At the end of the last chapter, I accidentally wrote "this was back"… instead of "this was bad". It has now been fixed. But seriously – that's almost as bad as when I wrote "blook" instead of "blood" in "Among The Stars"!

When I was writing "Among The Stars" I really tried to aim for chapters that were 3,000 plus words – and I know several people said they liked that. But with this story, I'm not concerning myself with chapter length too much, so some of them might be below 3k. But don't worry – I won't post ridiculously short chapters!

Chapter 2

The wind was still howling when Rapunzel woke up; though it did seem to be lighter outside. Even if only a little. The first had died down to embers, cold seeping back into the cave. It was the cold that had woken her up, the bed roll only doing so much as the temperature dropped.

Her companion was still asleep, curled up next to the wall where he had been sitting. He was wrapped up in his dark blue cloak, and it was impossible to tell the difference between the fur and his tousled white hair.

All her mother's stories about men with pointy teeth came rushing back, though she had done her best to ignore them the night before. She had watched him while he talked, and she hadn't seen any fangs.

And he didn't seem dangerous.

She wrapped the blanket tighter, trying to cling to what warmth it offered. Though that was quickly fading.

Much as she wanted to stay curled under the blanket – preferably to go back to sleep so she didn't have to think anymore – she found she wanted warmth more than anything else.

Bracing herself for the cold, she slid out of the bedroll and half crawled over to the fire. It didn't take much persuasion to revive the flames. Of course, which her tower had been mostly shielded from the storms of Winter, it hadn't been shielded from the cold, so she had plenty of practice with flames.

Just not when she didn't have matches to start it.

As warmth spread through the cave again, Rapunzel looked over at Jack. In his sleep, his expression has softened, making him look years young. Of course, he was the first male she had ever seen, so she didn't know much about their appearances. Something about his face appealed to her, though. She found she didn't want to look away from the angles of his cheekbones, or the way his bangs brushed his forehead, just over his dark eyebrows.

Her heart surged in her chest, the same what it had the night before, when he had come into the cave. It took her breath away, as though she had just run up the stairs – but she didn't know why.

When she finally tore her eyes from his face, she looked around the cave.

For the first time in her eighteen years, she didn't know what to do with herself.

At home she had her rhythm and routine. She started cleaning as soon as she woke up. But even she knew that trying to clean the cave would be ridiculous, even if she had the tools to do so. She had no books to read, no walls to paint…

This must be boredom, she realized.

There had been times when she had gotten tired of her options in her tower, and she had thought she was bored. But this – absolutely nothing to do except think – was true boredom.

She didn't know how much time passed before Jack stirred.

Rapunzel looked over just in time to see his blue, blue eyes open part way. Her heart skipped an inexplicable beat as their gazes met – his blurry with sleep. It took a moment for him to focus… then his eyes opened fully for a moment.

Before he groaned and pulled his cloak over his head.

Her stomach clenched. She had next to no experience with social cues, but she was pretty sure that wasn't good. And it made her nervous, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Um… are you okay?" she asked carefully, peering at him around the fire.

Whatever he said was too muffled for her to make out.

Biting her lip, she wondered if she should say something else. Or maybe she should ask again? He might be sick. He was closer to the entrance than she was. What if he had caught a cold?

Several minutes passed while she chewed her lip, staring at the lump under the blue cloak. The lump didn't look at all like a person.

Finally, Jack's face appeared from under the cloak, still bleary, and not entirely focused. When he blinked, he seemed to struggle to open his eyes again.

"Rapunzel, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Uh-huh."

He grunted something. "I am not a morning person. There's food in my bag. Just let me sleep a little longer.

"O-okay."

He vanished back under the cloak.

She tried to be quiet as she opened his pack and pulled out the sack of food that sat on the top. The bread was slightly stale, but she was just glad to have something to eat.

In the tower she had never been without three meals a day, and her stomach didn't seem to understand that things had changed.

"Leave me some," he said, his voice slurred.

"Of course!" she had only taken a piece of the bread and some of the dried fruit.

Wrapping herself back up in the bedroll again, she thought as she ate, trying not to look at Jack.

What if he changed his mind about escorting her wherever she decided to go?

She had set out yesterday on her own, but she had quickly realized that that hadn't been a good idea. But what choice had there been? She couldn't have stayed in the tower.

Outside, the blizzard still raged.

She couldn't go back. And she didn't know where she could go. If Jack didn't help her… well, then she would be lost.

She had finished her food, and become thoroughly engrossed in her thoughts, by the time Jack sat up.

"Mornings," he muttered, rubbing his eyes as the cloak fell away. "Mornings are so overrated."

Mother wouldn't like him, she thought, since he mumbled so much.

"I've always loved morning," she admitted, looking down at her hands in her lap. "It's the start of a new day."

