A Gnome was crouched in snow covered bushes, peering through the frozen foliage at a group of Frostmane trolls. Her pale, marble-like skin and silver pigtails let her blend in perfectly to her white surroundings. From afar she looked like a normal Gnome but it was only when you got closer that you noticed the distortion of her body. Two thin, jagged scars ran from the left side of her forehead, across her right eye and ended below her ear. Her left eye was blacked out from radiation and the tips of her ears were pointy not round. She was amazingly thin and lankly, instead of short and stocky.

The Gnome wasn't dressed for the the weather with her thin, black, stretchy pants and a leather chest plate with only one over the shoulder strap on the left side. White bandages covered her torso and she wore thick black leather gloves and boots.

Her name was Kalinea Frostblood, she was the Gnomish Commander in charge of the Anti-Frostmane Operations. It was a long title but one she lived up to and surpassed. After the fall of Gnomeregan she focused all her efforts on the tribe of trolls that terrorized her homeless people. There wasn't enough room for all Gnomes within dwarven settlements and with the advancing Frostmane's there was no space for them to make their own way, unharmed.

But Kalinea soon saw to that, under her leadership they were able to stop the trolls in their tracks and were slowly pushing them back. Senir and Grelin Whitebeard were sent by the Ironforge Senate but they soon found themselves working for the young Mage. Nobody could deny that she knew exactly what she was doing; everyday she came up with more and more ingenious plans. The latest of which was about to start: she glanced away from the trolls in the clearing to catch the eye of another Gnome hiding in a tree. Kalinea held up three fingers and received a nod from the other who took out a knife and held it to a rope. The rope was holding up a net filled with bombs right above their targets. She lowered the first finger.

One.

All around the clearing Gnomes tensed up, preparing to spring. She lowered another.

Two.

The Gnome in the tree sliced through the rope; the bombs fell directly on the unsuspecing trolls. The resulting explosion was large and immediate. When the smoke cleared every single troll was burned and stumbling around in a daze.

"Three!" she roared and leapt onto the back of the nearest troll, whacking his head with her staff. All around her the rest of her division was taking down the others. While the troll lay on the ground she charged a frostbolt and finished him off. The battle had been swift but noisy, every single troll lay dead in the snow. The few scratches obtained were bandaged quickly but overall no lasting damage was caused. Another Gnome approached Kalinea, a female warrior with pale blond hair in a single ponytail.

"Your plan worked," she said patting Kalinea's shoulder. "like always, yeah?" the frost Mage merely nodded and eyed the body of a troll. Unperturbed by the lack of response the warrior turned to the rest of the group. "Come on you lot! Let's clear out before any bears start sniffing around, yeah?"

With their task complete the Gnomes started to leave until only Kalinea remained. She reached into her leather armor and pulled out a thin cord dangling from her neck, hanging from it was a long bone tusk. It once belonged to a troll of the Frostmane tribe. She walked over to a female headhunter; her eyes wide and glassy as blood dribbled from her forehead across her face. Kalinea pulled out a cloth from her pocket and wiped her face clean. Then she carefully arrange the troll's body so she was laying on her back with her arms crossed over her chest and closed her eyelids. She place a hand over her heart and muttered in Zandali,

"A brave warrior has honor in battle and honor in death." she stared at the face of the troll woman who could have been sleeping and slowly stood to her feet. Kalinea turned to the next one and repeated the process until every troll her patrol had taken down was resting peacefully in the bloodstained snow. With a final, sorrowful look at the troll corpses she turned away and began her trek back to town.

That night the inn at Anvilmar was full of celebrating Gnomes and Dwarves alike. Those who had been present in the most successful attack in weeks were retelling the story over and over to eager listeners and drinks were passed all around. The energetic blond Gnome was standing atop the bar bellowing out drinking songs with a large mug of frothy ale in hand, to the general amusement of the dwarves. They found Gnomes who could hold their liquor as something of a novelty. And Armona Jinglegear could out drink entire Ironforge bars in one sitting.

From her vantage point above the crowd she was able to spot her captain entering the bar quietly before anyone else.

"HEYY! Kali, over here!" she shouted, jumping up and down, waving her arms. Her yell had alerted everyone to the presence of the Commander and she made her way to the bar with numerous pats on the back and cheers. Kalinea nodded at her friend as she leaped on from the bar and passed her a mug.

The mutated Gnome spent the night with the merry bar-dwellers with much music dancing and lots of drinking. She hardly spoke at all but nobody seemed to mind, she rarely said anything at all when she wasn't planning attacks. By the time the party was winding down Kalinea was half carrying a very drunk and sleepy Armona to an inn room.

"Hehe Ya know th-hic-this was f-f-fun." mumbled the blond as she stumbled through the door. She flashed a lopsided grin at the stoic girl, "I mean r-really Kali, ya hand wif us some m-more, yeah?" her words were horribly slurred but Kalinea nodded all the same. She was still smiling as she was helped out of her armor. The mage gave a small smile to the warrior who hiccuped gently as she laid down on the soft bed. But a frown crossed the happy Gnome's face when her friend began to leave. "Noooooo! Kaliiiii," she moaned, "Stay wif meh, y-yeah?" she let loose a yawn as Kalinea sighed and climbed in next to her. Armona giggled in victory and snuggled deep into the covers.

"You should sleep now." the mage's voice was very soft and hardly processed in her mind as she hummed contently, blinking slowly.

"Hey Kali?" she whispered across the pillow.

"Yeah?" the rely was again softly spoken.

"Ow come ya d-do it?" she mumbled. The commander remained silent for a moment, stiffening slightly.

"Do what?"

"How come you so nice to dead trollies." her mind was half asleep as she tried to stay conscious for a while longer. The blond warrior had spied on her friend after the battle and was puzzled by the strange behavior. She treated defeated enemies like fallen comrades and it made no sense. Drunk as she was she nearly missed the quiet answer.

"Because, they lived once. They were under the same sky and walked the same ground." Kalinea sighed and reached a hand to her friends face and whispered even softer, "And because someone might have loved them as much as I love you. I do it because I know that pain. It's an all consuming, never ending pain. It's the pain that I create."