25 November 2022

Coming up with rules for magic is hard. I don’t know how Brandon Sanderson does it, and does it so well. I actually figured out a lot of rules for fate-spinning here, and in particular I came up with the idea the death doesn’t cut peoples “strings” of fate; it just splits them off to go somewhere else. That fits in nicely with my beliefs, and made it easier to conceptualize what the curse might look like to someone who can visualize fate. I felt fairly proud of that, but I still have a lot of work to do to figure out the limits of fate-spinning, how everything works, and how exactly that ties into the witches’ ability to steal things, or the fairy gifts that created them in the first place.

(While Isaac and Aurora are talking after Gothel’s death)

For a moment, Isaac didn’t respond. Then he said simply, “Thank you, by the way. If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead.”

Aurora wiped her eyes. “Huh?”

He nodded over toward the alleyway, not far from where she’d first arrived. “I had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. I was about to be roasted alive. And then you showed up, with that Tower wall.” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “How did that work, by the way? I mean, you literally appeared out of thin air. And I thought the Tower was, well, a tower. It can move?”

“Oh, right.” Aurora reached into a pocket and pulled out a figure of a tower. “While I was stuck in time, I actually met him. The Tower, I mean. He gave me this. He’s the one that helped me get back to the real world.”

Isaac froze. “Stuck in time? Back to the real world?”

Right. He wouldn’t know about that, would he? “So… I was headed over to use fate-spinning to break the curse on our parents, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, turns out fate-spinning is really dangerous. Like, ‘erase everything out of existence’ kind of dangerous. Though, it’d be much more likely I’d just erase myself.”

Isaac’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Let me guess. You tried anyway, and that’s how you got ‘stuck in time’.”

“Basically. Maleficent actually tried to stop me. She didn’t want me to risk my life like that or something. And nothing else I tried to get past her worked, so…” She shrugged and pulled her shoulders in. “One more for the list of screw-ups for the great Aurora Lowenveil.”

Isaac sat down. The smile he’d worn ever since they’d beaten the dragon had long since faded away. The weight of the world settled on his shoulders, and his face sank into his palms. Then he looked up, a curious expression on his face. “I wonder if that’s what she’s been up to.”

“Huh? Who? Up to what?”

“Maleficent. There are these… golden threads I can see sometimes now, that connect all of us together. The past few days, she’s been messing with them, D’you think she’s trying to break the curse herself?”

Aurora stood suddenly, feeling more alive than she had in ages. “That… that’s it.” She took off running for the inn.

(While Aurora is stuck in time, talking with the Tower)

… enjoyed so much? And that’s not all. How many people - witches, if you will - have ever successfully stolen from a fairy? Is there anyone besides you and Maleficent?”

Aurora leaned her head against him. “But what good does that do? Even with gothel’s eyesight. Isaac’s been overwhelmed with all the things he can see now, and he can’t understand it, and I can’t help him because I don’t even know what he’s seeing.” She chuckled bitterly. “Not that it matters anyway. I’m stuck here now.” She glanced up at Tower’s face. “At least I have decent company.”

“Don’t worry about Isaac. He’s smart; he’ll figure it out in time, and it will be surprisingly useful during his reign as king.” Tower stroked Aurora’s head. “As for being stuck here, well. I can probably do something about that.”

Aurora frowned. “How?”

“I have my ways.” Tower gave her a knowing grin, then turned more serious. “I know things are difficult right now. If you really can’t bear to deal with it anymore, you are free to stay with me as long as you like.” He clasped her hands in his. “But don’t you remember? In all those stories you used to read, there’s always a darkest hour. The night is darkest just before the dawn. Things will get better.’

From his suit coat pocket he pulled out a small figurine of a tower and pressed it into her hands. “Know that whatever happens, I will always be with you. I’m so proud of you.”

Tears started flowing down Aurora’s cheeks again. She hugged him tight. “Thank you.”

He reached out and grabbed what looked like the finest golden thread. “Are you ready?”

Aurora nodded. Tower pulled the thread, and time moved again.

(After convincing Maleficent to let Aurora help her)

Maleficent led the pair upstairs to the room their parents lay in. She asked Aurora, “What do you know of the workings of fate?”

