A/N Prompt made by doberlove1 over Tumblr. Hope this is what they had in mind ;)

PS: In order to make the timeline fit I have moved things just a lil' bit so Cora and Henry Sr are Snow's age and not Leopold's.

Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT nor her characters and I plan on leaving them where I found them after I finish playing ;)

The Miller's daughter

The chirping sound of the early-raising birds made Regina yawn as she woke up, the smell of flour that always seemed to get stuck on her nostrils tickling her nose until she sneezed, her still slowly opening eyes fluttering shut as she did so. The first weak rays of morning illuminated the rickety old bed in where she slept, the planks that conformed her bedroom welcoming her once she managed to open her eyes for a second time.

Groaning, she grabbed the covers of her bed and turned, yawning once again when the voice of her mothed floated from the adjacent room, her father answering to her in that tired way of him she had grown up to behind it. Finally stretching and rising, she let the covers slide off her body before picking them up and folding them quickly, calculating by the sun that she had indeed overslept just a bit.

Her mother was waiting for her with her hands on her waist, her right brow rising ever so slightly as Regina seated in the table a friend of her father had made from them after last winter's flooding. Smiling sheepishly at her mother the young woman grabbed the already cooling porridge and looked at it, nodding at her father when the man, already half covered in flour and stone dust, smiled at her in the same way.

"We need new grain" Her mother said from her place at the head of the table, her stern eyes softening slightly when she eyed her husband. "Yesterday you said that we almost couldn't finish the order for the monarchs"

Henry didn't answer but a nod of his prematurely grey head was apparently enough for Cora to let the matter drop. Eating as quickly as she could Regina mentally listed what she already knew were going to be her chores for the day, a small smirk curling her lips when she saw her mother shaking her head, the sound of her clicking tongue enough to make both daughter and father eye each other from the two sides of the well-used table.

It was an already common theme to have Cora making Henry remember the numbers and orders he needed to be done and as far as Regina's memory could go it had always been that way. It had been her mother the one who had grown up in a mill after all and it didn't matter how many years had passed, her father didn't always seem to remember the little tricks every miller knew by heart by the age of twelve.

"Regina" Her mother said, her suddenly stern voice making the brunette jump slightly from her sit, her chocolate brown eyes meeting her mothers who eyed her with a mix of tiredness and amusement. "I want you to go to the village and ask the baker if knows for any other miller that still may have had grain that can sell to us, fairies know that he negotiates with more than one of us"

"Of course mother" Regina replied succinctly, the already empty porridge bowl laying in front of her. She had overslept with her day clothes so she stood and turned, eyeing the little room that was used as a kitchen and whose big entrance led to the first floor that connected the mill with the little house her father had been able to rent a few years before she had been born.

Cora Mills sighed and eyed her husband who was already standing in the same fashion as her daughter; quickly and with his back slightly bent onwards, his short height becoming more noticeable with the way he kept standing, hands permanently white by flour moving nervously in front of him.

She still could remember the man she had in front of her dressed as the noble he had been once and even though the line that marked where the rings had been displayed on the man's hand had long ago disappeared her memory brought them freshly to her mind's eye. Clicking her tongue once again she grabbed the empty bowls and tilted her head towards her daughter, the young woman tidying after her as Henry trudged his way to the first floor as usual. They were already running late and the voice of her father echoed on Cora's mind, the multiple chores she had been forced to learn floating at the back of her head as if it had been yesterday when she had learnt them.

"Regina…" She called for the young woman once the brunette disappeared in the little room that was close to the one both Henry and her used as a master bedroom.

"Yes?" The head of her daughter appeared as the woman fastened her cape around her shoulders, her dress scrapping the floor while she moved towards her mother.

"Be careful"

The young woman smiled and nodded, her chocolate brown eyes lighting ever so slightly as she followed her father's footsteps making Cora sigh softly to herself as she saw her daughter disappear, her teeth biting her bottom lip as she started what would be her own chores for the day.