"Spring," he said. You're definitely from Spring." He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose as he looked around the cave. His eyes lingered on the blizzard outside for a long moment before he finally looked at her.

She didn't know how to read the look in his eyes. Almost as though she were a puzzle he was trying to solve. But with something else that was completely foreign to her.

After a minute he looked away and picked up the sack of food. "So, do you have somewhere to go?"

When she didn't answer right away, he looked over. Under his blue gaze she still didn't know what to say, so she shook her head.

"And I still can't ask about your mother?"

She shook her head… then hesitated. "I'm not sure she was really my mother."

That was something she had been forced to acknowledge as she sat with the fire and her thoughts. She had tried not to, ever since the night before last. Had tried to pretend she hadn't heard what she heard… but she wasn't that good at pretending.

Jack chewed on a piece of apricot as he sat back on the floor. "You're one big riddle, Rapunzel."

"I always thought she was," she said, since it seemed like she needed to answer some of his questions. And because a part of her found she needed to talk about it. To get it out before the words tore her apart. "She told me she was. But I found out that was a lie."

"So you ran out?"

"I didn't have time to plan. If she found me trying to leave…" Rapunzel hugged her knees to her chest.

Jack was quiet for a moment. "Well, you're obviously from Spring. Maybe that's where we should take you."

She wasn't sure what to think about that suggestion. Spring seemed… It seemed so far away. So out of reach. But when he suggested it, it seemed to strike a cord inside her, and it felt right. Jack didn't sound especially enthusiastic about it, though.

Slowly, she nodded. "Okay."

He took his time chewing his next bite, eyes out of focus as he thought.

"I can't cross the Spring border, and I'm not going to just hand you over to the guards there," he said. "We'll have to go through Autumn, and over the pass. This time of year there shouldn't be too many Summer guards."

"Why can't you cross the Spring border?" she asked.

"Long story." With his bread crust held between his teeth, Jack reached into his pack and pulled out a map.

Rapunzel felt a thrill of excitement as he spread the map out on the floor. She had always wanted a map, to see exactly how the four kingdoms were laid out. To see where some of landmarks she had read about were in relation to each other. But that was one thing Mother had never let her have.

Curiosity get the best of her, and she came around the fire to look over his shoulder at the black lines that made up the map.

It showed the four kingdoms, as well as the smaller ones nestled between the borders. Among the printed lines and neat labels were marks that Jack had obviously made.

"We're here," he said, pointing to one of his marks. He had marked the cave, she realized. "If the storm let up soon, we can keep going south and—"

"It that the Lunar River?" she asked suddenly, leaning forward (practically pushing him over), to point to the river lines.

"Oof." He sat up straight, forcing her back a little. But she just shifted so she could lean forward without affecting him.

She traced the line with a finger, until she found the name. "I didn't know that the Lunar River ran through Winter."

"It's only in Winter," he said. "It ends at Star Lake."

Rapunzel inhaled, feeling a sudden surge of excitement. "Can we go see Star Lake?"

"It's almost four days out of our way," he said.

"Oh." She sank back.

"And there aren't enough places we could stay in between," he said.

"Oh," she repeated.

He looked at her for a moment, before the corner of his mouth twitched up in a small smile. And he laughed a little when he shook his head. "It's not impressive this time of year, anyway. But trust me, there'll be plenty to see where we're going."

"I'm sorry I interrupted," she said. Mother had always hated it when she interrupted.

"It's okay," he said. "You clearly don't get out much, though."

She was going to say "not at all", but just shook her head.

He went back to the map. "The inn is just about ten or fifteen miles south. We can reach it in a few hours, and I can send a message to Hiccup. We can get a horse there and ride to the border tomorrow. Though it might take a couple days with this weather."

His finger traced a path that wasn't actually on the map, so she had to take his word for it.

"If we have to there's an old wood cutter's cabin we can sleep in tomorrow night. That will give time for Hiccup to meet us at the border. We can stay the night with him before we start over the pass." Now his imaginary path went over the mountains that divided Autumn from Summer. He hesitated part way through, though. "We'll have to go through Punjam Hy Loo to stay out of Summer."

"You can't go to Summer?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure Queen Merida still wants to kill me for something or other," he said, frowning, without looking up from the map. "It's only been two months. Queen Mother Toothiana doesn't want to kill me – I just have to make sure her guards don't try to. If we see her, maybe I can get her to talk to Merida about that, too. It was all a big misunderstanding."

"What was?"

"Long story," he said.

"Does anyone like you?" Rapunzel asked, quirking an eyebrow as she looked over at him.

"No many," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. "If we make it through Punjam Hy Loo, it's just two day's ride to Corona City. Even if we can't find a place for you there, we can find information."

"How long will it take?"

