It took more time than Rapunzel would have liked, but eventually she could think about Cassandra without trembling in either anger or fear. She wasn't afraid of what Cass would do or say if she slipped a little bit during their discussion, which she surely would. And she wasn't angry at Cass for making her feel afraid in the first place.

Rapunzel was cautious, and nervous for about a dozen different reasons, but she didn't think she was scared. She'd thought about everything that she wanted to say, and she reminded herself over and over again that this wasn't just about her, this was about Cass too. If this was going to be a discussion, then they both needed to have the chance to have their say, and actually have their feelings be heard.

Rapunzel took a deep breath and approached Cassandra. When her friend…at least, Rapunzel hoped that they were still friends. If they weren't, well she would be upset, but she would eventually get over it. Anyway, when Cassandra saw Rapunzel coming she was immediately put on guard, but the princess didn't think she saw too much anger in Cass' eyes. She just looked guarded, cautious. That made two of them.

"Hey, Cass." Rapunzel said quietly.

"Hey, Raps." Cassandra said. Even just those two words made Rapunzel feel like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. At least she knew that they could manage to be civil with each other.

"I-I think I'm ready to talk." Rapunzel said. "I mean, actually talk. About all of this." Rapunzel held her hands up reassuringly. "If you're not ready, that's okay, just say the word. This…this is for both of us."

Cass had an unreadable expression on her face. "What will happen if I say no?"

Rapunzel fiddled with the sleeves of her dress. "Then we won't talk today. I can wait until you're ready."

Cass raised an eyebrow at her. "And what if when I'm ready you're not anymore?"

Rapunzel let out a slow, shuddered breath. "Then I will ask for a few minutes to calm down and gather my thoughts. If I'm ready after that, then we can talk. If I'm not, well, I guess we'll wait until we're both ready."

Cass stared at her for a long minute before her expression softened. She sat on a nearby log and gestured to the spot next to her. "I can talk now."

"A-are you sure?" Rapunzel asked as she approached the log. She slowly sat down, giving Cass plenty of time to send her off.

"I'm sure." Cass said. "There's actually a couple of things I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"Oh, well, do you want to go first?" Rapunzel asked. She shifted so she was facing towards Cass, though she also tried to keep some distance between them. Rapunzel didn't want to crowd Cass.

"No, go ahead." Cass said. "You came to me. It's only fair that you go first."

Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't mind hearing Cass out first, really she wouldn't, but hearing Cass be so okay with Rapunzel going first was a sign that she was willing to listen to what she had to say. Rapunzel didn't want this to turn into another argument where they just yelled at each other without really listening to or caring about what the other had to say.

"O-okay, first off, I just want to say that I-I'm sorry you got hurt." Rapunzel said. "I'm not going to apologize for being taken from my family, because I never asked for that to happen. I didn't want it to happen, and I don't want to feel bad about something that wasn't my fault." Rapunzel took a deep breath before she got too defensive. "But I never wanted you to get hurt, so I'm sorry that you're hurting right now."

Rapunzel hesitated for a moment before continuing. She didn't know whether Cass would appreciate this next part, but she felt the need to say it. "I-if there's anything I can do, well, you know I'm always here. I know you don't always appreciate my help, and that's fine, but I thought I'd offer, just in case you're interested."

Cassandra's mouth gave a little twitch. It wasn't quite a smile, but Rapunzel had known her for long enough to know that it was about as close as they would be getting right now. "Actually, there was something I wanted to know." Cass brushed some hair behind her ear. "I've only heard bad things about Gothel, but in the few memories I have of her she was, well, my mother."

Cass stared at the ground, a distant look in her eyes. "I may not remember a lot about her, but I remember loving her, and why would I love somebody who was so cruel? So…so, what was she really like when you were growing up? You didn't always see her as a villain, did you?"

Rapunzel sighed. She didn't really want to talk about Gothel. It was so hard. She'd been avoiding this for so long, but maybe it would do her some good to talk about Gothel, at least a little bit.

"Well, I definitely didn't see her as a villain." Rapunzel said slowly. "She was my mother. For eighteen years, besides Pascal, she was my only companion. I-I loved her." Rapunzel frowned as she considered something. "At least, I feel like I loved her, but maybe what I really loved was the thought of her."

"What was she like?" Cass asked.

"She was…difficult." Rapunzel said. All while growing up she had refused to admit that much to herself. She would get so disappointed with herself for thinking anything badly about her mother. It was only now, after some time and distance, that she allowed herself to acknowledge how she'd been feeling for so long.

"She wasn't actually around a lot growing up." Rapunzel said. "Around when I was four years old she decided that I was old enough to take care of myself, so I was usually left alone. She only came to check up on me once or twice a day, just to make sure I was still there. When mother was around, I felt like I was walking on eggshells, having to keep her happy. If I let her down, well, it was because I just wasn't good enough."

Rapunzel pulled her legs up to her chest and stared up at the sky. "I was always so nervous when Mother was around, but when she was gone I missed her so much." A small, bitter smile slipped onto Rapunzel's face. "I remember after my morning chores I would sit at the window and stare out for hours, just waiting for her to return."

A strange look came to Cassandra's eyes. "That…that sounds really familiar." Cassandra wrapped her arms around herself. "I…what I saw in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow, it was…it was a lot like that."

