Deux
As Regina walked into the home, she became engulfed in a heavenly scent. The home was warmth with the smell of fresh dough and bread, mingled with the scent of spices and sugar. She couldn't identify everything she smelled, but she was surprised to find how suddenly ravenous she was. The house was neither home, nor business. Or, she could say it was both. As she passed through the foyer, she noticed on her left was what appeared to be a cozy drawing room with intricate crown molding on the ceiling and walls with pastoral wallpaper and mahogany lush furniture of a European style, and to her right was a sunroom decked with well-used wicker furniture. Moving further into the home, and closer to the luscious smells it was emanating, she found chairs and tables, an eclectic yet well appointment mix, dotting themselves throughout the house, until she entered a large room next to the staircase, three times the size of any other room in the home. It looked as though the formal dining room, private dining room, and small family room has been opened to make a distinguished restaurant space. As unusual as the setup may be, especially considering the plethora of little frog themed baubles dotted throughout the space, she found the wood accents and bright colors dotting the space pleasant. Adjacent to the dining areas was a door that lead to the kitchen, which Regina knew because of the long service window opened along the wall where she could see into the kitchen area and smell its creations. Finding herself alone in the space, she walked over to a two-seater table near the kitchen window, nestled underneath a birth window where she could feel the breeze blow through.
As soon as she settled down, the woman from before came through the kitchen door with a tray on her shoulder that carried a plate of something steaming, a glass contraption, and small white ceramic mug. The woman smiled brightly as she made her way over.
"It's been so long since I've had the pleasure of serving anyone, well, anything!" The woman smiled again then, a bit shyly, as she lowered the tray from her shoulder. She set the plate down first. "These here, are my famous beignets. Now, before you ask, beignets are a bit like donuts, only much better. And on top is a healthy dusting of powdered sugar."
Regina had to inelegantly snort at that. The donuts—no, beignets, as she called them—were almost completely buried under a mound of the "healthy dusting" of powdered sugar. She didn't know where the fried dough ended, and the mountain of sugar began.
"And this," the woman said as she placed the mug and glass contraption on the table, "is a traditional French-drip coffee. I use this for my also famous, Café Au Lait."
Staring at the contraption more, Regina noticed a certain sense to it. The glass container, shaped somewhat like a beaker, had a thin metal grate to support the beans and strain them. A steaming pot of hot water appeared in the woman's hands, though Regina swears it wasn't there before, and she slowly poured it over the beans, causing drops of dark liquid to seep through the bottom of the beaker, and trickle slowly into the porcelain mug underneath.
A soft clearing of a throat in front of her brought Regina from her observation and to the attention of the woman standing with an amused expression before her.
"As much of a difference as the French-drip method makes in the overall creation of an exceptional cup of coffee, I didn't choose it for the flavor." At this, Regina quirked an eyebrow; she continued on regardless. "I was hoping we could use this time to talk."
"Lead on," was all Regina said.
"Well, my name is Tiana—"
"Tiana, who?"
"Just Tiana will do." Regina narrowed her eyes at that, racking her brain for enemies named Tiana that she should be wary of. For her part, Tiana just seemed to calmly let the Queen ponder on that fact until she gave a slight nod to continue.
"I'm not exactly from here…"
"That wouldn't make you the first person dear."
"Well, I mean to say, I don't belong here. I was just a bystander in the curse. Hitchhiker, if you will."
This left Regina confused. A hitchhiker on her curse? Who would desire such a thing?
"You see, I was traveling with my husband on a diplomatic mission,"—Regina rolled her eyes at that, she supposed this Tiana was just another dutiful wife, forced to follow her husband like some subservient lapdog, "when I was injured along the way."
Mulling over this information, Regina zoned in on one part—"diplomatic mission." This woman had to be royalty.
"Excuse me—Tiana—but did you just say you were on a diplomatic errand? "
"Mission, actually," Tiana corrected, "and yes, I did."
"So wouldn't that make you royalty?" At this, Tiana remained quiet, averting her eyes. Mustering some of her queenly authority into her voice, Regina spoke again. "Stop dancing around the matter. Who were you?"
Tiana finally looked back up and searched Regina's eyes. She seemed to be making a decision on something. Just when Regina was losing her patience, she started to speak up.
