Author's notes: Aww yeah! Twelve pages! I RULE! (does the happy dance). This has to be the most effort I have put into a chapter so far, so I hope it's better than the last one. I hated the last one. I definitely shouldn't have rushed it, 'cause it would have come out better. Oh well. Anyway, there are two things I would like to mention about this chapter. First off, about the lack of excessive angst in my writing… some of you apparently like the fact that my story isn't angst-y. Well, hate to disappoint you, but this chapter's got plenty of it. Sorry about that. There had to be some angst eventually, right? Second: A detailed bedroom-scene between Raj and Zel? Nuh-uh. No way. Absolutely not. Not even if you paid me. Well… maybe if you paid me a LOT, but it's probably more than you can afford! I couldn't even write the first chapter of this story without blushing, so if you want something like that, go to adult ff dot net. Or use your imagination. Or write it yourself. I don't frickin' care, just don't bug me for one. It doesn't drive the plot at all, and… well… I just can't write one! So nyeh! P Oh yeah! Almost forgot! I drew some stuff! Yay! So if you want to check out a couple pictures I drew, go to www dot deviantart dot com / deviation / 27842311 / and www dot deviantart dot com / deviation / 27842209 /. Minus the spaces, of course. The first one is a quick sketch of Zelinda. Well, technically it's a page of Chinese history notes… heheh… Anyway, it came out really good so I decided to post it. The second one is a really cute picture of Raj and Zel, which I will finish eventually. I don't know why I made him look pissed off… He's probably pissed because I drew him cute. :) Yeah, that's it. So check them out! On a final note, thank you to everyone who reads my stories! Your reviews encourage me to keep writing! Okay, I'm done. :) On to the story!
Filianna let out a long yawn as she entered the kitchen, opening the curtains to let in the dim morning sunlight. The previous night had left her exhausted and worn-out, but she was a morning person and found it impossible to sleep in after the sun had risen. Still a little drowsy, she went about making breakfast from the food left over from last night's festivities. By the time she sat down with her plate of food at the table, her daughter came into the kitchen.
"You're up early, Kylanni," Filianna said cheerfully. "Are you hungry?"
"Mama, do you know where Aunt Zellie is?"
"Aunt Zellie?" she asked, looking a little surprised. "She isn't in your room?"
Due to lack of beds, Zelinda was borrowing Kylanni's room while Kylanni slept with her mother. The young elf shook her head. "Her stuff's still there, so she didn't leave… but…"
"Don't worry," Filianna said, comforting her daughter while trying to hide a sly smile. "I'm pretty sure I know where she is."
Raj had been staring at her for nearly twenty minutes. He was on his side, with his head propped up on his elbow, watching the night elf's serene face as she slept. Zelinda was on her side facing him, her warm body curled up against his as she breathed softly into his chest. Raj's gaze drifted down to her bare chest, noticing the small scar left from the arrow that hit her. He smiled softly as he ran his fingers gently over it, the only flaw in her perfect pale skin. Not that he considered it a flaw; if it were up to him, he wouldn't get rid of that scar for anything.
Zelinda moaned when his fingers made contact with her skin, and her bright glowing eyes slowly opened. When her eyes focused on him, Raj's breath caught in his throat, unsure of her reaction. When she blushed and smiled up at him, he let out a relieved sigh.
"How long have you been up?" she asked in a playful tone.
He grinned at her. "Fo' a while now."
"And you've been watching me this whole time?" she asked bashfully, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
"Watchin'… and tinkin'…" he said absently while running his hand through her dark hair.
"Thinking about what?"
His grin widened, and he pulled her closer to him. " 'Bout how I 'ave da mos' beautiful mate in Azeroth."
She laughed lightly. "So I'm your mate now, am I?"
He smiled tenderly at her. "Ya mon."
Her smile slowly faded, replaced by a look of shock. He's not kidding…
"Wait… am I really… your mate?"
The troll gave her a confused look. "Summin' wrong?"
Zelinda sat up, looking rather flustered. "I thought… don't trolls… when they choose a mate, they mate for life, right?"
Raj sat up as well, still looking a little perplexed. "Ya, so?"
