Regina had gone up to the north wall after leaving her father's room. She stood there looking out at her kingdom for a long time. She knew her father was disappointed in her for using the magic and she was sure that he would be telling her mother about it. Thankfully her mother had stayed behind or Regina would probably still be in that room listening to a lecture about it.
Regina had been born with the ability to do magic and that was pretty much where her knowledge of it ended. She knew what it felt like when that magic activated but she couldn't tell why it activated when it did. She didn't know why she felt weak after using it or what she could do with it.
This was why there was a rift between her and her mother. Her nuptials to Emma may have furthered it, but it had been simmering there between them for years.
She rode in the carriage with her mother, oblivious to the rain that was beating down on them as she spoke about the trip they had just ended to one of the other kingdoms. It was the first time Regina had been allowed to accompany one of her parents on such a long trip. Usually, the most she got to do was go with her father on short trips to see horses. Not that she didn't love those trips, but this was completely different.
She and her mother had been gone for nearly a month and during that time she had so much fun. She had gotten to see her first elephant, which was currently what she was telling her mom about.
The carriage lurched to a sudden stop, which interrupted her telling, and one of their guards rode up to the carriage.
"What is it?" Cora asked.
"Tree down across the road. It looks like it was knocked down from this storm. It's going to take a while to remove."
"Ok, be careful. This weather has been getting steadily worse."
They were stuck which didn't bother Regina much as she went back to telling her mother about the elephant. She would hear the soldiers working on the tree removal every once in a while. When they heard one of the men cry out in pain, Cora opened the carriage door and peered out. "Stay inside," she told Regina as she exited into the rain.
Regina wanted to know what was going on and when her mother didn't return immediately, she got out and stood next to the carriage. She could see a group of soldiers around the tree. It looked like they were using some of the horses to drag the fallen tree out of the way, but something must have happened as she saw her mother tending to a guard who appeared to have broken an arm. Her mom was putting it in a sling.
The rain was coming down harder but it didn't seem to bother her mother as she tended to the wounded man. Regina couldn't help but smile at her mother.
A clap of thunder startled her and she looked up into the sky as lightning struck another tree nearby. She was frozen in place as she saw the tree falling toward her. She heard her mother calling her name but she couldn't move. The next thing she knew the tree was hovering there above her no longer moving and a second later it fell harmlessly to the side.
Her mother grabbed her, checking her over to make sure she was alright. Regina looked at her mother – the rain still coming down on both of them and somehow she knew. She looked at her mother and she knew it was Cora who had stopped that tree from hitting her and she had done it with magic. She could almost sense the magic still in the air surrounding them.
She was barely aware of being put back into the carriage. She stayed there this time and waited for her mother to return. She didn't return until they were ready to get on their way once more. Cora settled into the seat across from her – her hair and clothes soaked.
Regina had been looking down at the carriage floor but now she looked up at her mother.
"You know magic," was all she said.
Her mother didn't respond at first. Maybe it was seeing the look at the hurt in her daughter's eyes that stayed her tongue.
"Listen to me, Regina. What happened out there doesn't change anything."
"How can you say that? You know magic. Why wouldn't you tell me? You could teach me."
"No!" Cora said in such a stern tone that it caused Regina to flinch. "What have we told you?"
Regina lowered her eyes to the carriage floor once more. "I must never use magic."
She had been 13 when it had happened and from that moment on things changed between her and Cora. She had grown up having had these inadvertent uses of magic and every time her parents knew about it she would be lectured about how she must not give in to the temptation of doing magic. It had been drilled into her head, but to find out that her mother knew how to use it and had control of her magic was too much for Regina to take. She had begged her mother to teach her so could control it. She didn't like not having control of this powerful thing inside her, but Cora simply refused, telling her she needed to stop talking about it.
She didn't know what her parents were so afraid of. She only wanted to know how to control it.
No, it wasn't her marriage to Emma that caused the rift – it was Cora's refusal to help her daughter learn about magic.
She finally left the wall and went to her chambers to end this day. She entered and found Emma sitting up in bed reading a book. She didn't say anything to her as she went to the other room to change clothes. When she came out she went to her side of the bed and bent down to pull out her makeshift bed.
"Why don't you just lie down on the bed?" Emma said.
Regina who was on her knees looked up at her like she was crazy. "You mean like you did last night while I was in bed?"
"This whole sleeping arrangement thing is stupid. We are married; there is plenty of room on this bed. I hate sleeping on the floor and you hate sleeping on the floor so just get into bed."
Regina certainly didn't want to sleep on the floor but she wasn't sure about sleeping in the bed with Emma either. When she woke that morning with Emma's arm around her she had felt a momentary comfort before she realized who she was in bed with. She looked at the blankets she had pulled out from the bed and then pushed them back under. She carefully got onto her side and then looked at Emma. "Make sure you stay on your side."
"Don't worry; I have no intention of invading your space. You just stay over there on your side as well."
Regina was too on edge to go to sleep quickly that evening although she heard Emma's breaths even out as she fell to sleep. She envied how quickly the other woman was able to fall asleep. At first, she thought maybe Emma was just a lazy person and this was the result, but she knew that wasn't the case. She simply didn't think Emma let things bother her much so she was able to sleep easily. Another thing to envy Emma for – her carefree nature.
