You all didn't think I'd let Christmas Day pass without an update, did you? ;)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Belle left Rumpelstiltskin reluctantly. As her fingers pulled away from him they ached, sharp pangs that had nothing to do with the cold and how vulnerable her skin was now that Anualt had removed her glove. Belle re-donned the wool, conscious of who had given it to her and, most likely, who had spun the yarn. She was wrapped in a cloak that didn't smell like her and at her back was the fading murmur of a voice that was new and familiar in equal measures—and Belle found that impossible combination to be a heady experience. Her thoughts were seeped in versions of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle relied on her fascination with all of them to ease the pieces together, building up a singular and wonderfully contradictory man.
The sooner Belle got back, the sooner she could see which Rumpelstiltskin waited for her. Not the Deal Maker, or the Dark One, or the Sorcerer, or even the man who gifted maids with roses… but the Rumpelstiltskin of two days past was assuredly not the man who let Lady Belle kiss his cheek. Like a summer storm, change was thick on the wind and Belle welcomed it by opening her mouth and breathing deep.
Catching up to Anualt was no hardship, though dodging her pointed looks was another matter entirely. The silent accusations were launched and Belle was forced to guard herself with silence until, with an amused huff, Anualt turned her attention to the arduous task of walking. She never seemed to lift her feet, choosing instead to plow ahead like the stubborn mule she was. In an acknowledgement of their first meeting Belle offered Anualt her arm. It was slapped away, just as she knew it would be.
"Do I look like that damned spinner to you?" she growled. "Bad enough, you two petting each other before every man, woman, and child, but he hasn't even the decency to do the act proper." Anualt held up her own arm, clenching her fist until the flesh shook. "Strength, girl! He can't even offer you that. When a man and a woman walk together the woman does not act as a guide. Utterly backwards, I swear it."
There was a great deal in that speech that Belle could and wished to challenge, and with such distasteful opinions worming their way into her ears she could only regretfully acknowledge that she was truly in the past. It was not only Rumpelstiltskin who was fluid. Centuries from now, in her own time, women could indeed act as guides, perhaps not in forcing men's arms in directions they did not wish to go, but certainly they were able of easing them with gentle pressures that, while not always acknowledged, were generally heeded. Belle could not stand alone in her father's war room, but she had been able to direct the troops through her barely perceptible hand over his; two who conducted together, but looked like one. Anualt would not understand that the same, invisible balance had been struck in her walk with Rumpelstiltskin.
"Strength comes in many forms." Belle settled on saying.
"A useless observation, young'in. A son dangles over the edge of a cliff and his father hasn't the strength to pull him up. Tell that father of the heart's strength as he watches his son fall." Before Belle could pull apart that absurd comparison Anualt gave a dismissive cough. "And really, child." She grumbled. "Rum?"
"You haven't a fondness for drink?" Belle asked, blinking innocently.
"I have as much fondness for drink as I do for a man's cock. That is, it had best be stiff and leave me reeling."
Belle choked.
"Am I hurting your delicate sensibilities, M'lady?" Anualt chuckled.
"… Hardly."
"Hmm. I must say though, what I am not fond of is when pretty young ladies deceive themselves. Really, M'lady, it didn't take long for our dear Rumpelstiltskin to become 'Rum.'"
Belle shrugged as easily as she could. "I suppose it depends on your definition of 'long.'"
"Come now. Two days?"
"… Then perhaps it has felt longer than two days." That at least was a version of the truth. Belle couldn't really say that she'd known a version of Rumpelstiltskin for any longer.
"Even so, names are important M'lady. To change one—"
"I'm well aware of the power names hold, Anualt, and the… intimacy of giving a new one. It was a decision made quickly, but not lightly." Belle had been a bit stunned when the 'Rumple' had spilled from her lips, but him handing her the gloves had been like a rare moment back in the Dark Castle, when Rumpelstiltskin slipped up and acted more kindly towards her than he thought was safe. The gesture had doused her with joy at the familiarity, the name being pulled from her… and then there was guilt, shame that Belle could so easily give Rumpelstiltskin's name to a man who, truly, wasn't him. Not yet at least. She'd tried 'Rum' out of desperation, but the second she'd spoken it aloud Belle knew that she had chosen well. The name fit this Rumpelstiltskin as well as his gloves fit her.
Something in Belle's expression must have hit home, for Anualt gave a sharp, if surprised nod. "Well maybe you do, M'lady. It only reassures me that I was right about you. You're…"
"Different?" Belle supplied. It was certainly the word most often applied to her, second only, perhaps, to 'beauty.'