"So… you chose me?"
Raj gave her a shy smile and nodded, making her face burn as she blushed furiously.
"Does that mean… that you're my lifelong mate as well?"
Raj shrugged. "Dat be up ta you. Jus' 'cause ya be my mate, don' mean I be yo's. Wouldn' be fair ta ask da same from ya anyway, since ya ain' a troll. If it don' work out, ya still be free ta leave me, ya kno'."
Zelinda furrowed her brow in thought. "But if I leave, won't you find another mate?"
Raj smirked. "I might be sleepin' 'round again, but I won' eva find me a new mate. Ya always be my mate Zel, no matta what."
Zelinda raised an eyebrow. "You trolls have strange customs." Raj chuckled a little, but her expression remained thoughtful. "I still don't understand. Why would you want to give yourself completely to me, with no strings attached, when tomorrow I could turn around and leave you for someone else? Why me and not…" Her gaze drifted down to her hands, which were fidgeting nervously. "…one of your own?"
Raj gave her a tender smile as he brought his hand to her face, tilting her chin up so her silver eyes were staring into his amber ones.
" 'Cuz I love ya, Zelinda."
She froze. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes grew impossibly wide as she stared up at him. Before she could recover enough to reply, Raj leaned down and kissed her, her eyes gradually closing as she responded to him. "I love you too…" she whispered against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
After a few minutes she slowly broke the kiss, another question popping into her head. "Do trolls have a… a ritual or something when they take a mate?"
Raj gave her a wicked grin. "Ya mean 'sides what we did last night?"
Zelinda narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, besides that," she replied sarcastically.
The troll thought for a second, then shrugged. "Not really, mon."
I should've guessed… she thought as she rolled her eyes.
"Why? What does yo' kind do?"
"Huh?" Zelinda stared at him, surprised that he showed some interest in anything having to do with her race. "Well… we sometimes exchange our most valuable possessions, like family heirlooms or jewelry…"
She paused suddenly, an idea forming in her head. "Wait here," she said as she climbed out from under the sheets, ignoring the cold morning air as she walked to a nearby bookshelf. Raj watched her, a puzzled expression on his face, as she reached towards a high shelf and pulled out a small jewelry box carved out of dark wood. She climbed back onto the bed and, with the box on her lap, began to sift through the contents. Her face brightened when she found what she was looking for.
"Here they are!" she exclaimed, displaying her find in the palm of her open hand. It was a pair of silver hoop earrings, small and fragile-looking, with intricate elvish designs carved into them. Hanging from each one was a small dark red gem in the shape of a teardrop.
"Dat be bloodstone?" Raj asked, staring at her hand. The night elf nodded. "Dey look real classy, mon."
"They belonged to my mother," she said, looking at them with a small smile. She then turned her gaze up at Raj. "Come here."
"Eh?" Raj gave her a nervous look, but before he could move she had leaned forward with one earring ready in her fingers.
"Are your ears pierced?" she asked, using her other hand to gingerly search his left ear for any holes.
"Nope, neva got 'em pierced."
She looked hesitantly at him. "Um… is it alright if I…"
He slowly nodded. "Go right ahead."
She brought the earring up to his ear, and his eyebrow twitched as she pierced the skin, drawing only a small drop of blood. The pain faded almost as quickly as it came, however, and when she withdrew her hands he reached up with his left one and felt where the small hoop now hung from his ear. When he looked back at her, she was doing the same to her left ear with the other earring. Her ears were pierced, about a third of the way up their length, but he didn't notice before since she never wore jewelry. Never, that is, until now.
"There," she said, bringing her hands away and tossing her hair over her shoulder. The silver sparkled in the morning light, and the red gem stood out vividly against the dark emerald green shade of her hair. She looked back up at Raj and flashed him a smile that made the blood rush to his face.
"Now you're my mate as well. How's that for a ritual?" she said, grinning playfully at him.
Raj was speechless. She looked so ethereal in the dim morning light, wearing nothing but that silver hoop and a foxy smile, that he wondered how he ever got so lucky as to end up with her. He was pretty sure nothing in the world could have possibly ruined that moment.