Aurora grimaced. “Less than I thought I did.”

The corners of Maleficent’s mouth twitched upwards. “At least you recognize that.” She looked over to Isaac. “And what about you, boy?”

Isaac shook his hand. “Is it connected to all the golden threads I see?”

Maleficent nodded. “Very good. Now, over here. What do you see?” She handed Isaac a glass lens, about a foot and a half in diameter, then angled it so he could focus on a space about a foot above his parents’ bodies.

“Woah.” Isaac stared for a little longer, then pointed at a specific spot. “Wait, what’s that?”

Aurora tried to angle herself so she could see, too, but no matter where she stood, even when she looked in the lens, she couldn’t see anything unusual. She bit her lower lip and backed away.

Maleficent glanced over, then asked Isaac, “May I share your sight with her? I’d like her to see this, as well, so she can understand what we’re trying to do.”

Isaac nodded, and Maleficent pinched at something in front of Isaac’s eye. She held whatever it was with the utmost delicacy. “Aurora, would you come a little closer, please?”

Aurora stepped up in front of her, and Maleficent guided whatever it was she held to her eyes. A moment later, and Aurora thought her eyes had exploded; bright threads of all colors streamed around them.

Aurora flinched back and blinked desperately. Isaac watched her from the side and commented, “Yeah, it takes some getting used to.”

Aurora took a deep breath and clenched her eyes shut for a moment. When she opened them again, things were somewhat back to normal. She could still see the threads, when she focused on them, but now she could clearly see the real world around her. When she looked at Maleficent, though, the witch-queen looked like a brilliant beacon of all kinds of colors. The magics and lives she’d taken, maybe?

Aurora squared her shoulders and stepped up beside Isaac. This time, when she peered through the glass, she saw a tapestry woven together. When she focused on the specific section Maleficent had pointed out, she saw a thin lump set crosswise from most of the threads, which diverted a handful of threads away from the tapestry entirely. “What’s with this weird bump, over here?” Aurora asked, as she moved in to look closer.

Maleficent sighed. “That’s the curse I placed on you as a baby. It was designed to separate you - along with the curse the fairies placed on you - away from the tapestry of reality. By killing you, in this case. But the important thing to understand is that this cord was placed in a way to separate some threads from everything else.”

“But… That bump’s been woven in,” Isaac said. “There’s threads running back and forth all over it.”

“Of course,” Maleficent replied. “That’s what makes this so hard. Think about it; is there any part of your life - either of your lives - my curse has not impacted in some way?”

Both Aurora and Isaac shook their heads.

“No, right? Even I’ve had my life changed drastically; see here.” She gestured to a large, multi-colored band of threads that bent sharply where the bump was at. “I never would have become such good friends with Hannah had she not stormed my castle, a year later, and demanded my reasons.” A ghost of a smile played at it her lips, but it vanished so quickly Aurora wondered if she’d imagined it. :That’s why we can’t simply remove it. It’s such a big part of who we are, doing that would unravel our very reality.”

“But then…” Aurora glanced over where her parents slept. “How did you…?”

“Very carefully.” Maleficent sighed. “In essence, I nudged it, so it pushed a different froup of threads up. That was extremely delicate work; in particular, positioning it so that neither of your parents died was quite the struggle.”

Aurora’s heart felt like it turned to lead. That’s why Maleficent hadn’t wanted Aurora messing with things. Especially when she couldn’t even see what she was doing. “So, is there anything we can do?”

“I’m still figuring that out.” Maleficent leaned over and stared intently at the bundle of threads. “The simplest answer would be to weave their threads back into the tapestry. However…”

Aurora brightened at first, then drew her eyebrows together. “What is it?”

Maleficent grimaced. “If I wanted to do that in a way that doesn’t cause any problems, they might remain asleep for the next hundred years. That, in itself, isn’t a problem; I have ways to preserve them, so they would not age or rot. But I do not think that is the life they would choose.”

Aurora bit her lower lip. Isaac studied the tapestry. “You said that was the only way that didn’t cause problems. What did you mean by that?”

