Author's note: Some of you have asked me what the title of this story means. In this case, 'reform' is of a political nature, an act of Parliament or Law that changes another.

Thank you for the very kind reviews and encouraging words. I sorely needed some fluffy Duckling goodness to counteract my heartbreak after 5x02.

Chapter 4: Butterfly

Dearest Snow,

The boy that Emma was so taken with is, Killian Jones. He looks to be about 5. His brother's name is Liam. He's about 10 or 11. They're orphans, or claim to be. Two days ago I offered them work with me to get them out of the mines. They accepted but wanted to finish out the week at the mine because Mr Darnley, the foreman, had done right by them. They both have the nicest manners and so respectful. Proper little gentlemen. Going to clean up real nice. I'm more than happy to take them both in, so no need to rush down here. I'll keep them safe.

You give that little one a hug for me.

Yours,
Granny

"So Granny will feed him?" Emma asked, as she failed miserably to get all the porridge on her spoon into her expectant mouth. She frowned as a big glob dropped off the spoon and into her lap. She scooped it up with her fingers and stuffed it in her mouth with no grace whatsoever.

David, who was accustomed to his daughter's less than perfect table manners, picked up his napkin and wiped Emma's fingers. She smiled up at her father adoringly.

"Yes, Sweetheart. Granny's been taking care of them until I can get there," Snow assured her daughter. "They are no doubt the best fed little boys in the whole Kingdom."

David gave his wife 'the look'.

"What?" Snow feigned ignorance.

"Until you get there?" David turned and winked at Emma, "Which means once your mother gets a hold of them, Granny will only get to see them if she comes here to the castle."

Emma laughed and clapped her hands. "I'll get to play with him? The boy with the pretty eyes?"

Snow smiled indulgently at her little girl. "Yes, you will. There's room for them both, here. Killian can even join you for some of your lessons., and-."

"Hold on, Snow. The boys might have something to say about all this. Young boys usually don't want anything to do with little girls." David picked up Emma and she squealed in delight as he pulled her onto his shoulders. "I thought girls were something to be avoided when I was five."

"Oh, Charming, you were a sheep herder, don't get me started on what you liked when you were five," Snow rolled her eyes.

"Giddy up, Papa," Emma demanded. She grabbed his hair in her small hands and thumped his chest with her heels. "Can we go get the boys now?"

"How about we go meet them tomorrow, just you and me? Your mother has a meeting with the ambassador from the Northern Isles that will go for most of the day," David suggested.

'But I want to go! I found them and I so want to see Emma when she meets that boy properly. It was adorable the way they just stared at each other." Snow protested.

"All the more reason for me to go!" He jiggled Emma about until he had her bridal style in his arms. "Sounds like I need to have a good talk to this boy about his intentions. He might be trying to take my Princess away."

Snow snorted in a most unregal fashion. "You have at least ten years before you need to start worrying about that. Although," she couldn't help but bait him a little, "sure looked like True Love to me. I was a victim for blue eyes, stands to reason my daughter would be, too."

"Yes, pretty eyes," Emma nodded and squirmed in her father's arms to reach to the table for a pear. She took a bite, but sneezed and pear juice, among other things, landed on David's cheek.

"See, Charming, how can any boy covered in coal dust compare to the magnificence that is you?" Snow smirked, but she picked up a napkin and wiped her husband's face.

David got his way in the end. The next day, he and Emma, along with Graham, went to the village to meet the Jones brothers with a view to sounding them out on the idea of being taken in as wards at the castle. Emma loved traveling with her father as he let her wear breeches and ride her pony astride, although she was less impressed with being on the lead rein.

Snow got the ambassador and a long, long discussion about trade routes and corn prices. She was not amused.

David stopped at Granny's bakery to greet his friends and drop a letter from Snow. As predicted, Granny was none too pleased that Snow might shanghai the boys before she even had the chance at a good run to give them some good old fashioned mothering. Still, she knew that this way the boys would be granted many opportunities by which they could improve their future prospects. In the last couple of days she had been feeding them and had provided them with a change of clothes and a warm, dry place to sleep off the ground. She had not been surprised that their show of manners proved to be a natural state and not put on in any way. 'Good form', Liam had called it.

They told her stories of their time at sea but refrained from any mention of their parents. The omission telling her more than they probably guessed.

Leaving Granny's with a basket full of goodies, the royal entourage made their way to the mine. The foreman was shocked, to say the least, to receive an impromptu visit from the King. When he learned that the reason for the visit was to meet the Jones boys, the foreman could have been knocked over by a feather. Questions by the dozens threatened to spill from his lips but he schooled himself to refrain from asking. He sent one of his men to fetch the boys and offered to show the King and the Princess around the site.

