A rooster crowed as the sun made its slow progress to start the morning. Regina walked down the cobblestone streets, her cane echoing as it hit the ground. She was aware of the furtive glances and some openly hostile glares she was getting from the villagers. Most of them were used seeing Regina, so she doesn't hide her cleavage anymore even with her cane. She made it known that she's the queen, a cripple queen actually with her huge shadows behind her. With those two behind her, she felt somewhat protected.

No one greeted her as she passed, not that she was expecting them to, and some spat on the ground before Regina passed making sure she noticed. Nevertheless, she was a familiar sight for those who woke up early to tend to their chores. Regina stopped for a moment to catch her breath and smiled when she saw her favorite kindness person in town, she's the heart of the White Kingdom.

"Good morning, Granny," Regina greeted her happily, aware that the villagers closest to her could hear her. She used the respectful phrase to speak to Granny and knew several languages including the villagers' language.

"Queen Regina. You know Father Henry is just a few meters down there," Granny greeted Regina with a smile. Granny was a plump older woman in her mid-forties with salt and pepper hair worn up in a tight bun, knowing that Regina usually aims to Father Henry's house.

"Today is the day," Regina replied swelled with pride.

"It is, it is. You should be very proud of yourself."

Regina nodded her appreciation at Granny's words. She lowered her voice, "is it difficult for you to be speaking to me?"

Granny shook her head, "No, sweetheart, it's not. You are not the enemy."

"Your fellow villagers don't seem to agree with you," especially that blond green-eye girl and that young man.

"Don't you have enough to deal with at home without worrying about me?" Granny asked as she touched Regina's hand. "Don't worry about me. Now, you have just a few meters down that way to see Father Henry."

"Thank you, you are very kind to me."

"You are very kind and gentle young woman. It is not hard to be kind to you. Now once you mastered Father Henry's house, you can go all the way to that hill. It is beautiful sight."

"How far would it take me to get there?"

"It takes me about an hour at a slow pace."

"That's my next goal once I reach his house," Regina said and smiled when Granny took her hand.

"I am quite sure you will be doing that soon. Now I have to go get going to get these eggs back to my kitchen and to get King Leopold's breakfast ready."

Regina watched Granny walked away and sighed then turns to her guards, "you both are to stay outside while I go into Father Henry's house."

"Queen Regina, I must object …," he hesitated for a moment, but Regina stopped him, "No, you are ordered to stay outside. We do not want to anger more villagers; we don't need that happening.

"Don't worry. No one enters Father Henry's house to kill."

"There's always a first time," one of the guard muttered under his breath, causing Regina to smile.

"You worry too much. If they wanted to kill me, they could do it here on the street," Regina replied and turned. She mentally signed when she heard her guards aggrieved growl. "Your mere presence behind me is enough to scare everyone," Regina added, regarding to whoever is the leader in this White Kingdom that she heard so much about.

"He's a crowd!"

"Let's hope you are right because I do not want to meet this fellow – a passionate man is always trouble," Regina said then one of the guard come up and walked next to her. "What are you doing?!"

"We are coming up to where children are playing. I do not want them to throw any stones at you."

The other guard also took up his position on Regina's other side.

"I do not think the children will do anything."

"Other than call you names?"

"Names can't hurt you."

They continue walking as they passed the children, who did indeed call out, but they didn't throw anything. Regina stopped when she turned the corner, and the church stood before her. It's little worn down and it's more of his house than a church, but everyone sees this building as most honored building of all White Kingdom. Regina looked around, but the street was empty.

It is a constant fight with her guards to stay outside and now yet again, they were stubborn when they were about to walk up the steps with her. Regina stopped and turned to them, "Stay out here. I told you I do not want any villagers to feel more aggrieved than they are. I doubt Father Henry is going to kill me either."

"King Leopold …"

Regina interrupted, "I have already told him that I was going to visit him," Regina said before she turned facing the door and slowly walked up the steps. The two guards quickly walked up the steps and took their place on both side of the door. Henry was the first sight to greet her, "good morning, my child," replied without any noticeable surprise on his face.

"Good morning, Father," Regina sat at the closest chair to the front when she was about to stand up, but Father Henry gently said, "you shouldn't stand up," while showing her another table at the kitchen.

"Ah, what do you know, Father Henry?"

"I hear stories, but I also have watched you take your early morning walk. It is not an easy walk for you, but you managed quite well."

"I'm a little proud of myself this morning," Regina admitted. "I think most of the village know about me at this point."

Regina didn't realize that Father Henry was speaking in Latin when her eyes widen in surprise, "you speak Latin?"

"Would you feel more comfortable if I spoke Latin?"

"No, I just didn't expect it."

"Most people don't, so that's all right."

"Father, do you listen to people's confessions?" Regina asked quietly, ignoring Father Henry's recollection of the massacre of the vilalgers that followed upon King Leopold's and her arrival. She looked around at the icons on the wall, "You must have seen a lot of death since the war started."

"I have seen a lot of death, yes. I listen to anyone who wishes, Queen Regina."

"Please, call me Regina. I feel like I can talk to you almost like I've known you my whole life."

"Why do you say that? We've just met."

"I just feeling it. I trust you."

Henry smiles at his daughter, "Trust is earned, Regina, but I am happy that you can confide in me."

"Can we talk here?"

Father Henry looked around the empty room, "You can."

