Love and Mischief Chapter 9
The next afternoon, Brigid and Fionn were walking toward the festival grounds in Storybrooke.
"Mother spoke to me in a dream last night. She said the great mother's spell not only opened the portal for us, it restored the energy they had to use to get me here. They have the former Blue Fairy locked in a room they made her size. The council is discussing if any further punishment is needed ." Brigid said.
"They'll probably ask us to testify once we get back." Fionn replied.
"Yes. Not only about what happened with us, but what we heard directly from others. They have the evidence from the Enchanted Forest and some from here but we have the words directly from the victims."
"Including Maya and Inari."
"Yes." Then Brigid looked at Fionn concerned. "How is the youth spell holding up? Feeling any weakening of it?"
"No, but I won't push it. We'll go home at the end of the festival."
Brigid nodded. As a goddess she could look any way she wished. Fionn, although his grandfather was a god, he was mostly mortal. When he had arrived at Avalon he had been old and in failing health. The waters of Avalon had quickly restored his health but when he fell in love with Brigid he wanted to be a young man again. They found a spell that would be as permanent as he wished on Avalon but outside of Avalon it would begin to fade over time.
"You certainly do love to eat." Maya teased. Inari had sampled food from every booth. Maya had stuck to only the vegetarian food, after two booths she was quite full.
He grinned at her. "Fox spirit's magic consumes a lot of energy."
"Like the way you keep making your tail appear and disappear?"
He smirked.
Regina and Robin strolled slowly through the festival grounds holding hands. Grace had hold of her other hand and Hope of her father's. Roland, Roberta and Matthew were ahead of them, running to a booth that had a game to play. Rowena and Wilfred were walking behind them with Cedric in a stroller. Cedric was fussing because he could walk quite well now and wanted to get out of the stroller, but the toddler was far too young to be trying to walk in the crowds. Regina and Robin brought the duo child stroller for Hope and Grace later on. Henry and Violet had gone off on their own as soon as they got to the grounds, but promised to meet up for dinner.
"So for now we have peace again." Regina said
"We have some time to just enjoy things before Gold acts; if Belle's dream is right." Robin replied.
"Everyone else's dream was, so it's likely. We'll need to prepare."
"Unfortunately, other than we think he'll try to abduct Bae, we don't know what he'll do."
"I have some idea. He's gathering power from ley lines and from what Belle saw once, magical objects. He's trying to make himself the most powerful magic user ever. His mother was a fairy so he can take in and hold more magic than someone like me."
"The Blue Fairy took the magic of one ley line and was as powerful as Brigid..."
"Gold knows not to take too much from a ley line. He knows how to get away with things. But if he's taking some from all the ley lines he can find, and I bet he is..."
"But what is he planning?"
"When we were dealing with Gold trying to manipulate Emma to fall into darkness, he said something. He talked about taking control of this entire world with his magic. At that time, even with the power level he had, that wasn't possible."
"But with the power he's gathered now…"
"And continues to gather; it might be possible. Unfortunately he's done nothing that proves that's what he's doing. A power obsession, isn't a crime, it's a sickness."
"It's insanity to think he have a whole planet under his control."
"It is, but that's what's driven him for quite a while. He's embraced the darkness willingly and its consumed him."
"What about Storybrooke?"
"I thought he'd just written us off as unimportant. Plus everyone knows how he is. But now I think we have another piece of the puzzle. Storybrooke's ley line isn't just low powered, but it's set up to self-rengerate, when you take from it you give to it as well."
"And he wants to keep all his power and get more."
"Yes. So we are essentially useless to him. The only thing he wants here is his daughter. While her magic is mostly dormant and he's not ready to launch his plan, she's safe here. Both in our eyes and his. We found out there are powerful magic users out there watching him already. If he tips his hand too much they can go after him. I think he's too cunning. He knows the rules, he won't break them until he's ready to act."
"So we wait and watch the best we can."
"Yes."
Those worries were in the back of Belle's mind as well, but for now she was enjoying watching Bae's excited reactions to the festival. She was old enough now to understand a little of what was going on around her. It was also amusing to watch the playful flirting between her friends Maya and Inari. Belle was sad they would be leaving soon but Inari had a family and it looked like Maya might soon be part of that family. For that she was happy. Granny was displeased Inari was leaving too. He had brought in more people to her diner, plus that crazy fling Granny and Inari had. Even after Inari and Granny had ended that they still were pulling the occasional prank on someone. Granny had complained that it wouldn't be as fun alone.
"So you have two moms like me?" Henry asked Brigid.
"Yes. Morgan is my birth mother and Mout is my foster mother. Just one father though."
"Oh. Yeah I kind of have two dads as well. I didn't know my birth father very long before he died. Robin's been kind of my dad the last few years. Roland is like that about my mom. He just barely remembers his birth mom. But mom kind of adopted him like she did me."
"So Robin is kind of your foster father and Regina is kind of Roland's foster mother, then?"
"Yeah kind of like that, but more like adoptive. Mom did legally adopt Roland. He wanted to be 'just like me'- Mom be his mom by law too. Robin was really happy about that. Robin told me that day he didn't want to presume or put any pressure on me. But I said I didn't need a paper, I considered him my dad as much as I feel Regina is my mom. My birth mom is kind of uncomfortable with the mom stuff. But she's still my other mom. My little sister Hope kind of picked up on that and for some reason decided she was her aunt." Henry laughed. "So my baby sister Grace, she's younger than Hope, started calling her Aunt Emma too, and since Roland is their half-brother he thought maybe that's how things were here and started calling her that too."
