The journey to Wrenlark was less rushed, making it more enjoyable. Still, the thought of coming face to face with Ophelia again was a bit worrying.
None of them were more worried than Rapunzel.
Everyone else in her party had to hear it second hand, but Rapunzel had been there in the room when it had happened. When Ophelia had dropped the façade and shown her true colors. She was on Varian's side. The side that involved tricking everyone in the castle into eating truth-cookies, lying, helping kidnap the queen, and letting a lot of people get hurt.
What she didn't understand was why. Why had she decided to betray them?
Was it because Varian roped her into it? How long had she been plotting with him?
She knew Ophelia loved Varian a lot. He was her beloved childhood best friend and now boyfriend. And Quirin was like a second father to her. Her uncle; who took her in when she literally had nowhere else to go. It made sense for her to want him freed as much as Varian. She seemed to have already been aware of Quirin's amber imprisonment before the day of the battle, but when did he tell her?
That day left a lot of questions without answers in all of their minds. Which was why Rapunzel strongly hoped that Ophelia was willing to talk and fill in those couple of blanks.
If they understood her whole story, maybe they really could make amends.
Upon arriving to the outskirts of Wrenlark, the group was graced with a beautiful meadow, followed by a pleasant looking village at the edge of a forest.
The only odd thing was the lack of people after walking through the town entrance.
Looking around, not a person was in sight on the road, among the buildings, or anywhere.
"Where is everyone?" Cassandra asked.
"This place is like a ghost town," Lance commented.
His statement was disproven, however, when they finally saw two people running out from between two buildings close by. It was a little girl holding onto an older woman's hand.
"Mommy, hurry! Lady Starlight's show started five minutes ago! All my friends are already there," the little girl exclaimed as she tugging relentlessly on her the woman's hand, urging her further down the main road.
"So that's why there's nobody here. They're all at Lady Starlight's show," said Eugene.
"Quick! Let's follow them," Rapunzel said, pointing after them. "They'll lead us to where she's performing." With that, the princess and her friends continued down the main road.
The group followed the rushing mother and daughter through the streets of the village for a minute until they reached what looked like the main town square. A big crowd of people were blocking the view of what they were gathering around. When they finally reached the back of the crowd, they stood on their tip-toes to see over the heads of all the villagers and saw a stage. Complete with dark blue curtains hung up, a small but well-equipped band off stage left, props and wooden scenery pieces littering the stage floor, and a girl with dark but colorful hair standing with her back to the audience.
When she swiftly turned around and started singing, there was no longer any doubt in any of the Coronian's minds.
This young maiden. This Lady Starlight…was Ophelia.
"I go out walkin', after midnight
Out in the moonlight
Just like we used to do
I'm always walkin', after midnight
Searching for you."
As she sang, the band close to the stage played their instruments to accompany her song.
Ophelia sang with the same joy and enthusiasm that they remembered. She pranced the stage left and right, doing subtle dances and wide arm gestures while smiling at the audience. Her appearance on the other hand was a little different.
Her hair was up in the same braided crown over her head with the rest of her dark locks flowing down in the back like it showed in the flyer Hook Hand gave them, but it wasn't just auburn violet. They could just make out some faint traces of blue in her hair too. That was certainly new.
She wore a creamy-white colored blouse with long, flowy sleeves and a colorful long skirt with pretty patterns of dark reds, blues, purples, oranges, and black. On her feet were light gray flat shoes. Also, draped around her was a midnight blue shawl with sparky, silver glitter in various patterns of stars to look like a night sky, draped over her arms.
"I walk for miles
All night and all day
Well, that's just my way
Of sayin' I love you
I'm always walkin', after midnight
Searching for you.
I stopped to see a weeping willow, cryin' on his pillow
Maybe he's cryin' for me
And as the skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm lonesome as I can be."
In the front of the audience, the children clapped and cheered as Ophelia looked at them from the stage, smiling at them as she sang what lyrically sounded sad but she sang it sweetly.
"I go out walkin', after midnight
Out in the moonlight
Just hoping you may be
Somewhere out walkin', after midnight
Searching for me."
