As soon as the royal company passed, he watched as people swarmed Cora to help with the mess. But she refused help for herself. Instead she took a spare bag of flour, her last, off the cart and gave it to the guards, then grabbed her cart and left. However, there was something different about her gait and stride as she flew through the streets. Something was going on. There was a plan in her head, something the woman was thinking about and executing right before his eyes. It was obviously sparked by what the King had said; it had provided the determination she possessed now and oh how he wanted to get inside her mind to see what she was thinking for himself! But that would require a very specific potion and found himself unwilling to leave to make the potion in his castle to do it, lest he lose her. He was helpless to watch and be surprised, to simply stick by as she abandoned her cart in an alley and disappeared inside a shop.
The shop was for women's clothes and he couldn't follow her inside, not as he was at least. It wasn't like a tavern, a man would attract attention in a place like that. But a peddler, a seller of fabric or even thread…perhaps if he summoned some recently spun thread from the castle and disguised himself in his old form he could-
Before he could plot, the door opened. Cora emerged with a large bag slung over her shoulder. Her head twitched as if someone were tickling her, and he watched as she brought the bag over her shoulder down and pulled the drawstring open. There was a swath of black tool sticking out. Or at least there was until she stuffed it right back in and pulled the drawstring shut. She looked both ways before she put the bag on the cart and moved on down the road quickly with the bulging bag.
A dress. She'd taken a dress? Well, obviously she hadn't paid for it if the shop girl who suddenly came bursting out of the shop and looking up and down the road told him anything. She was looking for a thief. But Cora…Cora was forgettable to them, in her cloak, and with her head bowed down as she pushed her cart, she blended in easily and got away before the girl could call for a soldier. She escaped with a dress?
"Now, what do you intend to do with that?"
He followed her back to the mill, how could he not. Her story just kept getting more and more interesting by the second. Her father was right where she'd left him, still asleep, probably drunk, outside and she moved inside. He couldn't follow. He heard only two human heartbeats on the entire property, if he went in there, she'd see him. He could transfigure himself, become a bird perhaps and watch her from the window, but the stench from the mill was foul, and even birds seemed to know to stay away. She'd been so determined, he didn't want to make any moves that might give her reason to be uncomfortable or suspicious, anything that might break her plan now. So, like the dress shop, he simply lounged in the tree as he decided to wait and be surprised.
It was nearly nightfall when she emerged, and when she did, he hardly recognized her. She was stunning in a red dress with black tulle that made it stick out at the sides. A ball gown. She'd stolen a ballgown? Black gloves covered her hands up to her elbows so that her white skin stood out in brilliant contrast. Her hair wasn't anything like the barely tamed mess it had been earlier. It was up now, brushed and knotted and…she cast a glance at her sleeping father before quickly covering herself with her old ratty cloak. He was suddenly sad that she'd covered herself up. She was quite the beauty like that.
But she was moving on, and that meant so was he. She didn't bid her father good-bye, leaving him with the question of what she intended to do with that beauty, merely made sure he was asleep again and ran off down the road, hugging her cloak to her so it didn't flap open in the breeze she'd crafted. To his shock and dismay, she returned to the castle, where the King's Ball was in full swing and Cora…she was a mastermind.
It was dark out when she finally arrived, and just as she got to the gates, she shed that cloak of hers and chucked it into the bushes. She checked her gloves and straightened her hair as she walked to the entrance with utter confidence. Dressed as she was, looking as she did, no one questioned her, and she strolled right into the castle as if she belonged there. Now…this was something he had to see!
It was a masquerade. And as Cora made her way into the ballroom he used his magic to change his clothes and give himself a mask to cover his face. He was nearly invisible to them as he walked on the upper balcony and watched and waited for her entrance, smirking when he finally saw her come in. She was a chameleon. He'd watched her earlier as she stole into the crowd after stealing that dress and thought it was a shame, how easy it was for them to forget her face, how common she must have been. She had none of that now. She walked into the room with confidence, hips rocking slightly side to side so her gown swayed with motion, head held high acting every bit the Princess she was destined to one day become. She was forgettable now because she did such a good job of blending in with them. Only it wasn't that she was forgettable, she was just…a chameleon, a creature highly skilled at blending in with her surroundings. The villagers didn't see the royal inside of her, only a lowly miller's daughter. And now, royals didn't see that lowly miller's daughter, they saw only one of them. It was remarkable. He'd never met a woman with her talent.
