The one thing Belle had plenty of, since voluntarily leaving her job at the library, was time. Even working with the resistance group only took a few hours of the day, and as for the Church--well, they had teachers, proper teachers, for the children, and it wasn't as if she could really help with the cooking either. And while normally she'd have spent all those free hours reading, there was a part of her that kept bucking at staying cooped up in her room. After all those years in Regina's damned tower, she wasn't going to let some small-minded people who refused to recongize they weren't in danger from most of the 'refugees' stop her from spending time in the air and sun--even if her decided lack of coin these days meant she spent most of the time just walking. It helped, a little--helped keep her mind from turning another room that was actually a sanctuary into that horrible prison.
But it didn't help the other thoughts, thoughts of home and her father and him. Because however noble her intentions in helping the resistance, for the children and people who had already been hurt, she knew a large part of it was the thought of Rumplestitlskin. What the people here might make of him, the rumors that would spread like wildfire...even if he couldn't be killed, it didn't mean the Council wouldn't turn the populace against him,make his already lonely life even worse.
She sighed, shaking the thought away for what must have been the tenth time that day. Just like in the tower, when there had been little else to really think about, her mind kept coming back to him--how even if she feared his arriving here one day, she also wanted it desperately--after all, she'd lost her freedom in the first place to try and get back to him; even her freedom here was rather limited, it felt even more hollow having it alone. She was even dreaming of him, like she had back in her cell, most nights.
Which was why, when she saw the sunlight bouncing off--something--out of the corner of her eye and turned, at first, she just closed her eyes and shook her head. No. He'd--arrive with more of a flourish. He wouldn't just be walking around...would he?
When she opened her eyes and he was still there, Belle bit her lip, blinking her suddenly-blurry vision clear, before taking a deep breath and walking towards him.
"...Rumplestiltskin?" she said,quietly, voice quivering with a strange mixture of worry and joy.