Chapter Four
"Ya be tired." He commented as he noticed his companion was now slowing down significantly. "Yeah..." she admitted. "But I can keep going. My Impy over there is carrying my bag, so that helps." Although Taffy was sleeping in her jade arms. "Lemme carry ya. Ya be slowing us down." He grumbled as he picked her up without permission. "It's fine! Put me down!" she screamed angrily. "Ya a goblin, not an orc. Ya be light enough." He stared straight ahead. Grumbling to herself, she tried to get comfortable in his muscled arms.
She was thankful that, unlike some trolls, he had smaller upturned tusks; anything longer and she would have made a swing set on them. She stared up at his face for a while, remembering when he was a slave at her father's mines. "Ya stare too much." He commented. "So?" she pouted embarrassed. "Ya stared back on Kezan too." Her cheeks blushed a darker shade of green; so he had seen her staring at him from afar?
"I don' be minding. But I don' tink I eva met a goblin wit crushes on trolls." He kept a completely blank and cold look on his face as Mixy felt her face grow hotter by the second. "I-I don't have a crush on you!" she hissed at him, trying desperately to defend herself. "And-and even if I did, there's no point in it right? We'll never see each other after we get to Orgrimmar anyways!" She hated herself for saying it right away, mostly because she was painfully aware of how true it was.
"Dat be jus fine." Was all he said. "You really don't show enough emotion, you know." She tried changing the subject, and part of her wanted to evoke something out of him, no matter how negative it might be. "That might be why Kimei left you." There, that'd get him, she thought. But the troll disappointed her as he shook his head and kept his emotions in check. "She be doing dat to herself." He commented. "I neva said we'd marry. I said we could be together. Notin' even happened between us, so I don' know where she even got any of dat." So, they were a new couple that just didn't make it? Interesting, Mixy thought.
"Well, at least you're a little open..." she decided she was somewhat satisfied. "I not be open. I be honest." He said in a defensive manner. "You didn't want to be with her?" she asked suddenly, without thinking. "What dat be havin' ta do with anyting?" She tried to keep her wits about her. "Nothing, but you seemed kind of relieved when it was over." She hoped that her comment was enough to satisfy him and leave him to not pursue her.
"Eh..." he admitted, the roughness in his voice only dropping slightly. "Maybe. She was a lil' too intense." After that, the two were silenced all the way until they reached the large Horde city. "Dis be it." He said, but as he looked down, he noticed that the female goblin had fallen asleep, her cat curled under her arm. "Just like in Kezan." He grumbled as he took them through the gates.
"SPOONS WITH FLAMETHROWERS!" she shouted as she woke up from her nightmare. She'd been dreaming that the island was exploding yet again, but her parents were reaching out to her, crying. For some reason, she felt as though spoons with flamethrowers might be their saving grace. She now ruffled her black hair and took in her surroundings; she was in a bed in a small inn. The door opened and the troll walked in. "Ya be awake. Ya slept too long." He grunted. She noticed he'd taken the time to drape the blanket over her and she blushed slightly. "Are we in Orgrimmar?" she asked. "Ya." He sighed and walked over to a chair, sitting down. "Bad news doe." He said as he tilted his head back against the wall. "There ain't no goblins here. Ya parents not be here."
Her heart dropped and she ignored the fact that the troll had been out searching for her. "Mama and Papa aren't here..." she reiterated, trying to swallow the information. They sat in silence and she shook her head. "I guess I'll just have to travel elsewhere..." she sighed. "Where ya be going?" he asked her. "I don't know but I have to try. If they're not here, they might be elsewhere." She jumped out of bed and began to search through her bags, Taffy at her side. "Ya won't survive. Ya could hardily make it here." He grumbled.
"Well, you're staying here right? So what do you care?" she got a fresh dress out from her bag and went into the restroom to bath and change. She expected him to be gone when she came out, about half an hour later, but there he was, waiting. "I'll pay for the inn. Thank you for bringing me here." She said quickly and rushed to pack up her things and get out enough macaroons to pay the innkeeper. "Ya leaving now? It be the dead of night." He looked at her, slightly stunned at how rash she was.
Mixy hadn't paid attention to the time and she didn't really care, but at that moment she wanted to get out of that inn. "It's fine. I'll be fine." She rushed. She shoved a piece of kaja'mite into the troll's hands. "Sell this. It's worth more than some people's lives." She wasn't sure if that was true, but she said it anyways and knew that the troll would at least fetch a decent price for it. He starred at it and for the first time since she'd even seen the troll, he showed a slight sense of confusion.
Her demon had disappeared, she assumed it'd let itself back to it's realm. Struggling to pick up her heavy bag and slinging Taffy into her arms, she turned to face the troll and saluted him. "See ya." She said and rushed out of the room. She hurried to pay the inn keeper and rushed out into the big city of Orgrimmar. There was no way that the troll would help her, nor did she even think he could. Either way she just wanted him up and out of her hair. He was just going to continue to make commentary that she didn't really appreciate and be a waste of space for the most part, or so she told herself.
She was about half way down the crowded street when she stopped and looked around. There were so many orcs and trolls that patrolled the roads and there everyone seemed to trip over her and Taffy. Tears pooled in her eyes as she realized that she was no where near home and that she had no idea of the new world she'd just entered. This wasn't Kezan. There were no goblins here, or so she thought at the moment. No one knew who she was and she was utterly lost.
