Elsa of Corona: Chapter 36, Part 1

[butterflydreaming]

Full work through Chapter 35

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Rapunzel saw the yawn that Thomas tried, but failed, to suppress. Both Primrose and Thomas were short on sleep, she could tell, so Rapunzel decided that she would try to coerce them into taking a rest somewhere on their tour of the castle. However, in the excitement of all the new things presented to her, Rapunzel forgot that decision. Not until she saw Thomas hide the yawn did she remember.

She felt guilty again for being an inconvenience. She wouldn’t keep causing trouble for everyone, she promised herself.  “I can look around on my own,” she told Thomas and Primrose. They had come to the corner turning of a long corridor. “You don’t have to stay with me.”

Concern crossed the king’s face. “We don’t want to be overbearing,” he began uncertainly.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean that,” Rapunzel was quick to interrupt. “You’re not overbearing at all. I mean, I like spending time with you. I don’t want to take up too much of it.”

“You couldn’t possibly take too much.” Relief, and a warm smile, filled his expression. Primrose nodded, wordlessly agreeing.

Rapunzel felt warm happiness in response. “But I can’t take up all your time,” Rapunzel replied. “You must have a lot of things you need to do.”

Thomas opened the double doors before them. “For today, those things can wait, at least until afternoon. You haven’t even seen the library yet,” he said, indicating the high-ceilinged room into which they entered.

Rapunzel stopped just beyond the door and looked around. “How colorful!” The walls seemed to be decorated with short stripes of color, a mosaic of some kind. Based on the height of the room, which accommodated two sweeping staircases, she guessed that they were in one of the large, corner towers of the castle. She started touring the room, marveling at the space.

“I understand that you like to read,” Primrose said.

Rapunzel was about to answer, but she had drawn close enough to the walls to see that they were, in actuality, shelves.

The colorful stripes in the shelves appeared to be books, tightly packed into the shelf space. More marvelous yet, they all had different names on the spine.

She stepped closer. She reached to take one from the shelf, and it slid out from its fellows. She opened it and felt her breath catch. It was not a blank journal. It was a new book. It was a book she had never read.

It finally hit her. She looked at the shelves further up, and yes, they too were filled with books, further and further up as far as she could see. Each of those colorful stripes was a different book! The room was filled, wall to wall, with books she had never read!

She couldn’t stop herself. She let out a yelp of shock.

“Are you alright?” Thomas rushed to her side.

Rapunzel looked at her parents with wide eyes. “I’m… I’m amazed,” she said. “I don’t understand. How can you have so many books? I didn’t know there were this many.”

“Our family has collected them for generations,” Primrose answered, smiling, “and I am fond of reading.” She took Rapunzel’s limp hand and guided her toward a section of shelves near one of the curved staircases. “The newest novels are here. Fantasies, romances. I indulge in the occasional mystery tale, too. Maybe you would like to read them?”

“I would love to,” Rapunzel answered. “What about geology, cooking, and gardening? Do you have those?” She half hoped that Primrose would say they did not. Then Rapunzel could bring her books and add something to the library. She half-hoped that Primrose would say they did, and that Primrose and Thomas had read them many times, so that they would have that in common with her.

“Philosophy, criticisms, history, and dramaticals form the middle section, here.” Thomas walked toward the bookcases directly opposite the door. Rapunzel followed. He then guided Rapunzel along the shelves toward the side of the library opposite the novels. “Nonfiction begins here,” he indicated, “Here is a particularly fine encyclopedia of minerals.” He pulled down a tome from a shelf well above Rapunzel’s head. He offered it for her viewing, open to reveal colored drawings and neat text.

She took the heavy book into her arms. Carefully, she turned the pages. Every listing included a painting, in ink if not full color, of the rock described. Each went into far greater detail than the book she had read and loved for years. The quartz section alone was nearly as thick as her entire Geology. Her shoulders drooped; she could not help it. She should have been happy, but she felt on the verge of tears.

Thomas reached forward to take the book from Rapunzel’s arms. “Better for resting on a table,” he said. He carried it off to a table with a lamp upon it.

If only, Rapunzel thought, she had lived her childhood locked up in this library tower, instead of being trapped in one where she thought three books -- four, if she counted the first cookbook -- were all the books in the world! Had she been happier, never knowing?

Primrose moved to put an arm around Rapunzel’s shoulder. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Her soft voice made the tears retreat. As confused as Rapunzel was about how different the world outside the tower was from Mother Gothel’s telling, the real world came with a kind, warm, real mother in Primrose. Rapunzel leaned into Primrose, and Primrose wrapped her in a full embrace. The queen pet Rapunzel’s hair while Rapunzel hugged her.

She took a deep breath and held it. She would try to be like Elsa, Rapunzel decided, a perfect princess that Primrose and Thomas could love. She would strive to be serene and strong, like Elsa. She let the breath out, instead of tears.

After that, all she had to do to bring back a smile was to think about how much fun she would have, in this new, big world. Unexpected truths could be good! She could be excited about the promise of learning new things.

“It’s an amazing surprise,” she said, pulling away from Primrose so that she would include Thomas. Seeing the worry flee his face at the sight of her smile, Rapunzel felt the warm glow inside her deepen. She felt her resolve to be positive root firmly, too. She had left her tower to set off on an adventure bigger than she had ever imagined. Her life had begun.
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