Archive of Our Own ^beta

This is the story of how Janis Sarkisian died.

Okay, fine, not really. This also isn't really her story.

Anyway. A long time ago, a single

d

  r

    o

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of starlight

fell from the heavens to earth. From the stardrop, a magical flower bloomed. This single golden blossom had the ability to heal the sick, the injured, and then some.

The flower eventually passed into legend, but still it bloomed, and people from all the lands coveted its wondrous capabilities.

Including one old bitch in particular, but we'll come back to that later.

Millennia after the stardrop fell, kingdoms arose nearby. The one closest was known as Evanston. A small kingdom, tightly knit, with a beloved King and Queen.

Who, conveniently for our story, were about to have a baby.

Just before the baby was born, the Queen fell deathly ill. Hope seemed lost. And that is usually when people start to look for a miracle.

A miracle in the form of a flower, in case you forgot.

The entire kingdom set out to look for the fabled flower. It was found safe at the base of a mountain just outside the kingdom, and carefully plucked to be returned to the palace to save the Queen.

The power of the stardrop was enough to save both the Queen and the unborn child, and she gave birth to a healthy baby.

A daughter, that they named Cadence. The song of the stars.

The baby was born with vibrantly red hair like the fiery heat of the sun, already falling in ringlets to her hips.

In celebration of her birth, a lantern was released into the sky, to thank the stars for her health and her gift.

And for a brief, shining moment, everything was perfect.

And then it wasn't.

The dimmer ones amongst you will have forgotten the aforementioned notorious old hag. She did have a name, though it was known to few.

For the purposes of this story, she'll simply be known as Mother Fey.

You see, Mother Fey was actually a witch, hundreds of years old. Nobody knew exactly how many, for she had used the magic of the flower to restore her to her youth whenever she desired.

And all she had to do was sing a special song.

Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine

Creepy, right?

Needless to say, with the flower gone, this was no longer a viable option. Her youth had been stolen right out of her taloned clutches. Those bitches.

She managed to follow the guards who had taken it to the palace. She had seen the child; her long, flowing, sun-red hair. The power surely must be within her.

And she wasn't cruel. In fact, she didn't even intend to steal the baby. She simply broke into her chambers with a pair of scissors in the dead of night.

Completely wholesome.

Under her breath, she whispered the song that gave the flower its magic and her her youth. Sure enough, starting at the roots, the baby's hair began to glow a vibrant orange, spreading and shining all the way to the very ends. Mother Fey felt the energy and the warmth rush through her in that exhilaratingly familiar way.

She carefully lifted a single ringlet of the sleeping babe's hair and cut it off a few inches from the root. She had done it. With this single lock of hair she would have her eternal-

Oh.

As it turns out, things are seldom that simple, even in fairy tales. I mean, um...

The old woman watched in horror as that brilliant glow faded, both from the limp curl in her hand and the remnants attached to the baby's head. The color settled from that rich, vibrant red to a more muted strawberry blonde. Still beautiful, but most assuredly not the goal. She sang again, and sure enough, neither end of the piece in her hand joined in the glow.

That curl's power was lost for good.

The next logical step was to take the source in its entirety. She slipped her clawed hands beneath the baby's back and lifted her out of her bassinet. Before the baby could even release a cry and alert the guards and her family, they were already gone, lost in the darkness with the flourish of a cape and a single lock of her hair left behind as the only trace.

The kingdom searched for months, high and low, near and far. They sent pleas to neighboring kingdoms begging for any news about their lost princess. They hung posters, as if the kingdom's citizens didn't know full well what their own princess looked like, and offered a reward for any information.

All leads came up cold.

Because, right under their noses, in the deepest wood, in a hidden tower, resided their Princess.

There, Mother Fey raised the child as her own.

Every night, the child would sing their special song as the woman she believed to be her mother brushed out her long curls, reaching to her feet by the age of four and still growing ever longer.

And no matter how often she asked, how many times she tried to find any little secret latch or switch or anything that would open a door, she never set foot outside that tower.

Her only window to the outside world was very small. There was a hook above it, from which Cadence, now named Cady, would hang her hair. That was Mother Fey's way of getting in and out of the tower.

The only way.

But while the child was hidden, shunned away from the outside world, it was not hidden from her.

Every year on her birthday, once the last touches of sunlight had faded from the sky, thousands of lights could be seen. Just barely, for they were miles away. They floated so gently against the stark black of the night sky, twinkling along with the stars.

For the longest time, that's what Cady thought they were.

But she knew in her heart that these were different somehow. These moved. They wove around the sky and bobbed up and down and floated and sank. Stars were much more constant.

Every year she would sit at that window, wishing desperately that she would be able to one day get close enough to touch one. At least close enough to know what they really were.

She waited until the last one flickered and faded from view before she clambered back in her room and closed the shutters behind her.

Maybe next year.

——————

Over the years, she got used to her own company. Mother was often gone and Cady was left to her own devices more often than not.

Well, not completely alone, of course.

On a rainy night once when she was about eight years old, she found a tiny lizard curled up outside of her window, cold and trembling. She brought him in, dried him off, and wrapped him in her hair for warmth. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm nice. You can stay with me! Then neither of us will have to be alone ever again."

She shrieked as a long tongue shot out and tapped against her forehead. When she fell back, the lizard crawled up and stood on her face, peering into her eyes with his own beady little black ones. To her surprise and delight, the lizard turned orange, the exact color of her hair.

"You're magic!" she exclaimed in delight. "Oh, wow!"

The lizard seemed to almost nod with pride before he curled up on her shoulder and went to sleep. Cady giggled and gently stroked his little scales with her finger.

She named him Damian.

She was never quite sure why. It just seemed to fit him.

From that day on, the two of them were always, always together. They did everything together.

Cady taught him to hold the dustpan for her while she swept, and he helped scrub the floors with an old toothbrush wrapped in his tail. He had a very handy ability to get the grout between the tiles to absolutely shine. He would jump up and down on the water pump to help her do dishes and helpfully hold the sheets down while she made her bed.

That's not to say their life was all work. Nobody had more hobbies than Cady.

She taught herself (and subsequently Damian) to play chess, darts, and hide-and-go-seek. Mother would often bring her books from her travels and found enough kindness within herself to teach Cady how to read them. Cady pored over tomes about such fascinating things. She loved the storybooks, of course, with their dashing rogues and handsome princes. She fantasized about a handsome knight coming to save her someday. Showing her the outside world. And then bringing her right back home to safety, of course.

But her favorite books were the nonfictions. There were so many, about all sorts of things. History and geography, alchemy, biology, chemistry. Some taught her how to do things; painting, and knitting, and music, and cooking, and papier-mâché, and making candles. They were most definitely never without light.

But her most favorite books of all were the ones about math.

There were so many different disciplines, so many rules within each. In those pages, there was an explanation for the world around her. Everything within them fit. Everything made sense. Variables were only present when they were supposed to be, and they were always easily managed. Problems could always be solved. Negatives could be made positive and never the other way around.

Things made sense within those books.

So Cady spent hours, days, probably weeks put all together, scribbling out equations and puzzles and diagrams on the walls. She added and subtracted and multiplied and divided whatever sums she could think of. She charted the stars through a hatch in the ceiling and the distance between them and how far they were from her. She measured everything in the room and the space between them in inches, degrees, feet, meters, whatever she could think of.

Anything to make sense of this strange little corner of the world she found herself stuck in.

Despite it all, two things never made sense.

Herself, and the floating lights.

"They'll be out there in just a couple days, Damie," she sighs, gazing wistfully out her lone window. "I wish I could see them."

Damian hops off her shoulder and skitters along the wooden beam of the windowsill, pointing his tail in the direction the lights always rise. Cady laughs and scoops him back by his tail.

"No way, buddy. I like it in here and so do you," she says. Damian sticks his tongue out at her, and she sticks hers back. She turns to return to her comfortable life inside.

Something in her compels her to turn back.

"...I am older now. I'll be eighteen the day after tomorrow." She looks down at Damian cradled in her hands. "You think she might let me go?"

Damian shrugs. Cady smiles and pats him with her finger.

"Yeah, you're right. No way to know unless I ask," she chuckles.

Just then, from the ground, she hears a cry of, "Cady! Let down your hair!"

"Coming!" she yells back. She crouches down to let Damian go on the floor. "She's back, hide."

Damian salutes and hustles off to his usual hiding spot. Cady rushes to the window and swings her curls over the hook, throwing the length of them to the ground and waiting for her mother to get herself secured in the tresses. When she feels the signature tug, she steps back and yanks on her own hair with a grunt.

In just a few pulls, Mother is clambering through the window and pulling off her cloak. Cady's panting for breath by the time she feels that familiar touch on her shoulder. "Welcome home, Mother."

"Cady, dear, I don't know how you do it," her mother exclaims. "Every time without fail, what a marvel. I'm exhausted just watching."

"Oh, it's no big deal," Cady says, blushing under the praise.

"Then maybe try to hurry it up next time," Mother Fey says with a little tap to Cady's nose. Cady tenses. She knew she played a round of darts too many yesterday. She should've known the soreness in her arms would slow her down.

She blinks as her mother swoops further into the room, hanging her cloak on the hook and settling into her armchair. "Anyway, um... I'm sure you know, Mother, but tomorrow is-"

"Cady, dear, come here," her mother interrupts. Cady nods and rushes over to see her.

"Yes?"

"Mother is tired after her journey. Would you sing for me?"

Cady nods frantically. "Oh, of course!"

She rushes about the tower gathering everything she needs. A small wooden stool, hand carved long ago by someone Cady will never even meet. It used to feel much bigger. On top of it sits the silver hairbrush with its coarse boar-hair bristles. She plops herself down and throws some of her hair into her mother's lap. The brush hasn't even touched her hair when she starts singing as fast as she can while still getting all the right words in.

Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine

"Okay, so, mother, I was trying to tell you earlier, but tomorrow is a very special day," Cady bursts out rapidly, all in the same breath as the song.

"Cady!" her mother huffs at her, looking rather affronted. Cady had felt a small sort of blast of energy radiate from her hair. Oops. That's not going to do me any favors. Oh well.

“My birthday is soon!" Cady squeals happily, leaning in close to her.

Her mother gently pushes her back by her shoulder. "Your birthday couldn't possibly be coming. I remember quite clearly that it happened last year."

"That's the funny thing about birthdays," Cady says with a weak chuckle. "They're kind of an annual thing." Mother doesn't respond, so she presses on. Time to be fearless. "Anyway, I-I'll be eighteen this year, and I was wondering... what I really want, well, what I've wanted for a long time, actually..."

"Cady, please, speak up, you know I can't hear you when you speak so quickly like that," her mother sighs.

"I want to see the floating lights!" Cady exclaims suddenly.

