Chapter Text
Rapunzel reaches into her clutch purse for a compact mirror, examining her reflection with worry.
“Sunshine, that’s the fifth time you’ve adjusted your collar in the last ten minutes,” Eugene points out. “Don’t tell me, we’re finally matched in vanity?”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s possible,” she laughs, staring at herself for a moment longer before shutting the compact again. “I just… want to look my best. Is that really so left-field, for a future queen?”
“It’s left-field for you. You already have the seven kingdoms wrapped around your finger, you don’t need to impress anybody.”
She goes to retort, but falls short. Instead, she turns to stare out of the window at the landscape moving around them. The carriage they’re in moves at a steady pace, slower than they would drive during their caravan days, and she itches to climb onto the driver’s seat herself and take the reins just so they can get to the summit a little sooner. For the first time, Ingvarr, a relatively private kingdom, is opening its gates to the seven kingdoms for a royal wedding. As far as Rapunzel knows, it’s because the bride-to-be of Wulfrun, the youngest Ingvarrian princess, is a Koto native. Unsurprisingly, in typical Koto fashion, the entire event has rapidly turned into a publicity circus.
Rapunzel has only visited the kingdom twice, on official business with her father, and he prefers to travel through Ingvarr territory during the night hours so they’re well rested by the time they arrive at the palace gates. The rolling hills leading into rocky mountain ranges are a sight she’s only ever seen under the cover of darkness, so it really is interesting to see now as the sun rises a little higher in the sky and the pinks of sunrise fade to blue… but not as interesting as her reflection, as she goes to once again check that her collar isn’t crooked and she hasn’t had a sudden breakout on her face in the last minute or so.
“Rapunzel, enough.” Eugene whisks the mirror from her hands before she has the chance to inspect herself once more. “What’s this actually about, huh? Nobody at this wedding will be looking at us, so who cares if there’s a hair of two out of place? While I’m normally all about preening, this is beginning to get obsessive.”
Rapunzel huffs in frustration and smooths back her hair, hands lingering at her neck.
“I’m nervous, Eugene.”
“Nervous? Sunshine, we won’t be doing anything. All we have to do is greet them with smiles, drop off our gift, sit through the ceremony and then get stinking drunk at the reception. You know, typical royal duties.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about! Eugene, it’s the first time in forever that we’re seeing her,” she mutters. “How can I not be nervous?”
“Ahh.” He nods sagely. “Her. Okay, now it’s all making sense.”
Cassandra. Cassandra, whom they dropped off at the port in Galcrest as their honeymoon drew to a close six months ago. Cassandra, who when asked to return to Corona with them (maybe even begged, Rapunzel is embarrassed to admit), simply said, “There’s still so much out there for me.”
It was so hard waving goodbye to her as the boat pulled away, watching her figure grow smaller and smaller until it was lost to the horizon, and for all that Rapunzel has tried to put her mind at ease, and tell herself Cass is fine and it’s a good thing that she’s charting her own course… waking up without her still stings bittersweet.
But a letter arrived last week, and in amongst the rambling about some unusual fish she caught for supper, something that lifted Rapunzel’s spirits immensely.
I’ll probably see you in Ingvarr for that wedding thing. Put my name on the registry gift to be safe, I don’t think they’ll appreciate whatever I end up bringing.
She pulls out the letter and her eyes flit over the page once more, just to confirm once more that she hasn’t imagined the promise of reunion.
“It hasn’t actually been as long as you think,” Eugene tries to assure her, with a lopsided smile that on any other day she’d happily kiss. “Things haven’t really changed! You’re still you, I’m still me, and Cass… is still writing you cryptic letters, so I’d bet anything she hasn’t changed a bit either.”
Rapunzel sighs and lowers her head, folding the letter up and placing it safely back in her clutch. “You’re right. I don’t know why I’m… this is all ridiculous, I know.”
He puts an arm around her and pulls her in close.
“If you think Cass will care that you have a creased collar or a hair out of place,” he continues nonchalantly, “you’re forgetting that this is the girl who ran around the woods with uncombed hair for an entire year when she had the moonstone.”
“Eugene!”
“And the girl who has been travelling the world with only three changes of clothes for the past… how many years now? Personal hygiene is a stretch for her, let alone keeping an immaculate appearance.”
“She’ll have cleaned up for the occasion,” Rapunzel argues. Eugene pauses.
“Y’know what, that’s true,” he muses. “When Cass cleans up, she cleans up good.”
That she does. Rapunzel wonders what she’s going to wear. She packs lightly on the road, and any of the suits Rapunzel had tailored for her during their honeymoon ended up returning to Corona with them. Maybe she’s had something entirely new made, and Rapunzel is in for a pleasant surprise? Or maybe she’s planning on showing up as she always does, in adventure clothes and cape, uncaring of what the people at this Ingvarr-Koto fusion wedding think?
“Did we pack clothes for her?!” Rapunzel asks suddenly, bolting upright and almost hitting her head on the ceiling of the carriage in the process. “Eugene, what if she expects us to pack clothes for her?!”
“She won’t!” he insists, exasperated. “Sunshine, she’s coming up to 28 years old. If she wanted us to bring clothes she would have mentioned it.”
“Yes, fine, but did we?”
He purses his lips and looks away. “All right, yes. Of course we did. Three suits to choose from, to be exact. You know how fashion-conscious Koto is, I wasn’t about to sit back and have the socialites rip her to shreds for turning up in travel clothes.”
