26 April 2024

It was only a few days later when Isaac, Phillip, and the two fairies entered the Lost Wood. Isaac immediately hated the place; it made the back of his neck itch, and all the trees felt like they pressed in on him, leaving him trapped.

Maybe half an hour in, Lena stopped to stare at something Isaac couldn’t see. “Ooh, that is clever. I suppose she really was royalty once.”

Isaac blinked. “Huh? What’s going on?”

“Oh, I’m talking about Gothel, youngling. The reason any of you get lost here is Gothel has taken some of the reality away from these woods. Not a great deal, but you mortals aren’t designed to perceive the ‘between’ places, and so you get lost instead, forget things. It’s really quite ingenuous.”

For a moment, Isaac chewed on that. “Why couldn’t Maleficent notice that? She’s not really mortal anymore, is she?”

Lena scowled at the mention of Venwald’s queen, but Frieda chuckled darkly. “Had it been anyone else she faced, the Fairy Killer would have noticed. How long did she wander these woods, searching for something she can never find, I wonder?”

That only left Isaac more confused, but neither Lena nor Frieda would say anything more on the subject. Not that they paid much attention to Isaac and Phillip in general.

Several hours of silence later, and the group stumbled on a clearing with a tall tower, looking far better kept than something this isolated should be.

“Well, here we are,” Frieda announced. “And what luck! It seems poor Gothel isn’t even here at present. You truly have fortune on your side, princeling.”

“Don’t forget what you owe us, boy,” Lena added. “We’ll even go distract our dear friend for a bit. WOuldn’t want you to die before your debts are paid. Ta-ta!”

Isaac’s eyes widened. “Wait!”

But they didn’t. One moment they were there, the next, they were gone.

Isaac and Phillip looked on in disbelief, then turned back to the tower. “Think she’s actually in there?”

“Has to be. They wouldn’t have risked losing the deal otherwise.”

The two boys approached, trying to find a door or something. But even after circling the thing twice, the only entrance they could find was a single window thirty or so feet up.

8 March 2024

…dragged her off. It wasn’t long before they found the others, and soon the five of them were gathered together in a group outside.

Seila’s hands trembled as she broke the seal on the scroll, a wide smile on her face. She unfurled the scroll, but to her and the other kids’ surprise, a musical score accompanied the words of the spell.

“A Ka Dua No Ra?” Seila muttered.

“Can you read it?” one of the other kids asked.

Each of them shook their heads and Seila frowned. “Maybe I can ask Mama.”

Seila barely waited for the kids to agree before she raced off for home. Mama was harvesting from their garden when Seila arrived, and waved the scroll in her face. “Mama, look what I found!”

A light smile appeared on Mama’s face. “Oh?” Then she opened the scroll, and her smile faded. “Where did you get this?”

Mama’s serious tone scared Seila a little. She explained the whole story, with the strange door and the statue, and Mama frowned. Once Seila finished, Mama said, “This is a very special, very dangerous song. I want to forget you to forget about this, alright? If you sing it, the song will kill you and everyone around you. Do you understand?”

This time, it wasn’t excitement that made Seila’s hands shake, and she nodded. Mama flashed her a tired smile, and locked the scroll with the other dangerous artifacts she’d collected.

But Seila didn’t forget about the scroll.

16 February 2024

It’s being surprisingly difficult to come up with the exact circumstances for the prologue, where Gothel kidnaps Aurora. A lot of moving pieces that need to align perfectly while still being true to themselves. I’m not really satisfied with this version, either, but it’s my most recent one.

Queen Hannah of Lowenveil had been apprehensive when her husband, Frederick, mentioned inviting two or three fairies to the presentation of their daughter. Aurora had been born very sickly, so if they could save her, Hannah couldn’t really protest. But she’d heard stories from the east, where the fae holds held sway, and they didn’t fill her with confidence.

Frederick had insisted the stories were exaggerated; he knew a fairy personally, and she was harmless. Timid, even. So Hannah had agreed.

Everything seemed to be going fine; one of the first things the green and pink fairies did was bless Aurora with good health and [grace], and immediately color had filled Aurora’s cheeks. The blue one, Gothel, didn’t offer a blessing; she seemed ready to bolt at the slightest disturbance. When Hannah asked Frederick about her he said she’d always been like that, ever since he was a boy.

Then a certain guest walked in. Hannah went to greet her, as she had every other guest. “Queen Maleficent! It’s good to see you. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it, considering the recent loss of your husband. Thank you for taking the time to come.”

Queen Maleficent pressed her lips into a line that almost could pass for a smile. She surveyed the room, then stopped when she saw the two fairies near Aurora. When she spoke, her voice dripped with venom. “Queen Hannah. If I make ask, who are they? And what are they doing here?”

Hannah blinked, and some of her earlier doubts about the fae began to resurface. “That’s Lena and Frieda, fairies from [___]. My husband invited them, along with Gothel, there in the corner.”

As soon as Hannah mentioned “Gothel”, Maleficent froze. “Gothel, you said? Which one is she?”

More confused than ever, Hannah pointed her out. “Over there, in the blue dress. Very timid; she hasn’t said more than two words to anyone all evening.”

“Indeed.” Maleficent’s face paled a shade, but she waved it off. “No matter. That is the child, there?”

With purposeful strides, Maleficent strode toward Aurora’s crib, Hannah doing her best to keep pace behind her.

15 May 2023

Finally went back to Elsenaia. I’ve been working on it recently (as in, beginning of August), as well, and I’d like to turn it into a proper story. So here’s my attempt to redo some of the early bit. There’s going to be a lot less time spent inside the mind dive, I think.

Elsenaia hadn’t participated in many mind dives, and certainly never a human’s, so she hadn’t really known what to expect. Still, every other mind she’d visited had been neat and orderly, whether it was a carefully planned garden of thoughts or something more like her own stately palace.

They definitely weren’t like this. This was… What else could she call it but chaos? Some kind of instrument–a piano, he called it?--was covered in bits and bobs of memories and hopes and dreams, with few if any of them actually about music. There was a cupboard under the stairs that tried to dump her into a whole other world where people rode around on broomsticks, and a greenhouse inside the house that not only stretched on for infinity, but seemed to constantly shift its layout every time she looked at it.

She eventually wound up in some sort of dining area that itself was full of junk. On a counter sat a small group of figurines; Elsenaia picked one up, and nearly fainted at the notion of half-elves, before she realized it was all made up. …Wasn’t this Nicholas a bit old to be playing pretend? Strange.

Nothing, though, could have prepared Elsenaia for th things she saw when she sat down at the table. It was… Nick’s family. His siblings. His father and mother. Even now, they still flirted as they prepared dinner. There was laughter at the table. When his parents asked how Nick and his siblings were or what they were working on, they meant it, and they listened, no matter how small the concerns seemed.

And Nick’s brothers and sister! There were no sly looks, no competing for affection or prestige. When they teased one another, there was an undercurrent of fondness, not spite.

Elsenaia tried in vain to prevent tears from forming in her eyes. Why couldn’t she have had this? Why was this man, with no particular renown, so loved, while Elsenaia had been left alone?

She tried to banish the thought; she knew it was unfair. But before she could, she felt Nick grab hold, and indignation warmed the room around her to uncomfortable levels. To Elsenaia’s shock, Nick wasn’t mad at her, despite her rude thoughts, but at her family. And… at Tairsi?

Suddenly Elsenaia had a flashback, clear as the moon of the day Tairsi had left. The day they stopped being friends, and were merely a princess and her subordinate.

After all, princesses aren’t allowed to have friends.

Then Elsenaia saw him, eyes burning. Nick was there. Nick was watching her memories. Somehow, Nick was inside her head.

Panicked, Elsenaia cut the spell off, and they snapped back to their bodies. Tairsi and Darrett stepped forward protectively, but Nick wasn’t intimidated. And to the shock of everyone present, when he opened his mouth, he spoke in perfect Elvish.

10 January 2023

This was one of the rare days this week where it actually clicked, and I was able to get a lot done. While I was at work, I was ruminating on various things, including Todoroki’s arc in My Hero Academia. I started messing with things, pulling strings here and there, and came up with some of the basics below. I also have one or two other ideas for scenes related to these characters, but nothing definitive yet.

If I were to come back to his and do it again or revise it, I’d probably either remove the bit where Tirian doesn’t want to use the light, and is instead scared of how people will react to his dark powers, OR when he uses them, he’d start with the light and add the dark after. Not sure which would be better; proabably depends on the rest of the story and what conflicts arise.

Chad slammed Tirian against the wall so hard the concrete broke. “This isn't about your father! Or the headmaster, or anyone else! Right now, you are in the ring with me. Respect me enough to fight me seriously!”

He let go of Tirian’s lapel and let him sink to the ground. Tirian looked down at his hand. “I… don’t know if I can do that. The very thought of use his power–”

Chad smashed a fist into the wall above Tirian’s head, sending a spray of rock chips out around them. “Then make it yours! Own it so thoroughly, no one even recognizes it’s the same!”

Make it his? The wheels in Tirian’s head started to spin. He remembered his mother, all but imprisoned in their summer home, and every time that half of his power had broken free of his control. What if, instead of keeping his two halves separate, he brought them together?

A feral grin spread across Tirian’s face, and he got a wild gleam in his eye. As tendrils of darkness started forming around him, he stood up and told Chad, “Thanks. Guess I needed that.”

Chad returned the grin with one of his own. “About time.” He narrowly dodged an attack, and the battle began in earnest.

Lightmaster Sennan’s face had soured more and more as he’d watched the beginning of the fight, as well as the argument they had in the middle. But he’d remained seated until Tirian leaked darkness; as soon as that happened, he bolted upright, ready to jump in and put a stop to things before another tragedy occurred.

No sooner had he risen, though, when the headmaster ordered, “Sit down, Sennan.”

“Don’t you know how dangerous that power is?” Sennan demanded. “It can’t be controlled. And it won’t end until it’s had its share of blood!”

“You give your boy too little credit. Look closer.”

Sennan turned back to the fight. Then he noticed the tendrils of darkness weren’t nearly as frenzied as they should have been. While he tried to figure that out, Sennan finally noticed the veins of light running down each tendril. His eyes went wide. “...That’s not possible…”

“And yet he’s doing it.” The headmaster raised an eyebrow and looked up at Sennan. “Your boy’s put quite a lot of effort in this year.”

Sennan collapsed into his chair. “What will the rest of the Sentinels think?”

The headmaster snorted. “They know the boy’s parentage–they ordered it, after all–and it’s clear he’s learned control. It would be simple to spin this in your favor.” A sly smile flit across his lips. “No, if I were you, it would be the next fight I would worry about.”

