Don't You Fret, My Dear

Meet the Royals (pt. 2)

She looks about height, with dark hair and a spray of freckles across the bridge of her nose. her eyes are a bright hazel-green; they remind me of the grass in the summer. 

"Oh, it's fine." I say. "I was the one who should've been watching." I notice a small, red mark above her right eye. "I'm sorry about your forehead." I gesture to the spot. She takes a second to touch her temple, as if to feel if the welt was really there, and then whispers something to me.

"It's alright, I'll let that one go, but only if we win the game...." she says mischievously.

"Wait, what game?" I ask. Then I hear footsteps coming down the hall.

"No time to explain. Let's go." she grabs my forearm and drags me along and pulls me into a coat closet. We sit close together on the floor. It's dark and I can only see the light coming from under the door, it shines on the leather of my boots and the toes of her bare feet.

"What are we-"

"Shhh! Be quiet, or he'll hear us." She interrupts me. I listen to the footsteps, they're coming closer.  I hear a man's voice say,

"Pascal, I sure hope you know where you're going." I see the shadow of boots pause outside the door. Both me and the girl pull our feet further into the closet. We're sitting in the closet with our knees pulled to our chests. I catch a glimpse of her profile in the glint of the light, and I can see the smile on her face. 

"Well, she's not here let's go look some more, Pascal. She's around here somewhere. We're not gonna let her win like we did last week."

Who's he talking to?, I wonder, since I only heard one set of footsteps.

"We play it every week." The girl starts in a hushed tone. I realize now she means hide-and-seek. 

"Give me a moment." she says, and opens the door a tiny crack, the coast sounds clear.

"Okay, come on, let's go." We quietly slip out of the closet and jog down the hall. We end up back in the library, where I spoke with the King.  

Now that we're both standing, I see that the girl is rather petite, with a few inches on me. She has choppy-short dark brown hair, and is wearing a simple green dress that matches her eyes. Something in her face strikes me as familiar. It's those eyes, I've seen them before. And the swoop of her bangs...they look just like.....the Queen's! This girl must be the princess. 

We walk around a bit, but we don't say much. We make small talk, mostly. 

"So, what's your name?" she asks me. 

"Uhhh...it's Katt," my face gets hot. This is the princess, and I'm embarrassed. Should I be more formal? Should I curtsy? Her parents have been very nice, and she seems really chill, so I decide against it. "...I'm uhhh, I'm new. What's yours?"

"I'm Rapunzel, but, you can call me 'Punzel' or 'Raps', whichever you want." 

I smile, thinking that I'm on the brink of a new friendship. She smiles back. My stomach flutters, I'm not sure why. 

We sneak around the castle, until we end up in the hallway where my room is. Rapunzel opens the door right next to mine, so I guess we're neighbors. 

"You can come in, if you want." she assures me. But I'm afraid of getting in trouble, as always. However, she did give me permission. 

I follow her into the circular room; a bright, open space, full of color. There's large windows letting sunlight in on one wall, books and art supplies messily organized on desks and shelves on another, a dress form, a wardrobe, a fireplace on another wall. There's a big canopy bed with dark purple curtains featuring the golden sun emblem, and hanging from the top of the bed are several paper lanterns. Murals are painted on a few sections of the walls. The room look so inviting and full-of-life. 

I take notice to one of the murals in particular: at first glance, you see a simple painting of the kingdom of Corona; but, as you look closer, it appears to tell a story...

You see the castle, and a blonde-haired girl petting a white horse. On another section you see two people, the king and queen it looks like, holding a little baby with golden hair. On another part of the wall, you see the gold haired girl frolicking in the woods and throwing leaves and flowers in the air. You can see her walking with a man, who is holding her extremely long hair up as she walks; you can see the two of them sitting in a boat at night, as small lights dance around them. You can see a brunette girl and this same man holding hands, and you see this same brunette girl sitting on the ground in the flowers, across from the blonde-haired girl. 

"Do you like it?" I hear a voice ask. It's Rapunzel. 

"Uh, yeah. It's beautiful. So many details..." I pause. "It's like it tells a story." Rapunzel smiles proudly. 

"That, it does," she takes a second to look at it, "it basically tells my life story." I look at the mural, and then back at Rapunzel.

"What about the....what's with the...hair?" I ask. Was it really that long? How did it go from blonde to brown? 

"Oh, that," she chuckles, "that's a long story, a story for another time." I nod. I'm curious,  but I don't want to pry, so I don't ask about it anymore. "It took me almost a week to finish, but it was worth it." She says. She sits on her bed and admires the painting. I hesitantly sit on the edge of the bed. Am I crossing a boundary? am i overstaying my welcome? I look at Rapunzel and see her playing with a tassel on a pillow.

I feel a little guilty. She's showed me something personal and important to her, and I've nothing to share in return. All I have is my suitcase full of clothes, covered in stamps from past assignments, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk to her about my job. I think about telling her the legend of The Guardian, it's one of the most important things to me, but I don't. She'll probably think it's boring and weird...I mean, the king likes it, but...I don't know. Why am I so self conscious around her?