"Ha! Oh you're certainly that, child, never doubt it. But no. I was thinking more of… magical." Belle shivered, causing Anualt to smile wickedly. "And no, M'lady, that wasn't a compliment on your looks."
They were now far enough from the crowd that the snow they marched through was entirely undisturbed. It was thicker here, more easily soaking through Belle stockings, and she was glad when Anualt finally halted, leaning against the nearest tree. Belle stationed herself alongside the same trunk, next to but not touching Anualt. They gazed in opposite directions and Belle was glad that the old woman wasn't looking at her. It made saying it all easier.
"Magical?" She finally asked.
"Aye, magical. I'm not talking about the gold that spinner has hidden against his chest either."
Belle stiffened.
"You know about that? How?"
"Oh, I'm not much to speak of, M'lady, but I have my ways." Anualt lifted a twisted hand and twirled it a bit, causing some of the snow about them to scatter unnaturally. The bit of magic was impressive enough, but it was the gesture that caught Belle's breath, familiar in the turning wrist and fluttering fingers. For the first time it occurred to her that perhaps Rumpelstiltskin waved his hands just as much for the magic as for the performance.
Anualt continued to move the snow just subtly enough that anyone at a distance would think it the wind. "It's truly not much," she said again, "but the people here find it impressive. Really though, they're impressed by the stars at night and the sun at dawn. A flock of geese squawking at whatever passes them by." Anualt didn't sound terribly disappointed by this though. She gazed out at the market, almost fondly. "I know enough magic for a bit of healing. Common sicknesses, broken bones like with the spinner's boy, but I can't do it often. Best to rely on what our Mother provides us with." She hefted the basket of herbs. "It's paltry magic, M'lady. Hardly worth mentioning, but I do know enough of the craft to smell it on a man… or a woman. You made that gold? Because I'll tell you, M'lady, I'll take my fist to his head if that spinner's been holding out on me."
Belle chuckled a little. Some of the snow Anualt's spell had animated drifted past her face and Belle fluttered a hand through it. Her glove came away spotted with white.
"Yes." She admitted. "Can I trust that you'll keep this between us?"
Anualt snorted. "Don't insult me, child. The gods only know what you'd have to fear from me, with magic like that." But Belle was already shaking her head.
"It's all I can do. And even that much was difficult. I'm not born to magic."
Perhaps it was foolishness to admit such to Anualt, but Belle sensed no true hostility from her. Yes, she had been hard on Rumpelstiltskin in her own way, but she'd also been the only one to encourage her to go after Bae. She truly believed that, had Anualt been younger, she would have gone in too.
"Humph." Anualt growled skeptically. "Don't know about that, M'lady. If all who dabbled in magic could spin gold…" she laughed at the imagined chaos.
"I know. Truly though, my skill is no more developed than yours. Far less actually, for I can heal no one." Belle smiled a little. She might save her Rumpelstiltskin a great deal of frustration if she could heal the minor injuries she tended to pick up while cleaning. Belle would bet the whole of the Dark Castle's library that when Rumpelstiltskin earned the title of most powerful sorcerer he hadn't imagined that he'd be using that power on kitchen burns and twisted ankles. Belle shrugged, happy in her memories. "I had a good teacher."
"Indeed." Anualt noticed the change in her mood, peeking around to see her. "That still doesn't explain things, M'lady. Not by half. You make gold—even if only a little—and instead of using it to escape our wretched village you give it to the spinner. Why?"
"He's my friend." She said.
"He's your lover."
Belle sucked in a breath at the accusation, her head smacking hard against the tree. Anualt hushed her.
"Not literally, girl." She said. "Not yet at least. I can tell those things too." Her gaze traveled from Belle's breasts to her privates and Belle blushed furiously. "A blind man could see that our spinner has the sickness for you. He follows you like he's the runt of a litter and you're the one master he doesn't expect a kick from. It's a sad love, M'lady, but a love nonetheless." Belle opened her mouth. Her embarrassment was quickly turning to anger, but Anualt hushed her once more. "The more interesting question is how a pretty and educated thing like yourself falls for him."
Anualt hobbled around the tree until she was right in front of Belle, her old hands brushing against her skirts. It was nearly as intimate an embrace as the ones she'd shared with Rumpelstiltskin, but here Belle found herself leaning away. It wasn't that she was scared of Anualt, only wary of what she might succeed in prying from her.
