The horses weren't the best in the world. Regina noticed from the tack that they were likely taken from her own Black Knights. She carefully walked around them and fed each an apple before deciding which was docile enough for Henry to ride. She helped him up and gave him the most basic instruction, "Grandpa was teaching me how to ride... before ..." Before Neverland and the missing year in New York.

She smiled, "I know... I'm just..."

"Worried. It's going to be okay, mom. It's not a scary as you'd think."

She smiles a little trying not to show him all her own worries. Like the fact that Snow was insisting on going with them meaning that her logic that they were safe from the Evil Queen was no longer valid because she couldn't be sure what the change in the timeline would mean.

She was still in her suit and long grey coat but had conceded to comfort and magic'd herself a pair of good sturdy black riding boots. "You like horses." Henry said a little surprised. "I mean there were the stuff around the house and the story in the book but ... I've never seen you with them. Why don't you ride in Storybrooke?"

Regina pet the mane of the horse she was to ride, a bit of familiarity in the back of her mind thinking that she perhaps knew this horse from its time in the guard stables. "Horses were all I could think about when I was your age, Henry. They were, really for a long time, my only friends. Riding, riding well at least, is about becoming one with your mount and it was as much about me disappearing into them as them becoming part of me."

She pressed her lips together before continuing, "As things slipped away from me even the horses didn't help as much. I felt more human on a horse than anywhere else but ... that was relative. When I got to Storybrooke... I didn't want to think about this place ever again. Even something that I loved. And after the incident with Daniel in the stables back home I don't... I don't know if I could go back there. Every time I smell the oil from the saddles or the brushes it's like I expect him to be lurking in one of the stalls."

A voice cleared and Snow was standing near, dressed for riding but with her bow, arrows and sword. "We really need to stop meeting in stables like this, Snow."

"I'm not sure if I should laugh or wince at that," Snow said, "Are you ready?"

"I think so. Henry's been riding before but not seriously."

Snow smiled at Henry, "It's okay, Marcus is a good mount and he'll keep you safe if you let him."

Both she and Regina mounted their own horses and the small group headed out. "We should stay clear of the north woods." Regina said quietly, "You had a lot of support there."

Snow frowned. They let Henry ride a bit in front of them so they could keep an eye on him, and Snow got up the courage to begin asking questions. "Henry's not your son."

Regina got a dark look, "He is every inch my son."

Snow corrected herself, "You didn't give birth to him."

"He's adopted. Legally. I didn't steal him." Regina said firmly as to not invite further questions.

"We can probably stop in a village and find suitable clothes for the two of you."

Regina shook her head, "I have no desire to be comfortable in this world. Or for Henry to see me at home in it. I'll stick to what I'm wearing."

"You went to some other land ..."

"I can't tell you the future, Snow." Regina said quietly. "As it is you know too much."

"But Henry isn't from the Enchanted Forest," Snow supplied.

"I hate this place." Regina said quietly but firmly, "I never wanted to come back here."

"He knows your past... what you've done." Snow continued quietly, trying not to let Henry hear, "Surely that wouldn't change."

"He knows. But his imagination is bad enough. I don't want him to have the visual to match. We ... he's just starting to forgive me for things. I don't think I could bare it if he looked at me the way everyone else does."

"I've got faith in you Regina," Snow said. "I always knew that you were still in there."

Regina glanced over at Snow, sadly. "You won't. You'll lose faith too. And the worst thing about that won't be that you hate me. Because I hated you so much that a little more hate didn't really matter. It was that pity you have in your eyes. You turn being sorry into a weapon and it's much worse than any fire or dark magic I could muster. And even when you decide I'm not that woman anymore you act like I'm always going to slip away. Every murderous comment or reference to magic is somehow an indication that I'm going to turn into her again. I don't know what I would do if Henry started to do the same thing."

"Do you still have the darkness?"

Regina smiled, but without any warmth. "Once you darken your heart, Snow, the blackness never goes away. I live with the Evil Queen every day. I see her in the mirror and in other people's eyes."

"It sounds like you fight the darkness though. That's what matter's Regina. It's easy to be good if you were not tempted to evil."

Regina shook her head, "Everyone has a moment when they're heart can be darkened. Even the pure and the righteous. Especially the pure and the righteous."

Snow shook her head, "I believe people are inherently good."

"Perhaps. But the darkness comes from within as well as from without. You can feed someone's hate but you can't light that fire in their hearts unless they let you." Regina looked into Snow's eyes and the princess had an unsettled feeling and fell into silence. Regina urged her own horse along so that it picked up speed and she could check on Henry.