"You three are all dating?!" Rapunzel squealed. "That is sooooo cute!
"Princess, please..." Varian said, blushing a bit at the volume she said it.
"We leave you alone for one night and you start dating?!" Gold asked in disbelief. "I knew this was a bad idea!"
"About time, I say." One of the adults remarked.
"Frankly, I thought they already were." Another commented.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on." Eugene waved his hands. "You're dating? But she's too young for you, Clyde! And shouldn't you wait until Varian is anadult?"
Clyde raised an eyebrow. "...How old do you think she is? How old do you think I am?"
"Well, she's probably eight, Varian is somewhere between ten and twelve and I'd say you're sixteen or eighteen, somewhere around there." Eugene shrugged.
"...'Ten'?" Varian breathed as he put a hand over his face.
Soul's eye twitched in annoyance as she considered giving him her famous burn threat, but seeing as there were other people watching, she held back a bit.
"I am most certainly not eight. Hmp!" She huffed, crossing her arms.
"Nine, then. Ten?" Eugene guessed.
"Mr. Rider..." Varian sighed heavily. "We...are all...all three of us...fifteen."
"...You're not serious." Eugene gestured to Soul. "SHE is FIFTEEN?! HOLY CRIPES, THAT IS THE SMALLEST FIFTEEN YEAR OLD I HAVE EVER SEEN!"
Varian sighed and shook his head before walking away.
"Just so you know," Clyde said calmly, "you deserve this." He walked after Varian.
"Deserve what?" Eugene asked.
It came fast and he didn't even have time to register what happened. All he knew was he felt pain and then he lost his balance.
"WELL, EXCUSE ME FOR NOT WINNING THE GENETIC LOTTERY, YOU NARCISSISTIC FROG!" Soul yelled as she swiftly kicked Eugene in the shin. Her hands were ablaze but she necessarily didn't do anything to hurt him further. So much for holding back and worrying about what the others may think. "And you just don't know when to shut your mouth now, do ya? I didn't mind the age mistake, but you just don't shut your mouth!"
"Eugene!" Rapunzel cried in out alarm as he cried out in pain, holding his shin.
"Alright, starlight, I think he gets the picture." Clyde walked over and gently wrapped his arms around Soul from behind, picking her up and kissing her head. "Come on, let's go do something more enjoyable, hm?"
"What do you mean 'something more enjoyable'?!" Gold called after them. "Oi!" He ran after them while Soul stuck her tongue out at him over Clyde's shoulder.
"Little...gremlin!" Eugene groaned and limped back to their caravan. "Ohh, that hurts..."
–
After saying goodbye to Calliope, they made their way down the road again, with Quirin's caravan again taking the lead with Rapunzel's behind his ahead of the others. When they stopped for a rest and to stretch their legs, Rapunzel went to Quirin's caravan to look over the scroll pieces he'd been translating.
"We have three pieces now. Where do you think the final one is?" She asked, looking over his shoulder as he took notes.
"Who knows?" He shrugged. "We'll probably find out somewhere along the line—"
"Varian, you've got a girlfriend?!" Angry said, running into the caravan.
"And where were you during the announcement?" He looked at her, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back in his chair a bit.
"In here, we slept in." Angry shrugged.
"Well, then yes. I have a girlfriend and a boyfriend." Varian put his quill in the inkwell and got up, stretching. "I'm going out to join dad before we start moving again. Why don't you head back to your caravan, Princess?"
"Actually, I was gonna see if I could help with this." She gestured to the desk.
Varian chuckled. "Well, you're welcome to try, but it does require a certain amount of uncommon knowledge."
Rapunzel sat down and looked at his notes. "...On second thought, I'm going back to my caravan."
He laughed. "Yeah, thought so. See you around, Your Highness."
Rapunzel smiled and looked at Angry and Red. "Why don't you guys come and hang out with us?? I'm sure Lance would love to spend time with you again!"
"Okay!" Angry said cheerfully.
"Uhm...I'll stay here and help him." Red gestured to Varian.
"Pull up a chair and grab a book." Varian smiled at her.
"Okay, you two boring nerds have fun with your books, I'm gonna go have fun with Lance!" Angry opened the door again.
"I advise you to do any wrestling outside, Cassie may not be so keen on you wrestling in the caravan." Varian said as they headed out together.
"Varian?" Quirin called, and Varian put his work down and headed outside to where his father was looking over a map with some of the village elders, Red following him out quietly.
"Yeah, dad?" He asked, sitting next tohim.
"We've been looking at our route, and the only way we can get all the caravans across the ocean is by building our own boat." Floyd said.
"Either that or build a fleet." Clyde commented, sitting next to Varian. "Either way, there's no way we can get all these caravans across the oceans on the ferry, right?"
"Right. We'd be lucky if we got two across at a time that way." Quirin nodded. "So, which do you think would be better, Varian? A large boat big enough to carry all the caravans, or a fleet of ships?"
"Hm..." Varian looked thoughtful. "A large boat would be a bigger, more tempting target for pirates, so we'd have to make sure we prepare projectile weapons, too. But, if we have everyone on their own ships, then we're likely to lose someone along the way. I suggest we build a large ship, with weapons, so we don't risk losing anyone."
"Alright." Quirin nodded. "Then we better get started collecting supplies at every stop we make on the way. Floyd, get the men, let's go chop some wood. Varian, can you make a blueprint to follow?"
"Yes, sir!" Varian nodded with a smile.
"Since we're building this boat, maybe we can just bypass the Great Tree completely." Quirin said thoughtfully. "I think there was a dock not too far from the castle of the Dark Kingdom, we should be able to bring the boat there."
"Sure hope the Princess doesn't get seasick." Clyde remarked.
