!" a newcomer announced, cutting Rapunzel off.
"Was about time," Eugene mocked her.
"Well, excuse me if I was running some errands for you, guys," the woman replied, not a hint of real rancor behind her words. Calmly, the woman removed a golden helmet, revealing jet-back hair that barely reached her shoulders. Leaning down, she put the helmet in the floor and then simply pushed it under the empty chair with her foot.
Unamused, Ginny stared back at her.
"So this is her?" the woman questioned.
"Oh, forgive me," Rapunzel laughed, turning to the daughter of Gothel. "Ginny, this is Cassandra, the captain of the Royal Guard."
"A family friend," Anxellin intervened.
"And Cass, this is Ginny, she will be staying with us from now on," Rapunzel continued.
"Only one?" the newcomer asked.
"Only one."
"Well, in that case," Cassandra said, turning to face Gothel's daughter for the first time. "Welcome, Ginny. And why don't we start already? I heard Malinda complain all week about how much work Rapunzel gave them in the kitchen, so better try it before it goes cold."
Unsure of what the woman meant with 'starting already', Ginny decided to remain sitting. To her side, Rose stood up and walked over to one of the tables distributed around the room. When in Rome, do as Romans do, Ginny sighed as she followed Rose's example.
Surprised, Ginny watched as the family began to move around the dining room, plates in their hands. Cassandra and Rapunzel immediately started a conversation, from one side of the room to the other. Every so often they would stop by one of the tables and pick one of the dishes presented in them before moving on.
It was almost surreal. So much food at her reach, no need to shove anyone out of the way, no need to fight tooth and nail for vile scraps of rotten foodstuff.
"Just put whatever fills your eye in your plate," Rose said next to her, mistaking her stunned stillness with confusion. With a nod, Ginny obeyed, though she was much less picky than her companions. She had never tried any of those dishes, and by her rough calculations, chances were she'd never have a chance to do so again. There was no point in even choosing.
When she met the royal family in the table, she had barely taken food from two of the tables, but there was no room for anything else in her plate. She surprised herself feeling grateful that no one commented on how crowded her plate was.
Dinner elapsed in silence. For Gothel's daughter, at least. Rapunzel, Eugene and Cassandra quickly engaged in a conversation about how the day had gone in Corona with their sovereigns gone.
In between bites, Ginny tried to get something of what they were saying, thinking that perhaps it could come in handy to know how the kingdom worked from the inside. She found out that Cassandra had spent the morning training the horses of the Royal Guard, before returning to the castle for supper. Afterwards, she said something about a forest, but Ginny's attention on the matter evaporated as soon as she tasted what seemed to her like meat wrapped in thin, white bread. At least she thought it was bread.
What was more important was the fact that she knew she'd taken it from the second table she'd visited. The taste wasn't even that strong, but there was a rich variety of flavors in a single bite of it. Tiny specks of green and red colored the meat. She couldn't even begin to guess what they were, as she had never seen something similar.
When Ginny finally turned her attention back to the conversation of the family, part of her was wondering, seeing as Cassandra had stood up to have a second helping, if she wanted to actually try any of the food in the other tables or simply have another one of whatever it was she had served herself the first time. From what she did listen, Rose and Anxellin would leave the house on Sunday, as they started exams first thing in Monday morning. Apparently, they spent most of the time at Auradon City, and had only returned to Corona to spend the weekend with their family.
It was well after an hour later that Ginny decided she'd eaten enough for what could very well be the first time of her life. In the end, she did eat another one of the strange wrapped meat, as well as a couple of colorful macaroons, if she remembered correctly. It turned out that you could, in fact, not like something even though it wasn't bad per se. To her, they were the macaroons, as she thought they were too sweet and had no real consistency. She would have still chosen them over anything she'd ever had at the Isle.
With a mischievous smile, Rapunzel sat a little straighter in her chair. "Now comes the real surprise," she said, letting out a childish laugh. Ginny raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"You mean that this feast was not the surprise you've been talking about?" Rose questioned.
"Your mother has been planning this for months," Cassandra informed.
"We both have been planning this for months," Eugene hurried to remark.
"Yeah, I don't think so," Cassandra laughed, throwing her head back. By the look of the others in the table, this was not an odd scenario, as Rapunzel only rolled her eyes. The girls simply continued a shushed conversation.
"Guys, can't you behave?" the queen of Corona hissed, her lips still in a perfect smile. "We have guests," and with that she tilted her head towards Ginny.
Quite honestly, for all she cared, Eugene and Cassandra could have been sword-fighting fifteen feet away from her and she wouldn't have batted an eyelash. Nevertheless, Eugene and Cassandra decided to cut it down and returned their attention to Rapunzel.
"Now, like I was saying," the queen reassumed. "This was only half of what we've prepared for you, girls," with another of her megawatt smiles, Rapunzel turned to Gothel's daughter. "You've arrived just in time, Ginny."
