Her Princess

Let Down Your Hair

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Rapunzel frowned. Outside, the sun burned hot white in the sky, but the enchantress usually only came home after sunset. Nevertheless, she unfastened her hair, wound it around the hook, and let it fall. She felt a tug on her hair, and through the window climbed a prince.

"Finally," said Rapunzel. "It's awfully dull in this tower, alone all day."

"Forgive me for asking, but who are you, my love?" the prince asked. "I only heard you singing, and yesterday I saw the enchantress bid you let down your hair. You are so beautiful it is as if I am looking at an angel."

"You're quite the charmer," Rapunzel said. Maybe this prince thing could work out after all. Were all of them this nice? "My name is Rapunzel."

"Prince James," said the strange man, and he took her hand and kissed it. His itchy stubble scratched her skin. "Who is the awful woman keeping you inside this tower?"

"I love her, and she is like a mother to me," Rapunzel said defensively. "It is just that she is so overprotective. She wants to shield me from the whole world. She thinks I would run away if I had the chance. And maybe I would, but I would come back to her."

"My father was like that once," Prince James said, nodding. "He wouldn't let me out of the castle after my mother died, for fear I would leave him too. But I am old enough now that I may go wherever I wish."

"And if you could be anywhere in the world right now," said Rapunzel, "where would you be?"

"Why I would be right here with you, my love," said Prince James. Rapunzel smiled coyly. They continued to talk until the sun began to set and the prince had to leave. He left right in time to escape the enchantress.

The next day Rapunzel was expecting the prince to visit her again, but a different voice called.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

The person who climbed through the window was not an enchantress, or a dashing prince, but a raven-haired girl with crabapple cheeks and a dazzling smile. "I came to visit!" Snow White said. Rapunzel hugged her and they exchanged stories of their fairytales. Snow White had found a cabin with seven friendly dwarves who she was living with. "I understand why my storyworld's called Snow White and the Seven Dwarves now," she said. "It's kind of crowded. I hope my prince comes soon. Do you think I'll have a castle?" Rapunzel felt hot jealousy when Snow White talked about her prince, but she pushed the feeling aside and talked about the enchantress and her parents instead.

"You can't happen to bring a rope, can you?" Rapunzel said. "I'm sick of being cooped up in this tower all day. We can go in the woods, explore . . . Just like the old times in Hero Academy." Already their memories of that place were slipping. Before long, they would know themselves only as their fairytale characters, and they wouldn't remember anything of their old life.

"I don't know . . ." Snow White said nervously. "I'm already breaking the rules by being here. Don't you think it might mess up our fairytales or something?"

"Come on!" said Rapunzel. "I can't stand it in here. As long as we don't run into any of the other characters, we'll be fine."

"I guess." Snow White left, with the promise of bringing rope the next day, and soon after Prince James came to visit. Then he left and the enchantress came. I have a lot of visitors these days, Rapunzel thought to herself.

The next day, she lowered herself down using the hook and the rope Snow White brought, and they spent a beautiful day exploring the lush greenery, mossy knolls, and dark, ice cold water that glimmered like gold in the sunlight. The sun was beginning to set when the two girls walked back to Rapunzel's tower.

"Maybe we can do that again sometime," Rapunzel said.

But Snow White shook her head sadly. "We have to move on now. It's time for our stories to dictate our lives. We'll find our princes and get our happily ever afters."

The thought should have made Rapunzel happy. "When I look at the future . . ." she said. "All I can see is you."

Snow White froze. "W-what? You can't say that. Our princes-"

"Aren't here now," Rapunzel shushed her. "You are my princess, Snow. Can't you see that?"

Snow White should have run away or berated Rapunzel. She should have stepped away. Her heart was pounding so loud she couldn't hear herself think, blood rushing to her head. She didn't run. Instead she stepped forward.

For a moment all they could hear was the other's breathing. Then their lips touched. As the sun set, they held each other close. Rapunzel and Snow White. A girl and her princess. It was a forbidden happily ever after, but it was there. It lasted a few seconds that seemed like forever, a beautiful instant, one sweet kiss, and it was gone. They were back to their stories. But for them, this was their fairytale.