When Rapunzel heard the call from outside her tower, she assumed it was her mother, and her heart sank. Normally she'd be glad to see her, but after their argument, she was less eager.

Well, it wasn't really an argument. Those things kind of required two people arguing. It was more Mother lecturing and Rapunzel listening. But it was unpleasant enough for Rapunzel to feel bad about it even after her mother left.

When she went over to the tower window, she looked down—and gasped.

It definitely wasn't her mother. She didn't have too clear a view from her tower, but the figure at the bottom was definitely younger, and dressed in different clothes than the black dress her mother wore.

It was a person from the outside world. The people Mother had warned her about. The people who had haunted her nightmares for so long. And now, they had finally found her.

How had they found her? What did they want from her? What should she do?

The questions ran through her mind. She barely had time to process them when the person called again. Rapunzel could clearly hear this time.

"Who are you?" Rapunzel didn't answer. Instead, she let out a squeak and hurriedly retreated back into her tower, backing away from the window, her heart racing.

To comfort herself, she picked up Pascal from a chair and gently placed him on her shoulder. She always felt more confident when he was there. He frowned curiously at the window, pointing his tail towards it as if silently asking what Rapunzel had seen that shocked her so much.

"It's a person," she explained. "There's a person outside my tower." She paused, trying to process the ridiculousness of those words. Oh, Mother was always outside her tower, but never anyone else.

Her best option was probably to hide in her tower and hope the stranger left. They probably would, anyway, once they realised there was no way for them to climb the tower. Not without her hair, that is. Well, there was a secret staircase, but you had to heave the rocks out of the way to access it. Mother preferred climbing Rapunzel's hair, since it was less tiring. Less tiring for Mother, that is.

But she decided not to. She couldn't just wait for him or her to leave. She told herself it was because she had to confront the stranger, ask them exactly how and why they had found her tower, and scare them into never returning or telling anyone else. Maybe even tie or lock them up until Mother returned, and then leave her to deal with it.

But, deep down, she knew there was another reason. Ever since her mother left, she had been thinking about the floating lights she saw from her tower. She felt guilty for even thinking about them, after her mother had expressly made it clear she could never see them up close. But she couldn't help it. Ever since she was a little girl and snuck out after her mother was asleep to sneak a peek of them, she had always felt like they were saying something to her. Like they were telling her to escape the tower, encouraging her to seek freedom.

She had come up with a plan. She felt guilty for conspiring against her mother, who had done so much to keep her safe, but she told herself it was just an idea. She probably—might—not even actually do it.

Her plan was to request her mother for a set of paints for her birthday present when she returned. Rapunzel knew it was a three day trip to get them. Just enough time to sneak out of the tower and see the lights and then return without her mother even noticing. And then she'd spend the rest of her life in the tower, remembering that joyful moment when she left, never asking to leave again.

But she couldn't do it by herself. She didn't even know where the lights were, or how to get there, or anything about the outside world aside from the frightening stories her mother had told her. She needed a guide, someone to take her. She'd prefer for that person to be her mother, but she had made it clear Rapunzel was never to leave. She knew no one would come, though. No one had in eighteen years. She had felt resigned to the fact that she'd have to leave by herself, as unprepared as she was.

But could she really trust a complete stranger? Someone from the outside world, the people her mother had warned her about?

She had to. She had to leave once, just once, and then she'd be happy to spend the rest of her life in the tower. She couldn't wait for another person to come by her tower. She'd let down her hair, pull the stranger up, and if they turned out to be a murderer or thug, she'd kick them out and leave by herself.

Let down her hair? For someone other than her mother? The thought was shocking. Her mother had always warned her how people wanted to take advantage of her hair, cut it, use it, sell it... The second she'd let it down, they'd probably cut it to use for their greed, only to realise it became brown and useless. Just like the person who had tried cutting her hair when she was a baby.

There was nothing else in the tower long enough. She had checked before. If there was, she'd use it to pull up her mother instead of her hair. Still, she had to take precautions.

She grabbed a frying pan off the stove in her room, the first weapon she could get her hands on. Holding it in one hand and nervously clutching her hair in the other, she approached the window. She swung her hair over the hook at the top, like she had done so many times before, watching it cascade down the tower's edge like it had so many times before.

Looking down, she saw the person stare at it for a moment, not doing anything. She aimed her frying pan towards them in case, trying to figure out the correct angle that'd cause the object to hit them. After a while, they seemed to take the hint and clutched her hair in both hands. They tried placing their feet against the rocky, mossy tower, before slipping. Rapunzel started pulling her hair up, pretending it was her mother coming home with her new paints.

Pascal frowned suspiciously at the person as they came higher and higher, balling his litle green hands into fists. Rapunzel knew he could be as good a threat as the frying pan if he wanted to.

As they came higher, Rapunzel could see that it was a girl. She was trying not to look down, keeping her face buried in Rapunzel's hair. Rapunzel stopped pulling as the girl reached the window, the frying pan still aimed at her.

"Don't move." She tried to make her voice as intimidating as possible. Pascal glared at the stranger like her tiny bodyguard.

The girl peeked her head out from Rapunzel's thick hair. She had a clear view of her face. Rapunzel had never seen a person other than herself and her mother. She looked so different from both of them, with her wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. Rapunzel had to admit she was really pretty. Beautiful, more like it, with rosy cheeks and full lips.

"I–I'm sorry," she managed to say. "I—"

"Well, actually, do move," added Rapunzel. "I mean, you can't just be hanging out there. So, yeah, come in." Trying to make her voice intimidating again, she added, "But don't try anything weird."