"The what?"

Cady rushes to pull back a curtain and reveal the design she painted on the wall, surrounded by equations she scribbled to track them. "These."

"You mean the stars," her mother says, relaxing back in her chair and pressing her thumb and forefinger to each of her temples.

"That's what I thought at first too, but these are different. I've charted all the stars I can see and they're always constant relative to each other. But these don't behave the same. I've tried every year, and they're completely unpredictable. They're different," Cady explains. "I... I was hoping you'd take me to go see them. They only show up on my birthday. I feel connected to them somehow. I just want to see them up close. Not just from my window."

"Outside?" her mother questions.

"That's kind of what I was hoping," Cady says with a small nod, twisting her hands anxiously in front of her.

"Cady, you know you can't go out there, you're much too fragile. You're safe here. The outside is too unpredictable," her mother says gently, stroking her hand down Cady's cheek.

She rapidly lists everything that could possibly go wrong; everything that could possibly be wrong with her. Bugs, ruffians and thugs, the plague. There hasn't been one recorded in about 500 years, but maybe Cady's books are just out of date. She's much too weak. She's frail and inexperienced and there's so much that could go astray. The outside world is just too unpredictable for someone who needs so much protection.

Cady's trembling by the end of it, and rushes in for a comforting hug when it's offered. "Cady, darling."

"Yes?" Cady whispers, feeling her voice lift with her hopes, as much as she dares.

"Don't ever ask to leave this tower again."

"Yes, Mother," Cady murmurs dejectedly. Her mother presses a gentle kiss to her hairline and sends her off to bed.

——————

Mother is gone when Cady wakes up the next morning.

She's not surprised. Mother often leaves her without a goodbye or a warning. She's used to eating breakfast alone.

Damian tries to cajole her into some of their favorite games, but Cady just swishes quietly around the tower, doing her chores and thinking. Her heart just isn't in it today.

She's staring straight at the painting on the wall when the table beneath her begins to shake.

She passes the first one off as Damian and his antics again.

The tenth is harder to ignore.

They're slow, but they're steady. Cady creeps to the window and carefully listens. She can hear the scraping of stone and quiet grunts getting steadily louder. Someone is coming.

Someone is coming, and it isn't Mother.

Cady frantically looks around for something she can use to defend herself against this thug. Mother always warned her this day would come. The rogues are finally here to steal her hair. Steal her.

Or worse.

There's no knives or anything sharp nearby. She doesn't have time to fashion her hair into anything useful.

The best she can do is grab the cast iron frying pan she used to make her breakfast and hide.

She watches from behind her dressmaking form as a man clambers into the window and looks around. He bends over in relief at finding himself alone and having a moment to finally catch his breath.

Cady seizes the moment and rushes up to hit him over the head as hard as she can. He pulls a face and is felled to the ground. Cady squeals in fright and runs away again. What do I do with him?

Is he...

She quickly rushes back to the man. His eyes are closed and there's a nasty welt on the back of his head already, but he is breathing. Thank goodness.

She taps him a couple of times with the handle of the pan and gets no response. Hm.

Damian chitters over and prods curiously at his face with his paws. Carefully, he pulls his lip back with the end of his tail. Cady tilts her head at the perfectly normal teeth contained within his mouth. He doesn't even have claws!

"Maybe this one is okay? Maybe they don't all have fangs," she whispers to Damian. He shrugs and flicks the man's dark hair away from his eyes.

Cady pauses with her pan held out. He has a sharp jawline, but still full cheeks. His eyelashes flutter against them, impossibly long; dark and full like his messily cropped hair. He looks almost peaceful. Every muscle is relaxed, no tension held anywhere within him in his unconscious state. He's beautiful.

Cady jolts and whacks him again when he groans. He rapidly returns to his prone position on the ground and lays there completely limp.

"What should I do with him? Mother will be back soon," she pants at Damian. He skitters over to her wardrobe and pats it with a foot. "Oh, good idea."

Now, how to get him over there?

She tries grabbing him by the hand and pulling, but he's so heavy she's worried she'll pull his arm out of its socket. She's damaged him enough.

All that happens when she tries to push him is him crumpling in on himself. She budges him about an inch with a great deal of effort and writes that off too.

Damian scales her and helpfully knocks some of her hair into her face. She puffs it away, but he just tugs on the roots. "Ow! Oh, yeah, right. Good plan."

Carefully, she winds the ends of her hair around the man's torso and ties him up securely. With a good deal of effort, she drags him across the ground to the wardrobe.

Getting him in the wardrobe goes about as well as getting him to it. She's panting and sweaty by the time she shoves a chair in front of the handles to ensure he can't escape and holds her pan out like a sword in its direction just in case. "I did it!"

She looks at herself in the mirror; pan held out, eyes wild, hair sweaty, and realizes what she's actually just done.

"There's a man in my closet," she mutters absently. "Okay, cool, this is normal. Person in my closet. Man, even. Okay."

She turns around as she sinks deeper into her panic and pauses as a glint catches her eye.

Carefully, Cady creeps closer to the bag the man had with him. She uses her pan to flip back the flap in case something should leap out and bite her.

Her eyes widen at the beautiful, sparkling thing inside. With trembling hands, she reaches in and pulls it out. It's a brilliant golden band, studded with diamonds and rubies and three huge opals right in the middle.

She puts her arm through like a bracelet and looks at Damian. She could easily fit about six more arms in there, and if her arm wasn't perfectly straight in front of her, it would completely fall off. He shakes his head, and Cady does too. She pulls it off and squints at it, trying to puzzle it out. It doesn't separate in the back like a necklace should.

Carefully, she steps back to her mirror and rests it on her head.

Her eyes widen at what she sees.

"It's just like the stories," she breathes in wonder. She looks like a princess. "It's a tiara."

"Cady!"

Cady shrieks and leaps forward so quickly she nearly shatters her mirror, scrambling around to try to find somewhere to hide her treasure. She drops it into a small vase and yells, "Coming!"

She absently throws her hair out the window without looping it around the hook first. She can hear Mother tut from the ground as she fixes it. Oh, that's not a good start. "Come now, Cady, I've got a surprise for you!"

"So do I," Cady calls back as she hauls her mother up the tall, tall tower.

"Oh, I bet mine is bigger!"

"I wouldn't put money on that," Cady breathes.

Sure enough, Mother's surprise turns out to simply be ingredients for Cady's favorite meal, which she'll inevitably have to cook and clean up after herself. "Oh, Flower, you look radiant today!" Cady smiles as her mother leads her to her favorite mirror and carefully cradles her shoulders. "Oh no, wait, that's me. Teasing, dear, you know how I hate to leave you, especially after a fight. Especially when I've done nothing wrong."

"That's actually... kind of related to what I was hoping to talk to you about. I've been thinking a lot about yesterday-"

"Not the stars again, Cady," her mother says with a sigh.

"They're not stars," Cady insists bravely. "But yes, I was leading up to that-"

"I thought we had finished this little chat yesterday, dear," Mother says with a warning glint in her eyes.

Cady steps closer. "Please, Mother, I know you think that I'm not strong enough to handle myself-"

"I don't think, Cady, I know," her mother says coldly. "End of discussion."

"Mother, please," Cady begs.

"Cady."

"But if you would just listen-"

"Cady."

"I know what I can do-"

"Enough with the lights, Cady!" Mother suddenly yells with terrifying fury. "You are not leaving this tower! Ever!"

Cady shrinks away from her with wide, terrified eyes. Her fingertips slowly fall from the soft, painted wood of the chair shoved beneath the wardrobe handles. Her eyes fall to her charts. Goodbye, dear dream.

Mother sinks into her chair with a weary sigh. "Great. Now I'm the bad guy."

"I'm sorry, Mother," Cady murmurs. Her eyes shift to the matching chair propping her wardrobe shut, and she almost doesn't dare allow the new hope to creep in. But... "I didn't mean to upset you. I just... wanted to tell you that I had another idea. For my... birthday gift."

"And what would that be?" her mother sighs.

"New ink?" Cady asks sheepishly. She has been running low lately anyway, it's not a total leap for her to come up with. "That really smooth blue kind you got from that traveling merchant once?"

"Cady, that's an awfully long journey, that merchant only travels the next village over! You really want to put your poor mother through that?" her mother asks with a loud exhale.

Cady looks at her feet. "I just thought it would be easier than the... stars."

Her mother pulls her into a gentle hug. Cady sinks into it, feeling the familiar, comforting warmth of her embrace. "You're sure you'll be alright here all alone?"

Not alone, Cady thinks. Out loud, she says, "I know I'm safe as long as I'm here."

In actuality, she's not sure she's ever been in more danger.

Mother kisses her hair and sends her off to pack supplies for her trip. Cady carefully packs  up some bread and cookies she had made the day before, along with some cheese and fruit. Mother can get more for herself in town for the way back. She tucks them neatly in a basket with a purple cloth and hands it to her mother.

Cady helps her down from the tower and watches as she ducks behind the vines that shield them from the rest of the world. With a final wave, she disappears.

Cady immediately turns around and stares at her wardrobe. Damian glances at her from the counter. She looks at him, then back at the wardrobe. "Alright. You ready?"

Damian shakes his head, but they both approach it anyway. Cady uses her hair like a whip to pull the doors open from a safe distance and lets the man contained within simply flop out onto his face.

Damian helps her tie him to the chair she had used to block the doors. She makes sure he's secure, probably a little more than she needs, but figures it's better to be safe than sorry. She has plenty of hair left to stand well away and observe him. To be even more vigilant, she scales one of the support beams holding up the ceiling and hides behind it.

He's still unconscious, so she motions for Damian to go wake him up. He whacks him with his feet, bats his tail back and forth across his face, stamps around on his shoulders, shrieks and squeals into his ear. Nothing.

The lizard shoots her a glance that seems to say, "You owe me for this." before he turns and sticks his tongue directly into the man's ear.

"Augh!" he exclaims, waking with a start. He looks around, heaving for breath, and squirms when he notices he's been tied up. "Is this... hair?"

He looks around, following the trail of vibrant red curls to Cady cowering in her hiding spot. No time like now, I guess. She tries to keep her voice steady and vaguely threatening. "There's no... there's no point struggling. We have you secure."

She hops down with her frying pan and hides in the shadows.

"I know what you came for, and I'm not scared of you," she continues.

"What?" the man asks in confusion.

Cady steps slowly into the light. The man's eyes widen when he sees her. More specifically, her multiple feet of cascading curls. He winces a little at the frying pan she brandishes. "Who are you? And how did you find me?"

The man stammers like he wants to speak but can't find the facial control to do so. Cady holds her pan up higher and repeats herself.

"I said who are you, and how did you find me?!"