Unfortunately, that "nothing" was almost three feet tall, had dark amethyst hair, and just happened to be standing in the doorway.
"There you are, Aunt Zellie!"
"Gah!" Zelinda nearly shrieked, and in an instant she was under the covers with Raj again, clutching the sheets close to her chest. "Why are you up this early? Don't kids like to sleep in anymore?"
Kylanni giggled as she ran up to the two and jumped on the bed, making Zelinda feel even more uncomfortable. "I wanna play with you and Raj!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Raj couldn't help but give the young night elf an evil grin. "I tink ya be a lil' young ta play what we-"
"RAJ!" she hollered, resisting the urge to curse in front of her niece.
Kylanni turned to face the door. "Mama, I found her! She's in here!"
Don't call your mother in here! she thought frantically, but before she could utter a word of protest, Filianna was in the doorway, blushing a little despite the smirk on her face.
"Hello, you two. Did you sleep well last night?" she teased.
Completely mortified, Zelinda turned a vibrant shade of purple, while Raj just gave Filianna a huge grin. The whole situation was priceless, and it was taking him most of his willpower not to burst out laughing.
"C'mon Kylanni, let's leave them alone for a while," Filianna beckoned to her daughter. The young girl bounced off the bed and ran up to her mother.
"Does this mean I can have my room back?"
Filianna laughed. "We'll see, okay? Let's go down and eat breakfast."
After they left the room, Zelinda let loose a string of expletives that she had been holding back, while Raj laughed until he was nearly out of breath.
"No one else thinks this is funny, Raj!" she spat, giving him an evil stare.
"On da contrary…" he smirked, still recovering from laughing, "Yo' da only one who doesn' tink so."
Unable to come up with a response, she did the next best thing; she pouted at him. This, of course, only made him grin even wider.
"C'mon, let get dressed," he said, finding her bra and playfully throwing it at her still-pouting face. She stuck her tongue out at him as she proceeded to collect the rest of her clothes, which, she was embarrassed to discover, were scattered all over the room. As she reached for her dress, she realized she didn't have to wear the troublesome thing anymore, since her normal clothes were washed and mended. Come to think of it, she also needed to repair her armor, and she was running low on arrows and other supplies. She smiled as an idea formed in her head. Mavralyn does owe me a favor…
"I think I'm going to go to Darkshore today."
"Eh?" Raj replied, still fastening his belt. "What fo'?"
"I need to fix my armor and get some supplies, and I can get them cheap from a friend in Auberdine. Besides," she turned towards Raj, "I can take Kylanni with me. I don't think she's ever been outside of Moonglade."
"Will yo' sista let 'er go?"
"I don't think she'll mind me taking her daughter off her hands for a day." She tossed the dress over her head and started fastening the buttons on her back while she walked towards the doorway. "I'll ask her right now," she said, giving him one last smile before heading down the stairs.
As expected, Filianna gladly let Kylanni go with her, and even saw them off with Raj as they were mounting the hippogryph. Zelinda climbed on first, clad in her normal, less-feminine clothes and leather armor, with her bow strapped to her back. She reached out to lift Kylanni up, who looked somewhat anxious and approached hesitantly at first, since she'd never ridden a hippogryph before. When she got settled in front of Zelinda, however, she seemed a little less nervous and smiled at her mother.
"Are you coming too, Mama?"
Filianna smiled. "I'm going to stay here and keep Raj company. You listen to your aunt while you're with her, and don't leave her sight, okay?"
The young elf grinned and nodded, happy enough that she was being allowed to go in the first place. A moment later the hippogryph was in the air, the sudden lurch startling Kylanni and causing her to clutch the arm that held her securely around her waist. Before she knew it they started to gain altitude, whipping past the tall canopy of branches, and the strong wind felt almost bruising against her face. When Kylanni worked up enough courage to look back, she could barely make out her mother and Raj among the other ant-like people receding quickly in the distance. When she looked down at the scenery below her, the sheer height make her squeeze her aunt's arm even tigher. Zelinda glanced down at her.
"Are you scared?"
