Days of the week never really mattered before Auradon. Yeah, Saturdays were the truce days for trading with the piers, but it never meant much. Here in Auradon, Mal decided Saturday was her favorite day of the entire fucking week. There were no classes to go to. There weren't any people they had to interact with. If Evie hadn't wanted to start working on simpler clothes for all of them and the boys hadn't been so energetic, Mal would've kept them all in the room just to get a break from the world.

Though Maurice Hall wasn't so bad. It was still relatively quiet, only a few other people were in the building and most of them were on the art floor or the woodworking floor. Mal slouched in one of the chairs, sketching a dragon soaring through the sky. Wide wings to catch the wind. Strong powerful legs and sharp claws. Gods she wished she could fly.

The sky was untouched by people. Not even kings could claim it. It belonged to nature and nature alone. She couldn't imagine anything more wild, more free. She didn't want to own the sky. All she wanted was a chance to just be a part of that.

"Mal, what do you think of this?" Evie asked.

"Pretty," Mal nodded, glancing up at the bolt of blue and black cloth before going back to her sketch. "It brings out your eyes."

"Perfect."

She watched her packmate carefully measure out the cloth and arrange her patterns— "Actual patterns, Mal. I can make actual patterns!"—to make sure she was making the most of every inch. Whatever scraps she had would probably be combined into an outfit or several different pieces. Mal had a short sleeve shirt made that way and it was one of her favorites. It was real and unique, unlike the nearly identical clothes the prissy princes and princesses wore.

They fell silent as they both worked on their own projects, pausing occasionally to check their surroundings before going back to work. After almost two hours of peace, the sound of footsteps drew Mal's attention to the door just as a girl leaned around the doorjamb to look inside, her hair falling like a curtain of gold behind her.

Light green eyes lit up when she spotted them. "Oh, hi. I didn't know anyone was in here," she smiled as she stepped into the doorway and straightened.

Mal stared.

Nothing about the girl matched the other students at the University. She watched the world with wide eyes, as if she was experiencing it for the first time. Her hair was loose and fell to the middle of her back. No braids. No bows. The dress she wore was a light purple, skirt ending just beneath her knees, and a slighter darker purple bodice laced in the front. A bag was hung over one shoulder and…and her feet were bare. A strange green creature perched on her shoulder, lifting a tiny green foot to wave.

"I'm Rapunzel," she continued as she walked over to them. It wasn't a regal walk, more of a bouncy step that Mal knew Grimhilde would hate. A glance at Evie's expression confirmed it. "It's nice to meet you." The tiny animal on her shoulder grumbled and she laughed, lifting a hand to it. With more dignity than she'd had, it walked into her palm so she could hold it up to them. "And this is Pascal."

"He's adorable," Evie cooed and the small creature puffed out its chest and straightened a little. "What is he?"

"A chameleon. I've known him forever. He was my first friend."

Chameleon. Mal had never heard of it. Maybe Carlos would know. If he didn't, he'd love to find out.

"That's so sweet," Evie smiled as she gave Pascal a little curtsy. "I'm Evie, by the way. And this is Mal." Mal nodded a hello.

Somehow Rapunzel's eyes got wider. "You're Evie? I've been wanting to meet you!"

Immediately, Evie's smile shifted into her friendly persona while Mal closed her sketchbook and set it aside. This girl had wanted to meet them? No one at the school wanted to approach them. The only ones who actually spoke to them were Ben, Doug, and Lonnie because it was Ben's "experiment" and the other two were his gang. If someone else wanted to meet them, it couldn't be good.

"I heard all about the clothes you made and I saw you all from a distance. I wanted to say hi, but Eugene reminded me we had class and I wasn't able to find you again afterwards," Rapunzel continued. "They were beautiful. And the designs on them, those crests? They were so creative! How did you come up with them?"

