Hello everyone! I AM NOT DEAD, sorry for the delay! (I must really stop promising fast updates when I know once I do something will side track me!)

Anyhoo, I've been a busy bee recently; New job, new city, new home…you get the jist! I've been given a few days off work and did the only thing a 19 year old medical student should do; Lock herself away, eating nothing but soup and cookies, gluging down litres of diet coke whilst watching all the Lord of the Ring movies continuously without sleeping. oh and revise for her exams...

That's how I roll - You gotta deal with it!

Enough of my ramblings! Basically the beautiful settings in the LOTR have stirred my imagination and the imagination shall not be denied!

This chapter colour and plot were recommended by MaximumMik6325! Thank you for your lovely review and so many colour suggestions! And don't worry about ranting, if you hadn't guessed, I do it a lot too! And it just so happens that a certain Princess does it too ;)

Cherry Blossom

If Caleb had learned anything from his time knowing Eugene Fitzherbert, it was that you could achieve anything with enough stealth and charm. While this task did not require any charm, it did require a bucket load of stealth. Gathering all the will power he could, he silently tread across the leaf covered trail and ducked behind a tree trunk.

His targets wandered ahead in blissful ignorance. The male limped and leaned against his fair companion whilst the female laughed gaily at something he had uttered.

The harsh storms that had been raging since the injured mans attack had finally stopped, and the sun had once again shone down on the land of Corona. The cherry tree's of the Royal garden showered its blossom on their enchanted audience and lay in the soft bed of grass and leaves.

In fact, had it not been for Calebs very important - self appointed - secret spying mission, he too would have been enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

But he had bigger fish to fry.

Namely, two fish and a rather large elephant in the room…castle.

Just as his targets were in perfect hearing range, they turned.

In blind panic, Caleb froze.

Only to find himself being hauled upwards into the leaves of nearest tree.

"SHHH!" cried Princess Rapunzel, binoculars around her neck and what appeared to be a crumpet firmly lodged into her mouth.

"Pr-Princess? What are you doing up here?" To say he was shocked to see her was an understatement. The entire palace believed she was hiding herself away in the Royal Library to make the final plans to her wedding which was only weeks away. Instead here she was, sat in a tree that she had clearly stocked up with blankets, a telescope and a notebook she had obviously been taking notes in.

Weather she had not heard or simply chose to ignore him, Rapunzel instead chose to pass him a blanket and reach inside the foliage of the tree.

"Tea?" And from the bushel of leaves Rapunzel brought out a large picnic basket where, just as she promised, she withdrew a tea pot and two china cups. Caleb stared for a moment in complete confusion as she poured them their tea. Handing him his cup wordlessly, she reached in again.

"Sugar?" He shook his head. From the basket she took out a single sugar cube, dropping it in her cup before reaching back in the basket. From which she withdrew a small jug, the content of which he suspected was either cream or milk.

"Milk?" Milk it was. He gave a single nod and watched as she poured some in his own cup.

Popping the teapot and milk jug back in her basket, Rapunzel continued watching the lovers.

They sat in companionable silence, enjoying her bizarre Tree-Top-Tea party.

"Does Eugene know you're here?"

"No; I told him I was going to the library to look at Ice Sculpture designs from the past 500 royal weddings. He then remembered he had training to do and left me to my own devises."

"Oh…I get it" Caleb did not get it. In fact he had no idea what the princess was doing up a tree, in the middle of the day, spying on the soon-to-be King of Opeamene and her hand maiden whilst casually drinking a cup of tea. Not to mention lying to her fiancée, his master, about her whereabouts.

Seeing his internal debate, Rapunzel finished her recent sip of tea and set it down on a higher branch.

"Acelin is hiding something. Ever since his recovery he's been on edge - Oh of course he would never show it in front of us. But he would show it in front of Tess. If he plans on leaving it can only mean one thing; Opeamene will be going to war with the Kamaric Islands, and Acelin will have to fight King Kdahh as a King in his own right to avenge his brother. With his departure Corona will follow him into battle, and with us, the Allegiance Kingdoms. He is acting brave in court, but his façade will slip with Tess. In fact, his act bound to break any day now! I'm not doing this for me - I'm doing it for the sake of my country." The impassioned look in the princess' eyes unnerved Caleb.

