Sylvanas finally got to her feet again and wiped at her eyes, which felt like they'd been lined with sand. She'd always hated to cry, even when she'd been alive, not only because she thought it made her look weak, but because of the way she physically felt afterwards.

Faith was right there, rubbing her back, but not kissing her the way she usually would have done. That alone was enough to make her want to cry again.

Atalo cleared his throat, "Well, I think we've said what we needed to say. I suppose you're sending her to this new Pandaria land?"

"I'm not," said Sylvanas. "Garrosh is."

"Will you be going?" Faith asked them.

Taisha shook her head, "I'm afraid I'm getting a little too old to go on missions. Hamu would have normally gone, but Baine has given him a steady position in Thunder Bluff now, so he's not going anywhere, and we're okay with that. Why do you have to go?"

"Because being dead hasn't weakened me, but made me stronger in a number of ways," said Faith. "In any case, he doesn't seem to think that it's such a big deal."

"So you're going to go."

"For now," said Sylvanas. "I'll bring her home soon."

"We'll hold you to that," said Atalo. He hugged Faith, "Be careful. Write to us if you can."

"I'll try," said Faith. "Hug Hamu and Ishaka for me, okay?"

"We will," Taisha told her. "Bye, sweetheart."

"Bye, Mother."

Faith made them a portal back to Thunder Bluff, and they left shortly after, still telling her to be careful. Smiling a little, Faith looked at where Sylvanas was now sitting, her chin propped against her knee. She looked sad.

"Are you okay?"

Sylvanas glanced at her, "You know how I said that Arthas had tortured me with images of your death?"

A nod.

"Having you really die in my arms was ten times worse than anything I could have imagined."

"I'm going to take a page out of your book now."

Sylvanas looked at her quizzically.

"Shouldn't you be getting over this? It happened nearly four weeks ago."

"Is that a way of getting me back for all the times I told you to get over my death?" She tugged her hood down, exposing her hair, "I didn't understand, how it stays with you to lose the one you love."

Faith looked at her. Warmth and sadness warred within her until finally, she gave in. Taking two steps towards Sylvanas, she knelt in front of her, took her face in her hands, and kissed her. It was soft, merely a press of their lips together, the kind of kiss they had shared countless times. But it was different, perhaps because, now that Faith was dead, they both shared the same body temperature. It felt warm to Faith, instead of cold, the bit she felt of it.

Sylvanas pulled away from her, her eyes wide, "I didn't know you were going to do that…" she whispered.

"Neither did I." Faith licked her lips.

"I thought you said you weren't ready."

"I'm not. I just don't like you being this sad."

"So you kissed because you didn't want me to be sad anymore?"

"That, and because I wanted to. But it…"

"What?"

"Was it different for you?"

"A little. But I didn't feel much of it. I don't think you did either."

"I felt some of it," said Faith. "You… you feel warm on my lips."

Sylvanas gave a small smile, "Yes, I had a feeling that would be the case. If I'd had an inkling you were going to kiss me, I would have used my potion."

"The famous potion that enhances your senses," said Faith, wanting to laugh.

"It's in my room if you want to try it."

"What's the point of being spontaneous when you're expecting it, though?"

"Do you want to try it or not?"

Faith nodded, "All right. Let's see what this potion's all about. But how does it work?"

"Now you're asking me too much. You're the alchemist."

"No, I mean, how do you absorb it? You don't digest anything anymore."

"Oh, that. It's kind of like for the living, except that we absorb it a lot faster, because it's designed for us. It doesn't have the time to hit our digestive system, and it's strong enough that a spoonful is sufficient to last us an entire day."

Faith was glad she couldn't blush anymore as they reached Sylvanas' chambers, "You only used it for sex?"

Sylvanas looked at her, surprised. "Yes. The problem with this potion is that it allows you to feel more of everything, so, while getting stabbed in our current situation would hurt, with the potion, it would hurt a lot more. You get the drift."

"Does that mean that when we were together before, you didn't feel anything?"

"Honey, I started taking the potion the day I first climbed into bed with you."

Blink.

"Oh. Okay then."

"I didn't take it every day, especially when I knew that we were going to battle, but when I knew that you and I were going to spend a considerable amount of time together, yes."

