Tangled: In Knots - Part 4

DISCLAIMER: Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Flynnigan Rider, Eugene Fitzherbert, Maximus the horse, Pascal the chameleon, Mother Gothel, the Captain of the Guard, the hook-handed thug, Vladimir, Attila, Bruiser, the king, and the queen, as they exist in the film Tangled, on which this story is based, ©/TM The Walt Disney Company. Used without permission. For entertainment purposes only; no profit is being made, and no infringement is intended.

———;;—@

Before dinner, Gregory, Linfred, and Mallie led Rapunzel and Eugene out to the balcony, to greet the masses. While Rapunzel had met many people in the town already, this was a more formal introduction — or rather, reintroduction. After she had her moment with the people, Linfred lightly shoved Eugene next to her, then addressed the crowd.

"You may have know this man as the thief Flynn Rider, a wanted criminal, but he is that man no more. He has rescued our daughter from her captor, at great personal peril, and we will be forever in the debt of the man known henceforth as Eugene Fitzherbert!"

The crowd below gave a deafening cheer, as great as the one they had given for the return of Princess Rampion. As if Eugene's arms feeling like they were on fire wasn't enough, now his face was too, as he blushed. He'd never imagined his own name — the real one — would be so enthusiastically received!

"And what's more," the king continued, "he helped save a young child today, suffering no small injury to himself in the process."

The crowd responded with another cheer.

It was odd: once, Eugene would have basked in such praise and attention — for deeds that he was ashamed of now, no less! Yet now, when they wanted to recognise him for deeds he should be proud of, he wanted to hide, as if he were on the run for some crime. Somehow, he felt like it was a lie, that he was being praised under false pretenses, even though everything the king had said was a fact. So was this humility? He wasn't sure he liked it, if it meant that he could never enjoy his accomplishments anymore!

The urge to flee vanished, though, when Rapunzel gently took his hand in hers, beaming at him, and the king placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder, granting him a look of satisfaction. That now-familiar warmth crept across him, calming him, making him ... happy. Making him feel ... wanted. Welcome. Loved.

Okay, maybe the attention wasn't so bad after all.

Looking at Rapunzel now, feeling surrounded by such joy and affection, his world couldn't be more perfect — not even if his hands were healed. "I love you," he told her, not even thinking about it first; it just felt natural. Like his whole life had been building up to this, and it was just the next step on his journey, an inevitable moment that he wouldn't have avoided even if he could.

"I love you, too," she told him, smiling, then kissed him.

The crowd approved.

When the kiss ended, a whinny and the clapping of hooves drew Eugene and Rapunzel's attention. Glancing around at the crowd, Eugene spotted Max off to the side. "Your Majesty," he whispered, "shouldn't Maximus get some of this spotlight?"

"Quite right, lad," the king agreed. "I was actually just about to call him over. Maximus!"

The horse, looking nonplussed, trotted over, and Rapunzel happily greeted him.

"This horse, whom we call Maximus, is one of our best guard and most loyal subjects," the king told the masses. "We have him, too, to thank, both in returning our daughter and in saving that young girl today. As Captain Armbruster has announced today his decision to retire, we have decided to name Maximus as his successor. Treat him with all the respect due any human in our military."

The crowd cheered, and Max looked gobsmacked.

"Congratulations, Max," Eugene told him, holding out a hand.

Max whinnied, bobbing his head at the wrapped hand.

"Oh, right! Well, this will have to do instead," Eugene said, reaching his arms around the horse's neck and lightly hugging him. When he stepped back, he rest his forehead against Max's own for a moment. Max then lipped his hair.

The sense of pleasant, loving warmth grew.

———;;—@

Linfred sat at the head of the dining table, of course, with Mallie to his left and Rapunzel to his right. Eugene sat to the right of Rapunzel — and Max sat to Eugene's right. People all around the table cast curious glances at the horse; Max returned the glances with challenging glares, which Eugene mirrored. No one was going to question Max's presence if he had anything to say about it. Eugene even made sure that the bowl of water and plate of apples, oats, and hay set before his friend were never empty.

"Ve have very interesting dinner companion, nyet?" asked the man seated across from Eugene, some visiting dignitary named Lisitsyn, a man with a ridiculous-looking mustache, a funny, pointy beard, and a sizable bit of extra padding to him.

