Tangled: The Series
Alternative Series, Story #5: Ophelia's Day Off
Hello quarantined people of the world! I give you the fifth story in my alternative series. This story is mostly for exploring more into Ophelia's character, as well as Varian & Ophelia couple fluff.
Leaves fell along the dirt road like confetti. Autumn colors decorated the trees of the forest on both sides as a young mare trotted down the path. Atop her back, a very excited fifteen-year-old girl.
After asking weeks in advance, Ophelia finally had some vacation time. She had been excused from her duties for the rest of that day, as well as the following day, and she wasn't due back at the castle until later on the day after. That gave the young kitchen maid plenty of time to spend with her loved ones and to travel.
Ophelia couldn't wait to be back home, sleep in her own bed, spent time with her uncle and her boyfriend.
Boyfriend. The word still made her giggle. To think, her beloved best friend was now also the boy she kissed and loved unconditionally. She had loved him unconditionally before, but this was now a different kind of love. Beyond just friendship and fondness.
He was her destiny. Her dream. And she was his.
Varian had of course come to the capitol to visited her a few times between that day and the ball, but those small dates always felt too short. She had to work and he had to make the journeys to and from Old Corona. Still, even a little time with him every couple of days was better than nothing.
But now she had no work to worry her and she could make the journey herself so they could enjoy themselves in the comforts of their home.
Ophelia was bouncing in Vanilla's saddle—more so than normal when they were in motion—as they approached the outskirts of the village. As they grew closer, the duo saw a small group of Corona guards passing them by, walking in the opposite direction. No doubt patrolling the area to make sure all was well with this side of the kingdom.
The older men smiled at her as she passed them by. She smiled back and waved kindly to them. She felt safe, knowing they were there to protect Corona and its people.
Sure enough, not long after passing the friendly soldiers, Ophelia finally arrived in the village. She got a few pleasant greetings, but a fair few others either ignored her or simply 'humphed' before turning away and going back to their business.
Like Varian—or rather because of Varian—Ophelia had a rather rickety relationship with the rest of the people. Apparently, sticking up for the young alchemist who occasionally caused damage to the village with his experiments was a very unpopular thing to do.
They were somewhat gentler on her only because they felt sorry for her. Having lost her parents at such a young age and all.
Ophelia didn't care though. She didn't want nor need their pity. And she certainly never regretted standing up for Varian and sticking by his side. If that was how some people wanted to feel about them then fine. She didn't care. She knew being loyal to her friend was the right thing to do. Let them think what they wanted.
As long as she had Varian, she could get through anything. So she held her head high as she continued on toward her home.
Just as she thought, Varian was right outside the big, slightly run-down castle they called home, waiting for her.
"Vary-Barry!" Ophelia screeched before hopping off Vanilla's saddle.
She ran the short remaining distance and landed right in the alchemist's arms. Varian caught her, almost falling over but saved them both from landing in the dirt.
"My Starlight. I missed you so much," Varian whispered into her hair as he held her.
The moment they pulled away, a little raccoon ran up between them and jumped onto Ophelia's shoulders. "Ruddiger!" she exclaimed as he crawled over her excitedly before she finally got ahold of him to give him a hug. "How are you, my little night burglar?" she cooed as she scratched him behind his ear. As the little critter cooed back, Ophelia took a moment to look around. Nothing much was different, but she was surprised to not see her uncle there to greet her as well. "Where's Quirin?" she asked her boyfriend.
"He had some work to do, but he'll be home in time for one of your famous home-cooked dinners," Varian replied, anticipating tasting her cooking again.
Ophelia's face quickly became stoic and a bit annoyed. "I am a working girl who just made a long journey home, and now you expect me to cook for you?" she raved, somewhat offended.
Varian slowly backed away from her as she closed in on him with her outraged tone and expression. "Uhhh…" he uttered.
A second later, her angry face melted into laughter. "I'm just kidding. Nothing would make me happier than to prepare a meal for my loving family," she said sweetly before pulling Varian in to kiss him on the cheek.
She then grabbed Vanilla's reins and started to lead her to the stable around back. As soon as Varian snapped back to reality from her little joke, he quickly followed her.
