Prologue
"Rapunzel, you ready?" Eugene reached out his hand to help his wife up from her seat. Getting up and down was a little more challenging now!
"Ready as I'll ever be!" She responded. As they walked out to the balcony to make the royal announcement, Rapunzel was daunted by the sheer size of the crowd, cheering at the sight of her.
She was used to addressing crowds with her father by now, but she had only seen crowds this size at the times they were holding the "Festival of the Lights" on her birthday. She turned to Eugene "Do you think they have an idea about what I'm about to announce?" He flashed her a knowing smile.
"It seems we don't keep our secrets very well," he whispered, laughing in a way that only could be heard by her. She took a big breath and stepped forward, intrepidly preparing to try to speak loudly enough to be heard by everyone. Her dad held her back.
"We trying out a new royal announcer sweetheart. Your mother told me it might be difficult for you to project your voice at this stage." Rapunzel looked over at the queen. Her mother winked at her.
"Thank you." She mouthed to her. Her mother was right. Rapunzel was pregnant, and at this point of her pregnancy, her stomach weighed down her diaphragm, making it difficult to catch a breath sometimes, much less speak loudly. She suddenly looked around.
"But wait dad, if it's not you or me, who is this royal announcement maker?" She had never met him or her before. "Well, it was a last minute decision. He came from another kingdom." Her father responded uneasily.
Out stepped a gangly man in the most ostentatious outfit Rapunzel had ever seen. He had curly toed shoes, white knickerbockers, and knee- length fitted shorts that plumed from his waist. Except for the knickerbockers, every part of his outfit alternated bright red or blue, with black stripes stitched in the most illogical places. His hat looked like an exaggerated beret, with feathers of blue, yellow and red marking its plumage. A large oversized buttoned overcoat opened to a grand cravat and ruffles at the sleeves. He couldn't be missed even if he hid in a crowd.
He faced Rapunzel and took her hand, saying, "Pleased to make your acquaintance your majesty. Allow me to introduce myself." The man bowed drastically low. "Wendell Armen, at your service." He kissed her hand long and deep. Before Rapunzel had time to react, he snapped back up and crowed, "I am here to announce your pregnancy to all of Corona." From this height, Rapunzel had a vast view of the collection of little thatched houses and shops that belonged to her beloved subjects. With a wave of his hand he signified the breath of the kingdom. Wendell smiled a smile that showed all his teeth. Then, he involuntarily looked down at her stomach. "From the looks of you milady, my job will be easy!" Rapunzel knew how she looked, but she did not expect that! Wendell brushed past Eugene to the front center of the balcony, leaving the prince-consort atypically flabbergasted at that remarkably brusque comment to his wife.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Corona!" Wendell began in a booming voice.
"You know the prince-consort, Eugene Fitzherbert, formerly known as thief extraordinaire Flynn Rider." He grabbed Eugene's hand without warning and yanked it upward for the crowd to see, forcing him without ceremony to the front of the balcony. Wendell grabbed Rapunzel's hand and did the same, forcing her to the forefront continuing, "You know the lost princess, now heir apparent, Princess Rapunzel."
Now that both Rapunzel and Eugene were at the front center, facing the crowd, he proclaimed with the utmost solemnity. "You know their story." The crowd cheered at the sight of their faces.
"Where are you going with this Wendell?" Eugene gritted through his teeth, smiling outwardly.
"Don't worry sire," Wendell answered in a whisper, "You will see." He allowed them to stand back, placing himself front center.
"These two met, when the prince-consort, then Flynn Rider, stole the princess' crown. In a twist of fate, he unwittingly returned it to her when he sought a hideout from the law. He climbed the tower in which she was held egregiously captive for almost eighteen long years!" He elongated the last three words theatrically and the crowd gasped as if they had never heard the story before. Wendell's voice had that lyrical quality to it. "In self-defense, the princess knocked- the man who would be her prince- completely senseless!" Wendell made a clownish mock motion of wielding a frying pan to hit something again and again. The crowd tittered. Eugene and Rapunzel furtively exchanged glances. "While he was unconscious, she took his stolen quarry and compelled him to help her escape the tower, hiding the crown from him, until he took her to see the lanterns.
