Review Replies (Whoo!):

Scion: I tried to make the fights interesting, and I suppose I succeeded in that endeavor. I gave Krionoso a blade, so what's the point not using it! Besides, I needed a starting point. Thanks for the review.

Matt: I'm sorry. I guess I got a little carried away with my fight sequences. Oh well, I hope I didn't destroy your opinion of the story with a little Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu-ness. Thanks for the review, and welcome back!

Trial by Fire

Chapter Thirteen: Choices

The walk to Sira's house turned out to be a short one indeed. Within moments, Simonee found himself taking the brass doorknob in his hand. He sighed as he did so, pausing momentarily to ponder about why Sira had wanted to discuss anything; though it was probably somewhat important. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't make anything of it.

Standing behind Simonee, and waiting patiently for him to open the door, Garret wondered why he hesitated.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Simonee looked up at the draenei and sighed again. "I'll be fine. Just thinking… that's all."

After another second of pause, Simonee finally turned the knob and opened the door. Inside, everyone had taken a seat somewhere, apparently waiting for the final two to arrive in order to begin. As soon as they entered, Simonee and Garret noticed as the others all straightened slightly, tensing for one thing or another. All except for the priestess. She sat, slouching over the kitchen table with a distracted look dominating her facial features. Her eyes were strangely dull and her usually alert and watchful self was strangely at peace. A curious smirk was on display as she stared into space.

Something about the demeanor confused Simonee; normally, she was the first one to take notice of a detail, no matter how small the detail turned out to be. She was always perceptive and observant of everything whenever Simonee saw her, but now she was distant, lost in whatever thought she was pondering over.

Soon, however, the thing that had had her vexed disappeared almost instantaneously and she resumed her watchfulness. Taking notice of the last two arrivals, she motioned for them to find a seat and began to smile wider, losing the somewhat mischievous smirk.

"So you're here; excellent. Now we may begin."

She stopped speaking in order to take a tea kettle from the fireplace and filled seven cups with the boiling water. "Krionoso, while I have you here, I have something to tell you," she said as she stirred the contents of each cup with a small teaspoon. Taking a tray from one of the tall cabinets above the fireplace, she set the cups on it and resumed. "I have already told Aubrey this, but I believe that you need to know this as well."

She chuckled and brought the tray to the living room, where most of the occupants of her house were sitting. "Do you remember when I told you that your mother was a traveling maiden, too busy to keep you with her?"

Krionoso nodded and narrowed his eyes in thought as he took a cup of tea from the silver tray. "Yes… but why?"

As Sira continued distributing the tea, she began to reply.

"I remember that moment… it was one of the memories I'll always keep. I asked you this now… because I am your mother. I couldn't tell you then. You were just beginning your training, and I couldn't have you fretting about me. I never wanted to jeopardize your training – your future. However, not everything I said that day was a lie. What I told you about your father is absolutely true. He was one of the most amazing mages I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in battle. I remember the day he went to fight the Scourge outside of the city. I pleaded for him not to go, but he was a man of duty, and he simply told me that he had to. He… didn't come back. He died, and I'm sure he's off wandering the plaguelands as one of those abominations. The best fate I could ever hope for him now is that he escaped the Lich King's grasp and became a Forsaken."

She paused again as a tear rolled down her face. "He looked me straight in the eye, and told me to keep you out of trouble… and teach you everything I could about life and the lessons it holds."

"I don't understand… it makes no sense! Why couldn't you tell me then, when I was still hopeful of finding my mother!?" Krionoso asked, gripping the teacup tightly.

"If I had told you then, it was a very real possibility that you would abandon your training to stay with me and protect me," Sira said. A smile broke out among the glistening tears as she answered. "You used to be so noble… so caring… you would have lost everything, and it would have been my fault. I couldn't do that to you."

"Well, there's nothing worth being caring or noble for anymore. The world doesn't appreciate noble people anymore."

Simonee began to speak up. "You only say that because you couldn't keep a good thing while it was offered to you. I can personally say for every person here, except for you, that the world indeed cares about noble people. Had you stayed with my group, you could've seen this too! You could have escaped from the Defias – you could have wiped clean the slate, taken charge of what you were doing. Krionoso, you wouldn't be running from the king's wrath if you had stayed with us…"

"Impossible," Krionoso said. "I had already taken Wrynn. Even if I wanted to stay with you, I couldn't. I was in an impossible position."

Simonee sighed. "You're just as foolish as I remember. You insist on seeing it in that way. Look at it my way; you and the king could've worked something out that wouldn't have dragged you into this. Community service – or even military service – and you wouldn't even need to be locked in the Stockades! Certainly, that must sound better than being a fugitive on the run? If you had come to an agreement with him, I'm sure he would have allowed you to remain with the group, in exchange for doing some errands for him!"

Simonee wasn't sure whether or not he was speaking the truth; he couldn't quite vouch for the king's feelings after having been taken captive.

Krionoso looked downward into his teacup, watching as the liquid swirled inside the porcelain.

"Instead, you betrayed us, the king, and the rest of Stormwind all due to a grudge that wasn't even yours to carry," Simonee said. He took a sip from his own cup and watched Krionoso's reaction.

"It became mine to carry when I joined the Brotherhood," the mage replied, almost inaudibly. The rest of Simonee's group had watched the whole exchange with interest, hoping that Krionoso would finally see a way back to good graces.

