"I see that these events haven't blackened your soul as it has mine." Eirys says gloomily, dispelling Mr. Gold's slightly joyful mood. It had been a while since they last had tea together, even though this wasn't their usual tea time.
Mr. Gold looks at the black tea set and the black tea sitting in it. "Ah, you're talking about Ashley Boyd and her baby." He takes a cautious sip of the tea, scowling at the bitter taste of it. "Why are we drinking tea right now?"
"Black tea and night matches my darkened soul, you baby-stealing pawn shop owner." She mumbles over her tea cup. She had attempted, and failed, at dressing in a depressed fashion with a long evergreen skirt and a brown gold long sleeved button up shirt with small embroideries along the hem.
Mr. Gold raises an eyebrow. The whole situation was obviously exaggerated by her delusional mind. "Well, I suppose I should say that I did not take her baby. I made a little deal with Miss. Swan."
Eirys just stares at him with a totally blank face. "Why did you not tell me sooner?" She demands angrily, she walks over to her little stove and picks up the metal kettle. "Maybe then I wouldn't have tried to kill you with overly steeped tea." She pours some hot water into Mr. Gold's tea cup to dilute the tea.
In that exact moment something made the ground shake like the earth decided to start rocking around. "Be careful." Mr. Gold warns, wrapping his arm around Eirys's small waist to prevent her from falling.
"Let's go see what happened!" She says excitedly after overcoming her initial shock. She rushes out the door with Mr. Gold's wrist gripped tightly in her hand. There were quite a few other people who had decided to do the same. "Isn't this exciting?" She pulls over along the side of the road, gathering with the other people who had come to see the event that caused the town to shake.
There was lots of mumbling about what this giant hole in the ground could be. "Look who finally got here." Eirys whispers as the mayor drives up in her expensive black car.
"People of Storybrooke, you have nothing to fear, we always knew that this place was honeycombed with old mines. But fear not, I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe." Regina is obviously good at spontaneous speeches about bettering the community. This becoming one of the very few times people actually sided with her on anything. "We will level it, collapse it, bulldoze it, and pave it."
"Pave it?" Henry asks walking through the crowd. "What if there's something down there?"
"What do you think is down there?" Eirys asks turning to walk back up the small hill that led to the sinkhole.
Mr. Gold shrugs. "Who knows?"
Eirys watches curiously as Regina picks something that looked like a piece of glass off the ground and tucks it in her pocket. "You think that Regina knows what's down there, like some secret underground caves?"
Most of the crowd started to head back as the sheriff's office and the fire department start to tape off the sinkhole. "I believe I should be heading back soon." Mr. Gold says walking to Eirys's car. "I have to lock up my store."
"Take my car, and lock up for me." Eirys says tossing her key ring to Mr. Gold. She walks towards a familiar looking blonde in a red leather jacket. "Emma, did you take the deputy job?"
Emma pulls back her red jacket, revealing a small star shaped badge. "I'm the new deputy of Storybrooke."
"I can't say that Regina's going to be too happy about that." Eirys says leaning about the sheriff's car.
"Archie, Eirys." Henry hisses, hiding on the other side of the car. "We need all of Operation Cobra, all four of us."
"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra." Eirys and Archie say in unison.
"Of course you guys are." Henry explains glancing around the small circle they were in. "You know everything. We can't let her do this, what if there's something down there?"
"There're just some old tunnels." Emma says.
It was going to turn into another one of those types of arguments in which Henry tries to convince them that this had something to do with the curse from his fairy tale book. "You're changing things, you're weakening the curse."
"That's not what's happening."
"Yes it is." Henry replies. "Did you do anything different today? Something made this happen."
Emma unconsciously touches her deputy badge. "Henry I told you stay in the car." And the moment is ruined by the Evil Que—I mean, the mayor. She pushes Henry towards the car. "Deputy, do your job." The little circle disbands.
