"Are you sure Regina is ok?" Cora asked Emma at dinner. They had all sat down for a meal and at that time Emma told them that Regina would not be joining them as she had a slight headache and wanted to lay down.

"She's fine," Emma said not making eye contact with her. She was afraid if she looked at either of Regina's parents she would launch into a tirade about what they had done to their daughter. It had been a couple of hours since Regina went to sleep and Emma had checked on her again before coming down to have dinner with the parents. She figured that was an obligation she could not get out of.

Plus she didn't want anyone asking too many questions about Regina's nap.

"She was fine when I spent time with her this morning," Snow said. "She's done a lot to prepare for this festival so I wouldn't be surprised if she needed a moment or two to rest up. I must say I'm impressed so far with the amount of thought that you two put into this."

"It was mostly Regina," Emma said. She was happy to see her mother backing Regina up, something she wasn't sure Regina's mother was capable of. "I mean it was my idea but she brought it to life."

"Oh, this was your idea," Cora said. "What made you think of it?"

Emma still didn't look at her as she spoke. Instead, she took a drink of her wine and shrugged. "I thought we should do something to mark the occasion of our kingdom and marriage being one year old. It seemed like a festival would be a good idea and Regina agreed."

"You two certainly have taken to heart your pledge to work together," Henry said. "It's refreshing to see you two getting along so well."

"Maybe we needed time to get to know each other on our own without parental interference," she said. "No offense."

She didn't care if Regina's parents were offended but threw that last part in for her parents' benefit. Her tone probably gave it away as her father steered the conversation in another direction. She didn't want to be there. She wanted to be upstairs with Regina. She wasn't sure how much time she would get to spend with her wife in the coming days.

Tomorrow other rulers who had been invited would arrive and they would both be busy entertaining those nobles and their guests. Then the festival would be underway the following day and while she would be with Regina for parts of that with so much going on and so many guests they would not have privacy.

Now that she thought about it, her plan to have a festival to celebrate their first anniversary practically ensured they wouldn't get much time together. She wondered if Regina had realized that. Yes, she had come up with the idea as a way to get magicians here, but now that she had fallen in love with her wife she did want to celebrate their marriage.

But would Regina?

Doubts began to creep into Emma's mind again about her relationship. What if Regina's magic hadn't flared up – what would Regina have said in response to Emma's confession of love?

"Regina."

Emma was knocked from her thoughts to see Regina coming into the room. She took her customary seat on the other end of the table from Emma.

"How are you feeling my dear? Emma said you had a headache," Cora asked.

"I did," Regina said. "But it has passed now." She waved off the server who was going to bring her food, although she asked for some water which was promptly poured for her.

"You should eat something," Cora said.

"I will have something brought to the room later," Regina said, then turned to Snow. "I've never been one who could eat after just waking up."

"That I understand," Snow said. "It usually takes me at least an hour to feel comfortable enough to be able to eat when I wake in the morning. It's a trait not shared by members of my family." She gave Charming and Emma a look at this one.

Emma's senses came alive observing Regina since she sat down. She recognized this – this was Regina with all her walls up. This was the Regina she was more accustomed to at the beginning of their marriage. She hoped it was a reaction to her magic, or perhaps her parents being here and not a reaction to her confession. Regina had only given her a cursory glance so far.

As dinner ended they retired to the study to go over the schedule of events and determine which ones they would be attending. Emma had been closest to the door when they left the dining hall so she hung back to wait on Regina.

"Are you ok?" Emma asked quietly as they left the room.

"I'm fine," Regina said keeping her eyes forward. Emma didn't say anything else, getting the impression that further talk would not be welcome at this point. Just when she thought that maybe she had been misinterpreting things Regina reached out and took her hand for only a moment and squeezed it.

Once Regina got the master schedule out there were a lot of discussions, more so than Emma thought possible. She didn't understand why everyone didn't go see what they wanted to see. No, everything seemed to be debated including what events they thought would draw the largest crowd and making sure those were ones Regina and Emma were seen at together.

Then they started getting into the smaller events.

It hadn't escaped Emma's notice that so far none of the events included just Regina and Emma going somewhere by themselves. It seemed like one of their parents was coming along with them at all times even for events that Emma and Regina were attending separately.

