I.
They rode east, away from the ruins of the tower, away from the broken forest and the smoke and the only life Rapunzel had ever known.
She clung to her prince, her arms tightly wrapped around him and her head pressed against his shoulder. She could feel his heart was hammering in his chest, as loud in her mind as the thumping of the horse's hooves as they bore her away, away from her mother and her shelter and her life.
Every once in a while she glanced over her shoulder, certain her mother was following them, but nothing was there, only trees and gathering darkness. Sometimes she thought she saw an outline, a shape, and she was terrified. Then the image became a tree stump or a rock, and she breathed easier.
But the terror did not go away.
What am I doing? Rapunzel asked herself, clinging more tightly to the handsome young man she barely knew as the forest sped by her, dizzying her until she shut her eyes against the sight. Where am I going? Mother said there was a giant – she could kill a giant – I should have stayed there, she can protect me -
Then she remembered the thorns, the blood, the blinded eyes. She knew that her mother would protect her, but not her prince. He would be cast out to be crushed, and she would be alone again even if her mother never left her side. Her prince, who after she ran away from the palace risked his life to find her, and there was a giant...
She tightened his arms around his chest, buried her face in his shoulder, and felt their hearts beat together as they rode.
After a time Rapunzel felt the horse slow, and she opened her eyes.
Night was falling, twilight blue spreading through the air, lying thick in the shadows. They were riding through an open area where the trees were thinner and large rocks lay jumbled among them.
Rapunzel leaned back as the prince brought the horse to a halt. "Where are we?"
"Almost to the summer castle, at the eastern gate," the prince replied, tilting his head up to the sky.
Rapunzel followed his gaze and saw only a thick, impenetrable mist, gloomy and suffocating. A chilling mist had gathered and rain fell, thin and sharp like icy needles. She shivered.
At once the prince turned and looked at her shoulders, his blue eyes widening. "Dearest! Where's your hood?"
Rapunzel blinked, remembering the sight of her mother standing in the mist, clutching the hood of her cloak desperately. Rapunzel, there's a giant – She suddenly felt like crying and looked down.
"Here," the prince quickly swung himself down and held up his hands. Rapunzel held her arms out and fell onto him, too cold and sore and stiff to do any of it gracefully. She thumped into him and he took two steps back to keep his balance.
"Now you're picking up my bad habits," the prince joked, and as Rapunzel drew her cloak about her and looked at the ground she felt something being draped over her head. She looked up and saw that the prince had draped his leather jacket over her, covering her hair and shielding her face.
"But what about you?" she asked, for now he was only in his white tunic and she knew that could not be very warm. But he had already turned away and was taking his horse's bridle in one gloved hand.
"There's a dovecote not far away," he declared, nodding to indicate the direction. "Too stony for Hector to carry us through, but we can get to it easily enough, and tomorrow we will be at the summer castle."
He tugged at the horse's bridle and began to lead it into the tall grass by the path, into the twilight. Rapunzel lifted her skirts to follow him. "Why are we going there?"
"You'll be safe there," the prince explained, turning his head and once again looking at the sky. "There are a handful of servants there, and a small fishing village sits hard-by. It's a fair distance from my father's castle, you won't be in any danger from the giant."
Rapunzel stopped. "But what about you?"
The prince paused, turned, gazed at her with determination bright in his eyes, mixed with something else Rapunzel couldn't place. Then he turned away and resumed leading his horse through the grass.
"But – no!" Rapunzel cried, lifting her skirts higher so she could catch up with the prince and look at his face as he strode resolutely through the rustling weeds. "The king – your brother – they'll take care of the kingdom, they're enough, you don't have to - "
"The king has been an invalid for years," the prince patiently explained, his eyes set forward as if he was trying to not look at her. "That is why you were not presented to him at court. As for my brother..." he sighed. "He was not raised to be particularly...responsible. Very likely he's assumed the king's knights will take care of the giant and he's off seducing some maiden somewhere."
"But – didn't he just take a wife?"
"You're right, I shouldn't have said that," the prince muttered quickly, and glanced at something ahead of them. "Ah, there's the dovecote."
