Charcoal Memories
Author's Notes: This is an Enchanted Forest A/U that Regina hasn't cast the dark curse. I wrote it on a whim while visiting my best friend today since I woke up with the idea in my head and couldn't get it to leave. It's tentatively finished with a sequel possible. School work and work for my business eat my life and we're gearing up for our next convention so i likely won't get this sequel done until one of those things is over. As always if you enjoy please let me know. ~ Scarlette
For my Claire Bear!
Princess Emma quietly ran the charcoal over the parchment as she shaded in a piece of the tree she'd just drawn. It was a rather large pear tree that had been planted in the gardens when she was a very young girl. It had surprised everyone when it had thrived in the rocky soils of the North and grew the most delicious pears. She'd have to ask Cook to make some of the pear preserves she liked on her croissants later. For now though, she'd been given a reprieve from her usual duties and allowed the precious solitude she often craved. Her parents were wonderful people and very good leaders but when it came to balancing their duties as monarchs with their duties as parents, they often weren't able to handle one without bringing in the other. Such is the life of a royal in the Enchanted Forest.
She looked up over her leather bound notebook that was never far from her side. Her Mother hated it because often when bored, Emma would pull out her notebook and begin drawing or working on her drawings no matter the circumstances. Emma of course had other interests, sword play, reading, archery, but never the dance lessons, political learnings, and music her mother often tried to instill in her to be what she referred to as the perfect princess. It seemed the White Kingdom's fair princess would never be the daughter her Mother wanted her to be.
"Emma?" Red's soft voice drifted through the gardens as the werewolf approached. As Snow White's dearest friend, she was privy to many of the workings of the Kingdom and as such having helped raise Emma was the only one that encouraged her to draw and read in solitude as she chose. It angered Snow but she wouldn't compromise on her goddaughter's interests.
Emma's brow furrowed, the charcoal smear on her nose all the more prominent because of it.
"What's wrong Red?" She asked, finally setting her notebook in her lap.
"I've been calling you for the past few moments and you just now noticed?" Red's cloak brushed Emma's knee and thigh as she sat down on the stone bench beside her.
"I was drawing." Emma muttered, "I can't get this shadow right. Every time I try to get it, it messes up." She whined, angry at her inability to draw what she was seeing.
"May I see?" Red asked, holding out her gloved hand. Why the woman wore gloves when she was never cold was beyond Emma and especially on a rare sunny day like today but really who was she to question her godmother?
"You've gotten better since I've been away." Red remarked as she studied the tree and the surrounding flowerbeds Emma had drawn. The fruits on the tree looking real enough to eat, she noted proudly.
"It's not right." The younger woman repeated, growing agitated at the praise. Red was the only one that praised her drawings. Everyone else thought it strange and not something she should actively engage in.
"It is getting there. You are far better than most at this pursuit Emma."
"If only you would put forth the effort in your dancing as you do your drawings." Snow remarked as she appeared in the archway that Red had recently stepped through.
Emma grabbed her notebook from her godmother's hands and shut it with a snap. Red flinched but didn't say anything.
"I don't like to dance Mother and I have no desire to dance with any of the princes you see fit to throw at me every chance you get."
"Emma, you are getting older and with that comes duties and responsibilities…"
"Don't speak to me as if I don't understand how these games you and Father play with the other nobles works."
"Emma," Her Mother began and the blonde girl shook her head.
"Don't Mother. Aunt Red, I will see you tonight at dinner." The blonde curtsied, her pale green dress barely brushing the stones as she shot past her Mother and away from the horrid conversation.
"That girl, I swear, I don't know what to do with her Red."
"Perhaps you should allow her to pursue her own interests." Red offered as quiet council.
The sucked lemon look on Snow's face let her know that idea wasn't what she had in mind.
"She cannot continue to pursue them as if she were a common girl. She is a Princess and she needs to behave as such. You only encourage her by talking to her as you do."
