13

Because You're You

After the picnic, where Regina had brought her special apple turnovers for dessert and her cinnamon apples, a favorite of her son's, she asked Henry, Killian, and Bae to pick some apples from her enchanted apple tree and put them into the proper baskets. The enchanted apple tree bore apples that were as red as heart's blood and a firm, sweet, juicy texture. The apples on the north side of the tree were enchanted to put someone in a deep sleep, almost like they'd died, and the apples on the east side of the tree were enchanted to make people forget who they were for a time. But the apples on the west side of the tree healed all sicknesses, and the apples on the south side of the tree granted one the ability to fly.

Henry showed the other two boys the proper baskets to put the apples in, and the ladders on each side of the tree. The sleeping apples went in a black basket, the apples of forgetfulness went into a white basket, the apples of healing into a rose colored basket, and the apples of flying into a blue basket.

The boys swarmed up the ladders, and in Killian's case into the tree itself to pick the apples. They were having so much fun, laughing and giggling, that Aileen toddled over to the tree and called, "I wanna pick apples too, Bae!"

"Aww, you're too little, spark!" her brother called down to her.

Aileen looked crestfallen. "No, I not, Bae-fire!"

"Are too!" Killian agreed. "You can't even climb a ladder, minx!"

Aileen scowled. "I'm a big girl, Killy!" That was what she called him.

Henry started laughing at that. "Hey, spark, why don't you pick flowers instead?"

Aileen glared up at them. Sometimes she hated being "too little". But then she saw some pretty bluebells and violets and went to pick some for Aunt Gina and Belle.

"How lovely, Aileen!" said Belle when presented with the little bouquet, which was slightly crushed from being in the child's pockets.

"I'll put them on the table," Regina said, smiling. "Thank you, spark!"

Aileen clapped happily.

Regina went to go inside her manor to put the flowers in a vase, and one of her servants asked Rumple if he could cast a spell of increase on the little flock of sheep they had acquired, so the master mage went to do so, leaving Belle to relax on the blanket and much on an apple turnover while Aileen ran back to the apple tree to see if her brothers and Henry were done picking apples yet.

The boys had finished filling one set of baskets and had gone inside to put them in Regina's workroom, leaving the ladders still against the tree and a new set of baskets next to them waiting to be filled.

Aileen gazed up at the apple tree, with its big shiny apples, and she thought angrily how she was always being told she couldn't do something because she was too small. But she wasn't too small! And she would prove it, she thought determinedly and then she began to climb the ladder.

Now Aileen had been taught to climb by Jane, one of the best climbers in all of Sherwood, and she scampered up the ladder quick as blinking. But she found she wasn't tall enough to reach the nearest apple, and she climbed up onto the branch.

Then she stood up fearlessly and reached for the apple.

Her little hand closed upon it and she tugged . . .and as she did so, her foot slipped and she found herself falling off the branch!

One hand wrapped around the branch and she clung with all her might, screaming. "Help! Papa! Bae! Help me—e-e!"

Belle was just about to bite into the last of her turnover when she heard Aileen's terrified shrieks pierce the air. The turnover fell from her fingers as she stood up and ran to where the screams were coming from.

To her horror, she saw the child dangling precariously from the apple tree, one hand wrapped around the branch, the other around an apple. "Oh, bright goddess have mercy!" she gasped, and then began to scale the ladder, hoping to get high enough to grab the child before the branch broke—or Aileen lost her grip.

"Aileen, don't worry, baby," she called to the frightened child. "I'm gonna get you down."

"Belle . . .help . . .I's falling!"

"Aileen, let go of the apple!" Belle encouraged, climbing the last few rungs. "Let go and hold onto the branch!"

But the child was either too scared or too stubborn to do so and she clung to the apple.

Belle stood up on her tip toes and reached as high as she could, praying she could do this.

She had never been overly fond of heights, so being this high above the ground was unnerving, to say the least. But she couldn't afford to think about herself now. Aileen needed her.

"Aileen, can you slide near me?"

"Umm . . . okay . . ." the child inched a little bit closer to Belle's hands.

Belle touched her foot. "Aileen . . .let go and I'll catch you." Oh sky gods help me! I must be insane!

"You catch me?" the child peered at her.

"Yes! I promise!" Belle held out her hands.

Aileen closed her eyes . . .then she let go of the branch, trusting that Belle would catch her.

She fell into Belle's arms. "Oomph!"

Belle held onto her tightly. "I've got you, Aileen!" she cried triumphantly.