Sennan’s eyes drew together. “The Peren girl? Why?”

“Not her; her opponent. The illegitimate daughter of Baroness Rachel Nuhardt. Does that ring a bell?”

Even more confused, Sunnan shook his head. The headmaster could only sigh. “Pity. Makes the whole thing even more tragic, I suppose.”

Down below, Gwen and Katya watched Tirian’s and Chad’s fight escalate. Gwen turned to Katya. “I’m sorry, but… After hearing and seeing that, I have to go all-out.”

Katya flashed her a wicked smile. “I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

Soon enough, the fight ended with chad flat on the ground, exhausted, and Tirian still standing. They exchanged a few words, though Gwen couldn’t make them out from where she was, and Tirian walked off the field, followed by the med crew helping Chad off.

“Guess we’re up,” Katya said. Gwen nodded, and the two headed out.

The announcer boomed out their names, and the center judge started the match. Immediately, Gwen sucked in and burst into light so bright the spectators could barely look at her. She caught a glimpse of the Lightmaster’s shocked expression. Ostensibly, he was her father, but after what she’d seen and heard, she was just as happy to have nothing to do with him.

Meanwhile, Katya had jumped onto a kite and guided the wind to circle around Gwen.

28 November 2022

And here it is. The last piece of the climax. With this I could officially say I’d written the whole story from start to finish, and had a working draft. There was one scene that felt incomplete that I added to to finish off my last two days, but this was the moment it all came together.

As for the climax itself…I’m not sure. I really enjoyed all the different emotions at play here, and I hope I was able to express them well. It surprised me how anti-climactic the actual moment was, though. I don’t know that I want to change that, even if it’s possible; a lot of major life events are small, simple, anti-climactic things, I think.

…gathered. “In particular, you want to see how viable it would be to use some facet of my existence to replace the curse now afflicting the king and queen?”

Maleficent nodded. “I believe that has the best chance of making this solution work. However, even then…”

“Indeed. I do not have a close enough connection to the rest of Aurora’s family, or anyone else whose life was affected, to impact them the same way the curse has. Additionally, the risks of unraveling are too great.” He stroked his beard. “However, if, rather than replacing the curse, you just wanted to divert it again, you would only need the target to be someone close to Aurora.”

Maleficent pressed her lips into a thin line. She looked over to the corner where Aurora sulked in a corner, arms folded. “She’s not going to like that. And things have not exactly been easy for her, recently.”

“No, they haven’t. And you’re right, she won’t.” The Tower’s gaze followed Maleficent’s to Aurora. “By chance, could I beg of you to lend Aurora your ears? I’d like to speak with her about it.”

Maleficent nodded, and pulled a piece of her own hearing to lend to Aurora.

“She’s not going to like that. And things have not exactly been easy for her, recently.”

As soon as Aurora heard those words, especially with the way Maleficent and Tower looked at her, ice crawled up her back. It was like a claw squeezed her heart. What were they talking about?

Then Maleficent pulled something out of her ear and sent it to Aurora.

All of a sudden, Aurora could hear things that she didn’t even know had sounds; the echoes of moonlight off the rain-soaked grass, for example, or the secrets that whispered from the corners of the room. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as the faerie sight had been, and Aurora was able to tune most of it out. She focused on the Tower. “What’s going on?”

“We have a way to save your parents,” Maleficent said. “But that doesn’t mean the solution doesn’t come with complications of its own.”

“Well, what is it?”

The Tower interjected. “I will be the one to take on the curse.”

For a second Aurora couldn’t breathe. Then she began to shake her head as she said, “No. No! That’s not a solution. We’re just passing the curse around again. There’s… there’s got to be a way to fix it.”

“Aurora…” Maleficent began, but Aurora ignored her.

“We still had that replacement idea, right?”

“Aurora.” The Tower, this time.

“Or… or we could find someone random. A criminal. Someone on death row. If we have to give someone the curse, might as well be–”

“Aurora.” Tower’s voice was soft but insistent.

Aurora looked up at him, and tears flowed down her cheeks.

Tower kneeled down in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “This is the only other option. This is the best way.”

Aurora shook her head. “Please, don’t go. I can’t lose you, too.”

Tower smiled at her, though tears filled his eyes, as well. “I’m old. So old I don’t even know how old I am. And look at me.” He gestured to his transparent body. “I’m not even truly a part of reality anymore. It’s time for me to move on.” He looked over to her parents. “I’ve been blessed to watch over you these last sixteen years; they’ve only had a chance to be with you a few days. They still have full lives ahead of them; so please, let me go, so you can be with your real family.”

“But you’re my family, too.”

Tower couldn’t respond for a moment. Then he swept her in a hug. “Thank you.” When he pulled back, he stared straight into her eyes. “But isn’t that all the more reason for me to do this?”

Aurora bit her lower lip, then looked over to Isaac. He just watched her, and when their eyes met he nodded to her once. He trusted her; the decision was hers.

She clenched her eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, then.”

Tower stood up and stepped back. Over by the bed, however, Maleficent had an apologetic expression. “There is one more thing, however.”

Both Aurora and the Tower looked at her. Maleficent sighed, then tried to pick up some of the Tower’s threads. “I cannot touch his fate. You have to be the one to do this, Aurora.”

Once Aurora’s brain caught up with what she was hearing, all she could do was give a dry laugh. If she botched this, she’d be responsible for the death of literally every parental figure she ever had. Even if it worked, she’d be responsible for half their deaths. She curled into a ball and wept into her knees for a moment.

Isaac reached out for her, but Aurora waved him off. “I’ll be alright, just give me a moment.” She took a deep breath, then stood and walked over beside Maleficent. “Alright. What do I need to do?”

Maleficent walked her through it, and Aurora, very delicately, shifted the bump representing the curse through until it only diverted the Tower’s silver string away from the rest.

When she finally finished and pulled away, Tower was already starting to flicker. Black streaks spiderwebbed up his face from his neck. Despite all that, he seemed utterly at peace. “Farewell, little one. I’m grateful my last few years of existence could be spent watching you frow up. I’m so proud of you.”

A fresh wave of tears spilled across Aurora’s cheeks. “Me, me too! Thank you for raising me!”

The Tower nodded and waved, and finally he disappeared. Aurora sank to her knees.

Isaac moved to comfort her, but before he could reach her, Hannah and Frederick stirred and began to sit up. Hannah, in particular, seemed a little confused, but as soon as she saw Aurora weeping she jumped out of bed and held her tight. Aurora turned and began sobbing into Hannah’s chest.

Frederick moved more slowly. As she stood, he looked between Aurora, Isaac, and Maleficent. “What happened?”

Isaac wasn’t sure what to say. “There was… a tower. Aurora’s tower, where she grew up. It was… alive somehow.”

“Alive enough to offer his existence in exchange for yours.” Maleficent wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “All so Aurora would have a chance to know you.”

Hannah’s eyes widened, and she hugged Aurora closer and kissed the top of her head. Frederick spread his arms around both of them, and Isaac moved in and leaned against his mom. Maleficent dipped her head and left the room, and they stayed there for a very long time.

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27 November 2022

As you might be able to tell, I was very much still struggling with the climax last Sunday. And it was Sunday anyway, and I’d gotten sucked into an old game I was replaying, so… There’s not much here.

“Good afternoon. I believe this is the first time we’ve formally met; I am the Tower. Up until recently, I could be considered young Aurora’s primary guardian.”

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. She’d known the Tower had developed some measure of sentience; she hadn’t realized it was so human under the surface. That created all sorts of implications, and Maleficent’s mind buzzed with all sorts of theories sparked by the Tower’s existence. She would have loved nothing more than to sit him down somewhere and pick his brain for information, but this wasn’t the time for that. “How well do you understand what we’re attempting?”

“Well enough, I believe.” He strode over to peer more closely at the threads Maleficent had gathered.

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26 November 2022

I tried so hard to figure out the climax and how it all fits together, and it just wasn’t coming together for me yet. So I decided to switch to something else, and I wrote the epilogue.

Honestly, I’m not sure I’m satisfied with it. The epilogue, I mean. It feels a bit too dry, and there’s also this nagging sensation that I’ve forgotten something. Not Phillip; at the time, I’d intentionally left him out so anyone who shipped him with Aurora could be free to do so. There’s still things I could figure out and say about him, though.

“Perhaps. But this is not the time for that, you are right. My apologies.” Maleficent turned back to the weaving. “There is one other thought I considered. If we found a way to replace the curse with something else, we might be able to choose something to tie things together rather than split them off. Even if we were to find something, however, it would be incredibly subtle and detailed work, and the risks are immense; if we handle this poorly, it would be as catastrophic as simply removing the curse, if not worse.”

“Well… what could we replace it with?” Isaac asked. “And what would that mean for us?”

“To be honest, I was still looking for the right materials and methods.” She fingered a deep blue thread. “I’d considered using Gothel’s threads, but even if she were yet alive, she is too wrapped up in all this, and too present in the real world, for that to be a viable option.”

Aurora looked back at the tapestry, and the silver thread that connected to the mini tower. “Is that why you were interested in this? Would Tower’s thread work?”

Maleficent shrugged. “That is one reason for my interest, though not the only reason. And it is a possibility; however, I do not know what the ramifications might be, either for the tower or for all of us.”

Aurora bit her lower lip, then held the tower figurine up and pushed her will into it. It glowed with violet light, and then expanded to cover the far wall with a new, stone one. A doorway opened in the center, and the more humanoid form of the Tower walked out. Unlike last time Aurora spoke with him, he was translucent, as though he wasn’t truly there.

He bowed to Maleficent, and Aurora could tell from his lips he was introducing himself to her. However, Aurora could hear nothing.

Once they’d all returned to the capital - for the most part via carriage - King Frederick and Queen Hannah declared the date they reunited with Aurora to be a national holiday. They formally accepted Venwald as an ally, and lauded Queen Brynne (or Maleficent) as a friend and hero. For the next two weeks, the capital celebrated like it never had before.

Before she left, around a month later, Maleficent made a point to spend time with Isaac, teaching him how to make sense of the things he could see now. In particular, she taught him how to recognize what it looked like when people lied to him, or when they were trying to skirt around the truth. When Frederick and Hannah stepped down and bequeathed him the throne, almost two decades later, that ability served him well, and he was known far and wide for generations as one of the most just and honest kings in all the land.