"I have no idea what you mean," Eugene answered cooly, not deigning to meet the man's eyes.

"Max, could you pass the salt?" Rapunzel asked, as if she supped with horses all the time. (Well, she did eat with a chameleon — although Pascal was keeping himself invisible at the moment.)

Max picked the shaker up gingerly with his teeth and set it as close as he could to her, just in front of Eugene's plate.

"Would either of you like a roll, Max, Eugene?" Mallie asked.

"Yes, please," Eugene replied, Max nodding.

The queen stood up and reached over, laying a roll on Max's plate. "Would you like butter on yours?" she asked Eugene.

He nodded, feeling a bit odd being served by the queen. He understood why she was doing it, though: she was demonstrating to everyone at the table that he and Max were held in high regard by the crown, like family, and were to be treated as such. As he took the buttered roll gingerly in his sore fingers, Mallie closed her hand over his for a moment. He looked her in the eye and understood: her demonstration was as much for him as everyone else. If he was ever to marry Rapunzel, he needed to get used to the idea of being royalty. There it was again: if the queen could count him as worthy, then he could — and must — count himself as such.

"Forgive if I offend," Lisitsyn apologised. "Is only that I never encounter horse at dinner table before — is new to me. But I like!"

Eugene didn't bother to explain that it wasn't exactly normal in this kingdom either.

Rapunzel lay a hand on Eugene's shoulder for a moment, then reached over and cut his meat for him. It wasn't as humiliating an experience as he'd thought it would be — something about the touch of her hand on his arm made it all bearable, so much easier to swallow his pride.

Eugene felt sorry for Mallie having to sit next to the diplomat, who held his elbows out as he cut his own food, jabbing her with arms that were oddly thin for such a large fellow.

"You do great zing today," the dignitary remarked. Eugene reckoned he meant "thing".

"Yes, Max was a godsend," Eugene agreed, pretending Lisitsyn was talking to the horse; he averted his eyes out of bashfulness and discomfort as much as intending insult now.

"You boz are," the man countered; it took Eugene a second to suss out that the man meant "both".

Finally, Eugene looked Lisitsyn in the eye, exasperated. "It's what anyone would have done," he insisted. As he focused on the dignitary, he felt something crawl across his skin — not warmth this time, either.

A chill of foreboding.

This man was familiar. He couldn't put his finger on who exactly Lisitsyn was, but Eugene had known a lot of bad people in his time, and he was sure this man was one of them. It gnawed at Eugene, distracted him so much that it practically made him forget pain he was in. Not even the warmth of Rapunzel's touch could dispel the uneasiness that had settled into his very bones. This was important — he had to figure out who this man was. So even when he caught the man staring boldly at him, time and again through the course of the meal, Eugene met his gaze just as boldly, studying the man's features.

After the dinner, there was entertainment. There was a harlequin, some dancers, and a small group of musicians; amongst the last, Eugene was pleased to discover Hans at the seat of a fine-looking piano.

"The piano wasn't ruined?" Eugene asked the king.

"Apparently it was well packed," Linfred explained. "The legs were splintered, but easily replaced. Your friend plays quite excellently," he added.

"He does," Eugene agreed, waving at Hans, who waved cheerfully back. And for another moment, the warmth chased the chill away.

"Vould you like dance?" Lisitsyn soon asked Rapunzel.

And just like that, the cold was back.

"To be honest, my feet are killing me," Rapunzel begged off.

She reached out for Eugene's hand, intertwining her fingers in his. He squeezed them gratefully, ignoring the sensation of tightness and cracking in his skin.

Rapunzel looked down, lifting his hand and examining it; blood was seeping through the linen. "We should go change this," she suggested. "Begging your pardon," she told the dignitary — somewhat icily, Eugene thought.

Rapunzel then caught the attention of a servant, asking that warm water be brought to Eugene's room. Eugene was struck (not for the first time, of course) by how naturally she gave commands. She was so sweet and innocent most of the time, it was almost easy to forget how she had handed his keister to him when they'd first met!

