Rightly Considered Inconvenience

Chapter 7: Readjusting

A/N: Yup.
Artifex: I didn't mean don't ask the questions, I enjoy answering them. I just feel uneasy about putting paragraphs in front of my chapters anymore. I would put them after, but a lot of the answers help understand characters easier instead of saying "Oh, that's why s/he did that" after the fact. I guess you could track me down on dA as H-43. Don't mind the awful art. I'd be happy to answer any and all questions you have.
I have been playing SOOOO MUCH WC3. Even though I am about as bad at RTS games as I am at FPS games. So I'm a little bit burnt out at the moment. I just started the Night Elf campaign in Reign of Chaos and it's only day three.


The group had cleared out of Blade's Edge Mountains as soon as possible. There was kind of an awkward murmur in the group, as everyone wanted to hear about Claryssa's past few years, but didn't really know how to. Save for Vilzek, who was gliding lazily overhead, all of them were trudging along the slightly overgrown road through Zangarmarsh mounted atop their mounts. Claryssa once again was seating in between Gat's legs atop Razuli. The rogue was being awfully possessive about her, and she was having to work very hard to swallow her irritation. She knew the troll had missed her, and she had missed him as well, but it was a matter of too much, too fast.

Almost as annoying was Issa. She completely refused to heed any of her rider's commands and threats, and was instead walking alongside Razuli, nuzzling lovingly at Claryssa. The black raptor's proximity and positioning in his blind spot made the red raptor nervous, and he often twitched and jerked uncomfortably away from Issa. That only served to augment the priestess' frustration, and she often pushed her away with mutterings of "Listen to Jen, Issa" and "You're making Razuli nervous, you can rub on me later." It didn't work, though.

Some distance up ahead, Xeledar and his brother were talking. The paladin had summoned up a glowing charger, clad in gold armor and red draping. It was a rather interesting counterpart to Karaellin's undead steed, with greasy-looking black saronite and tattered, dusky blue. She meant to ask either one of them about themselves, but she hadn't yet gotten the chance, nor did she think she would get one. It was pretty clear that Gat was not keen on letting her go anywhere without being attached to him, and wouldn't be for a while.

Thal was leaning lazily against her nightsaber as it prowled along behind them. Vilzek's blood red wind serpent was still coiled lazily about her shoulders, napping. The hunter found it perplexing that his pets kept getting attached to other people, and had voiced his reservations on the whole affair at length that morning. In the end, though, it came down to there being something personal between the old troll and the elf, causing her to smell like him. And the serpent didn't like being at high altitude.

It was a weird couple, to be sure. She guessed it wasn't her business but it was interesting, in kind of an awkward way. Then again, it was a very incongruous couple, a lithe night elf and an aging troll. Images started running through her head and she rather violently shook her head to stop thinking about it. Gat gave her an inquisitive look, but she shrugged and gave an excuse of a bug in her face.

Bhazrael was keeping to himself at the rear of the train, his great purple wings a lot less noticeable in the gloom of Zangarmarsh. He hadn't been pushy or awkward around Claryssa, and he was the only one of the group who seemed to understand that she wasn't the same girl as before. She was grateful to him for that, and maybe she could talk to him without worry that he would be judgmental or shocked at her. Maybe later, after she could worm away from her overbearing troll-leech.

Zalgash was currently in the front. He had tried to engage the girl in conversation earlier, but she was somewhat distracted by both Gat and Issa pawing and nuzzling at her incessantly. She would have to apologize later to the orc for being short with him. The only one she hadn't talked to recently was Gelt, who had joined Vilzek in flying in his bird form above the trees. She remembered how irritable he was riding on a kodo through their escapades around the world, and couldn't blame him for wanting to fly on his own instead.

She kind of wished she could, too. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her want to flee, find a little sanctuary somewhere and hide in it. It didn't help that they were going through the part of Zangarmarsh that she was most familiar with. She was playing with the idea of running off for a while. The only problem was Gat.

"I have to pee," she suddenly announced. The troll grunted and turned to the side of the road. Razuli happily obliged, putting much needed distance between himself and Issa.

