In Hot Water

"They cheered for the royal family! And not just cheered, roared! Roared in support!" Red-faced, Phineas Humphert slammed the door to his house after coming back from the royal announcement declaring Rapunzel's pregnancy. The servants had been dismissed to their little quarters, a cramped two room house, which was really an expanded shed. 'Let them complain about the small quarters,' was often what he thought. 'At least they had a residency of their own.' Now he could speak freely to his family. "I thought surely, surely that blowhard royal announcer Wendell, I recommended to Frederick, would undermine him right in front of his nose!" The royal announcer hadn't directly worked for the Humpherts, but Phineas knew his background. He had been kicked out of a neighboring kingdom for playing fast and loose with the facts in his theatrical announcements, and had increased his patrons' ill-favor by presenting them in an unflattering way. In truth, Phineas thought that the announcer had made the royal family all look foolish in their own way. He highlighted the prince consort's criminal past, Rapunzel's naiveté at the time, and his cousin's security weaknesses. It didn't matter.

The crowd loved it. They loved that their princess was with child. Presenting it in this way, to them, almost made it out to be an underdog story, instead of understanding the profound foolishness of the royal family like he did. "The royal family is going to have another heir soon! We cannot continue like this! Not unless we want to have a little rug rat to undermine as well!"

"Father," Rebekah Humphert asserted almost too quietly. She had always been like an ice storm, no matter how his passion raged. "The people lose more confidence in the royal family every day, you should see how many stamps have come off of the shop windows in the downtown square. And mother has continually inserted her gossip of the food scarcity at her weekly tea parties-"

"I don't care about your blasted stamps! Your irrelevant tea parties!" Rebekah stayed silent, there would be no stopping her father in his tempestuous monologue now. "Now there's a baby shower and the entire kingdom is invited! There will be no end to feelings of unity and harmonious support for the royals! With everyone com-" Phineas abruptly stopped short. "Everyone coming." He almost said to himself. "Wolfgang!" His son stood at rapt attention, almost harkening back to the brief time he served at the royal guard. He stood there like that while his father walked out of the room, rummaged outside for a little bit, and then stomped back in, an ax in his hand. "What are you doing with that?" Wolfgang asked his father a little nervously, hoping he hadn't completely lost it. Phineas handed him the ax. Pushed it into his arms rather. Wolfgang grappled with the hold but steadied it.

His father also handed him a box of matches. "Son," Phineas clapped his hand around the back of his neck and brought their foreheads together. The gesture was meant to speak to camaraderie, but in the state his father was in, it just made Wolfgang deeply uneasy. "You are going to that baby shower with us, but are going to get bored only bare minutes through. You will leave and secretly visit Varian's fields. There you will be the sole silent witness to a catastrophe. Varian's hot water machines are going malfunction so violently that they will wilt and drown the crops. You will return to the baby shower in enough time, so that no one will know you were there, and no one will know you actually caused it."

"Ooooh! These are the cutest little blue baby shoes!" Rapunzel let out a squeal. They had already served the food, and played the games. Now was the opening gifts part. She held them up for everyone to see. "Are babies really this tiny?" She asked. She could only fit two of her slender fingers halfway in. Come to think of it, did infants really need shoes? The shoes were too cute for it to really matter, she decided. They were worth it. She had gotten a pink pair just like it, and yellow, and orange and aqua. Pascal jumped excitedly from gift to gift. No one knew the gender or appearance of Rapunzel's baby yet, so she was gifted an array of gifts all the colors of the rainbow at her baby shower.

There was a magnificent showing of guests coming from all over the kingdom from all walks of life. Travelling from the Dark Kingdom, the Lundars were there, even Egbert. Eugene and Rapunzel decided to best way to maintain peace was to bury the hatchet. He might have had a crush on Rapunzel, but had done nothing overtly untoward after all, and they hoped that in giving him grace, they could move past the wedding, especially considering the state Rapunzel was in now. The Lundars were the only of Eugene's family in attendance after all. Eugene's father's travel anxiety still got the best of him, especially without all the Lundars' help to oversee the Dark Kingdom's reconstruction. He sent a beautiful gift though.

As for Rapunzel's family, besides obviously, her parents, the Humpherts actually came! Though Rapunzel observed her cousin Wolfgang looking a bit bored. Eugene noticed again Wolfgang and Phineas were dressed in brand spanking new get ups. He was going to have to ask how they were doing that! Most of those closest to her were there, but Rapunzel missed Cassandra more than ever now. They would have shared all their hopes, thoughts and frustrations on their minds at this transition point of their lives. Plus, if her best friend had been here, Cassandra would've taken charge and had everything organized to the hilt. Color-coordinated gifts, also sorted for use most likely, and the heaps of trash, as she opened packages, would have been placed immediately out of sight.

As of now, Rapunzel had several handmaidens under her employ. No one person seemed to fill the role Cassandra had been to her, so she chose to have brood of handmaidens about her instead. Most of the time it worked out alright, but other times it had the effect of too many cooks in the kitchen. There was Jane, or was it Ethel? Rapunzel could never remember and not only was that unlike her, it was downright shameful! She supposed it was because unlike her other handmaidens, Ethel, she was going to call her, had a really nondescript face. Also her other handmaidens, Friedborg, Charity and Helen, rotated in their service to her, while Ethel mainly worked for her mother and would only fill in sometimes. Now all the handmaidens were here with their own ideas on how to sort things.