The man clears his throat. Cady blinks her wide eyes as he shakes some of his dark hair into his striking brown eyes. "I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you. But may I just say... hey."

Cady blinks again, lowering her pan a little in confusion. She squints at him as he continues. Did I hit him too hard?

"How ya doin'? The name's James Seren," he says with a pump of his eyebrows. "Hope your day's going better than mine."

Cady shakes her head to clear it of this confusion. "Were you followed here, James Seren? Who else knows where to find me?"

"Alright, Red, listen-"

"Cady," Cady growls. She bites her lip immediately. I shouldn't have told him that.

"Sure, whatever you want. Anyway, here's the deal. I was in a little bit of a bind, making my way on down through these here woods. I needed somewhere to catch my breath, came across your tower, and-" he pauses in the middle of his sentence and looks frantically around him. "Where the hell is my satchel?"

"I have hidden it and its contents somewhere you could never hope to find," Cady says bravely, crossing her arms over her chest.

James looks around a little more and points a bound hand at the vase. "It's in there, isn't it?"

Cady hits him again. His head slumps forward and Cady rushes to tuck the bag in her secret nook beneath a loose floorboard in the staircase.

Damian helps him to come to again, and as soon as his eyes open, Cady says, "Now it's somewhere you'll never hope to find."

"Would you stop that?" the man grumbles at Damian, wiping his damp ear off on his shoulder as best he can with a disgruntled grimace.

"Now, James, what are you here for?" Cady asks in her most interrogative tone. She walks slowly in a circle around the chair and taps her pan threateningly against her palm. "You want to cut it? Sell it?"

"Sell what?!" James asks with a desperate wiggle.

"My hair!" Cady yells back, shoving her pan beneath his nose.

"No, of course not! All I want with your hair is to get out of it," James says, rocking the chair a little. "Literally. Holy shit."

Cady lowers her pan and frowns at her. "You're not here for my hair?"

James blinks at her. "Why in the name of hell would I want your hair? I was being chased, found a tower, climbed it, and now I'm tied to a chair being beaten by a pretty girl." She pauses. "Actually... this isn't the worst arrangement in the world."

Cady blinks. "What? No, never mind. You're serious? You really don't want my hair?"

"Obviously!"

"You really really don't want-"

"I will say it however you want me to, just get me out of it!" James yells, wriggling frantically.

Damian slowly struts down Cady's arm and over the pan, leaning in close to James' face. James blinks and leans away, watching in fright as Damian makes some threatening gestures with his tail. Cady carefully scoops him up and carries him away to have a private conversation.

"He could be my ticket out of here, Damie," she whispers. Damian squeaks disapprovingly. "I know he's kind of shady, but I think he's telling the truth!" Damian chirrs pityingly. "I know, I know, but he doesn't have fangs! Maybe he's a good one. And besides, it's not like people climb up here every day. What other options do I have?"

Damian sighs and nods. The lanterns are tomorrow, and this could be their only chance to see them. Cady beams and kisses him on the head before she returns him to her shoulder.

"Well, James Seren, I think I can offer you a deal," she says, back to her deep, bold, intimidating voice. She clambers up to her doodle and pulls the curtains covering it aside. There's a quiet thud behind her that she chooses to ignore. "Have you ever seen these?"

"That lantern thing for the lost princess?" James mumbles with his face smushed on the ground. Oopsies. That thud must've been him.

Cady briefly turns back to look at her painting. Lanterns. I knew they weren't stars. "Well, tomorrow night these lanterns will be sent up into the sky. You will take me to see them and keep me safe on the way there, while we are there, and on the way back. Upon my return back here you'll get your things back. That's my offer. Take it or leave it." But please take it.

"Yeah, about that," James says, rocking until he manages to knock himself onto his side and resting his head against the cool stone floor. "The kingdom and I aren't exactly the best of buddies at the moment, so... no can do. Can't take you anywhere."

Damian leaps off Cady's shoulder and makes to go rough him up. Cady grabs him by the tail and carefully deposits him back where he belongs.

She hops down herself and puts her big scary threatening persona back on. "Listen here, you... you scoundrel! You're here for something! Some reason! Call it whatever you want. Destiny. Fate."

"A horse," James replies with a weak lift of his eyebrows.

Cady pointedly ignores him and uses her hair to yank him closer. His eyes widen with each tug, though whether it's from fear or arousal Cady can't totally say. She's not sure he can either. "Whatever you wanna call it, I have made the decision to trust you."

"A horrible decision, really."

Cady scowls and gives a last yank until the entire weight of both James and the chair rests on her single, outstretched hand. She forces her face into an expression she hopes is intimidating. "And as for you, you have no choice but to trust me."

"Oh, don't I?" James hums dully.

"You could turn this tower to rubble, knock it to the ground, pry apart each and every little brick. But without me, you will never find that satchel. And wouldn't that just be a crying shame?"

James sighs and glances at her with his shining dark brown eyes. "Just the lanterns?"

"What?"

"I just have to take you to see the lanterns and bring you back, and you'll give me my stuff back?"

"Just the lanterns," Cady agrees with a nod. "I promise. And when I make a promise, I never break it. Ever. Ever, ever."

She's never actually made a promise before, but she feels now is as good a time as any to start keeping them.

James sighs again. "Alright, I didn't want to have to resort to this, but you've worn me down. Time for the smolder."

Cady squints in confusion and tilts her head when he briefly looks down at his lap and back up with a frankly ridiculous expression on his face.

"Is it working?" he asks, strained through his tightly pursed lips. "Are you wooed?"

Cady tilts her head the other way. He is devilishly handsome, but... really not doing himself any favors. She blinks and stares at him.

"Man, really? Damn, tough crowd," he sighs when she shows absolutely no reaction. "Alright, fine, we can go."

"Really?" Cady squeals, forgetting she's all that's keeping him upright. He falls flat on his face again and gasps as the wind is knocked out of him.

"My smolder."

Well, this is off to a cracking start. Cady carefully helps him back up and checks to make sure that isn't literal as she unwinds her tresses from around him and lets him free. He stretches and rolls out his sore joints before he makes for the window and pulls two arrows from the sill to use as picks for climbing down.

Cady winds her hair over the hook and stands on the old, soft wood to peer down. It's an awfully long way.

She bites her lip anxiously and shifts her gaze up. Up, and out. How far the tree line stretches. The sky is so wide, so big and so blue. There's just so much of it out there.

So much of it she'll get to see, if only she can take this leap of faith.

Damian uses a single curl to tie himself a safety harness and gives her a salute. Cady ties a loop for her own foot to slip into and leans out.

She squeals and turns back around. This is crazy, what am I thinking?

Her eyes fall to a gap in the curtain covering her painting and all the equations sounding it. All the frantic chartings, years worth of research, of trying desperately to understand. Years worth of hopes. Years worth of dreams.

"You coming, Red?" James yells up at her. He ducks with a yelp as Cady suddenly tosses the rest of her hair out the window and goes soaring past him with a cheer.

She yanks herself up just before she can hit the ground and curls in on herself, staring intently at the grass. What if it hurts to step on? What if something is lurking just beneath it, waiting to leap out and get her?

Hesitantly, she extends her foot down and taps a toe against it. She gasps a little and yanks it back before she places it back down. It's soft. She carefully presses her entire foot flat to the ground and follows it with the other. The grass is lush and crumples beneath her weight. The earth beneath is the slightest bit chilly, but she's never felt warmer.

She sprawls her entire body out onto the grass just to feel as much of it as she can possibly manage. Her favorite pink dress is probably getting horribly stained, but she can't find it within herself to care. It's so wonderful. The earth has a rich, heady scent to it that the grass seems to echo in perfect harmony. It forms around her a little. Like it's welcoming her.

She rolls over and looks inquisitively at a dandelion. She gasps when a delicate breeze rushes by and stirs the warm air around her, carrying the fluffy dandelion seeds away with it.

Cady laughs and tries to run after them. She gasps when her feet are suddenly chilled. She looks down and kicks a little when she sees she's standing in a little brook. To think I never even knew this was here!

A flock of birds ducks low around her head and cheeps warmly at her. She laughs and goes running, bursting through the vines and into the woods. There's so much she wants to do. So much she can do!

She wants to run through the forest, wants to feel the lush grass and every little leaf surrounding her while the warm sun shines on her face. She wants to run through frigid waters and feel rough, coarse tree barks and stones both sharp and smooth. She wants to meet people. She wants to go forward.

She also wants to sit down and cry. She wants to turn around and go right back home where it's safe. She wants to keep her promise to her mother.

She flips back and forth between her two modes of thought about a hundred times.

James seems to get sick of it after about three minutes. He comes and rests a comforting hand on her shoulder as she breaks into full-blown tears for the sixth time. "You seem a little conflicted, there, Red."

Cady nods sheepishly. "A little."

"I can't say I don't understand. I mean, I don't know much, of course, but your first time ever outside, first time breaking the rules, that's big stuff! That's a lot for one day," James says. "And of course, there's the matter of the mother, you know, this would kill her."

"K-kill her?!" Cady gasps in shock.

"Instantly," James says. Cady gapes at him in horror. This would kill her. I'm a horrible daughter. "But in my infinite kindness, I'm willing to go back on our little arrangement. I'll take you home, you get to stay safe and keep that relationship with your mother we all crave built on a solid trust and love, I get my stuff back, everyone wins! We part ways as unlikely friends and never hear from one another again. Unless you want a Christmas card."

"What? N-no, I'm seeing the lanterns. We're not going back yet," Cady insists. It might kill her mother to know, which is why she never will. Cady will be back in plenty of time and have the wonderful memories to hold onto for the rest of her life.

"Damn it!" James huffs, gently kicking the rock he had been lounging against.

Cady's in the middle of deciding how to respond when a twig snaps behind them. She brandishes her frying pan and clambers onto James' back, pointing it threateningly towards where the sound came from. "What was that?! Have they come for me?! Is this the end?!"

She blinks as a small kitten comes hopping out of the bush. It looks at them dismissively before it continues on its way. James turns a little to talk to her. "Nice to know you don't overreact or anything."

"...Heh," Cady chuckles hesitantly. "Sorry."

She carefully climbs off of poor James and coughs awkwardly as she's back on the ground.

"All good. It iiiiis probably best if we avoid... what did you call me earlier? Ruffian? Thug?"

"And scoundrel," Cady supplies helpfully.

"Right, that too. Best if we don't encounter those," James nods. "And... apparently kittens."

"Yeah, that's probably true," Cady agrees with a giggle.

James suddenly brightens. "Hey, are you hungry? I know a great little place not too far from here."

Cady nods eagerly. "Oh, sure, that sounds great! But it's small, right? Not too many people?"

"Oh, of course, yeah," James agrees. "Come on, we're friends, aren't we? Would I ask you to do something bad?"

