The wind ran fingers through her hair as the gleaming white mere surged under her; it had been almost a year since she ascended to the throne and finally things were starting to look up for the Kingdom. As she rode home towards the Palace walls it felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She leaned forward in to Ragnfridr's mane and spurred the mere on across the sand with the water splashing her face from the speed of the animal. As always William wasn't far behind letting her win as per usual. Clearly fearing the wrath of his Queen should he chose to beat her. Snow wouldn't have minded if he had raced ahead she wasn't racing him anyway. Little did William know, but Snow was racing Eric across the sands; he was riding next to her on a large black stallion that she liked to call Adahy not that she knew why. He was smiling at her as he had after she had awoken. It was soft, tender and full of light; his eyes were not the blurred storm tossed blue-grey they had been when they had first met, but the clear grey like filtered moonlight as they had been the day of the battle and when he had finally left her where she was supposed to be.
She had realised in the days after the coronation that he was not just one man. She had thought when he had turned away, he was everything. She knew she shouldn't become attached, but she couldn't help herself. He had made her who she was; before she had met Eric she didn't think she could accomplish anything; after all she was just one girl. However simply being in his company had made her everything she needed to be to beat Ravenna. For that she was grateful beyond all measure. When he had left the palace for only the God's knew where, she had tried to find him. She had tried to track him down; if only to see him one more time, but he had vanished from the face of the earth as if he had never existed.
People had kept asking when she and William would marry. She knew there was only so much longer she could wait before she would have to do as her people wanted and expected.
When she reached the portcullis she knew Eric would vanish as he always did. He never made it through the gates with her, because even in her head the palace was no place for him. It would never be a place that would make him happy even if she was inside the surrounding walls with him. He was vital made of dirt and tree bark; he was never supposed to be surrounded by four high walls made of mortar and stone.
When she reached the stable she vaulted off her horse and made her way to the throne room where she would report in on what had happened at the meeting between her, William and a village elder that lived on the out skirts of the Dark forest. She had been surprised at how successful the meeting had been as she was still so very new to the world of delegations. However the old man had seemed impressed that she rode in with just one other person and not a hoard.
She had made it known what she was planning to do with the Kingdom and how he and his people would be affected. He listened with the intent of a man that took everything that was said to him to heart and when Snow had finished he nodded and told her that unlike the Dark Queen as Ravenna was now dubbed he would accept the terms. Snow White would help rebuild his village that had been pillaged and damaged during the war, but the elder had to understand that she would be resettling some of the refugees there. The talks and then the plans for the new village had gone over smoothly with William letting Snow talk while he stood and watched her. He always watched her. She still wished with all her heart that she felt for him as he did for her or that she felt for him in the way that would make others happy, but she didn't and she had told him as such.
He was her oldest friend and in her mind he was still the boy who taunted her and teased her while they climbed trees and chased each other in the court yard. When she had told him his hazel eyes for a second had become cold and hard and he had asked,
"Is there someone else?" When Snow's face fell he knew without words who the other person was and Snow remembered him gritting his teeth in a way that screamed "Why him?" louder than any words ever could. He had eventually accepted it since he knew that she and the Huntsman could never be together, but it didn't stop him watching her.
When she entered the throne room the first person she saw was Duke Hammond her advisor and he made his way across the large stone expanse towards her; his arms outstretched to envelope her in a warm embrace. He did it after she returned from whatever new errand she felt she needed to run. She didn't want to be a figure head that sat on the throne, but never lifted a finger to help her people; she wanted to fight back the darkness as she had that day when she rode to the palace walls with Eric next to her. She wanted to feel as if she was making a difference.
The duke held her tight and she could smell the incense on his robes from the palace chapel where he prayed daily. His prayers were that of thanks to the Gods for finally delivering them all safely from the darkness and also asking that Snow be strong enough to right the wrongs that had befallen the land now under her command. Some parts of Snow's mind thought she should be insulted by this; had she not proved her strength over and over again to everyone? Mainly she was happy that the Duke who had lost his religion and hope had found it once again.
"My child how was the talks?" He asked when he dropped his arms from her frame.
"They went the way we hoped, I will send the workmen and six families." She said with a smile, "How many refugees does that leave us with after that?" she asked rubbing her forehead trying to think of the numbers.
"A lot less than we started with," William replied with a grin. Snow smiled, the thought should have made her feel better, but after seeing Eric again on the sand she couldn't think of the others, she wanted a moment to herself to be selfish and only think of him.
When she had been in the tower she had only though of William and what their love would have been like as they grew up, if he was still alive and if she ever got free; she would still have chased him everywhere until she had reached the age where he would have chased her because of her beauty. They would have been betrothed at the age of eighteen and married at the age of twenty-one, then they would have had children until she had born an heir to the throne; who could rise without contestation. It was all painted out in her mind; it was perfect she had loved imagining the wedding or the moment when William had started chasing her instead of the other way around. She had never thought of anything else and since she never thought she was leaving the tower, it was an innocent but ultimately naive dream.
She had realised this when she met him again as happy and excited as she was to see him there was no want in her to be his bride. They had both changed and there was no way of getting back to that moment where her innocence trumped everything else.
"My Queen?" A voice asked and Snow snapped out of her reverie looking in to the Duke's concerned eyes, "My Queen what ails you?" he asked and Snow smiled softly, she could not tell him it were a broken heart, because he desperately wanted her to marry his son, instead she shook her head a little to clear the image of Eric at their first meeting.
"It is nothing Duke I am just a little tired." She replied a light smile on her lips to reassure the older man.
"Well I shall leave you in peace." He said and walked out of the throne room. That's when she saw them. Anna, Greta and Rose stood together against one of the large windows. They were talking in hushed voices as if they were trying to keep the secrets of the universe to themselves. She approached them with William as always just two steps behind.
"Ladies," He said and the trio turned with the widest smiles on their faces, and they looked at Snow nodding. Her heart leapt in her chest, it couldn't be; they couldn't have found him.
"Excuse us William," she said turning to him for a second, "But I need a moment with these women." William nodded knowing when he wasn't wanted, turned on his heel and stalked off across the throne room. Snow turned back to her friends with the empty space in her gut slowly being filled.
"Where is he?" she asked softly not wanting other courtiers to hear them. Anna was the first one to speak as Rose took Snow's hand in hers squeezing it slightly.
"I have heard talk of a widower with a lot of money settling down, but twenty miles from here where the coast meets the mountain forests. It's said that he was in the wars, but has decided that the quiet life suits him better." She then took Snow's other hand and shook it, "I don't know if it is him for sure, but it wouldn't hurt to look. When is your next ride my Queen?" The words got stuck in her throat as she tried to respond, he was so close and she never even knew.
"This afternoon." She finally replied when the words would come out.
"Good," Rose said and her frizzy hair bounced in joy, "The sooner the better."
"What if he isn't there? Or he doesn't want to see me?" she asked suddenly filled with fear,
"If the latter is the case he is far stupider than I thought he was," Anna answered her softly. "Go to him and find out." Snow looked in to the bright eyes of her friends and squeezed their hands in return; she had never thought this day would come.
AN: I decided that having the book version of Greta (Rose) and actual Greta was better than Snow only having two people in the court that were on her side, even if Greta does not speak.
The names of the horses are also very important.
Ragnfridr is old Norse for "Wise and Beautiful" and Adahy is the Cherokee for "Lives in the Woods"