Chapter fifteen

"Many thanks for your hospitality, your majesty," Regina said with a bowed head, "but I'm afraid that my wife and I will be departing in the next few days for home."

King Uther gave Regina a smile and nodded, "I suppose that my son did rather hijack your honeymoon."

The brunette resisted the urge to verbally agree with him.

As much as she knew that Emma had been enjoying training with the knights and receiving some lessons from Merlin, she had kind of wished that Arthur had never found them in that clearing. There were far too many distractions in the royal palace which meant that she got to spend less time with her wife. She wasn't quite sure what she had been hoping for from their adventures, but having Emma pay attention to other people wasn't exactly what she had wanted. Despite this, though, she was well aware of the fact that the blonde needed to experience life more fully now. If she forced her to stay strictly in her company for the rest of her life, then the princess would have simply moved from one prison to another. Plus, seeing the smile that she wore when she experienced something new was well worth the pangs of jealousy she felt when Emma paid attention to other people.

"My apologies for my wife's absence, she wanted to explore the town," Regina replied, rather than commenting upon how correct his previous statement had been.

Uther nodded, "I always appreciate when travellers enjoy my kingdom, there is no need for apologies, though I believe that you would much rather be with your wife at this moment rather than discussing your travelling arrangements with me."

Regina nodded, not even bothering to hide her smile.

She had agreed to meet Emma as soon as she had finished talking to Uther and they were going to find a quiet place to have a picnic. Neither of them had actually said it, but they both knew that they would be talking about their relationship. As much as that thought made Regina unbelievably uncomfortable, it would mean that they would finally have an opportunity to talk candidly about everything, most specifically that kiss that they had shared a few days before. Ever since that had happened, they had been more awkward around each other than ever before and Regina wanted nothing more than to actually discuss what it meant so that they could stop tip-toeing around each other. After all, she could no longer deny that the blonde felt something for her.

"Thank you, your majesty," she said and he gave a nod to confirm that she was free to leave whenever she was ready.

The goddess turned on her heels and made her way out of the throne room. She didn't remember Uther being quite as kind in the stories as he was in that moment, but they were in peace times so he didn't exactly have any reason to act any way other than polite. Plus, there was the fact he didn't have any reason to keep her and Emma from leaving. It was Arthur who had invited them to stay when he had thought that he would have a chance with one of them and they hadn't really seen the young prince since he had found out that they were together. He was probably off somewhere finding a woman who he did have a chance with and his father was simply making good on the promise of hospitality that his son had made.

Regina walked quickly towards the town at the foot of the castle. She had promised Emma that she would be able to find her and that they would be able to find somewhere to have their picnic. From what she knew of the blonde, she assumed that she was either looking at the items in a blacksmith or she had probably made a new friend. Regina found that she didn't really have to worry about the young woman as much anymore since she had been able to kick the asses of the Knights of the future Round Table; plus, if she were really in trouble, her magic would probably activate automatically. However, that didn't change the fact that Hades was still anxious to find her wife so that they could have the talk that they had been needing to have for a while now. She was sick of all of the doubts and worries she'd been having since she had met Emma and she needed to know if the princess felt the same way about her that she did. It wouldn't be an immediate fix for their awkwardness, but it would at least be a step in the right direction and it would mean that she wouldn't have to spend all of her time worrying that the girl would find someone new (and mortal) the next time that she went off to visit the Enchanted Forest on her own.

In her rush, she decided to take a short cut down an alleyway between houses. She had planned to quickly walk towards the blacksmith on the other side to follow her first hunch, when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder and she was pushed against the wall.

For a few seconds, her mind didn't quite catch up to what was happening.

The man who had her pinned against the wall smelt of lager and was leering at her with his filthy teeth showing.

"You're too beautiful to be walking alone down a dark alley," he slurred.

In that moment, Regina realised exactly what he thought that he was going to get from her and she almost felt sorry for him. It was fairly unlucky to think you were going to get what you want from a woman, only for that woman to be the goddess of the Underworld. Then again, she supposed that the disgusting man deserved no sympathy at all.