Rapunzel frowned. She put her hand on the log between her and Cassandra. Cass didn't lift her head, but she slowly reached her hand out and put it next to Rapunzel's. She didn't quite take her hand, their fingertips were barely touching, but there was a connection there.

Cassandra took in a shuddered breath. "I-I thought it was different for you. I thought that mother cared about you, that she actually loved you, even if just for your power, and it hurt. It hurt so badly that no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't be as good as you. But…but she didn't love you, did she?"

"I really wanted to think she did." Rapunzel said. "But no, I don't think so." She ran her fingers through her hair. "She loved the sundrop, and I was just her way to get to it."

"I was jealous of you." Cassandra finally looked at Rapunzel. "I was furious at the thought that you were effortlessly given what I had to work for. But it wasn't given to you. You…you were just like me."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Rapunzel said. "I know what that feels like, and I wouldn't wish that pain on my worst enemy."

"I've been waiting for things to change my whole life." Cass said quietly. "I thought if I just waited for things to get better, waited for my chance, then my patience would be rewarded."

"I grew up thinking the same thing." Rapunzel said. She didn't think she would ever forget the countless nights she had stared up at the stars and wished for her chance to leave the tower, for her mother to actually see her for who she was and love her for it.

"But then you stopped waiting." Cass said. "You took what had been denied from you. I was just trying to do the same thing."

"But what do you want?" Rapunzel asked. Cassandra had said that she wanted power and respect, but when she talked about Gothel it sounded like what she really wanted was love.

Cass was quiet for a long moment. "I don't think I know anymore." Cass said. "I want to find my destiny, but I don't even know what that means."

"I don't think that's something someone else can decide for you." Rapunzel said. She didn't exactly understand what a destiny was, even though Adira and Cassandra talked so much about it. As far as Rapunzel could tell, at least the way that Cass talked about destiny, it reminded her of a dream. Dreams were different for everybody, and like Eugene said, the beautiful thing about them was that they could change.

"I hope you figure this out." Rapunzel said. She knew how it felt to long for a dream to come true, and she even knew what it was like to feel lost and without a dream, even if that had only lasted for a short period of time. "Whatever your dream or destiny ends up being, no matter where it takes you, I'm going to be right here to support you through this." A sudden thought came to Rapunzel's mind. "Or I'll be in Corona, offering support from a distance if your destiny involves us being on separate paths. Whatever works for you."

Cass gave her an odd look. "What about what happened with Ingvarr? You couldn't stand the thought of me leaving."

Rapunzel grimaced. That was not her best moment. "Yeah, I was still new to the whole 'friends' thing. I thought if you left it would mean saying goodbye forever. Honestly, I had no idea that it was even possible for people to continue being friends when they're so far away from each other."

Cass finally cracked a smile, albeit a small one. "Honestly, sometimes there are friendships that only work when there's a distance between them."

"Well, I know that now." Rapunzel giggled. "But back then, I was completely clueless."

Cass gave a small chuckle of her own. "You really were."

"But I've gotten better." Rapunzel said with a broad smile, though it quickly dimmed. "At least, I hope I have."

"You have." Cass said without hesitation. "You're still unbearably clueless about some things, but that's still an improvement above being clueless about everything."

"Thanks…I think." Rapunzel said. She tapped her fingers against her legs. "A-are we okay?"

Cass was quiet for a minute. "I don't know if I'd say that we're good, but okay? Yeah, I think we're okay." Cass pulled her hand away from Rapunzel's, setting it on her lap instead. She stood up. "I know I said I was ready to talk, but I think I might need a little more time."

"That's fine." Rapunzel gave her a small smile. "It's not like we have to talk about everything all at once. We can come back to this whenever we're ready."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Cass said. She gave Rapunzel a smile that was so small that it could barely be countered as such. "And thanks for listening."

Rapunzel frowned slightly. "But I was the one that did most of the talking." She hadn't meant for it to be that way, it had just sort of happened.

"But I could tell that you were willing to listen to what I said," Cass said. "And that means a lot."

Cass gave Rapunzel one more small smile before she walked off to get some space. Rapunzel let out a sigh of relief. That had gone a lot better than she'd worried it would. Rapunzel was feeling hopeful about the situation.

"Well, that went well." Rapunzel said to herself.

"I agree." She jolted when she heard Adira's voice. She turned to see the woman coming out of the shadows.

"Adira, you…were you listening to us?" Rapunzel felt just a little betrayed. They'd been having a private conversation.

Adira raised an eyebrow at her. "After what Short Hair tried to do, do you really think that I'll leave her unsupervised? If she wants my trust, she'll have to earn it."

Rapunzel didn't think that Cass could care less about whether Adira trusted her or not, but she knew that her old friend would not be happy with Adira's intrusion. This was something that Rapunzel thought would be best if she didn't mention it to Cass. She didn't have to know that Adira had been spying on them.

"I'll give you two some time to calm down, but I want to get back on the road as soon as possible." Adira said. "I want to catch up to my family."

"I understand." Rapunzel said. Adira nodded and walked off in the direction that Cass had gone, probably to spy on her more.

Alone, Rapunzel slid off the log and onto the ground. She lounged back and just stared up at the trees and sky above her. She felt so emotionally drained. The conversation may have been short, but the build-up had been so terrifying and made her feel exhausted. She felt like she'd just fought a long battle, and there was still a war going on.

But she was okay. Cass was okay. Their relationship was far from perfect, but it was improving, and that would just have to be good enough for now.