"Aqua gifts, should be sorted in a blue pile." One said. "No they should be sorted with green!" Said another. Another said that they should sort the gifts according to gender, but couldn't decide on what colors were gender neutral. Bassinets and baby carriages should be grouped together! 'No!' said the other, those were two completely different things. "Ladies! Ladies!" Rapunzel quelled. "We'll figure it all out later. Let's just separate the gifts from the trash for now!"

She knew, despite all the bickering from her handmaids, she was grateful for everything she received. Her kingdom was generous! It was really enough for triplets! She still wished Cass could've been here. She had invited her, but only had a vague notion of where her friend had travelled on her quest. She sent an invitation out that direction in hopes that she might get some response. All she got back was a cryptic, "Too distant, pressing matters at hand, congratulations!" the day of the shower. With Cassandra gone so far, she supposed it was a miracle that she got the word out to her that she was pregnant at all! She continued opening gifts.

Wolfgang huffed and puffed as he dismounted his horse. Just like his father asked, he got "bored" at the party and left to get some fresh air. The bored part wasn't pretense though. He could think of a lot more pleasurable things than sitting through watching someone navigate through mounds of baby gifts. The food was good though. He had snuck a little, as they were serving it right before he left. Preferably though, he was supposed to return right before the party ended, or as it ended, so no one would know he had travelled this far. After surreptitiously leaving, unhitching the horse from his family's carriage, and riding thirty minutes down here, it was going to be a tight fit.

He only hoped they had plenty of food, cake and gift opening left to do. He had no idea what else went on at a baby shower. He headed for Varian's house with his ax. The house was a manor, like his, but apparently much older. It looked similar to a fortress, probably built at the times when lords had mini castle like structures mimicking the king's. He thought the hot water machines must be in there. He passed a smaller thatched cottage on the way there. That must be the servant's quarters. He paused for a moment, hesitant. His heart was in his throat. Did Varian and his father have any servants? His father had neglected to say so. Were there servants here witnessing his intrusion? He wanted to run for it, but thought of how his father handed him the ax back at home. He decided if he had been seen to get it over with.

"Hello?" he called, his voice cracked a little. "HELLO?" He yelled more strongly towards the shelter. There wasn't any response. No servants here. He laughed with relief and went on the manor that couldn't decide if it wanted to be a fortress. He wasn't sure how to break in without causing any damage. He decided to just ram the door and he'd figure out the details later. He fell in a heap on the stone floor inside as soon as he tried it. It hadn't been secured at all. He thought that was strange but didn't wonder about it. He had no time. Now to search for the machines.

The manor house was cold. Dust and cobwebs covered the fireplaces in each room, accompanied by wet looking moss covered leaves and twigs down at the hearths. Maybe Varian heated the house with his hot water machines and they were turned off during his absence. He didn't know. He also couldn't help noticing as he searched for the machines, that there were barely any furnishings in the house. There was a broken down chair here and there, or an empty hope chest, useless things like that. It was a little eerie. All were covered with dust and webs. He knew Varian was eccentric, but he didn't know the boy was mad. How did he and his father live here? Did they sleep on mats or something? He was starting to feel frantic as each room he visited turned up a fruitless quest. He looked everywhere! The emptiness disturbed and agitated him. He felt it was unnatural for such a large house to have no sign of inhabitants. It was an ideal place for ghosts. Then, he was running out of time. He couldn't stay past when the baby shower ended and the teenaged boy wizard would return.

He could feel the pressure from his father as if he were right there. He couldn't have known that Varian and Quirin did not live in this fortress-like manor house, but had opted to live in the small cottage meant to be servant's quarters instead. Wolfgang had lived such an privileged life he couldn't comprehend anybody choosing simplicity over opulence. Varian's hot water machines were in his lab right below the small cottage and Wolfgang had walked right past them.

Still within the abandoned manor house, Wolfgang tried one more place, he went down a partially crumbling stairway to a cellar. The stone steps were pocketed with holes and water stains due to neglect. He did have to ram this wooden door open. He could tell it was sealed, not due to a lock, but to pressure. The wood was warped due to prolonged exposure to moisture. He had a little hope that maybe he was getting close to those water machines. He finally forced the door open and it protested with an vague aching cracking sound from the rusty hinges and warped wood, as they bent in ways they hadn't been bent in a long while. It was completely dark.

The air was humid. He lit a match. There was- nothing. Absolutely nothing! Only a few rats skittering about squeaking, and manacles shackled to the wall. He guessed like most old great lord's houses, the cellar doubled in the past as a small dungeon. It was only moist in here because it was below ground level. He didn't know if he had only looked a little harder he would have seen a small hole in the ground that led to underground tunnels hosting Varian's hot water machines. He turned to leave, more alarmed than before. If he didn't find those hot water machines, he didn't want to think about how hard his father would come down on him.

