Chapter 4

Cassandra continues to make inroads in mending her strained relationship with the people of Corona, and Eugene gets an unexpected yet pleasant surprise.

Seven days had finally passed from when Cassandra’s stitches went in, and she was extremely grateful when the doctor declared they could be removed. The procedure took well over an hour and it felt weird as each stitch was cut and pulled out, but Cassandra relished each time a bit of thread was tossed away.

“Now don’t forget,” the doctor reminded her, “just because the stitches are out doesn’t mean you’re all better. Your body is still recovering and if you want to heal properly you have to avoid straining yourself and you need to keep using the ointment.”

“Yes, sir,” Cassandra replied. “But can you be a little more specific on not straining myself? I’m not going to lie, I’ve been getting a little stir crazy stuck in bed all the time.”

“Oh you certainly don’t have to do that anymore. I encourage you to get up and move. Walking for sure, some light exercise, maybe some labour too. But no straining your back. No lifting heavy objects. No acrobatics.” He glanced over at her sheathed sword propped up next to her bed. “And no getting into fights. Basically, if you think it might hurt, don’t do it.”

“I think I can manage that.”

As soon as the doctor had left Cassandra hurried to find Eugene so she could start working on her community service. The sooner she got started, the sooner she’d pay her debt to society, and the sooner she’d be free to explore Gothel’s caches. Eugene already had a list of people who had put in requests for extra help, covering a wide range of things, like taste-testing, ploughing fields, and guard duty. To start, he chose something that made use of Cassandra’s dexterity without her needing to strain herself.

The shoemaker, Feldspar, had been getting lots of business lately, so much so that he couldn’t keep up with the demand. At first he was wary when Eugene brought in Cassandra, explaining that she’d be the one to help him clear his backlog, but as Cass eagerly and expertly did whatever Feldspar instructed, he quickly warmed up to her. It took the better part of three days, and used up twenty of Cassandra’s hours, but the backlog was cleared and the cobbler was very satisfied with her services. He even apologised to her for the play he wrote that featured her as a villain, and she in turn apologised for going off script while in the the role of Rapunzel for that very play.

Another four days and twenty two hours of community service was divided amongst various townsfolk wanting an extra hand with cleaning. Nothing was too strenuous, but each day left Cassandra tired, sore, and filthy. It was early afternoon on Saturday when she was told her task for the day was done, so she decided to return to the castle for a much deserved rest.

Rapunzel showed up at her room before she even had a chance to sit down, however. “Hi Cass. I saw you coming back from my balcony. Are you just on break or are you done for the day? Want to hang out?”

“Yeah, I’m done for today. I’d love to hang out, but I was about to go have a bath to clean up,” Cass said as she pulled out a fresh set of clothes from her wardrobe.

“Oh, great idea! Have you had a chance to try out the hot showers yet?”

Cass shook her head no.

“I didn’t think so. The renovations finished just after you arrived, and with your stitches you wouldn’t have been able to have a shower anyway. Want some company? There’s more than enough room. I can show you how it works and wash your back for you, if you’d like.”

“Um, sure.”

The two women made their way to the newly renovated bathing room, Rapunzel flipping the sign on the door to let others know it was now occupied. It was radically different from the last time Cassandra had been there. Where before there was simply a stone floored room with a large metal tub in the centre, now the floor and much of the walls were covered in tiles, and the tub, now set into a raised platform off to the side with steps leading up to its edge, was much larger so people could sit and be submerged up to their chest. In one corner of the room were a series of knobs built into the wall and above them a pipe jutted out and was tipped with what looked like the spout of a watering can. In the nearest corner was a series of shelves, mirrors, and benches that were clearly meant for clothes and changing, and along the far wall was a wooden door that led to the brand new sauna.

“Varian and his dad have been working on this for the better part of a year,” Rapunzel explained as the two of them began to undress. “Cold water is pumped up and stored in a large tank up in the tallest tower, where pipes will feed that water to the various rooms that need it, the kitchen, bathing room, water closets, and so on. Another set of pipes goes all the way to the basement where the hot water tank is, where the water is heated using flynolium and then more pipes bring that hot water to all the rooms. So now we have hot and cold water on demand.”