"I did it, I finally did it!" Saphira says gleefully jumping around in circles, careful to not hit her furniture. "I can hardly wait." All fairy were slightly naïve, they thought that as long as they stayed in the Grounds nothing wrong could happen. When fairies pass through and remain for the night, they automatically let their guard down, doing things they otherwise wouldn't do, such as drinking excessive amount of alcohol and partying all night.
Even Saphira, despite being on a mission, couldn't help but indulge in a little of the party, which led to her deep slumber throughout most of the day before she could retrieve a certain precious item from a certain guest.
She watches the last bits of the sun dip below the distant mountains. Saphira walks to the door, blowing out the candles that lit her house. The Fairy Grounds were totally silent, everyone snoozing away in their beds, dreaming of all the good things to happen in the future. It was sickening. Saphira gently slips out of the barrier surrounding the Fairy Grounds, heading down the nearest road that went straight to a secret little meeting spot.
"You're late." The Queen says when Saphira emerges into the clearing the Queen was without her usual guards and carriage, of course, it wasn't a long walk from her castle to her garden. "Now, do you have what I want?"
Saphira pulls out a long thin glowing wand. "A Fairy Godmother's wand." It wasn't overtly special in any sense. Wands were made to enhance a fairy's natural magical abilities, to change lives and the future. Of course, in the wrong hands, the magic could easily be abused and used for evil.
The Queen gently turns the shimmering wand in her hand, inspecting it for any possible flaws. "It's perfect, except for a little thing. It's been tainted."
"What do you mean?" Saphira asks, her wish just out of her reach. "What about our deal?"
The Queen smiles. "Don't worry." She walks forward, patting Saphira's pale cheek sharply. "I just need one more thing from you. You see, wands are quite fickle, they can sense the darkness dwelling in your heart which is why I can't use it. I need a source of good magic to balance it."
"Where do I find a source of good magic?" Saphira demands totally frustrated with the idea of doing more laborious work. On any other day the Queen would've had her head for being so rude.
"Where do you think?" The Queen asks, "You live with them all the time. Beings of the purest form of magic, the fairies, the only thing you have to do now, is bring me one."
Saphira nods quickly, her dirty blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders. "I know the perfect one. And then you have to give me her eyes, remember?"
"Of course." The Queen says tucking the wand in her sleeve. Saphira quickly scampers off back to the Fairy Grounds. "But don't think your happiness is going to last. Because in my world, there will only be my happiness." She disappears in a cloud of black smoke heading towards a little prison. She really did have to thank Snow White and her little friends for capturing Rumpelstiltskin, he was always so hard to find and get rid of.
"Ah, my Queen, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Rumpelstiltskin asks from his magical cell. Of course, being in prison didn't damper is mockingly cheerful attitude, nor did it make him any less creepy.
The Queen holds up the wand, dangling it from her fingers. "I believe you know what this is, correct?"
"A Fairy Godmother's wand." He replies easily after just one glance, having stolen one himself, which led to his ultimate capture and imprisonment. "What could you possible have use for such a thing, you know you can't use it."
"What I want to know is, how did you manage to use it?" The Queen replies, tucking the wand up her sleeve. "How does a person with such a black soul use a wand?"
"A little bit of love and goodness." He says mockingly. "Or perhaps," He says stick his face as far out of the cell has he possibly could. "I don't have a black soul like you?" He taps the Queen on the nose before bursting into his maniacal laugh.
The Queen scowls. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to do things the hard way." She knew that he wouldn't give up his secrets for free, but that didn't mean she couldn't crush him like the insect he was. After all, this is what she actually came here to do. Hard way or not, she would eventually get what she wanted.
"I'm sure that little fairy friend of yours will be a great help to me. What was her name again? Oh right, Ivy." She walks away into her cloud of smoke, leaving Rumpelstiltskin with his empty threats alone.
"Don't touch her, do you hear me!" He yells even though he knows that the Queen was no longer there and that he could do nothing to stop her from carrying out her evil plans. For the first time since he got there, he crumples to the ground in total despair.
