Celeste wandered to the exit. She was a bit surprised that no one had made sure she left when everyone else did, but maybe the ones who had been in the room were convinced that she wasn’t a threat. But Orsic...she frowned a bit at the fact that he left without saying much to her, not even an “I’m busy right now, but we’ll talk later”. She nearly ran into Bea as she went out the door.

“Oh, you’ve talked to Orsic already? That was certainly quick…” The scout cast a glance to the building then to the look on Celeste’s face. “He didn’t talk to you, did he?” She huffed a little. “Figures. He can make grand speeches and hold the room’s attention, but when it comes to personal conversations, he’s about conversable as a rock.”

“Really?” Owain having trouble with conversations. Celeste could hardly believe it. “Back then, Owain...Orsic was always the one trying to get me to talk more to other people.”

“You’ll have to tell me more about him, you, and Davik. I’ve always wondered what he was like when he was my age.” Bea started walking. “But let me guess what he said. He said you should probably at least stay the night if not longer. Did he say where?”

It wasn’t hard to tell that Bea was close to Orsic in some way. She spoke about him so personably, a way that someone didn’t speak about their superior in most cases. It reminded her a bit of Glyda.

“He said you wouldn’t mind letting me stay with you, but I’m sure I can find somewhere else if…”

Bea beamed. “No, it’s perfectly all right with me! I haven’t had a tent mate in a long time and then you can tell me all the embarrassing stories about Orsic when he was younger and Davik too before he was… Davik.” She started to run. “Follow me!”

To Celeste’s embarrassment, she couldn’t keep up all that well with Bea, forcing the scout to wait once and a while for her to catch up. She had never been a good runner and Bea was clearly experienced in it. It must’ve not been an unusual sight, because no one paid attention as she ran past them. Celeste, on the other hand, got glances, but they never lingered too long.

They came to a tent near the field where some livestock was kept, but still a long enough distance where it didn’t smell too badly. Bea’s tent was the only one in the area.

“Why do you live in a tent?” Celeste asked as Bea opened the tent flap. “Everyone else seems to live in a building.”

“I like the outdoors more. Staying in buildings make me feel too cramped.” She signaled Celeste to go ahead of her. “Excuse the mess. I wasn’t really expecting company.”

She entered the tent and her jaw nearly dropped. There were clothes everywhere, like someone’s wardrobe exploded. There were two beds. On one, the sheets were all over the place. The other had clothes and dirty gear on it. While she understood that Bea probably didn’t have the luxury of keeping things completely clean all the time, she expected a bit better than this.

Bea went over to the other bed and just pushed the things off. She brushed any dirt from her gear off the sheets. “There you go, a place to sleep.”

Celeste set her bag down by the bed and brushed a little more dirt off it. Fortunately, it looked like most of the dirt was gone. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Bea sat on her bed and looked toward Celeste.

“So, how long have you known Orsic and Davik?” Bea shook her head. “Or did you know I guess is a better way to put it.”

“Let’s see, I’m nineteen now and I met them back when I was...twelve, so six years. Owain and Derrick were already close by then since they were raised in the orphanage. But I guess now, I haven’t known them that long at all.”

It wasn’t fair. She had missed so much that even if she learned what happened, she could never catch up. Her brothers seemed to be gone and she hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye. Bea seemed to sense her emotional distress and changed the subject.

“Let’s not talk about them. I want to know more about you. What have you been doing since you woke up? Rusty’s a decent blacksmith, but I can’t imagine him being that exciting of a housemate.” She pulled her feet up so that she was sitting cross-legged on the bed then held her feet. “Glyda was vague in her description of you. It’s nothing new, but still a bit annoying.”

Celeste proceeded to describe her current living situation with the blacksmith and some of the things she did. Bea was an attentive listener and she seemed very interested in when she talked about the goblins that lived nearby.

“We don’t have river goblins around here. The ones that work in this place are lake goblins. I’ve seen river goblins, but they always run off before I can talk to them. Shame, they seem like interesting folk.”

She got up from the bed and stretched a bit. “You hungry? We can go to the mess hall and grab something to eat. I’m sure they’ll be willing to spare us something.”

Now that Bea mentioned it, she was hungry. The food she had that morning had run out, though she hadn’t realized it with how distracted her thoughts had been. She nodded and followed Bea out. The mess hall wasn’t too far from where the main hall was, which meant they traveled through a busy part of the camp. Celeste kept her eyes forward so she didn’t stare back at the people who watched her.

“Who was Silvvy, the woman back at the meeting?” Celeste questioned. “If she was there, she must be in a high position.”

“That would be our doctor, Silvia, but she goes by Silvvy. Hunda is in charge of the army. You’ve met Glyda, so the only member of the senior staff you haven’t met is the one that keeps the camp together. I think back in the old days, he would’ve been considered a ring manager. His name is Quin. The rest are junior staff members. Not over as much as the rest, but still important.”

Ring manager had been the highest civilian position someone of non-noble birth could hold. The ones in the Mid-rings weren’t so bad from what Celeste understood, but the lower and upper ring managers had quite the reputations. Derrick certainly had plenty to say about them. Bea opened the door and entered the mess hall.

“I will warn you that Quin is uptight, but don’t let him discourage you. If you stick it out, he’ll eventually come around.” She explained as they walked along. “If Orsic trusts you, so will he, even if he complains about it all the time.”

After a short chat with the chefs, Bea came back with two plates and handed one to Celeste. She followed her to a table where they sat down and started eating. The food wasn’t too bad, though Celeste wasn’t sure if it wasn’t that bad, or if she was just so hungry she didn’t care. As they ate, Hunda entered the hall.

