"We've just about arrived," Bae said, turning to Emma as he broke the silence. It had been innumerable minutes since they'd spoken and her thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere. She'd followed Bae in a haze, changing directions with a pointed finger or a grunt, otherwise marching on towards a destination unknown. At his words she stopped, giving him her full attention.
"Where is it that you're taking me?"
"Here," Bae declared, approaching a moss-covered cluster of rocks.
"You brought me on a journey to... a pile of boulders?" Emma asked, incredulous.
"Do you trust me?"
"Bae, it's rocks."
"Do you trust me?" he asked again, finding her eyes and speaking each word slowly and with purpose.
"I suppose," she replied, reluctance clear in her voice.
"Then come here." Walking to the left of the outcropping, Bae checked over his shoulder to ensure she'd followed. Carefully he picked his way to the largest rock in the rear of the formation and placed his back against it, flattening himself out as much as possible. Emma watched as he proceeded to squeeze between the large rock and the somewhat smaller one sitting in front of it. Once he'd moved a few steps in, he gestured for her to do the same, and despite her skepticism she complied. She matched Bae's stance, tracing his steps as she slid between the boulders. He offered a hand to help her along, but she rejected it with a quick shake of the head. She opened her mouth to ask where he could possibly be leading them, but before she could get a word out, he disappeared backwards - appearing to be swallowed by the mountain itself.
"Bae?" In her shock, the name came out as a squeak.
"Keep coming, few more steps," his disembodied voice replied.
Emma did as instructed, discovering in due course where he had gone. As she slid through the channel in the rocks, a gap appeared behind her, hidden completely from view until she was on top of it. Judging from the way the gap faded into darkness, she'd find a cave lying behind it.
Bae's voice emanated from the cavern. "Careful, it slopes down here."
"Where?" she asked, straining her eyes. The mouth of the cave allowed for perhaps three feet of light, and Bae - along with the promised slope - lay beyond its reach.
"Here," he replied, and his hand appeared out of the shadows. "Take my hand, I'll guide you along."
With great reluctance, she took the barest grasp of his fingers and allowed him to lead her into the cave. "Watch the slope," he repeated. Taking another step forward, she discovered what he meant, the floor seeming to drop out from under her in the darkness. Stumbling, she felt his grip tighten as he steadied her.
"You should have warned me about the slope," she said, catching her balance. Judging from his chuckle, he could hear her wry smile even as he couldn't see it.
"Just a few more steps," he reassured her, answering the question she hadn't spoken. Unsteadily she complied, bumping into him at the bottom of the incline. "Wait there," he instructed. Left standing in the darkness, she could hear his footsteps moving a few feet away from where he'd left her.
A soft scraping noise followed, followed by a most welcome illumination. "There's a vein of flint that runs through the cave wall," he said, the stick he'd been holding now burning as a makeshift torch. "Come along, we've got a bit further to go."
She followed behind, taking care to avoid the jagged bits of rock that threatened to pummel and trip her. "How is it that you know this cave so well?" she asked, finally betraying the curiosity that had been building since they'd entered the cavern.
"Did you not ever wonder why my Papa allows me to leave the grounds only when accompanied?" Her eyes narrowed in confusion, not comprehending his meaning. "This isn't the first time I've run, Emma."
Her brow furrowed. "So your father knows of this cave?"
Bae shook his head. "He has no idea. He caught me when I was out foraging for food. I refused to tell him where I'd been staying."
"So no one knows this is here?"
He stopped, finally reading her concern. "Just me. Well, and now you, obviously. We should be fine to stay for a few days, regroup, let the threat blow over - whatever. At a minimum it buys us time." He blew out a breath, watching uncertainty linger on Emma's face. "Listen, it's not much, but it's shelter - away from the elements and hidden from view. Would you like the grand tour?"
The prospect of shelter was enough to lighten Emma's spirits a bit, and her eyebrow jutted up, willing to humor him. "There's enough cave to make it a grand tour?"
