"This is freaky." Regina whispered to herself, unlocking the back of the truck to allow the lions to jump out. The big male instantly started to rub his head against her, sounding like a small engine as he purred.
"Freaky isn't the word I would've chosen." Emma commented from beside her, watching with a smirk.
"Oz likes you, Mommy." Beth grinned.
"A little too much maybe?" Regina said, dodging his broad tongue.
"Oz. Off." Adrienne made a motion with her hand and the big lion stopped trying to lick Regina, but he continued headbutting her until she gave him a good scratch and he moved off to sniff around the front yard. Kiki gave her a passing nuzzle as she followed. The pair quickly made themselves at home, rubbing against the bushes and marking the dirt with their feet.
"Let's get you all settled in for the night." Regina said. "Um, do they need anything specifically?" She asked, gesturing to the lions now chasing each other across the front yard.
"We'll take care of them, Aunt Gina." Cynara gave her a bright smile and followed Beth into the house. She helped get them settled into the guest room before letting them run around in the backyard while she got dinner started. Lasagna was their choice, of course. Zelena texted her and let her know that she would go ahead and cook the lions' dinner for her so she didn't have to worry about that at least. Once the food was done and placed in the oven to let the cheese melt a little more, she walked out into the backyard and smiled at seeing Elizabeth riding on Kiki while she chased Cynara. Oz instantly made his way over to the lady of the house and tried to rub his face against hers.
"Okay, fine." Regina smiled, giving him a nice scratch. She was actually surprised by how clean he was. There was even the faint scent of mangoes hanging on his fur. "You bathe them?"
"Yeah." Adrienne said. "Just to get rid of parasites and to keep that mane looking nice and fresh."
"He's very affectionate." She grunted, continuing to scratch the purring cat's neck.
"Told you that he likes you." The small redhead grinned.
Regina turned her head when she heard Cynara talking in another language. Adrienne replied in the same tongue and Beth laughed at them. She narrowed her eyes at the trio, but Oz demanded her attention and she continued scratching him behind the ears. He flopped over like a puppy and Kiki came and jumped on him, inviting him to a game of chase. The pair ran around the yard, both purring like little engines until they noticed some apples scattered in the grass from Regina's tree. They dropped to the ground to eat, their jaws smashing the entire apple with ease, causing sweet juices to spill down their furry chins. Any little pieces that managed to escape were swiftly lapped up. Kiki moved on to another apple while Oz got to his feet to resume checking out the mayoral garden. Regina couldn't help but be fascinated by them as she'd never spent much time around them before. They were completely at ease around the children and careful to keep their claws sheathed. "Ladies, come on and wash up for dinner."
The back door opened as Emma and Henry came out, but the lions took that as a new place to play and ran inside, forcing Emma and Henry to nearly dive out of the way or be trampled. Regina almost screamed and ran after them.
When Zelena and Erec came to deliver the lions' food, she found her sister struggling to remove Oz from her couch and Kiki was being pushed out of the kitchen by Henry and the kids. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Zelena, take the lasagna out of the oven please." Regina called from behind Oz. "And get your fucking lion after that!"
Zelena smirked and teleported to the kitchen to remove the lasaga and placed it on the table. All it took to get the lions to move were two snaps of her fingers. They trotted outside like nothing ever happened and Regina glared at her. "Before you get upset, I didn't expect you to bring them inside. Otherwise, I would've told you about Oz's couch obsession."
"Yes, that sounds like something that should have been mentioned." Regina huffed.
Zelena only grinned in reply. She spun around and went outside and Regina let out a sigh at her squashed couch before following. Zelena gave another command and the lions just about lost their minds, hopping around and batting at each other excitedly. Zelena made a hand signal and both sat down, waiting impatiently for Zelena to give them their dinner. Regina watched as her sister conjured three small troughs. Two, she filled with their dinner, consisting of roasted chicken, beef, pork, deer and antelope, along with a various assortment of greens and sliced fruit. The third trough was filled with water. Zelena clapped and both started digging in.
"You fix them that every night?"
"Not every day. We mix and match. We try to give them some variety and they can hunt whenever they want to. Not to mention all the little snacks Mal likes to give them." Zelena shrugged. They walked back into the house and Zelena offered to fix the couch while Regina served dinner for the happy children, Emma included. The redhead walked into the kitchen and smiled at her children, all of whom were digging into their lasagna hungrily and talking amongst themselves.
