A/N: hello, readers! Welcome to one of my few stories that is standalone, on its own, with characters from multiple continuums of my own crossing paths. You DO NOT need to read any of my other stories for this one to make sense. Of course, I'd love it if you do read my other stories, but I won't force you to. Also unlike my other stories which I write beginning to end before posting, this is one I'll just write and post chapters for whenever inspiration strikes. So no guaranteed updates weekly updates, unlike my other continuums.
For reference, this story takes place just after the Mists of Pandaria expansion, though all events are original. I follow the unofficial Wowpedia timeline instead of the official Blizzard one, since the unofficial one is more complete and logical. And for those wondering...yes, our heroine here is the sister of the protagonist of my other story, "Not All Truly Die," though their stories never intertwine. Enjoy!
Drops of water from the recent downpour dropped off the awnings of the pandaren style shops, leaving puddles on the uneven cobblestone street. Such weather was common in the Kun-Lai Summit at that time of year...and in a particularly drizzly day in Binan, the grey atmosphere couldn't match the grim mood of a certain fleeing youth more perfectly.
"Leave me alone!" cried Rosemai as she held up her gown, ever mindful of preventing it from getting soaked as she ran down the narrow street looking for help.
All the shops had been closed up due to the downpour, and many of them were entirely unoccupied. That the town guards had seemed to have disappeared on another tea break was typical of her bad luck. Door after shuddered door whizzed past her as she ran, the relatively tiny storefronts of that particular neighborhood creating an almost claustrophobia inducing atmosphere as she methodically slowed down her pace in order to search for sharp turns she could make and then speeding up again to retain her lead.
Two men she didn't recognize as being from the region continued to give chase, on the verge of laughter as they started to gain on her. One of them was also pandaren, but spoke Common with a different accent than her; she wasn't well traveled enough to know where exactly he was from. The other one, a strange foreigner the people referred to as an 'ogre,' also didn't appear to be a native speaker of this supposed international language, but then again, speaking wasn't entirely necessary when he was waving a large stick at her.
Rather than fear, anger welled up inside of Rosemai as she turned another corner in an attempt to lose them. They'd pretended to ask for directions before the other pandaren had attempted to grab her by the wrist, though his motivation seemed to be greed, not lust. That the two of them felt they had the right to rob her of her uncle's money outraged her so much that any worries about possibly being hurt left her mind; being chased down the narrow, empty streets like this by two strangers was simply infuriating. Even more infuriating was the fact that, like a microcosm of her besieged village she'd been sent on behalf of, she felt powerless to fight back.
The two men panted behind her, both of them so portly that the minute long chase seemed to have left them significantly winded. Not to be outmatched, her two oppressors sounded rather angry as well. "Fug catch you, and Fug not nice when catch you!" the ogre huffed while knocking over a trash bin by accident.
Her fellow pandaren, however, sounded a little more sinister. "You only make this worse on yourself, kid!" he growled while his worn leather shoes thudded heavily on the cobblestone side street. His footsteps suddenly sounded much closer to her, as if he'd gained significant ground by jumping forward.
"Fug go this way!" the ogre shouted to his partner in crime before trailing off in some other direction behind her. The fur on the back of her neck stood up on end; she'd been so frantic in her search for an escape route that she'd apparently missed one.
Time slowed down as she could hear the two sets of footsteps closing in on her. Like the community she feared losing, she could literally pinpoint exactly how the two thugs were boxing her in, the other pandaren speeding up behind her and the ogre turning a corner on the other side of the empty shops. A puddle splashed just around a corner up ahead of her, signaling that continuing forward wasn't an option.
At the very last second, Rosemai turned right at the intersection in the market district, narrowly avoiding one of the ogre's fat hands from the opposite direction. The blubbery man snickered deep in his fat neck as the rudimentary plan came to fruition, sharing in the glee of his local companion. Rosemai had turned onto a narrow street leading to a dead end, all four workshops lining the area closed and devoid of anybody who could help here.
Bunching up the extra folds of her raincoat and dress in her hands, she tried her best to conceal the coinpurse on her belt. The pandaren in rags and the ogre in the undies of a sumo wrestler slowed down, approaching her on either side as she continued to back up against the brick wall.
"I'll scream!" she threatened, her little nostrils flaring as she forced herself to hold her ground.