Regina used to be that way – at least she thought maybe she used to be that way –but things had changed in her life. That trip she had taken with her mother had been the last time she remembered being carefree. Ever since then it seemed like life had been weighing on her.
A few minutes later Emma started her nightly moving around. Regina had no idea how she didn't manage to wake herself up all the time. She was lying on her side, facing away from Emma but she felt Emma's leg brush up against her. It lasted only a moment thankfully. She was never going to get to sleep if Emma kept moving around like this. Maybe she should have slept on the floor as much as she hated doing that.
She heard Emma move again, but this time she was surprised when she felt Emma move closer to her, and then Emma's arm was around her again much like how she had woken up that morning. Her entire body tensed as she felt the contact.
Should she get out of bed? Should she wake Emma and tell her to get back on her side? She wasn't sure what to do. Things between them were awkward enough that she tried not to add to it and she was sure if she woke Emma up that it would make things more awkward. She decided that getting out of bed was probably the best option. She could always make up her bed on the floor and in the morning tell Emma that sharing a bed just wasn't possible.
Regina started to slide toward the edge of the bed, trying to be careful not to wake Emma. As soon as she moved an inch though she felt Emma's arm tighten around her. Emma pulled her closer to her.
"Emma?" she asked tentatively wondering if the other woman was awake, but she got no response.
She tried to move once more, but again Emma kept a firm hold on her. The only way to get this to stop was to wake Emma. Regina knew that if she did wake Emma it would probably cause a fight or something and she didn't need the stress of this – not while her father was here. She had already messed up with using the magic and she couldn't afford to continue to mess up if she hoped her father and Emma's mother to give up their stewardship sooner rather than later.
Regina closed her eyes hoping she could ignore that Emma was holding on to her.
The first sense that seemed to come alive to Emma was smell. She smelt something pleasing to her and she took a deeper breath in while she let her other senses come online. It was then that she realized her arm was around something – more specifically someone. She woke suddenly to find she had been spooning Regina, who thankfully was still asleep. A thought of what would happen if Regina woke and found them in that position went swiftly through her mind and so she began to extricate herself quickly but quietly so as to not wake her wife.
When she got safely to her side of the bed she was lying on her back looking at the ceiling thinking not about the trouble she would have been in if Regina had woken, but instead how comfortable she had felt as she had been waking up. Still, it would probably be best to never mention this to Regina or surely the other woman would make them go back to the floor rotation. She glanced over at Regina whose back was still facing her. It was unusual for her to be up before Regina, who was the much lighter sleeper of the two, but she was sufficiently awake now that she got out of bed completely. She left the room to go get one of her handmaidens to draw her bath since she hadn't taken one the night before.
She waited in the chamber outside of the bedroom while her bath was being filled. She sat down and noticed the letter from Regina's mother was still sitting there and she picked it up. There was no seal on it Emma had noticed the day before. She wondered what Regina's mother had written to her about and why Regina was so against reading this letter and the others that she had received. Despite her current circumstances Emma couldn't imagine cutting off contact with either of her parents. And why did Regina seem to have little problem speaking with her father, but not her mother?
She put the letter back down even though she wanted to know what its contents were, but she was smart enough to know that was not a line she should cross.
One of the handmaidens came to get her and she went off to get her bath so she could dress and attend to her mother.
Regina woke feeling a little out of sorts for a moment before realizing she was alone in bed. Emma must have woken before her and left the room entirely. She had been up for a long time the night before although she realized she had fallen asleep not long after Emma had grabbed a hold of her. She hoped Emma had moved away in the night as she wasn't sure what she would do if Emma had woke while still holding her. Perhaps it would be best to never mention that it happened Regina thought. Just because it had happened twice didn't mean it would become a regular occurrence if they continued to share a bed. If it did continue to happen she could always suggest they go back to rotating sleeping on the floor without explaining why she thought it was for the best.
She got up from the bed deciding a bath was in order since she hadn't gotten the chance to do it the night before. She went into the chamber outside of the bedroom to ring a handmaiden when she noticed the letter from her mother sitting there still. She picked it up and thought about opening it before she set it down.
She shook her head, not wanting to deal with that right now, and instead rung for a handmaiden.
"I need a bath drawn for me," Regina said to the young girl who showed up.
"Yes, your majesty, but I think there may be one for you already. I saw one of the other girls filling one just a moment ago."
"Oh," Regina said. "Then never mind." Emma always bathed at night so one of the handmaidens must have anticipated her need to bathe and proactively decided to fill one for her. She would have to give her thanks to the girl who did – as long as the water was still hot.
She made her way to the bathing room and opened the door stopping as the door closed behind her. In front of her, Emma was frozen in the midst of lowering her naked body into one of the baths. The two women stared at each other before Emma's arm unceremoniously slipped and she went crashing the rest of the way into the water causing some of it to splash over the side. As she got into a more seated position, wiping the water from her face, she again locked eyes with Regina who continued to stand there before sputtering out an "I'm sorry," before rushing from the room.
Just great Emma thought at first, followed by at least now we are even.