"Care to stay for dinner?" Regina asked.
"Um...sure. The dragons are busy hunting tonight, gearing up for the fight."
"Did you go back to Oz?" Regina placed a hunk of lasagna in front of her and took a seat at the head of the table while the children chattered away.
"I did. Mal thinks she can break through the spell Evanora has on her castle. We didn't see any dragons, but I did talk to some people and besides kicking Glinda and Lucky out of Oz, she hasn't done anything terrible. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"What do you mean?"
"She's done a lot for magic users since her ascent actually. She went to Shiz, the school for magic and sent its more experienced people across Oz to help others, healing the sick, fixing buildings, making crops grow. In just a few days, she's made life better for Ozians." Zelena stabbed at her lasagna with a fork. "I don't know if we're missing something or if she's pretending, but this could make things even more difficult."
"How so?" Emma asked. "If she sent them away, she should be unguarded."
"That's true, but it would be easy to get back to her. Teleportation is not a spell most Ozians would normally use, but portals are easy to make. They could open a door and be right back in her castle in seconds. I don't know them so I don't know how powerful they are."
"All of this just seems like she just wanted Glinda out of power." The blonde commented. "If she's only using that power for good, why do you care?"
"Because someone tried to have me killed. If it wasn't Evanora, then who? Teressa named Evanora as the person who hired her, but if she didn't do it, then who did Teressa meet?"
Regina shrugged. "We should arrange a meeting with Evanora. It could save us a lot of time and energy."
Zelena nodded. "I got word to the Vinkus."
"The princess will help us?"
"Yes. She is gathering a raiding party as we speak, but I don't know if we should wait any longer for Evanora to reinforce. At this point, she knows we're coming. We're leaving for Oz tomorrow."
"I'll be ready." Regina promised, already thinking of the preparations she would need to make for it.
"I can come too if you need me." Emma volunteered.
"That shouldn't be necessary." Zelena said. "It's nothing Evil and Wicked can't take care of. Not to mention some very excited dragons."
"You've never seen Mal in a real fight before, have you?" Regina asked.
"No, I don't think so. Besides some practice sessions and unfortunately I missed her kicking Hades' ass. Why?"
"You're in for a treat."
"Mommy, guess what!" Elizabeth said, drawing her attention.
"What is it, dear?" She smiled.
"I had another dream about you last night."
"Did you? What was I doing?"
"You were riding a dragon." Elizabeth said. "You were flying over a lake that was surrounded by mountains that looked like a giant, sleeping dragon."
Zelena coughed and swiftly turned around as she fell into a coughing fit. Emma patted her back and Cynara and Adrienne hopped down to come around and see if she was okay. "I'm fine." she rasped, downing the water that Regina brought her. She cleared her throat and took a couple deep breaths. She nudged her worried daughters back to their seats. "Um, Beth, this might sound strange, but was there a castle on those mountains?"
Beth nodded vigorously. "Yes! How did you know?"
"Just a guess. Um, a white castle? With a garden?"
Beth shook her head. "Maybe it used to be, but in my dream it was dark and gray and had lots of vines and looked deserted."
"Interesting. And this other dream you had about Regina? What was that about?"
Regina arched an eyebrow at her sister's inquiries, but Zelena winked at her and she let the matter go for now.
"Mommy was riding horses with another woman. The horses were gold and the grass was gold and the woman was really pretty. She had brown hair, green eyes and-"
"A blue tattoo on her throat in the shape of a diamond?"
Beth gasped. "How did you know?"
"Lucky guess." Zelena smirked. "Do you think it would be possible for me to look at your memories? Just those, I swear."
Beth shrugged, not bothered in the slightest and Zelena grinned and walked around the table. It took all of a second to peek at Elizabeth's memories and the redhead sat down again and started eating as if nothing had happened. The children moved on to something else, but Regina's interest had been piqued. After dinner, they sent the kids into the living room and she and Emma joined Zelena on the porch.
"Okay, spill it. What was that about?" She stiffened in shock when Zelena grabbed her face and kissed her forehead.
"Your daughter is fascinating."
"What?" Regina demanded, wiping off her forehead.