Hannah continued visiting Queen Brynne every year, though it was always after Aurora’s birthday now that she’d returned. The people of Venwald all spoke of how much the queen had softened due to Hannah’s influence, and Maleficent herself was surprised at the increased respect the people offered her. Nevertheless, there came a day, after Queen Hannah started getting old, when Maleficent appointed one of her counselors as ruler in her stead, and she vanished. No one knew where she went or what she was up to.

Fairies were, understandably, unwelcome in any of the western kingdoms after everything that had happened. They’d already been viewed with skepticism after Aurora had been kidnapped, but after the events surrounding her return to Lowenveil’s royal family, and all the stories she and her family told of Gothel (particularly her transformation into a dragon), the western kingdoms redoubled their stance.

As for Aurora, she lived a happy and full life, short as it was. Artists and connoisseurs from all over the known world came to see her work, and her fame grew, not only for her skill but also her temper. More than one foolish young man had come expecting a demure and sickly artiste, and experienced the ire of the firebrand princess.

She became particularly known for her portraits and figure paintings, in a variety of styles. However, it was near universally agreed on that her most famous piece, and likely the best, was the one that hung above her mantel, depicting a tall, thin man with steel-gray hair in a charcoal suit. Art critics from all over the world debated who the figure might be, or what he might represent, but Aurora never shared.

She had a mansion built in the forest at the site where the remains of the Tower had been. Frederick gifted her the forest and its environs as her personal fiefdom, and named her a grand duchess after she formally seceded from the line of succession. It was there she raised her family, after she got married. She had three children, and finally passed away giving birth to the third. Despite her weakness, she was perpetually optimistic, and her only regret when she died was that her children would grow up without their mother.

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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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21 November 2022

Looking over this, it kind of seems like I was all over the place. Bouncing from one scene to another. Part of that has to do with the fact that as we’re getting close to the end of the month, I actually have been really close to wrapping up the first draft, which makes this more of a novella than a novel I suppose. And due to the disjointed way I approached the project, I needed to take time to fill in the gaps between scenes. There is some new stuff, of course; Aurora’s second confrontation with Maleficent, for example, right as we hit the climax.

Isaac grit his teeth, as he knelt behind a fragment of the wall. How many men had he lost already? Was there anything he could do about the dragon’s fire breath?

The dragon sniffed the air again, and turned to look right at him. She began to suck in, and Isaac knew this was the end. There was no way he’d be able to get away in time. He sighed in resignation; while he didn’t regret anything, he did wish his citizens didn’t have to be the ones to pay the price.

Right before the dragon released her fire breath, however, a transparent, violet-colored image of a stone wall appeared between him and the dragon, then materialized into stone right as the flames hit. Isaac watched in awe as they bore the brunt of the flames without any signs of melting or burning.

On Isaac’s side of the new wall, it shifted to form a door, which opened to reveal Aurora looking quite proud of herself. She grinned at Isaac then turned to stare up at the dragon. “What do you need us to do?”

(Near the climax, after the second half of the dragon fight)

Aurora was incredibly apprehensive as she approached the fortress of thorns and roses. When she finally stepped inside, she found Maleficent focusing intently on some magic.

It took a moment for Maleficent to notice her presence. When the witch-queen finally saw her, her eyes widened, and she slowly walked up to Aurora. Aurora bit her lower lip and looked away. Maleficent slapped her and said, “You foolish, foolish girl!”

Before Aurora could protest, however, Maleficent dropped to her knees in front of Aurora, and Aurora was shocked to see tears in her eyes. She pulled Aurora into a hug and whispered, “I thought we’d lost you forever.”

“I’m sorry.”

Maleficent pulled back. “You understand, though, right? How dangerous fate-spinning is. I still cannot let you do this.”

“What if I had help?” Aurora gestured, and a mini Tower formed beside her.

Maleficent looked surprised, and considered the idea for a moment. Finally, though, she shook her head. “The risks are still far too great.”

She turned to leave, and Aurora had to force herself to keep calm. Then she called after Maleficent, “If there’s no hope in saving them, why did you keep them alive?”

Maleficent turned to her, one eyebrow raised. Aurora took a deep breath and continued, “I think somewhere, deep down, you’re hoping they can be saved. Maybe you’re even planning on saving them yourself.”

(After Aurora reunites with Frederick, when they’ve said Gothel is harmless)

Frederick frowned and turned to Conners. “Your thoughts?”

Conners thought for a moment. “Isaac’s always had a good head on his shoulders, and I would assume your daughter is similar. That said, it might not be a bad idea to leave a small contingent of men nearby to keep a watch on the forest, just to be safe.”

Frederick nodded to her. “Make it happen.”

Conners saluted and began ordering her men around. Frederick gestured to Rapunzel and Isaac. “Shall we head in? We have a lot to talk about.”

Conversation was incredibly awkward at first. Rapunzel had no idea what to say to the king, and Frederick looked just as lost as she was. There were a few false starts, from both sides, and Isaac did his best to bridge the gap, but both Rapunzel and the king were too self-conscious to relax and let the conversation flow.

Eventually, Frederick asked, “So… What are your plans going forward?”

Rapunzel bit her lip. Plans? For what? Three days from now? She had to take a minute to calm herself down. “Well, first off, I’d like to formally remove myself from the line of succession, if that hasn’t already been taken care of.”

Frederick nodded. “May I ask your reasons?”

“There are two main ones. First, Isaac’s trained all his life to take your place as king, correct?” Frederick and Isaac both nodded, and Rapunzel continued. “I haven’t. I’ve been living in the Tower my whole life. That alone would be reason enough. However…” A ghost of a smile flit across her features. “If I am, somehow, alive here in another week, I’m not exactly going to be in any condition to rule.”

Frederick grimaced. “So you are aware of that, at least.”

Rapunzel nodded, and Frederick sank, like the weight of the world had just settled on his shoulders. “Well, at least we get to have a few days together, right?”

“Yeah.” Rapunzel wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

They continued talking for the next few hours. Rapunzel talked about her paintings, and the Tower and everything it did to take care of her. She tried to make a point to avoid talking about Gothel too much, especially some of her…issues. Frederick talked about the kingdom and his goals for it a bit, but mostly he talked about Isaac and Hannah and their life together, including a number of embarrassing stories, to Isaac’s chagrin. Isaac himself would interject here and there, and sometimes gave as good as he got.

Just as the sun began to set, a woman burst in, with wavy, dark brown hair. It took Rapunzel a moment to recognize her as Queen Hannah.

“Mom!?” Isaac stood, shock written all over his face. “How did you get here so fast? You were two weeks away; I didn’t think you were going to make it!”

“I had help,” Hannah replied. She dipped her head to her husband, and then walked over to Rapunzel and rested a hand on her cheek. She stared deep into Rapunzel’s eyes for a long moment. Then Hannah smiled and hugged Rapunzel tight.

Rapunzel wasn’t really sure if she should reciprocate or not. Before she decided to return the hug, Hannah pulled back and smiled at her. “It’s so good to see you.”

Rapunzel broke eye contact and looked at the floor. “I’m sorry. I know you guys are my parents, and you’ve been searching for me for ages. I know you love me. But… It’s all a bit surreal, to me. I don’t really know you yet.”

“That’s alright, sweetie. Take your time.” Then Hannah’s face fell, as if she, too, just remembered time was something Rapunzel didn’t have a lot of,

To Rapunzel’s surprise, though, rather than getting depressed or weepy, Hannah’s expression grew determined. “Well, for now, we’ll do what we can, alright? Tell me if your father or I start acting too familiar.”

Rapunzel gave her an awkward smile. “Alright.”

(Returning to the climax scene with Maleficent earlier)

“Would it matter if I was?”

Aurora sucked in a deep breath, and bowed her head low. “Please let me help. You’re right; I don’t know what I’m doing. But the two of us together have a better chance than either of us alone, right?”

Maleficent frowned, and over the next minute or so her eyes never left Aurora’s face. “You must do exactly as I say, is that clear?”

Aurora straightened and nodded. Maleficent continued, “That means if I tell you to leave for your own safety, you will. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Maleficent sighed. “Very well. Come this way.” She peered past Aurora. “And you, boy. You have faerie sight, correct? You come too. They’re your parents, as well, and having a second pair of eyes that can see what we’re doing can’t hurt.”

Aurora gasped and spun around. Isaac stepped out from behind the bushes and smiled awkwardly. Part of her wanted to get mad, but her more rational side realized that would be hypocritical.

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

19 November 2022

A lot of these scenes were really fun for me to write. I especially enjoyed the “duel” (if you can even call it that) with Maleficent. Maleficent’s actually being super gentle with Aurora, to try and honor Hannah’s last wish that Aurora get a chance to lead a full life. But it’s cool to see how she manipulates different things to interrupt Aurora and her plans. I do probably need to clarify what exactly’s going on in one or two spots, though.

And then there’s the whole bit as Isaac, Aurora, and Phillip get ready to leave town. It’s a glorious mess, and I love it. Aurora would have been more than happy to stay, if Isaac had figured out a better way to approach the subject; instead, he sparked her stubbornness. This doesn’t go well for her, but I blame the both of them for that, not just her. I am worried that it’ll look like I’m taking Isaac’s side; he’s right, in a way, that she is weak, and isn’t physically capable of everything she wants to be, at least no without some kind of assistance. But I disagree with his approach. Find ways around limitations, and ways to mitigate risks; don’t just say someone can’t do something.

By the time they reached the village, Rapunzel’s feet were killing her, and she was having a hard time breathing. So she was grateful when Isaac announced, “This is it.”

They entered the building and Isaac walked up to the innkeeper. “I’d like to book an additional room for the lady here.”

“Of course, Your–” The innkeeper cleared his throat. “Of course, good customer.” He looked curiously at Rapunzel, then noticed the horrible state of her hair. “Oh my goodness! That looks dreadful. Would you like me to call me wife to tend to your hair?”

Rapunzel shot him a grateful smile. “That would be lovely.”

The innkeeper nodded once, then turned around and hollered, “Honey!”

A short woman with graying hair waddled out from the back. “Yes, what is it, darling?”

“Could you attend to the hair of our most recent guest?” The innkeeper turned to Rapunzel. “And, hm, shall we say to give her the royal treatment?”

His wife’s eyes sparkled, and she took Rapunzel by the hand and sat her down in a chair in the back. “Now, how long would you like it, hon?”

Rapunzel, shrugged. “I’d… like to keep it on the longer side. I’ve had long hair my whole life, so cutting it too short would feel… strange. But I’ll let you decide.”

“Tell you what, then; I’ll cut it to the small of your back, and if you do decide you want it shorter later, you will be able to find someone to cut it then.”

