Cassandra bit her bottom lip as she carefully took her left hand and peeled back the fingers of her right hand, allowing the hairbrush she was holding to fall from her grasp. She was already late as it was and her hair was still a total rats nest, how had her mother managed to keep her hair so nice looking? Her own was cut a whole lot shorter and it was just one giant knot. Then again, her mother never went a day without brushing her hair, and she had been confined to bed for two weeks too weak to brush her hair.
There was a knock on her bedroom door, shoot, Old Lady Crowley was probably furious with her, she hadn't been pleased when she had come back, and now she was late on her first official day back as Rapunzel's Lady-in-waiting. If she got sacked now she would never find a new job, who would want to hire a former traitor with a crippled hand.
"I'm coming," she snapped, "Just give me a min…" she trailed off as Rapunzel cleared her throat behind her.
"I thought I'll check to see if you needed any help," the princess offered, "Seeing as this is your first day back to work."
"I would have started last week, but your boyfriend convinced my dad that I needed time to recover from being healed." Cass sighed, glancing at her blackened hand, "Besides, I thought I was the one getting paid to take care of you."
"Eugene was just worried about you," Rapunzel insisted, picking up the brush Cassandra had dropped, "He was groggy for days after I…" her voice dropped off as a sob overtook her.
"After you brought him back... from dying," Cass finished, "I was a little groggy too, but I was fine after a good night's sleep, so I would have been fine to have come to work the next day."
Rapunzel remained silent, her hand pulling the brush through her friend's tangled hair, the truth was she had to convince her father to allow her to hire Cassandra as her companion, and it had taken a lot of arguing and pleading. Despite the fact that Cassandra literally had given her life to save Corona from Zhan Tiri, King Frederick couldn't look past the fact that Cassandra had betrayed his little girl and Kingdom.
"Raps?" Cass asked when the hairbrush suddenly stopped midstroke.
"I'm fine Cass," Rapunzel insisted, continuing the brushing, "Just caught up in thoughts, I guess."
"About what?" Cassandra asked, glancing at the princess in the mirror as she continued to work on the knot in her hair.
"It..." Rapunzel didn't know how to say what she needed to say but she knew that she and Cassandra had made a promise to be completely honest with each other from now on, seeing as that was what got them into the whole Zhan Tiri mess to begin with, "It took me a while to get Dad to even consider rehiring you, after what you've done."
Cass nodded her head, she understood, in the King's place she would have been hesitant to rehire the very same person who betrayed his daughter as well, even if she claimed that she had been manipulated and tricked into doing it. Some people, Rapunzel and Eugene, mostly seemed to think the scarred remains of her hand was punishment enough, but she was sure that there were others that would like to see her locked up in prison for the rest of her life, "Not everyone forgives as easily as you do." she pointed out as the brush once more started to work its way through the tangles.
"So, Cass, what do you want to do today on your first day back to work?" Rapunzel asked as she gently worked the rat's nest out of her friend's hair.
Cass snorted, "Raps," she said, smirking a little, knowing that Rapunzel had purposely changed the subject, "I'm supposed to ask you that."
"Well, I asked it first, and since I don't have a to-do list today, it's up to you to decide," Rapunzel fired back.
Cass rolled her eyes, before noticing a splash of red in the corner of her mirror, "Eugene, I can see you," she said, as Rapunzel finally set the brush down with a sigh of satisfaction.
Eugene stepped out from behind the doorframe where he had tried to hide to just marvel in the restored friendship between his girlfriend and her best friend, "So are you two just going to sit around and do each other's hair today, or what?"
"If I say yes, will you leave us alone?" Cass asked, arching an eyebrow, as she stood up to face the new Captain of the Guards.
"Well," Eugene said, "There seems to be an impromptu festival in town today, and I have to be there to make sure that there's no trouble and figured that, Sunshine here..."
"It sounds like fun!" Rapunzel exclaimed, "Let me grab my bag."
"Do I get a say in this," Cass demanded, "Or am I suddenly the hired help again."
...
The town square was decorated as nice as it had been when Rapunzel had returned. Anybody who knew anything about music was playing happy dancing music and everyone was wearing their brightest happiest clothing. Except for Cassandra, who was wearing a gray tunic with brown leggings. She seemed to stick out of the crowd like a sore thumb. Everywhere she went people stopped what they were doing to glare at her, mothers quickly herding children out of her path.
Cassandra sighed as she found an empty bench and sat down, at the moment Rapunzel had managed to drag Eugene out onto the dance floor, which meant she had a few minutes to herself. She glanced at her blackened hand and opened and closed it a couple of times. She couldn't close it all the way into a fist, heck she could only get her fingers to bend halfway to her palm before they started to scream in pain.