Fionn grinned. "I have even you beat. Three mothers and three fathers. I never met my birth father though, he was killed in battle before I was born. My mother went to her sister-in-laws home. My aunt was married and also had a partner. The three of them lived together. My mother lived there as well my earliest years. Then she fell in love with a king. When they married I refused to go. To me, my aunt Bodhmall, her husband Fiacal and partner Liath were my family. I loved my birth mother, but her new husband Gleor was a stranger. I stayed with them until my early teens. It was probably best I did. My grandfather Tadgh had a murderous hatred of me. He hated my father and it was a solider loyal to my grandfather who killed him. My mother had run off with him rather than marry who my grandfather wanted her to marry."
"That's a lot like what happened to my mom, but it was her mom that killed her boyfriend Daniel and made her marry a king who abused her. Mom tried to run away even after Daniel was killed, but her mom Cora tracked her down and forced her to marry Leopold."
Fionn nodded. "From what mother said, she and my father were happy in the short time they had together. After my grandfather died, mother invited me to court. So that's how King Gleor came to be my foster father. By that time they had three children, my brothers Fithel and Feinnidh and my sister Uirne. I was several years old so they were in awe of me. " Fionn smiled in fond memory.
"So what happened?" Violet asked.
"Oh too much war and tragedy, although my sister and one of my brothers had happy marriages. And King Gleor was good to my mother and to all the children, including me. Despite all that happened around me, I had a pretty good childhood."
"As did I" Brigid added. "My adult life outside of Avalon, like Fionn's, had too much war and tragedy. We kind of healed each other when we fell in love on Avalon, a second chance for long lasting happiness."
"Like my mom and Robin."
"Yes."
Grace squealed with so much delight on the Merry-Go-Round that Regina suspected her daughter would love horses as much as she did. Perhaps it was time to get the girls ponies. Hope had asked one day after Robin had put both girls in front of him on his horse, and let it trot around the ranger station. Grace had been so comfortable she had fallen asleep. But Hope had been quietly wide eyed with excitement. Regina thought Hope was a bit young then, she was barely two. Regina told her maybe someday.
Grace was three and half now though, and Hope was over four. There was one place that had ponies... maybe for Christmas. Grace would be four then and Hope almost five. Roland wasn't as enthusiastic about horses, but he knew how to ride his father's horse. Henry, she glanced back at Violet and him good naturedly riding the Merry-Go-Round, at Hope's insistence, had developed a fondness for horses after he began dating Violet. Her future daughter-in-law was as passionate about horses as she'd been at that age.
As they were leaving the Merry-Go-Round Snow called out to her. Regina hadn't realized she had been on the ride with little Neal.
"Regina, I'm so glad Neal will be okay now, thanks to that amazing woman. I read about how she helped you and Robin, but I had no idea she'd end up helping us too."
"She's the great mother goddess. I'm in awe of her. Henry wants to write her story so she won't be forgotten anymore."
"I can't even imagine how long she's lived. Before there was writing! I don't have magic-"
"I think you do, it's just dormant. Remember, in that messed up story Isaac wrote you were able to use magic. "
"I thought it was just because of the story."
"I don't think so, you know how you are so good at tracking? I think that's a bit of your magic coming out."
"Really?"
"Uh huh. I think Emma and Neal both have magic because of you. Not all true love couples have kids with magic, in fact, most don't. "
"Oh. That's true." Then she looked solemn. "Do you think the Blue Fairy knew this when she persuaded Isaac to change the story?"
"I'm sure of it. She saw the magical potential in your family, probably your mother's, wasn't she the fairy for her family?"
"Yes, she was."
"Neal's magic potential is probably what Emma's would have naturally been, had the story not been manipulated."
"I think so too. I'm glad everything was finally put right."
"Kind of, but the cost of it being wrong was far too high."
"Yes. But our lives are far better here than they were in the Enchanted Forest."
"Agreed. If only we could have come here in a better way."
Snow clasped Regina's hands. "That's the past, Regina. I understand part of you will never forgive yourself for all that. But you've done your penance, and done so much good for many years now. A whole generation is growing up seeing you as a hero."
"I know. But that's why I have to remember. I don't let it drown me in self-hatred. It's just a thing I need to do."
"Okay."
The festival ended with a concert featuring various Storybrooke musical groups. There was a small orchestra performance first as dusk fell, then a jazz band, next a rock band and finishing with a folk music group. Chairs were set up near the stage, but a large open space was left for anyone that wished to dance. The weather was clear and comfortably cool so a fair number of people were dancing.
Robin had even persuaded Regina to dance a few times, even though she still felt embarrassment about her lack of dancing skills. Robin and the children were the only ones that could wheedle her into a dance or two. Of course with the girls it didn't really matter, their "dancing" was whatever way they decided to move to the music. They just wanted her to pick them up and swing them around "like daddy". Roland still liked to "steal her away" from his daddy on the dance floor. Roland was showing signs of considerable dancing skills lately, due to having taken a dance class. He was one of the best ones in the class the teacher told Robin and her. He still valiantly tried to patiently teach her how to dance, she'd try every time, and she was a bit better than she had been thanks to that. Henry mostly just added his voice to Robin's to persuade her to dance with Robin in public.
She loved dancing with Robin, even with her lack of skills, and he certainly never seemed to mind that. He, on the other hand was very skillful a dancer, he could usually disguise her missteps with some flourish and a grin. She suspected he secretly liked her lack of skill, because it was one thing he was far better at than her. When she had teasingly suggested as such once, he had laughed seductively and pulled her into a passionate kiss, which had turned into a wonderful night of lovemaking. They'd been alone in their bedroom , playfully sort of dancing to the low music from the radio, readying for bed… Regina lips turned up into a faint smile.
Robin whispered into her ear. "Ah that smile. Perhaps after the children are asleep we can do another type of dancing." He smirked seductively as she turned and coyly flirtatiously glanced at him, then giggled girlishly.