Not even the candles in the caravan dare fizzle.

"You knew her," Granny asked in a creaky voice.

"She was my mother... I thought she was my mother. She took me when I was a baby. When my mother... my real mother... was giving birth to me, she was having trouble. So they fed her this potion made from a magical golden flower. But they didn't know Mother Gothel had found it first."

"Use not that word for the witch. She is a mother to the devil only."

Rapunzel wasn't sure how to take that, so she continued. "The magic transferred to me. So she kidnapped me and took me to a tower. I never knew who I was or that I was the lost princess. Just that she was keeping me protected from diseases and thugs and things like that. And I wasn't ready for them. I was too gullible and naïve. But on my eighteenth birthday I met someone who helped me escape, and... well, we managed to take away the magic and she died."

Rapunzel closed her eyes and looked away, trying to shut out Gothel's death scream as she turned to dust. The caravan stayed silent, while tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She didn't know what else to say.

Ariel mouthed the words 'eighteen years?' to Elsa, who was just as astonished.

"Everyone! Leave us." Granny commanded. "And Nash..." She pointed her bony finger at Elsa and Ariel. "Treat these women like princesses. Or I'll hang you by your ears."

Nash backed away. "O-of course." He squirreled Ariel and Elsa out of the caravan without another word. Now it was only the old lady and Rapunzel, knelt like a woman at an altar.

"Rise, my child," Granny said. "Come closer."

Rapunzel leaned down. Granny's eyes were like black opals filled with stars. "I never knew she was one of you. If I'd-"

"Feh," Granny said. "Not one of us. Never one of us. May the devil boil her face in pitch until it cracks. Glamor hides the mark of Cain. A sundew's flower looks luscious to a fly, with droplets of water to sip. Do not forget this. Nature does not. It is full of deception. Man is no different. It is smarter than the sundew, and thus uses smarter traps. This is the advice I give you."

Granny twirled her finger around a swatch of Rapunzel's hair. "Eighteen years..." she uttered. "All that time... You have a greater spirit than mine, child. I've seen others descend into madness for less. Tell me, child--do you forgive her for what she did?"

"I... I don't know," Rapunzel said. She looked away.

"Well, don't!"

"Don't?" Rapunzel asked.

"She was a vain, selfish woman. She had no care for anyone who stood in her way. That is the worst kind of human being. If one can call her that."

"But... doesn't everyone deserve forgiveness?"

"What is forgiveness? The reprieve of sins? Release of the feelings of hate? No. She earned your ire. She took away eighteen years you can't get back. Eighteen years of your life. Forgive her nothing."

"I... I don't know. When I think back, I don't remember bad feelings. I became good at so many things--music and art and crafts and baking and climbing. I remember always looking forward to the next day. And I still do."

Granny lay back. "As so it should be, child."

----------------------------------------

Ariel and Elsa held their hands over the fire. Other gypsies sat near, but ignored them, laughing and eating stew.

"She really spent eighteen years locked in a tower?" Ariel asked Elsa.

"I guess so. I didn't know. I mean..." Elsa rubbed her hands together. "I knew she was kidnapped, but I thought she was just... raised somewhere else. I thought she lived a peasant's life, stolen by a crazed woman and raised as her own. I had no idea about the tower."

"She seems so... normal," Ariel said. "I would have gone crazy if I was her. I had the whole ocean to explore and it still wasn't enough. But now that I know what she went through, I feel, I don't know..." Ariel rubbed her shoulders. "Childish."

Elsa said, "When I was eleven, they closed off the castle to control my curse. We operated on minimal staff. Limited my contact with people. Especially Anna. Sometimes I'd find Anna sleeping outside my door, and I'd carry her back to bed. I rarely left my room."

"Wow. So you were kind of alike."

"But... my exile was self-imposed. Rapunzel believed it was for her protection. Mine was to protect others." She stirred the fire with a stick. "How she made it, I'll never know. She's a stronger person than me."

"She had no one, except her 'mother'. And Pascal. I had Daddy, my six older sisters, Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, a whole ocean of friends. Even on land, I started alone, but I made new ones."

