Reunion

by Serinthia Kelberry

Timeline: at the very beginning of the "Wrath of the Lich King" game expansion.

The sun shone brightly over the city of Stormwind as it's citizens went about their business. Everywhere one looked the city was alive with people of all Alliance and neutral species going about their daily tasks while the City Guard kept peace and order. So too, at the mage tower, and it's surrounding buildings, masters of the arcane and their students conducted their business with both pride and the natural curiosity that drove them to understand that which some said could never be fully understood.

Ehmily sat at her desk by the window, carefully studying an ancient tome she had borrowed from the tower's library. Her private quarters were small and cramped, but at least afforded her just enough room for a bed, a writing desk, work table, and two bookcases, piled high with books and scrolls of all kinds. It was better than acolytes got in any case. They were usually stuffed into dorms. She had spent the better part of the last ten years earning this room, and no small part of that was earned as one of the Kirin Tor's agents sent through the Dark Portal to Outland to assist the Alliance and their new Draenei allies in retaking it.

Even though things were at peace now, Ehmily wasn't a fool. She heard the whispers in the tower as if they were calling her name. Advance forces had traveled north to Northrend to prepare to confront the legendary Lich King in his own castle. She had no doubt her services would be called upon again.

For the time being, though, she could hide in her room and study. Just at the moment she was peering at the ancient writing on the page before her, lightly tracing her fingers over it. She studied each mark, each stroke, as if she could absorb their meaning through her fingertips. It was a very old book, but one in which the text had been enchanted against fading. It also happened to contain a number of spells useful in the summoning of sustenance both for a mage and others. Ehmily despised the phrase "common magic". In her experience there was no such thing. Still, the spells were the most frequently used in any case, and it always helped for a mage to know the most powerful versions of the spells as she could manage, especially when journeying far from home in unfamiliar lands.

She paused in her reading then and glanced out the window and the surrounding city. So many people. It occurred to her for not the first time that all you'd need is a dozen or so mages in a room and they could produce in a day the same amount of food a farmer could produce in a year. There were people in the world who weren't ignorant of that fact either, but luckily those in positions of authority knew that if people no longer had to work to feed themselves, then society would collapse in on itself, because there would be no motivation to work, and the world would stagnate.

Ehmily poured herself a glass of wine from a bottle she kept under the desk. One day, she thought, she must learn how to summon alcoholic beverages. Now there was a skill that would cause riots in the streets. She took a sip and chuckled to herself imagining that, and then jumped slightly when she realized that's exactly what she was hearing outside.

Getting to her feet, the mage stared out the window. Sure enough there were distant sounds of shouting...angry shouting, she could have sworn. It wasn't any bar room fight that spilled out into the streets, or she likely wouldn't have been able to hear it from here. It seemed to be coming from the trade quarter near the main gates. Her curiosity peaked, she marked her place in the book and headed out to see what was going on.

Another apple smashed against the side of the dark figure's head as it trudged slowly through the marketplace. The figure was dressed head to toe in fearsome black armor, and carried a huge blade that glowed ice blue. Few people had seen a Death Knight and lived to tell the tale, but it was just one of those things that you would know instantly if you saw it. And so here was one on the streets of Stormwind, in broad daylight no less. Such a thing had never happened in the whole history of Stormwind.

The figure was surrounded by City Guards, their swords drawn and at the ready, though none seemed to have the courage to actually strike out against the Knight. A Death Knight was like nightmares made flesh, and even attacking one could be said to curse a man for all time. Even so, though many on the streets were frightened, a few shouted jeers at the figure, hurling bottles and fruit and anything else they had on hand as if they could drive it away.

The Death Knight, though, did not lash out. Instead, it trudged resolutely in the direction of Stormwind Keep where the King ruled from on high. When it had initially been confronted outside the gates to the city all it had said, in a voice that could freeze a person's soul, that it was there under truce with a message for the King alone. One step after another, it traced the path all the way to the King's front door and, without pausing even a second, walked inside.

