Rapunzel doesn't sleep well, and she does wind up wrapped up in her hair overnight like a golden-cocooned butterfly. She's still dozing fitfully when the sun comes up.
"There's no guarantee that we could find a boat someone was willing to let us use, and I'm not sure what you'd think of stealing one. And it could take a lot of time and walking to find one. On the positive side, that time would be spent walking away from where she expects us to go. And I guess we're not really in a big hurry anymore."
"Somehow I guessed you might say that. But do you want to look for one? To be legitimately borrowed or paid for?"
"Yeah. Well, there are boats I can afford and boats I can't afford. If we find one of the second kind, we can pass it by or you can put on your crown and ask to be taken to see your parents."
"Do you think random - boat - people - will think that I'm the princess if I suggest it?"
"I think they might, and that even if they don't they might be unsure enough to want to take you into the city and see. There's some risk that they'll just go 'aha, the missing crown' and send us both to be arrested, but - well - we're risking that no matter which way we turn, at this point, unless the way we turn is 'back the way we came and on into Orimere'. And if we get arrested of course I'll say you had nothing to do with stealing the thing, and explain as much of the situation as they'll let me."
He adjusts their course accordingly, so they won't come out of the forest too close to the bridge.
"It'd probably just make it easy for someone who we don't want to find us to find us if I started singing. Or got out my piccolo. Wouldn't it."
"I hear something," he murmurs. "Could be people, could be nothing."
Rapunzel hugs her hair bundle tighter and moves a little closer to him.
"...Are you sure we can't solve this with diplomacy?" he tries, stepping away from Rapunzel but not so far away that he couldn't get between her and the brothers if necessary. "I could give you the crown and we could call it quits. How did you even find me? Not that I don't have a guess..."