The brunette was about to extend the fingers on both of her hands to ignite a fire ball in each palm but she was cut short by the sound of metal cracking against the man's head.

Regina's shoulders were released and she blinked a few times as she watched him fall to the ground in a prone heap.

When she tore her eyes away from him, she looked up to her Saviour and smiled instantly at the very much concerned blonde.

Emma must have seen what was happening from the Blacksmith (which meant that Regina had been right about where she was, very much a point of pride for the brunette). She was currently frowning down at the hilt of her sword to see if she had gotten anything on it when she had whacked the man around the back of the head.

"You didn't need to do that, dear," Regina sighed as she knelt down to inspect the man. Though she would have gladly seen scum like him dead by her hand, she didn't want Emma to have just taken a life for her. The young woman might have experienced more than she had in her entire life in the past weeks, but that didn't mean that manslaughter was one of the things that she needed to experience.

Regina blew out a breath of relief when she felt a very strong pulse under her two fingers and she saw no evidence that the blow hadn't even broken the skin on the back of his head. He was just out cold. She made a note to tell a guard where to find him so that he wouldn't be able to try anything on a woman or girl who couldn't protect themselves and then she pushed herself up to her feet.

"You didn't really look like you had it under control," Emma shot back with a slight smirk. When she had seen what was happening, she hadn't been worried for a single moment. Even if Regina was able to die, she was sure that it was very unlikely that anyone would actually be able to lay a hand on her considering all of the ways that she knew how to kill someone.

The young woman had decided to intervene more for his sake than Regina's. Even if she didn't think that he deserved any mercy for what he was planning to do, she didn't quite think that anyone actually deserved to be incinerated by the goddess of the Underworld.

Regina rolled her eyes as Emma sheathed the sword and shook her head, though she was smiling slightly too. She couldn't deny that there was a certain level of pride at the thought that Emma had gone from essentially being a sheltered child to a woman who was able to protect even a centuries old goddess.

Emma grabbed her hand and said, "come on, I'm starving."

Dawn's eyebrows pinched together as she watched yet another leaf wilt.

It was progress from the seeds dying the moment they touched the soil but it still wasn't what she was going for.

She was really beginning to understand why it was that the Underworld meant the end of Persephone and Hades' relationship.

She just hoped that this would not bode badly for the new Persephone.

The demi-goddess fell from her knees and into a cross-legged position so that she could pull her mother's spell book into her lap and began to furiously leaf through the pages for another potential spell to bring life to just one square of the Underworld.

"Perhaps a break is in order?"

An unbidden smile graced Dawn's face before she schooled her features so that she could look over her shoulder.

As she'd hoped, the voice belonged to Graham who was holding two tankards that undoubtedly contained beer, or at least Dawn was hoping that was what in them since it was precisely what she needed right now.

Without a word, she jumped to her feet and allowed the book to fall onto the small pile of dead leaves.

She took the drink from him and drank half of it in one gulp.

Graham watched her drink with a quirked eyebrow and a slight smirk.

"I take it this isn't going well?" he asked.

"I can see why my mother wouldn't want to bring Persephone here," Dawn replied before taking another gulp. When Graham made no attempt to reply, she added almost pleadingly, "how am I supposed to do this?"

"Well…" Graham began and looked down at the dead leaves and then back to Dawn, "technically, you did get something to grow. There is a patch of soil in the Underworld where a seed won't instantly die, I would say that is progress. Emma can figure out the rest herself when she begins tending to the garden."

"So…you're saying that I should give Emma the gift of dirt?" Dawn asked as she turned to look at said dirt. It was certainly a different colour to the surrounding soil. It was the lush fields of the Enchanted Forest, but it also wasn't the desolate mud of the Underworld.

Her mouth quirked up in a smile making something here would certainly be evidence that Emma could be the new Persephone that Regina was destined to meet.

"Could you help me build a fence?" she asked, turning to look at the demon with a wider smile.

Graham nodded and was about to ask what material she wanted to use for the new project, but he was interrupted when he saw Dawn frown intensely rather suddenly.