-.-

Emma grabbed the hem of her hood and looked at her feet as she passed by a group of guards. Their strong voices were slightly slurred by their obvious inebriation. Still looking at her feet she passed in front of them, nervousness and exhilaration clouding her vision until she turned to her right, entering into a new, darker road that almost no one seemed to want to stop by. Smirking as she straightened her back she let the hood fall at her back, her buoyant blonde curls shining at the midday sun that managed to illuminate the dirt-made road in where puddles of the storm that had isolated the land the night before were still visible.

She had thought about her escapade for weeks now, meticulously taking notes on the amount of guards that were on each door, the amount of times they were changed and who were the easiest ones to fool in case she was discovered. Thankfully, that hadn't been needed and she had been out of the castle in less than an hour with the clothes Graham had given to her the day before covering the- still perhaps too much prince-like-clothes she normally wore inside the castle to her mother's chagrin. Still smirking and looking at the plain maroon clothes, she grabbed the ring and medallion that led away her status and put it on the leather pouch that hung on her right side, the long cape she wore covering her movements. Her boots splashed against the poodles when she moved forward, carefully looking at her sides as she walked. She wasn't really known due to her fame of not liking public outings with both of her parents so it was unlikely that she would be recognized by the common folk but the guards that also worked in the castle were a different kind of danger and she wasn't ready to go back to the place in where she felt scrutinized to death both by her mother and fairy godmother yet.

Shuddering at the thought of the stern-looking Blue she kept walking, noticing the narrow houses in where the ones that seemed lucky enough to live in the village appeared to have; not taller than two floors, almost all of them seemed to work both as shops and houses and from the narrower windows of the second floor the smell of food could be sensed floating in the air. Tilting her head to one side and returning her jade-colored pupils to the road she had in front of her the princess kept walking, remembering to always turn with the castle at her right, not wanting to lose her track.

Feeling bold when she crossed with an elderly woman who eyed her clothes and later on her face she smiled at her, smirking when the woman didn't seem to neither recognize her nor care who she was. Looking at the way the village seemed to burst with life from the different points where voices of the ones that tried to sell their goods came and went Emma moved quickly, carefully dodging groups of guards that stood in different points of the dirt-covered streets.

To be truthful she knew that escaping, or momentarily loosing herself, wasn't exactly one of the best ideas she may have had but the life in the castle, the constant need of being something, someone, who she wasn't had been enough motivation to make her think on actually living the life of a princess behind. An idea she hadn't pursued when she had realized that probably her ever-loving parents would march against the neighbor kingdom, the one inhabited by the Dark One, trying to find her and that wasn't something she would ever want to cause or see considering the awful tales about the reptilian-like imp who lived there.

Grabbing her pouch whenever she came nearer to the groups of children that seemed to fill the widest roads she finally arrived to a street in where bread and other foods could be bought. The village, narrow as it was, had many small streets that crossed the main ones and so she needed a moment to relocate herself, sighing when her senses finally showed her where she was standing.

-.-

Regina smiled politely at the chubby son of the baker and exited the little shop, hands at her back as she mentally kicked the dirt with the boots she had managed to buy to the hawker a few summers ago. The well-worn leather boots looked at her discouragingly as she mumbled under her breath. The baker had refused to tell her the names of any other millers and considering how close the village was to the actual royal castle it would probably be impossible for her to find any other baker who would trade that information so easily. Shaking her head and ironing the brown skirt she wore, she straightened her back, the left side of her body colliding against a strong lithe one, the movement making her almost fall backwards.

Closing her eyes she readied herself for the impact only to be stopped by a quick pair of hands that didn't release her until she felt her two feet steadily touching the floor below her.

