"You didn't have to bring me anything," Regina said as Emma put the box of Chinese noodles and chopsticks down on the table.
"I've canceled all the food from the hotel. I think it's better if we stay as inconspicuous as possible and don't mix with the crowd if we can avoid it. But, on the other hand, we'll have to feed ourselves," Emma replied, opening her own box and immediately shoving a large amount of pasta into her mouth. "Bon appétit!"
Regina eyed her as she ate and then looked at her own food. "I know. I meant that I wasn't hungry so you didn't have to bring me anything."
Emma tilted her head and looked at her seriously. "If that's what you've been doing for the past few days, then I'm not surprised you're so thin. You need to eat, so let's get going."
"Who are you? My mother?" Regina wanted to know irritably, but moved the wheelchair slowly and with great effort to the table, where she first took her painkillers and then leaned back again with her eyes closed.
"It's also not advisable to take painkillers on an empty stomach."
Regina drew her brows together and shot her an angry look.
"I'm just saying."
"Miss Swan, I didn't hire you to be my nurse, so just don't."
"If you don't take care of yourself, someone will have to."
"I'm in a lot of pain and I don't feel like eating now, damn it!" Regina thundered, having reached the end of her patience. "Can I at least wait for the drugs to take effect? Is that possible?"
Emma looked at her apologetically: "Sure, I'm sorry." She continued to eat in silence.
Regina sighed and fiddled with the hem of her shirt, which actually belonged to Emma. "I hate this. Being so weak, having no magic."
"You're not weak just because you don't have magic. The old witch played you badly and you're holding your ground pretty well."
A disbelieving snort escaped Regina before she stared wide-eyed behind Emma and clutched the fork in her fist that she had placed in addition to the chopsticks. "Emma, get away from there!"
Having had a few fights with each other in the past, Emma knew that such a request should be complied with without question and hurried around the table to Regina's side. It was only from there that she could see what was troubling Regina: the air was shimmering and seemed to condense half a meter from the bed. Green smoke manifested itself and formed fine clouds that seemed to be there on the one hand, but looked unreal on the other. "Holy shit," escaped the blonde and she was grateful that her rucksack was close enough to reach her pocket knife. Regina kept complaining that she shouldn't leave her things all over the room, but this time she would have to thank her.
"What the hell is that?" Regina muttered, still armed with her fork, but no longer as frightened as she had been at first; now she was more interested in what was happening.
Just when it seemed as if the smoke was about to fill the entire room, it died down a little and a figure appeared.
Regina narrowed her eyes. "Zelena?!" She lowered her fork in disbelief and looked at her sister's face, which was now becoming clearer.
"Regina! Emma!" The Witch of Oz let her gaze dart back and forth between the two before letting it rest on her sister. "What happened to you?" she asked startled, as she registered her condition.
Regina just shook her head. "I had a little chat with Gothel. Nothing too dramatic. How did you get here?"
"It doesn't look like nothing dramatic to me!" she said anxiously, without answering the question.
"Nothing that can't be fixed. So how did you get here?"
"Some herbs and tinctures and an earring of yours in a cauldron," she explained dryly. "I don't know how long it will last and it's just an illusion, I can't physically interact with you this way unfortunately. What are you actually doing there? Are you going to take on dark forces with a fork and a toothpick?" she asked, looking amused at the first weapons the two of them had found. "Your husband," she then turned to Emma, "has gone off to look for a magic bean. No one could stop him, not even Henry. Apart from that, everything is fine here. Unfortunately, your rescue is progressing rather slowly," she confessed and you could tell how this hurt her honor. "All the ideas we have are either not working or require you to go back to Storybrooke."
"We're fine here for now. Just don't be in a hurry," Emma said, who automatically clutched her belly. "Let us know as soon as you want us to react somehow or go somewhere."
Zelena's face became more translucent as she nodded. "Just take care of yourselves," she asked and her voice faded and with it the smoke, without Emma or Regina being able to say anything else or say goodbye.
