Celeste stared listlessly at the scenery that went by them. She knew her head should be swarming with questions, but at the moment, nothing was coming to mind. She was vaguely aware of someone’s cloak wrapped around her and the cart moving, but that was it. The elves spoke to each other in Elvish, so she didn’t even have that to dwell upon. She leaned against the side of the cart and closed her eyes, trying to think back to how Feon looked when she last saw. But the only visions that greeted her were those of rubble and ruin. She quickly opened them and went back to just watching the world go by.

She didn’t realize that the cart pulled to a stop until someone touched her shoulder. It was Kyn. He gave her a sad smile.

“I know you’re probably in shock right now, so we’re going to stop here for a while. It’s not good to travel in your condition like this.” To her surprise, he lifted her into his arms. Celeste would’ve never guessed that he was strong enough to do that.

And her guess proved itself right as he nearly fell over the edge of the cart. Fortunately, Jyn managed to catch her brother and Roth managed to catch Celeste before either of them could go over. Roth helped her down and set her on her feet. She wobbled a bit but soon stabilized. The strength in her legs had come back.

“I think you’ll like Rusty,” Roth assured her as they walked toward the small cabin. There was smoke coming out of the chimney, indicating that someone was home. “He’s a bit prickly at times, but he’s not a bad person. And he has connections with both camps, so maybe he can send out word and find someone that knows who you are.”

“I know who I am,” Celeste replied. Despite what Kyn had said, she knew who she was and who her family was. There were no other explanations for the clear memories she had. Nothing was foggy except for early childhood memories and her abduction. The elf, for all his good intentions, was mistaken.

Roth looked to Kyn, who shook his head. Jyn and Yoth hung back away from the other three. The elf let out a sigh.

“If you say so, Celeste.” The hesitation told her that he wasn’t sure that was her name. “Though his connections could come in handy in other ways.”

She had little doubt that this Rusty would think that she was crazy too. But maybe he could still help her. No one would believe she was who she said she was unless she found someone she knew. But did anyone she know survive the Shattering? It was hard to believe that anybody had survived such devastation.

Roth knocked on the door. Sounds of movement came from inside the cabin and a gruff voice came from the other side of the door.

“Who is it? I’m closed, so come back tomorrow if you want smithing done.”

“Closed? Too bad. We’ve just come from an expedition to Feon…” Roth grinned as the door opened a little bit and a short man with a blond beard poked his head out. “Ah, there you are Rusty! I hope you don’t mind if my twin and I come in? We also brought a few friends.”

“I can see that.” He noted as he looked around at all of them. “I thought you two were the only two elves crazy enough to enter Feon consistently. Don’t your people think the area’s cursed so they keep away?”

“It is cursed,” Jyn confirmed from where she stood. “Just because elves are safe from the plants there, does not mean that staying there is not courting disaster.”

“Don’t mind my sister. She’s always like this.” Kyn stepped closer to Rusty. “Hello, I’m Kyn and that’s Jyn. Yoth and Roth have spoken often about you, Mr. Rusty.”

“I think I’ve heard of you.” Rusty opened the door wider so he could take a step out. “You’re the one that works at one of the Rests.”

Celeste could now see that he had dark hair, despite the blond beard. She had never seen that before on a person. On a dwarf, yes, though it was usually their beards that were darker with their hair being a lighter color. But now that she looked at the man, he reminded her of a dwarf. He had the same brown skin tone as the Badland dwellers. But he was too tall to be a dwarf. Even the tallest of them was a head shorter than her. He was nearly as tall as her. Rusty seemed to catch her intense gaze.

“And then who’s this? She doesn’t look well, to be honest. Don’t tell me you took a human to Feon with you…”

“It’s a long story,” Kyn replied. “This is Celeste Avon.”

“At least that’s the name she gave us,” Jyn informed Rusty. “But it is looking unlikely that it is her name.”

Celeste turned her head and glared at Jyn. “It is my name! It was the name my parents gave me and it’s the name I grew up with! I’m starting to think that maybe I’m better going off on my own if you’re going to keep treating me like this.”

Yes, going off on her own would be dangerous in a land that was not how she remembered it, but she wasn’t going to stand around and be talked about like she wasn’t there. Especially since they were constantly telling her that she was someone else.

“If you’re going to go off, Ms. Avon, then why don’t you have something to eat first?” Rusty questioned as he held out his hand to her. “I’m sure you know that I’m Rusty. My real name is Russel Hammerforged.”

Hammerforged, that was a very dwarven name. Russel not so much. Celeste shook his hand. That was the first time someone had offered her a handshake since she had woken up. It just wasn’t something that the elves did. The elves stood back, awkwardly silent as Rusty brought Celeste into the cabin. He looked back.

“What are the rest of you gawking at? If you want something to eat, then you better come in or Celeste and I are going to eat it all.”

The four elves came in and Rusty shut the door. With all six of them in there, it made his cabin rather cramped. Rusty went to a boiling pot that hung over the fire and opened the lid. The smell of stew wafted through the room and Celeste’s stomach growled. The elven food had been good, but it was nice to recognize the smell of what she would be eating.