"Someone needs to. You and James never do." Red bit into the soft flesh of her lip to keep from really letting loose on her best friend. She didn't want to start a war after all and it wasn't like her words would have any effect.
"I am trying to do right by my child Red. She isn't yours."
"Must we always have this argument when it comes to Emma? I know she isn't mine. You make that clear to me every time I don't side with you over issues that involve her. She is, however, my goddaughter and I will continue to look out for her even if you don't think it is in her best interest."
"I am her Mother Red."
"As you remind me every single time." Red rose to her feet. "Do as you will Snow but I will continue to do what I think is best for Emma. She wants to go hunting in the North. I know you and James refuse to allow her but if I accompany her with Mulan I don't think it would be much of an issue."
"Only the two of you to protect the Princess of this realm? That isn't a good idea."
"If you don't allow her to go, she'll just run off as she has in the past. At least this away we can mitigate the circumstances. If you allow us to go with her, she won't be out there alone."
Snow shook her head, "Red, you know my feelings on my daughter's inclinations. If I do this, I only encourage her to act like she does further."
"Or you allow her to be herself and she comes around to your way of thinking. If you'd only compromise with her, I think you'd see an entirely different person Snow."
The Queen frowned, "I don't like the idea of my daughter tromping out in the woods with only her godmother and our champion there to defend her."
"Are you doubting my abilities to protect her? Or Mulan's?"
"Of course not, but she needs to be a princess; not a prince even if she does prefer to dress like a man and act like one in most regards."
The werewolf rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Your stubbornness almost rivals Emma's."
"And yours is a seemingly learned behavior my daughter takes to."
"At least she got in honest from somewhere." She muttered, before speaking louder. "Consider the request Snow or risk her running out on her own again."
Emma drew up her dove gray cloak as she approached the gate on her horse. She hated horses and would've preferred to walk but this was the quickest way out of the castle and she didn't feel like trying to sneak out and be discovered. She'd learned the hard way that meant being locked in her room for weeks on end.
The gates slowly opened allowing her leave. She felt bad briefly for not telling her godmother her plan, knowing she was defending her to her Mother but she was pleased that it had given her the chance to get away before the guards could be alerted that she wasn't allowed out.
She took a breath as the gates closed behind her and her horse continued to pound out a smooth gait before she broke into an all out run as soon as they hit the tree line surrounding the palace. Soon she'd be at sanctuary and that thought kept her moving.
Sunlight streamed through the trees, lighting the leaves and ground around her. The smell of moss and honeysuckle filled her nose as they continued down the familiar path. Water trickled in a nearby brook as birds cawed overhead. The sounds of the forest filled her with a sense of life and she thrived in this quiet atmosphere.
The ride took most of the day but she hadn't minded, she was completely at home and soon she'd be at the small hunting cabin her godmother had set up for them to enjoy and she'd be able to draw and read and hunt as she chose for a few days. Though she'd love to be there longer, her Mother's constant badgering wouldn't allow for such.
She slid from the saddle, and moved her horse into the large over hang that was roped off for horses.
As she untacked him, the coolness began to seep into her bones.
"It's going to rain and rain heavy. You'd best get under there and try to stay dry." She advised, giving the chestnut colored animal a small pat. He whickered softly, pawing the ground before dropping his head and beginning to nibble the lush green grass.
She smiled as she carried the last of the saddlebags up to the cabin. Sanctuary was in her grasp and she was grateful for the time she got to spend here.
The rain came fast and heavy that night, beating on the roof of the two-room cabin heavily. Emma remained on the couch, using the light from various candles and the fireplace to work on her drawings, which were now scattered all over the rough wooden floor. A bolt of lightening lit up the sky but she barely looked up at the accompanying crack as she continued to work. There was no one here to tell her she couldn't after all and she was enjoying not having to speak, listen, or smile for hours at a time.
She continued to shade in the flower she'd worked on a few weeks ago before a pounding at the door drew her away. She blinked, shocked as it continued and a disembodied voice yelled for help over the howling rain.
