The fairies were back.

Why, exactly, it had taken them this long to travel from Fairy Land to Misthaven, Regina didn't know - or care - but they were here and - more importantly, to her mind - Tinkerbelle was with them, a fairy once more.

Upon arrival, she immediately made herself human-sized in order to throw her arms around Regina in an embrace that the queen returned with unexpected emotion; she hadn't realised just how much she had gotten used to having the fairy around again until she vanished.

Blue's attention was immediately drawn to Snow, and a private discussion immediately took place.

"What's all that about?" Tinkerbelle murmured.

Regina smiled sadly. "I think I know."

"How are you holding up?" Tinkerbelle asked instead.

Regina sighed. "I've been better," she said frankly. "I'm …" she trailed off, unsure how to explain it.

Tinkerbelle nodded knowingly. "One foot in front of the other. Just keep moving."

"Yeah, exactly," Regina said.

"Your Majesty."

Regina stiffened, turning to face the Blue Fairy, who had now finished with Snow and was standing before her, also human-sized. "Yes?"

Blue observed her for a few moments. "The protection spell is your work?"

"Naturally," Regina drawled. "There aren't any other magic users in the castle, that I'm aware of."

"Of course," Blue said with a small smile. "The witch?"

"My half-sister, apparently," Regina said, trying to sound as though she couldn't care less - and failing, judging by the look on Tinkerbelle's face. "She wants to destroy me. So far, though, we have no idea what she's up to."

"Of course," Blue murmured again. "I was hoping you and I could have a word, Your Majesty. Clear the air."

Regina pursed her lips, but nodded. "I assume you'd like a bit more privacy than you had with my daughter."

Dropping the 'step' was something she rarely did, but now it was a calculated move, designed to make it clear to the fairy that things well and truly changed within the castle.

Blue faltered, but her smile widened and became more genuine. "If you please."

Regina nodded, leading the way out of the dining hall, where the fairies had made their entrance during lunch (excellent timing on their part), and to a nearby antechamber.

Blue raised her wand. "You don't mind if I put up a spell so we're not overheard?"

"Of course not," Regina said, creating two chairs with a wave of her hand.

Fairy magic flashed through the chamber, causing Regina to flinch automatically, but it didn't come with the sense of discomfort that she usually felt.

"I see light magic doesn't bother you as much as it once did," Blue commented, taking a seat.

"I didn't realise it had been bothering me," Regina said honestly, sitting opposite her. "You wanted to talk."

Blue waved her wand again, producing a tea set out of thin air. "May I?"

"By all means." Regina leaned back in her chair, trying to emit an air of nonchalance.

Even in Storybrooke, before the curse broke, when Blue was, as far as she knew, a normal woman barely older than Regina herself, speaking to the head fairy gave Regina a sense of being scolded by a great-aunt.

"I've often wondered," Blue began, pouring the tea, "what happened to you."

"If you want my life story, you should have borrowed Henry's book," Regina said.

Blue shook her head. "Not like that. The night you met Tinkerbelle, you wished on a star."

"Did she tell you what happened?" Regina asked in a low voice.

"No," Blue said. "Tinkerbelle has kept her silence about what transpired between you. No, my curiosity comes from this: you were under the Dark One's tutelage. Why decide to turn to the fairies then?"

Regina shrugged, picking up one of the tea cups. "I don't know. I think …" she hesitated, half-tempted to put up a front, but she was tired - too tired to play games. "I was miserable. I know Eva was your charge, but …"

"How did you know that?" Blue asked sharply.

Regina paused, frowning. "I … don't know. I guess I just always assumed. Snow said she didn't have a fairy godmother, so your interest in her could only be explained if it was one of her parents."

Blue relaxed a little. "For a second, I thought you could see fairy bonds."

Regina laughed. "No, if I could do that, I think you'd have known about it by now."

Blue smiled. "True."

"Anyway, I assume that Eva's life with Leopold must have been far better than my own," Regina said, "or you would have stepped in to help her. She was a good person, unlike me. I didn't actually wish for help, just for a way out. I wasn't expecting a fairy to come. I mean, you never had before; why would you start then?"

Across from her, Blue stiffened, slowly lowering her teacup. "What do you mean?"

Regina frowned. "Well, I wished on stars throughout my childhood. My mother was … Well, you know the kind of woman my mother was. I wished for someone to help me, to help Daddy. For a way out, for an escape, for someone to protect me. No one ever answered. Rumple said it was because I was Mother's daughter and I was inherently dark - too dark for fairies to bother with. I mean, that's why Tinkerbelle lost her wings, isn't it?"

"No," Blue said, her voice trembling. "No, she lost her wings because she had broken a number of rules and I was … I was too harsh on her. I admit that now. But, Regina - we never heard your wishes. I don't know why, but we never heard you. I did know the kind of woman your mother was and I can assure you that, if I'd heard you, we would have helped you. As for being inherently dark … child, that's not how it works."

