Emma had been groomed to take over the kingdom one day. It had been ordained since the moment she was born. She had tutors to teach her various subjects from history to politics. She had been taught proper etiquette and the importance of how to greet other nobles. She had been made to learn about not only those lands in the kingdom but those outside of it.

To her, it had all been boring.

When she first met Regina and fell in love with her, she had begun to imagine another life – a life where they would run away and none of this other stuff would matter.

Now that kind of future seemed next to impossible.

The truth was she would be happier if she was never the queen.

She had given a lot of thought to what Tink had told her. She had not heard from the fairy for more than a month and she wondered if Tink had gotten to speak to Regina yet. The next morning after speaking to Tink, Emma had gotten out of bed without a plan to do as Tink wanted her to do. She didn't know what showing her strength meant. She thought she had been by being resolute about not wanting to marry Killian and insisting her love belonged only to Regina. But Tink seemed to be counseling her in another direction.

Emma just wasn't sure what the direction should be.

The first week Emma continued to be distant with her mother, but she also began paying more attention to the things going on around her. While she may be educated, she had never bothered doing anything with it. After all, she was going to inherit the kingdom regardless and there were always dozens of advisers around to ask questions of or get advice from that she never saw a reason to be involved in anything.

She began to think more critically about the life she had lived so far and the choices she had made. After that first week she had come to a conclusion – she was an idiot.

Idiot might be too harsh, she thought, maybe it was just that she was shallow. She never gave thought to others. Yes, she was polite and genuinely nice to everyone, but it was only on the surface.

Her handmaidens for instance – she knew their names, their roles, how long they had been with her, but she couldn't say she knew anything about them. So she decided to start there. She began to speak with them more freely. She didn't speak to them about herself or what they thought about her but instead began to ask questions about them. At first, they seemed hesitant to speak to her about such things but slowly they began to open up more.

One of them was in love with the blacksmith's assistant. One of them was the only child of a single mother who also worked within the castle. One of them was from another kingdom entirely. All these things Emma learned that she never knew about people she saw every day.

By the time another month passed they began to not wait for Emma to ask questions, they began to talk to her almost like she was an ordinary person.

And they also began to share gossip with her.

It wasn't just the handmaidens that she was paying attention to during this time. Since she had turned 15 she had been forced to attend meetings with her parents and their advisers. They would speak of various issues the kingdom was facing. She had never once left one of those meetings having much of a clue of what those issues were because she usually stopped paying attention. And she never spoke during them.

These meetings took place once a week and for the six weeks, Emma merely observed and paid attention. After each one, if she didn't have some other responsibility, she would go to her room and take down notes from the meeting. If she had a question about something she would go search out the adviser and have them explain things she didn't understand (mostly due to her not paying attention for all these years).

A couple of them were surprised by her seeking more information from them. Each would take the time to help her understand though and seemed pleased when she did understand. After six weeks, she spoke up during one of the meetings, making a suggestion to an issue that was well-received by those there.

She threw herself into a more careful study of the kingdom and all its facets – catching up on an education that she had taken for granted the first time around.

By the time three months had passed her confidence had increased considerably and she saw that people began to view her differently. She didn't want to think about what they probably thought of her before and instead concentrated on becoming a better person now. She embraced her role as princess and she wanted everyone to see it.

While her transformation was positive, it didn't mean it did much to solve her biggest problem – her nuptials to Killian.

Their interactions were stiff for the most part. She had made it clear to him that she didn't want this marriage. In response, he made it clear that he didn't care. He saw her as a way to increase his own standing and the fact they didn't love each other didn't mean much to him. That's not to say he didn't feign affection toward her when appropriate but now that they both knew where the other stood, when they were alone they didn't see any reason to be fake around the other. If anything, she thought this made Killian a more interesting person to her because neither felt the need to put on a show.

The only time he had given her pause was when he pointed out that whether she wanted the marriage or not, he would be "exercising his rights" as her husband.

The day he had said that Emma had prayed for Tink to appear. She needed to know how Regina was doing and if Tink had come up with anything to reunite the two women.

But Tink had been silent still.

Her relationship with her mother had not improved during this time. Snow had even complimented her daughter on her change. Emma had thanked her, but it was purely for show and her mother knew it. She never looked away from her mother now – instead, she looked her straight in the eye when they interacted. She hoped it conveyed the message that Emma was not going to back down to her – not anymore.

