Several weeks had passed since the incident in Orgrimmar, and the Blood Elf duo had ventured into the Western Plaguelands. "Hearthglen? Weren't you here when you were first initiated into the Argent Crusade?", Sapphira asked, turning to her counterpart. Her robe dragged lightly against the smooth cobblestone paths of Hearthglen, footsteps light and quiet. "Yes, momentarily, before I was shipped into Northrend to be partnered with you.", Thalarion replied, drinking in the nostalgia of his early military career. "Come on", he said, taking Sapphira's small gloved hand in his own, "I need a drink."
"You always need a drink.", she laughed, but willingly followed. The two traipsed into a warm, cozy inn, and were immediately bathed in a kind light from the nearby fireplace. Scattered amongst the tables were paladins and priests, the only empty seats were at a corner table with two Forsaken present.
"Come on, over here.", Thalarion coaxed, leading Sapphira to the empty, cedar chairs. Neither of the Forsaken paid attention to them, locked in a heated argument with eachother. "Wait here, I'll be back.", the Paladin reassured, giving Sapphira a quick peck to the cheek and heading for the bartender,
The frost mage quietly took her sight, staring across the wooden surface at the pair of Forsaken.
"I'm telling you, Lillian, it's the end times and nothing can be done about it!", the male one rasped, running his exposed bone fingers across his bald head. The other one, who was allegedly Lillian, had a Priestess' hood over her head, her eyes concealed by two black strips of leather and a few wisps of greenish hair falling out of the headcover.
"Jeremiah, we can fix these things, but only with the Light's help. Why won't you accept it? The Light can help us all, it can defend us from the Old Gods and all manner of evil, but only if you will accept it into your heart.", Lillian breathed, her voice very gentle and calm, like birdsong. She didn't seem to have the typical rasp of a Forsaken.
"You're a fool. If the Light really was so great, why would it have made you and I into these disgusting, shambling corpses, hmm? Why wouldn't it have just let us stay dead?"
"It wasn't our time, evidently. Jeremiah, you cannot be so angry over things that you do not understand. If the Light sought to keep us alive, then so be it. There's no use being bitter over fate. Our fate was to be resurrected by the Banshee Queen, and there's nothing we can do about it."
"Hmmph.", Jeremiah snarled, turning away from the priestess and taking a harsh gulp of the alcohol in front of him. "Excuse me, Miss?", Lillian whispered, trying to get Sapphira's attention. The elf looked confusedly both ways, before questioningly pointing to herself. Lillian nodded in response. "Is there something you need?", Sapphira asked awkwardly, looking around hurriedly for Thalarion. "Your eye, I sense a strong impurity coming from it. That covering over it, can you remove it?", the Forsaken female requested kindly.
"What do you mean, you 'sense' it?", Sapphira retorted, suddenly intrigued. "As you can likely see, milady, I cannot sense the physical world. I'm blind, my eyes were taken in death. I've retained my faith in the Light though, and it has gifted me with healing abilities and the power to sense corruption where others cannot.", the priestess murmured quietly, lifting her head and dragging her fingers across the leather strips that covered her eyes. "That's quite fascinating...", Sapphira drawled, staring where the Forsaken pointed.
"Lillian, leave the woman alone. She doesn't want to hear about your delusions.", Jeremiah groaned, "Miss, I apologize for my sister. She tends to take her healing duties a bit too seriously."
Thalarion showed up at the side of the table, with two cups and a carafe of white wine. He raised a long Elven eyebrow at the Forsaken siblings, before taking his seat next to Sapphira. "It's no matter, I actually want to hear more of what she has to say.", the frost magi said, motioning to Lillian. "What did you say your names were?"
Lillian spoke up first, hushing her brother. "Jeremiah and Lillian Elsington, and you are?"
"Lady Sapphira Azurebreeze, and this is my partner, Sir Thalarion Sunstrike.", the pale elf said, cocking her head towards Thalarion, who had busied himself with wine. Sapphira poured out some wine for herself and sipped it gently, feeling the crisp taste rejuvenate her mouth.
"Sapphira, are you planning on staying here in Hearthstone, or are you moving on?", Lillian questioned, wrapping a rotting hand around her brother's arm. "We're moving on shortly after this,why do you ask?", she replied, wondering why Lillian was asking. "You don't seem to have a healer in your party, I can sense Thalarion's magic deficiency. Would you allow Jeremiah and I to come along? We could be quite useful, and it's so dreadfully dull around here.", the priestess all but begged, tightening her grip on Jeremiah. "We've only just met you though.", Thalarion spoke up, eyes narrowing at the Undead.
"Do you distrust us? Is that the problem?"
"To an extent, yes."
"I promise, my brother and I mean no harm. We just want to get out of here, see the world and experience a little bit of adventure. Do you understand?"
"I suppose I do. Sapphira and I are gathering information about various flora and fauna, would you be able to help with that?"
"Yes, I'm rather skilled in the art of botany, and Jeremiah can skin with the best of them."
"But you can't even see, how do you know which herbs are which?"
"Herbs have a certain aura to them that I can pick up on, each one has a different 'signature' that I can use to identify them with."
"Being blind really does have its perks, doesn't it?"
"More than you would think.", Lillian chuckled, "So do we have an agreement?"
"Yes, I think having a healer and another set of offensive hands would do well.", Thalarion agreed, reaching out and gently shaking Lillian's hand.
