Chapter 4:
Enchanted Forest
The queen, Regina, was waiting for her. In the earliest sunlight, just when the shine would touch the roots of the queen tree, that was when Alisha was to find her. The queen, as usual, was fashioned in an elaborate dress. The extravagant fabric wrapped around her body and matched the tall crown placed on her head. She knew Alisha was coming; already smiling at the girl before she had even came close to being a blurry shapeless figure in the distance.
She, Alisha, would be lying if she said she wasn't intimidated by the queen.
The air was chilled, slapping the harsh air into unwelcomed skin. The floral displays cast around the palace were still wilted in the sleep of night, not opening up to face the unsympathetic wind. Sadly, Alisha seemed to be the only one walking around without any extreme sort of cover. The palace guards stationed next to the queen were already shielded from weather, the queen bathed in a slain beats fur. Alisha only had a simple dress, given to her by Snow, which was colored white with a pale blue corset. She wished that the silver cloak she had taken from Snow, just as the princess insisted she should, provided more warmth than it did. Hopefully, the weather would relent and maybe even burn down on them. The in-between season could be very unpredictable, though.
"Hello, Alisha." The queen was the only one to greet the servant, the guards only giving her a quick glance of disinterest.
Alisha replied in a curtsy, still as sloppy as before but not as clumsy. "Good morning, your highness."
The queen gave a quick laugh, her hands holding onto the reins of a horse. "Isn't it just, I hope the weather won't be too much for you on your horse."
Alisha shook her head, glancing over at the silver steed the queen gestured to. "No, I'm used to much worse in the winter. During my travel here."
The queen maintained her polite smile, "Well then, let's go."
Alisha watched, nervously, as the queen and her guards flawlessly made it onto their transportation. She felt silly, having only been on a horse few times. She pulled her cloak around her body tighter, her hair spilling out of the hood. Alisha approached the horse, a very big horse that neighed at her once she was close enough. She stood there for a moment, only petting the horse.
"Have you not rid a horse before?" The queen asked her, almost taunting Alisha with her amusement.
Alisha quickly denied, "Of course I have, your majesty. I-I've just not done it in a while."
She petted her hand over the horses' man once more, before getting onto the saddle. She didn't do the movement as smoothly as she wished, but she was on the saddle facing the right way. Which counted for something, she supposed.
Without any words exchanged, the several guards set off, riding first. The queen moved closer to Alisha, signaling for her to move in front of the queen. Alisha knew what her purpose was, to guide the queen and her group successfully through the woods they've decided to take. The queen told her of a specific herb she needed to find, one that was easily confused with a poisonous root and matching plumage. She could remember her father giving her a lesson on that specific greenery, remember the difference between the two. One, the poisonous one, smelt like the sweetest fruit, the roots emitted a lovely scent and where at their most deadly when picked from the cold. The other, the good one that they needed, smelt like rotten earth. It was ironic, and a dead giveaway to what Alisha knew.
The queen didn't attempt to make small talk, or even look at the servant. The guards would somewhat acknowledge her, with glares each time she almost fell off her horse or bumped into their own steeds. She could feel the embarrassment and warmth on her face increase, only thankful that the cold air masked much of it. Her nose and fingers were numb, the majority of her face luckily covered with her hair and hood.
Alisha kept an eye on the floor, rather than the dirt path. She watched the plants lining the muddy dirt, steering her horse away from others as best as she could. Sometimes she opened her mouth to yell, call out her success- only to find that her eyes and mediocre skills had failed her.
To pass time on the small trip, Alisha took to talking to the others in the party, despite their silence.
"That right there," She stated, pointing to a tall flower with black spots on its leaves. "is the cure to a plague a few years back, it's known as the Girvart flower. The spots on the thick leaves are actually pouches full of medicine."
No one replied.
Alisha didn't let that bother her, her voice filling the silence. "Oh! That's a Fohe!"
The flower she pointed to, that no one looked at, was a musty yellow color. The flower grew in the middle of a puddle, the sharp petals dipping into the water.
"That flower was used as an old good luck charm, even though it looks like that."
Beside the puddle was a group of bushes, bright green with deep yellow flowers. The bush had several little bugs crawling on it, with deep plum shells.
"That's the Verline bush, used to attract those small bugs." She told them, one guard glanced at her this time. "If you smash them all at once, a gas is released and used to fertilize a Aravilyn flower."
She didn't see any Aravilyn flowers; the winter flower died away at the first sign of anything bellow freezing temperatures. The crushed bugs gave off the gas that would stabilize them for a month after the harshest winter. The flower was quiet pretty, a bright white with gray stripes.
Finally, she saw it. At the base of a tall tree, suitable for the best shade, a small glimmer brought her eyes to that side of the path. It wasn't a particularly special looking plant, plain deep green circular leaves decorating a dark black stem. Several stems decorated out of the roots, the only special part of other plant. The roots stuck out of the ground, similar to a tree. The roots were a deep blood red, with cracks of green from damage on them.
