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Rapunzel's Homecoming 10

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Rapunzel's Homecoming 10 - The Queen Gives Eugene a Talking To
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Queen Rebecca, Light of Corona, was watching her daughter over dinner. Rapunzel took such delight in each new experience, sometimes she needed encouragement and sometimes not, but something about her daughter was bothering her.

The incident with the orange could be waved aside due to being something she never had before, but she had been choosing a set of foods that bothered her for some reason. There was something about the foods Rapunzel was taking seconds and thirds of that reminded her of something and the queen just couldn't pin it down.

Was something wrong with her wonderful daughter?

It was dinnertime again. It was summertime and the fruits and vegetables were wonderfully ripe,  and the chef was outdoing himself. The fish course was an oil-poached flounder with lemons and herbs that was delectable. They stopped Rapunzel from biting down on an olive, just keeping an close eye on Rapunzel so she didn't hurt herself on an unfamiliar food was an adventure. Rapunzel took thirds of the kale, which the queen thought was too garlicky.

During the cheese course Rapunzel swirled a pickle in a spreading cheese, she was going to have to reminder her daughter that wasn't polite, you should put some on your plate and then play with it. Rapunzel popped the cheesed pickle in her mouth and eyes closed, crunched contented away.

The queen smiled as she picked up her glass for a sip, her daughter looked so happy, the last time she remembered enjoying a pickle that much was ...

Crash!

"Are you all right, dear." asked the king. Everyone was looking at her.
"Um, yes, dear. I'm sorry my glass slipped, that's all." recovered the queen. After a moment the conversation picked up again.

Now the queen was looking at Eugene. He was so attentive of Rapunzel, and was always there for her, seeing to her needs, positively doting on her. She pursed her lips.

"Eugene, after you escaped from the cave, Rapunzel healed you, what did that feel like?"

"Oh, um, it felt, um, warm I guess." Eugene stammered, the question had nothing to do with the conversation and the intense gaze of the queen unnerved him for some reason. "To tell you the truth the situation was a little freaky. I hadn't come all the way down from the excitement of finding ourselves still alive. Gathering some firewood and starting the fire had helped but my hand was hurt so getting the fire going had taken a while, it was dark by then. Goldie got all cryptic on me and started wrapping her hair around my hand. Which I had just seen glow like the sun while we were busy drowning. Who knew what else it did? She asks me not to freak out, which is not the most comforting thing to say under the circumstances. When she starts singing and the glow is coming toward me, Pascal doesn't exactly help with his comments."

Pascal gives a shrug.

"The glow finally reaches my hand and it starts to feel warm, like sunshine on a summer morning, under the hair I can see the wound glowing too. When the song ends and the glow faded I unwrapped my hand, it was as good as new. I almost lost it then. Magic, glowing hair that heals. Wow. She then tells me why she never left the tower, the answer to the question I asked her in the passage from the Snuggly Duckling. The hair was a gift that needed to be protected and that she would go back after seeing the lights. Then I told her about myself how and why I became Flynn Rider. I was embarrassed about that but she deserved it. Then I went to get more firewood, and she told me she liked Eugene better then Flynn."

They took each others hands, and the queen's eyes narrowed at that.
Rapunzel took up the story, "Then Mother came and tried to take me home, but I didn't want to yet, I wanted to see the lights and I was thinking that Eugene liked me too. She gave me the crown to test him to see if he would leave or not. If the crown was more important to him then me."

"Then I came back with a load of firewood. I was so tired from coming down from the rush I was babbling something about my hand while I built up the fire to keep us warm. Rapunzel and Pascal settled down on a little hill. I was a little envious of all that hair to sleep under, but I was still a little freaked out about it. I found a nice rock for a pillow on the other side of the fire and then we fell asleep."

The queen looked thoughtful.

"What sound does complete and utter betrayal make?" asked Rapunzel breaking eye contact with Eugene.
"It doesn't make any sound at all." said the queen offhandedly.
"Oh. So she lied about that. I still wonder how she found us?"
"Well, we did leave a trail of devastation about a mile wide and seventy feet of glowing blonde hair stands out quite a bit, it wouldn't take a bloodhound to follow us." mused Eugene.
"I guess."

***

After dinner, the queen asks Eugene to come to her sewing room. The queen's sewing room was her personal office, much like the king's study. Her private place was her personal library, it was nice and quiet there, but this was more serious. This was where she would deal with things that needed a woman's touch.

"Please, have a seat." the queen invited Eugene as she leaned on her desk with her arms folded.
Eugene was thinking, "What have I done now?"
"So, my husband has told me we can trust you now. Tell me of your feelings about my daughter."
"She's my new dream, she is my reason for living, being alive at all, really. I just want to be a good husband and care for her."

The queen tilted her head considering that. It wasn't quite the answer she was looking for.
"Eugene, have you known my daughter?"
"Only for four, no five days now. The most exciting time of my life and that's saying something."

Eugene smiled, he was trying to lighten the mood.
Sadly, he failed.
Miserably.

The queen's face hardened, she stood right in front of him, delicate hands on ample hips. Eugene smile, didn't just slide off his face, it sorta dropped off and flopped on the floor like a fish out of water.
"Okay, forget subtlety, since you seem to be deliberately missing the point. Either you are being stupid on purpose or you really have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Have you gotten Rapunzel pregnant?" The Queen asks very directly.

Eugene's jaw bounced off of the floor. "What? No! I haven't touched her."