She helped him to his feet, and they bid her parents and Max goodnight, surreptitiously leaving Pascal on Max's shoulder. The rest of the guests were too busy with the revelry to even notice that the objects of their celebration were leaving.  As they left, though, Eugene could feel the dignitary's cold stare on his back, even after they were out of sight. He tried to tell himself it was just the cold of the castle, it being made of stone — but for a change, he couldn't believe his own lie.

———;;—@

Rapunzel slowly, carefully unwrapped one of the linen bandages, letting out a small squeak of dismay when she saw the wounds. Eugene reached out with his still-wrapped hand and brushed her hair out of her eyes, then kissed her brow.

"I'm okay," he promised. "You can't hurt me; just being with you makes me feel better." He bet she could run him through with a dagger, like Gothel, and it'd feel marvelous ....

She lay a hand against his cheek and kissed him softly. That little spark ignited them both, the pleasant warmth becoming a slow, sensuous burn, engulfing them like a thousand lanterns.

At least until there was a knock at the door.

"We've brought the hot water that Her Majesty requested," came a muffled voice through the wood.

Rapunzel gave Eugene another, quicker kiss, then hurried, breathless, for the door. The servant hurried in, set down the jug on the nightstand, next to the washbasin, and hurried out again, perhaps sensing he was interrupting something.

Unfortunately, the moment was already lost.

"I should have asked for a kettle or hot water, too -- this water's not really hot enough to make the tea Marcoh wanted you to drink," Rapunzel remarked. "Oh, look, there's a kettle in the fireplace! I'll make a fire ...."

"It's too hot out for a fire," Eugene protested. It wasn't really, not with the cool stone walls of the castle all around, but he didn't want to spend one more second out of contact with her!

They let the tea steep as best it could while Rapunzel returned to the task of tending his wounds. Salve coating her fingers, she slowly traced the marks left by the ropes, as if trying to burn them into her memory. She worked with amazing delicacy; he barely felt anything, save the soothing coolness of the salve — and the warmth of the love she applied it with.

Despite the care she took, she was done all too quickly for Eugene's liking. Perhaps it was fortunate, then, that — despite the foul "painkiller" tea — his body suddenly reminded him that he had other injuries ....

"What's wrong?" she asked as he clutched at his calf.

"Leg cramp," he groaned through clenched teeth. "Could you get the clay jar off the nightstand? It's a balm or something the doc told me to rub on any sore muscles ...."

Rapunzel didn't hand him the jar, though, instead scooping out a small portion of the balm onto her own fingers — just as he'd hoped she would. "Can you get your pant-leg up?" she asked.

Thankfully, the pants were a bit loose; other than dealing with the usual, continuous pain in his hands and arms, he had no trouble baring his leg.

"So I just rub it in, then?" she asked, reminding him that she had always had healing magic for any injuries she or Gothel ever sustained.

The pain in his leg helped distract him from his lingering guilt. "Yeah, but you should press down while you apply it, like you're kneading dough, really work it into the skin," he explained.

She blinked at him, puzzled. "Won't that hurt?"

"Believe it or not, it'll make the muscles feel better — it's called 'massage'."

"Massssaaage," she repeated, feeling the word out, then shrugged. "Okay, if you say so."

She did as he suggested — and proved to have even more skill than the attendants had shown earlier! She apparently knew instinctually just how much pressure to apply, in what way and at what speed. Eugene had never been so happy to be in pain; it gave him the excuse to be touched by her, and to have her sit there longer with him ....

Wait ... did that make him like Gothel?

"Are you sure you aren't tired?" he asked. "I can finish this if you want to go to bed — or go back to the party."

She paused in her ministrations to stare at him, eyes full of hurt, and he knew instantly he'd screwed up. "You want me to go?" she asked, voice wavering a little.

"No!" he assured her, taking her balm-covered hand in his — and almost let go when the cinnamon-filled medicine came on contact with his lacerated hands. Instead, he just gripped her hand harder, in absolution. "I just ... you spent eighteen years tending to Gothel's hurts. I don't want to be her replacement — I want to tend to you!"

She tilted her head, giving him a lop-sided smile. "Can't we tend to each other?"

It was his turn to blink. "I, ah ... yeah?"

