maiden fair

She stayed near the cottage, waiting for her father to get home. Erminhilt was inside to keep her company, of course, but she did not wish to spend time with her sister now, not when the outside world was calling to her. 

She hummed as she walked, turning and twirling around their home. It was an old place, the once white exterior now dirty, with paint peeling and yellowed. The interior was full of old furniture, things that her father collected when he was out. Her and her sister slept in the loft, which Rapunzel was permitted to paint the ceiling of. At first it was stars, but she got tired of that and painted the sun. She tired of that as well and painted sheep over it. 

The fourth time she asked for paint, Erminhilt begged their father to say no. 

There was a large bed up there that Rapunzel shared with her sister. They had lots of pillows and blankets and both girls wrapped themselves in them, burrowing like small animals. It wasn't so much for warmth as it was comfort really.

Once upon a time they could have held one another for comfort, but they're too far past that now.

Rapunzel picked her head up at the sound of her father's horse trotting through the leaves. She ran quickly into the house to alert her sister, and Erminhilt stood, folding her hands in front of her as both daughters waited. It wasn't long before the door swung open and a man appeared, his hair a bright gold but his face hard and his eyes dark. He held a bundle in his arms, cradling it like a child and Rapunzel gathered that that was probably what it was. Looking closer, she could even see tiny feet sticking out of the wool blanket it was wrapped in. 

"You must help me bury it girls." Their father said, his voice cold. 

Erminhilt raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Rapunzel could tell what she was thinking, however. It was something all three erlkings knew.

The woman wouldn't be pleased with a dead one.

She would be coming in the morning to fetch the child. Normally Erminhilt and Rapunzel were tasked with caring for it until then, but there was nothing to be done for this one. 

"We'll hope." Their father said quietly. "We will try and keep it cool and hope it's...fresh enough to please her." 

His voice wavered a little, his displeasure with the woman's meal preferences obvious.

For years they'd been fetching her food for her. She said she liked to do it herself, but needed something to fall back on. Whenever she got too hungry, she'd send a letter and they'd expect her to be there a week later at least, ready for the live child. 

Rapunzel wasn't sure what would happen if they didn't help her. Her father knew, she suspected, but hadn't told his daughters.

They did as their father said, taking ice and putting it on the child's body to try and prevent it from going bad. They stayed awake all night, no one able would have been able to sleep out of anxiousness for the next day. 

At first light there was a knock on the door. Father rose to answer it and the woman appeared, pulling back her hood to reveal her dark glossy hair and bright blue eyes. She smiled, until she saw the body of the child on the cottage floor, the erlking daughters hovering over it. She got closer, her smile having melted into a cold frown and when she looked at Rapunzel, the girl felt chills run down her spine.