"You know I would like the chance to go somewhere with my wife without chaperones. We are adults after all," Emma said as they were discussing yet another event.

The comment earned her a couple of laughs.

"Did you have something in mind you would like to go see?" Regina asked her.

"I was thinking the fire show by stage three on day two of the festival. You know the guy that swallows fire. We will miss his others shows on day one because of our other commitments," Emma said her eyes lighting up a little at the prospect.

"The fire eater it is," Regina said.

The rest of the doling out of events went quickly after that and Regina and Emma bid their parents good night and retired to their quarters.

"Fire eater?" Regina asked as soon as they were in private.

"Yeah," Emma said. "It's at the same time as the magician."

"Who is scheduled to perform on the other side of the castle."

Emma smiled. "I made a couple of changes. The magician I wanted you to see is now performing next door to the fire eater and with our parents safely away at other venues, we can pop over and see him."

"Have I told you yet how much I appreciate you doing this?" Regina said.

"Yes, but I don't mind hearing accolades being thrown my way."

"You're so humble," Regina said kissing her on the cheek. "But I do appreciate all of it."

"You're welcome."

It was still kind of early in the evening but tomorrow was going to be a long day so Emma suggested they turn in early.

"I'm not tired yet, but you go ahead," Regina said.

"Are you sure you ok?"

"I am," she replied. "I was just afraid, you know, of losing control, especially around you. I didn't want you to get hurt, not like that."

"I know you didn't, and I know you wouldn't have, not intentionally at least," Emma said. "When these things happen though, you can't shut me out. You ran out on me and I thought … well it didn't matter what I thought. The important thing is that you are alright."

"About earlier …" Regina started to say and then she stopped.

"You don't have to say anything," Emma said. "It's ok. You don't have to do anything to reciprocate what I said if you aren't ready to."

"I do have feelings for you, I hope you know that."

"I do," Emma said nodding so that she could drop her eyes away from Regina for a moment. It's not what she wanted to hear, but she was going to have to be ok with it for now. She had to have faith that Regina would get there. "I should have a bath drawn, knowing me I will be getting up late tomorrow and won't have time for one."

"Ok."

…

Regina put down the book she had been attempting to read out in the common room. Emma had gone to bed more than an hour ago and due to her nap, Regina wasn't that sleepy yet. She felt bad for leaving things with Emma the way she did, but she wasn't ready to take that step that she knew Emma wanted her to take. She didn't know for sure that she loved Emma. Yes, she cared deeply for her, but love wasn't something she was sure about.

Deciding she wasn't going to do any actual reading, she slipped into their bed-chamber, pausing to see Emma lying there and then going to put a change of clothes on. Once she was dressed more appropriately she left their rooms and went down to the stables to see Quicksilver. She was brushing him down, thinking how she wanted to go for a night ride but knew that wasn't something a queen normally did. Even as a princess she had only gotten away with it a few times and those times had been because Daniel had helped her out.

She hadn't thought about him in a while – usually, when thoughts of him popped up she tried to block it from her mind. The memory of it was still too painful for her. Her magic had manifested itself when she was young but it wasn't until Daniel that she had believed her parents when they said magic was dangerous.

"I hope you aren't trying to make your escape."

She turned to see her mother approaching her. She was dressed as she was earlier although she had a thin cape on as there was a slight chill in the air still.

"No mother, just thought I would take some time with Quicksilver since I won't have the opportunity to see him in the next few days," she said concentrating on brushing him so she didn't have to look at her mother. Quicksilver didn't need a brushing down as the stable hands had taken care of it already, but she needed something to occupy her time and mind.

"You should be in bed. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow when the other nobles arrive," Cora said.

"Yes, I know, but I wasn't quite tired yet," she replied. She still wasn't looking at her mother so when Cora put a hand on hers to stop the brushing it startled her. This time she did make eye contact.

"Since we are both up, may I speak with you privately?" Cora asked.

"Like you said I really should be in bed," Regina said moving away and putting the brush back in its place. "Perhaps you should also retire for the evening."

She tried to walk to the door of the stall but her mother blocked her path.

"Please," Cora said.

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Not here," Cora said and she turned and walked out. Regina had no choice but to follow her. They continued in silence, Cora leading her up to the battlements where she finally stopped and leaned against the wall. "Do you ever think of it, home I mean?"