"A week and a half, weather permitting." He looked out at the blizzard and frowned again. "Maybe two."

Rapunzel looked over at the storm as well, and the snow that continued to fall.

"A couple more hours, and the storm should blow itself out."

"How can you tell?" It looked the same to her.

Jack smirked. "Call it a gift."

Something about his expression caused her stomach to flip inside her. A new, but not entirely unpleasant sensation.

#

Just as Jack predicted, a few hours later the storm ended so suddenly she was struck by the quiet that descended in the space of a heartbeat. Just hadn't realized just how loud the wind was until it was gone.

Jack stood up, pouring some of his water on the fire to quench it, and Rapunzel rose as well. She was wrapped once more in the blue cloak, but while Jack started to pack up his things, she worked on gathering her hair up to make sure it wasn't snagged on anything.

"Hang on. Is that all… your hair?"

She looked up at him. "Yes?"

He was staring at it all, his eyes wide as he went over it again and again. "How did I miss… how long is it?"

"Seventy-five feet," she said.

Jack crouched down, picking up a thick handful of the strands. She bit her lip as he touched it, feeling uncomfortable. Though he wasn't doing anything other than weighing it in his hands.

"Seventy-five feet of hair." He rubbed his forehead. "This is going to make things difficult."

"Why?"

He looked up at her. "Because it's seventy-five feet of hair. It's going to get in the way."

"No it won't," she said. "I'm used to it."

"Used to it." He didn't sound as though he believed her. But he ran a hand through his again and sighed. "Okay. We'll work around it."

While Jack packed up the bedroll, along with everything else, and broke up the fire pit, she was wrapped up in the cloak once more. She buried her nose in the fur lining and inhaled deeply. It smiled like pine trees, peppermint sugar, and something spice she couldn't name. But she loved the smell.

"Come on," he said, swinging his backpack on. "I don't want to risk getting caught in another storm."

"Do you need your cloak?"

He shook his head. "You need it more."

She found a way to wrap it around her and keep the hem off the ground so it wouldn't impede her steps. Following Jack out of the cave, she blinked as she stepped out into a world of white.

The ground was covered in a gently rippling blanket of white, all the tree branches covered in snow. Even the clouds were a grayish white, hanging low in the atmosphere.

She looked back at the cave briefly before following Jack. The area right outside the cave mouth was mostly bare of snow, having been protected by the canopy of the cedar trees. But just beyond that, the drifts rose sharply up nearly two feet.

Rapunzel lifted her foot to put it on the snow, but when she put it down it went straight through the white stuff. She cried out in surprise as she feel down, her center of gravity thrown off.

Jack spun back. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry." Her face burned bright red in embarrassment. "I… Sorry."

He didn't seem at all disconcerted by the fact the snow was almost up to his calves.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself out of the snow and adjusted the cloak around her shoulders.

It did not help that Jack was so obviously amused. "You've never walked through snow, have you?"

She had never walked through anything, but she didn't want to admit that.

"You okay?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm fine," she said, brushing snow off the cloak.

Jack waited a moment before he started to walk again.

Rapunzel huffed. She was not going to be defeated by snow, of all things. Now prepared with the knowledge that it would give under her weight, she took another step.

She sank in almost up to her knee.

"Walk in my footsteps," Jack said over his shoulder. "It'll be easier."

On her next step, she set her foot inside the hole his larger foot had already made. The snow still came almost to her knee, but it didn't sink, having already been packed down by Jack's weight. She aimed for his next footprint, which was several inches further than her usual stride.

"Do you have to take steps?" she asked, after struggling for a few feet.

He actually laughed… but she noticed that he started taking smaller steps. She was able to pick up her pace until she was just a couple feet behind him, eyes glued to the ground to follow his trail.

"You're like my sister," he said, laughing again.

Rapunzel glanced up from his tracks. "You have a sister?"

He nodded. "Emma. She'll be fourteen next month." He sighed. "And if I miss her debut ball, she will kill me."

Rapunzel wasn't sure what a "debut" was, But decided not to ask.

"Do you have any other siblings?" she asked. She had always wanted siblings. Wanted someone to keep her company in the long, lonely hours.

"An older brother," he said. "Nightlight. He's the responsible one."

"Is he anything like you?" she asked.

"We both have white hair. But otherwise we're totally different. It's amazing we get along, considering all the trouble I cause him."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Not being where I'm supposed to be, going where I'm not supposed to go… I'm usually right, but the council doesn't like admitting that."

"Council?"

When he glanced back over his shoulder, she realized that question had probably been a display of her ignorance, and she wished she hadn't asked it.

A moment or two passed before he answered, during which Rapunzel berated herself.

"The Winter High Council," he said at last.

She still had no idea what that meant. But decided to keep that to herself this time.