"Stop!" She called out, forgetting she held no authority in the party.
The queen didn't seem to mind, her face not betraying her emotions. The guards did, Alisha saw, many of them glaring at her with hands positioned on their weapons. She paid them no mind, jumping off her horse and landing in a messy heap on her backside. She didn't feel any strong burst of embarrassment, too focused on her task. Her cloak was definitely ruined, sadly as it was the prettiest thing she had ever owned.
Since the intricately laced cloak was damaged, Alisha saw no problem with her squatting in the dirt. None of the guards made a move off their horse, not until the queen gracefully dismounted her steed. She did, honestly, feel envious at the queens' grace. She didn't even have a smudge of dirt on the hem of her clothes, where they dragged in the mud. The queen even lowered her knees down to see what Alisha was kneeled before.
"Is this it?" The queen asked slowly, her hands poised over one shinning leaf.
Alisha didn't think when she slapped the queens' hand away, barely feeling the tip of a sword glide across her cheek. Once she did, the force sent her on her back. She could feel a bead of blood drip down her face and a stinging pain in the middle of her cheekbone. Her eyes had widened dramatically, the cold air stinging more as tears formed. She didn't dare to look at the queen, didn't move to take her eyes away from the sword pointed in between them.
"Enough, I'm sure there's a reason why she did that." The queen told the guards, authority coloring her words.
Alisha finally looked to the queen, seeing the shielded annoyance in her eyes as she stared down at her. Alisha tried to jump up, only to be kicked back down by another guard hovering by her side. She fell back down harder than before, the breath taken out of her lungs.
"I'm sorry your majesty, but that one is poisonous." Alisha coughed out, one of her hands pointing to the plant.
Her hand shifted to the side, gesturing at an identical plant on the other end of the trees base. "That's the one you want."
To her surprise, the queens' eyes narrowed. "What makes you think you know better than me?"
Alisha couldn't help the gasp that left her. "No! I would never think that, your majesty!"
The queen smiled at her, a forced upturn that frightened Alisha more than it comforted her. "Hmm, you have proven to know your fair share of details."
Alisha was able to sit up this time, being disregarded as a threat now. "My father taught me well, I'm not stupid enough to take the sweet smelling plant over the rotten scented one."
The queens' head tilted, watching Alisha tense up at the use of the wrong words. "Are you saying I am stupid?"
Alisha was quick to shake her head, knocking the hood off. "No, no! Never, your majesty!"
She felt shameful, messing up her only chance at peacefully paying off a debt her father owed to the kingdom. The queen kept smiling her, as Alisha stood silent, watching the queen dig up the sweet smelling plant and the horrible one. She assumed the queen didn't trust her judgment, especially since she messed up just seconds before.
The queen stood up, done with her gathering. The two plants were slipped into two silk bags, both white. Alisha could have sworn her face was almost reflected back perfectly in the expensive shine.
Before the queen got back on her horse, she turned to the servant girl. "I hope you expect to accompany me on more trips. You're much more useful than the palace landscaper."
Alisha didn't know if she should have felt dread or excited.
The party was on their horses again, son enough. Alisha found it easier to mount the horse the second time. That didn't mean that she wasn't as clumsy. She just didn't take as long.
The dirt path was soon turned to pavement, and Alisha realized that they weren't going back to the palace. After a few moments of consideration, Alisha decided to voice her question.
"We're going to deliver this." The queen told her, vaguely.
Alisha felt her curiosity spike, a bad trait she held close to her heart.
As they traveled further, the earliest sun light had quickly turned into the earliest moon light. She didn't mind the lack of food breaks, her stomach never handling much food well. As they moved over the pavement, Alisha was aware of the pinpricks in her numb fingers and the soreness she felt on her legs. Her nose, she was sure, was going to be permanently tinted red. She tried moving her hair in front of her face, but that provided strange looks. She almost laughed at them, seeing that was when they decided to strike conversation. They didn't look back at her after that. She considered informing the queen of her knowledge again, biting her tongue to prevent speaking again. She almost wanted the queen to think of her as a one trick act, or have little knowledge and a large sum of luck.
Soon enough, after the long sixteen hours, the group finally across a building. Alisha instantly knew it to be important. There were two or three floors, and many windows. The walls were only covered in white, with a stunning courtyard to greet them. She felt tempted, like a child, to run through the almost maze like display.
"I will be going inside with just the servant." The queen told her guards.
To Alisha's surprise, the guards seemed to know what to do. Each one disappearing off somewhere she didn't know. She felt a pit form deep inside her stomach, the urge to cry flooding over her at the thought of being alone with such important people.
The queen strode in first, strutting with confidence. Alisha tried to match her stride, only succeeding in up-rooting a bush near them. She tumbled into the plumage with a shriek, the queen now waiting at the door. Alisha was quick to straighten her dress and cloak, double checking on her corset, before running up a few feet away from the queen.