Rapunzel looked. Just ahead, set back amid a confusion of large rocks and tangled weeds, sat a round building made of stones, perhaps two stories high. The roof was pointed and just below the eaves Rapunzel could see openings, small and square and evenly spaced, like tiny windows.
"It looks like my tower," she remarked as they drew closer.
"Ah, but this building has a door!" the prince exclaimed happily, pointing at the wooden plank set within the dovecote's stone wall. "And it will give us warmth and shelter until the sun rises."
Rapunzel nodded understanding even though as her eyes darted warily to the birds flying in and out of the openings at the top of the tower. She kept looking at them, even when the prince halted, tied his horse nearby, and began working a the door to pry it open.
"We're going to take shelter underneath a nesting place for masses of birds?" she asked incredulously, unable to keep herself from smiling. "You do know what those birds are likely to do on us. I mean, you have seen pictures - "
"What?" The prince halted in prying the door open and followed Rapunzel's glance, then laughed and continued pulling on the door. "Oh – yes, my dear, not only have I seen pictures but I've been the victim of a few pranks involving my brother, his prize falcon, and a large quantity of blackberries. But, that's another story. Here we go!"
The wooden door was standing fully open now, revealing only a musty gloom within. Rapunzel frowned, doubtful. It certainly didn't look very warm inside, or inviting. But her prince only smiled at her and, stepping forward, tugged his jacket forward over her head so it shielded more of her face from the rain.
"All right?" he asked. She nodded, and with a confident smile he reached into his saddlebag, drew out a flint and tinder, and still grinning at her ducked into the dovecote.
"I don't think we were more than ten or eleven," Rapunzel heard the prince relate amiably from the darkness, along with a lot of rustling noises that sounded like straw mixed with the annoyed coos of startled turtledoves. "My brother was never very good with his figures and he was angry at me for impressing our tutor – oop!"
That noise was followed by a small wooden-sounding crash, and Rapunzel started. "Are you all - "
"Oh, yes! I just forgot that was – oof! - anyway," rustle, rustle, thunk, "Anyway, I don't know how he did it but he stuffed his pet falcon full of blueberries and then tied its tether to the candle-post of my bed. Well, of course it roosted there overnight and - "
The prince's words were interrupted by a SNAP!, followed by a sudden spark of light from within the darkness of the dovecote. Rapunzel watched this with interest.
" - All right, where should I...right there, that looks...anyway, he kept that blasted bird tied up there all night and by time - "
SNAP!
" - I woke up the next morning - "
SNAP!
" - My pillows, sheets, coverlet, and of course my whole face and shoulders - "
SNAP!
" - were covered in bird droppings, and my brother knew - "
SNAP! SNAP!
" - he knew I slept with my mouth open - "
SNAP!
At the last snap the spark did not dim, but instead glowed steadily and became brighter. As Rapunzel watched it brightened further, and a moment later the prince appeared at the doorway. Their eyes met and he smiled again, squared his shoulders, and extended one hand.
"Come out of the rain," he said, and she took his hand which was now quite invitingly warm, and he drew her inside.
The prince had cleared a spot on the stone floor of the dovecote and set some old broken boards and straw in the shallow depression there, and set it afire. Rapunzel looked up and saw that the inside of the building was ringed with shelves and openings where birds sat and flew from one perch to another, seeming like phantoms in the wavering light.
"Here," the prince said, and Rapunzel turned her gaze downward to see that he was on his hands and knees, waving toward a small square inset on one side of the structure, maybe five feet high and six feet deep.
"They used to store gardening tools here back when this land was worked," the prince explained as he pushed some of the straw on the floor into the opening and pressed it down. "It all disappeared when the farmers left, taken or stolen, I don't know." When he was finished he turned toward Rapunzel, his blue eyes glimmering brightly in the firelight. "It's not a palace featherbed, sorry about that. You should have that, and you will once I take care of the giant but - "
"It's perfect," Rapunzel interrupted, feeling a sudden rush of unaccustomed emotion so strong that she knew that she had to move or she would burst into tears. She quickly ducked into the space, undid her cloak, and spread its wide satin folds over the straw, covering it from one edge of the floor to the other. When that was done she turned to the prince and held out her hand.
