Ten-year-old Regina sat in a bed of clovers, searching desperately for a four-leaf one.

Her mother had abandoned her when she was a baby. Discarded her like an inedible lettuce leaf. She couldn't comprehend why. It made her throat tighten painfully to dwell on it, so she tried not to.

It was a miracle of nature that she had survived. No one had taken her in, but her purple magic had saved her.

No one had even named her. When she was three, she'd had a strong feeling telling her to take the name Regina.

She'd always had this eerie feeling at the back of her neck that if she could only meet the beautiful nineteen-year-old princess, everything would be okay. But why should it? What did Snow White have to do with her?

She was a homeless, unloved orphan who struggled to see the beauty in humanity, to have faith in kindness, in spite of the ugly, cruel way a majority of people treated her.

Her heart pined to feel the grace of love, so much so that whenever she could feel two beings radiating with it for each other—a mother and child; lovers; teenaged sisters; a kid and its dog—she was genuinely glad for them. Never mind that she was also sincerely sad for herself.

Her immature magic never worked for wants, only needs. It could feed her or provide water. Save her from an ogre if the Ogre Slayer wasn't around (by teleporting her away), but it could not give her a pet or love.

She'd learned to use a bow and arrow a lot better than most adults three times her age. She'd won awards at fairs for her archery. Then vanished into the shadows after eating her prize (usually a turkey leg).

She preferred not to use her magic for food unless she had no choice.

Right now, she was hoping a four-leaf clover might change her luck…if she could find one…

Right as her fingers grasped a clover, her lips parting with disbelief, she felt a woman's hand on her shoulder. The hand had a gold ring with a glowing blue stone on her ring finger.

She turned to glimpse a willowy woman with her brown hair tied back in a bun. Dressed in a bright blue dress and matching cape. Her garments looked soft and welcoming, inviting strangers to hug her.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing?" Cooed the Blue Fairy in human form.

Her eyes rounding, the ten-year-old blurted, "Who are you?"

"You can call me Reul Ghorm," the woman replied. Regina was almost the same height as her. She tilted her head at her. "I am the princess' new servant. I was on my way to get some food for the royal family. Only I turned and saw you. I have visions, dear, and I saw you have no mother."

"I do have a mother" Regina argued, "but she abandoned me. When I was a baby."

Reul Ghorm studied the child before declaring, "You can come to the palace with me and learn woman's work. Apprentice. It's only right. When you're old enough, you can leave the palace with skills."

"I am skiled," Regina argued without fire. "I am exceptional with a bow and arrow." Instead of bragging, she stated this without pride. Though she should be proud of herself, for she deserved it, Regina only felt sure her mother wouldn't regret abandoning her just because she was excellent at shooting.

Reul Ghorm's eyes flicked at the bow and arrow quiver dangling from Regina's shoulder. "Yes, I see that," she announced crisply. "But maybe it would be nice if you have other skills."

Regina decided not to tell this woman about her life-saving magic. She couldn't say why, other than that something in the back of her head did not quite love the way the woman looked at her. Something warned her, like tinny bells.

So she dropped to a curtsy and simply said, "Thank you, kind lady, for this opportunity of which no one else has dared give me such a kind offer."

As she followed Reul Ghorm, a smile of joy stole on her lips.

She was going to meet the princess!

Not today. Perhaps not for months. But being so close to her, in the same castle as her, surely she would even set her eyes on the woman once?

Everything would be okay, she told herself. As long as she got to meet Princess Snow White.

The eerie feeling pulsated.