This time, Celeste found herself waking up on a soft bed in a room bathed with sunlight. At least she could see the room this time. Nearly everything was wooden, hinting that she was in an elven house. Elves rarely used stone or metal for their houses, probably because those things were too heavy to haul up the giant trees they lived in.

She threw the covers off and got out of bed. While she still didn’t have shoes, she noticed that she was in different attire yet again. It was a travel dress and a lot warmer than the shift had been. She rubbed the spot on her neck where the elf had hit her. What had that been all about? As she put her hand to the doorknob, she noticed that her hand was bandaged. Well, that was nice of them, though the bandage might be a bit much. Celeste just needed a salve to put on it.

She turned the knob, only to find that the door was locked from the outside. After a few times jiggling it, she started to bang on the door. She did not just walk out of a cave to end up locked in a room. It wasn’t a prison, there were too many things that made it a room and not just a place to sleep.

“Open up! You can’t keep me here!” Though compared to waking up in a dark cave, this was better.

She heard someone talking on the other side of the door, though the thick wood muffled whatever they said. Plus it sounded like they were speaking Elvish. Celeste didn’t understand the language and she didn’t have an opportunity to learn it. She understood a little bit of Dwarvish, but not enough to have a full-blown conversation.

The door opened into her and pushed her back into the wall. Fortunately, the elf who had opened it hadn’t slammed it open, so she wasn’t hurt from the embarrassing incident. An elf put down the tray they carried, rushed over, and helped her up. This one had shorter ears.

“I’m so sorry! I should’ve told you to step back from the door!” He led her to the bed and encouraged her to sit down on it. “You don’t appear hurt though, which is good.” He retrieved the tray and pulled up a chair next to the bed before sitting in it. “You told Jyn that your name was Celeste, correct? I’m Kyn, her twin brother.”

“Nice to meet you, Kyn, but why was the door locked? Am I a prisoner?” That’s what a door locked from the outside meant to her. But Kyn didn’t seem like a jailer. With the way he had fussed over her, he seemed to be a healer.

"No, of course not! We just didn't want you to wake up and wander around without you knowing where you were." He poured from the pot into a cup and handed it to her. "Here, have some tea. It'll help relax you."

Celeste scowled but took the tea anyways. She supposed it made sense that a healer didn't want a patient walking out on them without their knowledge, but still... She took a sip of tea. The taste was sweeter than most teas she tasted, but elves probably liked it that way. Kyn didn’t drink any.

"I know you have lots of questions, Celeste. First, let me apologize for Jyn. She doesn't always know when to use words over fists."

"Other than knocking me out, no harm done." She assured him before she took another sip. "Why did she do that? When I mentioned Feon and the Tower, she looked at me like I was mad."

"We can puzzle out her motives later. For now, let's talk about you." Kyn gave her a reassuring smile and pulled the chair a bit closer. "Oh and we checked you over for injuries and found none."

"Thank you, Mr. Kyn." If he hadn't been a healer, she would’ve been uncomfortable with that statement. "As I told Ms. Jyn, I am Celeste Avon from Feon. I work with a woman named Bustier in a jewelry shop in the 2nd ring of the middle rings."

Kyn nodded. "Bustier, 2nd Middle Ring." He seemed to be noting it down on a piece of paper, probably so they could try to confirm her identity. She wasn’t sure why that would be necessary. They had no reason not to believe her, even Jyn had said so earlier. She drank more tea.

"If you need someone to vouch for me, you can call on my brothers. Derrick's in the Guard and Owain's a beginner scribe." Madame Bustier probably wouldn't be able to leave the shop. "Though you might want to find Owain first. He’s calmer about news than Derrick is."

"I see. And do you have parents?"

Celeste shook her head. "No. My father died in a carriage accident and my mother died when the influenza came through. I was orphaned around the age of twelve." While she did miss her parents from time to time, she didn’t feel sad about mentioning their deaths. "So I stayed in the orphanage until I aged out."

"And your brothers?"

"They were around the same age as me in the orphanage. We all aged out at the same time, so they got jobs and we rented a couple of rooms for a while. But when Madame Bustier hired me, she insisted that I live with her. I don't think she understood the sibling nature of our relationship." Madame Bustier was a kind, energetic woman, but tended to jump to conclusions before she knew all the facts.

"I see." Kyn jotted some notes down. He then rested his chin on his hand. “So it sounds like you've experienced a lot of change and loss in your life. How old are you, Celeste?"

"Nearly nineteen. And no, I'm not married or engaged. Neither are my brothers." Not that Kyn probably cared about human marriage tendencies. "You know, on account that we didn't have families to set anything up."

