Rifiuto: Non Miriena

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

Trism furrowed a brow. "I don't understand. Why would you believe that I think less of you because you stayed?"

The cook swallowed thickly. "Because I stayed even after they ordered the ones who had chosen to to leave."

The young Vinkun king shook his head, thoroughly confused now. "I... don't understand, Cata."

"You can't do this! They have been loyal to you all these years, just as you have been loyal to them! How can loyalty mean nothing to you now?"

Evrina looked up from rummaging through the princess's jewels; the slender companion to the now-former royal children was no threat. "Don't tell me you don't want to take some of their precious jewels and leave, Cata? Look at what they have! At all they have! They have so much and we have so little, and half these jewels would have all of us living comfortably for the next hundred years! Why should we not take what they squander and hoard? They are no longer royal, they are just like us now!"

The teenager tried to stop her, but the maid pushed her aside, stuffing the handful of jewelry into her coat pocket. "They are still our masters, and we need to be loyal to them!"

Evrina shoved her away again when she tried blocking the door. "No, Cata. They are just like us. Only they deserve what they get. And if you are too stupid to flee, then you deserve the same fate." And without another word, the girl stormed past, just one of countless members of the former royal household who turned her back on the former Fliaanian royal family.

"After Frexpar abdicated in favour of his son, and then asked his brother to take the throne, the household broke into chaos. Maids and stewards and people who had been loyal to Frexpar and his family for years suddenly took what they could- jewelry, clothing, cutlery, even some of the Thropp family's precious jeweled eggs- and fled, believing the things they stole were owed to them for years of servitude."

Trism sighed at the mention of the famous Thropp eggs; each jewel encrusted egg held a surprise inside, made for various members of the family over the years, part of the missing Thropp jewels, that was slowly, very slowly, making its way back to Elphaba, whom it all rightfully belonged to. "The missing Thropp jewels." He muttered, and Cata nodded.

"I saw no value in leaving, and therefore no value in stealing from the only family I knew. And because I stayed, I was branded a traitor by others in the household. I was one of a handful of the household who chose to stay; I was the girls' companion, they were my sisters, despite our different statuses. I could not leave the only family I had."

She gently folded the dress she had worn to the opera that night, as well as the few other articles of clothing and the few things she possessed and placed them in the carpetbag she owned. Such meager ownings, these material possessions. She glanced at the dress; it would fetch a high price were it sold-

She shook her head; no, she could not sell it. It had been a gift, it was special to her. But even so, it was still material, and not even the finest, fanciest material could outweigh the love she held for the family and the love they held for her.

"Cata?" She turned; Elphaba and Nessa stood in the doorway of what had once been the maids' room, now left to only her, for Audah and Evrina had fled with the others in the household, and Candle had been ordered to leave by the revolutionaries; some of the loyal in the household who had been allowed a flight from Fliaan. The childrens' tutor had and a few others had taken the young maid when they were allowed to leave by the revolutionaries and fled to the City. She still could hear Candle's heart-wrenching sobs as she wrapped Cata in her arms, for Cata had been like a little sister to the older girl. Her words rang loud in Cata's head still.

"Protect them. Do all you can to protect the children, Cata. Stay with them for as along as you can. Do not let any of them out of your sight, for I fear they have not long to live. I see blood in their futures- blood and bullets and smoke and fire and death. They are wrapped in Death, all of them. Protect them. Do not let them leave you behind. For if they leave you behind, they will not come back alive, none of them. They will trek down twenty-nine stairs and locked away in a chamber where Death waits to claim them. Once they step within that chamber, not one will come out. Not alive. Protect them, for they are family."

Quickly, she smiled at the girls, no longer princesses, but citizens of a free Fliaan, dressed simply, in plain white blouses and long black skirts. Elphaba's hair was up, signifying her entrance into womanhood, and Nessa still wore hers down, for she was two years shy of fourteen. After a moment, she pulled her coat on and grabbed her bag, joining them. "I'm coming."

Tears slipped down her cheeks, and gently, Trism reached over to catch them, as Elphaba had done that day. She smiled softly at him, Candle's words coming back to her through the abyss. "Protect them. For they are family."

Where Candle was now, or if she had survived the flight from Fliaan with the others, Cata couldn't say. But she longed to know, for Candle was as much family as Elphaba was. Of all the scullery maids who worked in the royal household, Cata had grown closest with Candle over the years, and the older girl had been one of Cata's few friends among the rest of the staff. She prayed to the Unnamed God that Candle had gotten out and survived, that she had married and started a family of her own, that she would one day return, not just to Cata but to Elphaba as well, for Elphaba had always thought highly of Candle, loved her like she loved Cata.

"When they were stripped of their titles and put under house arrest, I stayed. When the rest of the household fled, I stayed. When some members of the household who stayed were ordered to leave, and fled for the City, I stayed. When Elphaba and her parents were sent on ahead to the mansion in Satkicjni, I stayed with the other children. When they were sent to the town of Gavisk, I went with them," She choked on a sob. "But I was not allowed to go to Satkicjni with them. I was forced to stay behind. Only the loyal three were allowed, even though I begged and pleaded to go. They forced the four remaining children on to the train and held me back." Her tears began to fall harder, and she struggled to catch her breath, her memory returning to that horrible day when she was forced to remain behind.

"Cata! Cata!... Cata!"

Nessa's screams faded as the train finally disappeared around the bend, but they would echo in her head for the rest of her life, for Cata, though at the time only sixteen, would live a long, long life, though at the time she did not know it. She sat upon the platform for another hour, sobbing uncontrollably, lower lip bleeding, mourning the loss of the only family she had ever known.

She had promised Candle she would protect them, and she had failed. If Candle's prediction was correct, twenty-nine steps would lead them to their fate, and they would be slaughtered, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

By the time she left the platform, she had no more tears left to cry, though her heart had shattered. Upon the family's removal from the house in Gavisk, Cata was now free to go; though she had remained loyal to the family, she was now seen as no threat to the revolution. She was simply a girl, a former scullery maid to the most powerful family in all of Oz. Her carpetbag landed at her feet, and she looked up. "Go on, get out of here."

The revolutionary motioned for her to start walking, and after a moment, she knelt down and picked up the bag, turning back towards the station, where the remaining members of her family had last stood before being sent away. "Come on, move it!"

Slowly, she left, only for the guard to shove her out the door onto the street. She stood for several minutes, unsure of what to do or where to go, before finally, slowly, moving through the crowded streets. She had no idea what she would do or where she would go, but as she pulled her coat closer, felt Elphaba's diary dig into her side, she knew that no matter where she went, she would wait.

Wait and watch for any sign of her family, for surely, they would send for her once they reached Gillikin or the City or wherever they were headed. Because Candle's prediction had to be wrong, it just had to be. Her family would get out alive, and when they did, once they were settled they would send for her, and until then, she would wait for them.

Wait for a sign that would never come.

Trism started; he had heard the names of the two small towns, but never knew the connection to the family. Elphaba had always told him that they went straight to the governor's mansion, and that it had taken weeks, maybe even months- she could never be sure- until her siblings and the three loyal servants arrived. But now, he understood what he wife did not- Elphaba did not know about Gavisk because she had not gone to Gavisk- she had been sent immediately ahead to Satkicjni with her parents- her siblings had. The missing piece of his wife's memory was not missing because it had never been there to begin with.

Cata sniffled, the pain of so many years finally released. "I waited, and waited, and waited, for any sign that they were safe and wanted me to join them."

"It never came." Trism whispered, and Cata shook her head.

"No." She broke down. "And they never came back."