Tell Me More

Rainbow

Flynn Rider sat with his head in his hands on a dying tree stump as he tried to reevaluate the situation. What he knew was that he had one goal: to retrieve the satchel with the lost princess's tiara. Yet, what was holding him back was not the village police, but a long-too sheltered girl of nearly 18 with something like 70 feet of golden hair. He actually laughed aloud at the likelihood of such a predicament, but here he was.

With impatience and because it was just a habit, he ran his fingers through his untidy brown hair, and sat up a little, now looking around for Blondie. What was her name? R..Rachel? No, that wasn't it. Well, whatever.

Just then, he saw her, swinging by her hair around a large oak tree, letting a high-pitched giggle echo through the treetops. Birds went flying in all directions at the sound. In the blink of an eye, Flynn saw her gracefully land in the green grass by his side. He couldn't help but to smile at her foolishness and radiance. Rapunzel! That's it.

"Hi, Flynn! You won't believe what I just found!" Rapunzel said. Flynn noticed that she had both of her hands held behind her back.

"Blondie, what's behind your back?" he asked, nervously. Knowing her untamed curiosity, she would pick up a scorpion, not having a clue what it was.

"These!" she answered, with a another giggle. With blinding speed, she whipped her hands in front of his face, cupping them slightly under his nose to reveal 4 bluish eggs of roughly the same size.

"Blondie! Where did you get those?"

Her expression damped slightly at his scolding tone. "Up there," she said pointing to the top of the oak tree she had recently dismounted.

"Great. Hasn't any ever told you? You never touch eggs in a nest, let alone take them out! Now the mother blue-jay may reject the eggs completely." Flynn hadn't realized how upset he was making her. "But, y'know, we could always try putting them back, right?" He knew that this was still just as bad, but there was no need to pull her down from Cloud 9, right?

"Do you think she'll mind? Oh, no. I feel terrible. Flynn, I'm so sorry. Maybe if I put them back, she won't even notice they were gone!"

"Don't apologize to me. It's not my nest you ruined," he said. Whoops, that was insensitive.

But, she wasn't listening. Rapunzel had already swung the end of her hair around a sturdy branch somewhere near the middle, then turned to me and said, "Be right back!"

Flynn rolled his eyes and watched her launch herself into the foliage. He turned to resume his seat on the tree stump when he heard her high-pitched voice let out a tiny cry. Flynn spun on his heels and saw her falling quickly to the ground.

He didn't think he had it in him, but somehow, Flynn dove, arms out-stretched, toward the girl, catching her just inches from the tips of the grass. Rapunzel opened her tightly shut eyes and the two of them were nose to nose, looking at each other in disbelief. Then, afraid that he had gotten too close, Flynn dropped her, and backed away. He scratched the back of his neck as she rubbed a bump on her head from the fall.

"Uh, you okay?" he asked lamely.

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks to you. You saved my life."

Flynn let out a nervous laugh, and scratched his neck again. "Nah, I-"

"Oh, no!" Rapunzel cried. Flynn looked up to see her on all fours, looking down at 4 completely smashed blue-jay eggs. "Now they'll never hatch!" Rapunzel covered her face in her hands, starting to cry softly.

Great, what now? Flynn couldn't help but feel awkward, yet feel a strange need to comfort her. Torn between the two, he sat down next to her on the log and lamely patted her on the shoulder.

Suddenly, the weather shifted and a sun shower began to soak their clothes to their skin.

"Hey, Blondie. Let's get out of the rain, okay?" He had to weave his arm around her waist and hoist her up to get her to move. Flynn couldn't put a name to the odd sensation he felt in his stomach when he did. He hadn't even realized she was sobbing and mumbling to herself (or maybe her little, green frog; he could never tell).

"…all my fault! I'm so stupid, so stupid…"

"Hey, hey. Don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't mean to kill those baby birds!"

This was the wrong thing to say. She sobbed harder and freed herself from his grip, running for the cave nearby. Flynn rubbed the stubble on his chin. Maybe he hadn't noticed how cynical he could be. He'd have to keep that in check for this one.

While they were in the cave, he tried to make a fire to help them dry off but it wasn't necessary. The sun shower had ended as quickly as it had begun. The sun reappeared and warmth flooded the woods again. Flynn walked into it gratefully and looked up at the clear blue sky. Just above the tree tops was a thick rainbow with every color of the spectrum visible.

"Hey, Blondie! Come look at this!" Flynn called, gesturing for her to join him.

Rapunzel looked up from behind her hands, and exited the cave to see what he was so excited about. Then, she saw it.

He didn't think it was possible that her eyes could go any wider, but she proved him wrong. Without any warning, she climbed on his back and all the way up his shoulders, balancing herself there. He staggered under her weight for a minute but caught himself by grabbing a nearby branch. "What IS it!" she asked, awe oozing in her tone.

"You mean you've never-! Right, 18 years of cruel captivity." Flynn cleared his throat. "That's a rainbow."

"A rainbow…" She giggled. He laughed too. Her happiness was infectious.

"Yeah. After the Gods send down rain because they're angry, they send down a rainbow as sort of an apology. At least every once in awhile," Flynn explained. He wasn't sure he believed this anymore, but when they told him as a kid in the orphanage, he believed it without a doubt.

"Really? WOW," Rapunzel couldn't contain her amazement. She beamed down at him, and he felt almost hypnotized for a moment.

Flynn blinked. "Sure, uh, that's what I've heard, at least."

"It's beautiful! Thank you, Flynn. You're such a wonderful friend!" Rapunzel gracefully climbed off his shoulders and hugged her briefly. Flynn didn't even have enough time to return the gesture. She danced off through the sunlight, humming blissfully to herself.

"Don't go too far, Blondie!" he called after her. What on earth was he getting himself into?