11 November 2022
This, at least up through today (the 21st), is my most prolific day so far this month. Including some edits to earlier entries, I broke 2500 words this day. Probably not that much for the people who can actually hit 50k, but I felt pretty proud of myself.
Most of that was a lot of short spurts, and I was all over the place writing. I have scenes from many different sections of the book. I also did some background work (for example, naming all twelve of Gothel’s “sisters” and the gifts they gave Maleficent, so I could reference that). I might add more commentary throughout.
She headed up the stairs to her paint studio, with the canvases rolling along the banister behind her. She opened the door, and instantly felt more at ease; there was nothing quite like the gentle atmosphere in here to calm her down.
The far wall was covered in a gorgeous sunset over rolling hills; she’d painted most of that over three years ago, and had continued to touch it up or add tweaks since then. To her left, the wall was covered in a sun-dappled forest, while her right depicted an ocean front, both based on illustrations in the books Mother had brought her. Everything was lit brightly by the skylight in the ceiling; even on rainy days, the Tower could emit light of its own to compensate.
The space itself looked cluttered at first glance, with mounds of sketchbooks piled up against the ocean-side wall. But everything had its place, and her workspace was completely free of the clutter; only her tools and her current project were allowed there.
Rapunzel set her things down, and put away the blank canvases and other supplies. She sat at her work station and stretched, then looked at the white canvas before her.
“What should I do today?” She flipped through some of the art books she owned for ideas, but nothing really caught her attention. She could paint another landscape, perhaps the actual view from the window again, but she wanted to do something different today.
Once Rapunzel recognized that, she paused, then glanced over at the piles of sketchbooks. Many of them, she knew, had been filled with her failed attempts to draw people, and faces in particular. Even under the best circumstances, faces were hard, and it’s not like Rapunzel had very many opportunities to see them in person.
She waffled for a moment, then decided to go for it. Even if it didn’t turn out, she’d learn something, right? She flipped to an image of Queen Hannah of Lowenveil. Rapunzel had always been impressed with how kind her face looked; she nodded to herself and began to paint.
It was an hour or two later when the door opened behind her. “Rapunzel? Are you in here? I’ve–”
Mother’s words cut off, and Rapunzel turned to see her frozen in shock, just staring at Rapunzel’s painting. Rapunzel cursed under her breath; the image was recognizable enough, and who knows what that made Mother think.
Nothing for it but to bluff her way through, then. “Ah, hello, Mother! What do you think? I thought she had a kind face, so I decided to start with her.”
“Kind… kind face…” Mother’s eyes shifted off the painting to Rapunael, and started to regain their focus. “Ah, yes, dear, you’ve quite improved.” She looked back to the painting. “Did you know I met her once?”
Oh, yes. Rapunzel knew all about that. She faked a smile and said, “Oh? When was that?”
“Oh, years and years ago. It was the last time…” Mother’s eyes lost focus again, and her gaze moved to the walls. “Oh, Therese! These look loverly, as always.”
Well, shoot. Rapunzel had forgotten; Maleficent had been there when she was taken, too, and if Mother thought Rapunzel was one of her old sisters, things had gotten really bad. Rapunzel stood up and turned Mother away from the room and toward the door. “So you’ve told me. Come on, let’s go sit down for a bit.”
Rapunzel gently led Mother out of the room and shut the door behind her. She still didn’t know the details, but Rapunzel always wondered; what exactly had Maleficent done, way back when, that had scarred a fairy like Mother this much?
It bothered me that I hadn’t finished this scene. Also, I’ll eventually remove any references to Frieda and Phillip flirting; it was writing this it clicked why that was weird.
“...can you?”
Lena frowned and was about to retort, when Frieda exclaimed, “Ooh! Weird magicy bits!”
“What sorts of magic?” Lena moved up next to her. What she saw impressed her; it was surprisingly subtle magic, especially for how complicated it was.
“Did you find something?” The prince came over to see what they were looking at, but couldn’t see a thing. If he could, Lena would’ve been shocked.
Lena answered, “There’s a spell here that covers quite a large area. It diverts people around it, so no one can get close, then lightly touches their memory so they don’t realize anything’s wrong. It’s fresh, too; whoever made it must have just finished resetting it.”
The prince nodded thoughtfully. “That matches my theories well enough. Can you get us through?”