"Her dreams. They're not just dreams. Because they feature you and you haven't been to Oz yet, it makes me think that they are snippets of the future." Regina and Emma exchanged unconvinced looks and Zelena rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about dreams that she shouldn't have had. For instance, you riding with a woman with-"
"With a tattoo on her neck. I know." Regina shrugged. "So what?"
"That woman is the missing princess I told you about. Her name is Oziana. Beth had that dream before we even knew about the situation in Oz and believe me, they've never met."
Regina stood up straight, more curious now than ever. "Go on."
"She had another dream last night. You were riding a dragon." Zelena waved her hand, conjuring an image in the air. "I don't know about the dragon part, but that's not the problem. You were flying over a lake." The image became a near holographic representation of a lake with high, mountainous walls surrounding it and deep, blue water and a few crumbling statues in the center. The mountains looked like a sleeping dragon, just as Elizabeth had described, and a castle, now overgrown with vegetation rested on the edge of the lake and stretched on side of the mountains. Possibly into it as well. "That lake is in Oz and no one has visited it for hundreds of years. That is something Elizabeth could not know. And I never showed them this. These mountains used to be the home of the Ozian dragons. They've been long abandoned and forgotten, mostly myth and legend at this point. The only way to reach them at all is to fly." Zelena dispersed the image and did a happy little bounce. "It never even occurred to me before but if we release the dragons and rebuild their castle, they'll have a perfect home already in place."
"So you're telling me that my daughter can see the future?" Regina asked.
"Yes, although it only seems to be your future specifically and that doesn't surprise me either considering how close the two of you are. It's worth looking into, at least. Perhaps when she's older though, she clearly can't control it now but…" She trailed off seeing the black SUV pull into the driveway.
"Ignore him." Regina said as Robin got out of the truck. "So should this new development change my method of teaching Beth?"
"I don't think so." Zelena shook her head. "Can't do much with it anyway. I'd say start with the basics."
Regina nodded. Her plan had been to try to teach Beth using her a magic book. It did worry her a bit because she didn't want to do it the way they were taught with Rumple and Mal's methods were far too advanced. That would mean finding something else for Beth to train with, something else to give her drive. When it came to her own magic, her anger had always been her source of strength. Her rage and hatred had given her purpose and will. Rumple fed on that and used it to train her. Beth was not an angry child. She was not a vengeful person. True, she was only a child, but Regina wasn't sure she possessed a malignant bone in her body.
"There are other ways. You could teach her to use another emotion. Like the Savior does."
Both women glanced at Emma, who glared back. "What?"
"Nothing, except you'd rather lose a finger than instincts do ninety percent of the work for you." Regina retorted, causing Zelena to snicker.
"I don't think that would work anyway. Beth is far too young and dependant on you for that."
"Dependant on me?"
Zelena giggled. "You're her mother, Regina. She is happiest when she is with you. If you are angry or upset, it makes her angry or upset. You could try when she's older, but I would suggest another method."
"Such as?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, gesturing to the thief making his way up to the house, "but we'll watch the little ones and check on the lions outside while you deal with...that." She and Emma swiftly walked into the house. Robin took her place and Regina fought hard not to scowl in annoyance.
"Yes, Hood?"
Robin stopped on the step below her. "I love you, Regina." He said. Regina rolled her eyes. "I love our daughter." He continued. "You've made it very clear that whatever we had when we were soulmates is no more. I would love to work things out-"
"Robin, we already talked about this multiple times." Regina said curtly. "And I am not interested in having the conversation again."
"Understandable, however, we share a child. You cannot just keep making decisions without telling me."
"What decisions?" Regina asked. "You mean Oz? The trip that we just found out about and hadn't even begun planning?" She let out a sigh and raised her hand when Robin moved to speak again. "I've heard enough. You are a grown man, Robin, do as you will."
"I just want to be there for her. She's more open with you. I just want her to be as comfortable with me as she is with you."
"Yes, well, that's your problem." Regina said, going to walk into the house.
"Please, Regina." Robin pleaded. "Why raise her separately?"
"Because we're not together." Came the immediate reply. She opened the door and Robin put a hand on it, stopping her from opening it.
"I would like to show my support at least. For her magic training."
Regina wanted to roll her eyes again. "Fine, but stay in the back. Your presence could make her anxious."
