Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 13: The Alchemist's Fishing Problem

"Woah, what happened to you guys?" Eugene asked as he, Rapunzel, Soul, and Varian arrived at the caravan to see Lance, Catalina, and Kiera were all sitting outside the vehicle. Lance sat as far from the girls as he could while the two glared at him with such intensity.

"Seriously, what happened?" Varian echoed, raising an eyebrow at them

"Lance here dropped the last piece of bread!" Kiera yelled, pointing at the man.

"You don't even like bread that much, so what's the problem?" Eugene stated, not fully understanding what the child was so angry about. Well, Kiera is almost always angry, earning her the nickname 'Angry'.

"The problem is that It was the last piece of food!" Kiera yelled, scowling at Lance while Catalina stuck her tongue out the man.

"We've been starving for hours, and Lance dropping the last piece of food because of a spider did not help." Catalina pouted, holding her stomach as it grumbled slightly.

"Aww, poor babies." Rapunzel cooed. Kiera glared at the older girl slightly as she was pulled into a hug. "Still, though, why didn't anyone say that we're all out of food?" The brunette questioned as she let go of Kiera, looking at the others.

No one answered aside from Varian and Eugene's whistling as they glanced away, not making eye contact with Rapunzel. The brunette just sighed as she shook her head. "Soul, are there any nearby towns or villages we can stop by?"

The girl nodded her head as she grabbed her map inside her rucksack and examined it. "The closest one next to us would be the town of...O...O...O'rain?" She mumbled to herself before coughing and continuing, "A-anyways, yeah. O'rain. However, that town is overrun by thieves. Going there would be risky."

Rapunzel looked thoughtful for a moment,"I see....Well we don't want to go there. Is there another town nearby?" She asked again, earning a nod from the astrologer. "How far?"

"Not too far." Soul replied as she put the map back in her bag. " But it would take about a day, starting tomorrow."

Rapunzel let out a hum as she thought things through. She glanced at the others and saw that they were all awaiting her decision and command. "I... know it's too much to ask, but can you guys hold on until tomorrow?" She asked, considering her friends' well-being. "It's only for the night! I assure you that once we wake up in the morning, we'll find something to eat. "

The group reluctantly looked at each other as Rapunzel bit her lower lip in anticipation.

"Mhmm, yeah, I sort of agree." Varian piped up. "There's nothing much to hunt at night and we can't see the color of berries in the dark. It's better to wait for tomorrow than to go to a dangerous town."

"And we can't really look for rivers at this time of night." Soul agreed, nodding.

"What do you mean? We have a river here!" Lance exclaimed, pointing at her.

Soul only raised an eyebrow at him, not getting his joke. "Where?"

"You know what, nevermind." Lance said, shaking his head.

"So, it's settled! We'll rest now and gather food tomorrow." Rapunzel announced.

"I still blame Eugene and Varian for not saying anything." Kiera grumbled as she entered the caravan. Catalina followed suit, but not before sticking her tongue out at the two.

"We should probably turn in too. If we want to wake up early to hunt for food, we should sleep now." Rapunzel suggested as the others nodded and followed the girls inside.

----------------------------------------------------------

SPLASH!

"You're really bad at this." Eugene laughed as he pointed at Varian, who was sitting on the stream, glaring up at him. "So much for 'alchemy is harder', now, hmm?" He smirked.