She pushed her notebook off her lap, her charcoal laying forgotten for the moment before she pulled open the door.
A small black-cloaked figure fell into the room with a yelp seemingly startled by the door opening. The figure caught itself before it fell on it's face and twisted towards her.
"Do you live here?" A low voice spoke as the rain poured in from the open doorway.
Dumbly, Emma could do little more than nod.
"My horse threw me off when the weather turned bad." The figure offered. "I cannot seem to locate him no matter what I do. Will you help me?"
"Tonight? It's pouring, we'll never find him in this weather."
"He's never thrown me before, something happened and spooked him. I have to find him."
"These woods are tricky and easy to get lost in." The princess offered. "I will help you but not tonight. It's too dangerous for all of us. Tomorrow when the sun rises, we can go search."
"You don't understand…"
"It'll be much easier for you to die out there than for him." She tried to reason with the smaller figure. "It'll be easier and far safer if we wait."
The figure turned back towards the outside, seemingly intending to dart off into the elements when the princess reached for a thin arm and drew it back. "Tomorrow please? I promise I'll do everything in my power to help you locate him tomorrow."
The figure seemed to contemplate the words before giving a sharp nod. "All right."
"Take your cloak off and hang it up by the fire. It'll dry quicker that way. Your boots too." The blonde moved quickly to lift her drawings out of the way as the soaked figure began to remove it's out garments.
Emma chanced a glance up and sucked in a breath as the cloak's hood was pushed back revealing a hauntingly beautiful face framed by damp black curls. The woman's dark eyes darted over her figure as she nibbled her full bottom lip.
"Are all of these yours?" She asked motioning towards the parchment in Emma's hands.
The blonde looked down with a small blush and nodded as the woman stripped off her cloak and hung it up. Her boots soon followed, leaving her in a simple riding gown of soft black silk. Her riding pants were tight, hugging her well toned legs which slid out from beneath the high slits of her dress as she moved towards the taller woman. She was older but probably not more than a winter or two from Emma's own nineteen winters.
"May I see them?" The woman held out a golden hand and Emma found herself relinquishing her precious drawings to the hold. The woman sat down on the well- worn couch without invitation and began to look through them.
Silence reigned for several moments as the fire crackled happily in it's place and the parchment shifted against each other.
"These are beautiful. You have quite a gift." The woman remarked and tilted her head slightly. The scar that bisected her lip caught Emma's eye. It looked strangely out of place on such a beautiful face but was not unpleasing to the eye instead it offered a haunting quality to the beautiful features and rich eyes the woman's face offered.
"My Mother doesn't think so. She hates that I draw."
"Your Mother mustn't be looking at the same thing I am. Artists see the world through a different filter than the rest of us. It's a gift I envy."
Emma found herself smiling as she clutched her leather bound notebook a little closer. She moved to sit beside the woman as she paused on the pear tree drawing she'd been working on before interrupted.
"This one is unfinished."
"I was working on it when you showed up."
"All of these drawings of plants, nature, even architecture but no humans. Why?" The woman looked over at her, the drawings still resting in her small hands.
"No one has ever let me draw them before." Emma shrugged. "I don't know."
"Will you draw me?"
"You'd let me?"
The woman arched a brow and nodded, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't feel so inclined."
Emma smiled at her and nodded. "I'd like that."
"Do you have the supplies you need to do so?"
The princess nodded and smiled as the woman rose to her feet, setting her drawings down so gently beside her.
"Where would you like me to be?"
The blonde cocked her head for a moment thinking, "In front of the fire place." She slid to her feet moving into the small adjacent bedroom and drawing the thick quilt from the roughly carved bed. She returned and laid it out flat on the floor. A few pillows from the couch soon joined the blanket. "Is this all right?" She asked shyly.
The woman smiled at her and nodded. "That's perfectly fine."
They remained standing for a moment before Emma asked, "Will you lay down? On your side?"
The woman cocked her head, "Would you mind me adding my own touch?"