Varian smiled and nudged him. "Wanna go get Soul and we can make the blueprint together, the three of us?"
Clyde grinned and they got up and headed off to find their girlfriend. Quirin watched them go with a bemused smile.
"Hopefully, they spend more time drawing than kissing." Floyd remarked, and Joseph let out a hearty laugh.
–
"We're going to make a giant boat?" Rapunzel asked when the announcement was given to everyone. "But, that's...wow! Can we do that, though?"
"Uh-huh." Varian assured her. "Soul and Clyde have been helping me make a blueprint, and I'm also designing catapults that can fire off my alchemy at any attacking ships!" He beamed.
"It's the best course for all of us. By doing this, we avoid Hector entirely and only have to deal with King Edmund." Quirin chuckled. "But...he can be reasoned with a lot easier than Hector can."
"Don't worry, Raps, we'll do some sightseeing once we're done there." Cassandra assured her.
"Am I that obvious?" Rapunzel blushed.
"You are." Cassandra assured her with a smirk.
"But in a good way." Eugene assured her.
"So, with that in mind, we are going to need all able-bodied men and women to assist in collecting materials for the boat." Quirin said, drawing the attention back to the announcement. "If we keep at a good pace and everyone pitches in, we should have plenty to work with by the time we reach the ocean."
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Rapunzel said as everyone else let out their own excited exclamations and cheers.
Building the caravans, building the boat, making their own way independent of the paths that others had set, wasn't that what they were all about? They were going to start anew in a new land, without worrying about paying for ferries or losing track of each other on the way.
And while Rapunzel was just following along, since they were going to the same place, she couldn't help but feel like she could share in that feeling of independence a little.
"We're going home, Louie." She heard Quirin saying to his horse after they dispersed the crowd. "After so long...we're going home. Are you looking forward to seeing Domino again?"
"Domino?" She walked over to him. "Who's Domino?"
"King Edmund's horse." He smiled. "A powerful and beautiful mare. Louie has been missing her."
"But...Quirin, you left the Dark Kingdom two decades ago." Rapunzel frowned. "How would Louie and Domino have lived that long?"
"Well, they are also in the Brotherhood." Quirin chuckled.
"Just how many animals are there in this group?" She asked with amusement.
"Only the most faithful." Quirin turned and walked off.
Rapunzel looked at Pascal on her shoulder. "Huh. Okay, then."
Pascal shrugged and they walked away from the, apparently, immortal horse to start helping collect materials.
–
The weeks following the announcement were spent with collecting wood, mining, melting and shaping iron into nails. Before they knew it, they were at the ocean and unloading the materials and going to cut down more trees. And then came the building.
The people of Old Corona were efficient, with men and women and older children helping build while the little kids carried around baskets of nails and other tools. Rapunzel could feel herself working up a good sweat from all the hammering, but it was also loads of fun!
"Phew!" She walked over to get some water and wiped loose strands of her hair out of her face before she untied her hair and retied it again. Hopefully, once this was all over, her hair would be able to be cut again and she wouldn't have to worry about it getting in her way.
"Do you think Adira will be waiting for us at the Dark Kingdom?" Lance asked as he came over with the others to get some water.
"Oh, she'll show up sooner or later." Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, when you least expect it." Eugene downed a cup of water and then walked off to get back to work.
Rapunzel looked over at Varian, who was cheerfully building the boat with everyone. She wondered if he missed his aunt, or if he was content with her coming and going like she had been.
–
The boat-building was going well. They worked on it day after day, stopping only for meals and sleep, A grueling task, for sure, but the result would be so worth it. Once they were on the sea, they were all just relax and enjoy the ride.
Soul had been particularly excited about stargazing while on the sea, since there were no trees or buildings to get in the way, and Varian was looking forward to getting some quality time with his boyfriend and girlfriend up in the crow's nest, just the three of them, some snacks and a blanket big enough to share.
He must've been daydreaming a bit too long, because he ended up walking right into Cassandra, who was facing away from him. They both yelped as they fell back and she groaned before getting up and offering him a hand. "What's got you so distracted, huh?"
Varian chuckled sheepishly. "Uhm...just thinking about stuff. Sorry about that, Cassie." He took her hand and got up. "Thanks for helping us out with building the boat, and for sticking around."
"Hey, honestly? I didn't want to put our lives in the hands of strangers on a ferry." Cassandra chuckled. "Besides, we're part of this convoy, too."
Varian smiled, then cleared his throat. "We should get back to work. At the pace we're going, we should be done in a couple weeks, and then we can setoff."
She nodded and they walked off to continue building together.
–
Honestly, Eugene wasn't sure how to feel about all this hard labor. On the one hand, Rapunzel was having fun! On the other hand, he's pretty sure that he'd have ruined his nails by now if he didn't have gloves on, and he was getting annoyed about the sawdust in his hair and his mouth and...ugh. But, the sawdust aside, it wasn't so bad. Watching the village working together to build the boat, following the blueprints that Varian and his two romantic partners had made, it made him realize that they had done all this before when they built the caravans and slipped out on the quiet. They were avoiding society in general and going their own way, and Eugene had to wonder if Fortuna was the only town they'd actually stopped in to visit – if you can call it visiting.
Doing things together as a team was something Eugene was still getting used to. While on the road, their group kept squabbling and they just couldn't get along for long. But, this village had managed to get along and work together without any trouble, with the occasional teasing, and there was no question of who was I charge and he calmly listened to his council.
Eugene didn't know anything about the Dark Kingdom, or its King, but Quirin seemed confident that everything would be alright. And having to avoid the crazy man in the Great Tree was a plus, for sure.
He just really didn't like having sawdust in his hair.