Reunion at Sea

Father

After the meeting concluded, most of the people dispersed at sparse intervals to get home unnoticed. Xavier sat with Varian, listening to him recount his adventure excitedly.

"Getting back to Old Corona may be tricky." Xavier said kindly after Varian finished telling the story and let out a yawn. "And young Varian seems to be tired. Why don't you rest here tonight and I will take you all to Old Corona with me in a cart tomorrow?"

"We carefully locked away any trace that he was back..." Clyde said thoughtfully. "And he is pretty much falling asleep on his feet."

"Nooo, I can make it back." Varian stood up, stumbled, and bumped into Eugene, who chuckled a bit.

"Nope, you're so gone you're taking a trip to dreamland already." He lifted Varian into his arms and carried him over to a bed in the corner Quirin set up for him. "Just be good and sleep here, okay?" He looked at Rapunzel. "We better get to the castle before it gets dark."

Rapunzel nodded. "My father will be back soon."

"Be safe." Varian said sleepily.

Rapunzel walked over and knelt down to hug him. "Stay safe, okay? I'll see you later."

Varian nodded, then watched as she left with Eugene and Cassandra, everyone else having already left.

Xavier sighed and settled down next to him. "So, your raccoon is a transformed human?"

"Mmhm. Apparently." Varian nodded. "I don't really get it, but he saved us, so...he's a good guy."

Ruddiger climbed up on his chest and curled up to sleep.

--

Quirin was out right now, it seemed. King Frederic let himself into the manor and looked around for any sign of the teenager, but he didn't see anything. Then again, Varian was as good as he was at acting innocent and covering his tracks. He checked the bedrooms and paused when he finally saw evidence of someone being here - the bed had been used recently. He doubted that his father would sleep on his son's bed, and he'd expressly told the guard to not touch the bedrooms. He walked around and swiped his finger on a few things, finding dust on some but not on others. Then he swiftly left for Varian's lab.

"Your Majesty, is this right?" The Captain asked.

He'd once asked him this before, when he first gave the order to keep Varian confined to Old Corona. A steely look his direction silenced him as it did before and he opened the door, walking in.

Right away, he knew that someone had been in here. Well, obviously, since Rapunzel had been there with her friends and they'd freed Quirin. He doubted they would stay in Varian's room, though. He noticed the dust on the desks was gone, however, and Rapunzel had no reason to touch those. The alchemy set had also seen some use. The boy was back in Corona, then. Rapunzel had brought him...home.

"Your Majesty," the Captain tried again.

"Varian has returned." He said calmly, then turned to the Captain. "I want him found and I want him locked up. I should've just locked him away in that bunker in the first place, screw his consent. Now he's loose and filling my daughter's head with ideas."

--

Captain Solomon felt uncomfortable, and he walked away from his King to walk through the house again. He reached Quirin's bedroom and paused, pushing open the door to find himself staring at a family portrait by the window looking out over the town. He walked up to the painting, looking up into blue eyes that glinted with mischief even as she looked adoringly at the child in their arms.

He could still recall it like it was yesterday. He had been sent out to investigate an explosion in Old Corona and found a barn on fire, with two women frantically trying to put it out, covered in soot and laughing awkwardly. He'd ordered his men to surround the women, who looked up in alarm. It occurred to The Captain that they weren't using water from a well, but were conjuring water and wind to put the fire out with...magic. Golden Saporian necklaces glinted on their chests as they moved closer together, their magic water dropping onto the building and dousing the flames.