When a discussion of the wedding came up, Emma referred all decisions to Snow. She never got angry, never yelled, never brought up Regina's name, or did anything rash, but if the wedding planner asked her opinion about something, she would simply say she didn't know or couldn't make a decision and then pass it off to her mother to make.

There was no way she was going to help this wedding process along.

She was in her room, studying some numbers – financial information for the kingdom – when Tink appeared in her room, startling her.

"Have you seen Regina?" she asked immediately.

There was a slight pause before Tink nodded yes. From her expression Emma immediately became concerned. "What?" she asked. "Did something happen to her? Did he hurt her in some way?"

"No, she is unharmed," Tink said. "But I am concerned for her. She's changed."

"Changed in what way?"

"She is letting this quest for magic consume her and I worry about where it is leading. When she wakes in the morning she practices her magic. Throughout the day she studies magic. If it weren't for Belle there I'm afraid she would never eat. She …"

"Who is this Belle," Emma interrupted. "Daniel mentioned her too, that she is some sort of servant or something of the Dark One."

"It's a little more complicated than that with Belle."

"What does that mean? Is there something going on between this Belle and Regina?"

"No," Tink said.

"You are sure?"

"Yes," Tink said, seeing the relief on Emma's face. "My point is that Regina is concentrating on growing her knowledge of magic and ignoring everything else. All she cares about is magic. I'm afraid that includes whatever it is that Rumplestiltskin is expecting of her. His manipulation of her continues and she doesn't even seem to realize it."

She explained to Emma what she had observed – which included the interaction with Regina, the Dark One, and the assassin.

"I didn't send an assassin after her," Emma protested.

"I know this," Tink said. "I don't even think your mother did, at least not in the way the Dark One wants Regina to think. The man, he came from your kingdom, but knowing that your mother and Rumplestiltskin are working together, we can conjecture that perhaps she sent him there for Regina to be set up like this."

"But she didn't do it; she didn't kill him. She wouldn't," Emma said. She was pacing by this point. "She's a good person."

"She is a good person, but right now she isn't thinking things through. She is holding on to this pain she is feeling over what has happened with you. And yes she still believes you are a part of all of this."

"Did you talk to her? Did you tell her that I love her?"

"I have not spoken to her."

"Why not?" Emma demanded. "How can you say you are our fairy godmother or whatever and then not help us when we need it?"

"Emma," Tink said sternly. "Me speaking to Regina would have no bearing on what she is feeling or what she is doing. I have watched over the two of you since you were born. I may very well know you better than you know yourself. I'm telling you that right now Regina would not be receptive if I popped in there to give her your declaration of love."

Emma moved away from her, resisting the urge to tell Tink she didn't care and she better go to Regina now and tell her. She calmed down before speaking again. "What do you suggest we do?"

"You continue what you are doing here. You are doing really good Emma. I'm very proud of you. I will continue to keep an eye on Regina and see if I can find an opening to speak to her when she might be willing to listen. I know this isn't what you want to hear right now. I know you are wishing there was some instant solution to all of this, but there isn't one," Tink said. "All you can do is hold onto your faith that you and Regina belong with each other."

Tink was right, it wasn't what she wanted to hear, but Emma also knew there wasn't much she could do about it either. "She needs to know I love her. She needs to believe that and not these other things that the Dark One is making her believe," Emma said. "I can't help but think that the night of the ball if I had been able to speak with her alone that this wouldn't be happening now. I know if she was here with me, facing me, she would know in her heart that I would never betray her like she believes I have."

"My goal is to give you that chance."

"What is it that the Dark One wants with her exactly?"

"He wants her to cast a spell that will take him to another place, a place where he is hoping he can find his son. He had a young son whom he lost many years ago. He had tried to get Regina's mother to cast this spell, well it's a curse really, but she ended up refusing to do it. Now he wants Regina to do it."

"A curse?" Emma said. "That sounds dangerous. Would it harm Regina?"

"I do not know," Tink said. "To my knowledge, he has not shared with her any details of how to cast it or what exactly it will do."

"He wants to take Regina with him to this other world? Why? If it is about finding his son, why take her with him?"

Tink shrugged. "Maybe he needs her to get back again."

Emma wasn't sure the explanation was that simple. She was still confused by Rumplestiltskin saying her deal with him was still intact. It made no sense.

"If he does something to her, harms her in any way, I don't care if he is the Dark One," Emma said. "I will find a way to destroy him."