On the hill overlooking the small road leading up to Splinter Tree outpost, Caoimhe sat and watched the riders come in. Jeckyl paced around her and would occasionally run off into the woods chasing a rabbit or sniffing out another small animal, but he could tell Caoimhe was on edge and kept nudging into her to get her attention. She scratched behind his ears absentmindedly and continued to stare off into the distance. Every now and then, she would pull from inside her vest a crumpled letter, read it, reread it, fold it and then put it away. The guards would look at her, she would wave and smile, they would shake their heads and go about their business, wondering what the Blood Elf was wasting her time on. Finally, a wind rider flew overhead, a smallish form on its back. The silhouette of an elf, not an orc. Caoimhe stood and watched it land. Her stomach turned and for a moment she thought, perhaps the meeting was a bad idea. She watched the rider jump off and look around. Caoimhe swallowed hard. She was torn between the urge to run to meet Pyewacket, tackle her, hug her, buy her a drink, tell her how much she had missed her, everything she had done in the year they had been apart and the urge to run away. She looked at the letter one last time. 'I need to speak with you' the letter said. Her stomach turned again.

"Caoi!" Pye squeaked. She had caught sight of her and ran full tilt from the landing hill to the spot where Caoimhe stood. At first, Caoimhe thought Pye would tackle her, but she stopped a few feet away, a nervous, but happy expression on her face.

"Caoimhe!" she exclaimed throwing her arms open. Caoimhe exhaled heavily and with great relief, and stepped into her best friend's embrace.

"I...I missed you," was all she managed to say.

"I missed you too," Pye said.

They hugged for a long time before Pye pulled away and, holding both of Coimhe's hands in her own, looked her up and down.

"You look well," she smiled.

Caoimhe looked down at her travel stained clothes, "You're too kind." She looked at Pye. She wore tidy robes. Her hair was short and fell gracefully over one side of her face. She looked much happier and healthier than she had when she left Booty Bay. Caoimhe dropped her eyes to the grass.
"You look...very well...as well," she said.

Pye laughed a little and let go of her hands to smooth her hair. "No," she said, "I'm all wind blown."

Caoimhe looked up at her, "You look...you look really...wonderful." She caught a glimpse of a pendant around her neck. Something akin to the banners that hung from the temple walls in Silvermoon. "That's...that's different."

Pye put her hand to the charm. "Oh, yes," she said. "Caoimhe," she said a little nervously, "can we go someplace to talk?"

Caoimhe felt her face grow pale. "Uhm...yes," she said, "We can sit..." she looked around, "we can go outside the gate and sit."

Pye nodded and smiled and let Caoimhe find a spot under a tree away from the guards and the foot traffic.

Jeckyl settled next to Caoimhe as she sat and after a brief hesitation, Pye sat across from her.

For several moments, they sat in silence.

"You...you came from Thunder Bluff?" Coimhe finally asked.

"Yes," Pye said, happy to have a topic to start with.

"And everyone there is well?"

"Everyone is well," she said. She looked at the massive trees and down the hill beyond the road. "It's very purple here."

Caoimhe looked up into the trees, "Its the foliage, it casts very oddly colored shadows."

Pye followed her gaze and then looked back at her. "Not like Eversong, is it."

"No," Caoimhe said shortly.

"Do you miss Eversong?"

"I rather miss Durotar."

"Really?" Pye said, honestly surprised, "Its so dusty and dry."

"Yes but its so...open," Caoimhe said, forgetting her nervousness for a moment, "The grass smells so good and you can just run forever out there. And the hills that pop out of nowhere? You can see forever." She smiled at Pye, then blushed and looked back at her lap. "Have you...have you been there this whole time? In Mulgore, I mean?"

Pye looked surprised. "Oh, oh no," she said. "I went back to," she took a deep breath. "I felt I needed a change in my life."

Caoimhe peered intently at the ground. "You were not happy in Booty Bay." Caoimhe remembered Pye staring out at the ocean, nearly in tears. "I know."

"I wasn't happy with a lot of things," she said. "I was not happy with the path I had chosen. I went home to learn a new path."

"But you were a brilliant mage," Caoimhe said, looking up at her.

Pye blushed a little. "Thank you, but I was a mage because I, well I thought that's what I should be."

It was Caoimhe's turn to look surprised. "Because you should? Surely Cace didn't expect..."

"No," Pye laughed, "Cace didn't expect me to anything that I didn't want to." She ran her fingers through the grass. "My mother was a mage. I thought," she shrugged. "I thought I should follow in her footsteps."

"I understand," Caoimhe mumbled.

"But I came to realize it wasn't what I should be doing," she said. "I felt called to something else."

"Called?"

Pye nodded, she put her hand up to the necklace she wore. "I became a priest."

Caoimhe stiffened. "You...you're a ….a priest?"

Pye nodded and Caoimhe swallowed. She dropped her eyes to the grass and smiled. "That's...that's wonderful, Pye," she said, as upbeat as she could manage. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her pant legs. "I'm sure you make a wonderful priest."

Pye smiled, "It makes sense to me, Caoi," she said excitedly. "I can feel the difference. There is peace and balance and I am helping people."