She tentatively lowered her feet onto the windowsill and stepped down into the tower. Her mouth dropped open as she gazed behind Rapunzel. It didn't take long for her to realise she was staring at her hair.

Rapunzel aimed the frying pan at her face again. "What do you want with my hair?" She tried to keep her voice firm and clear, but couldn't stop the frightened edge that crept into it.

"What? Nothing. I'm sorry," she apologised. "It's just, I've never seen hair that long before."

"Hmm." Rapunzel didn't know whether to believe her. She had to interrogate her, see if she was one of the criminals or thugs her mother had warned her about. Actually, Mother had always said those people were men. She warned her of men or people in general, never women. But that didn't mean this girl couldn't be dangerous, right?

"How did you find me?"

"Look, I don't want to bother you," she replied. "I just came here to look for my father. Uh, he's not here, is he?"

Father? The word sounded familiar to Rapunzel.

Oh, right. Her mother had told her that her father had left them when Rapunzel was very young, which was why she had no memory of him. She didn't like talking about him much. Rapunzel understood. It must've brought up bad memories for her mother. She had said he was one of those wicked men like the ones in the outside world.

When Rapunzel didn't answer immediately, the girl spoke up again. "He's short, shorter than me. He—"

"No. I don't think he's here," Rapunzel interrupted. "The only people are me and my mother." She paused, wondering if it was the right move to tell the stranger that.

She felt Pascal nudge her neck. "And Pascal," she added.

The girl stared at him, seeming to just have noticed him. Pascal suddenly changed color to match Rapunzel's purple dress, lying down on her shoulder.

"He's a chameleon," she noted. "Does he always change color like that?"

Rapunzel chose not to answer her question. "That doesn't matter. Anyway..." She paused, trying to think of her next question. Oh, right. The one she should've asked first. "Who are you?"

The girl hesitated. "I'm Belle," she replied.

Belle. It was a nice, clear name. Rapunzel liked it more than her own long, harsh-sounding one. "So, Belle..."

"Look, I'm sorry for bothering you," Belle interrupted. "I just wanted to find my father, but it's clear he's not here. I'll just be going now." She turned around and peeked out of the window. "Uh, how do I get down?"

"You can't," replied Rapunzel. "Not without my help."

"But I have to find my father!" Belle turned around, a pleading look on her face. "Please, can you help me?"

Was she lying? Had she made up a story about her lost father in order to play on Rapunzel's sympathies? Mother had warned her how cunning and manipulative people could be. It would be just like one of them to make up a story like that.

But, on the other hand... what if she wasn't? What if she really did have a father who she loved dearly and was looking for? If Rapunzel refused to help her, she'd be just as bad as the people her mother warned her about. She didn't know what she'd do if her mother went missing. She may be overbearing, but she was her only company in the tower. Aside from Pascal, of course.

Plus, Belle didn't seem that bad to her. She hadn't tried to hurt or threaten her so far, and just seemed like she wanted to leave Rapunzel alone and find her father.

"Maybe," replied Rapunzel slowly, feeling a plan formulate in her head. "But only if you help me."

"How can I help you?" Belle cried. "I don't even know who you are."

Rapunzel paused. "I'm... Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel," Belle repeated, "How do you expect me to help you?"

Rapunzel turned around, walking towards the wall with her most prized painting. She used her free hand to pull open the curtain to expose it. Turning back to the girl, she pointed upwards to the lights she had painted. "Do you know what those are?"

Belle paused for a moment. "Wait... yes, I think I do. They're lanterns. I see a few of them from my village sometimes."

"Lanterns! I knew they weren't stars!" Rapunzel was happy to finally have a name for them. It felt weird calling them the floating lights all the time.

She straightened up, trying to look at Belle sternly. "You will take me to see the lights—I mean, lanterns."

"But I don't know where they are," she protested.

"But you said you could see them," noted Rapunzel.

"From my village, yes. But they're not lit there," explained Belle. "They're lit in a town nearby. A few of them come over to my village once a year."

Rapunzel felt like crying. She had finally found someone she could use as a guide, and she couldn't even take her to the lanterns.

But she couldn't make her leave. She might not know how to get there, but she did know about the outside world. She could still take her, and they'd figure out how to get there together.

"Very well," Rapunzel replied, trying to mask her disappointment. "You will take me outside, and we'll try to find out where I can see the lanterns up close." Even if she didn't find them, just going outside would be exhilarating enough. "Along the way, we'll look for your father."

Belle was silent for a few moments, contemplating the deal. "Alright. I'll do it. As long as you help me find my father. But I have a question."

Rapunzel nodded. She had been interrogating Belle so much, it felt fair to let her ask something.

"Why can't you go by yourself?"

Rapunzel cringed. She had been waiting for the question. "My mother's very..." She paused, trying to think of the right word. "...overprotective. She wouldn't let me leave by herself. Or even with her."

"Where is she now?"

"She's getting food," explained Rapunzel. "She'll probably be back soon."

"Then when can we leave?"

"After she leaves again. I've planned what to tell her. Don't worry, I won't tell her about you." If she did, she'd ruin her one chance for freedom. "You'll have to hide somewhere, though."

Rapunzel scanned her room, her eyes falling on the closet that was usually empty. "There. It'll fit you."

Just after she said it, she heard the familiar call from outside her tower. "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"

"Quick!" Rapunzel ran over to the closet and opened the door, signalling frantically for Belle to enter. She walked inside, and Rapunzel quickly shut the door.

"Rapunzel?"

"Coming, Mother!"