Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2012. Rewritten: 2014. Found: 2018.- Licia

"Nessarose? Nessa? Nessarose, it's time to get up. You need to help me make-"

The door to her youngest daughter's room swung open gently, and Melena stopped.

Something didn't feel right. Though, to be fair, if she were honest with herself, something hadn't felt right from the moment she'd discovered that her oldest daughter had been found living among the Indians. Something had always felt off about her discovery, as though it had been forced, as though the delicate ecosystems of the world she'd built without her daughter, and the world she'd dreamed of with her daughter home, and the world her daughter had grown accustomed to, were clashing, never to truly fit together.

Her gaze slowly moved about the room, drinking in every little detail of her youngest daughter's private haven. The bed was still made, indicating it had not been slept in, or perhaps even touched, her nightgown lay folded over the end, and the dress she had chosen to wear the night before, was gone, along with her boots and bonnet. As she stepped further into the room, she saw a notebook on the nightstand; one Nessa had chosen at the general store a few months back. Upon closer inspection, there was something sticking out of it- a folded piece of paper, and after a moment, Melena slowly removed it from between the cover and first page.

It crinkled softly as she unfolded, her eyes skimming over the words left in her daughter's neat scrawl.

Her heart dropped, and she hurried from the room. "Frex! Frexpar!"

Her husband came hurrying into the living room from the kitchen, Shell following. Elphaba slowly made her way out of her room, clad in her nightgown, and onto the stairs, watching the chaos from her silent perch.

"Melena! Melena, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Nessa! It's Nessa!"

Her husband watched her, unsure of what to say or how to react as his wife broke down in tears. Shell glanced at his father, before giving his mother a wide berth and darting up the stairs to join his oldest sister.

"Melena, you have to calm down! I can't understand you! What's wrong?"

"I found this on her nightstand- her bed wasn't slept in! She wasn't in the house last night, Frex! Her dress and boots are gone and so is she!"

The patriarch of the Thropp family sighed, finally taking his wife and gently moving her to sit upon the sofa before joining her and taking her hands. "Melena, you need to calm down. Please." But all the matriarch did was shove the letter into his face, and then bury her own face in her hands. He glanced at it before taking it from her and slowly smoothing it out so he could read it better.

His dark gaze widened in surprise at the contents of her letter, as his wife broke down in sobs, and once he'd finished reading it, he turned, suddenly realizing that the translator was also not in the house. So what was in the letter was true.

On the stairs, Shell glanced at his sister, who stood watching them with a soft pout of confusion, eyebrows knit together. "I think Nessa ran away with the translator." Elphaba turned to him, and he moved down at step at the harshness in her dark eyes. It was evident that though she didn't fully understand the words, the tone she did understand, as well as the adults' reactions.

Eventually, Frex helped Melena to her feet and led her back upstairs to their room; he glanced at his two remaining children as he passed, the meaning clear. Once they were gone, Shell darted down the stairs and into the living area, to find the note Nessa had written left on the table, for Frex had left it, not wanting to take it with him for fear it would upset Melena further if she reread it, which she would have done. Slowly, Elphaba followed, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and watching as the boy plucked the note from the table and return to her. He galnced back up the stairs before beckoning her to follow him into the kitchen. Once inside, he took a seat at the table, turning his gaze to the note as Elphaba joined him.

Slowly, so that she understood, or could at least follow along, he read the note aloud, finding himself becoming more and more startled with each written word.

'Dear Mama and Papa,

I'm sorry you have to find out this way, but I do not regret my decision. I have fallen in love with Tibbett, and we have decided to leave. Please, don't blame yourselves, you have done nothing wrong. But I wish to live my own life, on my terms, with a man I choose, who loves me as much as I love him. Please, do not look at this as losing a daughter, for you've gained one back with Elphaba's return. I love my sister with all my heart, but this was always her family, never mine. Even though she had been missing those seven years, this was still her family; and to be honest, I felt that I have never truly fit into it, even before she was taken.'

Shell glanced up at his oldest sister; Elphaba sat stoic in the chair, seemingly unfazed by Nessa's words. A moment passed, before he continued.

'Please, don't blame Tibbett, it is not his fault; you cannot help whom you fall in love with, and try as we might, we cannot ignore what grows between us. Know that I love you both with all my heart, as much as I love Shell, and Elphaba, for they are my siblings, and we will always have that connection. But I no longer belong in your world. And wherever Tibbett goes, I will go, because I belong in his world and he in mine, whatever that world we decide is. Please, Mama, Papa, do not grieve for me, remember me and love me still.

Take care of Shell and watch over Elphaba. Love them as you have loved me these past nearly eighteen years. I do not know if we shall meet again, for Tibbett and I are going in search of his tribe. We are going in search of the Arjiki.

All my love, forevermore,

Nessa'