"We'll catch up in a few minutes," the rogue said, waving his brother forward when Jen'Zin started to slow down. The shaman nodded and kicked a reluctant Issa forward. The raptor hissed malevolently at her rider, but obeyed.

Claryssa slid off of the saddle and ducked behind a giant mushroom. Gat prudently looked the other way. She didn't need to use the bathroom, though. Instead, she slipped into shadowform slowly, the hiss low and drawn out, like a gust of wind more than anything. It blended in easier with the muted colors of the marsh. She took a deep breath and let herself disperse. She drifted away from the mushroom and became reconstituted fifty or so yards away and took off at a run toward a little haven she had for herself.

It only took a few minutes to reach it. It was just a little rotted hole halfway up a mushroom overlooking the giant lake in the center of the marsh, but it was a nice little haven. No one payed any attention to it, and she had often sought refuge in there when overrun by naga or being tracked down by people curious about the "witch of Zangarmarsh."

The priestess clambered up the stalk and pulled herself into the hole. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed as she looked out across the lake, the pipes of the Steamvaults visible in the distance. Her inner turmoil was starting to settle down, and her stomach started to unclench. There was a small spark of guilt at running away, but it was all she could do from doing something she'd feel even worse about later. She let her shadowform drop and relaxed against the hardened interior of her little cubby.

It was twenty minutes before someone found her. Not surprisingly, it was Vilzek. The old hunter popped his head up into her cubby. He lifted himself into a somewhat more comfortable position.

"That took longer than I thought it would," Claryssa said.

"Took me a bit ta convince Azbek ta show me where ya were," he replied. "Can ya scoot ovah or somet'in'? Lemme in. 'S hard ta stay steady out here."

Claryssa scooted around and the troll clambered into the hole. His thin frame fit in with her surprising well.

"Not going to carry me back?"

"Not yet. Had us worried fer a while, thought somet'in' happened to ya."

"Sorry. I just-"

"'S alright," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Gat was havin' a fit, t'ough."

"Really?"

"Yeh. Was feelin' awful 'cause ya jus' up an' vanished undah his nose."

They sat in silence for a bit. Claryssa could hear Azbek rooting around the ground for buried tubers and other things to eat. There was a weird feeling that she couldn't quite place. After a while, she realized the hunter kind of exuded this rather intimidating aura. She hadn't seen much more than a few minutes of him previously and all she had fleeting memories of him from a distance. Now that she was touching shoulders with him, she realized that he was every inch just as lean and muscled as his younger counterparts. With more experience.

Thal's interest in him suddenly became a lot less of a mystery.

"He's just being kind of..." Claryssa tried to break the silence, but found she couldn't find a non-insulting adjective. She struggled to reach for one.

"Possessive?" Vilzek said with a chuckle. "Yeh. I don' blame ya fer runnin' off. I figured dat's whatchu did, but didn' wanna say anyt'ing."

She suddenly felt like a massive weight was taken from her chest. She was feeling a little guilty but when she realized that she wasn't the only one who felt so, she left better. She let her head flop against the troll's bicep with a sigh. He patted her head.

They sat around for another ten or so minutes. It was easy company, as their wasn't an awkward silence as neither party felt the need to speak.

They were interrupted by another head poking itself over the lip of the hole. Rather surprisingly, it was Bhazrael.

"You guys have been up here long enough," he said, his tone short.

"How'd ya find us?" Vilzek asked, cocking his head.

"I followed you, how else?" he said. "Or, more appropriately, my succubus followed you. It's been a half hour already. Let's get going."

"Aw, c'mon elf guy," Vilzek said. "She's stressed."

"Yeah, and Gat is flipping his shit. Come back and tell him that he's slobbering on you too much, don't make us go through hell while you hide in a hole." With that said, the warlock dropped out of sight. His footsteps faded away quickly.

Vilzek sighed and opened his mouth.

"He's right," Claryssa said for him. The troll cocked his head again, his eyes unreadable behind his goggles. "I know it was stupid and selfish. I should go talk to him about it, but I couldn't say anything without it sounding mean."

