…A long time ago in the Enchanted Forest…
She couldn't remember how she was created, but she knew of her purpose. She knew that in order to survive, she needed the constant belief; not just of herself, but of others… of people. She knew, as every spirited deity knows, that in order to sustain one's abilities one must capture the love of people. The Wind had always been the conduit of her powers and an embodiment of her strength and for all of her existence she allowed it to dictate who she met and where she went and it had never led her astray. So the Wind delivered her to this forest, but more specifically, by a cliff where she came upon a young man in distress.
The young deity with fair skin and long raven-black hair floated down upon the dark scene. She took notice of the young man's clothes and realized that he was of no royalty. So she magically disguised herself in the clothes of a lower class commoner to seem more humbling and approachable. As the sad man mumbled depressing words to himself, she observed cautiously from behind a tree, thinking of ways to approach the situation.
"…I'll never escape the shame… his cowardice will forever haunt me…" said the thin man as he stared dangerously over the edge of the cliff. "…I can't go on living like this. Who will miss me anyways? No one," he continued, speaking rhetorically to himself as he stepped closer and closer towards the brink, "Go on lad… do the brave thing and take control of your life…"
"And by 'taking control of your life' you wish to end it? That sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me," questioned the beautiful wind deity.
The young man jumped in place, startled by the woman's sudden appearance. The first thing she noticed was his tear-soaked brown eyes as if he had been weeping for the past hour or so and his shapely nose which was stuffed and irritated. He spoke back to her, "What do you care? Not like you can do anything to stop me."
"I could, actually."
"Go away! Your pretty eyes shouldn't see such horrific things."
The young deity carried on, ignoring his statement, "I'm curious… why would a young man want to off himself?"
"I'm so glad that you find what I'm doing so amusing to you," he replied sarcastically.
"Well, if you're going to jump off this cliff and fall quickly to your death, I must have a name to tell the other villagers to collect your body. It would be quite the blemish on such a lovely landscape."
The man hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between his death and the female stranger, "…Rumplestiltskin… and yours?"
"Here's the deal, if you want to know my name you must step away from there."
"How about I just make up your name and call it a day? You seem to enjoy popping in on unfortunate situations so how about I just call you Miss Poppins?"
"You know, it does have a nice ring to it. Come now, if you're curious about my name that means you have something worth living a little while longer for."
Rumplestiltskin's curiosity got the best of him and he turned away from the cliff. Seeing that they were making progress, the young deity divulged her name, "My name is Mary."
"That can't be your name," he replied, sensing the falseness in her statement.
"I don't really have one, so that will have to do," she replied honestly.
Rumplestiltskin looked at her skeptically. There was something very charming about this woman and it piqued his curiosity. Mary extended her hand towards Rumplestiltskin when a sudden wind caused him to lose his footing. Rumple's back foot slipped off of the edge and he fell over the cliff. As he fell he reached for the closest thing his hands could grab and the vines that were draped over the edge were the first things his hands latched on to. Mary ran over to the edge, got on her belly and reached for Rumplestiltskin.
"Rumplestiltskin, in order for me to help you, you must believe that you want to live. You must believe that I can help you!"
"Of course I want to live! Why do you think I'm still holding on?!" exclaimed Rumplestiltskin.
The vines that Rumplestiltskin was holding on to seemed to gain life of its own as they weaved in and around Rumplestiltskin's legs, securing his safety. The wind seemed to help hoist Rumple up the cliff as Mary did her best to pull up on the vines bringing Rumple safely back over the cliff.
After they were both able to catch their breath, she remarked, "Second thoughts on that deathly dive?"
"How did you…? The vines…" Rumple stated, perplexed by the moving vines. He looked back and forth between her and the cliff as he questioned the validity of her strength. "There's no way you could have held me up on your own."
"Every woman has her secrets."
"Did…," he looked at Mary one more time, putting the pieces together, "did you just perform magic on me?"
