I may not need to eat or sleep anymore, but that doesn't change the fact that Miloren still does. Even so, after what happened in the crater, it was like something had possessed her. We stopped infrequently, often riding until she was nearly falling from her mount. She ate while we rode.

It couldn't have been comfortable, but she seemed intent that we get back to civilization. I think, if we hadn't already been almost to Tanaris, she would have tried to make me go back to Silithus.

I wonder how that would have ended? Because there's no way I'm adding time to this quest of mine.

Though…does it actually matter how long I take? If time was rewritten, doesn't that sort of mean that I could take hundreds of years and then have things reset as though none of that ever happened? That's how it always seems to work in the movies. All the terrible stuff happens and then poof! It never happened and everyone gets to be happy.

With the way my life twists, I sort of have this sinking feeling that it won't be that easy.

And what that shadow thing said to me while I was unconscious has been eating at me.

He called me a monster, said I gave the Legion a weapon?

What does that even…?

I'm glad I can't sleep. I think whatever that was could reach me again if I did.

Could it have just been a dream? The more I think about it, the more I want to say it was just a dream.

I mean, I woke up so sure that it had been something crucial to what was going on, but…there are dreams like that, right? Dreams where you just wake up and think it was real, but it wasn't.

Part of me thinks I'm being really dumb for thinking that. That I'm leaving myself open for immense disappointment. And, you know, attacks from more shadow creatures.

But everything can't be grim and depressing, can it? I have to hit the bottom eventually. There's got to be a point where nothing worse can happen. You would think that would be when your entire world dies, but apparently not.

I'd like to hit that rocky, desperate bottom now so that I can start working my way back up.

All this thinking about creatures and worlds and misfortune is really bad for morale, too. I feel like everything I do is just useless. Like I'm struggling against an undercurrent or something, that never really goes away.

I haven't told Miloren about my doubts. She doesn't seem to have any, and I don't want her to think that I'm not confident. People are less inclined to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself, after all.

We arrived in Gadgetzan this morning. I suggested she get some sleep, but she said she had to send someone a letter first.

So we split up.

Fizz was not present in Gadgetzan. It only took me a minute to know he was in Rachet, up north. That's where his magic was, anyway. Considering he's a mage, he's probably there, too. I tried to find Brath or Bree using that method, but it didn't work. At first I was kind of worried, but I thought about Nicholas, too, and couldn't figure out where he was, so maybe it's just because they don't have magic?

Though, all dragons have magic…

It would seem like I would be able to track Brath.

But I can't.

So I went around to a few different shops, wondering if I should bother sending a message to Fizz or if he'd be back by Gadgetzan soon enough. I mean, his pattern has been for him to come back here once ever few days, so if I just wait, he should be by.

Assuming he hasn't given up.

I don't think he would.

But, I still had to wonder about Brath and Bree. Where were they? Were they with Fizz? No, he was using teleportation spells rather than portals.

Had they gotten stuck in the magic plane, too? Were they lost in different points, their luck failing to get them out? I still don't know how I got out.

I'm banking on dumb luck, but who knows at this point?

There's so much I don't know.

It's like I'm getting more questions than answers, and that's another overly familiar, miserable feeling.

When I met back up with Miloren around lunch, she was at the inn, chowing down. The food looked good, but largely unappetizing. I wonder if I've lost any weight while I haven't been able to eat. I don't think I have.

Add that to my list of creepy side effects.

Does that mean I can't get more muscle, too?

"Any luck finding your friends?" Miloren asked between mouthfuls. When I told her no, she eyed me and then drummed her fingers against the table, clearly agitated with whatever notion was going through her head. "So…your goblin friend is a mage."

"Yep."

"And he has magic."

"I…well, yeah. That's…generally what mage means, right?" I eyed her, wondering if maybe the shadows had affected her somehow.

She rolled her eyes. "I just…what I mean is, he's open to magical channels."

"I think so?"

"So…rather than wait around for him to check back, what if you had another mage send him a magical message?" Miloren grunted before adding, "They can do that, you know. Or at least, they used to be able to. Magic travels fast. Much faster than couriers or birds."

"So you think we should find someone here to get in touch with him?" I perked up, glancing around and scanning the sparse selection of fellow patrons in the inn for any signs of robes or cloth armor. After all, no one comes out this far into nowhere without armor.

Even I have some. The night elves gave me a set from Silithus, as my clothes were so steeped in magic that they were 'unsafe' for use. It's not the best, as they hadn't expected me to go running off like I did, but it's strong enough for out here.

"I was thinking…" Miloren said, but trailed off before she could finish.

At first, I thought she was just pausing for a bite, but she simply held her bread roll in front of her, staring down at it like it wasn't a fluffy baked good, but rather a peephole into the secrets of reality itself.

