A/N: I'm thinking this will probably be the second to last chapter.

Coming Out Of The Tower

Chapter Five

Rapunzel held tight to Mulan's waist, half fearful of toppling off Khan and half fearful of squeezing the breath right out of her savior. "Mulan?" she called over the crunch of the stallion's hooves.

"Yes?"

"I apologize."

Mulan patted Khan's neck, calling a command to him in a language Rapunzel didn't understand. The horse slowed to a trot. "For what?"

"You know," Rapunzel muttered. "For – for the kiss. It was wrong."

Mulan felt Rapunzel's grip on her torso tighten. "It's not wrong to kiss a woman."

"I mean," Rapunzel corrected, "it was wrong to kiss you in that way. Without your consent. I wasn't – I didn't know how else to face my fear."

Mulan smiled, though the princess couldn't see it. "You needn't apologize, Your Majesty. My consent was gladly given."

"I'm afraid I do not understand."

"What is not to understand?" Mulan asked. "We are alike."

"Are you – do you—"

"My heart does not lie with men."

"Have you kissed women before?" Rapunzel asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"Many?"

"Few."

"I've only ever kissed one, except for the tower. We were children; she was the baker's daughter. My nursemaid caught us and soon after her family moved away and I never saw Ti again."

"Your parents? You believe they forced them to leave?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "No. They were in a neighboring kingdom when it happened. I think my nursemaid forced them out though I never had proof. She never scolded me directly, perhaps because she was in my parents' employ, but I heard her scold Ti fiercely that night."

"People can be very cruel when they're presented with something they fail to understand. I was fortunate: my parents never questioned me. When I announced to them that my doll needed a wife, father saved for many months and presented the new doll to me with two white gowns my mother had sewn." Mulan allowed herself a wispy smile at the memory.

Rapunzel quivered. "May I ask another question?"

"You may."

"When the witch spoke to you, her – her voice changed…but it was not yours. If not you, then who was she?"

The clap of Khan's hooves filled Mulan's ears. She closed her eyes, trusting in the horse to know where he was going. There was only open field before them. She recalled Robin's warning and answered quietly, "A ghost."

"A ghost," Rapunzel echoed. Her eyes spilled over and the princess laid her head against Mulan's back, her cheek cupped between the warrior's shoulder blades. "I was swimming in the river where I should not have been, where my parents had always warned us to avoid. When I got caught in the rapids my brother dove in after me; saved me…but could not save himself."

"I'm sorry."

"The throne was his. He was to be married to a woman he loved very much and who loved him fiercely in return. I knew I could never have that. I can never be happy with a man; I can never give my parents the grandchildren they yearn for, nor my kingdom the heirs they expect. I cannot be Queen."

"A woman's worth—a Queen's worth—is not measured in how many children she can produce. Not all families are blood, Rapunzel. Sometimes families are the people we choose. This is who you are, you cannot hide from it forever."

"What if my parents believe the way my nursemaid did?"

"Then it shall be their loss, not yours. You also fail to ask: what if they don't?"

Rapunzel shivered again. "My kingdom's never had a Queen marry a woman before."

"Perhaps you shall be the first. Being different does not make you bad."

"But it may make my subjects wary; it may anger them."

"Or it may make subjects like yourself feel that it's okay to be themselves because even their Queen is brave enough to be who she is."