Cady considers the matter and shakes her head. It's nice to have a friend.

"Come on, you'll love it," James says, walking backwards a ways and beckoning for her. Cady follows him and keeps her pan held protectively to her side, scanning with it for any potential threats. James eyes her oddly but seems to understand her reasoning and lets her continue.

As they keep going on without any more interruptions or apparent hazards, Cady slowly lets her guard down. James blinks in surprise as she runs on ahead with her arms held out to her sides and humming a little tune to herself.

"What are you doing?"

Cady yelps and suddenly drops her arms, whirling around to see him. "It's nothing."

"You're pretty far ahead for nothing," James replies with a raised eyebrow.

Cady shrugs sheepishly. "You'll think it's silly."

James looks at her with a completely flat expression. Cady realizes that their entire journey thus far has been exactly that.

So, with a deep breath, she explains. "I was pretending to be a meadowlark."

"A meadowlark?" James asks with a chuckle. Cady nods. "Why?"

"My favorite story when I was a little girl was about a meadowlark," Cady explains. "It was the first story I ever read myself. There was this lark, and she was blind, but her voice was as beautiful as the angels. And one day a King found her and saved her and they lived together. But then a god heard her singing and asked her to go with him, and she said no, because she and the King loved one another so much. I always... I always kind of wanted to be the lark. Fly free but still have a safe home to go back to."

James hums and nods. "What happened?"

"What?"

"To the lark. In the story. Did she stay with the King?" James asks.

"Oh, um... no, she died," Cady replies sheepishly.

James raises an eyebrow at her. "And this was your favorite story as a girl?"

"Look, it's better in the actual story, okay?" Cady huffs.

James raises his hands in surrender with a chuckle. "Hey, I'm sure, I'm not here to judge." He looks up and smiles. "Speaking of here... we're here."

Cady looks up and brightens as she sees a little wooden sign marking a small tavern nearby. She rushes up to read it. "The Lion Cub. Aww, how cute!"

"Right? It's great, you'll love it, come on," James replies, grabbing her hand in his coarse one and hauling her behind him.

Cady squeaks as he slams the door open to reveal a dingy, dimly lit interior absolutely packed wall-to-wall with... "Ruffians!"

Before she can protest, James is leading her inside, right through the mob of sharp teeth and armor and weapons and hooks and talons and everything else her mother taught her to be rightfully afraid of.

"That's a looooot of hair," one says in a low, gruff voice, letting the ends of Cady's curls flow through his hands as she hesitantly wanders deeper into the bar. She yelps and yanks up as much of it as she can carry, backing slowly away from the crowd until she hits a corner.

She looks around with her pan held out in defense. Okay, you took down James single-handed, how much harder could this be?

Right?

She gasps as she scans with her pan going back the other way and sees James getting into a scuffle. Something about... reward money? Before either of them know it, he's stretched out between the crowd like he's on the racks, his face contorted in pain. "James!"

She rushes up and tries to defend him, banging her pan against their armor with deafening clangs and kicking at their exposed legs. Nothing.

She looks up when Damian yanks on her ear and points to the ceiling. Her eyes widen as she spies a large set of antlers from some sort of terrifying creature she hopes she never encounters.

Cady carefully whips some of her hair up and around it and tugs as hard as she can. It slowly lifts up, up, up, and then... she lets it go.

It comes down with a resounding thwap right on top of the bald head of the biggest, burliest man in the bunch. He turns to her with a growl and stalks over to her, brandishing an axe. Cady squeaks in fright and clambers onto the bar counter, holding her pan out defensively.

"Let him go!" she cries. "Please. I have to see the lanterns fly tomorrow and he's my only hope of getting to them. I've been dreaming of seeing them my entire life! Haven't any of you... lovely gentleman ever had a dream?"

She squeaks and ducks behind her pan as the huge man suddenly lifts his axe. He throws it into the far wall, so deep that a bit of sunlight streams through around the edges. He leans against the counter Cady's standing on with a deafening clank and a faraway look in his lone eye. "I had a dream once."

Cady sits next to him and listens intently as he explains that in spite of only having one hand and one hook, he loves music and wants to become a famous pianist. He demonstrates a bit of his skill on the small, wildly out of tune piano in the corner. Cady smiles and dances along a little bit. He smiles bashfully as she explains that with a slightly less threatening look and a few crowds to play for he could really make it big.

"Ya think so?" he asks shyly.

"I know it! You've really got a gift," Cady explains with a wide smile.

His bravery is enough to get another to pipe up. He says he's always dreamed of finding his true love, but it's been a tough road due to his... unique features. Cady gives him a gentle kiss on the cheek and promises that he has a lot of charm underneath that rough exterior.

That gets the rest of them going. One loves to bake and dreams of having his own cake shop. One is a skilled flower arranger, and another loves furniture making and interior design. One has an impressive collection of dinky little figurines, one does mime, and another even performs puppet shows. With handmade puppets!

All of them turn to James with a threatening glare when he's the last who hasn't spoken. He laughs anxiously as he explains that his dream is getting to rest somewhere warm and tropical with lots and lots of money, completely alone.

Everyone tilts their heads and moves on. Cady thinks she can understand the tropical island part, but to be completely alone forever?

Cady continues listening to them cheer about their dreams amongst themselves, piping up in delight when they look her way. They really aren't so bad, apart from their smell.

She gasps as the door suddenly slams open and a huddle of threatening looking men in gold armor come bursting in. "Seren! Where is he?"

James grabs her hand and yanks her down behind the counter. Cady looks at him with wide eyes and tries to keep her panicked breathing quiet.

She gasps and tries not to scream when a hook suddenly cuts into the counter dangerously close to her head. She peeks up to see the first man who spoke, the musician, looking back at her. She looks at him pleadingly, and he seems to soften even more than he had during their conversation.

He flips a little switch and guides them to a tunnel through a secret hole in the wall. "Go. Live yer dream."

"Thanks. I will," James replies, striding confidently into the tunnel with a wistful smirk.

"Yer dream is dumb as shit. I was talkin' ta her," the man retorts.

Cady giggles and presses up to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for everything. Break a leg."

With that, she rushes ahead in the darkness to find James.

"So an island, huh?"

"Sweet tomatoes!" James yelps in a comically high pitch.

Cady laughs. "Sorry. Nice to know you don't overreact or anything."

"Shut up," James grumbles. "Gotta say, I, uh... you did good back there. Didn't know you could handle stuff like that. Was impressive."

"I know, right?!" Cady squeals eagerly. She settles with a cough and tries too late to play it cool. "I mean, uh, yeah, it was whatever."

James just smiles and rolls his eyes fondly.

"So... James, where are you from?"

"I don't do backstory," James replies immediately. "But I gotta say, yours sounds incredibly interesting."

"Hm. None for me either, thanks," Cady replies suavely.

James rolls his eyes again. "Oh, come on. Look, I know I'm not supposed to talk about the hair."

"Nope."

"Or the mother."

"No way."

"Frankly don't care to know much more of the frog."

"He's a chameleon," Cady replies defensively, patting Damian with her finger. He humphs and glares at their company.

"Same difference," James shrugs. "But if I can just ask one thing." Cady shrugs too. What harm could one question do? "If you wanted to see the lanterns your whole life... why haven't you?"

Cady pauses as she considers her answer. Before she gets the chance to give one that isn't either super embarrassing or more than a little incriminating, she's hit on the forehead by a pebble. "Ouch."

She turns as a thundering echoes off the stone walls behind them, tilting her head in confusion.

"James?" Her jaw drops and she picks up her hair to start running when the same armored men from earlier come barreling after them. "James?!"

"Shit! This way, come on!" James yells. He grabs her hand and runs as fast as he can. Cady keeps a desperate grip on as much of her hair as she can manage and runs after him.

Eventually they come bursting through some aged wooden boards on the top of a cliff. They skid to a halt just on the edge and peer down to see three great, hulking forms come breaking out from another path down below them. "Who are they?"

"They don't like me," James replies tightly.

The armored people come bursting out behind them. "And who are they?"

"They don't like me either," James responds, shoving her closer to him.

A horse comes bursting out behind the guards. "Who is that?!"

"Let's just say that very few people or animals like me and leave it at that!" James replies frantically.

Cady looks around desperately for some way out of this. There's a ladder down, right into the hands of the burly people below, and that could easily be cut down from either above or below them. Any other way down is a sure fall, so... Cady looks up.

There's a dam, surrounded by old scaffolding from when the area was apparently a mine. It's ancient and falling apart, but... it'll do.

"Here," she says, accidentally slamming James in the chest with her pan. He grunts in pain, but she doesn't have time to fuss over him as she whips her hair around a bit of scaffolding. She tugs it tight... and jumps.

She closes her eyes tightly as she goes swinging over the cliff and lands a ways away. She looks back and sees James getting into a tussle with the armored people. And the horse.

He's faring pretty well, but Cady still whips her hair out and winds it around him when the going gets too close for comfort. He salutes and yells as he goes soaring even further than Cady did.

Cady looks back again when there's a loud banging and sees the horse kicking a beam from the dam down. Water starts flooding past it, and he starts to inch across the rickety wooden plank towards her.

"Red! Jump!" James yells. He has the ends of Cady's hair firmly in his hands. What the heck, I've already come this far.

Cady closes her eyes and holds the rest of her hair in a tight, desperate grasp as she leaps blindly off the cliff. She gently skirts to the ground and immediately breaks into a sprint. The thugs encroach, but Cady is faster.

James starts skating and climbing down off the bit of scaffolding he found himself on top of, and eventually, lands next to Cady with a thump. No time to stop. No time to rest.

James gathers up the ends of Cady's hair that she loses grip of and takes off right as the dam bursts behind them with a thundering crack and roaring of water. The people behind them are no longer a threat, but that most assuredly is.

Neither of them dare even look back when a large shadow suddenly looms overhead. They both just pick up the pace and dive into another abandoned mine tunnel, just barely avoiding a giant pillar of sandstone collapsing on top of them. Finally, a moment to breathe.

Brief though it is. Cady looks to James in concern as the water begins to seep in around the edges of the stone. James sighs, and they continue running deeper. Cady wants to protest, but they have nowhere else to go.

The water comes in faster, already flooding in up to their ankles, their knees. Cady grabs James' hand when it's to their hips and hauls him up onto a higher ledge.

James looks around, clearly panicked, and dives under the surface to try to find a way out. Cady hammers against the walls and tries to keep her head above the water. James pops up for a breath before rapidly diving down again. There isn't even a crack in the stone Cady can wedge her frying pan into.

"It's no use," James gasps as he pops back up and returns to her side, panting to catch his breath. "I can't see anything."

Cady tries to dive herself, yelping in pain as James grabs hold of her hair and tugs her back.

