Blinded By Stardust

Chapter 1: The Invitation

A cool breeze blew through Cassandra's curly black hair. She sat on a hillside, waiting for Owl to come back from Corona with a letter from Rapunzel. They had been sending letters back and forth since Cass left to find her destiny, a little less then six months ago.

She loved writing Rapunzel and receiving letters from her. Cass came to expect one every week, but she hadn't expected what came this time. At least not yet.

Miss Cassandra of Corona,

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Rapunzel of Corona and Prince Eugene of the Dark Kingdom. The wedding will take place in the Great Hall of Corona Castle on the fifth of June. We would be delighted if you could join us for this special occasion.

Sincerely,

King Fredrick and Queen Arianna of
Corona

"June fifth? That's in a month!" Cass said as she put the invitation back in its envelope. She put it in her saddle bag then mounted Fidella. "Raps will probably want me there a couple days early. We gotta hurry, girl," she told her horse and gently nudged her side with her heel.

With that, they started down the hillside and on their way back to Corona.

☀

Rapunzel was in her room finishing a painting of herself and Cass defeating Zhan Tiri, when the door opened. "You asked for me, Rapunzel?" Came a male voice. She turned around. "Hey Varian, yeah I did," she replied, putting down her paintbrush, "I hope I didn't interrupt you". Varian chuckled, "Nah, I-I was just working on a project".

"Oh okay," Raps responded, "I was wondering if you could make something for me?". "Sure, I can probably handle one more project, wha- what is it?" He asked. "I was wondering if you would be able to make me a pulley system, or maybe a swing that I can move up and down, so I can paint higher on the walls and on the ceiling?" She answered. "Oh," Varian sighed, "O-okay, I was going to surprise you, but I was already working on making something like that for you as a wedding present. Surprise!".

"Really? Oh thank you Varian!" Raps exclaimed as she ran over and hugged him.
"It's the least I can do after everything you've done for me," he said, hugging her back. "Varian, you're my friend and I've let you down, I should be the one paying you back," she replied, breaking away from the hug and looking down at the floor.

Varian grabbed her hand and she looked up to look at him. "You don't need to pay me back," he smiled at her, "you freed my dad, included me when you didn't have to, got rid of the black rock, helped rebuild Old Corona. You gave me the position of Royal Engineer! You didn't have to do any of that. You could've just freed my dad and locked me back up, but you didn't." He gave her a heart- melting smile, "and I will always be grateful".

"This is sweet and all but I have been looking for you for a while, Goggles," Eugene said as he leaned against the door, "Also, Sunshine, the tailor told me to tell you that you're late for a dress fitting". Raps glanced over to the small table that had painting supplies on it, to see the hour glass she had turned to remind herself had stopped. "Oh, right. Thanks GBug," she said then ran over, kissed his cheek, and ran to get to her fitting.

"I still don't like that nick- you know what, never mind. Have you had a chance to think about my offer?" Eugene asked. Varian sighed. "To become your second in command? I-I don't know, Eugene. I'm the Royal Engineer. I-I don't know if I'll have time. That a-and I don't... I don't deserve it," he said sadly. "I'm still wanted in at least five kingdoms. I don't deserve to be the captain, yet here we are," Eugene replied with a small laugh, "just, think about it, okay?". "Captain, one of the prisoners escaped," Stan said as he came into the room, followed by Pete. Eugene sighed then quickly left with the gaurds, leaving Varian in the room alone to think.

A couple minutes later Varian went back down to his lab in the Demanitus Chamber to finish the pulley system for Rapunzel.

✨

As the weeks passed, Cass got closer and closer to Corona. Now she was only a couple hours away. "I'll go to the castle and surprise Raps tomorrow," she said to herself as she stopped on Mount Saison. She took her sleeping bag from the back of Fiddella's saddle and rolled it out on the ground. She then laid down on it and stared at the stars.

Before long, she noticed something twinkling on the ground. It looked like part of the night sky was on the cliffside. She got curious and went towards it. Fidella and Owl followed. When she got to them she saw what they were; flowers. Hundreds of four- petaled flowers, the center of each one, twinkling like the stars in the sky.

She was only a couple steps away from the flowers when Fidella ran in front of her. "Fidella? What are you doing?" She asked as she walked around her horse. She took another step towards the flowers then Owl flew in front of her and gave her a look that said "what are you doing!". Fidella then grabbed the back of Cass's shirt and started pulling her back to her sleeping bag.

"Okay, okay girl, I'll go to bed," Cass said and laughed a little as she laid down again. She fell asleep soon after.