On a side note, I can always tell what direction elves are looking in now. Before, with the glowing, it was nearly impossible. Now, I just know. Somehow.

She just kept staring.

Finally, I tapped the table in front of her. "What were you thinking?"

She blinked out of her thoughts, gaze snapping up to me, lips dipping into such a deep frown that it almost looked like a sneer. She caught herself and smoothed out her expression before shrugging. "You've bathed in a leyline. We did what we could to get rid of the excess magic, but there was so much of it."

"I remember. I was there," I tried to joke.

She just stared at me. "Why don't you try sending him a message?"

The world seemed to hold its breath.

We sat there, neither of us moving, gazes locked. The world had to have gone on around us, people talking, making plans, the breeze outside unsettling piles of sand and sending them billowing up and about, birds squawking.

All that stuff had to have gone on, but it felt like everything had just stopped.

There was this silence in my ears, weighting down my tongue, dragging against my vocal cords as though to make sure I never said another word.

Finally, Miloren rolled her eyes and took another bite of bread. "It'd be cheaper than any of the help from these goblins."

It didn't even occur to me that Miloren was going to be paying for such help. I swallowed slowly, slightly surprised that I still knew how. "I'm a rogue."

"A rogue who was steeped in magic."

"I'm a rogue."

"Right, you know what? Never mind," Miloren shook her head as she finished her lunch and then cracked her shoulders. "It's probably for the best if you don't do anything with that left over magic, anyway. It can be tricky, especially to someone inexperienced."

I nodded.

There was still magic in me?

I mean, I guess I knew that. After all, I'm a walking wiki. But still. That's just information. It's not fireballs or frost novas.

Miloren seemed content to let the subject drop, however.

We decided to do a two pronged attack, so to speak. We spread the word to every goblin we could that Amy was looking for Fizz, so that, should he get back and I not notice—I doubted that would happen because, well, magic, but still. After that, we set out to find a mage who could send him a message.

It helped that I had a full name to give—as well as coordinates and time zone and…well, a lot of stuff.

After I'd told the mage, she just kind of looked at me and then Miloren, narrowing her eyes. "Ya lot playin' me?" When neither of us responded, she pointed at me, "The reason she ain't sendin' him a message would be…? He cursed or somethin'?"

"She's a rogue," Miloren replied, dryly. It was the first indication that maybe she wasn't as pleased to let me not use my magic as she'd first seemed.

It was odd, all things considered. I mean, the kaldorei do not trust magic at all—most of them, anyway—unless it's of a druidic base. And yet she wanted me to try to use stuff I'd never even had before…

"Rogue my ass," the little goblin snapped, her blonde pigtails swaying as she eyed me. "What's this really about? This Fizz guy pissed off the Alliance or somethin' and ya tryin' to trick him into a trap?"

"What? No," I started.

She held up a hand, glaring from one of us to the other. "I ain't getting' involved in no faction conflict, ya hear."

"Fizz is from the Steamwheedle Cartel, not Bilgewater," I protested.

"And I'm supposed to believe the mage who's a rogue because…?"

Even as Miloren tried to reason with her, I stilled. I'd been considering trying to just do that thing where I talk and hope that whatever I say inspires or tricks someone into doing what I want, but it was unnecessary.

Gripping Miloren's arm, I started to drag her away while she was midsentence. "He's here."

Miloren didn't bother to ask how I knew—I think she understands more of my magic sense than I do, more than she's bothered to explain.

Even so, she let me lead her through the streets, loping along easily beside me with her long strides. As we turned a corner, I let go of her and broke out into a sprint.

"Fizz!"

He whirled around, scanning the street for a moment before his red eyes zeroed in on me—granted, it wasn't hard, considering I stood a few feet taller than most of the people out and about at the moment—and he started running toward me as well. "Amy!"

It wasn't nearly as sappy as those romance movies where they run into each other's arms—mostly since we're not, you know, romanticly involved—but we did totally collide, and even though I'm way taller than him, he managed to tackle me. We thudded into the ground in a burst of sand.

As we untangled, with a million questions flying from the both of us and getting largely lost in the settling dust, he finally sat back, his robe covered with sand and dust and sweat. He looked like he hadn't slept in…as long as I hadn't, really. The circles under his eyes were wicked, and his hair was a frazzled mess.

His ears perked up as he shook his head, looking me over to make sure that I still had all my appendages and whatnot, "Amy, I been lookin' everywhere for ya!"

Even as he seemed to notice that, while physically I may look the same, there was definitely something off, another voice interrupted our happy reunion.

"So have we."

As Fizz and I glanced to the side—Miloren was just catching up, too—I tensed.

The Alliance's missing princes had finally turned up.

...-...

A/N: Thank you for reading!