"I mean, it's not like you even asked me to do this — although I bet you wanted me to?" she added with a wicked gleam. "The point is, you didn't command or otherwise expect me to do it. I did it because I wanted to. Still do." And she went back to massaging his leg, moving down his ankle, eventually getting to his foot. "When your hands are better, maybe you could help me with my feet."

"You've got a deal," he promised.

When she finished the one leg, she moved on to the other, then to his upper arms. Then she nearly gave him a heart attack: "Take off your shirt," she commanded.

"... W-wha...?" he stammered.

"So I can get your back!" she explained.

"Oh ... right!" Hesitantly, he did as she commanded, wondering why he felt so bashful.

She gave him a considering look, one that made him feel more naked than he was. "Lay on your stomach," she told him.

He obeyed, albeit slowly, the wounds on his lower arms and hands complaining as he put his weight on them. Eventually, he was able drape his arms over the sides of the bed, so that the bed sheet no longer aggravated them. He was so focused on his pain, he nearly jolted up off the bedin surprise when he felt Rapunzel's weight (slight though it was) straddle the small of his back.

She pushed his shoulders down, ordering him to hold still as she began to work the balm into his back. Soon he couldn't tell where the warmth of the balm ended and the heat of his feelings for her began.

And then he couldn't tell anything at all, drifting into a gold-hazed slumber.

———;;—@

And so the week of celebration went: Eugene, Pascal, and Max — and either the king or queen or both — accompanied Rapunzel on her daily jaunts into the outside world, to see more of the town or even the mainland. Every night, there was a fancy dinner, then entertainment. After that, Rapunzel would ask the same servant to have water sent to Eugene's room (including a kettle for the tea; they would kiss while waiting for the items, make the tea when the water arrived, and then she would tend to Eugene's injuries until he drifted off to sleep.

There were other things that were the same every day as well. For example, Pascal always stayed with Max when Rapunzel and Eugene left the dining hall. Rapunzel cut Eugene's food at every meal. Rapunzel and Eugene broke their fasts in the morning with her parents on the balcony, where Pascal and Max joined them.

And at various points of the day, when at the castle, Eugene would find Lisitsyn staring at him, making Eugene feel like icewater was trickling down his spine. Max didn't seem to like the man either. Lisitsyn always sat across from Eugene at dinner, staring at him throughout, but Eugene refused to give any indication that it bothered him — at least through the meal. After dinner, though, every night, the dignitary would try to entice Rapunzel to dance. Eugene could barely keep a snarl from his lips then, his blood boiling.

Thankfully, as with that first dinner, Rapunzel refused the man's advances for the subsequent five nights, claiming sore feet every time. And on the final, seventh night of the week-long celebration, Eugene was recovered enough that he felt up to taking Rapunzel out onto the dance floor himself — a fact he was very glad of, as he hated the idea of depriving her of the chance to dance at her own party. There was just one point he hadn't counted on ....

"May I cut in?" Lisitsyn asked during a slow dance.

The look in Rapunzel's eye said she wasn't any happier about it than Eugene was, but it would have been impolite to decline when she had demonstrated that her feet were perfectly hale — and impoliteness towards a foreign guest could lead to serious international incidents! So Eugene stood by, helpless, as the man whisked his girlfriend away when the music picked up tempo. To make matters worse, another dignitary, a woman, insisted in dancing with Eugene! He quickly lost sight of his beloved and her unwanted dance partner in the process. The dance could not end soon enough, by his reck.

A lifetime later, it finally did. Eugene scoured the floor, managing to avoid any more social entanglements, even with some visiting thugs (who made it a bit harder to see the whole floor, what with their great girth and/or height), until he was stopped by one of the servants. He recognised the young man as the same one Rapunzel always asked for the water — Ancel was his name, if Eugene recalled correctly.

"Her Majesty Princess Rampion wished for me to tell you that she would meet you in your room, sire."

Eugene let out a sigh of relief and, giving the king, queen, Pascal, and Max a quick farewell, hurried off — only belatedly wondering at the strange looks the foursome had given him. They seemed ... puzzled, that was it! Why? Because Rapunzel was not with him? Had Rapunzel not said goodnight to them ...?