"Are you fucking insane?! It's pitch black down there!"

Cady looks at him, at the fear shining in his eyes. It's practically all she can see in the darkness. "This... this is all my fault. My mother was right, I never should have left my tower." She's going to die here. More importantly, so is James. Because of her. "I'm so, so sorry, James."

She can't bear to look at him any longer as she breaks down in tears, feeling them track warm trails down her cheeks before falling into the frigid water surrounding them. James sighs a little and says, "...Janis."

Cady sniffles and hesitantly turns back around. "What?"

"My name is Janis Sarkisian," James... Janis, explains with a sigh. "And I'm... a woman. Someone might as well know."

Cady is briefly taken aback. But there's no time for questions. She simply chuckles and scoots a little closer. "I have magic hair that glows when I sing."

"What?" Janis asks incredulously, like she's not sure she's putting those words together in the right order.

Cady gasps. "I have magic hair that glows when I sing!"

She grabs Janis' hand and starts her song. The water rises to their chins. Higher, and higher.

Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine

She gasps for breath just before the water swallows them completely and hopes that it's enough to finish both the incantation and their escape. She hopes there is an escape at all.

Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine

Janis looks at her with wide eyes and a small, shocked scream as her hair begins to glow that familiar, vibrant orange all around them. Cady shrugs it off and looks around until she spies some loose stones. She waves Janis over and starts trying to grab at them. She pulls and pushes, kicks and punches. Janis joins in, and eventually, her hand breaks through to the outside. The rest of the wall follows and they go tumbling out into a river.

They swim to the side and clamber onto the bank, panting for breath. Cady spits out some water and pushes her soaking wet hair out of her face. "We did it! We're alive!"

"Her hair glows," Janis coughs as she hoists herself out of the water, sprawling on her back.

Cady takes advantage of her shock to look her over. The curve of her jaw that is admittedly feminine now that she knows the truth. The heave of her chest that does indeed have a set of bosoms. Perhaps not the biggest, and made smaller by the cloth bindings she uses to make herself appear more masculine, but still rather lovely. The curve of her hips as her soaking wet tunic and pants cling to her form. The alabaster skin beneath them, speckled with the occasional mark. Cady still has her beat by a long measure in terms of freckles.

Cady can hardly believe it. All this time. All those thoughts she's been having, all those urges... a woman?

She takes comfort in how much of her is still the same. The shine in those flabbergasted, almost panicked brown eyes. The full cheeks. The tweak of her nose as she gives an extra perplexed inhale. She's still the same person. She was just... Janis. Not James.

"You hurt yourself," Cady gasps when her eyes fall to the harsh, angry red mark on Janis' palm.

Janis herself doesn't seem to notice, rolling onto her belly to have a confused, angst-ridden conversation with Damian. "Why does her hair glow?!"

Damian shrugs.

"Janis," Cady says. Janis opens her mouth to say something else. "Janis!"

Janis jolts like she hadn't quite expected to hear it. "What?!"

Cady goes to wring what water she can out of her hair and back into the river where it belongs. "It's seventy feet long and you're surprised that it glows?"

"I mean, yeah!" Janis yells in response.

Cady sighs. "Come on."

"What?"

"Come on," Cady repeats. Janis pushes herself to stand and follows her deeper into the woods.

"We should find somewhere to start setting up for the night. It's getting dark," she says.

Cady turns to her. "Will we still make it to the lights in time?"

"You still want to go?"

"Of course I still want to go! I wouldn't have come this far if I didn't!" Cady yells.

"I mean, I figured, but you know... some things, now," Janis says with an uncharacteristic sheepishness. Is it really uncharacteristic, or did Cady just get used to... a character?

"Janis, if you can get me to the lights, you could be a frog for all I care," Cady says. "I couldn't care less if you're a woman." Janis grins. "Few less lies would've been nice, but, y'know."

"Oh, you want to talk lies?! Like how your hair fucking glows?!" Janis retorts.

"For gods sake, Janis, would you get over that?!" Cady yells back.

"But it glows, Cady!"

"I know! I don't see why you're surprised! Look at me, it's not exactly all natural, is it?!" Cady replies.

She plops herself on a felled log and starts making a ring of stones she finds nearby. Janis chucks some sticks into the middle and fiddles with a flint to get a fire going.

"Gimme your stupid... attractive... hmph," Cady grumbles to herself as she snatches Janis' hand.

Janis pulls it back with a yelp. "What are you doing?"

"My hair doesn't just glow," Cady explains quietly. She holds out her hand, and Janis carefully places her injured one into it with her palm facing the sky. "Promise you won't freak out."

Janis nods warily, so Cady loosely wraps the ends of a curl around the wound, and begins to sing.

Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine

When Cady opens her eyes after her song, she finds Janis' impossibly wide and staring at her hair. The glow slowly fades, and Janis unwinds the curls from her hand. The cut is completely gone. There's not even a scar left behind.

"You promised not to freak out!" Cady insists when she can tell Janis is about to scream.

Janis makes a strange sort of half-cough-half-almost-scream and frantically turns her hand over and over. "I'm not freaking out! What, are you freaking out?! Because I-I'm totally good! Totally good! Just, uh, very interested in your hair and the magical qualities it possesses, how long has it been doing that, uh, exactly?"

Cady shrugs sheepishly. "My whole life, I guess. My mother says when I was a baby, someone tried to cut it." She pulls back the top layer to show the short, dead curl by her ear. "But when it's cut, it turns this sort of... I dunno, auburn? And it loses its power. A gift like this, it has to be... protected. That's why Mother never let me... why I never..."

"You never left that tower," Janis concludes softly. Cady nods. "And you're still gonna go back?"

"No!" Cady yelps immediately. "Yes. I don't know, it's complicated!"

She buries her face in her hands, overwhelmed with emotion. She grins a little as she feels Damian cuddle into her foot. Always trying to cheer me up.

She might be making it up, but she thinks Janis is a little closer when she's feeling brave enough to peek out again. She smooths her hair out and sighs. "So... Janis Sarkisian, huh?"

Janis chuckles sardonically. "Yeah. I'll save you... all of that."

Cady shakes her head and scoots herself so close their knees touch. She leans her hands on them and props her chin up with her most ready-to-learn look. Janis chuckles again and looks away.

"There was this book I read all the time when I was a kid. These two pirates. They were fearless and... free. They faced all these amazing battles and storms and had riches you wouldn't believe! They had enough to get by, and they got to see the world and have all these grand adventures. It was a true story, so it wasn't always, y'know, the happiest time, but... I always wanted to feel that free. And they... were women. Anne Bonny and Mary Read. They disguised themselves as men and lived the charmed life of pirates."

"And that's why you became a thief," Cady concludes softly.

Janis shrugs. "Was the closest I could get. Felt better than being Janis the orphan for the rest of my life." She looks at Cady suddenly. "But don't tell anyone, okay? I've got a lot riding on all this stuff, and... stuff."

"Stuff," Cady nods with a giggle. "Well, I wouldn't want to do anything to tarnish your stuff."

They're somehow even closer when Cady looks at her again. Her dark eyes flicker in the wavering firelight. God, she really is beautiful. Their noses are almost touching.

Janis suddenly snaps out of it with a cough. "Well, uh, I should- I should, uh... wood."

Cady nods and watches her head off into the forest. "Hey." Janis turns back. "For the record, I like Janis Sarkisian much better than James Seren."

Janis smiles sadly. "You're the only one."

Cady about jumps out of her skin when she hears a familiar voice ring out behind her. "Well! I thought he'd never leave."

"Mother!" Cady yelps, whirling around to see her. "How did you find me?"

"Oh, it was easy. I just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that," Mother says as she pulls her into an embrace. She has a cold look in her eyes when she pulls back and grabs hold of Cady's wrist. "We're going home. Now."

"Mother, wait, please," Cady begs, trying to pull her hand out of her grasp. "I've been on this amazing journey! I've seen and learned so many new things. I'm a lot stronger than... than I thought. I even met someone. A person, Mother!"

"Yes, the wanted criminal, I've taught you so well," her mother retorts dryly.

"Yes, I know about all of that, but I think... I think he likes me, Mother," Cady says. If she didn't hear that Janis is a woman, it's probably best not to let that slip now. What Mother doesn't know won't hurt either of them.

"Likes you? Heavens, child, why would he possibly like you?" her mother tuts. "This just proves it, this whole romance that you've created. You're not prepared enough to be on your own. I mean, look at you!"

"Mother, please," Cady entreats again. "If you would just-"

"Come now, Cady, it's time to go home," Mother says.

"No," Cady says boldly. "I'm staying with him."

"No?" Mother questions. "Well, look who knows everything now." Cady gasps as she pulls out the satchel with the crown and tosses it to her. She went back. This is how she found me. She tracked me all the way here. "This is what he's really after, Cady, you know that."

"I do, but I really think she- he might like me for me, too!" Cady says through hot tears burning in her eyes.

"Cady, why would he possibly like you?" Mother asks pityingly. "Give him that and watch how fast he leaves you."

"I will! You'll see!" Cady insists bravely.

"Do what you will, Cady. But mark my words. Someone will get hurt," Mother says lowly. The hair on the back of Cady's neck stands on end. "Don't come crying to me when you're wrong."

With that, she's gone. She left. She left! ...What happens now?

"So does my hand have superpowers too or some shit now?" Janis calls as she returns with a pile of firewood. Cady jumps and shoves the bag under her skirts. "You okay?"

"Yeah! Sorry, I was just... thinking," Cady says, forcing a smile.

Janis shrugs and nods and goes off about all the wondrous things her new superpowers that definitely do not exist could provide. Cady giggles and settles herself down to listen.

——————

Cady's violently awoken the next morning by a familiar scream. "No!"

She jolts upright and sees Janis being dragged away by the horse from yesterday. She scrambles for purchase anywhere she can and grabs onto the grass to try to pull herself back, which rapidly gets pulled out of the ground and carried off into the wind.

"Hey! Give her back!" Cady yells, grabbing Janis' hands. She tugs as hard as she can, and the horse pulls back. Janis groans in pain as they play a dysfunctional sort of tug-of-war with her and pull her joints in ways they're not meant to go.

Eventually, Janis' boot pops off and she goes soaring over Cady's head, taking Cady down with her. The horse shakes the boot out of his mouth and spits it somewhere a bit further into the woods. His eyes suddenly lock onto Janis and he rushes up to them with a series of frenetic noises.

Cady scrambles to her feet and stands between them, waving to get his attention. "Whoa, hey, easy boy, easy!" The horse looks at her and settles a little. "There we go!" Cady coos. "Go get her boot, please." The horse chuffs and looks away. Cady points authoritatively. and puts her hand on her hip. "Go get it."