Maleficent shrugged. “It would be possible to force it sooner. As early as tomorrow, in theory. But that starts pulling a lot of other threads out of alignment. Yours, especially.” She glanced over to Hannah’s face. “And considering Hannah’s motivations when she asked me to do this initially, I don’t think she’d appreciate it if I forced that cost on you two.”

“Even if we were willing? Even if we wanted it?” Aurora asked.

Maleficent glared at her. “I will not trample on Hannah’s wishes on this matter. That is not negotiable.”

Aurora frowned and retreated. How had the Tower woven her back in so simply, then? “I have a question.” She pulled out the tower figurine Tower had given her. “After our duel, when I was trapped between moments in time, my thread had been pulled free of reality, right? How hard would that have been to weave back in?”

Instead of answering her question, Maleficent stared at the figurine. A line of translucent silver thread Aurora had never noticed before ran from the figurine to the tapestry, and was closely tied to a series of blue and violet threads Aurora guessed represented her and Gothel.

“Where did you get this?” Maleficent raised a hand and lightly brushed it with her finger.

“In that other world, the space between seconds, I met him. The Tower, I mean. He gave me this, as a way to keep him close.”

“May I?”

Aurora handed the figure over, and Maleficent raised it to study it from every angle. “Fascinating.” She returned it to Aurora and asked, “This lets you summon parts of this Tower around you at any time, correct?”

“Yes.” Aurora looked a bit skeptical. “Does that matter for what we’re doing, though?”

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Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)

24 November 2022

With a total of 2765 words, Thanksgiving was actually my most productive day this year for Nanowrimo. I was surprised, because my family had a fair amount going on that day, too. Not only that, but it took two hours or more to plan out the first half of the dragon fight with Gothel, during which time I got no words in, since it was all in the planning stage. Overall, I was quite pleased with myself after this.

I’ll probably add more specific notes to the sections below.

Rapunzel couldn’t believe her ears. “Wait… You’d still let me go?”

Isaac shrugged. “You’re as stubborn as I am. If you decide you’re going, you’ll go whether I let you or not. I just want to make sure you’re okay if you do.”

Rapunzel slumped back into the bed. She hadn’t expected that. She took a deep breath and winced, holding her side. Finally, she said, “It’d probably be a good idea to spend a few days, maybe even a week, for me to recover anyways. After that, if your - our - parents aren’t here yet, we can decide what to do then.”

Isaac heaved a sigh of relief. “Sounds like a plan.” He stood up. “I’ll let you rest, then. Do you want me to get you anything?”

Rapunzel’s stomach growled. “Breakfast would be nice. Or… whatever meal it would be right now, I guess.”

Isaac smiled wryly. “I’ll see what I can do.”

(After Phillip and Aurora have attracted the dragon, but before any dragon fights have started)

When Phillip returned a week later - and without Rapunzel, at that - Isaac was more than ready to tear into him. But the worry and urgency in Phillip’s expression made him pause.

Even before he’d fully dismounted, Phillip started trying to explain. “You’ve got… got to get everyone… out of here. Dragon… there’s a dragon coming.”

Isaac exchanged looks with Maleficent. “Dragon? Why? Where’s Rapunzel?”

Phillip put a hand on the wall to brace himself. He took a deep breath. “I think the dragon’s that fairy. Gothel?” At that name, Maleficent’s eyes narrowed, but she let Phillip continue. “She was hunting Aurora, so she used herself as bait and told me to come warn everyone.”

Isaac’s fists clenched. Logically, he knew they’d probably made the right call. But he still wanted to deck his friend for leaving his sister behind to face down a dragon alone. He looked over at Maleficent. “With your magic, would you e able to prepare any defenses? I want to keep the townsfolk safe while they’re evacuating, and, well…” He glanced over at the inn where his parents were located.

“I have a few things I can do about that.” Maleficent turned and got to work, though Isaac couldn’t be sure what she was planning.

Then he called General Conners over. “What do you suggest? I was thinking we should have half the men begin evacuating the citizens, and once they finish, have them set up within the village itself. I could join the other half outside the walls, to try and hold the dragon off as long as we could until the people are safe. We’d need ballistae for both sides.”

Conners saluted him and said, “My only concern, Your Majesty, is that it seems like you’re placing yourself too much at risk. We’ve already as good as lost the king and queen; what will happen to Lowenveil if you fall, too?”

