Two to Tangle {Part One}
TITLE: Two to Tangle
AUTHOR: afterandalasia
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 13,600
FANDOM: Disney Animated Canon: Cinderella, Tangled
SUMMARY: Rapunzel had thought that killing the woman who held her captive would mark the end of her life; instead it turns out to be just a beginning. Rescued by a woman who calls her a Princess, she finds herself joining a group who have turned from victims of life to controllers of it: assassins. She watches one of their missions unfold as she comes to terms with the new role which life seems to be giving her.
SPOILERS/WARNINGS: Possible spoilers for Cinderella, Tangled and Princess and the Frog. Warnings for violence, minor character death and dark themes.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written in response to this prompt at the Disney Kink meme (spoilers for story in prompt).
My thanks to
greysakai for her amazing artwork (found here)! Also to
darkstar1991 for her work as beta, which has been invaluable.
ARTIST: greysakai
ART: To be linked
Part One || Part Two
The woman found her kneeling, still with the rope of her own hair in her hands.
"Come on, child," she said softly. Rapunzel looked up through tears to see the hand extended towards her. "Come now. We can't very well leave you here for when the guards arrive."
"But..." she whimpered.
The woman reached down and gently unwrapped Rapunzel's hands from the coil of hair. A light tug was enough to pull her to her feet, almost stumbling over.
"It's all right. I understand. I'll take care of you."
A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, and she was led away from the body that lay at the foot of the tower.
~
She did not remember much after that time; the next thing that was clear was waking in a warm bed, with clean clothes ready on a chair beside her. Rapunzel looked around uncertainly, then rose and put on the dress. It was soft pink, wool, and smelt faintly of herbs when she put it on. The scent reminded her of her mother, and tears filled her eyes, but before she could do anything more than sniffle there was a knock at the door.
"Who- who is it?" Rapunzel said, a little shrilly.
The door opened; she realised that it was the same woman from the previous day. Now she could see more clearly the woman's figure, soft and rounded, with grey hair drawn up into a neat bun.
"Just me, my dear," she said, stepping into the room. Rapunzel wrung her hands until the woman took hold of them and stilled them. "It's all right, honestly. We don't blame you here for what you've done."
Rapunzel turned her gaze slowly upwards, wavering though it was with tears. "You... really mean that?"
"Of course," said the woman softly. She removed a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to dab the girl's tears. "You'd be surprised, you know, by how many there are... like you. But here, I promise you, you will never need feel fear again."
~
She was given food, and then allowed to see the gardens, which were wide and wild and beautiful. There were not many flowers, but many trees and bushes, and a large lake with a still, placid surface. The sun was warm, and made her feel a little safer again.
For a while, there were no others to be seen, and then Rapunzel caught sight of a silhouette beside the lake, moving slowly as if in some sort of dance. "Who is that?" she asked in awe.
The woman showing her round gave a soft, fond smile. "That is Mulan. Hopefully you will meet her later. She has been with me for some time now."
"Is she..."
"A man would have been lauded for taking up the sword to avenge his father." Her voice was cold, and Rapunzel looked round nervously, until the woman managed to smile again. "Here, Mulan is lauded no matter her sex."
In the kitchens, a young woman with curls of dark hair and a dreamy smile nodded hello to them, then turned her attention and her knife back to the meat before her.
"Tiana," said Rapunzel's guide. "Our newest member... other than yourself, of course. Not everyone is willing to be kept as a mistress."
It all seemed like a far-off dream, what happened the previous day, that dreadful day of tears and anger. From time to time across the hours the thoughts would rise, unbidden, and Rapunzel would shudder and push them aside once again to look around the beautiful great house in which she found herself.
They paused before one of the great rooms, her guide seemingly hesitating for a moment before nodding very slightly and pushing open the door. A woman stood inside, perhaps a little older than the others whom Rapunzel had seen, with blonde hair tied back and a placid expression on her face. She wore simple clothes, an apron over a long brown shift and a white blouse. Rapunzel almost went to speak, but held her tongue at a gentle movement of the older woman's hand.
Without warning, the hand of the woman in the room shot out, sideways, without even a turn of her head. It slammed into a painted bull’s eye on the wall, perfectly central, quivering for just a moment before falling still, and Rapunzel startled at the sound.
The woman turned her head towards the door; she was strikingly beautiful, but her face seemed to have something missing; emotion, Rapunzel realised. "Godmother?" she said.
"Very good, Cinderella," the older woman replied, giving a bright smile. "Will you be at the meeting this evening?"