The princess blinked and nodded, "Of course. Anything you like."
"I've sat for several portraits before." She murmured. "Most make me look like someone to be feared or something regal. I don't want that. Not from you."
"What do you have in mind?" Emma asked as she flipped through her leather notebook until she found a blank piece of parchment. Her long forgotten charcoal found it's way to her hand but she didn't look up until she heard the plop of fabric.
Her eyes shot up, wide and fascinated as the smaller woman stood before her with nothing covering her body. She gasped in shock. The woman was gorgeous.
Her eyes greedily drank in her dainty feet and small ankles, her well toned caves and toned golden thighs. The thatch of dark hair between her legs only further added to the pleasant sight of her body. The swell of her hips fell into line with her flat stomach. Her breasts were soft and lush with dusty nipples that jutted out from her body. Her prominent collar bones and softly curved shoulders led to a graceful neck and then to her beautiful rose bud mouth and pert nose. Her eyes were amused as they watched Emma's ascent of her body, her dark curls shook as she moved towards the still seated blonde.
"Will this be a problem?"
The princess swallowed hard and shook her head.
"What position would you like me to lay in?"
"On…" Emma swallowed as her voice cracked with nerves. "On your side…facing me." She barely managed a bright blush staining her fair cheeks. The woman offered her a small smile before doing as she was told. She propped herself up with her elbow for a moment before shifting. "Is this all right?"
"It…won't be comfortable…" She took a breath before setting her notebook and charcoal aside. "May I?" The thought of touching this goddess was making her head swim but she forced herself to move forward.
"Of course."
Emma moved forward and gently moved the woman's legs so they appeared more pleasing. Shifting the top leg further back and bringing the bottom forward with a bent knee gave a pleasing image. It also opened the lower half of her body up. She moved her upper arm to lay above her head. "Lay your arm down flat." The woman did as she was told and Emma touched her neck. The warmth of her skin was intoxicating but she ignored it…just barely. "Rest your head on your forearm. Perfect."
"Is this all right?"
Emma arranged a few of her curls so that they rested over her neck and shoulder before she nodded. "That's it. Now just try and be still and relax."
She took a breath as she stood back up and turned, letting it out slowly before she sat back down on the couch. Her notebook and charcoal went back into her hands. She looked over the top, studying the woman for a few moments before she began to draw.
It took a few hours but the woman she'd taken in remained almost as still as a statute. She was shading the shadow that fell over her belly as the woman stood up and moved towards her.
"Are you certain you've never drawn people before?" She asked, startling the princess.
Emma jerked and blinked owlishly at the still naked woman standing just over her shoulder. She shook her head. "No, I've never drawn anyone before. You're the first."
"It's beautiful." She complimented with a tilt of her rosebud mouth.
The princess looked back at the drawing she'd just finished and smiled. It had turned out much better than she thought it would. The fire dancing behind the woman's naked frame had lent an almost ethereal feel to the air and she managed to capture it on paper.
"Thank you." She murmured as she traced her fingers over the paper.
"For what?"
"For allowing me to draw you like that."
"Many people have seen me without my clothes. Think nothing of it."
"I….I've never seen a body beyond my own before." She confessed.
"Did it please you?"
"Yes," she'd be a fool to say it didn't.
The woman tilted her head, "You made me look softer than I actually am. I look like a nymph from the olden stories."
"Do you not like it?" Emma's small smile faded. Perhaps she'd done it wrong? She'd never drawn people before…perhaps her proportions were off.
"It's the eyes. I once heard my eyes were like cold obsidian. You made them softer."
"You're not cold." The princess immediately defended her.
"You barely know me."
"I saw you naked."
"As I said many people see me without my clothes."
"I saw you naked." Emma repeated. "You were right when you say artists see things through a different focus than normal people. I saw you."
The woman blinked before offering her a small smile. She leaned down, pressing her lips to Emma's pink, slightly chapped lips.
"Thank you."