"A little…" the young night elf replied nervously.
Zelinda smiled at her honesty. "You want to go back?"
Kylanni shook her head vigorously. "It's not that scary!"
Zelinda laughed. "It's always a little scary the first time. You'll get used to it."
Sure enough, within a few hours Kylanni's anxiety had melted away into fascination, taking in the new landscape around her with such interest that it made Zelinda wonder why they hadn't done this earlier.
"It's so pretty!" Kylanni exclaimed, looking at the forests of Darkshore below her. "Do you see places like this when you travel, Aunt Zellie?"
The night elf nodded. "All the time."
"Now I know why you're always gone for so long!"
At this, Zelinda laughed heartily and ruffled her niece's hair. Then there was silence for a few moments, before Kylanni decided to speak again.
"Um… Aunt Zellie?"
"Hmm?"
"When you and Uncle Raj leave again…"
"Uncle Raj?" Zelinda asked incredulously.
"Yeah? What's wrong?"
"Well… nothing. I guess he really is your uncle now, isn't he…" she said with a slight blush. "A-anyway, you were saying?"
"When you and Uncle Raj leave…" She looked nervous as she started to play absently with a lock of her purple hair. "…can you take me with you?"
"HUH?" She stared wide-eyed at the young night elf.
"I promise I won't be any trouble! I'll listen to what you tell me and I won't run off or-"
"Hold on a minute," Zelinda interrupted. "Traveling can be very dangerous. I think you're a little too young to-"
"I can take care of myself! I've been practicing every day with the bow and arrow you got me!"
Zelinda smiled warmly at her. "Have you now?"
Kylanni nodded eagerly. "If I keep practicing, will you let me go? Please?"
The night elf sighed, realizing she wasn't going to convince her niece otherwise. Well, someone will need to watch her anyway if Filianna goes into the Emerald Dream…
"Alright… When you get older, and if you keep practicing, we'll ask your mother if you can go with me for a couple of weeks. Deal?"
Kylanni seemed satisfied with that, and beamed up at her. "Deal!"
Zelinda laughed at the young girl's enthusiasm. "Of course, that's assuming your mother would let… you…"
She trailed off, her face losing all its mirth as she saw smoke ahead of them in the distance… in the direction of Auberdine.
"Shit…"
"Huh?" Kylanni gave her a worried look. "What is it?"
"Kylanni, I want you to stay right up next to me when we land. Understand?"
Kylanni looked even more uneasy at her aunt's stern request, but when she looked ahead of them and saw the clouds of smoke, she quickly realized why.
"Okay…" she said nervously, squeezing Zelinda's arm again as they approached the ominous dark clouds in the distance.
"What happened here?" Zelinda interrogated the hippogryph master as soon as they landed. From what she saw as they were flying into the port town, she could tell that whatever caused the destruction around her had already passed, and everyone left was trying to recover from the aftermath.
"A Horde raid came through yesterday…" the hippogryph master replied, looking a little worse for wear with her arm and legs heavily bandaged. "They apparently took two ships in Menethil and pulled into our harbor…" She paused to regain some breath, still recovering from her wounds. "They were mostly Forsaken…"
"I can see that," Zelinda replied, spotting some undead bodies strewn among the other corpses on the ground. Kylanni clung tightly onto Zelinda's hand, staring wide-eyed at one of the zombie-like creatures from where it lay dead on the ground.
"W-what is that, Aunt Zellie?"
"That's something you should run from if you ever see one. How many were there?" she asked, turning back to the hippogryph master.
Despite being in obvious pain, the night elf gave her a sarcastic look. "I lost count."
Zelinda's eyebrows furrowed as she looked around her, watching the few survivors collect the bodies of their loved ones and put out the remaining fires. She then looked down at her niece.
"Kylanni, I want you to stay in the inn, okay? I'm going to go out and try to hel-"
Kylanni shook her head and held her hand tighter. "I'm scared, I wanna stay with you."
"You don't want to see this, sweetie. I have to help bury people and-"
"I'll help too, then."
Zelinda was about to protest, but she could tell by the determined look in the young girl's eyes that she was set on going with her. How did she get so stubborn? When she realized the pot was calling the kettle black, she smiled fondly and shrugged.