Regina realized they were facing in the direction of her former home.

"Of course."

"I hope when you do there are fond memories," Cora said. "You've lived a privileged life. There are poor souls out there who have had to struggle from day to day to make a life, a home for themselves. You've never known that kind of hardship."

Regina wasn't sure what the point of this was, so she remained silent.

"My father was a good man," Cora continued. "He wasn't anyone remarkable to this world, but to me he was. He worked hard and he lived an honest life. There were times when he could have sold grain for more than he did, especially in the tough times, but he never wanted to be the kind of person who would raise prices for the sake of raising prices. He knew there were others out there who struggled as much as he did sometimes to put food on the table."

Regina had never met her grandfather as he had passed away before she was born, but she knew he had been a miller – a commoner. The fact her mother had risen from that to be queen was a story that had been whispered around the kingdom but Regina never really knew the whole story. Her mother never spoke of such things so for her to do so now had Regina intrigued.

"Were there times when you had to go without?" Regina asked.

"Yes, but when you are a kid you don't think of it like that. You don't notice that you have a healthy portion of food on your plate and your parents simply tell you that they aren't hungry or they will eat later. It's not until you are an adult that the pieces begin to fill in and you realize that is what parents do, they sacrifice."

"Is that so, and what pray tell have you had to sacrifice for me, mother?"

"My magic," Cora said looking at her. "I sacrificed something that I once considered second nature for you my daughter. And to me, that was a small price to pay so that you didn't follow in my footsteps. So to answer your question in your letter, yes I feel it there under the surface of my skin if I allow myself to think about it. It is ever-present as I'm sure by now you have figured out. But these magicians you have invited here, they do not have it. One of them has a slight spark, but not a strong one and since they have never bothered to do anything with it, they don't even realize it is there. If you hoped to find someone who can answer the questions you have, these so-called magicians aren't it. Did you think it would be that easy?"

Regina decided she had had enough and began to walk away but her mother grabbed her arm and she whirled around to face her once more.

"What would you have me do?" Regina asked. "Seriously, I would like an answer to that question, what would you have me do with this magic that's inside of me? Because I don't know what to do. It grows stronger and I can't control it, yet you can so I know it's possible. Why won't you teach me to control it? After Daniel, I … I thought maybe you would see that the magic isn't dangerous, but with it, I am because I don't know how to control it. Please, mother, I'm asking you again. I will get down on my knees and beg if that is what it takes, but please teach me so that I don't … I don't end up hurting Emma like I did Daniel."

Cora embraced her. "Honey, you aren't going to hurt Emma," she said softly in her ear. "You are a good person and the magic can't make you do anything. That is what you need to learn. It doesn't control you, you control it."

"But I don't know how to," Regina said pulling back. "Why won't you help me?"

Cora sighed. "Regina, I just … I can't."

Regina backed away from her. "So that's it then," she said. "You're not going to do anything to help your daughter. Remember this moment because I will. I will remember it when I find someone who will teach me about this magic. I will remember every time I consciously use it. Remember this as the moment you lost your daughter for good."

She turned and fled the battlements. She entered the castle and stopped – she could go back down to the stables, she could make them saddle Quicksilver and she could ride out of this place, she thought. She was tired of being controlled. Her parents had controlled her, now it seems this magic would control her if she couldn't get a handle on it. She wanted so much to flee once and for all – escape all of this. Forget your responsibilities, forget who you are, she thought.

Then she thought about Emma upstairs asleep. She was the one person she didn't want to hurt and after her confession of love, she would be hurt if Regina left. Emma would understand, she thought. Of all people, Emma would understand that Regina couldn't take this any longer. She told herself she was just going up to leave Emma a note and to change clothes into some more suitable to ride in.

She entered the bedroom, her anger seeming to dissipate as she could just make out the outline of her wife's body.

"Are you coming to bed?" came Emma's sleepy voice.

"I just need to change clothes," Regina said entering the other room. She quickly changed into nightclothes knowing she wouldn't be going anywhere – at least not this night. For a second she stood there by the door to the bedroom and wondered if she had left would Emma still be safe from the seer's prediction of her death. After all, they would still be married and that is all that was required. Did it require Regina to be present for the marriage? She hated herself for even thinking it.

She came back to the bedroom and got into bed. Emma immediately scooted over and embraced her.