"Land." Elsa looked at the sky. The sun was halfway behind the mountains.

"Oh no, I forgot," Ariel said.

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked a gypsy named Cooper. "Where are we to sleep tonight?"

"Figure you'll take one of our caravans. We can sleep under the stars." He pointed to a conestock wagon big enough for three. "I know she said to treat you like guests, but... er, honestly, that is the best we have."

"Fewest mouse droppings," another man interjected. "Due on that's where we sleep our hounds."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Elsa stood up. "Ariel and I are going to take a walk. Into the swamp."

"Er, you are?" Cooper asked.

"Yes. And if anyone follows us, they will regret it. Do you understand? I don't want any of your men in the trees following us."

Nash responded, "Ain't no one keeping track this close to camp. But you shouldn't be walking in the dark. What if-"

"You ask a lot of questions," Elsa said. "Do I have your word that we will not be followed?"

"You kept your word. I'll keep mine," Nash said.

Elsa held her head stiff as Ariel followed her. She brushed back the vines and the world dimmed. Pungent swamp gas had mellowed in the fall of evening. The dim lights of fireflies circled in the distance. Ariel used her trident as a machete, pulling back creepers and shooing animals.

"Do you have a plan?" Ariel asked.

"We need water. And we can't get it from them without raising too much suspicion."

"Right. They'll wonder why I'm taking such a long bath."

"If we can find a small pond, will you be okay? It's not salt water."

"I think I'll be okay. All I need to do is make it until morning."

They walked further into the swamp, following a stream up to its source--an overflowing pit of dark water. Moss overhung the edges, but it was clean as marshes went.

"I think this should do. We can't wait much longer anyways." Ariel took off her skirt. Elsa folded it while Ariel walked into the water, shivering from the cold.

She turned to Elsa, arms crossed over her chest. "What about crocodiles?"

"Can't you use your trident?"

"Not if I'm asleep."

"I can create a dome over the pond. Ice will keep everything out. But it might be a cold night."

"Better than being chomped on."

Elsa circled her hands. A white arc grew from one side of the pond, curving over the top. Ariel bit her lip as the hatch closed, leaving her with little light.

Elsa knocked on the dome. "You all right in there?"

"Just fine," Ariel said, lying through her teeth.

"I'll come find you in the morning. Have a good night."

Ariel played with the water while waiting for the change to come. Pain gripped her torso. She writhed, splashing against the dome's ceiling. When the transformation was complete, a lingering fire burned in her chest. She wasn't sure how much longer she could do this. Her mermaid body resisted the cold, but the darkness kept her uneasy.

Something scratched at the base of the dome. A badger curiously pawing at it?

Ariel sank into the water, hoping for the best.

----------------------------------------

When Elsa returned, she found Rapunzel by the fire. A Romani man played the lute while others laughed and clanked frothy mugs holding conversation with her. Three women weaved her hair with their bony fingers. "It's like working with spun gold," one cackled.

"Where's the red-headed one?" Cooper asked.

"She prefers to sleep alone. It's... it's how she was raised."

"That's a bit unusual."

"We're all a bit unusual," Rapunzel said. "I lived in a single room for eighteen years and my hair is seventy feet long." The gypsies laughed and continued their cups. Rapunzel's distraction had worked. "Is Ariel okay?" she asked Elsa.

Elsa sat down beside her. "I think so. She... found a pond, and wanted to 'sleep' there. I made sure she was protected."

Rapunzel nodded. "I asked Granny about Omis Ravir. She said the folk tale is that he lives in an old cathedral further west, deep in the woods. She's not sure if it's real or just a legend to scare people. Her people weren't exactly welcome near the church."

Elsa nodded. "Is he supposed to be a man? A monster? A wizard?"

"Granny wasn't entire sure. She thought it was once a man. But the stench of evil was so strong, she couldn't believe anything in there was ever human. She wouldn't even try burning down the woods, in case it survived and found its way out. Anyway, she promised to have us guided there tomorrow morning."

Someone handed Elsa and Rapunzel two bowls of steaming stew.

