The Most Powerful Magic of All

Temper & Love

It was another busy day of making deals for Rumplestiltskin. People to collect his payment from and fools desperate to strike a deal with the infamous Dark One. Rumplestiltskin was collecting his last payment of the day. A poor farmer had struck a deal with him about a month ago: make his daughter beautiful in exchange for the deed of his land. The farmer desired that his daughter be beautiful enough to woo and marry the prince from the neighboring kingdom, but this did not turn out to be. The prince had fallen in love with another woman and was engaged to her. Now Rumplestiltskin had come for his end of the deal.

"Please, sir, this land is all I have left." The farmer begged.

"You certainly didn't hesitate when you offered it for our deal." Rumplestiltskin answered coldly.

"I-I thought that, by making my daughter beautiful and marrying the prince, we would be rich, happy, and far from this place."

"Well, we can see that didn't go quite as planned, did it? So it is not my problem the prince didn't fall for the girl. Now I will collect my prize." He giggled waving his hand in a flamboyant manner as he always did.

"Please, sir! I'll give you anything, just not the land. Take my daughter. She'll make an excellent maid." The farmer continued to beg.

"Enough! I will have that deed, unless you want to spend the rest of your days as a donkey." He barked, quite angered by the farmer's incessant begging.

"No! Fine. Here's the deed. But can you give us time to leave our home?"

"Why, of course. I'm not a cruel man. You have until dawn tomorrow to vacate the land. Oh, maybe I am cruel." He giggled.

"You are a monster, Rumplestiltskin!" The farmer yelled as Rumplestiltskin disappeared in a puff of a dark red smoke.

He reappeared beside his carriage that awaited his return at the outskirt of town. His day was tiresome and all he wished was to return to his castle. He magically commanded the horses to start the journey home as he sat back and welcomed the thoughts he had left at bay all day. As of late, his thoughts had come to the same thing, or rather someone. Belle, his maid, had been appearing constantly in his thoughts and he often questioned himself why. He had fought the urge to think of her constantly, but it had all been for naught.

He still asked himself how she came to agree in staying with him. He was shocked when it was she who agreed to the deal instead of her father. It was something to admire in the young woman. Because of her bravery, her people had been spared from the Ogres. That and her stubbornness were things he admired of her. He had come to enjoy her company, often seeking her attention to tell him about the books she had recently read. It was beyond a doubt that the woman was intelligent. Courage, bravery, and smarts were wonderful qualities and rare to find in a woman these days. He patiently waited for his carriage to bring him home where she was.

Back at the castle, Belle had been cleaning all day. It had proven to be a very busy day for her: dusting the Main Hall, filling Rumple's basket with straw, sweeping the dining room, and now she was cleaning one of the bedrooms in the first floor. The woman needed a well-deserved rest. As she straightened the bed covers, her mind wandered to the whereabouts of Rumplestiltskin. She often wondered what far off lands he visited and often asked him for details. Belle was a very curious woman and everything Rumplestiltskin told her was a thrilling adventure she had wished to have seen. She knew she annoyed him with her curiosity but she also did it to listen to him. He wasn't this beast people thought he was, that even he believed it too. But she could see the lonely man behind the monster, the man who was still caring and kind.