Dear My Beloved Sister,

Tess is finally allowing me to write my own letters!

I suppose that means I can tell you about my progress myself, doesn't it? I can now sit up for a longer period of time, about forty-five minutes at a time as of this morning, without pain. It is a huge relief to be able to change into my human form for a little while; our luxurious, heavy fur coats and Stormwind's heat does not work well together. Even the rain here is warm, which is absolutely ridiculous!

Tess is doing well in her studies. She's mentioned that she's making steady progress with Celestine. I have yet to see her abilities in person, but I believe her word. Mia and Genn send their well wishes and hopes that we'll see you and His Highness on Remembrance Day, if not sooner.


"Blighter's off his bloomin' rocker," Cerdic muttered under his breath, scowling down at the several sheets of parchment he held in his hands. The inked words and figures stared up at him, innocent if not for the message they spelled out. "Trying to back out of our agreed sum! Complete nutter!"

The nobleman sighed and tossed the papers onto his lap, where they joined the written reports of his ship's condition and the cost to make the necessary repairs to it. His fingers reached up and set to massaging away the tension headache he felt coming on.

As much as he respected his fellow Gilneans, especially the merchants who's fortunes waxed and waned with the success of their wares, he despised dealing with them now. Before all of this rubbish happened, the eldest Delroy son had very good relations with his clients. He knew how to work them, how to appeal to their pride and what words to say at the right time to draw them into drafting up and signing business deals.

Now that Gilneas has fallen, many of the merchants' fortunes have started to dwindle with the loss of their business fronts and inventory. The specific man he'd been in a contract with had his goods shipped to Booty Bay, made a good profit from the goblins there, but wanted to cut less than what they'd agreed to on account of his dwindling finances.

This was the predicament Cerdic faced now. Did he press for the amount they agreed upon, which was a pretty hefty cut of his client's profit? Most of it would fund the repairs needed to the Gilnean built ship and left him with about a 17%-20% profit. Or would he agree to cut the man and his family some slack to keep him in the merchant's good standing, keep the hard-won trust he'd so tediously built with this stubborn fellow, but barely make any profit from this venture?

"I need more clients," Cerdic grumbled, "Maybe there's some to be found here?"

He groaned, briefly stretched out his face, then allowed his hands to drop into his lap. The nobleman leaned his head back against the wall and puffed out a heavy sigh.

"Need another bleedin' ship to do that. But do I have the gold to commission one?"

Cerdic's nose wrinkled, a sour taste flooding his mouth. He probably did have the money to have another ship built, but his pride balked at sending a ship out, not built by Gilnean hands, bearing the Delroy crest. It didn't sit well with him, but he had little other option.

With another heavy sigh of resignation, the nobleman briefly glanced out the open window before gingerly rolling onto his side. The parchment was in the first drawer on his nightstand, and he was far too impatient to wait for Tess to get back. Besides, it was perfectly reachable if he'd just stretch a little. His fingertips barely brushed against the edge of the nightstand before a spike of pain bolted up his spine. Cerdic scarcely had time to utter a groan before an explosion of fur rippled across his body. The worgen eyed his now furry hand, let out a disgusted growl, and continued on his quest for stationary.

He'd just managed to open the top drawer when a fluttering near his ear snatched his attention once again. The warrior looked up sharply and blinked with utter astonishment at what he saw. A jet black raven met his gaze, curiosity and intelligence shining in its gleaming brown eyes. It cocked its head back and forth, as if measuring the worgen's worth, before uttering a soft kraa and hopping closer to him.


I seem to be attracting animals lately. A raven, just like the ones you and Ammon would feed in Gilneas, just completely showed up on my windowsill out of the blue! I don't recall anyone bringing any over in the evacuation, or any who was bonkers enough to even attempt to, but here was one just making itself home at my window! Maybe they decided to migrate with us?


"Wotcher," Cerdic greeted slowly, "Erm, I don't have any food for you up here. Sorry."

The nobleman snorted lightly after the raven cocked its head; was he really so lonely that he was talking to a bird as if it could understand him? His lips and ears twitched lower as the answer rang clearly in his mind and he busied himself with trying to fish out the parchment.

