Zeni: A Princess Story

here’s some fiction.  i know, write! 

There’s never been a story written about Zeni, Rapunzel’s next door neighbor.  Well, not until now anyway.

Zeni was born to a king and queen in the kingdom of Provincia.  They were a beautiful couple.  King Rufus was a strong king, but also kind and loving.  He took pride in his appearance and was actually credited with being the first king to hit the barber shop every two weeks for a fresh line up. He mingled with the people like a good king should.  They traded stories of jousting legend Sir. Jordan Michael and whether or not he was really the greatest to ever mount a horse.   Or was it really jut the JoustMan shoes.

He met a fair maiden Chiquita while she was tending to her garden.  He stopped to ask her for a fresh bouquet and some jalapenos for guacamole, and when he went to walk away without paying, Chiquita promptly went off.

“Ok but you the King so I know you have the funds to pay for this.”

Delighted with this defiance, the king proposed and Chiquita was on her way for the comeup.  It was noted that he never paid for the flowers and she never stopped bringing it up.

The couple married quickly and the new queen instantly took over the royal ground’s gardens.  A new irrigation system was implemented and she took time off from queen duties to teach the local maidens how to co-op and make the most from the land they had.  Community efforts and nutrition and what not.  And all the women were prosperous and self-sufficient.

It came to pass that the couple became pregnant.  They were showered with gifts and the town came out to celebrate the birth of their daughter Zeni.  Shamans blessed the child with ingenuity and flyness. She entered the world quietly.  Large eyes investigating everyone that came to see.  Quiet and curious and beautiful.  The King and Queen were blessed beyond measure.

After she was put to bed, a shady bitch came into the castle walls and stole Zeni from her parents.  She ran the other flower shop in town and was mad Queen Chiquita was winning in such extreme fashion. She wrapped the baby in giant banana leaves and swung out of the castle on giant vines until they reached the hideaway area for crazy women with vendettas and a penchant for tall towers although that’s not to be seen as something missing in their lives they’re over compensating for.  Or whatever.

She high-fived the chick that stole Rapunzel and they climbed up their respective towers.  The babies were basically destined to the same fate.

They grew up together and while Rapunzel was painting on her walls dreaming of a better future, Zeni was saving mung beans and starting gardens, dreaming of the same. They both befriended birds and lizards.  And when they turned six, Zeni threw pebbles across the lawn into Rapunzel’s window, coming up with a fanastic idea.

When Rapunzel opened the window to let in the morning sun, two paper cups came flying through. “Run your hair through this,” Zeni hollered.

Rapunzel plucked a long golden strand of hair and threaded the cups, tossing one back to Zeni.  The girls were able to have conversations all night now and discuss how they were going to get out.

It was Rapunzel’s idea to keep the hair thing going.  Zeni made a pact with her and the girls agreed to not get a trim or use sulfates in their hair products.  Zeni didn’t know what in her blood made her go crazy about needing to keep her hair laid, but she had to fight it if it was going to lead to her safety.  She knew the woman raising her wasn’t quite right in the head.

As the girls grew, so did their hair.  Rapunzel’s got more golden and more flowing and she would have to pin it up to stop from stepping on it.  Zeni’s hair grew in tight ringlets and never touched the ground.  Her afro was thick and full and would make Angela Davis jealous.  If Angela was the jealous type.

When the girls turned 17, Rapunzel called over asking if Zeni was ready to make a run for it. Rapunzel couldn’t see too well into Zeni’s room the past few years.  There was a thicket of afro that would sometimes cover the windows.  But their phones were still intact and with Rapunzel’s hair length now, the girls could cover a lot more space in their rooms than ever before.

Then one night, Rapunzel threw a rock over.

“Girl come to the window,” she yelled into the paper cup.

Zeni reluctantly rolled out of bed and moved her stack of papers out of the way.  She was working on plans to start irrigation to make her caretaker’s vines strong enough to carry a 17 year old out of the tower to safety.

She sits up in the bed and puts on a headband to clear some of the hair from her face.  Out of the window, she can barely make out Rapunzel’s silhouette.

“It’s too dark Zel.  I can’t see out.  What am I looking for?”

Rapunzel started to sing so her hair would illuminate.  Zeni saw her best friend’s golden strands wrap around the bedroom, and start to spill out of the window down to the ground where there were only six inches between them and the earth.”

“Ain’t this about a…what,” Zeni exclaimed.

“I knoooooooooooow,” Rapunzel sang.

She cut her song short when they heard the sound of a fast approaching horse.  The girls froze in silence.