Caoimhe just kept nodding at the ground. Pye had hoped her news would be better received. "I am told I'm very good at it. That is comes very naturally to me," she went on. Her companion continued to nod. "There is the Light and the Shadow and it makes so much sense to me."

Still there was silence.

"Caoi, I'm sorry," she said.

Caoimhe bit her lip. "It's alright, Pye."

"I was afraid," Pye admitted.

Caoimhe looked at her. "You were afraid? of what?"

Pyewacket sighed. "People were trying to hurt you...us...me," she amended quickly.

"You mean Janel," Caoimhe said quietly. She nodded. "She was just using me to hurt my Father and," she looked at Caoimhe with an expression of deep apology. "I didn't want anyone to come to harm because of me."

Caoimhe bit her lip, but she couldn't bring her eyes to meet her friend's.

"Please, Caoi," Pye said, reaching out and laying her hand on Caoimhe's arm. "I just wanted her to leave you alone."

"Well she did," Caoimhe snapped suddenly, "and so did you, and so did everyone else."

Pye withdrew her hand, the sudden realization hitting her very hard. "I'm sorry."

Caoimhe didn't answer right away. "I missed you so much," she finally said.

"Caoi, I'm so sorry."

"When you left no one...," Caoimhe spoke into the ground, "everyone left. I would get equipment, supplies sometimes, but...it was just me...and Jeckyl, and then I found Code, but...I missed you. I wouldn't have let anyone hurt you," she realized that was unrealistic, "I mean I would have stood up for you."

Guilt washed over Pye's face, "I know. Please forgive me."

Remorse filled Caoimhe suddenly. "No," she said, quietly, "I'm sorry. You didn't have to stay for me. I'm used to traveling alone." She tried to smile, "besides it was wet...and you didn't like it there."

Pye sighed, she stood and paced.

Caoimhe sat, scratching Jeckyl's back and wishing she could be anywhere else, but not wanting to be anywhere but with Pye. "I was hurt," she finally said without looking up.

Pye stopped pacing and looked at her. "What?" she asked.

"I was sure I had done something wrong," Caoimhe continued quietly, "that you left because of me."

Pye sat back down, "Oh no," she said, "I left for me. I wanted to be something more, better. I wanted to be able to protect the people I love. I can do that now."

"That's wonderful Pye," Caoimhe said without much passion.

Pye took a deep breath, "There is another reason I came back."

Caoimhe swallowed. "Oh?"

"I have met someone," she said, unable to hide her smile.

Caoimhe felt her stomach drop out and a sudden chill fell over her whole body. She felt her heart break. "You...met someone?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And you came all the way here to tell me?"

"You are my best friend," she said as if that were the most natural thing in the world. "You are the first person I wanted tell."

Caoimhe nodded at the grass. "You met him in Thunder Bluff?"

"No," she said, "I had to go out and practice my craft, I haven't been in Thunder Bluff the whole year, but no, it has been a while."

Caoimhe bit her lip and nodded.

"She's very daring, very brave, has a wonderful smile," Pye said, her joy evident in her voice.

"She?" Caoimhe asked, surprised.

Pye nodded. Caoimhe felt a stabbing in her chest.

"She's a brilliant scout, comes from a big family," Pye went on.

Caoimhe half laughed, half grunted. "Sounds like me," she said.

Pye didn't say anything. Caoimhe looked up at her, a smile had spread across Pye's face. Shocked, Caoimhe sat up straighter, "She sounds like me."

Pye nodded.

"Me?" she gasped. She stood and took a step backward. "Me, the someone you met is me?"

"Yes," Pye laughed. Caoimhe paced back and forth and then knelt back down on the grass. Agitated, Jeckyl paced next to her and whined. "Me? You...love...me?"

Pye nodded. "But you can't," Caoimhe blurted out.

Pyewacket's expression changed. Her smile faded and her shoulders slumped slightly. "I understand," she said, sadly, but calmly. "I was prepared for that. You don't feel the same, you don't ..."

"No!" Caoimhe heard herself exclaim, "No, wait, that's not..." She rubbed her face in her hands and pulled on her hair in frustration. "Pye I...I...you, I missed you."

"I missed you too, Caoi," she said patiently.

"From the moment we met," Caoimhe tried to explain herself. "I just wanted..." she looked at Pye and took a deep breath, "I was so happy...with you. You were my first real friend."

"That can't be true," Pye said.

"I have a lot of family and we were very close for a long time, but you and Song were my first...real...friends."

"So you feel the same?" Pye asked.

Caoimhe rubbed her hands on her pants and bit her lip. "I don't...know? I know I missed you and I was miserable and lonely without you," she stood and started pacing again. The sinking horrible feeling in her stomach had been replaced with a new, equally unpleasant nausea. A burning feeling that was starting to take over. She sank back to the ground and stared at Pye. "You have such beautiful eyes," she said. It came out of her mouth like she had been waiting to say it for years. "I thought about you every day," she said. Guilt washed over her face. "You can't love me, Pye. You just...can't."

"Of course I can," Pye said very calmly.

