- Chapter 11

~ The Feral Princess And Christmas Eve

The royal family wandered the Christmas market. It snaked its way through all the squares of the island. Vendors hawked their wares: fine woodwork, and delicate lacework and richly-colored fabric. There were fried doughnuts to eat, hot spiced cider, hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts and burnt almonds. There were so many things to see.

Solara linked her arm with Eugene's and Rapunzel rode on Solara's other hip.

Rebecca and Leonard walked behind them also with arms linked, just letting their girl explore on her own.

Rebecca thought that the doll was a good thing, Solara was talking to it and showing it things and it was giving them insight into their daughter as she verbalized things she normally did not.

"Look Rapunzel, pretty candles." Said Solara, as they passed a stand filled with candles of all shapes and sizes.

A cold wind blew off Eugene's hat and after a mad dash chasing it down the street they ended up in front of a pet shop. The bizarre smell that wafted out caught Solara's attention and they went inside to warm up. Solara was astonished by all the animals in their cages. Dogs, cats, canaries, and more.

Solara and Rapunzel had a grand time looking in each of the cages and finding all the animals and telling them, "Merry Christmas." She was looking around excitedly in one cage that looked like it just had a knobbly stick in it, but sometimes the animals were hiding, and Solara and Rapunzel had great fun seeking for them. Her face fell when she didn't see anything inside.

Then the stick looked back at her.

"Eek!" Solara jumped back, clutching Rapunzel to her chest.

The others rushed over in time to see a small green chameleon reveal itself on the stick. It waved and they waved back.

"Mama, what is it?" asked Solara. That was one of her favorite phrases.

"It's a chameleon, dear. They can change color." Said the queen and the chameleon proceeded to show them that he could indeed change color really well.

"Ohh, good," said the princess.

"Would you like him as a pet?" Asked Papa. It was getting to the point in her education that she needed to learn some responsibility and caring for a pet would be a good thing.

"What is a ...pet?" asked Solara, another phrase she has learned to use a lot.

"A pet is like a friend, but you have to help take care of them since they aren't human." Explained Leonard.

"Take care?"

"You'll have to feed and bathe him, and clean up his cage. It won't be hard." Assured her father. The staff would clean up anything she missed, but she could take care of herself and now was a good time to learn to take care of another.

"Rapunzel. Good?" asked Solara of her doll. After a long moment.

"I can do!" said Solara and Leonard smiled, and went to talk to the shopkeeper.

It was beginning to snow again, the market sounded quieter then it was and the torchlight made the air glow. Solara caught some snowflakes on her tongue.

They paused to look at the mosaic of the Lost Princess, and Solara showed Rapunzel what she had looked like as a baby.

Then Solara noticed a little boy hobbling past on a crutch, the lower part of his leg was missing. She tugged on her mama's sleeve.

"Hurt." She said sadly.

Everyone came to a stop. The boy could tell the princess was talking about him.

"Yes, that boy is hurt, he is missing some of his leg," said the queen.

"Boy, are you okay?" Asked the king.

"Well enough, your majesty," said the boy.

"What's your name?"

"Ah. Tim. Your majesty," stammered the small boy. A bit of a crowd had gathered around them.

"What happened?"

"I played by the docks and a rope caught my leg and pulled it off."

"Oh dear." The Queen said sadly.

"Love?" Asked Solara earnestly.

The queen looked at her daughter. "I'm sorry. I don't understand, dear. A complete sentence, please."

Solara thought, worried her hair and screwed up her face trying to find the right words. Finally, just repeated in a pleading voice, "Love?"

"Do you want a hug?" asked Rebecca, holding out her arms, but Solara shook her head.

"Do you want to hug him?" asked Leonard.

His daughter bit her lip, thinking hard, but just shook her head.

"Love!" She said, pointing at the small boy's leg.

"Do you mean give him alms?" asked the Eugene digging around and pulling out a gold coin.

The boy looked down embarrassed; he didn't like to beg, though he was pretty sure he'd have to start doing that soon, to help his family.

Solara shook her head, stamping her foot in frustration.

Leonard was seeing how frustrated his daughter was getting and trying to head off a tantrum in front of the whole kingdom, asked, "Can you show us what love is?"

Solara smiled and nodded. They hadn't let her sing in months. The singing was love. Sometimes, late at night when it was all quiet, she would sing under her covers to feel the special love of her hair. It felt best when loving someone else.

