The next week was chaos, between Regina's magic coming back and the town trying to enact a mass exodus, nothing made sense anymore. Everywhere she went she looked for her parents, but they weren't there. She wondered if maybe they were still in the Enchanted Forest somewhere. And she, like everyone else, wondered if that land still existed. Especially considering as leaving Storybrooke was now impossible without losing yourself and being stuck as whatever ordinary person you were in this reality. She wanted to talk to Jefferson about it.

During that week Ellyn as the people who knew her still called her, decided not to go into work at the jewelry store anymore. She was free to make her own choice, and so she decided she would work at Granny's with Ruby. Granny was busy forging the way as a town leader, and she was very good at cleaning. So she became a dish girl at the diner and felt much better about herself than selling jewelry sourced without ethics from the blood of the dead in foreign lands. After she left and everyone remembered who Mr. Horn really was, the shop closed down, all the diamonds and jewels were to be stored with Mr Gold, who was surprisingly quiet and whose shop was closed the majority of the time.

Just two weeks and everything had changed.

She walked to the diner, wearing nice jeans and a cute blouse. It was a Saturday and she had a long shift. She helped fix the breakfast orders and then fell to the endless task of washing dishes. Her hair was up all day, neatly pulled back in a bun and trimmed with a headband to keep the stray hair off her face. It was near dark when she got off. She walked past Jefferson's house and heard the sound of giggles. Sweet childish giggles. She looked up and saw him hiding behind a shrub as the laughing girl looked for him.

"Hello there" she said, seeing Ellyn paused at the gate.

"Hi sweetie" she smiled "what's your name?"

"Grace" she answered politely.

"I'm Eilonwy" she replied putting her hand out to shake "or Ellyn, which is a little easier." A movement in the shrubs gave away Jefferson's location.

"Papa!" she exclaimed as she saw him behind the hedge by the gate.

"You found me" he came forward and picked her up.

"I see you found who you were looking for" the princess remarked looking at the joy in Jefferson's eyes. He nodded.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I found freedom" she said "it's still not home, and I still can't find my parents, but I did get free of Horn."

"I'm glad" he remarked.

"Could she join us for tea, papa?"

"I don't know, can you spare a moment for a spot of tea?" he asked in his best posh accent.

"I'd love to" she said and he pulled open the little garden gate and let her in.

"I'll fix it" Grace insisted.

"Be careful with the hot water" Jefferson said at the exact same moment Ellyn said:

"Do be careful with the boiling water". The two of them chuckled.

There was silence in the kitchen and Jefferson left to change out of his coat that he had worn outside.

Ellyn knocked on the kitchen door "can I help?" she asked sweetly.

"I've almost got it, but you can pick your flavor of tea" she said as she watched the kettle, waiting for it to boil.

"They say a watched pot never boils" she laughed.

"Who does?"

"It's a saying, I remember my nurse would say it whenever it came time for tea" she reminisced. "I was about your age before I was taken" she remembered.

"Taken to here?" she asked. She understood the duality of her life now, but she didn't care, Enchanted Forest, Storybrooke, wherever it was, so long as she had her papa it was all she needed.

"No, the Horned King locked me in his dungeon for years" she said "I escaped with Taran and we had good friends who helped us on the way" she explained. "We even overcame an army of the undead" she added excitedly, she could tell she had Grace's attention and so the kettle ceased to be watched and Grace heard a short version of Eilonwy's adventures in the Enchanted Forest.

"So you're a princess" she said in awe.

"In the Enchanted Forest yes, here I work at a diner" she said with a smile as the kettle began to whistle. "See, what did I say, you stopped watching it and it started to boil" she laughed merrily and rather than let the youngster risk scalding she poured the tea while Grace laid out the cream and sugar on the little table.

Jefferson had been standing leaned against the wall for they didn't know how long, he had a sad sort of smile. Like he was remembering things that were both happy and sad at the same time. The three sat down to tea and Grace pressed Ellyn with questions of what being a princess had been like and of her and Taran's adventures against the Horned King. She hadn't heard about them as a child, so it was all fresh and new. Jefferson remembered hearing of the fall of the Horned King.

"Thank you for tea" Eilonwy said as she got out of her chair "I need to get home though" she said looking at the dark sky outside.

"Could you come over again?" Grace asked excitedly. She liked Eilonwy, she was kind and a little sassy. She hoped she could grow up and become something like her.

"That depends on what your father says, his house, his rules" she said politely.

"Please papa!" she wheedled.

"Of course she can" he said smiling first at Grace and then at Ellyn.

"It was fun, I look forward to our next tea party" she dipped a curtsy at Grace and giggled, moving to go to the door. Jefferson just watched, his eyes switching from Grace's face to Eilonwy's retreating form.

"Papa" Grace said in a serious whisper.

"What is it?" he asked bending to be at her height.

"She's a princess! you can't let her walk home in the dark by herself" she sweetly chastised her father.

Jefferson smiled "right you are sweetheart" he said giving her a kiss to the cheek. "Be ready for bed when I get back and I'll read you a bedtime story" he promised. She nodded and dashed upstairs. "Eilonwy" he called out. She turned her head and looked at him. "Allow me to walk you home, it's late."

"Such gallantry, I'd swear I was a princess in both realms" she joked and gave him a smile for his politeness. They walked to her doorstep, the six block walk going by in a blink as they discussed the changes in Storybrooke and what it could mean.

"Either way" the princess said as she put a foot to the steps up her porch "I'm glad you have your Grace back."

He smiled and nodded "so do you think your parents are still in the Enchanted Forest?"

"I've searched for them here, but I can't find either of them" she spoke in a more deflated tone than her usual bubbliness. "I wish these had enough power to get me back" she said shaking her head and making her earrings jingle. The lights flared and danced.

"What do they do?" he asked.

"They guide you, and I can hear the voice in my head" she explained. "And I thought you were supposed to be the mad one?" she joked. It sounded mental explaining it to anyone. "It's a trapped essence of sentient magic, I swear I'm not insane" she said laughing.

"I believe you Eilonwy" he said walking with her to the door. "And there is something I could try, could I borrow one?" he asked hesitantly.

She paused, looking up into his emotional blue eyes. She didn't know quite what to think, but she trusted him.

"Don't lose it, don't do anything reckless with it, and don't let anyone touch it, not even Grace. It's not that I don't trust her" she added "I just don't want her getting tangled up in magic, someone might hurt her to get this" she spoke with deep concern. "I know, I've had it done to me, and I'd risk a lot before I'd see any harm come to your sweet girl" she said fondly.

"I'll guard it with my life" he said taking it as she dropped it into his palm.

"Guard Grace with your life, guard this with your head" she said and then froze, mortified as she remembered the scar on his neck. Jefferson just burst out into laughter. Unable to stop for a full minute all the while Eilonwy was apologizing profusely.

"I've learned to adjust, it's how I get ahead in life" he said accentuating the syllables to make a pun.

"Did you just?" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Don't lose your head at me" he said as he backed away toward the sidewalk.

"Maybe you should stop while you're ahead" she said finally laughing with him. The two stood there for a moment just laughing off peels of laughter. Finally Jefferson remembered his promise to Grace and left for home, eager to spend time with his child after twenty-eight years of torment.