—

I walked into the bar, checking the letter that I held firmly in my hand, that I am truly in the right place. A small bar, hidden in the old part of Stormwind. Strange place to be meeting with a member of the Horde, I thought.

I walked up the stairs to the upper area, it’s tables filled with surly retired soldiers and adventures, and looked around for the Paladin. The letter said that she would be wearing black, unfortunately, that described about half of the bar’s patrons.

I was getting the evil eye from about the room, so I simply turned around and walked down the stairs. Stepping out into the small alleyway, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going, kid?” A male voice said from behind me, as the hand clamped down. “Nobody walks into our bar, and walks back out instantly, you see, because that’s sus-er-sus-”

“Suspicious?” I offered.

“Yeah! Sus-pee-sush.” I felt his grip tighten, as his other arm wound back. “Nothin’ personal kid, them the boss’s rules.”

THUD!

I was surprised when I wasn’t feeling after effects of the man’s fist on my head, and slightly less so when his grip loosened as he fell to the ground.

“Sorry about that, but you forced my hand.” A female voice said from behind me. “Not that it’s my job to look after you, but you are here on my account, so it’s only fair.”

“It’s good to see you.” I said, before she grabbed my hand and pulled me after her as she dashed down the alley and into another, and another.

When she finally let my legs catch up with me, along with my breath, I looked her over. She was wearing a cowl, along with a cloth mask over most of her face, both were black.

“So, I see you got my letter.” She said, pinching it out from my hand, where it had nearly been ripped in half. She pulled out a small ruby from inside her loose robe, and muttered a few words under her breath, throwing the letter away as it burst into flames.

“Why, here?” I asked.

“Not here, we’re going to go to my place.” She said, starting to walk towards the main road leading out of the district.

“You have a place?!” I said, running to catch up with her, before slowing down to her casual pace. “Just how long have you been here, anyway?”

“A few months now, I was here when they were still building the Argent Tournament.” She said, as we crossed the bridge to the Trade District.

I did the math in my head. “It’s been almost an entire year?” I exclaimed. “Christ, I wasn’t aware how-”

She raised a finger to silence me. “There are too many ears here, it can wait.”

We had walked straight through the middle of the trade district, past the huge number of adventurers who lined the streets between the bank and the auction house. We silently made our way across the bridges to the Mage District, and from there, across to the Park.

As we walked slowly towards her apartment, we heard a loud bell ringing from the Harbor in front of us.

“What does-”

“The Horde.” She answered, before throwing me against the wall, protecting me from being trampled by the platoon of bodies that rushed past, and started fighting on the streets.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” She fumbled with the key in the lock, and shoved the door open, pulling me inside, and grabbing a large sword and shield that were sitting next to the door.

We moved back against the wall. “Wait for it,” she said.

“Wait for what, exact-”

Two humanoid figures flew in through the window. Before I could blink, they were both surrounded by bubbles of light, which they pointlessly fought against.

“Now.” She said, looming over the pair. “Nobody, Horde or Alliance, travels through my window and gets away with it.” She kicked the poor Alliance warrior in the face, and turned to the Blood Elf, giving her the once over. “Well, solider, get back out there, before I decide to really hurt you. I’ll deal with her.”

The human freaked out, and ran out the door.

“Now, where were we?” She said, grabbing the wrist of the elf and pulling her upstairs.

The elf, who was half dead, by all accounts, was not too happy with this, and assailed her newfound captor with an assault of the foulest Thalassian that she could muster.

“Calm down, I just had to put on a show for those bloodthirsty idiots out there.” She said to the elf. “Sit still, you’re badly wounded.” She muttered a few words, and the elf’s wounds healed slightly.

She lit a fire under the washtub, and told me to “Get the hell out”.

I took that as an open invitation to look through all of her things, to see what kind of person she was now. Her home was small, and sparsely decorated. There was a grand total of 0 interesting things to look at. At least, zero out here.

The fighting had stopped outside, the horde were pushed back. Not surprising though, as the Alliance and Horde both seemed to be quite fond of these pointless skirmishes.

I turned around at the sound of one of the stairs creaking. “How is she?” I said.

“G-good.” She smiled at me slightly. “I take it that you recognized her?”

“Of course,” I smiled back. “I take it you don’t really want to let her know about you?”

“Well, not yet. I like living here, it’s relatively peaceful.” She said.

“You, uhh, don’t say.” I cocked an eyebrow, and walked towards her. “You want me to take her back to Silvermoon?”

“I don’t think she’ll need your help.” We hugged each other. “I just feel like I need a bit more time.”

We stayed there, letting it hang there for a minute.

“Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be able to convince her to make me a portal to Dalaran.” I frowned slightly. “Come visit me soon, okay?”

She smiled, “Okay.” She waved, as I walked upstairs.

I banged on the door. “Hey, princess, you got clothes on?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The elf said, opening the door.

“You got a portal to Dal for an old friend?” I asked.

“Perhaps, if you can afford it.” She smiled, and pushed the door open further, revealing a ready to go portal.

We walked through the portal, and found ourselves standing in the streets of Dalaran in no time at all.

“So,” she said. “I didn’t know my sister had decided to defect.”

I sighed. “She’s just going through a rough patch, Sel, no need to be mean.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Anyway, I’ve got places to go, so we’ll have to get together some other time.”

I sighed, and walked back to my apartment.

The crunch of leaves can be heard underfoot, as I step into the autumnal clearing.

There she is, sitting on a tree stump, with a tired look obvious upon her face. As I enter the clearing, she looks up at me, and says softly…

So, you’re here at last, huh? I was wondering when you would get here.

I go to open my mouth, but she continues regardless.

Are you surprised to see me here? Are you that daft?

“I- well,”

You should know that I have a life of my own when you’re not looking through my eyes. You’re smarter than that.

I sigh, and step towards her, into the clearing. “Sure, but here, why here?“ A small clearing in the middle of Eversong Woods, of all the places in Azeroth, why right here?

Really? This is my home, you idiot.

She kicked up a bunch of orange leaves, which floated slowly to the ground in between us.

We stared at each other, assessing each other, for minutes.

“Anyway, how’s magic working out for you?” I asked clumsily. ‘Oh god, this is even worse than unresolved sexual tension.’ I thought.

F-fine.

She looked at me like I had asked her to stab her mother in the face, mixed with the slightest hint of concern.

And what about you, how’s whatever you’re doing going?

I smiled. “Nice to know for all of your powers of precognition aren’t all powerful.” She glared slightly, before she gave me a strange look and smiled a little, realizing it was a joke. “I’m fine, by the way.“

Good, good. Anyway… I’ve got to go. Uhh, take care of yourself, eh?

“You too.” We smiled nervously at each other, before we both walked away.

Well, I’m not sure what to think of that. Both me and Sel are amazingly shy? Perhaps it is just the whole privacy thing. We would of been better off conducting this chat somewhere more public, like in Dalaran. Perhaps next time, eh? (Perhaps)