I'm sorry about the slow update. November has decided to kick me in the teeth. Repeatedly. Updates should come a bit more regularly. I'm shooting for every two weeks. Let's pray that December has mercy on me. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!
Rapunzel pulled at her dress with a nervous hand as the silence stretched passed a moment. The pan absently gripped in the other hand. She stared at him. "You truly don't want my hair?"
"Rapunzel! Rapunzel. Let down your hair." A new voice echoed into the tower from outside.
Rapunzel paled. "One moment, Mother." She called over her shoulder. She pulled Mando up and out of her hair in moves that spoke of experience.
Mando looked to his right just in time to catch Pascel glaring at him, while a green foot trailed across it's throat in a clear threat.
Rapunzel took advantage of his momentary puzzlement. She shoved hard on his back as she opened the wardrobe. He fell in with a thunk and a curse. He couldn't help but wonder for the third time how someone so small was so strong.
"Sorry." She exclaimed in a hushed voice. "I just need you to hide." Seemingly forgetting that he wasn't there of his own volition.
Mando didn't know what made him stay in that closet. Maybe a combination of the insanity of the moment mixed with the same curiosity that brought him to the tower in the first place. Either way. He pushed one door open a sliver, just enough to allow view of the room.
Rapunzel tossed the pan onto the counter. It clanked and rattled as it settled on the stone. She ran across the room to the window and threw her hair up onto the hook hanging out from the top of the window.
"Rapunzel." Mother called again. "I've got a surprise for you." She said in a sing-song voice.
Rapunzel felt a tug on her hair, signaling that her mother had a hold of her hair. She started the labor intensive process of pulling her up. She glanced back at the wardrobe. "I do too." She called out. Pulling her hair hand over hand.
"I bet mine is bigger." Mother called back.
Rapunzel huffed a nervous short chuckle. "I seriously doubt it." Rapunzel mumbled.
A beautiful, dark haired woman appeared framed in the window. One of her feet hooked in a loop of blond hair. A hand gripped the rope of hair near her shoulder. A basket rested in the crook of the other arm.
Mother smiled at Rapunzel. "Hello, darling." She said. "I brought back parsnips. Surprise! I'm going to make hazelnut soup, your favorite."
Rapunzel smiled, though it came out a bit strained.
Mother placed her basket on the table next to the window. She eyed Rapunzel. "What's wrong? You're all sweaty."
Rapunzel pulled at her dress and smoothed a hand over her head. Her feet twisted together. "Nothing. I just- Why?" She stumbled over her words, unsure why she almost didn't want to say anything.
Mother shrugged. Her eyes disinterested. "Oh, its probably good for you." Mother came up to her and tapped under her chin with the back of her hand. "You are getting a little chubby. Oh, you know I'm just saying something because I love you." She finished with a little laugh as she pinched her cheek.
Mother turned around to take the parsnips to the kitchen counter. "You know how much I hate leaving after a fight, especially when I've done nothing wrong." Mother said.
Rapunzel's mind raced as her mother talked. Her eyes flickered to the wardrobe. Maybe she could prove to Mother that she could handle the outside world. There's a man in her closet. A man she subdued and disarmed. Surely that proves she can defend herself. She felt exhilarated at the possibility. Her shoulders went back as her back straightened. A real smile ghosted over her lips.
"Mother, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
Mother stilled for a moment then went back to the soup prep. "I know you're not talking about the stars again." She said. A soft warning in her voice.
A warning that Rapunzel ignored, either out of naivety or desperation. "The lights, and yes." Rapunzel started, speaking rapidly. "I know you think I can't handle the outside but-"
"You can't." Mother said in a flat tone.
"But I can, I-"
"Rapunzel, enough." Mother snapped.
"If you just let me show-" Rapunzel persisted. She moved to the wardrobe. One hand rest on the handle of the door hiding Mando.
"Rapunzel." Mother yelled. She spun to face her. "I said enough. Enough about the lights. You will never leave this tower. Ever!"
Rapunzel stared at Mother. Speechless. Mother always said one day. A knot twisted in her gut as a hot feeling flooded her chest and face. Mother lied.
"Rapunzel." Mother said softly. A flat dangerous glint in her eyes.
"Yes, Mother?" Rapunzel responded through numb lips.
"Don't ever ask to leave this tower again." Mother's voice became something unrecognizable to Rapunzel then, as one thing played over and over in her head.
Mother lied.
She lied.
I will never leave.
She lied.
"Yes, Mother." She managed to force out in a barely auditable voice.
Mother Gothel threw herself into a chair in a fit of dramatics. "And now I'm the bad guy." Mother moaned.
