It was a beautiful winter day; snow had recently fallen in that hard icy way that created a hard packed layer with ice over top. The mid-day sun sent scattered beams of light over the layer of snow, creating a glittering pristine land scape. The boughs of the evergreens hung low to the ground with the weight of their icy burdens. Bundled expertly against the cold, Merida was able to take in all of this as she rode into the valley that would take her to the tower. Her horse strode easily through the encumbering snow, so the ride was easy, relaxing almost, if it hadn’t been for her self-assigned and totally important mission of the day.
She’d climb that tower today, there had to be someone in there. She’d seen an old hag entering, heard a girl’s voice inside. Her mother had told her all of the old tales, she knew there was bound to be a princess locked away. She’d saved her dessert from dinner and filched a few more hot sweet rolls so she would have gifts to give the princess when she saved her. Merida wasn’t a prince, so she wasn’t sure just what she was supposed to do with her after she saved her, but she was certain her father would figure something out. I mean you don’t just let princess’s stay locked up in a tower all their lives. Unless she was Merida’s sister, a younger one to groom to take over the throne if she failed, that seemed like a plan that her mother would come up with. It didn’t matter just yet; she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Her immediate focus had to be climbing the tower to the top window.
The first day she’d found the tower, the bottom door hadn’t been locked so she slipped right in and explored. She’d summarily come to a much larger and locked door that presumably led to her princess. She couldn’t open it, though and the hag had come back so she’d had to slip out of the window and had left defeated. The next time she’d found the door locked, the only option was to climb the tower to the balcony. She’d spent most of the summer scrambling up cliffs and bare tree trunks, accumulating many tears in her dresses, cuts, bruises, sprains, and most of all lots of splinters. She determined that she couldn’t make a grappling hook and it was extremely hard to shoot a rope on an arrow with any real force so it came down to her climbing ability. She was confident now that she could indeed climb the tower now; the thing was made of brick so she would simply have to climb bare foot. It was an easy task to contemplate, she could see her best starting position and then also see the path she would take, how to mount the balcony. All she had to hope was that the hag was not there to spoil her plans.
Rapunzel felt that something was wrong. Her mother had been very strange recently, since the spring really, she never seemed to leave for very long and always seemed suspicious of something. Today she was being extremely manic, demanding to know who she was seeing, what she knew of life outside of the tower. She knew nothing, was seeing no one and certainly wasn’t planning to do anything of the sort. Her mother knew what was best for her, that was a fact she couldn’t dispute and certainly wasn’t going to try. Despite her misgivings her mother had left in a huff and promised to be back with food soon.
The girl had come into the clearing then, the girl in the green dress with the red hair. The odd girl had called out, but she’d just huddled on the far side of the room. Her mother would be furious to find that she had talked to some other person, so she’d hidden. It hadn’t been long after the girl disappeared that she’d heard it. The light tapping, the grunts, and it ascended up the tower in a curling pattern, she was sure it was headed for the balcony. She needed to stop it; her mother would never forgive her if something found its way into her room. She grabbed one of her least favorite cups, it was metal so it would hurt and hopefully knock the burglar off of her home. She went out onto the balcony and watched the stone face for the signs of her intruder. She heard the sounds, the grunts that were high pitched, and the loud exhalations of breath, occasionally she heard a high pitched voice muttering encouragements. She wasn’t quite sure but it sounded like a girl, and to climb the tower her fingers would have to be small, her fingers were small. The intruder could be a girl her age; she could be a friend climbing the tower. Just as this occurred to her a fuzzy red mop of hair popped into her view followed by the rest of the girl. It was the girl from earlier. She was dumb struck.
The girl raised her head and caught a look at her, a grin breaking out on her sweaty face. “Princess! I knew I’d find ye! I’ll be up in just a few moments to save you!” She called.
“Oh, no, I’m not a princess. I don’t need saving, this is my house!”
“That’s just what they want you to think! I’ve heard the tales, old haggy mother, locked in a tower, missing princess kidnapped as a baby. You’ve been kidnapped and you need saving. I’ll take you to my father and he can figure out where you rule!” Merida crowed as she continued up the tower.
“That’s ridiculous, please dismount my tower and go home. My mother will be home soon and she doesn’t like visitors!”
“Anti-social old haggy mother sounds suspicious!”
“Stop insinuating those things, my mother loves me and I’m happy here!” She threw the cup hard at the fuzzy hair, and watched as it sailed harmlessly past her. The girl looked up and scowled.
“That wasn’t very nice, princess!”
“Stop calling me that, my name is Rapunzel.”
“Sounds Princessy to me.” Rapunzel made an indignant noise and stalked back into her room. She looked around for a weapon, something she could throw that had a lot of weight. She was looking for a long time and she felt fingers close on her shoulders. She gasped and grabbed a frying pan, spinning around. “What are ya doin’?” Merida caught the pan with one hand. “This is a nice place ya’ve got here, but I’m sure the castle you’re supposed to have is much better.”
“I’m not a kidnapped princess! Stop this and get out!” She could feel her hair beginning to stir in her anger.
“That’s nice hair you’ve got there! My name’s Merida! I live in the kingdom over the bluff. I’m a princess and ooohh, I brought you snacks!” The girl grabbed the quiver from her back and began pulling a bundle out of it. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just brought all of the sweets my mom gives me and some sweet rolls.” She presented the bundle with flourish. Rapunzel took it hesitantly and opened it. “I hope they’re still warm!”
“They are.” She said quietly. “Thank you Merida. Let’s eat them together.” Rapunzel sat down suddenly. Merida followed her down and shook her head at the offered sweet roll.
“You don’t have to share, I get enough of these at home.” Merida said. Rapunzel leaned forward and pecked her on the cheek. Merida sat stunned while Rapunzel dug into the sweets.