"Trolls are harder to hurt dan dat." Vilzek grinned encouragingly.

"Well, I'm just," she stopped again. "A lot has happened, especially in the past few days. It's given me a bit of a fear of trolls."

"Yer talkin' to me jus' fine t'ough," he pointed out. She waved him off.

"It's different. I don't know, it's just different."

"Scared of," he paused looking for a decent question, "conflict wit' one of us maybe?"

She thought about it. "Maybe. That troll that Gat killed had an...interest in me, to put it lightly."

"Yeh, got dat." Vilzek's cheek twitched. "He said he was gonna...do some rather unsav'ry t'ings to ya."

"I figured. I'm...I don't know." She sighed.

"Jus' talk to him," Vilzek said. "We aren' dat hard ta hurt. Jus' don' get scared of him, we're all here fer ya. Shall we?" He wormed his way out of the hole and down the stem. She followed suit.

It only took a few minutes to reunite with the others. They had all backtracked and were gathered around where she had run off. Gat instantly started to fret over her and hug her. Claryssa felt her stomach start to clench up again and her frustration spiked. Every time she tried to cut him off, there were questions about where she went, why she went, what happened.

"Gat!" she finally screamed, shoving the troll but not succeeding in pushing him away. He did take a step backwards though and gave her a weird look. She sighed and shook her head and lowered her voice. "Stop, okay? I'm just as happy as you to see you again, and everyone else, but..." she faltered.

"Just what?" he said, an edge to his voice. She felt her heart drop momentarily before it rose again angrily. She opened her mouth to retort and Vilzek rather loudly cleared his throat. She closed her mouth and took a deep breath.

"I want you to back off a little bit," she said, trying to make her voice not quaver. It didn't help that everyone was focusing on her. "I've been on my own for two years out here, and it's a bit much to have you attached to me nonstop. It's more than I can handle right now."

"So," he said, his face unreadable but his eyes scrutinizing her, "ya want me to...?"

"Just back off a little bit," she said. "I don't mind contact or anything, just not so much right off the bat. Please."

The troll chewed his tongue a bit and looked at her. After a momentary pause, he leaned forward and maneuvered a kiss on her forehead.

"Tell me next time ya got an issue, yeah?"

It felt like an anticlimactic finish to the whole ordeal. She was just kind of stunned for a second as the troll turned and started getting ready to leave again. She had expected some kind of altercation, or him to be upset, but then she reminded himself that he had probably grown past all that, and that her ideas on how she might react in his position were completely and utterly irrelevant in this and probably every future situation concerning him.

Xeledar approached her. "That was brave of you," he said. With his breaking of the silence, the others started heading to getting everything picked up to leave. "You can ride on my charger, if it would make you feel better. I have that big lug." He motioned toward his proto-drake, who had been shuffling along behind them while the paladin was riding along with his brother.

"Thanks," she said, still disoriented from her revelation. "I appreciate it. Just please tell me that your horse doesn't have some quirky personality flaw that inhibits him from operating properly."

As if on cue, Issa threw a fit that sent Jen'Zin reeling away from her with a deep scratch in his left arm. He chased after her, shouting feverishly in his native language. Xeledar pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No, he doesn't. He's a nice, calm horse with good sensibilities." He paused for a second. "Well he does, but I don't think you'll be riding him into a battle."


The man stepped into the clearing and looked at the carnage all around. His black eyebrow twitched slightly over amber eyes. That was the only outward display of anger he would allow himself. He weaved slowly between the bodies and broken beams of huts and tents.

He should have known better than to let himself become distracted and trust these degenerates and bandits to be able to hold on to his merchandise. It was bad enough that it had gotten away in Shadowmoon. Of course these dregs of society would not be able to hold their own.

Yet this destruction was too much for one individual. He may have to take his property from a group. How irritating.

He turned sharply, his black cloak swirling behind him. This would need to be rectified. Thankfully, the group had left an impressive trail.

This would be easy.