He watched as she pilfered a mask and some flowers and went to the side of the dance floor to watch the dancers. Perfect. She was utterly perfect. And the rest of them…the rest of them were…
For the first time, he allowed his eyes to wander off Cora and into the crowd, to observe their reactions or non-reactions to her. Beautiful ball gowns that twirled when the girls spun. Wonderful music. And oh, there she was, that woman who had tripped poor Cora today. He recognized her despite the fact that in that moment he'd been so focused on Cora he'd hardly given her a passing glance. Eva was her name, he remembered that much, she was…she was…
Well now, this was interesting.
Eva…now that he was looking at her, truly looking at her, he had a flash, the halls of the banquet hall faded around him into a vision.
He saw a brightly lit bedroom where that woman lay huddled on the sheets, her hair laid out over the pillow while her skin glistened with drying sweat that had once dripped off of her. She was smiling, holding something in a blanket as she rocked it and gazed down into the folds.
A baby.
"There must be three feet of snow out there, your Highness!" cried a servant at the window. "And oddity this time of the year, to be sure, but not this year it seems. Still, now that the little Princess has come, it's stopped. There is nothing but beautiful pristine white, but it all pales in comparison to her. It's as though the gods knew that there was no competition for a more glorious sight."
"Then we must name her after it! Mustn't we, my little Princess, my little Snow White," Eva cooed.
It was a name!
Snow White, in his prophecy, in the vision…it hadn't been a description it had been a name!
And that was her mother and she…
As if by magic, or perhaps it was just that, he felt a pull from the woman, from Eva. It was as though an invisible string were tied from her belly to…he followed it through the crowd, looking the Kings and Queens, the Princes and Princesses, over as he did. The string stopped with a man. It was Prince George. He was next in line, from a Kingdom not too distant from this one. But the connection between them, George and Eva, the string went from her womb to his…head?
Were they married?
No.
For Eva was with one man and George with another woman, and when they were around one another, they let out a feeling of supreme happiness that came from couples in love. That eliminated the possibility of lovers as well. But then…what did it mean?
Prince Charming.
The thought came to him as he watched the connection between the pair and realized, perhaps the string had nothing to do with Eva and George and everything to do with their children. Snow White and Prince Charming would bear the Savior. Prince Charming, he could be the son of Prince George, who would become King George, but then…why was that thread connected to his head? Shouldn't be connected to…
No.
As he looked the woman George escorted over, he saw no connection, no thread linking her womb to Eva's. In fact, he could sense a blackness there, a deep blackness, anyone who had studied the craft seriously would be able to sense it, a curse. She was barren.
George and his Queen would bear no children. But then how…
The False Prince.
His original vision had informed him that a twin would become a false prince. What if…what if they weren't two separate people he was looking for. What if they were the same?
Without a child George would need a child! What if the child became Prince Charming?! And Prince Charming and Snow White those were the two the string united.
The prophecy told him they were destined to have a child.
"Swan."
Swan? Oh, the word came to him just as Snow White's and Regina's and Cora's...it was the child's name. The child's name was Swan! It was an odd name, but he had to begin thinking outside the box. If Snow White could be a name, then why not Swan?!
A vision overshadowed the scene before him once more.
A woman, one he'd seen before in his original vision, Cora's daughter, Regina Mills.
"I shall destroy Snow White's happiness if it is the last thing I do!"
The scene faded and morphed, the blonde-haired woman he'd seen standing with Hook now stood before Regina. And though he couldn't place the strange clothes the women were wearing or the odd object that was in the blonde's hand as they stood by an apple tree, he knew she was the Swan. The Savior. And between the woman…nothing but contempt.
Oh, he hadn't been sick in years but he suddenly had the urge to vomit.
He had been dealing with the wrong people all his life! This party, this place…everything was becoming more and more clear with every moment that he observed these royals. The Seer's voice was murmuring excitedly in his ear with the new faces he looked upon and…
Answers! At last, some answers! It was so much, too much information all at once! And to be carrying it around all these years with so many questions and suddenly to have the answers…it was remarkable, unbelievable! And all because of the brown-haired beauty across the room who had led him to this place and opened his eyes.
There was Cora, a strong potent magic flared within her. It was nearly as willful as she was, strolling through the party, pretending to be royalty, hoping to catch a husband that might improve her station perhaps.