Faith must have looked as shocked as she felt, because Sylvanas started to laugh.

"Hey, I may be dead, but I'm still made of flesh and blood. I have needs, same as everybody else."

"You mean same as everybody who's actually whole?"

"Yes. And, all right, I didn't feel my needs until a few weeks after you came back to me, but still. I keep telling you that you made me better, this was one of the ways."

"If you tell me that you and I didn't have sex sooner because you were working on this potion, I might actually have to kill you."

Sylvanas just looked at her for a moment before she walked to a bookshelf next to her bed and took down a vial of potion. Faith had never noticed it before, or rather, she had never thought to ask Sylvanas what was in those phials. The potion was a deep violet color, nearly black in appearance. "This should be enough to last you a while," she said.

"What about you?"

"I always carry some on me. The phials are made of a special material that's very difficult to break, so that makes it easier." A look of pain crossed her face, "I'm sorry," she said.

"You've been apologizing to me so much lately that it feels like you're trying to apologize to yourself. So stop it. I'm not happy at all about the situation, but I'm learning to deal with it, same as everyone in here." Faith put the potion in a pocket of her robes, "Should we be getting ready to go to Pandaria?"

"I'm already working on that. All you have to do is get on board."

"And in the meantime, what would you like me to do?"

Sylvanas shrugged, "I don't know, Faith. I just… I don't know." She looked at her, "How did you deal with it?"

"With you being dead? I didn't. Sometimes, I would wake up, and just for a second, I would think that everything was okay, that you were alive and that it had all been a very bad dream. Then I'd open my eyes and the smell would hit me, and I'd realize that my worst nightmares were actually my reality."

"And I didn't do anything to help you, did I?"

"Sylvanas, of course you did."

"But I wasn't understanding."

"What do you mean?"

"You were crying all the time. I was frustrated with it, and I know you could tell. I just… I didn't know. I figured that it had happened to me, not to you, so you needed to get over it. I guess I wouldn't have acted that way when I was alive."

Faith sat on Sylvanas' bed and drew the queen to her, "Listen to me, and listen to me carefully. A lot changed. You died, and both our worlds ended once. That changed who we were as people, you most of all, because you were dead and raised. Now, our roles are reversed. I'm the one who was killed and now I'm living as an undead. And you get to feel what I felt when I came back to you and saw what you had become."

"A terrifying dead thing," muttered Sylvanas.

"The love of my life," said Faith. "The only reason I kept myself alive was because of you. I might have died of grief had you not been there for me."

"Why didn't you ever tell me that?"

"Because I knew you didn't want to hear it. You loved me, but there were some things that you would have still found pathetic. This was one of them."

Sylvanas put a hand on her face, "I think I understand now… I'm sorry for not being more supportive."

"You were supportive. You were there for me, which was what I needed. And I'll be there for you now, even when I'm in Pandaria. I still can't believe that place is real."

Welcoming the change of subject, Sylvanas moved away from Faith, "I guess it was hidden from us for a reason."

"And now we're going to take our war with the Alliance to them. Does that seem fair to you?"

"Do you still have feelings for the Alliance? Did you not hear what Jaina nearly did to Orgrimmar?"

Faith blinked, "You didn't see what we did to Theramore, Sylvanas. Jaina destroying Orgrimmar would have just been justice to her. I can't blame her for thinking that. When Arthas destroyed Quel'Thalas, one of the only things I could think of was revenge. And while we're on the topic of revenge, Sylvanas."

Sylvanas looked at her, "What about it?"

"You're going to want to go after Garrosh."

"I haven't decided yet."

Faith chuckled darkly, "Yes you have, I can see it in your eyes. You're grieving, but there's fury beneath the grief. You're going to want to go after him, and you're planning on killing the Kor'kron guards around here first."

"I'm entitled to revenge," said Sylvanas, wondering how Faith had read her mind so accurately.

"Yes, but not like that. An unprovoked attack on the guards would lead to civil war, and we really don't need that right now."

"Even now you have to be the voice of reason. You're supposed to be angry too."

Faith smiled, "I am, and you know that I am. I just do what you do."

"Which is?"

"I don't let my anger rule my actions."