"I am the worse person in the whole world." Mary Margaret says making wonderful smores. "The absolute worst, most horrible, terrible person."
Eirys takes a smore, "Really, in the whole world?" she bites into it, letting the taste chocolate and melting marshmallow dance around on her tongue. Somehow, when Mary Margaret had invited her over to just hang out, Eirys didn't really expect to be counseling the lovestruck woman.
"It would be so much easier if Katherine weren't so nice all the time." Mary Margaret explains, talking around the smore in her mouth. "She's just so, nice."
Emma glances up at Mary Margaret from her seat at the table. "And what exactly would be easier?"
"She li—" Eirys starts before Mary Margaret shoves another smore into her mouth. "I mean, it's nothing."
"Nothing's a good idea." Emma says. "You're smart, you know not to get involved with a married guy, and it's not worth the heartache. Trust me."
Before Eirys or Mary Margaret could ask Emma about her last statement, someone knocks on the door, Emma excusing herself to get it.
"Kid what happened?" Emma asks as the door reveals a sniffling crying Henry.
"I'll get some more marshmallows." Eirys says going through Mary Margaret's cabinets for the last ingredient they needed in order to make more delicious comforting smores. "Mary, you're out of marshmallows, I'm going out to buy some more."
And when she said that, she actually meant that she was going to go back home and crack open her own stash of marshmallows. Just because she drank tea everyday with Mr. Gold did not mean she liked to drink tea all the time, sometimes its nice to have some cocoa or highly sweetened and creamed coffee.
"I got the marshmallows." Eirys says running into Mary Margaret's apartment with a bag of large marshmallows. Henry, apparently, had recovered enough to drink some nice marshmallow-less cocoa with whip cream and cinnamon on it. "I see you were having a party without me."
Mary Margaret and Emma work on making the sandwiches, letting the boy eat as many as he wanted before spewing out the entire story of how cruel Dr. Hopper had been to him. "Here you go, Henry." Eirys says packing up the last of the extra smores in a small Tupperware container. "And make sure to hide this from your mom, ok?"
"This had better not before a regular thing." Mr. Gold warns, settling into his usual chair. "I'm not a huge fan of drinking tea in the evening."
Eirys waves her hand, banishing his comment. "It's hardly evening yet, there's still sun out. "Think of it as an afternoon snack if you will." She had chosen a chocolate Chai tea to go with some more smores. "I'm in a good mood right now, so don't ruin things for me."
Mr. Gold shrugs, embracing the moment to enjoy some nice crispy smores. That is until a small quake caused tea to be spilled and smores to bounce off the table. "These things seem to be quite common these days."
"I wonder what's going on down there." Eirys says taking another sip of her tea. "Perhaps we could go check it out?"
Mr. Gold shakes his head. "It's too dangerous, besides, I hardly doubt we can do anything but be in their way. I'm sure everything is perfectly fine." Of course, the next time he decides to take a sip, the earth just happens to shake causing the hot liquid to go down the wrong part of his throat and cause a major coughing fit.
"What were you saying about things being perfectly fine?" Eirys asks, stifling her laughter behind her hand, her other one offering a more tea to Mr. Gold. Luckily for both of them, neither of them was drinking anything when the third tremor hit them. "What is going on over there?"
Mr. Gold sighs. "If it's going to bother you so much, we can head over there." He says, helping the fidgeting girl clear away their drink before taking her car towards the mine site. "It seems that there's already quite the crowd out here."
"What's going on, Ruby? I thought they were clearing this to be some sort of park." Eirys says glancing at the sullen faces of the workers. "Did something happen?"
"Yeah, Henry and Dr. Hopper got stuck down there." Ruby explains gesturing towards Dr. Hopper's dog, Pongo, who was currently without his owner and sitting in the fire truck. "They were trying to blast through the rubble, but it doesn't seem to be working."
"Pongo," Eirys says getting a light bulb moment. "Pongo can help." She steps up to open the door, Pongo racing out of the car. "Pongo probably found something." Marco and Graham hurry to uncover what was under the earth.
