1 Rapunzel and mom

When I reached the castle and they led Eugene and me out to a terrace overlooking the kingdom. I looked out over the side, not able to see the woods I lived in but knowing they were out there. My callused feet scrapped the cool pavement with longing. Eugene stood next to me frowning; if things went badly today he would be on his way to jail. I wouldn't let that happen, not to the man I love. I laced my fingers in his and smiled at him trying to help him relax. Just then a man and a woman burst through the door, I couldn't believe how much the woman looked like me. I knew she was my mother but I still couldn't believe how close we looked. Mother Gothel didn't look anything like me with her black hair and hazel eyes. This woman's green eyes were the same shade as mine. Her brown hair had the same dark and light spots as my brown hair. Her face had the same roundness of my face. Eugene relaxed and smiled at us, he saw the resemblance too. We gingerly stepped towards each other, unsure of how to feel. She came to me and put her hand on my face, I couldn't help but smile and the touch of her hands. All I felt was love, she smiled with the same smile I had seen a thousand times in the mirror. She quickly wrapped me in her arms and the big man came through the door, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around us. We all sunk to the ground feeling nothing but warmth and love. Eugene stood there smiling at us unable to take his eyes off of the family love before him. My mother reached out to him and Eugene held out his hand, the next second Eugene held me and my father held us all. I couldn't believe how easy it was to find my family. It had to be a dream. When a guard finally came to pull us apart he took one look at Eugene and held up his sword. I screamed and threw myself in front of my beloved. I had worked too hard to get her to lose everything now.

The King, my father, placed a calm hand on the guard's hands and spoke, "This is the man who has returned the princess to us."

The guard's face dropped, "Are you sure he isn't the one who took her?"

What a question! Eugene had been only a four-year-old orphan at the time of my abduction. "I am sure. Now, lower your sword and go tell the cook to prepare a feast for my family!" The King's voice had been sweet and calm but he couldn't hold back a tear filled smile.

The guard hurried away, "Your majesty," I whispered. I couldn't find my voice enough to do much more. When the King and Queen looked at me slightly confused but full of love, I spoke again, "I don't want a fancy dinner or anything like that. I just want you. I want a family and love. I don't want lies and finery. You three are enough for me," I felt Pascal poke my side and climb up on my shoulder; "I mean four."

The Queen looked at me with knowing, "I understand, the feast will be for us only. The morning is still new and I am sure you have had a hard day, can I at least pamper my daughter with a Mother-Daughter Day?"

I couldn't speak, she offered so much and I couldn't deny her but I wanted her to know I wasn't here for possessions. I wanted her, a mother who wanted me for more than a doll. Eugene's stiff body next to me made me realize something, "What will happen to Eugene?"

The King spoke then, "He will come with me. I need to have a talk with the man who has stolen my daughter's heart."

Eugene tensed even more, "I didn't do anything!" He blurted, "I mean, I love her but I didn't touch her."

My turn to freeze, he just told my father he loved me! I had no idea what the rest meant but he loved me! "Don't hurt him, he is the only reason I am here," I smiled at my father and let my mother lead me away. First she took me to a room that had a pearl white bathtub and fabulous robes.

"This is my personal bath," she spoke waving her hand around the room, "I want you to take a nice bath and put on one of those robes. When you are all clean and relaxed, I will have my maidservant clean your feet and hands." She gave me a knowing smile and started to leave the room, "Baths are usually taken with a servant there to help but I know you did not grow up with this so I will allow you to bathe yourself."

I gasped, "Thank you!" she laughed as she left the room and I sunk down into the tub, she must have had the bath water drawn while we were on the porch. I then realized it was supposed to be her bath but when she heard I arrived she had skipped it. I scrubbed my skin until I turned pink and soaked my hair which took less time to wash than ever. My scalp felt light and happy at the soap rubbing in. I jumped out before the water-cooled and dried with a towel then wrapped a robe around myself. The Queen had stood outside the bathroom pinching her arm until the skin just below her elbow looked red and raw. I grabbed her hand and held it as our eyes met tears rolled down her face, "I am really here," I said placing her hand on my face. She ran her thumb over my cheeks which matched my father's.

"Oh, I have more for us to do!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me to another room with chairs and benches, "Sit! We are going to have our feet massaged!" I looked at my callused feet and frowned. "Do not worry, she will take good care of your feet," my mother reassured as a woman came up behind me leading me to the seat.

She sat on the foot stool and took out a paddle and a knife. I nearly jumped up right then but the woman touched my foot gently and I realized I couldn't feel her hands other than seeing them. Eighteen years of going barefoot made my feet hard. She took a damp cloth and laid it over my left foot as she started scrubbing the right with a stone. The stone heated on my foot and she rubbed as my skin started to peel away. She used the knife to scrape of some of the excess skin and I started to feel her hands on my feet. The calluses were gone on my right foot! She then took the paddle and tapped it on my leg and foot to make the blood flow stop. She then moved to my other foot doing the same thing until my feet were perfect and smooth. I think I actually lost a few shoe sizes! The woman then got up and I put my foot to my face to examine the smoothness of it. When the woman returned she held up three pairs of shoes, one green, one purple, and another red. My mother nodded to the green pair and the woman fit them on my feet. The shoes were flat and soft as if someone had put clouds on my feet. I hadn't realized while it happened but my mother had starred at me with a smile. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, "Thank you!" I said again.