Isaac grimaced. Then he shook his head. “I have to do this, General. For myself, if nothing else, and I think it’s important to show the people that I’m not afraid to stand with them when things get difficult.”

Conners looked like she had thoughts on the subject, but she kept them to herself. “Yes, sire!” She began shouting instructions, divvying up the soldiers into the two camps.

Isaac looked out toward the tower. If Rapunzel did come back, and she’d better, would she want to get involved in the fight, too? If Gothel was after her, Isaac wanted to make sure rapunzel was as far away from her as possible. Somewhere safe.

What if Rapunzel and Maleficent worked together? They were both witches, right? Isaac nodded to himself. That should work.

He watched with baited breath for any sign of his sister. He was so nervous, he almost didn’t react when a great wall of thorns sprouted up and surrounded the village, leaving only an opening at the gate.

Aurora didn’t recognize the village. Her father’s army had amassed outside of it, and somehow a great wall off thorns fifteen feet high had grown up all around it. Maleficent’s doing? Did she have a gift for growing plants?

She spotted Isaac and raced toward him. She could feel Gothel closing in on her, but Isaac gave a signal and a barrage of ballista bolts flew over Aurora’s head and impacted against the dragon.

Aurora pulled up next to Isaac. “I’m pretty sure that’s Gothel.” 

“I can see that.” He did seem to be looking at something specific within the dragon. A quirk of having Gothel’s eyesight, perhaps. “Maleficent’s taking care of our defenses; would you go help her?”

Aurora nodded, and walked through the gates in the hedge into the village. On her way, though, she got thinking. Would she get a better chance than this? Maleficent was busy, and no one else was around that would interfere.

She clutched her satchel, and headed for the inn. To her surprise, a second layer of thorns had wrapped themselves tightly around the building, even crawling up and covering the windows. She forced her way inside, only to find Maleficent…

It actually took me a long time to figure out what was going on with Aurora while she was trapped in time, or in the other dimension, or however you want to put it. At this point, all I knew for sure was that it ended with her speaking with the Tower. Then, I had an epiphany. If this happened because she messed with fate, isn’t it like she pulled herself out of alignment with fate? And since fate in this case means the things that happen to you, rather than what you will choose to do yourself (to distinguish between destiny), it means she can’t be affected by anything, but nor can she affect anything else.

…to get back?

She carefully walked past Maleficent and headed upstairs to the room they were keeping her parents. When she reached to open the door, however, her hand passed right through it, like nothing was there.

Aurora shuddered. Then she closed her eyes, braced herself, and stepped through the door.

There they were, asleep. Now, with time frozen, Aurora didn’t even have the rise and fall of their chests to confirm they were still alive. She steeled herself, and reached out to grab their threads of fate. Only… there was nothing to grab. Nothing at all.

Desperately, Aurora rushed over and tried to place her fingers on Hannah’s pulse, forgetting for a second that time had stopped. Only, it wasn’t even that Hannah had no pulse; when Aurora reached for her, her hand passed right through.

That’s when everything clicked for Aurora. She’d accidentally removed herself from fate; nothing could affect her, but she couldn’t affect anything else, either.

Dully, Aurora wandered around the village. She wasn’t sure how long she was at it; it was hard to tell time when nothing around you changed. It could have been fifteen minutes. It felt like days.

She mostly spent time in the room with her parents, though she often visited Isaac out on the battlefield, too. Aurora actually wished she had her paint supplies; she’d actually caught him at a good moment, and he looked quite kingly as he shouted something to his troops. She’d even found the perfect angle, where his outstretched arm framed dragon-Gothel as another round of bolts streaked toward her.

Eventually, though, she decided to go a little farther. She made her way back to the Tower, and was delighted to learn she didn’t get tired. Or hungry. Or randomly collapse because she’d pushed herself too hard. Soon, she started off running, and the feeling was so amazing she could almost forget how screwed she was.

Once she arrived, however, that all vanished. Because there was no more Tower. All that was left was half a wall, no taller than Aurora herself was, and a field of stone and rubble where Gothel, as a dragon, had burst out of it.

(First half of the fight with the dragon)

Isaac confirmed Aurora had made it inside, and then stared at the dragon. The dragon turned her head right and left, sniffing at the air; Isaac thought she seemed confused.

