Chapter Text
In the next days, the kingdom rediscovered itself.
Tales were told of the journey.
Tales were told of what happened in Corona.
Tales were told of grandiose battles and defeated mages and demons.
Tales were told of fallen royalty and imprisoned king.
And tales were told of how kingdoms were freed, from the yoke of magic, from the yoke of lust for power.
Arianna went back to live in the castle, and had daily visits from the court’s physician to care for her legs. She insisted that the other wounded from their group from the Dark Kingdom were to be treated with such care as well.
And so, the physician saw king Edmund’s stump, which was fully scarred under his decayed skin.
Same with Cassandra’s arms, though the doctor said that, as the scar wasn’t as old, it could heal better, if cared for properly.
Lady Caine’s paralyzed arm was taken care of too. It would never be as reactive as before, and she would have to be careful, but with enough training, she could recover some movements. Most of them stayed a couple of days, as to be assured their wounds wouldn’t be infected.
Deals made were kept.
In the days that followed the return to Corona, queen Arianna asked to see the prisoner’s registers from the days after Rapunzel was captured by Gothel. She found Caine’s father among the many names.
He had been sent to a prison north to the kingdom, as the castle’s dungeons were full at the time. And as years came and went, like many others, he had been forgotten. Arianna checks the charges held against him.
It happened in the days after draconian measures against crime had been taken. A revolt had started in a town south of the Corona wall. He had wounded a soldier in the melee. The soldier had hit him first.
Many others were imprisoned that day. Among them, some had died in prison. Old age. Sickness.
No more.
Reading that, Arianna wrote a letter to the commander of the prison, asking to release lady Caine’s father. He was still alive, he would be freed. No bargain, no condition. Only freedom.
In the next days, and weeks if needed, she would read the whole judgment from these days long ago. Some people deserved their time in prison. Many others didn't. The queen realized only now how much the fear, the need to find their daughter and punish the criminals led to too many injustices. She hoped it wouldn’t be too late to make things right. She wept knowing that even with all the people that could be freed, even with all the pardons she could send, broken families couldn’t be fixed. The kingdom of Corona would always bear that scar. All of that because of a witch’s lust for youth. Or power, or vengeance. Gothel's motivations had always been as shady as the woman herself.
When Arianna told lady Caine her decision, the younger woman couldn’t thank the queen enough. Though, there was something else Arianna had for her. She knew the woman who had lived her whole life for revenge wouldn’t change that easily. So, she proposed her another deal, to redeem herself after the years living as an outlaw. Though suspicious at first, lady Caine heard what the queen had to offer.
She didn’t regret hearing that proposition.
Caine would keep the galleon. Without magic, it stayed a simple galleon, swift and agile on the sea. A new set of sails was already ordered, as the old one still had a lot of feathers on them. Sailing under the Coronan banner, Caine would protect the kingdom’s waters and make sure the maritime borders were safe. A privateer of sort, not to attack, but to defend. Her father would be greatly encouraged to join her on board if he wanted to. Yet, every ship needed a crew, and Caine would have to find one. She was welcome to decline the invitation, but for nothing in the world would she do it. Plus, finding a crew wouldn’t be that difficult. She already knew who to ask.
That day, when Arianna had finished with her, she gave her the paper signed by the royal wax seal of Corona. And with this letter in hand, lady Caine left the castle.
And someone else entered the throne room.
This man, Arianna hoped to never see him again. But she had made a deal. And she intended to be true to her word. As queen, she wasn’t much in position to lie to any of her subjects. Not after they helped her so much. Even after they tried to kill her in her sleep.
Andrew walked in chains in the throne room. On the thrones themselves, Frederic sat beside his wife. He was still weak, though to have his family back helped him get better day after day.
The Saporian was brought and asked to kneel before the crown. He did so, not without a loud curse.
“Andrew,” said Arianna. “I promised to help your people if you helped me. You did help me. But you did try to kill me too. This brings me to a difficult choice. Should I break the deal we made and doom all who claim themselves Saporians? Or throw you in prison, while I help your people, who are my people too, and tell them the one who freed them is behind bars?”
“Do what you want,” replied the Separatist. “We’re all dead meat to you here.”
“You’re not. Saporians are Coronans. You think the war that brought us together divided us. This is not how History happened. There was no winner, no loser. There was an alliance.”
“That’s not what I was told,” retorted Andrew.
“I guessed that, yes. Still, in the heat of the action, I told you I’d give the Saporians lands. You may know I can’t just take lands from people to give them to other people. The problem would remain the same. Though, I can make sure Saporians are seen as equal as Coronans. In the law, you are equal. Your behavior told me you didn’t see the law applied. I’ll do what I can to make sure the law is followed by all.”