"Of course," Cinderella replied, then without another word turned to walk towards the bull’s eye.
Closing the door once again, Rapunzel's guide turned back to her and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Now, I'm sorry that made you jump, but I just wanted to show you that we value different things here than the outside world even believes that women are capable of."
"Who is that woman?" said Rapunzel quietly.
"She... allows us to call her Cinderella. She doesn't talk about her past."
"Why Cinderella?"
"When I found her, she was in the cinders of the house. Come now, let's get you to one of the sitting rooms, you're shaking like a leaf!"
She was, Rapunzel realised, as she felt her arm taken and allowed herself to be guided down the hallway and into one of the parlour rooms. She was settled into a comfortable seat, her hand patted, and then the woman sat down opposite her. Rapunzel looked up with another wave of tears, but did not wait for a handkerchief this time before wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "What is this place?" she said finally. Her voice rose slightly as she added: "Who are you?!"
"Call me Godmother," said the woman gently. "The first of the girls whom I rescued was my goddaughter, and now all of them call me that. This place is safety, for girls who wouldn't be safe out in the outside world."
She passed over her handkerchief.
"You killed the woman called Gothel. Now, don't flinch; I know that you had to. That's the thing that other people don't realise - you only did what you had to do. Other people would be angry about that." Godmother stroked Rapunzel's hair gently; it was soothing, familiar, made the tremors in her chest quell themselves slightly. "All of the girls here, they were in the same position as you. Things got too bad, they reached the end of their chances... and they did what they had to do. They killed.
"Not everyone can do that, you know," she added, barely giving Rapunzel time to breathe, let alone to think. "I've seen a lot of people -- too many people, women and men -- die because they didn't have the ability to do what these girls here can do. What you can do. It's something rare, something special."
"But what do you do here?"
"I teach you how to use that ability," said Godmother, her voice soft and gently and so maternal that it made Rapunzel's heart ache. "The girls here are assassins."
~
"I saw a new girl being led around today," said Tiana, even as she looked back into the oven to check on the meat that was roasting. A wave of steam and rich smells rolled out, and she nodded approvingly before closing the door again.
"Oh?" Snow White did not look up from the desert that she was preparing, knife flashing silver in her hands. "What did she look like?"
"Scared, mostly," replied Tiana with a shrug. "Young, too."
"We were all young when we came here," said Snow mildly. Tiana humphed. "Do you think she'll make it?"
"Who knows?" Tiana replied, heading over towards the sink and rolling up her sleeves. "Cinders might be able to tell."
Even Snow gave a slight shiver at their colleague's name. "No doubt she would. But she could tell you how many hairs are on someone's head. Are you coming to the meeting this evening?"
"Of course. Not going to miss the first occasion of the season, am I?" Tiana laughed. "It's as if people want their targets taken out at balls."
"What good is a mission if it stays secret?"
"True," said Tiana. "Here, pass me that knife when you're done, might as well wash everything at once."
~
"You don't have to come tonight if you don't want to," Godmother assured Rapunzel as they made their way into the hall. "And you can leave at any time, all right?"
All that Rapunzel could do was nod. After so long in captivity, so long locked up away from the light, she found herself jumping at shadows and trembling at footsteps still. A meeting, though; nothing could be further from what she had once known than that. People and talking and something that might just have looked like freedom. More than that, the faintest spark of curiosity had settled in the base of her stomach, and she had to know more.
There were already many women in the hall when she entered, sitting around a great long table. At one end, the Godmother took her seat and gestured for Rapunzel to sit close beside her; Rapunzel counted swiftly and saw more than a dozen women at the table. All of them seemed quite young, from her own age up to perhaps thirty or a little more, save for one with the fine white strands just at her temples amidst her black hair, though her face was still plump and pretty.
"Thank you for attending this meeting, my charges," said Godmother, her voice rounded and welcoming as she sat back comfortably in her chair. "As you know, the season is about to begin, and thus we are more called for as well. Unsurprisingly, we have been approached by an individual who has a problem, which would be best solved at the opening of the season: the Grand Ball of Gallia.
"There is news that the Prince is to choose a bride at the ball."
Whispers went round the table; Rapunzel watched with wide eyes as some of the women tilted their heads, or turned to murmur to their neighbours. Only Cinderella, seated at the far end of the table, did not react. She simply remained, hands folded demurely in her lap, expression impassive.
