Forgotten

-17-

It was far.

Very far.

Sansa looked at the map in silent horror at the amount of distance she would need to cover in order to reach this soothsayer.

How many days would it take until she could finally reach her destination?

Judging from the distance and length, she could already tell the journey would not be accomplished in weeks.

Months.

It was a hard word for her mind to process. Somehow, she had led herself to indulge in the fantasy that finding Night would be easy. Well, not easy but...quick.

She had visions in her dreams of him coming to her. Of it not being the female to find her male as everyone so openly supported, but of him. Night. Of the male seeking out his heart and finding her there waiting for him.

She sighed, folding the page and placing it within her bag.

The pack had been sorry to see her go. She had overextended her stay, residing there for almost two weeks. It was a pack that made her uneasy with the laws and traditions that they seemed to guard closely.

She had to be re-blind folded back as she was leaving. The area was not even marked on the map she had been given. For all intents and purposes, it was a pack that wanted to, and wished to remain invisible.

Sansa doubted she would ever see them again – ever be able to find them, and stumble across their land as she did the first time.

It was a shadow pack, one that vanished quickly in the mind.

The first week of her travel was uneventful. She purposely avoided the pack lands and areas close to their borders. She did not want to encounter another pack in need that would suck her into staying. But she knew eventually she would have to cross a known territory in order to reach her destination.

Halfway during the second week, that time came.

She shifted back to skin, changing and walking slowly to the border. The pack that had been marked on the map was a medium-sized one. She had heard of the name and knew Warren would not be happy that she was coming so close to her father's land.

His pack was just a few days away from this. She would slip in and out, silently moving through.

"Stop."

Sansa immediately went still, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm.

A pack warrior stepped out from the shadows, eyeing her carefully.

"I'm just passing through."

The warrior stared at her for a second longer before asking, "are you not looking for your mate?"

"I..." Sansa's mind raced before she slowly shook her head, "I'm a traveling healer."

He continued to stare at her. She could see the mistrust in his eyes. She lowered her shoulders slightly, trying hard to seem non-threatening in this male's eyes.

"And you don't want to heal any from our pack?" Sansa realized her mistake. She could hear the anger in his voice.

"If there is someone ill that I can treat here, then I will try to help in any way that I can."

At her words, she saw hesitation. He was conflicted. Sansa did not move. She didn't dare breathe as she watched the internal battle rage on in his mind. Finally, he stepped towards her, grabbing her hands and twisting them to be behind her back.

"Come with me."

She didn't protest at her treatment. Her goal was to just get through this pack. After that, there was a mountain range to cross, and then it was what seemed, flat lands of vast nothing before going north to the soothsayer.