As she put her face in her hands, she tried to hide the tears that spilled down her cheeks, Taffy at her feet and equally as terrified. It was then that two strong arms picked her up and placed a large hand on the back of her head and pulled her face into a dull blue chest. "I told ya dat ya couldn't survive." A familiar voice said, still as cold as always. "Sh-shut up!"
She let herself sob into the troll's chest, releasing her stress more than her tears. She was scared and she was subjecting herself to fear more than she wanted to. Now that she knew her parents weren't in Orgrimmar, the main city of the Horde, she didn't know where to look. Perhaps they were in Stormwind? Up until now, the goblins had been completely mutual between the two, or so they said, and it was possible that they had gone to the Eastern Kingdoms rather than Kalimdor. But the journey would be long and the goblin was certain that a boat ride would be too much for her if she ever wanted to search properly for them. With these things in mind, she wasn't completely sure of what to do with herself. Picking up her bag and handing her Taffy by the scruff, the troll lead them away.
Vonzahn sat them down next to a small lake and near a waterfall. Not a lot of people were in the area, and the roar covered the soft sounds of her crying. Once her sobs had turned into small shivers, she looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot and itchy from her rough tears. "W-why ya helping me?" she asked, her little accent thick from her upset moment. "Because ya gon' get ya self killed." His face gave nothing away and he kept his voice distant as always. "But my father was your slave driver." She sniffled. "But ya were not bad ta me."
"I just stared at you." She turned away, crossing her arms in recognition that she'd done nothing good for this troll either. Vonzahn shook his head. "Aye, that ya did." She looked over to see the troll smile for the first time. She smiled back, finding it both pleasant and contagious. "Ya got a nice smile for such a sour mug, ya know that?" she giggled. Vonzahn shook his striking mowhawk and nodded, still smiling. "Nay, not me."
"Ya do! Otherwise, I wouldn't find that face of yours so cute." She brought her knees up to her chin and smiled. She was fine, being honest with her feelings towards him, and didn't mind expressing them out loud, seeing as he'd already known. And besides, she added to herself, it wasn't as though she was in love with him. At least not yet, she added once more. "Goblins don' like trolls." His face was growing more serious now. "Trolls don't like goblins." She sighed. "It was your people who enslaved us first, remember? We just over powered you. But I don't think slavery was the answer." She admitted. Surely this made for cheap business, and goblins never minded pursuing the dirty businesses of the world, but Mixy had never really enjoyed seeing the slaves getting hurt or working in such conditions.
"Ya got a point. Although, those not be me people. All da trolls ya see here are Darkspear trolls. Dat goes for me an Kimei too. Der be different tribes o' trolls." He looked off into the now peaceful side of the city and sighed. "How'd you get enslaved?" she asked him. "Captured. Ya damn goblins don' listen. We were sent der ta try an find information on goblin technology. Ended up as slaves anyways. Dat was a while ago. Although, Kimei wanted ta return ta our village. I want ta stay in Orgrimmar an work for da Horde in a different way."
He'd been captured only a year ago, maybe less, but that was still a long time to be enslaved, thought Mixy. "I'm sorry... What happened to you..." She said, puffing up her cheeks and looking at the silver fish that splashed in the lake. She liked this moment, no matter how sad it was. Sitting in his lap and both of them slightly vulnerable made her feel less alone in the world. "And I'm sorry you came to my rescue a second time." She wrapped her jade arms around her knees.
"Ya be dumb, lil goblin. I don' mind savin ya. Ya not a bad creature, even if ya race is a bunch of short money-loving slave owners." He laughed. He had a weird laugh, she noticed; he snorted and wheezed a lot. Mixy couldn't help herself; she burst out laughing and slapped a hand to his chest. "Stop it! Ya killin' me!" she laughed. "Your laugh is so weird!" she felt her sides hurt slightly. "What ya mean?" he asked her; suddenly back in his unbroken form. "Y-ya... Never mind." She rolled her eyes and smiled. The two were quiet for a moment and stared at the fish in the pond; it was getting later into the night and now many citizens were leaving for huts and homes.
Mixy decided that if she was going to sit in his lap, she was going to do it comfortably. Repositioning herself so that she was inline with him, she rested her small back and head against his chest and looked into the silvery water. "Thanks. You make me feel less alone. I don't know what to do now that I know they're not here." She sighed and watched as Taffy pawed at the water, hoping to catch something despite her poor hunting skills. "I'll leave tomorrow, I guess. I don't know where I'm going, but I have to keep trying. Even if they didn't get off the island, I need to find other goblins that might know."
"Ya really tink it be wise ta go by ya self?" he asked her, his voice slightly hushed. "What choice do I have?" There was a beat of silence between the two. Vonzahn lean forward and pushed the two of them into a slouched position. "I guess der be no helpin' it den. I be goin' wit ya." Her blue eyes widened. "You wouldn't even go with the girl you were with, yet you'll go with me?" she turned up to look at him. The side of his mouth pulled into a smirk as his eyes looked down at her. "Ya not as annoyin'." He noted. She felt her face grow hotter as she swiftly replied, "Fine! But I'm not picking up any of your slack!"