"All of you will remember, no doubt, the debacle of last season. Though we refused the requests from the King of Gallia to remove some of his enemies, he found... other sources. Ones who were neither so discreet, nor so thorough, as we were. Now," she waved her hand vaguely. "There are other issues, of course. Politics. But we need not care for them. The fact remains that the Prince needs to be removed -- discreetly."
"The Grand Ball is hardly a good place for discretion," said another one of the women. She had long, gold-blonde hair, a heart-shaped face with wide eyes, and wore a dress in clouded blue and pink that made her appear as a mirage. "The eyes of half the world will be watching, and many of those will know of our order."
"That is because she plans something different, Aurora," said the eldest of the women, tilting her head just slightly, with the faintest of smiles on her lips. "Is that not so, Godmother?"
Godmother smiled warmly. "Exactly, Snow White. Come now, Aurora, you should know by now that not all of what we do is so simple. Yes, the Grand Ball will be the start of our designs, but this story will pan out a little longer. We cannot delay beyond the Ball because it would mean that the Prince would have a wife who would also need to be dealt with. That would be... clumsy."
More murmurs, this time more of agreement. Rapunzel felt as if she was watching nothing more worrying than a discussion of what was to be served for dinner, or what dresses they were to wear to a ball so as not to clash with each other. She pinched the skin on the back of her wrist just to check whether she was dreaming, and then a second time just to be sure.
"We remove him from the market, then he's easier to deal with," concluded Tiana with a nod. Godmother graced her with a smile in return. "Tidy."
"Exactly," Godmother said. "Now, of course, I would like to thank those of you who came, for showing your interest in this particular assignment. If there are any of you who would like to withdraw, feel free to do so now. I understand that this is a particularly high-level operation."
This time, the silence in the room became a little sharper, as Godmother's words had become a little crisper. There was a momentary pause, then a few of the women rose to their feet and left: a pretty redhead dressed all in shades of blue; a tall dusky-skinned woman without a scrap of makeup and with her hair a little wilder than the others; a blonde in a fluffy pink swirl of a dress who left with a theatrical wave of her hands. Another moment passed whilst Godmother looked round at the others patiently, then nodded.
"Very well, then. Now, you will of course understand that there are some of you who will not be suited for this. The King of Gallia wants his son to marry a girl from the Kingdom, so unfortunately that takes some of you out of the running. Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana... Kida, I'm afraid that you will probably also appear too out of place for him."
The women nodded, understandingly, even as Rapunzel felt her own astonishment written on her face. Were they still given and taken like owned beings?
As if reading her mind, the woman on her other side reached over and touched her arm gently. Rapunzel jumped, then blushed, as the woman gave her a kindly smile. "It's okay, we don't mind. All of us are suited to different roles, we know that. There are others for which we are perfect."
"Snow White, my dear, the Prince would unfortunately not consider you marriageable any more," said Godmother, though she gave a glance aside to Rapunzel and the woman speaking to her. "But we are left with some options. We need someone who will be able to handle themselves at the Ball, dance and make conversation -- Jessie, Esmeralda, I understand that these will hardly be comfortable for you."
There were more nods for her words, this time from the second of the red-haired women in the room, this one freckled and wearing pants, and a raven-haired beauty with sparkling green eyes and gold coins glittering on her clothing.
"Megara, the role would bore you, I am sure."
"Why?" said one of the women further down the table, winding a strand of her hair around her fingers and raising her eyebrows pointedly. "Whatever could be boring about pretending to fall for some pompous Prince of a politically-foolish country, leading him on a merry chase and having to play my role for up to weeks at a time?"
Godmother gave her an equally pointed look in return, but within moments broke off into a laugh. "My point exactly, my dear. Now, that leaves four of you as are here, but I have news from one of my sources that the Prince himself has something of a preference for blondes. Belle, Wendy, although I will probably want to send one of you to the Ball as back-up, this means that you are not likely to be most effective in this role."
Another of the women at the table nodded vaguely, whilst the one to Rapunzel's right gave another pat to the girl's hand. The beautiful woman in the marbled blue-pink dress looked up with curiosity in her eyes, a vague smile beginning to play on her lips.
"Aurora--" Godmother began.
"I will go," said Cinderella suddenly.
There was a harsh silence, eyes turning towards her. A look of something a little like fear crossed Aurora's face, and she turned to the woman whom she sat beside still with a look of trepidation.
"You want the contract?" Aurora said quietly.
Cinderella paused for a moment, glancing down towards the table as if considering, then gave one prim nod. "Yes. I will take this contract."
