The Moon Calls

26

Preparations for the party were well underway. Varian worked in his lab with Hugo while Cassandra watched.

"With this, she'll be able to see into the crater on the moon." Varian said as he eagerly worked on the telescope.

"And maybe see you getting your ass kicked." Hugo laughed, nudging him.

"Hey, where's Donella?" Varian looked around.

"I think the King wanted to talk to her." Hugo shrugged. "If it's important, she'll tell us. She doesn't normally hide important information."

Variann odded. "Wrench."

Hugo handed it over and continued working on his part.

Cassandra smiled. "One last gift before your big mission, huh?"

"We're just going as far as the Great Tree." Varian assured her. "To get that incantation. Then we'll come home." He looked out the window with a grim expression. "I won't let Her take me."

--

Rapunzel sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. "Nineteen years old..." She sighed. "Hopefully Varian will be back before I turn twenty."

"Are you really okay with him going, though, Sunshine?" Eugene walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "You know what might happen to him out there."

"I know...but, if I try to stop him, I'll be no better than Mother was." She said grimly. "She knew the spell and never taught it to him. If she taught him it, then he wouldn't have to go looking for it now!"

Eugene nodded. "Well...what if you went with?"

"I can't. Father would never allow it." She shook her head. "It's hurting him enough that Varian is going."

He kissed her gently. "Come on, let's head on down. The party is soon, after all."

Rapunzel smiled and followed him out.

--

As usual for Rapunzel's birthday, there was dancing in the square and lanterns, though the mural had been replaced with a different one of Rapunzel, her parents, Eugene and Varian. Varian looked up at it fondly, thinking of when he'd first come here.

"Hey, Stripes!" Hugo greeted, coming up next to him.

"Hey, Glasses." Varian said teasingly.

"What's this?" He looked up at it.

"Just a mural. It used to be of Rapunzel as a baby but, since her return, it's been replaced. I never really bothered to look at its replacement before." He looked over as the dancing started and grinned. "Ever been to a Corona dance?"

"I can't say I ha-whoa!" Hugo yelped as Varian pushed him into the dance and then went in after him, the two of them joining the dance. Varian couldn't help but notice that Hugo caught on to it pretty quickly, and Rapunzel and Eugene joined in at some point. Even Cassandra got pulled in, and they swapped partners back and forthwith complete strangers as the song went on, having a good time. Rapunzel, of course, was the favorite partner and traded partners with everyone before the dance was done, and she and Varian laughed as they danced together before she swapped with whoever Eugene was dancing with.

Cassandra met with Varian once and they shared a dance, smiling playfully at each other before moving on to other partners, clapping, dancing, leaping, swapping over and over in a dizzy way as the song picked up.

He was going to miss this, he decided. He would definitely be back for the next one.

To his surprise, Varian ended up with Hugo at the end, and they stared into each other's eyes for a bit before Varian blushed and pulled back, Hugo doing the same.