Emala's POV

"A hunting competition?"

"That's right. If ya'll follow the cliff that marks the border of the Valley of Four Winds a little day or two south, you'll come across a tauren encampment," the pandaren trader finished his sentence with a yellow toothed grin. He flipped the coins I had handed him in one hand before pocketing them and climbing onto his wagon. Urging the yak pulling it on, he began to trundle out of our sight.

I contemplatively stood there for a bit longer, staring after him. It wasn't the merchant himself I was mulling over-we'd gotten the supplies we needed from him. Rather, it was the very attractive lure of a hunting competition.

The last one I had been in had been a very long time ago, back in the oddity of Northrend known as Scholazar Basin. I'd won it, if narrowly. The prospect of another one to thrill my blood was very, very temping. I had been killing plenty of things recently, but not for sport. It would make a nice change.

Absentmindedly noting a nudge against my arm, I handed my portion of the supplies to the said being. I was met with a squawk of surprise. I looked beside me and saw Pierceclaw with the supply sacks lying at his feet, the contents spilled around him. They hadn't bee ruined, wrapped in suitable packaging as they were. It still made for a comical sight, however-especially since one sack was dangling from Pierceclaw's nose horn.

Zalleen cracked up, pounding his staff butt on the ground a few times. "Nice one, you two!"

Skydive sniggered as well, and the two high fived-made possible by Skydive currently being in his blood elf guise. I shot them both a annoyed look, but for once it wasn't too heated. Mainly since the current situation was just a little humorous to me, too.

Imyra exchanged a knowing look with Atlanta. Our Death Knight cracked out one of her rare smiles, and Imyra looked back at me with the fondness of a little sister. "I know that look-you're excited."

I openly grinned in response, already looking south along the cliff that divided the Valley of Four Winds from the Karsarang Wilds. "You bet. I need some sport-all this fighting against evil stuff is getting tiring."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Stormwing began to carefully pile the dropped supplies onto his own back, while Atlanta tied the stuff down with ropes, making sure to do it in a way comfortable to him ith practiced ease. Stormwing never seemed to mind the job of acting as the figurative 'pack mule,' but had sharply reprimanded anyone who actually called him that.

"Yes," Lastraza said thoughtfully, coming up beside me. "I'd be interested to see this." She chuckled a little. "Maybe I can get some real rest."

I wryly smiled back, both of us knowing this could be fairly unlikely. Then we settled into our usual flight arrangement. Lastraza led the formation of drakes, with Stormwing impressively keeping up just behind. Skydive flew right beside Lastraza, only a little bit behind her a a fair distance away. Imyra flew above us in her bird form.

The passenger arrangement had undergone changes since some time ago-now Zalleen preferred to ride on Skydive's back. It was perhaps a blessing for Lastraza, since the two eccentric among our number could converse with actual interest. Atlanta rode her skeletal griffin to my left. Pierceclaw had started hitching rides on Stormwing, since he could take the extra weight better than Lastraza or Skydive. I had taken to riding Lastraza.

The conversation match up worked both ways. Us two could talk about useful things instead of pointless ones.

Despite that, I hadn't really talked for the past hour, more lost in my thoughts than connected to the world around me. I was vaguely aware of Skydive and Zalleen laughing about something, and raptor snores coming from Stormwing's back over the rush of the wind.

There was one other reason had taken up this idea. The hunting competition would hopefully distract me from constantly worrying about the dreams. I hadn't though about them since the ship, but with the recent events they had come back with sharp clarity. One of them had seemed to come true so far-the dream about the jade statues and pool of water had come true. What I had dismissed as mere dreams didn't seem like such now.

Which meant, there was every chance that the black serpent from the dreams was something we could run across, but I had no idea how or when. Even worse than that, Ernar had been in the dream.

Our experiences in Uldum still made me shudder. We had come very close to dying in that Titan complex several times. The one relieving thing had been that Ernar had been beaten and banished, but...

"Ernar seems to despise mortals and judge them wrongly. It would be far more of a punishment for him to live on...but not as a dragonkin."

