I apologize if this chapter isn't that great. Writers block sucks! Hopefully the next one will be better.
When Rapunzel left the guest room with Prince Eugene and Princess Cassandra, Rapunzel noticed a pair of unfamiliar faces. One was a dark-skinned man, he was bald, had facial hair, and had an earring. The other was a boy, who looked about fourteen years old, he freckles and black hair with an interesting blue stripe in his hair.
"You guys have a nice nap?" Eugene asks them.
The dark-skinned man yawned loudly and nodded. "And I'm going to go back to it after dinner."
The boy smacked his lips a few times and rubbed his eyes. "I think I'll do that, too."
"Can you two at least try to use your manners?" Princess Cassandra asked. "Remember that we are dining with the Royals of Corona."
After Princess Cassandra said that, The boy noticed Rapunzel and got on one knee and bowed. "Oh, Didn't mean to seem rude, Your Highness."
"You know me?" Rapunzel asked. She felt a little silly after asking, but she couldn't help it.
The boy chuckled. "How can I not? Look at your hair." Then he made an awkward sound, then he said. "Your Highness."
Rapunzel smiled and waved her hand. "Oh, no need for that. Just Rapunzel, please."
The boy stood and smiled. "Wow, okay."
"Rapunzel, this is my best friend, Varian." Eugene introduced. "He's the Royal Alchemist for the Dark Kingdom."
"Just because you gave him that title, doesn't mean its legitimate." Cassandra stated.
Eugene just smiled. "It will be soon." He insisted. Then he walked to the taller man. "And this is my other best friend, Lance. He's training to be a guard back home."
Lance took Rapunzel's hand and kissed it. "A pleasure, Princess."
Rapunzel smiled. They both seemed charming.
"Alright, let's not waste anymore time." Cassandra declared. "Can you lead us to the dining hall, Rapunzel?"
"Oh, of course." The blonde Princess said with a smile. But before she lead the Dark Kingdom visitors to dinner, she placed Pascal onto the floor carefully. "You know Dad's rules, Pascal, you gotta go back to my room."
Pascal made annoyed sounds, but ran to Rapunzel's room. Her father didn't like it when Pascal was at dinner when they had guests, especially if they were royalty of other Kingdoms. So Pascal would have to wait in Rapunzel's room and have his meals served to him there while Rapunzel was at dinner. She knew Pascal hated that rule, but they both also knew that there was no point in arguing with her father about it.
"Was that a Lizard?" Lance asked.
"She should be here by now." Frederic stated as he and Arianna sat at their usual seats at the dining table. He glanced at an empty seat, it was where Rapunzel usually sits.
"I'm sure everything is fine." Arianna insisted. "Its only a few minutes."
The King sighed. "I suppose so."
As a few more minutes passed, The king started to get a bit nervous. His wife kept insisting that it wasn't worth getting uneasy over, but her words were not enough to calm him.
What finally calmed his nerves was when he saw his daughter walk through those doors and into the dining hall. But when he noticed the guests from the Dark Kingdom right by her side, he started to get suspicious.
"Were you with them, Rapunzel?" King Frederic asked.
"We ran into each other when we were coming do the dining hall." Rapunzel quickly answered. "We all got acquainted and decided to walk together."
Frederic was still suspicious, but he decided to trust her about this. She had no reason to lie to him after all. "Very well. Everyone take a seat and we can enjoy dinner."
Everyone then took a seat at the table. Instead of her usual spot, close to him and her mother, Rapunzel had taken to sitting between Prince Eugene and Princess Cassandra. Frederic grew more suspicious, but he decided not to mention it. Rapunzel probably wanted to try a different spot today.
Shortly, servants came out and placed plates of food at the table. They weren't sure what their guests would like, so he instructed the cooks to make something not too special to Corona, but nothing too simple so the Dark Kingdom visitors wouldn't be possibly offended.
Each of the guests' plate had smoke salmon on it, the table held several different side dishes in case anyone wanted something else.
"Man, everything looks delicious." One of the guests, the tall one with the facial hair. Then he started to grab a bit of everything from the table. Manners certainly weren't a priority for him.
The Prince let out a rather loud cough and him and his sister glared at him, presumably to warn him about his behavior.
"What?" He asked. "We haven't eaten since we got on that balloon and you know how I like to eat after a nap."
"Please forgive him, your highness." Prince Eugene said to King Frederic. "Lance is a good guy, he's actually training in our royal guard."
Frederic just raised an eyebrow. This man was training to be a guard? Though he supposed he couldn't really judge, he had some rather questionable guards here.
After a moment, Rapunzel broke the silence. "So, Varian, Eugene mentioned you were the royal alchemist. Is that like a wizard? Do you make potions or cast magic?"
