The Alchemist's Princess | Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Chapter IX

When Aqua woke up, Varian was already awake and talking with her father.

"Look who finally decided to wake up," Frederic said with a light chuckle.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Varian asked with a smile and she nodded.

"Yes, thank you," she murmured as she snuggled closer to him in her tired state, loving the warmth he was giving her.

"Are you planning on coming home tonight or are you staying here?" Her father asked and she hummed softly.

"I'm gonna go home later. I wanna be with you and mom, tonight," she said softly.

"Okay, sweetheart. Just make sure you are home before the sun is down," he said to her and she nodded. "Anyways, I came to check on you and see how you are feeling."

"I-I'm okay... it just hurts..." She looked at Varian's chest, not wanting to cry again.

"I know, sweetie. It's okay though. We're all here for you. You have your mom, me, Varian, Quirin, Cassandra, Maximus," Frederic said softly.

"Cassandra scares me..."

"Cassandra?" Varian looked at her.

"She is a lady in waiting and she has been helping Aquaria as of late," Frederic explained.

"Cool! What's a lady in waiting?" Varian asked Aqua quietly and she shrugged.

"I don't know, but she doesn't seem to wait around. She's always doing stuff. She never has any time to play," Aqua said and Frederic laughed a little.

"A lady in waiting is someone who attends to the queen or princess," he said simply.

"Oh, so like a personal maid," Varian said.

"Kind of, but don't say that to Cassandra. She doesn't like being called a maid," Frederic said with a smile. "So what project have you two been working on lately?"

"Well I made a substance that expands and traps whatever is in it to keep the animals out," Varian said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, he got us both stuck in it," Aqua said with a giggle.

"Heh, I hadn't thought to grab the neutralizing particles before using it..."

"Quirin got us out though," she said and Varian nodded.

"But I'm working on a few things to help Aqua learn more about her ability," he explained to the king who hummed in interest.

"Have you discovered anything yet?" He asked curiously.

"Only a little bit. It appears her ability will keep getting stronger at least until she is fully grown, but as long as she keeps control of it she'll be fine," he said and Aqua smiled.

"We also found out that I can turn myself into water, but I don't wanna do it again... it was scary..." Aqua shuddered at the memory.

"Yeah, no, you are never doing that again until you can control coming back," Varian said, having freaked out when she turned into a puddle of water. He thought he had killed her and had been crying on the ground for hours, not wanting to tell anyone that he had killed the princess, but she formed back from the water after a while. It was terrifying for him.

"I agree," she said as she nodded.

"For now, I just need to keep running tests on her to find out more."

"Are you sure it's the best idea to test on her though?" Frederic was worried about his daughter. He had heard around Old Corona that Varian's projects were dangerous,  but he knew his daughter was happy so he never said anything against it since she had never been hurt by any experiments. He wasn't so sure that he was okay with Varian testing on her though.