"I'm free, and I'm with you," she whispered, and now she was crying and not ashamed of it, not one bit. "It's perfect."
He returned her smile, brilliant and open, a warm hearth of comfort in the terrifying uncertainty of her life. He took her hand and crawled into the space beside her, snuggling close.
The prince sighed and gazed into Rapunzel's eyes. "You still smell like the wisteria that grew in your tower."
Rapunzel smiled back, drinking in her beloved's gaze and trying not to look at the scars, still red and angry around his eyes. "And you smell like your horse."
They both laughed, and even though Rapunzel didn't think it was that funny the prince laughed a few moments longer and drew her close.
She nestled into the crook of his neck, relishing the warmth there. "Don't go fight the giant."
"I have to," he answered, his voice making his neck vibrate against her cheek. "It's my kingdom too, I can't just...I have to do something."
She sighed, knew she couldn't argue. Nestled closer. "Listen."
"Hm?"
"The birds. They sound like they're talking to each other."
A pause. "Hm. They do. Wonder what they're saying?" He giggled at a sudden thought. "'Those silly humans think they're so smart, let's go cover them in droppings!"
Rapunzel laughed despite her fear.
"Get the big one first!" the prince continued, "I heard from the falcon he's an easy target!"
"Stop it!" Rapunzel commanded, propping herself up one elbow and slapping the prince on the shoulder.
He winced, and she instantly regretted it. Of course, she remembered, the thorns, they had been long and very sharp. He blinked and smiled up at her, and she knew he had noticed her expression and was trying to cover up just how much those thorns had hurt him.
She paused and stared at his face in the firelight, the flames gleaming in his blond hair and glinting it gold. She frowned and lightly traced his scars with her finger, just at the edge so she wasn't touching them. "Do they hurt?"
"No," he whispered, and he wasn't smiling now, just regarding her with a soft adoration that she had seen sometimes in the paintings in her books, mysterious and familiar at once. He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. "They did when I lost you. Not anymore."
She kissed him, and settled once more against his shoulder to sleep, serenaded by the soft coos and chirps echoing over their heads.
"If only we knew somebody who could talk to birds," the prince murmured.
They fell asleep.
II.
BOOM
At first Rapunzel thought she still must be asleep, the thunderous rumble in the earth part of her sleeping world. Then she felt the shaking
BOOM
again and realized it was like the earthquake at the palace, like the rumblings she had felt on their journey, and at the same time realized her prince was not beside her. Suddenly frightened, she opened her eyes.
The room was dark with nighttime, and the fire had nearly gone out. The bright flames were gone, now replaced only by bright glowing embers that bathed the inside of the dovecote in a reddish light. Rapunzel heard the loud flapping of birds' wings and sat up, looking around frantically. "Dearest?"
"Right here, beloved!" came the prince's voice, and now Rapunzel saw him on the other side of the dovecote, not on the floor but on a perch a third of the way up, his boots firmly planted on the shelving and his hands grasping the openings in the brick wall, looking through one of the openings to the outside.
"What - " Rapunzel exclaimed, startled enough to duck out of the space where they'd been sleeping and stand in the open area, staring up at her prince with wide eyes. "What are you doing?"
The prince turned and looked at her, some expression fluttering across his face that she couldn't read. For the first time since they met, she could not guess his thoughts from his expression and suddenly she was terrified.
The prince must have sensed this because he immediately hopped to the floor and rushed to her side, taking her hands in his. They were cold and she looked down; he was not wearing his gloves and she saw scratches on his fair skin, scratches that were bleeding -
"I won't lie to you," the prince said, his tone controlled but not calm. "We have a problem. But I'll get you out of here, I swear - "
Rapunzel's heart began to hammer and she looked up at him, beyond terrified now. She turned her eyes upward and saw the birds, flying back and forth at the top of the tower, as frightened as she was.