"Eeeeeeh!" A sound like a screech horrified him. Was there someone down here? He looked at the empty manacles that hung on the wall without knowing why. "Eeeeeeeh!" There it was again! 'Get a hold of yourself Wolfgang!' He told himself. Great. Now he was talking to himself. The boy's madness must be rubbing off on him. He realized the sound wasn't coming from the cellar at all but from upstairs. He steadied himself and gripped his ax, coming out of the cellar to return to ground level. He heard the sound but louder now, accompanied by a chilly puff of air that grazed his cheek. He looked the direction of its source. It was only a chipped window. The wind was gusting though a small hole at the bottom left corner making the whistling sound. From the sight of thunderclouds coming in from the east, he supposed the wind was a cold front coming through. It was late fall. He looked at the storm clouds and he looked at his match, just barely still lit as it quivered in the wind. He cupped it with his hand. He couldn't find the water machines, but he had an idea. 'Yes Dad, I can have ideas too.' He thought to himself as if the man was there.

Eugene didn't know how his wife did it. With each and every gift, big or small, ill-conceived or well thought out, she let out the same surprised exultation of gratitude. And he knew she wasn't acting. She was really that excited and thankful. If it had been him, he would have scooped all the gifts up in a pile, and wrote out a stock thank-you note to everyone. That showed enough gratitude right? Expressing unique gratuitousness for each and every individual present seemed absolutely exhausting. He was about to get up to take a break from the inundation of oohs and aahs surrounding him, when he heard the town's warning bell. The toll was unmistakable. The hair on the back of his arms bristled. He was immediately on alert as was everyone around him, holding their breath. Before he had time to investigate, young Armon, out of breath, appeared in the doorway, and yelled "Fire!"

All oohs and aahs were forgotten, and all screams were heard as a rush of mass panic began. People sprang from their positions preparing to rush the door to the outside. Eugene thought he heard Armon shout something else unintelligible, but couldn't make it out over the fray. Thank goodness he was already next to his wife and in-laws, he rushed them to the door, shouting to be heard over the melee, "Everyone keep calm! Take the exit out of the castle to the right." He could hear Rapunzel and the king shouting to everyone the same thing. He didn't want everyone trampling on each other. He had to get everyone out quickly, the need to get Rapunzel out weighing on him the most intensely. The threat of fire was daunting enough, but he knew she couldn't be anywhere near even the smoke.

They were at least downstairs, Rapunzel's baby shower had been held in the checkered ballroom with high ceilings. Come to think of it, the spacious room opened on the ground floor and had two parallel stairways at the room's sides twisting up to the second floor. In a way, it was a two floor room. As a result, it was well ventilated. He couldn't imagine not smelling smoke in here if the fire were anywhere near them. He also wondered dimly why the warning bell was tolled first and then Armon came into the palace yelling fire. He would think it would be reversed, in order to first rush people out towards safety, instead wasting precious time to ring the bell beforehand. He had trained his guards better than that.

He saw Armon still standing at the doorway, the guard was doing what he could to help a few panicked people out, all while sporting a sick look on his face, like he had something to say but no one was listening. Since they were the center of attention at the party, seated at the back of the room, they were one of the last ones to get out. A few stragglers remained, but they were quickly exiting, the doorway cleared up from the mob that had gone through it earlier. The king, the queen and his wife exited, but Rapunzel turned when she realized Eugene wasn't right behind them.

"Eugene?! Aren't you coming?" Rapunzel demanded, anxious for his safety.

Eugene took the young recruit by shoulders, and answered back, while he looked the recruit straight in the face. "No! I don't think the fire is in the palace. Is it?"

"No sir, that is what I have been trying to tell everyone! The fire is in the-"

"The fields! The fields!" He heard some of the crowd yell outside.

"Come with me." Eugene instructed the guard. They stepped outside and he was aware of a single plume of smoke coming from the direction of Old Corona. "Oh no." Eugene breathed. It couldn't be.

Fire in the Fields

'That'll do the trick!' Wolfgang thought.

Slightly less than an hour earlier, he spotted a medium size tree by what appeared to be an empty stable. It looked like a accidental upstart that had seeded itself organically beyond the neatly trimmed borders of Quirin and Varian's orchard. Instead of using Varian's hot water machines to drown the fields, he was going to burn them instead, making it look like it was started by lightning strike from the ensuing storm, igniting this tree, and spreading from there.

The east wind was pushing the storm clouds east, when he started a fire, it would be pulled right into Varian's winter wheat fields. It was a better idea anyway. He didn't want to destroy the hot water machines with an explosion like his father had planned. He liked the cutting edge luxury just as much as anyone in Corona. The idea with the ax and matches before, was to heat the water machines to boiling point and then to hack away at the bolts holding them together until they looked like they popped off due to an explosion, releasing a flood of boiling water into the fields. They were always prone to near explosion anyway, from the sound of it, so it was a highly feasible accident.

He hadn't known how he was going to do it without hurting himself in the process. Now he was going to use this ax and these matches to imitate a lightning strike. The storm would take the blame. He climbed up the tree, raising himself up on a branch. He hacked away at branch slightly above him, to the point where it teetered inches from falling off. He lit a match and seared the edges of the would-be break all around the tree. A lightning strike really did hit their old elm tree out on their property once, and it looked like that, all blackened around the point of contact.

Then he cut the rest of the branch off. He jumped back down, hustling to the ground and lit another match, setting its flame to the fallen branch. The branch and the remaining leaves were dried out naturally in the fall season, so they quickly caught. He stood back and watched for a minute to make sure the flames would catch onto the ground. They did easily and started to spread. It hadn't rained in a while so the vegetation was a little dry. Time to go. He whistled for his horse. It took some convincing for it to come to him as the reflection of the fire lit up in its anxious eyes. He had to meet it partway. Wolfgang was more than halfway back to the palace when he heard the town's alarm bell sound. He hoped no one would notice he wasn't among the crowd.