Then the dragon turned to Isaac and her nostrils flared. She roared and rushed toward him.

“Pikes!” Conners yelled, and the two squadrons of pikes, fifty strong each, charged forward from either side and halted her advance. Gothel swiped the claw of her left wing at them, but they managed to divert the attack.

From along the wall, the archers on either side of the gate fired a volley of arrows at the dragon. However, to Isaac’s chagrin, they all bounced off her scales. Isaac had seen those arrows punch through the finest steel armor; what the heck was her hide made out of?

The cavalry on either flank circled around, so they could charge in when an opportunity arose. Meanwhile, Isaac and his guards headed to the right, behind the second squad of pikemen.

Gothel tracked Isaac’s presence, flaring her nostrils now and then. Suddenly she lunged through the squad of pikemen to snap at him, and Isaac barely danced his horse far enough to the side to avoid her. He swung his sword at her face, but much like the archers before him, he was unable to pierce her hide.

“Have the archers retreat to the village!” he shouted, and Conners rushed to carry out his orders. Beside Isaac, the half of the second squadron of pikemen that had neither lost their weapon nor been critically injured split to either side of the dragon’s head and tried to spear her eyes; however, Gothel jerked her head up, beyond the reach of their pikes. The first squadron circled behind her to try to pin her down.

The four squadrons of spearmen repositioned, ready to rush in with their shields of need be. Behind them, two of the ballistae fired; one missed, but the one on the opposite side of the dragon from Isaac glanced a hit on her head, knocking her back a step.

Gothel roared and snapped her head the direction of the ballista, and Isaac saw threads of flame gathering in the back of her throat. His face turned white, and he screamed, “Fire! Get out of the way!”

The ballista crew got the message and barely managed to get away before a stream of flame turned the ballista to ashes. The squadron of spearmen between Gothel and the ballista, however, weren’t so lucky. They got their shields up in time, but many of the men at the front of their formation screamed as the shields in their hands superheated and burned the skin off their arms. A couple even fainted from the heat.

Isaac grimaced, and pulled back with the pikemen from the second squadron. That gave the first cavalry unit room to charge through, and drive their lances into Gothel’s flank. While none of them could pierce her, they were able to knock her off balance. This time, as well, Isaac finally noticed the streams of blue magic swirling under the dragons scales, and the way they focused wherever Gothel was getting attacked.

With a roar, Gothel swiped with her tail. While the cavalry had already cleared past her, the tail did smash into the other squadron of pikemen, and three or four of them flew into the air a ways.

Isaac scowled and ordered, “All pikemen, retreat! Spearmen and cavalry, cover them!”

Gothel cocked her head and turned back toward him. She roared, and Isaac caught a whiff of peppermint mixed with smoke and charcoal. She beat her wings, and the winds knocked him off his horse. He barely rolled out of the way before the claws on her right wing slammed down where he’d fallen.

Two more ballista bolts rocked into her, diverting her attention away from Isaac. She glared up at the one closest to her, and once again sucked in and prepared to spew flames.

“Here it comes again!” Isaac yelled. But before Gothel released it, the second cavalry unit charged in and drove her head up, and the flames blew harmlessly into the sky.

As they passed by, however, they got too close to Gothel’s tail, and with a single swipe she knocked a dozen horsemen off their horses.

A quick glance confirmed that most of the pikemen had finished retreating, other than those that couldn’t move. “Everybody, pull back!” Isaac called. “Behind the hedge!”

The cavalry rode off, and the spearmen locked shields and backed as quickly as they could toward the village gates. Isaac took one last look around, at all the dead and injured they had to leave behind, and cursed under his breath. Then he ran for the gate with everyone else.

This scene takes place just after Hannah and Frederick have sacrificed themselves. I was dissatisfied with the attention I’d given their grieving up to that point, and wanted to expand on it. The next two scenes are actually the bits I was most proud of today. I felt very happy with them.

Phillip knocked on Isaac’s door. When no one answered, Phillip cracked it and poked his head in.

The room was completely dark. No candles, and the shutters were closed, not that it mattered this time of night. Isaac himself sat on the bed, slouched over so his elbows rested on his knees, staring down at nothing.

