I never said Celes wasn't part of the Empire, she just wasn't a soldier for as long as we imagine. I would like to think the first half of her life was spent learning and harnessing her powers rather than training to kill. Terra on the other hand was probably a test subject for the first half of her life.

I was just trying to say that these circumstances may have been a good enough excuse as to why they don't know each other very well.