The same lanterns, that unbeknownst to princess Rapunzel, her parents had the kingdom light every year to commemorate her birthday, " He drew out his hands as if he were about to touch a lantern floating right in front of him. He continued, "In hopes that at long last princess would come home." He clasped his hands over her heart. The crowd awed. Eugene rolled his eyes but had to admit, he had them eating out his hand. "You know," He pointed to the crowd, "that Rapunzel didn't know at this point, that she was the princess. She did not know how ages ago, a drop of the sun fell to the earth to blossom into beautiful magical golden flower, with infallible healing power." He punctuated his descriptive words. "She did not know that an elixir was made from this flower to create a cure for her mother, Queen Arianna, to heal her from a terminal illness during her pregnancy with Rapunzel. And she definitely did not know, as a consequence, this flower's healing magic was transferred to her in the form of seventy long feet of hair!" The crowd laughed. "She was kidnapped as a baby, for the healing power of her long golden hair, by the evil Mother Gothel!" He growled out the word "evil" and the crowd booed emphatically, seemingly from the depths of their being. Wendell had to silence them by a downward motion of his hands.
"Rapunzel grew up thinking she was the old woman Gothel's daughter. Gothel used the power of princess' shining golden hair to keep herself young and beautiful, never cutting it, with the knowledge that cutting it would devoid it of its power. Her parents searched for Rapunzel everywhere but could not find her as she was locked away in the hidden tower. They had not been able to keep the princess safe from Gothel's grasp, even as an infant!" He cradled his arms as if rocking a baby, then pantomimed panic, as if realizing there was nothing but air in his arms.
"Now, on princess Rapunzel's journey with Flynn to see the lanterns, they fell in love." He stopped here to strike a small sparkler. It lit a small fire and crackled a minute, startling Rapunzel and Eugene, but marvelling the crowd. He only continued when he was satisfied by the amount of "oooohs" from the crowd.
"After the 'Festival of Lights', she gave the thief back her crown, but Rider, in love with the princess, decided to give it back to the thugs who had helped him steal it in the first place. However, at the direction of the evil Mother Gothel, the thugs knocked him senseless too, turning him into the palace to be hanged." Wendell slid a finger across his throat. "As for Rapunzel, she was tricked, taken back home to the tower, by the woman pretending to be her mother. But all was not lost! All was not lost!" He reassured the restless muttering crowd. "Upon reflecting on her visit to the kingdom, Rapunzel realized she was the lost princess! Then with the help of different thugs,"
"He sure likes the word thugs," Eugene said to the side to Rapunzel. The unflappable Wendell must have heard him, but continued with his story, gesturing the most dramatic points with his hands.
"Rider escaped his death penalty. He climbed the tower to rescue Rapunzel, only to be ambushed and stabbed by the old decrepit Mother Gothel. The old woman had bested him again!
Begging Gothel, Rapunzel foolishly traded her life's freedom, for the chance to heal Rider with the magic of her long golden hair. Rider wouldn't have it, and cut off her hair before she had the chance to make the ill-conceived trade. Her hair cut short, darkened to brown, loosing all its healing power. The spell of magic holding together Gothel's youth and beauty reversed, turning her into dust!
Without the magic of her hair however, Rider, mortally wounded, died." Wendell grabbed his side dramatically as if hurt and stumbled down out of view of the crowd for a moment, probably a beat longer than necessary.
"But then- then," He put his fingers on the balcony, and pulled himself all the way up, quivering a finger in the air, "A single tear drop from the heart-stricken Rapunzel, still retained the sun drop's healing power, falling on the tragic corpse of her love." He drew a slow soft line down his cheek with his finger. "Flynn Rider, now known as prince-consort Eugene Fitzherbert, was restored to life. And that celebration of life is why we are here!" The crowd stayed in a pregnant pause as Wendell drew out the suspense of what he was going to say.
"He," Wendell unceremoniously raised Eugene's hand up again for all the crowd to see, "sacrificed his life, and made a new life for himself as prince-consort."
"And she-" He took Rapunzel's hand, raising it up as well, "was willing to sacrifice her life's freedom, but miraculously found a new life as your newfound princess instead." He joined their two hands together. "They have joined together in matrimony and now have made a new life, that all you citizens of Corona will get to meet in a few months time!" The crowd cheered. "That is right people of Corona! Your princess is pregnant!"
The crowd shouted a loud huzzah in celebration, producing a deafening roar.
"Ahem," Eugene cleared his throat, "Thank you Wendell. You managed to insult all of us in there, but you got the message across."
Wendell grinned unaffected. "You're welcome sire! I told you I never disappoint!" He laid a finger on his nose. "Oh but I must announce when the royal baby shower is!" As he turned to hush the crowd again, in order that the details of the royal baby shower could be heard. Rapunzel turned to go back inside. She wasn't sure if that was a public announcement or public embarrassment! The details of Wendell's story were true but slightly caricatured for dramatic effect. Her husband reached to grab her hand and held it in his own. They were going to be parents! No matter how this news was told to the kingdom, they should bask in the moment. He remembered so clearly when they first found out, a few months ago.