"Rumpelstiltskin is a man deserving of love." Belle hissed, arching her neck out like a cat. To her surprise, Anualt nodded.
"You think me that cruel, M'lady? Of course the boy deserves love, fool that he is. He's done things that no one in this village—least of all me—will excuse, but unlike those young'ins back there I know that one mistake in life, even the most selfish, doesn't equal endless pain. Not like what they've given him." Anualt's voice softened, some of the gravel falling away. "I'm not condemning your love, M'lady. Don't understand it, but it's not my place to judge the likes of you. What I meant was, how does a pretty and educated thing like you fall for a crippled spinner so fast?" When Belle was quiet Anualt raised a bushy eyebrow. "The nobility aren't exactly known for their generous spirits."
Belle thought back to her first week in the Dark Castle, when Rumpelstiltskin was locking her in a dungeon and forcing her to do labor that she'd been told all her life was beneath her. She liked to believe that her sacrifice to save her own village put her above the more cold hearted princesses of her fairy tales, but Belle would be lying if she said she hadn't felt something akin to resentment in the beginning. In a similar manner, she liked to believe that, had she met this Rumpelstiltskin first, she would have treated him with the same decency every being deserved. But considered him worthy of courting her? Perhaps not.
"No." Belle admitted.
"An odd attraction like yours? These things take time."
"Yes."
"Then perhaps my old brain has gone the way of porridge, M'lady, but that says to me you've known our spinner longer than two days."
Belle closed her eyes, not wanting to look at Anualt anymore. Her gaze was serious and teasing and kind and far, far more knowledgeable than a village hag's should be. Belle knew it would be folly to lie to her, but that didn't make this conversation any easier.
"Yes," she finally whispered.
"Oh ho. Now we're getting somewhere." Anualt clapped her hands in a parody of applause, the motion jarring another series of coughs out of her. "See, that's fascinating, M'lady, because I've known Rumpelstiltskin all his life." Belle nodded, not at all surprised by that. "I helped birth the boy—tiny little thing he was, too early—I was there when his mother bled out and later when his father disappeared. Gone the way of all drunks and gamblers I'd imagine." Belle shivered. "I gave Milah Sundale flowers for pleasure, for there was obviously no love between the two, but the spinner was still good for one duty at least and years later I was there for the younger spinner's birth." Anualt came even closer, leaning in with a smell of earth and moths. "I was there when he earned the name coward and if the gods will it I'll be there for more times to come, but in all that time, M'lady, I've never once seen you." She patted Belle's cheek. "Yet you know him."
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"It's… complicated."
With a wet laugh Anualt turned and tucked herself beneath Belle's arm. The movement was assertive, almost hostile, but Belle allowed it for she could feel how the old woman's body shook with cold. Anualt hummed as her gloved hands wrapped protectively against the back of her neck.
"My dear stupid girl, is there anything about this situation that's not complicated?"
Belle laughed. "You may have a point there."
"You're damn right I have a point. Come now, spill. You get as old as I am nothing much entertains you anymore, but I am very interested in how a woman can both know a man for two days and long enough to find love. Very interesting that."
"Well it's not years," Belle murmured. "And I don't quite know if it's love…" she ignored the thump of Anualt's fist against her side. "Tell me, what do you know of Time?"
"That he's cruel," she said promptly and then quieted. "Though I suspect that's not what you mean, child."
"No. That actually sums it up quite well." Belle laughed again, knocking her head lightly against the tree. "You're more right than you know, Anualt. Right down to his sex."
The old woman stiffened against her, even her shivers halting. Belle felt the air enter her lungs and then pause. She continued, but her arm tightened comfortingly around Anualt's shoulders.
"I… can't describe him. Not in any way that would make sense. He has a face that's old and young and surprisingly human… he has features, but I can no longer recall what they were. He wore a strange cloak though." Belle supplied the last bit sheepishly.
"The gods are not meant to be described M'lady. I suggest you stop trying." Anualt's voice had curdled, seeped in a great deal more respect.
"You believe me then?"
"Don't insult me, girl! Only a fool would lie about such things, and you are no fool. Don't treat me as one either."
"Of course. My apologies." Belle murmured. Was it so surprising that she would desire assurances that her story was believed? After all, most would laugh at her description of Time—and not because it was so lacking. Then again, Anualt was not most people. It was why Belle had decided to speak to her in the first place.