They sat in silence for a few minutes more. While Caleb did not doubt his princesses honourable intentions, it did not explain her excitement to hear their laughter or soft sighs as Acelin recited poetry beneath them.

"Rapunzel, you seem a little-"

"Shh!" Her frantic whisperings silenced him immediately. The pair beneath them were silent as a larks song drifted through the tree tops.

Rapunzel flipped through the notebook, and finding what she was looking for, closed her eyes.

"A larks song may be considered the most beautiful of sounds, but it pales in comparison to your laughter"

"Wha-?" But silenced once he heard a sigh below.

"A larks song may be considered the most beautiful of sounds, but it pales in comparison to your laughter" Came the heartfelt words of Acelin, Tess blushing prettily and hiding her cheek beneath her hand.

"How did you know?" Muttered Caleb disbelievingly

"He said the same thing last Monday at sunset" Said Rapunzel in a matter-of-fact way, taking up her tea cup yet again. "As romantic as he is, he has the tendency to repeat himself when he's nervous"

"How long have you been doing this?"

She did nothing but wink at him.

"Are you sure you're not just spying on them because you're nosy?"

Rapunzel spluttered away from her tea cup.

"WHA- no! I mean- where would you get that idea! That's absurd! Your absurd! I'm just looking out for my friends whilst conveniently not letting them know. What about you Caleb? Care to explain why you've been stalking them for two days?"

"Yes. Because I'm the stalker" A branch then managed to find it's way into the back of his head. "Fine, fine, fine, I've been following them….I'm just…trying to find something out"

The look Rapunzel through at him made him realise she might have already known that.

"Since the night of his…accident…Tess has been wearing this necklace. I don't know where she got it from but I can only assume its from him." Rapunzel seemed to perk up immediately.

"So you've noticed it too! She's been trying to hide it but I can tell she never takes it off…Maybe its an engagement present, so no one suspects anything?"

That idea made Caleb want to expel the tea from his stomach.

"Maybe it's a 'I am still alive' present?" he muttered darkly.

The unfortunate truth of the matter, Caleb often reminded himself, was that he had no part in his friends possible upcoming nuptials.

"No no," said Rapunzel, who was staring quite happily into her binoculars, "If it's a gift, it would be an engagement gift."

"What did Eugene get you as an engagement gift? I don't see any necklaces or bracelets or horses…" He pointed out, quite happy to think of Eugene's short comings rather than his own.

"You mean apart from helping me escape my tower, introducing me to the world, saving my life, sacrificing himself for me, taking me to my family, staying with me after he found out I was a princess and then proposing to me with a massive diamond?" Although she kept her eyes firmly on the couple through her binoculars, Caleb had the feeling she was giving him a glare that would put him in his place.

He decided to keep his opinions on Eugene to himself.

"Acelin" They heard Tess say from beneath their tree "I'll become too big headed to fit through the Castle doors if you keep showering me with so many compliments" she jokingly scolded looked over to the Castle.

"I'm only telling the truth. Tess, in my eyes there is no greater beauty, no smarter mind and no truer heart than yours." they both smiled gazing into each others eyes.

"I love you Acelin. I love you so much I can scarcely believe my heart can hold so much devotion."

Caleb felt her words like stabs to the gut. His heart contracting painfully within his chest.

Rapunzel, who had been enjoying the heartfelt speech with much giddy enthusiasm for her friends, turned to Caleb, her enthusiasm quickly changing to comfort.

"I know this must be hard for you Caleb…To watch someone you love…Believe me when I say I know how you feel."

Caleb stared at the princess in outrage and felt, to his own horror, like he was going to cry.