"I'm sorry" She heard, the feminine voice of her savior holding an accent that even though it seemed to be from the kingdom it also seemed to be completely different. "I wasn't paying attention"

"Don't worry" She replied, turning to look at the woman, feeling a blush growing on her cheeks as she saw the younger blonde who was currently looking at her; green changing eyes blinking slowly, pink soft-looking lips opened in what seemed to be a word that hadn't been said. Regina looked at the fairness of the skin that was on display; long strong fingers encased in a brown leather gloves, an equally well-worked leather as a vest and well albeit worn pantaloons that ended in brown mid-calf boots. "I… wasn't looking also"

The blonde stranger nodded once, seeming as awestruck as she was and with a long and perhaps too much complicated flourish she nodded, her left eye being obscured for a second due to one long blonde tress. Regina caressed her own hair, suddenly self-conscious of how she could look to the eyes of the other woman.

Emma, for her part, was completely speechless, her green eyes noticing different details in the figure of the perhaps slightly older woman that stood in front of her, the clear limpid brown eyes and quirked mouth in something that seemed to be the ghost of a permanent smile the things that called for her, a sudden feeling of warmth and nervousness growing inside her stomach as the two of them kept staring at each other, eliciting a few curious looks for a few of those same kids Emma had tried so hard to dodge a few minutes earlier.

"I'm Emma" She finally said, blinking away from her stupor and suddenly feeling more nervous than warm. "Emma… Swan"

The surname came to her with a stumble, the memory of her younger self feeding the animals back with Graham the thing that came to her brain first.

The brunette's right brow quirked, curiousness and perhaps something else clouding her pupils for a second.

"Regina Mills" The brunette replied. "I'm… the miller daughter" The meek declaration followed by a shrug made Emma smile ever so slightly.

"Quite an intelligent surname then" She provided, eliciting something that seemed to be a challenge from the other woman's eyes.

"At least is better than the name of an animal that would probably end up roasted"

The blonde chuckled at that and nodded, this time being hers the time to shrug. She felt herself pulled towards the other woman and as Regina started to walk she followed her steps as well, forgetting her intent on going back to the castle before her absence was noticed by the monarchs.

"Touché" She declared softly. "I heard though that there is this pirate far away from our costs that calls himself Hook, talk about bad names…"

Regina found herself smiling at the other woman's declaration, her feet making her take the path back home; without any grain or information it was probably the smarter thing to do but as Emma followed her she found herself walking slower than what she normally would, leaving the village soon behind them, the smell of forest circling the two of them like a blanket.

"So" Regina said, looking at the taller woman at her side, she didn't seem to be neither dangerous nor about to steal anything from her and even though she knew it was against her better judgement she felt a connection with the other woman, something that told her she wasn't dangerous at all. "You are from the coast? Of that pirate of yours I mean"

Emma's lips quirked in distaste at that though; whereas she knew that her parents had considered to make her marry the Lord turned out to be pirate for a few months she had managed to dodge that marriage after discovering that the shady man still made trades with the Dark One. It had been a few unpleasant weeks though and her mother's ideas about marrying hadn't stopped in the slightest even though it had been her idea in the first instance the one who had made Emma learn about the infamous Hook.

"Nope" She finally replied, looking at the woods in front of her after smiling quickly at the woman at her side, the path was easy and well-marked and even though the scarce light the tall trees made possible for the sun to illuminate with it was easy to known where the castle was so she felt confident as she walked next to the brunette. "I'm from here actually"

Regina shook her head at that affirmation; even if she was quite a loner and had been ever since she had been little she knew that she would have heard about a blonde girl almost as old as she was before.

"Try again" She taunted with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked. Emma's eyes were momentarily drawn to that particular area and Regina felt herself blush before continuing "I'm from here and I would have learn about you before if that was the case"

Emma draw her head back and laughed merrily, her voice echoing against the trees that surrounded the path. She knew that she should feel scared, or at least not as confident as before now that everything that seemed to surround the two of them were trees but the warmth on the other woman's eyes made her shrug and nod, admitting defeat. As comfortable as she was she wanted to keep herself in the shadows, at least regarding her title.