He followed her gaze to see what could have caused the reaction.

In an instant, his anxiety spiked and he had to actively stop himself from jumping behind Dawn.

Dawn, on the other hand, was more confused about the arrival of the red-headed woman walking towards them.

No mortal should be able to walk into the Underworld and if they somehow did, there was no way that they would look as calm as this woman did.

Graham knew exactly who this woman was, especially because he was painfully aware of the mood that Regina was in after seeing her.

The goddess looked Dawn up and down with a smile, though it was hardly the smile of a loving aunt, "you must be my dear niece, I'm sure we would have met before now if she wasn't so insistent that you aren't to visit Olympus."

Dawn suddenly understood Graham's anxiety when it crashed upon her who this woman was.

"Zeus I take it?" Dawn asked and rolled her eyes when she heard Graham make a small squeak next to her.

Obviously, he didn't think that was the correct way to address the ruler of the Olympians, but she wasn't particularly inclined to give her respect.

From the little that Regina had told her about her sister over her life, this woman didn't deserve any respect.

"Please dear, family have the right to call me Zelena."

"Would that have been true if I was still mortal?" Dawn asked with narrowed eyes. She could understand to some degree why Zelena wouldn't care about her mortal niece but she wasn't in the mood to give her aunt a break right now.

"Is it my fault that your mother did not take the opportunity to introduce you to me?" Zelena asked with a smirk. She was rather enjoying the thought of how infuriated her sister would be right now if she could see her talking to her precious daughter.

"Should I assume you do not have permission from my mother to be here?" Dawn shot back.

Graham wanted desperately to say 'what the hell are you thinking?!' but Dawn was ignoring his nervous energy as she continued to look at her aunt with a smug expression.

She knew that if anyone knew how to kill an immortal, it would be Zeus, but the thought of how much hurt this goddess had caused her mother made her want to punch her, meaning that words were probably the safest option.

Zelena tilted her head, she decided she rather liked this girl, she was very amusing. Like a child pretending to be an adult.

"I do suppose that you have a point there," she replied with a laugh, before she turned to Graham who flinched under her gaze, "I'm here to request an audience with your mistress."

Graham bit the inside of his cheek hard. He had almost forgot that he was technically Regina's manservant since she hadn't treated him that way after she started getting closer to Emma.

He opened his mouth and somehow managed to make sounds that were close to words, "she…s-she's…not here…"

"Well it is…nice to hear that my sister has stopped moping around the palace since her forced marriage…"

Dawn felt Graham nudge her before she could open her mouth to say something along the lines of 'bitch'.

She hated how the Olympians thought Hades to be a monster. They wouldn't believe that if they could see how happy Emma was when she was around Regina.

"I assume you aren't here to check on my mother's emotional state?" Dawn asked, and dug her nails into her palm in which she was itching to form a fireball which she knew couldn't possibly hurt Zelena.

"I came to congratulate her on her recent nuptials, is that so malicious that I should be interrogated by a child?"

"I suppose not," Dawn finally said through gritted teeth, she wanted to say something else in response but she had the feeling that Graham was currently dangerously close to a panic attack.

Zelena let out a derisive huff, before she turned to Graham.

Being here was making her stomach twist and she was rather eager to leave as soon as possible.

With a flick of her wrist, an envelope appeared in her hand and she took a step closer to Graham.

She grabbed his hand and forced it to turn over and open the palm by staring at him until he did it with a little whimper.

Zelena placed the envelope in his hand and wiped her own on her pants as if touching him could somehow make her catch demon.

"Give that to Hades when she returns,"

Graham nodded unevenly since he didn't trust himself to make actual words.

She half smirked at him and half sneered before she turned to look at Dawn again and said, "I look forward to meeting you again, dear." With that she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Graham doubled over and placed his hands on his knees with a loud exhale as relief flooded his body.

Dawn stared for a moment at the place where Zelena had just stood before she walked over to check on Graham.

Emma and Regina had been sure to inform the guard of the unconscious man before they went off to the edge of the forest to find a quiet spot.

