Something felt off with Cass as they rode away from the empty village. She jumped at every sound, and her eyes frequently shifted as if waiting for danger to pop out and attack them. It was odd to see someone so brave and daring look so anxious. 'Could what happened with Andrew cause her so much fear?' Varian wondered. It was so unlike her that it worried him. Though people do change.

Once they were in the forest, she seemed to calm down. He glanced over to her and felt his heart swell at the sight of her clutching the Cassandrium with her right hand with her eyes closed as she took deep breaths.

As if sensing him looking at her, she opened her eyes and stared right back. She dropped her hand from the necklace and grabbed the reins of Fidella. She shifted her gaze in front of her, keeping her face void of any emotion.

Varian watched her for a few more seconds before looking down at the raccoon on his lap as the horses traveled through the thick foliage of the forest. He wanted to talk to her, there is so much he wanted to say, but he didn't know how to begin. The one question that seemed to burn at the front of his brain is, 'What happened? And why did she stop writing?'

He knew Rapunzel still got the occasional letter or trinket from Owl, but for some reason, she stopped writing to him. He knew that after all that they went through together, it was going to be awkward, and it was, at first. But then they moved past that, and it felt like they were friends again. It felt like they trusted each other again.

Then one day after he sent a letter to her, he never got one back. It made him worried for days about whether or not she was in danger. He would have asked Rapunzel to send someone to look for her if Owl hadn't come with a letter for Rapunzel. Not a single word in it mentioned him, nor did any of the letters that followed. It took him a long time to get over the nagging question of "why?" but now that he saw her again, he couldn't just push it from his mind. But it didn't matter what was going on in his racing mind, his mouth remained sealed, and they sat in silence as the horses trotted along.

After a couple of hours in silence, finally, it was broken by Cass. "The Spire should be a couple of days journey from here," she spoke, her voice firm and earnest, making Varian draw all his attention to her.

His hand twitched in Ruddiger's fur as if seeking strength from the slumbering creature. "That's good, less of a journey than Corona to here," he spoke, hating the fact his voice wobbled a little. He cleared his throat and let out a sigh, "I hope that nothing too bad has happened in the time between." he murmured.

She flickered her gaze to him and noticed the tired and sad look on his face. His head was low as his hand subconsciously petted Ruddiger. From just the dark bags under his eyes alone, it looked like he was about to fall off the horse from pure exhaustion.

She felt her heartbeat quicken in worry for her old friend. When was the last time he slept? She turned her head away and stared at the setting sun that was peaking through the trees. It was going to get dark soon. Maybe it was best if they stopped and continued their journey the next morning once they and the horses are rested? Also, this forest was...odd. From the first encounter, she had there with Rapunzel to the most recent. She didn't like the forest one bit.

She stopped Fidella, which caused Eden to stop as well. Varian snapped his head up. "What are you doing?" he frowned, his face scrunching up with confusion.

"I think we should look for a place to rest for the night," Cass said, taking note of the flash of panic that crossed on the young man's face before it was replaced with confusion once more.

"Already? But we still have a long way to go, and we are fine riding at night if we need to." Varian said, patting Eden's neck with his gloved hand.

"Yes, but this forest isn't normal, Varian." She tried to explain, "Weird things happen here, and it's best if we are well-rested and alert."

"Cassandra, I went through the Forest of no return and came out just fine. I think a simple forest of weirdness won't scare me off," he smirked a little, true he had help, but he still was able to get through. He flicked the reins and started forward.

Cass watched him for a moment before rolling her eyes and urging Fidella to follow. "I still think it's a good idea to stop, Varian. Trust me. I've been here many times."

"You said they're weird, shouldn't that be a reason to get out of them quickly?" he pointed out, as they followed a river to a big waterfall that overlooked a sea of cliffs and mountains.

Cass gazed at them with a frown, The Cliffs of Codo. The place Rapunzel insisted they climb, which ended with them at the odd bird people's house. She looked at Varian and saw the look of awe on his face from the view. She knew the feeling well, seeing something magnificent and beautiful for the first time, but beauty can kill.

"Varian…" She started but was cut off by her companion before she could say any more.

