James sighed and nodded. "Alright. When do we want to talk to her?" He wasn't sure how much time they had, after all.

"I think the sooner the better," Snow replied. "If this is the curse acting strangely, we don't want to leave it too long, just in case."

James nodded his agreement. "Let's go see the queen, then," he murmured, leading the way to Regina's house.

At least this time there wasn't an angry mob waiting there.

"Right," Snow said, walking beside him. She didn't want to see Regina any more than he did, but at the moment, she was the metaphorical lesser of two evils.

Of course, Regina wasn't expecting them to just show up on her doorstep, either, but she took it with considerably more grace than one would have thought.

"What can I do for the two of you today?" she asked when she opened the door.

"Two more of us have shown up," James said without preamble. "Rapunzel and Thumbelina. But they don't remember who they are. Why?"

"Are you asking why they've shown up, or why they don't remember?" Regina asked. Old habits were hard to break, apparently.

"Both," James said, his eyes narrowing. "And why they weren't here. They've never been here before. Why not? What is the curse doing?"

"As much as everyone seems to think otherwise," Regina said, "I don't know every little thing the curse does. Especially not now that it's become weak and erratic. I didn't create the curse, you know, I only cast it." She looked at them. "And I think we all know who created it."

"And he'll give us the same kind of bullshit answer you did," James shot back. "And demand some kind of payment. I'd rather not ask him."

"If you want information, you may not have a choice," Regina pointed out. "I'm afraid I just don't have what you're looking for." Not that she wouldn't go to Gold herself after this and find out.

James sighed and glanced at Snow. They'd have to talk about this and then see what kind of payment Gold would demand. Depending on what it was, they might be able to do something.

"Alright, Regina." He nodded and stepped back, offering his hand to Snow.

Snow took his hand and squeezed it gently. As she did, she nodded a bit to James. They would figure something out.

"Let's go," she said softly.

James nodded and walked with her back towards Gold's shop. They needed answers, after all, and if they had to deal with Gold, so be it.

Gold had been expecting a visit of some sort from them for a while now; ever since Rapunzel and lovely little Thumbelina had wandered into his shop. And even as their visit had made him giddy with anticipation, it also worried him slightly because it was proof of the curse behaving erratically. So when the bell on the door chimed, he was more than ready to see James and Snow.

"Ah, if it isn't Prince Charming and Snow White, come to visit," he said, grinning.

"Gold," James said, looking at him evenly. "We need some information. We need to know why the curse is behaving erratically, what's going on with it." Because knowing Gold, who had a finger in everything, he already knew about Rapunzel and Thumbelina.

"Ah, so you must have already met our lovely newcomers," Gold said. "I'm not surprised, they seem to have drawn quite a bit of attention. But I must ask..." He looked at James and Snow. "What is that kind of information worth to you?"

James sighed. "You already have a price in mind," he said, looking at Gold evenly. "You always do. Name your price, and we'll discuss it." Dealing with Gold was always tricky, but he figured they could try. And if the price was too high, they could find some other way to find the answers they needed.

"Ah, don't think of it as a price," Gold replied mildly. "Think of it was... an IOU. I'll tell you what you want to know, and in exchange... Well. I'm certain you won't mind owing me one little favor, would you?"

James ground his teeth together. Yes, he rather did mind owing Gold a favor, since he had no idea what it would lead to, but he couldn't think of any better solution.

"Fine. I owe you a favor. One favor. Snow doesn't owe you anything. Now tell me what we want to know."

"A pleasure doing business with you," Gold replied, smirking a bit.

"No," Snow broke in, "he and I are in this together."

"I'm sorry, dearie, but the deal has been struck," Gold replied, only slightly gleeful. "Maybe next time." He looked at James. "The curse is weak and unpredictable, as you suspect. I believe it has started pulling everyone together, to conserve what power it has left. Storybrooke is a small town, you realize, and it could never hold everyone. A few were... misplaced, we'll say."

"Misplaced?" James's eyes narrowed. "Why would anyone be misplaced in the first place? Why didn't they end up in Storybrooke to start with?" Because that was really kind of vexing him. While those two hadn't been actively involved in the plans, they had been close enough that he knew the curse would have effected them.

Just not in the same way, apparently.

"The curse was designed for Snow White and everyone who knew her," Gold replied, glancing at Snow for a moment. "Those you knew best, well... They were close enough to see and touch, but you were never to know. Clearly, you didn't know those two very well, since they didn't end up close-by at all." He shrugged a bit. "They ended up on the fringes of the curse, it seems."

"Alright. So how do we break the curse for them?" James looked at him evenly. If anyone would know, it would be Gold. Now he just had to hope Gold would actually tell him.

"The same way any other curse is broken," Gold replied. He waved a hand at them. "Now, be on your way. It wouldn't do to have you scaring off my customers. I do still run a business here."

James narrowed his eyes at Gold before he took Snow's hand again, turning to go. Clearly they weren't going to get anything else useful out of him. "Come on, Snow."