Summary: Snow is given an honesty test. Will she pass it? Meanwhile, Merlin has a proposal to train the next generation of wizards.

The Nolan Farmhouse

Snow White sat back in the armchair, looking at the blue crystal.

If what her husband told her was true, this crystal could be the very thing that would save her marriage, and her relationship with her children. She knew she'd never actually lied to him in the past, apart from minor fibs to do with celebrations or presents. And she never would. She was honest. But things had changed. This crystal could help him to trust her again. It could be a fresh start. 'Could' being the operative word.

"Do I need to hold it, while you ask me questions?"

"Not necessarily. Once you've held it, that should be enough. And apparently you can talk normally, not just yes or no answers. Merlin said it'll react anyway."

"Okay..." she took a deep breath, putting the stone back down on the coffee table.

"He also suggested we use test questions first; so it'd help if you deliberately lie for one of them. Take your time. So tell me first, who are you, where do you live, and where were you born?"

"My name is Snow White, the heir and rightful Queen of Misthaven..." before she'd even finished, the blue stone had turned noticeably brighter, clearly responding to her voice, before dimming again. "I live in a farm on the edge of Storybrooke, a hidden town in Maine…" the stone's blue returned. "And I was born in Disneyland." The moment she said the last word, the stone's colour faded, before changing to bright red.

"It works!"

"Seems so. Right…"

"Wait! Before we start, I want to say something?" He nodded for her to carry on.

"David, I fell in love with you a very long time ago. I have been I love with you ever since…" as she spoke, the crystals blue seemed to brighten significantly, making her slow her speech momentarily. "Your love woke me from a sleeping curse, as I woke you years later. We share one heart, and I swear to you, even now, you have been and remain the first important love of my life, even including my children!" The crystal continued glowing brightly. "And if you decide to leave me, I'm not sure how I'm going to survive." The piercing blue continued, before finally dimming.

"Okay," Charming hesitated before starting. He'd rehearsed his questions in his mind for the last few hours, but now he was actually asking them for real, he hesitated, nervous of the result. "Have you been unfaithful to me, our marriage, since we arrived in Storybrooke with the first curse?"

"No…" Snow began, with certainty, but the moment she saw the red light return, she panicked. "Wait? No! I haven't! Honestly! l…I need to explain what I mean!" She suddenly felt seriously uncomfortable, waiting for the red light to dim, and from the corner of her eye saw him watching her closely. "What I meant, was that I haven't been…unfaithful…any more than the times you knew about! Those times with Red and Ruby, where I didn't think that I was, but it made you angry…"

Charming watched as the red glow was now replaced with a blue, but this time it flickered rather than gave a constant beam. Merlin said nothing about that! What the hell does that mean? Regardless, it seemed to make Snow talk faster, more anxiously.

"David…At the time, I never regarded what happened between me and the two of them as anything like being unfaithful. To you. Because, well, they're part of us! Part of our family. You have a child by Ruby, and Dorothy's expecting another, isn't she?" The blue light steadied. "It's only when you accused me of adultery, that, that, I began to think about it and…I realised that you were probably right. That I had cheated. I honestly didn't think of it that way at the time. I'm sorry…"

As the crystal dimmed once again, he tried to consider what she'd just told him. "So it was just twice it happened since we arrived here? The time in our shower, and the week after, in their room at the diner?"

"Yes. That's all." But the stone again turned red! "What? I never!"

"Think again, Snow. Perhaps just one of them? On her own?"

"No…" but the unforgiving red returned, like an accusing eye. She was now starting to seriously hate the bloody thing. "I really haven't. Definitely not Ruby," the light flickered blue. "Nor Dot," the light immediately switched to red. "No! We haven't even been together without one of you being there." The red remained steady. "The only time was…wait? We just cuddled! That wasn't sex!"

"Where?"

"In our bedroom. The morning after you tried to get Dot pregnant. You and Ruby went for a jog, and the two of us stayed in bed." That fucking blue light returned, challenging her! "We only cuddled! That wasn't sex!"

David saw the red return yet again. "Seems Alitheia disagrees with you, Snow. Anything else?"

"I'm sorry?"

He sighed, exasperated. "Apart from those…incidents…have you ever had sex, or intimacy of any sort, with any other man, or woman, since we arrived in Storybrooke?"

"Only Victor Whale. During the curse. No, no one else." The blue light returned, staying solid.

"And before we all came here? Apart from the four times I saw in the dreamcatcher, were there any other times since our wedding? With anybody?"