“I don’t have enough bowls, so some of you will have to use cups.” He replied as he went over to a shelf and took down said bowls and cups. “I also only have three spoons.” Rusty gave a spoon to Celeste, Yoth, and Roth. Jyn, Kyn, and he were left without spoons. He scooped the stew into a bowl, serving it to her first. Jyn, Kyn, and Yoth got cups, leaving him and Roth with the remaining bowls. He sat at the small table (which only had a couple of chairs) and indicated that Celeste should take the chair. The elves had to stand or sit on the floor.

“So tell me what’s going on here.” He stated after he ate some of his stew. “I don’t like being in the dark when predicaments land on my doorstep.”

“Well, you see…” Kyn began. Rusty held up a hand, stopping the elf in his tracks.

“I want to hear it from her.” He pointed to Celeste. “You’ll get your turn after she goes. And if all of you would refrain from making remarks until she’s finished. There seems to be some sort of disagreement between what’s going on here and I want to make sure I know the full story before I decide anything.”

Celeste ate a couple of spoonfuls before she started her tale from the beginning. All Rusty did was nod once and awhile. The elves kept quiet, though she could tell that Kyn wanted to say something. But it was nice to get it all out, even if as she said it, it didn’t make much sense. There hadn’t been any signs of civil war as far as she could tell. And who were the two camps that the elves kept referring to?

Once she finished, she focused on the stew. It was quite good. Or maybe it had just been too long since she had it. It reminded her of something Owain would cook. At the thought of him, she suddenly lost her appetite. Fortunately, she had eaten most of the stew so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Kyn then explained things, though Celeste noticed he was really careful when referring to her supposed fragile mental state. At least he was trying to be sensitive about it, unlike Jyn had been earlier. But hearing it from them, she couldn’t help but not blame them for thinking there was something wrong with her. People didn’t just go to sleep for fifteen years and wake up as if nothing had happened. If she were in their shoes, she’d think she was mad too. But she wasn’t.

Rusty had finished his stew once Kyn finished his explanation. He pushed the bowl aside and mused for a minute.

“That’s quite the story you have there. So Kyn, you’re saying that the only explanation is that she thinks she’s this Celeste Avon.”

Kyn nodded, but then shook his head as he put aside the cup his stew had been in. “It’s not the only explanation, but it’s the only logical one. There have been cases of something like this before though…”

“Though what?”

The elf sighed a bit. “Usually, when someone’s convinced that they’re someone else, they only describe the same memories over and over again and can’t seem to remember much else or it’s very vague. She hasn’t shown any sign of that yet, but…”

“I have a proposition. Why don’t you stay two with me for a couple of days? I don’t think you’ll solve anything fussing her over in a Rest.” Rusty suggested as he gathered the bowls and cups. “And maybe doing something somewhat normal will jog some of her memories. After all, I’ve heard that some people do better when they’re not in the Rest all the time.”

“That last part is true. The more alert and lucid ones do better if they’re allowed out of the Rest for a while at least. And she’s pretty lucid.”

“You can’t seriously be considering it,” Jyn remarked as she practically threw the cup at Rusty to take. “I know you want to help her, but it’s not safe for elves out here. You forget this blacksmith deals with both the Renewers and Revivers. They’ll no doubt be coming around.”

“There’s no fighting on my land. Both camps respect that rule.” Rusty assured her. “You could stay too, Jyn. I don’t mind you setting up a tent or anything.”

“No, Jyn should go home. The fewer others that are here, the better.” Kyn confirmed. He went up to Jyn. “Thank you for thinking about me, but I’ll be fine out here. As Mr. Rusty said, there’s no fighting on his land. Besides, you’ve been saying that I need a break.”

Jyn sighed a bit and then nodded. “Fine, but I’m coming back in two days to pick you up.” She fixed a look at Rusty. “If anything happens to my brother…”

“No need to finish,” he assured her as he put the plates and utensils in a bucket. “I know the whole spiel. I heard the dwarves say something similar all the time while I was growing up. At least humans come up with creative threats instead of repeating the old ones.”

Jyn nodded. “I’ll leave him with you then. Yoth, Roth, we should probably get going if we want to make headway before we stop to make camp.”

“Sure, just let us settle some business with Rusty first.” Yoth insisted as he picked up the bag. “Kyn, you should probably get your things out of the wagon.”

“Right. Celeste, do you want to come help me?”

She nodded and followed him out. He rolled his pack down to her and she put it on the ground. Kyn also got her things out. They both took the packs to the house as the other came out. Kyn hugged Jyn and they waved to the cart as it went off.

“I hope you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, Ms. Avon.” Rusty started when they came back in. “You can stay out in the storage shed, Kyn. I have an old cot out there and not much else, so you should be able to fit. Why don’t you go set up? I’ll see if I can’t explain a few things to Ms. Avon here.”

Kyn picked up his things and went outside. Rusty sat in his chair and motioned for Celeste to sit in the other one.

“Let’s talk, Celeste. There’s a lot you need to catch up on.”