Emma paused before answering, thinking it through.

"Do you want to learn more about her?" Emma asked.

"I guess. I'm curious. I've never known anyone who could do magic besides my mom and at least from the bottle falling and what she said, she knows how to control it," Regina responded. "Maybe, I don't know, maybe she could show me how she does it. But I'm only talking about control. It's not like before where I wanted to find someone to teach me magic. If I'm not going to see about blocking or giving up my magic, then I still need to learn to control it and I don't know when I will see my mom again."

Her mom had left but not before giving her some exercises to do, none of which Regina had much success with, and without her mom there to practice with, Regina felt uncomfortable trying too much on her own.

"I don't want to jump into anything either," Regina said. "Even if I asked her about her magic, I don't want to tell her about mine. That is if I even ask her about hers. I don't know. It's just as much your decision as mine, what do you think we should do?"

"How about we wait a couple of days, think it through some more, and if we want, we could always invite her up here to say dine with us one night and then we could talk with her privately afterward, get a better feel for her and that way I would get to meet her before we make any other decision."

Regina nodded at the sensible idea. They didn't need to make a decision right this moment and Emma was very good at reading people so her meeting Anita would be better.

"See, I knew I could count on you to come up with something brilliant," Regina said, kissing her.

"I do have other brilliant ideas," Emma said.

"Such as?"

"Skipping the rest of the agenda for today and going straight up to our room."

As cute as she found Emma and her smile at that moment, Regina regretfully shook her head no. "We have at least four petitions to hear this afternoon before dinner," Regina said. "But after that, well, we could always have dinner sent to our room."

…

Regina woke before Emma as usual and she turned around to face her. Her beautiful wife. Things had been going so well between them as of late but it was moments like this that she cherished – this feeling of peace. That is how Emma made her feel – that peace, love, and a balance in life was possible.

She reached out and placed her hand on Emma's cheek and leaned forward to place a small kiss on her lips. It took three before Emma opened her eyes and returned a kiss.

"Now that is a good way to be woken up," Emma said.

"I thought you might enjoy it," Regina said.

"Very much," Emma said, kissing her this time, a much deeper kiss. Regina didn't let it go much further much to Emma's dismay.

"We have a busy day," Regina pointed out.

Emma knew this was the case as they had discussed it the night before going to sleep. A couple of months into their marriage a group of surveyors had been sent out by Regina and had established a quarry pit and now the fruits of that labor were paying off. Regina was in the middle of two days of negotiations with one of the other kingdoms which wanted to set up a trade.

While Emma was thankful that Regina was taking care of that, she also didn't like how busy they had both had been. Outside of meals and a few moments in the morning and at night she felt like she hadn't seen Regina much lately.

They hadn't come to any sort of decision about Anita, and she had to admit she was happy Regina hadn't brought it up either. Ever since Regina had told her about this other woman a few weeks ago, she was nervous about what it meant to have a magic user here in their kingdom. She needed to know if this woman was what she appeared to be or if her presence was any sort of threat to Regina.

That was why she planned on paying a visit to this apothecary shop today if she could fit it in between all the stuff she was doing. Today she had a troop review, and since Regina was busy she would be handling any petitions on her own – at least listening to them. If there were any big decisions she would discuss them with Regina so they could make them together.

She hadn't told Regina about her plan to go see Anita. She considered telling her, but she wanted to see Anita on her own and she felt like if she told Regina then Regina would want to go with her.

Although all she wanted to do now was snuggle a little longer with her wife before starting the day. But even now Regina was getting out of bed so Emma quickly moved and pulled her back down.

"What are you doing?" Regina laughed.

"Just taking a few moments more to enjoy being here with you," Emma said kissing her.

Regina kissed her back and then pulled away. "We are much too busy today for your seduction antics."

"Says the woman who can give as good as she gets," Emma said. Rolling off the bed, Emma then kept her eyes on Regina and began to walk around the bed. "Don't even think of getting out of that bed."

"Is that so," Regina smiled.

"Yes, now don't move," Emma said, as she got around to Regina's side of the bed.

Regina inched forward on the bed and Emma raised an eyebrow, "don't."

With a smile still on her face, Regina inched forward again, "We have to get dressed and start our day."

"Says who?"

"I do," Regina responded. "And I am queen."

"So am I and I say we delay this whole starting our day a bit longer."

Both kept their eyes on the other, daring each other to make a move. It was Emma who moved first, lunging at Regina, intent on driving her back down onto the bed, but as she was about to wrap her arms around her she found herself falling through purple smoke onto the bed.

"Regina!" she said, turning quickly only to find her wife standing across the room, looking down at her hands.

Regina looked up at Emma, who had gotten to her feet quickly. "Did I just …"

"Yeah, I think you did," Emma said, coming closer. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I think so," Regina said even as she felt herself shiver. "I don't know how it happened. I was just thinking I was going to dodge and get around you and then I was over here."

