It had been after they were married that Regina had first told Emma about Wassailing. She hadn't seen it since she was a little girl but the happiness that they had finally found together had given her permission to remember such things. Emma of course had never heard of it but as Christmas approached the first year after their wedding Regina couldn't get the thought out of her mind. After all the fear that apples had brought their family Orchard Wassailing felt like it fitted what their lives had become.
"So you pour the Cider into the ground?" Emma asked, head tilted to one side, her brow furrowed in interest.
Regina smiled and set their glasses on the table taking a seat next to her wife.
"Yes and you say the rhyme to scare away evil spirits and to make sure of a good harvest next year."
Emma took a sip of her drink and lay back across the sofa resting her head in Regina's lap.
"Cool." She replied.
Regina smiled back nodding as she stroked Emma's hair, neatly tucking the train of blonde waves back over her wife's shoulder.
The story was later repeated to their son, who in his own passionate fascination for hidden details and forgotten stories embraced the idea with enthusiasm upon a telling over Christmas Eve dinner. It was a quality in Henry that his encroaching teenage years seemed only to increase.
By the next year a plan had formed in the Swan-Mills Family, the first that Regina had not been privy to for some time. The plan, which all along proved more pleasant than "Operation Cobra" had years earlier, was revealed to Regina on a snowy December evening, just after Henry had finished school for the holidays. With a wink of an eye Emma had nick named it "Operation Cider"...
"Just follow us." Emma insisted as they bundled Regina out of the front door.
The front yard was lit with braziers who's flames jumped and licked at the cold air casting shadows onto the faces of the small group gathered in the snow. Regina paused for a moment at the sight. It was an instinct that refused to go away upon gatherings of Storybrooke's residents despite years gone by and trust hard earned on both sides. Once upon a time she had after all been the "evil queen" of their nightmares but things were different now. She'd found redemption and Emma's love along with a grudging tolerance from most of the town. There were times when the hell she'd grown up with had seemed inescapable but she could honestly say she'd found happiness.
Her composure quickly returned with a gentle and knowing squeeze of her hand as Emma guided her out, the snow beginning to crunch beneath their feat.
"The story you told us last year, I couldn't get it out of my head." Emma admitted, turning to face her wife taking both of her hands.
"And we wanted to do something special." Henry added as they led her toward the apple tree and the assembled group.
Taking their places she felt the warmth of her wife's arm wrapped around her side and Emma's breath on her neck as she spoke softly placing a kiss to Regina's temple.
"Time to start a new tradition huh?" Emma whispered, quickly adding, "Well an old one actually.".
Good memories from her past were a very rare thing for Regina and childhood memories came and went. They were ephemeral things that she didn't always trust and certainly couldn't be relied on to recall, even if she wanted to. This felt good though, it touched something inside her, something that she felt safe to welcome back. Yet another thing that Emma and Henry had brought into her life.
She glanced around at the gathered group, people for whom she'd once been something to ward off with charms and magical rhymes.
Emma stood to her right, ever present and ever the one thing that through all their history she could rely on to be there. Her saviour as well as the towns.
Henry stood to her left, for so long he'd been the only good thing in her life. Her one chance for hope and for the future. At present it seemed like he was getting taller every day. His face beginning in earnest and quickly gathering a pace to growing out of childhood and take on the angles of adolescence. She knew the day was coming when as much as they would always love him and always be there for him, that she and Emma would have to let him go. Let him live his own life and take his own risks. Strangely though, in a way she'd never expected it didn't bother her. There was no gnawing pain in her gut at the expectation, only pride.
To Henry's left stood Grace, her warm, wary smile shifting from Regina back to Henry and brightening as it did so, as she took his hand. It had been strange and certainly an adjustment when Henry began to grow close to Jefferson's daughter. She shared a relationship with the Hatter that had been long and difficult to say the least. This was true even compared to most people in her life but they had finally reached an understanding that their respective children made each other happy and that it was a good thing.
Further along Archie Hopper gave her a friendly nod of acknowledgement as he wrestled with Pongo, keeping the dog a safe distance from the fires. Archie had been the first to give her a chance, to insist that maybe there was something in her not worth giving up on. It had been his job as a therapist to do it but there had been times she'd genuinely relied on him and his conscience. Now, she could honestly call him a friend.
Finally, standing next to Emma were Snow and David. She'd shared such a long and painful history with them both, maybe longer and more painful than with anyone else. The titles step-mother, step-daughter, and parents in-law had all past between them along with struggle and death. Now though, they at least shared the common ground of their love for Emma and Henry. Their time and their lives could intertwine and polite smiles could be shared.
Stirred from her thoughts by movement to her sides Regina felt a further squeeze of her hand before Emma and Henry stepped forward. Henry bent down to pick up a drum, brushing it clear of snow and pulling it's strap over his shoulder. Emma turned to speak to the small crowd.
"Thank you for coming everyone, even in the snow. Which is I suppose actually kinda appropriate." She began, briskly rubbing her hands together to keep away the cold.
"There'll be a warm fire and a warmer drink inside later I promise."
A small laugh made it's way around the group in response and Emma continued.
"This is, I'm told, an old tradition, from the Enchanted Forest and from this world, Wassailing! Orchard Wassailing so we're here at the darkest part of the year to awaken the apple tree's, to ward away evil spirits and make sure of a good harvest next year!"
She clapped her hands together for emphasis than continued to speak. Addressing crowds was something Emma had taken time to grow comfortable with. First as Sheriff, then as the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. It was something she couldn't avoid. Regina had watched with pride as she'd grown into quite the orator when necessary.
"We're here to celebrate too. There are so many ways that people do that at this time of year. Ways people celebrate hope and joy and make the world that much brighter. My wife brings hope and joy and light to my life every day and I want to share this part of her with the world. So thanks to Regina for telling me about all this and to our son for not letting it go!"
To her side Regina heard drums begin. Henry smiled and Grace adjusted a matching drum to join him. Finally David reached forward to pass his daughter a bottle. Beginning to circle the tree Emma took a piece of paper from her pocket and began to read out loud pouring the apple cider as she went.
Henry and Grace joined her and they continued to bang a rhythm on their drums. All three where bellowing, the chant sure to carry beyond the yard. Despite it all Regina felt about 5 years old, except this time she wasn't frightened at all.
"Here's to thee, old apple tree, That blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, Three bushel bags full, An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!" They chanted, big, enthusiastic, embarrassed smiles lighting up the yard brighter than the braziers.
Regina grinned back and she heard herself join the group as they chanted louder still in reply.
"Hurrah Hurrah!"
A year later, true to Emma's words a tradition had been started, except this time Henry and Grace on Drums were joined by Archie ringing bells. The group all wore masks and Regina swore she saw the biggest grin on Snow's face as she chanted along, keeping Pongo in check as he howled.
Two years later their group had grown to include Granny and Red. Over warm punch afterward Granny even fondly recalled when she was a little girl and told Regina how glad she was that this had become a tradition again.
Three years later they processed through town, with everyone in costume, Archie in full face paint with foliage around his head as "The Green Man".
Four years later, with Henry back home from college nobody even seemed to flinch when much to Emma's insistence Regina herself took the role of Wassail Queen and was hoisted up to the tree. With Henry one on side and David on the other she placed soaked toast in the boughs as a gift to the tree spirits and to show the year's fruit.
A past of pain and darkness were so far behind her as she led the town in chanting.
"Here's to thee, old apple tree, That blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, Three bushel bags full, An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!"