Frieda grabbed the threads of magic and pulled them apart. “Yep! Step right through here; once you’re inside the boundary, it recognizes you as safe.”
The boys stepped in, and Lena was about to follow when she noticed a blue spark from the magic in Frieda’s hands. “Wait. Does this magic feel familiar to you at all?”
Frieda frowned and pulled the threads closer. Then she shrieked and backed away. “Nuh-uh! No way! I’m not getting anywhere near that madwoman again!” Once Lena heard that, she started backing away, too.
The prince turned to the two fairies, a wary expression on his face. “Madwoman? Who are you talking about?”
“It’s that one - Gothel. The baby-snatcher,” Lena muttered. “She’s the reason we wound up imprisoned last time.”
“If I’d known she’d lost it that badly, I never would have asked to join her back in Lowenveil,” Frieda added.
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “You know who I am, right? Who did you think we were looking for?” When neither of the fairies could give him a response, he asked, “Are there more spells deeper in?”
“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care,” Lena said. “No matter what you say, I’m not going any closer to that basket case. And you shouldn’t, either; who knows what she’ll think you’re up to, or how she’ll respond.”
“She might turn you into a frog,” Frieda offered.
“Or a chicken.”
“She might blind you!”
“Or steal your youth and turn you into an old man.”
“Or steal all your experiences and turn you back into a wee little babe.”
“Alright, I got the idea,” the prince interjected. “How long has she been crazy like that?”
Both fairies shrugged, but Frieda said, “It’s all wrapped up in that business with Maleficent. Some say she was there, you know, when Maleficent ripped her gifts right out of all twelve of her sisters, and only spared Gothel so she could tell everyone else what happened.”
“Gibbering idiots, now, the lot of them,” Lena said. “And uglier than a boar’s backside.”
The prince looked from one fairy to the eyebrow, with one eyebrow still raised. “So, kind of like what happens to people after all your fairy ‘blessings’ run out? Kind of sounds like turnabout’s fair play, to me.”
Lena opened her mouth to reply, then frowned. Was that what this was like? “Well, if you’re going anyway, good luck. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
The prince nodded and turned into the forest. The other boy smiled shyly and waved at Frieda, who waved back with a warm smile, before he followed the prince into the underbrush. Lena gave Frieda a look.
“What? He’s too young now, sure, but he’ll grow up someday.”
Lena rolled her eyes and pulled Frieda away. “Okay, now let’s get out of here before this blows up in our face somehow.”
Isaac gave Phillip a sidelong glance as they walked. “Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”
“What?” Phillip protested. “She was fun!”
“And she’s, like, three hundred years old. You’re fourteen.”
Phillip shrugged. “So what?” Then he slumped. “Not like we’ll ever see them again, though.”
“Probably best for all our sakes if we don’t.” Isaac crept forward, when he noticed a middle-aged woman in a blue dress walk out into a large clearing. He immediately pulled Phillip down into the bush an shushed him. They watched as the woman walked to the base of a tower Isaac swore hadn’t been there a moment ago and yelled out, “Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!”
“Why rapunzel?” Phillip muttered. Isaac shushed him.
Both watched in surprise as a long train of bright red hair unfurled from the window thirty feet up, all the way down to the woman, who grabbed on and slowly rose until she could step into the window.
Every time it comes up, the friendship between Hannah and Maleficent startles me. I definitely did not plan this, and I agree it seems unusual. But something about it just clicks for me. Hopefully in the finished, polished story, I’ll be able to convey that to the readers, too.
Queen Maleficent would never admit it, but she had begun looking forward to Queen Hannah’s annual visits. She didn’t know why; the woman insisted on rearranging her decor, and the servants all ignored Maleficent’s wishes to follow Hannah’s instead during her stay. Honestly, Maleficent wasn’t sure at times which of the two of them was actually the queen here.
It seems Hannah herself felt quite accomplished this visit; she’d finally rid the castle of all the drapes, and only replaced the ones in the bedrooms. Even then, she chose pale cotton curtains to use, rather than the dark, heavy things that had been there before. Even Maleficent had to acknowledge the castle was a lot brighter now, both literally and figuratively.
So when Hannah prepared to return home, it was with the greatest sincerity Maleficent said, “Thank you for coming, Hannah. And for everything you have done here.”