“Yo! Still living?”

Isaac started. “Oh, it’s just you, Phillip.”

“Who else would I be?”

Isaac shrugged and returned to staring at the floor.

“What the heck are you doing all alone in the dark, anyway?”

Isaac clenched his eyes shut. “Ever since Aurora gave me that fairy’s sight, everything is… weird. I see things. Too many things. And none of it makes sense.” He flopped backward onto the bed. “Even without that, nothing makes sense.”

Phillip plopped onto the bed opposite him. “Wanna talk about it?”

For a while, Isaac couldn’t find the words. “It’s like… I thought it’d be different, you know? I’ve searched for her for years. My whole life, in a way. I thought it’d be so amazing when we found her, and everyone would be happy, and… Instead, Mom and Dad are all but dead. My eyes are going to drive me insane, and technically, I should’ve been blind. And Aurora… Rapunzel…” He snorted. “Well, whatever I was expecting from my sister, she is not it.”

He sat up and really looked at Phillip for the first time. “It’s like, the moment we found her, my whole life fell apart. Does that make sense?”

Phillip shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Things kinda suck.” He leaned back. “Still, though, if things suck this bad for you, how much worse to they gotta be for her?”

Isaac’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it. You lost two parents, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t she just lose three? Maybe four, if you count the Tower. Heck, she blinded Gothel herself, and that was for your sake. It’s not like she wanted us to find her, either. You still have your home, your friends, everything else in life. What does she have?”

That hurt. Isaac didn’t want to admit it. He knew Phillip had a point, but didn’t he have a right to grieve, too?

Phillip let the silence rest for several minutes, then lay down to go to sleep. “It doesn’t gotta be right away. But sometime soon, you oughtta talk to her. You’re all the family either of you has left right now.”

Isaac didn’t get much sleep that night.

Aurora was heading outside when Isaac caught her. “Hey, I think we should talk.”

Now? Aurora sighed. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

They headed out to a little meadow not far from town. Aurora watched Isaac and tried to figure out what this was about. He kept fiddling with his hands, or pacing back and forth.

Finally got fed up. “Is this about what happened with Mom and Dad?”

Isaac blanched, then nodded. “I’m just… still trying to process everything.”

Aurora nodded. They waited a moment longer, then Isaac sat down and looked at his hands clasped in front of him. “A lot has happened since we met. You blinded the mother you grew up with. I see things that make no sense. Our parents are so deeply asleep, they might as well be dead. I guess…” He sighed and looked up at Aurora. “I wondered how you were holding up.”

Aurora rubbed her arms. “I… I don’t know.” She looked at Isaac. “I was supposed to be dead right now. I’ve lived most of my life coming to terms with that. And now… that’s gone.” She laughed bitterly. “I’ve screwed everything up, haven’t I? It’s like I told you. It would’ve been better just to leave me in my Tower.”

For a very long time, Isaac didn’t answer. It struck Aurora that he might actually agree. She’d screwed up his life just as badly as she had her own, after all.

Eventually, he sighed. “Rapunzel–”

Aurora flinched, and he paused. When he didn’t continue right away, she asked, “Actually… Would you call me Aurora from now on? I know what I said before, but…”

Isaac’s eyes widened, but his expression softened into a smile. “Yeah, I can do that.”

After a moment, Aurora spoke again. “Sorry. About getting so… angsty, I guess? I just… I feel lost.”

Isaac scooched around and hugged her shoulders. “Well, you’re stuck with me, now. Like it or not, you’re kind of the only family I have left.”

Aurora chuckled and poked him in the side. “You don’t suppose they offer exchanges on little brothers somewhere, do they?”

They both laughed at that, and just enjoyed each other’s company in the afternoon sunlight.

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Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)

16 November 2022

This is the first time it’s come up in the story directly, but even a couple days before this, I was playing with this idea of “fate-spinning” - that the fae directly mess with the threads of fate, and witch powers do the same indirectly. Mostly, I think it came from realizing the rules I’d established for witch powers wouldn’t save Hannah and Frederick, but it also didn’t seem like the kind of story that solely built up to their sacrifice, or ended with them still dead/asleep.

