Recap: The Miller and his daughter had been doing well for themselves, but then a fire burned down their mill and they have to figure out how to get money. The miller decided to make up a story that his daughter could spin straw into gold and the first person he told was the king.
Disclaimer: I don't own Winx Club or any version of Rumpelstiltskin. Hell, I don't even own a spinning wheel!
Part Two: Meeting Rivenstiltskin
Flora had been right to worry, for when they arrived at the palace the miller's already ragged plan began to fall apart at the seams.
Sky insisted that Flora do her spinning inside the palace itself instead of in the stables.
"But," The miller protested, "She must do her magic at night, by the light of the moon."
"Not to worry," Said the king. "The rooms on the fifth floor have windows to let in plenty of moonlight."
The miller struggled to catch his breath since it would be next to impossible to get Flora away from the palace if she was too high up. He tried again. "But if Flora is interrupted at any time the magic will reverse itself and the gold will turn back into straw."
"That won't be a problem. My servants shall lock her in her room and my guards shall be posted outside the door to make sure she is not disturbed in any way."
Flora stomped on her father's foot to warn him not to say anything else that would worsen their already perilous situation.
"And of course, if she fails at her task, she loses her head in the morning." The king added, looking meaniningfuly at the miller. To his guards he said, "Take this man away and lock him up. See to it that he doesn't try any funny stuff, like trying to escape." As two large guards lead the miller away, Sky called out, "Come back tomorrow and I'll give you your six gold pieces…or your daughter's head."
"But…but…" The miller stuttered, but before he could think of anything else to say, he was dragged around a corner.
This left Flora alone for the first time in her life.
The king lead Flora up to a room that was as large as the entire mill had been. Servants brought in a sturdy looking spinning wheel and then load after load of straw until the whole room was filled from floor to ceiling, save for the small area surrounding the spinning wheel.
How in the world and I going to get out of this mess? Flora asked herself. She had hoped to sneak out the door while the servants were busy making the deliveries of that dammed straw, but someone was always watching her every move. Then after the palace guards had locked her in, she tried to pop open the lock with a hairpin like she'd heard about in stories. But all she'd gotten for her efforts was a bent hairpin. Flora couldn't have even climb out the window because even if it hadn't been so narrow, she was too high up. And even if she did manage to escape, what about her father?
Trying to make herself feel better, Flora started to curse and kicked at the spinning wheel knocking it over. The outburst didn't really do much except maybe raise her blood pressure, but she did feel a teensy bit better.
The servants hadn't bothered to feed her when they locked her up and now as the room began to grow steadily darker and the only light filling the room was from the moonlight streaming through the narrow window of her prison Flora hungrily added dinner to the list of meals she'd missed today.
Sitting on the stone floor, the last thing she wanted to start doing was crying, but that's exactly what Flora did- loudly.
After a while- after quite a long while- Flora used the sleeve of her blouse to rub her eyes and nose since she didn't posses a handkerchief, silk or otherwise. From behind her came the sound of someone clearing his throat discreetly. Out of the corner of her eye, Flora saw that whoever was behind her was holding out a handkerchief.
Without turning around, Flora tried to work out her explanation. "Well, you see." She began slowly. "Crying, well, it's necessary for the magic. The tears are… a lubricant for the straw… but as I'm sure you've been informed this only works when I'm completely alone and since you're watching I'm definitely not alone. Also since you've been watching I won't be able to start this spell again until…." At this point Flora did turn around and she stopped talking mid-explanation.
She'd been expecting one of the king's servants or even the king himself. Instead, crouched behind her was a young man who was obviously not even human. In fact he was more like an elf. (1). Tall and slender, with pointy ears, pointy magenta hair and sparkling amethyst eyes, he'd been listening very attentively if somewhat disbelieving.
"Well, that certainly doesn't make much sense." He told her, but then he smiled warmly and Flora thought that he was handsome in a strange otherworldly way. He was quick to add, "But I do admire your quick thinking."
"Who are you?" Flora gasped in surprise, because even in her shocked state, she knew that the question, "what are you" would be rude. "What do you want? How in the world did you get here?"
The young elf paused a moment to consider the questions, then in the order they had been asked: "Rivenstiltskin. I heard you crying in my world and came to see what the matter was. And sideways, in between the particles."