"Those are my fields! Those are my fields!" A lanky kid with a blue stripe in his hair cried out in disbelief. Eugene could tell Varian was about to immediately find a horse and ride off to salvage what he could of them, but he couldn't let him do that alone. It was too dangerous. "Varian! Hold on! I will go with you! Hang tight! I have to speak to the guards on how to put out this fire!"

The men were already standing at attention, just like they drilled for, around the perimeter. Armon too got into place, waiting for further instructions from the captain. "Alright!" Eugene exclaimed, grateful that all those endless morning drills hadn't gone to waste. He needed to get up on something to be heard, since the baby shower guests were still milling around them chattering loudly. He saw Maximus had already leaped from the stables at the sound of the warning bell. The horse was already prancing around in circles with nervous energy.

He whistled for him. The horse perked up and galloped toward Eugene, thankful for something to do. Eugene mounted and grabbed Varian to yank him up on the horse as well. Varian began to protest, Eugene guessed since he wanted to leave right away, but he couldn't let their resident teenage genius perish in flames, trying to do something rash. He assured the teen that they would leave soon, but for now he needed to think.

When he first realized the fire had been in Varian's fields, Eugene's heart stopped for a moment. Varian had harvested most of his crops, except for his winter wheat, which was due to be harvested right around now. It was the crop they were relying on the most. He looked towards the moat surrounding the castle. They needed to figure out how to transport its water in vast amounts to Varian's fields and quickly. He needed to think of where to find huge vassals to carry the water in. Where?

"Eugene!" Rapunzel called to him. "The wine vats!" She must have read his mind. Boy, did he love that woman! She and he had joked earlier before the party at how the vats stood empty for months, unused, since Rapunzel was pregnant. The wine vats sat empty in the kitchen storage. Not that he knew. "Ok, Pete, Stan, Vrott," he called a few other names. "I need you to get the empty wine vats downstairs in the storage room behind the palace kitchen and bring them out here to the brink of the moat. We are going to fill them with water! You should know where they are." The group left and he addressed the rest of the men.

"The rest of you need to get wagons and horses. The wagons are in the shed behind the stables. Create a line. Have some men get one horse and wagon ready, some fill those vats up with water and some load the wagon up. Then two men should leave on the readied wagon to the fields. The rest of you left behind, rinse, wash and repeat!" The men laughed in spite of themselves. "Assign one man to drive and one man to hold the vats up if need be. No need to leave altogether, just as soon as one wagon is loaded, go, and have others follow when ready. Trying to get them all ready at once will waste too much time. We also don't know how big the fire is." Though from that plume of smoke visible at this distance, Eugene had an inkling.

"Yes sir!" The men obeyed. "Go!" Eugene said. Armon started to leave, but Armon turned back for a moment. "Sir, you're not going with us?"

"As efficient as we can be, it's going to take a while to load one wagon up and travel with it. And that fire is causing smoke visible from here. I am going to go down there with Varian to see if there's anything we can do beforehand. We'll meet you all there." Armon nodded emphatically, and ran to his duties. He was going to have to talk to the boy about not causing a mass panic. He caught Rapunzel's eye as he turned to leave. She looked at him and he saw concern, but also what? Was she impressed with him?

"What?" he asked, trotting in the direction of Varian's farm, gingerly trying to avoid people still in his way. She shook her head and shrugged, but her eyes said it all. She had never seen this side of him before. He laughed. "Maximus made me read the entire Compendium of Corona Law and Procedure! It is very specific about what to do in this situation. We drill for this!" He started picking up speed as the crowd was giving way. "Thank you for the idea of the wine vats sunshine!"

"Eugene! And Varian!" Rapunzel called out after them, "Please be careful!" He had no time for a good-bye kiss so he blew her one instead.

"Hey aren't I always?" He called back with a wink. There was that cocky smile she knew him for. Someone just had to light a fire under him to get it back.

"Aaarrggh!" Vrott groaned. His muscles strained. He was a strong man but the weight of the stone vat filled with gallons of water was too much. It started to tip over. Unexpectedly he felt a lightening of his burden coupled with a steadying of the weight. It felt balanced now. He peeked over the rim. "Wolfgang!" He cried. He thanked his hairy friend for helping him support the unwieldy vessel. "Once a guard always a guard right?" Wolfgang quipped cheekily.

"I guess." Answered Vrott.

"You got it boys?" They heard the princess ask. "Yes your majesty!" They answered. Vrott hoped she wouldn't hear the annoyance in his voice. She had been peering over the guards' shoulders the whole time, apparently taking it on herself to see that everything went according to her husband's orders. Vrott grunted again. This time in irritation. He had planned on causing a little chaos, and making sure the men were confused on which role they should carry out.

Without the captain here, he could make one role sound more like a priority than another. He knew from experience, in a group of men like this, there wasn't a faster way to cause misdirection. However with the princess right there, the men peaceably went on with their tasks with her encouragement, taking on whatever seemed most natural and sticking with it as they carried out their duties. Vrott also wasn't prepared for how fast the captain had organized everything.

