She rolls over, adding another loop of hair somewhere in the ankle region.

She's rubbing her eyes groggily by then.

"Good morning," says Rolan. "I'm thinking of going and getting breakfast. It'll probably be decent bread and mediocre stew. Should I bring some back for you?"

"Yes please."

Rapunzel gets herself out of her hair and does her best to straighten it out without as much space as she usually has to spread it around.

Rolan comes back! He has Rapunzel's breakfast. It is indeed bread and stew. The bread is decent, the stew mediocre.

Rapunzel combines bread and stew, and adds a bit of cheese from her packed bag to see if that improves the stew. It's okay. She is quiet.

"Ready to go?" he asks, when her bread and stew adventure is complete.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"...Want another hug?"

Hug.

Hug. No crying today, apparently.

Rapunzel continues to be quiet on the walk.

"No, I'm not hungry."

"Lots of buildings, on a hill, on an island, in a lake, across a huge stone bridge. With the palace on top of it all. You'll get a good look at it when we get closer. I think it's pretty. And there'll be people all over the place, just walking around."

"Lots of them?"

"Depending where we go, yeah. I know the city pretty well, though, so if you want I'll keep to places where it's just a few and not lead you through any markets or anything."

"Yes please."

"All right."

"You're so helpful."

"I like you, I want to help you."

"Huh. I don't know exactly," he says. "It's not the sort of thing I think about in terms of reasons. I just like you because... you're you. I guess some of it is how you reminded me of me, with the situation you're in, and some of it is that you're just - cute, nice to talk to."

"Can you elaborate on all of that? I'm not trying to fish for compliments, I just literally do not know how to be around people and I want to - borrow your comparative expertise."

"Yeah. Well - the kinds of things that will get me to like someone and the kinds of things that will get people in general to like someone aren't always closely related. I think most people aren't going to see themselves in somebody who was raised by terrible people and lied to and scared of a lot of things, but people do sometimes like people they see themselves in, if they're seeing a part of themselves they like or feel sympathetic about. Vlad liked you because you're shy and he's also shy."

"Would he not like me anymore if I stopped being shy?"

"That's usually not how it works - once somebody starts to like someone, they only tend to stop if they have a reason to stop. So he might not like you anymore if you stopped being shy and started being obnoxious or something instead, but if you just stopped being shy, well, he already likes you and that's not enough to make him stop all by itself."

"Okay. What makes me nice to talk to?"

"Mmm... hard to define. And it's more the kind of thing where even if I could pin down what it is for me, some of it wouldn't translate to other people. The parts that would - you're sensible, you're polite, you think things through. Sometimes you're funny."

Rapunzel nods thoughtfully.

"That's about all I can think of, off the top of my head. But now that I know you want to know, maybe I'll pay more attention."

"Thank you."

He smiles.

"Well... it depends on what they think of it. But they're probably going to find out anyway, if I stick around. I'm a moderately well-known thief. My guess is that if you stick up for me they'll let it slide. Although I might have to promise not to do it anymore. Will you be annoyed if I promise not to do it anymore without particularly knowing if I will or not?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, if it's between making a promise I don't mean and getting arrested, I'd definitely rather make the promise."

"Well - I mean - you could also just stop stealing things."

"I might really stop stealing things for a while. But I don't even know how long I'll be staying here or where I'll be going next, and I'm not going to consider a promise I made to avoid getting arrested very important the next time I'm eyeing somebody's teacups."

"That makes sense."

"...I could stay a while if you want. Assuming they don't arrest me. And I'm pretty sure they won't arrest me."

"I will ask them not to arrest you."

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

"And I would like it if you would stay."

"Then I will."

"Thank you."

He smiles at her again and brushes breadcrumbs off the front of his shirt.

"...Huh, I think I hear somebody riding up behind us," says Rolan. "Maybe you should bundle up your hair again in case they step on it."

"Hello, Rapunzel."

