when will my life begin

[powershines]

In the morning, Rapunzel is not disturbed until she has had a little while to go over her coded notes from last night (letter by letter - she will learn to read this just like she learned to read printed notes, but neither task is quick) and has opened the door.

The guards posted there - they've changed in the night, she notices - tell her that she's invited to take breakfast with her parents in the dining hall.

Comments

[sundayfish]

"Got back early this morning, yep."

[hisowninvention]

"Oh good. Okay. Originally I just wanted to pass through their room on my way out of town, but they convinced me to stick around, which made me pretty sure they were planning something. And then I found out they actually were planning something - betraying me to the authorities and making off with the crown themselves, to be specific - so I preemptively dumped them in a mud puddle and bolted, and then led both them and the Royal Guard on a merry chase through the woods in two different directions, which was excitingly hard to pull off. And at the end of it when I was just getting to be very firmly sure I'd lost them all, I stumbled on this tower, which seemed like a much better place to stay the night than under a tree or in a ravine. And it couldn't possibly be occupied, because there was no door in the bottom. Silly me, in retrospect." He shrugs and nibbles on the last of his bread.

[sundayfish]

"So you climbed it."

[hisowninvention]

"So I climbed it. And there was this terrified blonde girl with seventy feet of hair. And I stuck around just long enough to have one of her excellent muffins and get my wind back, because she was very very insistent that I should climb back down as soon as possible - did that, fell off the tower from halfway up, broke both my legs when I hit the ground. She dropped her hair on me and un-broke my legs. And, well... it was golden, and it glowed. And she was about the right age. I yelled up and asked if she happened to be a missing princess, and she yelled down that of course she wasn't, and we shouted back and forth for a while and then she let me come up again by her hair to talk about it, and I convinced her that the only way she could really know was to stop taking anybody's word for it and go see for herself. So she packed up some things and we left the tower and came here, and you know the rest."

[sundayfish]

"Mm-hm."

[hisowninvention]

[sundayfish]

"If she hadn't gone with you what would you've done?"

[hisowninvention]

"I really have no idea. Although it was starting to look like bringing the crown back would've featured."

[sundayfish]

Cearl nods once.

[hisowninvention]

He finishes his bread. A thought occurs to him. He goes with the impulse.

"While I'm here," he says, "thank you for the schools. They were a big help to me when I was younger."

[kindestgarden]

"You're welcome."

[hisowninvention]

[kindestgarden]

The queen finishes her bread and kisses her husband and leaves the table.

[hisowninvention]

Rolan... waits to see if the king has anything else to say to him.

[sundayfish]

"You going to want to be along if she leaves the palace grounds? For the hospital visit or anything else."

[hisowninvention]

"Maybe, probably. If she wants me there, there I'll be."

[sundayfish]

"Half-wondering if I should give you a guards' uniform. Probably not."

[hisowninvention]

"The irony might kill me. And then Rapunzel would be sad."

[sundayfish]

"Mm-hm. You do seem maybe more competent at looking out for her than anybody who was on duty eighteen years ago, is all."

[hisowninvention]

"I do guard pretty effectively, when it comes to it." He smiles briefly, then shakes his head. "I like it best of all when I don't need to, though."

[sundayfish]

"'Course."

[hisowninvention]

"I - really, really don't like to hurt people."

[sundayfish]

"Good at it, though."

[hisowninvention]

"Very," he agrees with a sigh.

[sundayfish]

"Wanna tell me how?"