Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2006, Found: 2018.- Licia

For two hours, Elphaba sat at the table in the kitchen, listening as Cata told her of what had happened to her after they had been separated and the family had been sent away. She'd returned to the north, to where she knew her mother was from, had attempted to find her father, only to discover that he'd died when she was a child, of tuberculosis. She'd attempted to make a life for herself, working in the kitchens of middle or upper class homes, scrimping and saving what she could just to get by. And then she'd heard that one of the children had been found-

"I prayed that it was you, Your Majesty. Out of all the royal children, I knew that you had the strength to survive. You had always been stronger than your siblings, that much was clear." A moment passed, before the older woman reached out, taking Elphaba's hand and squeezing gently. "When you first told me of the horror you'd experienced in that basement- I didn't want to believe it, couldn't believe it. Your family had been so good to me, that for them to suffer such a fate, it was... unimaginable."

"I know that not everyone believes me, Cata." Elphaba whispered. "I know that only their bodies will prove what happened in the basement that night. And until they're found, all anyone has is my word. And that's not good enough." The young woman sipped her coffee in silence, becoming lost in thought.

"The day you and your parents left," Cata sighed, thinking back on that dreary morning. Elphaba had shoved her precious diary into the young maid's arms, making her promise to return it once they were settled in Gillikin, though neither had any idea that the family would never leave Fliaan. "I begged the guards to let me go with you. I told them I was your personal maid, that I would be of use, but they refused. Only the four were allowed," She spoke of their four most trusted servants, who had been with the family to the very end, tears in her voice. "So I contented myself with the knowledge that I would be with your siblings, and that we would soon catch the train and meet you wherever you were going. But two days later-"

Heart-wrenching sobs cut through the stillness of the predawn.

"No! You can't! You have to let her come with us! She's family! Please!"

"Enough! That is enough, Citizeness Thropp! Enough, you hear me?" The older guard grabbed hold of the youngest princess's shoulders, yanking her from the maid's embrace. He shoved the sobbing former princess into the waiting train car; they'd arrived at the station not an hour earlier; a train sat waiting to take the rest of the family and their four loyal servants to the mansion where the rest of the family resided, while they awaited their fate. But Cata, despite her sixteen years, despite her childhood growing up around the royal children, working in the kitchens, despite her deep connection with them, was not granted permission to come with them.

She was to stay behind, with the rest of the household who had stayed after the family was stripped of their status.

"Please! You have to let her come with us! Please!"

She struggled against the other guard that held her back, feeling the familiar weight of Elphaba's diary as it dug into her side. In a desperate attempt to join what was left of her family, she struggled to pull free, slipping out of her coat in the process, but it was no use. The guard caught her by the sleeve, digging his nails into her arm to keep her back. "No! You must let me go! I am part of their household, they need me!"

"Be quiet!" The man, having finally lost his temper with the struggling girl, struck her hard across the mouth, before shoving her to the wood of the train platform. She stumbled, landing on her knees, coat hanging off her body, still on only by an arm. A moment passed, as she struggled to get her bearings through the pain in her mouth; he'd split her lower lip and cut up her gums with the ring he wore. She looked up just in time to watch as Nessa rushed to the edge of the train car; Oziandra grabbed her sister's shoulders, holding her back so she wouldn't fall.

Tears began to flow down her cheeks in rivers; there was nothing she could do. They would not allow her to come, she had no choice but to stay here. "Nessa-"

The youngest princess's screams cut through her heart like a knife, and she pulled her coat back on, hugging it to her; she could feel Elphaba's diary dig into her side and sniffled.

"No! She has to come! She has to! She's family! She's part of our family!" Oziandra held the girl to her chest, struggling to calm her down as Nessa continued to scream. The second oldest princess met her gaze, and the meaning was clear- Thank you, for taking care of my sisters.

The maid nodded, bursting into tears as the door to the train car slid shut with a slam and locked, and then the train itself began to pull away, in order to make the four day journey to the mansion. It was those screams that would haunt her for the rest of her life. "No! Cata... Cata!"

Tears slid down her cheeks, and silently, Elphaba reached up to wipe them away. The young cook caught her hand, squeezing gently. "I had lost the only family I had ever known. I thought I would see you again. I had no way of knowing that you would all be gone forever." She sniffled, studying the young royal before capturing the woman's chin in her hand. "I fail to see how anyone looking at you could deny your royal blood. You look too much like your mother, rest her soul, that anyone who knew her would see the resemblance immediately."

There were some of our former household who met me before I regained my memory, who had been around Mama and knew her well, who had been around me my entire life, and they denied my claim, outright and publicly." Her mind wandered back to Liir Crope, her former Vinkun tutor, who denied her claim to the reporters waiting outside the hotel in Shiz. Gently, Cata reached over, taking the young woman's chin in her hand.

"Just because they say it, doesn't mean it's true, Your Majesty."

Elphaba met her gaze, tears in her eyes, as she thought back on the rumors that had flown over the last several years in regards to her family. "But what if it is true, Cata?"