She gave Rapunzel to Eugene and knelt in the slush in front the small boy, who turned a really bright red since the Broken Princess herself was kneeling before him.

"Love?" The Broken Princess asked.

Tim looked up at the royals, but all they could do was shrug.

"Okay," said Tim.

She reached back and wrapped her braid around the missing leg and began to sing.

"Oh, please don't." said the queen, reaching out as she understood what her daughter was going to do, but Princess Solara wasn't listening as she was concentrating on the song.

There was a general gasp as the hair began to glow. The glow streamed down the hair, the boy stumbled back but there were people to catch him and hold him up. The end of his leg glowed and extended and a foot grew and as the song came to an end Tim found himself standing on two feet, even if one was bare in the snow.

"I don't understand, why didn't either of them change age?" asked the queen, her jaw hanging loose.

"I have no idea. Maybe we were wrong about what it does." answered the King.

"Love," declared the princess Solara, in a final sounding way.

Tears were rolling down Tim's face as he hugged her. "I love you too."

"Tim. Are your parents here?" Asked the king.

"Not right here that I can see." said the boy looking around the surrounding people.

"Well, you need to get some shoes before you lose your new toes to frostbite." said Eugene. He handed Tim the gold coin he still had in his hand.

"You there, guard!" called the king as he pointed to a passing guard. "What's your name, soldier."

"Private Hart, sire. Wolfram Hart." The guard turned and saluted.

"Thank you. Wolfram, take this boy to the cobbler and get him some new shoes for his new foot." The guard gaped at the order, but picked up the boy and took him to the shoemaker.

A young man came groping through the crowd. "Please, Your Majesties, please. I heard a miracle happened and a lame was healed. Please, is there a miracle left for me?" The man's eyes were all white, he was blind.

"Love?" the princess asked, looking to her parents.

The royal couple looked at each other. The queen bit her lip, she didn't want anything bad to happen to her daughter, but it didn't look like anything had this time. They both knew they had received many miracles in their lives. They knew they had to share with their people. The king nodded, the queen knelt in the snow next to her daughter and looked closely at her, looking for signs of stress or aging, but didn't see any.

"Yes, you may, but if you start to age or hurt you'll have to stop." Rebecca said.

"No hurt." Solara shook her head, and smiled, "Love."

They got up and came in front of the blind. Solara wrapped her braid around his head and sang again. Everyone was holding their breath waiting to see what would happen. News and rumor were racing through the city like a raging wildfire.

The hair glowed, then faded. The hair was removed and the man looked at his hands and closed and opened them. He blinked. He looked up, his eyes were a warm chocolate brown. He reached out and shakily touched the smiling princess and then looked around the crowd. He fell to his knees. "I-I can see. Thank you, Princess, thank you."

"Love." said the princess as she hugged the weeping man.

A very pregnant woman waddled up and begged, "Please, it's not my time and I'm bleeding. Can you love me too?"

A little girl with burns on the left side of her face, body and crumpled hand, the rest of the burns hidden by her coat begged with big eyes, "Please, I need love."

"Are you sure you can do this? This is so many people. We don't know what the magic does to you," asked Rebecca, worried, but wanting to help the people.

"It's okay, Mama. This is love," said Solara, confidently and lovingly.

Men, women and children; anyone infirm, injured and hurting came to where the princess was, standing in the middle of a cobblestone circle before the mosaic of the Lost Princess. Her parents and Eugene were around her and holding her close.

She unbraided her seventy feet of hair, divided it into seven locks and wove it through the crowd of hundreds of injured and infirm. She closed her eyes, raised her voice to the heavens, and gleaming magic streamed down the hair. Light like the sun, lit up the kingdom as they became the symbol of their kingdom.

That night miracles happened and all eyes of the kingdom shown bright in that star light. Their princess might be broken, but she was their princess and she loved them and they loved her.

She was their Miracle Princess.

And they all lived, and lived happily ever after.

~ The End ~

Merry Christmas 2012

Author's Note: A very special thanks to Wolfram-and-Hart-Sauron who gave me the idea that the Feral Rapunzel AU needed some more love, beta-ed the story for me and helped me make it the best story I could for this Christmas.

Some Christmas' are white and others brown.

Some filled with presents bright and others the memories of presents known.

But we remember still the gift given so long ago and so far way.

In a manger so poor.

Life.