AN: after a month of writing only for Supergirl I wanted to look back over some other unfinished works and began working on this chapter.
In the morning, Regina relayed Snow's advice for Diaval and Lily. The crow-man appeared a little better now, though quiet, while Lily was excited.
"I mean, I realise it's a lot to expect to find mom on the first day here, but you never know."
Regina passed them the packed lunches she had made, promising to get a spare key cut for them during the day, "I'll meet you at the library at 1pm. If anything goes wrong…"
"We know where to find you," Lily held up the map of Storybrooke that Emma had drawn, "and we have the back-up hideout."
Emma and August's tree house wasn't marked on the map, in case someone else found it, but she had explained the location in plenty of detail.
"I'll drop you off on my way to work. Remember, you need to avoid drawing attention to yourselves."
"And to avoid the Prince," Diaval acknowledged, having heard the same words from Regina already that morning.
"They'll be fine mom," Emma tried to reassure her as she picked up her own lunch.
Regina grabbed her car keys as she shepherded them out of the door, hoping her daughter was right.
Belle, the librarian, was really enthusiastic when they told her they were interested in the town's history. Lily had trouble keeping her focused; one minute she was explaining the architecture of the different buildings, the next she jumped to tales of the superstitious early settlers. Diaval sat in a corner of the library and watched them, holding a book loosely in his hands that Belle had first located on the town's history. When he caught the librarian looking over at him he opened the book and flicked through the pages, pretending to read. He only looked up again when he heard the door open, his eyes narrowing as he recognised the visitor and he got to his feet quickly.
"Rumplestiltskin,"
"Call me Mr Gold, Diaval."
"I see you still have your memories," Diaval stared at the human face curiously, having only seen the Dark One's other appearance before.
"Didn't Regina tell you? Though I suppose now her own have been restored…"
"Do you know where Maleficent is?"
"No. Only the Prince would know that."
"Can you help us to find her?"
"Unfortunately there's no magic in this land," Gold's eyes wandered over the library, as if searching for someone.
"You forget that I know who you are. Do you expect me to believe that you don't have some small item that carries magic?"
"Any items I brought to this land have been used years ago, some to help protect the child who will break this curse." He stepped away from Diaval, "now excuse me, I have an appointment to keep."
When Belle and Lily returned a moment later from the back of the library, the librarian's face lit up.
"Mr Gold, surely you haven't finished those books already?" she teased him.
Rumplestiltskin smiled, "not quite. I was on my way to Granny's to get something to eat and wondered whether you would like to join me."
Due to the curse, Belle never remembered that he had been making the same offer to her every day for over a decade, but she was always happy to see him. They would talk about books, the town, their fictional lives and the next morning was almost a new day for her while he was left to remember alone. He didn't mind. Any excuse to spend time with Belle was good for him. That was why he had started borrowing the books at first. David had cast the curse and he had modified it which meant they both retained their memories, but there had been no way to allow anyone else to remember. Not until it was time for Emma and Lily to break the curse.
"That sounds lovely, but..." Belle looked over at Diaval and Lily, "I think I'm going to be busy for a while."
"Perhaps I could bring you something for lunch?"
"Oh, don't worry about us," Diaval told her. "We'll be fine."
"I really shouldn't leave the library unattended," Belle explained.
"You can trust us, we'll be too busy reading to cause any trouble," Diaval gave her his most charming smile.
Bella finally gave in, "I suppose, you are Regina's family after all."
Mr Gold raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. He waited for Belle to get her coat, then whisked her off to the diner, leaving Diaval and Lily alone. It was 11:30, they had an hour and a half until Regina was due to drop by and they still didn't have any clue where to start looking for Mal.
"I wonder whether there are any books the Prince kept hidden which might tells us where she is," Lily looked over at Belle's office, the one place the librarian had insisted on locking before leaving.
"If there were any which mention a dragon I'm sure that girl would have mentioned it, you were so enthusiastic when she was talking about myths and legends."
"How else could I bring up the subject? She wouldn't believe me if I said dragons are real. Did you notice how odd her memories were? The way she kept using that phrase 'as long as I can remember', as though it was part of the curse."
"Perhaps it is, Emma told you the people here forget things so it's possible she's seen a clue or something but the memory has been removed."