"What did you say?" Flora asked disbelieving.
The elf raised his voice slightly and spoke clearer. "Rivenstiltskin. I heard you crying and…"
"No, no, no. I meant the part about… sideways?"
Rivenstiltskin nodded. "The world of humans and the world of magic exist side by side." He demonstrated by holding his hands out, his long slender fingers spread apart, and then he put his hands together, intertwining the fingers. "So that we're not taking up space that's being used by humans."- He was watching Flora skeptically as if suspecting that she didn't understand his meaning, which she didn't. "And vice versa."
"Oh," Flora said. "And you heard me crying in your world?"
"Well, you were crying rather loudly." the young elf explained gently.
Flora finally took the handkerchief he was offering and wiped her nose. She knew that blowing it would have been more effective, but it also was too noisy and undignified. "I don't usually cry. I know it's rather stupid, and it's not helpful because it doesn't do anything but give you a headache and it is rather unattractive as well… and."
"But I heard it." Rivenstiltskin pointed out. "And I came to see what was the matter. So, you see, sometimes crying does do more than give you a headache it can be helpful." He stood up straight and looked around the room. "Castle." He said as though he hadn't noticed before where he was. "Despite the straw, this is definitely a castle." He took a closer look at Flora. "However, you don't really look like a castle person."
"That's because I'm not a castle person," Flora admitted sullenly, "I'm a mill person. At least I was. But then the mill burned down, then my father told the king that I could spin straw into gold so that we could get a few gold pieces from him so we could rebuild our mill. We would have paid back the gold after we got the new mill up and running except that the king's guards took my father who knows where and locked me here and I have to spin all this straw into gold by dawn or he'll chop off both our heads."
"You can spin straw into gold?" Rivenstiltskin was obviously very impressed.
"No." Flora replied dully.
"Then, I think your plan is a bit flawed." Rivenstiltskin said.
"I know, that's why I was crying." Flora rested her face in her hands.
Rivenstiltskin started to place his hands over his ears. "You're not going to start crying again, are you?" He asked sounding worried.
"No." Flora replied. "You can go back where you came from. I won't bother you again."
But the young elf just stood where he was.
After a while he said, "You weren't bothering me. I just wish I knew how to help you, that's all."
The sad thing was that even without raising her head to look at him, Flora could tell that Rivenstiltskin was truly sincere. Beyond helpless, but really very sincere about wanting to help her out of this predicament her father had gotten her into.
"I think it's really very admirable," He continued, "that you were going to pay back the money, even before the king gave it to you. But I have honestly never heard of anyone being able to spin straw into gold. I wouldn't have any idea where to start."
"That's alright," Flora said, trying to sound convincing. "I suppose that having your head chopped off is a lot more pleasant than starving to death. It's definitely quicker."
After a few minutes Rivenstiltskin spoke up, "I have an idea."
Flora finally looked up.
"We could throw all the straw out the window, then I could replace it with gold from my world. As long as it doesn't have to be spun out."
"I doubt the king would complain no matter what form the gold was in, but would you really be able to do that?"
Rivenstiltskin nodded. "In exchange."
"In exchange for what?" Flora asked curiously.
"What do you have?"
Flora thought for a moment. The mill had burnt down with all her possessions and all she had was her second best chemise and short gown and her earrings. The earrings, which were twenty-four karat gold hoops had been her mother's. "I have these gold earrings which belonged to my mother." Flora said, taking the earrings off and holding them out to Rivenstiltskin.
Rivenstiltskin looked from her to the earrings and back to her again. "You want me to substitute this straw into a room full of gold and you're offering me these earrings in exchange?"
Flora felt her face grow red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking-"
"No, no." Rivenstiltskin said. "I didn't mean that…." Flora could tell that the young elf was genuinely distressed that he had upset her. "The earrings will be fine."
Flora handed them over, for even if he meant to take them and run away and never come back with the gold that he'd promised to replace the straw she certainly didn't think she'd be any worse off than she was at that moment.
Well, another chapter over and done. Thanks for reading and reviewing- even you Lee. So, is Rivenstiltskin going to help Flora out? Or was he just a common thief? Well, you'll find out soon enough.
1.)Technically the specialists aren't fairies so what are they? Riven is an elf for this story, deal with it.