A Normal Day in the Life of the Flame Warden
"Urgh… wha…?" Wuten woke in a daze. "Where am I?" he asked himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He blinked a few times, before looking around at the table he'd fallen asleep on.
It was covered in empty steins of beer, strewn across the table, some standing, others tipped.
"Gah, I must have had way too much last night…" he muttered, slowly standing up, his legs barely able to support his large torso after the drinks. His tunic and leggings were both stained on the left side with the stench of alcohol. "This is one hell of a hangover," he said, looking around. His vision was still slightly blurred from the previous night, and his sense of balance was completely useless at this point; the second he tried to stand up without the support of the chair, he fell flat on his face.
He walked out of the tavern, only to be met by the blinding light of the sun. It was probably somewhere around midday, he thought to himself. The sunlight burned at his retinas, despite the fact that they were nothing but glowing blue orbs. He shielded himself from its unrelenting glow, and started on down the road of the Dwarven District of Stormwind City, simply wanting to get into a dark area, away from the gaze of the sun.
The district itself was bustling with activity; an inconvenience for him, the voices echoing around in his head, a constant, irritating noise. Two young children ran past him, one carrying a toy gorilla, the other chasing close behind, trying to retrieve the gorilla back. The two of them combined nearly knocked Wuten to the ground a second time, but he managed to keep his balance, stumbling to the side as they ran. "Gah, I really need to get indoors…" he grumbled as he made his way out of the district, coming to the canal area.
The calm waters lapped lightly against the stone walls of the canals, and Wuten looked down into them, at his reflection. The scar across his left eye was more prominent than usual to him, and had an aching soreness to it that he could hardly stand. His auburn hair was tangled, and his ponytail had become loosely undone, so that strands were loosely flowing in the air, while the rest was messily tied back up into it. His bangs, which were usually neatly parted down the middle and out of his face, had since become messy, the hair scraggled and not in the uniform fashion it was usually in. He sighed, closing his eyes and breathing in slowly, the sound of the water a refreshing break from the sounds of the townspeople.
"Wuten?" a familiar voice came from the left. He opened his eyes, and turned his head to face the direction the noise came from. It was Kassaris, his very first apprentice and now wife, and the person that gave him the scar across his eye; it was a training accident during her apprenticeship. She wore similar garb to Wuten, a dark leather tunic and leggings, and a mask was wrinkled down at her neck; she'd most likely gotten done with some pretty shady business. Her amber eyes and light freckles dotting the sides of her face was truly a wonderful sight for Wuten to behold at a time like this.
She sat down next to him, her slightly lighter hair tied neatly into a ponytail, causing Wuten to be slightly disappointed at himself for looking as disheveled as he was. "What happened? You didn't come home last night, I got worried," she asked, her eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"I had… a long night," Wuten said, sitting down next to her. "Guess I had a few too many and passed out."
"You should be more careful," Kassaris said, chuckling a bit. Wuten had never been one to pass out in a bar. "Even if it is Brewfest, you should pace yourself a bit easier," she continued, "That Dwarven stuff'll knock you out fast."
"Heh, you're probably right," he said, rubbing his face. He had small stubbles showing up, he'd take care of those later. "Right now, I need to figure out exactly what happened last night," he grimaced, "I can't remember a thing."
"Oh? You were staying at the Golden Apple, right?" Kassaris asked, trying to stifle a giggle.
"Yeah, what about it?" Wuten looked at her, his eyebrow raised.
"Then why not just ask Tel what happened? She's the barkeep there now, right?"
"You know, that's an excellent idea!" Wuten said with a grin forming on his face. Telandra had been Wuten's second apprentice; a young night elf rogue that had aspired to become better than even Wuten himself, and he had no doubt that she could pull it off. "As soon as this headache goes away…" he said, chuckling lightly.
"Here, I'll walk you home," Kassaris grinned, placing one of Wuten's arms around her shoulder, and lifted him up slowly, careful to keep his balance. "It'll probably be easier than walking on your own," she said, winking at him.
