"I certainly don't know," says Rolan. "Although the gardener, I can probably go find."

"It's probably quicker to find them and ask than figure them all out myself."

"Shall I go find you a gardener?"

"Yes please."

With a whimsical bow, he ambles away to locate such a person.

The gardener is doing edge trimming near the lawn part of the garden.

"Hello," says Rolan. "I'm Rolan. The princess sent me to see if you can spare a moment of your time to talk to her about the magic plants."

"Oh - of course, of course! I didn't realize she was interested in plants," says the gardener, setting down his trimmer.

"How do you find out what a magical plant does, Rapunzel?" inquires Rolan.

"I've never heard that before," says Rolan. "It doesn't seem to be common knowledge."

"...Are you okay? What does it do?"

"I'm fine, it's just - it's a - sort of telepathy plant and it spooked me. It only goes one way, at least, it would let me show people what I was thinking but it wouldn't let anybody look in on it if I didn't try to do that."

"Really?" says Rolan, intrigued. He also tastes the plant.

"Yeah," says Rapunzel. She tries the shrub. "This one will sing, if you tickle it."

"Well, that's adorable."

"The bush? Yes." She scritches near a crook of its branches and it trills a high birdlike song for a minute, then falls silent.

"Yes. The other one is slightly adorable too, but I was thinking more about how useful it could be, potentially - if I understand right, I could tell you things while you were talking to people without having to interrupt the conversation or wait until afterward."

"...well, yes, I suppose it could do that. I was more thinking about the other use case when I squeaked."

"I guess I can see how you might not like that," he says consideringly. "It doesn't seem so frightening to me."

"What, really?"

"What, do you want me to prove it?" he asks, reaching for the little tangly plant with a laugh.

"I just don't understand, is all."

"It's just... not scary to me. I'd like to be able to just share my thoughts without words getting in the way - not with the whole world, obviously, but with, for example, you."

"Okay." He glances at the gardener. "Do you mind if we experiment with the plant? Won't hurt it, I promise."

"Sorry," says Rolan. (Slightly sorry, conditionally sorry - she's grinning, so he can't be all that sorry, her grin is just so delightful.) "Should I not?" (He is observing the gardener for reactions that might indicate incipient rumours about the princess and her Ambiguously Close Friend, ready to deflect suspicion with a suggestion that perhaps being thought-sent at by the flower can be a little overwhelming if sudden, but so far the gardener seems thoroughly occupied and not inclined to speculate about the details of this exchange.)

"What does the grass do?" inquires Rolan.

"That's amazing," he giggles. "Why are all these plants so cute?"

"All these plants are so cute," says Rolan. "Rapunzel, would you like me to borrow the thinky one, for - convenient explanations?" (His hand is still close enough to the plant to count, and so he can clarify that 'convenient explanations' definitely also includes future instances of explaining his love in such detail that she nearly falls over from happiness, because that was amazing. Unless she would rather he not, in which case he can regretfully but earnestly try to tone it down.)

"It's so little and cute and helpful," he says, petting its tangly tendrils. "Let's ask your parents about it next time we see them."

"Dinner, I guess," giggles Rapunzel.

"Sounds about right." (He wants to hug her, but in context it might have implications that he would rather not broadcast, relating to everyone's favourite unmentionable subject. She can have some huggy feelings, instead.)

Rapunzel giggles helplessly.

Rolan smiles the Smile. (And now she can know exactly what it represents, the way he gets all warm and cozy inside when she is being delightfully herself.)

For bonus, the original intended use case of the plant: he watches the gardener go and sends Rapunzel his mostly-wordless assessments of what the man thinks of them - looks like there are no untoward suspicions going on, although he does seem to think they're both very cute, and that whatever Rolan is thinking at her must be terribly hilarious.

Rapunzel giggles again.

Rapunzel doesn't materialize any objections!

Rapunzel holds out her arms for a hug.

Snuggles. Occasional giggling.

Snuggles! Continuous love!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Well, eeeeee right back, then, in sentiment if not out loud.

"What a nice plant. I'm sorry for being afraid of it."

"I'm sure the plant wouldn't mind, if it had feelings." He pets the plant.

"Probably not. I suppose it makes some sense that most people wouldn't know how to figure out plants, I guess. I count as a plant for this purpose so I could hardly have failed to tell."

...He speculates upon the circumstances under which one might discover Rapunzel's planty qualities, realizes that he doesn't know what level of detail she might be comfortable with receiving of his Things-related thoughts, and drops the full send. But keeps up just the love part.

"I assume you'd notice if you kissed me. Or, I don't know, licked my ear or something, you don't have to taste plants very thoroughly to get what they tell you."

Well, now he's giggling uncontrollably.

He loves her so very very much.

Snuggle.

Snuggle-hug! With extra love.

Mmmmmm.

Snuggly! And huggy. And lovey.

Rapunzel evinces no desire to go anywhere until the sun sets and it gets chilly, at which time she sings enough to have her hair light their way back indoors and to dinner.

"Yeah, me too. Maybe my parents will say it's all right for you to carry it around. If you want to carry it around."

"I hope so!"