"What's wrong with them?" she asked, unable to keep her voice from trembling. Suddenly the walls were closing in, choking her as the tower had, summoning a frantic need to escape, to run. "Why are they so scared? What's - "
The prince winced again, and Rapunzel thought she was hurting his hands and let go. He met her eyes, and without a word reached up and pressed her shoulder reassuringly.
"It started about an hour ago," the prince explained, rubbing Rapunzel's arm as he talked. "I woke up to a great rumble from the earth, and then nothing. Then around midnight, they started this - " he looked upward and shook his head. "Flying back and forth but not out, not through the openings but they screaming, desperate. I went to the door thinking to hasten their escape and - "
Suddenly unable to breathe, Rapunzel lunged past the prince, past the embers to the dovecote door. Ignoring the prince's cries she grabbed the latch and pulled it back, she had to get out of there. She rushed through the door -
- and felt two strong hands grab her and pull her back just before she could run into the thick wall of thorns that grew in front of the dovecote door.
Her hands touched them; touched a tight mass of razor-sharp blades, massive and unyielding. Rapunzel cried out as the prince threw his arms around her and held on tight, stared at the wall of thorns as he held her trembling form and pulled her back into the dovecote. She began screaming.
"Rapunzel!" The prince soothed, close and low in her ear, and he was stroking her hair because he knew from experience that would calm her down. "Rapunzel, take it easy, shh – shhh - "
"No!" Rapunzel cried, staring at the mass of thorns, seeing the small nicks in the vines where she knew her prince had already tried to hack them apart but he couldn't and they were trapped – trapped. "No, it's not possible! Her powers are gone, my mother tried – she can't - "
"It might not be your mother," the prince reasoned, very gently nudging the door shut with one boot before guiding her back into the room, around the glowing embers to the straw bedding. "There are other witches you know, but we know how to work our way out of thorns, don't we? We'll get out of this."
Rapunzel tried to swallow her fear, clutched at the prince as he edged her backwards away from the door, her eyes going unwillingly up the wall to the ceiling where the birds were darting about, as uncontrolled as her heartbeat. "How – how high up does it - "
"All the way to the top, from what I can tell," the prince said in the same low, soothing manner, as if he was telling her a bedtime story. "I don't think it's a spell against us, if it was it would just be over the door. It's the birds, someone doesn't want them to leave."
"But they want to go," Rapunzel said, her gaze locked on the flocks of birds circling and swooping overhead even as the prince eased her down onto the straw. "Look at them – all of them, it's like someone's calling them and they're trying to get out - "
"Yes, I noticed that too," the prince glanced over his shoulder at the melee over their heads, then knelt in front of Rapunzel and took both of her hands in his. "Dearest, listen to me. Please, be calm and trust me. Do you trust me?"
I'm going to fly apart, Rapunzel thought, and realized she was shaking, trembling so hard the ribbons on her dress were quivering. She pressed her eyelids shut, tightly, ordered herself to calm but it wasn't helping. She opened her eyes and looked into her prince's eyes.
There it was. That same bright, open, earnest bravery that she had seen the moment he first appeared at the window of her tower, the same valiant gleam that held adventure in its depths and never asked just how far was that drop, exactly?
It attracted her, captivated her, and scared her out of her wits. Without thinking she gripped his hands too tightly and whispered, 'You're going to do something reckless, aren't you?"
"Probably!" the prince answered, but he was grinning when he said it.
Rapunzel laughed then – she couldn't help it – but she was weeping at the same time.
"Now listen to me," the prince continued, locking his eyes on hers, never wavering for a moment. "You listening? Just nod. All right. Now maybe some witch or something has cast a spell, maybe it doesn't want those birds to get out, but this didn't start until that rumbling did and I think that's the giant. All right? And maybe the birds have something to do with stopping the giant, and maybe if they don't get out the giant won't be stopped and somebody bad doesn't want the giant stopped."
Rapunzel sniffed, gulped on her tears, and frowned at the prince. "B-but what if it's somebody good? Maybe the giant shouldn't be stopped."