Those had been the words spoken by the goddess we had encountered, Nessyria, that had concerned Ernar's fate after he had been defeated. I had never wondered about where the former drake was now, but now I did. And it didn't make me at all at ease. Even stripped of his dragonkin abilities, there was no way of knowing what kind of damage our old enemy could do.

"Are you alright?"

Apparently my silence hadn't gone unnoticed. Lastraza's question contained a genuine concern I couldn't help but answer to. "I'm not sure, actually."

She glanced back at me with concern in her yellow eyes, the concern of a healer for their cherished patient. The day after our conflict with the jade witch and the dark manifestation, we had chosen to travel some distance and then rest. Despite her brief rush of energy from being freed running out, the red drake had wanted to heal everyone's wounds first. She had finished fixing Stormwing's before lapsing into a incredibly deep sleep that we couldn't shake her from until the next day-today, in other words. Her action had truly shown just how dedicated Lastraza was to keeping us alive. It was a dedication I greatly valued, especially since it would be hard to find anywhere else.

Now, in the present, Lastraza's eye ridge furrowed in confusion as she tried to make sense of my answer. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe she's just starting to feel old?" Zalleen joked-or rather, tried to joke and only got a laugh out of Skydive. Everyone else just stared at him. My glare could have set fire to grass even in the rain.

"That is not the reason," I stated through gritted teeth. "And if you value your life-"

Skydive yelped and stuttered slightly in flight. Zalleen flinched and averted his eyes, sheepishly fiddling the the hem of his robe. "Uh, right. Not what I meant."

Imyra dipped lower until she was right above us. Then she dove down and pecked Zalleen sharply on the head with her beak. "Don't jab about age!" she squawked.

"Ow!"

Atlanta snorted a little in what could only be a tinge of amusement.

I sent Zalleen a predatory grin. "See? That was a terrible joke."

"Instead of mocking people, how about you actually listen," Stormwing rumbled from behind us. "It would be a lot more useful."

"Pah," Zalleen snorted, whirling his staff in one hand. I laughed when he fumbled it and whacked himself on the head. "Ouch!"

"That's the second time in the last minute or two you've said that," Skydive commented. He grinned toothily. "Could try for a bit of vocal variety, my friend."

"Shut up," Zalleen sniggered.

"You know, you're already braindead," I snipped, still burning from the earlier comment. "Don't make it worse for yourself by causing more brain damage."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for the jab," Zalleen amended. I was just starting to believe him when he supplied a follow up comment. "At least, not that old-"

"That's it, I'm killing you myself-"

"Imyra, shield me!"

"No way!"

"Ouch!"

"Look out!"

by the time Stormwing's shout of alarm registered, all three drakes had stopped flying altogether, and were hovering in one giant writhing cluster while me and Zalleen began trying to strangle each other, while everyone else was bickering and trying to avoid collisions. In one way the tussle felt good, being a method of stress relief. In another, it was bad since it blindsided us to approaching danger.

As it turned out, what interrupted us wasn't all too dangerous-but had it been, the slip could have cost us, and I would never stop cursing myself for it.

A series of sudden bangs caused Lastraza to yelp and lurch. I heard what sounded like fibers scratching against her scales, and twisted in place to see that a broad net had tangled itself around us. We started to fall, spinning uncontrollably, and I heard excited whoops from somewhere below as Lastraza's frame crashed through a thick canopy. Twigs and leaves rained down around us, not helping to establish which way was up and which way was down.

"Look at that, we got ourselves a rare beastie, boys!"

my first thought was dwarf, but a quick and blurred glance at the figures below convinced me otherwise. Unless dwarfs had suddenly gotten a lot bigger.

Somehow Lastraza righted herself, managing to spread her wings enough to achieve a steep glide. She opened her maw and breathed a jet of fire. The figures below scattered, yelping in shock.

There was no more time to think about them. I gripped Lastraza's horns tightly, flattening myself as much as possible against her neck and preparing for impact. It came as expected, Lastraza making a rough and messy landing in the smoldering patch of vines. She began to tear the net off with her teeth, while I cut even more of it away with a few swipes of my glaives.

More crashing heralded the arrival of the rest of our group. Stormwing landed with enough of a impact to cause a huge wave of displaced air, his demeanor all anger and protectiveness. Atlanta was standing beside him with runeblade in hand, Zalleen beside her with his staff. He was grim faced now, contrary to the cheery visage of a few moments ago. Skydive was standing beside him, braced almost like a cat. Imyra was perched on one of his horns.