Her song ended, and band stopped, and the whole audience applauded wildly—well, everyone but the small party of out-of-towners in the back.
Ophelia—or rather, Lady Starlight—curtseyed, waved, and blew kisses to everyone.
"Merci, merci, good people of Wrenlark!" she said to the people in an accent the Coronians knew wasn't natural coming from her before turning her attention to the younger people in the front row. "Now, my little croissants, who wants to hear a story?"
All the children cheered, showing they'd love that.
In the back of the crowd, Rapunzel and her friends were shocked and very confused. "What the-?" Cass uttered, not sure she heard right.
"Is-is she speaking French?" Rapunzel said.
"She's not just speaking French, she's talking with an accent to match," Eugene added.
"Of course she is," a man standing close to them said. "You people must be new to her work. Lady Starlight is from a little village in northwest France," he explained.
Then another villager chimed in. "She's been traveling all across the continent, bringing joy to everyone with her beautiful voice, entertaining stories, and heart of gold."
"Heart of gold?" Cass asked.
"Oh yes. When she is not on the stage or resting, she is playing with the children or helping anyone in need," the other villager replied happily. "And she doesn't even charge for her performances." As they said this, other villagers by them were passing down a wicker basket from person to person. When it reached the people they were talking to, they saw it was filled with coins.
"She only asks for small donations. Anything we can spare," the first villager said as he reached into his pocket, pulled out two coins, they dropped them in the basket before passing it to the next person.
"Half she keeps for herself to support her travels, the other half she gives back to the community," the other villager said, dropping four coins into the basket before handing it to Cassandra.
Cass glared at the basket. Not interested in supporting a traitor, Cass roughly shoved the basket into Rapunzel's hands. She expected Rapunzel to think the same and just hand it off to whoever but was surprised to see the princess actually drop a single coin into the basket and then handed it to the next villager along the back row.
"Rapunzel!" the lady-solider exclaimed, outraged.
"Half goes to charity," the princess said, justifying that she was doing it in support of the town, and not necessarily Ophelia. That was why she only gave one coin instead of two.
Meanwhile, the children were shouting out the names of stories they wanted Lady Starlight to tell. They all had their favorites.
The show girl giggled, trying to hear them all yelling over each other and pick a story. Over the children's high-pitched voices, she could hear some more mature voices further back into the crowd. Thinking an older town's person was trying to make a request, she raised her gaze to the back of the crowd…
…and she froze.
Ophelia couldn't believe her eyes. That head of long blonde hair was a dead giveaway. It couldn't be anyone else but the princess of Corona. The princess who turned her back on her, her uncle, and her beloved Varian. And she wasn't alone. Glancing around that long blonde braid, she made out who she knew were Cass, Eugene, Lance, Max, and Fidella. She could also sort of make out a short guy with a white beard laying on Max's saddle. Possibly that weird older man from the Snuggly Duckling. Why they brought him with, she wasn't sure.
More important than that, why were any of them here?! Shouldn't Rapunzel still be in her castle of gold and sunshine, painting, laughing, and acting like everything was perfect in her kingdom just like her father wanted her to?
No, that wasn't completely right to assume. She knew Rapunzel still wanted to discover the mystery of the connection to the Sundrop and the black rocks. She remembered passing a few black rocks in her travels from town to town. It was surprising to see they had spouted up so far outside of Corona. Maybe that was why they were out here too.
Thinking of that only brought repressed bitterness to her mood, but she tried her best to keep her face normal and cheerful for the crowd. It took all of her acting skills to not scowl and let loose her rage right there on stage.
How dare the princess and the rest of her fan club come here! This charming town had been wonderful to her. They welcomed her with open arms, they loved her performances in song and story and respected her kindnesses to the community. She was living her childhood fantasy of being like Mimi the Amazing and Rapunzel was not ruining it.
As she thought of her next move, Ophelia could still hear the children trying to get her attention back with their story requests. One child called out a very special story title.
A genuine smile returned to her lips.
She had already told this particular story to this village and every other village she visited at least a couple of times. It was her favorite to tell, and the kids and adults loved it too. And now she could tell it to the very people who inspired it.