While the foreman described the mining operation and discussed monthly yields and market prices, with her father, Emma was distracted by an enormous yellow, purple and black butterfly that had landed on the large milkweed bush about 10 feet away. She had heard about these butterflies. Her Mama had told her they were called 'Royal Beauties' but Emma had only seen paintings of them, never a real one.

"I'm royal, too. And my Papa says I'm a beauty," Emma whispered to the butterfly. It was doubtful the creature would have taken any notice even if it could have heard her. Self-involved individuals that butterflies are.

Emma slipped her hand from her father's and carefully approached the butterfly. David shot a glance to check what his daughter was up to. "Don't wander off, Emma," He warned.

"Flutterby, Papa!" Emma exclaimed and pointed to the insect. "See?"

David smiled, indulgently, but still wagged a finger at her. "Yes, I see. You can look but don't wander off."

Emma acknowledged the instruction with a sombre nod, but she was really only responding to the tone and not the words; her attention already turned back to her quarry. Not understanding that a butterfly was going to react to a change in air pressure rather than the sight of a small girl, Emma adopted an exaggerated posture of stealth and actually got to within a hand's breadth of grabbing the insect. As fate and, the proximity to the coast, would have it, one of the many brisk zephyrs that played about the shoreline blew across the mine site and the butterfly let go its hold on the milkweed branch and let itself be carried away.

Determined not to be denied her prize, Emma took off after the jewelled beauty. As is the way with very young children, she gave chase paying no heed to the path she followed. David looked over just in time to see Emma run across the track that led from the coal storage area, almost under the feet of the bullock team pulling a heavily laden coal cart, then she disappeared into the immense mounds of coal that awaited loading and transport.

"EMMA!" David screamed, and began an immediate pursuit of his wayward daughter; his heart in his mouth. His cry had alerted Graham, who also took off after the princess.

The bullock driver, quite rightly, could never have anticipated a small girl suddenly appearing on the track in front of him nor his King chasing after her. She was gone almost as quickly as she appeared but the driver's reflexes had already responded and he had hauled on the reins and turned the team. Unfortunately, he turned them too sharply and chaos erupted as the cart began to overturn, sending coal in all directions. The bullocks were in severe distress as gravity pushed the heavy cart off its wheels and onto its side and sent the driver sprawling. The reinforced side planks of the cart exploded outwards, hurling deadly splinters in all directions, including at David and Graham, who had to dive out of the way. The fallen cart exerted immense pressure on the animals whose bodies were still following the impetus of their forward motion. Brought up short, they crashed to the ground in a tangle of flailing limbs.

For several heartbeats not one person moved. The only sounds were the laboured breathing and distress-filled groans of the bullocks and the moaning of the bullock team driver whose left leg was twisted at a sickening angle. Miraculously, none of the bullocks appeared to have sustained anything more serious than cuts and bruises.

Those who had witnessed the accident were already headed over to assist. Other men seemed to appear from nowhere and before many moments had passed, helpers were swarming over the accident scene, calming the bullocks and getting them back on their feet, untangling the harnesses and tending to the driver.

"The King! Check the King!" The foreman shouted as he directed several men towards David.

Liam and Killian, who had exited the mine entrance just as the accident had occurred, were all big eyes and opened mouths.

"The King? Liam, the King!" Killian said, excitedly.

"Yes, little brother, but calm yourself and let's see if we can help in any way," Liam said, and he placed a steadying hand on his brother's shoulder and gave him a push. They were both covered in coal dust and small puffs blew into air with every step they took.

David had already gotten to his feet and was helping Graham up as the first wave of helpers reached them but he waved them off.

"See to the driver!" David instructed and took off at a run to find Emma. Graham was a only a beat behind.

"You there, Liam, Killian, start picking up the coal," the foreman, who pointed to the coal pieces that had scattered away from the main pile spilling from the overturned cart.

The boys started out on the pieces that had rolled the furthest and ran to and fro collecting armfuls to be placed on the closest stock pile. They were on the second run, when Graham came running into view from between the huge coal mounds. He was wearing a panicked expression.

"The Princess! We need help!" Graham yelled over the din. He ran up to the foreman who was a little slow on the uptake. Graham grabbed the man's arm and started to drag him back the way he'd come. "NOW, man!"

Killian heard the words 'princess' and 'help' and dropped his load of coal to follow Graham and the foreman. Liam saw Killian take off and was soon following along with two other men who also wanted to help.

Emma had chased her butterfly until it had settled a few feet down from the top of an enormous coal heap about 40 feet in height. Not at all deterred, and caring not one whit about getting her clothes dirty, she scrambled up the slope. Coal dust erupted everywhere she put a hand or a foot. It got in her mouth and up her nose and in her eyes, but on she went, higher and higher. She was nearly within reach of the butterfly when she heard her father's anguished cry and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"EMMA! DON'T MOVE! NOT ONE INCH!" David could hardly breathe. He was acutely aware of Emma's precarious position. One wrong move and the loose coal would start to collapse and likely bury the small girl. He sent Graham for help as he paced helplessly at the edge of the heap, knowing full well he weighed too much to attempt the climb.