“Amazing,” Cassandra admitted.

As they were removing the last of their clothes, the door to the hall suddenly opened and Eugene started to enter. “Hey Blondie, would you like some company?”

“Eugene!” Rapunzel nearly yelled as she reflexively covered herself.

Cassandra just froze in place, underwear down around her legs, as it dawned on Eugene what he just walked in on.

“Oh!” he exclaimed as his eyes went wide and instinctively took in the sight of two very naked women. “I, ah, I didn’t realise you already had company. It’s, um, it’s nice to see you Cass.”

Cassandra’s mouth had gone completely dry. Her face turned a deep crimson and her lips started to move but no sound came out.

Eugene was slowly turning red in the face himself. “Some other time, then. Sorry to intrude,” he said and quickly made his escape, closing the door behind him.

It took another ten seconds before Cassandra could think again, and on a rather delayed reaction, threw the nearest thing she could at where Eugene had been standing. Her shirt smacked uselessly against the door.

“I’m so sorry, Cassandra,” Rapunzel said, “I should have known Eugene would drop by. Ever since the showers were finished we’ve always gone in together, so I should have let him know I wasn’t alone this time.”

“It’s ... fine,” Cassandra said as she slowly let out her breath through clenched teeth. “Eugene just saw me naked. That’s all. It’s just skin. Nothing at all to be upset about.” It was obvious she was trying to convince herself just as much as Rapunzel.

“Are you sure-” Rapunzel began, before Cassandra interrupted.

“Let’s not talk about it, okay?”

Rapunzel nodded and took a deep breath to help reset things. She grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap before leading Cassandra towards the shower area. On the way, she turned on the tap at the tub to start filling it. “The tub’s pretty big so it’ll take a while to fill. Once we’ve had a rinse in the shower we can have a nice long soak in the hot water.” Pointing at the dials at the shower she said, “The red one is for hot, and the blue is for cold. It’ll take a minute for the hot water to reach us so you might not want to stand under the spray right away. Once things heat up you can adjust the temperature to your liking.”

Using Rapunzel’s advice, Cassandra turned on the hot water as far as it would go, and once she noticed it was steaming she turned the dial back a bit and added some cold. It took some more playing with the faucets before she reached a temperature that seemed warm to her hand, and then she stepped into the stream.

“Oh,” she said as the warm water began to cascade down her body. She had stood out in the rain, and bathed both in rivers and under waterfalls before, so the feeling of water pouring over her was nothing new, but those previous experiences were always with water so cold it almost hurt. This was something else entirely.

Rapunzel stepped in as well and smiled at Cassandra’s reaction. She reached over to the faucet and turned up the heat, bringing the shower from warm to hot.

“Oh!” Cassandra exclaimed again at the temperature increase. She slowly rotated, letting the hot water spray all over her. “Oh, this, this is heaven,” she practically moaned as the heat penetrated her sore muscles.

“Isn’t it, though?” Rapunzel agreed. “I could spend hours in here if I didn’t have other things that needed attention.”

The two women spent the next twenty minutes thoroughly enjoying the shower. They took turns washing each other’s hair and back, Rapunzel being careful not to scrub too hard on Cassandra’s still tender skin.

Cassandra actually moaned in protest when Rapunzel finally turned off the water, but Rapunzel directed them to the tub now filled with steaming hot water. The princess stepped in and sat down on the far side of the tub, submerging herself right up to the neck, and nodded for Cass to do the same. Cassandra slowly dipped a toe in, the temperature a pleasant increase from even the shower, and inch by inch lowered herself until she sat down across from Rapunzel. The heat soaked into every pore and she could only sigh in delight.

After five minutes of just soaking in the water Cassandra said, “I think you’ve ruined me a little, Rapunzel. How am I supposed to go back to a regular bath after this?”

“All the staff have access, the women from six to seven, and the men from seven to eight every night. But as long as you’re with me you’ll have full access any time of day. Well, provided someone else isn’t using it, of course.”