The boy, Varian, shook his head. "No, its science actually, not magic. But I get that a lot."
"Ooh, sounds amazing." Rapunzel said, clearly amazed.
"I didn't know the Dark Kingdom had an alchemist." The King stated. Why hadn't King Edmund mentioned that when they met in the past.
"He isn't really." Princess Cassandra stated. "My brother just calls him that."
"It will be a real title someday." The Prince insisted. "In fact, before the wedding, he showed up something that could help deal with pest problems in farms."
"Sounds fascinating." Queen Arianna stated.
Varian smiled. "Thank you, you're majesty."
After that, everyone seemed to fall into a comfortable conversation. Rapunzel continued to ask questions about Varian's alchemy, and although Frederic wasn't really able to understand, his daughter seemed to be enjoying herself.
"Once Varian shows what he can do for the Kingdom, the king will have no choice but to make him the Official royal alchemist." Prince Eugene insisted.
"Perhaps you can give him the title once you are king." Arianna suggested.
King Frederic noticed the Prince of the Dark Kingdom give a rather awkward shrug and looked at his plate. "I'm hoping Varian will get that title before that happens. He's been working hard and I really think he can do great things if they gave him the chance."
Frederic noticed Rapunzel give a soft looking smile at Prince Eugene. "That's very sweet, Eugene. I'm sure your father will someday."
Then Prince Eugene smiled at Rapunzel. The way they looked at each other, Frederic didn't like it. The way the prince looked at his daughter, it concerned him. Did he really plan to reinstate the engagement and only said no because Frederic had caught him off-guard?
"Prince Eugene, Princess Cassandra, you mentioned that you believed that Corona could help the Dark Kingdom. Can you please tell us how?"
Prince Eugene stopped smiling. He had almost forgotten about why he and his friends and sister came here. With getting to know Rapunzel better, seeing Corona, and enjoying a peaceful dinner, he had gotten rather distracted.
"Eugene can explain it better, since this was his idea." His sister, Cassandra announced. Eugene gave her a quick glare. He knew she was doing that because she didn't really believe in this mission, but he wasn't going to let her get to him.
"Well, I'm not sure if you are familiar with it, but there is a legend in the Dark Kingdom." He started carefully. "And in that legend, it mentions the rocks that caused trouble the day you three came into the Dark Kingdom. But it also mentions a way to be rid of those rocks."
He wasn't sure if he should mention the moonstone, since it was a secret within the Dark Kingdom, or at least considered a myth. So hopefully, he could get them to understand without having to bring it up.
"Really?" He hears Rapunzel asked. "How?"
Eugene took a deep breath. This was it. No or never. "Well, in that legend, it is believed that if the rocks are exposed to the a magical item, it might send them away."
"You think this item is here in Corona?" The blonde Princess asked.
"That's what we've figured." Eugene answered. "Its a magical golden flower known as the Sundrop and we-"
The sound of glass shattering interrupted the prince. Looking at the king, Eugene realized that the king had broken his glass.
"Did you say, the Sundrop?" King Frederic asked as he quickly tried to clean up his mess.
Eugene noticed that the king was getting rather shaky, and he even noticed the Queen was started to look a bit uneasy herself. But he and the others had come so far, he couldn't stop now. He just hoped that they would all understand.
The Dark Prince nodded. "Yes, and we think that its power can get rid of the rocks and we also think it might be here in Corona."
"We can't help you." The King stated quickly. Then he stood up.
"Frederic-" The Queen began, but her husband didn't let her speak.
"We are sorry for what the Dark Kingdom is going through, but we can not help." Then the King quickly walked out of the dining hall.
"Frederic!" The Queen called, but he either didn't hear her or simply ignored her. She returned her attention the guests. "Please forgive my husband. I'll go talk to him. You may stay the night in the castle if you want. I hope we can continue our discussion in the morning." Then she got out of her seat and followed the King.
Everyone else sat in confusion and concern about what just happened.
Rapunzel eventually broke the silence. "I'm sorry about that. I've never seen my dad act like that before."
"Its alright." Eugene insisted. Besides, after seeing how the King reacted to hearing about the Sundrop, Eugene found himself growing more suspicious than offended.
Cassandra groaned a bit. "I told you this was a waste of time. Looks like we'll need to figure something else out."
"Well, I think I've had enough for tonight." Lance declared. "Think I'll head back to my room."
"I'll come with you." Varian announced.
"I think it might be best if we stay at an inn for the night." Cassandra insisted. "After this, I think it will be best if we leave as soon as we can."
"But you just got here." Rapunzel argued. "At least stay the night since you guys already have rooms you can stay in. And the nearest inn is rather far from the castle."
Eugene nodded. "I agree. Besides, the Queen said she wished to continue our conversation in the morning, so that means there still is a chance to convince them."