She got to work, and soon the sound of her clippers snipping away filled the room. It was a strange feeling for Rapunzel; other than the rushed hack-job from Isaac, she’d never had her hair cut, and she felt like she should sense something. Instead, it was kind of just… happening.

While she trimmed, the woman asked, “Where are you from? I don’t recognize you, and you seem pretty young to be gallivanting through the woods with the prince.”

“Oh, um…” So they knew he was a prince already. Rapunzel would have to be extra careful if she didn’t want them to find out she was the lost princess. “I’m from the far side of the forest; I was helping with his search for Princess Aurora. I actually turn sixteen in a week or so.”

“I see, I see.” The woman nodded to herself. “And what about his friend, Phillip? He’s a nice young lad. I assume you’ve met him?”

Ah. Rapunzel chuckled, and almost shook her head before she caught herself. “He’s just a friend. He has excellent taste in reading material, and he’s a nice enough guy, but there’s nothing more between us.”

“Ah. Well, more’s the pity.” There was a last snip of the clippers, and the woman announced, “All finished. Come, let’s scrub it clean for you.”

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Rapunzel headed up to the room she’d been given while she dried her hair, a contented smile on her face.

Later that evening, there was knock on the door, and Isaac called out, “Mind if we come in? I had a few things I wanted to talk about.”

Rapunzel opened the door for them, and Isaac and Phillip stepped in. She looked over at Isaac. “What is it?”

“Well,” Isaac began, and cleared his throat. “I… had a thought. I’ve already sent letters to Mom and Dad, to ask them to come here, Back then, I didn’t think you were ever going to leave the Tower.”

“Right, okay.” Rapunzel nodded.

“And given how much trouble you had just getting here, I was wondering if it wouldn’t be easier to just… wait here, maybe?”

Ordinarily, Rapunzel would think that was a great idea. Especially given the way her feet hurt. But something about the way Isaac was approaching this bothered her. “Why?”

Isaac frowned. “Why what?”

“Why are you suggesting this?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You don’t think I can do this, do you?”

“No! No, that’s not what I’m trying to say. It’s just… You’re not used to traveling, and you mentioned having a weak body, so I was trying to consider all the options, and…”

Rapunzel’s stare turned into a full-on glare. She’d taken care of herself just fine in the Tower for years, thank you very much. She could handle a little trip to the capital. “I’m going to need to get used to traveling at some point, so it might as well be now. We’re going.” Isaac began to protest, but Rapunzel ignored him and headed for the door. “Good night.”

She was in the hallway before she realized her mistake. She turned around and went back in and said, “Actually, this is my room. Could I ask you to leave? I need to sleep.”

Isaac threw his hands up in exasperation, but the boys did leave, and Rapunzel was left alone with her thoughts.

They did manage to find a horse to buy for Rapunzel, and set out early the next morning. It was quite a gentle horse, and Phillip gave her quite a few helpful pointers. Still, it didn’t take long to start chafing, and Rapunzel began to regret her stubborn outburst the night before. Not that she’d ever admit it.

Duel with Maleficent

Aurora looked in shock at the hedge of thorns surrounding this part of the palace. Had Maleficent done this? How? When?

She only walked in a couple of feet when she saw Maleficent standing there, almost as if the witch-queen had been waiting for her.

“I thought I told you not to risk this foolishness,” Maleficent said softly. Her eyes burned with green light, however, and her mouth was set in a grim line.

“And I can’t just leave them like this!” Aurora yelled back. “If that costs me my life, fine! I’m going to die soon anyway!”

The lights around Maleficent flared, and she glared at Aurora. “Do you really think so little of your life?” she demanded firmly. “Would you spit on the weight of the sacrifice Hannah made for you!?”

“I don’t even understand why she did it!” Aurora cried back. “I’m not worth something like that!” She ran forward and reached out to grab Maleficent’s intelligence; she didn’t want to hurt her, just incapacitate her enough to get past and…

Wait. What was she doing? Aurora stopped short and looked around. What was with all the roses and thorns? And who was that tall, intimidating woman glaring down at her, with her hand outstretched?

Then her memories all snapped back into place, and Aurora’s eyes widened. She looked up at the woman she now recognized as Maleficent.

“You will not set foot inside their resting place,” Maleficent promised.

Aurora bit her lip and reached out again. Maybe if she stole away Maleficent’s speed of thought–

Then everything went black, and Aurora stumbled forward. She stretched out her arms, trying to feel for where she was, when Maleficent’s voice whispered from beside her, “I have the magic and abilities of twelve fairies combined, with over fifty years of practice using them. I can see the threads you reach for before you can even grab them. What chance do you think you have?”

Aurora’s sight returned to her, and tears spilled out her eyes to mix with the rain on her cheeks.. It wasn’t even that Maleficent was right. It was the fact that Maleficent was holding back. If she’d wanted to, it would have been simple for her to keep Aurora’s memories or eyesight locked away, and Aurora wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Was there anything Aurora could do? Did she have anyway of beating Maleficent’s reaction time? Then she remembered a bit about fate-spinning she’d read, specifically the part where masters could control the very flow of time. She stilled her breathing, strained her ears, and reached out for the faint sound of a clock.

Maleficent’s eyes went wide, and she looked afraid for the first time. “Don’t! Aurora…”

Then Aurora grabbed something and yanked hard. In a moment, she vanished, leaving Maleficent alone in the courtyard.

Maleficent’s shoulders drooped, and her grip on her staff tightened. When she spoke, there was a catch in her voice, the only evidence she was holding back tears. “You foolish, foolish girl.”

[First half of Isaac’s fight with the dragon here.]

For a second, Aurora wasn’t sure her attempt at fate-spinning had done anything. Then she realized Maleficent wasn’t moving, and the rain had frozen. Aurora smiled and laughed; she’d actually done it! Then her smile disappeared as she realized something. How was she going to get back?

Back to first Tower exit

Still, it wasn’t that bad, and she kept herself distracted by chatting with the boys.

Halfway through the morning, she felt a little short of breath, like her chest was too tight. Aurora chose to ignore it, however; she’d insisted on continuing, and there was no way she was going to give Isaac more ammo to tease her with later.

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

18 November 2022

Fridays have generally been pretty good for me when it comes to writing during Nanowrimo. Even though I didn’t get as much as I had the week before, there’s still a lot I got done.

As you will see, I initially planned on having Gothel burst out of the Tower while they’re still there. Then I remembered that the capital is a week journey or more away, especially given Aurora’s health issues, and it didn’t feel realistic for them to keep dodging a dragon for that long. So I changed it to where Aurora wounds Gothel (with the Tower’s help… or such was the plan, at least), and it’s only later, when they’ve nearly arrived, that Gothel snaps and busts out her dragon form.

Of course, now I’ve changed things where they’re not even going to the capital, necessarily, but another village a day or two away. I haven’t decided how I’m going to change things because of that; no matter what happens, Aurora still wounds Gothel, but I might change it back so she bursts out right as they leave. That’s all business for after Nanowrimo, though.

Also, on the clip with Maleficent… I’d initially planned on that happening before her first duel with Aurora. And then somehow, in the short span of writing it, I forgot that, and started acting like it was after that duel, but before their next confrontation. And while I portray the Tower as female here, when I considered options - in particular the idea that the Tower might sacrifice themselves in someway for Aurora, whether to get her out of the frozen time state or to save her parents - I decided it would be better to have it be a male parental figure, this time. Hannah already represented the sacrifice of mothers, and I wanted to show that’s not a gender exclusive.

Aurora burst through the doorway onto the stairs. “Reception room, please!”

The stairs began moving up like an escalator, and the Tower created various walls and doors behind her to block Gothel’s way. Aurora took a second to catch her breath, then she began to head up the moving staircase.

Behind her, Gothel’s screams and shouts grew more and more bestial. Just as Aurora reached the reception room, Gothel screamed, “Shut the windows!”

Aurora groaned when the window sealed itself shut. She took only a split second to consider her options before she darted back up the stairs for her painting studio.

Every step Gothel took now shook the entire Tower. Aurora prayed desperately that the secret entrance Isaac had used was still there; when she saw the doorway in the back, she heaved a sigh of relief. Once she made it through the door, the stairs had been converted to a steep slide, and without a second thought Aurora hurled herself down it.

Gothel’s voice roared down the passage after her. “Even the Tower… The Tower’s helping her… She’s stolen the Tower from me!”

There was a great crash, and the walls around Aurora started to collapse. She screamed, but a moment later the Tower dumped her outside at the bottom. When she looked back, though, she was shocked to see a dragon had burst out of the top of the Tower.

When animals had started running out of the Tower, Phillip was confused. Then he recognized little Fenrir and scooped the puppy up; maybe Aurora had decided to let them loose, since she wouldn’t be coming back to the Tower?

A moment later, the Tower began to shake, and piles of books and things started coming out. Phillip hurried to pack as many of them as would fit onto the horses; in particular, he made a point to grab all of the King Arthur series.

Then he watched in fear and amazement as a massive dragon with dark blue scales burst from the top of the Tower, sending stone flying everywhere, a moment before Aurora rolled out of the base of it.

She seemed as stunned by the dragon as Phillip was, and one stone came within inches of crashing into her. Phillip snapped out of it and grabbed her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here!”

Aurora nodded and the two mounted their horses. Unfortunately, the dragon noticed them and they narrowly avoided a spurt of flame as they fled into the forest.

(After Aurora’s duel with Maleficent, while she’s stuck in broken time.)

Aurora sank to her knees at the sight. This was her fault, wasn’t it? After she’d wounded Gothel. The dam finally broke, and tears flowed down her cheeks. She’d deserved getting trapped like this. Everyone would have been better off if she’d never been born.

“Don’t cry, little one.”

Aurora gasped and spun around. A tall woman in a slender silver dress stood there, hands clasped in front of her. She had dirty-blonde hair, pulled back in a bun. Aurora had never seen the woman before, but something about her seemed so familiar. “Who are you?”

The woman’s smile turned a little impish. “You don’t recognize me?”

Aurora shook her head. The woman chuckled. “I can’t exactly blame you.” She gestured to the rubble all around them. “This was me.”

“You… wait.” Aurora’s eyes widened. “The Tower?”

“That’s right.”

“I… You’re alive!? I mean, I always knew you were somewhat alive, but not like this. Alive alive.”

Tower chuckled. “In a manner of speaking, I suppose.”

“How…” Aurora slumped back. After a moment, she asked, “Do you have a name?”

Tower shrugged. “It’s been so long. Tower works well enough for me.”