The worgen had just managed to nab a sheet or two when he felt his weight tip just a bit too far. Panic flooded his system as gravity grabbed at his unsteady position. His hands scrabbled for anything to give him purchase—anything to prevent him from-

THUD!

"ARRRAAAAGH!"

Fire, pure molten fire rocketed up his back. Someone was screaming but his pulse was too loud in his ears! Not enough air! He couldn't breathe! The fire stole every breath he took!

The worgen's wails gave way to gasping breaths and whimpering. The fire in his back ebbed to a searing ache that spiked with every breath he managed to take. Worse yet, when he finally managed to wrench his eyes open and blink past the tears, a few sheets of parchment laid innocently on the cold unforgiving wood just an arms-length away. The cheery pale yellow hue of the unmarked paper seemed to mock him. Cerdic glared at the sheets with enough hate to set them alight.

But it was nothing compared to the resentment he felt for himself and his broken body.

Cerdic didn't know how long he laid there, his futile attempts at lifting himself sending more unbearable pain rocketing up his spine. Useless, he was completely useless! He couldn't even retrieve some paper out of a desk right next to him! How could he ever hope to walk, much less be useful to someone ever again? Jeanne should've left him-!

Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!

thud thud thud tHUD

THWACK!

"Cerdic?! Oh gods, AVERY! JAMES!"

Cerdic peeled open a eye at Tess's shrill voice and inhaled a shaky breath. He didn't quite get a chance to focus on her as her two Gilnean guards burst into the room. Something was going berserk right behind them, screaming bloody murder and tearing around the drawing room. One of the guards shut the door firmly on whatever it was and muffled the noise a little.

"Help me get him into bed! Cerdic, we're going to have to pick you up. I'm sorry but it's going to hurt."

The worgen gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut again. He didn't need to look at his fellow worgens' faces to know that there was pity written on them. He didn't want to see the worry pinching Tess's features, all because of his incompetence.

He was really sick of seeing those looks on everyone's faces.

"On three. One. Two. Three!"

The trip back into his bed was short but no less painful than the fall. He couldn't hold in his groans of agony as every little movement spread the fire through his body. Cerdic kept his eyes clenched shut even after the worst of it was over, unwilling to even find the voice to thank the two guards. He heard Tess thank them for him and quietly dismiss them, but even then he kept his head turned away from her. He thought he heard a flutter of wings before the guards closed the door, but dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him.

They were alone. To his complete surprise she didn't say anything to him. His labored breathing was the only thing filling the silence between them. The rustle of cloth and the taps of her boots was loud in the relative silence. Cerdic jumped when he felt gentle hands lift up the back of his shirt and gingerly press into the small of his back.

The sudden spike of pain was almost immediately quelled by the cool wave of healing magic. The worgen let out a relieved breath as it soothed his frayed nerves and chased away the heat of pain. Tears sprang into his eyes for an entirely different reason now; he was so happy that the pain was going away.

"Feel better?"

Cerdic hummed and slowly lifted a paw to wipe away his tears. He heard the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor and the rustle of cloth as Tess settled into it. Ever so slowly, to not aggravate his back any more than he must, he turned his head to that he was facing the rest of the room and her. Tess's eyes still held worry in them, he noted, but she had pulled up the carefully crafted mask of clinical detachment she'd been wearing more and more around him. While it bothered him that one of his greatest friends felt the need to mask her emotions from him, part of him was thankful for it. It was bad enough to have both his younger siblings smother him with their worry, worse when his own King and Queen fret over him. But the Gilnean nobleman absolutely drew the line when the High King had asked Tess about his health. That was completely humiliating to overhear and something he never wanted to experience again.

"Well," his princess started matter-of-factly, "You can expect a visit from Father later, and High King Wrynn will probably be asking about you."

Well, scratch the humiliating inquiries off the list of Never Again. Cerdic's face bloomed with heat and he buried his snout into the pillows. He growled something unintelligible into the soft fluff. A soft frown broke through Tess's mask.

"What was that Cerd?"

The worgen snorted and lifted his head enough to repeat, "Why in all the hells would they be asking about me?"