"Well... grand may be a bit of an exaggeration," Bae said with a chuckle.
"I see," she replied, a teasing glint in her eye. "So perhaps the mediocre tour then."
He smiled, relieved to see the ease creeping back into their interactions. "All right, then, may I offer the princess the mediocre tour of our new home?"
Emma giggled, nodding. Bae gestured for her to walk with him, matching his stride to hers as they set off. "Back there is the entrance," he began, gesturing back the way they'd come. "The alcove to the left will hold a fire and be the best space for sleeping. Beyond us is another fifteen or twenty feet of corridor, not good for much of anything at all. And to the back -"
His words trailed off as he realized she had stopped walking, instead staring at the alcove he has just pointed out.
"We'll be sleeping there?" she asked, concern apparent on her face.
"We'll have to share the space. The cave doesn't exactly come in a two-bedroom model." He cringed inwardly, her discomfort at the cottage's sleeping arrangements springing to mind. He could only hope he'd earned enough trust in the ensuing weeks that she'd feel unthreatened at the prospect of a shared space.
She continued staring at the alcove, concern remaining. "But... there's no beds."
"Of course not, it's a cave."
Finally looking at Bae, she furrowed her brow. "Wherever will we sleep?"
"I thought I'd build you a magnificent bed from the trees in the surrounding woods, then stuff a mattress using the wool from the finest sheep in the nearby villages. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to allow me to cobble the leftovers into a pallet for myself, since no settee is available."
She rolled her eyes. "Be serious, Bae."
"Well my dear princess, a preposterous question deserves a preposterous answer. Wherever do you think we'll be sleeping?"
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "This floor looks neither warm nor comfortable."
"It's not," he conceded. "Welcome to life on the run." Observing her sour expression, he sighed before changing the subject. "Come, let me show you the rest of our fine palace. We have an elegant water feature at the rear that I am sure you'll just adore."
"Ooh, a water feature," she enthused, playing along. She trailed a few steps behind him as the sound of rushing water became apparent. Before long he stopped, thrusting an arm across her path to ensure she did the same.
"Here," he said, holding the torch at arm's length to illuminate the sight before them. A narrow waterfall came from a shelf somewhere above their heads, falling past where they stood into a chasm that extended an untold distance into the ground below.
"Goodness," she conceded, "that is quite impressive." She leaned forward, attempting to catch a better view of the pit into which the waterfall tumbled.
"Careful," he warned, "stay back from the edge. I'm not sure how far down it goes but the fall would undoubtedly be fatal. I once dropped a torch down to gauge the distance and it faded from view before the light was extinguished."
"My," Emma replied, shrinking back a bit.
"Nonetheless, it is a source of fresh water and therefore quite useful. Just be certain to exercise caution around it."
"Without question," she replied, taking another step back. As Bae continued examining the waterfall, Emma leaned against the cave's wall, resting her head on it and letting out a yawn.
This seemed to spark the reminder for Bae that sleep was a necessary task. "Here, hold this," he said, handing the makeshift torch off to Emma. She watched, slightly confused as he darted about the cave, grabbing small sticks and branches that were littered around. Once he'd gathered an armful, he nodded his head back towards the way they'd come in. She followed behind him as he entered the alcove, depositing the armful into a circle of stones that she'd not noticed upon her first examination. "Fire pit," he offered, arranging the twigs before beckoning for the torch. She handed it over and he slipped it into the center of the pile.
Once the tinder caught fire, the room gained enough illumination for Emma to get a good look around. The alcove was nothing special - eight feet wide or so, maybe a bit deeper, but it had a level floor and a ceiling high enough to vent the smoke from the fire. As she glanced about, Bae pulled his blanket from his satchel, folded it in half and placed it on the floor. Once Emma had done the same, she handed him her bag and he placed them both at the head of his makeshift bed. "I'll organize them once we've gotten some rest," he said, crawling in between the blanket's layers.