The queen considered him. Flynn Rider was on the floor of Eugene's mind laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.
"Oh, come on. I'm never going to live down being Flynn Rider, am I?" Eugene said irritatedly.
Queen Rebecca's mouth twitched. "Okay, I believe you."
"Thanks a lot."

"Okay, you've been honest with me, I'll be honest with you. Here's what's up. I've been noticing that Rapunzel has been eating, oddly."

"Well, it might be because she's trying out new things. I mean, remember when she took that bite out of the orange."

The queen tried not to chuckle at the memory, saying it was a fruit like an apple didn't make it so you eat it like an apple. "No, I mean that she is eating things in odd combinations or eating extras of certain things, just like when I was pregnant with her. And you're sure she had never been out of the tower before?"

"Absolutely, you weren't there, so you didn't see any of this. I was halfway down the tower when she rode her hair down to the ground. She was afraid of grass. Dandelion fluff completely captured her attention. When she ran for the exit, it was with everything she had. She spent the next 3 hours flip-flopping between ecstasy for being Outside and depression for having disobeyed Gothel. The only time she had been out of the tower before that was when she was with you when she was born. I'd bet my life on that."

The queen was considering other possibilities."What about another visitor?"
"Then she wouldn't have needed me as a guide, now would she?"
The queen frowned. "Now why would she need to eat like that?"
"I have no idea."
Out of options she would have to talk to Rapunzel, but not directly.

***

Queen Rebecca was holding her crying daughter again this morning. "Oh, mama, won't the nightmares ever stop?" Rapunzel wailed.

"They should fade in time, dear. You've been through so much, and it may be a way that you're coping with it all. You are the sunshine of my soul and I am here for you." The queen said looking deeply into those eyes that looked just like her own.
"You warm me and I am glad I am home." Rapunzel replied.

They may not be able to say "I love you" directly to each other right now, Gothel had poisoned those words, but they could certainly come up with another phrase to say the same thing. It was a little cumbersome, but it worked.

They admired the painting of the tower on the wall that Rapunzel had been working on.

Breakfast included Rosemary tea, which Rapunzel commented on not liking very much, but was told should help with the nightmares. Her mama took the opening, "Rapunzel, I realize that I have no idea what your favorite foods are. Will you tell me?"
"Oh, of course. There was hazelnut soup, and apple pie and cookies." said Rapunzel eagerly as she poured a lot of salt onto her eggs.

"And what else did you eat?" she asked very casually.
"Oh, the normal stuff, bread not as good as this but as good as I could make it. Eggs, I can cook eggs 107 different ways. Parsnips, onions, garlic, and shallots. Milk was pretty common but not always. Oh, and Mother would occasionally bring back berries and herbs she found along the way."
"And that was it?"
"Yup, I think so, nothing like this."

Eugene was looking like he wanted to talk about this some more, but the queen kicked him under the table.

"So what is on the agenda for today?" Rebecca asked cheerfully. But inside she was worried, it didn't sound as though Rapunzel was fed a very good diet. Had her hair been keeping her alive as it had Gothel? Only from keeping back age, it was keeping Rapunzel from malnutrition? It certainly seemed possible, the hair had been able to stave off age and death, so why not malnutrition.

An ugly thought reared its head, had Gothel been trying to keep Rapunzel down by not feeding her correctly? Keeping her small and stunted, easier to control.

Queen Rebecca's jaw began to ache. She was going to have to go to her screaming place after breakfast.

Her personal library, was a quiet place for reflection and contemplation, but so often Rapunzel would reveal some facet of her life that showed Gothel as the selfish, controlling, soul-crushing witch she was, Rebecca would have go to her library and scream out her hate and her rage, and throw things, it seemed to help, for a little while at least.

zZzZzZz
Author's Note: What do you think? Did anyone guess the pregnancy question before Eugene?

A rough time for mama, finding out Gothel nursed Rapunzel was bad, thinking Rapunzel is pregnant is worse, long-term malnutrition, oh man.
Why is Rapunzel so short compared to everyone else? The hair could easily fix malnutrition, so she must just be a short person. But the thoughts about how things would have to change without her magic hair and what she would start to crave and how her mother might see that, made for some great fun with poor Eugene caught in the middle, again.
Actually, I think it's the queens fault she is the tallest in her family and the king is pretty tall.
The Queen learns some things about Rapunzel and Gothel. And Eugene has to explain himself.

Rapunzel Goes Home: [link]
Rapunzel Meets Her Parents part 1: [link]
Rapunzel Meets Her Parents part 2: [link]
Rapunzel's Homecoming:
Chapter 1: [link]
Chapter 2: [link]
Chapter 3: [link]
Chapter 4: [link]
Chapter 5: [link]
Chapter 6: [link]
Chapter 7: [link]
Chapter 8: [link]
Chapter 9: [link]
Chapter 10: [link]
Chapter 11: [link]
Chapter 12: [link]
Chapter 13: [link]
Chapter 14: [link]
Chapter 15: [link]
Chapter 16: [link]
Chapter 17: [link]
Chapter 18: [link]
Chapter 19: [link]
Chapter 20: [link]
Chapter 21: [link]
Chapter 22: [link]
Chapter 23: [link]
© 2011 - 2024 BalunStormhands
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youcancallmekp's avatar
AHAHAHAHA XD i Laughed so hard when the queen said "Have you gotten Rapunzel pregnant?" Ahahhaa