The Moon Calls

18

"Cassandra, Eugene, can I trust you to keep Varian out of trouble while I'm gone today?" Rapunzel asked anxiously.

"Of course you can." Eugene assured her.

"You go with your mother and aunt and go have fun." Cassandra assured her.

Rapunzel looked over at where her mother's estranged sister, Willow, was regaling Varian with tales of her travels to the rest of the world. He was listening with rapt attention, and she was loving the attention.

"Alright, we better get going if we want to make it in time." Queen Arianna walked briskly over to them. She placed a hand on Varian's shoulder and kissed his head. "Do Frederic a favor and don't get yourself nearly killed again."

"Yes, ma'am." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Aw, but I was—okay." Willow headed out after her.

Rapunzel left Cassandra and Eugene and walked over to hug Varian before she followed her mother out.

The door shut and Cassandra sighed. "So...what non-lethal thing are we doing today?" She asked him.

"Did they ever find Andrew?" Varian frowned.

"Uhh, no. No, he's still out there, but we're watching for him. And you are not going anywhere near the woods until we do catch him." Eugene told him, shaking his head.

"I wanted to go to Old Corona." Varian frowned.

"Sorry, your dad's orders are to keep you here." Cassandra shook her head. "Come on, let's distract you with some training. Fitzherbert, help us?"

"Sure, nothing like a kid trying and failing to kick my butt." Eugene said teasingly.

"I will hurt you." Varian said as he followed them out.

Eugene laughed.

--

The day on wore on, with Varian doing various things to distract himself from both the black rocks and Rapunzel being gone. The event they were going to took place at night, so he likely wouldn't see her again until thenext day, if that. Cassandra and Eugene did their best to find different ways to distract him, like Eugene suggesting he try making something to help the Royal Guard.

"Might be good to have something to carry around and fire off those goo bombs of yours like a cannon." Eugene suggested, and Varian had eagerly gotten to work on a blueprint in his lab.

"That oughta keep him busy for awhile." Eugene muttered to Cassandra. She nodded and Eugene sighed. "Right. You watch him, I'll go join the Captain in tracking down the Saporians."

"Right, good luck with that." Cassandra moved her hand to her side, a phantom pain of being stabbed suddenly twinging her rib.

Eugene nodded and headed off. Cassandra headed for Varian's lab, stopping to pick up some fruit on the way.

Varian barely noticed her when she came in and she walked over to look at what he was working on. He paused in his work and looked up at her. "You're in my light."

"Oh, sorry." She moved to the side. "Hungry?" She offered him an orange.

"Not right now. Working." He went back to it.

"Okay, then." She walked over and found a chair to sit in and watch him work.

Over time, blueprints turned into welding parts together and making use of tools Cassandra didn't really know about. Alchemy and engineering was...beyond her. She'd tried reading one of Varian's books one time and ended up with a headache that had her lying on the floor to try to soothe it.