"Children!" Lady Starlight hollered, hushing all the young one so they could hear her. "How about I tell the heartbreaking and heroic tale of L'alchimiste et la princesse du soleil!"
"YEAH!" all the children cheered, along with most of the adults in the audience.
"The tale of what?" Cassandra asked no one. But a village person standing next to them decided to answer.
"The Alchemist and the Sunshine Princess," they translated.
"I love this story!" another villager added enthusiastically.
"Oh boy," Eugene uttered. He and every other member of his traveling party all cringed.
With a title like that, they knew exactly what this story entailed and who it was about; the show girl's boyfriend back in Corona's dungeon and the blonde girl with a chameleon on her shoulder standing with them.
The crowd settled down and waited for the astounding Lady Starlight to begin the story.
"Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom, where the sun shined down the most in all the land, there was a happy princess with long blonde hair that was as golden as the sun above.
Because of her beauty, wit, and friendly charm, she was much beloved by the citizens.
Everything in the kingdom was perfect. For they had the perfect princess.
On the other side of the kingdom, in a poorer farming village, lived a young boy.
Unlike most boys who were care-free and spent their days playing and having fun, this boy worked hard to help his struggling village. But this boy wasn't a farmer, he was an alchemist.
An Alchemist practices alchemy. Alchemy is a science that can take something ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary. Sometimes in ways that cannot be explained. But don't be fooled, it isn't magic. It's…"
"SCIENCE!" the children shouted excitedly before allowing her to continue.
"He used science and machines to try and make life easier for the hard-working villagers, and for his hard-working father.
He made a gooey substance that could trap thieving critters and protect their crops without hurting them. He made a machine that helped farmers harvest their crops faster. He even built a machine that heated water and distributed it out all across the village.
When the people of the capitol heard about this amazing invention, they invited the alchemist to the castle. When the young alchemist stood before the princess, she asked him to build another one of his water heating machines there. He would of course be paid handsomely for his services. Honored and excited to be noticed in the eyes of their beloved princess, the alchemist agreed.
It took months, days and days of none stop work, but the alchemist had done it. He fulfilled his promise and finished the second water heater.
Even so joyful, the princess thanked the alchemist, paid him a huge sack of gold, and promised that if he should even need anything, she would be there and do everything in her power to help him. Whatever it may be.
When the alchemist returned home, his father and all the villagers were happy to see him. The alchemist wanted to share the gold with everyone, for he knew they could all use the money, but they would not except his hard-earned pay. So his father recommended that he store the gold somewhere safe, and save it for something important in the future.
The alchemist did this, hiding it in a special place no one else knew of.
Several weeks later, the peaceful and happy kingdom's way of life was, for the first time in history, disrupted.
Under the cover of darkness, in the dead of night, an animal began to go into the farming village; eating their crops, destroying fences and equipment.
Because it only came at night, no one was ever able to get a good look at this creature. But some who dared to try to chase after it, all they saw was a mysterious, massive, furry, and ferocious beast-like creature disappearing into the woods after an attack. When word of this beast spread across the whole village, the poor farmers were terrified for their lives.
Desperate, they reported their problem to the capital, hoping the king would send guards to take care of the beast and protect them. But when they told him that it was a beast doing this to them, he just laughed. The guards laughed too.
They said there was no such thing as monsters and they were just being silly, and he didn't like them saying such things could be in his perfect kingdom. He stated that it was most likely a wolf or a bear that had been causing such trouble, and the guards could easily handle such a simple problem. So, he ordered that the villagers stand down and let his soldiers handle it. They set traps in the woods outside the village and then they just left. Traps specifically made for wolves and bears. But they did no good. The beast still returned to the village, eating any food it could find and destroying their properties. The too small traps remained untouched.
Unable to take seeing his people suffer, the alchemist, with the help of his father, came up with their own plan. They were gonna make their own trap, a trap actually big enough to catch this beast.
After days of planning and construction, the trap was ready. They brought their creation into the woods and set it up. When they were done and were just about to go home, however, they heard voices in the distance. It was some palace guards, finally coming back to check on their traps!