Aurora ran her fingers through her hair, still trying to process everything. The Tower looked behind her. “I see you finally had your hair cut. Properly, I mean, not just hacked off the way your brother did when you first left.”

“Yeah… yeah.” A small blush colored Aurora’s cheeks. “I guess it must have been pretty tiring, hauling all that hair around everywhere?”

“I was a tower. I can’t say I had any muscles that would get tired.”

That got a chuckle out of Aurora, but then she frowned. “What were you before? I mean, I assume you weren’t always a tower, were you?”

Tower shook her head. “No. But whatever I was before is so old, so distant and long ago, that I do not remember much of anything.” She tousled Aurora’s hair. “Not that I care much about that. Taking care of you has been happiness enough.”

That sent a jolt of pride through Aurora, though it soon faded. Auror curled in on herself and leaned against the Tower. “I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure I’m a terrible person.”

Tower frowned and looked down at her. “What makes you say that?”

So Aurora told her the story of everything that had happened since she’d left the first time. Of collapsing on the road, and facing the fact she was born sick. Of meeting her birth parents, and the way they’d sacrificed themselves for her. The way she felt guilty, since she’d never even tried to reach them before, when they’d been searching for her for so long. Of the ideas she’d had with fate-spinning, and the warning after warning both Maleficent and Isaac had given her. The way Isaac and everyone else in the kingdom were in the middle of fighting a dragon. All because of her. And how all of that had ended with her, here, trapped in a moment of time. 

“Sometimes, it feels like the world would be better off without me,” she concluded.

(Sometime after Aurora and Maleficent’s duel)

The hedge of thorns wasn’t just to keep Aurora out. No, Maleficent worked best in isolation, and this was the most natural way to her to block out the outside world. Even with Gothel rampaging around as a dragon just outside, Maleficent could focus on what needed to be done.

And she needed to focus; like she’d told Aurora earlier, fate-spinning was delicate work. And she would not let Hannah and her family suffer simply because Maleficent carelessly chose to clip a thread sixteen years ago.

As for what would happen when Hannah woke up… Maleficent would deal with that when the time came. Hopefully that fool girl would find a way back on her own; even Maleficent wasn’t sure she’d be able to save her if she couldn’t.

(Back to the chase in the Tower)

As she ran, Aurora noticed the lengths of her old hair running all along the stairway, and she got an idea. She hurried on to the paint room.

Gothel struggled to keep her emotions under control. Her thought flashed from that witch, the one who stole away her sisters, to Rapunzel. Then she shook her head. No, they were not the same. …Weren’t they?

She called out again, “Rapunzel! Come out, come out, wherever you are. Everything can be alright again! It must. So it’s not the time for games, dear!”

Soon, she arrived at the door to Rapunzel’s paint studio and heaved a sigh of relief. Of course! She was just working on a new project. Everything would be the same, everything would be back to normal. Rapunzel would still be her Rapunzel, not that witchy one.

She opened the door and sniffed; yes, Rapunzel was here. When Gothel stepped into the room, though, something, it felt like a rope or a bundle of string, pulled across the doorway, and Gothel tripped.

Above her, Rapunzel’s voice was firm. “My name is Aurora. My mother gave it to me. And don't you forget it.”

Then something solid struck the side of Gothel’s head, and she fell unconscious.

Gothel awoke back in her bed several days later. The Tower had prepared food for her, but she had no appetite.

“My name is Aurora.”

Gothel flashed back to an image of a baby, and a king and queen. Aurora. Then that witch, from all those years ago, had appeared.

“No! No! Stop!” Gothel clutched her head and tried to shove the memories back down. She didn’t want to remember. She didn’t want to see Johanna, now wrinkly and gap-toothed, giggling like a madwoman. She didn’t want to see the drool dripping form the corner of Agatha’s mouth, or Laura cowering in the corner at the slightest sound.

“My mother gave it to me. And don’t you forget it.”

No. No, that can’t be right. She was Rapunzel’s mother, wasn’t she? Hadn’t she looked after her all these years?

Or had she? Memories started coming again, more recent ones. Times when Rapunzel and the Tower had calmed her down when she had an episode. The way Rapunzel never came to her when she needed help; she went to the Tower. Even when Rapunzel was a babe, when Gothel didn’t know what she needed, it was the Tower that fed her, changed her diapers, taken care of the child.

The Tower. Gothel scowled. It was supposed to do her bidding, and yet with a wave of her hand Rapunzel had summoned doors and walls to bar her way. Then she remembered the boy - Isaac. How had he gotten in? How had he landed safely after Gothel threw him out?

Gothel’s mil-white eyes widened. It was the Tower. The Tower had turned against her; it had chosen Rapunzel over her.

The images of Maleficent and Rapunzel blended together again, and this time Gothel didn’t fight to keep them separate. Everyone betrayed her. Even the Tower. She let out a roar, and began to transform.

(Shortly after leaving the Tower the first time)

“Are we almost there yet, by any chance?”

Isaac and Phillip shared a look, then stared at Rapunzel, incredulous. “You really never have set foot outside your Tower, have you?” said Isaac.

“What? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question,” Rapunzel said, growing defensive. “You two have been going back and forth over the last two weeks, so it can’t be too far.”

“Oh, you mean the inn,” Phillip said. “Then sure, we’re close. It’s only about another hour or so.”

Rapunzel almost stopped in her tracks. Another hour? The inn? And that was considered close?

Isaac glanced at her and sighed. “Look, the castle is about a week away on foot. If we can get you a horse in the village, that’ll cut it down to four days or so.” Then he narrowed his eyes and looked at her. “Except… you’ve never ridden a horse, have you?”

Rapunzel looked away. “So what if I haven’t?”

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

17 November 2022

Well, here it is. We’re finally caught up, or at least as caught up as I’m going to get. I want to keep that one week buffer to give myself time to type everything in after I’ve written it.

At some point, I realized that after Maleficent’s discussion with Isaac on the dangers of fate-spinning, and considering his own stubbornness, there’s no way he’d agree to help Aurora figure it out. He would, however, be likely to send Phillip instead, and Phillip’s in so far over his head that he’s pretty much willing to roll with whatever.

Phillip smiled. “Aurora it is, then.” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “You do have a plan, though, right? To make sure you don’t vanish everyone?”

[skipping how she convinces him for now]

“Alright, then.” Phillip leaned back. “What do you need me to do?”

Aurora stared up at him in shock.

“Oi, don’t give me that look. You’re my friend, and Isaac sent me to keep an eye on you. Least I could do is help you try, right?”

Tears welled up in Aurora’s eyes, and she laughed. “Come on, then. Let’s go.”

The trip there went a lot faster than the trip back had been. Part of that was because it was just the two of them but part of it also had to do with the fact they better understood Aurora’s limits. Soon they arrived at the forest where the Tower was hidden away, and then the tower itself.

“Would it be better if I waited out here?” Phillip asked. 

Aurora nodded. “I’ll try to be quick. The Tower will let you know if something goes wrong.” She moved to the base of the Tower, which opened up to let her in.

Gothel had shut herself in her room ever since that witch had blinded her. She’d barely been able to eat, though the Tower provided plenty of food for her, and sleep evaded her. Her daughter, her Rapunzel, was like them. Like that woman. The one who’d taken her sisters away.

Gothel could have used the boy’s sight to at least partially heal herself, but she did not. She wanted nothing of his. It must be his fault. He’d changed Rapunzel somehow. Gothel snarled, then forced herself to calm back down.

Rapunzel’s words dug at her heart, but Gothel couldn’t understand them. So she stayed in her room, cycling through all the negative thoughts, until she caught a whiff of something familiar.

Rapunzel had returned to the Tower.

Edited bits to get the following:

“Can I leave the kingdom in your hands for a few days?”

“That would be unwise.” Maleficent shook her head. “Even were I well-regarded in the kingdom, which I am not, this is a critical time in your young reign. You need to prove that you are not a puppet, whether to me or anyone else.”

Isaac grimaced, and clenched his fist as he looked out over the parapet. Was there anyone else he could send?

A moment of inspiration struck him, and he gestured to one of his guards. “Please fetch my my friend, Phillip Charmande.”

Phillip didn’t really understand what Isaac had been talking about. Something about cobwebs, and fate, and his sister. All Phillip knew was that Rapunzel had gotten herself in over her head somehow, and Isaac wanted him to watch out for her.

He’d barely traveled two or three hours when he ran into Rapunzel off the side of the road. She was breathing heavily, and Phillip figured the ache in her chest was back. Her horse had been tethered beside her.

“You know, your brother was worried enough before he thought of how weak you get,” Phillip said. “Wouldn’t it have been better to let him know what you were doing?”

Rapunzel started and looked up at him. “Phillip?”

Phillip grinned at her. “In the flesh!”

“But… How? Why? I didn’t think anyone would notice–”

“That you left?” Phillip looked at her askance. “You do know that you’re a princess right? Even if you don’t want to be. And where you were gone for so long… People notice you now.”

Rapunzel scowled and looked away. Phillip dismounted and walked up to her. “Why didn’t you ask someone to go with you? You collapsed a couple times on the trip back, didn’t you? What if that happened again?”

“I, just… I don’t know.”

“Uh huh. And what’s all this about people disappearing from existence and fate and cobwebs and things?”

Rapunzel sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, I got that much.” When she didn’t say anything, Phillip said, “Look, Rapunzel–”

“It’s Aurora.”

Phillip blinked. “Huh?”

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

Phillip smiled. “Aurora it is, then.” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “You do have a plan, though, right? To make sure you don’t vanish everyone?”

“Not…exactly.” She looked down the road. “I know Moth - Gothel had some books about fate-spinning in her hidden library. So I was going to find them and see if I could figure anything out.”

“Alright, then.” Phillip leaned back. “What are we waiting for?”

Aurora stared up at him in shock.

“Oi, don’t give me that look…

Back to new stuff

Aurora crept through the Tower. She didn’t know where Gothel was, or if she was even still in the Tower, and she didn’t particularly want to find out. Even in the best-case scenario, Aurora didn’t think that encounter was going to be pleasant. It still felt weird, though, coming back like this. Kind of like coming home from a long vacation, only to discover you weren’t welcome anymore.

She made her way up the stairs to the meadow, and was surprised to find the animals still there. She was pleased to see they were well fed, and Fenrir was far more energetic now that Gothel wasn’t stealing his health to cover Aurora’s.

“Say, Tower,” Aurora said. “Would it be possible to let them out? When I leave, I mean. I don’t want them to stay here alone, and definitely not alone with her.”

The ground rippled in a way Aurora knew meant yes. She smiled and said, “Thank you.”