"What is that?" Emma asks, holding Pongo away from all of the commotion.
"It's an airshaft." Graham explains recognizing the criss-crossing pattern of the metal covering. They use a crane to lift the covering of the airshaft leaving a large square shaped hole in the ground.
Everyone seems to just start at the hole. "So, anyone got any ideas on what to do next?" Eirys asks.
"We need to lower somebody down there." Marco says, working on a way to hook the crane to said person.
"I've got a harness." Graham says walking back to the sheriff's car to get it. Why he had a harness in the car with him was a mystery.
"Lower me down." Regina says.
"No way." Emma says immediately countering the idea.
"He's my son."
"He's my son too." Emma says. "You've been sitting behind a desk for ten years, you can't do this."
For the first time since, possible since the beginning of time, Regina looked as if she was going to burst into tears. She steps close to Emma, "just bring him to me."
Of course, the five or ten minutes Emma was down there was the most silent and tense five or ten minutes ever. "They're coming up." Eirys says jumping beside Mr. Gold, who looked indifferent about the entire situation. He didn't even attempt to clap when Emma heroically climbs out of the airshaft with Henry and Archie.
There is a sort of party at the old mine site, enjoying the day of life-changing events. "I see you brought sandwiches." Emma says staring at the basket full of sandwiches off all types: peanutbutter and jelly, banana and honey, cucumber, cucumber and tuna, cucumber and cheese, and the list goes on. "What's the occasion?"
"I thought that since you saved Henry and Archie was occasion enough." Eirys says scooping up her skirt to sit down next to Emma and Henry. "You might want to choose your favorites, Mr. Gold's coming later and he'll probably eat them all."
Marco and Archie come over to enjoy the less eccentric sandwiches. "Hey listen." Henry says, all around them is the tweeting sound of crickets. "They're back. See, things are changing."
Later in the evening, someone brought out the alcohol. And the real party started.
"Are you hung over?" Mr. Gold asks seriously clearly thinking that the highly dazed look on Eirys's face meant that she was hung over.
Eirys shoos him in. "No, I'm not hung over, just really tired." She stifles a yawn by pouring some bright smelling grapefruit flavored tea. "I was Ruby's designated driver."
"Well, perhaps you should close the shop for the day." Mr. Gold suggests helping himself to some freshly cut apples in place of her usual baked goods. "I'm sure your customers are used to your spontaneous holidays."
Eirys yawns again. "I can't, Ashley's coming in for some training. And Alexandra has to come to. Oh, and I have to make a nice center piece for the Nolan's party."
"I heard they invited the whole town." Mr. Gold says remember seeing Katherine go around her neighborhood inviting everyone to her party. She also sent out invitations to other important figures of the town such as the mayor and the sheriff, even Mr. Gold got one. "I suppose you're going then."
Eirys shrugs. "I don't really know either of them. I only got invited because I helped find her husband. And she's commissioning work so I guess its common curtsey."
The bell above the door twinkles. "Miss. Eirys are you here?" The youthful voice of Ashley Boyd floats through the open backroom door. "Miss. Eirys?"
"I'm in the backroom, Ashley." Eirys calls, massaging her temples. "Please come in, come in." She ushers the new mother into the room, letting Ashley have her seat. "Would you like some tea?"
"Oh no, I already ate." Ashley replies shifting uncomfortably at the sight of Mr. Gold, obviously recent events still fresh in her mind. "I hope you don't mind my earliness. I just couldn't wait."
Eirys cuts up some more fresh apples. "I see that Alexandra isn't here, is that ok?"
"She's with Sean, I didn't want her to disrupt your teaching so early in the morning." Ashley replies nibbling on a wedge of apple. "But I do have to, you know, feed her later." The idea of breast feeding was slightly inappropriate for a male to hear.
"Well, I suppose I'll be taking my leave." Mr. Gold says abruptly standing up. "Have a nice day." He nods slightly towards Ashley before walking towards the door.