"Are you all right, dear?"

Rolan is... just going to be over here, doing absolutely nothing. Not even making faces. Not even subtle faces.

"Will you come away from that - man, anyway, just to make me feel better, dear, in case he does something suddenly?"

Rapunzel considers this, and then looks around and takes several long steps, tugging her hair behind her, that take her away from both Rolan and Gothel.

"Weren't you going to be on errands until the day after tomorrow?"

"There was a bridge out, so I turned around rather than detour and take even longer and worry you, darling, it's happened before. Did you walk all the way here? You must be exhausted."

"I'm fine."

"Did you have fun on your little jaunt?"

"I'm so glad you've made it through all right, pet. Who's your - acquaintance?"

"Rolan," says Rolan, with a charming smile.

"I see."

"He's been very helpful."

"We're going to the city."

"...You're going with a strange man who you've never met before just yesterday, to the city? To whatever - bolthole or hideout he has there? Rapunzel, that makes no sense."

Okay, maybe now he's making a face.

"Do you realize how lucky you've been? Maybe this one doesn't really wish you harm, I don't know and neither do you, but do you think you're going to be able to charm all his dangerous friends? His dangerous enemies? Do you think you'll hold his attention long enough to get an escort all the way to wherever you think you're going instead of being auctioned off - for your hair or worse -"

"...Rapunzel..."

Rapunzel looks at him.

"Rapunzel. This behavior is insane. You've been fortunate enough not to run into any - irrecoverable problems - yet. Not to fall into the hands of anyone more than a day and a half's worth of impatient - yet. Why didn't you talk to me if you wanted this badly to go out and see the forest? We could have talked about it, sweetheart. Maybe not the city, that's nonsense, but you could have looked at some trees up close if you wanted to so badly that you'd go charging off with a stranger."

"Do you want to just - keep going?" he asks Rapunzel. "We could."

"I - I -"

"Come home, darling. We'll talk about this and come up with something safe to do instead of - this."

"I'm..."

"You decided to go to the city," says Rolan. "And you think things through. We can just go."

"How did you know I just met him? How do you know he hasn't been visiting me while you're gone for months?"

"Oh, darling, I think I would have noticed -"

"But maybe you wouldn't. How do you know? What makes you think his friends are dangerous? I slept in an inn where there were a lot of them all last night and nothing happened."

"Darling, we've talked about what people are like, and the sort of bandit who'll climb up a tower in the middle of the woods to hide is mixed up with some people even worse than the norm -"

"But for all you knew he got lost looking for medicinal herbs the way you do and rock-climbs in his spare time, you don't know - everything you're saying is about what I know, and not about what you know -"

"I'm making reasonable suppositions! Who's going to be out wandering through the woods going to tremendous effort to enter abandoned-looking buildings - or to meet shy girls who are leaning out the window, I suppose -"

"You read my -"

"Rapunzel, I would never."

"Wouldn't you? Not even if you came home early and I was missing, you wouldn't? Not ever, even if you had no idea where I was and thought I'd been legitimately kidnapped, it wouldn't cross your mind to check."

"If you thought someone might have literally bundled me up, dropped me out the window, and made off with me because they had no regard for my well-being, you wouldn't check?"

"...All right, this once, I did peek just to make sure you thought you knew what you were doing -"

"Then drop the pretense, Mother."

"Everything I told you is still true," he says. "And you've learned plenty more since you left the tower. You said yourself, I couldn't have faked what I got from Vlad."

"Convenient opportunism. Nothing more," sneers Gothel.

"So I just happen to look more like the queen than like you and he was taking advantage well in advance of having a way to prove that?"

"Darling, I've never pretended we have a strong resemblance. You look like your father."

"Of whom there are no pictures."

"All we have to do is go to the city, talk to some people or go straight to the king and queen, and you don't have to take my word or hers," says Rolan. "That's why you came in the first place, isn't it? To find out for sure, for yourself?"

