"Where is Kietnan?" Ashima asked as soon as she woke up.

"We're hoping they have the brothers in a room, just like us." Halan answered. She had just woken up five minutes prior.

"And if they don't?" Ashima searched until she found Rahn's eyes. "What do you think is happening to them?"

"They took each of us out to question individually." Rahn motioned between her and Biechta. "We can only assume they're doing the same with the males."

Ashima pressed her lips into a thin line and took in a deep breath through her nose. "This has to be the same group that tried to poison The Premier a mere few months ago. We can't assume they're doing anything friendly with the princes." She placed her head in her hands and took in another deep breath, attempting to calm herself.

"If they wanted to kill them, or anyone, they wouldn't have bothered going through all the effort of fighting and sedating them and dragging them out of there for transport. They would have just done it there."

"You're right. We have to think positively." Halan nodded in agreement.

"So what do you think they want with them?" Biechta asked at barely more than a whisper.

"I honestly don't know." Rahn offered.

"Secrets? Ransom? Bargaining tools?" Halan guessed.

"And if they have the princes, why take us?" Biechta questioned again.

When no one spoke or met her eyes, she questioned again. "What is it?"

Ashima sniffled and drew in a shaky breath. "We're insurance."

"What's insurance?" Biechta and Halan asked at the same time.

"If the guys don't cooperate, what's the most likely way to make them cooperate? What's their biggest weakness?" Ashima continued.

Biechta cocked her head to the side and scrunched her brows up in confusion.

"Oh my dear, innocent, friend." Ashima sniffled again and wiped tears from her face.

"Oh no." Halan stood suddenly and ran to the locked door and began banging on it frantically. When no one answered it, she began screaming. "Answer me! Someone come speak to me!"

"Halan." Rahn tried to pry her away from the door. "Calm down."

"If they want to keep us to threaten the males with, who's to say they won't use... Do they have him too?!" Halan turned and grasped both of Rahn's arms tightly.

"Who?"

"Oh my God..." Ashima gasped and then ran to comfort Halan. "I'm sure he's safe, Halan. He was spending the evening with your parents and they had guards at their door, right?"

Halan nodded her head as she attempted to calm herself.

"Who are you talking about?" Biechta asked, still speaking barely above a whisper.

"My beautiful baby boy. Surely they wouldn't harm a child?!" She began shaking, so Ashima and Rahn helped her to return to the cot on the floor she had been laying in earlier.

"We'll just cooperate all we can and they won't need him." Rahn offered her. "I'm sure once we were taken, they put everyone else under strict lockdown. No one will be able to get to him."

Halan began crying and Ashima brought the much taller Qarthan woman's head into her lap and began rubbing circles on her back to console her.

Rahn looked away. Qarthan's didn't show strong personal emotions in public often, and even then Rahn had never been particularly good at comforting anyone. She'd never been shown how. She was taught to tough it out and keep moving. Show no weakness. Ever. Even in front of your family.

She glanced back at Ashima comforting Halan and when Biechta sat on the other side and began consoling her as well, Rahn felt a familiar longing swell up within her chest. One she'd gotten good at squashing down and forgetting over the years.

She turned and took in a deep breath and focused on the room they were in instead. It was pretty basic. Four plain walls, a plain ceiling with a dusty light, and a standard wooden floor. On one side of the room were four cots and on the other was a toilet and a sink. The four of them were about to get really familiar with each other.

Rahn ran a hand over her head, before holding it in place at the base of her neck. She wondered if they were truly playing along to keep her secret in play or if she was just another prisoner here.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Two days had passed with nothing happening. Rahn, Halan, and Ashima seemed to be going crazy staring at the same room for so long. The only one to seem unaffected by being cooped up in one room for so long was Biechta. Rahn couldn't help but wonder what her story was. She'd learned bits and pieces but nothing major yet.

Halan, on the other hand, was an open book. She talked seemingly nonstop. About everything and about nothing all at the same time. More than once, Rahn and Ashima made eye contact and knew they were both holding back from strangling the female.

"I'm just saying, they could at least give us something to do. Would it be so much harm to give us a sketch pad and some pencils?" Halan asked

"You can tell them all about it if they ever come to question you again." Ashima said dryly as she went to sit on the opposite side of the room, leaning against the wall.

