Adventure Loves Company, Too
Chapter 14: A Day In the Life Of...
The vast majority of the group had left early that morning. Claryssa was on an accelerated training regiment to be a priest, and Gat had accompanied her there, having decided the previous night that he would more or less be her bodyguard. The notion was quite amusing to Thal, and every time she thought about it, she had to work very hard to keep from giggling uncontrollably. It was obvious that the troll was doting on the girl, and that in and of itself was hilarious. Couple that with the girl being human, and they were a walking romantic comedy.
Jen'Zin had gone with Zalgash to start collecting supplies for their trip. They would be leaving in a couple of weeks, and needed to have supplies to last them the trip to the Crossroads. Thal just hoped that she didn't die of dysentery along the way, or something. Or a snakebite. Damn snakes.
Gelt had disappeared. She didn't really care where the tauren had gone off to. Or at least, convinced herself that she didn't care. He was the only one in the group that she could really banter with. Or was. Until the Blood Elf.
They were sitting in the common area of the inn, Thal lounging ungracefully on a fur-covered bench, and Bhazrael was fixing some minor rips in his heavy black robe. She studied him, reverting to an old bad habit of chewing on the ends of her hair. He glanced up.
"That's a horrible habit," he remarked. His voice was bland and lazy, but he still spoke fairly fast. It was rather irritating.
"That's none of your business," she retorted, not blinking. She did remove the hair from her mouth, though.
"When you're staring at me like that, it is."
"Deal with it."
He fell silent, going back to his sewing. He wasn't exceptionally good at it, she noticed, but he was good enough to fix the patches in the robes. She looked closer at it, and it was obvious that he had owned those robes for a very long time. There were a lot of patches and stitches in them.
"Why don't you replace those?" She asked, a lock of hair going back to her teeth.
"I like them. They're comfortable. And they generally convince people to leave me alone."
She had to give him that. He was dressed in a normal fashion, and it was really odd. He looked very skinny, and not at all imposing like he had when she had seen him before. He had a thin face, the normal long eyebrows, and a thin goatee that a lot of Blood Elf men seemed to favor. His previously honey-blond hair was slicked back, draping down his back and over his shoulders. His hair was definitely enviable, even in its current state of semi-disrepair. Thal continued to nibble at her hair, not removing her eyes from the elf. He finally sighed irritably and threw his needle and thread into the fire in frustration.
"Do you mind?" he demanded, glaring at her. The glow from his eyes briefly intensified. The rogue grinned.
"No, I don't mind," she responded.
"Stop chewing on your hair."
"No."
"You'll ruin it."
"It's not your hair."
He growled at her. "Why am I still here?" he said to no one in particular.
"Well, the literal answer is that you haven't bothered to leave. The answer you're probably wanting is because I won't let you."
"And why won't you let me?" he snapped. He wasn't a patient person.
Perfect.
"Because that troll won't let me leave," she said flippantly, stretching out on the bench. "I tried to kill that girl for a bounty a few weeks back in Stranglethorn. She woke up at the wrong time and saw me, and more or less foiled my attempt. Since then, that Jen'Zin bastard has had me under his thumb. He's a very capable shaman, and I don't want to go up against him. I get the feeling that he's a lot stronger than he lets on. Not to mention, he's a troll. First impressions aside, there are always things that run true for every member of a species, regardless of their personality. I don't want to be on the receiving side of some of those things." She stared at the wood ceiling thoughtfully, her arms behind her head.
"And so, you give yourself a feeling of empowerment and enslave me to your will, is that it?" he said, standing up and pulling his robes on.
"Pretty much, yeah. Not to mention, I'm getting sick of that druid. He's good enough for an argument, but he's no fun with it. He gives up once things start getting good."
"And you're thinking that I will put up with abuse for companionship for who knows how many leagues?"
"More or less." She looked at the warlock again, who was belting his shoulders into place. He looked at her and crossed his arms, his dressing complete.
"I'm hungry. You want to come get some food?"
"Is that a date?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
The Night Elf grinned. "Never."
Gat was sitting in a corner of the hut that the priests had made their headquarters. Claryssa was in a heavy training session with a very good-looking female named Morsayla, and a rather crotchety old troll named Relzek. The two were bombarding her with instructions and advice and corrections, and the girl had finally managed to grab a hold of the light and shape it into a shield. It was a thin little thing, and shattered into a thousand fragments as soon as it was hit with even a light amount of force, but it was definitely a good start.
"Ya be learnin' fast, girl," Relzek said. "It usu'ly takes 'bout a month fer a beginnah ta even do dat." He flicked the shield that the girl had just solidified, and it cracked, but didn't break. She grinned.
"Yeah, it def'nitely be goin' well," Morsayla said, standing back and observing the girl's progress. The plan was to have each of the priest trainers assist in the girl's teachings to at the very least give her a basic understanding in the arts before the group was set to leave again. "'M jus' curious as ta why dis be so import'nt to ya. Yer realleh puttin' yer all inta dis. Ot'erwise ya wouldn' even be dis far."
Claryssa's attention wavered a little bit and her shield shattered. She huffed a bit and dropped to her knees. She was sweating with the exertion that the training was putting on her. "I want to be helpful. I want to do something that is useful to other people, and not just to myself. I guess I don't want to be a burden my whole life."
Gat grinned a bit. It was all incredibly cute, how determined she was. There was a short break, with something to drink. Then training resumed.
"I don' want ta have ta pull a goddamn cart t'rough da fuckin' Barrens, man," Jen'Zin said stubbornly. He and Zalgash were scouting about for something to carry the supplies that they were planning to bring. "I would rat'er hunt ev'ry night fer game dan bring a damn wagon."
"There's no other choice," Zalgash said, just as stubbornly. "Your other option is to buy pack animals, and Orgrimmar doesn't exactly have a surplus of those. A few horses, yes, plenty of riding worgs, and some raptors. Your best bet for pack animals would be kodos, and there aren't many of those, either. Take the wagon until you get to Thunder Bluff, then trade it in for some kodos or something."
"Fuck. No. Dere be no way. If somet'in' goes down, dere be no way dat we could run away. Da wagon would be too much of a hindrance, an' we wouldn' be able ta make good time. I wan' ta be in da Barrens as little time as possible. It be hotter'n hell, and dere be very little water or food."
"And you would just have to bring more water and food for the pack animals. Wagon."
"Kodos eat grass. Dere be a shitload o' grass in da Barrens. Animals."
"And what? Sit by every few hours so the animals can graze? Wagon."
"By dat logic, we be havin' ta do da same fer da animals pullin' da wagon."
The two glared at each other. Then both sighed at the same time.
"Let's go get something to drink. This discussion is likely to take a few days."
Gelt sighed to himself, sitting on one of the huge bones that arched over the drag. The wind ripped at his feathers, but still felt really good at the same time. Being in flight form gave him a sense of freedom that he normally felt that he lacked as a tauren. Sure, he was drab and brown, but nothing really matched the feeling of soaring through the air. He ruffled his feathers a bit, trying to straighten them into some sort of order. He was going to go home looking like he had been dragged through the streets, but it was worth it.
The sun was setting, setting the sky ablaze. He watched the sun sink lower, the sky gradually being swallowed and plunged into indigo. The first stars twinkled in the twilight, and the wind started to chill. He half fell, half dove off his perch, his wings flaring out as he reached the ground. He straightened up, back in his normal guise, and brushed some dust out of his fur and straightened his jerkin. He huffed a bit and set off back to the inn. Another two weeks to enjoy himself, then back on that damned kodo.