A thief was quickly absconding upon the castle when he stopped at the sight of 45 feet of what appeared to be light blonde hair hanging out of a window.

“Hello!”  He stopped his horse and got off to see what was really going on.  He inspected to find out it was indeed hair.  And it was attached to a tiny face peeping from the window above.

“My dear,” he called out, “is his all your hair?  Are you stuck up there?”

Zeni watched as they went through all the pleasantries.  She waved when the thief peeked over and saw her looking down from her window as well.  After some animated moves on Rapunzel’s part, the thief nodded, hopped on his horse and took off.

Confused, and rightfully so, Zeni picks up her paper cup and yells over to Rapunzel.  “Who was that? What’s going on?” It was so rare the girls saw anyone besides their caretakers.  Their view of the outside world was restricted to each other and old issues of Teen Maiden magazines their mom would give them. Torture.

“He’s from the town.  Apparently they’ve been looking for us.  And he’s coming back tomorrow to rescue us. Who knew we needed rescuing?!  He’s going to be back at dawn.”

Rapunzel put her phone down and went to pack her up belongings. Zeni decided to do the same.  Not that either of the girls had many posessions.  A few plants.  A picture of  garden.  But her notebooks.  She was sure to take those with all of the plans for her garden.

When dawn came the girls were in their respective windows when it became apparent just how different they actually were.  Rapnuzel, in gown and with skillet in hand, started the act of gently gathering and lowering her hair to the ground.  Then she placed two feet on the ledge and motioned for Zeni to do the same.

Zeni timidly ran her fingers across her curls.  Some were tight in a spiral.  A few were looser curls making Z patterns. Some hung in her face.  Most reached towards the sky. The walls.  In the way.  A mass of brown fluff.

She instantly got discouraged.  Zeni knew that she wouldn’t be able to lower her hair to the ground and would be locked in this tower forever.  What was worse is that now her best friend was going to be whisked away and probably wouldn’t come back to save her in fear of getting recaptured.

Zeni put her foot back into her room.

“He’s coming!!! Come out Zeni he’s coming to save us.”

Zeni shook her head and wanted to close the shutters to her window.  She threw her cup, her only source of communication to the world, down to the ground.  No point in having it now.

She watched the thief slow to a stop outside of Rapunzel’s tower.  He took his boots off and secured his weight with his arms wrapped around Rapunzel’s hair.  Zeni had to look away.

Then she heard her dear friend underneath her window.

“Zeni! ZENI! Come out Zeni.  Come out before they wake up.  Jump Zeni! Jump and we’ll catch you!”

She peered down and the tears started to form.  There was no way they could catch her.  She was too scared.

“We’ll come back for you Zeni.  I promise we will.” And Zeni heard the hooves take away her best friend and her freedom.

Time passed.  Maybe a few minutes.  Maybe a few hours.  She finally got up from the window and peeked at the ledge again. When they came back to save her.  She would at least be ready.  So she gathered her knapsack and dropped the books out onto the grass.  They landed with a thud.  So far down.  But now she had to find a way out of the room because who was she without her books?

A foot made its way to the ledge.  The sun felt good.  And warm.   She was going to do it.  Next foot out.  Lower half.  Upper half.  All that was left in room was her head and her mass of hair.  Slowly she eased her head out of the window.  The hair started to follow.  The sun hit and the breeze started to blow around it.  She smelled the flowers in her hair.  She saw the sun starting to shine through it.  It wasn’t a horrible brown mass.  It was a rich brown.  With strands of red.  And gold.  It smelled fantastic.  Sure the curls were everywhere but she wanted them out of the room.

She tugged.  And pulled.  Tugged.  Pulled.  And eventually Zeni and all of her hair were out on the ledge.

She looked to the right and saw the village Rapunzel must have gone to.  It must have been fantastic to have that freedom.  The option to do…whatever it is people in towns do.  Were bells on the bottom of your dress still in fashion or was her Teen Maiden issue that old?

Who cares?  She had to be there.  And she couldn’t wait.

Zeni took one step.  Then another.  And jumped off the ledge.

In the middle of the air, she made a half turn and by the time she hit the ground, there was a glorious pillow of hair waiting for her.

Zeni jumped and saved herself.

When Rapunzel and the thief returned,  Rapunzel was relived.

“I saw you standing out there about to jump and I just didn’t know what would happen to you! “

The friends embraced for the first time ever.

“We brought you a horse! Let’s go.”

Zeni picked up her books, mounted her horse, and her and all of her hair never looked back.