To Love, Once Again

Feeling a small hand tugging at her skirts, Sera looks down to see Leo peering at the items on the cart with interest.

"What this, Mama?"

Leo blinks as Sera swoops him up in her arms so he can take a better look.

"It's for the present we're going to make for Daddy. Has Bea ever given you some honey before?"

"Mhm!! Honey sho sweeet! Mama calls me honey!"

Sera smiles as the little boy wiggles his round bottom in her arms, his large eyes glimmering in excitement. Leo knew what honey was! Bea had a small blue porcelain jar that she would bring out from somewhere on special occasions and give him just one spoonful to eat. One small precious spoonful, but it made his day so much more special. One time, when he'd felt sick and didn't have the energy to swallow his medicine, Bea had specially brought out the jar again.

"It's a good thing your mother left this with me." She would always say.

For all Leo knew, his unseen mother truly was a fairy, giving him something that tasted better than even the egg custards he liked so much. To Leo, honey was what love tasted like.

Leo nods seriously, his soft chin going up and down. "Bea give me honey on my bwerday."

He'd made sure to open his mouth extra wide every time that one glorious spoonful came. ...But last year, Bea had looked so sad when she'd brought out the blue porcelain jar. Leo cocks his head, wondering.

Seeing Sera begin to tie her hair up in a simple ponytail distracts him from the thought.

Nevermind! Leo was going to be able to eat honey soon!

Honey was his favoritest thing in the whole wide world!! Well, other than his Mama and Bea, of course.

Sera smiles at her son's expressions that change like the fluttering wings of a colorful butterfly. She'd only gathered honey once, using the idea when she'd noticed on one of her trips to the orphanage someone throwing out large swathes of a fine material. The kind older man working there at the dye shop had told her that the fabric was trash. The dye shop workers had made a mistake in the measurements and accidentally mixed up the wrong colors, creating a large veil that was a clashing mixture of oranges and greens.

It gave Sera the idea to put these veils to good use. For Sera, who'd been craving sweets in this world free of sugar, finding these veils was like a heaven-sent sign. To gather honey in the Royal Gardens. At that point, Sera wouldn't have minded climbing the tallest of mountains to taste the golden sweetness in her mouth.

She'd already seen plenty of bees buzzing around the flowers, so that meant there was honey nearby!

Sera smiled, remembering the screams of the maids as they saw the Queen, covered from head to toe in the ugliest of veils (gasp!), climb a tree (gasp!) and cut down a beehive (GASP!). The noblewomen who'd rushed in to stop her were stung by bees and suffered minor hysteria.

What a fiasco that day had been.

The rest of the items she'd so painstakingly gathered, using things that nobody else wanted, had been quickly taken away the moment the nobles heard of her 'strange activity'. And in the Queen's Garden, no less! And what a lecture Lucien had given her that day. They'd argued that day too, ending what should have been an exciting day for Sera into one filled with bittersweet memories.

At least the honey she'd gathered from that day was able to make her baby happy. Sera would have never imagined that day that a few years later her and Lucien's child would be eating what was left from that day.

"My Queen, are you really going to do this?"

One of the maids finally speaks up after much whispering between them beforehand to choose a representative. Sera sees the chattering and realizes that even they, new faces that she hadn't seen before in the castle, somehow must have her the tale of her gathering honey that day.

"Of course! It shouldn't take too long, so be sure stay inside with Leo while I go out and find a hive to gather honey from. "

The maid opens her mouth to speak again, but closes it once Sera raises a brow. There were no longer any noblewomen to kick up a fuss at every action that Sera made. She was only going out to gather honey. Nothing more and nothing less. It shouldn't be the cause of such a fuss.

Setting Leo on a carved tree stump bench right outside the cottage, Sera begins her preparations. First was gather wood chips to put in the smoker to smoke the bees out. Then a flint stone. She'd already changed into a long forest green dress with a high neckline and puffy juliet sleeves, then putting on leather gardening gloves.. Now all that was left was covering herself in the tulle fabric and putting a large straw hat on top to keep it all in place. After tying the large ribbon under her chin and securing the hat, it was time to go.

Time passed by so quickly now. If Sera didn't hurry, it would be supper before she knew it. Then the surprise for Lucien would all be for nothing.

"Alright Leo, be good." Smacking a kiss on Leo's forehead, Sera gives her son's squishy cheeks one last squeeze.

"Okay, Mama! Get looots of honey pwease!"

His small feet unbalance themselves as he opens his arms wide, trying to show just how much honey he wanted. Thinking about all the honey Mama was going to bring back made Leo giddy.

That bucket she had in her wagon had to be for the honey. Hugging his stuffed bunny to his chest, Leo doesn't realized he'd started nibbling on the bunny's long, soft ears. Leo hoped Mama would let him drink from the bucket when she came back. He couldn't wait to see the bucket full of the smooth golden honey, shining like a pot of treasure, waiting to be eaten by him.

Shlurrp.

It was the sound of Leo sucking in his drool imagining the sweet, sweet honey.

Laughing, Sera responds by steadying Leo from falling back on his bum and gently pulling the rabbit ear from his mouth. Seems her son had a big sweet tooth, just like her. She couldn't wait to see his reaction when she brought all the honey back. And the expression he would make when she made the delicious snack with the honey she would gather.

"Let's go, Lucy."

"Come back swoon Mama!!"

Sera pulls a small wagon behind her on a cobblestone path, with the maid, Lucy, walking behind her. Lucy didn't look too happy having to wear the same ugly veil Sera wore over her face, but Sera ignored that.

A pang of guilt thrums through her when she stands up. Lucien had made her promise not to do a dangerous thing like collecting honey without him supervising. But with Lucy here, it should be fine. All she was going to do was find a beehive, smoke it, and harvest the goodies within, making sure to leave a bit of the hive with the queen bee inside for the future.

It was all quite simple. Nothing should go wrong, right?