Outside JGoB, Wednesday Afternoon

[3s_a_crowd]

After classes had finally gotten out--and Sholeh had never been so glad to be released from classes before--she'd found herself with lots to think about. And a hand that hurt a lot, especially after having to climb the wall in Bootcamp. Rather than scurry back to her dorm and try to lose herself in a book as she usually did, Sholeh decided that a

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[leavingthenest]

It was rather hard to be furtive and unnoticed when you had as much hair as Rapunzel, but she'd still managed to learn to be both rather quickly. The trick, she'd found, was timing. You just had to go places when no one else was around.

But sometimes that meant you'd fall into a pattern, and sometimes that meant you'd get sloppy.

And sometimes that meant you'd rush out of JGoB, hoping to get back to the dorms and into your room without running into anyone, and in your hurry you actually ran into someone.

[3s_a_crowd]

"Ow!" Sholeh had tried to catch herself before she fell and only succeeded on landing on her injured hand. The words had barely scabbed over and split open again on impact. "Hey!" she squeaked. "Watch where you're going!"

[leavingthenest]

"Oh! Sorry!" Rapunzel's eyes flew wide. "I'm so sorry!" She scrambled, kneeling down next to Sholey, and saw her hand.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to..." Her eyes grew wider, staring. She hadn't meant to hurt the other girl so badly! Or at all for that matter!

[3s_a_crowd]

Sholeh snatched her hand away, trying to keep the other girl from getting too close a look at it. She didn't want everyone to know she was a rule breaker. "Well you did," she said stiffly, pushing herself to her feet with her other hand. "Why were you flying out of there, anyway?"

Her eyes grew large and she looked back into the store. "You didn't steal something, did you?"

[leavingthenest]

"What?"

"No!" Rapunzel sounded more than a bit panicked. She didn't want to get in trouble!

"I was just..." Um. "In a hurry!"

For no reason, really. At all.

[3s_a_crowd]

That...sorta sounded like she stole something.

"Are you sure?" Sholeh accused. "What do you have to be in such a hurry for anyway?"

Maybe if she turned in a real troublemaker, then everyone would forgive her slight fall from grace!

...On the other hand, whatever the punishment was for stealing, it had to be a lot worse than just eating desserts because your teacher told you to. Could she do that to another student?

[leavingthenest]

"I-I..." Rapunzel stammered, her heart hammering in her chest. Not because she'd done anything bad today, but... she knew she'd broken the rules before, with healing. In fact, she'd been that close to offering when she'd seen Sholeh's hand, but now...

She swallowed. Loudly.

"I'm sure! I wasn't stealing anything! I-I just wanted to get back to my room." And hide.

[3s_a_crowd]

It was probably best that Rapunzel hadn't offered. Sholeh would probably have assumed it was some sort of test to trick her into getting in trouble again. And with Rapunzel's pretty pink dress, it was easy to assume what side she was on.

Sholeh took in the lack of anyone yelling or chasing Rapunzel out of the store and nodded stiffly. "It's probably best to go back to your room," she said, hating how mean she sounded but afraid to sound any other way. Someone could be watching her right now. The Madri said they'd be keeping an eye on her. "Going outside just gets you into trouble anyway."

[leavingthenest]

Rapunzel's lower lip quivered slightly.

"I... don't want to get into trouble." She was actually wibbling, there, yes.

[3s_a_crowd]

"It's awful," Sholeh said quietly. "And even when you don't know you're doing something wrong, you are, and they punish you for it."

[leavingthenest]

Part of Rapunzel wanted to run back to the dorms and hide, but even after a year on this horrible island she couldn't quite bring herself to.

"Is that..." she hesitated, gripping her hands behind her back and squeezing, hoping that courage would come with the pressure. "Is that what happened to you?"

[3s_a_crowd]

Sholeh glared and looked away--but nodded. "There was a class about temperance," she said dully. "Ms. Maggotbone kept asking if I wanted more dessert. I said yes--and then was punished for being a glutton."

[leavingthenest]

"Oh," Rapunzel said softly. "That seems very cruel."

"Does it... hurt?" Though, really, what kind of dumb question was that?

[3s_a_crowd]

"Of course it hurts!" Sholeh snapped, then instantly looked chagrined. "Sorry," she said a moment later. "I'm just...not in the best mood right now. I had to right this a hundred times and every time I did, the quill scratched deeper and deeper into my skin. It was..."

It hadn't just been painful. It had been terrifying and humiliating and far worse than she could have imagined even if she'd been told about the punishment in advance.

[leavingthenest]

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Rapunzel said apologetically.

"What if..." She paused, looking around furtively (and not at all subtly). "What if it didn't have to hurt?"

[3s_a_crowd]

Sholeh was utterly confused. "How would that work?" she asked. "If it didn't hurt, what would the punishment have been?"