She'd…she'd wanted to meet them because of their clothes? Mal hadn't missed the looks and whispered comments that first day: slut, inappropriate, scandalous, whore, freak. While she hadn't cared, it had still been annoying. This girl was the exact opposite and Mal didn't trust it. Sure, Rapunzel was dressed differently like them, didn't wear shoes, and acted like her pack the first time they explored their dorm, but that didn't mean anything.

"We've been using them for a couple years, actually," Evie replied. It wasn't exactly a secret that they all identified with a different symbol, or crest as Rapunzel had called it. "Mal made their original designs though. I only add them to clothes."

"That's amazing," Rapunzel said, bouncing a little in place. "I'd love to have a crest of my own. My family has one, but I only met them a little while ago and I guess I'm not used to thinking of it as mine. The sun makes sense, but it's all still so new."

"You just met your family?" Mal frowned. What did that mean?

Rapunzel blinked. Smile a little awkward, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, I was kidnapped as a baby because my hair used to be magic. My moth-fake mother kept me in a tower until Eugene accidentally found me while he was running away from the palace guard and Max. We made a deal that he'd take me to see the lanterns and I'd give him back his satchel."

Head reeling, Mal exchanged looks with Evie. Kidnapped as a baby? Locked in a tower? Was she serious? There weren't any villains left on the mainland so there was no way her story was true. She couldn't be older than Carlos and the Isle was created years before any of them had been born.

With a small laugh, she ran a finger along Pascal's back. "It's kind of a long story, but I found out I was the lost princess. Gothel, my fake mother, tried to take me to a new tower after I figured it out. Eugene tried to save me and got hurt so I made a deal with Gothel. I would go with her and never try to run if she let me heal him. When I tried to heal him, he cut my hair and it lost its magic…Gothel…" She trailed off and Pascal patted her finger with a soft squeak. Shaking herself, Rapunzel's smile returned. "Anyway, Eugene brought me home to my parents."

Neither of them responded, not entirely sure how to respond to such a crazy story. Before they could find one, Rapunzel's gaze landed on Mal's sketchbook. "Oh you draw?!" Digging in her bag, she pulled out a journal covered in doodles and held it up. "I do too! Well, I only painted the walls in the tower until recently and I didn't have a journal until I learned I got to come here. But I love art and sewing. I was exploring before I met you."

Eager, she offered the journal to Mal. For a long moment, Mal stared at the journal, stunned. Meeting the strange girl's eyes, Mal accepted the journal, watching for any signs of…of something. She didn't know what she was supposed to be looking for. A trick? There was nothing but excitement in Rapunzel's eyes and Pascal gestured for her to open the journal.

"You sew?" Evie asked, directing Rapunzel's and Pascal's attention away from Mal. "What do you make?"

As they talked, Mal hesitantly opened the journal to the first page. It was a painting of a man and woman sitting in a boat together. The woman had to be Rapunzel with the same gold hair and if Mal had to guess the man was Eugene. But that wasn't the part that caught Mal's attention.

Lanterns. Lanterns filled the air around them, so many that the air looked soft and warm, glowing. Their light reflected in the dark water, spreading across it as if swallowing the darkness and replacing it with candlelight. So much light. So much warmth. When she looked back at the man and woman in the boat, she realized that they were the true source of light. There was no literal glow, but…but something in the way they were painted, even without clear expression…

Almost like the way she saw her pack…

She turned the page, shoving the image out of her head. The rest of the drawings and paintings were sweet and pretty and there was a love of life in every line, every stroke. Yet Mal couldn't bring herself to hate them. If this was how Rapunzel saw the world then…

Mal closed the book.

At the sound, Rapunzel turned back to face her.

"You're good," Mal admitted. "Being locked away really gives you time to master things."

Rapunzel laughed. "I had a lot of hobbies," she admitted.

The bell chimed eleven and the strange girl—princess?—slid the journal back into her bag. "Eugene and I are meeting for lunch," she said. "You should meet him! I think he'll like you."

Before she or Evie could really process what was happening, she'd gathered their bags and grabbed their hands, practically dragging them out the door and down the stairs.