A/N: This bit is actually inspired by a story I'm reading called Take these broken wings by Ierpier here on , so if you'd like to understand what's going on here, head on over there right quick!
"What is your name?" she asked, all caution and manners.
I smiled as I cleared the area before the door. "Caílin," I replied, not looking at her. "At your service, milady."
She laughed, a quiet, shy little noise. The real thing was probably far too "unladylike" for her monstrous mother's ears. "That's a pretty name," she said.
I turned to her, shrugging. "It means 'girl' in the old language. My father was dead before I was born, and my mother didn't live after my birth, so…I guess it really does take a village. But you would think a whole village could come up with a better name."
"It's pretty," she insisted. "Not at all like mine, all stuffy and self-righteous." Like my mother, she left unsaid, but I could almost see it on the tip of her tongue.
I gaped at her, mouth snapping shut with a painful clack of teeth. "Do you know what your name means, milady?" I asked incredulously.
Her eyes filled with trepidation, and she shook her head shyly. Oh, this girl was going to be the death of me….
"Milady, 'Regina means queen." I said. "Calling you Queen Regina would just be…redundant."
"Self-important." she agreed, the closest thing I had seen to anger swirling in her dark eyes. Then she looked at me, and I was reminded that without her status as noble-born and Robin's intended, we were near the same age, little more than young women.
Too young, I thought. What is Robin thinking?
"So…what are you to call me then?" she asked, "From what I've seen so far, yours is a very…succinct people. Am I to be simply 'Queen'?"
I smiled, and tried to lay some of the worry etched onto her face to rest. "No, milady. You will be Regina to us. Just Regina."
Regina smiled.
