Siblings of Corona B1:Life In the Tower

Chapter 6

Note: Just the final part of the song.  See?  All the siblings get their own reprise!

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Rapunzel was looking at the wall above the mantle. She had just finished painting it. It was the dark blue sky, covered in lanterns. Although it had been a month since she started, since Cass's birthday, she had taken a break from it. She had been focused on keeping Varian happy and Cassandra distracted from the outside.

After Cassandra had taken the one forbidden trip to the earth, she kept looking at the ground. She had tried to describe what it had been like, but it proved impossible for her. Cassandra had settled on just saying it was wonderful and almost magical.

Varian had been devastated over the book burning incident. Not because he lost his favorite thing in the small world he had, but because their mother seemed to be constantly upset with him. Nothing he did seemed to be the right thing. He was upset over his book, but seeing the disappointment in his mother's eyes was worse than getting slapped every time he looked at her. Not that he had actually been slapped by anyone before.

Rapunzel's eyebrows creased together. Something was missing with the painting. Varian had been right. She had everything she wanted, except the freedom to see the lights. That was what she was missing. She immediately set to work.

R:And soon, next month
Lights will appear
Just like they do
On my birthday each year
What is it like
Up there where they glow?
Now that I'm older
Mother might just
Let me go
'Cause that is when
My life will begin...

She sang softly to herself as she gave the finishing touches. Her and her two siblings had been added into the picture. They sat in a tree top together, watching the lights in the night sky. One day, they would live this dream together. She would make sure of it.

"Hey, Raps. Whatcha doing?" Varian placed his arms on the mantle and rested his chin on his folded arms.

"Oh, nothing much. I've finished this painting, finally. What do you think?" Rapunzel asked his opinion. Pascal had already given her a thumbs up in approval.

"Is that us and Cass? And the lights?" he climbed onto the mantle and sat next to his sister.

"Yep."

"I like it. It's really good." He squeezed her hand.

"Awe. Thank you, Varian!" Rapunzel gave her brother a hug. "You're so sweet."

His face blushed a bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck. He gave a weak smile. "Raps..."

She laughed at his reaction. "C'mon! I'm suddenly in the mood to make cookies. How about you?"

"Pfft! Like you had to ask. I'm surprised at you. Surely, you know your own little brother enough to know that answer." he teased as he slid off the mantle after his sister.

"Touché." She put her hands on her hips. "Let's find Cass!"

"Someone called?" Cassandra was at the top of the stairs, just coming out from behind the curtain to the girl's room.

"We're making cookies!" Rapunzel announced.

"Say no more." Cassandra hopped on the railing and slid down. She hopped off before hitting the end of the banister. Now standing in front of them, she grinned. "Now what kind might they be?"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Next stop?" Lance looked at his three companions. After the robbery in Equis, they were able to get the Baron off their tails. For the time being, that is. Still, if they were to meet the guy face to face, they'd more and likely be dead in seconds flat.

"Corona is," Flynn stated.

"Ah! Corona! It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

"We left after the Castle Vault incident. Haven't been back since... so, yep. I guess it has been awhile," Flynn said thoughtfully.

"Hear that, guys?" Lance asked the two red heads.

They simply gave him a dark glare. Lance chuckled nervously and looked away. Flynn rolled his eyes. Always ones to make a big deal about nothing. "Sooo," Lance began. "What exactly are we stealing."

Flynn grinned. "Glad you asked, Strongbow." He handed his partner a paper.

Lance's eyes grew wide at the crude sketch. "We'll be rich..." he whispered.

"And it's not gonna steal itself, so we gotta keep moving."

Lance smiled and the four continued the journey. The ripped piece of paper slipped from Lance's fingers and flew off in the wind. It landed on the ground yards away. The crown of the lost princess of Corona had been drawn on it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chocolate chip cookies were cooling on the counter. Some point in the baking, Varian accidentally dropped the flour sack. Thankfully, they were able to save most of the flour, but he was a mess. Well, at least his apron was, and they washed and hung it up to dry before their mother had returned.

They felt guilty about constantly hiding things from their mother. However, the older they got, the more she seemed to disapprove of things. Everything seemed to have something wrong with it, and what little things they could do, they didn't want to lose the privilege.

They would be lying if they were not somewhat a little afraid of their mother. Especially after the book burning incident. Despite it being a month after that, it still haunted them and Gothal was still snappy from it. Varian especially stayed low profile, for she had absolutely no patience with him it seemed anymore. No questions were slipping from his mouth. Rapunzel had taken on all the inquiries.

"You think they're cool yet?" Cassandra looked at the plate.

"Technically, they should be perfect in a couple more minutes and won't crumble on you..." Varian said.

"What I meant was I wonder if I'd get burned if I ate one." Cassandra gave him an annoyed look.

Varian shrugged. "That's for you to find out."

"Varian!" Cassandra grumbled under her breath. "That was not a question to be answered."

The fourteen year old gave her a mischievous grin. "Just stating the facts."

Rapunzel chuckled. She put a cookie in her mouth. "No worries, Cass. They aren't gonna burn you. They're warm, soft and gooey. Most of all, they are delicious!"

The eighteen year old picked up a cookie and wasted no time in taking a nibble at it. The sweetness filled her mouth. Cookies were one of her favorites, especially chocolate chip.

"Cheers?" Varian held his out.

His sisters smiled as they held theirs out too. Except theirs had a bite taken out of them. "Cheers," they stated.