Oh, suddenly, he recognized her magic. It was magic that he had once sensed in a poor farm girl years ago. He'd been drawn to her just as he'd been drawn to a boy working on a farm with his father. He hadn't understood the connection to the girl then, he still didn't understand th connection to the boy on the farm, but suddenly he knew about the girl. Cora was her daughter. And Cora's child would be the one to cast the curse that he needed to get back to Bae. He grinned like he hadn't in decades as hope swelled in him. If Regina was half as powerful as Cora was then he was in luck!
This was amazing! Cora was amazing! Suddenly, for the first time since he became the Dark One and lost Bae, he felt like fate had truly shifted in his own favor. She was a lucky charm. She was stunning. And he couldn't be sure, but he was almost certain this was what love felt like. Cora was the key. He needed to remain close to her, if only to be close to the child, now he only needed to figure out what might set it in motion.
Suddenly, he felt it, the pulse of her magic. It sobered him, pulled him out of the future and back into the present, but when he looked down at the last place he'd seen her, she was gone. Close by, obviously, but also…angry. Her magic betrayed her, it called to him, but where was she?!
"My loyal subjects!" his gaze automatically went to the voice of the King crying out over the crowd. All laughter and music ceased with his voice, they watched with eagerness, but he felt his blood run cold. For there, beside him on the dance floor, was Cora. And he could tell just by the way he looked at her that she'd been discovered. "We have a very special personage with us. This woman tells me that she can spin straw into gold."
Straw into gold?
The crowd laughed. At her. She stood upon the steps with the King now, looking out over them and though her back remained straight, and she never dropped her aura of confidence, he could tell from the way she rubbed her hands together that she was nervous. The King may as well have unmasked her. "And she's going to demonstrate it for us!"
His heart was beating fast, he had the feeling that hers was probably going faster. There was no doubt in his mind that if properly channeled she could turn straw into gold, she possessed the power for it, that much was clear to him. But she was oblivious to her…gifts.
Gifts that he truly believed could help her to do what she claimed but not if she didn't understand it. Gifts that would be worthless if the girl was caught in her lies and killed! She was shaking. He could see it from a distance but he wasn't sure the others would.
"Fetch a spinning wheel!" the King demanded. He stepped up to the rail to watch, prepared, if necessary, to his magic into the wheel if she continued to see this lie through to the end. If that was what it would take to save her then-
"It takes…time," she suddenly stuttered out "…to gather my thoughts."
"Oh!" the King mused. "I tell you what, my dear. Spend the night here, locked in a tower full of straw. Spin it into gold tomorrow, and you can marry the Prince…"
Across the room, heads turned to the masked man in white. He recognized him as well, Henry, the one for whom that ball had been thrown, for the purposes of finding a wife. He smiled at her now from the back of the crowd, not having the sense to join his father or the spine to speak out against the plan he was twisting before his eyes.
" Fail…" the King continued as they looked back at Cora, "…and you die."
Anger. Anger was the key to her magic. He knew because the moment the King said his words, he felt the magic around her doused quickly by fear. She was in trouble, and despite the smile, she put on and her words of "very well, take me to your tower", she knew she was in trouble too. But Rumpelstiltskin only smiled. Soon she would be smiling too. She didn't know it yet, but straw into gold was something of a specialty of his.
It was a perfect opening.
Yes, if I were to make a list of the top ten important chapters in this fiction, this chapter would definitely be included. This chapter doesn't just give him a glimpse into Cora and who she is or will be but it also gives hints about her daughter, about Snow, about David and James, and then of course Emma! Remember, the original prophecy he received was meant to give him hints but throughout the fiction more and more of those hints get fleshed out and slowly become clear. So...have you figured out who the boy he has an urge to follow is?
Thank you MerlockVonBaron, Grace5231973, and Jennifer Baratta for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad we're liking the Cora section so far. I hope that you've seen how I've kind of built in an easy attraction to her. Not only was it her strength that was attractive, but now he can see her power and magic and now he's thinking that because of her he has all this information so he's sort of indebted to her. I think it makes it easy for him to fall for her in that tower and it makes it less...let's say sudden. Now we see that he's been following her around so it's not so much "hey I just met you and this is crazy but here's a hickey so call me maybe" and more "I've been watching you all day so I feel like I know you." At least I hope that comes across! Peace and Happy Reading!