Cassandra was still uncertain, but she eventually nodded. "Fine. But I still say we're wasting time."
"And Lance, Varian." Eugene started. "Before you go back to bed, meet me in me and Cass' room. I need to talk to you all about something. Rapunzel, do you think you can join us?"
Rapunzel nodded. Eugene smiled at her. "Thank you."
"He was scared." Eugene stated. "The kind of scared you only see in people with something to hide."
The moment everyone got into Eugene and Cassandra's guest room, Eugene sat everyone done and spoke. Rapunzel felt a bit uneasy at Eugene talking about her father like this, but she had to admit that his behavior was a bit suspicious.
"Why can't you just drop it, Eugene?" Cassandra asked.
"Cass, you can't sit there and say his behavior wasn't odd." Eugene said.
"I'm not saying it wasn't." The Dark Princess admitted. "I'm just saying that he isn't going to help us. We should just go home and end this fool's errand."
Rapunzel saw how frustrated the siblings were getting, and her heart ached for them. From what she heard, things were pretty bad in their kingdom because of the black rocks. She wished she could do something to help them.
Eugene turned to Varian. "Varian, how are you doing with that scroll piece,?"
Varian sighed. "No luck. I can't do anything with just this one little piece. I need the rest of it."
"Should we even be discussing this in front of the Princess?" Lance asked, pointing at Rapunzel. "I mean. I'm pretty sure Adira wanted this to be just between us."
"This concerns her just as much as it does us." Eugene insisted.
"It does?" Rapunzel asked.
Eugene nodded. "Yes, Rapunzel, remember, your hair was glowing when it came into contact with those rocks. Tell me you haven't forgotten that."
Rapunzel shook her head. She hadn't forgotten. Its not everyday your hair starts glowing after a bunch of black rocks interrupt your wedding.
"It can't be a coincidence." Eugene added. "And your parents, have you told them about that?"
"Well…yes." She admitted.
"And how did they react?" Eugene said.
Rapunzel shrugged. "Actually, they haven't spoken to me about it since we left."
Eugene nodded. "And know, King Frederic gets scared when we bring up the Sundrop."
"And you think that means he knows where the Sundrop is?" Cass asked.
"What else can it be?" Eugene countered. "Why else would he act the way he had?"
"That does make sense." Rapunzel admitted.
"Rapunzel, I know this is a lot to ask, but we need your help." Eugene announced. "We need your help to find the Sundrop flower. Maybe there's a map or a clue here that could-"
"Enough, Eugene!" Cassandra ordered. "Dragging us into your stupid goose chase is one thing, but do not drag her into this."
Eugene glared at his sister. "I am not dragging her into anything. We need help and you're the one who kept saying the King isn't going to help us!"
"That doesn't mean we bring the Princess of Corona into this." Cassandra countered. "She has nothing to do with this!"
"She might be more involved in this than you think, which you would realize if you weren't trying to-"
"Okay, let's not say anything else we might regret." Lance quickly said as he got between the siblings. "Remember there is a lady in the room."
"Its alright." Rapunzel insisted. "I understand that they are just frustrated. I would be too if I were them."
"Still, its getting late. And we've had a long day." Varian said. "Maybe we should try to get some sleep. Things might get better in the morning."
"Great idea!" Lance said as he quickly dragged Varian back into their room. The Dark Kingdom Siblings and Rapunzel were alone.
"I'm sorry if I got too aggressive, Rapunzel." Eugene quietly apologized.
"Like I said, its alright." Rapunzel said.
"I know this is a lot to ask for." Eugene continued, his voice sounding exhausted and desperate. "I know I have no right to even ask at all. But please, my kingdom is in trouble, I can't just stand by and just watch as my kingdom crumples before those rocks. So please, help us. Deep down, I know you know that what happened with your hair wasn't just a coincidence."
Rapunzel wasn't sure what to do. She really did want to help, but doing so might mean she would have go behind her father's back. She couldn't just do that. But she also knew that her father had been acting strange, stranger than usual anyway, since they had returned to Corona. Whenever she had tried to bring up what happened, her father would just change the topic. She knew he was hiding something, but she felt that it wasn't her place to ask. Now, she didn't know what to do anymore.
"Can I think about?" She finally said to Eugene.
Eugene nodded. "Yes. You can."
Rapunzel sighed. "Thank you. I'll tell you what I'll do tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Eugene and Cassandra said as Rapunzel left to go to her room.
She didn't know what to do. Help Eugene and disobey her father or listen to her father and ignore Eugene's cries for help. It felt that whatever choice she would make, she would have to face a consequence she wouldn't be able to handle. Perhaps talking to Pascal would help her with this. He has always been able to help her make tough decisions in the past.