Godmother looked unsettled for a moment, and when she gave a nod and rose to her feet it was with a vague sense of being flustered. "Very well. The matter is settled. Cinderella, the contract is yours. Belle, Wendy, if either of you would be interested in acting as a second, the choice is yours. Cinderella, I will talk to you later." She motioned for Rapunzel to stand, the action distracted, as if she had almost forgotten that she was there. "Meeting adjourned. I will see all of you later."
~
Cinderella was the first one to rise to her feet and leave the room, impassable and elegant. She was gone even before Godmother turned to leave, and certainly before Godmother had left the room whispers started, flowing like water until the door is closed. Wide-eyed, Rapunzel followed, reaching unconsciously for the older woman's arm and being allowed to take it without a word.
"Is that... normal?" she finally managed, her voice weak.
Godmother paused for a moment, before replying. "Whenever our services are needed, it is quite usual for us to call a meeting, yes. Any of the girls who are interested may attend, and as I outline what is required it is usually amicably decided who will take the task upon themselves. However, I did not... I expected Aurora to take this task, I cannot lie, or perhaps Wendy or Charlotte if Aurora did not choose to go through with it."
"Cinderella... didn't seem like the others," said Rapunzel, a little timidly. She expected to be ordered into silence, perhaps even struck, the way she would once have been. To her surprise, however, Godmother nodded with a sigh.
"She is unusual, even among us. She is... so good, at what she does. It frightens the other girls a little, I think. We are something of a family; a family of choice. What we have in common is our ability to survive. Cinderella... does not talk to the rest of us so much."
"But she does..." Rapunzel searched for the words that she had heard, their unfamiliarity strange but oddly comforting. "Take contracts?"
Now her companion smiled, patting the hand that was wrapped around her upper arm. "Very good, dear. Yes, she does, but usually only our most strange. I tend to approach her personally, rather than make it an open meeting. Sometimes Snow and I do the same. But if she wishes to take the contract, then we will allow her to."
"What..." she swallowed. "What will happen at the Ball?"
"Well, we'll have to go over the details later, but really it will just be establishing a connection. There'll be more to do after that. She needs to go to the Ball, meet the Prince, and charm him. Ensure that he does not fall for any other woman. Simple, really."
"Oh," said Rapunzel. It didn't necessarily sound simple to her, but it didn't sound anywhere near as dangerous or nasty as she had imagined that it might. "I see."
~
Rapunzel was surprised, in the end, at how quickly she found herself made at home in the Godmother's mansion. The other women -- they all seemed much more grown-up than she, although it transpired that many of them were barely her age -- were welcoming, even sweet, as she joined them in doing the cooking and cleaning and washing that took up perhaps half of each day for most of the inhabitants. She met all of the others over time, even the ones that had not been in the original meeting: Melody, Jane Porter, Nancy, Olivia. They had their inside jokes and their nicknames, but did not mind at all letting Rapunzel in on them, and more than one commented wistfully on the beauty of her hair.
The first time, she took hold of her braid warily, backing away a step, and Ariel had looked shocked at her vehemence, but after a while she realised that it simply was a compliment. She shared a room with Charlotte, who had also not been there long, and though she found the other woman overwhelming, she was more than willing to let Rapunzel borrow her dresses, and stuff tissue down the front to fill them out somewhat.
After luncheon, she was generally left to her own devices - the others made excuses, would not say where they went, and though Rapunzel had her suspicions she did not allow herself to voice them aloud. Godmother asked what she would like to do; timidly she replied that she liked painting or reading, and the next day found her room equipped with a huge bookshelf with an eclectic mix of books -- "I didn't know what you would like, dear" -- and a canvas, sketchbook, and selection of paints and oil pastels. She almost cried with joy.
It was some time about a week later, though she had somewhat lost track of time, when Godmother came to her with a sweet smile and the eldest of her charges -- Snow White, Rapunzel had learnt -- at her side, and said that there were just some things that they needed to talk about, and to find out. Curiosity in her heart again, Rapunzel followed them.
They sat down in a comfortable little study, and Snow White made notes as Grandmother did most of the talking. It started simply enough: how was Rapunzel getting on here, how she found the other girls, how she felt about what she knew that they did.
She replied, honestly, that she had found them surprisingly normal, surprisingly nice. It was difficult to associate them with the ideas that she had previously had about the idea of 'assassins'.
Then it became a little different, a little more pressing. What physical activities had Rapunzel used to do? Had she ever held a weapon? What would she say were her skills?