Ron made her way over to sit beside Ashima. She didn't say anything at first, they just sat there in silence. Rahn wished so badly that they didn't leave this earpiece on her. She wanted to be able to speak freely.

She did feel a bit of comfort that Ashima knew who she really was. And that Ashima knew about the earpiece. She had made it a point to make it clear to her as soon as she had woken up, just in case Kahal and Kietnan hadn't warned her about that possibility.

Ashima finally spoke up. "So... What are you thinking? How are you holding up?"

"Doing the best that I can, I suppose. Plenty of thoughts rolling around in my mind, but..."

"I just wish I knew what was going on. What their plans were. How long we would be in here. And... What they plan on doing with all of us when they're finished with whatever it is they are doing."

Rahn nodded her head in agreement. How long was it that you were held the last time?

Ashima laughed, humorlessly. "The last time. I hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence!" She laughed again before her face became solemn. "I'm not exactly sure, they were giving me something to make me sleep at first. But I think it was around a week all in all.

"And you did it alone."

"Yeah, at least we are together. I'm glad they didn't put us in separate rooms." Ashima visibly tensed and looked at Rahn in panic.

Rahn noticed as Ashima's eyes landed on her earpiece. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. If Ashima was worried they would separate them because of her comment, Rahn couldn't know if they would. She hoped they didn't. Rahn was just glad that Ashima remembered that they were listening in so she didn't say anything else that might hurt them. Or anyone else.

"What do you think the chances are of Garen coming in and setting me free like he did last time?" Ashima chuckled.

Rahn was quickly realizing that Ashima's way of dealing with stress or worry was to make jokes of the matter. She liked that about her. "We can always hope." Rahn chuckled in return. They both knew the chances were slim to none.

"I wonder if he's returned to the homeland. If they sent word about the situation and brought him home. All hands on deck, so to speak."

"You don't think Kahal can do the job?" Rahn raised a brow at her.

"We don't even know if Kahal made it out of that room alive. Or if he was taken like the rest of us."

Rahn didn't like the way her chest tightened at that comment so she quickly ignored it and moved onto a different topic. "How do you think the quiet one is holding up?"

"Bi? I think she's doing OK, all things considered. She was extremely sheltered, she's had zero life experience outside of the walls of her home. Now that she was here at the grand hall, she was finally just beginning to come out of her shell and become her own person. I worry what this will do to her. I hope she doesn't backtrack into her shell."

Rahn nodded. "Just make sure to keep an eye on her. Sometimes it's the quiet ones that end up exploding. She needs to get her feelings out somehow." Rahn herself would love a good punching bag right about now.

Ashima nodded in understanding.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Rahn paced the stuffy room she had been confined to for the past three days. They had come and taken the females with her from the room one by one until she was alone. She tensed and turned to the door when she heard it open.

"Your turn." A female Qarthan motioned for her to follow. She eagerly exited the room and followed the female down the hall, a male following behind them.

She didn't say anything, just surveyed her surroundings. Nothing looked familiar, yet she was confident they were in the same underground networking of tunnels and rooms she had stayed in prior. She wondered, not for the first time, just how vast the place truly was.

She was led into another interrogation room, just like the one a few days ago.

"Have a seat."

She complied quietly, eagerly waiting for whatever they did next.

"You have been here three and a half days now. How do you feel?"

"Like a bird in a cage." She said dryly. "How do you think I feel?"

"No need to get snarky." The female said flatly. "How do the other females seem to be taking the situation?"

"Can't you just ask whoever is listening to this thing?" She pointed to her ear piece.

The woman stared blankly at her.

"You've been getting to know them. Do you think they have anything useful to offer us?"

Rahn scoffed and grabbed the arms of her chair. "It would be a lot easier to answer that if I had a clue what it was you were wanting, wouldn't it?"

"That may be true, but sadly we cannot share that information with you."

"Why am I here? Why are any of the other females here?" She drew in a deep breath, calming herself. "I thought you wanted to shake things up with The Premier, why are you holding helpless women captive here?"

The female raised her brows. "You don't think holding the loved ones of The Premier captive will 'shake things up?' The Premier not knowing if they're dead or alive or being mistreated? In fact, it has caused quite a ruckus."

