Author's Note: Standard disclaimers apply. Sorry for the long wait, but I think I have my muse back for this story at least.

Nyahm's POV

Red, no Ruby as she goes by here leads me down the black stone path. I had thought her dead for years and now here she is before me and I don't have a word to say. How do I approach someone who probably has thought me dead and gone for years? Does she even remember the daughter that she left behind? She is all I have to cling to in this new world with my father locked up and I have no way of knowing if she is a solid foundation or not. Every time I want to ask her something, I cannot get the words out of my mouth. I don't know why she left us, left me. Memories from the little time I had spent with her were blurred, perhaps what I had always taken for love or a gentle touch in them did not contain the feelings I associated with the action. Ruby was young, I could see that, perhaps she had been scared finding herself with a child when she had barely stopped being one. I would have been, and now when faced with her daughter, she had no idea of who or what I was. I had aged while she had stagnated in Storybrooke, I hadn't spent all my time in Neverland. Father had spent a great deal of time there but I was a little more restless. He had permitted my occasional absences over the years he stayed there. Those small absences managed to add up, especially when time moved differently between the realms we visited. Killian was still the man she remembered, it was just me who was different.

Ruby turns to me, a questioning look on her face "I know this is probably none of my business but who are you? I don't recognize you from either here or…" at this she pauses. I sigh "Or the Enchanted Forest? Yea I know about it. I may not have been a denizen of it in the past few years but I lived there before the Curse. My father, Killian, and I traveled. A lot. He wasn't as world bound as the rest of you were. He escaped the Curse that befell the rest of the Enchanted Forest and he brought me with." I notice her breath catch at the mention of my father's name, I don't think she made the connection between us yet but there were memories there. Enough to cause a reaction at least, one that seemed hurt as well. I was confused, how could both her and my father be so wounded, hadn't she left him. Abandoned me? Maybe there was more to the story than I had originally thought. Damn that no one gave me the full truth.

I look her in the eye, trying to analyze her pain. "My father hurt you didn't he? I recognize that look in your eyes, he gets the same look when he talks about my mother." I say it, hoping it would jog her memory. Maybe a few words would bring visions of her daughter to her mind.

"I am sorry Miss…" she pauses and waits for my answer.

"Nyahm, Nyahm Jones." I give her part of my name, no need to startle her now. She might freeze up, try to shelter me. "Killian's first mate and wolf of the sea."

Ruby stares me down, noting the last comment. I shrink under her eyes and realize that I may have said too much. "Wolf you say? How does a girl like you earn such a nickname?"

"Fighting prowess, I fought tooth and nail. Very few could match my ferocity and skill with a blade, after all I learned from the best. I earned that nickname and it was one of the most feared within our range." I give off my best insulted demeanor, no need for her to catch my bluff.

"Cool off, no need to get defensive. I am sure you earned that title and earned it well," she pauses before continuing. "I assume I owe you an answer, your past for mine. I am sorry to tell you this, but your father is not the perfect man you think he is. I loved him and had thought that he loved me. He was such a gracious gentleman, ever conscious of me. But one day he left without a trace, and I never heard from him again. A few months later I found out I was pregnant with a child. I was but a child myself and couldn't handle the responsibility of raising it. So after the child, a girl, was born, Granny took her to a port where I knew your father made birth and…" Her eyes go wide realization dawning, her mind putting together the pieces I had given her.

But we had reached the inn at this point, and before she could stop me I bolted inside. I wasn't ready to have a heart to heart with mom just yet. I look around for a moment before noticing an older woman watching me. I smile, "Good evening. I am looking for a room."

The woman nods, and hands me a key. "You can settle your bill in the morning."

I turn to leave and the woman calls out from behind me, "Have you seen my granddaughter?" So this was Granny, more family.

"She brought me here for a room, but I left her outside." I push back the curtain on the window. "Looks like she is gone now, but there was quite some drama going on at the hospital when we left. Perhaps she went back there." Granny nods and I turn, heading upstairs. I take the clunky key that was handed to me and unlock my room. Fastening the lock behind me, I lie down on the bed inside and try to get some sleep. Praying to the Gods that this time it is peaceful.