The prince blinked at this, paused. He took a breath, two, and finally rubbed Rapunzel's hands in his, maybe to calm them both down. He took another breath, and shrugged.
"You know, it's really late and my brain's not working the best right now," he admitted. "All I know is – is you're scared, and I don't want you to be scared anymore. I don't know what we're in the middle of, and I don't know why those birds want out or why someone wants to stop them from getting out. All I know is – is – is if they don't get out they're going to start raining droppings on us and I won't have that, I've been through it before and it's undignified, you know? Damned undignified - "
Rapunzel laughed then, through her tears, and as soon as the sound escaped her mouth the prince leaned forward and kissed her once, very quickly. When he released her she opened her eyes and realized he had pushed her back into the stone space, as deep as he could.
He gazed at her resolutely, and edged his way back, into the dovecote. He took a deep breath and drew his sword.
"Now – now I don't know the whole story here," he said, raising his voice to be heard above the flapping of the birds' wings and sound of their cries. They were growing louder now, panicked. The prince glanced upward, then back down, and Rapunzel thought he looked pale. "But you're in danger and I promised to take care of you. And – for the good of the kingdom I've got to – to just stay there and get back against that wall, all right?"
She stared at him, couldn't move.
The prince took a deep breath, and his eyes grew wide with urgency. "Rapunzel - "
The ground shook.
"Rapunzel, get back!" The prince cried, and at that exact moment the birds began to screech.
BOOM
Rapunzel crouched against the far wall, covered her ears, and screamed.
The dovecote shook, fine pieces of stone and straw raining down from the ceiling, turning to flame and ash in the red light. Rapunzel glanced at the embers, looking for her prince but he was no longer there. He was no longer -
BOOM
The red light was brighter now, small pieces of the wooden roof drifting down and catching in the heat, burning bright gold for a moment and then winking out. The crying of the birds was everywhere now, their black shadows swooping and circling through the air in wild, blind loops, bashing against the stone walls, their cries echoing endlessly, out out out OUT -
Rapunzel was shaking as if she might fly apart. Frenzied, she clutched at the straw bedding, crawling to the edge of the sheltering space, hot tears coursing down her cheeks as she searched the wavering light for her prince.
Then she saw him, and bit her lip to keep from screaming again.
He had climbed the walls, high up, so now he was a black shadow against the white stones not two spans from the ceiling of the tower. He had lodged his boots in two of the openings and was balancing there, his broadsword in both hands. As Rapunzel watched, he began hacking away at the wooden roof with the blade.
BOOM
Rapunzel gasped and gripped the earth, the thundering rumble shuddering through her body straight to the bone. She looked up through her tears to see the prince still hacking at the roof, the birds clustering around him but somehow staying clear, as if they knew he was helping them. As if -
BOOM
Another rumble, greater than the first. Rapunzel gripped her head in terror then forced herself to look up. The prince was now bashing at a section of the roof with the hilt of his sword, faster and faster, as the birds circled around him wreathed in sparks and smoke, bathed in fire -
CRACK!
A seam of the ceiling suddenly opened, bright moonlight pouring through. The prince gasped and dropping the sword shoved at the seam with both hands, shouting words Rapunzel had never heard before in her life. With a wordless yell he heaved all of his weight to one side and PUSHED -
BOOM
"RAPUNZEL LOOK OUT!"
Rapunzel ducked back into the shelter.
CRRACCKK
A large section of the ceiling came crashing down, clattering against the stones and throwing glowing cinders everywhere. Bright moonlight flooded the room and the birds' cries became louder, then began to quiet.
And then – nothing.
Taking deep, heaving breaths, Rapunzel crept out of the shelter and looked around. Everywhere was thick silence. The fire was gone; only moonlight remained, bathing every splintered board and the settling dust in an eerie, silver light.
Rapunzel was shaking. She took another breath, peered through the dust. "My darling...?"
"Um...Rapunzel?"
Rapunzel looked up.
Her prince was still there, at the top of the dovecote just below the roof, which was now partly gone. He was standing as he had been, one foot wedged in each of two openings and his hands now clutching the timbers of the roof. Behind him the tops of several thorn vines – not tall enough! - stood, like grasping fingers that would stretch out to snatch him away.