"I take it that has never happened to you before?"

"Never. It's like how my mom would do it to take us down to the practice room. I didn't know how she did it though. She called it teleporting."

"Ok, something new," Emma said. "We can handle that. We can handle anything."

"What if it happens again? What if I'm down there negotiating and suddenly I teleport to another part of the room or a different part of the castle?" Regina said. "What are we going to do then?"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Emma said, taking her hands in hers. "Breathe."

She waited for Regina to seem more settled. "Look, you haven't done magic in front of other people, and I don't think you are going to start doing it now."

"But …"

"No, don't think about all the things that could go wrong. That is only going to make you more nervous. Remember, it's about your emotions, so whenever you feel like the magic is going to come out, just breathe and let yourself relax."
"But I didn't feel the magic this time," Regina said. "I mean I did when it was happening but I didn't feel it before like I usually do and …"

"What is it?"

"I don't know, this is going to sound stupid, but it felt different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know how to describe it, just different."

Emma brought her in closer for a hug. "It's going to be ok. We'll figure it out. Together."

Maleficent watched the two queens embracing through her magic mirror. She was unpleased at the pace things had been going. One would think after spending years imprisoned in her dragon form that she would have learned some patience but now that she was free, she was tired of waiting.

She had thought for sure that Regina would have returned to her by now, but when she hadn't she decided it was time to give her a little push in the right direction. She had been using the mirror to spy on the queens, to learn more about them. Even though her interest was in Regina, she didn't want to discount the influence Emma had on her. She knew of the prophecy and so she had to keep account of Emma in all of this.

When she had seen the two women being so playful this morning, she decided now was the time. Using her magic she had teleported Regina out of the way. It was clear the young woman knew nothing of any substance about magic or she would have recognized that it wasn't her own magic that did it.

She was sure now that Regina would come to her.

….

The guard opened the door to the apothecary shop and Emma entered, instructing him to wait outside for her. A woman was coming out from behind the counter who curtsied, "your majesty."

"Are you the shop owner?" Emma asked although she already figured this was Anita based on Regina's description of her.

"Yes, your majesty."

Emma made a show of looking around the shop. She still hadn't decided exactly what she was going to do here, but after this morning's magical mishap, she knew she had to come and see if she could figure out what the story was with this woman.

"Is there something I could help you find?" Anita asked.

"No, I'm just looking," Emma said, continuing her walk around the small shop. There were vials filled with liquids, jars filled with what looked like herbs or plants of all varieties. There was even a shelf of different colored gems. Emma had no idea what any of it was supposed to be for.

Finally, she stopped when she got close to the counter where Anita stood waiting for her.

"How are you settling in?" Emma asked as if she was just here to make small talk.

"Very well, your majesty. You have a magnificent kingdom."

"We like to think so," Emma said. "Which kingdom have you come from before this?"

"I'm from the northland," Anita said. "Although I have traveled extensively for much of my life in the northern kingdoms. This is my first time so far south. I hope to make my home here."

Emma paused considering what she had said. There was nothing specific in her answer and she wondered if the woman had something to hide or if she didn't think specifics were needed when answering the question.

"We certainly welcome those who wish to stay here in our kingdom and be productive members of society," Emma said. "Our shopkeepers and the commerce they provide are very important to us. My wife, Regina, had mentioned your shop and I admit, I know nothing about what an apothecary does, so I was curious."

"If you have a few moments I could give you a quick explanation," Anita said, smiling at her. Emma nodded at her. "As an apothecary, I have studied for years to discover the right combination of ingredients, be it herbs, roots, berries, and all sorts of things that grow in our world, and how that combination affects us. For instance, there is a root that grows in my home province of Kadar that is very good for headaches, but it tastes horrible and most wouldn't use it for that reason. But if you grind it down and combine it with mint and the groundings of a lemon rind, then it becomes palatable to take and it's quite effective. Since I hail from the north, that is where most of my items come from. I have been collecting and storing for years in order to have more than enough to run my shop. There are so many ailments out there that people shouldn't have to suffer through when we have a world that provides us with natural solutions. I am only now beginning to explore this kingdom to see what it has to offer."

"Interesting," Emma said. "Tell me though, where does your magic fit into all of this."

Anita took a step back from her and kept her head down. "I don't use my magic in my work. I only sell natural items, your majesty."

"Regina has already told you that you may stay, and I'm not here to rescind that or anything," Emma said. "As long as you mean no one harm, you are welcome to stay, so please if that is your concern, think no more on it. I admit I was curious not just about this shop when Regina told me about it, but also about you."

"Me, your majesty?"