"I'll tell you what… I'll come to your spot once a day where you sell your thread at the market. On each day, I will answer one of your questions. That way, you can feed your curiosity and I can be comforted knowing that each day you chose to live."
Mary turned to leave without waiting for his reply on their new arrangement, when Rumple hailed her, "Wait!"
She turned around again and saw confusion on his face.
"You just met me. You didn't even know my name. How did you know that I was a spinster?"
Mary smirked as she backed away from him, "I suppose you're just going to have to meet me at the marketplace to find out."
Rumple looked down on the ground for only a brief moment. He sighed as he placed his hands on his hips. When he looked up, Mary was gone, like the air from his sigh that had escaped his lips.
… …
Rumplestiltskin waited for Mary every day by his selling spot and every day she would arrive to answer one question. On the first day he asked if she was magical, to which she simply replied, "Yes" answering his question and then suddenly disappearing. On the second day he asked why she saved his life and she replied, "because it was the right thing to do." On the third day he accidentally asked what she was doing and she replied, "enjoying the company of fine friends." Each conversation was brief and each question was simply answered with highly convenient answers which frustrated Rumplestiltskin to the point of irritation. He wished for a little more dialogue to find out more about her. He knew of her magic, even if she didn't admit it. He knew of her generosity and kindness. He knew that there was something special about her, but he still didn't know what it was. So that next night, while he sat at the spinning wheel, he schemed of a way to maximize his one question for their next meeting…
He set up his items for sale at the usual spot at the marketplace the following morning. A small breeze entered his stand as he placed a few items about him when he heard a familiar voice, "Rumplestiltskin, the spinster and the lover of names."
Rumple smirked as he set the last item down, and without looking up he replied, "Miss Poppins. I'm surprised 'coward' wasn't one of the words you used to describe me."
"Cowardice would have been if you had followed through on that plunge a few days ago," Mary sighed before continuing. "No, 'coward' is a word I rarely use to describe people. We all have our moments of weakness and I'm glad that you chose to do the brave thing by facing the challenges of each day." She stared off into the crowd that was beginning to form in the marketplace. For a brief moment her face appeared to be filled with loss and sadness, as if she was reflecting on something or someone. Rumple looked on curiously when she suddenly changed the subject and shifted her disposition to a happier one.
"What's your question for me today?" she said forming an artificial smile and getting straight to the point of her visit with him.
"Tell me a tale… your tale."
"My tale? You want me to tell you a story?"
He nodded, smiling as he made himself comfortable sitting on a barrel before her. She nodded and smiled as she thought of her story.
"Once upon a time, there was a goddess who was confused for many things; a witch, a sorceress, a magician, a siren, a temptress. And while none of those are true, however flattering, she moved from place to place going to wherever the Wind carried her to search for love. Now, it's not what you think. She never wanted to fall or be in love. She needed the power of love to sustain herself. For humans, love is bountiful; a powerful, strange, uncontrollable, entropic force that can do amazing things. For gods, they sense that force and can transform it into magic giving them the power to continue what it is that they do. Now this wind goddess has been on a mission, a pilgrimage of sorts, for quite some time. She has been searching for a particular person, one who lives in a certain area with a reliable power source to withstand enough magic to test a certain spell. An inspirational spell; It has the power to turn any given situation into a positive one. At full strength, it can make the impossible possible."
Mary paused at the thought, debating with herself on how to continue. Rumple could see the confliction and hesitation on her face as he waited, but he was eager to learn more. So he encouraged, "Please continue. I am curious."
"The spell isn't finished. There are just a few important ingredients missing in order for it to work. So far, the results have been promising. At least when I enact the spell, the side effects leave people feeling happier than their usual selves."
"So… a spell that makes people happy. I'm sure you use it all the time," Rumple said, carefully wording his statement.