All of it barely registered as Rapunzel stood there frozen.
She stared at the floor. Her eyes filled with tears, blurring the scuffed wood under her feet. She blinked rapidly. A heavy feeling engulfed her and settled on her chest. Mother lied. She'd never be allowed to leave. Her hand slide off the wardrobe handle. Her arms crossed tight over her stomach as her eyes took in the tower.
The painted walls, her bed, the fireplace she'd sit in front of and sing... She loved it here. She had felt safe here. She needed to be here. Right? The air suddenly felt suffocating. She couldn't spend her whole life here.
"Mother." Rapunzel moved in front of the closet, fanning out her hair to hide it.
Mother sat with her eyes closed, her fingers massaging her brow. "What Rapunzel?"
"I just- I know what I want for my birthday." Rapunzel said. Her voice soft and defeated.
"What."
To see the floating lights. "Blue paint, like from those shells you brought me once."
Mother dropped her hand and gave her an exasperated look. "That is a very long trip, Rapunzel. Nearly three days time."
She shrugged. "I just figured it was better then ...lights."
Mother sighed, but to Rapunzel's relief, she agreed to go. She knew how long the trip took. She remembered. It's why she asked for the blue paint, specifically.
Rapunzel rushed around, getting anything Mother needed. Her heart thumped hard against her ribs. It sped up as the minutes went by. Her eyes flickered to the wardrobe just as often. Worried the man wrapped in metal would stop cooperating.
Soon enough, Rapunzel stood at the window after lowering Mother to the ground outside. Her eyes glued to the retreating figure in the distance, waving when Mother looked back. She watched with passive eyes and a smile as her mother headed into the cavern exit. Her hands rested on the window ledge.
Mando nudged the door in front of him. It swung open. He leaned his right shoulder against the inside wall, his arms crossed. His eyes on Rapunzel's back.
"What are the floating lights?" He asked. It wasn't the only question on his mind, just the most recent. He couldn't help but wonder how old she was and why her mother locked her in a tower. There were other ways to protect people, then forcing lifelong isolation. Those thought and more rolled around his head as he watched.
Rapunzel spun around. Her eyes wide with a glazed look that spoke of tears and sadness.
Mando looked away from those eyes. His own fell on her hair, from the top of her head to it's end. He didn't know how she functioned with hair that long...
Rapunzel glanced out the window. Her mother's figure had finally disappeared. She pointed up at the patch of wall framed by curtains. High up in the rafters. A painting of the lights in the night sky colored the wall.
"Every year on my birthday- today, I mean." Rapunzel started, stumbling over her words, when she realized that she needed to convince him to help her. "Those lights appear in the sky. I've wanted to go see them since I was little."
Mando tilted his head to glance at the painting in question. He gestured to the window. "Then go."
He didn't even try to pretend he understood why she stayed in that tower.
Rapunzel squared her shoulders. "I will and your going to help me."
He scoffed. "No."
Rapunzel felt a wave of panic. She couldn't do it alone. She wouldn't even know where to go. "Yes." She started, hoping that he couldn't hear the slight shaking in her voice. "I-If you want your things back, then you'll take me to see the lights or at least to a town. Please."
Mando sighed. "Fine."
He figured he could lose her in the forest. He ignored the twist in his gut at the thought. It didn't matter if she's as naive as a child. It wasn't his problem. He had a bounty to pick up.
He flexed his injured hand, blood pooled in the fingers of his glove and against his palm. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, good enough. He could deal with it when he was alone again.
She squealed. Her hands clasped together in front of her breast. "Really?"
Mando cringed at the high-pitched sound.
Rapunzel thought for a second. She could bring his things with or leave them here. Her thoughts went back to her mother's words.
You will never leave this tower.
She lied.
Rapunzel's jaw clinched. She gave Mando a grateful smile and dashed over to the stairs, without thought, to retrieve the blaster and blades.
Mando watched on, dumbfounded.
She pried open the false stair. She figured there was no point in hiding it when it'd be empty soon. She took out everything there and stashed them in a satchel. A strange tinge ran down her spine, she glanced over her shoulder to see Mando. He had stepped out of wardrobe toward her, staring with crossed arms.
She pulled the satchel strap over her head. Pascal jumped from the banister to her shoulder. She finally spotted the rifle on his back. Her jaw dropped as she glanced from him to the open wardrobe.
Unknown to her, his lips twitched at the look on her face. He shook his head. "Rapunzel, right." He asked.
She nodded as she eagerly followed him to the window. "What's your name?"
"They call me Mando."