Somehow, Celeste managed to convince the goblins that only one of them needed to come with her to the graveyard. Naturally, Buttercup was the one who came with her. She wasn't armed with a dagger, but a staff. On the way there, she used the staff mostly to smash bugs before eating them. She offered Celeste a crushed bug.

"No thanks. I'm fine."

The way Rusty had explained it, they could get to the graveyard in a day, but wouldn't be able to make it back to the cabin before it got too dark to travel. The way was familiar to her, seeing that it had been the route she and the elves had taken back when they first left from Feon. Buttercup easily scrambled over the stone that jutted out of the land.

It was a couple of hours after noon when they arrived. The graveyard was overgrown, but not so much that she couldn’t find any grave markers. She got out her dagger in case anything jumped out of the grass at her. Buttercup pushed some aside with her staff as they walked.

It had been years since she had been to the graveyard, even before her sleep. But her feet seemed to know where to go. Even with the grass grown over, she had no trouble finding the general area her parents had been buried. While there were no grave markers for her parents, there was a general marker that listed who was buried there. The marker had been filled out the last time she went. Celeste traced her hands over the engraved names of her parents.

"Sorry, it's been so long. A lot has happened, not that I saw most of it."

She sighed and sat down by the marker, looking over the graveyard. Buttercup was busying herself with a tree not too far away, but it was obvious that she wasn't paying attention to what Celeste was doing.

"I would’ve brought flowers, but I'm not sure where they grow around here anymore. Besides, that hardly makes up for missing the years before all this happened. I guess I just got busy and didn't see the need to."

Celeste talked at the marker for a while, describing everything that had happened since she'd last been there. That took a while. Once she was finished, she leaned back and looked at the sky. The weather was nice and the clouds traveled lazily across the sky.

"I guess the main reason I came is because I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to come again. I guess I should leave the country. There's nothing left for me here. I don't belong anywhere here anymore."

It would be hard, but maybe she could carve out a life in Tira. Maybe she could find some Feonians there that could help her. She would have to learn the language and find a place to stay, and find a job, and…

The more she thought about it, the less desirable Tira became. She was too late to the party to do her much good. Besides, she couldn't see herself living on the coast.

She thought about the elves. Their woods were nice and there was a group of Feonians that lived there. But she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be around the elves all the time. The dwarves were another option, but she quickly dismissed it. While the empty land of the Waste suited them, it didn't suit her. And Rusty and his friends had done enough for her; she didn't wish to be a further burden to them. The goblins were out of the question. Logistics worked against the river goblins and she didn’t know the lake goblins well enough.

Two weeks had not been enough time to make such a decision and now she only had a few days to come up with an answer. Celeste got up.

"I just wanted to catch you up on some things and let you know that I do think of you, even when I don't come here. Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Hopefully not forever."

Buttercup was now napping in the tree she had been playing in earlier. Celeste decided to wait until after she had visited Madame Bustier's grave to wake her up.

Fortunately, she remembered where her husband had been buried. While she had never been to his grave before, Madame Bustier had described the spot in enough detail that she might as well have drawn her a map. Celeste found the two graves on top of a hill facing the west where there would be a perfect view of the sunset.

"I won't linger long because I know you hated long goodbyes." Celeste went to the front of the marker. "I'm sorry I wasn't around for the end, but it sounded like you had a full life and now you're with the love of your life. Thank you for everything, Madame. I don't know where my life would've gone without you. I'll always remember you."

She allowed herself to cry here as memories of Madame Bustier came flooding back. She had only known the woman for a few years, but it felt like she'd lost another parent. She quickly turned from the grave and started walking back to the tree. Then through her tears, something caught her eye.

A giant stone wall sat in the middle of a field in a dip not visible from the entrance of the graveyard. Celeste made her way over to it. It wouldn’t be a noble's tomb. They were located elsewhere completely inaccessible thanks to the plants. She rounded to the front of it. There were a lot of names, but the odd thing was that some of the names had been chiseled off. She got her answer when she finally looked at the top of the wall: "The Lost Ones. May fortune favor them more than it did us."

So these were people who were missing but not necessarily dead? She supposed it made sense to have a memorial to them. She looked through them, not recognizing any of them. Then she came to the bottom and found something surprising, her name.

It was etched in by someone who wasn't a professional, probably Derrick or Owain. But then she noticed that their names were below hers. They considered themselves lost ones also. They probably weren’t wrong, especially in Davik's case.

"I'm sure if you ask, they'll give you permission to remove your name." A voice startled her. "After all, you’re no longer lost."

Malatar emerged from among the tombstones with Tundar and Seraque on his heels. Tundar was holding a limp Buttercup. Fortunately, she appeared to be sleeping. Perhaps her nap hadn't been the result of boredom after all. Malatar continued his approach.

"Or maybe you are. After all, nearly everyone you knew seems to be dead or completely different people. I imagine that would make anyone feel lost."

"Maybe you should get lost and leave me in peace." She wasn’t in the mood to put up with him today.

"Ah, so you do have a bit of a bite to you. So Lord Davik wasn’t blinded by nostalgia when he recalled a couple of his memories of you to me in the past. You sure didn’t display it when we first met."

"I'm glad my emotional turmoil amuses you, Malatar." She turned away from the monument. "Now let Buttercup go and we'll leave you be."

Maybe they had come out to remember someone. Even if she didn't like them very much, they deserved an opportunity to do so. It came as little surprise when Tundar put down Buttercup, only for him and Seraque to intercept her and block her path. She didn't expect them to grab under her arms and lift her so that her feet couldn't touch the ground.

"Hey, put me down!" She tried to twist from their grasp, but they managed to keep balanced. They also kept her from reaching her dagger.

"Lord Davik said that he taught you how to escape back in the day, correct? Those tricks won't work on us." Malatar stopped and stood in front of them. " "We aren't common street thugs."

"Yet you're ambushing me in a graveyard. I thought this was neutral ground."

"It is, but between us and the Revivers. Last I looked, you were part of neither group, Celeste." His hands came up to cradle her face. "I can call you that, right? Sleeper just seems so stiff and formal. You seem to enjoy a more relaxed sort of atmosphere."

She bucked, knowing that she shouldn't let him touch her, but he and the other two held fast. With a nod from him, one of them dug his elbow into her spine. The pain was unexpected and distracted her long enough from what Malatar was doing that a feeling of relaxation crept over her and her struggling stopped.

"That's better." He let go of her. "I believe now is as good of a time as any to have that meal I invited you to. It's been too long since we hosted someone."

The trio carried her off, leaving the graveyard and a sleeping Buttercup behind.