Inside the Keep, the grand hall was lined with the King's own, their swords at the ready, these ones ready to attack on a moment's notice, but they held their blades under order from the King himself, who stood at the far end gazing coolly at the fearsome Knight as it approached. The King himself struck just as fearsome an appearance. Varian Wrynn could be a savage warrior when the need arose and if this was to be one of those times then so be it.

The Death Knight came to a halt in the center of the hall and stood in silence. In fact, a deathly silence settled over the entire room as King and Knight stared at each other for the better part of a minute before the King approached. Varian drew his own sword, though the Death Knight did not reciprocate. That action, perhaps more than any other is what made Varian stop a few feet from this vision of nightmares, that would not draw it's weapon, and wait. Nevertheless, he made his intentions clear.

"You have mere moments to live, Death Knight," he said.

When the Death Knight finally moved, every soldier in the room tensed, but all it did was draw forth a small scroll from a waist pouch and hold it out to the King. Varian stared at the parchment for a moment, then at the Knight before stepping forward and taking it, sheathing his sword. In moments he unrolled the scroll and read it silently.

Only those closest to the pair could see Varian's eyes widen slightly and suddenly glance at the Knight who stood there. After a minute more, he rolled up the scroll again and tucked it into his own pocket.

"Indeed, old friend," he mumbled to himself "Blood and honor."

He then fixed his gaze upon the Knight.

"Were it not for this letter from Tirion, you would be a stain upon my floor. Only an endorsement from one of the greatest paladins to ever live could have ensured your survival," Varian said quietly "It is a situation almost impossible to believe. Remove your helm, and tell me your name, Death Knight."

At first the Knight did nothing, but after a moment it's hands lifted and carefully undid the straps of the helm before carefully removing it. Beneath, was the face of a woman. A human woman that might have been like any other on the street if not for skin that was deathly pale, and glowing blue eyes that might freeze you just for looking at her. There was no malice in her expression though. If it could be described as anything, it would be ashamed. When she spoke, her voice was cold.

"My name," she began with some hesitation "I was once called Ayla Matthews. That was a life long ago."

"Ayla Matthews," the King repeated "That name is not unknown to me. One of the finest up and coming Paladins in my forces at one time as I recall."

"Her failure is my torment," Ayla said "But it is one I and all Death Knights will carry with us as we bring our vengeance to the very gates of Icecrown, to unleash it upon the Scourge."

"Then we will work together against the Scourge," Varian stated "Against the Lich King!"

Ehmily was trying to push her way through the crowded streets of Stormwind to get some idea of what was happening. She often wished she had spent some time concentrating on spells regarding Clairvoyance, but it had been her weakest subject. Even so, the words she was hearing among the crowd seemed impossible to believe. A Death Knight? Here in Stormwind? Well there wouldn't be for long if it truly was headed for a meeting with King Varian. She had just made it down to the canals when King Varian's voice shot forth from the upper levels of the Keep.

"People of Stormwind! Citizens of the Alliance! Your king speaks!," he cried, using a permanent spell an Archmage was nice enough to cast to amplify his voice in such a way "Today marks the first of many defeats for the Scourge! Death knights, once in service of the Lich King, have broken free of his grasp and formed a new alliance against his tyranny! You will welcome these former heroes of the Alliance and treat them with the respect that you would give any ally of Stormwind! Glory to the Alliance!"

Ehmily stood there, completely stunned at the revelation...a feeling that was mutual for most everyone around her. At least for a minute. After which many burst into cheers that the Alliance seemingly had a new ally that came from a quarter no one would have expected.

Ehmily stood by the canals for some time, staring into the water, still taking in this revelation when she first caught sight of the Death Knight on the other side of the canal. From somewhere the fearsome warrior had summoned a hellish black mount on which she ambled down the other side to the bridge to cross over to Ehmily's side. Though weary, Ehmily knew the King's command when she heard it and would afford this figure at least some tolerance. As the Knight crossed over she realized the knight was female, but it was when the knight had finished crossing and came close to her to pass her by that Ehmily's heart sank. The Death Knight had not put her helm back on and so her face was clearly visible, and in that face Ehmily saw something impossible.