“Like you and Eugene?”

“Or my parents.”

“They use this room too?”

“I think it’s more utilitarian for my dad, you know, just get it done and over with, but for sure my mom likes to soak like this, or use the sauna. Speaking of, did you want to try out the sauna, too?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m enjoying this way too much to trade it for something else,” Cassandra said, then sank completely underwater for a moment. When she emerged, she slicked back her wet hair and asked, “Since the rest of the staff get access at six, does that mean we can stay here until then?”

Rapunzel smiled. “Tempting, I know, but we shouldn’t hog the place too much.” In spite of what Rapunzel just said, they stayed for another hour, just soaking and chatting the afternoon away. When they finally emerged their skin was red and radiating a heat that could actually be seen.

Cassandra was fortunate to avoid Eugene for the rest of the day, as any encounter with him would surely bring her mood down and she didn’t want the afterglow of the bath to be ruined by anything. She wasn’t so lucky the following day, however, as she was invited to have lunch with him and Rapunzel. She sighed at the inevitable, but did her best to steel herself against anything that might be said.

There was a noticeable tension between Cass and Eugene but they made it most of the way through their food before something was said that really shifted their discussion. In a lull between topics, Eugene suddenly said to Cassandra, “So, you shave?”

It took a moment for her to realise what he was talking about. She didn’t go around telling people she shaved her armpits or legs, but that wasn’t anything noteworthy as pretty much every woman she knew did the same. But then she recalled that Eugene saw her, all of her, and that included her bare nether region. She had always kept it tidy down there, but after seeing Rapunzel completely smooth when the two of them had recently changed clothes together, she decided to try it herself, and liked it. Though the fact that it stuck out in Eugene’s mind made her want to reevaluate that decision.

She couldn’t help but grow red in the face. “That’s none of your business, Fitzherbert!”

“It’s just a question,” he said defensively.

“A question you already know the answer to, and the only reason you’d mention it is to embarrass me!”

“Embarrass you?” asked Rapunzel, who hadn’t realised what was actually being referenced.

“He’s trying to act smart,” Cassandra explained. “By asking that question, he’s reminding us that he saw me naked.”

“Eugene!” Rapuznel said firmly, coming to Cassandra’s defence.

“Look, ladies,” Eugene said, raising his hands. “I can’t change what happened yesterday, but we also can’t just pretend like it didn’t happen.”

“Why not?” Cass asked immediately.

“Because you’re on edge, and both of us will be forever walking on eggshells waiting for something to be done or said that could be interpreted in the wrong way.”

“Or the right way,” Cass countered.

“Okay, I could have brought this up more delicately, but it’s awkward for me too,” Eugene admitted. “The sooner we actually talk about this, the sooner we can move on. And really, Cass, you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m going to be perfectly frank for a minute; the sight of the two of you naked was truly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

Cass blushed. “Bullshit! I don’t want your sympathy.”

“I’m being sincere.”

The blush deepened. “Then I definitely don’t want your sincerity!”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want you to forget it ever happened!”

“But why?”

“I don’t want to look at you and have to wonder if you’re imagining me without my clothes. I don’t want you ... undressing me with your eyes.”

“You’d rather I use my hands?” Eugene joked.

“There! That right there is why I want you to forget! I don’t want you ... flirting with me.”

“It’s not flirting, it’s just teasing. And am I really that repulsive to you?”

Cass instantly said, “Yes!” but then sighed and continued. “No ... But ... Look, I’m fine when we rib each other about ... anything else really, but I’m not ... comfortable with you of all people hitting on me.”

“What, worried you might actually fall for me?”

“God no! But have you, the Great Flynn Rider, ever just stopped when someone wanted you to?”

“Yes, all the time,” he admitted. “Look, Cass, we all know I played the field before I met Rapunzel, but I’ve never pushed someone for more than they wanted to give. I can tell the difference between playing hard to get and simply refusing. I do what I do with you because it’s safe. We both know it’ll never go further than words.”