1,838 words. Longest chapter yet. I fussed over this chapter long and hard, and finally said, "To heck with it, I'm posting this."

The rest of the day continued without any of the previous enthusiasm, the silence giving me a persistent headache. Thankfully, the night passed without the book's calling.

In the middle of a quiet breakfast, Tharsouris announced that he would be gone the entire day.

"I have a very important meeting to attend in Stormwind. Both of you are forbidden from joining me," Tharsouris said, before either of us could say anything. "You two will stay here. No one will be going out, and no one will be coming in. Is that clear?"

I only nodded, my headache having carried over from the day before and thus leaving me with limited ability to think straight. Beside me, Mhaya spoke up, stabbing a dagger through my head.

"But you're supposed to be watching us. What if someone else like that dwarf comes by?"

I winced. Mhaya's voice raised half an octave with each word. The dagger pressed deeper.

"My dear, I have eyes everywhere. Anyone who has half a brain will be able to see that."

That deep voice contrasted sharply with Mhaya's, tearing the blade -which must have had jagged edges- from my brain.

"But what about-"

"Gah! Shut up already!" I snapped, ready to impale whoever dared speak against my command with my fork.

Tharsouris left after my outburst. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Mhaya looked at me, a sly grin on her face.

"Tharsouris is gone."

"And?" I prompted her to explain herself further. My headache ebbed away.

"All of his possessions are unguarded."

My eyes widened as my mind showed me the equivalent of a reader's heaven, but I quickly chopped down my hopes. "He said he has eyes everywhere. Won't he know we're in his study?"

"Do you really expect him to to care if we read a few of those towers of books in his study?"

"You've been in his study?"

"I caught a peek of it yesterday before breakfast," Mhaya said casually.

"What was it like?"

Mhaya smile grew wider. "Why don't you come see for yourself?"

I shoved the rest of her food in my mouth as my answer. We ran the few long strides to the study, and scrambled over each other trying to reach the doorknob first.

Mhaya picked up a book with an interesting title, and tried to absorb every detail. I paid less attention to each book, instead skimming entire books, searching for something that might be of worth. When I found something new, I read it more closely until it had nothing more to offer.

There was another bookcase, this one set apart from the rest. The books looked older than the rest, and scattered on and around them were strange plant parts and powders and even a few dark stains. Oddly, it smelled delicious. But the thing that stuck out most to me was that the entire collection shimmered with a blue film.

"Magic," I gasped, my breath causing the shimmering coat to shiver.

"Huh? What is?" Mhaya looked up from her book. She came over and peered at a few titles. She reached for a book, but drew her hand back when a tiny spark leaped off the shield and stung her.

"Ow!"

"It's warded. I guess that's what the magic is."

"What magic?"

"The books are all glossy."

Mhaya looked surprised, and peered closely at the books, careful not to get too close and suffer another sting. After a minutes, she turned her scrutinizing stare at me.

"There's nothing there."

"Can't you see it?" (A/N: I'm tempted to put "It glowed like a fairy on crack," but Warcraft doesn't have fairies, nor crack.)

Mhaya shook her head.

"But it's right there." How could she not see the bluish sheen? "Why can't you see it?"

"Aquatic, the wards are invisible, like all wards."

"But it's right here!" I thrust my hand toward the shield. There was a tickle, and in a moment of surprised realization, I had bypassed the ward. My eyes widened and the shield wavered. Shivering, the coat came apart, unraveling around my hand.

"Aquatic? What are you gawking at?" Mhaya asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"The ward," I gasped out, eyes watching the last of the magic unravel into nothingness. "It's gone."

Mhaya looked surprised. "Really?" She tentatively reached a hand forward with her eyes closed, but opened them when she touched book. She sighed in relief when she realized that meant she didn't get stung. "That's weird."

Mhaya pulled out the book her hand had reached. Her eyes squinted, as though the book would change.

"Odd title."

"What is it?" I craned my neck to look at the book.

"Voidwalker."

For some unknown reason, I felt an excited shiver pass through my body.

"One would think it's in a different language if they never opened it. Well, there are some weird runes in this section."

My blood froze, then started pounding through my ears like raging magma. I made a grab for the book, Mhaya's grip on it slackening in surprise.

"Hey! Aquatic, what-" I shoved the book back where it was and turned to Mhaya.

"We leave these books alone, got it?"

Mhaya gaped, but acquiesced, sighing as a chance to learn from a rare book slipped from her grasp.

Tharsouris came back much later that day, not long after we retired for the night. He woke us up. He looked slightly green. He told us he would take us shopping the next day.

Mhaya cuddled her new book as she slept, mumbling one-sided conversations.

"I want that one, and that one, not that one, and of course that one...Wadya mean you can't afford it? You're Uncle Theserious..."

On the other side of the room lay Aquatic, lost in the world of sleep. Yet no dreams came to bless her slumber. Instead, war steeds of the night ravaged her mind.

Aquatic had her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes staring through the ceiling.

