Chapter 5: Mother Knows Best
While the Festival of Fools came to an unexpected end in a rain shower, it was perfectly sunny in a hidden valley on the Forbidden Mountain outside the city. Here, there was a tower covered in vines with no apparent entrance. At its highest windowsill sat a young girl with long gold-blonde hair and green eyes wearing a pink-and-purple peasant top with a purple knee-length skirt and no shoes. On her shoulder sat a green chameleon that had its tail curled up.
"It's too bad Mother Gothel didn't let me attend the Festival of Fools, Pascal," the girl said to the chameleon. "It sounded like a lot of fun, based on the Disney Academy website's description of it."
An electronic bing was heard, causing the girl to head over to a desktop computer inside the tower's living room area. On it, she saw a message from someone named Quasimodo that said, "Rapunzel, can I talk to you for a minute?"
So the girl typed, "Sure."
"I went to the Festival of Fools," replied Quasimodo.
"How was it?" Asked Rapunzel.
Quasimodo paused. "They crowned me the King of Fools, and I was humiliated. The people threw food at me, while I was tied to a wheel and spun around."
Rapunzel flinched. "That's awful! Did anyone try to stop it?"
"There was this one girl that helped me, but Frollo yelled at her for some reason. Then the school's security force tried to detain her, but she ran away," Quasimodo explained.
"Did you catch her name?" Rapunzel inquired.
"No, I just went back to the school's bell-tower," replied Quasimodo.
Just then, a croaky female voice called, "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"
"Coming, Mother Gothel!" Rapunzel responded, leaving the desktop computer.
At the windowsill, she looked down and saw a woman standing at the base of the tower wearing a dark red dress and a matching cloak. Her hair was black and curly with hints of gray in it, while her face was pale and weary.
"What are you waiting for?" The woman in the red dress asked. "I'm not getting any younger down here!"
"Just a minute," Rapunzel insisted.
After wrapping her hair on a nearby hook above the windowsill, Rapunzel let it all fall to the ground. The woman known as Gothel then grabbed onto the hair while Rapunzel pulled it up until the woman reached the windowsill.
"My, my," Gothel remarked as she climbed through the windowsill. "You've gotten so strong."
"Thanks, Mother," Rapunzel smiled as Gothel gently rubbed a hand against Rapunzel's cheek.
"So how was your day?" Gothel asked.
"Fairly productive," Rapunzel said. "I did all my homework, got some reading done, baked a few things—
"That's nice," Gothel interrupted. "Now let me see how well you did on your homework."
Then Gothel made her way over to the computer, causing Rapunzel to flinch. "Wait, I haven't—
But before Rapunzel could stop her, Gothel saw the chat with Quasimodo and she glared back at Rapunzel. "You've been talking to Quasimodo again, I see."
"He had a bad time at the Festival of Fools celebration at school today, and wanted to talk," Rapunzel explained.
Sighing, Gothel said, "I wish you wouldn't indulge him, Rapunzel. For all you know, he could be a predator or a thief that wants to cut your hair."
"But he's never invited me to go somewhere with him, and I haven't told him about my hair," Rapunzel responded defensively.
"Yet the risk of those things happening is still possible," Gothel argued. "It's not good to talk to strangers online, when you don't even know what they look like."
Unable to make a comeback, Rapunzel said nothing.
Gothel then sat in a nearby rocking chair, looking more worn out than before. "Now why don't you sing for me? I've had a long day, and could use your soothing words to ease my aching body."
So Rapunzel knelt down in front of Gothel, who picked up her long hair. After taking a deep breath, Rapunzel sang:
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine
As Rapunzel sang, her hair glowed a golden-yellow color which illuminated Gothel's face causing the wrinkles to disappear and the grayness in her own hair to vanish.
"Very good," Gothel smiled, letting go of Rapunzel's hair. "Tonight, I'll make your favorite Hazelnut Soup."
"Um, speaking of which," Rapunzel paused as she got up, clutching her hair nervously. "My eighteenth birthday is coming up in a few months, and you know what that means?"
"What?" Gothel asked.
"That I'll be graduating from Disney Academy afterwards," Rapunzel answered.
"Oh, but you won't be graduating until December."
This caught Rapunzel off-guard. "Since when?"
"I spoke with Principal Disney today," Gothel replied. "And he agreed with me that you could use one extra semester of classes before graduating."
"But I've finished all the classes I need to graduate!" Rapunzel protested. "What more do I have to learn?"
"Are you questioning your own mother?" Gothel frowned deeply. "Because this proves that you are not ready for the real world, which is a scary place filled with monsters and bad people that won't hesitate to hurt you."
"Fine, I'll take one more semester," Rapunzel reluctantly agreed. "Though could you at least take me to see the lights on my birthday?"
"The lights?" Gothel's eyebrow raised slightly before she said, "You mean the stars?"
"No, I'm talking about the ones that appear on my birthday," Rapunzel clarified. "You can see them over that hill out there."
Rapunzel pointed out the windowsill as Gothel looked. There indeed was a lonely green hill, which was outlined in the late afternoon sun.
"What time do these lights appear?" Gothel questioned.
"At night, after the sun goes down," Rapunzel said.
Gothel then walked over to the windowsill, and then closed it putting the living room in darkness except for the light coming in from a window above.
"I'll think about it," Gothel responded. "Will you be a dear and get the fire going while I make the Hazelnut Soup?"
"Of course," Rapunzel nodded and walked over to the fireplace while Gothel went into the kitchen part of the living room.
End of Chapter 5