"What-"
"I mean, a lot of people watching her could make her feel pressured and there is no guarantee that she could access her magic at this age." She growled, pushing his hand off the door and going inside. She put on a smile when she walked into the living room, but it fell when she saw that everyone was standing in stunned silence, staring at the clouds of pink stars filling the room to the brim. Regina felt her skin tingle where it touched them. "Zelena?"
"It's not me." She gestured to Elizabeth, who looked positively disgusted.
"Is my magic pink? I hate pink!"
"Beth? How are you doing this?" Regina asked, in awe of her daughter.
"She read the book you left on the table." Adrienne said. "We wanted to see if she could light a candle and then she read it and this happened. It's amazing!"
"It sure is." Erec agreed.
"Are you mad?" Beth whispered.
"No, not at all. This is incredible! This is…" Regina laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Although…" She looked down at the magic book on the table, the very same one her mother once used. The majority of it was in half-elvish and there was no way her child should've been able to read it. After making a quick decision, she managed to bring a little more control to the household and showed Beth how to remove the stars before she wore herself out. The kids were talking a mile a minute and she smiled again as she took a seat on the couch next to Beth. A powerful sense of pride blossomed in her chest, just imagining teaching her daughter, training her. Magic had always been a large part of her life and to be able to share that was a dream she never thought she would see come true. Henry had never shown any interest in magic and after his whole promise for her to never use hers and their reconciliation, they never broached the subject again and it still remained a sore spot in their relationship. But Elizabeth was interested. She wanted to learn. She wanted to know every aspect of her mother and Regina wanted to show her. Besides Beth, there was no one who would really care.
A small hand touching hers brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up at her child. The only one who bore her blood. Beth had a concerned look on her face. Regina pulled her in for a hug, which she returned, even if she was a little confused. "Are you alright, Mommy?"
"Of course I am, my little queen." Beth beamed at her compliment. "Now, come here, I want to try something. I'm going to show you something in this book and I want you to read it and tell me what it says, okay?" Beth nodded. She picked up her mother's spellbook. Regina picked out a random page, read what it said and turned it around. "What does this say, my dear?"
Beth silently read the passage, whispering to herself as she sounded out the words, making Regina smile again. "It's a spell for a protection charm against dark magic. Are you going to teach me this?" Regina held up a finger for her to hold and picked a new page. She read the page again and asked Beth to read it as well. "This is a spell for shapeshifting." Regina did this a few more times and each time Beth was able to read the passage remarkably well, even managing to read it out loud with few mistakes. "Mommy, I don't understand."
Regina laid the book down. "The majority of this book isn't in english, dear, I'm sure you've realized that. There is no way you should've been able to read it all really, but you did. You read it better than you did when you read the Cat in the Hat the other day."
"He's annoying and his hat is stupid." Beth frowned.
Regina grinned. "Magic comes easier to you than it did for me when I started out."
"Really?"
"Yes. That means we're going to have to start practicing soon."
"Every day?" Beth asked excitedly.
Regina grinned again. "Yes." Beth jumped around and was soon joined by Cynara and Adrienne. The other kids were quick to praise Beth's new feats of magic. Her talent would have to be honed and protected and there were many dangers to using magic that needed to be discussed, but for now, Regina let her enjoy it.
"Your magic is gorgeous, dearie." Zelena said with a smile. "Congratulations. Erec, are you staying or catching up with Lily and Ruby?" Her little boy was in his little silver dragon form, balancing on the back of the couch while Regina lectured the children on the dangers of overusing magic. His head snapped up to her and he jumped off the couch, fluttering over to her shoulder.
"I want to stay and see more of Beth's magic. If that's okay with you and Aunt Gina." He looked at his brunette aunt, but all of the women were staring at him. "What?"
"What do you mean what? Did you just fly?" Cynara exclaimed.
"Did I?" Zelena picked him up and placed him on the arm of the couch and walked to the other end of the room. She held out her hand to him. He launched himself off the chair arm and with two hard flaps of his wings missed her arm entirely and slammed into her chest, but she managed to catch him. "I flew. I flew!"
"Are you serious?" Zelena sighed. "Damn it, Evanora. I just want to throw a party right now. My daughters can breathe fire now, my niece can use magic and my baby boy is already flying! Mal is going to freak!"
"Don't cry." Regina said, already seeing that her sister's eyes were starting to water.
"I want to. Our children are just amazing."