"No. Before, but not since the wedding." As the blue light continued to glow, David silently stood, moving over to the drinks trolley, before taking two glasses and pouring large measures of whisky in each. He never ever drank at lunchtime. But then, he'd never faced a day like this!

Snow took the offered glass as he sat opposite her again. She tried to examine his face for any sign of what was going on in his mind.

"As I said earlier, Merlin told me that you see love very differently to the rest of us. When someone has got so close to you, they become part of you. I think I know what he's trying to say." He took a large slug of his drink, feeling the welcome burn on the back of his throat. "Ruby and Dot. Do you love them?"

She used the excuse of another sip to consider the question, knowing that wretched light was still listening, silently, almost challenging her to lie. "Yes. Yes, I do. They're very different friends to us than they were. I love them, of course I do, but nowhere near as much as I love you. We're soulmates, for heaven's sake!"

David was relieved to see the blue glow. "I've never asked you to obey me before. Even at our wedding, we said 'love, honour and cherish', instead of 'love, honour and obey' to each other. But if I said to you, that the only way I'd continue our relationship, would be if you vowed never to see Ruby, or Dorothy ever again. To keep your distance, stay away from the diner, and never be alone with either of them. Would you obey?"

"Yes. Without hesitation…" she tried to ignore the crystal, but out of the corner of her eye, saw the blue. "Even though I'd hate myself, I would obey. To save our marriage."

"I think you would, too; even though I would never ask you to do that!"

Snow saw the light brighten once again, though this time it was in response to his words, not hers.

"So that was a test question? To see whether I'm serious?"

"Perhaps. You said you loved them. But, I wonder…are you in love with Ruby Lucas?"

"No! David, I already said-" but she stopped the second she saw it.

The crystal was now bright red!

Back in Sherwood…

It had been a fun afternoon. About twenty children had taken part in the archery lessons organized by the former Merry Men. Some children were as young as Lizzy, while the age ranged up to sixteen. They'd also organized some events and games. Robin led the archery lessons for the older children, while Will and Tuck took care some of the youngsters.

In a cordoned-off area, Mulan and Aurora gave a demonstration of sword fighting to some of the parents, which seemed surprisingly realistic! Although they both wore chest plates, visors and protective padding, and used deliberately blunted swords, the two women's blades clashed furiously as they both attacked and parried, moving fast, spinning and circling, metal crashing on shields.

"Bloody hell, Phil!" said Killian, watching them, the mayor at his side. "I've been in plenty of scraps myself, but your lasses are really going for it! Very convincing. Problems in the Briar household?"

Mayor Phil merely laughed. "Nope, they're solid. All's harmony at home! They're just…well, Pip took the mickey out of Aurora last summer, when she came and did some rare training with us. She's never been one for the sword, but he got her all wound up. Ping didn't help. So she's had a practice. Now she's given up the yoga and jogging and she's doing this instead. She's getting seriously good! Even Mu's having a hard time beating her occasionally, and she's the real expert in our place!"

"I can see that." As he spoke, a final clash of blades saw the shorter woman, Mulan, strike Aurora's padded arm, before flicking a foot behind her left knee, causing the auburn beauty to fall back, hitting the ground. A second later, she found herself looking up at her assailant, with a ball-ended blade pointing at her throat.

"Concede?" said Mulan, under her visor.

As Aurora slowly released her sword, widening her arms in apparent surrender, the oriental warrior felt a hard blow to the back of her own knee, as her opponent quickly twisted from under her blade. "Aargh!" she groaned, feeling her own body topple back, as a hand pulled on her stretched arm. A second later, the famed warrior now found herself on her back, her assailant now sat on her stomach.

"Never!" said the princess, the side of her blade now resting against her throat. "How about you?"

"Impressive!" said Mulan, now starting to laugh as she pushed her blade away. "Bested using one of my own methods?" She pulled off her face visor, as her wife did the same. "Cheeky and clever. You're getting good, your highness! I'll happily concede."

"Second time since Christmas!" A victorious Aurora grinned down at her opponent, as their audience started to applaud the demonstration. "Now, I need to claim my prize. Your forfeit."

"What do you have in mind?" she smirked as the woman she'd fallen in love with years ago, lowered her face over her own.

"Why, a victor's kiss, of course!" She covered her lips over Mulan's, as some of the audience made awkward noises of embarrassment. As she sat back up, their husband appeared next to them, his hands offering to help them stand.

"Hardly a forfeit! And plenty of time for all that later, ladies." He whispered, beaming down at the two loves of his life, as they rose. "Personally, I'm feeling rather…energized…by that performance. Care to continue at home tonight? If you're not too tired, that is?"