Hannah’s eyes went wide, and she beamed. “You know, I do think that is the first time you have ever thanked me, Maleficent!”
Before Maleficent could reply, the doors burst open and an errand boy rushed in. “Urgent message for Queen Hannah!”
Hannah took it, and Maleficent moved to the couch to wait for her. Not far into the message, however, and Hannah gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. Tears welled up in her eyes, and once she’d finished, she began to read the message again from the start.
Concerned, Maleficent stood. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
Hannah shook her head and struggled to find words. “He’s, they… They’ve found her! Isaac, he’s…” The tears spilled out onto her cheeks, and she turned to Maleficent. “Isaac found Aurora!”
Half an hour later, they were at the stables, where Maleficent had cordoned off six of her fastest horses, not including the very fastest. She told the stableboy, “For the next two weeks, these six are not to be ridden or taken out for any reason. Give them extra feed; they may seem lethargic, but they will need the energy.”
Her eyes began to glow with violet light, and she reached out and pulled the speed from those six into the fastest horse, which was being saddled with all Hannah’s things. Maleficent cautioned Hannah, “He will travel seven times faster than normal; while now you can make the trip in two days instead of two weeks, moving that speed comes with its own dangers. Stay low, and hold on tight; tie yourself to the horse if you have to.”
Hannah nodded, then cocked her head. “But you’re coming too, right?”
Maleficent froze. What right did she have to be there? “Even if, when all is said and done, I am the one ultimately responsible for all of this?”
Hannah gave her a warm smile. “All the more reason to come along and see it through to the end, right?”
“...So talk.”
For several long moments, no one said anything. The prince’s friend started to get antsy, and finally he broke the silence and asked, “So, uh, you’ve lived her, in the tower, your whole life?”
“Yes.”
“That, erm, never got boring at all?”
“I keep busy.” Rapunzel’s eyes never left the prince’s.
Another moment passed, and Phillip started backing away. “I’ll, um, I’ll go stand over here. And look at the lake.”
He walked away, and Rapunzel and the prince continued their staring match.
Finally, the prince asked, “You never wondered about your family at all? Who we were, or what we might be like?”
Rapunzel shrugged. “Sure, I was curious. The same way I idly wonder what it might be like to live on the other side of the world. Doesn’t mean I’m going to uproot everything I know and love to go find out.”
“We’ve been looking for you for fifteen years. I’ve heard stories about you, the way you were kidnapped, since the day I was born! Is that all you have to say?”
The inside of Rapunzel’s chest prickled. She folded her arms and looked away. “Well, I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment.”
“No! Damn it, that’s not–” Isaac groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He glanced back up at Rapunzel. “Could you help me to understand? What about this place makes you want to stay?”
“Oh, hey, cool! That table’s moving all by itself!”
Phillip’s voice pulled them both away from their discussion. They looked back at each other, and the tension lingered a moment longer before Rapunzel sighed and nodded to the table. “After tea, maybe?”
She gave them a tour of the parts of the Tower she was familiar with after that. Her art studio. The garden. The star-gazing observatory. She avoided the library, of course; too many ways that could go wrong. She finished in the meadow room, where she kept all the animals Mother brought in.
“Woah. It’s like some kind of weird petting zoo,” Phillip said.
Isaac pulled his coattails away from a young goat looking for something to munch on. “And the fairy keeps all these? What on earth for?”
Rapunzel smiled sadly, then knelt down and began petting Lotte. “I don’t think Mother - Gothel, I mean - planned for them to live this long.”
Isaac’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Rapunzel didn’t answer for a long time; she just shifted to Fenrir’s side. Tears poole at the base of her eyes as she stroked the weak dog’s head. “He’s pretty sick, isn’t he. Even you two can tell that much.” The two boys nodded. “Do you know why?”
When they shook their heads, Rapunzel looked up and met Isaac’s gaze. “It’s because of me. Mother brings them here and takes their health so I can be ‘normal’.”
Isaac’s eyes went wide, and he looked down at the dog. “Wait, so the curse…?”
Rapunzel nodded. “Fairy gifts last half your natural lifespan; no more, no less. And Maleficent’s curse is set to go off the exact moment I would turn into a horrendous-looking dullard. Which means even if, by some series of miracles, I avoided all of that, I’d still be lucky to live past 32.”
For a long time, neither Isaac nor Phillip said a word.
Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)