“That won’t change a thing,” the man in chains spat on the marble floor.
“You want to fight for your people to be respected as they were before the war,” sharply reminded Arianna. “We can’t live as though the war never happened. But we can make sure both of us see how History made the world as we know it, and not make again the mistakes of the past. Rise.”
Andrew lifted an eyebrow, suspicious. Arianna raised her hand, confirming her demand. He stood up, and the captain opened the manacles he wore.
“You are free to go. I won’t lie to you. I will make sure we keep an eye on you. But as long as you live without terrorizing anyone, you are free. I know there will be people who will want to fight. But I know too that most of both Saporians and Coronans only want to live in peace. Don’t trouble your people with useless bloodshed. They don’t want that. You don’t want to be seen as an enemy by your people. Don’t become your own enemy. That’s all I ask.”
“Can’t you give us more? That wasn’t the deal.”
“I know. But you broke the deal too when you attacked me,” the queen reminded, stoic. “I will search the maps. The treaties. The history of the lands. Ask the people what they want. Giving the Saporians lands isn’t a decision I can make alone.”
Andrew seemed to ponder the news. Sure, that wasn’t the deal. But he was free. And maybe, his people would be heard. Still, he was bitter.
“This ain’t over,” he promised, as he left the room, free.
“I know,” said Arianna as the door closed behind him.
She kept her head low. It was done. But not yet over. She couldn’t tell if the man would stay put. But she knew that Saporians wanted rights. If they could have them without fighting, they wouldn’t fight. Arianna would make sure of it.
To her right, Frederic put a gentle hand on her arm. She smiled to him. He was better now. Where before you could even see his cheekbones, he had gained flesh. Yet, he was still far from the bon vivant he was long weeks ago. Since he was in no condition to reign, Arianna did ever since she came back.
Tromus entered the throne room. He had kept his appointment as adviser. Though Frederic didn’t always see the man with a good eye, the mage wanted to help, and he had done well before. When he arrived near the dais of the thrones, he bowed to the king and queen, then rose.
“I come from the town. Your daughter asked me to tell you lunch is ready,” he said with a knowing smile.
Frederic looked at Arianna with a curious gaze. He hadn’t heard of such things before. Arianna simply invited him to stand, and guided him out of the throne room, through the corridors of the castle, until they reached the courtyard. They walked down a couple of streets, the captain with them.
All three of them stopped at the blacksmith shop. With Xavier’s passing, it was no smithy anymore. Nothing had changed, but no fire burned in the hearth anymore. And the humble abode neighbor to the smithy had new occupants now.
Arianna knocked on the door.
Same as that day months ago on the morning after the eighteenth release of lanterns, Rapunzel opened the door. She looked slightly older than that first day. They journey hadn’t spared any of them, and the loss of the Sundrop didn’t help. She now bore her brown hair short, just down her ears. And that new look brought a large motherly smile to Arianna, who was greeted by a hug from her daughter. Yet, it was too short… Arianna didn’t mind. Frederic deserved his daughter’s hugs too.
Behind her near the table, Cassandra was slicing the meal, a pâté prepared by the fine cook Lance was. When the dishes were set, she went to the door and greeted their guests. It felt so normal, so domestic to invite the king and queen. Yet, half a year ago, never would she have thought she would meet them one day. And certainly not under such circumstances.
The cook was with Eugene, Kiera and Catalina in the garden, playing hide and seek around Fidella, who was leaning lazily on her side. In the back of the garden stood Edmund and Adira. They had been quiet for most of the time since they arrived in Corona. Yet, there were a lot of things to do.
Rebuild a whole kingdom. Meet Varian’s father, and ask him to join them once more. The kid was back to his father and had stayed there since they were back. When the Baron had taken over Corona, as the leader of Old Corona, Quirin had stayed there, and held the little town. One man couldn’t stand against the Baron’s men. But one man could still protect his people. It would be time to meet him again.
They ate the meal together, talking of the journey, of was happened, what would need to be done. After all that happened, they knew the kingdom couldn’t work as before. In times of uncertainty, they needed to have more people to rule. A bigger council maybe. They still had time to think about it. Yet it had to be done.
As of now, with each passing day, they remembered all they had lived. A journey like this couldn’t be summarized in a day. They had started to tell the long tale of everyone’s journey, and the story was far from over.
That day, they spoke of the Great Tree. How Rapunzel had felt what they didn’t know was the remnant of magical parasite in her. How Adira had taken her to the Tree through a secret shortcut. How Cassandra had left ragingly the caravan, realizing only now it had been the last time she and Rapunzel ever saw Xavier and Pascal.
