Chapter 22
Mapless

Leafs were falling all around them.
The colors were so beautiful.
It was wonderful.
Clean air helped them too.

Varian and Cassandra walked through the autumn paths, the sun shining and the birds tweeting. It felt like music, but a world. Which required one specific addition.

"Those skies, they are always the same; but they seem so new to me."
Varian sung by himself;
"Living poor and alone, that life never really suited me."
"Got to find a way out, though I'm still no king, ain't no prince but;"
"I'm sure having a good time, here alongside my friends."
"Not afraid of Caine, Not afraid of robbers; and definitely not afraid of the guards!"

Cassandra interrupted him and began singing;
"Sure is nice, having a new perspective. Even if they've been in your face, all this time."
"No longer trapped in a place you hate, and feeling the breeze against your face."

Varian and Cassandra both began singing together;
"We need space, and fresh air, laugh in our faces, because we don't care!"
"We're just here, enjoying our time, no longer facing the place we hate!"
"We aren't going to sit here and wait no longer, because we've got a new sky ahead!"
"Yes we do! A new sky ahead!"
"A new sky ahead, a new sky ahead."
"Those skies are always the same, but, dang it, they seem so new to me!"

"We aren't going to stop, no we aren't! We're going to trudge right on, march along,"
"To the bright, gorgeous, great and lovely skies!"
"We have a new sky ahead, a new sky ahead, we do, we do, a new sky ahead..."

"And a new life, with no map's limitations..."
"We have..."

Varian and Cassandra looked at each other, "A new sky..."
"Ahead..."
"Of us."

Varian and Cassandra stared at each other for a moment, trying to comprehend why (and how) they ended up being able to sing a song together like that; before they looked back to where they were walking, "That felt good." Cassandra sighed in-relief. "Yeah, you're right. It did, didn't it?"

Meanwhile, Ruddiger was hitching a ride with Owl; trying to catch apples that were on the trees while doing so, even if Owl disliked this. "Let's see, from my understanding, if we head this way, we'll end up in Koto, and if we go that way, there's a possibility we can find a small campsite or something." Cassandra spoke. "Hey, I thought you said we were map-less?" Varian smirked.

"We are, but we aren't sign-less, idiot." Cassandra snickered.
Varian laughed, and a little blush appeared across his face; "Cassie! I'm not an idiot!"

"Yeaaaah you are... Let's go to Koto, shall we? Looks like it'll probably be a cool place." Cassandra smiled. Varian agreed and followed her as Cassandra started back walking again.

Rapunzel painted, but she wasn't happy about it, she painted with dark colors and drew scenery that Eugene was concerned of looking at. "Blondie, why are you painting a rainstorm?" Eugene asked. "Because I feel like it." Rapunzel sighed. "Are you still upset over Cass?" He asked.

Rapunzel slammed down her paintbrush, resisting tears in her eyes. "Y...Yes." Her voice cracked.
"It feels wrong... It feels like my fault, Eugene, and I want to fix it." She replied to him better.

"It's not your fault, Sunshine. CaSsAnDrA made her own decision to save that young thief, and wouldn't you have done the same? Even if it meant being sent away? After all, I was a thief at some time, and you gave me a second chance." Eugene sat down beside her.

Rapunzel admitted, Eugene had a point. She would have done the same thing, because she basically did, with Eugene, or... more so; Flynn Rider, back then. "I guess... you're right, Eugene." She looked down. "Maybe I'm just having attachment issues." Rapunzel leaned back and looked up at the ceiling where she had painted a bunch of beautiful artwork on.

"I wouldn't say that," Eugene started with an awkward tone to his voice; "She was your best friend, you miss her, that's normal." Eugene said, stroking her long, blonde hair, with his fingers.

Rapunzel sniffled as a tear rolled down her cheek.
She slowly glared, it was a gentle glare; but it definitely was a glare.

"I'm...going to have to have a talk with 'the King' soon." She said bitterly, which made Eugene look at her with a frown... Rapunzel was going to talk to King Frederic, and she was going to change some royal rules and get some contracts in-order. Somehow.

She didn't know how yet...
But somehow.

After two hours of walking, the two took a well-deserved break in a nice area nearby.

Varian's stomach, needless to say, growled; loudly. He hadn't had much food lately except for what little he had in his bag. "Not to be greedy, because you're already letting me tag along with you, but uh... Do you have some food in that bag? Maybe?" Varian peeked at Cassandra's bag.

Cassandra nodded and opened her bag, "I have some ham and bread, is that okay?" She raised a brow. Varian's eyes lit up with excitement, "Yeah that's fine, ham sandwiches are the best."

Cassandra pulled out the bread and ham, then a kitchen knife, then proceeded to cut the bread and ham into slices, she then put them all together and put them on a cloth napkin. Cassandra handed him one, "Here you go." She put the napkin with the ham sandwich, in Varian's hands.

"Thank you..." Varian was quick to start eating it already.
Ruddiger grumpily looked at Cassandra, much like he did at the bakery.

"Hey, you've already had, like, four apples. You're good." Cassandra raised a brow and smirked. Varian giggled a bit, "He's a sucker for food." He told her. "Looks like it, ha ha." Cassandra said, referring to Ruddiger's chubby, adorable build. The raccoon, however, wasn't pleased.

Varian and Cassandra ate their sandwiches quietly until Varian asked; "How did the princess take you leaving?" He wanted to know. "Uh, she was in a lot of tears, voice cracked, hard to understand half of what she was saying." Cassandra looked off to the side.

"Aw, that's sad." Varian pouted. "I felt bad for her, but... I had no choice." She sighed; "My dad sent me to the convent to be a little... hush-hush... about what I did at your execution, saving you and all that. King Frederic is hoping that the villagers will forget about the whole thing."

Varian took a bite out of his ham sandwich.
"Will they?" He looked at her.

"Forget? Probably, because they blindly follow Frederic." She rolled her eyes and muttered.
"King Frederic's... not a very good king, in my opinion." Varian shuffled awkwardly.

"Don't worry kid, I agree." Cassandra finished the last bit of her sandwich and replied. "The Queen is better than he is, I think so anyway." She added, using the napkin to wipe her fingers.

"The Queen seems nice, so does the Princess." Varian smiled.
"Oh, the Princess... Raps is definitely a nice person, she's a little... naive though, and too energetic for me, I could barely keep up with her back when I was her Lady-in-Waiting." Cassandra put away the napkin into her bag and looked back at Varian.

Varian finished his sandwich... "We should get some sleep soon, at least take a nap for an hour, maybe two." Cassandra suggested. Varian agreed, "Mhm." He folded his napkin up and gave it back to Cassandra to put in her bag.