After the older woman helped Cinderella down the cliff, the dark-haired maiden held out her hand to the frightened Cinderella. She hesitantly took it. The two women led Cinderella across the desert until they reached an army camp. Cinderella's eyes widened, fearfully. She had heard horror stories of what happened to maidens who ended up in army camps in her childhood. Were these two women going to betray her, after saving her? The girl motioned for Cinderella to sit down and she did, reluctantly. The maiden disappeared and then returned with a tray of food and three men behind her. Motioning to each, including herself, she introduced them, but Cinderella shook her head and remained unresponsive. The curly-brown-haired boy ordered something that sounded like, "Fetch the prisoner!"—clearly he was the one in charge.
A fourth man joined them and, in her language, said, "Food. Good to eat. Need to keep your strength up."
Her eyes widened and she cried out, "You speak Nanthian?!"
The new man nodded and once again introduced the people around her—this time in her language. "My name is Patrius and this is the Farsalan Army Camp. This is Kavi. The raven-haired maiden who brought you here is Lady Soraya of the House of the Leopard. Those two men are High Commander Jiaan and his second-in-command Fasal. Her female companion is Maok. Most—sorry, Kavi—of us around you are very honorable men and women and won't harm you, OK?"
Cinderella nodded and then asked, "How do you know my language?"
"I was born and raised in Nanthia, but chose to join the Hrum army," he explained.
She nodded. Soraya quickly asked Patrius to find out why Cinderella had had nothing with her but the clothes on her back and what she was doing in the war-torn country anyway.
Patrius asked, "Why are you here, with only the clothes on your back, especially during this war?"
Cinderella bit her lip—she had never been able to lie and unless that had miraculously changed on her way here, she'd have to tell the truth no matter how ridiculous it sounded. She bit her lower lip and nervously twirled her hair before she launched into her tale.
"I was born in Nanthia nineteen years ago. My parents were the late Lord Edmund Tremaine and his late first wife, Lady Eleanor Tremaine. We were a happy family until Mother died when I was six. Father and I were devastated. When I was nine, he remarried so when I hit adolescence and that awkward phase, it would be less awkward for me. Stepmother had two daughters of her own, from her first marriage—Drizella, the older one, and Anastasia, the younger one. Once again—minus the typical sibling rivalry arguments—just so we're clear that was mainly Anastasia and Drizella—we were a happy family. But then Father died and Stepmother changed. She became cold and cruel and turned Anastasia and Drizella against me. I was only twelve when the nightmare began. I was slowly turned into a servant in my own home, forced to wear this raggedy old maid's outfit and sleep in the attic. I rarely ate enough and was ignored. The growing up talk?—I hid in Stepmother's closet and spied on my stepfamily as she talked to her daughters! I was lashed when Stepmother found me. She told me I didn't need to worry about she'd told the girls and I began spending as much time as I could in town, with Miss Jane. She explained what Stepmother had told the girls and if I needed a mother, I would sneak out to see her. This continued until the day of the ball. During this time, my only friends were the mice that'd sneak into the house, the bluebirds who built their nests outside my window, my dog, Bruno, and my horse, Major. After I'd given her the note, explaining to her about the ball, and asked if I could go to the ball, Stepmother told me—and I quote—'I don't see any reason you can't go, if you get all your chores done and find something suitable to wear.' I tried; I really did try to get ready. But when I did come downstairs in a suitable dress—it was a dress of my mother's my mice and bird friends had altered for me—my 'sisters' destroyed it as Stepmother merely looked on, smiling! They left and I fled into the garden and cried. My fairy godmother came and gave me everything I needed to go to the ball, telling me I had to leave before the clock struck midnight or else everything would return to the way it was before she cast her spell. I barely got out of the ball before everything vanished. I returned home and I married the prince. At our first anniversary, Stepmother somehow got her hands on Fairy godmother's wand and used it to turn back time. Then she magicked the slipped so it would fit Anastasia and charmed the Prince into forgetting who I am. I tried to steal it back to set things right, but then she caught me and I was banished. And that's how I ended up on that cliff where Soraya and Maok found me."
After she finished her sorrowful tale—before she began her story, Fasal had glared at the others, making it clear he would not tolerate any commentary on her life story, no matter what—he signed that he wanted to know her name. She looked up at him and answered, "I am Rella."
He smiled and with Patrius' help told her he would protect her and that she should stay with Soraya or Maok. Fasal turned to Jiaan and he nodded—then Fasal murmured something to Patrius. He nodded. "You may wander in the camp, but only when Fasal is with you—for your own protection," Patrius explained.
Rella nodded and asked, "Patrius, can you teach me their language?"
"What about going back?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"I can't go back—ever," Rella answered.
Patrius nodded and began teaching her Faran that very night.