Possible Titles: Rapunzel's Improved Life

Premise & Comments: Tangled, Brave. Basically, Mother Gothel is a more attentive parent, and lets Rapunzel have a bit of a life outside the Tower. Rapunzel has a job at general store and is friends with Merida. And Gothel is friends with the unnamed witch, and I decided to namer her Ophelia for this.

A beautiful sunset in the horizon, peaking over the valley walls. The whole place was alit in a wonderful orange glow. From the tower window, it reminded Gothel about the nights she would go out on dates. Most of the men she met were either pathetic or big jerks.

She was working on dinner for when Rapunzel returned from work; a delicious ham soaked in red wine, vegetables on the side. She was busy chopping up some carrots now.

She remembered when she she use to cook for the girl when she was so tiny, until she was big enough to learn herself; all those hours they spent cooking and baking together, what fun they had. And then nearly every night and every morning, Rapunzel would have a hot meal out and ready for when she arrived.

Now that Rapunzel was out and about, those nights and mornings were numbered. After all the advice and warnings from Ophelia via the skype crystal, Gothel decided to take some advice and give Rapunzel more freedom. She hated to acknowledge it, but after these short seventeen years, her little flower was growing up. Ophelia kept saying that if Rapunzel was not given a chance to be out and on her own, it would end badly.

All she had to worry about now was her returning to the kingdom of her birth on her birthday, during the night of the thousand lanterns.

"Mother!" A voice suddenly called up, "I'm back!"

Gothel slid the vegetables into the pot and hurried over to the balcony where the end of Rapunzel's hair had been thrown up. She quickly tied the end up onto the pulley and let down the other end so Rapunzel could pull herself up.

After a few minutes, Rapunzel was back up in the tower, and embraced her mother.

"Welcome back darling," Her mother said happily. She hugged her daughter tightly and then fiddled with her hair.

"Hi mother."

"How was work today?"

"Kind of slow. Not a lot of people came in today."

"Anything bad happen?"

"Nope. Everything's fine."

"Excellent. You know I still worry about you when you go out there."

"Aw ma," Rapunzel sighed, a little chuckle in her voice too, "There's really not that much out there to worry about."

Pascel crawled up from Rapunzel's shoulder.

"Hi there," Gothel smiled at the little chameleon as she gave him a little pat on the head.

They suddenly heard the timer ding.

"Oh, that would be ham!" Gothel giggled.

"Smells delicious!" Rapunzel smiled.

The two sat at the dinner table and ate as they and told each other about their days before Rapunzel brought up a new topic.

"Oh, ma?"

"Yes, sweet heart?"

"Merida's coming up soon. She was telling me about this party at a tavern in town. Can I go?"

"A tavern party?" Gothel repeated, a little astonished. The initial thought of her daughter going to a tavern for such a thing was... a shock, to say the least. She stopped eating for a moment. "What will you be doing there?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just dancing, maybe meet some boys-"

"Boys?" Gothel repeated again. Already? It still seemed so early for Rapunzel to be with boys.

"Come on, please mother?" Rapunzel pleaded. She clasped her hands and smiled in the cutest way she knew how.

Gothel rubbed her temples and huffed. "Child, you're going to be the death of me," She muttered. She finally smiled and answered. "Alright."

"Yes!" Rapunzel squealed. "Oh, thank you mother!"

"But no ale! And don't stay out too late. I don't want you coming back tomorrow morning like last time."

"Oh, of course." Rapunzel nodded. "Thank you."

A while after dinner, when both women finished the dishes, Gothel decided to braid Rapunzel's hair so it would not get in the way while they were dancing. Then they heard an arrow hit the door at the balcony.

"Ey!" Merida's voice called up. "Rapunzel, you ready yet?"

Rapunzel rushed toward the balcony and gazed down to see her friend there waiting for her. Angus waiting just up the hill, chewing some grass.

"Hey Meri!" Rapunzel called down. "I'll be right down!" She turned back to her mother quick as Pascel scurried onto her shoulder.

"You two have a good time, and stay safe," Gothel smiled. "I love you so much, child."

"I love you more," Rapunzel retorted.

"I love you the most," Gothel felt her daughter's hair one last time and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"See you later tonight!" Rapunzel hooked her hair to the side of the balcony, and leapt off, swinging down like a wild girl in the jungle.

Gothel watched her swing down and also waved to Merida.

"Evenin' Miss Gothel!" Merida waved up.

"Good evening, dear," She replied. After another moment, she walked back inside.

Rapunzel landed on the grass and greeted her friend in a tight hug.

"So I take it yer mum said yes?" Merida asked.

"Yep."

"Super!" The two girls headed up toward Angus.

"Ya know," Merida started as they headed up, "You n' yer mum are really lucky to be commoners. Had ta get a lot of paper work out of the way with my mum to make time for this party. I keep tellin' ya; sometimes I feel trapped by all the work I got, like I got no life, ya know?"

"I know what you mean," Rapunzel sighed. "You know how I use to say I wasn't even allowed to leave the tower until about a year ago? I guess we both have pretty tough mothers."

"Well, at least she's more easy-going on ya now-a-days, right? My mum, it seems as I get older, the stricter n' more control she gets."

"Oh, being a princess can't be all that bad," Rapunzel replied. "I wonder sometimes what it would be like to be a princess myself."

"Well, I'd trade places with ya any day," Merida laughed. Rapunzel laughed too.

Finally, they made it up to Angus.

"Hi there, Angus," Rapunzel smiled at the horse as she lovingly pet his muzzle. He licked her hands, tickling her.

Merida stood at Angus's side and offered her hand to Rapunzel. She took it and Merida helped her up onto the saddle before climbing up herself and gripping the reins. Rapunzel held on to Merida's shoulders as the latter cracked the reins and Angus charged off into the forest towards town, Pascel clinging to Rapunzels' shoulder for dear life.

"So yeah, she's off having a good time with Merida," Gothel said to the crystal ball projecting Ophelia's face. "Gone to some sort of tavern party."

"Good. I'm glad things are still workin' out for you two," Ophelia nodded. "You do realize though that she will drink. No teenager goes to these parties and doesn't have one sip of alcohol."

"I know her. At the most she'll have just one or two chugs. She'll be fine." Gothel knew Rapunzel wasn't much of a drinker. When she did drink, it was because Merida had talked her into it, and even then it was still not a lot.

"Well good," Ophelia nodded again. "I see you've gotten comfortable with letting her make her own choices and mistakes, lead her own life n' all." She popped a prune into her mouth quick, swallowed, and then gave a smile. "I still think it would have worked if I turned her into a bear though," She said.

"Oh, that's your answer to everything!" Gothel grunted, both annoyed and amused.

"You'd be surprised how many problems it solves," Ophelia laughed.