"Do you think we'll be affected by the curse? I know you could pass through the barrier, but now we'll be staying here..."
"If we forget, Emma will find a way to remind us, don't worry," he looked around, "Hmm, now that's odd."
"What is?"
"There's a map of Storybrook up on the wall," Diaval pointed it out to Lily.
"So?"
"It has the Royal Crest from the Enchanted Forest in the centre of the compass."
"It does?" Lily followed him over to the map.
"Look," Diaval held a finger up to the crest, "if no-one here remembers our world then why is it on this map?"
Lily shrugged, "no idea. Do you think it's a clue?"
Diaval unpinned it from the wall and rolled it up, "we'll see if Regina knows anything about it. She'll be here soon."
Arriving at the library at little after 1pm, Regina found Lily and Diaval just finishing off the sandwiches she had packed for them in a quiet corner of the library, away from the books.
"Any luck?" she asked, looking around for Belle.
"Yes, we've... found a lot of interesting books," Lily tilted her head towards the office where Belle had gone after returning from her lunch with Mr Gold.
"Probably should get going now though," Diaval told her. "Go thank Belle for her help, Lily while I put the books back."
Regina waited patiently, realising from the way Diaval patted his bag that he had found something important. Belle came out to say goodbye and Regina took them to where she had parked her car.
"Let's get home first," Diaval said, before Regina could ask any questions.
"Okay."
Once they arrived back at the house, Diaval spread the map on the kitchen table. The other two came and looked down at it.
"Emma's still at school, should we wait for her?" Lily asked.
Diaval shook his head, "no, let's see what Regina thinks first."
"Did you steal this from the library?" Regina asked.
"Borrowed," Diaval told her. "I doubt anyone will notice."
"Belle would probably have let you take a picture of it, or photocopied it, if you'd asked," Regina told him.
"Well, it's done now. Can you see why it might be a clue?"
"It's a map of Storybrooke."
"And?"
"Oh, yes. The crest. Hmm, I wonder why that's on here," Regina placed a finger against the map, over the crest, then quickly pulled her hand away. "Okay, that felt like magic. I think there's definitely something about this map."
"What kind of magic?" Lily asked.
"I don't know. It was like getting an electric shock when I touched it, a little like the feeling I had from Emma's book."
"Does that mean whoever wrote the book drew this map?"
"Probably."
"Is there any way to find them?"
"If I had magic I could, for now we'll have to stick to looking for clues."
Regina got Lily to go online and bring up a map of Storybrooke, so they could compare the two. They were still arguing over whether the shape of the shoreline was important when Emma and Mary Margaret returned from school. Regina told Lily to take the map up to Emma's room and show her, distracting Mary Margaret from asking questions with a kiss.
The children poured over the map before dinner and after. They were still no closer to finding any clues when Regina came up to wish them goodnight. She tucked the covers around Emma and kissed the top of her head, a look from Lily let her know that the other girl didn't want to be mothered. Regina picked up the map from Emma's desk, taking another look at it.
"Where are you, Mal?" she muttered, holding it up to the lamp.
As the light shone through the paper, areas of the map began to glow orange, lines formed tracing a dragon-shape. As she watched, the tail of the dragon curled into the sea, the head coming to rest outside the town.
"You did it!" Lily told her, jumping out of bed and running over to look.
"Something happened," Regina agreed, "but I your mother isn't big enough to cover all that ground, so we still don't know exactly where she is."
Lily reached into her bag, taking out another piece of her egg and placing it on the map, "maybe this will help."
The shell trembled, then moved across the paper slowly, coming to rest over the dragon's heart.
"There!" Lily told them, "that's where we'll find her."
Regina looked closer at the map, "it's near the stables, I've been there, but I've never seen your mother."
"Maybe you just don't remember?"
"My memories returned after reading Emma's book, but maybe I overlooked something. We can go first thing in the morning. I'll tell Diaval."
"Why can't we go now?"
"Because it's dark and we'll have a better chance to see in the morning, also because you're a child and we all need to sleep," Regina told her. "I promise, I'll help you look tomorrow, but now it's bedtime."
Lily frowned but went back to bed. Regina took the map with her, just in case Lily thought about sneaking out with it and so that she could show it to Diaval.