They left George and his men at the camp, knocked out for a few days, and with new memories while they road on towards the Winter Palace. They couldn't make great speed because of Henry, who despite the fact that he was hiding it, wasn't used to riding all day. David had taken him aside in the morning to give him a salve for the saddle sores but it wasn't just that, but worries about how much he could control the horse.

They'd been riding for two hours that morning when they began approaching a village and Regina began taking her scarf out to put it over her head when David put his fist up and the party stopped. "That's more smoke than cooking fires."

Regina and Snow exchanged a look, "Henry, David and I are going to check this out I need you to stay with the Princess. She'll take care of you."

Regina fixed Snow with a look that spoke very clearly that she better.

"I'll be alright, mom," he smiled.

She smiled back, trying not to think about what they'd find ahead. They couldn't ride around the village, just beyond it was the only bridge over a river for several hours ride.

"You know what we're going to find," David said as she joined him, his hand on his sword.

"Not specifically but I'm not an idiot," Regina mumbled. The village was destroyed, a few charred bodies visible immediately, but the smell enough to know there were more in the still smoldering buildings.

"A dragon?" David asks as he dismounted.

"No," Regina said quietly as she looked around. "Dragons would light the village up from the air and there would be fire overspray on the ground." She walked up to one building and looked inside, up at the remains of the roof not the bodies inside. "This was my work."

"You remember it?"

"No," She gestured up at the smoldering roof, "But if you light the thatch from underneath it's dry and the fire spreads quickly. The top of the thatch is still too wet to burn but the embers from the ceiling catch everything inside in a hurry."

David stared at her in horror as she described it so dispassionately. He started to enter a building, "We should check for survivors."

"Don't bother. By this point in my reign I was... quite efficient at this."

He looked at her with shocked incomprehension. "What kind of monster doesn't remember doing something like this... and talks about it like that."

She glanced over at him, "I never said I stopped being a monster, Charming. As for not remembering, as Queen I sentenced many people to death... punished many villages for supporting Snow's rebellion. If you do something often enough it doesn't stick out unless there is a memorable detail. I've done far worse than this."

"I don't believe that."

"Do you remember every knight you've killed in combat? And you've been doing it for far less time than I have." She walked along the road of houses looking in and around. Part of her trying to call up a memory. Because he was right. What kind of monster was she still?

"How do you live with yourself?" He'd never moved his hand from his sword hilt.

She glanced over at him, "I wake up in the morning and I try to do better than I did before. You can't apologize and get rid of the darkness. When I was... when I did this it was easy to live with the darkness because I prettied it up with justification and vengeance. You would be surprised what you can talk yourself into with enough hate."

He shook his head, unsure what he felt for this woman, and thinking about the laughing mad woman who held him prisoner. "You aren't what I expected from the Evil Queen. What changed?"

"Henry." She said simply and sighed. "I never wanted him to see this. Anything like this."

"You've hidden who you are from him?"

She shrugged, "I tried, but he knows."

"We should bury the bodies at least." He announced, looking at her and expecting protest.

"We should." She agreed. "Find something to make a marker with. I'll find all the bodies and magic them to a clear space so we can bury them."

Back with the horses Snow was taking the chance to feed them and show Henry how to make a fishing snare so they could get some fish from the river beyond the village.

"Your mom..."

Henry raised an eyebrow, "I really can't answer your questions you know. I don't want to accidently tell you who wins the world series and cause a paradox."

"What's a world series... some sort of war between realms?"

"Not exactly," Henry shrugged, "Do you think they don't realize I know what's up there? That's a burned village right?"

"Henry I'm not sure I ..."

"It's in the book. After Prince Charming woke you from the sleeping curse the Evil Queen was so enraged that she burned the countryside saying that only the dead could rise to support you."

Snow made a face, "She really said that? Regina always had a flair for the dramatic..."

He shrugged, "It's in the storybook. The one that tells all your stories. I think I've read it about a thousand times."

"And it has your mom's story in it?"

He paused, "Some of it... I'm ... I didn't really understand it at first."

"You are understanding, Henry."

"I wasn't always. And besides, you're Snow White. You love her too."

"Most of the time that feels like a flaw and not a virtue. But seeing your Mom... it gives me so much hope. I want you to get home but I'm sorry I'll have to wait to see her again."

Regina and David arrived back, "The village is clear but I think I'd rather translocate us to the other side..." Regina glanced at David. He said nothing.

"You don't want me to see that village? I've seen dead bodies before, mom. In Neverland."

The Charmings exchanged a look of confusion.

Regina inhaled. "There are no bodies to see there because David and I just buried them. But I don't want you to ... you already have enough nightmares."

Henry walked over the her and looked up into her eyes, "The Evil Queen did that. I don't know her but I know my mom. We should ride through and you should save your magic. I'm sure we'll need it later."

Regina wanted to cry but nodded. She road behind Henry through the village, not wanting to see his face, and behind him for much of the rest of the day. Burying the bodies did nothing for the smell of burning flesh or the stench of death. No one was hungry when they stopped for dinner but Snow insisted, taking Henry down to the river and catching fish with him.

Regina sat off to the side, rotating the ring on her finger and lost in thought. That night she sat watching Henry while he slept fitfully until a fit of practicality told her that she needed sleep herself.

The Dark castle was on the horizon and being sleep deprived would do none of them good.