The thing is, “fate-spinning” as a general concept is way too vague, so I was trying to come up with rules. Honestly, I’m still not satisfied with it; if I can re-think my strategy to remove it (and that might be easier than I thought), I probably will, but I needed it to come up with some of the plot points that are now so critical to the story.

I also really enjoyed the bit with Isaac as king. That eyesight of his is going to come in handy, even if, again, I need to get a better grasp on how it works.

It took a moment for that to sink in for Aurora. “Wait. You stole from the fairies themselves? That means you’re probably ridiculously powerful, and have access to faerie sight and stuff, right?”

Maleficent dipped her head. Aurora’s posture relaxed as she said, “Maybe you could teach Isaac some things. After I gave him Gothel’s sight, hes been seeing a lot of things that don’t make sense. He can’t do anything with them, either, so he was ignoring it, but…”

Maleficent looked surprised. “Your brother has Gothel’s sight?”

Aurora nodded. “She blinded him, and I got so mad I took hers in retribution.” She averted her gaze. “It’s… kind of why I left at all. I fully intended to stay there in the Tower.”

Maleficent tapped her lips as she though. “Perhaps I will speak to the boy. Not many mortals get a chance to see the threads of fate; as far as I know, I was the only one until now. It would be interesting to see what he makes of it, and how it will serve him as king.”

“Threads of fate? That’s actually a thing?”

“What else would we be tampering with every time we pull a piece of someone into ourselves? How else could the fairies pull from our futures to bless us now?”

Aurora stood up and began pacing. So it wasn’t just a crackpot theory. Does that mean fate-spinning was possible? Hope began to flicker in her chest. “Maybe, if we used fate itself, do you think we could–”

“No.”

Aurora looked up at Maleficent. She seemed to have grown taller, looming a foot or more over Aurora, and her expression was stern. “The risks of fate-spinning are too great, for both you and your parents.”

“But–”

“You think I did not consider this? That I would not do anything for the sake of the only true friend I’ve had in nearly a century of life? Do you think if I, with the combined magics of twelve fairies and decades of experience, had a way to save her, I would not have already used it?”

Aurora flinched and looked down. “Sorry.”

Maleficent stepped back. She took a deep breath, then said, “No, I must be the one to apologize. You were reaching out for whatever hope you could find. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Aurora nodded. She turned to leave, and gave Maleficent one last look as she headed through the doorway. The witch was impassive, just staring silently down at the glass coffins, her fingers lightly resting on Hannah’s.

Isaac was about ready to chuck the crown into a lake somewhere and run away. And he wasn’t even wearing it yet. He’d had to deal with countesses and bankers, earls and the merchant guild’s representatives. Most either wanted to curry favor with him (even offering daughters or nieces for him to marry, despite the fact that he was still only fourteen), or else call into question the circumstances that surrounded his parents’ coma and his sister’s return.

The man before him, Duke Hareln, was one of the latter. “It is unusual,” he was saying, “that you returned with not only some long lost sister, who had been cursed to die three days ago, but also with the very witch who cursed her to begin with. It’s convenient that neither the king nor the queen are available to verify your story, isn’t it?”

Isaac sighed and rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time that day. He looked back up at Duke Hareln. Every word the man spoke looked like smoke spewing out of his mouth, and the duke himself seemed covered in shadows.

Then something caught Isaac’s eye, an image in the shadows. He peered a little closer, only to regret it immediately. He pulled back and shuddered. “Does your wife know you’re sleeping with Baroness Riegan, Duke Hareln?”

The duke stopped mid-prattle, and his eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets. “I… have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Hm.” Isaac risked another look, hoping to find something more useful. And hopefully a little less…stimulating. “Oh, that’s interesting. What about the time you cheated the merchant’s guild on the quality of your wine this past year? I’m sure they would love to hear about that.”

The duke’s face went pale, and then transformed into a snarl. He lunged across the table and jabbed his finger in Isaac’s face. “Now see here, you little–”

Isaac simply snapped his fingers. “Guards!”

The guards posted on either side of the door stepped forward and each clamped a hand on Duke Harlen’s shoulders.

“Escort the duke to the dungeons, until we can verify the full extent of his crimes,” Isaac instructed. “And inform Duchess Hareln she is responsible for the estate until further notice.”