He recalled the last time he'd seen her, when she was being led away in a hurried dance. His mind seemed to slow the image down, until he saw something he hadn't noticed at the time: Lisitsyn's face over Rapunzel's shoulder, lips curved in a chilling smile and a wicked gleam in his eyes. Eugene knew those eyes.

He remembered.

Fear seized him, and he raced to his room, ignoring the screaming of his still-recovering calves as he ran. He yelled for the guards, but saw no one. When he reached the corridor that his and the royal family's rooms were down, though, he slowed and silenced himself. It wouldn't do to alert the enemy! It occurred to him then that he could really use a weapon. Pondering for a moment, he padded over to Rapunzel's room, which was across from his, and snuck inside. It only took him a moment to find what he was looking for, the object in question resting on her nightstand. He hefted it, testing the weight — and almost dropped it completely as the wounds on his hand stretched and cracked. He looked about and spotted a handkerchief on the dressing table; wrapping it around his right hand, he grabbed up his weapon again and set out for his own room.

"Hello, Reynard," he greeted his mentor upon opening the door. A look around the room revealed no sign of Rapunzel.

"I wondered if you'd figured it out," the man remarked, peeling off his fake facial hair; he'd already removed the padding that made him look far heavier than he was, no longer kept his chin tucked in so that it was doubled, and no longer purposefully distorted his face. He was dressed in the clothes of a servant, the usual jug of water waiting on the nightstand, beside the washbasin and Eugene's medications. So that was how he'd gotten past the guards at the end of the corridor ....

"Where is Rapunzel?" Eugene growled.

"As if I would tell you just like that, when it's clear that the lack of that knowledge on your part is the only thing keeping me alive right now." Reynard glanced at Eugene's weapon, his lip twitching.

"How is it that you're alive?" Eugene wondered aloud. The man had been tossed overboard several miles out from any shore!

"As luck would have it, I was fished out by the ship of a noblewoman," Reynard revealed. "She nursed me back to health herself, then married me. A few years later, she, ah ... passed on, leaving me her sole heir. I've been living in luxury for many years, but alas, the money is running low. But word of my old protégé, Flynn Rider, reached me, and I thought I'd see how he was doing," Reynard finished with a sly grin.

Flynn's mentor walked around the room, nodding appreciatively. "And you're doing well, it seems — this is a pretty sweet deal you have going on here. Pretending to be a hero, so the grateful parents of the princess would keep you in the lap of luxury. Where did you find the girl, anyway? She's a brilliant actress!"

Eugene tightened his grip around his weapon in his fury — and did not drop it even as his hand blossomed into pain again. "The only pretender in this castle is you!" he spat.

"Oh, I beg to differ, boy — like father, like son, they say!"

"What has that to do with us? You fancy yourself my father because you taught me your trade?" Eugene scoffed.

"No, I fancy myself your father because I am. I paid Hephzibah well to remain true to me."

Eugene felt like he was standing on a rocking wooden deck rather than the solid stone of the castle floor. His mother's name had indeed been Hephzibah, but how could Reynard have known that? No one at the orphanage had known, and the landlady who'd dropped him there had been dead herself for years!

Could it be ...?

"Granted, what with your mother's ... line of work, shall we say, I couldn't be sure at first that you were mine, but it became clear quickly enough." Reynard walked over to Eugene's dressing table, looking into the mirror. "Perhaps her blood spoiled your looks some, but the resemblance is there. See for yourself!"

Eugene broke out in a cold sweat. Reluctantly, he took a few steps forward, just enough to see himself in the mirror alongside Reynard.

It was true. And if Eugene needed confirmation still ....

"Of course, I had Anne's word for it, too. You remember Anne, yes? The landlady who took you to the orphanage? I paid her to keep an eye on your mother — and you, once you were born. I also paid her to slowly poison your mother, making it look like an illness."

There was that rocking-deck sensation again. He swallowed back bile, sickened to learn that he shared the blood of a murderer — the murderer of his mother, no less. "Why?" Eugene asked, resisting the urge to strike the man; he wanted information first. There would be plenty of time to pummel the man after that.

"Well, it wouldn't do to have someone who could connect you to me, even if your silly little twit of a mother thought I was just a soldier. I have enemies, you know."

"You did it to protect me?" Eugene scoffed.