"What?" Regina asked in a small voice.

"No child is born dark," Blue said gently. "Darkness is something that comes to you through life, either because you seek it out, or because you suffer to the point that it becomes alluring. But you … you didn't realise you had another choice, did you?"

"Rumple …" Regina faltered, her mind racing. "He was the one who convinced me that vengeance was my only option. I didn't want vengeance, I wanted Daniel back. He … He requested Whale, but it failed. It was meant to fail. He …"

"He broke you," Blue murmured, putting her cup down. "He broke you and then he moulded you into a weapon to cast the curse for him."

Regina gave her a sharp look. "Do not absolve me. My choices were my own."

To her surprise, Blue gave her a smile. "They were. They were not choices you would have made under other circumstances, but they were your choices. And your insistence on taking responsibility for them does you credit, Your Majesty."

"Regina," she corrected softly. "Do you have any idea why you wouldn't have heard me?"

"Well, now," Blue said thoughtfully, "I assume there was a reason the Dark One sought you out."

Regina sighed. "Mother promised him her first-born in exchange for teaching her how to spin straw to gold. Except it turns out I'm not her first-born at all."

Blue shook her head. "She was lucky. He could have killed her for that deception."

"Maybe he didn't …" Regina trailed off, a letter coming to the forefront of her memory.

Cora dear - I finally got my hands on your first-born.

"Never mind," Regina sighed. "He knew."

"He was rather fond of her," Blue said. "I don't … I hate to even suggest it, Regina, but they were very close at one point …"

"He's not my father," Regina said immediately. "When I realised his history with Mother, I considered it. But any magic altering my appearance would have disappeared when I got to Storybrooke, and I am almost the spitting image of my paternal great-grandmother."

"Queen Ariana," Blue said, nodding. "So you are."

"Yes, our family tree is bizarre," Regina said, "but thankfully that's not part of it."

Blue chuckled. "In any case, it's possible that he put some kind of magic around you to hide you from us, so we didn't get in the way." She picked up her tea once more. "So we have no idea what Zelena wants?"

"No," Regina said. "Just that she wants to destroy my happiness and take everything from me. She was mentored by Rumple for a while and she's mad that he got me to cast the curse and not her."

Blue sighed. "She sounds …"

"She sounds like me," Regina admitted. "At my worst. That's why I haven't bothered trying to reason with her. When you're that focused on vengeance, there's nothing anyone can say to break through to you. But I thought you wanted to speak about me, not Zelena."

"And that stemmed from the fact that I thought you turned to the Dark One as a first resort," Blue said calmly, "not a last. I assume you wouldn't protest if I added some protections of my own."

"Of course not," Regina said. "I'm sure it would make Snow feel better. I assume you've just confirmed her suspicions."

Blue gave her a searching look over the rim of her teacup. "She told you?"

"Snow and I have talked," Regina said. "I finally told her everything that happened in this castle when she was a child. One of the things I will never forgive Rumple for … I loved her like my own daughter, and he convinced me that I didn't, that I couldn't, because I was my mother's daughter."

Blue was quiet for a few moments. "At least yours was an outside influence. I convinced myself that, as a fairy, I was incapable of love in that sense. That I had to be above that kind of emotion. And then I saw the child I created lying dead in Emma's arms."

"You are Pinocchio's mother," Regina said. "Giving birth doesn't make you a mother."

"Neither does creation," Blue said with a sigh. "And yet I realised then that I loved him all the same. I should have realised when Geppetto begged me for a way to allow him to escape and I agreed to lie about the properties of the wardrobe."

Regina shook her head. "The things we do for our children."

A thud from the entrance hall had them both on their feet, but as soon as they were outside the antechamber, the reason for the noise became obvious - the castle doors had swung open and hit the walls.

Seeing the 'intruders', Regina relaxed, raising an eyebrow. "What on earth are you doing?"

"In our defence," Robin said, hefting one end of a fir tree, "Her Royal Highness requested them. I've got no idea, but I know better than to argue with a lady."

"It is nearly Christmas," Blue said.

"We don't celebrate Christmas in the Enchanted Forest," Regina said. "Although it doesn't surprise me that Snow wants to."

"What's Christmas?" John asked.

"Basically Yule," Regina answered. "But it got taken over by one of their religions and the traditions got all mixed up."

"That's not true," Blue said.

"The shepherds were watching the lambs," Regina said. "They should celebrate in the spring. But all cultures celebrate some kind of midwinter feast, so it was easier to just drop it on top of them."

"So what are we doing with the trees?" Robin asked blankly. "The princess asked for three of them."

"Well, I'd imagine she wants one in the dining hall," Regina said. "Other than that …"

She trailed off, her gaze falling on Robin's right arm, bracing against the fir tree, his sleeves rolled up, presumably to compensate for exertion.

There, in black ink, mocking her with its clarity, was a tattoo of a lion rampart.