"Well, are you going to tell us what else you've been working on?" Anxellin asked, no doubt the most excited of them all about Rapunzel's words.
"Not so soon, young lady," Eugene shot his daughter a disarming smile. "First you three must make a decision."
"A decision?" Ginny let out, for the first time feeling she was being part of the general conversation instead of a mere observant.
"Oh, yes!" Rapunzel laughed again. "Okay, so, girls, you three will have to choose your favorite table out of the twelve exhibited around the dining room. Each of them have a number, as you can see, so please go ahead and make your choice."
For the first time that afternoon, Ginny turned her attention to the white tablecloths, only to realize that they were, in fact golden numbers sewn to them. Her favorite tables had been 5 and 6, apparently.
"Oh, mom, c'mon!" Anxellin whined, half laughing and half complaining. "You're not even gonna tell us what we're choosing them for?" at Rapunzel's gesture of zipping her lips, the princess continued. "You're just being conniving!"
"No, don't even think about it!" Rapunzel argued playfully. "You're not going to ruin my surprise for you like you did last year."
"I didn't do anything!" Anxellin replied almost immediately. "It was dad who slip―"
"Whoa, whoa, hang on, that wasn't my fault!" Eugene defended himself, an impish look to his eyes. "Either way, Lin, since you seem so excited to speak, why don't you tell us your favorite table?"
"But, dad!"
"Hey, kiddo, the sooner you chose, the sooner you'll know what all this is about."
"Aunt Cass, you never side up with Dad, c'mon!"
"For the record, I have collaborated with your father. For example that one time we were at the forest and your mother―"
"Why don't we go choose the tables before we start talking about the good old days?" Rapunzel interrupted her friend.
"Fine," Anxellin yielded at last, with a pout that looked more like a smile. "I'll go with table 10."
"Good," Rapunzel smiled, her teeth digging into her lower lip with excitement. "Now, Rose, darling…"
"Table number 3," the princess decided, gently tilting her head.
"Wonderful," Eugene nodded. "Now, Ginny, would you mind?"
"Pardon me?" Gothel's daughter let out, blinking back her surprise.
"Choose a table, darling, please."
Right, Ginny thought to herself. Rapunzel had said ―probably more than once―, that she would ask the three of them to choose one of the tables, but the conversation had passed by as if she'd been only a listener. To have her, Ginny Gothel, sitting at a mahogany table, beautiful, russet floors at her feet, and bright, white walls around her, was surreal. To have a gentle princess like Rose talk to her like she was an equal, to be allowed to witness the playful interaction of a woman who had never had anything snatched away from her with her family was hypnagogic, to say the least. It was as if she were watching the whole thing through a glass―hearing, seeing it all, but not being a part of the scenario.
Ginny was so captivated by the ordeal that she could almost forget this was Rapunzel's family. The woman sitting at the head of the table was the sole reason she didn't even know what being part of something like this felt like. That virago, with her bright eyes and sweet smiles, was the one who had brain-washed Gothel into thinking that there was no perfection other than her golden locks and singing voice. Golden locks, that, for the record, had disappeared.
"Ginny?" Eugene questioned softly.
"Table 5," she blurted out gripping her fork tightly to stop her hand from shaking,
"Are you alright, darling?" Rapunzel asked, leaning forward in the table, her right eyebrow raised with fake concern. It was disgusting.
"I don't need your pity," her breath hitched. To Ginny's left, Rose tilted her head. Ginny saw Cassandra make a gesture to Rapunzel, but she was so caught up in the trapped breath of her throat that she couldn't bring herself to care.
"Alright," Rapunzel reassumed the conversation. "We asked you girls to do this because we've been planning something for you."
"We know that, mom, get to the part where you start telling us what's going on!" Anxellin pressured.
"I'm getting there! I would have already told you if you quit interrupting me!" Rapunzel laughed, still eyeing Ginny with her peripheral vision. "Cass, would you do the honors?"
With a nod, the captain of the Royal Guard stepped up and reached for her pouch attached to her belt.
"Right, girls, your numbers were 10, 3 and 5, right?" she inquired, not a real question, as she didn't wait for their answers before walking over to table number 3 and pulling a small flag from her bag. "That would be… Hakalo!"
"What?"
"You'll find out very soon, dear," Rapunzel replied. "Now, for Anxellin…"
"Table 10 is… Avalor!" Cassandra continued, repeating her previous action, and pulling another small flag to insert it in one of the desserts of the table. Predictably, she then walked to the stand Ginny had chosen. "And number 5 is... Agrabah!"
"Wonderful elections, I have to admit," Eugene chuckled.
"Will you finally tell us what all this is about?" Anxellin insisted.