Sylvanas stared at her as if she'd grown an extra head, "Since when do I do that?"

"All right, you try not to when I'm around you."

"Because you keep me anchored. But now you're going to Pandaria, and how am I supposed to not do anything about this while you're gone?"

"The same way I didn't go charging in against Arthas at all hours of the day, Sylvanas. And let me tell you, even with the fact that I killed him… it didn't make things better."

A nod, "I know. You told me all you felt was sadness when he died."

"That's right. I had no real comfort in killing him. And besides, we couldn't leave the Scourge without a leader, so it was almost for nothing."

Sylvanas closed her eyes and shook her head a little, "One problem at a time, love, please."

The two of them stayed physically close together as they made the final preparations to go to Pandaria. Velonara would be coming with them, and would stay with Faith throughout the entire campaign, if that was possible. Rotvine wanted to go as well, but Sylvanas decided to keep him in Undercity.

"Maybe when I come back, you'll be able to go, but I'm not about to leave the city without a leader."

"Nathanos could lead perfectly fine in our absence, you know," said Rotvine reasonably.

Sylvanas winced. Now that Faith was dead, she had noticed that Nathanos appeared a lot more attentive towards her, often looking at her in the adoring way he had when they had both been alive.

"I suppose he feels that you're fair game now," Faith told her. "When I was alive, I had something he didn't have. Now, we're all dead, so it evens out the playing field."

"No it doesn't. You're my lover, nobody else. You're dead now, which actually makes it more of a fact than before."

"Except that we're not technically lovers right now."

"We can change that immediately."

"Greedy," Faith told her. "I'm still not ready for that, though, sorry."

"Can't blame a girl for trying."

Finally, they were ready to leave. Three new Forsaken ships, completely outfitted with supplies and weapons had been commissioned to reinforce the fleet that would be going to Pandaria. Faith and Sylvanas took their place on the newest ship, which was also the biggest. Sylvanas had baptized it The Everstone, and Faith was still at a loss over that.

It was a huge ship with three main decks, its windows made of violet stained glass depicting sceneries of Quel'Thalas. The royal cabin was spacious, maybe a little too spacious for two Forsaken, but Sylvanas had wanted it that way so that the two of them would be close together without getting in each other's way.

Both of them had taken a potion, but Faith really didn't feel ready to be with Sylvanas that way. It was too soon. She couldn't pinpoint why she felt the way she did, maybe because of the changes she'd been through. It was almost like when they'd been in Southern Quel'Thalas, dancing around each other without ever being together.

Almost. Because sometimes, out of the blue, Sylvanas would kiss her. She would force herself not to take it too far, but because of whatever they'd taken, they felt it more, and heat naturally rose between them.

"It's like death did nothing to change my feelings…" she told Velonara on the third day of their journey.

"It didn't, not really. You died loving her, and when Sylvanas raised you, your feelings were still there. If I could see my husband again, I'd… I don't really know what I would do, but I understand the impulse you and Sylvanas still have to be with each other. I mean, think about the way ghosts behave."

"Ghosts?" asked Faith, her eyes widening.

"Sure. I don't mean the Scourged undead, I mean the ghosts who just return and haunt the last place they were when they were alive, or haunt their families. Even Taegan."

"Taegan. Bringing up my shade brother isn't going to help me see things more clearly."

"It should. He was completely changed by the Scourge, and yet he still came to you and was loyal to you. In essence, he still loves you. For some ghosts, it's the same thing. They haunt the people they loved in life because they don't know what else to do. It's a behavior ingrained into their very soul. The same goes for the love you share with Sylvanas."

"You're saying that nothing will change the way she and I feel towards each other? Doesn't that seem a little… unreal?"

"Two decades ago I would have told you that raising a body from the dead was impossible because it went against nature. I know better now. Why wouldn't the love you share with Sylvanas be eternal?"

"Velonara."

She held up her hands, "Isn't it something that you want to think? That despite all the horrible things that happened to you, you can still love each other as you did the first day you realized it was love?"

The first day she realized it was love. Faith remembered that day well, although she hadn't known much about love then. She had known, at the tender age of twelve, that she never wanted to be separated from Sylvanas again. That she wanted to be with her and make sure she was always all right. That she was cared for and happy.