"You've seen him then?" Anualt asked. The fear and awe were colored by a deep curiosity. "I've heard stories, M'lady. Young girls who stumble across beings of power, or who draw them in with their beauty." The old body was still hunched into the warmth of Belle's side, but she knew Anualt was leering at her regardless. Belle rolled her eyes.
"Let me guess, I'm pretty enough for it?"
"Indeed, girl." Anualt cackled. "I'm old—"
"So you've said."
"—but don't judge me on my pleasures. I like pretty things."
Anualt and Rumpelstiltskin had that in common. It's a wonder they didn't get along better. Belle would have loved to introduce Anualt to the Dark One, with his eye-catching outfits and his castle of trinkets, trinkets that hummed with power when you walked by. Belle had been a trinket too… at least in the beginning. Another commonality then.
Breaking through the numbness of the cold, Belle felt fingers tease a curl out from under her hood. Anualt twirled it contemplatively. "You remind me of Y'vain," she said.
"Y'vain?"
"An old story, M'lady." Anualt nodded, gathering her words. "Her beauty drew the attention of a wood imp, pity for her, and he wooed Y'vain with lyrical words and an enchantment that hid his monstrosity. He lured her into a trap, tricked her into granting her permission, that he might touch her luxurious hair, yards and yards of it. As he wove blossoms into the locks the imp stole away her youth and the beauty was a beauty no more."
"He took it from a tree," Belle said, thinking of the book Rumpelstiltskin had showed her that first day in the library, the one with the gorgeous and frightening illustration. In her imagination Belle curtseyed before Time, a silent acknowledgement of the endless crisscrossing strings that bound her world to this one. Belle knew that she'd never again turn her nose up at the meanings people found in mere "coincidences."
"A tree?" Anualt shrugged. "I heard it was a clear pool dotted with water lilies, perfect for enticing maidens. It hardly matters."
"So I'm Y'vain? You think me stupid enough to fall for such a trick?"
"Hardly. I think you're pretty enough to invite the trick. Although…" A series of amused coughs came from beneath Belle's arm. "Is your being here the trick, girl?"
Belle could feel her lips twisting and then cracking in the wind.
"Oh, mayhap. But Time didn't throw me here because of my looks," she drawled.
"Ah. So he did displace you."
Silence descended, as thick as the snow, and Belle swallowed against the pressure of it. She had freely admitted to an encounter with Time, but such an admission could imply anything, even something as fleeting as that first look between Y'vain and her imp—truly, nothing at all. To spot a god was one thing, to serve and converse and be changed by a god was something else entirely. Something frightening.
Yet Annual was not pulling away, nor crying out at some perceived wickedness. If anything, she burrowed closer, stomping her feet and cursing the cold as soundly as any pirate. Her growls became so pronounced that Belle was half convinced she'd misheard, and Anualt really had no understanding of her situation. That is, until she paused in her cursing long enough to say,
"Traveling, huh?" Anualt pulled childishly at Belle's cloak until she had more to wrap about her. "You're from the future then?"
"Ah… I could be from the past." The suggestion sounded feeble even to Belle's ears.
"Not likely, girl. You're a stubborn thing, and I always knew our sex would become even more stubborn with time." Belle flushed as Anualt cackled.
"You're taking this very well," she murmured.
"You'd rather I call you a liar?"
"No."
"Well then."
Anualt plucked at Belle's skirts in apology. Her voice gentled. "That explains the spinner then, doesn't it, M'lady? You know him, long from now, and found pleasure in his company." Belle nodded, a little shaky. "Not too long though, I'd wager. After all, our spinner is no spring chick and he can't have developed too many more wrinkles if he managed to catch your eye." Anualt resumed her chuckling until she felt Belle stiffening against her. With limbs like iron Belle winced as Anualt abruptly pulled away from her, the sudden eye contact jarring after nothing but quiet, peaceful snow in her vision.
No matter her age or the amount of magic she may have seen in her life, Belle was still amazed that Anualt had accepted these impossibilities with nary a complaint. Yet now her withered features held suspicion and fear and every emotion that Belle had wanted to avoid.
"What aren't you telling me, girl?" She demanded. "Traveling through time… that's one thing. I've heard stories about that, rare though it is. But you…" her eyes narrowed into sharp slits. "There's something else about you. Speak."
"I'm… I'm from farther along in time then you might imagine." Belle whispered. For some odd reason she felt shame at the admission and her head sunk without her consciously willing it to. Perhaps it was the shame of difference, for looking down Belle could see with clarity that although she and Anualt wore the same kind of thinning boots, Anualt's fit in a manner that hers never would, and it had nothing to do with their size. Belle didn't belong here.
