9 January 2024

Once I got back, I realized I wanted to see if I could actually finish draft 2 of Rapunzel. So I was writing that. I also decided I am perfectly okay posting that here. …Not that I did much at first. It was hard to get back into the swing of things, I guess.

Rapunzel stretched her arms high as she made her way out of bed. It felt like a good day. “Good morning, Tower!”

The Tower clacked a few floor tiles in reply, then helped lift Rapunzel’s hair out of the way while she got dressed. Then she wound her way downstairs to the kitchen, where a breakfast of bacon and eggs waited for her. Rapunzel beamed. “Thanks!”

She ate quickly, then wove through several rooms and passageways to her paint studio, where her current project lay hidden under a sheet. Rapunzel didn’t want to upset Mother, after all.

She looked around, and just to be safe, she asked, “Is Mother awake yet?”

Several bricks in the far wall spun around to make a red “x”, and Rapunzel heaved a sigh of relief. She removed the blanket and stared at her latest work in progress; a portrait of her mother. Her real mother, not the fairy pretending to be. The queen of Lowenveil.