~Crystal Ball~
Regina had long since freed her genie from his glass bottle, so to speak, but in many ways she was a 21st century woman who didn't need a prisoner in the mirror world to do what modern technology, or the magickal equivalent, could.
Feeling the pain of the Charming's gave her the motivation she needed to devise a spell to act much like modern doorbells, with motion detection and recording. Whenever Emma's reflection was visible anywhere, Regina's special mirror picked it up and saved it to a crystal for viewing, and replaying, at a later date.
By now, she had several sightings. But she didn't want to overstep her boundaries, either. Snow was adamant, she didn't want to spy on her daughter. And she was trying to make amends to Snow, above everyone else.
But the reigning queen hadn't been sleeping much lately. Hadn't been eating as heartily as she normally did. Regina heard the whispers of the staff about the Queens late nights by the fire in one of the taller towers, idly keeping watch just to pass the time.
Regina knew it was difficult for the formerly action-oriented Queen to go from savior of the people, to letting go of the reins in favor of her daughter. More than that, any mother would worry.
"Snow?"
She had to call the name a few times before she looked up with a blank stare, nervously twisting the ring around her finger.
"Regina." Snow's greeting smile was both genuine, and sad. "What brings you all the way up here?"
"I just wanted to show you…" Regina didn't bother with an explanation. She pulled out the crystal the images were saved to. Turned out modern science was right, crystal was an excellent storage device. Snow didn't need to know that, though. This version of the woman wouldn't understand, and that kind of conversation was not needed. Instead, Regina muttered the spell to activate the last sighting, projecting the image up into the air, almost like a tv projector.
"Oh!" Snow's eyes grew teary.
In the image, it was like looking up from the bottom of the river. Emma was washing her face in the water, the same sliver of moon behind her as could be seen at the Charming Castle. She looked over and smiled as a curious beast next to her drank from the same water. Then, Snow laughed as Emma rolled her eyes, presumably at something the Captain had said. The image cut out when Emma turned to reply.
"This was less than an hour ago."
"Amazing. So far, yet so close I could almost hear her retort." Snow's brows came together. "Can I see it again?"
Wordlessly, Regina uttered the spell again, and handed the crystal, and the floating image, to the Queen.
"She looks so normal."
"Were you expecting anything else?"
"I wasn't expecting her to look so good in my old bandit clothes." They chuckled together. "What was that creature?"
"I can only guess. A type of wild horse, perhaps?"
"Mm. Clever girl." Snow nodded, yawned, and stood to leave. "I know I told you not to spy, Regina, but… thank you."
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