"There must be a way to prove True Love somehow." Regina pretended to ask the question to herself, knowing Rumplestiltskin was listening.
In the future he would make a potion from the True Love of Snow White and Prince Charming. He had never shared the details with her though and she wasn't sure if this Rumplestiltskin had discovered it yet.
"How long do you plan on keeping me here?"
Rumplestiltskin sat at a spinning wheel turning straw into gold, his face calmer and more at peace than she was used to seeing it. She had been in his castle for nearly two days and because she wouldn't, or couldn't, answer his questions he had gone about his usual routine. Regina remembered a story her father had told her about how her mother had spun gold from straw to win his hand in marriage.
"Why that all depends on you dearie." He told her.
"I don't have time for games."
Regina looked around the dull room, finding it depressing. She knew it was daytime, yet the dark curtains were closed and only candlelight lit the room. The stone floors were bare of any decoration and the bags of straw were splitting at the seams, leaving trails of loose pieces around the room. She had abandoned the more pleasant rooms to find him, finally desperate enough to share more of her story in the hope that he would either release her or help her.
"Then simply tell me what I want to know and you can be on your merry way."
"If you want to know about my curse, I've told you everything I know."
"Have you? And what about your presence at my dear friend Cora's house? I don't think it was a coincidence."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw one image of your future when we met. It puzzles me."
"Tell me and let me see if I can explain, but I want your promise that if I do you'll let me go."
Rumplestiltskin cut the end of a rope of gold and added it to his basket before turning to face her. "If I'm satisfied with your answer."
Regina nodded. "Ask then."
"You were in a strange land. Although I didn't see you, I was able to see many others there. It was so different from this one that I am sure that despite my many travels, I have never been there."
"I have travelled a long way in my lifetime and may have to travel a great deal further to end my curse."
Rumplestiltskin stood up and walked towards her, wanting to look in her eyes as she answered. "It was a place I have been searching for, for a very long time. A land without magic."
"I have heard such places exist."
"Why would you go to one?"
"As a last resort." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, but they were the truth and he could sense that. "Perhaps the curse would not exist there."
"Would you be willing to do me a favour?"
"I told you, I won't bargain with you."
"The favour is not for me. It is for a man I once knew. I will give you anything you wish in return for your help."
Regina thought about the True Love spell. "What is the favour?"
"When you eventually go to this strange land you must send a message to a young boy." He waved his hand and passed her a blank, yellowed envelope. "Give this to a courier in that land and the magic in the letter will show them where to deliver it."
"If magic doesn't exist there the letter may not work."
"It is written using a mixture of the fathers blood and the magic of True Love."
"It may be years before I get there." Regina reminded him.
"I trust you will remember it."
"Then I know what I want in return."
Rumplestiltskin smiled. "You have only to ask."
