A little while after Joseph returned Elissa began to stir. Without opening her eyes, she stretched and yawned before adjusting to doze back off. Her movement caused the book to fall to the floor with a thud. Startled awake, Elissa sat up. She looked around in a slight panic before her gaze fell on Joseph. Her face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry.” She muttered, bending to pick the book up. “How long have you been back?” She wondered how long she’d been asleep, but knew that he wouldn’t know that answer. Elissa walked over to the desk and sat the book down. “It was good, what little I read. Without my glasses the words got blurry and I got a headache. I had to stop.” She didn’t know why she was explaining it to him, but she felt like she should. 

Elissa frowned when she noticed his hand. She was certain it hadn’t been like that earlier. “Are you alright? What happened?” Her voice and furrowed brows showed her concern for the minor injury. “Were we attacked? Did I sleep through something like that?” She questioned just how tired she had been. Attacks were common for merchant ships, dissent among the crew was not, so her mind immediately went to the concern that they had been attacked. A knot formed in her stomach as she worried that it was her own crew doing the attacking in an attempt to save her.