"You're kidding, right?" Aurora started to remove her pads. "I'm way too tired to do that all over again!"

Mulan gave him a knowing grin. "Rory, I don't think Phil was talking about sword fighting!"

The entire demonstration had been watched from the viewing gallery, by four people sitting at a table y the window, as they discussed important matters on their children's education. Robin had left them at regular intervals to take part in the training sessions.

"So what you're saying, is that this new school, this 'Hogwarts', will be invisible to the rest of the world? Where are you thinking of putting this thing?"

"Emma, this isn't Harry Potter!" The Sorcerer sounded peeved, clearly having had this discussion with many before her. "This is real, not fiction. There'll be no Death Eaters, no Dementors. No Voldemort. It's not even a castle. It looks more like a modern hotel. Just a summer school solely for children and adults with magical abilities and gifts, so they can learn to control them, understand, improve and hone them. To control them for their own safety. Parents can come along should they wish, although it would probably be easier for all if they didn't very often, and let the tutors do their thing."

Emma asked, "Where you'd put it? How difficult is it to get to?"

"Scotland," he saw the mothers' reactions, Regina rolling her eyes. "Yes, that's the only similarity to Hogwarts! But you won't need flights and steam trains to get there. There's already a secure portal set up, and several hundred bespoke magical beans have been produced already. We're proposing that children would stay for between four to six weeks over the summer, over two years. We're suggesting running several open weekends, so parents and children can stay and see everything for themselves. We want to make it feel more like a fun summer holiday camp, rather than an austere boarding school."

"How many children will you be handling?"

"Just over two hundred per year, we think. We can accommodate up to seventy, each term."

"Two hundred?" Marian was astonished. "Are there even that many people with magic in the world?"

Merlin smiled at her. "Probably just over six thousand globally, in this realm, alone! And there's a lot more realms than this one, Marian. Though this school would only cater for English-speaking countries. We're basing it in Great Britain because they have more realm access from there. But with a portal, distance is irrelevant."

Regina remembered her own forced baptism into magic, at the hands of an unscrupulous Dark One. "I like the idea, in principle. But if we did this, I'd like to visit the place first? Even join the children, in their lessons." She looked at Marian. "What do you think, my love?"

"Apart from Roland, I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have magic, so I'm not sure if I could even travel to this realm of yours? If not, I'd really miss the girls over the summer."

"Of course, you can travel there, my dear. You don't need magic to do so. In fact…one of the reasons I came to see you all is that I was wondering whether Regina and Robin would perhaps like to assist in some of the magical lessons? And you, of course Emma!"

"Me? I never thought of myself as teaching kids!"

"Why ever not? Your magic's in many ways unique to you. Your brother's is similar, but you're still rather different to one another. Worth a try, especially if young Hope and Elizabeth are in courses at the same time?"

"Why them? Why so young? I don't understand. If their magic hasn't even surfaced yet, what can you teach them? And as for Neal, well good luck getting our mother to agree to that! She'd only let Regina teach him after a lot of pressure!"

"I'm sure Snow won't be an issue when she understands the benefits to him being able to control his magic safely. As for your own two girls Emma, I gather Hope's already showing signs of her powers coming through, and I'm given to understand young Elizabeth's healing powers are already producing results, even though they haven't come to the fore yet? In lands where she shouldn't have been able to use them? Imagine what effect that unleashed power would do without adequate care and preparation?"

Marian gave Emma a sympathetic smile. "Which reminds me, her Elizabeth and our Honour have done some pretty weird stuff together over the last few months. Regina and I need to ask you a few things about them, and I'm sure Emma needs to hear this too. Robin and Killian need to be here. Anyone seen them?"

Emma looked over the parapet. "Well I can see Kill down there talking to Mayor Phil, by the sword fighting. Is that Mulan? Not sure about Robin though. The kids lessons finished half an hour ago…"

As they scanned the archery arena, two figures started started running slowly, directly across the archery target boards, before turning to run back, The figures were covered head-to-toe in what looked like hay and cloth rags. Only the lower legs, covered in thick foam pads, were visible. They stopped every few seconds and started again, darting left and right. And as they did so, the crowd that had gathered below started laughing.

"What the hell's going on down there?" said Regina, looking down at the ridiculous sight.

"BOYS AND GIRLS - RELEASE YOUR ARROWS AT WILL!" yelled a voice from nearby. Friar Tuck's?