Rapunzel deflates in relief, snuggling back against him.
“Oh, thank god. You’re such a good… what should I say? Brother-husband? Fellow partner?”
Eugene pulls a face at the suggestions. “Yeeeeah, I’m not gelling with either of those. We can just say friend, y’know. I am such a good friend to Cass, and yes I am, thank you, don’t sound so surprised!”
“But there’s more to it than that,” Rapunzel protests, peering up at him thoughtfully. “So much more.”
He leans down and pecks her brow. “Well, we know that, don’t we? That’s what counts.”
“Yeah,” Rapunzel smiles. “We know.”
She doesn’t reach for her compact for the rest of the journey.
They arrive at the venue around noon. Ingvarr’s intimidating (and, admittedly, very attractive) royal guard never fail to impress Rapunzel, and they are dressed to full occasion in their signature burgundy uniforms, perfectly pressed. Each are wearing a golden pin in the shape of two rings, entwined; unified, today, in celebrating love as well as their unshaken patriotism. It’s a lot busier than Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding, though perhaps it’s down to Corona being a much smaller kingdom, only rivalled on that front by Arendelle.
“It’s a different vibe, isn’t it?” mutters Eugene, as they step out to have their arrival announced. She links her arm in his and beams at him. “I mean, everything seems much… flashier.”
He eyes the swarm of Ingvarr and Koto heiresses at the cathedral steps dubiously, all dressed pretty extravagantly for somebody else’s wedding.
“But doesn’t it just take you back?” As eventful as their wedding day was, for better or for worse, Rapunzel can’t help the feeling that she’d do it all over again.
“I’m not sure we can really cry nostalgia just yet, Sunshine, we’ve been married just over a year,” he points out with a grin. Their names are announced and there is polite fanfare while they descend the carriage steps. They’re barely on the ground before they’re swarmed by faces they’ve only talked to sparingly at royal banquets in the past.
The exchanging of pleasantries is at the back of Rapunzel’s mind as she searches the crowd for a mop of dark hair, piercing eyes, a patchwork of facial scars. Something resembling the woman she loves. Still, she goes through the motions automatically, like a puppet on strings, smiling and complimenting these people she barely knows as though they’re old friends.
As the conversation runs dry, from behind her a voice calls out.
“Mind if I cut in?”
Rapunzel spins on her heels to face the figure behind her. She knows that voice as well as she knows her own.
Cassandra stands there, radiant as she always is in Rapunzel’s eyes, in a three-piece suit the deep colour of wild violets, her hair scraped back into a braid. They needn’t have packed for her, after all. There are no new scars, to Rapunzel’s surprise; she’s been taking better care of herself these days, despite Rapunzel’s worries, and when she smiles it’s like they’re still on the boat for a moment, on their honeymoon sailing away to happily ever after.
“Well look here, if it isn’t our missing puzzle piece,” Eugene says with a grin, yanking Rapunzel out of the memory of easier times. “Nice suit.”
“Thanks,” she says airily, glancing down at her attire. She pulls on her suit jacket to straighten it, and Rapunzel’s eyes linger on the black gloves she’s wearing for the occasion, complete with simple detailing on the backs of the hands sewn in gold thread. “I wasn’t going to, you know, go all out, but I thought the two of you would probably be repping Corona colours, and so…”
“Aww, you wanted to match with us?” he crows, grin widening. She rolls her eyes and walks up to them, only to punch him lightly on the arm.
“Steady on, Fitzherjerk. I am a piece of this puzzle now, as you put it.”
“That you are,” he sings, throwing an arm around her and pulling her into a hug. “What a delightful day this is. My wife and my wife’s wife and I, united again at a wedding of all occasions.”
Rapunzel giggles, and peers over at Cass from the other side of Eugene. She stares back, before looking away sheepishly at having been caught.
“Uh, it’s really good to see you,” she says quickly. “Both of you. Shit, I know I should have written more.”
Rapunzel reaches over to squeeze her hand.
“I’m just glad to see you here,” she replies, offering up a smile. She closes the gap with a quick, chaste kiss, before they’re interrupted and ushered up the steps and through the cathedral doors. The guests begin to file in and Rapunzel keeps Cassandra’s hand tightly in hers as they’re pushed by the crowd towards their assigned seats.
“Damn, this is a packed ceremony,” Eugene mutters. “I’m starting to wonder why we were invited in the first place. Have we ever even spoken to Princess Wulfrun or her fiancee? Or the other scary one, for that matter?”
“Um… I’m sure I have. A few times,” Rapunzel says, trying to sift through memories of many social functions she’s attended with the seven allied kingdoms. She has a vague recollection of sharing a tale of her travels with one of them by the punch bowl one time, but otherwise she’s drawing a blank.
“They’re not so bad,” Cass chimes in. “Wulfrun and Aenor are sweet together, and Hilda beat me at arm-wrestling one time. She’s got some serious upper body strength.”
“Wait, when did you get to know them so well?” Eugene demands, leaning over Rapunzel to address Cassandra directly. She rolls her eyes.
“Gee, I wonder. Could it have been, I don’t know, some time during the four years I’ve been on the road?”
As their playful banter continues, Rapunzel’s ears tune them out. Still, she’s happy.
For the first time in what feels like forever, she has both the people she loves at her side.