"Perhaps I'm one of the merry men" She said rising her chin. She had learnt about the bandits on one of the latest classes she had taken with her tutors and albeit she hadn't exactly like them she had feel exhilarated with the idea of being a free woman who was able to come and go as she pleased.

Regina hummed at that; the clothes Emma wore were decidedly the ones of a man, of one that even though wasn't rich was able to procure for himself quite well. The leather and hunter like clothes certainly could be a clue that what the girl was saying was true but somehow Regina couldn't see the blonde being one of those bandits. She had heard about them but apart from some gory tale one of the farmer that worked with her father had told her she hadn't really been in front of one of them before.

"I think they wear green like the leaves of the forest in order to be invisible" She said with a shrug "You don't seem to be one of them"

Emma visibly deflated before returning to her long strides, pink lips stretched in a smirk.

"Touché once again, my majesty."

The name made Regina blush once again, looking at the blonde at her right who seemed completely unaffected by what she had just called her. Smiling, she turned at their left, already seeing the silhouette of the mill in where both of her parents were probably still working on.

"There is where I live" She said, pointing at the structure and mentally scolding to herself when she realized that her mother was probably going to be disappointed by the lack of grain.

"I've never been so close to a mill before" Emma admitted, the building looking even taller as they approached it, standing proudly in the middle of the forest. A few farms and similar structures were barely visible from where they were.

"No?" Regina frowned, curious at that information; as far as she knew mills were one of the most common structure in the whole kingdom since they were the responsible for the trading of grain between the other kingdoms that resided in the enchanted forest. "Are you from overseas?" She questioned, noticing the suddenly nervous way the blonde seemed to stand, her left hand caressing her neck, as if she waited for something to be hanging from there.

"No" Emma replied, shaking her head. "But I would want to travel there one time"

Regina hummed; she had once felt the same way, back when Daniel had talked about enrolling on one of the ships that the near kingdom of Midas provided but those dreams had never happened at the end.

Smiling tightly, she resumed her walking, the mill seeming even bigger now they were slowly climbing up the hill where it stood.

"It would be interesting to see what's out there" She admitted softly, the blonde at her side nodding her head once while walking. Her breath was slightly labored but she didn't seem to mind and as Regina eyed the strong-looking legs of the blonde she questioned what exactly could do the other woman for a living.

"Just imagine" Emma finally said, feeling suddenly emboldened by the way Regina was looking at her. "Crossing the seas and living there, fighting against monsters and sorceress…"

"I would be with you"? Regina cut in, smile back on her lips when Emma replied with a fervent nod.

"Of course! We would be the most powerful couple on all the realms!"

Emma bit her tongue as the last syllable left her mouth, suddenly realizing of what she had actually said. The brunette was still nothing more than a stranger and so, blushing, she tried to erase her last comment, her tongue feeling clumsy on her mouth.

Regina from her part chuckled at that, looking at her feet as she felt yet another blush building at the back of her neck, the easiness the mysterious blonde seemed to talk with making her feel relaxed. "I doubt we would be the most powerful couple" She said, noticing the flustered cheeks of Emma and deciding to try the same game the green-eyed woman seemed to play with. "We barely known each other"

Emma looked up at the sound of the brunette's voice, realizing that she may have not done something terribly wrong as she had feared a few seconds before. Feeling safer with the steady gaze of Regina looking at her she smirked, bowing just like she had seen her father do multiple times in front of the noblewomen.

"Give me two months" She said "And you will be the one asking me to travel together"

Her words were serious, perhaps even more than what she thought and for one second it seemed that she really should have listened to Blue's incessant talks about destiny before Regina tilted her head to one side and nodded, accepting the bet.

"Two months" She said "Woo me Emma"

And with that and a wink she turned, leaving Emma behind with a smile on her own lips and a sigh on her throat.