The farmer was scared. He knew they weren't supposed to be doing this. If they were caught, they would be in trouble with the law. To protect his son, the farmer led them to the tree line and told the alchemist to climb a tree. The alchemist did as his father said. When he was safe up on a thick branch, his father began to climb up as well. The branches he was using to climb up were strong enough to hold his small son. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough to hold a full-grown man such as him.
A branch snapped from under the farmer's foot and he fell. Landing on the ground, he was uninjured, but the noise he had made attracted the attention of the guards. After whispering to his son to stay hidden up in the tree, the father walked toward the approaching guards with his hands in the air. Seeing the farmer alone in the woods when they all knew it wasn't safe, along with the huge trap set up nearby that was not one of theirs, they arrested the farmer and took him to the castle.
When they were gone, the alchemist climbed down from the tree and ran home.
The following morning, the alchemist journeyed to the castle, kneeled before the princess, and begged her to release his father from prison. The traps the guards had set up weren't working. He was only trying to help.
Not sure what to do, the princess left the throne room to ask her father, the king, what he thought. The king was very annoyed with the continued talk of this so-called 'beast,' and now he was even more annoyed that this farmer went so far as to build an absurdly giant trap for it. He didn't believe in fairy-tales, and he especially didn't believe anything that bad could ever happen in his kingdom. Why couldn't the villagers just ignore it, rebuild, and keep going about their lives and work, he thought. Talking about this beast was doing nothing but upsetting the people of their cheerful kingdom and decrease their faith in him as their ruler. What the farmer did—setting up that trap—went against his order to let the guards handle it, was a dangerous hazard to the community for its exaggerated size, and an overall disruption to the peace for having anything to do with the silly superstition that it was a big, bad monster plaguing them. For this, the farmer was not permitted to be set free until he served his time for his crimes. He also didn't want him out and about if he was still going to continue enabling this turbulent rumor.
Obeying her father's orders, the princess went back to the throne room and told the alchemist that his father broke the law and was not going to be released any time soon. And that she was sorry. But the alchemist still begged. Also reminding her that she had promised to help him if he ever needed something, and right now, he needed her now more than ever. He couldn't just let his father sit in the dungeon for something that was technically his idea. Not only that, there was still a beast terrorizing his village. She had to convince her father that this wasn't a fantasy but a real, problem that wasn't going to go away on its own. They had to do something!
All of this was hard for the princess to hear. She didn't know what to do. What to think anymore. So when the guards decided that the alchemist had overstayed him audience with the princess, she didn't try to stop them from grabbing the alchemist, dragging him away, and throwing him out of the castle."
"BOOOOOOO!" The whole crowd booed. Rapunzel's cringe only deepened and she shrunk in on herself a bit.
"The alchemist was normally very calm and collected. Didn't lose his temper, was very agreeable and didn't like to fight or hold grudges. But this was just too much. Now, he was furious.
After picking himself up, the alchemist made his way home, thinking up a new plan. To free his father, save his village, and possibly get a bit of revenge on the kingdom for their foolish denial and neglect.
Since the guards took down the first trap he and his father had set up, the alchemist set up a new one. A less noticeable one closer to his home. He set up some bait—he knew the beast favored apples—and waited for it to come to him.
The gooey stuff that he created to catch thieving critters was a very strong substance. And with enough, it was strong enough to hold this beast. The alchemist didn't believe in killing animals, even if they were scary beasts who caused a lot of trouble for his home. Plus, he needed the beast for his whole plan to work. So instead of killing the furry beast, he brought it into a hidden underground cave in the woods near his house, where he'd keep it safe, warm, feed, and hidden from the guards.
As the days passed, the alchemist cared for the beast. It had gotten several injuries from the villagers throwing weapons and sharp things at it during its raids. It took earning a bit of trust, but it eventually let the alchemist close to it to treat its wounds.
The beast saw such kindness in the alchemist. Kindness it had never seen from any humans before in its life. From there, a bizarre friendship began to develop between the beast and the alchemist. The beast liked its new home inside the cozy cave, so much so the alchemist didn't have to restrain it anymore.
Now that the alchemist and the beast were friends, he started training the creature for his plan. The beast, of course was on board. If it was important to his new little friend, he'd do what he asked. And in no time, their plan was ready for action.