Until the child's weight caused her to overbalance and fall off the ladder.

Belle screamed as she fell backwards into space, Aileen clutched to her.

No! Oh no . . . no . . .no . . .no!

Her one thought before she hit the ground was that she only hoped she could break Aileen's fall so the child wouldn't be gravely injured or killed, but there was probably no hope for her.

She waited to feel the crunch of broken bones as she hit the ground.

Instead she felt a pair of sinewy yet strong arms wrap securely around her and hold her and Aileen close.

"It's okay, dearie. I've got you," Rumple crooned.

"Papa!"

"Rumple!"

He cradled both his girls close, relieved nearly to tears at being able to catch them in time. "You scared me to death! What in the gods name were you doing up there?"

"Aileen climbed up the apple tree and was falling, so I . . .I went to help her and my foot slipped off the ladder and . . .oh thank goodness you were able to catch us, Rumple!" Belle said, her cerulean eyes glowing with relief and also a frission of desire from being held like this in his arms.

"Papa, Belle catched me!" Aileen cried, then she kissed both Belle and Rumple before throwing her little arms about her papa.

"I know, spark. And what were you doing climbing that tree?" he demanded, a trifle sternly.

"Umm . . . was tryin' to pick an apple," she said a little guiltily.

"Aileen Electra Gold, do'ye wanna break your neck?" he scolded.

She hid her face in his shoulder. "Papa, don't be mad," she sniffled.

"Your papa's not mad, spark," Belle soothed. "Just frightened."

Rumple arched an eyebrow at her. "You're too perceptive for your own good, Belle Farraher." He would have liked to remain holding her all day, but then recalled that propriety demanded he put her down, and he was no beast like Gaston, so he set her gently on her feet. "Thank you for saving my little spark."

"No, thank you for saving me, Rumple," Belle corrected softly. "I would have ended up flattened on the ground like a pancake if not for you."

"Well, we can't have that, can we, dearie?" Rumple chuckled. "Some picnic this is turning out to be."

"Never a dull moment, is there?" Belle said, also laughing.

"Not for us Prytani," agreed her fiancé, and then he put an arm around his betrothed and pressed a light kiss on her lips.

"Oooo, you kissed Belle, Papa!" his little spark giggled.

He flushed and drew back from his impromptu kiss, saying, "Aye, that I did, because I love Belle."

"Me too!" Aileen cried and then she held her arms out for Belle. "Hold me, pwease!"

Belle happily took the child in her arms, thinking that she had finally won over Rumple's stubborn little spark at last.

Regina and the boys emerged from the manor house a few minutes later and Aileen regaled them all with how "bwave Belle" had saved her and then "Papa saved us from fallin' an' goin' splat!"

Regina gaped at them. "Goodness, Rumple! You prevented a tragedy today."

"I know, and it was lucky I happened to be coming back from the sheep pen when they were falling," Rumple agreed.

"Did you use magic to catch them, Rumple?" asked Henry.

"No, I just held out my arms and they fell into them."

Regina chuckled. "Like a princess in some tale."

"I'm hardly a princess. Just an ambassador's daughter," Belle protested. An ambassador's daughter without magic, she thought disparagingly. If she had had magic, she would have been able to rescue Aileen without falling off the ladder like a clumsy fool.

It wasn't that she minded Rumple saving her, but she felt like an idiot, going to rescue a child and then having to get rescued herself. And it was times like these that she felt the lack of not having magic keenly.

All of the Prytani had some small bit of magic, she had learned upon moving here. Bae and Aileen were too young yet for it to manifest, but they too would be powerful mages when they were older. The Mage Gift was inherited, and even the lowest Prytani commoner tending his sheep had some small Gift, even if it was just lighting a candle or healing a cut finger or summoning shoes. The Mage Lords had the most powerful magic, as they had been marrying other powerful mages for centuries, and the fertile land was rich not only in growing things, but magic of the earth and sky. Ley lines of magical power crisscrossed Prytainia and provided magical energy for the mages to use to rebuild their shattered homes and protect themselves and their borders from another invasion.

For the first time she wondered at why Rumple had picked her, out of all the other women of his homeland, to be his third wife, and the First Lady of Prytainia. Granted, she had helped to free him and his people, and she was smarter than average and not bad to look at, but she had no magic and yet was going to rule over a magical people. Am I truly worthy?

Seeing the pensive look on his beloved face, and wondering what put it there, Rumple murmured, "Regina, would you mind watching Aileen for a bit? I want to . . .have a private talk with Belle."