"Not always, you see… when used in excess it can make people delirious with joy and occasionally make poor decisions they wouldn't normally do. Sometimes too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing. Besides, I find that making people happy and using magic to turn lives around doesn't increase their belief in you. In fact, their faith pretty much remains the same, just as doubtful as before. So in essence, making people happy does not guarantee strong faith. You might ask, well then why keep doing it? Well, I need a strong and reliable belief source for this spell and it requires currying the favor of people. Sure with magic, people are more inclined to believe in you, but that's only because they see that you're the one bringing about the magic. You see, my problem with people is that… seeing isn't believing, it's believing that is seeing. Adults succumb too easily to doubt because they give too much into what they think they know. Children, however, are more successful with magic because they are ready to believe. They… can believe without seeing."
Mary looked at Rumplestiltskin and gave a small enigmatic smile, like she knew more about him and their given situation than he did. And despite all the information she had divulged already, she continued explaining, "So, the main ingredient that I've been looking for is a person who truly loves me and has unwavering faith. I need this person to enact my spell because that person will be the one who will free me from my immortality. What most people don't realize is that wielding magic comes with a price, and that price for me is living forever. It's quite taxing actually, watching people you've cared for grow up and eventually die… it can be very lonely."
"I didn't know immortality was such a burden, but I suppose I'm biased being just a mere mortal and all. Mary… if you need me to, I can be that person," offered Rumplestiltskin, feeling helpless in Mary's dilemma.
"You are too kind and I appreciate your offer, but I'm afraid it's not that simple. This person will have to be someone who has never seen me use magic," grinned Mary, patting his shoulder out of gratitude, "Besides, you're destined for something else in your life and I think being a skeptic is just simply in your nature."
"Alright, then I propose a rhetorical question… Who has the most faith, a person who readily believes or a person who has no faith and then suddenly believes?"
"I suppose the person who starts out with no faith and then suddenly believes. I see your point though. How very astute! However, I'm afraid being a believer is not what people will describe you in your story," Mary said, signaling her good-bye. Mary turned away, departing from his selling spot when Rumple called after her.
"Wait! Our deal! You still haven't answered my question. You claim to know my future, my story! What's my story?" Rumple demanded.
"Only one question a day, Rumplestiltskin. That was the deal," Mary replied.
"I was quite clear, that last question was rhetorical. So what is my story? That is my one question," he corrected with a mischievous smile.
Mary, realizing that he was right and recognizing his trickery with words, never showed admittance of fault or showed any signs of being flawed. She only smiled at him and replied, "Of course."
Mary came over to his side and stood next to him. She pointed at a woman that Rumplestiltskin recognized and looked at Mary befuddled. "Milah? My story is Milah?"
"For the past few days, I've seen the way you look at her and it's not out of malice, my friend. I noticed how you've helped her family in this village. Your story is a great one, Rumplestiltskin, no doubt about it. Your story may not have had a happy beginning, but love has a strange way of prevailing and guiding us in our darkest hour to your happy ending. You give up on love and you give up on your happy ending and you will be lost. Your story, Rumplestiltskin, is about love."
Rumplestiltskin gawked at Milah, consumed in thought by Mary's suggestion, when another small breeze brushed his face. When he turned to look at Mary again, she was gone.
Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to post. This chapter was one of those chapters that whenever I looked at it I was never satisfied with what I read. So for six days straight I've been editing this chapter. JUST this chapter. I wanted to make this chapter perfect and exacting out the details in my mind onto the computer screen had been very challenging, if not frustrating. I tried to make it as sensible and fluid as possible. If you can't tell, that's awesome! I was able to paint that picture in your mind. If you CAN tell, and you're severely confused let me know. Again, this has been the most frustrating chapters I've written so far, and I apologize for the delay.
Thank you Grace5231973, BreathingintheSun, carpelibrum, Montreat11 and Imusicluver23! I saw your posts and reviews and will be getting in touch with you all sometime today. Thank you thank you thank you! See you next chapter.