"What?!" Janis yelps as the horse turns to go fetch the stray shoe.

"Now sit," Cady says when he returns and spits it in Janis' general direction. Janis makes another startled sound as he plops onto his bum and glares at her. Cady puts her baby voice back on and showers him in praise. "What a good boy! You're such a good horse! You poor thing, are you tired from chasing that meanie everywhere?" The horse nickers and tucks against her shoulder like a hug. "Yeah, I bet. Nobody appreciates you, do they? Nobody understands you." He shakes his head. "But you're not so mean, are you... Kevin?"

Kevin shakes his head again as Cady peeks to see the shining silver tag on his bridle.

"Yeah, you're nothing but a big sweetheart," Cady coos. "Hey, listen. It's my birthday today!" The horse brightens a little and gives her a gentle nudge. Cady laughs. "Thank you. It's kind of the biggest one of my life. I finally get to go see the lanterns in the kingdom. I've been dreaming of it my whole life, and I need her to get me there. So just for one day, can you please call a truce? For me?" The horse glares at Janis and chuffs with a shake of his head. "Oh, come on, please? Just for the day, then you can go back to trying to have her arrested all you want."

Kevin considers this and nods begrudgingly. Cady hauls Janis up and makes her put her hand out. Kevin sneers at it before he lifts a hoof and deposits it in her palm. "I'm shaking hands with a horse. And somehow, by far not the weirdest part of this trip."

Cady looks up across the clearing when the sound of bells begins to chime around them. She pushes through them and runs on.

She doesn't have to go far before she finds herself at the end of a long stone bridge that separates the kingdom of Evanston from the woods. She squeals and looks around, trying to take everything in at once. The clear blue river, the tall spires of the castle, the hundreds of adorable, cozy houses leading up to it. "Oh, this is amazing!"

"Go on," Janis chuckles, pushing her forward.

Cady gasps as her foot touches the first cobblestone. It's smooth, almost soft. She goes running, tearing across the bridge until she's properly in the kingdom.

It's more than Cady could've dreamed. There's thousands of smells, hundreds of bright colors that almost hurt her eyes and are the most wonderful balm to them at the same time. Hundreds of people walk around chatting and laughing and bartering at the many, many stalls lining the road.

And there Cady stands, right there in the middle of it all.

She's rapidly pulled out of her delight when someone pulls on her hair. She turns and winces as she sees people stepping on it, pulling it and dirtying it. Janis gathers the ends and carries them like a bushel until she catches up with Cady gathering it from the roots.

They look at each other. This isn't exactly the most effective way to do this, and certainly not conducive to them avoiding any unnecessary attention. They look around for a solution. Janis smiles as she spies four little girls braiding each others' hair all in a row. She whistles, and they all gasp in delight when they see just how much material they have to work with.

The littlest one goes skipping off immediately to gather ribbons and flowers and other pretty things. The oldest three circle around Cady, seeming to come up with a plan without even speaking. They nod to one another when they apparently come to their silent consensus.

Cady kneels and tips her head back when they ask her to, smiling at the warm sun on her cheeks and those delicate little fingers weaving in her hair. They twist it around itself as much as they can manage; down and out and back again, leaping over the tresses like jump rope and calling to each other in delight as they go.

Somehow, they wove it around itself enough that the end result only hangs to her feet. Cady gasps and twirls around as she sees how much more manageable it is. The little one returns with her goodies and strategically deposits them wherever she thinks is best. Cady practically looks like a garden by the end of it. "Oh, thank you! This is wonderful!"

Janis has been watching the entire thing with a small grin. She flicks each girl a copper piece with a chuckle. The girls all smile and call their thanks as they go running off to find some other source of entertainment.

Cady grabs hold of Janis' hand and runs. She's not sure where and she's never cared about anything less. She picks up some sort of vegetable she's never seen before from a cart and shows it to Janis, who nods with probably feigned enthusiasm as she carefully gives it back. There's so much to look at. Stalls selling food, clothing, little trinkets, everything she could think of.

Cady squeals as they stand in line at one selling kingdom-themed merchandise. She turns when a glint in her peripheral catches her attention.

Curiously, she steps out of line and closer to what she sees. It's a mosaic, made of thousands of shining glass tiles that sparkle in the bright sun. Cady looks at the figures. A man, tall and strong in his blue attire, accented with gold. The King. Next to him stands a woman in a long pink gown with a kind, doting look in her shining green eyes. The Queen. And in her arms is a tiny baby with long red hair down to her hips.

Cady's eyes fall to a family sitting in front of the mosaic. A child holds out a flower to a baby in their mother's lap before resting it against the sandstone wall. "It's for the lost Princess!"

Cady tilts her head and heads off to find Janis again. She pauses and jolts when a small band kicks off playing what is apparently a traditional folk song in the kingdom. A small crowd gathers around. Everyone seems to know it, given the way they all smile and clap along.

Cady doesn't, but music is music. She throws her hands to the sky and spins around to the beat. She gets a few strange looks, but most of the people smile even wider. Cady grins back and goes to take the hands of a little boy. He shrieks with laughter as she pulls him in to dance with her and they whirl around together.

Once he's gotten going, Cady goes to grab someone else. She pulls along a man, who pulls along his wife, who pulls along her parents. Before they know it, everyone is dancing along all in lines and spirals.

Everyone except Janis.

Cady reaches for her and beckons her to join. Janis gives her a fond smile and shakes her head. Cady shakes hers in return and breaks out of the circle to grab her hands. Janis protests briefly that she doesn't dance, but she doesn't have much choice in the matter as Cady hauls her to the center of the circle and spins.

They dance a few more songs before they get tired. Cady is sad to leave, but Janis promises that the music will continue well into the early hours of the morning and they can always come back.

To cheer her up, Janis surprises her with a little pennant she had purchased from one of the stands, a soft blue fabric with a golden star emblazoned in the middle. Cady gasps in delight. "You bought this for me?!"

"Yeah!" Janis replies, having to yell a little over the music.

"You bought this! For me!" Cady yells back. Janis blushes as she puts the pieces together. She hadn't stolen it. She had spent some of what little money she has on Cady. "And you paid those little girls for my hair!"

"Yeah! It was no big deal," Janis says sheepishly.

Cady shakes her head and bunches the little thing up in her hand, using it for leverage as she rests it on Janis' shoulder and presses up to kiss her cheek. "Yes it is. Thank you."

Janis flushes a brilliant red and coughs a little. "Yeah, uh... no problem."

They visit an area for doing chalk drawings, and Cady goes all out with a big, swirling star; shining just as bright as she feels.

They visit the dancers again, and again. They sneak away for a cupcake or two, and do some more dancing. Janis shows her a secret way into a nearby library for a quiet respite. Cady lays on the floor next to her as Janis explains the story and the traditions behind the festival from a book. It's a devastating story, the Princess being stolen, but Cady is absolutely enraptured.

They do some more dancing and eat some more food until their bellies are stuffed and their feet ache too much to continue. Eventually, once the sun is almost set, someone yells, "To the boats!"

A crowd of people leaves. Cady isn't sure where to go, and makes to follow. Janis catches her arm. "Hey. This way, c'mon."

Cady smiles as she leads her the other way to a smaller dock, and a tiny little canoe.

"Tada," Janis says sheepishly. She helps Cady clamber in and hops in herself.

"Where are we going?" Cady asks as Janis picks up the oars and begins to row them away.

"I figured you should get the best seat to see your lifelong dream," Janis says with a small grin. Cady smiles back.

My lifelong dream.

She watches the kingdom get smaller and smaller to the tune of the water sloshing peacefully around them. Janis stops them right in the middle of the wide river and locks the oars.

"You excited?" Janis asks.

Cady nods and sighs. "I'm terrified."

Janis looks at her strangely. "Why?"

"You're right, I have been dreaming of this all my life. Looking out that window and wishing I could be right here. What... what if it isn't everything I dreamed it would be?"

Janis nods in understanding. "It will be."

Cady nods too. "And what if it is? That's it, my dream... done. What do I do then? Where do I go from there?"

Janis scoots a little closer. "Well... that's the good part, I guess. Then you get to go find a new dream."

Cady considers this. "A new dream. I like that."

"Good," Janis says with a chuckle. Cady smiles wider, and Janis does too.

"It's so beautiful," Cady murmurs, looking out over the water.

"Yeah, it is," Janis agrees, looking right at her. Cady grins and lets some of the flowers from her hair go, watching them drift down the river.

A golden glint wavering on the surface catches her eye. She looks up and gasps as she sees it, that first, brightest lantern rising and soaring across the sky. "Oh! It's starting!"

Janis yelps and tries to steady them as Cady scrambles onto the bow of the canoe for a better look. Her jaw drops a little and she watches, enraptured, as the entire skyline begins to glow and the lanterns lift one by one. Before they know it, they're absolutely surrounded by thousands upon thousands of lanterns bobbing and weaving and sinking and rising all around them.

Cady blinks away tears. It's everything she dreamed of for so long and more. Everything she ever could've wanted.

She turns when she feels a warmth on her back and gasps as she sees Janis holding two lanterns with a small grin. She grunts as Cady carefully shoves between them and throws her arms around her neck. "Thank you."

Janis just nods and hands her one. Cady sniffles and takes it. She closes her eyes and wishes on it before they let them both go at the same time. She's not sure wishing is part of the tradition, but she figures there's no harm in putting her own little twist on it. Cady stands to get a better look as they rise into the sky in tandem, twirling around each other like lovers in a dance before they blend into the crowd around them and she loses sight of their special two.

Janis carefully takes and squeezes her hands in her own warm, callused ones. Cady smiles sheepishly. She's surrounded by the most beautiful thing she's ever seen, the thing she's been dreaming of seeing her entire life, and yet she can't tear her eyes away from the girl in front of her.

"I have something for you, too," Cady says. She almost can't believe what she's doing as she pulls the satchel from behind her and holds it out. "I should've given it to you earlier. I was scared. And now... I'm not scared anymore."

Janis shoots her the gentlest smile and carefully puts the satchel to the side. "I'm not either."

"Thank you for doing this with me," Cady says quietly. "I'm glad it was you."

"I'm glad it was us," Janis responds, gently nudging Cady's chin up. "You and me, Red."

"Us," Cady echoes with a smile.

"Us," Janis agrees. "And... her."

Cady turns over her shoulder to see where Janis' faraway gaze has gone. She frowns when there doesn't seem to be anything there. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, all good. Um, do you mind if I do something real quick?" Janis replies, still not looking at her.

"No, of course not," Cady responds. Janis nods and starts rowing them to the far shore behind Cady. Cady looks around in confusion as she pushes them up on the sand and grabs the satchel from the bottom of the boat.

"Sorry. There's... I just have to do this. I'll be right back. I promise."