"Alright, alright." he sighed, "We can make camp for the night after we climb those cliffs." he pointed at them, as he pulled out his map and a beaker of some chemical that she didn't know the name of, that lit up as a source of light for him to see. "I think that is the biggest thing we will have to climb in this forest, and I think it's better to get it out of the way, so we don't have to deal with it tomorrow."

She wanted to protest, but let out a sigh and nodded in agreement. If it meant he would listen to her? Fine.

Varian let out a whoop and reached into his bag to pull out a couple of apples. He tossed one to Cass, before giving one to Eden and one to the now wide awake Ruddiger. Cass smiled slightly and gave it to Fidella, who gave a happy snort to Varian.

"I think she missed you," Cass said as Varian threw another apple to her to eat. She caught it and was surprised at how red and ripe it was. She smiled slightly at it before taking a bite. She lifted her hand and wiped the juice that trickled from her lips with the back of her glove. That thing was juicy.

Varian smiled at the horse and held back a chuckle as he watched Cass eat the apple. "I missed her too. So much so that Rapunzel and Eugene surprised me with Eden here." he patted her neck gently. "I think they were just annoyed at me for complaining about not having a horse of my own."

Cass chuckled, "Eden, huh? That's a nice name."

"Yeah, I think it suits her." he smiled again as his horse neighed and stomped her feet happily.

Once they were done with their snack, Cass looked at Varian, and her face was once again serious. "Let's go."

"Lead the way, m' lady." he gestured to her to go first, which prompted her to roll her eyes at the nickname. "You better not get lost, kid."

"Oh, trust me, I won't." He said, his eyebrow raised in a bit of a challenge.

She smirked at him and flicked her reins, asking Fidella to run. "This will be fun." She smirked before taking off down the path.

Varian smiled at the retreating form before urging Eden to follow.

Varian started up at the cliff with a thoughtful look on his face. What was the best and safest way to go? He held his hands up and used his fingers to help him calculate different angles. "If we go there, then we have a possibility of that, but if we go there, we could...yeah, but with that we have…" he mumbled under his breath while Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"How about asking the expert?" She asked, snapping him out of his train of thought. "I've climbed these cliffs many times, trust me, it is easier than you are making it."

She nudged Fidella towards the worn path that Varian couldn't believe he missed. He looked at Ruddiger sheepishly, who had his hands on his hips, before jumping onto his shoulders and curling around his neck, ready for the climb.

He took a deep breath and followed the ex-lady-in-waiting. It was a bit rocky, but it was sturdy and could support both the horses and them pretty well.

He looked around as they got higher and smiled some, the view was breathtaking. With the sun setting behind it all, causing an orange glow to blanket the mountains and valleys below, it was one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen.

He glanced over at Cass and noticed that the wind pulled her hair from the ponytail, causing her dark curls to fly freely with the wind. She, too, was gazing at the sunset with a small smile twitching on her lips. Varian felt his breath hitch. She was stunning.

He swallowed hard and looked down, knowing his face was heating up with embarrassment. 'Not the time, Varian, not the time.' He scolded himself.

"We should hurry if we want to reach the top by nightfall," Cass said, urging her horse to go a bit faster.

"Right! Right, absolutely!" He nodded, doing the same with Eden. "Come on, girl. We can do this." He murmured to the grey Lipizzan, as she galloped faster.

Night broke just as they reached the top. Varian held his hands up in victory and beamed at Cass. "We did it!"

"Listen, Kid, that is nothing compared to the climb we have to make at the Spire. Trust me. You should probably save the celebration just yet." She said, her eyes surveying the area. She had a bad feeling about being here.

"Sorry." He said meekly, "this is my first real journey outside of Corona. I'm just a little excited."

She stared at him for a moment before looking down, "you and Raps are really alike." She shook her head, smiling as she remembered her best friend.

Varian frowned a little, that's the second time she compared him to their mutual friend. Rapunzel is great, don't get him wrong, but he was different than her. He didn't know why it was bothering him so much. He should be flattered, but he wanted her to see him like him, not...someone else.

"Let's go find a place to camp for the night." She said, moving off of Fidella, before taking the wrong step and falling through a hole in the ground.

"Cass!" Varian cried before jumping in after her, causing Ruddiger to cling onto him for dear life.

The horses shared a look before following their humans down the dark, endless hole.