A moment later a stream of at least twenty arrows flew through the air at the moving targets, most missing but at least two hitting one of them, the other, taller one, escaping. A moment later, the two targets started moving haphazardly once again, to more laughter from the growing crowd. By this time, Marian was now on her feet, also laughing at the behaviour of the targets, one of which, the one without arrows sticking out of it, appeared to bend over and bend its bottom at the children who fired the arrows, to more laughter. The second target turned, and their was a cardboard face on the other side, made a 'missed me!' gesture, before running to the side again.

"I think I know where our husband's gone!" said Marian, before cheering on the children. "We used to put Little John in the straw, but he was way too easy to hit!"

"AGAIN! CHILDREN, SHOOT AT WILL!"

"You leave me out of this, you bugger!" Yelled Will Scarlet to Tuck, to more laughter and a slap on the arm from his wife, as more arrows flew to the targets. Every time one of them landed, a cheer erupted, and delighted children laughed at the ridiculous figures as they performed and baited their attackers, seemingly unfazed by all the arrows being launched at them. The shorter figure hadn't been hit once, but the other had at least five arrows sticking out if it. Or him!

"That looks great fun!" said Emma. "Bloody dangerous for those two mind! Wouldn't like their job!"

"LAST ROUND! AGAIN, SHOOT AT WILL!"

As another stream of arrows raced to their targets, the slightly shorter one (was it a man or a woman inside?) finally received an arrow to the front, several more hitting the taller target.

"STOP EVERYONE! NO MORE!" yelled Tuck, as the taller target, a good ten arrows now sticking out of it, theatrically turned around in circles, pretending to suffer mortally from the blows, to ever more laughter.

"Well in all my years, I've never seen a dying haystack before!" Merlin guffawed, tears in his eyes.

Just as they thought the competition was over, as the remaining target jumped up in apparent victory, Tuck suddenly yelled out, "NO! NO MORE ARROWS!" at someone, as a flash of light headed towards the triumphant target. However, the crowd gasped when the arrow suddenly stopped several feet from the target! From somewhere within it, eyes must have seen the floating arrow, and turned to run away from it. The arrow seemed to magically float just behind, not striking its target, but merely moving slowly behind it. The haystack turned, as did the arrow, and a loud voice from within said "NAUGHTY ARROW! GO HOME!"

As the crowd started laughing again, the arrow seemed to nod, almost in shame, before racing quickly behind it and giving a short jolt to wherever the occupants bottom would likely be inside. "OW!"

"What the hell? Who's doing that?"

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT ONE, YOUNG NOLAN!" Yelled the mystery voice from within, to more laughter from the crowd.

Regina would know that voice anywhere! "Robin? What the hell are you doing in that thing?" she said to herself. As she spoke, the crowd cheered even more loudly as the willing targets drew closer, two of the men helping one of them pull the top off, to reveal the head of her now very sweaty husband. As the slightly taller, broader one came alongside him, another cheer came when they all recognised Robin's assistant and fellow victim.

"HENRY?" gasped Emma, starting to laugh as she realized their son was completely unharmed, but equally sweaty. "You silly sod!"

As the two mothers ran down the steps to meet them, leaving Marian and Merlin behind, it was only to find the crowd and children had circled around the two men, still laughing at something going on within. Seeing Regina striding assertively into the throng, the nearest stepped back to let the queen and saviour through. As they reached them, it appeared Henry and Robin hadn't quite removed all the hay cladding, but Robin was doing something rather dramatic to to one of the larger youths, as everyone laughed.

"Neal?"

Emma's ten-year-old brother was now giggling hysterically, even though he was currently being suspended in mid-air, in front of everyone, by magic! Being forced forward slightly, Robin was now standing directly behind him, telling him off in a loud voice, with an evil grin on his face, an arrow in his hand, pointing at the boy's bent over jeans-covered backside, repeatedly prodding it with an arrow! Henry stood next to him, laughing.

"I-promise-I-will-not-fire-magical-arrows-at-Uncle-Robin's-bum-ever-again!" With each word, Robin lightly stabbed the boy repeatedly. "Say it?"

But Neal was too busy laughing to say anything, which in turn made everyone else chuckle. So Robin did it once again! "I-promise-I-will not…" he repeated.

"Okay, okay, I give in!" Neal snorted, desperate for the ticklish ritual humiliation to stop. "I-promise-I-will-not-" he repeated Robin's back to him, word for word. The crowd could see it wasn't hurting him in any way, just showing him up. Emma looked over to see Honour, Elizabeth and Hope, also laughing at their naughty uncle's punishment for his, albeit very funny, magic trick on Robin.

"Robin, would you kindly release my godson please?" Regina glared, trying not to laugh herself. "I'm sure he's learned his lesson after that!"