"Well, technically, I suppose you could say I'm a princess. But—" Regina didn't listen any further as she quickly rose from her chair and began to move away. She knew something had been fishy all along. She never trusted royalty—they had been hard enough to control as an Evil Queen with reputation, magic, and armed forces to quell their plotting and scheming, and here she was, magic-less and ally-less, lured into a place she had never encountered by the small combination of intrigue and smells. Fury began to boil in her gut. No way was the Queen about to let herself get killed over some simple donuts.
For her part Tiana remained silent and calm in her chair, watching the Queen with caution, but not panic, which only set Regina more on edge.
"Look. I understand you can't trust many right now, and certainly not someone who holds a royal title, but that's really not who I am. Honestly, I hardly consider myself royal, much less a princess. I married into all this, somewhat unwittingly if I may add. If I had to truly say who I was, it would be a businesswoman. And a chef. Someone whose dreams to have something of her own, something manifested from her passion, led her, rather surprisingly, to the roles she fills today."
At that, Regina paused. A businesswoman, huh? Well at least she doesn't seem to be a mindless dolt who married into royalty for the pretty dresses and extravagant balls. Thinking on that, she slowly began to sink back down into her seat. Apprehensively, for sure, but with returned willingness to listen.
"I—oh look! The coffee is done. I'll be right back with some steamed milk, and sugar, to prepare it for you," Tiana rushed out quickly before disappearing behind the door to the kitchen. Through the window she also yelled "And you should really try those beignets before they get too cold—I'd hate for you to start your day without something warming you up!"
Regina just looked shocked at the spot where the woman had been sitting a mere second ago. Regaining her composure, she looked down again at the plate below her. The fried and sugary snack looked like just thinking about eating it would clog an artery, but its smell caused a slight rumble to leak out from her stomach. She figured Tiana wouldn't be that foolish to poison her, at least not right now while that idiot Charming had placed a haphazard protection on her head, so she picked up a beignet from the plate and delicately tried take a bite of it.
As soon she bit in, she was assailed with the warm chewy-ness of the dough. The dough itself had a delicate sweetness to it, as though a trace of molasses was mixed in to the batter, with just a hint of nuttiness, like nutmeg. It was subtly sublime. And for all her complaining of the exorbitant amount of powdered sugar on top, she loved how it contrasted with the more savory flavor of the beignet dough. She just wished that it didn't seem to make its mission to get everywhere. As soon as she was done with her bite, she discovered it had gotten all over her face, was all over her hand, and astoundingly, had ended up on the end tendrils of her dark hair. Any efforts to clean herself up on made it worse, and lead to getting more of the powdery sugar onto her royal blue dress.
It was at this moment Tiana walked in with all the ingredients to fix the Café Au Lait, and she couldn't help but laugh at the sigh before her: the Madam Mayor covered in powdered sugar, and frantically trying to fix it. Tiana walked over to her, and handed her a couple of napkins, receiving a mumbled "Thanks" in reply.
Deciding not to embarrass her further, Tiana busied herself with focusing on fixing up the coffee as she continued her story.
"Like I was saying, I kind of just hitchhiked on your curse. Prince Naveen, my husband, and I, were on a diplomatic mission for his kingdom. As a result of marrying me, Naveen was a bit estranged from his family, and this was a chance to make it up to them." At this, Regina had to speak up.
"Estranged from his family? Why? And how?"
Tiana smiled sadly, before answering.
"Well you see,…I'm not royal. Far from it in fact. Like I said earlier, I married into it. Naveen was on a trip to my hometown of New Orleans—"
"New Orleans? Isn't that a city down south? Known for its music, and food, and general lawless mirth and debauchery?" At this, it was Tiana's time to roll her eyes at the Queen.
"You know, it's funny. I come from a different era of the city, a past version of its modern counterpart if you will, and yet, nothing has changed about the opinion of my home. Yes, those are things we are known for, and justly so—but we are more than just the things we produce. All of those things, and more, are special because of the people behind them. The heart put into them." Regina realized she had finally hit a nerve with Princess Tiana, but she wouldn't let her response affect her pride. She merely huffed, and indicated for her to go on.