Cady nods. "Alright."

She watches Janis walk away into the night, clutching the bag to her chest. Damian chitters worriedly into her ear.

"It's okay, buddy. She'll be back."

Slowly, the lanterns all fade and are blown away by the wind. The night settles into a deep, heavy, oppressive fog.

"She'll be back."

Cady clambers out of the boat and leans against it, watching for any sign of her companion. She sighs in relief when a familiar silhouette appears in the mist and starts walking towards her.

"There you are! I was starting to think you took the crown and took off without me!" Cady says with a giggle.

She gasps as the shadow suddenly splits into three. They get closer until Cady can see their faces. Her jaw drops a little as she recognizes them as the three thugs who chased them through the mines yesterday. They're women, two blondes and a brunette. The middle one, one of the blondes, is the first to speak. "She did."

"What? No, she-she wouldn't do that," Cady replies. She wouldn't. She wouldn't! Would she?

"See for yourself," the brunette says, gesturing to the river. Cady squints across the water where she's pointing and gasps as she sees a familiar form on a small boat sailing back towards the kingdom.

"Janis?" she murmurs shakily. No. It can't be. She promised. "Janis!"

"A crown for the girl with the magic hair," the second blonde says. "How much do you think someone would pay to stay young and beautiful forever?"

Cady gasps and shakes her head. They all nod, and start to approach her with a large sack. "No! No, please, no!"

She takes off running as fast as she can. The sharp rocks and sticks on the path scrape up her bare feet, but she has no choice but to keep going as fast as she can. She turns a curve and gasps as the end of her braid gets caught on a branch.

"No," she pleads desperately with her own hair.  She yanks as hard as she can. It's no use.

She pauses and looks up when she hears a series of thuds and a familiar cry. "Cady!"

"Mother?" Cady murmurs.

Warily, she pokes her head back around. Sure enough, there she stands, holding a large log and surrounded by the unconscious bodies of Cady's three attackers. "Cady! Oh, Flower, are you alright?!"

"Mother," Cady sobs. She runs in for the tightest hug she thinks she's ever given and cries into that loving shoulder. I never should have left her.

"Oh, I was so worried. I saw these awful thugs attack you! Did they succeed? Are you hurt?"

"No, I-I'm fine," Cady replies.

"Good, let's go!" Mother hisses, pulling on her hand. "Quickly now, before they come to!"

Cady turns and looks over her shoulder one last time. She stands on the shore and watches that boat drift steadily towards the shoreline. Away from her.

When she turns back, her mother simply opens her arms. Cady bursts into tears again and runs in for another embrace. "You were right, Mother. You were right about everything."

"I know, darling. Come now. Let's go home."

Cady nods and lets herself be led by an arm slung across her shoulders. She doesn't have the strength to find her own way back.

So much for fearless.

———

Cady's already so exhausted that walking through the night makes no difference. She sighs when they reach the tower, comforting and foreboding all at once. She whips her hair up to the hook and scales it. She pulls her mother in after her and falls into bed with a sigh.

Her mother tenderly removes each little flower and ribbon from her hair and unweaves the long braid with deft fingers. Cady feels the tresses loosen and drape around her the way they always do. "There. It's like it never happened."

But it did happen. Cady's mind has been sent into overdrive with all the new experiences and memories she has swirling around in there.

Not even the prospect of her favorite dinner is enough for her to so much as look up. She doesn't move a finger, or any little toe. All she can do is stare at the wooden floor beneath her feet. She knows it should be comforting, but it makes her ache now. It just doesn't compare to the cool waters and the soft grass and the damp earth. Even the sharp rocks and twigs would be more of a comfort than this.

"Cady, really, I tried to warn you. This world is a dark place. It finds one little hint of sunshine and won't rest until it's snuffed," Mother says. With that, the curtains separating Cady's room from the rest of the tower are tugged shut, and Cady's left alone.

She peeks up to make sure she's gone before she carefully unfurls the pennant she's had clasped tightly between her hands. The little star blurs through her tears as she remembers everything that happened yesterday. The good, the wonderful, the bad, the even worse. Damian squeaks sadly and cuddles against her arm. She doesn't even have it in her to comfort him.

She falls back on her bed and uses the pennant to dry the irritating tears that track into her ears. She sniffs and holds it over her face again.

She's hit with a memory so intense she nearly gasps out loud. That mosaic she saw in town yesterday. The King and the Queen, and the tiny baby with unnaturally long... fiery red... curls. Suddenly, everywhere, that star motif is all she can see.

Damian screeches and ducks out of the way as she stands and staggers to crash into her vanity.

She's seen those people before. Not tile, flesh and blood. The vision is blurry, the memory hazy, but she knows it was them.

"Cady, are you alright? What was that sound?" Mother calls from downstairs. Cady slides the curtains open, still staring ahead at nothing in particular.

"I'm the lost Princess."

"Cady, speak up, you know how I feel about your-"

"I am the lost Princess," Cady repeats, bold and clear. "Aren't I? Did I mumble, Mother? Did I talk too fast?"

Mother's eyes widen in a mix of horror and anger. "Cady, really now, wherever did you get such an idea?"

"Should I even call you my mother?" Cady asks, again, not aimed at anyone in particular.

"Cady, come now-"

"No!" Cady yells, intentionally bumping into her as she shoves past. "It was you! You did everything! I've been stuck up here my entire life for my protection! And all along, you are the one I've needed to be protected from! You were never my mother, you never loved me! All along you just wanted to- no, you didn't want to, you did use me!"

"And what will you do now that you know the truth?" Mother hisses. Cady gasps and staggers backwards upon hearing the confirmation. She had known it to be true, but it still doesn't mean she was prepared to hear Mother respond one way or the other. "He won't be there for you."

"What did you do to her?!" Cady yells.

"Her? Oh, Flower, you're more lost than I thought. You needn't worry anymore. That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes," Mother says.

Hanged?

Janis is going to die. Because of me.this, is wrong! I will never let you use my hair again!"

Cady shoves past again and accidentally knocks her mother back into her favorite mirror. It shatters, leaving a thousand versions of their ire for one another scattered around the room.

Cady doesn't care. She heads to her window. Not necessarily even to leave, simply to look out and ponder her next movements.

She gasps as she hears the sound of metal and feels something cold around her wrist. She looks at her hand and gapes as she finds it tightly cuffed. "No!"

"It's for your own good," Mother growls. "Be still."

"No!" Cady yells again. She tries to fight her off, but Mother catches hold of her other hand and suddenly, Cady's hopes are shackled behind her back. She scrambles away from her until she reaches the end of her chain. Mother yanks her back. She tries again. Again, she's pulled back.

She gets as close to the window as she can and screams, pleads for help, hoping someone will eventually, finally come into their neck of the woods and hear her.

She gasps when a cloth is suddenly shoved into her mouth and tied behind her head. She continues screaming around it, trying to bite her way through and push it out with her tongue. It's no use. It's tied too tight.

Her eyes widen and her heart falls into her stomach when she hears a familiar cry. "Cady! Let down your hair!"

"Janis! Janis, no!" Cady tries to scream. It's useless around the gag, but she can't let Janis become involved in this. She escaped. She made it out. Only to make it here.

She screams in horror as her mother tosses her hair out the window. The tears stream down her face as she feels Janis' weight on the tresses, steadily climbing higher and higher.

"Cady, thank the gods, I thought I'd never-"

Cady frantically tries to warn her as she clambers through the window. Janis' eyes widen and her jaw slackens at the sight of Cady gagged and bound in chains on the floor before her.

Before either of them can do anything, Mother  Fey emerges from where she had hidden herself and thrusts a dagger into Janis' abdomen. Cady screams in horror as Janis clutches her side and sinks to the ground.

"Look at what you've done now," Mother says coldly. "Don't fret, darling. Our secret will die with him."

Cady finally manages to spit the gag out. She can feel saliva tracking down the corners of her lips and her hair frizz beneath where the gag had been tied. "No! Janis!"

Cady scrambles to try to get to her, pulling so hard she almost pulls her arms out of socket. Mother yanks her back by the heavy chains.

"And as for us. We are going where no one will ever find you again," she says with a laugh that used to be so comforting. Now Cady is simply filled with dread. Cady keeps fighting. She pulls and crawls and scrambles and kicks. Damian even gets involved, trying to tug on Mother Fey's skirts and push her away. She kicks him aside like a mere bug. Cady screams again.

"Cady, enough already! Stop fighting me!"

"No! I will never stop," Cady yells, heaving for breath. She's sure she looks absolutely unhinged. She certainly feels it. "I swear to you that for the rest of my life I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you! And I will never let you use my hair again!"

She pants to catch her breath and feels a deep ache in every part of her. She leans into it. Settles herself. She was my mother until a few hours ago. Maybe it's not too late. Maybe I can appeal to her somehow.

"But if you let me heal her, I will go with you," she says, so quietly her mother is forced to stop and listen.

She hears Janis groan behind her. "No."

Cady bites her lip to quell the tears brimming in her eyes and forces herself not to turn around. "It'll be exactly how you want. I'll never fight. I'll never try to escape. I'll be with you. Forever, I promise. Just let me save her. Please."

Mother looks at her coldly and sneers as she undoes her shackles.

The joy is lessened when she fastens them to Janis' wrist instead, tying her to a beam and leaning in to growl at her. "In case you get any ideas about following us."

With that, she steps back to let Cady do what she needs to. "Janis!"

Janis groans as Cady rushes to her, cradling her face in her hands. Cady strokes her thumb across one of those infuriating cheekbones and sobs quietly.

"I'm so sorry," she says in a wavering voice. "You're gonna be okay, I promise. Just-just like your hand, okay?"

"No," Janis pants, clutching at her injury. Cady gently shifts her hand away and sobs as she sees the blood pooling around it. Janis tries to push Cady's hands away. "No."

"Shhh, it'll be alright," Cady hushes. "Breathe."

"I... can't... let you do this," Janis wheezes, her chest rattling with every breath. Cady gently strokes her face and leans in to press her forehead against Janis'.

"And I can't let you die," she whispers back, her voice somehow swimming in the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Cady... no," Janis grunts, trying to shift away. "If you do- agh! If you do this, then you... will die."

"Shhhh," Cady hushes, gathering a few of her curls. "It's gonna be okay. I'll be fine. Now breathe."

"Wait," Janis gasps, reaching her bound hand for her. Cady pauses with her hair still gently draped over the wound.

"What is it?"

Janis slips her hand to the back of Cady's neck and pulls her closer. Cady smiles sadly and willingly leans into her.

Her lips just barely brush Janis' when her grip shifts. Janis grabs each and every one of her curls in her fist and makes a quick swipe with a shard from the mirror. Cady didn't even see her grab it.