But the prince ignored them and just grinned down at Rapunzel, his blond hair in disarray around his flushed face.
"Pretty daring, huh?" he laughed.
Rapunzel laughed – then choked – then laughed again. She wasn't quite sure what to feel. "You did it!"
"I know!" the prince exclaimed, glancing above his head to the ruins of the roof. "I hope the king doesn't find out about this, he's going to be pissed."
Rapunzel had never heard the word 'pissed' before, but she could guess what it meant. She took another step away from the shelter. "The birds are gone, all of them."
"Yeah!" the prince exclaimed, and turning craned his neck and looked out of the dovecote. "They all flew off in the same direction too. Oh, hey - "
Rapunzel put her hands on her hips, felt her heart calming and turned her mind to more practical matters. "How are you going to get down from there?"
"I'm not getting down, you're coming up!" the prince declared, but he was not looking at Rapunzel but rather kept his eyes on the outside. "There's thorns all around the place, remember? This is the only way out!"
Rapunzel sighed and knelt down to retrieve her cloak from the straw, shaking the straw out of it as she did so. "And how do you propose I get up to where you are? It's not like I have my hair anymore..."
"Hey, I think I can see - " the prince gripped the edge of the roofline with both hands, pulling himself up a little and peering across the distance. "The giant! Darling, I think I was right – the birds are heading straight for the giant! I can see the giant's head over the trees. Wow, we did it! We saved the day!"
Rapunzel paused, looked up at her prince, above her head. Too high above her head. "What?"
BOOM!
The ground shook, much harder than before. Rapunzel wavered on her feet, gasped and looked upward to see her prince had slipped and was now propped against the wall with only his left boot, both arms wrapped around the nearest roof-beam as his the right leg in the open air.
"Dearest!" Rapunzel screamed. Then she was running, the cloak in her hands and a desperate thought -
BOOM – BOOOM!
Her fingers worked quickly, expertly, she'd made knots before and knew how, quickly quickly and don't look up oh there is no TIME -
BOOM BOOM BOOOOM!
"RAPUNZEL!"
CCCRRRAASSSSSHHHHHHHHH!
Rapunzel was thrown into the air and then down again, violently, as the stones of the dovecote cracked noisily around her. It was only after she landed that she realized the earth itself had heaved, so mightily it felt as if the entire land had been tossed up and then back down again. Something huge had just come smashing down to the ground. She shuddered, huddled where she was, too terrified to open her eyes.
Then she heard a groan and of course, she opened them then. She had to; it was instinct.
The dovecote was still standing, barely. The moonlight was now pouring in freely, the roof was gone. Huge cracks zigzagged down the stones, the pale light gleaming through them, making them look like lightning bolts standing still.
And in the middle of the dust and the debris her cape still lay, stretched tight where she had tied it over the frame of the section of roof that had come crashing down. And lying in the middle of that cape, cut and bruised but miraculously not dead, was -
"Ow," Rapunzel's prince groaned, very slowly moving his left arm to his forehead, covered head to toe in dust so he looked more like a phantom than anything else. Rapunzel crawled onto the cape and very gently brushed his hair away from his brow, and he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Ooowwwww..."
"Are you hurt, my prince?" she asked, quietly and with a smile because she could see he wasn't hurt, not really, and she was very happy about that. Beyond happy.
"I'm..." the prince took a deep breath, two, then very cautiously propped himself up on his elbows. "You know, for a change...no. No, I'm - " he glanced at the cloak, the knots, the frame. Looked at Rapunzel with widened eyes. "You did this?"
Rapunzel smiled wider, and nodded. She felt tears in her eyes, tears of joy. She didn't care.
"Say, this is..." the prince sat up, looked at the frame, bounced a little on the tightened cape. "This is some mighty strong fabric! Can the palace get some of this for the knights' armor?"
Rapunzel laughed then, in relief and joy and she wasn't sure what else. She took the prince's face in one hand and kissed him.
