(AN: Okay, so I had initially planned to write a story based around Legion, where I rebutted all the lore retcons and flat-out stupid moments in it. But then I had a really great revelation; all on tumblr, there are dozens of talented artists making illustrations of their World of Warcraft characters. I can't draw and I have no money wherewith to commission them, but I can write. And I thought I would throw together a cute, silly little "what if" scenario, which was basically "what would happen if the WoW characters of myself and my brother got together for Winter's Veil?")

(As it might go, this will be a very short story - like less than ten chapters. The characters here are mostly of my own creations and will appear in my stories. So here you'll get an early introduction to a few of them - as well as a re-introduction to some familiar faces. And there will be Horde characters as well, for those of you who were worried that I might focus on the Alliance only this time and slight my roots [my main is on the Horde])


Chapter 1

The Violet City of Dalaran was dressed up in its finest colors with the anticipation of the coming of Winter's Veil. A tradition held both among the Dwarves and the Tauren, and therefore universally kept by both the Alliance and the Horde, it was a time where many families got together in feasting and celebration. For many in Azeroth this year, however, things were neither merry nor bright. They had lost loved ones at the Broken Shore, or in the flood of demonic invasions across the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Pandaria, and the Broken Isles. Yet despite all of this loss, the Kirin Tor had permitted the trappings of Winter's Veil to be hung up around Dalaran, as was tradition; it was a sign for them that, though dark times had fallen upon Azeroth, the next year held the promise of renewal and rejeuvenation.

Melissa Redmane was at a seat in the Hero's Rest Tavern in the Greyfang Enclave. Elyssa could take care of things at the Netherlight Temple while she went to Stormwind to spend time with her family. For now, however, she was more than a little busy. She had to write a letter to Light's Hope Chapel to remind her daughter, named for her childhood friend Hannah, to be home in time for Winter's Veil. She also had a list that felt a mile long of all the shopping and cooking that she would have to do. Most of the shopping had been completed, thank the Light. But the cooking was still a trial in and of itself.

Her time living with the Redmanes, while she was betrothed to Tharbin, had given her the skills she needed to cook food. While she was still learning, the issue here was volume. For herself, she ate enough during the year to keep herself healthy and was so active that she had gained little weight, in spite of having given birth to three children. But making food for a family of five was a great task.

She looked at the list and suddenly gasped. At least six items from the gift list hadn't been purchased yet; and half of them were for her family! She buried her face in her palm; already she felt bad for being away from them almost non-stop since being summoned to Dalaran to fight the Burning Legion. Now she would be disappointing them again!

No, she reminded herself. Just breathe. They'll be more than thankful to have you back home with them. You don't need to beat yourself over the head about this.

Melissa chanced to look up and saw Leshara, her Draenei warrior friend, sitting off by herself drinking in a corner of the tavern. Her heart went out to the Draenei; she had seen firsthand what she had gone through on Argus recently and it made her sorry. Everyone else had someone to be with on Winter's Veil, but not her. And now especially, the sting of solitude would be greater. She stuffed her list into the satchel that hanged from her shoulder and approached her friend.

"Leshara," she greeted. "Hey there! It's been a while. How are you?"

"Oh, hello," Leshara returned. "I wish I could say that all is well. But, well, I'm not feeling very spirited lately. You know about what happened..."

"Yes, I do," Melissa replied. "Which is why I'd like to invite you to spend Winter's Veil with me and my family. I mean, you haven't got anyone to spend Winter's Veil with, and we'd love to have you over."

Leshara's face turned from a frown to a slight smile. "I was going to go drinking with Varlaine and his companions..."

"Bring them with you!" Melissa found herself saying. By the Light, what had gotten into her?

"Do you truly mean it?" Leshara asked.

Now she couldn't take back her offer, so she might as well follow through with it. "Of course! The more the merrier. After all, Marion Sledgeheart is always good company."

"Then yes, I would love to spend Winter's Veil with you and your family," Leshara returned. Her blue eyes flashed to the note that was sticking out of Melissa's satchel. "Busy shopping this Winter's Veil?"

Melissa chuckled sarcastically. "You have no idea! Now I've just realized that I left off a few things from my list. I don't know what I'm going to do about these..."

"I could talk to Bart," Leshara said. "I'm sure he'd be willing to conjure up a few of the items you need."

"Thank the Light!" Melissa exclaimed. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad that she had invited Leshara over for Winter's Veil. "That's a weight off my shoulders. Thank you so much, Leshara."

"It's my pleasure," the Draenei said. "Now, then, I will go seek out Bart and Abner. They'd be delighted to hear about this. Let me have your shopping list so I can give it to Bart."

Melissa gave Leshara the shopping list, then bade farewell for the moment as Leshara went off to pay her tab. Meanwhile, Melissa returned to her table and heaved a heavy sigh. If feeding five was a chore, feeding a small army would be nigh impossible; aside from her family, Abner Varlaine and his two companions would be coming along with Leshara, Bart would certainly be there, along with his ward (and that warlock he had mentioned). Also she had invited good Elder Clarkston and Jenassa Duskwatcher, the latter of whom had told her that she would be bringing someone with her. Fifteen people would be too much to endure! How ever could she cook for them all?