The only reason she had a job was because Rapunzel took pity on her, and even then it wasn't even a job, at least she didn't feel like it was a job. Following Rapunzel around as she explored the festival that the villagers had thrown together didn't seem like something someone should be paid to do. She could name Several people that would gladly follow her around, including the little girls with the braids that she was currently dancing with.
She was supposed to take anything offered to Rapunzel and hold it for her, but so far she had only received a cupcake from Attila. If she had been shopping she would have gladly carried her bags for her. But right now, she felt as though she wasn't doing anything. At least on the road to the Dark Kingdom, she had an important assignment, she had been Rapunzel's bodyguard, now, she couldn't even hold a sword properly. She was working on training her left hand and strengthening it, but it was a slow process. Even once she did retrain herself she probably wasn't going to get a job in the guard. Not with Eugene as the captain. He was almost as bad as her father when it came to being protective of her. Like the older brother that she always wished she had; only way too annoying.
The bench squeaked suddenly as someone else took a seat next to her causing her to look up, who would sit next to her after what she had done. Varian smiled at her, "Hey Cass," he said as his cheeks turned bright red.
Great, Cass thought to herself, he still has that little crush on me, he's cute and all but he is just a kid. I'm way too old for him, out loud however she simply said, "Hey Varian."
"It gets easier," Varian insisted, causing Cass to quirk an eyebrow, "Everyone hating on you, after a while it gets easier to ignore them." He finished with a shrug.
"They still hate on you?" Cass asked sighing, "Why, you were just a kid trying to save his father."
"I kidnapped the Queen and took over the Kingdom," Varian pointed out, "It's gotten easier since I helped stop your red rocks, but some people aren't as willing to forgive as others."
"I'm starting to see that as well," Cass confessed, "outside of Rapunzel and Eugene, you're the only one who will talk to me."
"Yeah, my dad was pretty upset with me too." Varian let out a loud sigh, watching the people twirl around the town square without a care in the world.
"Dad blames himself. I tell him not to, that I was the one who listened to Zhan Tiri and kept all those negative emotions to myself." Cass shook her head as the music slowly came to a close, "Emotions that Zhan Tiri used to manipulate and control me for over six months," Cass held up her blackened hand, "At least I'll always have a reminder to be careful about who I trust."
Just then there was a chattering noise as Ruddiger came running up, climbing up on top of Varian with an apple in his mouth. An angry Shopkeeper hot on his heels.
"Ruddiger," Varian gasped in exasperation.
"Guards, Guards!" the shopkeeper shouted, jumping up and down in excitement, "That boy is a thief, his raccoon stole an apple from my fruit stand."
"He's a raccoon, he doesn't know better," Varian insisted, reaching into his pocket to pull out a couple of coins, "There's no need to call over Pete and Stan, here you go, that should cover it."
The shopkeeper took the coins from the boy shoving them into the pocket of his apron before storming off, grumbling to himself.
"He sure was eager to call the guards over," Cass commented, nervously shifting, as she scanned the area for Eugene and Rapunzel, the dancing had stopped and she soon spotted the brunette princess headed her way with the captain of the guard following close behind.
"This isn't the first time something like this has happened," Varian confessed, stroking the raccoon's fur, "You should have heard the Jeweler the other day when Ruddiger took a bracelet. I returned it and apologized for it. Even explained that raccoons liked shiny things. I think Stan gave him a lecture about wasting the guards' time."
"You saved everyone from my red rocks," Cass said, "and helped defend Corona from Zhan Tiri after she stole the moonstone. Yet people still try to get you arrested?"
Varian shrugged, "Keeping busy helps, which is why I accepted the title of Cheif Engineer from Rapunzel, finally all of my ideas are going to good use."
"As much as I want to keep busy there isn't much I can do with my bum hand," Cass confessed, "Don't tell Rapunzel or Eugene this, but I'm starting to think that it would be better for everyone if I just left. Rapunzel won't have to make up a job position for me, she can actually find someone who can take care of her for her Lady-In-waiting and everyone else can go about their day to day lives without having to worry about me turning their house into a rock garden or something."
"You can't leave," Rapunzel had finally arrived at the bench, "I just got you back!"
"I didn't say that I was leaving," Cass insisted, "I said that I was thinking about leaving. I haven't made any decisions yet." Great, she thought, now I'll have to deal with her and Eugene trying to convince me to stay. I was just exploring my options, I didn't say I was going to go, yet.