Ashley lets out a sigh of relief when the door closes behind Mr. Gold. "I don't understand how you can hang around him. He's just so, frightening." There wasn't just one word to describe Mr. Gold, but frightening was a good one.
"You can bring Alexandra over next time, she can sleep in here." Eirys says quickly washing up her tea set. She locks the little china cabinet that held all of her tea sets and picks up an extra apron. "Shall we?"
"I hear King George's son, Prince James, is going to marry that daughter of King Midas." Ivy says, weddings, especially large ones between royal families were really big in the fairy world. Mostly the young fairies like to sneak in and mingle around with the humans for a day. "You want to go?"
Bae sighs resting his head against his usual tree. "It isn't official yet, you known the fickle young girl, so many requirements, with so few men to fill them."
"Bae, where do you go when you leave the Grounds?" Ivy asks, the question plaguing her mind ever since she saw him sneak out of the forest through a different path from hers. There were, after all, many ways out of the Grounds all of which led to some sort of village or castle.
Bae glances at her, debating whether or not to actually tell the truth. "I have a little place that needs maintaining, but it's so old and worn. I prefer to stay here. And sometimes I need a change of attire; there are only so many patches one can make on his trousers before they simply must go."
Of course, she didn't have to know that the little place he had was actually quite the grand small castle, and that he just stole some poor person's clothing to keep up the image he had created for himself. Though, it was a wonder how she could be so clueless about his true identity, really, such a wonder.
"Perhaps I can go with you next time." Eirys says simply itching to get out of the Grounds. As an earth fairy she didn't get as many jobs as other fairies that are called out for blessing fishing ships for good sailing or to clear away droughts. "I could help tidy it up with you."
His castle did need a nice cleaning and the weeds were killing off his fine garden. "Very well, I think I could arrange a small trip for you." He replies finalizing his plans in his head.
Ivy nods, the lack of work was making her restless and with Saphira constantly being called away was really getting her down. "It's been so long since I've been outside, I wonder if anything's changed recently. There's not much going on around here, except that many Fairy Godmothers are in trouble."
"Oh, how so?" Bae asks always looking for some juicy information that he could sell for a price.
"The usual problems mostly, though they don't know who to choose to replace the fallen Fairy Godmother, you remember her, right?" Ivy says going off to talk about some sort of test and how Saphira might become the youngest Fairy Godmother in the history of Fairy Godmothers. "Have you noticed a change in her?"
Bae pops an eye open. "That blonde friend of yours? I can't say I recall anything different about her." There were some delicate secrets about that blonde wish granting fairy, secrets that Bae wanted to dissect out of her. "Perhaps she's simply having some womanly problems. Some fairies can be quite the dramatic ones, especially that little friend of yours." He returns to his sleeping position, ignoring the scowling look on the young fairy's face.
"She's not overly dramatic." Ivy says finding the sudden need to defend her closest friend. "She's just very, and overtly, girly at times. But she is a good person and my best friend, we tell each other everything."
Bae opens his eyes, curiosity biting into his skin. "Everything?"
"Everything." Ivy replies defiantly. "There are no secrets between us, well maybe we don't tell each other when we like the other's older brother because then she'll just tease the other mercilessly. But besides that, not a single secret."
"Of course." Bae replies smirking. Knowing that deep beneath that innocent look, Saphira was hiding a very, very dark secret that she wouldn't even tell her friend, and somethings just should not be spoken about. "Now, if you'll please. I need my rest."
Ivy gathers up her stuff, leaving a nicely wrapped sandwich for Bae to eat later. "If they do get married, we should go. You shouldn't be living off of the food I give you."
It took mere seconds for Bae to fully understand the meaning of her words. A wedding would mean a nice grand feast with large amounts of poultry, jams, vegetation, and drinks. The idea of a feast made his stomach growl. Yes, that wedding was going to happen, and he was going to go and eat at that feast.