A sort of evil she'd only recently learned to recognize due to her village's woes plastered itself across the other pandaren's face. "Do it," he dared her, growling in a low voice as his shoulders tensed up. "Go ahead, scream for help; I want you to try."
Defiance welled up inside of her before melting away; he'd called her bluff. After months of attacks on her small community, the city she'd fled to in order to seek help was where she finally found herself threatened as an individual. The irony was overwhelming even as the ogre shook his big bamboo stick at her.
"You give monies," Fug demanded. "You give and live, or we take and throw you bridge."
Not allowing her any time to think, the rag clad man with unwashed fur held out his paw demandingly. "We will hurt you, young one. Just hand it over; we know you aren't broke."
Pursing her lips so hard that they almost went numb, Rosemai felt her heart throb against her ribcage. "No!" she spat at them. "You don't have the right!"
Although Fug snickered, the pandaren didn't appear to think it was a laughing matter. His face tightened at the same time that he held his breath, his patience obviously worn thin. "I think it's time for a lesson in manners," he said while stepping toward her menacingly.
"I concur."
An audible snarl emitted from the man's throat as he spun around, searching for whatever upstart had dared to interrupt his robbery. Despite her lingering anxiety, Rosemai peered back as well, as did Fug, in order to see who'd interrupted the act of thievery.
A mere ten paces behind the two attackers were two more strangers. Ever since the foreigners had arrived on the continent, Rosemai had learned a plethora of new names and titles, in addition to the lessons in Common that her uncle had enrolled her in for the sake of her job prospects. And much like the ogre, the two people who'd interrupted the incident at just the right time were very obviously foreign.
One of them, a short and squat man with mottled green skin, was what she'd learned was an orc. Broad shouldered, thick headed and loud, they reminded her of smaller, less refined versions of the mogu, though she'd learned that the orcs were much less likely to behave in a hostile manner; their similar religious beliefs also added to that sense of familiarity. This particular individual, however, lacked the intimidation factor of his brethren; wearing the tabard of a simple laborer, he looked as pudgy as the pandaren man that had chased Rosemai down, and his apprehensive expression insinuated that he was even more afraid than she was. He approached all the same, unarmed but seemingly determined to interrupt what was going on.
His companion was a strange one...even smaller, yet completely unafraid and confident as she approached the two assailants. A human by the looks of her, bearing skin the color of dark chocolate and dreadlocked hair down to her waist. The kanga that the woman wore was distinct from some of the other varieties of human, but the conservative design of the dress and loose sheila insinuated some sort of priestess. A priestess without a mace or wand, however; and one that didn't seem to give her assailants a second of hesitation.
"Beat it, lady," the other pandaren snarled at the woman, ignoring the nervous orc and immediately turning hostile without any escalation. "I won't tell you again."
Undaunted by the rude reaction she'd received, the human merely looked at the furry man's tattered rags. Her eyes then wandered to Fug the ogre's muddy, bare feet as she almost seemed to pity the two violent robbers. Her orc companion wrung his wrists, but said nothing as she studied their interlocutors.
"I do believe this young woman has requested to be left alone," the human said politely, her voice soft and even without the need to be controlled. She stared the pudgy pandaren right in the eye, not even blinking or looking away for a second as they stared each other down.
All his rage slammed up against the wind as the human refused to either look away or to return his negativity. Shaking his head in frustration, he punched the ogre in the shoulder. "Fug, make these two disappear. Check their pockets before you dump them, too."
"Fug strong!" the ogre cackled as he stomped over toward the two would be saviors.
In a scene straight out of a theatrical comedy, the rotund orc literally jumped behind the small human and tried to hide himself behind her thinner frame. Gripping her shoulders from behind, he at least tried to move her along with him instead of running away. "Khadijah, now would be the time!" the green man stammered in unaccented Common.
Rosemai froze in place. An ogre the size of a mogu trampled the ground beneath his feet as he walked toward the pair menacingly, and yet the chocolatey human refused to budge or even flinch. More anger jumped up in Rosemai's throat at her inability to reciprocate to the two kind strangers, almost boiling over when Fug raised his stick.
Even the other pandaren froze at what happened next.
The human apparently named Khadijah cleared her throat. "Shield," she stated plainly, not even moving her hands up as they both glowed with a golden light.
The snap of magic broke the air as she and her green friend were enveloped in the light fast enough to hurt Rosemai's eyes with the brightness. A translucent bubble enveloped them both in about a millisecond, pulsating under the rush of air from Fug's bamboo rod.