Regina thought for a long moment before she turned her attention to Father Henry. Their eyes met, and Regina looked down at her hands. After a few minutes, she looked up again, "Father, are you in the Resistance?"

Father Henry gazed at Regina for a long moment. His face revealed nothing, and Regina was worried she had just made a terrible mistake.

"Are you confessing me or am I confessing to you?"

"A little of both."

"Ah. Why don't you tell me yours?"

Regina nodded, "when I was living in the Dark Throne, I had the opportunity to help the Resistance through one of my trusted guard," she whispered and looked around his house hoping her guards hadn't listened to her and stayed outside.

"Where are the two men who shadow you?"

"Outside. I hope."

"Hm. You helped your trusted guard in the Dark Throne and what did you do to help him?"

"I forged my mother's and King Leopold's signature on identity papers and helped the people safely escape from my mother," Regina replied softly."

"I have certain skills," Regina didn't want to say more about her magical abilities.

"I see. How did it come about that you were helping him?"

Regina gazed at Father Henry; the edges of her mouth slightly curled before she looked away. "He was helping the people escape and pass down information to another.

"That is a very noble effort, but is there a need to confess such a good deed to me? I would think that it was a good thing what you did to help others," Father Henry beams proudly at her daughter's goodness heart.

Regina looked back at Father Henry, who was looking at her with a wary but proud gaze. "You do understand what I just confessed to you, right?"

"Yes, I am aware that you just told me that you collaborated with the Charmings. I am not going to tell you that you are wrong, because it is not wrong what you did."

"No, I do not feel bad about that," Regina heavily sighed and looked up at the ceiling then back to Father Henry. "Father, I think you are not making this easy."

"What am I not making easy? What are you expecting me to say?"

"No," Regina said resolutely. "I want you to tell me how I can help you here." Regina thought of that young man, the Charming's son and barely whispered, "I want to help him."

Father Henry didn't hear her, "what's that?"

"Please, Father."

"I don't think the villagers would be all that happy to see Queen Regina helping out around my house."

"Father!" Regina threw up her hands in frustration. "You are being …"

"Cautious?" Father Henry suggested, honesty worried for his daughter's safely from Queen Cora and King Leopold and on the other hand, "How do I know you are not the spy? How do I know that your husband didn't send you to me?"

Regina frowned before a smile creased her face, "you already know, or else you wouldn't have asked me those questions."

Father Henry gazed at Regina for a long moment. "Regina, you don't know me and yet you come to me and confess that you betrayed your mother and King Leopold by collaborating with the Charming's Kingdom…"

"I didn't betray my …"

"You betrayed someone."

"I don't see it that way."

Father Henry nodded in understanding, but "you collaborated with the Charming's Kingdom and that is punishable by death. Do you not?"

Regina already knew the risks of being found out by her own mother and King Leopold, "I am aware of the penalty. My life is not worth more than a single villager in Enchanted Forest. I did it because it was right."

"And you hate your husband," Father Henry quietly added.

Regina turned away from him, but he gently turned her face towards him, "you are doing amazing no matter the reason."

"It is not because of my mother nor my husband, Father Henry. It is because of my guilt."

"Your guilt? What have you done to feel guilty for?"

"I took my part and my guilt over that is what driving my … to save many people throughout Enchanted Forest as I can. I didn't try to save some people when … and I watch some people get killed and not able to do anything about it," Regina quietly explained as her voice broke with emotion. "There is too much death. Standing by and not doing anything is the same as pulling the trigger." I let so many people die at the hands of my husband and my mother, the Evil Queen. I thought of the little girl's mother got killed by mine, and so many others that I watch them die. She's right, I did the same as pulling the trigger by not doing anything about it.

"What if someone betrays you?"

"I am not concerned about that. My life has no meaning, and I feel there is no future to look forward to. I am a bird in a cage – no escape. I envy the villagers. They will have freedom once this war is over." Regina swallowed hard and closed here eyes. "The only thing I can do is to resist or die. I'm choosing to resist, and by doing so, it may save someone's life. If I can help someone escape, then what I am doing has meaning."

Father Henry put his arms around Regina as she broke down and wept in his warms. His soothing words were totally lost on her while the emotional walls she had built around herself come crumbling down. For some reason, she felt safe in his arms and was slightly embarrassed by the rush of emotions that overwhelmed her. She has been holding down her feelings for so long and built wall to protect herself from King Leopold and her mother, Cora. "I am sorry, Father." Regina wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

Father Henry caressed Regina's dark head and then kissed it. "You are a very brave young woman. It takes a special person to put themselves in harm's way."

"I have to do something."

"I understand your reasoning."

"Can you help me?"

Father Henry nodded. "Of course, I want your help. King Leopold and Cora has rounded up so many villagers and putting them somewhere."

"Yes, we saw them as we arrived," but didn't notice when he spoke Evil Queen by her name, Cora.

"We cannot save those poor unfortunate people, but we can save those who are in hiding. We will need save as much as we can."

"Time is of the essence, Father. Those prison camps will be filled quickly, and the only place they will be going to will be to their deaths. I can help you. Let me help," I know the secret tunnels underneath the Dark Throne, and I remember Nurse Tink spoke of Ruby. I know they could help as well; they are good at being sneaky and finding a backway.

"Yes, we will work together."

Regina smiles at that, "thank you, Henry."

"What happened to that guard you spoke of?"

"He was killed by my … Cora before I left for the White Kingdom. He was betrayed by another collaborator who was working with my mother."