"Anyway, Naveen was visiting my home on a trip around the world to…sow his wild oats, if you will. While he was there, his rakish ways got him involved with a man who was bad news—Doctor Facilier. Because of that, he was turned into a frog, and by attempting to help him, I was turned into a frog as well. We spent some time traveling the bayou together, befriending a crocodile, fireflies, and Mama Odie, the woman sitting on the porch out there, and in the process we fell in love, and it was that love, in turn, that saved us in the end."
God, Regina thought, she might be worse than the two idiots. Befriending reptiles and bugs seemed a step below talking to birds, though being tuned into a frog was probably a step above the time Snow turned herself into a bug. Hmmmpfh. Guess they're even, though Regina had to admire just a tiny bit how resilient this Tiana seemed to be.
"Well that's all very interesting, but none of that explains why you're here. Or why I'm here, for that matter."
"I thought you just might enjoy some context, since I wasn't in your storybook." At that, Regina narrowed her eyes again. How did she know about Henry's storybook? And was she smirking about the fact? Maybe she was lower than Snow White after all.
"Anyway, Naveen and I got married, and lived—I'll skip the happily ever after part, because obviously, that's not the case. It had always been my father and I's dream to open our own restaurant at home, and I had been saving for it for years, and after we got married, I was finally able to it."
"Let me guess, with your newfound wealth and status as royalty?"
Tiana let out a sharp huff of air. Her patience was starting to wear thin with the Queen's continued insults.
"No. With my own hard owned money. Naveen just gave me the final push I needed—as well as my first employee," Tiana smirked, and Regina gave a small nod of approval. So maybe the businesswoman talk wasn't all hot air.
"However, his parents didn't take too well to the news. You see, the reason for Naveen's world trip was to find a suitable woman to marry—one with sustainable money behind them. Though his kingdom wasn't poor, Naveen had been a reckless prince, doing whatever he pleased, so his parents cut him off. If he wanted money, he'd have to get it for himself."
"A title in exchange for money…" it was something Regina had seen happen many times back in the Enchanted Forest, and had read as much about such things happening in this world as well.
"Exactly. But, by marrying me, he hadn't fulfilled their wishes, and so their relationship deteriorated. It's hard to say exactly what passed between them, Naveen hasn't even told me all the full details, but I do know they cut off almost all communication." Regina felt an unexpected wave of understanding and sorrow for the young woman's situation. She understood full well the undeserved pain simply falling in love could cause.
"Still, even with the pain of losing his family, Naveen and I had each other, and we made a home for ourselves as my business really took off. About a year later, however, we received a strange message from his Naveen's younger brother, Prince Ralphie, who had been chosen to take over the thrown as next in line. He said that their allies were in danger and needed help. They had apparently sent multiple people to their aid, but had failed every time. Their last mission had sent their royal cousins, twin brother and sister, only for them never to return. He was their last hope. We discussed it, and decided to leave immediately, entrusting my mother to look over the business. We went back to Mama Odie and asked for a way to travel realms, and she decided to come along, saying it had been some time since she'd 'been out.'"
With that, Tiana took a rest, and handed her the coffee.
"I hope you like it," she said smiling warmly. Much to her surprise, Regina found herself returning the smile. If it was anything like the beignets, she would probably find it really hard to go back to regular cups of coffee at Granny's every morning. Tiana continued.
"We spent weeks moving through the Enchanted Forest trying to find clues as to Naveen's cousins' whereabouts, as well as his kingdom's allies, but had no luck. One night, while we were camping, I was cooking a pot of my gumbo while Naveen played some jazz. I love to hear him make music while I cook. However, it seemed I wasn't the only one. The sound attracted some strange looking wolves, they were quite large in fact—"
"Direwolves probably," Regina cut in.
"Right…and so I panicked because I had never seen wolves so imposing, and I managed to spill the boiling gumbo all over my hands and forearms." Regina cringed at that. She had seen her fair share of kitchen accidents in the early days when she had to grow accustomed to life in Storybrooke, as well as learn how to cook for Henry, but something like that was truly painful.
"Naveen and Mama Odie and our Alligator—"
"Wait, you were traveling with an alligator?" Regina was baffled by her choice of company.
"Of course! He's one of our closest friends. His name is Louis," at that, Regina could only huff.