She nodded, climbing into her own bedding. Though the fire between them provided light and warmth, she found that it also provided unanticipated privacy, blocking her view of Bae's sleeping space - a matter of which she was of mixed mind, given the unfamiliar setting. The problem was solved by moving the blanket a up a couple of feet, allowing him to be brought back into her line of sight - if she stretched - and she decided she was satisfied with the solution. As she lay down again her stomach let out an audible growl, and she heard Bae laugh. Rustling followed a moment later, and then he addressed her - "Here, catch."
Reflexes took over as she extended her hands into the air and caught the item being tossed to her. Upon realizing it was the orange Bae had talked her out of eating earlier, Emma chuckled. "Finally giving me permission to eat it then?"
"We'd never sleep otherwise, what with the racket from your stomach!"
Emma threw something back at him in response - a twig or a leaf maybe, he wasn't entirely sure, given that it landed in the fire. His response was laughter. Then he continued, a teasing lilt to his voice - "Now, never let anyone say your husband doesn't take care of you."
Emma chuckled again, speaking between bites. "Ah, yes. You've found us a fine home and fed me a gourmet meal. What more could a girl want?"
"A choice in the husband, perhaps?"
Emma roared, the levity a good release from the stress of the day. "Well now you're just talking crazy!"
They laughed again, mutual solace found in their shared plight. Both parties exhausted, the conversation faded out, the alcove filled with nothing more than silence and the scent of the orange peel Emma had tossed into the fire.
"RUMPLESTILTSKIN!"
The ageless sorcerer sighed; Cora's tantrum had been going on for almost ten minutes. He supposed he should head down and deal with it. Folding over the paper he'd been writing on, he scrawled Baelfire's name on the front and waved his hand, sending it off to the cottage's kitchen table. "Emma's in danger," the note said, "it's imperative that you both remain on the grounds. I'll explain soon."
Another flick of his wrist and he was dressed and standing just inside the castle's gate. "Cora," he said, his face deadpan. "It's been a while."
"Come through that gate and face me on the outside, you loathsome man," she railed, "instead of hiding behind the wards like the coward you are!"
"Very well," he said, wrought iron swinging open as he strode through, the gates narrowly missing Cora herself. "And what brings you out to visit this fine day?"
She pursed her lips. "I think you know well why I've come."
"Wonderland not to your liking, eh dearie? Decide to replace your heart and give our land another go?"
"Ha!" she declared, giving a sharp laugh. "I'd have to be a fool to suffer such sentimentality. No, I've come to reconcile with my daughter."
"Your daughter! Why, I haven't seen Regina in a number of years - fifteen, perhaps. How's she been?"
"It's been that long since you banished her?!"
Rumple chuckled. "Banished her, did I? Who told you such a thing."
Cora's eyes narrowed, venom steeping her voice. "Snow White."
"Ahhh, our esteemed ruler." He paused for a moment, anticipation of his response lingering in the air. Finally he gave a flippant shrug. "Well, who am I to deny an accusation made by the princess herself? For the sake of argument, let's say I banished Regina fifteen years ago. "
She stood silent for a moment, rage brimming under the surface. "So you know where she is, then."
"Perhaps I do, or, perhaps I did," he said, pacing circles around Cora as he spoke. "It's been many years, after all. Even if I we operate under the belief that I know where she was sent, it seems distinctly possible she may no longer be there."
"Don't play games with me, Rumplestiltskin! Do you know where my daughter is?"
He eyed Cora for a moment, finally offering her an indifferent shrug. "Here's what I know. Your daughter remained such a nuisance after her capture - spitting at the guards, throwing her meals back into their faces, trying again and again to spell them into rodents - that the royals perceived her to still be a threat. Their sentence was exile. To where? All I can tell you is that there are twenty-seven known magical realms. It's going to take a while to visit them all. If I were you, I'd probably get started."
Cora glared. "You haven't any other information?"
"Well I'd venture a guess that she's not here in the Enchanted Forest." He smirked, raising a finger to punctuate his next statement. "One down, twenty-six to go!"