Rahn tensed but kept her expression neutral. "And when you're finished, what do you plan to do with the females?"

The woman shrugged. "We'll see."

"And what of the princes?"

She leaned forward, eyeing Rahn. "Do you care what happens to them?"

Happens. Rahn noted. So they're still alive. She made sure the relief she felt didn't show outwardly and instead she sighed. "I just don't like not knowing what's going on and I don't like being caged in a room for days on end."

"Patience."

She drew in a deep breath and exhaled it. "Can we at least get a change of clothes? I'm sure you've noticed we're all wearing formal attire, it's not exactly comfortable and we've been sleeping in it for three nights. And would a wash basin be too much to ask? It's beginning to really stink in there."

The woman smirked. "I'll see what I can do."

When Rahn was deposited back into the room, Halan was asleep on her cot and Biechta was sitting beside her, looking worried.

"What happened?" Rahn asked as she plopped down onto her own cot.

"I was the first to return. When they brought her, they said they had to sedate her again."

Rahn simply nodded.

"Will she be ok?"

"I think she will be fine." Even though she knew she would be. The female had likely caused a big uproar again.

"Where's Ashima?"

"I imagine she's still being questioned. That's what happened to me, anyway. You?"

Biechta nodded.

"What did they ask you?"

"They just asked how we were doing, asked what my relationship was to everyone."

"Do you mind if I ask, what is your relationship with everyone?"

Rahn noticed a slight look of confusion cross Biechta's face. "I am simply a guest at the grand hall for a short time."

"You were Lord Kahal's date to the production. Are you going to partner?"

"Oh no. Lord Kahal and I have both agreed we are simply friends, no more."

Rahn released a breath. Why did she suddenly care? She quickly pushed the feelings to the side and noticed Biechta was making a face. "What's bothering you?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

Biechta drew in a breath and sighed, but eventually nodded. "Nothing I can do about it, anyway."

They sat in silence for the next half hour before Biechta spoke again. "What do you think they are doing with Ashima? She's been gone a long time."

"I was wondering about that myself." Rahn answered.

Several minutes later, the door opened and Ashima walked in, the door quickly, closing and locking behind her. Ashima had her arms wrapped around herself, and she looked scared.

"What happened?" Rahn asked quickly.

Ashima shook her head, poorly, attempting to hold back tears. She made her way to her cot and climbed in under the thin blanket, curling up into a ball.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Biechta asked Ashima.

When Ashima didn't answer, the two other females sat in silence and waited for Ashima to collect her thoughts and hopefully tell them what happened.

"What happened to Halan? Did they sedate her again?" Ashima finally asked several minutes later.

"Yes." Rahn answered. "She's been back for nearly an hour. Where have you been? Why did they keep you so much longer than the rest of us?"

Ashima sighed deeply as she sat up. "Sorry, I just needed a few minutes to cry, I guess. This is all just so crazy."

Biechta and Rahn nodded their heads in understanding.

"Do you remember from the production how there was a male at the trials camp that tried to kidnap me?"

Rahn sat up straighter, listening to Ashima intently. Biechta nodded, but showed confusion.

"He's here."

"What?!" Biechta said in alarm.

"I guess it makes sense, only a group of people who didn't care about the premier or the guards or any laws, would take in someone like that." Ashima decided.

"What happened?" Rahn finally asked.

I was taken to a room and questioned, just like last time. They hardly even asked anything. I don't really understand why we're here." She raised her hand and rubbed her forehead. "Anyway, the male who showed up to bring me back to this room was him. Instead of bringing me here he took me down a long hallway and to a vacant storage closet. He threatened me and made all of these insinuations about how Kietnan was finally getting what was coming to him for ruining his life."

Ashima began crying again as she looked at Rahn. "Do you... do you think he was just trying to make me upset? Or do you think they're doing something to Kietnan? What if they're torturing him?" She let out a sob.

"How did you get away from him?" Halan asked and they all turned to see her looking at them from her cot, half awake.

"Someone opened the storage room to get something so he just grabbed me and pulled me back down the hallway. I guess he was worried he would get in trouble or something, I don't know."

Rahn drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. She didn't like feeling so out of control and so useless.