"Charlotte, do you know why I need the book of Analain? What my task is?"
"Possibly? You don't want to kill anyone, right?"
"No."
"Good. My guess... it has something to do with you drawing out your family tree."
"That's more of a... side task. Related, but not the main task."
"Oh. Then no, I don't know."
"Good. It would be too dangerous if you did."
"Elizabeth, I can handle myself. I'm older than you, remember? Even without the whole many years not aging thing, I'm 17. Almost an adult."
"Yeah, but... you don't have magic. And you weren't born in this land."
"Yeah, I guess..."
Suddenly I stopped. "Charlotte?"
"What?"
"This is the Daisy Cove."
"How do you -"
In front of us was a field covered in daisies, 3 feet tall and blanketed so that you could walk the whole way without touching the ground. Above the daisies, a cavern stretched, so tall it looked like it might as well be sky.
"Well come on", I said, grabbing a nearby daisy. "Let's climb."
We climbed up the first daisy, and then I jumped to a nearby one. We jumped for a while, and it was fun, but we realized the cove was quite wide. Then I realized that we didn't need to cross it. We just needed to get to the center, and then turn east to get to the Everglades. I'd heard of the Everglades. It contained enchanted trees, some of which could create portals. But if one were to cut down one of the trees, the guardian of the Everglades would kill them. So no one did. It didn't matter. We just needed to go through. Anyway, we got to the center of the cove, then hopped out the eastern entrance. We began to walk east. The Oracle had said it was a weeks walk to the Everglades, but I had magic. I didn't want to magic us all the way there, for fear of losing consciousness again, but I cut about 3 days off of the journey. As we walked, I noticed something seemed different about Charlotte.
"Charlotte, what's wrong?"
"It's just... in my land, we were family. Always. But in this land, it's like you care more about your dysfunctional family tree than about me... almost like you've been ignoring me."
"Charlotte, you're my family. Always."
"Are you sure you haven't outgrown me in all the time you spent in Neverland? It seems now like I'm just a friend of yours."
"You are a friend, Charlotte. But you're still family. And you're just as important to me as they are. I don't value them more because they're my blood (or marriage relation, or dating, or... honestly, they're related in so many ways it's confusing). You're my family. You saved me, when I was just a lost little girl. For 7 years, we were family. That's even longer than I knew my parents for. It's just... with all of the magical problems happening, being in a magical land, I guess I focused a little more on the magical part of my family. And I'm sorry for that, Charlotte."
"It's okay, Elizabeth. If I had a bunch of brand new magical relatives, I'd want to spend time with them too."
"So... we're cool?"
"Yeah, we're cool."
We continued walking. We passed many deserted villages, deserted by the curse Regina had cast. That Rumpelstiltskin had created. One scroll of paper that could do so much damage. Then again, I was looking for a book that if used improperly could cause much, much more.
Every night we made camp, and I would use magic to create some food. The journey was tiring, and lonely. It was strange not interacting with society. I then realized that while I had a motive for this, Charlotte really didn't. She was only doing this for me. And I couldn't let her get hurt for me. I had to send her back to her land before I went to Analain. But the problems with that extended beyond convincing her. I had nothing to open a portal with. All I had was a dried up, useless old bean. I was wondering if it was possible to regenerate it when we came across the answer to my problem - Lake Nostos. Which meant that for all our walking, we were not very far from Snow White and Prince Charming's kingdom. But at least it meant I could make the bean work again.
"Elizabeth, what is that?"
"Lake Nostos. It's waters have powerful magical properties. I think I should get some."
"Are you sure, Elizabeth? It could be dangerous."
"It's a lake, Charlotte. What am I going to do, drown?"
"Maybe?"
I went down to the lake and collected 3 flasks of the water, then a small vial for the bean. We continued walking. After a while, we made it to the Everglades.
"Wow", said Charlotte.
"Yeah", I agreed.
It was a large forest, and it took us about 5 hours to find the center. The trees and plants were beautiful, and the animals amazing, but we knew better than to take anything. We turned northeast for another journey, but I cut 2 days off of the journey, leaving only a day of walking left. It was a mostly silent walk, as we had all but run out of things to say. Finally, we reached the Amber Meadow.
"Whoa", said Charlotte. "She wasn't kidding when she said Amber Meadow."
"No", I said, "No she was not."
The meadow was beautiful, with all kinds of plants and animals all around. And all over the place, in huge chunks, was pure amber. Amazingly, nothing was trapped in it. It was like the amber had been there before the meadow. Which... maybe it had. We found the center after several hours of walking, and there was a small circle drawn in the ground that I assumed was the portal to Analain.
"Charlotte... I think I have to do this next part alone."
"What? Elizabeth, I thought we were family."
"We are. Which is why I can't let anything bad happen to you."
"Elizabeth, I can handle myself."
"Charlotte, the task I have to do is too dangerous even for me. And I am a sorceress."
"But... how can I trust you will find me?"
"Because, Charlotte, family always finds each other."
"Ok then. Wait - am I staying here?"
"No", I said. I poured the water in the vial onto the bean, making it usable again. I threw it on the ground.
"Just think of your world, Charlotte, and it will take you there."
"Ok. Goodbye, Elizabeth."
"Goodbye, Charlotte. See you soon."
With that, Charlotte jumped into the portal, and I turned around and jumped into my own portal - the portal to Analain.
A/N: I hope you liked that chapter, and I'm sorry there was very little of the actual show. There will be a little more next chapter and much more in the chapter after that. The next chapter will be the rest of Elizabeth's year before Curse 2.0, and I would like to know what you would prefer: The short version or the long version. I have no preference, so I decided to ask. Also, next chapter you will finally find out what Elizabeth wants to do in the Enchanted Forest.