Suddenly a new thought came into her head. She made her swift way to the court of the Greyfang Enclave, hoping that the portal to Summer's Rest was still open.


Cool, clean air blew in the mountains around the grasslands of Mulgore. Most of the high mountains were covered in snow, for winter was well on its way, even here in the desert. Out on the plains lay the mesas upon which sat Thunder Bluff, the home of the Tauren. Upon the cool wind rang the sounds of drums as they welcomed the coming of new life after the passing of Winter's Veil.

In the high mountains on the northern edge of Mulgore there was a cave high up in the mountains. It was completely inaccessible from the valley floor, and only those who knew how to fly could reach this isolated place. At the mouth of the cave was a small shelf which looked out upon the emerald grasslands below. Here there sat a lone brown Tauren dressed in the shoveltusk armor of the frost-witches of Northrend. He sat by himself at a small camp-fire, watching the thin wisps of gray smoke trailing up into the sky. As his brown eyes looked upward, he saw a large blue-gray bat flapping its way down to the mouth of the cave. As it landed, the bat furled its wings in on itself and disappeared into a puff of smoke. The smoke dissipated and there crouched a troll with blue-green skin and red hair, clad in clothing that looked like tree bark.

"How you doin', mon?" the Troll greeted; he had a baritone voice and spoke in broken Common.

"Greetings, Zen'jamba," the Tauren replied, his voice deep and grim. "It's been a while."

"Still be wanderin'?" asked Zen'jamba. "What be da purpose o' dis?"

"There is no place for me," sighed the Tauren.

"Not eben here in Mulgore?"

"No," the Tauren shook his large, horned head. "Even as a youth, I found no place among my fellow Tauren."

"There be always a place for ya wit us, mon," quoth Zen'jamba.

"For how long, my old friend?" asked the Tauren. "If you knew what I knew, you would be doubting your allegiance to the Horde as well, especially now that Sylvanas is Warchief."

"Hey, mon," Zen'jamba interjected. "I be not havin' much love for dat rottin' elf witch meself. But we believe in hona just as you Tauren and da Orcs do. We still gonna hona our allegiance to da Horde. Hmm, but come now. Put aside ya feelings o' doubt. It be Winter's Veil, no? I know it 'ave more meanin' to ya dan for da rest o' us."

"For my people," said the Tauren. "And for myself, as a shaman. Yes, Winter's Veil does have great significance." He sighed. "Alas, I have none to celebrate it with. I have not seen the older Wolfrunner in many years, not since we walked the Barrens together, before the Cataclysm. Aerastrasza has been flying on her own for many weeks; she hasn't spoken to me since the death of Ysera."

"Dat be why I spent all dis time lookin' for ya," Zen'jamba said. "Come to Orgrimmar and celebrate Winter's Veil wit me. Dere be some old faces dare, maybe some old friends ya be missin'? I even be convincin' da great Chen Stormstout ta feast wit us. You know 'ow much fun dat old bear can be. He always bring da best brews."

The Tauren chuckled. "Oh, I miss Chen." He then paused for a moment of thought, pensively stroking one the three braided beards upon his long bovine chin. "Yes, I believe I will visit you."

"Excellent," said Zen'jamba. "Don't be takin' ya time, Gar. Odderwise all da food be gone by da time ya be showin' up!"

Gar smiled. "Yes, I will do my best to be there swiftly."

Gar watched as Zen'jamba turned back into a bat and dove off the cliffs into a free fall before flapping his great wings, flying upward and overhead, eastward back to Orgrimmar. The Tauren laughed; Era would have loved doing something like that, as he would have. Again he sighed, missing his old companion. She had been with him since the end of the Cataclysm, and had been at his side throughout the madness that was Pandaria, the trip back in time to the Draenor of the past, and had reunited with him in Dalaran to fight the Legion together.

But these thoughts were leading to sadness, and instead he sighed them away; he wondered who else he would see with Zen'jamba at Orgrimmar for Winter's Veil.


(AN: So here is the little bit for now. For most of you, this will be your first time meeting Leshara, since her formal introduction in the story that I mentioned before hasn't happened yet - as that story hasn't been published yet. Gar you have met, and he is my main, which is why I don't give him a lot of attention. He is more of a background character who moves in and out of other people's adventures, which mirrors my own experiences in WoW: never a meaningful part of a guild, always just solo adventuring. Wolfrunner is the only exception. Aerastrasza is the Lifebinder's Handmaiden - which I don't actually have in-game, and neither have I the Blazing Drake [lol] - and she does have a "smaller form" which she takes when she is with my main [at least my head-canon says so]. As you saw, her name is pronounced "era-strasza". I'm very particular about pronunciation. I threw her into my main's adventures in order to have someone he could talk with on his journeys, if he ever appears; also my main does have Invincible for real in-game, but though it's more than appropriate, since my main has the blue Frostwitch set as his transmog AND I started playing during Wrath of the Lich King, lore-wise it didn't make sense for a Tauren shaman to be riding Invincible, so I gave him something/one just as epic but closer to his element.)