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candle flame of light. A light I thought that I had seen, just once
before. The light that had convinced me to stay with her in the first
place. Rue's own hope, which in spite of all the years she had spent
relegated to the background of the only heart that knew of her
existence had still found the way to shine.
It was not as bright as the light in Alexander's heart. Not yet, but that
didn't make it any less strong. For it had weathered storms his heart
could never imagine and not gone out. In the very center of her heart,
against all odds and misguided magic, Rue had kept alive the hope of
love.
I closed my eyes then, and my visions vanished. I was just a girl in a
dark cloak crouched at the top of an enchanted tower, and the wind
blew all around.
"What's the second thing?" I heard Alexander ask. "Just tell me, and
I'll try to accomplish it, whatever it is."
I opened my eyes and looked at Rue. She looked back, straight into
my eyes. For a moment, the whole world seemed to fall away, leaving
just the two of us at the top of the tower.
"There is a question that I have asked myself all my life," I said softly.
"Though I have always known that I would never have an answer for
it. I've won-dered what it might be like to have hair. Shining, golden
hair. Hair just like yours, though even I never imagined quite so much
of it. You can give me the next best thing, if you will."
"How?" she whispered. I don't see how."
"Don't leave this place as Rue," I said. "Leave it as Rapunzel. Rue was
never your true name, but only the name of your mothers regret, and
your own sor-row. Is that how you want to begin a new life?"
"No," Rue said. "No, it's not. But who will you be, if I am Rapunzel?"
"The same person I have always been," I said. "Only now my name
can be one that I have chosen. From this day forward, if you are
willing, when peo-ple speak of the longest, most beautiful golden hair
in all the world, the name they speak will be Rapunzel. You would be
giving me a very great gift. But only if that is what you wish to
choose."
"Let me think," Rue said, and I could have sworn I saw a smile play at
the corners of her mouth. "I can have my freedom and someone to
love if I will take your name in the bargain?"
"Something like that," I acknowledged. "So what do you say? Is it a
deal?"
"Oh, yes," Rue said. I think so."
"Then tell your impatient prince the second thing that he must do," I
said. "And so accomplish the first one in the bargain."
"All I wish," she said, raising her voice so that Alexander might hear,
"is to be asked, rather than told."
"Is that all?" Alexander said;
"That is all," she replied.
"In that case, will you please marry me, Rapunzel?" Prince Alexander
asked.
And the girl who would now carry my name for all the ages, the girl
with the shining golden hair, answered.
"Yes."
Chapter 17
"You could have told me," Harry said several days later as we walked
beside the river. "I can keep a secret, you know."
"I see," I said. "That wouldn't be anything like the way you can trust
me, would it?" I watched as a dull flush slowly made its way across his
cheekbones.
"I've said I was sorry about that. More than once. How many more
times would you like me to say it?"
"I don't know," I answered. "I'm still working that out. You hurt me,
you know."
"I do know that," he said. "As I've said until I'm almost blue in the
face, I'm sorry, Parsley. I never meant... Oh, for pity's sake," he
suddenly exclaimed. "This is completely ridiculous. I don't even know
what to call you."
"I've been working on that," I said, with a smile. "And I think I've
come up with something."
"Just so long as it isn't Fenugreek," Harry said.
I laughed and slipped a hand into the crook of his arm.
It had been almost a week now since I had ceased' to be Rapunzel.
Days full of wonder that had seemed to fly by. No sooner had Rue
accepted Alex's proposal than she and I were freed in a great burst of
magic that lasted, as you can probably guess, no longer than the blink
of an eye. Though it could have taken longer, I suppose. For the truth
is that the experience was so overwhelming I kept my own eyes closed
through most of it.
The tower first began to tremble, and then to shake, and then, with a
sound like a thousand birds in flight, the whole edifice had come
tumbling down. I had the sensation of falling head over heels, then
landing lightly on my feet, through absolutely no effort I made myself.
By the time I could bring myself to open my eyes again, I was
standing on the greensward, which was now the size of a small
meadow. At my back was the river, and where the tower had stood
there was now a snug stone cottage with a slate roof and a bright red
door.
Into each side was set a cunning curve of win-dows, which sparkled
like stars. Later I learned that they had retained at least one of their
former charac-teristics. From inside, it seemed that you could see the
whole world, if you knew how to look. But from the outside, only your
own reflection. The world could come in only if you invited it. Harry
was stand-ing in front of the cottage door, blinking rapidly, as if trying
to figure out the impossible, which would be how he'd gotten there in
the first place. He was hold-ing the cat in his arms.
In the center of the meadow, a great ring of torches set fire to the
night. And in the center of that stood Rue Rapunzel now, of course
and Alex. Beside them was a very startled company of men on
horseback. Soldiers, by the looks of them, each and every one with
Harry's bemused and slightly alarmed expression on his face, and
armed to the teeth besides.
The largest and tallest of them was just getting out of the saddle when
I opened my eyes. He took several steps and threw his arms around
Alex, lifting him in a hug so fierce he picked him clean up off the
ground.
He set him down again and there were several moments of earnest
conversation I wasn't quite close enough to hear. I was pretty certain I
heard the words "battle" and "neighboring kingdom," and finally the
word "magic," at which the king, for surely this could be no other than
Alex's own father, gave a great laugh, took two more steps, and lifted
Rapunzel off her feet too. And I remembered what Alexander had said,
that the neighboring king feared magic of all kinds.
Then Alexander's father turned to his soldiers and, in a voice I was
pretty sure was loud enough to be heard back at his own palace, a full
day's ride away, said, "I give you Rapunzel, who has saved us from
destruction and is to marry my son in three weeks' time."
At this, several more things happened all at once. The soldiers began
to cheer. Harry dropped the cat, and I heard a sound like a set of pots
and pans doing their best to impersonate a set of wind chimes. Into
the meadow came the tinker's cart, with Mr. Jones sitting behind the
horse and the sorceress at his side.
While Melisande was busy being reunited with her daughter, not to
mention meeting her future son-in-law, the tinker had come to stand
at my side.
"You were successful, then," he said.
"So it would seem," I replied.
He put his arm around my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "I
never doubted you would be, you know. I have always believed in the
strength of your heart."
"You had more faith in it than I did," I answered.
"No," he said quietly. "I don't think that can be so. For if it were, none
of what I see now would be hap-pening. I gather you have given up
your name."
I shrugged. "I never really liked it, to tell you the truth."
"What will you be called?"
"I don't quite know. I have something in mind, but I want to think it
over a little more first. May I ask you a question?"
"Of course you may," the tinker said.
"Who is the girl that you hold in your heart? I didn't mean to look
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