"Come now, Rumple," she said, stepping close to him and placing a hand upon his chest. "I know you've no love lost for those idiots who run the kingdom. Align with me, help me to find my daughter, and together we'll do away with the young princess, overthrow the royals, and take back the power for ourselves. It can be like it should have been - you, me, and Regina. We could be unstoppable!"
Rumple chuckled, finding Cora's ploy entirely transparent. "A tempting offer indeed, but I'm afraid that would be a bit counterproductive. You see, the young princess has been placed into my safekeeping. I'll be seeing to it that no harm comes to her." A look of shock overtook Cora's face, and he anticipated her question of 'why' before she could ask it. "Let's just say it was a deal that I... couldn't refuse."
"You're a fool, Rumplestiltskin," she replied, shoving him away. "And here I've spent all of these years thinking that we understood each other."
"Oh, we do, Cora - we do." He let his distaste linger a minute longer before bidding her farewell with a wave of his hand. "Off with you now. I haven't time for your games. And you haven't time to waste, there are two dozen realms awaiting your presence!"
She scowled at him, vitriol in her glare. Her eyes remained trained on him even as a cloud of magic enveloped her, spiriting her off to somewhere - he neither knew nor cared where. He only hoped she'd take the bait, leaving to search for Regina and letting peace reign for a while.
Cora dismissed, Rumplestiltskin pushed open his gates, opting to stroll through the grounds instead of returning to his castle straightaway. The walk would help him think, and that was something he needed to do. The challenge was to figure out the best way to keep Cora at bay without upsetting the delicate sensibilities of his son or the royals. As much as he'd like to just remove himself from the feud, his son was wrapped up in it by way of his marriage, and Rumple wasn't about to let him get caught up in any of Cora's mess.
Perhaps that was the solution - to release the children from the marriage, removing Bae from the situation and letting the blood feud continue without his involvement. But then, he'd gone to so much work to arrange it all. And to make matters more complicated, Bae had become strangely protective of the princess. When last he'd seen the boy, it was "Emma this" and "Emma that" - and since when were they on first name bases anyways? He had clearly come to hold the girl in high regard, so perhaps his plan was beginning to work. And if that was the case, well - maybe continuing down this path was for the best after all.
Speaking of the duo, their cottage lay just ahead. He'd never ventured into their space, finding it much more effective to allow them to come to him. They'd come up often enough anyways, with one problem or another, and then there was no chance of his being flatly rejected at the door. But given the circumstances, he felt a visit was certainly warranted, so he stepped onto the porch and rapped on the cottage door.
And he waited. And then waited some more. No answer came and so he knocked again, repeating the same process with the same results.
Perhaps they were out. Likely Bae had coerced the princess into accompanying him on one of the strolls he was so fond of. Or perhaps they were ignoring him - displeased with the intrusion into their home. Certainly his son had done plenty of that when he was living in the castle. He placed his hand on the doorknob - it was his cottage, after all! But then he hesitated. They'd likely be up to talk with him soon, and better to win favor by not barging in. He was on shaky ground with this whole situation, and his success at regaining Bae's affections hinged on playing his cards just right.
Slowly, hesitantly, he dropped his arm and turned away. Stepping off the porch, he cast a glance back at the cottage - still no sign of movement. He pulled in a deep breath, trying to tell himself that the unease in the pit of his stomach was just the unfamiliar feeling of relinquishing control. He'd send another note, he thought as he walked away, asking them to stop by the following day. That would allay his fears while allowing them their perception of autonomy. They needn't know about the barrier spell he planned to cast the moment he arrived back at the castle - a backup to ensure their compliance.
Confusion enveloped Emma as she opened her eyes - cold, aching and surrounded by darkness. She extracted her hands from the cocoon formed by her blanket, scrubbing at her eyes as she pieced together the events of the last day. Or perhaps it two days? She wasn't sure anymore. Her parents, the market, Cora, running - all events that led to her current predicament. They'd arrived at the cave in the morning, that much she remembered, but how long had passed since then she had no way to know.