From there, she made her way through the Tower to the library. She went to a very specific bookshelf in the back left, pushed the switch, and [magical thing to open the door]. The bookshelf swung free, and she entered Gothel’s hidden library.

Aurora looked around at the piles of books and scattered documents everywhere. That was the downside to this place; nothing was organized the way it was in the main library.

Fortunately, Aurora had an idea of where to look. Soon, she was skimming through documents, looking for anything that might be useful. In particular, she looked for any references to fate-spinning or lifting curses.

Whenever she found something that looked promising, she grinned and stuffed it in her satchel. After an hour or so, it was already full to bursting, but Aurora wanted to look for a bit longer, just in case there was anything else she could use.

Then the Tower banged the door open and closed to warn her about something. Aurora jumped, then snuck into the main library and peered around the main bookshelves to the main entrance.

There, Gothel was sniffing the air, turning her head this way and that. Her eyes were milky white, and she kept one hand on a wall or bookshelf as she walked. “Somewhere, somewhere, here,” she said, her voice almost sing-song. “My Rapunzel is here somewhere. The nose knows, and I can smell her.”

Aurora’s breath caught in her throat. Had she ever seen Gothel this bad? She took a deep breath and began to stealth through towards the doors.

Then Gothel paused, and turned straight toward Aurora. If Aurora hadn’t known better, she would have sworn Gothel could see her. Gothel moved to block Aurora’s path to the door. With a snap of her fingers, the bookshelves joined together to keep Aurora from slipping through them and past Gothel.

A horrid grin spread on Gothel’s face, and she began walking down the aisle in Aurora’s direction. “My darling Rapunzel has finally come home! But she’s been a naughty, naughty girl. For she’s gone and become a witch, and even stolen my eyesight away!”

Aurora backed away, slowly at first and then more an more frantically. Soon, she’d backed herself up against the wall, while Gothel slowly advanced on her.

“So what will we do with this naughty girl? What should be done now she’s become a witch?”

Gothel reached a hand out as if to stroke Aurora’s cheek. Aurora barely held back a scream, and desperately reached behind her, hoping for a way out to appear. The Tower obliged, and Aurora turned the new doorknob and practically fell back into the hallway. She slammed the door in Gothel’s face, then raced down the stairs.

Stone clattered on stone when Gothel forced the Tower to open the way for her. “Dear Rapunzel, is my dear Rapunzel trying to run away? Where do you think you can go?” She whistled a tune, and a few steps ahead of Aurora, the floor slammed up into the ceiling, cutting her off. 

Aurora scowled and shouted, “Tower!” To her right, a door appeared, and she rushed through it into the lake room. She began sprinting along the shore; it was only moments, however, before she started to wheeze, and the pain in her chest returned.

Behind her, Gothel slowly pursued her, walking at the same even gait. “Dearest Rapunzel, such a sick little thing. All I wanted was to nurse her and make it better. And yet she blinded me.”

Aurora glanced back and yelped. Gothel’s face had transformed into a bestial snarl, and leathery wings sprouted from her back. The nails on her hands lengthened into claws. “Yet she blinded me! Why, Rapunzel? WHY!?”

She leaped into the air and dove at Aurora. Aurora rolled to the side, narrowly escaping her claws, and kept running. The Tower created a door in the wall closest to her and stretched the room to make it even easier to reach.

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15 November 2022

The final scene, with Aurora and Maleficent bonding after Hannah’s sacrifice, was really cool. I feel like it’s the closest I’ve come to balancing out Maleficent’s unexpectedly gentle side with her truly vicious nature. It’s going to be a while before that comes naturally to writing her, though, I think.

…hide!”

She pulled her wrist free and closed the door behind her. Isaac was half-tempted to open the door and follow her despite the warnings, but decided that prudence might be the better option in this case.

A couple of minutes later, an archway formed in the back part of the studio. This must be the way out Rapunzel mentioned. Isaac climbed in and began making his way down the stairs.

About one floor down, he caught the sound of voices. When he inspected more closely, he found an arrowslit that looked out onto the “reception room”. He pressed his ear against it to try and make out what was being said.

“...course not. I obviously haven’t gone anywhere, and what would I do with a prince?” Rapunzel’s tone reminded Isaac of some of the more experienced stablehands when they had to deal with an agitated horse.

“No, he’s here. I can smell him.” The voice belonged to an older woman Isaac recognized, most likely Gothel.

The Tower blinked lights at him, urging him forward, but Isaac held a finger up to his lips. “Let me listen a little longer.”

Rapunzel’s voice came through again. “Smell him, Mother? Do princes have a special ‘prince’ cologne I don’t know about? Besides, what business would a prince have with me?”

She probably had this handled, though Isaac was surprised; was Gothel unaware Rapunzel had already figured out the truth? Regardless, he’d heard enough, and he started to head down the stairs. He’d only gone a few steps, however, when the wall behind him burst, revealing a middle-aged woman with brown hair in a deep blue dress. She had a frenzied look in her eyes. “Got you! Skulking about in the shadows like a thief, prince?”

Isaac tried to bolt, but he’d only taken a step when some unseen thing wrapped around his legs and sent him sprawling.

“No, Mother, wait! He’s harmless! He’s not here to take me away or anything!” Rapunzel tried to get past Gothel and get between her and Isaac.

The fairy just ignored her attempts, as if she didn’t even notice them. She kept her eyes locked on Isaac. She raised one hand, and while muttering something Isaac couldn’t comprehend, began pulling the hand back toward her.

Isaac screamed, as what felt like thorns began sprouting from inside his eyes and trying to get out. Everything went black, and he clutched at his eyes; to his shock, there was nothing unusual there.

“You will never look on my Rapunzel again,” Gothel said, satisfied. She grabbed him by the lapel with one hand and began dragging him back up the stairs.

“No! Mother, what are you doing!?”

“Please…no…:” Isaac pleaded. “I’m not here to take her away from you.”

“And you won’t.”

Right as she threw him out the window, Rapunzel yelled, “Tower!”

Isaac had a moment of free fall, before his back slammed into something hard and he began to slide down.

Once he reached the bottom, he began to weep, as he clutched his eyes again.

Rapunzel found Isaac at the base of the Tower, curled in a ball and a weeping. Her own heart ached at the sight.

“Hey.”

Isaac snapped his head in her direction. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Rapunzel. You can relax.” Rapunzel couldn’t help but feel apologetic, and that came out in her voice.

“What? How did… Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She reached a hand toward Isaac’s eyes. “I have something for you.”

She touched his eyelids and gave him the sight she’d ripped from Gothel. She still didn’t know what to think about that.

Isaac blinked a few times, then looked up at her. “Rapunzel?”

“Yep. That’s me.”

“Sorry, it’s just…” He looked down at his hands, then at the forest all around them. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

“I bet.” Rapunzel helped him stand. “Now come on. We should get out of here.”

Sometime after Hannah’s sacrifice and arriving in the capital

Aurora sat on a chair, knees hugged tight against her chest. Strange, wasn’t it? So many years of stubbornly insisting that she was Rapunzel, that “Aurora” had nothing to do with her, and now…

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she stared at the still form of her mother. Her real mother. Someone, she didn’t know who, had found beautiful glass coffins to rest them in, along with a beautiful arrangement of flowers around the room. Aurora appreciated that; she wanted to get to know their faces, even if she’d all but lost the chance to get to know them.

She’d been there long enough for her legs to ache by the time Maleficent walked in. For a long moment, the witch just studied her. Finally, she quietly moved up next to Aurora to pay her respects. “They’ve done a lovely job with the arrangement of the room.”

Aurora nodded, and the two waited in silence for a long time. Then Aurora sobbed, “Why? I don’t understand. I’m sick. I’m weak… I didn’t even try to find them, or leave my Tower. Even after I learned the truth. Why would they give up so much for someone like me?”

Maleficent’s face remained impassive. Eventually, she said, “I am told that it’s normal for parents to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their children.”

Aurora glanced up at her. “You’re told?”

“I have no children of my own, and, well. My parents ultimately expected me to die for them.” Her eyes narrowed. “Needless to say, things did not turn out the way they expected them to.”

Aurora brushed the tears from her face. “I guess I have it lucky, since my parents actually loved me?” She couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“Not necessarily.” Maleficent shook her head. “I was merely noting the irony. You are unlucky because you never had a chance to know your parents; I am unlucky because I did know mine.”

In spite of herself, Aurora chuckled. “Maybe bad luck is part of being a witch.”

The barest hint of a smile touched Maleficent’s lips. “Perhaps.” The smile faded, and she looked down at Aurora. “I feel I should apologize. At the end of the day, if I hadn’t cursed you, you would have spent the last sixteen years under their care, rather than hidden away in your Tower.”

Aurora shrugged. “I always thought of your curse as a mercy. Right about now, I’d have core pieces of who I am freshly ripped away from me. Is death any worse than that?” After a moment, she frowned and looked up at Maleficent. “That reminds me, though. What exactly happened between you and Gothel? I know it traumatized her, but that’s all.”

Maleficent folded her hands together. “Did you know that back east, the nations use fairy-blessed children as signs of status? For as long as they are blessed, that is.”

Aurora nodded. “Some of the books she hid away mentioned that.”

“Well, my parents had curried a great deal of favor with the fae, and when I was born, a full contingent of thirteen fairies came to bestow their blessings on me. Gothel was one of those thirteen.”

Aurora’s eyes went wide with horror. “Thirteen? One or two is bad enough, but…”

With a wry smile, Maleficent said, “Yes, my entire life was impacted by fairy magic meddling. No one told me the consequences, of course, until everything ran dry and I was left with nothing. I was lucky to steal a bit of wisdom and intelligence by instinct alone. And once I got beyond that, well… I went and found the fairies that had cursed me and ripped my gifts right back out of them.” A cruel smile appeared on Maleficent’s face. “All except Gothel, who had gifted me empathy and called it kindness. I let her go, in part to warn the fae their era was ending.”

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13 November 2022

Not much to say about this one. Continuing the sacrifice scene from the Sunday before. I’m still not certain how vulnerable I should let Maleficent be; would she allow herself even one tear where people can see? I’d also like to add a bit more of Isaac’s reaction as he realizes he’s in charge now.

Maleficent turned to Frederick. “With your permission?”

Frederick swept Hannah and Aurora into a strong hug. He kissed the top of Aurora’s head, and stared into Hannah’s eyes as he asked Maleficent, “Would it be possible for me to split the cost with her?”