"Darling, the risk, the danger -"

"How's the search for somewhere safe where I can help people going, Mother?" murmurs Rapunzel. "Any end in sight?"

"I never promised you it would be quick, but you're only eighteen -"

Rolan un-leans from his tree and catches up to her.

"Not that I expect it to matter in the relevant case," mutters Rapunzel under her breath, "but if she turns out to be right I am going to be furious with you."

"I haven't lied to you about anything," he says. "I won't swear I'm magically absolutely right that you're the missing princess, but after the time we've had and the queen's portrait and all, I'm as sure as sure gets. And I know she's plain wrong about people being so terrible. Terrible people exist but there's just not that many of them." He glances after Gothel.

"Yeah."

Walk. Walk. Walk. Hair hugged in a bundle to her chest.

"...Do you want a hug?"

"Okay."

"I-I'm sorry."

"...For...?"

"Not - trusting you? Not wanting a hug? I don't know."

"It's okay. I don't mind. I'm taking you to the city because I want you to have a chance to see what's true for yourself, and I'm offering you hugs because you look sad and I want to help. There's no reason to get mad at you about any of it."

"Okay."

Walk walk walk.

"How long do you think it will take us to get there?"

"Another hour or two, maybe." He sighs. "I'm worried she's going to try to stop us somehow. I'm at least reasonably confident she isn't following us, but she knows where we're going, so she doesn't have to be."

"I don't know what she'd do to stop us. But she - gave up fast."

"In my experience, people who give up that fast about something they've invested this much in aren't actually giving up. And I can think of all kinds of varyingly ugly possibilities for what she might do, but I'm not sure if you want to hear them."

"Well... from what I know about her, my first guess is that she's going to try something like hiring some people to pretend to be the kind of people she warned about and kidnap you away from me, and she'll have some arrangement with them so she can 'rescue' you afterward. She might not be that terrible, though, or she might not be able to find anybody - it's hard to just run across somebody like that unless you already know exactly where to look, and I don't know if she does. So the other thing she might do is go ahead of us to the city and get the Royal Guard and have them arrest me the minute I show up. The problem is, there's only the one bridge into the city, so whatever she's planning, we can't really go around it. We could try looking for a boat, but sometimes the Guard searches boats coming into Corona City, and if they search me - " He hefts his bag and shrugs wryly.

"I suppose I could wear the crown if it comes to that. The idea being that it's mine."

"Well, that would be one way to do it, yeah. It might even work. Do you want to try a boat, then?"

"Maybe. Is there any other reason to prefer the bridge?"

"There's no guarantee that we could find a boat someone was willing to let us use, and I'm not sure what you'd think of stealing one. And it could take a lot of time and walking to find one. On the positive side, that time would be spent walking away from where she expects us to go. And I guess we're not really in a big hurry anymore."

"I'd rather not steal a boat."

"Somehow I guessed you might say that. But do you want to look for one? To be legitimately borrowed or paid for?"

"Can you afford one?"

"Yeah. Well, there are boats I can afford and boats I can't afford. If we find one of the second kind, we can pass it by or you can put on your crown and ask to be taken to see your parents."

"Do you think random - boat - people - will think that I'm the princess if I suggest it?"

"I think they might, and that even if they don't they might be unsure enough to want to take you into the city and see. There's some risk that they'll just go 'aha, the missing crown' and send us both to be arrested, but - well - we're risking that no matter which way we turn, at this point, unless the way we turn is 'back the way we came and on into Orimere'. And if we get arrested of course I'll say you had nothing to do with stealing the thing, and explain as much of the situation as they'll let me."

"Do you know how to - boat?"

"Yes. I learned how after the wheelbarrow incident."

"Ah."

"It'd probably just make it easy for someone who we don't want to find us to find us if I started singing. Or got out my piccolo. Wouldn't it."

"Yes," he says.

Considerable walking, yes.

Rapunzel hugs her hair bundle tighter and moves a little closer to him.