The next morning dawned too quickly for the White Princess who sat up on the lumpy mattress of the rough bed. She looked around, not seeing her guest anywhere.
She stood up, wrapping the sheet around her naked body as she walked into the main room. The pillows were still scattered on the floor. Her drawings and her leather notebook were still resting on the couch cushion she'd kept while she'd drawn. Nothing was out of place from what it had been last night. She frowned when she noted the woman's black cloak was gone as were her boots. She hadn't left anything behind.
Emma moved towards the couch and pulled her notebook open. The drawing she'd done the night previously was still there.
"I don't even know your name." She muttered before shutting the notebook. She moved back to dress and quietly walked out to inspect the damage of the raging storm.
A week went by before she forced herself to acknowledge that the woman she'd drawn wasn't returning. At first it had been easy to convince herself that she had just gone to find her horse. After the third day, reality began to seep into her hopefulness.
It was here that Red found her, sitting on the small porch with her ever present notebook in hand.
"Emma, why did you run off? You knew I was talking to your Mother about the hunting trip you wanted."
"She wouldn't have agreed." Emma spoke by way of greeting.
Red pulled up short when she noted the hollow look in her goddaughter's eyes that accompanied the purple bags.
"By the Gods Emma what happened?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The princess stood up, setting her notebook aside. "I'm going out to check the traps."
"I'll come with you."
"No, stay. I need to be alone."
Red frowned but dipped her head, "As you wish."
It wasn't until Emma disappeared into the tree line that she lifted the notebook. She pulled it open before a gasp escaped her as all the breath felt like it left her lungs.
Staring back at her was a face she knew well but the look on the drawn woman's face was one she didn't recognize.
"Emma!" She shouted as she dropped the notebook and ran after her goddaughter.
The blonde pulled up short, her head jerking as she maneuvered to face her godmother.
"What is it?"
"Emma, the woman in that drawing. Was she here?"
"Yes, why?"
"Do you know what you've done child?"
"What have I done? She was thrown from her horse and required a place to stay until the storm passed." She added.
"Emma, that woman was Regina, the Evil Queen."
"What?" Emma felt like someone had punched her hard enough in the stomach for her to lose her breath.
"Emma, did the Evil Queen seduce you?" Red laid her gloved hands on Emma's shoulders.
The blank look that met her eyes answered her question. She cursed and dropped her hands.
"By the Gods, Emma do you have any idea what she could've done to you had she known who you were?"
"She didn't do anything. She asked me to draw her so I did."
"You drew her without her clothes on?"
"It's what she wanted. She was tired of looking regal or any other number of things other people have made her look like. I drew what I saw and she allowed me to see it."
"Emma, she could've killed you."
"She didn't even ask for my name and I didn't ask for hers. I just drew her. That was it."
"You promise me here and now that that is all that happened. You promise me and you never let anyone know what happened. You burn that drawing."
"I…I promise." Emma offered, feeling her heart sink into her belly. She couldn't meet her godmother's eyes.
"Okay, okay." Red took a breath. "We need to go back to the palace."
Emma groaned, "Aunt Red."
"I'm serious Emma. If she's figured out who you are, you're in danger right now."
"She won't hurt me."
"She'd hurt you to get to your Mother."
"Don't you think this feud has gone on long enough?"
"It won't be over until one or both of them draws their last breath and you know it."
Emma shook her head, "Fine. Whatever, I don't care anymore."
"Emma,"
"Don't, you're just as bad as they are. Maybe she's as tired as I am of hearing about this feud. Maybe that's why she came to me but I don't think I'll ever know and frankly I don't care too. She's not my enemy, she did nothing wrong to me and that's all that matters."
Red stared at her goddaughter as her shoulders slumped.
"In another life, I think I could've loved her."
"Don't say that."
"It's true but it doesn't matter. Let's go home Red."
Neither noticed as they gathered their things that the drawing Emma had done slipped from the notebook. As they mounted their horses to ride away, they failed to notice that the drawing sitting on the ground faded away in a cloud of purple smoke.