"Yes! We'll finally tell you!" Rapunzel offered, even though her voice didn't seem quite as upbeat as it had been through the soiree. "Alright, so, we know you girls still have a weeks worth of exams ahead of you, but, we need to think in advance and we also wanted to welcome Ginny―"
"So we decided that we needed a family vacation," Eugene finished. "You girls have just chosen our destinations."
"You mean―?"
"Oh, yes!" Rapunzel cut her youngest daughter off. "You two concentrate in getting good grades and then we'll have a solid month of traveling and relaxation."
"We thought you will also enjoy seeing more of Auradon than only the capital, Ginny," Eugene added.
They thought, Ginny almost hissed. Of course. Here, people thought about what others wanted. Here you were expected to be thoughtful and considerate and kind. Here, people asked what you wanted and listened to what you said.
"Really?" she sneered instead. "How generous of you." If any of the family members noticed the disdain in her voice, they didn't comment on it. She was not going to spell it out for them if they couldn't read between the lines.
"We still have two weeks to plan this out, but… I promise it will be our best family vacation so far!" Rapunzel announced.
More like the first one, Ginny ruminating, finally reciprocating Rapunzel's smile with a dark smirk of her own.
"That sounds wonderful," Rose pointed out. "With the differential calculus exam I'll have on Tuesday, I definitely could use some relaxation."
Rose's voice was so sweet, and her words seemed so genuine that it almost seemed easy to trust her. It was disgusting.
Probably thirty more minutes passed by before the family started to show signs that their small gathering was over. Muffling a yawn with her hand, Rapunzel finally decided to terminate the meeting.
"How about we call it a night?" She said, briefly turning over her shoulder to give a look at a clock. "I'm sure we're all tired after today's events. Especially you, Ginny."
"We can continue all of this in the morning," Eugene seconded, rising to his feet. Soon, the rest of the family followed, and, not knowing what else to do, Ginny decided to obey the implicit order. After leaning down to retrieve her bag, she hung it from her shoulder.
"Have a wonderful night! I'll see you on Monday!" Cassandra called, already giving her farewells to the royal family. "And you, girls, good luck in those exams! If you're anything like your mother, you're gonna nail them."
"I'll have you know I'm very clever myself!" Eugene tried.
"Oh sure, I'm aware. If getting lost at the woods is a sign of it," Cassandra rolled her eyes, before, surprisingly, turning to face Ginny. "It was nice meeting you, kiddo. We'll see each other around."
The daughter of Gothel arched an eyebrow, but by the time she'd returned to her senses, Cassandra had already exited the room.
"Care to follow?" Eugene prompted, his smile too radiant for him to pretend he was bothered by Cassandra's words. With that same gracious gesture, he offered his right arm to her. Talk about being taken aback.
"Go ahead," Anxellin prompted, pushing Ginny forward, almost making her collide with the sovereign in question.
"I… I… Excuse me―"
"Now, it's time to carry out with what we promised, we'll show you to your room," Rapunzel piped in again, squelching Ginny's reverie. "I'm sure Eugene already said this, but tomorrow we'll take you around the castle to show you the gardens and the stables. We all have a big day coming."
"Yes he did," she hissed. 'And it sounded better from him,' she added in her mind.
"We could go downtown," Anxellin supplied, drifting Ginny's attention back to something that wasn't her burning despise for Rapunzel. "Show Ginny around Corona."
"I have it!" Rose announced. "We should go to Adalicia's bakery."
"I was about to suggest that," her sister laughed. "Or maybe the flower-shop, I'm sure we'll find something interesting there."
Unhearing to their conversation, Ginny followed the King of Corona through the castle. Everything in Eugene denoted confidence. He had an easy smile and a proud stance to his shoulders. As if that weren't enough, there was a warmness to him that Ginny was torn between admiring and loathing. Everything he had said to her seemed ridiculously honest, so genuine it was absurd to think such sincere people even existed.
The daughter of Gothel was still trying to figure out what to make of Eugene when the king stopped and turned to face her again.
"Here we are. Are you ready?" Eugene announced, his hand placed in the doorknob of a white threshold.
That probably wasn't the right question to ask, Ginny mused, offering the king a sheepish grin. She had been ready to leave the Isle from the moment she had been able to tell day apart from night. On a less bright note, she had also crossed half a castle without registering her surroundings or possible exits.
Taking her silence as a positive answer, Eugene opened the door. Gently, the king let go of Ginny's arm and stepped back, allowing her to be the first one to walk into the room. She had to be in a fool's paradise, she decided, her eyes immediately drawn to the four-posted bed, ruby canopies carefully held back by a golden ribbon. This single room was at least twice as big as the cottage she'd shared with Gothel. And this time she didn't even have to share, with her so-called mother or otherwise.
"You'll have to forgive that it's a little impersonal," Rapunzel's overly-sweetly voice snatched her back into reality. "We didn't really know how many kids we were expecting."