"Alright. Come if you want to, but I'm warning you it's not going to be pretty," Zelinda said as she walked towards a group in need of help. Despite the warning, the young night elf looked undaunted as she followed closely behind her aunt.
After a few long hours, Zelinda was exhausted from bandaging people and digging graves, but the port town was finally starting to look less like a war zone. The smoke still hung thick in the air, making the normally overcast sky look even darker and gloomier than usual, as if it were reflecting the general mood of everyone around her. She heard bits of information here and there from people she helped, as well as people coming in to the decimated town. The huge raid had gone south through the rest of Darkshore and was currently moving through Ashenvale, picking up stray Horde members and growing in size instead of shrinking. They moved quickly, as most of them had mounts, and they quickly destroyed everything in their wake. The Alliance armies were panicking, trying to stop the growing raid from advancing, but nothing seemed to be able to stand up against them. Zelinda grew more troubled with every bit of news she heard. Deciding she had done enough, she went to find Mavralyn, whom she was glad to see was still alive and kicking. While the leatherworker was fixing her armor, she heard that the last place the raid was seen was in Astranaar, the result of which was rumored to be even more devastating than Auberdine. Having heard enough bad news for the day, she then took her equally tired niece back to the inn so they could buy a room.
As they entered the inn, Zelinda opened the small purse on her belt and gave Kylanni a few pieces of silver. "Go get some food for us, okay? I'm going to get a room." She pointed to the only food vendor left, standing several meters from them, and Kylanni nodded and scampered away, clutching the silver coins protectively. Zelinda walked up to the front counter and waited for her turn to speak to the innkeeper, propping her head up with her elbows while sleep threatened to overcome her.
"Have you heard anything else about the raid?"
Zelinda looked up wearily at the two humans walking in from the docks. Apparently they had come from Menethil on the Western continent, along with many other Alliance, to help with the situation here on Kalimdor. She sighed and tried to ignore their conversation as they walked up to the counter. She was tired of hearing the same bad news over and over. It's not like the situation could get much worse anyway.
"Yeah, they aren't headed to the Barrens, like we thought. I heard this morning that they were heading north."
Zelinda's blood ran cold.
"NORTH?" She yelled, spinning around to face the startled humans. They both stared at her with bewildered looks on their faces.
"Y-yeah… they're heading north, through Felwood. I guess they're going to stop in Winterspring or…" He stopped when he noticed the night elf's eyes grew wide and her face had turned pale. "Uh… why do you ask?"
FUCK.
"Aunt Zellie!" Kylanni called out, running up to the thunderstruck night elf with her arms full of peaches and wild ricecakes. "I bought some extras to bring back to Mama an-"
"We're leaving!" Zelinda cut her off, grabbing her arm and pulling her hastily towards the hippogryphs. She didn't want to put her niece in danger, but there was no way in hell she was going to leave her in Auberdine by herself.
"Ow! Aunt Zellie, you're hurting me!" the young elf cried, trying to keep up without tripping. When Zelinda didn't respond or loosen her grip, Kylanni resisted the urge to panic. "W-what's wrong? Why are we running?"
"I'll explain on the way there!" Zelinda snapped, weaving quickly between people on her way to the hippogryphs while silently praying to Elune that she get back in time.
Unfortunately, her worst fears were confirmed as she approached Moonglade. By now the sun was low on the horizon, but from her point of view on the hippogryph, she could still see not only thick clouds of smoke, but also tall fires were raging out of control and people below her were running around chaotically. Her heart sank at the sight. I'm too late.
As the hippogryph landed, Zelinda quickly jumped off the creature and drew her dagger, watching the people around her run frantically in all directions. Are they still here? She stood rigid, ready to fight off any approaching Forsaken, but all she saw in the chaos around her were taurens and night elves rushing as fast as they could to help people and put out the numerous fires. She remembered Raj and her sister, and a feeling of dread settled in her stomach.
