Heterodox
Raised voices outside Dorissa's chamber tore her out of her dreams of snow-covered mountains and incandescent desire. She sat up in her bed and tried to hold back the tears that were pressing against her eyelids.
Months had passed since she had returned from Northrend, a few scars richer and with a much heavier heart. She had been unsuccessful thus far in repressing the memories of the night she and Zaladin Grimtusk had spent entwined under the starlight. What she managed to block out during the day came back to her at night in her dreams, resulting in her waking up covered in sweat with a racing heart. The real world had become grey since her return.
She tried to ignore the dream she had had. Failing, she instead tried focusing on the voices outside her door.
"This is outrageous! You have absolutely no proof that your accusations hold even the slightest bit of truth!"
Dorissa sighed. Of course the only person in the world able to bring her mood further down would be Oldarion.
Another voice she did not recognise answered in a far more calm tone than Oldarion's outburst: "I assure you, Lightseed, we do not accuse anyone of anything. And neither are we known to make mistakes. Besides, we have our information from a rather trustworthy source. Perhaps you recall a certain Lord Zaladin Grimtusk whose acquaintance I believe you have made. There is no mistake. Nightsky is the one we are looking for."
Dorissa opened her eyes, and her brows furrowed. Zaladin was alive, of course. (Or at least as alive as he could ever be, thanks to her.) But he had not contacted her once since they had shared that last deep kiss and parted ways in Icecrown. So who were the people outside her door, and why had he sent them?
"I am most confident that, regardless of what the death knight has told you, Dorissa Nightsky is loyal to our ways and to the Goddess. You will take back your words once you speak with her," Oldarion finally said, his voice thick with contempt at the mentioning of Zaladin.
Dorissa heard a couple of knocks on the door. She cleared her throat. "Yes?"
The door opened. Oldarion marched in, and six figures dressed in dark blue cloaks followed him gracefully.
"Dorissa, these people accuse you of actions that are against everything we-"
"Shut up, Oldarion. You're giving me a headache." She felt a tiny jolt of satisfaction when his jaw dropped. He looked as if she had slapped him across the face. She turned her head towards the strangers.
"Now, who are you and what is your purpose here?"
The tallest of them stepped forward. He let his hood drop. "I apologise for waking you, Dorissa the Enslaver." Dorissa's eyes widened. She had a feeling where this was going. "We did not mean to intrude, but Lightseed here was rather eager to prove our information wrong."
He was an elf, and Dorissa assumed that the others were, too. He was pale, and his raven hair and eyes that were much darker than any she had seen before stood in sharp contrast to his skin. He had a very welcoming face, and Dorissa instantly liked him. But what drew her attention was the mark he bore. He had no beard, not did he have tattoos printed on his skin. He instead had a small dark crescent on his forehead. It seemed to stand out from the skin as if made by some sort of scarification. The mark somehow seemed familiar to Dorissa's eyes, but she could not place where she had seen it before. Upon studying the faces under the other five dark sapphire hoods, she saw that the others all had similar marks carved in their skin.
"It's alright. I usually get up around this time anyway," Dorissa said.
"In that case, we greet you, Starry One. We have come to invite you to join The Sapphire Darkling."
"The Sapphire Darkling?"
"It is unsurprising you have no knowledge of us. You could call us a guild, although that word does not exactly cover our purpose. But we are like you. We, too, have lost faith. And when we did, our powers deserted us. But we found ways to bend the forces of nature. We do not live in union with the forest, and nor with the beasts of this world. We are not one with nature. We have made nature our servant," the elf finished. His tone was pleasant, though there was a hint of grim satisfaction in it.
"Our source has informed us that you are more than qualified to become one of us," a small female chirped cheerfully.
"Which is, of course, pure nonsense." Oldarion concluded stiffly. He moved from his position next to the door and placed himself next to the raven-haired elf, though his body language clearly said he was less than pleased with the situation.
"What makes you think you are able capable of judging me, Oldarion?" Dorissa asked coolly.
He snorted. "I know you, Dorissa. I have been your friend for centuries, and I know you are true to our ways. How can you question my words?"
"Because you are blind, Oldarion. You have never seen who I am."
"You are nothing like them!" he said with a frustrated gesture towards the cloaked elves. "You are a high-ranking, loyal servant of nature! They are... they are..."
"Right, Oldarion. That is what they are. They are right." Dorissa regarded the elf. He and she looked so alike with their silvery hair and soft faces (which had, for Dorissa's part, turned sharper and darker over the months that had passed). They had shared so many experiences, and yet they were so different. She did not recall a single time he had approved of anything she had done.
She sighed and turned her head towards the raven-haired elf again. "I will need to talk this over with my superiors and, of course, with you before I make my decision."
"Naturally. Oh, pardon my manners, I have not yet introduced myself. I am Nathaldor the Charm Bearer. Feel free to contact me if you need to. My kindred and I will be staying at the inn here in Darnassus awaiting word from you," he finished, smiling.
"That sounds good, Charm Bearer. Now, if you will have me excused, I also need to be alone with my thoughts for a while," she said, returning his smile.
