The half-hidden sun glowed lazily through the dyed glass of the windows. The cold marble floors, veined with oak and chestnut made the young fae girl tremble for a moment.
Regina caressed the verdant surface that was used as a window as she thought about the reunion she had had with Gold a few hours ago. The conversation hadn’t been good and even for her, used to the harsh words and harsher faces, the talk had been truly exhausting.
The woman clenched her teeth as she fixed her eyes in the metallic roofs of the low rank houses; the fae academies and the Concilium building were the only ones made with the purest marble of the entire Storybooke and more times than anything the woman felt that the weak attempt of showing power was even worse that every single bad word against her. And against her family name.
“There you are” Said a high-pitched voice at her back and when Regina turned she found herself smiling insincerely to Kathryin Midas. The younger girl had also a curse attached to her name but the weight of it couldn’t even compare with Regina’s “A few younger apprentices told me that they had seen you here. How was it?”
Regina shook her head, the rage was still too strong to be able to do anything else and with stormy eyes she turned to the green window, focusing in the distant waters of the harbor. Ships of every principality filled the ancient deck and the sound of the machine extractor could still be sensed in the higher districts. Regina asked herself what would be if she escaped from the academy and enrolled in one of those ships, disappearing in the distant horizon without any need of coming back in the process. She dismissed the idea almost as quick as she had thought about it, she was under Gold’s custody, it was her price to pay, unfair but acceptable.
“Regina?” Kathryin insisted, touching the black tunic that Regina preferred to cover herself with even after being left the first years as an apprentice behind long ago “Did you have a problem with Gold?”
Gold, of course, Regina closed her eyes for a second as she felt the rage growing inside of her all over again, the evasive eyes of the Academy founder appearing in her mind once again.
Rumple Gold was one of the most powerful Fae or Feericos that Wonder ever had had, his power was even greater than the inherent magic that magic creatures possessed, even stronger than the natural ability of the fairies and his dark spells and potions had made him be seen under the name of “Dark One”; title that he loved to flaunt every time it was possible.
Of an indefinite age, Gold had climbed through the social ladder until being considered one of the few nobles that resided in Storybrooke, Wonder’s capital. As a noble in the capital his destiny wasn’t necessarily linked to a Royal family so the Councilium had proposed him a list of duties which needed his special powers to make them work. Gold had declined the offer and had started teaching in what nowadays was the biggest Fae Academy of all, the one that had been built years prior by his own family in the highest part of the city. Since then hundreds of Fae had crossed the gates of the academy and every one of them told different stories about the man.
Everyone but Regina who had been practically forced to choose her destiny without taking any active part on it, something that even now she tried her hardest not to think off and after her talk with Gold she was even more reluctant to think about it in that moment.
“Winter’s principality is going to be renovated” Regina finally said after Kathryin opened her mouth, ready to try to make the other woman talk “I’m sure that your father had already explained something to you in some of his letters. The new Monarch is going to be Mary Margaret of White.”
“I haven’t been able to talk with my father this past few weeks” The first born of the Midas family admitted and Regina didn’t blame her since being a member of the council was something both desired and feared by the Royals and it was normal that the Monarchs who were parents didn’t have time for their children after being elected. “But now that you say that the years seem to correspond, I remember a name from those long lists that the tutors made us learn when we are the next one in the line of succession…”
Kathryin fell silent and Regina almost wanted to laugh, like every single bittersweet moment in which the people who were around her reminded that she had been one member of those Royal families not so long ago. Being a few years older than Kathryin she remembered the exact moment in which the first-born child of the Winter’s family had been born, almost 18 years before.
“Apparently the principality is having problems and they wish to send there a Fae with a squadron to be sure that everything is aright and to protect the girl in case it’s not” Regina explained succinctly and even if she really didn’t say anything about her personal opinion she sighed internally, too tired of everything that the Monarchs wanted to keep secret from the rest of Wonder. And even to themselves.
“You think the Ogres are going to try to attack us from the north?” Kathryin said with panic making her voice tremble.