"We weren't told anything," Eugene seconded. "We had no idea of your gender―"
"Your age―"
"Your likes―"
"Or dislikes, we didn't know anything," Rapunzel concluded. Despite the fact that Rose and Anxellin had already told her all of that, Ginny couldn't help but follow the conversation, if only because she now understood where Rose and Anxellin had gotten the habit of completing each other's sentences―their parents did the same thing all the time. "I hope you don't mind it much, it'll only be an inconvenience for tonight. Tomorrow we'll go shopping and we'll get anything you want."
"So?" the king questioned when a few more seconds went by and Ginny showed no signs of wanting to say something. "Do you like it?"
"I… I don't know what to say," she offered honestly.
"Thank you is a good start," Anxellin supplied. "What? It's true!" she argued when her sister shot her a warning glare.
It was a good start, Ginny had to admit, but it was also a very Auradonian thing to say, therefore she kept her mouth shut. Still, it seemed that Eugene knew exactly what her abashed expression meant, as his smile turned a little warmer, proving it was yet possible.
"I'll leave you to talk about your woman-y things," he said, pressing a kiss to each of his daughter's forehead. He almost took a step to reach for Ginny, but he stopped when he saw her shoulders tense up. "I'll see you in the morning!" he offered instead, still smiling. Ginny was tempted to ask for him to stay.
"Alright, no use crying over spilled milk, right?" Rapunzel continued with her rant. "There's a bathroom right here," she pointed to a second door. "In there you'll find anything that you might need―soap, body lotion, towels, shampoo."
"Warm water is the right handle," Anxellin added.
"Oh, yes, that too," the queen nodded, counting with her fingers. "Of course, there's the tub, feel free to fill it. There's a tray with chocolate and some fruit in case you get hungry," she reassumed, this time pointing to a small dressing table. "And water. We also left water. Is there anything else you can think off the top of your head?"
"There's another comforter in the shelf, but since it's summer I don't think you'll need that," Rose offered simply, still standing at the entrance of the room.
"I think that's all. We'll let you rest, now, I'm sure you're tired, dear," Rapunzel decided, once it became clear that Ginny had no intention of answering. Showing none of her husband's qualms, she threw her arms around Ginny and squeezed her against her body. "I'm so excited to have you here!" she said, a warm rush of breath against Ginny's neck.
The contact was gone before Ginny even had time to push Rapunzel away, as suddenly as it had come. So suddenly in fact, that Ginny was actually able to notice the loss of warmth.
"That's all you'll see of me today, I promise. Good night," the woman said, stepping back to finally exit the room. Waving her hand one last time, Anxellin followed her.
"My room is the one straight across the halfway. Blue door," Rose declared. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to knock. I'm a light sleeper."
Ginny had yet to come up with an answer to the princess' offer when Rose turned on her heels and left, closing the door behind her. Not daring to move, Ginny stood firm for a few minutes, before finally letting go of the breath she'd been holding
Still not quite believing her eyes, Ginny allowed her fingers to ghost over the feather comforter. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she took a seat on the cushiony mattress. For the first time that day, there was silence around her. As much as she didn't agree with Rapunzel, she was tired. Still, the misgiving that all she was seeing at the moment was nothing more than the twisted mind trip of her feverish senses forced her to remain awake.
Taking one final deep breath, she rose to her feet. Anyhow, she was already there, even if in nothing more than a mere figment of imagination. She might as well make the best of her stay at her own fool's dream.
Picking out one of the towels Rapunzel had pointed out, Ginny walked over to the bathroom and turned the handle that Anxellin had claimed was the hot water one. It was almost perfect, she thought, stepping into the gush of water once it was warm enough. The temperature, heated up to the point where it almost burnt her, immediately wrapped around the contracture of her right shoulder, melting the tension away. It was almost perfect.
If this was really a dream, she could pretend she believed it, she mused, allowing herself to fall for the stupid lie that the steam around her was warm enough to melt the stiffness of a life-long tension. Maybe the scented soap, with its playful bubbles and creamy consistence would be enough to wash away the aching pattern the Isle of the Lost had etched across her skin.
She laughed humorlessly. It was a nice thought. So, so nice, that Genevieve Gothel almost believed it.
Oh dear, we have the first of the kids out, I'm so happy! We finally have the kids here!
On a side note, this took longer than it should have mainly because I couldn't figure out what Ginny wanted to say. Okay, no that was not it. I knew what she wanted to say, but I had to work through the semantics of how she wanted it said. All in all, her POV just felt weird because I had never worked with her. I am, however, very pleased with how this chapter turned out.
I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but since I will have to sort the way new characters think, I can't promise anything. So... what do you think about this little something? Who do you think will be the next one? Argh, I can't wait!
I love you all and read you soon!