For the first time since she had become “Maleficent”, tears rose to her eyes. And yet, a flicker of hope began to flicker in her chest. “That… could theoretically work. Ordinarily, you would both just die together, but where I was the one to set the initial curse…” She trailed off as she began working on the magical formulas in her head.

“What is it?” Frederick looked hopeful.

“If you are sharing the burden with her, I should by able to weaken my curse enough that you both fall into an deep sleep, rather than kill you outright. Additionally, you both would take half the cost for Aurora’s ‘gifts’.”

A gentle smile formed on his face. “Then I will do it.”

The prince stepped forward. “Then I–”

“No, Isaac.” Hannah stopped him and pulled him into the group hug. “We need you to stay here. Aurora’s finally come home; we can’t just leave her alone, can we?”

“And the kingdom needs a ruler.” Frederick clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry to leave this to you, son. But I know you will do fine.”

Isaac bit his lower lip, but he squared his shoulders and nodded.

Aurora burst into another round of tears. “No. Please don’t do this.”

Frederick responded by squeezing her tighter. “I’m just sorry we couldn’t be there to watch you grow up. Let us do this much for you.”

He nodded to Maleficent, and she began to cast the spell. She wove words from the ancient faerie tongue into the magic as she pulled her curse out of Aurora’s body and split it between Frederick and Hannah, looking like a sickly green light bound the three together. While she was at it, Maleficent messed with the threads of beauty and intelligence tangled around Aurora, and returned her to a natural state, pulling from the royal to make up the difference where necessary.

Soon, the spell finished, and Frederick and Hannah sank to the floor. Only the slight rise and fall of their chests gave any indication they were alive at all.

Maleficent knelt and brushed a lock of hair from Hannah’s face, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Farewell, my friend. May you wake up someday.” She stood, and dipped her head to Isaac. “Your Majesty.”

Isaac barely seemed to register her presence even as he acknowledge her greeting. He simply stared at his parents, too overwhelmed to do anything.

Aurora sank to her knees and wept bitterly. Maleficent couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going through the girl’s mind. Whatever else, she knew it was possible, perhaps likely, Aurora would come after her for what had happened here, no matter the promise Maleficent had made with Frederick. Maleficent wasn’t sure she could blame the girl if she did.

Maleficent turned and swept out of the room. As she went through the doorway, she said, “I’ll be in the throne room if you need me.”

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12 November 2022

Considering this was a Saturday… I didn’t get a whole lot written. Part of that had to do with getting distracted; I discovered the Cinema Therapy channel on YouTube on this day. But I think part was feeling a bit burned out, or maybe just uncertain what the rest of the story was going to look like.

…said a word. Finally, Isaac said softly, “So you’d rather just give it up? Sixteen years with someone you love is still better than six months, and even that is better than nothing.”

Rapunzel gave him a wan smile. “And then what? Become the royal heir? I have no training in how to rule a kingdom; you’ve had that since birth, right? You’d make a much better king than me.” She looked up, in the direction her paint studio was located. “And honestly, I don’t want to be a princess. I’m happy here. I’m free to paint, to garden, to take care of the animals. That is enough for me.”

Isaac grimaced and studied Rapunzel long enough for the silence to get awkward. Then he sighed. “What if we met in the middle. Mom and Dad come here, instead. No princess, no responsibilities in the kingdom. Just family trying to reconnect.”

Rapunzel bit her lower lip. Honestly, she didn’t want to. The more people got to know her, the worse it would be for them when she died. Or worse, when she lived, but lost herself; she’d seen firsthand what watching that happen to her sisters had done to Mother.

On the other hand… Rapunzel squeezed her arms around her chest. “Okay. I’ll meet with them. But I don’t know how Mother will react. She can be… strange, sometimes.”

Isaac beamed at her. “Thank you.”

They invited Phillip back over, and the boys stayed and chatted with her for another hour or two. Phillip was ecstatic to learn Rapunzel was also an avid fan of the Arthur novel series; the two delighted in trashing on Lancelot and his ridiculous ego, and got into a minor debate over which member of the Round Table was the most worthy of obtaining the Grail. Isaac interjected occasionally to snark at them both, but he had a good-natured smile the whole time. Rapunzel didn’t want to admit it, but she enjoyed herself, and she was quite shocked at how lonely she felt when they left.

“Well, I thought that all went better than last time,” Frieda said.

“Yeah, we got lucky. I don’t envy those boys, though,” Lena replied.

Frieda frowned. “Will the tall one be alright, do you think?”

Lena shrugged. “Why do you care?”

Before Frieda could reply, a small blue butterfly landed on Frieda and began to send magic pulses back the way they had come.

The two fairies looked at each other and turned pale. They left the road and started running. Lena through up magic shields to try and mask their presence, while Frieda struggled to pry the magic butterfly off of herself.

Sh**, it’s HER, Lena thought. Gothel was trying to track them down. Who knows what that madwoman was thinking?

They made it safely to town that evening and stayed the night. However, when they awoke, five more butterflies had gathered around them, and Lena and Frieda booked it out of town as fast as they could. For the next week, maybe week and a half, they actually managed to keep ahead of Gothel. Once, they even used large cloaks to disguise themselves and walked right past her.

But everyone messes up at some point, and Lena and Frieda soon found themselves facing down the blue fairy.

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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.

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4 November 2022

This was the day I put together a lot of the building blocks that would eventually become the foundation for my story. This is the day I decided the Tower was alive, similar to the Encanto in Disney’s Encanto, or the TARDIS in Doctor Who. It’s also the day I realized Rapunzel, at first, doesnt’t want to leave. Being a princess doesn’t sound that great, at least to her.

The most interesting discovery, though, was the relationship between Hannah and Maleficent. I hadn’t planned for that. Was actually trying to lean away from it, in the planning phase I do before each chunk of writing (it happened a lot this particular day). And still, Hannah refused to leave without figuring out who Maleficent was on the inside and befriending her, and that impacted the plot of the entire book.

One thing I had not figured out yet, though, was what exactly motivated Gothel and Maleficent. I did figure out their shared backstory later, but here, it’s still just a generic “Maleficent hates fairies”, and a vague idea that maybe Gothel wants Aurora as part of some collection (that’s not why, as it turns out, at least for this story).

You would think that after spending years and years locked up in a tower, Rapunzel might resent her (foster) mother, especially after learning the truth, or at least year for more adventure in her life. For the most part, though, you’d be wrong.

Well, it’s not like Rapunzel had zero resentment towards Mother. She’d figured out years ago that she was the “lost princess Aurora”, and Mother had been the one to spirit her away from her real parents. But she’d found out at the same time about Queen Maleficent's curse and everything else that occurred around that time, so she was willing to give Mother the benefit of the doubt. She’d honestly been too scared of Mother’s response to ask about it, though.

Besides, if she was still part of her real family, she’d be a princess, with all the duties, responsibilities, and expectations that came with that. To Rapunzel, that sounded like much more of a prison than the Tower ever was. Especially when she could open a door here and randomly stumble onto a gorgeous lake, in a room so large she got barely make out the far wall. No, the Tower had all the adventure she needed right there.

On this particular morning, Rapunzel woke up and stretched like usual. “Good morning, Tower!” The Tower waved the bedroom door to return her greeting, and shuffled her bedroom slippers over to her. Rapunzel slipped out of bed into them, and made her way downstairs.

Before she even arrived at the kitchen, she could smell the bacon cooking on the griddle, and a smile lit up her face. Sure enough, when she walked in, the Tower had heated the stove and was cooking up a healthy serving of bacon and eggs.

“Where does Mother get all this pork and chicken, I wonder?” Rapunzel mused aloud. The cabinets clattered in a way Rapunzel recognized as the Tower’s equivalent to a shrug. “Speaking of Mother, is she back yet?”

Before the Tower could reply, a voice from outside called out, “Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!”

“Ah. Coming!” Rapunzel called back. She snagged a piece of bacon and scarfed it while she headed to what she called “the reception room”. There, the Tower had brought over the opposite end of her long, bright red hair, which was kept coiled on a wheel. Rapunzel hooked the wheel into the winch system and released the brake; the wheel spun loose, and dropped the ends of her hair to the ground outside.

Once Mother was ready, she tugged the hair three times, and Rapunzel began to crank her hair back into the Tower, lifting Mother in with it. Today, she had the appearance of a middle-class woman in her early- to mid-forties, and wore a deep, navy blue dress with white sleeves. She seemed especially fond of the color blue; no matter who or what Mother transformed into, it always featured blue prominently.

As Mother stepped inside, Rapunzel asked, “How was your trip?”

Mother smiled at her and patted her head. That irked Rapunzel a bit; she wasn’t a child anymore. But Mother meant well, so Rapuzel didn’t bother to fight it. “It went well enough. I got you a few things.” Out of a bag no bigger than a house cat, she pulled out an array of paints, several large canvases, and a new set of brushes. “I got you a few more books, as well; three or four storybooks, and a couple of histories.”

Rapunzel broke out in a wide smile and hugged Mother. She’d been running low on paint supplies; this was perfect. She decided not to mention she’d secretly read both histories already when she’d broken into the hidden library Mother kept in one of the secret rooms. No need to cause trouble; the novels looked intriguing enough, anyway.

“Thank you, Mother.” She gathered the paints and brushes, leaving the Tower to take care of the canvases and books. “The Tower has breakfast ready in the kitchen; bacon and eggs.” then she skipped off to her painting studio to put her things away.

After Gothel discovers Isaac has been visiting Rapunzel

Gothel’s rage simmered down as the boy flew out the window. She pocketed the boy’s sight for later use and carefully arranged her features into a calming smile. As she turned and looked at Rapunzel, however, she froze.

Rapunzel, her sweet, little girl, the centerpiece of her collection, now floated two to three feet in the air. Her eyes burned with violet light and her nostrils flared, and the very shadows of the room were drawn toward her. Gothel couldn’t help but remember that fateful day, almost sixteen years ago, when that despicable witch has stalked in and cursed this very child. The witch then looked very similar to the way Rapunzel did now.

“Rapunzel?” Gothel asked timidly.

When Rapunzel spoke, her voice echoed, as if it emanated from every wall and doorway in the Tower at once. “How dare you! What right do you have to hurt him?”

“I just… just wanted to keep you safe,” Gothel explained, making a great effort to keep her voice as level and soothing as possible. “He could be dangerous.”

Rapunzel snorted and sneered at her. “Why, because I might find out about the fact he’s actually my brother? Or were you worried he’d come and take me away with him, and ruin your ‘collection’?”

