Chapter 11
Cassandra runs a sharpening stone along the edge of her sword, the blade ringing out audibly and drowning out the silence. The weapon is laid out across her lap as she sits hunched over on the log bench in front of the crackling fireplace.
Its dancing flames provide a comforting warmth within the freezing night, emitting sparks that float up into the chimney along with a plume of smoke. Its orange glow flickers faintly within the dire and empty cabin, providing a dim light within the darkness.
She sits there for a while, staring downward at what she's doing, her own scrambled thoughts leaving her feeling numb in a familiar way.
At some point, she hears the soft clicking of the bedroom door a distance behind her. She hears Rapunzel walking around somewhere, her boots brushing softly against the hardwood floor.
Cassandra had assumed her to be asleep right now, considering the late hour of the night. Still she doesn't turn at the sound of the girl's shuffling within the quiet house.
They've hardly spoken since Rapunzel had ran out of the cabin earlier, throwing up into the snow. She wanted to be alone after that, wanted to do nothing but lie in bed in an attempt to cure her own stomach. Cassandra had left her alone, feeling awful for essentially being the cause of the whole thing by making her skin an animal when she wasn't ready for it. Just not awful enough to apologize.
It had to happen. Rapunzel would never be ready for it otherwise. Some things just have to be learned the hard way, especially when it comes to survival. Cassandra has never known another way. It's what her father always taught her, and it's what makes her as skilled of a knight as she is now.
It seems Rapunzel has finally emerged from the bedroom after disappearing within it for hours. Cassandra assumes that to be a sign she is feeling better now. She doesn't ask.
"We're leaving in the morning," Cassandra says without looking over her shoulder, continuing to stare down at what she's doing.
A silence lingers between them as Rapunzel stops moving.
"Why?" The princess murmurs after a few moments, her voice soft within the night. There's a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"I found tracks in the woods today... Human tracks." Cassandra turns her head then, meeting eyes with Rapunzel who is standing a distance behind her. "We're not alone out here."
Cass has thought about it endlessly since it happened. With the amount of time that has been left alone to her thoughts, it didn't take her long to come to the conclusion, to decide that there's no way they can stay here knowing that whoever is out there may be hunting them at this very moment.
Rapunzel hugs her arms, resisting a shiver despite being dressed in her cloak and her gloves, and the thick layered skirt of her dress. The shadows of the room swallow her, with the light and the warmth of the fire so far from where she is standing.
She scoffs lightly. Her voice is small and innocent as she says, "It could be anybody."
"We don't know that," Cassandra answers sharply.
From the mere look that Cass is giving her, with the firelight reflecting off the hard stare in her eyes, Rapunzel knows exactly what she's thinking. What she's scared of. What she means when she says they're not alone.
Despite it, Rapunzel asks hopefully, "Why can't we just stay?"
"You know why." Cassandra faces forward again. She returns her attention to the sword in her lap, as if the conversation is over. She continues to run the stone along the blade, the silence once again broken by the scraping sound of it.
"It's been three months, Cass. We haven't seen anybody. What if they gave up looking for us?" Rapunzel questions, as if the argument is something she has kept pent up for a long time. "What if we never make it to Fairview? What if this is the best that it's going to get for us ever again?"
"I'm not taking any chances."
"And when do I get a say in what it is we do?"
Cassandra raises her gaze at that. She hadn't expected Rapunzel to ask such a thing, to bite back in a way that she never has before - after so long of Cassandra telling her what to do, making all the decisions for them, and Rapunzel listening to her every time.
It silences Cassandra, makes her wonder why Rapunzel would be so opposed to it now. But she realizes she'd never even thought about asking Rapunzel how she felt, not about anything.
"If we leave now, we'll freeze to death long before they can kill us first," points out Rapunzel, her voice raising.
Without shelter, without a roof over their head and a consistent fireplace like this to keep them warm, they won't survive the winter. Cassandra always says that towns are too dangerous. Cassandra doesn't trust anybody. She says anyone could recognize them, and Rapunzel knows there's no convincing her otherwise.
"We'll find someplace else," says Cass, her voice calm and emotionless. "We'll figure it out. Just like we always do."
Rapunzel walks slowly forward, eyeing Cassandra's backside who still refuses to meet her eyes. "So… you're telling me you wanna risk our lives out there, leave everything that we have here behind, just because you're scared that we might run in to another person?"
The notion sounds ridiculous to Rapunzel just hearing herself say it.
She had thought they'd had things figured out here. They've developed a routine, a familiarity with this place. The cabin feels safe to Rapunzel. She much prefers it over endless walking and camping in the woods. The weeks following their escape from Corona had been nothing but that, and it had been the worst experience of her life. The cold and the snow will only make it worse.
"You know, I'm starting to think that maybe you don't actually know what's best for me," accuses Rapunzel.
"Yes. I do," fumes Cassandra. An irritation bubbles within her, her muscles tensing in an attempt to contain it.
"Well… My mom is dead and I don't need another one," Rapunzel quips, the words escaping her lips faster than she can think them.
The room falls into a deadly silence. The fire crackles faintly beneath it.
"Excuse me?" Cassandra sets her sword down and slowly rises to a stand. Her voice raises with anger as she turns to face Rapunzel, like a ticking bomb finally going off, "Is that what you think this is?"
They haven't spoken of Arianna since that day Cassandra had revealed what happened. They'd both shared the same pain around the subject that they'd tried to forget it rather than face it. Especially considering Cass had been the only other person there when it happened. Arianna died in Cassandra's arms. The woman's blood was on her hands and Rapunzel has the audacity to accuse her of acting like her mother?
Cassandra closes the space between them until they're standing directly in front of each other. "Everything I do, I do for you. You wanna stay? Be my guest. You won't survive a day on your own."
Despite Cassandra's biting tongue and her cold stare, not to mention the few inches of height that she has on the other girl, Rapunzel does nothing to back down. She doesn't step away, doesn't break eye contact, only challenges Cassandra by doing the exact opposite – for this is a side of Cassandra that Rapunzel has been all too familiar with since they were kids, one that had stopped intimidating her a long time ago.
"I can take care of myself," Rapunzel's voice is softer now, but her eyes are on fire. "I'm not just a helpless princess."
"Really? Did you forget what happened with the fox?" snaps Cass.
Rapunzel seems to flinch at that. Her eyelashes flicker, lips twitching so subtly that it's hardly noticeable. The recent memory of puking up bile suddenly returns to her, along with the bloody sight of a mangled animal beneath her own blade. It's obvious Rapunzel is hurt by that, when she had wanted nothing less than to be reminded of what she couldn't do, but Cassandra finds she is so angry right now that she doesn't much care.
Because Cass can't understand where any of this is coming from so suddenly, when in their entire lives, she has never given Rapunzel a reason not to trust her.
Cassandra steps closer until they're practically standing toe to toe, faces inches apart. She glares into Rapunzel's eyes like a warning. Her voice lowers dangerously until it's barely audible, "You need me. And I'm leaving tomorrow. Whether you wanna stay or not, that's your choice. But don't pretend that you're not still alive because of everything I've done for you."
Without another word, Cassandra swiftly brushes past Rapunzel.
As the princess only stands there frozen, Rapunzel hears the door swing open behind her, and a cold breeze crashes into her back. She hears Cassandra's footsteps disappearing outside, before the door slams shut once more.