"How long?" Anualt asked, but Belle shook her head. "Come now, M'lady." Two twisted hands snuck bravely out of their warm hideaway to grasp hers. "I knew the moment I saw you that there was… difference." Belle tried to pull back, but Anualt just tightened her hold. "No, no. You're young indeed if you think that's a bad thing. All those men, they saw only a girl of wealth, but I saw magic. Literal—" Anualt's nail rose to scrape against the center of Belle's forehead, a spot that she knew, from Rumpelstiltskin's fleeting lectures on magic, was a place of power and balance. She leaned into the touch as Anualt smiled. "The literal, young'in, for you've surrounded yourself with magic, but also the more mysterious." The nail moved to tap over Belle's heart. "You think I normally send young girls into fires? Children rescuing children? Oh no. I could see the magic around you, not only the touch of someone watching over you, but also courage, purity, love. They're types of magic in and over themselves. I knew you'd come out and that you'd have the boy with you, Belle."
Belle looked up, as startled by the use of her name as she was by the kind words.
"So how long?" Anualt asked.
"I… I was born during the reign of Queen Regina, the Evil Queen. Usurper of Snow White."
"That means nothing to me, child. Though I'll admit I don't like the sound of it."
Belle took a deep breath, looking Anualt square in the eyes. "I was also born during the Seventh Ogre War."
"Sev—?"
Belle started forward, latching onto Anualt's shoulders as she began to reel. Though to her credit the old woman recovered quickly. She planted her feet in the snow and her hands, rather than pushing Belle's aside, fell atop them and clamped like vices.
"Good gods, girl!" She cried. Belle was thankful for the wind. It carried Anualt's voice away before the other villagers could catch it. "Seventh?" She breathed and swallowed hard. "I haven't a frog's warted clue which is worse, M'lady: the image of you thrown so far off your course, decades into the past, or one where our land faces seven wars against those beasts in a mere generation—or less! How would any survive it?" Anualt's eyes were wide and trembling.
"It's the former," Belle admitted and watched as her friend's whole body rocked. Her voice softened. "You saw me that day, Anualt. It wasn't only the horror of finding myself in a new time that threw me off balance. You've watched me since. Tell me, do I seem like a woman who knows her way around this village?"
"No."
"You said yourself that Rumpelstiltskin couldn't have been much older to have caught my eye. So when do we meet? In five years? Ten? Do you believe much of anything would have changed in that time?"
"No," she said again.
"Then how come I've never seen this place before?" Belle asked, eyes hard. Anualt stared back just as determinedly. "You've already accepted a great deal of the impossible…"
A great whoosh of air left Anualt's body. "Fine then, M'lady. There are three options so far as I see them: either you have a taste for man flesh far past its prime," she chuckled at Belle's scowl. "The spinner decides to leave us in peace sometime in the very near future—something I highly doubt. The boy has trouble leaving his front step—or," and here Anualt's face lost its mirth, softening to show every crease. "Or, M'lady, Rumpelstiltskin somehow manages to live a sight longer than me."
Grimly, Belle nodded. "Some three hundred years by my estimate," she said.
"Gods' preserve us." For the first and only time Belle watched as Anualt warded herself against evil. Suddenly, her eyes sharpened. "Do you know what he is, girl?"
"He's a man, Anualt. A man of flesh and blood, as sure as you and I." Belle held out her hand, relieved when Anualt took it. "I—I admit that I don't know how he becomes what he… becomes. That's not a story that he's shared with me, but in this moment he is nothing but a man. I think… I think that's one of the reasons I'm here. To understand that."
Anualt turned back towards the market, gaze shifting here and there as if she expected Rumpel to appear with sudden, unexpected strength. Belle stifled a giggle at an unwanted image: her Rumpelstiltskin, popping up in a puff of smoke, scaring poor Anualt half to death. Her laughter died, however, at the digits tightening in hers.
"He taught you to spin the gold." Anualt said. Stated.
"Yes."
"Magic." She murmured. Her hand dug deep. "No others practice it here. If he truly delves into the art later… much later… well. It started here then. That boy's first taste of magic came from watching me."
"… Yes."
"Then may the gods help you." Anualt turned and for the first time Belle saw true fear in that old face. "And may the gods punish me. A coward is bad enough, M'lady. A coward with access to magic is something no world needs."