Gothel’s eyes widened, and her mouth slipped open. Rapunzel touched to the floor and slowly began to advance on her, forcing Gothel to back up towards the door. “What, you thought I was a fool? That I wouldn’t find out on my own? Your friend gifted me with cleverness, remember? I know I was born Princess Aurora. I’ve known for years. If that was enough to make me leave, I WOULD HAVE LEFT YEARS AGO!”

Gothel’s back hit the wall of the hallway beyond the door. She tried to reach out to the Tower for help, but she got no response. Then Gothel remembered its purpose; it would do everything to “protect Rapunzel”, even if it was against its creator’s wishes.

“For the record, I’d already told him I wasn’t going home with him,” Rapunzel continued. Her tone softened, and her voice lost its echo. Her eyes still burned, but they turned away from Gothel for a moment. “But it was nice to have someone visit. Someone human, who can actually understand the things I need and the way I think.” She snorted and glared at Gothel. “Not that you’d understand that, would you, Mother? Fairies don’t work like that, do they?”

That was the first time Gothel had heard Rapunzel spit the word “Mother” with such venom. She flinched, bu she tried to argue back. “But with your curse–”

Rapunzel’s eyes flared brighter, and her voice boomed louder than it ever had yet. “And which curse would that be? Maleficent’s curse of death? Or do you mean the one your friends gave me along with their gifts, that will turn me into a wretched, ugly simpleton halfway through my life!? Compared to that, Maleficent’s curse might almost be a blessing!”

Gothel’s eyes went wide and her heart shot with pain. What was this feeling? She didn’t understand. And that witch’s curse was a blessing? Her face contorted and turned sour. What about all Gothel had done for Rapunzel? Where was the girl’s gratitude? “After everything I’ve done to keep you safe–”

“You’ve locked me in a cage like a pet songbird!” Rapunzel roared. “You’ve hidden me away like a secret treasure, to make sure no one can steal it from you! And I was willing to let you. Because it’s comfortable here. I don’t have to face real life. Well, guess what?” She reached her hand towards Gothel’s face. “I’m done hiding.”

She spoke a word in the old faerie language, clenched her fist, and pulled. Gothel screamed as her eyes burned and everything went black. She heard Rapunzel snap her fingers and order, “Stairs.”

To Gothel’s surprise, she heard the scrape of stone on stone as the Tower rearranged itself to comply with Rapunzel’s bidding.

Gothel grew furious at her creation, and her voice lost any trace of composure. “Stop! What are you doing? I built you to protect the girl?”

There was a moment of silence, then Rapunzel answered on the Tower’s behalf. “Didn’t you know? Sometimes the best way to protect something is to let it go free. It was even mentioned in one of those novels you gave me.”

And with that, Gothel was left with only Rapunzel’s fading footsteps and the sound of her own screams.

Roughly 2 Years Later (after Aurora was first taken, btw)

Hannah looked up at Castle Venwald. She’d heard stories as a little girl of the glorious, pristine white walls, even all the way out in Lowenveil, but now they’d all been dyed a deep black. She almost turned the horse around, but after all the effort it had taken to convince Frederick to let her come on this journey, she couldn’t just go back and admit she’d gotten cold feet. She rode up to the castle gate and addressed the guards. “I am Queen Hannah of Lowenveil. I’ve come to request an audience with Queen Maleficent.”

One of the guards saluted and entered the castle. She waited outside on her horse for ten to fifteen minutes, then the guard returned and led her inside. “You can leave your horse here; we’ll take it to the stables and one for it until you are ready to depart.”

Hannah dismounted and thanked him, then followed his directions to the waiting room. Inside the castle was slightly cheerier than the outside, with red carpets and beautiful tapestries, but the lighting was still dim, and Hannah felt incredibly out of place.

She was in the living room for around thirty minutes before Maleficent entered. Venwald’s queen wore an elegant, deep violet dress; while it wasn’t as formal as what she’d worn to Aurora’s baby blessing, somehow it made her all the more imposing. Her crown was stylized to look like two horns sweeping back over her raven hair. “Queen Hannah. This certainly is a surprise, especially considering the circumstances of our last encounter.”

Hannah moved to stand, but Maleficent raised a hand. “Please; stay seated. Especially considering your current condition.”

She pointedly stared at Hannah’s belly. How did she…? No, she was a witch, of course she could tell. Hannah accepted her offer and sat back down.

Maleficent took a seat near her. “So does your husband know yet?”

Hannah looked aside. “I only found out myself a week into the journey.” She smiled sadly. “It’s just as well. It was hard enough to convince Frederick to come as is.”

For a long time, Maleficent just studied Hannah. Hannah couldn’t tell what was going through to other queen’s head, but she straightened her back and returned her gaze. This was not a time to back down, no matter how terrifying or dangerous Maleficent was.

“Why did you come?” Maleficent asked. “Whatever my reasons, I’m well aware of the pain my actions have caused your family.”

“That is one of the reasons, actually,” Hannah replied. “I wanted to hear your reasons. If possible, I want to understand why you did what you did. It may not change things, but I think we have a right to know.”

Maleficent dipped her head. “And the other reasons?”

“I’m sure by now you’ve heard what happened to Aurora after you left?” When Maleficent dipped her head again, Hannah said, “We haven’t been able to find either Gothel or Aurora. Something is going on with the fairies, and other than the fairies themselves, you seem to know the most about them.”

For a moment, Maleficent didn’t reply. She simply took a cup of tea to her lips, and savored the scent for a moment, before she drank and set it down. “Fortunately the two are intertwined. How much do you know about the costs of fairy blessings?”

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2 November 2022

I realized the next day I never showed how or why Aurora was taken by Gothel. So I wrote that scene, and used it as a chance to get to know the rest of the family better by making King Frederick, her father, the POV character. Once I get it all down, that’s something I’ll have to mess with; how many POV’s will I have, and how to tighten that up. But not right now.

Phillip… kind of came out of nowhere. I figured Isaac would probably travel with a friend, and I named that friend Phillip as a reference to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, but I didn’t really expect much from him. He’s still not a main character, but he’s a lot more important than I’d expected. No romance, though, at least not during the events of the story. They’re teenagers. I’m not going to mess with that.

When Maleficent had arrived, King Frederick could tell there would be trouble. He’d heard the rumors from Venwald; the way their king had suddenly become ill and passed away, right as Queen Maleficent had increased in vigor and beauty. Other rumors floated around, as well, enough that he would have preferred if the two nations left each other well enough alone.

He also noticed the way her face darkened when she saw the trio of fairies. And when Maleficent spoke to them later in the language of magic, Frederick was certain they knew each other, or at least knew of each other, and his suspicions spread to the fairies, too.

He and Hannah had heard the stories of the great powers fairies wielded and the boons they granted to those who aided them. So when these three had arrived and offered their blessings, Hannah had been ecstatic, and even he’d been pleasantly surprised. But even then, and more so now, Frederick had to wonder, why their child? What had they done to warrant such a courtesy?

So when Maleficent cast her curse and left the palace, Frederick immediately wheeled on the fairies. “What was that? Who was that woman?”

Gothel, the blue fairy, stood off to the side and just stared at little Aurora. She didn’t seem to hear him. Lena and Frieda, meanwhile, froze for a moment before Frieda answered, “That… that was a witch. A powerful one.”

“One of the darkest and most dangerous creatures of all,” Lena added.

Hannah caught her breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “She spoke magic like you. Can you undo what she did? Break the curse?”

At the word “curse”, Lena and Frieda flinched, and Frederick’s eyes narrowed. They explained, “Alas, we’ve already offered the babe our blessings, and can do nothing more.” Lena turned and offered Gothel a smile that was much too large to be believed. “What about you, Gothel dearest?”

Frederick wasn’t certain he believed they could do nothing, but he, too, turned to the blue fairy. For her part, Gothel still seemed unaware of any of them; her focus was solely on Aurora. “She is such a beautiful baby, isn’t she? Too beautiful for this cruel world. Cruel people, cruel destinies. No, we must keep her safe.” She snapped out of her reverie, and looked defiantly at Frederick and Hannah. “I will keep her safe!”

And with that, she scooped the baby in her arms, snapped her fingers, and disappeared. Silence enveloped the ballroom.

Queen Hannah stared in shock at the empty crib and sank to her knees. The remaining two fairies looked in horror from her to Frederick, and their faces turned pale white once they saw his expression. He unsheathed the first couple inches of his sword, and with steel in his voice, he said, “No more lies. You had best start explaining. And quickly.”

Isaac circled the base of the withered apple tree, looking for any other signs of what might have caused it to die. “And it was just fine yesterday?” he confirmed with the farmer. “No signs of beetles or rot or whatever else?”

“Healthiest tree in the whole damn orchard,” the farmer replied with a nod.

“Come on, Isaac. No matter how many times you look, you won’t find anything new. Let’s go already.” Phillip, Isaac’s best friend and traveling companion, lounged against the farmer’s garden fence. He made no effort to hide the boredom in his expression. He wore his brown hair almost shoulder-length, arranged in a way that might have worked if he were more than fourteen years old; as it was, he still had too round a face to pull it off.

Isaac ignored his friend and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. “Has anything else unusual happened? Missing needles? Broken spinning wheels?”

The farmer thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, yes. There was something. When I got up this morning, the spindle on my late wife’s old spinning wheel had broken off. With all the commotion about the tree, I’d completely forgotten.”

Isaac thanked him, collected Phillip, and the two were off. Phillip snarked, “what business does a prince have with apple trees and spinning wheels, anyway?”

“You’d be surprised. A fair amount of the kingdom’s food and income come from orchards. And the number of spinning wheels that have broken in recent years has been enough to have a significant effect on-”

“Enough, enough, geez! Man, have I ever told you how utterly boring a person you are?”

With a smile, Isaac gave him a playful shove. “Yet you keep hanging around me anyway.”

“‘Course! Someone’s gotta keep things interesting around you.” Phillip dropped the grin. “But seriously, this is all about that search for your sister, isn’t it?”

Isaac shrugged, but he didn’t fool either of them.

“Dude, it’s already been, what, fifteen years? Sixteen? We weren’t even born yet. What’s with this?”

Isaac shrugged again. “I guess it’s just… She’s family. And Mom and Dad haven’t given up yet; why should I?” He grinned and bumped his shoulder into Phillip’s. “Besides, if you don’t like it, you could always leave.”

“Like I said before, someone’s gotta keep your life interesting.” Phillip grew thoughtful. “Say, d’you think she’s hot?”

The only thing Isaac could do was stare incredulously at his friend. “That’s my sister you’re talking about!”

“I know, I’m just sayin’...”

Isaac shook his head, and the two headed on into town.

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