Tears fell at the memory of their fallen friends. They would never forget them. Though they had no body, no ash to bring back with them, a memorial would be set. Xavier had been an important man in Corona’s history. They would never forget him. And Pascal, though it had been more private, already had his little memorial in the garden, for the people who knew him. Every day after waking up, Rapunzel went to the stone altar, and sang the Sundrop incantation. She knew it did nothing, but a part of her always kept hope the tiny reptile would wake up and come back. He had been a part of her life she would never forget.
Then, they recalled the Tree itself. Hector telling them of the passing years ago of the heir of the Dark Kingdom. Varian near-death to his blade, and Rapunzel menacing to sacrifice herself to force Adira to help them.
The Brotherhood warrior didn’t comment a word of the story. They couldn’t know if she regretted her actions. But it didn’t matter now. They were back.
Arianna shivered knowing at last everything her family went through. She regretted more and more to have let them go. It had been a mistake.
To that, everyone around the table who had been on the journey responded that things could have been much worse if they had stayed. The rocks would have stayed. A kingdom would be dead and still prisoner. Zhan Tiri could still be back and undefeated. The parasite could have done so much more damages.
To push away the guilt, they talked of Ensis, of his disappearance as he and Cassandra accepted to join their forces to find Rapunzel and the Sundrop. How, much after, it made the Moonstone recognize Cassandra as a part of itself and merge with her. And how, in the Great Tree, Ensis left them. And, in a solemn gesture, knighted Cassandra.
They still didn’t really know what to do of that gesture. The man who knighted her was said to be long gone. And he wasn’t from Corona. What power could his decision hold in this kingdom?
Arianna knew. For she agreed with Ensis. Cassandra was worthy of the claymore. Of the accolade? Only Cassandra could decide. It would be her choice. But first, she had promised herself she would forge again the claymore from the broken shards of it they kept after the battle. The metal pieces waited for her to be hammered like it once was long ago. The new forged blade would reflect how grand and powerful it once was. How it would stay for ages to come.
As they served the dessert, a horn called outside. It came from the port. The horn called several times. A signal Arianna, Frederic and the captain recognized at once. The boat that had arrived was the one to take the prisoners to the prison barge of the Lost Sea.
“If you can excuse us,” said Arianna, standing up.
“The cake can wait,” told Lance, preparing the slices of chocolate cake. “You can go too,” he said to the rest of the table, who was waiting for their share.
True, the cake could wait. The barge’s ferry wouldn’t be there all day. And even less every day. And even less to get such important prisoner. Hopefully, the Baron would need to go only once to the prison barge, granted that he would never escape.
The captain went back to the castle to get the prisoner, and the others left the house next to the smithy and went to the docks. There, the over-defended boat was waiting for its cargo. Not much later, the captain arrived with Maximus pulling the prisoner’s mobile cell.
He was as angry as he had been when they put him in irons. He didn’t even tried to argue. His venomous glare should be enough to let him go free. But he didn’t know how much queen Arianna loathed those who threatened her family.
She had dealt with one once. She could deal with one more.
But not this time. This time, the prison barge would have to suffice.
They moved the cell to the pier, and the boat set the plank ready to climb. As the Baron growled, the cell went in the boat.
On the wharf, his daughter was keeping an eye on him. And she didn’t regret at all to see him gone.
A large ship was moored next to the boat for the prison barge. On that ship, the galleon, stood lady Caine. She had taken up residence there, ever since the queen gave her the keys to the galleon. In a couple of days, her father would be here. It filled her with hope already.
“Oy! Happy your old man gone?” she hailed Stalyan on the wharf.
Stalyan walked to the plank to the galleon, preferring not to shout around.
“Yup, and it’s about time.”
“What are you going to do? Go back to Vardaros? Take his place?”
“Me? You’re gotta be kidding, Caine. I’m no mayor. I’d rather tell Quaid he’s free to take the city back. If he hadn’t already.”
“So where does that leave you? Stick with the boys like old times?”
“Nah, the Silent Strikers are the past. And my dad’s idea. No way I’d go back the way things were.”
“Well then… I’m keeping the ship. Need a crew. You want in?”
Stalyan laughed.
“No way. If I ever go back on this ship, it’s as its captain.”
Saying that, she climbed few steps on the plank, her hands on her hips. Lady Caine seemed to think about another proposition.
“Second-in-command.”
“Co-captain.”
“You won’t let it go, won’t you?” checked Caine with a grin.
“Not in a million years.”
Stalyan smirked as she unsheathed the dagger she held at her waist. Which only had Caine raise a curious eyebrow.