After she was settled back into her old bedroom, Ophelia went straight to the kitchen to see what she had to work with. Quirin must have just restocked the pantry because there was a lot.
Clearly, he wanted her to have whatever she needed to cook while back home. She appreciated that very much.
With Varian as her sous chef, they began to prepare a special meal for Ophelia's first night back.
Grabbing a pairing knife, Ophelia began chopping vegetables as fast as lightning. Her cuts where quick, hard, and equal, making the perfect sized slices for the dish.
Meanwhile, Varian stood by the fire on the other side of the room, watching the potatoes as they cooked in a pot of water. But his eyes glanced behind him every now and then to watch his girlfriend perform one of her many talents.
When she was done, she dumped the vegetables all around a raw chicken on a platter.
"It still blows my mind you can do that without cutting your fingers off," he said, praising her skills.
Ophelia looked over her shoulder, giving him a smug smirk. "It's all in the wrist," she said to him, giving her left wrist a little flex. Then proceeded to empress him further by tossing the knife still in her right hand up into the air, making it spin over completely before catching it by the handle again. "And of course precision too," she added before putting the sharp object down on the counter before carrying the platter over to the brick oven next to the fire and placing it inside. Then, using a device Varian made to make it easier to keep track of how long she needed to cook something, she set a timer for the cooking time it needed. "The potatoes done yet?"
Varian looked into the pot. "I think so," he said. Too bad he only had one working timer. But he could tell the spuds were done. "I'll take them out and start mashing."
"Perfect. I'm gonna start chopping apples for the pie," she told him, giving him a peck on the nose before turning and walking back over to her chopping counter.
Varian sighed, feeling like the luckiest guy in the seven kingdoms.
One by one, Ophelia peeled, cored, and sliced a dozen apples. All while keeping Ruddiger from grabbing any. She dumped all the skins and cores in her waste bucket to be tossed out later. She hated not having a better use for the food scraps. It felt like a waste, even when it was technically waste.
When she had all the apple slices she needed, she mixed in cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and a tiny bit of lemon juice. She had already made her pie dough and rolled it into a pie pan, so as soon as her filling was ready, she dumped it into the pan and covered it up with a blanket of rolled out dough. She topped it off with a good layer of thickly grated confectionary sugar before carrying it over to the brick oven, opened it, and carefully placed it on a higher-level rack, just above the chicken, and closed it again.
Varian was sitting at the table, hard at work, mashing the spuds to perfection.
"What happened to your Automatic Masher?" Ophelia asked, coming over to sit in a seat next to him.
Varian stopped to look up at her, a bit sheepishly. "It-ah…worked a little too good," he admitted, dropping his mashing wand in the pot to rub the back on his neck. "It worked so good, it mashed itself," he chuckled nervously. Yet another invention that needed tweaking, but Ophelia was at least glad he was cracking jokes instead of moping about it.
Ophelia giggled too. "You want me to take over? Give your arm a rest?"
"No, I can do it," he insisted, grabbing the mashing wand again. "Look at these guns," he boasted, holding up the masher as he bent his arm at the elbow, flexing.
"Oh my!" Ophelia mock-swooned, the back of her hand gently touching her forehead. "Have you been finding time in your busy day of alchemy to work out?"
"Well I do a bit of heavy lifting," he said goofily. Varian swiftly put the masher back down and flexed his arm again, underhandedly.
"I have no doubt," Ophelia placed her hand on his upper arm, grabbing it, feeling the slight muscle. "My big, strong, alchemy genius," she cooed, moving her hand down to his forearm until she hit the edge of his glove.
As much as she loved that these gloves kept Varian's hands safe when he was experimenting, they were not needed at this moment. She gently raised his hand up and pulled the glove off. After placing the glove on the table, her hand skimmed up passed his wrist until their palms were flat against each other's.
Moments later their fingers curled in, locking their hands together.
Varian's eyes looked back up directly into Ophelia's. The two leaned in until their lips met softly, right above their intertwined hands.