A small fire flickered in the ring. She took advantage of its light to glance around, finding herself alone in the alcove where they'd laid for slumber. She fought her way out of the blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders as she stood and made her way into the depths of the cave. The firelight provided barely enough illumination for the alcove, leaving her to search for her companion without the benefit of anything to reduce the murky blackness of the cave.
Hearing rushing water to her left, she recalled the peril of the waterfall and gave a shudder. Instead she ventured right, running a hand along the cave wall as she strained her eyes in search of Bae. He couldn't have gone far - he wouldn't have left her - and the cave just wasn't that big. She picked forward cautiously, but the lack of light was not kind to her. In the course of just a few steps she managed to smash her leg into a bit of rock that protruded from the cave wall.
"Ow!" she hollered, dropping down to rub her injured shin. "Damnit!"
"Emma?"
She turned her head to see a dull glow making its way towards her. "I'll be fine, just walked into the wall," she called back. "I couldn't find you!"
"I left a torch by your bedside," Bae said, finally stepping into view. "Thought you would light it in the fire."
Emma found herself smiling at the sight of him, shoulders releasing tension that she didn't even realize she'd been holding. Bracing a hand on the wall, she steadied herself enough to stand up. "I didn't notice. I was far more focused on finding where you'd gone."
"Here and there," Bae replied. A grin came over his face as he showed off the spear he held in his right hand. "I caught a fish!"
"Oh!" Emma exclaimed, her nose giving an involuntary wrinkle. "What kind?"
"What kind?" Despite the dim lighting, the frustration tinging his voice told her that he'd caught her change in expression. "What do you mean, what kind? The edible kind, that's what!"
Emma drew back. "I just - I'm most impressed you were able to spear a fish straight out of a waterfall!"
He shook his head, beginning to walk back towards the alcove and gesturing for her to follow. "You can stay your flattery - the waterfall is merely where I cleaned it. There's a stream about a quarter mile from here. I grabbed some tinder on the way back in, and leaves to pad the floor for sleeping. They're just inside the mouth of the cave, actually, I was in a rush to get everything in before the rains came - quite a downpour, you know, surprising for so late in the season!"
He prattled on, not noticing that Emma had ceased walking, staring at him instead with pursed lips. "You went out of the cave? Left me sleeping, wandered off by yourself. Really, Bae - whatever were you thinking?!"
He stopped, looking back at her with his waning patience painted all over his face. "I was thinking that it did little good to save you from Cora only to have you die of starvation. And that while I was out I might as well grab a few other things, limited comfort though they might bring. But I suppose in the future I'll wait, let the princess get her beauty rest and then ask for permission to handle our pressing needs." He shook his head, grabbing a forked stick he must have found on his errand and propping the speared fish over the fire. "Entirely foolhardy, thinking my efforts might be met with a bit of appreciation."
"Of course I'm appreciative! I was just worried you'd put yourself in harm's way. What's gotten into you? I thought we were past this bickering nonsense weeks ago!"
He shrugged, focusing intently on tending to the fire. "Just tired, I suppose."
"Fatigue's led you to lose all that you've learned this last month? Come now. Give me more credit than that. What's really going on?"
He shrugged again, still maintaining his focus on the fire. "This isn't for the faint of heart, you know? Being out here. There's much to be done, and no one else to do it."
She squinted at him, still not entirely sure she understood his upset. "You're mad because I slept when work needed to be done? You should have woken me when you roused if you needed the help!"
He shook his head. "You needed the sleep."
"No more so than you," she said with a frown. "Or perhaps even less, based on your surly disposition. How long was I out for, anyways."
He responded with a shrug, his focus on poking around in the fire with a stick. "Quite a while. It's pressing on towards sunset."
"But not yet nightfall," Emma supplied. She thought for a minute, considering the hours since their arrival and the list of tasks that Bae had accomplished. The math didn't quite add up. "Did you sleep at all, Bae?"