Their accord was disrupted by a loud "Hey!" and a crash of metal to the ground. They all turned and saw that a large Worgen female had tripped over a Dwarf crusader's stray foot and knocked both of them to the ground. "I'm so sorry!", the Worgen pleaded, picking herself off of the wooden floor and extending a hand to the Dwarf. The Dwarf only scowled and muttered something foul beneath his breath, retaking his seat and leaving the tall, burly Worgen to stand awkwardly. She quickly covered her face and made her way to the last remaining seat in the inn, next to Lillian.
"Lillian Elsington, is that you?", she said excitedly as she neared them, canine eyes widened in awe. Lillian turned her face in the direction of the Worgen and immediately stood, extending her arms and wrapping the lycanthrope in a tight embrace. "By the Light, Rosettia, what's happened to you?", Lillian lilted worriedly, sensing the Worgen Curse in her friend. Releasing the small Undead, Rosettia took her seat and froze as she heard the war axes mounted on her back clatter to the ground.
"Still haven't outgrown your clumsiness, I see, Blackthorne.", snorted Jeremiah, staring at the increasingly embarrassed Gilnean. "Can it, Jeremiah.", she barked, sweeping the axes beneath the table. "Who are these people?", Rosettia asked, pointing a clawed thumb at the Elven pair. Sapphira and Thalarion quickly introduced themselves as Rosettia swept her salted braids over her pauldrons. "Pleasure to meet you both, I'm Rosettia Blackthorne.", she said proudly, vigorously shaking Thalarion's hand.
"Rosettia, you didn't answer my question. What's happened to you, why are you here?", Lillian interjected, audibly concerned. "Gilneas fell, Lillian. The Worgen broke through the wall and Sylvanas' army followed. Those who didn't manage to escape the Curse likely fell to the Plague, only a few hundred managed to make it out with King Greymane.", Rosettia sighed, running a long,clawed hand through her jet black mane.
"By the Light... I assume you've been afflicted with the Curse, then?", Lillian whimpered, extending a hand and wrapping her bone fingers around one of Rosettia's claws. "You bet. It's not so bad though, you know? Sort of a blessing in disguise, like your blindness.", Rosettia chortled, leaning back in her chair. Sapphira and Thalarion had both been keeping quiet, listening the boisterous Worgen's tale of woe. Interestingly enough, Rosettia didn't seem too fazed by any of it, reciting it like a report on Dragon's Tongue.
"Well, it's pleasing to see that you're still in good spirits. What are you doing here?", Lillian sighed, patting Rosettia's hand gently before pulling away. "I only recently got out of Gilneas, this was one of the few places I could think of that was really safe. I'm not really sure what to do now that I'm out, to tell you the truth. I saw some horrible black dragon on the way here though, headed north. It was torching a lot of the Hillsbrad Foothills. The thing looked like it was made out of Blackrock Mountain itself.", She shuddered, re-imagining the horrid creature.
Sapphira took this moment to speak up. "A black dragon? We saw the same one destroy a zeppelin in Orgrimmar.", the pale elf mentioned, thinking of that fateful day. "You don't suppose it could be Neltharion the Earthwarder, do you?", Rosettia replied, thinking hard. "No, it couldn't be.", Thalarion butted in, "Alexstrasza and the rest of the Aspects sealed Neltharion away longer ago than any of us have even been alive."
"But it could be!", Lillian exclaimed, "Perhaps that's why I've been sensing such a strange corruption beneath the ground. It's no ordinary corruption though, it seems to be made of pure hatred and fury... Wouldn't you be filled with hatred and anger if you had been sealed away?"
"All of you are insane for even entertaining such an idea. How could he even break free? It's madness.", Jeremiah growled, downing the rest of his whiskey.
"Neltharion was filled with the madness of the Old Gods when he was imprisoned. After all this time, don't you think that the Old Gods could've finally broken him completely? It's not entirely out of the question, brother.", Lillian retorted, deep in thought. "Why are we discussing something so heavy? Come on, lighten up, the lot of you!", Rosettia awkwardly laughed, balancing her chair on its hind legs.
"So you got any plans, Lillian? I'm not really sure what to do with myself, now that I'm out of Gilneas.", Rosettia droned, staring at her friend. "Jeremiah and I are joining Sapphira and Thalarion, to aid in their research and provide some extra hands.", Lillian replied affectionately, motioning to the two Sin'Dorei.
"Really? So I guess that means I can't tag along?", the Worgen pouted, looking to the Elves. "Well, that depends. Are you any good in battle?", Thalarion questioned, assessing the Worgen's strength based on her gargantuan size. "Hell yeah, I am! You think these axes are just for show? I'm one of the best warriors that Gilneas has to offer.", Rosettia boasted, thumping her fist to her chest proudly.
"You should believe her. Rose may be clumsy outside of battle, but she's a force to be reckoned with in combat.", Lillian voiced, gesticulating calmly.
"Hmm.", Sapphira buzzed, turning towards Thalarion with an eyebrow raised. Thalarion shrugged in response, and left his partner to do the talking. "We'd love to have you aboard, Rosettia.", the magi answered, shakily extending a hand to the warrior.
"Aw, you won't regret it, Miss Azurebreeze!", the Worgen crowed happily, rattling Sapphira's delicate hand back and forth, before finally losing her balance and falling backwards in her chair.