"And you're saying that this is what's happening between Sylvanas and I?"

"Why not? I didn't think the dead could love, Faith. But Sylvanas, Sylvanas proves that it's possible. She might have been misguided when she decided to raise you, but she really did do it out of love."

Faith nodded. She'd heard this so many times in the weeks since she'd turned into an undead that she believed it now. Sylvanas' behavior was more convincing in that regard, when she thought about it. Her interactions with other newly-raised Forsaken were nothing like what she had experienced. Sure, she was more caring towards them, but after a few days, she already expected them to get over everything and start functioning normally.

A short while later, she went back to her cabin, finding Sylvanas there, studying a map of Pandaria. She looked up when Faith entered, before looking at the map again. But she pushed her seat away from the desk, inviting Faith to sit on her lap if she so wished.

Faith took the invitation, sitting on Sylvanas' lap and leaning companionably against her. She still felt awkward, unused to Sylvanas not feeling cold against her own skin, but it was something she felt herself growing accustomed to.

"We should be landing around here," said Sylvanas, pointing to a coast of an area called the Jade Forest.

"That's a pretty name," murmured Faith.

Sylvanas nodded, "Indeed. Although I'm afraid that the name will be the only pretty thing about this place after we're through with it."

"You didn't bring the Blight with you, did you?" asked Faith, alarmed.

"No. I didn't even think about it, to be honest."

"Thank you. I really would have gotten upset with you then."

"I definitely don't want you upset." She gently kissed Faith's cheek, "Is there anything you want us to talk about before we get there?"

Faith shook her head, "I think you've answered most of my questions regarding everything."

"Are you sure? We have time."

"I can't think of anything to ask you right now," whispered Faith.

Sylvanas pressed her cheek against Faith's, closing her eyes. Faith took her hand, gently rubbing their fingers together. She didn't feel it the way she had when she'd been alive, but it was close enough, and it sent a fine shudder down her spine.

"Mm, I felt that," murmured Sylvanas.

"I know you did," said Faith in a low voice. "Is it like that for you? When I touch you and you… need me?"

"Yes. And you've never made me wait before. It's like it was before we ever kissed. I always felt this constant need when I was around you that I couldn't fulfill. It used to drive me outside my mind. You have no idea how many times I pleasured myself thinking about you."

Stunned, Faith turned her head to stare at her, "By the Light, Sylvanas…"

"Did I never tell you that before?"

"No!"

She chuckled, "Look at you, all scandalized. You did the same thing, admit it."

"I… we… maybe… It was a long time ago."

"Not that long ago. What did you think about when you were alone with yourself?"

"How is this going to help you feel less needy?" demanded Faith.

"It won't. But I'll need something to sustain me while you're gone."

"Well, stop that. My telling you what I thought about is only going to get you hot and bothered, and… Sylvanas, your hand."

Sylvanas pouted, "I'm really not used to you denying me."

Faith moved Sylvanas' hand from her inner thigh back to her knee, "The more you try, the less inclined I'm going to be to sleep with you again."

"Oh, that's a solid bunch of crap, Faith, and you know it."

"But it came from my loving unbeating heart." Kissing her briefly, Faith got to her feet, but Sylvanas yanked her back down, giving her the kind of kiss that would have generally made her gasp for breath. "What the heck was that for?" she asked when Sylvanas pulled away from her.

"I won't sleep with you again until you're ready for it, but I will kiss you any time I want. Get used to it."

"Used to it…" whispered Faith, feeling like the blood within her should have been boiling, "You don't usually kiss me like that out of nowhere, you know."

"It's high time I started."

Faith could only stare at her, speechless, unable to believe that one good thing had come from her death.

The rest of the trip passed in the same uneventful way. They crossed no other ships, even when they sailed relatively close to Alliance waters near Elwynn Forest, although Sylvanas was careful to stay in neutral territory. There was a rough patch of weather when they reached Booty Bay, but that actually worked to their advantage, because the winds were at their back, thus allowing them to go marginally faster thanks to a bit of magic.

They reached the coast of Pandaria exactly two weeks after leaving Undercity, and even from a distance, Faith realized that it was a beautiful place they were coming to. She wondered what awaited her there.