Caoimhe rolled her head back and stared at the tree. "No," she said. "I'm not...you just...it can't be me."

Putting her hand on Caoimhe's knee, Pye said quietly, "I've given this a lot of thought. Ever since I left Booty Bay. At first I thought it would go away, but it didn't. And in the end, I knew what I felt was real."

"You've been thinking about this for over a year?" Caoimhe looked at her, an odd mix of hurt and disbelief on her face, "and you are just coming to tell me...now?"

Pye sighed, "I'm sorry. I should have written. I was just too scared."

Caoimhe pulled her knees up and set her forehead on her hands. She was quiet for a very long time. Quietly, Pye could tell, she had started to cry.

"Caoi?" she asked, leaning forward. "Caoi, I'm sorry. I'll go, I'm so sorry."

"No, please don't go," Caoimhe sobbed. "Please don't leave. You just can't love me, that's all." She mopped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at Pye. "I wouldn't know what to call it, but I know you are the only person I have been happy with since...since I left home." She took a deep, shuddering breath, "But you are a priest now, Pye. and I'm just...I'm just...me."

Pye blinked at her, "What are you talking about?"

"Your beautiful and smart and strong and...and look at you! You are perfect, you deserve...you deserve someone...perfect," she stared at Pye.

They looked at each other for a long time. "Caoimhe," Pye said quietly, "I'm not perfect."

"I think you're perfect," Caoimhe said.

Pye reached to take Caoimhe's hand. She was certain of this, and she wanted Caoimhe to feel certain too.

"I promise I will not leave again," she said, a reassuring smile on her face.

Caoimhe let her hand rest in Pye's. "Don't promise that," she said. "No one should promise that."

"But I mean it," Pye started, dismayed that Caoimhe didn't believe her somehow.

"I know you do," Caoimhe said weakly. "But people can't...you shouldn't promise..." she gave up on the explanation. Pye's hand felt so warm, she squeezed it without thinking and Pye smiled. Suddenly self conscious, Caoimhe pulled her hands back and wiped them on her thighs. Another thought occurred to Caoimhe, "Have you," she looked at Pye without raising her head, "have you told your father?"

Pye's face turned red. She didn't respond right away and Caoimhe had her answer. "I sent him a letter," she said quietly.

Caoimhe sighed. "So...so he...you have his," she couldn't quite call it a blessing yet, "approval?"

"I have not received a response," Pye admitted.

Caoimhe's face turned pale. "Cace thinks very highly of you, Caoimhe," she said reassuringly, "I am sure he will understand."

Caoimhe wasn't so certain, but she nodded anyway.

Pye reached out and again took Caoimhe's hand between her own. "How long are you at the outpost?" she asked.

Caoimhe looked at Pye's slender fingers, delicate rings on each. "Only tonight," she said, comparing Pye's hands to her own. She couldn't tell if her own skin was darker because of her time in the sun or the lair of dirt. "They allowed me to be delayed only because...because I told them you needed to meet me here. I have...I have to return to Orgrimmar and then to Negrand."

Pye nodded, "I will come with you."

"Oh, no, Pye," Caoimhe said, "That is not...that is not necessary. I am sure there is far more to do...I am sure you have far more to do."

"No one in my order will argue if I tell them I wish to aid the campaigns in Negrand," she smiled.

Caoimhe's face fell into a worried frown. "Pye, I am..." she wasn't sure how much of her work she was free to discuss, "I think much of what I need to do, I need to do alone."

Pye was undeterred. "Then I will stay in Shatt'rath," she said. "Then I will be close to you."

Caoimhe shook her head.

"Caoimhe," Pye insisted.

"This is...this is very," she looked into Pye's eyes. She sighed. She had such deep and reassuring eyes, "This is very...new for me. Please," her voice was both earnest and guilt ridden, "please give me time."

Pye smiled, a gesture Caoimhe did not feel she deserved. "I will give you all the time you need," she said. "Will you let me come with you?"

Caoimhe sat staring at the ground in thought for a few minutes before she nodded at the grass. Pye squeaked with delight and leaned forward to hug Caoimhe. It was different this time, Caoimhe felt Pye pull her closer, and let her head rest on Pye's shoulder just a little longer. It was genuine and loving and warm and the first affectionate contact she had felt in over a year that wasn't from one of her animals. The first romantic touch she had felt...her face got hot and her ears turned red. she pulled back and stood. Pye smiled at her from her seat in the grass.

"I should...I should ready my things," she said hastily.

"Of course," Pye smiled. "May I help?"

"Oh, no," Caoimhe said, a little surprised, "I am...I am fairly self contained."

"Is there anything you need?" she asked.

"I...uhm...no," she said, "except perhaps a meal before I...before we...ride to Orgrimmar."

A beaming smile spread across Pyewacket's face when Caoimhe said 'we'. "A meal then," she agreed. "I will see to that. I will meet you at the hearth in the barrack then?"

Caoimhe nodded, a bit apprehensive. she heeled Jeckyl, bowed to Pye, and in a fog that was completely unfamiliar to her, went off to find the captain to collect her orders.