The guards saluted and dragged the duke away, ignoring his numerous protests. Isaac rubbed his temples and left the room as well, making a point to head the opposite direction.

After a moment, he decided to head to the room they’d given to Rapunzel. He really needed to get her a room to paint in, too, assuming she hadn’t already just taken one over.

However, when he entered her room, he found it mostly empty. Or rather, anything expensive was still there; all the gowns and dresses had been left in the closet untouched, for example. It was only the things Rapunzel had brought with her that were missing.

I really did not need this right now. Isaac closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. Then he turned around and asked, “Has anybody seen my sister recently?”

After about half an hour of investigating, he learned that Rapunzel had been spotted heading out of the castle on horseback not long ago. He’d taken a moment to shout various insults and epithets at her from the parapets, just to vent, and then began trying to figure out what to do next.

It was at about that time Maleficent found him. “You asked to speak with me, Prince Isaac?”

“Yes, thank you.” He straightened and gave a bow. “My sister has seen fit to leave the capital without warning. I was wondering if you could shed any light on her destination, or at least what might have motivated her to leave.”

Maleficent frowned. “We did speak at some length not long ago, but nothing we discussed should…” She paused, then her expression grew harsh. “Do you know if Gothel had a library, by chance?”

“I’ve never seen it myself, but Rapunzel has mentioned it several times. Why?”

“Well, I cannot say for certain, and I certainly hope I am wrong. But one of the things that came up in our discussion was the idea of fate-spinning; I fear she may have gone to learn more about it on her own.”

“Fate-spinning?”

“Where a fairy or witch directly takes the threads of a person’s fate and twists them, for whatever reason.”

Isaac grimaced. “So, control a person’s future? Their choices, etc.?”

“Not exactly.” Maleficent thought for a bit, then pointed to a large cobweb. “Take this web, for example.”

“Alright.”

“Fate-spinning is like trying to affect one string in it, whether to pull it out, move it, or whatever else, without disturbing the rest of the web.”

Isaac’s jaw dropped, and Maleficent continued. “Even those of us who can see and manipulate fate cannot force a person to make certain choices; their will is inviolable. Most who have attempted it throughout history have tried to manipulate circumstances; however, as we are all interconnected, it can be hard to predict the results anytime we tug on a string.” She grimaced, and added, “Sometimes even when we don’t touch fate directly, that’s still true. Look at what my meddling has caused here.”

Isaac nodded. “So, while fate-spinning could theoretically break the curse on my parents, it could also cause a war or a plague or something.”

Maleficent nodded. “Or erase them, and you, and who knows who else, entirely out of existence.”

Isaac froze. “Has that happened before?”

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. “Would we know about it if it had?”

Isaac’s face paled. He looked to the northeast, where Rapunzel’s Tower was located. “Can I leave the kingdom in your hands for a few days?”

“I doubt that would go over well. I will, however, offer my assistance to the stewards and officials that would be running it.”

Isaac smiled wryly. “Thank you.” Less than an hour later, he was on the road.

He’d barely traveled two or three hours, however, when he found Rapunzel off the side of the road. She breathed heavily, and Isaac could tell the ache in her chest was back. Her horse had been tethered beside her.

“Just when I thought this couldn’t get any more bone-headed,” Isaac told her, “you find a way to prove me wrong.”

Rapunzel started and looked up at him. “What.”

Isaac just glared at her. “You really thought you could just take off and no one would notice? Like it or not, you are a princess. The long lost princess, at that. People know who you are, now.”

Rapunzel scowled and looked away. Isaac groaned and asked, “You couldn’t have at least asked someone to go with you? As you like to remind everyone, you’re weak and sickly. What did you plan on doing if and when you collapse again!?”

“I, just… I don’t know.”

“Uh huh. And what’s all this about fate-spinning and cobwebs and things? Is that really what you ran off for?”

Rapunzel glared at him. Isaac sighed and said, “Look, Rapunzel–”

“It’s Aurora.”

Isaac blinked. “Huh?”

Rapunzel - Aurora - looked away and rubbed her arms. “You can call me Aurora. It seemed rude not to use the name they gave me after they… well.”

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Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)