"Thanks, Kass," he smiled, moving his feet in sync with hers so that he wouldn't drag behind her. "Sometimes I wonder what I'd do without you," he laughed. It was true; if it wasn't for her, he'd probably have gone and ended it all soon after returning to Stormwind as a death knight. It was only after hearing that she was alive and well that his resolve returned, and the two met up once again and fell in love, eventually becoming wed.
"You'd go completely crazy," Kassaris said as they entered their home, tucked away in Cut-Throat Alley. "Same goes for me, and the rest of your apprentices," she giggled, lowering him down into a chair as she went to fix a pot of tea for the two of them. "You'd be surprised how much of an impact you have on the three of us," she said, smiling, "More than you know."
"Guess the feeling's mutual, then," he said, closing his eyes and relaxing back in his chair. Kassaris came back a few minutes later, placing a platter with a teapot and two cups on it onto the table. Wuten and Kassaris took the cups, clanked them together, and took sips of the tea. The feeling of it going down felt more refreshing than Wuten could ever believe, and by the end of it his headache had disappeared, and his balance started to return to him. "What do you put in that tea, Kass? It always seems to give me a ton of energy," he said, standing up, testing his balance.
"Old family recipe," she winked slyly, and then stood up, placing a kiss on his cheek. "Now you go on and find out what you were doing last night," she giggled.
Wuten nodded, and walked out of the house, fully refreshed, however not before returning the kiss to Kassaris, only on the lips in his case, which caused her to giggle once again, the small stubbles on his face tickling her cheeks.
"Alright, so Tel would probably be in the tavern by now," he said to himself, beginning his walk to the Golden Apple. He started in a walk, and gradually began testing his balance, eventually breaking out to a full run towards the tavern. "Tel!" he called out when he arrived at the tavern, slowing his pace to a walk as he entered.
Telandra was standing behind the bar, checking the stock for the evening's tavern-goers. Her body was more slender than that of Kassaris, and was a light-blue color. Her outfit shared similar traits with that of Wuten and Kassaris; however she put her own twist on it, preferring to leave her lower torso exposed just slightly. She had silky white hair, tied into long pigtails in the back. She was short for a night elf, her height just barely that of Wuten's. Her glowing eyes lowered on Wuten, and a grin formed on her face. "What brings Wuten here to the Golden Apple?" she teased, "Didn't you have enough last night?"
"That's actually what I came here about," he said, walking up to the bar. "I've got no idea what went on last night." He leaned one arm onto the bar, sighing. "I can't even remember anything leading up to it, really. The whole day yesterday is just a giant blur to me now." He looked at her, the grin never leaving her face. "Think you could help me?"
Telandra snickered lightly, "I suppose I could let you know," she said: she was going to have fun with this. "It was like any normal time you had in the bar, but I could tell something was off," she began, "You seemed to be enjoying Brewfest a bit… too much," she paused for a bit, thinking three steps ahead on what the best wording would be, "And ended up going onto that chandelier up there, like you always do when you perform."
Wuten nodded, listening intently on each event she told him. "And? What happened?"
She grinned, "Well, sure enough, you fell off the chandelier, probably the first time I've ever seen you do such a thing. And just as that happened, Navira came in through the entrance to the tavern over there," she pointed to the entrance. "That's when you went over, proclaimed, rather sloppily, your love for her, and planted a big kiss right on her lips. She ran off after that; I'm not entirely sure where."
Wuten's eyes widened at hearing that; how could he have done such a thing? "Are you serious?" he exclaimed, almost completely freaking out.
"That's what happened," she said, snickering, "All of it is 100% true."
"Gah, I've gotta go," Wuten said in a hurry, almost completely blown away by what Tel had told him. "I've gotta take care of this."
"Good luck," she made a shooing motion as Wuten almost completely bolted out of the tavern, trying very hard not to start bursting out laughing with him in hearing distance.
"Alright, so Navira is in Darnassus resting right now, so I guess I'll check there first," he said, heading towards the harbor. The boat to Teldrassil was too slow for him, in his opinion; he consistently kept pestering the captain to sail it faster, to her great annoyance. She was glad to see Wuten finally leaving her boat by the time the trip was over.