“Who knows” Regina replied even if she already knew that that wasn’t the case. Rumple was many things but he had always been brutally honest with her if it was needed and the picture that he had painted for her was far more disturbing than a few Ogres trying to push the borders of their lands.
With a shudder she tried to not think about the fact that had made Rumple decide to send her instead of an already graduated and working Fae. But as Kathryin kept talking at Regina’s side, the brunette started to think about the talk that she had had with the director of the Academy and the information that she had gathered thanks to that.
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“An entire detachment has been killed” The man had told her as a deep red cloud swirled between his fingers while the amethyst gem, the only gem that could be used by the fae to canalize their powers, glowed between his complicated clothes. “The Guardians won’t make a move and the Vigilantes are practically monopolized in the War against the Ogres. The Concilium needs someone that can escort the Selected until the closest Portal”
“And why do you send me there?” Regina had asked while making a face “They were clear, I may be free but it’s not like I have any power or authority beyond the city.” Regina didn’t add the part that she really didn’t have any power inside the city or the fact that she was more of a prisoner than anything else. That was something that both Gold and her already knew.
The man had smiled sinisterly as he rose from his old table and circled it, the magical glow of his skin shimmering against the firefly lights that illuminated the place, the only concession for technology that the Academy permitted in the building.
“I’m sending you because they have found the symbol of The Legions between the rests of the murdered men. I thought that what better than a Fallen to help them with the problem” His voice had made Regina tremble with rage and fear and the cold remainder of her actual title had made her swallow her own blood while she remembered how every other name and every part of what had been her home, her principality, had been taken away by the Concilium.
“I’m not my mother” She had said and even if the answer was true it had been murmured instead of screamed and she cursed her own body for denying her the dignity that she hadn’t anymore “And you know it”
“I know” Gold confirmed with the cold hearted tone that few people could actually see in him “But they need help and there is no better help than the daughter of the one that make everything happen in the first place. They won’t say no to that”
And with that last words Gold had pointed at the door informing her that a carriage was going to stop in front of the Academy in a few hours and by then Regina was expected to have accepted the fact that her life, what had been her refuge and safe place was going to change once again.
Being considered a potential peril for the global peace was something unnerving to say the least.
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“There is a carriage for you outside” One of the younger apprentices said and his voice made Regina came back to the world with Kathryn looking at her slightly worried about her friend’s demeanor.
“Thanks” Regina replied before turning her face towards her friend “I suppose I’m going to see your father, do you want me to tell him something?”
Kathryin laughed humorlessly and for a few seconds Regina reminded herself that it was better to live without the weight of being a royal.
“Don’t, but mention my name a few times. Maybe that way he would feel guilty enough for not having written anything to me in a while”
“I will do that” Regina said and with one last glance towards her friend she went to the first floor where her belongings were already wrapped up in the same spartan way than they had arrived years before.
The travel to the council was short; the upper class of the capital possessed wide avenues and the rusty metal and complicated designs was something strange in the simple walls that defined the houses and buildings of the ones that worked for the Concilium. Because of the special meeting Regina saw a few more guards than normal but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary apart from it through the little windows of the carriage.
She smoothed the fabric of the tunic and tightened the belt in where different bags for charms and spells hung. With a final smirk she though in her mother and the reaction that the woman would have had because of her clothes and her decision of being a completely opposite of the old woman.
Finally, after a few more minutes of unnecessary turns, they stopped in front of the doors of the Councilium, the cloud of smoke and metal screeching from the deck reaching her ears as she exited the carriage.
“Fallen Mills, we have arrived” The driver said superfluesly with a very high-pitched voice. Regina thought if it was correct to toss the man a fire ball for a second but finally, after a moment in which the little man coughed and tried to hide from her using his opulent suit full of brocades and satin as a shield, Regina decided against it and closed the carriage’s door before directing to the main gates of the place. Her belongings would need to wait for a little more until the Monarchs informed her more about the problem that Gold had already filled in. Even if she doubted that Gold knew less than them.
And then, while she was waiting in the line for the guards to verify her identity between the mumbling and creaks of the machine that was used as a turnstile, her eyes focused on the back of someone that she had already tried to forget more times that she could actually remember.
Emma Swan.
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