"Two times in one day," Lastraza grumbled. "Does everything have it out for me?" she finished in exasperation.

Feeling my own anger growing, I leaped from her back and in one fast motion had drawn my bow, arrow strung. The group of pandaren looked visibly intimidated now, some maybe even blanching at our outward appearance of force.

There was only one who appeared undaunted. The panderen was male, with brown striped white fur like a tiger. His eyes were a penetrating black, and before we knew it he was sauntering up to us with an easy, loping pace. A faint and relaxed smile adorned his snout, but I noted that a crossbow was within easy reach, slung loosely over one shoulder. Despite all appearances, I didn't believe for a second that this bowman was a clueless being.

In fact, underestimation could be a graver error.

We regarded each other intently for a few moments. It was a mutual act of sizing each other up, trying to judge intentions, strengths, even weaknesses.

"Why shoot us down?" I asked abruptly, warily watching the being before me.

He looked at Lastraza, then back at me with what I swore was a sheepish expression. "Yeah, bout that...thought that it was just a rare beastie-"

"I'm not a beast," Lastraza inserted calmly.

"Right," the panderen amended, "Sorry bout that. Didn't quite see that there were others with you two, or that the red one had a rider, till we shot the net. Hope you can forgive us. Just tryin' to practice for the hunting competition, see."

That caught my attention. I lowered my bow, raising a hand in the well used signal to stand down. I heard the thunk of Zalleen resting the butt of his staff on the ground, while Stormwing and Skydive released their primed breath weapons in harmless exhalations. The telltale noise of a runeblade sliding back into a sheath sounded as well. Pierceclaw stopped growling beside me and took on a more relaxed pose.

The other hunter-for that was what I was finally able to identify him as-followed both the sounds and movements with a alert, quick glance. Then his attention was back on me.

"We heard of this competition," I supplied, in answer to the shift of focus. "That was the whole reason we were here in the first place. So who's running it?"

The subject of my questioning threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Why me, of course. Jinir Stoutpaw, I be. The rules are under my jurisdiction," he finished, a lopsided smile now in place.

I blinked, digesting the information. It was a very good thing I had held of attacking, obviously-it would have been a error in about a million ways.

"Right," Zalleen quipped, popping up beside me and giving a thumbs up. "When da we get to start hunting stuff, eh?"

"We?" I said slowly, glancing at the mage from the corner of my eye. "Since when have you been interested in this?"

"It sounds fun, mon," Zalleen replied, exaggeratedly laying a hand on his chest and prompting a eyeroll from me. "I can't have a little fun?"

"Well, I'm joining too, then," Imyra announced, walking up beside me. She smiled gently and lay a hand of my shoulder. "You enjoy competition, right?"

I raised a eyebrow. "A druid would add some variety to the whole thing," I responded. "I certainly wouldn't mind."

"Well, I'm going to spend some time sleeping," Stormwing yawned even as he finished the sentence.

"Well, while you're being a lazybones, can I try too?" Skydive can bounding over like a very big and excited dog, bouncing on the balls of all four feet. "Someone needs to keep mister mage from getting to high a ego."

"Hey, it isn't like ya don't have way to much confidence sometimes," Zalleen retorted, playfully nudging Skydive in the side with the but of his staff. "I'll need to keep you off you're high ego too, mon." He narrowed his gray eyes in a smirk. "Should do the hunt in a mortal form, too, far as ah'm concerned."

Skydive arched his neck and let out a yelp of irritation. "That's no fair!"

"You could just try being cunning enough to do better than him, Zalleen," chided Lastraza, cocking her head and giving Zalleen a inquiring look. "I'm sure with magic you can do that."

"Unless he's afraid even that won't be enough," I jabbed, still smarting from earlier. I paused and looked away when Atlanta intently gazed at me.

As my oldest friend, she knew how to read my emotions very, very well. She could probably tell the reason for my remark, while to everyone else it would seem like our normal banter.

