Elena watched the captain go silently. As soon as she was alone, she sat heavily on the edge of the large bed, putting her head in her hands. She took deep breaths, though she felt as if she was drowning. The whole situation was completely overwhelming. How had everything become so twisted? Try though she might, Elena could not see any plausible escape. She was on a ship in the middle of the ocean. She was not aware of how much time had passed since her capture, or if their Majesties even knew of her abduction. It was not as if she could sneak off in the night and run away. There was nowhere to run. There was a part of her, the terrified part, that wanted to crawl under a table and hide. She immediately squashed that part. She told herself that she had to stay strong. She refused to let these people affect her. Taking a moment, she forced herself to calm down. Her mind cleared. Her hands stopped trembling. Panicking would get her nowhere. 

Elena stood, beginning to pace back and forth across the cabin. She could not get the captain's words out of her head. The woman confused her more than anything. She had not even known there [i]were[/i] female pirate captains. With a somewhat bitter laugh, she realized that had she heard of Captain Cecilia under different circumstances, it would have been exactly the kind of tale she had always loved. She would have been impressed if she was not already so angry. She looked up to glare at the wardrobe that had been pointed out to her. Having been told to change made her inclined to stay as she was. The last thing she wanted to do was accept anything from the pirate. Her resolve wavered as she took notice of the way her ribs ached from being bound in the corset. She was extremely uncomfortable, and being contrary would not remedy the situation. 

With a frustrated sigh, she stalked over to the wardrobe, quickly rifling through its contents. Finally, she settled on the simplest dress she could find. It had a long skirt and sleeves, with material a soft forest green, and elaborate embroidery in a darker shade. It had been stuffed in the back of the wardrobe, and she took it out, placing it on the bed. Getting out of her own dress was the difficult part. It had taken two maids to lace her into it, and normally it would take at least one other person to take the dress off. Muttering under her breath about ridiculous clothing that required too many people to use, she struggled with the laces of the corset. When she finally was free of the thing, she let it drop to the floor, sighing in relief. She pulled the new dress over her head. This dress laced tightly up the front of the bodice, and was therefore immensely easier to deal with. The neckline was much lower than she would have usually preferred, but the dress was still comfortable and she could finally breathe easily.

Elena quickly yanked the pins out of her hair, dropping them onto a small table. Her long hair fell all the way down to her waist, and she ran her hands through it with a sigh. She kept her jewelry on, imagining that it she would not see it again if she set it down. It was not as if she cared for the expensive necklace and earrings, but they were the only things of value she had on her. Perhaps she could bribe someone. She had already decided that she was not going to give up.

She looked hesitantly towards the door. It was true that she wanted desperately to get out of the room, but she was still quite nervous at the thought of facing any of the pirates again. Taking a deep breath, she found her resolve, a look of determination on her face. She would show this Captain Cecilia that she was not weak, that she would not be broken. Years of living at court had given her the skills to hide her true feelings, and she used these skills now, taking her fear and uncertainty and shoving them into the back of her mind. Her expression was carefully blank, her blue eyes defiant. She strode towards the door with purpose and knocked three times.