"...Are you sure we can't solve this with diplomacy?" he tries, stepping away from Rapunzel but not so far away that he couldn't get between her and the brothers if necessary. "I could give you the crown and we could call it quits. How did you even find me? Not that I don't have a guess..."

"Fine," suggests the other, "toss it thisaway."

"Fine," he says, "toss those clubs thataway first."

He rolls his eyes. "Look at me, do you really think you'd need them if I tried something? It's for my peace of mind."

"Don't have to look like much to stab us in the back when we get what we came for," says #1.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't ever plan on getting any closer to you than this for the rest of my life if I can help it. So you drop your weapons, I'll give you the crown, you can go away, and everyone stays happy. Unless of course you're planning to stab me in the back after you get what you came for."

"I thought it might be something like that," says Rolan. "I really, really hate violence, have I mentioned that to anyone here? No? Well, I do. Are you sure you don't just want the crown? It's a very nice crown."

"If she sent you - I don't want to go back with her. If that matters."

"Crown, girl, and if we get those no need for anybody to get hurt," says #2. "Since you hate violence so much."

"She did just say she doesn't want to go back," says Rolan. "And as much as I hate violence, I hate letting my friends get kidnapped a lot more." He tosses his bag off to the side, away from both Rapunzel and the brothers; it slides down a slope and out of sight. "There goes your crown."

The brothers start to approach Rolan. They look rather like they expect him to turn tail and run at some point.

"They could really hurt me," he agrees. "Could kill me, even. But that's my risk to take. And I'd rather you didn't get kidnapped."

"I - I can't help -"

Closer, closer.

Well, if they're at all concerned by his bravado that doesn't stop #1 from swinging a club at his head.

Rapunzel yelps and shields her eyes.

Well, now they're pissed off. Really pissed off, pretty good at working together, moderately experienced at shrugging off injuries to keep fighting -

"Is it over?" she squeaks, still hiding her face.

"Yeah. One guy's dead, the other one's knocked out, I broke my arm and I'm going to cry because I hate doing this," he says, the last words trailing off into sobs.

Rapunzel peeks between her fingers, whimpering. "I - I can fix your - your arm -"

He steps over #1's club to get to her, holding out his left arm, which is pretty badly off. He is having trouble speaking, because of the crying.

"Thanks," he manages. Now he can sit down and cover his face with his hands and cry. So he'll just be doing that.

Rapunzel sits too. Rapunzel cries too.

"Y-yeah."

He scoots closer and hugs her. He is still sniffly and teary, but not crying as hard as before.

"You can, yeah," murmurs Rolan. "But when he wakes up he's just gonna try to kill me again. I guess we could tie him up first. If they were planning to kidnap you they probably have things to do that."

"Unless they were just going to tie me up in my own hair."

"Could be. Want me to check?"

"Y-yeah. If you would?"

They had some rope.

"There's rope," he says. "We could tie him up and you could fix him. If you want."

"...why wouldn't I want to?"

"I don't know. Some people wouldn't. Because he was trying to kidnap you. ...Do you know you can't fix them both?"

"Do you want to try?"

"Is there enough rope for both of them?"

"Yeah."

"Then - yeah. I'll do them both if you'll tie them up."

Rolan hugs her. He is... still pretty weepy.

"What the hell?" says the one who woke up.

"What the hell?!" exclaims the live one, thrashing in his ropes but not making much progress.

Rapunzel follows Rolan once he's got the bag. Her hair is gathered up in her arms.

"If - if they arrest you I'll be in the city all by myself. Mother could drag me back without even getting help, if she found me before I figured out how to get to see the king and queen."