"Well, they were able to fend off the wolves, but I was too badly burned to move on. We decided it would be best if I stayed behind and took shelter somewhere to heal, and Mama Odie would stay behind and watch me." Tiana paused as her amber eyes grew red with unshed tears. Regina could tell where the story would be going from this point on.
"Mama Odie and I slowly traveled through the forest looking for shelter, until we came upon a dark castle."
Regina was surprised to hear this detail.
"We ran into some younger girls, scarcely teenagers really, on the outside of the palace walls. They turned out to be scullery maids and were searching for herbs and mushrooms for the kitchen. I stopped them from picking some potentially poisonous ingredients, and Mama Odie shared some knowledge for more uses for the stuff they collected, and in turn, they agreed to bring us with them to the kitchen."
If we were still in the enchanted forest, and I had known about this, Regina thought, I wouldn't have hesitated to have those girls thrown in the dungeon for their treasonous acts. Bringing strangers into her castle was utterly foolish and highly dangerous. Regardless, that was then, and this is now, and it would seem Tiana hadn't done anything to hurt her in the long run.
"We stayed at your castle for a few weeks as I healed. We were given lodging and food in return for knowledge about recipes from our land and medicinal uses of plants." Thinking back, Regina did slightly recall an unidentified robustness to her meals in her finals days before the dark curse. She supposed she should have put more thought into it at the time, but then again, her thoughts had been rather preoccupied with getting her final act of revenge on Snow.
"After a while I grew restless, both from worrying about the state of Naveen and our friends, and from not even being able to perform the simple task of cooking for myself—my one true passion. It was during this time that the curse was cast."
There it is, Regina thought. She braced herself for the onslaught of regret and anger she would surely face from the woman, but she was surprised when she merely just continued.
"I suppose I should've asked more questions about where I was, or whose home I was being harbored in in hindsight. I'm never that careless—that's much more of Naveen's thing. Of course I had heard of you and the things you'd done and could do, but I didn't dwell on them much. As far as I was concerned, your feud was hardly any of my business. But I had unwittingly put myself in the middle of it—pitched my tent in the middle of the storm. And so I came to be in Storybrooke, living under your curse for 28 years, ignorant of my past—until recently."
Regina waited for more, but Tiana didn't continue, so she spoke up.
"Well, I'm sorry you got caught up in stuff that didn't concern you, but I still don't know what this has to do with me.'
Tiana seemed to be pulled out of her thoughts, and aimed a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes at Regina. Regina noticed this was the first disingenuous smile she had received since meeting the woman that morning.
Just then a loud "thwack" of the front screen door closing could be heard as a rhythmic tapping made its way across the floors. Regina felt a slight bubble of panic rising in her throat as she thought it might be Mr. Gold, who had made a show recently of having her killed (which lead to their current predicament of one missing savior and one missing idiot stepdaughter), but found the anxiety dissipate upon seeing the old woman from outside slowly making her way to them.
"This is Mama Odie," Tiana indicated.
For her part, Mama Odie just cackled and said something in a language Regina didn't understand.
"What did she say," Regina asked.
"She said 'crazy as your mama' in Cajun French," Tiana chuckled, but Regina found it hardly funny at all. What did this "Mama Odie" know of her mother, and why would she mention her now. And if she did know of her mother, how dare she compare her to her!
Tiana saw Regina's anger rising, and moved in to the diffuse the situation.
"Don't mind her. There are a lot of things floating around in that head of hers, and rarely does whatever she let slip mean as it seems." Regina was still apprehensive about the woman's comment, but calmed down and let it go.
"You know, I think we've talked a lot today already. It's already 11am, and you've yet to make it to work." Regina gasped and looked down at her watch to see Tiana was indeed correct about the time. "We can finish this conversation tomorrow—over a fresh cup of coffee and hot plate of beignets."
"And what makes you think I'll be back tomorrow," Regina asked. Tiana responded with a twinkle in her eyes. "Because once you've had my beignets, you don't want anything else."
Regina scoffed at that, and collected her things, making her way to the doorway.
With her hand on the handle she yelled back into the house, "We'll see about that," and took off at a brisk pace to her office, the seeping chill outside the home already making her wish she was back inside wrapped in the warmth and smells of the home, and in the company of her curious new acquaintance.