"To protect my investment, yes. Killed the landlady, too, of course, since she was the last one who could connect you to me."

Eugene wondered how many others the man had murdered — besides the ones Eugene had already known of — but there was a more pressing question at that moment. "Back up a minute — what do you mean, 'investment'?"

"Well, it was something of a shot in the dark, of course, but I'd hoped that a child of mine might share my skills, enough to keep me supported when old age steals them from me. Obviously my gamble paid off! Now, my boy, let's get down to business, shall we? Besides convincing the king to make me a permanent guest, you will acquire for me anything I ask for." Reynard studied his nails as he spoke, as if they were making idle conversation.

"And why should I do that?" Eugene asked through his teeth, still trying not to be sick. Was this why he'd become such an excellent thief? Heredity? Could he escape it, or would any potential child of his suffer likewise from a larcenous compulsion?

"You mean aside from the fact that I'm your father?"

"You may have sired me, but that doesn't make you my dad," Eugene replied, lip curling in disgust.

"No? All right then, how about the fact that you left me to die in that water? You owe me a cut for all that loot you went off with!"

"You got yourself into that situation, and the deal was that I would pay you while training. I'm long past needing a teacher!"

"Oh, are you now? Well how about I reveal to the king and queen your plan to pass off some peasant girl as their daughter?"

"They wouldn't believe you!" Eugene countered, bemused and completely confident of the royal family's faith in him; he had the same faith in them, after all. Besides, Reynard seemed to have failed to miss the resemblance Rapunzel bore to her parents — probably because the man had focused all of his attention on Eugene!

"Would they be so trusting if they knew that I was your father?" Reynard smiled evilly. "If they realised that I have been here all week, sitting across from you, yet you said nothing?"

Immediately, Eugene remembered his conversation with the king, just after he'd returned from the docks ....

"But ... I-I'm a ..."

"A thief? Did you think Mallie and I had forgotten? More importantly, do you think we care? We believe that you've given that life up. You've proven there's goodness in you with how you've helped our daughter — especially in how you were willing to let yourself perish for the sake of her freedom. If we didn't believe that you could be a good man for the rest of your days, we would have had you strung up rather than pardoned." The king winked, smirking. "All that matters to us is that you treat our daughter like the most precious thing on Earth — and the kingdom and its people as the second-most."

"I think I can do that ...."

"Yes, they would," Eugene replied easily, not a doubt in his mind.

Reynard looked baffled, obviously having expected that gambit to work.

"See, your problem, Reynard, is that you've never known what it's like to trust and be trusted — to love and be loved." Eugene shook his head, almost pitying the man. He began slowly pacing around Reynard. "Go ahead and tell them. They'll ask me my side, and I'll tell them that I had this nagging feeling that I knew you but couldn't place from where, and that will be that. Oh, except that you'll be arrested. Did you think I'd miss that part? I'm calling your bluff. Sure, you might escape after your little revelation, but I know you, Reynard; you'd never put yourself at risk in the first place. Me, on the other hand, well ... I'm not so like you as you think. I have something in my life worth risking it for now: a family!"

And with the very lightning-quick movements Reynard had trained him to have, Eugene whacked the man over the head with his weapon: Rapunzel's frying pan.

"Eugene!"

He found Rapunzel standing in the doorway, eyes wide. He had a split second of relief, seeing that she was alive and well, before he realised that having an unconscious dignitary in his room probably didn't look too good.

Rapunzel hurried into the room just then, throwing her arms around him, her parents and Max filing in behind her, Pascal riding on the horse's head. Behind them, several guards stormed in, heading for Reynard, but aside from relief that the guards weren't arresting Eugene for attacking a dignitary, Eugene hardly noticed them.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" Rapunzel told his chest.

He held her back so tight he lifted her off the ground, swinging her in a circle. Then what she'd said registered, and he set her down gently to ask, "You thought I was in trouble?"

She nodded. "When that dance was over, I spotted Ancel and told him to send the water up, figuring to use it as an excuse to leave Lisitsyn. I started to look for you, but just after that, I ran into some guys from the Ugly Duckling, and I didn't want to be rude. When I finally got away from them, I found my parents at the table and asked if they'd seen you. They told me you'd already said goodnight. Ancel overheard us, and revealed that he'd passed on Lisitsyn's message that I'd meet you in your room — but I'd never said any such thing."