"Come on Kylanni!" She yelled to her niece, who was still sitting on the hippogryph. The young night elf didn't hear her; she stared blankly at the destruction around her, not quite believing what was happening to her home. Zelinda lifted her off the creature and set her on the ground, which snapped her out of her daze.
"Where's Mama?"
"We're going to go find her, so stay close to me, okay?" Kylanni nodded numbly, and followed closely behind Zelinda as she searched frantically for Raj and Filianna among the crowds of people. She searched the ground as well, hoping to not recognize any of the bodies, when she noticed that there were also tauren corpses among the dead night elves on the blood-soaked earth. She scowled in disgust. The bastards didn't even care about killing their own… She turned away from the sight and continued looking for a troll among the panicked crowds, but her search was quickly proving to be fruitless. When she couldn't find them after running around for several minutes, an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness started to take hold of her, and she felt her throat tighten as tears threatened to form in her eyes. Just as she was about to give up her search, she felt a large hand on her shoulder.
"Zel?"
She took in a sharp breath of air and spun around, feeling a huge weight lift from her chest when she saw Raj. His upper arm had a makeshift bandage wrapped tightly around it, and blood ran down one side of his face from a cut hidden somewhere beneath his thick hair, but he looked perfectly fine otherwise. Overwhelmed by the sheer joy of seeing him alive, she threw her arms around him and hugged him like she never wanted to let go, causing him to wince a little.
" 'Ey, careful now, I still be a lil' banged up, ya kno'."
"Thanks the gods!" she nearly cried, her voice muffled by his chest. She loosened her arms and looked up into his face. "I thought for sure that you and Filianna were dead!"
Guilt flashed across Raj's face, and he looked away, unable to meet Zelinda's gaze. She noticed, and for a couple seconds her heart froze in her chest.
"Where's Filia?" she asked, her voice shaking as panic started to well up inside her. When he didn't answer, she grabbed both of his tusks and forced him to look at her.
"Where the fuck is my sister?" she nearly yelled, her face mere inches from his own. Without a word, he grasped her wrists and released himself, then glanced over to where Thoran stood a few meters away. Zelinda followed his gaze, and when she saw the black tauren she practically ran up to him. Before she reached him, however, she stopped dead in her tracks.
She saw Filianna, unconscious and covered with blood, and her body went completely numb. Tawna was kneeling over her and performing a healing spell, but she could tell from the tauren's face that the outcome didn't look good. It took a few seconds before she found her voice again.
"Is she going to be okay?" Zelinda asked slowly, even though she could guess the answer. Tawna didn't reply; instead she furrowed her eyebrows as she concentrated harder on the healing spell. Without looking up, she asked her husband in Taurahe to find another druid. Thoran left quickly and without a word to search for a healer who wasn't currently helping someone else, leaving Zelinda to stand motionless and stare at her sister's pale body. She couldn't move, not even when she felt Kylanni rush past her.
"Mama!" Kylanni cried, running up to Filianna and kneeling beside her, ignoring the pool of blood that surrounded her mother's body. "Mama, wake up!" She shook her mother's shoulder in an attempt to rouse her, but Filianna's eyes didn't open. Tears started to pour down the young elf's cheeks, and she shook her shoulder a little harder. "Mama…" she sobbed, "Look at me Mama… please…" When she felt something warm on her small hands, she withdrew them and found them covered with blood. She stared wide-eyed at the angry red substance, until the tears blurred her vision and she started to sob uncontrollably.
Zelinda stood motionless as she watched her niece cry, trying to wipe the endless stream of tears away and streaking her mother's blood on her face in the process. She looked exactly like Filianna did, crying over their mother's body so many years ago, that something in her snapped right at that moment. Zelinda didn't cry back then. She did eventually, years later, but her first emotion over their deaths wasn't grief. It was an emotion that she was afraid of experiencing again, and it was the same emotion that was starting to well up inside her as she watched Kylanni sob.