I'm not old. Only that's only what the disrespectful bastard thinks, I though spitefully. The comment had hurt more than I wanted-it didn't seem a way to thank someone whom had saved your hide many times in both the past and recent history.

Zalleen responded how I thought he would, by grinning loosely and replying flippantly. "I think ah can manage, mon, and give ya a bit of competition along with your sis."

Jinir had watched all this with a bemused expression, and now he grinned widely and shook his head. "You all are gonna be interesting to have around, me think. If what I see here is anything to go by."

I spoke through bared teeth. "Yeah, some of us can be very..entertaining."

Atlanta's POV

I watched my friend carefully, noting the barely contained rage and underlying hurt only I knew how to see. Everyone else only saw her anger, with Imyra the only other one who seemed to feel a little of her sister's other feelings. I caught her shooting a concerned glance at Emala.

As oblivious as Zalleen, Jinir began to barrel on with his rules of conduct as he walked us through the encampment set up for the competition. With obvious pride, he gestured at the large tents, brown canvas dappled by the light that managed to make it through the jungle canopy.

"All of you get to sleep in those if you want," the pandaren hunter stated loudly, even as he was already pointing to a cleared circle with a already scorched fire pit. "Feel free to eat there, but if you're more comfortable eating separate-" here he shrugged, a grin peeling through. "I don't mind. But it would be much more lively to eat with new people. At least, that's what I've always thought!"

"Seems good ta me," Zalleen agreed with a shine in his eyes. "I think I'll do that! How about the rest of ya?"

"Sure," Skydive nudged Zalleen in a friendly fashion in the back, making him stumble a little. "I can't let you hog all the stories and comedic glory."

Zalleen laughed. Imyra and Lastraza smiled and shared knowing glances, while Stormwing raised a eye ridge. I just gazed silently at them. It was a little funny. All witty remarks tended to be. But I didn't see why it was funny enough to be so boisterous about.

Emala maintained a stormy silence, arms crossed over her chest. One finger kept wandering over the scar on her arm. She sensed my staring and met my gaze with her green eyes, a unspoken request in them.

I nodded in acknowledgment. I would wait for her to tell me.

After the silent communication, Emala turned her attention back to Jinir. "What about signups?" she asked abruptly.

Jinir let a more serious trait slip into his boisterous one when he answered the question. "All that's needed is to tell me. You already have," he said in a level, neutral tone.

Emala nodded curtly. "We start tommorow?"

"Yes."

with that settled, she turned and walked toward the woods, saying over one shoulder, "i want to go and rest a little."

"That's alright, mon! We'll be sure to fill ya in if ya miss anything!" Zalleen shouted enthusiastically. For a mage, he was quite excited about hunting.

"Fine."

as Emla passed me, I noted a few things. One: she was biting her lip, either fuming or ready to go into a minor depression. I had the feeling in was the latter. Two, she was still fingering the scar on her arm.

I stood for a bit longer, while everyone else went and followed Jinir to where his fellow pandaren were turning meat on spits. The smell seemed especially tempting to the drakes, except for one. There was only the dumped pile of supplies were Stormwing had been, and I made out his heavy and obvious footprints trailing to the river that ran beside the camp.

Yet another unusual occurrence. Stormwing was a very responsible person. It seemed something was up with him too, but I figured Lastraza would sort him out. She seemed to have a feeling for things like that concerning him...

Dismissing the thought from mind, I padded off after Emala. I made no effort to conceal the rasping of my mail robe and plate armor, or my footfalls. Emala would most likely know I was coming even if I made no noise at all, with the six sense that all hunters seemed to have.

Rogues and mages too. I wondered about that sometimes.

My prediction was right. I was about ten feet away from where Emala was sitting with her back against a tree when she spoke. One hand was laying on Pierceclaw's warm flank. He seemed subdued, likely from his master's mood. "I can hear you."

I balked momentarily, blinking. Her tone was brittle and angry. I hadn't heard that tone for a very long time-not since she and I had mended our friendship after a sabotage mission in the campaign against the Lich King. It had been after that I had joined the group.

The Lich King again. He was coming into mind a bit too much.

I covered the distance with some more firm strides, then sat down beside my old friend. There was no more room on the tree for me, so I settled for bracing my palms on the ground behind me and sticking my legs out.