The prince leaned into that kiss, and they stayed that way for a long moment in the dust and the moonlight, simply reveling in each other's nearness. When they drew back, the prince brushed Rapunzel's tears away with one scratched hand. He glanced down at his fingers and Rapunzel followed that gaze, saw her tears washing over the bloodied cuts, mingling with the dirt and grime there.
"Hm," the prince whispered, and looked at Rapunzel with a half smile. "Guess the healing thing only works once, huh?"
Rapunzel laughed again and the prince took her in his arms and kissed her again, deeply and warmly and with all the relief and affection they both felt, and would feel, forever.
After a very long time they parted and laid back on the cape, staring at the great hole in the dovecote ceiling and the moon and stars beyond.
Rapunzel watched the clouds drift over the moon and thought of her mother, the tower, the life she'd known and would never know again. Was she doing the right thing? How would she know? Would she ever know, with no one to tell her?
Then the prince stirred beside her and drew her close. She felt his warmth against her and sighed, leaning into it and letting it wrap around her. That warmth infused her, filled her in a way her mother's love had never done, and Rapunzel didn't quite understand that yet. Maybe it was something her mother didn't understand either, maybe that was why she was afraid of it. Her mother had never been afraid of anything before, but she had been afraid now, Rapunzel had seen it.
Afraid of this love. Afraid of this boy with the reckless ways and the wayward hair, who was adventure and longing and traces of red scars on his hands and his eyes, scars that would maybe never go away but he didn't seem to mind.
Her mother was afraid of that red, but he wasn't. And maybe that was all right. Maybe that was the way it was supposed to be. Rapunzel decided she wanted to find out.
After a time the prince stirred again and put one arm around Rapunzel and crooked the other behind his head, tilting his head as he peered up at the stars.
"I wonder if this would be a good place to conceive a child?" he asked.
"What?" Rapunzel eyed him and laughed. "Dearest, it will be morning soon, we have to get out of here. There's thorns over the door, remember?"
"Aaah, they're not a problem," the prince shrugged, and grinned with confidence as he gazed upward, the stars reflecting in his eyes. "Not to the Royal Roof-Slaying Prince. And anyway, morning is still a ways off yet. What better way to occupy ourselves until then?"
"And then what? Once the sun comes up, how are we going to get back up to the roof?"
"How fast can you grow your hair? OW! Hey, that was a joke – oh, look."
"What?"
"There's a couple of birds on the edge of the roof, see? If we knew someone who could talk to them we wouldn't even have to worry, they could go tell someone we're here and they'd come, hack those thorns away and get us out."
"Hm." Rapunzel settled against him and sighed, giving up. "You were very brave, you know."
The prince shrugged. "My father wouldn't think so. But, thank you."
"Do you really think the giant is gone?"
"Yes. Well...that one, yes. I saw her fall."
"Her? It was a - ?"
"Yes. The giant's gone. You're safe now."
"Mmm." She snuggled closer. "And where are we going tomorrow?"
"Whenever we get out of here, you mean? The summer castle, by the sea. Peaceful, small, lots of wisteria. You'll love it."
"Sounds wonderful," Rapunzel said softly, and kissed her prince's cheek. "Thank you."
He turned his head to look at her. "For what?"
"For not riding by my tower," she whispered. "For finding me in the swamp. After the giant came."
"Well..." the prince pulled Rapunzel closer and whispered. "Thank you. I mean, this dovecote has needed a new roof for ages - "
She laughed, and kissed him.
Rapunzel was so content that she did not think to wonder who had caused the thorns to grow over the dovecote, who might have wanted to let the giant destroy the kingdom, or who might have wanted to harm her and her prince. She did not pause to consider that her mother who was once a witch no longer had her powers, but that her grandmother – the witch's mother – was still alive, and very powerful indeed.
Rapunzel did not consider any of that. She only knew she was happy, and safe, and contented. The dangers that lay without those walls...well, that was another story. She drew her prince closer, kissed him more deeply, and felt his light surround her.
And after watching for a time, the birds flew from the ruined roof to deliver their message, off into the first glimmers of the dawning day.
The end!