"Zel?" Raj asked, approaching the night elf hesitantly. He wasn't sure what to do, but he felt as though he should at least attempt to comfort her. When she turned around, however, the look on her face made him stop dead in his tracks. She walked swiftly away from her sister's body towards Raj. He froze, afraid to breathe, as she marched past without so much as a glance towards him, as if he wasn't even there. He rarely felt as scared of someone as he did at that moment, seeing the look of pure malice and hatred in Zelinda's face. Whenever he saw that look on someone's face, he knew someone somewhere was going to die. When she passed him, he let his breath out slowly, relieved that that someone wasn't going to be him. After a moment, he turned around and watched Zelinda leave, walking with a definite purpose in mind. Raj furrowed his brow. He was getting worried about just what that purpose was.
Zelinda couldn't remember how she got to the Timbermaw Cave, but at the moment she didn't give a damn. She didn't give a damn about much of anything anymore. Her anger grew the more she saw of the havoc the Horde raid had caused, and it grew exponentially when she saw what became of the Timbermaw tribe. As she walked through their cave, she saw that the Horde didn't leave a single one alive. They had mercilessly killed the entire furbolg tribe to get to Moonglade, even the younger ones who couldn't defend themselves. Zelinda couldn't see how she could ever forgive the Horde for this, and paced blindly through the rest of the cave, searching for someone to take her rage out on.
She exited the cave into Winterspring, the snow-covered region east of Moonglade, just as the sun was setting and the sky was turning purple. The air was cold and dry, causing her breath to come out visibly in warm puffs, but she didn't notice the cold. Her mind was too busy racing with murderous thoughts as she marched aimlessly through the deep snow. The Horde had taken almost everything she ever cared about from her; her home, her parents, her sister… and why? What had they ever done to deserve being killed? She might have killed a Horde member or two in self-defense in the past, but Filianna could never kill anyone. She doubted her sister was even capable of hurting someone else, regardless of race. So why? By what fucked-up reasoning were they justified in killing her and everyone else in Moonglade? Why does Kylanni have to go through the same horrible experiences she-
Her thought process was quickly cut short, when she practically came face-to-face with a troll. She came out from around a snow-covered bush and found her, kneeling on the ground and trying to make a small fire for herself. She seemed to be a shaman, using some spell to ignite the small pile of twigs. She was obviously inexperienced, judging from the fact that she was making a fire at night in a contested region, and the way she looked up and froze at the sight of a night elf standing a few meters away. They both stared, silent and frozen in shock, for several agonizingly long seconds. Then the troll recovered her motor skills and quickly drew her dagger, holding it defensively in front of her, but afraid to make the first move.
Zelinda narrowed her eyes. She wasn't a Forsaken, but that didn't matter anymore. She found someone to take out her anger on. She immediately drew her own dagger and charged, attacking with such speed and ferocity that the troll was overwhelmed, barely managing to defend herself from the elf's quick movements. After being deflected a couple of times, Zelinda finally managed to drive her dagger into the troll's shoulder. The troll cried out in pain, but had finally found her opening. She instantly reached up with her other arm and pinned the night elf in a headlock, squeezing as hard as she could. The troll quickly tried to switch her dagger into her other hand so she could finish off the struggling elf, but before she could, Zelinda had reached up with one hand under the troll's chin, the other behind her knee, and using herself as leverage, flipped the troll onto her back, sending a huge cloud of powdery snow into the air. She winced as she fell to the ground as well, but the troll had the wind violently knocked out of her and lay dazed for a couple seconds. Zelinda took the opportunity and grabbed the troll's dagger, which was lying nearby, and climbed on top of her to drive the dagger into her throat. The troll, slightly recovered, quickly grabbed Zelinda's wrist and tried to prevent the dagger from getting near her neck. Zelinda was putting all her weight into it, however, so it was only a matter of time before the troll's arms gave out.
Then Zelinda suddenly stopped. The bloodlust that had been clouding her mind suddenly dissipated, and she blinked in surprise at the object that had caught her attention. It was a beaded bracelet, hanging from one of the troll's wrists. As far as she knew, it served no purpose whatsoever. It had crude wooden beads, painted in odd colors, and had a couple of feathers attached to it. It was very poor quality and was clumsily made, as if it were created by a five-year-old. It was something that someone wore purely for sentimental reasons. Zelinda stared at it, an image of Kylanni crying flashing through her mind, and she instantly realized exactly what she was doing.
