Re-dressing Nova's wound wasn't as nasty as it could have been, but that didn't mean it was easy. As Cas and Az cleaned the bathroom, which had probably become cleaner than Nova- Mor and Rhys wrapped up Nova's leg with only a couple of kicks to the chin.
Feyre sat on the couch, retelling the story of their travels, from finding a vacant spot where the cabin had been to bringing Nova back snagged in a bear trap.
Lucien's eye whirred, brows raised. "She can't speak at all?"
Pursing her lips, Feyre shrugged. "I don't think she's incapable. I think she's never had a reason to. She makes noises, I suppose, but she doesn't seem to understand anything we say. Although I do think she's starting to recognize the sound of her name, it also might have been a coincidence."
Nova skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs, acting as though she didn't have an injury, but she halted and looked down with raised brows. She was now dressed in a simple black tunic and pants.
"Ah, I see she's feeling a bit better," Madja said as she entered the townhouse.
Rhys smiled and stood with her at the top of the stairs, gesturing for her to go down, but Nova didn't move.
"She certainly has more energy," Rhysand chuckled, then glanced at Feyre, "I did try to keep her in the room, but I wasn't going to trap her when she wanted out…"
Feyre pursed her lips, but nodded with understanding.
Nova slowly descended the steps sideways, like scaling down a mountainside. She was careful where she placed each step, as though she might lose her footing.
Perhaps she had, while in the wilderness, a lesson learned she didn't want to repeat.
"You knew about all this?" Nesta asked Madja with a slight sneer.
Madja turned her gaze on Nesta and arched a brow. "I do not disclose information on my patients. As you well know."
Nesta was quiet after that and let her attention be drawn to Nova, who made it to the bottom of the stairs—Az, Cas, and Mor followed shortly after.
"Did she take a bath, or did you?" Elain asked with a slight smile.
Nova froze and looked at the new people in the space. She didn't so much as glance at Madja but skirted around the other three while going to retrieve her blanket. Picking it up, eyes on them, she stuffed something else in her blanket that had now become a treasure trove.
"She wouldn't wear the socks we gave her, but she wouldn't give them back either." Mor nodded in response to Feyre's raised brow.
Feyre couldn't help but smile. "I'm honestly not surprised."
Just as Nova was about to sit down in front of the fire, Lucien's eye whirred, and she looked up and all around. Trying to pinpoint where the noise came from. When her sights set on Lucien, she set her blanket down and slunk to him, wearing her scowl of curiosity.
Lucien, the brave soul, sat completely still as Nova observed him, though he did put a hand up when she reached forward, put it plainly, tried to grab his eye.
"Sorry, I kind of need that…"
Nova tilted her head as his eye whirred again, looking more like a puppy than a girl.
"Nova," Rhys smirked when she looked over at him, and at that moment Feyre realized she really was responding to her name.
Relief flooded her as Madja smiled, "That's a good sign. What has she had today?"
"Fish," Rhys answered as he offered Nova a glass of water to see if she'd drink from it this time, "nothing else. Just a raw trout."
"Raw?" Elain asked with a slight squeak.
"It's all she knows," Az replied gently, "we could probably introduce other foods, too. Things from where she's roamed."
"She could look through my garden." Elain offered.
Feyre smiled and reached over, squeezing her sister's hand. "I think that's a great idea, thank you."
Nova took hold of Rhys's glass with both hands and looked into it again, sloshing the water from one side to the other.
"She'll need to be eating more regularly," Madja nodded, "I'll leave more tonic if she doesn't start to feel her injury more."
Nova put her mouth against the top of the glass but let out a frustrated sigh when the water wouldn't seem to meet her lips.
"She doesn't know anything, does she…" Nesta said, and for a moment, Feyre saw red, but when she looked over at her sister sitting next to Cas, she saw the layer of sadness lingering behind her eyes.
Perhaps it was sad that she didn't know how to use a cup, but…Feyre watched Nova pour the water into her cupped hand and swallow the collection.
Feyre smiled, "but she solves the problems she faces, and that's what's important."
Rhys squeezed her shoulder and smiled, but he started laughing as Nova tucked her now empty glass into her bundled blanket.
Startled, Nova looked over with wide eyes. She held her blanket to her chest as if someone might take it.
"Come on," Mor offered Nova her hand just as Rhysand had, "let's take your treasures to your room."
Nova followed, though she did stare at Lucien's metal eye as she walked by, and Rhys pursed his lips into a strangled line. He managed to keep himself together just as Nova was out of sight, then burst into laughter.
Amren looked over. "What on earth is so funny?"
Grinning, Rhys shook his head and kept laughing until he put a hand to his stomach to relieve the ache. Whatever had crossed Nova's mind must have been very loud for Rhys to hear.
"We need to cherish these next few months." Rhys finally said with a soft sigh, shaking his head.
Feyre bit her lip, unable to stop her own grin from forming. They'd gone from staring at blank walls for fifteen years to watching their daughter tuck away a drinking glass as if it were gold.
Maybe…Nova didn't need their interference; rather, they needed her. They'd been without laughter and hope for so long that Feyre laughed, too.
Mor returned soon, without Nova to let her explore her bedroom more.
"Don't worry, I locked the bathroom door." She smiled as she sat with a cup of tea next to Az.
They all sat around together, the fire their only light, as they caught up with one another. They discussed the reconstruction of Velaris and new ideas inhabitants had proposed to Lucien to talk to Rhys about.
Madja left some time later, and Nesta disappeared to the bathroom.
"It'll be challenging," Feyre sighed, "it's already proven to be, but with time, things will be easier for her. For us…"
"Feyre," Nesta called as she walked back into the room, "Nova is…"
"Nesta," Feyre's voice was suddenly firm and cold as ice, "you are going to be patient with her. I get that this isn't ideal, but we are all working together to do what is best for Nova. She isn't just the hope of Velaris and its people, but for us too. I don't want to hear the negativity."
Nesta stared icy daggers back at Feyre and crossed her arms. "Anything else?" She asked, cocking a hip to the side.
"No."
"Okay," Nesta nodded, "I was just going to let you know that your pride and joy is shitting on her bedroom floor."
Feyre's jaw dropped.
Shit.