Reunion at Sea

Scars

The ferry was allowed to go on its way and the prison barge continued alongside it to the mainland, at a distance. Rapunzel and her group were put in the Captain's chambers and locked in, with the exception of Eugene, who was still on the mast, and Maximus, who was still gooed down.

"I wish he was in here with us..." Rapunzel sighed, looking out the window at Eugene being heckled by criminals.

"They don't want to risk us pulling something last-minute." Cassandra sighed.

"So...that crazy kid is going with us, right?" Hookfoot said nervously. "Can, uh...can he stay on your side? I mean, the guys' side is already pretty full, and..."

"Are you nuts? Putting him with girls?" Cassandra frowned.

"Hey, it's either a couple of women or a bunch of adult men." Lance shrugged. "Neither are good roommates for a kid."

"He can share my bed." Shorty said lazily.

"Shorty, you sleep in the tub." Lance looked at him.

"Eeeexactly! Plenty of room!" He said cheerfully.

"That does bring up a question, though. What is he going to sleep on? Shorty sleeps in the tub because we didn't plan on having more than five people in the caravan!" Rapunzel started to pace. "Someone is going to have to share, or we're going to have to put in another bed. But there's no more room for a bed in the guys' side, sohe'll have to share with Cass and me!"

"Maybe we should talk to thekid about it." Lance suggested.

"Uh...yeah." Rapunzel wentto the door and knocked on it. When that didn't get an answer, she walked to the window, opened it, and set Pascal down. "Uhm, go get Varian?"

Pascal nodded and hopped down to go find him.

--

"Gonna be honest..." Varian sighed, leaning his head on Andrew's shoulder. "I'm nervous. I mean, I put up a good face earlier, but...I'm actually a little scared. Even if they don't kill me, they could still hurt me, threaten me to keep quiet..."

"I don't think the Princess would allow that." Andrew assured him gently, squeezing his hand in his. "She's naïve, not cruel."

Varian nodded, then moved his hand from Andrew's to grip his shoulder. Andrew sighed and gently took his hand again. "Does it still hurt?"

"I think all that activity might've torn a stitch open." Varian saidquietly.

"We'll get it looked at." Andrew stood up and helped him stand as well, then looked down. "Huh. Looks like the Princess wants your attention."

Varian looked down to see Pascal at his feet. Ruddiger hopped down from Andrew's shoulders and growled protectively. Varian sighed and knelt to allow Pascal to climb onto his hand. "Good timing. She wants to see what her father did to me? Let's go fix these up in there, it's where the medic kit is, anyway."

Andrew nodded and they all went back to the Captain's quarters. Varian reached into his large coat and pulled out the goo neutralizer to free up the door before they opened it and went inside.

"Lose something?" He held out Pascal and he hopped down and climbed up Rapunzel to rest on her shoulder.

"Ah, yes, I told him to go find you. We wanted to talk to you about something." Rapunzel said, watching as Andrew closed and closed the door, then covered the windows. "Uhm, what's going on?"

Varian unfastened his stolen Captain's coat and let it slip from his back Andrew came over and pushed stuff off the Captain's table and started to set up the medical supplies. Varian pulled up the chair and sat down on it backwards.