Her hair goes out. Back to crooning arbitrary notes.

It's really cute how she can do that. He can't send this observation to her via plant, but perhaps she will deduce it from the Smile.

She may have an inkling.

Oh good!

Rolan wishes he had the plant, so he could transmit his observation of this observation discreetly to Rapunzel.

As it is, she is quite oblivious!

On this occasion, Ranae is the last of the royal family to appear at the meal. When she is there the covers come off the platters.

"So, um - today - I found out that most people don't know how to identify magic plants, but I do," says Rapunzel. "You just have to taste them a little and then you'll know what they do. The gardener and I figured out all the ones in the garden."

"Oh, really? What do they do?"

"Well, there's one that braids her hair," Rolan puts in. "And one that lets someone send their thoughts to another person, which we might like to borrow - it's very portable - because it makes it easier for me to explain complicated things to her."

"It's the hanging moss one that does that, it wouldn't even need to be potted to be moved around," says Rapunzel earnestly. "And you already know about the fruit tree and the root, the gardener said. The bush sings, and the creeper will hold things you give it."

"You figured all this out by tasting them?"

"Mm-hm. I thought everyone knew that, that's a lot of why I was so surprised when I heard that the entire -" she gestures at her hair - "flower had been eaten."

"Well, maybe if you tell lots of people, it will ensure the safety of future flowers."

"And people will be able to use useful plants when they find them. They should be sure the plants are magic, first, though, there are some poisonous ones that will hurt you even if it's only a little taste."

"Of course."

"And are there any equally simple ways to tell that a plant is magic, or is 'well it doesn't look like anything else around here' still the best method available?"

"That's basically it, if it doesn't look or act like any other local species. Sometimes that's more obvious than having the wrong number of lobes on its leaves, though, sometimes they bloom or are in leaf out of season or are odd colors or whatever."

Lacking anything else to say about magic plants, Rolan turns his attention to the food, which is as amazing as it was that morning.

"Would it be okay if Rolan sort of adopted the moss?"

"So he can think things at you?"

"Yeah. Helping me - catch up, and interpret situations I don't understand. He's already really helpful about it but it'd be easier to do - midstream, if he didn't have to take me aside for it."

"Seems reasonable," says Rolan.

Rapunzel nods.

"Yes. Well, basically - plants don't do different things for different people, but they can give different instructions on how to make them do it. That's why the song for my hair is in Coronan and rhymes and so on, that's not the only possible way to work my hair, it's just the one Gothel had and by the time I was picking up any details about it myself I was already used to hers. But it definitely does what it told you it does, even if you got different implementation details."

"Huh," says Rolan. "Interesting."

"It is interesting. How'd it tell you it's used?"

"If I wrap some of it around some of me and kiss it, then for as long as I stay close enough afterward, I can send some or all of my thoughts to whoever I want."

"And you want to carry it around with you and send thoughts to Rapunzel."

"Yes."

"You any good with plants or is it going to shrivel up and die if you're carrying it around?"

"Well, I'll ask the gardener how to take care of it, obviously."

"Some people just don't have green thumbs," says Ranae, "even if they follow instructions to the letter."

"I'm not going to let the plant shrivel up and die. I can always un-borrow it if it doesn't seem happy with me."

"Are plants happy?"

"Not literally, unless me or other people who've got plants thoroughly in them count, but I assume you mean if it droops or something?" Rapunzel asks Rolan.

"Yes. Figurative happiness."

"And you'll stop - thinking at Rapunzel if she wants?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

"It sounds like it'll be much easier than the etiquette lessons I had to take when I was a girl, frankly."

Mmmm, pudding.

Rolan takes his time with his pudding, because it is amazing.

"You know, I'm really not sure," he says. "Is the fact that I'm in love with her the sort of thing you want to know about?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, I am. And I've told her so, and that if she wanted to marry me, I would. And now I plan to go on being friends with her until she decides differently."

"I'm not especially interested in your job, and even less so since getting it would traditionally involve you dying. I don't think a kingdom would be more responsibility than I can handle, but I do think it would be more than I want. I'd just as soon let you go on being king forever; I don't have any complaints about your approach."

"And Rapunzel you've known for a day and a half longer than we have and already you want to marry her."

"Yes, and?"

"Even princesses don't usually see things that - folktaleish in their lives. It's somewhat peculiar."

"I'm a somewhat peculiar person," he says.

"Noticing that. Wondering what all kinds of peculiar you might be and whether I ought to worry about them."

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about me. For whatever that's worth."

"How much it's worth depends on what kinds of peculiar, doesn't it?"

"True. But if I were particularly trying to hide anything from you, I think these conversations would be a lot shorter."

"Depends on how good you think I'd be at noticing."

He shrugs. "I could have hidden how I feel about Rapunzel, if I'd wanted to. I don't. I don't particularly want to hide anything."

"What has you so keen on her?" wonders Ranae.

"She's sweet and funny and she has a hell of a mind. And she's just - herself. I don't think I can explain it any better than that."

"Hmm."

Cearl seems to have run out of questions.

In that case - after waiting another moment to make sure - he smiles at both of them and goes off to see about borrowing that plant.