Vrott knew that he had just really taken verbatim what Corona's compendium said to do about fires, but he knew most of the men hadn't bothered to read through the whole book, so it only made the captain appear more competent than he was in actuality. And then there was that stupid line about "rinse, wash and repeat" while he was explaining to the men what to do. Ridiculous! Captains weren't supposed to have a sense of humor! Didn't they know that? A fire wasn't the time to crack a joke!

At least he had figured out a way to undermine him earlier. Vrott had been paired with the newbie Armon on the outside watch during the baby shower, before the fire started. The Captain had them grouped like that. Two men side by side all the way around the various borders, standard really, except the captain had this cockamamie idea to pair veterans with rookies. He said that veterans could teach the recruits by rote, drawing from past knowledge and experience.

All it did is make veterans who put in years at the guard get stuck with the same menial tasks that rookies were exposed to, all over again. That's what happened when the fire started. They saw a plume of smoke and shifted at first thinking it must be a cloud, or their eyes mistaking them. Nevertheless, Vrott knew a smoke tendril when he saw one. "Go ring the warning bell, boy."

"Sir." Armon spoke in compliance. "Should the captain be told first sir?"

"What? No-" Vrott started to say and then stopped. He knew with the bell, Captain Fitzherbert would just come out to see why it was rung with the rest of the crowd and be informed with his eyes then. It would be more practical than Armon forcing his way into the crowded room with news of fire and getting everybody all worked up, causing mayhem. Yet Armon didn't need to know that. "Sorry you're right boy." He amended. "Captain Fitzherbert does need to be informed. Make sure you say what the issue is upon first entry to the room, so the Captain can act immediately. And with the crowd all there, you may have to speak up to say it, boy."

"Yes sir." Armon replied.

"Now go, there's not a minute to loose!"

Armon complied and ran off.

Vrott smiled to himself, but then realized that left to him to ring the bell tower, a boy's job. Despite his distaste for the task, he wouldn't be derelict in his duty. He cared about the people of Corona. He told himself, he was only trying to undermine the captain so that the captain's ineffectualness would be exposed early enough that he could be replaced before a real danger threatened.

He found the cathedral and climbed the bell tower easily. It was closer to where they had been posted than the palace. He rung the bell. He stayed up there for just a minute. It was worth it. Armon must have "informed" the captain of the fire seconds later after the bell was rung. People began pouring out of the castle like hot water had been poured on them. He laughed. He saw the Humpherts come out first, pushing their way past other fear stricken people through the pure conviction of their superiority it seemed. He saw the whole family except for Wolfgang. That reminded him. "Where were you Wolfgang? I didn't see you in the crowd."

Rapunzel thought it was nice to see Wolfgang help out with the efforts. She was partially ashamed to admit to herself that it surprised her a little. She wondered how close Eugene and Varian were to the fire now. She desperately hoped they'd be ok. In her condition, there wasn't anyway she could go with them. Her father was watching her like a hawk. She thought he might have a hernia if she even stepped out that direction. Plus she knew she couldn't be around the smoke fumes.

She felt so stuck. Just like she had felt when she was forced to allow Eugene to rescue her parents from that snowstorm, when he offered to go find where they were stranded in their travels. As acting queen, she was compelled to stay behind and tend to the storm's victims as they took refuge in the castle. If it wasn't snow, it was fire, she supposed. Eugene had a good system going here, she was impressed with him, but she wondered if it would be enough to quench the fire.

Plus she hated how he and Varian would be alone in the fiery fields for a time. During the snowstorm, Eugene hadn't gone ahead with only one person at his side. The Snuggly Duckling ruffians, or former ruffians, had helped Eugene rescue her parents. Too bad they weren't here now. She had invited them, but baby showers weren't their thing, they said. They sent her a few handmade creative gifts though that she wasn't sure if she would ever use them. For example, one was a spiked torture chair turned into a rocking chair, with the spikes hammered down so that it would be safe to sit on. She wasn't sure though if she'd even want to sit on it with cushions on top! Lance had to stay behind at the Snuggly Duckling too.

Being chef, made him part owner, and he still had to provide for his persistent customers. Only Attila was here. He had helped Corona's Sweet Shoppe expert, Uncle Monty, cater cupcakes to the event. Where was he anyway? She spotted him passing a few left over cupcakes to the unsettled crowd. "Attila!" she called. An idea was forming in her head that she couldn't stop. She needed to get his attention.

Wolfgang shrugged at the question of where he had been. He tried not to let on how nervous the pinpointed question had made him. "I needed to get a breath of fresh air, so I was already out." He related casually. He wouldn't tell his friend the truth that he had started the fire. He had gotten so close to being discovered if it weren't for his sister. By the time he had gotten back to the palace, he had dismounted his horse and was leading it by the reins to make it look like he was just returning from a relaxed stroll. It was hard to look relaxed when anxiety rolled off of him.

He didn't know what lie he was going to come up with to explain why he had unhitched his family's horse from their carriage, when his sister accosted him. "Wolfgang!" She said loudly. 'What was she doing?' he thought frantically. He was trying to avoid attention, not gain it! "My tenderhearted brother! I can't believe you unhitched our own horse to help with the efforts to distinguish the fire! My charitable, but remiss brother! The royal family has plenty of horses to choose from." Never missing an opportunity to make the royal family look indulgent, she put an emphasis on the word plenty. "They won't be in need of our small horse." The Humpherts' horse was far from small. It was a thorough bred stallion, a prized colt bred for strength and speed when they selected it. "Here I'll take this horse back to father to re-hitch it. You can go back and offer your help to the Guard a different way. Father is very proud of you."