"No you don't. How could you possibly have any idea what I'm going through? Eugene loves you and you're getting married and you're going to have a perfectly happy life as King and Queen! You have no idea what this is like for me-"

Caleb quickly stopped himself, both wary of his volume and the status of who he was talking to. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have-"

"Caleb-" He faced her again, expecting rage or justified disappointment. Instead she smiled sadly at him. "I had to watch the man I love leave me. Abandon me, sell my whereabouts to a pair of thieves and take off into the night. He made me trust him, love him and in turn he betrayed me for priceless crown. But I couldn't hate him. Because the heart doesn't work that way. No matter what that person does or says will never matter whilst our heart still yearns to be with them. They can take away everything and we still can't hate them, because at one time they made us happier than we ever believed we could be."

She looked back down to Tess and Acelin.

"True I am happy for my friends and I want nothing but the best for them. But the night I spent believing that Eugene abandoned me, that he didn't love me back…It was one of the greatest pains I have ever been through and I would not wish it upon anyone, even my enemies…Caleb I can't imagine how hard this must be for you"

Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Rapunzel let him gather his thoughts.

And finally admitting the hurt he had tried so hard to bury deep within himself, Caleb began to cry.

Rapunzel felt her heart contract in pity and opened her arms to embrace the hurt boy.

"I-I don't know what to do Rapunzel! I just want her to be happy but-"

"Shh, shh…I know" she whispered, pulling the sobbing boy closer to her.

Caleb did not know how long he had sat in her arms, sobbing as she whispered soft words into his ear, combing her fingers through his hair- like a mother would do for her son. All he knew was that by the time they split, it had just started to softly rain.

The sounds of Acelin and Tess running, or limping for Acelin, slowly drifted back towards the Castle.

With a sigh Rapunzel gathered her things back into the hamper.

"Best we head back inside too, Eugene will start looking for either one of us sooner or later and if he thinks I've gone missing…well we both know what he's like when he panics." She smiled as him, wiped away his tears and made her way back down the tree.

"Ugh, would you mind not telling anyone I was..well" Caleb muttered, his cheeks quickly turning red.

"I promise no one will know about this except you and me…and I'll have to ask you not to mention any of this to Eugene. Once I found out he had actually been ambushed…well I don't want him to feel any more guilty than he already does."

Finally stood on the ground opposite one another, they smiled and nodded.

"What's said in the tree, stays in the tree" smirked Caleb, feeling a little more like himself. Rapunzel giggled, ruffling his hair.

"Your going to make a girl very happy one day Caleb, and until then you can always come and talk to me."

Although they had found little evidence from Tess and Acelin, they made their way back to the palace with much lighter hearts.

"So, Caleb- Acelin, hypothetically, might be taking Tess out on a picnic tomorrow and there is, hypothetically, an oak tree within perfect hearing range of them. And I, hypothetically, might be setting off at 11 with a picnic basket too. Should I pack lunch for two?" They smirked at each other.

"I'll bring some sandwiches. This is all hypothetical of course."

"Naturally"

Ahhh, angst! How I've missed your awkward embrace around my heart strings!

A little dramatic for something I originally planned on being a lot funnier…but that's the way the plot bunnies took me…those damn plot bunnies…

Anyway I wanted to touch on that scene in the movie where Rapunzel thinks Eugene took off with the crown. Because honestly they don't touch too much on just how hard that must have been on her. The next time she sees him she knows he was ambushed but we don't get any kind of closure. That's a lot of heart break misunderstanding that she doesn't get a lot of time to get over. In real life I think it would take her a bit of time to get that trust back, even if it wasn't his own fault. Seeds of doubt must have been planted people! I think if anyone can relate to Caleb, it's her. I know I have the whole mentor/mentee thing going on with him and Eugene but most of the movie his relationship issues with Rapunzel were either his own fault or Gothels. Caleb may be a complete jerk at times, but he's a well meaning one.

Anyhoo, my love triangle feels were enhanced by my love of Avatar: Legend of Korra which just has so many feels! Anyone else as addicted to this show as I am? Anyway…Bolin, Korra and Mako (And Asami) make such good love triangle feels its hard for me not to get inspired with my own!

Righty ho fair readers! Off I go as I have an exam in 10 hours I REALLY need to revise for!

Much loves to you all!