"That was... strange," Emma noticed, who only now dared to loosen her grip on her pocket knife and remove her arm from her belly.
"She's more powerful than I thought. Maintaining a connection over this distance for so long is quite a feat." Regina was worried about how Zelena was doing now; a spell like that took strength.
"Why did she do that? She couldn't really give us any news."
"I think she just wanted to make sure we were okay with her own eyes," Regina said, looking at the untouched noodles. "I should eat something." Her guilty conscience kicked in at the thought that her sister was so afraid for her and she couldn't even manage to eat something so that she wouldn't be quite so weak. So she began to force a few bites into her mouth and chewed slowly. "Tomorrow I'll choose what we eat, just so we're clear!"
Emma acknowledged this statement with a hypocritical grin.
"You want me to give you passage on my ship?" One hand on his belt, the other on his revolver, the pirate who went by the name of Redhat stood arrogantly in front of Hook.
"Aye. My own ship is currently in a distant land and I am trying to get to the market of the kingdom that is your destination. I also have some ducats and am quite willing to work on your ship. I am an excellent helmsman." He was beginning to think he was going to get his fourth rebuff of the day, but finally the asking around had paid off.
"Well then, Captain. Welcome aboard then. But be warned: one misstep and the sharks will have a feast."
Hook, who had been eyeing the red hat that probably gave the captain his name, bowed his head. "You'll have no problems with me, you have my word on that."
A sailor led him below deck and assigned him a bunk just as the ship was casting off. He could almost no longer remember the feeling of the waves under the bow of a moving ship. The Jolly Roger had been anchored for a long time by now, and even though he checked on it from time to time, the gentle movements in the harbor were nothing compared to the movements during the voyage.
"You can start down here," the sailor said after Hook had stowed his duffel bag in the alcove next to his bunk.
"Excuse me, start?" he asked and was handed a wooden bucket with a scrubbing brush in it without explanation. "I see. Lovely," he grinned wryly and was alone shortly afterwards.
As he scrubbed the wooden floorboards of the corridors, he thought of Emma and his baby. He missed her so much and would clean every ship in the fairytale world if he could get her back that way. He had thought long and hard about whether he should leave the castle, as he would now also miss out on the evening conversations. But he wasn't meant to sit still and rely on the others. He was Killian Jones, alias Captain Hook, and his name didn't make him famous for sitting around and letting others work. And even if his little trip didn't work out, in the end he could at least say that he had tried everything in his power.
Zelena fell backwards against her chest of drawers and slid to the floor when the spell broke. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she realized she was hyperventilating, forcing herself to breathe more slowly. She ran her trembling fingers over her face and picked herself up to fall onto her bed. She hadn't expected the magic she had cast to drain her like that, but even now that she knew, she wouldn't have changed her mind. It had done her good to see her sister, even if the sight of her had immediately made her anxious. She wasn't sure whether she should tell Henry about it or keep it to herself so as not to frighten him.
When she was able to think a little more clearly again, Zelena looked at the small glass goblet that now stood inconspicuously on the small table in the middle of the room. Until a few minutes ago, it had contained the potion that had enabled her to appear to her sister. Now there was nothing in it but air and her sister's earring at the bottom of the glass. "Fascinating," the red-haired witch whispered to herself, secretly thrilled by the success of the spell, even if it hadn't lasted long.
Once she was sure she wouldn't get dizzy again, Zelena got up from her bed and cleaned up the remains of the spell. She still had more of the potion, but she probably shouldn't overdo it and only pay them another visit in an emergency. The book in which she had found the concoction explicitly warned against using it over long periods of time and long distances. After experiencing the after-effects, she could well imagine why that was the case.
Still, it was already working in her head again: if she could adapt the spell to allow physical interaction, then she might be able to transmit a magical item to them that would support their magic. Zelena shook her head to herself and immediately dismissed the idea. According to Henry, they had no magic, so it couldn't be supported. Her shoulders slumped and she groaned. No matter how she turned it around, she kept coming back to the fact that they had to go to Storybrooke.