The way she said that last phrase, Wolfgang didn't have to think about it to know it wasn't true. She was trying to convey to him the opposite. He'd better stay away for now because their father was incensed. Ok, so he had failed to sabotage the hot water machines, but he had caused a disturbance that damaged the fields. Wasn't that enough? He helped Vrott hoist the vat onto a waiting wagon with some effort. All the vats were filled now, so all that was left was to load the remaining wagons. He walked back with Vrott to pick up another full vat waiting by the moat to be loaded onto the next wagon. He saw the princess trying to get someone's attention, but where was the prince-consort? "Forget where I was, where is the captain?" Wolfgang asked. "Shouldn't he be helping you all with this?"

Vrott explained to him that the captain was one of the last ones to leave the palace with the royal family, as there had been some confusion about where the fire was and they evacuated the palace first. Vrott neglected to say that he took part in causing this confusion. Vrott continued to explain that Captain Fitzherbert had been concerned with how far the fire was already underway, so he had gone ahead of them to see if he could do anything about it more quickly.

"Yeah I'm sure that fire has consumed a lot already." Wolfgang tried not to smile. "One of the last ones to leave huh? Sounds like he didn't act fast enough. Maybe if he had been standing guard out here instead of being inside with the royal family, he could have organized you all immediately right? None of that confusion about the fire being in the royal palace. It's not his fault though. It is his wife's baby shower. I guess that comes from trying to fulfill two roles of prince-consort and captain." He let Vrott soak that in a moment. "Too bad they don't have a candidate for captain that isn't busy trying to fulfill both roles heh?" He nudged Vrott's arm with his elbow. Vrott looked around nervously, but he noticed that, while most guards were too busy trying to fulfill their duties to hear, some guards looked at him. Their look didn't look like suspicion. It looked like agreement.

Eugene and Varian galloped along on Maximus. Eugene couldn't get over the irony, that Varian was again racing on the horse, for the second time in the span of a few months, but this time in the other direction! "I am assuming your father is with your horses at the Dark Kingdom?" Eugene asked, looking back at him. He hadn't seen Quirin at the baby shower. They were closing in on the fields. They were facing west and the wind was blowing the smoke east, but he could still smell the fumes profusely. It made his throat scratchy and his eyes watered a little.

"Yes but-" Varian didn't finish answering Eugene's question.

"But what?"

Varian's mouth was hanging open, his eyes fixated on something ahead. Eugene turned his sight back forward. They had turned a corner, and there was the fire. Nothing could've prepared Eugene for the profound intensity of the blaze. He knew it must be great to cause all that smoke from a distance, but to know that and to see it, were two different things. "Oh boy." He swallowed. The marigold flames were starting to rise up enough to lick their view of the horizon. Even Maximus, that brave hearted horse, reared and shrieked in fear. Eugene and Varian just barely held on. "Whoa!" Eugene patted Maximus' neck. "Hey there. Hey there." He soothed. "You just about threw us off." He laughed trying to normalize the situation, but the laugh came out scratchy.

He dismounted and signaled to Varian to do the same. "You better stay here horse." He needed to see how far the fire stretched. They were close enough to see how high it was, but not the breadth of it. Trees and foliage blocked their view. He started to walk a few steps east to get past the trees. The horse whinnied in protest. He didn't want to see them hurt. "Hey we'll be fine." He coaxed, with a superfluous smile. "Stop being such a drama queen. I won't let Varian anywhere near the fire anyway." The horse snorted but it seemed to do the trick for now. He stepped in the forested area with Varian silently following behind, the crunchiness of fallen leaves under their feet, along with the crackling windy roar of the flames, filling in the space of unspoken sense of dread that loomed before them.

The heat was so intense, even from this distance. Eugene covered his mouth and nose with the crook of his arm. Varian, pulled his signature googles over his eyes and pulled up the apron he always seemed to wear, over his airways, tying it in place behind his head. "Hey good idea!" Eugene affirmed. The selfless kid pulled at the apron and pointed to Eugene, indicating he was asking him if he wanted it instead. "Oh no, kid. Nothing should cover this handsome mug." He circled his face with his hand. But his nose and throat were already hurting from sucking in heat. They had to get away from here.

They finally stepped out of the thicket into the clearing giving them a clear extended view of Varian's fields. To Eugene's relief, though the fire raged east of the orchard, and through the pasture, it had only just begun to lick up the first few rows of the wheat fields. Maybe it wasn't too late to save some of it. Varian's thatched cottage dwelling and vacant stone manor house were still several meters away from danger. "Come on Varian, I have an idea." Eugene beckoned loudly. He and Varian moved towards his home, Eugene walking backwards to keep his eye on the fire. With a fire this size and wind this strong, he didn't know how it was possible it hadn't consumed more. The answer presented itself quickly. One row of flames moved with the wind, but was inhibited by a deep narrow trench from immediately moving forward to the next, until it finally leaped.

