This truly is an awesome story, one that needed to be told. This kind of situation is heart-wrenching and yet, so true in many parts of the world where rape still is a weapon and a military strategy. Realistically, it HAD to happen... Even in Smallville.
You did great and very tastefully, tackling such difficult issues (keeping the child or not, and the physical and psychological traumas).
And it's so beautifully written. (Sentences like "The Milky Way is a ribbon of possibilities, daring our world to imagine what lies beyond." are sooo evocative, contrasting with down-to earth memories like "The occasional kids who shoplift candy from the general store or get caught in cow-tipping pranks inevitably serve their community sentences with bowed heads and guilt-ridden shame. Petty offenses, really, but well-timed disapproving looks from people with long memories are enough to keep most folks in check.")
I'm not surprised, though. Before registering here, I've been a reader of yours for years I cannot remember how many, but I've been watching the show since it first aired in France, found the lcfanfic archives not so very long after it was launched, and kept reading...), and I know what to expect from the incredible author you are.
I eagerly await the 4 other vignettes.
Thank you.
A 50-something French happily married female.
