In the quite, small town of Storybrooke, Maine, all was finally right with the world. The residents had encountered numerous villains as of late, yet they had all been vanquished, thanks to Emma, the savior of the land, and the rest of her friends. Now, Emma could finally sit around lazily and enjoy herself, without the threat of foreign enemies attempting to invade their homes.
The 28-year-old woman sat on a bar stool in the nearby "Granny's" restaurant, slumping over a cup of coffee that had, by now, gone quite cold. It was early in the morning, a grey sky peeling back its cloudy endeavor to show bright rays of light shining through the window. A groggy Emma peered down at her watch before bouncing out of her seat instantaneously and yelling, "Oh my God, I've got to get Henry to school!" Apparently, with all that had been happening in the last few days, Emma had been physically drained, having little to no energy left to focus on her normal, daily tasks. Getting herself together, Emma hastily to a twenty dollar bill, leaving it on the table for Granny. However, Granny just shook her head, exclaiming,
"It's on the house, dear." With a perplexed look on her face, Emma, merely nodded a dumbfounded thank you before racing out the door and into the now sleepy streets of Storybrooke. It couldn't have been yet eight O'clock in the morning, yet Emma had been up for hours. She had had increasing insomnia for some weeks, and could often be found at Granny's Diner a few hours before its scheduled opening. At least there were some perks to being a savior of the land. Free coffee, and unscheduled hours of operation.
Emma continued her hastened pace towards her house, with the intent of awaking Henry and getting him ready for school. But a grab at her shoulder made her stop short.
"Swan, get over to my house, quickly. You'll want to see this." It was Regina. Although the two had grown closer in recent years, now, Emma felt, was not the time for her to ramble her already clouded thoughts.
"No, Regina, I'm late as it is—"her sentence was cut off.
"Trust me, Emma, this is going to blow your mind." Whereas Regina usually sported a slightly sadistic, evil grin when she discovered something unusual, now her face was coated with a shade a seriousness and confusion. Because of this, Emma, sensing that something was slightly off, agreed to follow her.
"But let's hurry, I wanted to see Henry off before school." Regina then pulled Emma into her desired direction. Within minutes, the pair of women arrived at Regina's white, two-story house. With much haste, Regina pushed Emma into her house in a slightly forceful manner.
"Regina, let go, I can walk by myself, thank you!" However, just as Emma found her way into Regina's work room, she noticed something that was, indeed, very out of place—a small, young girl, probably no more than ten or eleven sitting in Regina's chair.
"Hey, get off of that! I didn't say you could sit there!" Regina roared at the young girl. Emma, feeling concerned for the child's feelings, gave Regina a condescending look. However, her words did not seem to affect the young girl.
Regina pointed to the girl, her face as cool as ice.
"Look at that little tramp I found, looting the streets!" The girl became very offended at this, and retorted boldly,
"I'm not a thief! All I wanted was some bread from the bakery! It's been a long journey for me, if you must know, and you lot aren't exactly easy to reach!"
"Why, you sly, little brat! I'll bet you're a spy! We've had just enough of your lot coming into our town and stirring up trouble," Regina barked at her, clearly disgusted. "I'll tell you this only once, get your thieving ass out of this town, or I'll have you put in the foster system!" At this, Emma interjected, attempting to sooth both parties. She knelt down so that she could be face to face with the young girl, asking "You got a name, kid?"
"I'm Arya Stark. My family is in trouble, and I need an army to follow me into Westeros."