"How you get to see the king and queen is, you tell the Royal Guard your name is Claribel and you want to see the Queen. Or you go to the palace - it's right on top of the hill, you can't possibly miss it - and keep telling people that until someone believes you. The Guard and the people who work in the palace are all more likely than your average citizen to be familiar with what the Queen looks like. And if Gothel tries to drag you back, anyone nearby is more likely to help you than her, if you obviously don't want to go. I'm not saying I'm looking forward to being arrested - it'll make everything harder for you, and I won't be having much fun either - but it doesn't have to stop us in our tracks."

"I-if you say so but I don't know how to talk to people and what if the guards hurt you and I can't fix it or if they - they say 'Claribel' and I don't turn around because I'm used to 'Rapunzel' and they think - I don't want you to get arrested."

"I don't want to get arrested either. I will try not to get arrested. But the reason we were going for the boats was to avoid exactly the thing that just happened, and she'll only have more time to warn the Royal Guard about me if we go looking for one. And - I don't know - I want you to see the king and queen as fast as possible so there's less time for more of that," he gestures vaguely back the way they came, "to happen in. I don't know if that's strictly reasonable but it's how I feel."

He seems to feel slightly better afterward. 'Slightly better' still doesn't mean 'good', however.

Rapunzel is, for just a moment, startled out of her low mood by the sheer beauty and unfamiliarity of the city.

"It's beautiful," breathes Rapunzel.

"I'm glad you like it."

Rapunzel walks a bit closer to him as they approach the bridge, almost as though she'd like to be hugging his arm, but she doesn't ask.

Rapunzel is clearly still unnerved by large groups of people, but she keeps walking and sticks close by Rolan.

"I can't braid my own hair anymore. It got much too long for me to do."

The little girl nods vigorously and summons her friends, all of whom are very excited about this prospect. Rolan is just as pleased as they are.

Rapunzel holds still and lets them work.

"Thank you."

"...Happy princess's birthday to you too," echoes Rapunzel.

"Yeah." Rapunzel picks up the end of her braid and looks at it. "Are we almost there?"

"We're - let's say, almost almost there. There's just one more busy market to avoid."

So is Rolan!

Rapunzel hugs Rolan's arm tighter.

Rolan pats Rapunzel's shoulder with his free hand and keeps walking toward the king.

"I'm Rolan, and this is Rapunzel, and I'm pretty sure she's your daughter, your majesty."

"H-hi."

"Where - how?"

"I found her locked in a tower in the deep woods. She's been raised there her whole life by a woman named Gothel who lied to her about her name, her birthday, and who her parents are. But I guessed who she might be, and I invited her to come to the city with me and find out for sure, and now here we are."

"I - can I - can we come in - I'm worried she's going to find me again."

Okay, in they go, then.

Closely flanked by guards, in they go.

Rapunzel is still clinging to Rolan's arm.

Yes, yes she is. That is fine by Rolan. She can cling all she wants.

"We swept the woods. How far out is deep?" asks Cearl.

"W-we walked here in a day and a half."

"It's just shy of the Orimere border," says Rolan. "Maybe another half a day's walk. And it's not a big tower; you can't really see it until you're a stone's throw away."

"And she knows magic plants. She might have had something growing around when the search was going on. I don't know, I don't remember."

"You could sing the song," murmurs Rolan. "If you want."

"The glowing is what tipped me off," Rolan contributes. "That and the fact that it healed me of two broken legs."

"I'm used to it - Claribel is a nice name but I haven't ever been called it that I remember."

"It'll have to do for public occasions, if you can put up with it, but we don't have to call you that if you'd rather. Going to have to tell Ranae and - get word out for everyone else."

"So you think I'm the princess too."

"Think so."

"You're in time for your lantern ceremony, too. But - usually we have your crown out when the first lantern goes up - it's -"

Rapunzel elbows Rolan.

"...maybe less missing than it may appear," says Rolan, and he produces the crown and sets it carefully on Rapunzel's head.

"Thanks."

"Um. Yes. Until yesterday."

"I'm pretty sure Gothel is the one who took her in the first place," says Rolan. "And I don't know if she might try again. She's... kind of persistent."