One night, everything was peaceful in the kingdom's capital, like always. But as soon as the sun went down, an ominous fog rolled into the streets, which made the people uneasy. Then they started to hear noises like deep growls. Under the cover of the fog, they couldn't see something moving around, attacking and disarming soldiers, crashing into things, wrecking anything it came across.
During this chaos, while the king ordered all his soldiers to protect the castle, a short, masked figure made their way into the unguarded dungeon.
After finding the key and locating his father's cell, the alchemist was finally reunited with his father.
The father and son made their way out of the castle and past the boarder of the lush capital. Once they were at a safe distance, the alchemist pulled a whistle out from his coat and blew it with all his might. The beast heard the whistle from inside the capital. He knew what that meant. His job was done and it was time to retreat. The beast left the capital, following the sound of the whistle to find his buddy.
The father was startled by the sight of the beast that had plagued his home at first, but after seeing it act so affectionate toward his son and realizing it had helped break him out of prison, he wasn't scared anymore. So he and the alchemist leapt onto the beast's back and rode off back to their village."
The children cheered, happy the hero succeeded.
"The following morning, during the clean-up from the attack, the guards finally noticed that a prisoner was missing. The father who believed in the beast. The king was already reeling from the mysterious attack the other night, terrorizing his subjects around his castle. Everyone present could only guess that it must have been the beast from the farming village. The king still didn't want to believe it, but that just made him more scared. The princess was greatly frightened as well. Nevertheless, they needed to go after their escaped prisoner. The king took some guards and marched toward the farming village. The princess came along too.
Just like his father, when the alchemist showed off the beast to the people and told them what he had done the night before, they were shocked. And a bit frightened. This was the beast that had plagued them so for many weeks. But the alchemist swore that the beast would not be doing that anymore, that he had trained it, befriended it, and even said that the beast was sorry. Eventually, they believed him. They praised him and thanked him for solving their problem.
The alchemist felt so relieved, and proud of himself for doing such a noble thing for his village. His father was proud of him too.
Unfortunately, this glorious moment was spoiled when the king, princess, and small army arrived. When they saw the alchemist beside the monster that attacked them, as well as his father, they realized that it was the alchemist who organized the whole thing to free his father.
The alchemist, however, retaliated. It was the king who did not take them seriously when they said there was an actual beast. He didn't want to believe that anything could ever go wrong in his prefect kingdom. They refused to admit there was a problem in their perfect kingdom and brushed him and the village aside, while he and his father knew better and tried to actually find a solution, and they made his father pay an unfair price for only trying to help. The village agreed with the alchemist and were also outraged by their so-called 'king.'
The king hated to admit that he was wrong and that bad things could happen in his sunny, perfect kingdom, also it might not have been necessary to imprison the farmer. But he did.
But then he turned his solum eyes to the alchemist. The young boy may have solved the village's beast problem, but he still used said beast to lead an attack on the castle. Now he was the one in trouble.
The king ordered the guards to arrest the alchemist and kill the beast. As the soldiers advanced, the alchemist once again tried to plead with the princess to vouch for his mercy. She still had promised to help him if he ever needed it. He thought they were friends. But, terrified of the beast before them, she once again stood back and did nothing.
The soldiers, however, didn't make it to either of them. With the help of his father and other villagers holding off the soldiers, the alchemist managed to escape the kingdom on the back of the beast.
The alchemist was free, but feared the safety of his father and the rest of the villagers. They weren't safe there, even if the king didn't decide to arrest his father again or any of the other villagers who helped him escape.
One day, he'd return. He'd liberate his people and his father from the kingdom of deceitful, garish sunlight."
As the story concluded, the children cheered and clapped, as well as most of the adults in the audience. The party from Corona, however, just stood there. Their expressions, an odd mix of uncomfortable and slightly horrified.
Song sampled here was 'Walkin' After Midnight' by Pasty Cline.
I didn't intend for her story to be that long, but that's how it turned out. I still liked how it turned out, but the next story she tells will be much more interesting (and it won't be made up or just inspired but true events, but something that really happened to her). I'm excited to tell that one more!
See u then ;)