Her arms went slack, and she climbed off the troll and sat in the snow next to her, hanging her head and breathing heavily from the struggle. The troll hesitantly sat up, not sure what caused the sudden change in the night elf. Her long, fiery-orange hair was wild and disheveled, and the half-ponytail on top of her head had come loose and hung haphazardly to the side. She stared wide-eyed at Zelinda, too dumbstruck to move. When Zelinda regained her breath and looked back up, the troll gave her an odd, questioning look. Zelinda gave her a small smile and motioned to her own wrist. It took the troll a moment to understand what she meant, and glanced down at her beaded bracelet. Realizing she still held the troll's dagger, Zelinda stabbed it into the ground in front of her. She pointed to it, then pointed at the troll, and made a quick shoo-ing motion with her hand. The troll's eyes widened when she understood the gesture. Without hesitating, the troll immediately grabbed her dagger and ran out of the small clearing, without even taking a moment to look back at the night elf.
Zelinda just sat in the deep snow and watched her leave, suddenly feeling too weak to stand. It had started to snow, and for a moment she just sat there and stared at the large, cotton-like snowflakes falling softly all around her, sticking in her hair and eyelashes. She glanced around the area to find her own dagger, when she saw her amber pendant lying next to her in the snow. Apparently it had come off during the fight. She slowly picked up the crescent-shaped piece and stared at it as she held it in her palm.
Filia…
Tears started to fill her eyes. The intense hatred she felt earlier was gone, and the void it created was slowly being filled by a sorrow so painful, she couldn't even breathe. The tears blurred her vision until all she saw was white, and she finally broke down and started sobbing, holding her sister's pendant against her chest as tears spilled down her cheeks. When the sounds of someone approaching reached her ears, she abruptly stopped. Realizing she still didn't have her dagger, she frantically searched the blood-stained snow around her until she found it. Then she quickly scrambled to her feet, dagger ready in her hand, to face whoever it was that appeared behind her.
Raj, surprised by the threatening stance she took, instinctively took out his daggers and held them defensively in front of him. They both stood frozen like that for several long seconds, staring at each other as recognition finally dawned on Zelinda.
"Raj?"
"…Ya?" he said hesitantly, refusing to lower his guard until she did. She noticed, and she instantly regretted drawing her dagger. He was obviously afraid that she would lash out at him, understandably so considering her earlier reaction. However, the thought had never even crossed her mind, not even when she had stormed away from her sister's body. She then realized that no matter how much she despised the Horde, she could never be mad at him, even if he was allied with them. To her, he wasn't a part of the Horde or a troll. To her… he was just Raj.
She lowered her arm and let the dagger fall to the ground. Raj visibly relaxed, and slowly put away his own daggers. They stood like that for a while, staring at each other while the snow continued to fall silently around them. After a long moment of awkward silence, Raj finally spoke.
"Uh… 'bout yo' sista…"
Zelinda's eyes went wide. Something in his voice gave her a small shred of hope, even though she was afraid to give herself even that at this point.
"You mean… she's okay?"
"Well, she only be okay in dat she ain' dead yet. She still be unconscious, but…"
Zelinda didn't hear the rest. Her eyes watered up again, and her heart felt like it had jumped into her throat. Unable to hold back any longer, she ran towards Raj and threw her arms around him, startling him in mid-sentence as she sobbed violently into his chest.
" 'Ey, I tought dat was good news, mon…" he said as he stared down at her. She squeezed him tighter, and mumbled something incoherent. "Watchu say?"
"I almost… did something… horrible…" she managed to say between sobs.
Raj stared down at the night elf, shaking violently as she wept into his chest, and his heart went out to her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her small trembling body, and just stood silently as he watched snowflakes collect in her vivid, dark green hair. It hurt him to see her in so much pain, and he would've done absolutely anything at that moment to make her smile again… but he had no idea what he could do to make her feel better.
So he just stood there, holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world, and let her cry until her tears stopped flowing.
Author's notes, part 2: …I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill her off. She's just too darn sweet. Sorry for the false pretense. Please don't flame me.