"At that point," Linfred took up the story, "Gregory reported that a servant had been found dead in a hallway, with his livery stolen — the same servant that Ancel had apparently passed the water to after Lisitsyn told him he needed to find you and give you a message." Linfred revealed.

Eugene felt like he'd been stabbed, hearing that someone had died because of Reynard's plans for him.

"It wasn't too hard to figure out then that the man had laid a trap for you," Linfred continued. "I'm so sorry, son. I'd noticed how the man kept watching you, but I ... well, I shrugged it off as hero-worship. I should have looked into things more, but he came with a very genuine-looking letter of introduction from a king who has long been a friend of mine ...."

"It's all right, Your Highness; I should have mentioned my own bad feeling about him to you. If it makes you feel any better, I think it far more likely that he stole that letter, than that your friend sent an enemy to you visit you."

"He looks much different," Mallie noted, peering down at the man, who was now pinned to the floor by Max's posterior. "Is this really Lisitsyn?"

"Yes and no," Eugene began, and launched into the story of the man's true identity — including the fact that he was Eugene's father.

"You're sure?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yeah — the fact that he knew my mother's name pretty much cinches it. See, I'd introduced myself to him as Flynn Rider back then, not Eugene Fitzherbert. Even if he somehow investigated me after we announced my real name to the world, and he managed to find out what orphanage I was from, the people at the orphanage didn't know my mother's name, and the landlady who dropped me off there is long dead — thanks, apparently, to him. Besides," he added uncomfortably, "there is a definite resemblance."

Rapunzel joined her mother, studying the legendary thief. Eugene wanted to pull her away, fearing the man would awaken and abscond with her, even with Max sitting on him. But he knew he was being paranoid, and so let her be.

Finally, Rapunzel stepped back. "I don't see it," she announced. "You're much better looking."

Well, of course she deserved a kiss for that. (It didn't last long, though, what with her parents watching.)

"What do you want to do about him?" Linfred asked, pointing to Reynard.

Eugene was perplexed. "What do I want to do?"

Linfred nodded. "You were the one he wronged, and he's your father; I leave the decision to you."

Eugene thought about it for a long moment. He'd be a liar if he said that part of him didn't want the man dead — and really, since Reynard was a murderer, it was an apt sentence, especially since there was every indication that the man would commit more crimes if set free. Reynard might have been his father by blood, but certainly not by action — killing his mother, leaving him in an orphanage — so there were no grounds to pardon him there ... and yet Eugene couldn't bring himself to say the words that would end the man's life.

He remembered something the king had said to him: "Besides, my boy, what do you think the purpose of punishment is? Revenge? No."

Eugene realised that he agreed, wholeheartedly. He was beyond relieved to discover that, unlike his father, he was not a killer.

But there was still the problem of what to do with the man. He really didn't want the thief anywhere near the castle — or the kingdom, for that matter!

And then Eugene got an idea ....

"Sire, you know how you told me that this kingdom's alliances were based on friendship?"

Looking puzzled, Linfred nodded.

"So let's look at who we could use a stronger alliance with, and see if Reynard's on their 'Most Wanted' list."

The king grinned approvingly. "You, lad, are going to do just fine in this world."

Eugene felt a prickle of pride go up his spine, dispelling the cold that Reynard had put there. "Hey, Max! You mind putting out the trash, old buddy?" he asked, pointing to Reynard.

The horse whickered a horsey laugh, nodding. Max stood up, grabbed Reynard by the back of his shirt, and dragged the well-bound man out the door. Pascal, sitting in the horse's mane, seemed to be directing the guards, who followed after them.

"I'll go look into where to send our 'guest' next," Linfred said. "I don't want him here any longer than he needs to be."

"Let me help you with that," Mallie suggested, winking at Eugene as they departed his room.

Alone, at last!

"You're bleeding again!" Rapunzel admonished, holding up his hand, showing the wound he'd reopened in his encounter with Reynard.

Eugene smiled fondly at his ladylove, ready to let Rapunzel look after him the way he intended to look after her. In fact ....

"How are your feet?" he asked.

~FINIS~