"They are." The sisters shared a smile and looked at their four little ones. A thunderous crash from outside, made everyone run to the back door. Regina and Zelena walked outside to find Oz laying in a smashed group of potted plants.
"What the hell!" Regina exclaimed. Kiki ran by, launching herself up at a low hanging apple. Her jaws slammed shut just short of it and she landed on her side with a heavy thud. "You just ate." Regina sighed, walking over to the tree. She held her hand up towards it and the branch moved down, placing the apple in her palm. She put it on the ground as the branch returned to its place. Kiki hopped back up to give her a thank you nuzzle and snatched the apple and took off before Oz could get it.
"Should've warned you about the apple thing too." Zelena said.
"You failed to warn me about a lot of things." Regina scoffed.
Zelena flashed a bright grin and turned to the kids. "Be good for your Auntie Gina now. Kisses." She kissed the tops of each of the girls heads and gave Erec a kiss on the cheek before handing off her little dragonling to Regina. "I can't promise that Mal won't make an appearance when she gets back from hunting once she hears about Erec flying, but for now, I leave my most valuable treasures with you, Regina. Back to battle strategy." She teleported away and Regina cradled Erec in her arms, leading the children back inside. They were once more talking about their magic with renewed interest and almost ran to the magic book to find another spell to try
"Hold on. What did I just explain to you about overusing your magic?" Regina asked.
"I'm not tired, Mommy." Beth said. "Can you show me how to make a fireball?"
"Rest a moment and we can work on some more magic later." She cautioned her. Beth pouted, but obeyed. Henry brought out his game to keep their attention and she found herself enjoying watching them play. Even with the unexpected company, it was a fun evening. She almost forgot that they had company at one point when she was speaking to the children about magic. All of them were staring at her, listening intently to every word she said about managing your magic and practicing safely. It made her happier than she would've ever thought to share her knowledge with someone else. Even Emma was paying attention. "I don't want you overdoing yourself in one night. We can start your lessons after this stuff in Oz. That way, we will have no distractions." Beth grinned and threw her arms around her neck, kissing her cheek.
"I'm going to be an evil queen like you."
"Not evil, but a queen, yes." Regina smiled. She checked the time, finding that it was almost midnight. "Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow." That only spurred the girls into more conversation about tomorrow's big battle, but they moved as they talked, heading upstairs to bathe and change clothes. While they did that, she bid her guests good night. Emma gave Henry a hug and took off for the night and he made his way upstairs as well. Robin remained on the couch. "It's getting late, Hood."
"Tonight was fun." He said. "You looked very happy talking to the children about magic."
"I am happy." She shrugged. "And I'll be happier when you leave."
He sighed and stood up. "At least let me say good night. Will she be staying with Emma or the Charmings tomorrow? Are you sure you won't need help or something?"
"I have everything set, Robin. Believe me, no harm will come to Elizabeth."
"I know that. I trust you." He sighed. "But when this is done, perhaps we could do something together again. As a family."
"I will consider it." Her words ended the discussion once again and he gave up trying to continue it. Elizabeth came back downstairs to say good night to her father and Regina went upstairs to make sure her nieces were settling in well. A simple snap of her fingers had added a second bed to Beth's room, which her nieces were already climbing into. Regina used magic to braid their hair for them and did the same for Beth when she returned. "Good night, Ladies." She glanced up at the small canopy bed that hung from the ceiling. Erec was already curled up in a little ball, sound asleep with his tail across his nose. She smiled and opened the bedroom door, allowing Kiki and Oz to stroll inside and found a place to sleep on the soft pillows the children had spread across the floor. It was a strange sight to see, but she found it to be a nice one.
"Kick butt tomorrow, Aunt Gina." Cynara said with a yawn.
"I will." Regina promised her. She exited the room and went to check on Henry, who was asleep by now as well. Once she knew the children were fine, preparations for tomorrow could begin…
A thud from below had her momentarily going into defense mode and she conjured a fireball as she went to the stairs. Seeing that it was only a grinning Mal, she calmed down.
"My son can fly?!" Mal said, rushing up the stairs.
"He flew a couple feet."
"An impressive achievement for one so young. If it wasn't for this Evanora bullshit we would be celebrating." Mal handed her a doorknob as she passed to peek in at the kids.
"Is this from my front door?"
"...maybe."
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