The maidservant then returned with three green dresses and hung them in front of us; one looked like I could have lived under it while on the road, the second looked like I wouldn't be able to breath in, and the third, Oh, the third was perfect. It matched my eyes and fell in a nice loose fabric to the floor. I couldn't believe something so perfect could be mine. I slipped it on when my mother and her servant turned away from me. It took a few minutes to realize it had three parts. I put them on and told them to turn around. My mother gasped and the servant smiled, "You look just like your mother when she wore that dress. You definitely share the same taste!" The servant then left, I would have to learn her name later.

"This is your dress?" I asked a little concerned I crossed the line.

"Yes, I do not have any clothes for you yet. Are you okay with wearing mine until we have some made for you?" She asked concerned I did not want hand-me-downs.

"I love it!" I couldn't stop smiling. I really felt like a princess with perfect feet. I grabbed for my hair but came up short. "I don't know if I will get used to it being so short," I frowned.

"I was curious about that, you know your hair was longer than that when you were born, it also had been yellow," she sighed.

"Eugene cut it to save me from the witch. When he cut it the yellow turned brown and stopped being magical," I sighed remembering how the woman I had called mother for so long had died.

"Magical?" My mother looked concerned.

"Yes, I could heal people with my hair. Mother Gothel just had to brush it while I sang and she would turn young again," I cringed at how the only mother-daughter time we had was when she used me.

"I see," the Queen sighed, "I was dying when you were inside me so the King sent people to find a magic flower and brought it to me, I drank the flower like a tea and it healed me. When you were born the flower's power had gone into you," She couldn't look at me, "if I hadn't needed the flower you wouldn't have been kidnaped and we could have been together all along."

I ran to her wrapping my arms around her, "I know it wasn't your fault! I am so happy to be home now!"

"I want to show you something," she sighed, grabbing my hand and taking me to a room painted in many bright colors and patterns. On art easels were paintings of lanterns in the night sky, darkness overtaking a golden sun, and baby me. "This is my art room, I always loved painting and you were my muse most of the time," she placed her hand on one mirroring the one of our family in the court.

"That is the one painted in the court outside!" I couldn't help shouting.

"Yes, you were taken when you were almost six months old," she placed her hand on the painting, "I painted that so that everyone would see you and know who to look for."

I couldn't breathe, my mother painted just as much as I did. I couldn't do anything without realizing she was my mother in appearance, clothing style, artistic abilities, and even in the way she spoke. "Well, I am here now and we can paint together!" I said wrapping my arms around her waist.

"It must be dinner time now. Let's go see our men," My mother said wiping the tears from her face and leading me to the dining room.

We found the men seated at the table, Eugene sat two seats away from my father, something I didn't understand until my mother sat by my father and put me between her and Eugene. I leaned over to him, "How did things go with my father?" I whispered.

"Very well actually, he seems to like me. He even gave me a full pardon. I also have my own room in the castle but I cannot visit your room until we are married or he will have my head removed just on principal," he leaned over to me and whispered.

I giggled, then I realized there was food coming and I didn't know how to eat in a castle! I leaned over to my mother and whispered, "How do you eat in a castle?"

She frowned and looked at her plate, which had just been covered in a soup bowl, "I haven't the slightest idea!"

The King laughed, "Just eat sweetheart, you can go over etiquette later. Besides you look like you haven't eaten in a while."

"Gothel told me one of the reasons I wouldn't make it in the real world was because I am chubby," I sighed remembering her again. The whole table gasped, Eugene didn't even know the things Gothel told me, the insults I suffered. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't take those things to heart. She was just trying to lower my self-esteem so I could never leave. I am just too stubborn to let those things keep me away." I couldn't stand the silence, that had been my life for eighteen years! "It hadn't been all bad. She did joke with me and help me learn the little things. She could have only taught me how to sing the song," tears came to my eyes. I did love her and she had been the only life I had known, even if she insulted me.

"I am sorry," the Queen frowned.

"No, I am sorry, I shouldn't bring down the mood with stories of the past. Eugene had been my saving grace and without him I could never have left," I smiled at him.

"Yeah, she bashed me over the head with a frying pan enough that I am lucky I could even form simple thoughts," he laughed and took a bite of soup.

Dinner progressed with us sharing things about ourselves; Eugene admitted his favorite color was green. The King told us he had been terrified when he met the queen. She admitted to turning the first dress she sewed inside out without a neck hole. I told them I like singing for no reason. Eugene said he always wanted to have a family and that he wanted to live in a castle. The King said he liked to sing and that his voice was actually pretty good. The queen's favorite color turned out to be purple; the same as mine. I told them I hated to not be doing something. We spent the whole evening eating different foods and talking. I never felt more at home; I don't think any of us did. The next evening we would have to announce that I had returned but that evening was just us.