"Sister?"

The Death Knight who had once been Ayla Matthews pulled the reigns of her mount up short and paused, staring down at the other woman. There was something familiar in her features, and yet they were hard to place. Her life before her service to the Lich King was a jumble of images. The only clear memories she had were of her last moments of life before death had taken her. This woman, though evidently seemed to know her.

"Your name," the woman pressed "What is your name?"

Seeing no harm in the truth, she offered it.

"I was once Ayla Matthews," she said simply enough.

The other woman looked as though she was about to faint. Nevertheless, she stood her ground.

"Ayla," she said "it's me, Ehmily. Ehmily Matthews. I'm your baby sister!"

At that moment, something in the back of Ayla's mind seemed to clear. There was someone in her memories that looked like this woman. Someone she had known a long time. Someone she had loved.

"Ehmily," she repeated as the memories began to come back "You were Ayla's sister. You...are my sister."

"Yes!" Ehmily exclaimed.

Ayla dismounted and while Ehmily, completely disregarding just what it was that stood before her, came forward and hugged Ayla tightly. Though stunned at first, Ayla found herself doing the same, even as she realized Ehmily was crying.

"Six years," Ehmily said between sobs "No one had heard anything. We all thought..."

"That she was dead, "Ayla said. It was hard for her to see herself as that person of which she knew only memories.

"I am dead," she said gently.

Ehmily sniffled and looked at her properly for the first time.

"You are," she said "Aren't you. Oh, by the Light, I can't imagine what it must be like. Still, there is much I want to talk about. Questions I can answer, if you are having trouble remembering."

"Perhaps that would be best," Ayla conceded.

Dinner found the two sisters in a private room at the Blue Recluse Inn in the mage quarter. Ehmily had put up the funds for the room herself. They had spent the afternoon talking. Ehmily shared with Ayla memories of their childhood which Ayla seemed to remember just as Ehmily would bring them up. On a more somber note, Ayla spoke of her last living memories as a paladin; of questing in the foulest reaches of Felwood and falling victim to a group of succubi. She spoke too of the cold voice that came to her thoughts as she lay upon their altar, bleeding, dying, offering her a chance at vengeance. A chance, in a crucial moment of weakness, she had accepted.

"So what now?" Ehmily asked over a couple bowls of thick stew. Evidently being dead did nothing to quench the healthy appetite Ayla usually had. She sat across from Ehmily, disposed of her armor for now, and eating one bowl after another. Ehmily suspected it had been quite sometime since she actually had eaten.

"Vengeance," Ayla said simply, pausing briefly in her meal "I wish...part of me wishes it could be something else. My life was taken from me. As you awoke memories of my past it's easier for me to remember now what I once was. I could have died bravely as a paladin should. Instead I crumbled and let myself fall to darkness. Nevertheless, if the Lich King hadn't been there, the opportunity wouldn't ever had presented itself. He must pay for the misery he visited upon me, the misery he forced me to visit upon others, and for all the evil he has done in this world."

Ehmily looked at her sister sadly.

"You're right," she said "i wish it could be something else too."

"I'm sorry," Ayla said quietly "It's just...there's this hunger for it inside me. I know I'm not the only Death Knight that feels it, and right now, as it is for the others, it's entirely focused on the Lich King."

Ehmily looked at her sister with sympathy for a long moment before draining the rest of her wine from her mug.

"Well," she said "I suppose I was bound to be summoned to Northrend before too much longer anyway."

"What do you mean?" Ayla asked.

"I haven't been idle these last few years you know," Ehmily said with a certain pride "I'm one of the best up and coming mages in the Kirin Tor, and after my performance in Outland, it's almost a given they'll want me in Northrend too. Maybe I can put in a request for it, and we can go together."

"Together?" Ayla asked "Fight the Lich King together?"

"As sisters, side by side," Ehmily said "To the end."

And for the first time, Ayla smiled.

"To the end."