Regina smirked. "Not at all. We'll play a game while you two chat." She called to the little girl. "Aileen, how would you like to play I Spy?"

While Aileen was otherwise occupied, Rumple turned to Belle and said, "Why don't we go for a little walk? I need to work off some of this meal."

Belle rose. "Me too, though I think I scared ten pounds off myself."

Rumple chuckled. "Me too." He took her hand and they began to walk.

They walked hand-in-hand into the small woods that bordered Regina's estate, taking comfort in each other's company, until Rumple reached a small babbling stream and paused beside it. "Belle, is something bothering you?"

Belle looked away, gazing at the silvery stream as it leaped and tumbled over its bed of sparkling stones. This was a pretty spot, she thought inanely, anything to keep from focusing on her newfound inadequacy. She bit her lip.

Figuring she might feel awkward around him because of her little accident, Rumple said, "I'm sorry if I . . .touched you in an inappropriate place when I caught you . . ."

"You what? Rumple, you saved my life! What's a bit of your hand on my-my bottom or . . err . . .elsewhere compared to that?" Belle said, still not looking at him. "That's not why I'm . . . upset. It's because I . . ."

"What? You can tell me, dearie," he urged.

"You'll think I'm being foolish."

"I won't."

"You will."

"I won't. Trust me, Belle."

She looked at him then and something in his earnest chocolate brown gaze made her grapple with her courage and blurt out, "I feel awkward because I don't have magic in a land where everyone does. Everyone except me. And I don't understand why you would choose me over a Prytani woman."

Rumple took her hands in his, and meeting her eyes, said softly, "After all we have been through, you doubt you are my one and only love?"

"No . . .I doubt if I'm right for you. I'm just ordinary Belle Farraher with her nose stuck in a book, a lady who can read better than she can sew a stitch or bake a cake. Who can recite the history of Avonlea back to the founding but has trouble keeping her balance on a ladder. You need someone with—with poise and grace, someone with magic, who know your people and your land. You're First Mage of Prytania—"

"Yes, I am. And all those things you mention, dearie, can be taught. By me and by Regina, if you're so inclined. Because what I need most of all, sweetheart, is a woman who will stand beside me forever. Who knows my heart, and who holds it as something precious, who will never betray me and mine, and who I shall love to the end of my days."

"But, Rumple—"

"Belle, don't you see? I want you precisely because you are unlike anyone I have ever known. You bring me joy and wonder and give me hope for the future such as I lost after Milah betrayed me. You make me smile and you make me think, and I love you for your keen mind as well as your beautiful face. I want someone who can challenge me, who can keep up with me, who doesn't want me for my title, or my power as a sorcerer, who just wants me, just Rumple, who despite all of my power is just a man like you are a woman, and who wants above all, to be loved."

"I do love you."

"And I love you," he replied. "And that, dearie, is why I'll have you and no one else beside me. Because magic or not, you are my heart, and now you have found your home here with me."

He leaned in to kiss her, when something huge, red furred and scaled, a cross between a lean hunting cat and some kind of reptile, emerged from the undergrowth across from the stream. It was nearly the height of a tall man, rippling with muscle beneath the furred pelt, with yellow reptilian eyes and claws the size of daggers. It had a long prehensile tail and fur ringed its scaled lower half.

When it saw them, it pointed its gnarled snout and sniffed, then it gave a laugh, almost like a person's.

Rumple froze upon hearing that eerie sound. "Belle, behind me, now."

"Rumple, what is that?" she trembled, for the thing across the stream was giving off an aura of evil and fear similar to dragonfear.

"A devil beast. We call it a Jacyra here." Rumple's voice was tight. "I thought they had all been driven out, but since the Galatians invaded, they must have returned. Now, behind me. If we're lucky it won't notice you because—"

The Jacyra leaped across the stream, howling, mouth agape to show rows of yellow fangs glistening with some kind of venom.

"—it comes for me!" Rumple finished, and shoved Belle behind him.

A glowing purple shield snapped up around her, and he went to launch an attack of his own, for the Jacyra was a magical creature who loved to hunt mages and eat them—after it tore its victims apart slowly.

Several glowing magical missiles impacted upon the beast's hide but it shrugged them off and lunged for the sorcerer.

Rumple underestimated the creature's deadly swiftness, and before he could blink, the Jacyra was upon him, tearing into him with claws and teeth, and laughing as it did so.

"Rumple!"

A/N: I know-an evil cliffy! What will happen now? Will Rumple die? Or can he defeat the beast?