"I wonder where she would be staying," Wuten thought aloud. The only time he'd met Navira in Darnassus was their first meeting together, and that went… less like an actual meeting and more like a combatant's ring. He wandered around the city, asking various Sentinels if they had seen an elf that matched Navira's description, to no avail. Finally, he managed to find one that had seen her; she was staying in the Craftsmen's Terrace. He quickly hurried himself over to that section of the city, calling out her name.
"What's Master Wuten doing here?" the young night elf muttered to herself, looking down at Wuten from behind the wall of one of the buildings. She was clad in her own unique style of armor, black with red trim leather armor, designed similar to that of reptile scales, attached and held together by thick Runecloth thread. Unlike the other two apprentices, her shoulder guard was only on the left side, rather than on both, giving her extra protection on her left side. Her hair was a light purple color, tied back into a similar, yet shorter ponytail to that of Wuten's. What could he be here for? The thoughts were flying through her head.
"Maybe it's a training exercise? He wants to test my subtlety," she grinned, pulling up her mask and melding into the shadows, camouflaging herself from his sight as he walked past, then jumped out at him, dagger and sword both in hand, as she attempted to pierce his chest with her blades.
Wuten quickly jumped away from the attack, causing her to strike open air, barely grazing his side. She wouldn't let this falter her, though; she came back again with a spinning slice with her sword, nearly giving Wuten a second scar across his face. "Navira, wait! I'm not here for training," he exclaimed as he attempted to continue dodging attacks.
"That's just what you'd want me to think," she grinned, "But I'm not that stupid," she said, redoubling her efforts to land a blow on Wuten.
"That's not it, I swear!" Wuten shouted, finally retaliating to her attacks, grabbing her by her hands and holding them up, pressing on them to where she dropped the weapons to the ground. "Geez, you'd think I'd actually give you a chance to rest after everything that happened last night," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"What happened?" she asked, obviously confused by what he was saying.
"You mean you forgot too?" Wuten chuckled lightly, "That's good, it makes it a lot easier for me," he said.
Navira raised an eyebrow at him, "What're you talking about?"
"Well, you see, I had a few too many drinks last night…" Wuten sighed; he wasn't quite sure what words to use for this. "Um… anything you might have seen me do, none of it was really me."
She continued to stare at him, perplexed. "I don't follow," she said, her voice becoming less surprised and more of a normal speaking tone.
"Listen, were you in Stormwind yesterday?" he asked, looking down at her with a serious expression.
Navira shook her head, "No, I've been here resting up, just like you asked."
"Then you didn't come into the tavern?" he continued prodding her with questions, "And I didn't kiss you?"
He let that last question slip out unintentionally.
"I never did any of that!" Navira exclaimed, her cheeks turning bright red at the last question. "Who told you all of this?"
"Tel did," he said, raising an eyebrow, "Who else would have been there?"
Navira sighed. "Master, she's obviously tricked you," she said, placing a hand to her forehead. "Do you honestly think I'd do any of that?"
"Well, no, but—" Wuten began, but was cut off by Navira placing a hand up to him.
"Tel's played you like a fool, master," Navira looked up at him, "You should've seen it even before I did."
Wuten's eyes widened at the realization that Tel completely outplayed him. He gritted his teeth and began grumbling obscenities under his breath. "Oh, that no good little— Navira, I apologize for disturbing you while you rested up from training. I'm going to have me a little chat with Tel."
Navira couldn't help but smile, "It's alright, don't worry," she said, lowering her hand. "Just make sure not to go… a bit overboard with her," she continued, "You tend to do that," she paused, "…A lot."
He nodded, and then scratched at his face, thinking to himself. "She's laughing at my expense right now, I know it," he said, then grinned. "Heh, I suppose I would too. I guess I'm getting too old for my own apprentices," he said, sighing.
"You have to admit," Navira said, attempting to poke fun, "It was pretty damn funny."
He snickered, "Heh, yeah. Well I'm going to head back to Stormwind now," he said, pulling out his hearthstone from his bag, and then gripped it tightly, causing it to glow. "I expect to see you back up at Ravenholdt for training as soon as Brewfest ends," he grinned as his body vanished, returning to his home in Stormwind.