She became a little more uncertain in her answers, but Snow White gave her a reassuring smile and Godmother told her that nobody would be judging her for anything. At the warmth coming from them both, Rapunzel told them whatever she thought might be helpful, and finally Godmother reached across and patted her on the shoulder.
"Thank you, sweetheart. You see, not everyone here does the same thing, after all, you understand? Ariel, for example, is best at getting information from people, rather than just removing them. Snow, here," she nodded to her goddaughter, "is good at removing young ladies, without it being apparent that it was. Such is often done by families who want to avoid scandal. Tiana works with poison, very anonymous."
"And... Cinderella?" said Rapunzel softly, wrapping her hands around the arms of the chair.
The two older women glanced towards each other. "Cinderella is... unusual. She takes those jobs which other people can't."
Rapunzel reached up to fiddle with a strand of hair that fell over her shoulder. It was the first day that she had dared to wear her hair loose in front of the other women, still starting occasionally and worried that someone might reach out to grab it. "So you want to know what I might be... skilled at?"
Godmother smiled proudly, and Rapunzel felt her heart flutter as she smiled. "Exactly, my dear. And it tells us what it might be good to train you in, as well -- obviously we need you to be able to take care of yourself in any way, but it's best to play to what your strengths might be. So we'll make sure that you get a little bit of physical training, probably with Mulan, or Kida, and some charm training with Aurora. You can read, you said, so I may have you train under Belle for a while as she is particularly literate. You don't have to settle on exactly what you want to do now, after all."
She had heard about education, about people being tutored, about some lucky souls -- though usually boys -- going to school. Her mother had always talked about it in the most derogatory of terms, as if schools taught nothing but sin and evil, but deep down she had always wondered what it was like to have that much more of the world laid out in front of you with nothing more than pen and paper.
It made her feel as if she wanted to squirm in her seat with excitement. They wanted her here, they appreciated her, they wanted to let her learn. And they were all so nice to her as well, so interested to what she had to say.
It made her feel so happy here, so desperate not to leave.
"Do you have any ideas yourself about what you might want to do, dear?" said Godmother.
Rapunzel bit her lip and shook her head, leaning back into her chair again slightly. "Oh no," she said quickly. "I wouldn't know how to... how to..."
"Deal with a problem," said Snow White gently. Rapunzel nodded with relief.
"Of course, of course," Godmother said. "Well, as I said, we'll talk to Belle and see if she can give you some all-round knowledge, and Mulan to start training you. She's a little bit gentler than Kida. Do you like being outdoors, dear?"
"Oh yes!" she replied, enthusiasm escaping her without her even meaning it to.
Godmother smiled. "Then I think you might take well to the next couple of weeks.”
~
Occasionally, if she thought too much about what it was that she was being trained for, it would make her shy away from people and almost want to cry once again. But mostly, Rapunzel could not help but enjoy herself, as she ran through the grounds in the pants she was now allowed to wear, or learnt to climb trees or swim in the big, pretty pond that they had. Belle knew everything, it seemed, from different languages to which books were most highly thought of, from who ruled all of the countries within a month's travel to what the politics of the lands meant. Aurora was more patient than Rapunzel could ever imagine as she taught her how to stand, and how to look coy and say little to avoid conversation, and how to do a few simple dances so that she could look graceful. It was a whirlwind, peculiarly fun, if rather peculiar in itself, and she had never felt so free and valued and grown-up before.
After a few days -- she stopped counting after a while -- Belle paused whilst they were feeding the chickens, and rooted around in the hay for a while. "Hmm," she said finally, "looks like Cumulus still isn't laying. Here, take this for me."
Rapunzel took the basket, balancing it alongside hers as Belle scooped up the hen in question despite a bit of fluttering. With a gesture of her head, Belle led her round the side to a small wooden lean-to on the side of the building, all the time talking gently to the chicken under her arm. There was firewood stacked to the back of the lean-to, a high wooden stump in the middle, criss-crossed with indents, and an axe leaning against the firewood.
"Grab one of those buckets and put it next to the stump, please, Rapunzel," said Belle, not changing her bright tone of voice and not looking round from the chicken. Rapunzel put down the baskets of feed by the doorway and moved one of the wooden pails there so that it was next to the stump. The inside was stained a little darker than the rest of the wood. "There we go. Come on, Cumulus." She stroked the hen's feathers, now tucking it under one arm were it fluttered a bit, then settled down. "Now, pick up the axe."
"What?" Rapunzel said, eyes going wide. It came out a little bit of a squeak.