"No, I say leave the little bugger floating and keep going!" said Emma, grinning. "He's always doing this sort of stuff. He'll never learn!"

Robin released his magical hold, placing Emma's brother gently back down on the ground as Regina walked up to him. "Neal, how did you learn to stop your arrow mid-flight, just before it hit Robin? I never showed you how to do that! And I'm pretty sure Emma didn't either."

"That'll be me!" said Robin. "Last week, I'm afraid. But I never realised the little devil would use it against me quite so soon!"

"And as for you…" Regina glared at her husband. "Whatever possessed you to let my son be used as target practice? One of those arrows could quite easily have gone through the hay and hurt him! His legs were exposed. And the holes to see out of? He could quite easily have been blinded!" As she admonished him, even Emma realised that she was right. He could have been seriously injured!

But Henry was quick to defend him. "Actually mum, Robin used magic. He put a barrier over both of us and under the hay costume. The arrows would have just bounced off! We were never in any real danger."

"He's right, Gina. You don't seriously think I'd let him get hurt now, do you?"

Emma wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulder, pulling him against her. "You, little bro…are getting a serious reputation for mischief around here! Do you know, your niece calls you 'Naughty Neal'? She even drew me a picture of you floating babies in and out of a hospital window this morning!"

"She did what?"

"I'll show you later. Now come, let's talk to Merlin? How do you fancy going to a special school for magic, just over the summer?"

"Magic school? What, like Hogwarts?"

"Best not say that to Merlin!"

Back at the Nolan Farm

"I'm telling you David, I am NOT in love with Ruby!"

"But the crystal said…"

"FUCK THE CRYSTAL!" Snow never swore!

"Like you fucked Ruby?"

"That's a low blow!" But she couldn't find any more words, so she stood up, angry, as he remained sitting calmly, picking up the truth stone from the table.

"Maybe. True though!"

"Did you do this just to make yourself feel better? By making me feel terrible? I know what I've done to you David, and I've spent all week apologizing. Did you ever intend to forgive me, or did you just seek some sort of revenge?"

"No, of course not! I wanted to save our marriage. I wanted to forgive you." The blue crystal once again grew bright, both of them noticing. "I can forgive you, and we can move on from this, but only when you, Snow White, understand why what you did was wrong! If at the back of your mind you still just think I'm overreacting. Or it doesn't really matter somehow, because it was Ruby, then you never will! You're in love with her, and I didn't just need the stone to tell me. It just confirmed what I'd already expected."

"I'm leaving." She collected the suitcase before walking to the door, not looking back.

"If you must. Take the car. I'm on patrol later, so I'll take the truck."

Two minutes later, after she'd left, David picked up his phone, selecting a number from the memory.

"Dorothy? Yes, it's David. Yes, we talked. She's left to stay at our old place in town. I did what I said, and I guess she's probably going to try and call her shortly. Or even head for your place. I'm heading for the Sheriff's office later. I gather you're also on duty today? Yeah? Okay, I guess I'll see you there. Bye."

The Diner – later that evening

It was an anxious Ruby Lucas, who walked back into their apartment after locking up the diner. It was now gone ten at night and their son was safely tucked up in bed. Dorothy had returned an hour earlier from her afternoon shift at the Sheriff's office, and they'd hardly spoken since Dorothy had chewed her out last night for her role in the ongoing difficulties between Snow and David.

"Jeez, what a day! Twice the covers and half the staff! I can't wait for Mike to get back. Hey babe, how's your day?"

"Interesting…" Dorothy sat in her favourite armchair, a hot drink in her hand. "David was on duty with me."

"He was? How I he? Still angry? Or has he managed to calm down yet and get a grip? He can't be mad forever."

"Oh, we had quite the chat! He found out a few things today. Have you spoken to Snow?"

"No, I've been run off my feet all day. Why?"

"She's moved out of the farm."

"You're kidding? Why?"

"Seems Neal knows what's been happening, and Emma's guessed…"

"Holy Shit!" she looked around for her phone. "I'd best call her. She's never been alone for decades…"

"No, do it later. We need to talk."

"Must we?" Ruby sighed, rolling her eyes. She spotted a pretty blue diamond-shaped stone on the table, leant over and picked it up. "Kansas, didn't you yell at me enough last night?"

"It won't take long. Tell me something. You and Snow. Are you still in love with her?"

"You what? Don't be silly! Of course not! I-" she stopped, noticing that the stone in her palm had suddenly turned bight red! "What is this thing?"

Dorothy had already spotted the colour change. "We really need to talk!"