"Yes," Emma said. "I have only recently begun to learn more about my parents' past. I'm sure you have heard the story of Snow White. I have never really been that interested in it, I think because they are my parents and not some fairy tale to me. Yet, I have realized that in not paying attention to it, I have been ignorant of certain things, such as how magic played a role in my father defeating the witch Maleficent. When Regina told me you could do magic, I found I was curious about it. I was wondering if it wouldn't be asking too much of you if you might wish to dine with me and Regina say in three days' time so that I could ask you some questions about magic. If you don't feel comfortable discussing it, I understand, and I will not hold it against you in any way."

Anita curtsied once more. "It would be my honor to dine with you and Queen Regina. I don't know that I will be able to answer many questions, but I will do my best."

"Thank you," Emma said. "I will have a courier deliver an official invite. Now if you will excuse me."

She left the shop, still unsure what to make of this woman. She hoped that she would be able to delve more into who she was at dinner. When she had said she was from the Kadar province it at least gave Emma a frame of reference from where she was from. It was indeed in the far north. There was most likely a story behind why she would come south and settle down.

She would tell Regina tonight of her meeting with her and the planned dinner. They would dine privately with her so that they could ask the questions openly. But what those questions should be, for that Emma would need Regina's help.

Maleficent watched as Emma left her shop. Curious, she thought. She had been expecting Regina, not Emma. She wondered if Regina had sent her wife down here or if Emma was acting on her own. And if she was acting on her own, what exactly was it that she was wanting.

She would have to play her next few moves carefully. She would need to earn both women's trust, at least in the beginning.

Perhaps this would be more helpful, she thought. She knew that eventually she would have to get Regina isolated from Emma and knowing more about Emma could only help her plot how better to remove her as an obstacle.

A part of her had wanted to deal with Snow White's daughter on the spot. She was the offspring of her sworn enemies. Emma had said she wanted to know more about magic because of her parents' story, well, Maleficent would make sure by the end of all of this, Emma would understand exactly the mistakes her parents made in crossing her.

It was no longer enough for her to get revenge against Snow and her family, or even Cora and her family. No, now she wanted her revenge against the entire world and Regina would be the weapon she would use to ensure she got what she wanted.

…

Regina returned to their chambers and immediately laid down on the couch. It was late, way later than she normally would be getting up to bed.

"Regina, is that you?" Emma called out.

"No," Regina responded.

A few moments later Emma was coming into the outer room, bending down and kissing Regina on the forehead. "Are you ok?"

"Yes," she said, moving so Emma could sit on the couch. Regina rested her head on Emma's lap. "Negotiations are finally over."

"And?"

"The deal is done, and I think we will both be happy with the arrangements we made," Regina said. "Although they want to renegotiate in two years. We may have to dissolve the kingdom and disappear before that happens so I never have to do this again."

"I would happily disappear with you," Emma said. She was stroking Regina's hair, which was helping her wife relax. Regina was lying there with her eyes closed. "But that wouldn't be very responsible of us."

"I suppose not."

"I want to go to bed but I don't want to move from this spot."

"I could carry you into our room if you wish."

"No, I refuse to be that lazy."

"It's not laziness when have been going non-stop today and you are half asleep already."

Regina opened her eyes. "I'm awake," she said sitting up. "But we should probably get in there before I go to sleep."

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Regina asked, sensing the serious tone in Emma's voice.

"I went to see that shopkeeper Anita today. I had been planning on it anyway, but after what happened this morning I thought we shouldn't put it off any longer," Emma said. "I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to go and meet her and see if I could get a sense of her. I wasn't there for very long and she did seem concerned that I was there to ask her to leave. I assured her I was not and I asked her if she would like to dine with us in three days. I thought that would give you enough time to finish with the negotiations and for us to figure out what to ask her."

Regina didn't say anything immediately as she thought through what Emma said. "Did you like her?"

Emma shrugged. "Like I said, I wasn't there very long. At first, I thought maybe she was avoiding telling me the truth when I asked her something simple like where she was from, but she did end up saying. I don't know, I couldn't get a real good feel from such a short interaction. But I did tell her I was the one interested in hearing more about her magic," Emma said. "I told her I was interested because of my parents' story and not knowing magic was involved. I thought it would at least give us a lead-in as to why we are asking about it."

"That's a really good idea," Regina said. "I think part of the reason I hadn't said anything more about her was that I didn't know how to even approach asking her about magic. Thank you."

"So you aren't mad that I went to see her without telling you?"

"No, of course not," Regina said putting her hand on Emma's. "I know you only went because of me, and that means so much to me."

Emma gave her a small kiss. "Good."

"Now, as much as we should probably discuss this some more, I want to go to bed."

Emma laughed, and then stood and held her hand out to Regina, who took it and was pulled up. "Come on," Emma said. "To bed, we go."