As Kyn wrote down more things, Celeste downed the rest of the tea and put the cup back in the tray. The tea did make her feel more relaxed. She considered taking a nap once Kyn left. But it looked like that wouldn't be any time soon.

"Do you remember anything about your abductor or abduction? We're investigating the cave right now, but any information you can give us would be helpful."

Celeste shook her head. "Sorry. The only thing I remember is laying down for a nap then waking up in a dark cave. No one odd showed up before then either. It was like I was in my bed, then I wasn’t. You’d think I’d remember something.”

“Perhaps one of the customers drugged you without your knowledge. Did you accept any food or drink from them? Or did anything you handle have some sort of powdery substance on it? Some drugs can be absorbed through the skin.”

The kind of questions that Kyn asked reminded her of the sort of questions Derrick asked whenever he did an interrogation. She had only seen him do one, mostly because she happened to be in the same tavern and it had been an informal interrogation of someone who had some information. He did get his information, but only after Derrick had grabbed the person and dragged them off to the kitchen. She knew better than to ask him what had gone on back there.

“I don’t recall anything like that. But so many people bring us dusty jewelry for appraisal that there could’ve been something on one of them and I never noticed. But that doesn’t explain waking up by myself in a cave.” Speaking of tired, she was feeling that way herself. Odd, she hadn’t felt that way before the tea. “Do you mind if I make myself more comfortable?”

Kyn motioned for her to do so. “Don’t worry, I shan't be much longer with my questioning, Celeste. I hope it’s not annoying you. It just that you’ve been found under some very mysterious circumstances and we want to figure things out.”

Celeste nodded as she made herself comfortable on the bed. “How long will it be before you contact someone? I don’t want anyone in Feon to get too worried about me being gone for so long…”

“We’ll contact someone as soon as we can. It’ll take a bit though. Feon is a good ride away from here. You just relax and let us take care of you. Are you hungry? We can get you something to eat.”

“Sure. I’ve never had elvish food before. I’ve heard it’s pretty good.”

Kyn got up and took the tray with him. “It is. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. If you need anything, just give a yell and someone will attend to you.”

“I will. And Kyn, thank you for your help. When I met Jyn, I was worried that hostilities between elves and humans had broken out overnight. She threatened me with harm if I didn’t tell her the truth.”

The elf let out a sigh. “Yes, she can be that way sometimes. But once you get to know her, you learn that she’s mostly just rough around the edges.” He headed to the door. “It won’t be locked this time, so you don’t have to worry about that. See you in a bit, Celeste.”

When Kyn closed the door, Celeste allowed herself to fully relax. He certainly seemed friendly enough even with all the personal questions. But elves tended to be cryptic. Something about directness being viewed as rude. Jyn wasn’t of that opinion. She closed her eyes, intending on relaxing for a few minutes.

She did hear the door open a bit later, but she didn’t feel like opening her eyes to see who it was. It was probably Kyn anyways. Hopefully, he wouldn’t start another lengthy conversation. Celeste didn’t feel up to it at the moment, no matter how well-intentioned he was.

But someone touched her forehead and she felt something rough against her skin. Someone started to say something in Elvish, low and soft. It reminded her of some kind of prayer. Why would someone be praying over her? She wasn’t sick or dying. She’d have to ask them herself.

Celeste reached up and grabbed the elf’s wrist. “I was told I was in perfect health.” She stated as she opened her eyes. “Why… Ms. Jyn?”

Jyn tore her hand away from her grip and backed up. Around that time, Kyn came in with something that looked like bread. He looked from his sister to Celeste, then back to Jyn.

“Jyn, what are you doing in here?” He asked as he went and set the tray down. “If you needed to talk to Celeste, you should’ve asked me first. She’s resting right now and…”

Jyn reached out, grabbing her brother’s robes and dragged him out of the room. The door slammed shut, leaving a confused Celeste. Now that she was fully alert, she decided to try the elven bread. It had a sweet taste much like the tea. She had a couple of pieces before she got up again and went to the door. She could hear a muffled conversation happening through it. Once again, she wished she understood Elvish. It sounded like they were having a pretty important conversation.

She listened at the door to see if she could pick up any of the words, but she was unable to. Celeste could just hear Bustier getting onto her for eavesdropping, while Derrick would be encouraging it, though commenting on how she wasn’t doing it right. Owain would have been right beside her, providing the translation. He knew both Elvish and Dwarven and could never pass up listening to a good conversation.

But when it died down, she decided to make her appearance. Something was going on. Celeste opened the door.

“What’s going-?”

Once again, Jyn’s hand came down and she blacked out.