"Janis," she gasps as that weight she's carried for her entire life suddenly slips away, falling and dying in limp clumps around them. She holds the old strands of her hair in her hands and watches the color fade to that strange sort of strawberry blonde.

"No! No, what have you done?!" Mother cries, scrambling to gather whatever of the magic in her hands she can manage and watching it fade and die before her eyes. "What have you done?!"

She rushes to the broken mirror, and both she and Cady gasp in terror at the thousand wizened old hags that stare back at her. She continues wailing and yanks her cloak over her eyes so she's not forced to see anything more.

Cady watches in horror as she stumbles blindly around the room. Damian grabs one of the long, faded ringlets in his mouth and yanks it. Mother trips over it, and falls.

The only way in.

The only way out.

For the last time, Mother leaves.

She's dust before she even hits the ground.

Cady gasps and scrambles back to her beloved when she hears her let out another groan and slump to the ground. "Janis, no, nonono, stay with me. Hey, look at me. I'm right here, look at me."

Janis weakly opens her eyes, gazing lovingly up at her. Cady sobs as she hears the quivering of her breath and watches how her eyes flutter closed in perfect rhythm with them.

"Why didn't you let me save you?" Cady pleads around a quiet sob. "I can't lose you. I-I can't-" Janis coughs as Cady grabs her chilled hand and clutches it to the short hair remaining on her head. Desperately, as fast as she can, she starts to sing.

Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine

"Cady," Janis chokes.

"Shhhh," Cady soothes, rocking her gently back and forth. "I've got you."

Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine

"Please," Cady begs.

"Cady," Janis whispers again, her hand falling to her shoulder. Cady takes it and kisses the inside of her callused palm with a sob.

"What is it?"

"You... were my new dream," Janis breathes weakly, each word rattling out of her throat.

Cady sobs and smiles sadly as her eyes flutter closed and open once more. "And you were mine, my love."

Janis smiles contently and closes her eyes one last time. Cady leans down and presses her forehead against hers, watching her tears drip onto Janis' face.

She feels a quivering exhale chill the hot tears lingering on her cheeks.

And nothing more.

She lets out a harsh, loud, choked sob as she realizes Janis is gone. "I'm so sorry."

She's not sure how long she stays there, cradling the still-warm body of the only love she ever had the pleasure to know.

The future still waits. She has to decide where to go now that both her mother and Janis have gone. What to do with herself.

Who to be.

But all of that can wait.

For now, all she can do is sit and cry, gently rocking Janis' body in her arms as if Janis might somehow respond to the motion. She strokes her thumb across her cheek and traces her fingers down the bridge of her nose.

After a while, she feels herself start to sing in her trembling voice.

Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine

"What once was mine," she sobs, pressing her face to Janis' again. Her voice loses itself in her tears once more. All she can do is cry.

She pauses when she feels a warmth and tilts her head when a strange, golden glow swirls on Janis' cheek.

She gasps as it spreads, and suddenly, great swirling beams of sun-bronze light explode across the room in magnificent tendrils. A white form of a flower beams out from the wound at the center of it all, and Cady looks around at them in wonderment.

Almost like they were never there, the strands of warmth fade to a white-hot little ball of light right where the dagger took her love away, before it disappears altogether and Cady is left alone in the darkness once more.

She stares at Janis' torso.

There's no blood. No trace of a wound. The fabric of her tunic isn't even torn.

Not daring to believe it, she looks at Janis' face, clutching it desperately in her hands.

Nothing happens.

Cady's face falls. She knew it was too good to be true. Healing a wound is one thing, but bringing back the dead-

She gasps as there's the tiniest flutter of Janis' eyelashes. "Janis?"

She sobs in joy and relief and delight and so many things all at once that it nearly rips out of her as Janis groans quietly in her arms. "Cady?"

"I'm here," Cady murmurs, stroking her cheek with a gentle hand.

"That hurt like a bitch," Janis cracks, gazing at her through hazy, bleary eyes.

"Janis!" Cady laughs, throwing her arms around her neck and squeezing. Janis lifts her free one to hold her around the waist and squeezes her closer in desperate relief. Cady breaks into sobs once more, heaving them into her shoulder.

Janis gapes as she suddenly pulls back and grabs the collar of her shirt to slam their lips together. Her shock doesn't last long, and she quickly lifts her unshackled hand to fist in the back of Cady's shoulder-length curls and hold her even closer. "I love you."

"I love you," Cady laughs through her tears. "Oh, thank the fates you're alright."

"It wasn't the fates," Janis whispers, cradling her chin in her hands and smiling at Cady's wet chuckle. "It was you, Cady."

Cady throws herself at her once more. They stay there for a long, long time, crying and laughing and kissing and never once letting go of the other.

Eventually, Cady finds the key to the shackles and frees her love. Janis rolls out her wrist and chuckles as Damian clambers up to sit on top of her head. "Hey, frog. You ready to go?"

Damian nods eagerly, and Janis and Cady both laugh.

Cady packs up the few possessions that were ever truly hers, and ties her old hair to the hook by the window for the last time. She slides down and stares at the plush grass beneath her toes.

Everything is different.

This time, she and Janis walk hand-in-hand through the woods.

"What do you want to do now?" Janis murmurs.

Cady sighs wistfully. "I want to go to the kingdom. I want to find my family."

"What if they don't believe it's you?" Janis asks in concern.

Cady smiles at her and leans in for a kiss. "Then I haven't lost anything. I never really had a family. I never had a kingdom. I never was a Princess. You and I will go... forge our own path. Maybe we'll leave and find other kingdoms. Maybe I'll become a thief like you and we'll run grift after grift together until we're rich enough to retire to a tropical island we have all to ourselves."

Janis smiles and kisses the back of her hand. "Sounds like a plan, Red."

"I wouldn't say I'm exactly Red anymore," Cady giggles, trying to look at the little bit of her hair she can see.

Janis hums and tilts her head. "It's still pretty red. It looks beautiful."

Cady blushes. "Thank you."

They make their way to the kingdom. Janis explains how Kevin had actually aided in her escape and led them together. He had gone ahead to prepare the people for the return of one of the most wanted criminals in the country.

"I'll have to thank him again," Cady giggles as she hears the apparently completely true story.

After another day's trip, they once again find themselves at the end of that impossibly long stone bridge. Cady quivers before she steps forward and feels those worn cobblestones beneath her feet.

Janis follows her all the way to the palace. Some of the guards snap to attention when they see her and scramble to alert the others, but Kevin stands steadfast in their way.

Eventually, Cady finds herself in a long, ornate, grand throne room. Nobody is there but a guard.

Cady lets go of Janis' hand and strides forward to him. "Hello?"

She's about to introduce herself, request an audience with the royals, explain that she knows she probably looks a little different than he was expecting but it really is her, but... she doesn't have to.

His jaw drops and he looks her up and down. "Princess Cadence. You've returned."

"I have," Cady says quietly, folding her hands before herself. "You recognize me?"

"You have your father's eyes," the man says in a quivering voice. "And your mother's hair."

Cady absently reaches to feel the blunt ends Janis had cut. "I do?"

The man nods frantically. He leads them both to a balcony outside. Cady smiles wistfully and leans against the stone railing, taking a deep breath of that fresh, free air. She can see the whole kingdom from here, and even further. She grins sadly as she realizes.

This is where that first lantern lifted off from. Where all of them started their journey to the skies.

Every year, for eighteen years.

In just a few minutes, the guard returns with two stunned, frantic looking royals. Cady turns when she hears the door slam open and gapes as she sees her mother.

Her real mother.

Cady does have her hair. That same strange sort of auburn-ish strawberry blonde.

And her father's shining blue eyes.

Her mother steps closer and looks at her in disbelief. Cady smiles as the vision of them blurs through tears and laughs as they rush forward to wrap her in a hug.

All of them sink to the ground in a pile, overcome with emotion and relief. Cady relishes in the warmth and the safety and the feeling of just right that surrounds her from all sides.

This is what I've been missing all this time.

This was my real dream.

Her mother reaches a hand for Janis. Janis gently slips her own into it with a fond smile. She yelps as the Queen uses it to yank her into the embrace. "Thank you."

"She's the real hero in the story," Janis replies awkwardly, muffled against the King's lapel.

"And we have plenty of time to hear it," the King says in his loving, gruff voice. It gives Cady a thrill to hear, and she wipes her tears with a wide smile as they all stand to head back into the castle.

——————

three months later

"Hey, Princess," Janis greets teasingly as she steps into Cady's large bedroom. Cady's head snaps up from where it had been hunched over her desk, and she whirls around in her chair.

"Janis!" Cady says immediately, rushing into her arms as fast as she can and burying her face in her chest.

Janis frowns and holds her close, squeezing Cady to her protectively and resting a hand on the back of her head. She grimaces a little as she feels the short hair. I could've done a better hack job. "Whoa, hey. What's the matter?"

Cady just shakes her head, threading her arms around Janis' waist and clutching at her back. "I-I'm okay. I just missed you. That's all."

"No, it isn't," Janis says knowingly. "You can talk to me, what is it, my love?"

"...I don't even know," Cady whines. "Everything is all happening at once, my coronation, and everything. There's so much I have to learn and so many people to meet, and I love that, but it just... I just..."

"Sounds overwhelming," Janis murmurs. Cady nods.

"Overwhelming. Very, very overwhelming," she says. "I feel stuck, Janis. I mean, what if I mess something up? What if the people don't like me after all? I-I don't know anything, I'm gonna make a horrible princess-"

"Red," Janis hushes. "Breathe. You will make a wonderful princess, I promise."

"How-how do you know?" Cady asks meekly.

Janis pulls her back just a touch and leans down to press her forehead against Cady's. Cady looks into her eyes, and Janis watches some of the burgeoning panic clear from the bright blue irises as Cady takes a deep breath.

"I know because I know you," Janis whispers. "And I know that you're brave, and cheerful, and compassionate. And I know that you have a strong sense of duty and responsibility. And I know that you would do anything for the people you care about. You'll learn all about the kingdom and get to know all of the people. You'll make a great princess. Just give it time."

Cady's eyes twinkle with a smile, and she reaches up to thread her arms around Janis' neck and tuck her nose against it in a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too," Janis murmurs, gently hoisting her off the ground and twirling her around. Cady giggles in her ear before Janis gently rests her bare feet back on the floor.

"So. Miss Master Thief," Cady says with an impish smile. "Don't suppose you could steal me away from here for a little while?"

Janis smirks and kisses her one more time. "It would be my pleasure."

Cady laughs as she takes her hands and leads her out the large doors, the two of them running down the hall as quietly as they can.

Janis knows as Cady presses against her back to peek around the corner for any guards.

This would be the only thing Janis Sarkisian ever stole again.

And they lived happily ever after.