Dream soldiers pleaded for mercy as their comrades fell around them. Sharp claws halved swords, sharper tongues halved spirits. Buildings collapsed, but debris quickly hid under blood and shredded flesh. One could walk over every inch of the city and never touch ground. Whereas soldiers fell to their knees at such a sight, the wicked revelled in it.

Laughter cut through the carnage; starting nervous, growing to unnerving hysterics. Only a dream, a dream this must be! Such a macabre sight could never come to pass!

The cries of grief and the crack of bones - it all turned trivial. Nothing mattered anymore. Others, caught in a similar fit of absurd hilarity, believed the same.

That morning, after breakfast, Tharsouris said that the king had requested an audience with Aquatic that day.

"I want both of you to leave a good impression on the king, so as to show him your respect, you're going to get cleaned up. We're going down to a lake in Dun Morogh. I don't trust any of these finicky gnomish devices."

Aquatic spoke up, "Bink always used a cleaning spell on me."

Tharsouris narrowed his eyes. "What cleaning spell, exactly?"

"It combined fire and water manifestations."

"That spell is reserved for scrubbing down alchemy tools. Not living beings. Ah, well, I guess we know why your skin is so red."

"Why would Bink even use that spell on you?" Mhaya asked.

"It's a mystery. I think we can all agree that Bink is a tad bit crazy."

"Here we are!"

The three dismounted the mechanostriders they bought and stared at the lake. The vast, frozen lake with only a small patch of water.

"You want us to bathe in that? It's freezing!" Mhaya stared at Tharsouris, the look of horror on her face begging him to answer no.

Though amused, Tharsouris shook his head, hiding his grin under a mask of mock disappointment. "Tut, tut, Mhaya. How many times must I say this? Don't underestimate my magic."

"You can't possibly think you can melt the ice and bring it to a more hospitable temperature."

"Watch."

Tharsouris pulled forth the appropriate amount of arcane energy, and paused, letting the magic set at his fingertips. Finally, he brought up his hands and chanted.

Aided by the fire manifestation of the arcane, the ice melted over the lake. Vapor rose from the area at their feet as well. When Tharsouris dropped his hands to his side, little over half of the lake stayed frozen, while the rest settled at a sleepy temperature.

A cheeky smile adorned Tharsouris's face. "What is it I keep wanting you to remember, Aquatic?"

As if automatically, Aquatic stiffened and stated, "To not underestimate your mastery of the arcane."

The smile faltered, but leaped back in place. Tharsouris resisted the urge to bring his fingers to his face. .

"And what did Mhaya do?"

Aquatic relaxed at the name, but not entirely. "Underestimate your capabilities."

"Good. Now you two can undress."

Mhaya blushed furiously, and blurted out, "Not with you watching!"

"Why? I assure you, I've already seen it all."

Mhaya stuck out her tongue. "Because you're an old man."

Tharsouris pouted and stuck out his tongue as well. "I'm only six hundred and forty-five years old."

"Exactly!"

"Fine, fine. Leave your underclothes on, then."

"You still have to turn around."

Grumbling something about the absurdity of privacy, Tharsouris did so.

The gnomes turned their backs to each other, furthering their privacy. They discarded their robes and shoes, leaving only their shirts and shorts.

"You two can get in the water at any time, you know," Tharsouris said, after a while and hearing no splash of water. "Kids-?"

Tharsouris turned around and fell silent. His eyes flicked to Mhaya, but her expression indicated that she had no prior knowledge of this. They jerked back to Aquatic.

Aquatic stiffened and met Tharsouris's stare, as though meeting his challenge. The elf arched an brow. The gnome mirrored in kind. Not a word spoken, a thousand communicated. Tharsouris broke the still silence.

Tharsouris walked over to Aquatic, and dropped to one knee. The gnome continued to appear oblivious as to what was going on, yet Tharsouris gave no explanation, lost in his own little discoverer's wonder.

"Who would have thought?" Tharsouris mused, finally allowing his fingers to tap his lips. "Rarely is one of such lineage abandoned in this continent, and yet such a one has been hiding under my nose."

Tharsouris trailed his hand over the smooth metal skin, barely touching the spine of spikes at the back. He slid his hand to the first joint, hesitating before traveling to the second. As his fingers met flesh, they twitched, as if wanting to go on. They slid back down, apparently changing ambition. Tharsouris traced the thorn jutting from behind the first joint, with his fingers, careful not to prick himself on the sharp point. His fingers danced on it, teasing the dangerous point. In one swift move, he snapped it off.

I experimented with first person at the beginning. Please tell me if you'd prefer the story to be in first person or if I could have used it better.

MWHAHAHAHA! Aquatic's secret is finally found out! What now for our unfortunate little gnome? Is she even a gnome?

Those of you who have played a certain part of Warcraft, you know what she is. Those of you who haven't, well, you have no idea what she is. Unless you read a ton on that subject. And it's a pretty specific subject hidden in bits of religion and fantasy. But mostly fantasy.

EDIT: Urgh, I just noticed I never worked on a certain part of this chapter. I completely missed it. *sigh* I suppose I'll leave it alone. It's an amazingly simplified version of what it could have been, and it gives you some insight on what some of my rough drafts look like.