"Gods! Don't let her move, Highness. It's not secure. It'll come down on her head," The foreman said as he ran up to the King, his tone was urgent.

"How do we get her down?" David asked, barely keeping it together. He ran his fingers though his hair and tried to get air into lungs. He couldn't think clearly. Horrific images of Emma's broken body crushed under the coal popped into his mind to torment him.

"First we need to get a rope on her. Liam?" The foreman looked at the older Jones boy, who nodded and ran off to retrieve a rope. "Maybe we can get the rope over that tree branch and if she ties it on herself we can lift her off?" He didn't sound at all sure.

"That tree is too far and she's only four. She can barely tie her own boots," David fought to keep from shouting.

Killian looked up at Emma who was looking back down at him. It seemed that she had begun to understand that she was in danger and her bottom lip was starting to tremble and tears were forming in her huge green eyes. He smiled at her, hoping to make her feel a little less frightened and when her mouth managed a small smile, he felt it to be a huge victory.

Emma's foot slipped and sent several chunks of coal rolling downwards.

"Papa?" Her small voice quavered, barely carrying down to her father.

"Just stay still, sweetheart. Don't move, you're alright while you don't move. Try to be the statue of the fairy from the rose garden. You can do that. I know you can," David called up to Emma. "How fast do you think I could get up there? How fast will it collapse? I could protect her with my body."

Graham's brow furrowed. "Highness, with respect, that's foolishness. You know you won't make it halfway before it comes down."

David exhaled sharply, not liking to hear the sense in Graham's argument. He looked up at the coal heap, it looks mountainous from his angle. Then occurred to him - how?

"How do you make these mounds so high? How do you get the coal up there to begin with?" David asked. His eyes sought out Emma's, she looked so tiny and frail. "Will it get me up there?"

The foreman shook his head. "We build a ramp, disassemble it when the heap is high enough and rebuild at the next site. I'm sorry, Your Highness, we only finished pulling it down yesterday. It takes 2 days to put up."

David was growing frantic

Killian had listened intently to the foreman dash the King's hopes. He knew what he had to do. Knew what he was willing to do to help the warrior princess who had captured his attention and would not relinquish it. Knew what Liam would expect.

"Your Highness, I'll go up and get her," Killian offered, and David turned to look at the young boy.

David's first impulse was to ignore the boy, not taking him seriously, but then he realised that Killian was likely the only one who stood any chance of success due to his light frame. Still it was a risk. He knelt down to look Killian right in the eye.

"Lad, are you sure? I know this is a lot to ask. I know how dangerous this is, but you are the lightest. Do you really think you can do this?" David asked. "You're sure you can make it all the way up there without getting scared yourself? We don't want to have to rescue both of you."

"I know he can, Your Highness. When we were on the ship, he used to fairly run up the rigging to the crow's nest. Light on his feet, is Killian, and that's what's needed," Liam had returned with the rope. He nodded solemnly at David then bent to tie the rope around Killian's waist.

"Now, little brother, you be careful," Liam said. He kept his gaze on the sheepshank he was tying with trembling fingers, so Killian wouldn't see the fear in his eyes. This was risky and if his brother put one foot wrong they could lose him and the princess.

"Killian, try going up from the other side, the slope is not as steep and if you cause a slide the princess may still be safe," the foreman said and pointed to his suggested starting point.

David cut the rope at a the rough halfway point and Killian coiled it and slipped it over his head and passed one arm through it. This would be the rope that Killian would tie about Emma when he reached her.

"I'll be careful, Liam. You'll see. I'll make you proud," Killian assured his brother and patted Liam awkwardly on the arm. Liam responded by sweeping his brother into a tight hug.

"I'm already proud of you, brother. Always," Liam assured him, quietly.

David swallowed around the lump in his throat. He hated risking a child this way, but he couldn't lose his daughter. When Liam released his brother, the King took Killian's hand and shook it.

"Good luck, Son. Save her, please," David said.

Emma had only heard about half of what was being said down below. Her knees had started to shake under the strain of keeping still. The terror was beginning to make her feel nauseous. Biting her lip, she watched as the boy with the beautiful eyes, with whom she'd been fascinated at the bakery, give her a wink and then walk to the other side of the heap and out of her sight. She knew he was going to try to reach her. She thought him very brave to try.

Killian stepped up to the base of the heap at the point the foreman had suggested. He was terrified, for he was still just a small boy and the coal heap so very high, but his golden princess had saved him and now it was his turn to save her. He wouldn't let her down or he would die trying.