However the few seconds of time it took to leap the trench were just enough of a retardant to keep the fire from spreading as rapidly as it should have. "Ha, ha, ha! That's slowing it down! What are those? Irrigation trenches? You dug irrigation trenches?" Eugene shouted joyfully over the roar. Varian nodded. "Thought they would help disperse water." He thought he heard him say. It was muffled through the apron. Eugene didn't know how Varian got all this done. "Do you sleep boy?" Varian only shrugged. "We have farm hands." They were getting farther away from the fire but the air was still thin, so Eugene would need to silence his famous gab for a while. As they walked, Eugene took in the sight of what might have been the source of the fire, and the source of what might be their salvation.

Hovering over the pasture, there were storm clouds. Eugene guessed a lightning bolt must have hit a tree, starting the fire. Sure enough as he scanned the area, a blackened tree stood, just north of the orchard and stable, burning in the flames. Its dark solitary stance looking like death hallows in a halo of fire until it cracked without warning and toppled over dramatically. The sight couldn't fail to inspire awe. They finally got to the cottage. Once inside the cozy little home, it was tempting not let a false sense of security lessen their urgency. Eugene's sore throat and burning nostrils didn't let him loose sight. He had been thinking up an idea on the way over here.

"Varian with any luck those storm clouds will produce rain soon, and these firemen," he pointed his thumb to Varian and himself, "will be out of a job. But we can't risk that they won't. I hate to say this, but unless we get some rain, we are going to have to use your hot water machines. Can you turn the heat off and redirect the pumps out to the fields somehow?" Varian had told him in the past a little of how the machines worked. He didn't exactly understand the pumps. It was something about running on steam. Varian nodded, as if he expected Eugene to ask that, pulling his apron back down to expose his mouth. "The machines are set up to pipe through to individual wells. When I first tried it out I only pumped it to my well. I can redirect the pumps to pump water only to my well. I thought about just increasing the pressure of the water to max capacity, but I wasn't sure if it would direct- "

"Varian! There's a fire headed this way. Let's keep this short ok? Is there a way to pump this water to the fields?"

Varian handed him a small hand shovel, loads of strange metallic piping in a wagon, a welding helmet and to Eugene's surprise, Varian peeled off his thick black rubber gloves. "You will need all of this. The spade to dig at my well to see if you can expose the piping that pumps the water through. You will have to be careful not to hit the pipe because damaging it will spill it every which way. You'll have to assemble the piping you've got, hook it up to the well pipe and direct it towards the fire."

"Uh ok. You've clearly thought this out. But what well? You mean the water pump outside your house?"

"Oh no! It's another water source! It's an underground well in the middle of my wheat fields! It helped with the irrigation system! I thought of using that system to put the fire out, but it will take too long though and the amount of water that would take might water log the fields-"

"Varian! So this underground well is in the middle of the fields. How can I find it? Is it marked or anything?"

"It's marked by the scarecrow. It's immediately to the left of its post."

"Ok," Eugene rubbed his temple, "So I think I get what you're saying. First I need to find the well. Next put together this wonky piping to connect to said well in the middle of the wheat fields. Then the piping is supposed to direct the water pumped by your water machines to spray on the fire."

"Yes!"

"Wouldn't that all take too long?!"

"Trust me it should only take you a couple of minutes or so to connect the piping. The walk to the middle of the field will take you the longest."

"Ok, Varian let's say that's correct. But if I am in the middle of fields making up some sort of piping contraption-"

"You'll be right in the line of fire. Literally! I know. That's what the welding mask and gloves are for. It's protective gear! That piping is metal too! So it's likely to get hot!" He grimaced. "I'm sorry Eugene, I would do it myself and try to teach you quickly how to redirect the pumps instead but-"

"It's ok Varian!" Eugene put out his hands. Pithiness wasn't the boy's strong suit. " I rather have you out of harm's way. Besides, we're team awesome right?" He worried about all the time this would take, but it was better to try something while waiting for the guards to get here. He put Varian's gloves on, the welding helmet on, put the shovel in with the wagon that held the piping, and felt that as he hunched over the wagon, if he was playing the part of hero, he looked like the most ridiculous hero there had ever been. As he headed out to face the fiery fields again, he hoped that the disaster had not spread too far already, which reminded him of something. He pulled his face shield up. Varian was already headed down to his lab where the hot water machines were located.

"Varian? How long will it take you to redirect the water?"

"Er, maybe ten, twenty minutes give or take?"

That was too long. Eugene could feel the heat on his neck before the flames were even there. "Varian we need that water like yesterday. Do me a favor, once you get down there, if you can't do it in ten minutes, don't wait for me. Promise me you'll run."

Attila burst into the Snuggly Duckling establishment, making a shadow of himself in the doorway. His daunting tall figure was marked by rippling shoulder muscles and a bucket shaped metal helmet that he never took off. Lance looked up from scrubbing a glass clean. "Oh hey Attila what's shaking? Is the baby shower over? How were the cupcakes?" Attila made a beeline for one of the kegs at the back of the Snuggly Duckling. He picked up the whole thing with his bare two hands and turned it over. "Wow that bad huh?" Lance reacted. "You know if you want the whole thing, you'll have to pay for that right?"

Attila proceeded to pop the lid, spilling all the liquid out onto the ground with a splash. "Whoa, whoa, whoa Attila what are you doing?"

"I am taking this keg to the water reservoir at the end of what used to be our secret passageway out of here. Princess Rapunzel's idea." He grunted in explanation.

