Forgotten

-21-

Sansa went to bed that night with many questions. Nova shut down after her confession. It was understandable. She seemed exhausted to Sansa. It was only then that she realized just how difficult Nova's life must have been after that one encounter.

She wanted to ask more. What had happened after? What did she do? How did that event lead to her isolating herself in the woods?

But more importantly...the description.

Sansa's heart was racing as she clung tightly to her chest.

Nova's words were familiar because Sansa knew exactly what she had been talking about. It had taken all of Sansa's willpower to not grab the female's shoulders and scream in excitement at her confession. She had to swallow down her rising hope as she took in Nova's despair.

Her answers, however, soon came in the morning.

She and Nova were hanging up the laundry to dry, letting the wind capture the clothing. Nova had been quiet the whole morning, only saying a word of greeting to Sansa before eating breakfast and going outside.

Moon River seemed to notice the small disturbance in her mother's emotion. Sansa could see her watching them through the window, those pale blue eyes intense in their focus upon the women.

Without warning or turning to her, Nova began to speak. It was almost as if there had been no lapse in time. As if only a second had passed, and they still were in the kitchen, sitting at that small table.

"Moon River was conceived from that night."

Sansa paused in her work to look up at the female.

She stared off at the distance, her eyes glazed over – thinking of another time and place as the past flashed in her mind.

"The pack noticed. How could they not..."

Nova laughed. Sansa did not join her. She felt a heaviness in her heart as she watched her. Nova looked at her then. Sansa felt a sad smile grace her face, "You left?"

A deep sigh left the female, "I'm sure you can already envision how bad it must have seemed to the pack...they invited me there to train and then not even a year in, I'm suddenly with child...the only question is – I was not claimed and I had no one in that moment to rescue me."

She sat down on the ground. Sansa sat with her, straight across as she took Nova's hands in hers, staring intensely, and waiting for the rest of the tale.

"They threw me out..." Nova's hand closed around her throat as she shut her eyes against the pain.

"Sometimes I would imagine him...walking through the pack in those first weeks. I would see him approach me, and smile- the same way he did when I first saw him. I thought of what I would say, but really it was only his words that I wanted to hear...The image of him turning to meet their stares and telling them that I was his...the we were his..."

A single tear fell from Nova's face as her broken whisper reached Sansa, "but he never did."

Sansa embraced her then. She felt shock when she saw Moon River approach them. The little girl slowly fell to her knees and crawled into her mother's arms. Nova's sobs only grew louder as she clung to her child.

Moon River's eyes closed, her face twisting in pain as she pressed her hand to her mother's cheek. Sansa watched in fascination as Nova's sobs slowly settled down.

Nova buried her face into the starlight hair of her daughter. Sansa felt suddenly uncomfortable – as if she were interrupting a precious moment. But Nova threw away any such thoughts as she raised her head to smile up at Sansa.