"Please, call me Nathaldor. We will of course give you your privacy now," Nathaldor said. He bowed his head in her direction, and the others followed his example. Dorissa returned the gesture, and Nathaldor motioned for the others to follow him out the door.
Oldarion did not follow. Dorissa gestured towards the door that was closing behind the last member of the Sapphire Darkling. He remained motionless.
"You of all. A traitor," he whispered.
"I have not betrayed my people. My beliefs and methods are simply different from others'."
"I thought the time away from that manipulative abomination who calls himself Grimtusk might have brought you back on the right path. Now I realise he has corrupted your mind more than I could ever have imagined."
"That is not the case. Had you actually been a friend to me I might have told you of my situation years ago. But you have never been my friend. You have to face facts sooner or later, Oldarion. We have never been together, and we never will be."
"I loved you," he whispered. His voice was completely emotionless.
"You have done many things, but loving me was never one of them. You never wanted me for more than my position in this society and my physical attributes." Dorissa did her best to not raise her voice too much, but she knew her patience was wearing out.
"Those are lies spoken in anger! I have always wanted you!"
"There, you said it! You want to possess me, nothing more. You are just too selfish, stuck up and obnoxious to realise the truth in my words!" Dorissa had lost her temper now and had jumped out of the bed. She was now standing in front of him, teeth ground together and fists clenching.
"There is no truth in the words of a treacherous whore," he hissed. He raised his hand to strike her. He had not expected the improvement in Dorissa's reflexes.
Having returned to Darnassus and found herself in miserable longing, Dorissa had spent most of her time trying to distract herself from thinking of the journey through Northrend. She had therefore practiced on improving her speed and agility every day like Zaladin had wanted. Her efforts had paid off.
With serpent-like speed she caught Oldarion's wrist and used it to spin his arm around, making him lose his balance. He hit the wooden floor with a loud crash and a pained moan.
"Leave. Now," she snarled.
He sent her a red-faced, furious glare, then got up and stomped out the door. He slammed it so hard behind him the mirror on the wall next to it fell down and cracked.
Dorissa picked it up and put it back on the nail it had fallen off. She stared at her reflection.
It was still the same face, and the same luminous eyes stared back at her. But the time desperately awaiting news that never arrived had drained the inner light from them. She sighed. Perhaps it would come back to her someday, that appetite on life she seemed to have left somewhere in a snow-covered mountain valley in Icecrown.
She changed into a wide-sleeved white shirt and a pair of high-waisted black leather trousers, put on her boots and headed out to find Callan.
When she arrived at his quarters she was not surprised to find Oldarion there. When opening Callan's door after knocking, Oldarion rushed past her, his eyes still burning with hatred when he scowled at her from the corner of his eye.
Dorissa ignored him, stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The entrance was very simple with no decoration whatsoever like it had always been. The difference, though, was that she could feel the greyness of the atmosphere like thick fog in the air. It felt as if the room was actually connected to her weakened heart. She sighed again and walked through the doorway on the left and into the living room.
Callan was sitting in one of the simple armchairs around the table by the cut-out window in the far end of the room. Dorissa assumed Oldarion must have woken him, because he looked as if it would have done him good to sleep for an hour or two more. Or maybe it was simply the news Oldarion had woken him to tell that made him look so weary.
Dorissa crossed the room as confidently as she could and sat down in the chair closest to him. She rested her arms on the table and waited.
"This is unexpected," he said flatly. His eyes were fixed on the opposing wall.
"I am sorry, Callan. I should have told you myself years ago."
"You must understand that this news puts me and, not to forget, you, in a distinctly boring situation."
"I know. But this is not something I can change. I'm not like you, Callan," she whispered.
He finally looked at her. "I have known for a long time there was something about you that was extraordinary. Though, I had never thought I would think it wrong once I knew what it was... That the source of your power could in any way be twisted..."
Dorissa did not answer.
"How long has it been since it happened?"
"Do you recall a time around four centuries ago when I stopped training with you and told you I was going to explore the Eastern Kingdoms?"
"Yes."
"That was not entirely the truth."
"Then what is?"
"I had lost faith in everything we stand for a few years before, and my powers had slowly, but surely, been taken away from me. I did go to the Eastern Kingdoms, but my purpose was to find a way to re-obtain what I had lost. During this time I also befriended Jillian who helped me the best she could. She lent me her books and taught me everything she knew of black magic."
"I see." The same lifelessness in Dorissa's eyes was beginning to show in his.
"Callan, I... I understand if I am no longer welcome here."
"No one will banish you, Dorissa. Especially not I. But the news of what you are will get out. It probably has by the time you leave this room. You know our people will be less than happy when they find out. You were a rising star in our society in the eyes of many. Just as many will now avoid you, and some may even shun you. My biggest problem is not that I find your choice wrong, but that I need you. We all do. You are one of the most powerful druids we have trained in a long, long time. Whatever happens from here on, I need to know for certain that your loyalty still lies with me. You must swear to me now that no matter how people will treat you after this, we can still count on you whenever we need you."