A puff of unamused laughter escaped the woman and drew Cerdic's eye. She gestured to the still open window and a soft kraa answered.

"Because this fellow here made quite the scene in the throne room. King Wrynn had half a mind to kill it before I showed up and took the hint."

The worgen had to shift a little to properly see, but the very same raven from before had perched on his windowsill like he owned it. The raven blinked sagely at Cerdic.

"I think he's taken a liking to you," Tess commented, tapping her chin in thought, "Though I cannot fathom why. This is the first time I've seen him up here."

"Wait." Cerdic narrowed his eyes at the druid. "You've seen him before?"

Tess nodded. "One of the other druids gave the local girl down there, Audrey Burnhep, I think she's called, a young raven he'd recently nursed back to health."

"Ah." The worgen glanced back at the raven and gave him his best smile. "Have you just come up to say 'hello' then, Sir Raven? Are you to be returning to Miss. Burnhep soon? She must be wondering what you've gotten up to."

The raven gave him an unhappy look, shuffling its feathers before turning and launching itself off into the cheery late-spring day. The worgen was baffled at the unexpected prang of loneliness he felt watching the bird's form fade into nothing. He... wasn't that lonely up here. Was he?

The clunk of several somethings on his bedside table grabbed his attention from the too-clear sky. The worgen blinked when he saw a wide ceramic bowl now occupying the middle of his table and two small pouches of something sitting beside it. He was confused for a split second, then a new scent assaulted his nose.

"Is that..?"

"Yes."

Cerdic sniffed deeply, humming thoughtfully after a moment. "It's... different... than what I remember..."

Tess shrugged and plucked one of the pouches back up. "It's a slightly different blend, the keeper told me," she said, "Blended with peacebloom."

Cerdic hummed again and flinched when Tess started pouring small pebbles into the ceramic bowl. "I hope Joanie won't mind."

"She's gonna have to deal," came the clipped reply and the worgen eyed her with no small amount of confusion.

"Tess-?"

The woman huffed and shook her head firmly. "It's nothing."

The nobleman knew that stony expression and decided to drop the subject. Tess was just as stubborn as her father some days and he knew it well. She would get to it on her own time.

After several long moments of watching Tess setting up the incense bowl and straightening up the room after his 'incident', Cerdic cleared his throat and asked, "Would you, erm, be so kind to... to bag some of the incense for Joan..? To send to her."

Tess let out a deep sigh and gave him a small lopsided grin. "And what if I wasn't so kind, hmm? What would you do then?"

The worgen snorted and gestured to the parchment she held in her hand. "Then I would be forced to take matters into my own hands."

She scowled at him and promptly snatched up the heavily perfumed bag. "You will not," the princess hissed, "You'll be lucky if I let you write your own letter today!"

Cerdic grumbled and made a show of settling down into the bed. He heard Tess try and cover her snort with a cough and move away from his bedside. The worgen followed her with his gaze until he could no longer see her. From somewhere behind him he heard the door open.

"I'll be back, Cerd. I might even bring something to eat, if I'm feeling kind enough."

He snorted and listened to the woman's fading footsteps. When he knew he was alone in the apartments, Cerdic let out a deep sigh and shifted to where he could semi-comfortably see out the window.

He hadn't the faintest clue to why his chest ached with some foreign emotion. All he knew is that he was getting really tired of it.


I, er, I had a little 'incident' earlier today. A minor one, barely worthy of mention, but I think Tess would skin me alive if I didn't at least mention it to you.

Anyroad, Ammon mentioned that you might like some of the incense I recently commissioned. It's made with some of the Gilnean roses you sent here and a few other herbs. It's not exactly the same as what we had in Gilneas, but it smells really nice. I like it a lot and I think you would too.

Joanie, I must be frank with you. Father's birthday is soon—I'm sure you don't need me to remind you—and this is the first year we've all been apart for it. I must ask you to not shirk your duties to His Highness on that day. Father would not want you to, not for him. He would be so proud of you for being chosen for such an important task, as I am of you, and he would want you to fulfill it to the best of your abilities. No matter what.

We all send you our love.