"Water reservoir?" Mumbled Lance. "Oh yeah I forgot about that!" Rapunzel, Eugene and Maximus, well mainly Maximus, had damaged it a long time ago, but it was rebuilt since then. "But why are you going there?"

"Daddy there's a fire!" His two girls walked in shouting.

'Did they just call him daddy? Oh wait, they also said 'fire'!'

"Fire? What fire where?"

"At Varian's fields daddy!" There it was again. They definitely called him daddy. 'Oh no!' Lance realized, 'Varian's fields!'

"How do you know this?" He asked out loud. "The baby shower daddy! Remember you allowed us to go? Didn't you hear the town alarm bell toll?"

"Well I heard a bell, but I didn't see any war, so I assumed they were just celebrating Rapunzel's baby again."

"Oh daddy!" Even when they said that in frustration it was great!

"Are you coming or not?" His gravelly voice asked. Attila had already emptied 10 barrels and was rolling them down the not so secret passageway in the time it took that conversation to take place. "Yeah I'll go!" Lance agreed. "Who's with me folks?" He asked the rest of the Snuggly Duckling patrons. They all gave a holler of agreement and began emptying their own barrels to fill up at the water reservoir. "Uh guys do we have to empty all of them?" Lance asked. He caught Red and Angry trying to leave as well. "Oh no you don't." He caught the collars of both of their shirts and gently but firmly yanked them back. "I draw the line at fire."

"Aw c'mon!"

"Big-nose!"

Ignoring them, he caught the man reaching for a barrel, "Are you up for watching them again?" "What I look like a babysitter?" Big-nose protested.

"Do you want the job? It doesn't like you have much else to do."

"How rude! But yeah I'll take it!"

"We're missing out on all the action!" Red whined. "Yeah worst dad ever!" Angry said, well, angrily. He smiled wide as if she had said the opposite. At least he was Dad.

Rapunzel's mother handed out cupcakes. Now that Attila was gone, King Frederick and Queen Arianna helped the baker, Uncle Monty relegate them and other leftovers to the crowd of guests that still huddled around the palace and outside. Some who lived far out from Old Corona had decided that the distance was safe enough to risk going home. Others who lived closer to the fire stayed hunkered in and around the palace until they could be convinced it wouldn't spread further. Knowing her daughter, she was a little surprised that now Rapunzel was done directing the guards, she wasn't bouncing to the next task and helping them pass out food. She caught her daughter sitting down outside on a stone retainer looking restless. She had an idea why. The first wagons the guards had prepared, had left and Rapunzel wasn't on any of them.

The queen approached her. "Are you ok?" Arianna asked Rapunzel as she looked up.

"I shouldn't be here mom. I should be out there with Eugene." She said frustrated. "And Varian, and saving all the crops!" She knew and wanted to do the right thing for her pregnancy, but also desperately wished she was in Old Corona right now, and not on the sidelines feeling like a damsel in distress. All those crops! The food they desperately needed. She also worried for Eugene. It was because of the imminent danger fire certainly, but also because she felt her husband's conviction towards self-preservation was suspect. If she knew him at all, despite the guards being on their way, he would stay on those fiery fields, trying to figure out some other solution until the last minute. "I need to help!" She was really struggling with her limitations right now. "We've always worked together as a team!"

"And you still do Rapunzel!" Arianna assured earnestly.

"What do you mean?" Rapunzel asked, daring to allow her frustration give way to intrigue. "Rapunzel you thought of the idea of using vats for the water. You directed the guards as they assigned duties. Believe me that's a big deal! A group of men like that tend to get competitive." She rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. "That could have been confusing without you holding them accountable! You had the idea for Attila to go get the Snuggly Duckling men to empty their kegs and fill them with water at the reservoir. You may not be at the fire, but you are doing what needs to be done." Arianna tried to inflect the weight of what she was saying in her voice.

She wanted her daughter to understand. "Plus," She went on a tad more lightly, "you encouraged Attila to follow his baking dreams and help Uncle Monty with baking these delicious cupcakes for your baby shower. Now we're getting to pass these out while trying to keep our subjects safe." Arianna handed her a cupcake. "Have you tasted these? They're divine!" Rapunzel received the cupcake from the queen and took a bite. They were pretty amazing. "You are being too hard on yourself dear. Your actions today show not only the pluck of a princess, but the veracious wisdom of a future queen."

Rapunzel smiled. She didn't feel much like a queen with her unwieldy middle bigger than everything else on her body. "You want to come help us pass these out?" Arianna asked. Rapunzel adjusted herself. "Sure mom, just give me a minute to get up." She said. Her hips were more reluctant to move around her pregnant belly at times. "Ok darling, you need any help?"

"No thank you, I'll be right there." Rapunzel promised. As her mother left, a shadow passed over Rapunzel and Pascal. They both looked up and saw with a start, that rain clouds had formed and looked like they were headed over the sight of the fire as well. How close were they? She squinted her eyes, but her vision blurred. The clouds were difficult to focus on probably because of the reflection of the sunlight that they hadn't covered yet. She gave up trying to squint, it was giving her a sharp headache. She prayed those rain clouds would burst sooner than later.

She hoped with all her heart that Eugene, Varian, the guards, everyone would be ok. That everything would be ok. Her kingdom counted on it. She felt a wave of nausea suddenly and she didn't know why. There were no eggs in sight. She was startled when she heard someone say, "Do you need help getting up my lady?" A familiar voice offered.