"Of course, Callan. I will serve the people. Just like I always have."
"Thank you." He rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers and sighed. "Then I suppose it is entirely up to you to decide where you go now."
"What do you mean?"
"Of course you could stay here and try to ignore or even live with the dislike that will radiate towards you from the entire city. Personally though, if I were in your situation I think I would look for others like me."
"But... did Oldarion not tell you of The Sapphire Darkling?"
"He did."
"... I think you're going to have to tell me where you're going with this."
He put his hand on her lower arm and smiled, though the lifelessness in his eyes had been replaced by sadness. "I want you to go with them. I want you to become a member of The Sapphire Darkling and leave with them to wherever they have made their home."
"But you said you needed me?"
"Yes, but I never said where. Go, Dorissa. You belong where people accept you for what you are. But remember to contact me as often as possible and update me on how everything works out. And you must always be ready to come when I ask for your assistance. I will deal with the arch druid and the high priestess once the time for that comes."
"Thank you, Callan," she said softly.
"There is no need to thank me. I only do this to ensure that we can still count on your cooperation, not at all because I care about you like a little sister and want the best for you," he said and winked at her. A little of the sadness had left his eyes. The first honest smile in months appeared on Dorissa's lips.
"This... is awesome. You will be so attractive with that crescent on your forehead."
"Focus, Jillian."
"I am focusing. I'm just stating a fact."
"There is another fact you should state, though. I'm becoming an outcast now. That has to be weighed under pros and cons."
"You'll do fine as long as you follow Callan's advice and leave with the Darkling members. And I'll come visit you as often as I can. From what you've said there should be some dark-haired, good-looking males in that organization I can fraternise with. Since they don't exactly follow the night elf codex my guess is they might just look at a human warlock from a different perspective."
As much as Jillian's cheerful talk of flirting annoyed Dorissa she could not repress a small smile. The human was the only person she knew who never failed to cheer her up, even in the darkest times.
After her talk with Callan, Dorissa had contacted her, using the enchanted quill and scroll Jillian had given her before her departure to Northrend. She had asked her to come express her opinion on the subject, and Jillian had promised to come as quickly as she was able. Using her many warlock contacts, Jillian had managed to acquire a summoning and had, surprisingly to her night elf friend, arrived that same evening. The two of them were now strolling casually around in Craftsmen's Terrace under the fading pink light of the Teldrassil sky.
"It's strange how one person can change the life of another in so many ways," Dorissa murmured.
"You still haven't moved on, have you?"
"No. I love him, Jill."
"What's holding you back, then?"
"What do you mean?"
"Go look for him. You're planning your leave anyway."
"He said he would come back to me. He swore it."
"Riss... He may not be the average man to be heartsick over. But he is, nevertheless, a man. They will promise to put the moon in your hand because they know it's what you want to hear. And then they forget that they actually did want to give it to you."
"I don't think he's like that."
"But you don't know for sure."
Dorissa looked away. She did not want to open her heart to the possibility that her human friend might be right.
"I need to go see The Sapphire Darkling," she said.
"Yes, I know. But I also know that right now you're using them as an excuse to get away from me and forget my words," Jillian said softly.
"I'm sorry, Jillian. Sometimes I forget that there hides an intelligent and well-analysing mind behind your hysterically cheerful personality."
"I know that, too. After all, I'm the one who got you into this mess to start with, remember?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you hadn't met me you would have lost your powers for good, you would never have met Grimtusk, and The Sapphire Darkling would never have had a reason to come looking for you, thus revealing your state to the entire city."
"Wrong. Had I not met you my powers may have returned to me themselves."
"Are you implying that it's my fault you lost your faith?" Jillian asked, slightly offended.
"In a way, yes. I was desperate before I met you. There was a real chance I might have succumbed to my old beliefs, and I may have been able to return to my old life that way. But when I found you, you showed me the life outside the walls my people have built around themselves to preserve the old ways. You made me see what I had been lacking for all those years: spirit and true happiness. I am grateful for it, Jillian. I have never wished that I could go back to living in blessed ignorance. And, heck, I couldn't have kept my so-called betrayal a secret forever. I'm glad it was revealed this way. I don't have to bear the burden alone now that The Sapphire Darkling has found me. I can thank Zaladin for that."
"The troll sent them?" Jillian sounded surprised.
"Yes. I told him of my situation... back then."
"It might just be as you wish then. That your feelings for him are not unreturned," Jillian said quietly.
"I... I'm going to go to the inn now." Dorissa said a little too quickly and turned to leave.
"Riss..." Jillian caught her arm and stopped her. "Whatever happens in the future... you will manage. Even if time was wasted when it comes to the death knight, you will pull through. But you'll need to leave this place behind to make it happen. You've never really belonged here, Riss. You belong with them."
Dorissa nodded, unable to speak. She knew that if she opened her mouth she would only be able to tell Jillian how deeply she wished she could change the 'them' in her sentence to 'him'.
She quickly hugged her friend goodbye and headed for the inn.