The next few minutes were silent. Emala continued to stare straight ahead, her face oddly blank. I waited patiently.

She finally spoke, trying to sound hostile. The attempt was halfhearted.

"Why follow me?"

I answered bluntly. "Since you look like something's wrong."

Emala glared at me, going briefly into defensive mode. Then her shoulders slumped and she slid wearily down the tree trunk. She looked very despondent.

I didnt like that. I liked my friend confident and sharp tongued. I scooted closer to her, and wrapped one arm about Emala's shoulders. I pulled her closer into a one armed hug. I felt her shiver a little, my chill flesh and armor not providing much warmth. Even so, I had detected her becoming more relaxed.

"Do you think Zalleen meant the jab about my age?"

there it was, the blunt question that showed excactly what the problem was. We two shared a mutual language of getting to the point, and no dancing around a subject. I gave her my honest answer, of course. One that was heartfelt, even though I had no beating heart.

"No. He can just say things before he talks. No mental filter," I replied calmy, trying my best to use a comforting tone. For a emotion suppressed Death Knight, this was a challenge, but somehow I managed, judging from Emala's slight smile in response.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I guess so. Can we stay like this for a little bit?"

I nodded.

We did just as suggested, but longer. For an hour we sat there, staring into the green jungle. Two friends sharing a mutual moment that, I now realized, we had been missing for some time.

Lastraza's POV

I lay lazily by the hunters, listening with half a ear to what the hunters were conversing about. Zalleen seemed to be fitting in with them well enough, as was Skydive. They were both taking turns illustrating mishaps and other humorous events in our battles and daily lives.

"And just like that, Skydive was miniature," Zalleen chuckled. Skydive yelped in irritation. "Don't remind me of that!"

Even as Zalleen finished laughing, he glanced toward were Emala and later Atlanta had disappeared to. A slightly guilty look flashed through his eyes. I cocked a eye ridge at him, silently saying, thinking of apologizing much?

Zalleen returned to his part in the story with exceptional eagerness, avoiding eye contact with me.

I was toying with the idea of dragging Zalleen over to apologize. I dismissed the idea, then felt Imyra tap me on the shoulder.

"Stormwing still hasn't come back yet."

My lethargic mood vanished. I hadn't even thought about Stormwing's absence and now I felt guilty for assuming he was back, and had simply chosen not to make his presence known. Obviously this wasn't the case, and I wasted no time getting to my feet.

"I'll go talk to him," I said softly. "Thank you for reminding me."

I half walked, half ran toward the river, then simply ran, making no secret of my urgency.

Atlanta's POV

No one had asked me what I was going to do upon the morning of the next day, but that was just fine. I didn't have any clear idea yet.

Like Emala, coming here had a benefit that I had lacked over the last few years-time to wander on my own, in solitude, to quietly contemplate. After my revival by the Lich King, I had never thought I would miss being alone. But now I found I wanted just a day of just that. I was out in the jungle now, walking idly through the greens.

Only for a uneasy prickling to creep up my spine. I stopped, my runeblade out in a instant and in a battle stance. My eyes scanned the surroundings for the enemy.

There. Several green scaly forms shifted on a ridge above me. The biggest one stood to full hight, the humanoid lizard revealing yellowed teeth in a savage smile. Bloodstained armor caught the light, glinting dully, all of it a clear patchwork of looted items. I knew what it was, having already run across scavenging bands of these creatures.

The saurok roared, brandishing two shortswords. This one looked to be a giant among his kind, and his underlings more coordinated and with intelligence shining in their beady black eyes. This could be harder that anticipated at first glance.

It should have been predictable enough that I wouldn't have a peaceful stroll.

"What have we here? Lone prey for usss, boyss..."

late update, but at least this was done on my one update per month schedule, even if it was cutting it close. Please review, it makes me happy. Not to mention more determined to make chapters.

Notes about future chapters-After this there are two more chapters to go concerning the hunt and the saurok, then i'll be writing a arch about the Isle of Thunder and the Throne of Thunder raid bosses. That island has lots of possible ideas, although i'll probably be adapting some of the ingame storyline. Plus, writing about something that is current content in game will be fun :)