REAWAKENING

Summary: Commander Tiffany Solestrider mourns Aurene. She is very much expected to. She hadn't been able to mourn anyone else - there were things to be done, people to be strong for. But if she doesn't at least appear to mourn Aurene, people might think she's gone crazy. But she also allows herself time for the others who died. And then, the Call begins again. Just kidding! It is the Pale Tree.

Chapter one: The Summons

Author's Notes:

I should be writing the Tassof Series, shouldn't I. But this idea seized me and wouldn't let go. So...

And this may or may not be a oneshot. Just saying.

Oh, and massive spoilers for Living World Season 4: All or Nothing.

Okay, here's the story now:

Commander Tiffany Solestrider does not know what to do. Aurene is dead, Kralkatorrik is still alive, and... well... Tiffany is done.

Ever since Mordremoth, failure after failure. She'd bottled it up, funneled it into defeating the Elder Dragons, but now...

Eir. Trahearne. Blish. Forgal. Tonn. Zott. Now, Aurene. Her friends.

Trahearne especially - even though she feels horrible for thinking it, it's true. He'd been her friend, her guiding light after Forgal died, more than Forgal's legacy would have been. That spurred her on - she just needed direction. She was bad at giving herself much direction, even then.

And then Trahearne had stepped in, showing her where to go. And, in turn, she had helped him when he needed it. He had led the Pact to victory against Zhaitan, with her leading the most crucial missions. He had completed his Wyld Hunt - cleansed Orr - with her cheering him on every step of the way.

She had felt lost and alone when Scarlet started her terror campaign. Trahearne had been rebuilding the Pact, and she had been... running around Lion's Arch, chasing after a mad sylvari. She'd only succeeded by pulling together another unlikely group.

Then, the aftermath of the Breachmaker exploding. Somehow, she hadn't seen Trahearne again until the World Summit in the Grove, after which there was no time for talking or catching up.

Little time for anything, with another Elder Dragon on the rise.

She had known that the Pact Fleet could very well leave without her, but it still hurt a little to find that they had. That hurt quickly overshadowed by news of the crash. She'd been as eager as Braham to find Mordremoth's prisoners.

Eir's death had been a shocking blow. She had been unable to move for several seconds after the fatal wound; then she had leaped into battle with the Vinetooth that had killed her. But too late; she was dead.

Tiffany had pushed on, anxious as to the fate of Logan, Zojja, and Trahearne.

Zojja and Logan's safety - and startling close calls - only made her more anxious. When she'd awakened from Mordremoth's mind, she had been relieved to see Trahearne upright and more alert than he had been, only to be devastated upon being told the bad news. Particularly since it was her fault for not getting there soon enough.

The Mordremoth Disaster, as she calls it, had been a monumental failure, on every count. Except killing Mordremoth, of course. His death had been a good thing. But nothing else. And yes, calling Mordremoth 'him' rather than 'it' is an odd psychological development.

Ever since then, failure. Failure again. She, by herself, had done nothing. The White Mantle were only stopped from wrecking Divinity's Reach by Queen Jennah's mesmer magic. Lazarus the Dire was Livia's doing. If Trahearne had been there, Balthazar wouldn't have gotten his hands on Taimi's modified Omadd-machine.

Tiffany herself had been killed by Balthazar. She'd been sorely tempted to not go back. She'd paused for a long time at the portal out of the Domain of the Lost, balancing the pros and cons. So many people had died... she would very much like to see them again. But she has a duty to her world to see the Elder Dragons dead.

She had specifically taken up that goal when Trahearne died! His purpose had been to cleanse Orr, true; and yet afterward, he had thrown himself into defeating the Elder Dragons. Tiffany had taken up that mantle once he died... she has to go back.

And yet... it would be so easy. To just stay here. Get her final judgement, then go explore the Mists, looking for Trahearne, Eir, Forgal, and the rest.

She'd pictured her meeting with them. And then she'd realized... she would never be able to face them - any of them - if they knew she could have returned to finish up, and didn't.

She'd stepped through the portal then, and instantly realized what an idiot she had been. She couldn't leave behind Kasmeer, Rytlock, Canach, Taimi, Rox, Braham, Marjory, Logan, Zojja, Caithe, Aurene... the list of those alive is much long than the list of those dead.

And when she finally defeated Balthazar - that was Aurene and Sohothin. Sohothin's warmth had been scary, at first. She had been extremely reluctant to take it. What if Rytlock had to die by her hand, as well? What if she had to take up Sohothin as she had Caladbolg, in his memory?

She had been relieved to hand the blade back to Rytlock. The now-familiar hilt of Caladbolg was much more comforting - the memory it had given her gives her an illusion that part of Trahearne is within the blade, somehow. At least his memory.

Then, Blish. She had turned back for him when he told her the truth. She wouldn't let another person die.

And she is still going to go back for him, once Kralkatorrik is dead. She can easily reboot his little golem body - the tracker will not need powering once the Elder Dragon is dead. And if Kralkatorrik ate him, too, along with Sohothin, then she would very well climb into the dead dragon's throat, if only to make sure he is dead. If he isn't, she is not going to contemplate leaving him in a state of shut-down. If she can't power him on, she'll destroy him. She is sure Gorrik and Taimi will agree.

And now, Aurene. Without the odd Champion-bond thing, Aurene would have simply been another bystander, most likely; possibly another Vlast; even if she was as involved as she had been. Another death on her hands, nothing more. Not that that is a small burden; but she wouldn't have had the added grief of a prior friendship.

But with the bond... Aurene had not taken Trahearne's place, by any means, but she made a fair attempt - failed attempt, to be sure, but the intent is what counts - to imitate him. Probably based off of knowing Tiffany's memories - Tiffany tries to imitate him every day.

Aurene and Tiffany had been at least as close as Forgal had been before he died.

Tiffany wanders around Thunderhead Keep for the next few days, drowning in her sorrows. Since everyone expects her to - it is, apparently, different when someone you didn't have a psychic connection to dies (not counting Mordremoth, obviously) - she might as well, and allow herself a chance to wallow in grief for everyone else, too.

Just as she is sitting in a corner exactly one day after the failed Kralkatorrik battle, in the middle of despairing over killing the Elder Dragons without Eir's immense strategy, but pretending to be moaning about Aurene, to keep up appearances because Caithe is doing the exact same thing five feet away, Canach walks up.

Now, Canach, for whatever reason, sees through her more than anyone else tends to do, except Logan, and she had been avoiding them two like the plague for the last day or so.

He addresses Caithe, though. "Do you feel it?" he drawls.

"Feel what? Aurene's death?" Caithe asks emptily.

"No, the Call," Canach huffs.

Tiffany barely has time to remember that she shouldn't be thinking about Mordremoth right now before she is up on her feet and looking around wildly. "I thought - "

"Commander!" Canach sighs in exasperation, reminding Tiffany of the last time he'd pulled this prank.

"Right," she says. "So, who's calling you this time?"

"The Pale Tree," Canach replies.

"Oh, I feel it now," Caithe realizes. "Yes, we are being summoned. She has something of exceeding importance for us. You should come too, Commander."

"Alright," Tiffany sighs. Talking about Mordremoth and the Pale Tree and sylvari in general reminds her of Trahearne, and so she is thinking about him all the way to the Grove. She had been having an emotional flip-flop of a day, slightest things reminding her of different people who had died - Aurene getting the bigger portion, of course, with Caithe right there.

Author's Notes:

Okay, turns out it's a two-shot.

Also, Anet, the Commander's best friend died to Mordremoth at the end of HoT and she never mourned him? Whaaaat?