Rapunzel looks up at Rolan.

Rolan smiles down at Rapunzel. "I'll stay."

Armhug. "Thank you."

Entire hug. "Am I being too - clingy, I can't tell."

"Not at all," he says. Hug hug.

"Okay. Good." She swallows. "He seems nice though, I guess."

"Yeah, he does."

"I guess I can let the queen hug me if she really wants."

"She probably really wants," he says. "But it's okay not to, even so."

"He said. But I'm going to be living with these people, I think is the idea."

"Yeah."

"So it seems like it might be a better idea to do what they want."

"Or," he says, "it could be a good idea to find out they mean it when they say something's okay."

"Better to find that out sooner than later, don't you think?"

"I mean, what do I do."

"Oh. Well, running away with me is always an option."

"Oh. Okay."

"...hmm. I know how to handle that kind of thing, I'm not sure I know how to say how to handle that kind of thing."

"That's going to make it a lot harder for me to take your advice."

"Yeah. There's - a lot more to it than the parts that can be done or described using words. But I think, under the circumstances, if she tries to hug you you can say you don't want to or shake your head or move away, and that should cover it."

"Okay."

"I-I think so. But I haven't been called that."

"Right - Cearl said - Rapunzel?"

"Yeah."

Their majesties take seats opposite Rapunzel and her companion. "I'm so sorry we never found you," murmurs Ranae. "We looked, we looked. Have - have you been okay?"

"If I'd tried to answer that question - two days ago not knowing what I know now - I would've said yes. It was - fine day to day. But I didn't meet anyone but Gothel and she was lying to me."

Rolan decides to start holding Rapunzel's hand. This seems like a positive contribution.

"Things like...?"

"I don't know how good I am at any of it compared to anybody else, because there was no one to compare with, but I - sing, I play the piccolo, I had a couple of other instruments at home - I would really like it if I could get some of my things back, especially my old notebooks - I did a lot of craft projects. I cooked."

"Really good muffins," murmurs Rolan.

"Rolan likes my muffins. So maybe I'm even a good cook."

"We can send some people out to the tower and collect anything you want," says Cearl. "I think I'd rather you didn't stray far from the palace until Gothel's been brought in, and keep some guards with you if you do."

Rapunzel nods. "Some - some people attacked us in the woods and Rolan won and - I healed the one I could heal. They're in the woods still. Someone should probably get them."

"I can give directions to both," offers Rolan. "Particularly if you have a good map of the forest, but even if you don't."

He shrugs. "Well, the best one you have, then. But short version - the two men we left in the woods are southeast, about an hour's walk into the forest, north of the road to Orimere. The tower is just about due east of the city, close to the border into northern Orimere where there's a million streams going our way and a million ravines going theirs and no river to speak of anymore."

Cearl motions to a guard, who runs off and comes back with a halfway decent map.

"The door to the tower was bricked over years ago. Gothel used to get in and out from the top window via, um, my hair. I - she must have got in somehow when she came home early and I wasn't there, because she read my notebook. Maybe she climbed or had some kind of magic plant that would do it, fast climbing ivy or something?"

"We'll send people to the tower with tools to get past the bricks, then, can't assume she'd leave it climbable for anyone else - and the ones to the fellows in the forest ready to make an arrest, and we'll make sure there's plenty here to look after you -" Cearl motions to another guard. "Going to be double shifts for a while, and bring in some of the reserves." The guard nods and goes.

With the help of the map, Rolan makes his directions more precise.

"He said he would."

He nods.

"Right. Cl- Rapunzel, your room's still - your room, but it hasn't been really updated, you'd probably be more comfortable in a guest suite to start. We can put you next to each other."

"Thanks," echoes Rolan.

"Should I be expecting to do anything about the - lantern ceremony or anything else soonish like that?"

"That's only - letting it go, right? They float by themselves."

"Right. You could wave but you don't have to make a speech if you haven't got anything to say."