He shrugged again. "I closed my eyes for a bit."
"Baelfire..."
He sighed. "I tried to sleep, but I couldn't stop thinking of all the things to do - all the things we'd need - and so finally I gave up and went to do them."
"Well no wonder you're so irritable then. You haven't slept in well over a day!" She let out her own sigh, kicking a stray pebble across the ground as she continued. "I get that you're tired, but don't be angry with me. I didn't ask you to forgo sleep on my behalf. If you're so irritable as to snap at me for being concerned about your safety, you need to figure out how to get some rest."
He let out a soft harrumph, disposition not improved by the lecture. "I can't, Emma, I need to-"
"You need to do nothing," she said, shrugging off the blanket and dumping it near the cave wall. "I'll take the torch and bring down the items you left at the entrance. You stay here and tend to the fish. Once you've eaten, it's off to sleep with you."
He scowled. "I'm not a child, Emma!"
"Then how about you stop acting like one and accept some help?"
He sighed, shoulders slumping down as he staked at the ashes under the fish. "Fine. I'll have dinner plated when you return."
He held true to his word. It took Emma more trips than she'd anticipated - having one arm occupied by the torch - but by the time she'd gotten Bae's pile of roughage relocated, he had dinner ready. He'd scrounged up a slab of slate from somewhere to serve as a plate. Forked twigs served as utensils. Half of a fish wasn't much of a dinner, but it would be enough to keep hunger pains at bay. According to Bae, somewhere in that pile were the greens that he'd need the following day to make soup from the leftover head of the fish they'd just consumed.
She talked him into letting her arrange his bed while he ate, supple twigs and a layer of leaves providing the barest of insulation from the cave's uneven floor. She assembled hers as well before scarfing down dinner in silence, watching as Bae sorted the items from their traveling bags into organized piles.
"The fish was good," she said by way of a thank you. "I'd like to rinse my hands before bed. Will you come along to hold the torch?"
He nodded, rising to his feet and once again lighting the recently extinguished stick in the fire. They walked the few paces to the waterfall in silence, Emma washing her hands and face and then taking the torch so that Bae could do the same. As they walked back to the alcove, he shuffled his feet, eyes trained on the ground. "I'm sorry for my outburst," he said, mumbling. "It wasn't right."
She squinted at him, at a loss for an answer. She'd been over it for a while. Finally she offered up an "It's okay," a lame excuse for a response. A few more moments of silence and she offered up a second try. "You know you can talk to me, right? We're in this together, it'll all be easier if we rely upon each other."
He pulled in a breath, studying her, weighing her words. Finally he must have decided the offer was genuine, as he offered up a second try of his own. "I'm a bit overwhelmed, truth be told. Running seemed like a reasonable idea yesterday. I've done this before, I know I can make it out here. But keeping us both alive - it's a daunting task. And if I fail..." He released a deep sigh, shaking his head. "I have to keep you safe. There's no other option."
She turned to face him, torch playing with their shadows on the cave's walls. "I know you feel responsible for me, Bae - but that doesn't mean this whole mess becomes your burden! We've not run off for your benefit. It's for mine, and I'm perfectly capable of carrying my weight here. Further, even if this were to be entirely your responsibility," she said, wandering back into the alcove as they talked, "You'd be of no use as my caretaker if you haven't taken care of yourself."
He furrowed his brow, no doubt preparing an objection. She was in no mood to hear it. "Go to sleep," she instructed him. "Tomorrow's demands will better be met if you're well rested."
Though he scowled, he dumped some more tinder into the fire and crawled onto his pallet. "We'll need to eat again tomorrow," he said, eyes sliding closed even as he fought it.
"And so we will," Emma replied. "You've already made preparations for soup. But for now... go to sleep, Bae."
She awaited another objection, but his only response was a soft snore.
A/N - Thanks as always to textbookone for the beta read and practical advice! Much appreciated :) And thank you to all who have given feedback on the story. Feedback is food for starving authors!