The moment she leaned over on her knees to catch her quickly vanishing breath, the door flew open. Alisha assumed someone opened the door, too exhausted to see who it was. Once she'd seen a palace full of servants, she realized most looked the same.
Before Alisha could step all the way in, the queen turned around to her. "Now wait in this room for me, don't touch anything."
Alisha didn't think the warning came from the kindness in her heart, feeling a rebellious urge to touch everything.
As soon as the royal entered the other room, Alisha stood up and away from the door. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a wide circular table. Her immature need to go against the order was too strong. She danced over to the table on the tips of her toes, her hands outstretched to feel the smooth and shining surface.
"You have petals in your hair."
She felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her, shocked completely. Her toes were rooted to the spot, hands frozen. The rest of her body quickly tumbled to the ground with the loss of support.
She head was facing the stranger who had shocked her, who had tugged on her hair as he spoke in her ear with an unexpected whisper. Her eyes had widened comically, her mouth mimicking the shape. The stranger, the man no older than her, found it funny. He bent his head back, laughing at her. He even began to mimic her current face. Then mimicked her angry face, with his eyebrows pinched and his face set into a frown that was ruined by the amused upturn of his lips. She assumed he lived at the grand castle, judging by the clothes he wore. She found the hat perched on his head to be silly, or maybe intimidating.
"Nice to see you find this funny." She told him, sometime after his laughter died down.
He grew serious, something she thought impossible for a moment, studying her on the ground. He made no move to help her up, so she stayed sitting.
"So what brings you here? Eternal life? Dead boyfriend? Want to be a flower?" He guessed, circling around her. She quickly realized he didn't stay in one spot too long.
She tipped her head in confusion, "W-what? I'm just her delivering plants."
He stopped in his stride, mid step. He left the one foot hovering. "Delivering plants, c'mon you can be honest."
Her confusion grew into residual anger. "I'm being honest! The queen needed-"
"Why didn't you just start with that?" He stopped her, with a tone suggesting she was absurd for not.
"Why does it matter?" Alisha questioned, standing up now.
He looked at her for a moment, reaching his hand out to flick away a petal. She recognized it to be from the Blinre bush she ran into.
"I'm Jefferson." He told her suddenly, tipping the hat on his head with a sarcastic smile.
Storybrooke
Once she was a safe distance away, in Granny's diner, Adeline allowed herself to relax. The pit in her stomach that felt like the controller of her sickness had dwindled down some. She knew she was supposed to be at the inn, but decided to collect herself first. Ruby had seen the girl walk into the diner, taking pity on her and keeping the secret. Granny, thankfully, was in the kitchens and would be for a while as she did something important, both girls knew long enough that she was taking mass making food to freeze.
"That's pretty."
A small, youthful, voice interrupted her face plant into the cold counter. After lifting her face from the surface, Adeline found it to be a young girl. One of the students from Mary Margret's class. She remembered from the few times she went to the class during school hours, to bring in flowers for the class. Mary Margret often requested for some of the wild flowers to decorate her class room.
Now, though, Adeline was confused. "I'm sorry?"
The girl laughed-while Adeline tried to figure out what her name was. She was sure it started with a P, or was it B or E. She started listing away names, Patricia, Beatrice, or Petunia maybe.
"You have flower petals in your hair." The girl looked concerned for her, reaching out and pulling something from her short hair.
Adeline blinked in surprise, seeing the blue petals in the small hand. She quickly ran her hand in her cropped hair, the curls tangling around her fingers. Several petals that belonged to a Cornflower danced on the counter surface.
She turned back to the young girl, watching as her small face pinched into laughter.
"Find it funny?" She asked with her own amusement in her voice.
"Very, it's not every day you see a woman with flowers in her hair."
Adeline pretended to be shocked. "Well, maybe I'm the flower princess."
That sent the girl into more laughter. Adeline could feel her own face pinch up, her nose crinkling similar to the girl, and her smile widening like hers. Soon enough, she let out her bubbling laughter. The dread she felt seemed to disappear instantly.
"I'm Paige, by the way." The girl, Paige, told her through her laughter.
AN:
All the flowers in this chapter, the ones in Alisha's pov, are made up by me.
I hope no one is annoyed with the way I'm writing this-no ones said so, but I personally haven't seen one like this and really enjoy writing the two timelines for one character. Kind of channeling the show in that sense. Some chapters will be just Alisha or just her counterpart, if that relives any of you who don't like switching POVs.
Also, don't know if you noticed, but I couldn't do the whole wait a week like I said I would, whoops. I'm thinking maybe once or twice a week with updates will allow me to write ahead like I've been doing, with a chapter a day.
Guest: Thank you! :) Alisha/Adeline is going to be, for now, writing up her own kind of detached from the show plot. Once we get caught up with the plot, which we sort of are in Storybrooke, things should make more sense.