"Look out!" Rosemai cried on instinct as the big stick connected with the surface of the bubble with such force that the magical film jiggled and emitted what sounded like a leather drum being beaten.
Only the bubble didn't give way, not even a half inch like the skin of a leather drum would. The stick sank into the material slightly, but merely forced the weapon back out like a piece of rubber bouncing back after being slapped. Before Fug could even react, the stick ricocheted off of the magical bubble and flew right back in the opposite direction.
A sickening smack echoed off of the walls of the workshops as the stick smacked the one wielding it in the face, rattling Fug's head back and forth like a wooden toy as his neck gave way. Like a giant tropical hardwood tree, Fug fell backward in slow motion, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he lost consciousness before even hitting the ground. Everyone just stood still for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Before the other pandaren had a chance to react, the human stuck her fingers into the edges of her bubble. As if responding to the touch of its caster, her fingers were allowed to move outside the surface effortlessly and she literally pulled the bubble off of her and her orc friend, lifting the seemingly indestructible field off of her like a big balloon. By the time the other pandaren had realized what was happening, it was too late for him to run away.
"Huh...what the hell? Hey! You can't-"
His protest was cut short as Khadijah simply lowered the bubble onto him, enveloping the would be robber entirely. Almost immediately, the man began banging against the bubble, trying to thrust it off of him in vain. The surface rippled ever so slightly as he found himself trapped, screaming curses that went unheard to all on the outside world. So relaxed was the human that she actually took a few moments to adjust the bubble's positioning before leaving the would be robber to seethe in rage as the bubble refused to even shift an inch in any direction he pushed against it. The ogre began to snore in unison with the throbbing of the lump on his forehead, marking a bizarre end to what had heretofore been a rather grim prospect for the frazzled pandaren teenager.
Rosemai tried and failed to ask a hundred and one questions as the human approached and actually reached out to fix the hood of her raincoat for her, pulling it to rest evenly on her shoulders. "You have been saved," the human practically chirped with just a hint of self satisfaction in her tone.
"I...uh...what?"
The enemy pandaren slammed his entire body against the side of the bubble but to no avail. The surface rippled again, but he bounced backward against the other side, and then forward to the front again, and then backward again before tumbling in a heap at the bottom of the bubble. The big eyed orc whose eyes looked like saucers even when he wasn't in awe of something waddled over.
"They didn't hurt you, did they?" the green man asked again.
Too confused to even move, Rosemai just stared at her two saviors, oblivious to the sounds of a few shops reopening two streets over.
The human put her hand on Rosemai's shoulder and began to guide the young woman away. "It's best for us to leave these ruffians to the local authorities; they haven't been wounded lethally, so there's no reason to wait until they wake up. Come now...you look like you could use a cup of warm milk while talking about what happened."
Blinking and protesting only slightly as the smaller woman led her down the street, Rosemai struggled to find the right words in the foreign language. What she'd just witnessed had been amazing; this priestess named Khadijah had singlehandedly trapped an assailant inside of a bubble about as causally as she would have arranged a bookshelf or poured a cup of tea or arranged a bookshelf-
"My village is under attack!" Rosemai blurted out, finally articulating the entire reason why she and her uncle had ventured to Binan in the first place.
For the first time, Khadijah appeared a bit surprised, though not as excitable as her companion. "What? Where?!" the orc asked as if it was his own village.
The flood gates opened. "My village is in the mountains and it's far because it's in the mountains and we're under siege because there are bandits in the mountains and the mountains are far-"
"It's okay, we'll talk all about it in a moment," Khadijah said soothingly, behaving as warmly as if the two of them had been friends previously but still objective enough such that the human's pace didn't slow down nor did her grip on the teenager's shoulder loosen and become any less insistent.
"-my uncle brought me here but he doesn't speak Common and we need to find help because the police don't believe us because we're far up in the mountains!"
Eventually the two passersby managed to calm Rosemai down, standing close to her as they walked to the nearest café and stopping only to direct a few wandering, lazy guards toward the incapacitated robbers back in the market district. As they told her, there would be plenty of time for her to explain once she sat down. For whatever reason, the cosmos had deemed that the two friends would happen to go for a walk in the empty streets on that afternoon, would happen to pass through the market at that moment, and would happen to hear the commotion at that time. The rest would be much, much more difficult, she knew...but it at least was a start.