Sira had also been watching and listening as Simonee tried to coax Krionoso back to reason. She sighed before intervening. "You are both quite correct. Unfortunately, you are also both terribly incorrect. Krionoso, you could have saved yourself from the Defias' hold on you at any time, and yes, you may have enjoyed a better life with Simonee's group. But, at the same time, you would have lost out on the opportunity of learning a very important lesson."

"What lesson would that be?" Krionoso asked. He looked distraught and dismayed, but retained his stubborn nature.

"The lesson of loyalty… and the lesson of priority. You were too set in your ways that you didn't see what was happening to you. Your loyalties were misplaced, and now you are seeing that. You didn't allow yourself to be righted because you put priority in the wrong places."

Krionoso sat silently, allowing the full brunt of the discussion to settle in. The familiar pangs of guilt once again played at his heartstrings, and he wondered once again if he had made the right choice.

"You can't be blamed for making a choice. Life itself is a series of choices that make us who we are. If you don't make any choice, then your life becomes a wasted one – one with absolutely no redemption," Sira continued. "Even if you make a wrong choice, it can be undone. The problem you are faced with now is that you continued along a long sting of clearly unavoidable mistakes."

Krionoso's face began to betray anger. Only he and Sira knew that it was directed towards himself. "As far as I know, I only made one choice: the choice to follow in Van Cleef's footsteps. After that…" the mage faltered. "After that, it all took on a mind of its own. I couldn't rescind any of my actions because I didn't know I was making them… I couldn't see past the promises of power to find the mistakes that would form in the future. And every one I made built upon the previous one, and soon enough, it had become an insurmountable mountain."

Krionoso began to raise his voice into a shout as he continued. "It all happened too quickly for me to see and before long, I couldn't counter it! I couldn't do anything about it!" He began to sob as he laid his problems bare.

"You can start reversing the trend now by coming back with us to Stormwind," Simonee said, trying to play off of Krionoso's emotions. "And from there, it's up to you. I'm sure we can get you an appeal… especially now. Possibly we could win you a shot at freedom. But we don't know until you give us that opportunity, and to do that, you must come with us. Even then, I'm sure the stockades are far better than death."

Krionoso sighed, setting aside his emotions, and allowing himself deep into thought. He was becoming torn; he was allowing himself to be swayed. Should he choose redemption that could lead to the stockades, and possibly death, or loyalty to something that would most likely kill him and probably wouldn't have much more of a lifespan afterward?

"I can't do it," he muttered. It was too much to think about, and it had come about too quickly.

Simonee watched as Krionoso continued to struggle within himself, even after he had made his choice. Simonee knew that his counterpart was being stubborn – even with his own self. He could see that Krionoso had wanted desperately to change his ways, but his own personality was barring himself from making the first step towards the change.

Sira finally broke the silence. "Krionoso, go upstairs and rest. You have had a hard day, and you have much to think about. Do not worry about it now; you have time."

Krionoso looked up at Sira and nodded sullenly. He stood and walked up the stairs, and Simonee heard a door shut as he took a room.

Sira listened as well, and turned back to the group as she began to speak again. "Don't think that that was all I had to say. You all have something to speak about as well. And I have something to give to you."

Confused, Simonee watched as Sira once again foraged in the cabinet for something. She pulled out a small jewelry box made of wood. Setting the box on the table, Sira opened it and pulled out a pendant of some sort. The pendant hanged loosely from a silver chain by a small ring. The object itself was crafted from gold, formed to make the shape of a torch, lit by a blazing fire and held by a gauntleted hand.

"This was left by a friend to my lover's. It was never told to me what it was, but I have my own suspicions. I give it to you now, in hopes that you find what it unlocks."

Simonee had no idea what Sira could have meant. He wasn't in the mood for a riddle, but took the pendant from the woman's wrinkled hand anyway. 'A riddle may just be a fine distraction,' he thought.

"I shall leave you now. I am far too old to be staying up quite so late," Sira said.

Simonee looked toward the window. Outside, the day had gone from late-afternoon to dusk, and he hadn't even noticed. With a shrug, he muttered a 'good night' to Sira and fingered the pendant. Whatever it was, it probably went to something close-by. Figuring it was best not to worry about it right then, Simonee simply placed it around his neck.

"I wonder what she meant about us needing to speak about something..." Aubs said. "It all seems so strange."

Simonee sighed, "I know. What do you think she wanted us to discuss?"

"Maybe something about either the pendant or about what just happened with Krionoso?" Garret asked.

"It's likely," Dagerly said. Yawning, he continued, "But, I couldn't tell you. I do need some sleep though. I'm going to bed."

"Good idea. We should all catch some sleep. Talk more in the morning," Simonee said, standing to stretch. With muttered affirmations, the rest of the group stood and began to walk upstairs after Dagerly.

As Simonee found the room he had taken the night before, he couldn't help but think about what had happened; and for that matter, what was wrong with Sira before they had started to talk. Something seemed strange, but Simonee wasn't sure what it was. Whatever it may have been, it surely couldn't bode well for him or his group.

A/N: I am glad to be done with this chapter! Sorry that it's not too lengthy, but I felt that it deserved its own chapter. Some important character development (I squirm with joy that I could pull it off this late in the series) and a very important plot point/object. Well, I thank you once more for reading, and I am off to update the profile.