"I've figured it out!" Wuten exclaimed, his energy really showing through his tone of voice, "I'll confront Tel a second time, and then get the real story from her this time around."
"That's great and all, but," Kassaris' voice came from the stairs as she walked down them. She had just left the bath, a light red robe covering her body, and her hair pinned up. "How do you know that she'll be telling the truth this time around? She could just come up with another story to tell you," she said, a grin on her face.
"That's true…" Wuten said, sitting down and thinking on the matter. Suddenly, his mind hatched an idea, and he looked up, "What if I promised her this?" he grinned, walking up to their wine cabinet, pulling out a fairly old-looking wine bottle and blowing the dust off it.
"Wuten, that drink has to be at least a few months old, you sure she'll go for that?" Kassaris asked, raising an eyebrow.
Wuten simply grinned slyly, "Oh yeah, she'll go for this," he said, "After all, what's she got to lose? All she has to do is tell me what really happened, and I'll give her this. I'm more partial to bourbon myself, but I have a feeling she'll go for it."
"Well, alright then," Kassaris said, smiling, "Just be sure not to take too long, I get a bit lonely when I don't have you around."
"I'll be back before you know it," Wuten said, pulling her into a playful hug, and then leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek before heading out once more to the Golden Apple tavern.
"Tel!" Wuten called out as he entered, startling the few patrons of the tavern. "I want you to tell me what really happened last night!" Wuten stamped up to the bar, slamming his hand down on it in front of Tel, who still had that playful, mischievous grin on her face.
"Now now, don't make a scene," Telandra said, looking up at him with her eyes only, her red spectacles on her forehead reflecting Wuten's glare off them. "I'll tell you, but what's in it for me?"
Wuten smirked, and pulled out the bottle from before. It was crimson red ale, and Telandra could see just from the condition of the bottle itself how old it was. "If you tell me, I'll give you this bottle of ale. It wasn't easy to come by; the forest trolls up in the northern part of the continent don't take kindly to trespassers."
"Alright then, I'll tell you," she said, grinning; she was going to get that bottle of ale one way or another. "So you didn't do all the things I said you did, however you did end up going through nearly half a keg of this bad boy here," she grinned, patting a hand on a barrel of Brewfest Brew she'd acquired when the celebrations began, "Knocked you out cold. I don't think I've ever seen you drink so much, so fast," she continued, "But all the same. I decided to have a little fun with you today, get back at you for neglecting your social responsibilities, and then coming back and going through my stock without paying."
"Sorry about that," Wuten sighed, the night before starting to hazily come back to him. "I'll try to come in and visit more often," he said, smiling. "I'll be sure to repay the debt back soon as I can."
"Oh, don't worry about that," she winked up at him, "I managed to get my payment while you were out. Took a little extra as a personal tip to myself," she grinned, "For serving you soooo well."
Wuten reached into his pack, and sure enough, she'd nearly cleaned him out. "Damn, I knew this thing felt lighter…" he grumbled.
"Now then, my payment for telling you the truth?" she grinned, holding up her hand, while resting her head on the other, a sly smirk on her face.
"Sure, sure… here you go," Wuten smiled, handing over the bottle.
Telandra opened it, and sniffed at it. "How old is this ale, exactly?" she asked, a curious look on her face as she sat up, reaching over for a glass and pouring some of it in.
"I collected it a few months ago, so…" Wuten's voice trailed off as he counted on his fingers, "…a few months, maybe a year or two?"
"Mmm, let's try it," she grinned, handing Wuten a glass and pouring some into his as well. The two of them raised their glasses, and tasted the ale. "Oh wow, it's delicious!" Tel exclaimed, a grin on her face.
The two of them continued to share the bottle until there was no more left.
"Jus' another day in the life of… *hic!* the Flame Warden…" Wuten snickered, the effects of the ale obviously showing on him.
"Must be pretty interesting," Telandra giggled, winking at him. "Tell me more, hm?"
And so the two of them reveled in stories of the past, until they eventually passed out.
The next day, Wuten woke up, his head hurt, and there was a strange, aching feeling in his stomach.
"…What happened last night?"