As the kiss continued—longer than either of them were expecting—Varian's other hand reached up and cupped his girlfriend's check. Ophelia tilted her head to the side a bit, leaning into his touch. Which quickly set them both up for a deeper smooch.
"Eh-Hem!" a gruff voice loudly clearing its throat snapped them out of their lovey-dovey haze and to the man standing in the doorway, coming in from outside.
Varian quickly jumped to his feet, standing up straight. "Dad! Hi, Hello! Welcome home," he scrambled out, feeling caught.
"Uncle Quirin!" Ophelia exclaimed with delight at seeing her foster father as she got up to hug him.
"Welcome home, sweetheart," Quirin said as he hugged her back.
From over her shoulder, Quirin looked at his son, who still looked tense and a little guilty. The old village leader smiled at him, letting him know he hadn't done anything wrong. Quirin of course knew his son and adopted niece were a couple now and was beyond happy for them. Still, Varian felt somewhat bashful about them doing anything in front of his dad; who was both his and his girlfriend's legal guardian.
But he could learn to get used to it. Although they didn't always live under the same roof these days, this was their lifestyle now.
This was their family.
Dinner wasn't going to be ready for another hour or so, so Quirin went back outside to finish a few more chores around their property before it got too dark. Varian went out to assist him while Ophelia stayed inside to keep an eye on the food.
When it was finally done, Ophelia called her family back inside. They all sat together at the kitchen table as Ophelia carried the chicken over on a hot dish pan.
With a carving knife and big serving fork in her hands, Ophelia was prepared to cut into the chicken and serve it out, but first she wanted to serve out the cooked vegetables surrounding it.
Ophelia scooped up a small piece of broccoli at the end of her knife. "Varian, open up," she called to him before quickly flinging it at her boyfriend's face.
With her warning, Varian opened his mouth in time but the green vegetable only hit him in the cheek before landing on his plate.
"Dang it," he uttered, not happy he missed but chuckled because it was still fun.
Their family loved this dinner game.
"Your turn Uncle Quirin," she said before scooping up a half a brussels sprout and tossing it at her uncle.
Quirin opened his mouth and caught it in time. "Yes!" he cheered as he chewed.
"Aw, come one," Varian moaned. His dad didn't always catch it on the first try but he did sometimes. The young alchemist however, never could. It always took him at least a few additional tries. "Me again!" he urged to his girlfriend.
Grinning, Ophelia picking up a piece of green pepper and tossed it to him. This time, the piece hit him on the chin and then fell on the floor.
"Again!" Varian insisted.
Six tries later, Varian had three veggies on his plate and five were on the floor by his chair.
"Okay Ophelia, that's enough. We should eat before everything gets cold," Quirin recommended.
"Uncle Quirin, you know the rules. The game isn't over until everyone's caught at least one."
"But you're making a mess," he said, gesturing down to all the vegetables on the floor.
It was okay if the missed ones landed on a plate. They could be eaten later. But if they ended up on the floor, they had to be thrown out. Varian slump a little in his chair, feeling pathetic for missing so many times and also guilty for wasting Ophelia's cooking.
"Never mind Ophelia, let's just eat," Varian uttered glumly before picking up his fork to stab one of the pieces of broccoli on his plate and put it in his mouth.
"But Varian…" Ophelia started to say. She hated seeing Varian so sad and down on himself, even if it was for something small like this game. She didn't want him to feel bad for not being able to finish the game. Luckily, she knew how to make him feel a bit better. "but Varian, I haven't gone yet," she said quickly. Varian looked up again to see her scoop up a piece of red onion and toss it straight up into the air. He watched it go up and fall fast down toward her face. Ophelia tilted her head back and opened her mouth as wide as she could, waiting to catch it, only for it to hit and bounce off her nose and fall to the floor. Ophelia tilted her head forward and shrugged. "Whoops, I missed. Oh well. Maybe I should just serve out the chicken now," she said before hastily cutting into the chicken.
Varian just sat there, a small smile slowly coming to his face.
Another great thing about Ophelia was that she never let him feel left out and she always knew how to cheer him up.
Hope u r all well.
Stay healthy, stay respectful, stay tuned ;)