mother knows best

[powershines]

Rapunzel doesn't sleep well, and she does wind up wrapped up in her hair overnight like a golden-cocooned butterfly. She's still dozing fitfully when the sun comes up.

Comments

[powershines]

"I-I'm sorry."

[hisowninvention]

"...For...?"

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

"Okay."

[hisowninvention]

[powershines]

Walk walk walk.

[hisowninvention]

Walk walk walk.

(Somehow he gets the feeling they haven't seen the last of that woman. But there's not much he can do about that that he isn't already doing.)

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

"I think I'd rather know."

[hisowninvention]

"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.

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

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

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

"I'd rather not steal a boat."

[hisowninvention]

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

[powershines]

"Can you afford one?"

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

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

[hisowninvention]

"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."

[powershines]

"Okay. Let's try a boat."