Neither of them wanted to be interrupted by someone trying to rob them again.

Regina clicked her fingers and a blanket with a wicker basket appeared upon the small plot they had silently agreed would be best.

"There should be a few sandwiches and fruit in that basket," Regina explained as she motioned for Emma to take a seat by it.

Emma's face lit up at the display of magic as she moved to sit cross-legged by the basket.

Regina sat down next to Emma (though not too close) and the moment she did, two goblets of wine appeared in her hands and she offered one of them to her wife.

This awkward silence between them seemed amplified this time.

They both knew the purpose of this picnic even if they had never agreed verbally that they would be discussing their very confusing relationship.

Emma reached into the basket and handed Regina a sandwich and she offered her a smile as they each began to eat in silence.

Regina was acutely aware that things had been somewhat easier since their kiss but there were so many doubts in her mind that was stopping her from simply asking what it meant.

She couldn't put aside the thought that maybe it was unfair to ask a relatively young mortal to be with her fully. She was the first being that she had met outside of the White Palace. What if Emma's feelings were simply out of convenience rather than her actually having feelings for the goddess?

What if the mortal began to resent her as she grew older and her immortal wife remained the exact same age?

"Regina?"

The goddess's eyes shot up from the sandwich she had been slowly eating and she saw the blonde staring at her, she had clearly become tired of the silence and decided to take the initiative to break it.

Regina swallowed hard to moisten her throat, and she placed the food down to the blanket so that she could offer the blonde her full attention.

"Sorry dear, I was lost in thought," she explained, before Emma could ask what exactly she was thinking about (since she was sure that they would terrify the poor woman) she asked, "have you been enjoying your time in Camelot?"

"It's been amazing," Emma replied as she allowed a smile to cross her lips despite that this wasn't the most burning topic that she wanted to discuss right now. "I'm fairly sure I have seen Excalibur still in the stone during a hunting session with Lancelot. I've met almost all of the men who will be the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur isn't exactly what I would expect based on the legends, but learning from Merlin has been amazing and there's…spending time with you…"

Regina blushed at the words though she didn't make any attempt to reply. She never really knew what to say in response to the compliment.

"Perhaps…we should talk about…what…happened?" Emma suggested.

"Yes…perhaps we should," Regina replied, though she notably didn't say exactly what happened. She had come to the conclusion that she would allow Emma to lead the conversation so that she could gauge how she felt about it.

"The kiss…" Emma began, "I just want you to know that it was definitely something that I wanted. No matter how sleep deprived I may have been, I have wanted to kiss you since I left for the Enchanted Forest…"

Regina was speechless.

Hearing that Emma definitely had feelings for her ignited something that she hadn't felt since she had attended the wedding of Persephone and Athena.

Hope.

Emma carefully inspected the silent woman's face and when she decided that there was an absence of shock and disgust that she had been afraid of seeing.

It was for this reason that she leaned forward.

At first, Regina closed her eyes when she felt soft lips brush against her own, however, a moment later, her eyes shot open and she leaned backwards.

The princess frowned deeply, had she been wrong about the lack of disgust a moment ago?

Regina felt a pang in her stomach at her wife's frown when it occurred to her why exactly she was frowning.

She reached forward to place her hand on top of the other woman's so that she could squeeze it in a way that she hoped was reassuring.

"When…you kissed me…it occurred to me that I have missed an important part of taking a princess of as my bride…"

"Courtship?" Emma asked with a less deep frown that Regina found so ridiculously adorable.

Regina nodded and replied, "I don't believe that I will ever get the chance to gain approval from your parents, so the process may already be flawed, But we have much to learn about each other if we are ever going to be truly married."

Regina waited with bated breath for Emma's reaction, afraid that she might start laughing.

The princess just grinned though.

She knew that courtship was part of being royalty and she found it was rather exhilarating that she could get the chance.

She may have missed her chance to have a wedding ceremony, but at least she could have part of it.

Emma leaned forward again, but this time, her lips brushed against the older woman's cheek before she pulled back to pick up her goblet as she said, "I can't wait to see what you've planned, Regina."