“Another round?” she asked.
“Another round,” confirmed Stalyan with a playful grin.
The sound of blades kissing in loud screeches accompanied the royal family as they walked away from the docks. They looked for a while the friendly fight. They could easily guess how it would end. And some other day, they would fight again. Such would become life on the galleon sailing under the Coronan banner.
Arianna chuckled, thinking back at their first duel at the Lost Sea.
“This ship…” said Frederic, helping his wife out of her reverie, “does it have a name?”
“Since the Ingvarri took it from pirates, not anymore. Miss Caine told me she thought of something like Pegasus, something about flying with her new life I think.”
“Pegasus… I like it…” mused Rapunzel by their side.
In the bay, the boat for the prison barge was already far. Good riddance. There were kingdoms in need of rebuilding and they didn’t need a termite eating them down.
The Baron had hurt Corona. He didn’t have the time, and maybe even not the wish to destroy the kingdom. After all, Vardaros hadn’t fell in a day. Corona wouldn’t have fallen fast.
Did the man even have a plan? Surely no. He simply meant to disturb where peace was frail. A house of card from which the jack would have taken the king’s card away.
He only miscalculated when he believed the queen’s card was out of the game. He had also forgotten it was no game of cards but a game of chess, in which the queen always prevail.
Maybe taking over Corona wasn’t even his plan at all. Maybe he had only been following orders from someone in the shadows. Someone who was now forgotten. He had enjoyed the game as long as it lasted. No one in Corona would ever know the whole truth.
Another ship that had left the port was Equis’ carrack. King Trevor had set sail not long after the battle against the Baron. He knew he’d better stay away as long as the royal sisters were together, which meant most certainly that they were against him. Plus, even without the sisters, he still was a king from a kingdom outside the Alliance, here without an allowance signed by the hand of a royal. He was, by all laws, trespassing. And only his neutral good intentions toward Corona didn’t shoo him away.
But he knew he wasn’t needed anymore. He would come back, diplomatically, later. When things would have returned to some normalcy.
Truly, he even had not much been needed at all. Well, except to give a ride for Willow. Where was she by the way? Certainly taking an arm wrestling bet with people in town before going back on the roads. Or simply waiting at a corner for the royal family to leave the port.
“Hey hey! Guess now everything’s back to normal, am I right, sis?”
“Nothing will ever be the same again, Willow, you know that,” gently reminded her Arianna.
“Yeah, got it,” she replied with finger guns and a wink. “Well, you’re going back to your castle life… What is my niece going to do?”
“I… Still have to think about it, aunt Willow,” said Rapunzel. “I’m still unsure what being the princess means for me.”
Her mother put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Rapunzel, you were born a princess. But you never grew up as one… I can’t ask you to live a life you wouldn’t like, a life you’re not prepared for. You’ll always have your place in the castle. Because you’re the princess, I’ll invite you to discover the life that was meant to be yours. But if you don’t want to live there in these high walls, I won’t force you. I don’t want you to think I’m forcing you to live what others set for you. I want you to be happy before all kingdom matter.”
“What she said,” approved Willow. “Plus, if you and your girlfriend ever want to take the roads again, you know who to ask to give you a visit of the Seven Kingdoms! And by that I mean me,” she precised in a whisper to her niece.
Cassandra blushed at the name she was given. Which made Willow chuckle. And Rapunzel smiled, as she leaned to take her beloved’s hand in hers. In a reflex, their fingers intertwined slowly.
“You know she’s right,” mused Rapunzel.
Cassandra lowered her head with a giggle.
“I know,” she replied. “Just hearing it… makes it more real,” she sighed happily. “I’m not so sure I’m ready to go back on the roads… Well, maybe one day, but not yet… What about you, Raps?”
“I don’t know, we could discover more of Corona. And my family. Your family too, Cass.”
“Raps, I don’t…”
“I think she meant us,” said Frederic.
Rapunzel nodded.
“You are family, Cassandra,” assured Arianna.
“Your family isn’t the people who hurt you,” said the captain.
“I… thank you,” whispered Cassandra.
Rapunzel leaned against her and hugged her from the side, her head dangling amorously on her shoulder.
“So, my dear knight, shall we go home?”
“You know I’m no knight here,” replied Cassandra in a small laugh.
“Ser Cassandra does have a nice ring,” mused Arianna, amused.
Even Owl who flew above them hooted in agreement. He flew high above, and dived on the road in front of them, braking to ruffle everybody’s hair with the wind of his flight.
He flew high then, flapping back into the sky, into the sun.
A new day would shine in Corona.
And the sun would shine for long years to come.
~ THE END ~