"Don't scare Cumulus. Pick up the axe and bring it over here as well."
Belle stood next to the stump, swaying slightly on the spot, as if she was trying to rock the hen to sleep. Swallowing, then steeling herself, Rapunzel crossed to the firewood and wrapped her hands around the handle of the axe. It was not as heavy as she might have expected -- she had always thought that anything like an axe would feel almost impossible to hold -- and it lifted into her grip... easily. The wood was warm, and gently shaped in such a way that it was easy to hold two-handed.
"Have you ever cut wood before?" asked Belle, conversationally.
She shook her head. "No."
"But you've been helping Tiana in the kitchen, right? She says that you're very good."
A timid nod escaped her.
"Well, no doubt you've seen her cleavers. Have you cut any meat with them? Any joints?"
Another nod, this one a little more certain. Rapunzel could almost feel the shape of where this was going beneath her hands, and somehow it was as unexpectedly comfortable as the handle of the axe. "Yes. It was hard at first, then I got the hang of it."
"Perfect." Belle stroked the hen's neck in a way that Rapunzel couldn't quite see, and it settled down nicely. In swift movements, the older woman scooped back the hen's wings and feet, and pushed its head down towards the block. Before Rapunzel could respond, the chicken's neck was stretched out, and though it looked a little ruffled round the edges, it didn't seem too distressed. "Right, then. Cut its head off."
"Oh no," Rapunzel said. Her hands tightened on the axe, and she realised she had been clutching it to her chest and pushed it away again. But Belle fixed on her a very clear, competent stare, and it dawned that this was another little test, another little step on the way.
"We all had to do it once. Come on, it's not so hard as you think. Little more than cutting the meat like you did in the kitchen."
Rapunzel swallowed, hefted the axe, and stepped forwards. The chicken clucked, the name 'Cumulus' rose too high in her throat, and with a whimper she stepped back slightly. Belle's gaze hardened. For a moment, she could not think at all, then in a rush the last few weeks came back: her desolation, the warm hands on her shoulders, waking up in a warm bed and walking freely, speaking to people and being listened to, feeling... wanted.
She looked back at the chicken. They had eaten chicken more than once even in the time that she had been here, and though she had presumed that it came from the market, it probably made more sense that it came from their own hens. It would be fresher, as well. Tiana had not responded when she had commented one time on how fresh the meat always was.
The axe really wasn't as heavy as she would have thought, or as unwieldy. Perhaps it had been made lighter so that the other women here could use it easily; certainly she hadn't seen any men on the premises, other than the occasional trader who came to the gates. It wasn't that hard to raise it comfortably to shoulder level, the way that she had always raised the knives, and then to switch almost all of the weight to one hand so that the other would have to do nothing more than bring it down.
Cumulus made a slightly strangled sound. Belle's lips tightened into a slightly thinner line, then parted as if she was about to say something more.
Rapunzel bought the axe down. It only made a dull sound in the end.
Everything here was so much easier than she could have expected.
~
She did not expect to be invited to go to the ball. Cinderella had taken the contract and would therefore be going; Wendy had been chosen to go as the second, to take a different tack to get the Prince's attention if Cinderella's approach did not work, but she had honestly thought that it would be all. Instead, the evening before the ball was to take place, Godmother called Rapunzel into her office and met her with a smile and an embrace. Rapunzel returned it, growing more comfortable now.
“My dear, you have done so very well in this last couple of weeks,” said Godmother. Rapunzel murmured thanks. “Now, I wanted to give you a reward for that.”
“Oh, that’s really not necessary! It’s wonderful just to be here!”
“Nonsense, nonsense,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “I’ve been speaking to a couple of friends of mine, who are very good with fabric, and they’ve got a dress that they’re going to make up for you. I want you to go to the Ball with Wendy, as her younger sister.”
Rapunzel felt her eyes go wide, her jaw drop, but she could not find a word. Godmother waited for a moment, smiling as the look of incredulity spread across her newest charge’s face, then laughed as Rapunzel gave a squeal of delight and threw her arms around Godmother’s neck.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” Rapunzel drew back just far enough to look wonderingly into Godmother’s eyes. “Are you sure? Really?”
“Yes, my dear,” she replied, patting Rapunzel on the cheek. “I don’t want you locked up in this house forever, now, do I?”
The words struck, and Rapunzel shook her head quickly.
“No.” Godmother kissed her forehead sweetly. “I want to make you one of my Princesses, one of my girls. It’s time for your début.”
Part One || Part Two