“Mooching off the army food again, I see. Are you sure you know how to make your food or you just eat everything raw out in the wild?” He asked with his arms crossed.

“I like my cooking well enough. I just figure that Orsic wouldn’t appreciate it if I made his guest sick.” Bea smiled while giving Celeste a hard pat on the shoulder, nearly making her spit out the bite she was eating.

“So, you’re staying with us now?” He questioned her as he promptly sat beside her with a thump. Only part of it was from the weight of his armor.

Celeste recovered enough to answer. “Only for a few days. Rusty’s gone to visit family and I don’t feel safe staying alone.” Especially considering how prompt summons from Davik had been. They must’ve somehow known the dwarf was planning on leaving.

“Quin’s not going to like this,” Hunda remarked, tapping his fingers against the table. “But you seem harmless enough. If you were a spy, you wouldn’t want to stay with Bea since she doesn’t have access to as much information as the rest of us. And if Orsic and Glyda say you’re good, then I’ll trust them. I’m keeping an eye on you though, just in case.”

Celeste couldn’t help but wonder what was so suspicious about her. Surely she wasn’t the only one who Davik had summoned and then promptly tossed out. Or maybe Orsic acted unusually around her and that worried people. But all she did was nod and take a drink.

“Don’t hassle her, Hunda. She’s more trustworthy than you were when you defected from the Renewers.” Bea stuffed a slice of bread into her mouth. Hunda glared at her slightly. “What?” She asked through a mouthful of bread. “It’s not like it’s a secret. Everyone knows.” She glanced at Celeste. “Well, almost everyone.”

Celeste finished up the last of her food on her plate. “That doesn’t surprise me, Mr. Hunda. You remind me of the few Renewers I saw. What caused you to defect?”

He shifted on the bench and looked at his hands. “It’s a long story and ancient history as far as I’m concerned. You won’t find many people willing to talk about the past these days. You should probably be careful about asking about things like that.”

It took her a moment to realize Hunda was giving her advice. “Oh, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Mr. Hunda.”

“It’s just Hunda, or if you feel like using a title, General Hunda. Never been much of a rank and file guy myself.” He proceeded to get up. “Well, good chatting to you, but I better make sure the recruits aren’t slacking off again. Are you going to come to training, Bea?”

“Tomorrow, I promise. I didn’t think it was fair to leave Celeste alone today.”

Hunda nodded and left the room. Bea finished up her meal and picked up Celeste’s plate before handing them off to one of the chefs. Celeste turned around on the bench.

“If you need to go train, don’t let me stop you. I’m fine just waiting in the tent.” She could pass the time doing...something. “The last thing I want to be is a burden on anyone.”

Bea shook her head. “No, I trained plenty yesterday. If I train today, I’ll be too sore to do much tomorrow and that wouldn’t be good. Besides, it’s not your fault you don’t know how things work around here. It’d be mean just to expect you to be alone and not accidentally get into trouble. Come on, we can go see if the Doc is busy. She knew both Orsic and Davik before they were...well, you know. I’m sure you two could have an interesting conversation.”

Celeste wasn’t completely sure that Silvvy wanted to talk to her, but she followed Bea out. This was probably the most socialization she had had in a while that didn’t involve getting threatened in some way. Perhaps it had been a mistake not coming here sooner. Maybe they would’ve been a little more trusting if they didn’t know that she was connected to Davik.

As they walked through the camp, someone stopped in front of Bea, causing Celeste to bump into the back of her when she came to a sudden stop. Bea growled in annoyance.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that!? One of these days, I’m not going to be able to stop and run right into you!”

Celeste peeked from behind the taller woman to see a familiar face. She tilted her head in confusion.

“Malatar?”

The man who looked almost exactly like Malatar, (and Tundar and Seraque), but much thinner, frowned at the mention of his name. If Bea hadn’t been between them, Celeste was sure he would’ve come after her. Fortunately, he regained his composure.

“Quin, this is Celeste, the one they’ve been calling the Sleeper. Which you would’ve known had you been at the meeting earlier.” Bea explained. “She just met Malatar yesterday, so I doubt she means anything by it.”

Quin looked at her. He didn’t seem upset anymore but kept a firm expression. “Yes, the whole camp is abuzz over her presence.” His voice was fairly monotone and there was no warmth to it. “I suppose she is to stay with us. Orsic could’ve at least informed me beforehand so I could find a place for her to stay…”

“Actually, I’m only staying for a few days and Bea was kind enough to let me stay with her,” Celeste stated now that it didn’t seem like he was going to maul her. “So you don’t have to worry about all that, Mr. Quin.”

He pursed his lips a bit then nodded. “I see, Ms. Celeste. Bea, make sure she doesn’t see anything important. Even if Orsic trusts her, I don’t.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t think she’s even interested. Stop thinking everyone is out to get us.” Bea huffed a bit.

“You of all people should know not to take others too lightly.” He warned. “I doubt you have forgotten. I bid you both farewell for now. I have… business to take care of.”

“But he looks like Malatar!” Celeste insisted after he was out of earshot. “If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought he was his twin.”

“He is, in a way.” She replied honestly. “But then in a way, he’s not. It’s complicated. Come on, Silvvy can explain it better than I can. I think she’s the only one he likes around here.”

That made her feel a bit better, seeing as how he didn’t seem to be a pleasant man to anyone. Still, Bea’s statement left her very confused. If Quin was Malatar’s twin, yet not his twin, what did that make him? And how did Tundar and Seraque fit into all of this? While they didn’t look as much like Malatar as Quin did, there was still a familial relationship of some kind. She had a feeling that the answer probably wouldn’t make things any clearer. All the answers she got recently only served to raise more questions.