Awakening Ritual

In the minutes it took for Vykers to exit the Awakening Room and fetch the prisoners, Maude made the required preparations. Yelena didn't understand them and Maude didn't explain. He seemed far too focused and studious to pay her any mind.

Then, the large door opened and the Prisoners were prodded into the room proper. 

"Stop nudging me," Stefan said and while he would have loved to sound angry, his voice just came out sounding defeated. Being locked up in a cell with very dim lighting can have that effect. 

What used to be quite a handsome face was far more muted in its attractiveness. Smudged up with dirt.

"You look well," Triss told Yelena in a low voice. 

"Triss—" Yelena started to say but wasn't sure what to say. 

She was standing here, powerless to do anything to help and dressed in finery while the siblings had spent days in a cell and were now about to be subjugated and forced to serve the Man they tried to rob.