"Then... I guess all that's left tonight is to eat, drink and be merry," Elsa said.

----------------------------------------

In the morning, as Rapunzel finished hemming her stockings, she heard rustling vines. Elsa emerged, leading Ariel out. She was wearing Elsa's shawl.

"Are you okay?" Rapunzel asked.

"I can't w-w-wait to have this c-c-curse lifted," Ariel said. "I d-d-d-d-don't think I can d-d-d-do that ag-g-g-gain." Elsa rubbed Ariel's shoulders.

Nash finished tying his boots. The tin objects on his hiking pack jingled. "Ladies, I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"Is it far?"

Nash shrugged. "It'll take about half the morning to get there."

"Maybe the walk will warm me up," Ariel said.

They left the camp behind and traveled across the prairie. A jade forest swallowed them up, full of dense thickets and jungle vines the color of parrot feathers.

Nash led, hacking at the brush with a short sword. In the beginning, birds chittered overhead. But now deep in, only the wind creaked old boughs.

"All right," Nash said. "This is far as I'm taking you."

"We're not there yet," Ariel said.

"I'm not going anywhere closer. Sorry, miladies. I know Granny said I'd take you all the way, but I've gone further than I feel comfortable. And I'm not taking one more step if I've got breath." He pointed. "Just keep going that direction. You can see the cathedral from here, if you've a mind to climb a tree. Just don't... aw, never mind."

"What?" Ariel asked.

"Nothing. Did you bring any weapons?"

Ariel held out her trident. Elsa flexed her fingers.

Rapunzel said, "Um, should I have something?"

"I wouldn't go in with anything less than a king's battalion." Nash sloughed off his backpack. "Let's see... maybe I can give you something. There's a decent knife. It's a bit chipped. Um... Maybe I can whip up a sling, but... no, I don't have any leather." He turned the pack around.

"How about that?"

Rapunzel pointed at a cast-iron cooking pan hung off the strap.

"This? It's an old fry pan."

Rapunzel, bright-eyed, nodded. "That'll work."

Nash shrugged and unhooked it. "Okay... if that's what you want..." Rapunzel held up the pan to her chest, grinning, while Ariel and Elsa returned confusion.

Nash put his back pack on and huffed. "Good luck, ladies. May rain fall to your south and the rainbow touch your shoulder."

They waved goodbye as he disappeared behind a tall oak.

Ariel used her trident to push aside the branches, searching for the path of least resistance. All the trees were old and gnarled. The farther they went, the more grizzled they got.

Ten minutes later, they reached a clearing. Vines and dead branches draped everywhere, giving the appearance of a sun-dappled rotunda scooped out of the forest. Just beyond lay a brick facade, covered in thick bushes and ropy ivy.

"We found it," Ariel said, squealing.

The forest, try as it might, couldn't seem to reclaim the cathedral as its own. Heavy trees obstructed access to anything but the front wall. Shards of stained glass windows poked around the frame, some with branches snaking through. Weeds had grown through cracked steps and hassock melded with stone.

"That's creepy," Ariel said, pointing.

A stone statue stood in an inset above the cathedral doors. It was as big as an elephant, but shaped like a grand lion or dog.

"Some kind of gargoyle or manticore." Rapunzel said. "Should we go in?"

Rapunzel and Ariel approached, while Elsa stood back, unnerved by the statue. She couldn't figure out why it stood out to her. Empty coal-black eyes stared out from a face constructed from thick discs. Spires flared out around its neck like a mane. Something about its architectural style seemed off. Or maybe it was the stonework. Elsa couldn't put her finger on it.

Then Elsa snapped her fingers. It was the only object in the glen with no moss.

Before she could tell the others, Rapunzel and Ariel stepped on the walkway. Something started humming. The stone veneer over the statue's eyes cracked. Bright blue whorls lit up, lifeless like glass.

Stone pebbles and shards spilled onto Ariel's and Rapunzel's heads. They stepped back toward Elsa.

The monster shook its head, raining dirt and dust. It leapt off its perch. The ground trembled on landing. It adjusted its haunches, dropped its jaw, and roared.

"Oh boy," Ariel said.