Carolyn unfurled a map across the coffee table.

"We're here," she said, pointed at a lake in Tirisfal Glades and dragged it down Silverpine Forest to the edge of Gilneas. "That's a day's worth of travel for me, but I don't need to sleep, so it will end up being a two-day trip, maybe three."

Lawrence leaned over the map, his arm cradling his sore ribs. They both sat on a floral print couch covered with too many knitted doilies, a box of Lovely chocolates between them. Two weeks had past since Lawrence transformed, and now that his ribs were almost healed, he was itching to get back to Gilneas.

"If we take a cart, I can sleep in the back. I don't want to risk staying out longer in the open than I have to, Carolyn."

She nodded and put a curled knuckle to her lips. "I see your point, but travelling at night is dangerous, even for the undead."

"I'll be with you."

"Thank you, but you're probably as unfamiliar with the territory as I am. I know someone who might help, but…"

"But?"

"He's one of the Deathguard. I don't know if he would even accept to help us, and even then I don't want to put him at risk because of this."

Lawrence leaned back in his seat and growled in frustration. Suddenly, he laughed.

"What's wrong?" Carolyn asked."

"I was starting to get used to being a worgen, now I'm human again and it feels strange," he said, but there was more to it that he couldn't quite explain in great detail to Carolyn because he was still sorting himself out. All he could say was, "I feel disconnected with my body."

Carolyn patted him on the arm. "Well, give it time and you'll feel like yourself again, I'm sure."

Lawrence chewed on that for a moment. "Can I ask about how it feels to be undead?"

"I suppose I feel the same as I did when I was alive." Carolyn pressed her white gloved fist under her chin, her face sagging with grief. "It's just difficult because I look into a mirror and it's like, 'oh right, I lost my humanity.' Half the time I change with my eyes closed so I don't have to look at myself."

"I'm sorry. That was a rather personal question, wasn't it?"

"Well, when's the next time you'd be able to ask one of us about it? And I'm fine with talking about it, or else I wouldn't have started my guild. You don't have to worry about yourself, though. At least you're still human and alive."

"You're human too, though."

"I used to be, and then I died. It's hard to explain it but trust me when I say that I'm not really human anymore."

She didn't sound angry or sad, but just tired.

"Anyway!" Carolyn said and clasped her hands, "Let's focus on—"

Suddenly the door flew open and a tall, dark, and purple-armored Forsaken man burst in. His dark blue brow bent deeply over his burning yellow eyes, massive bolts lining his angular face as if they were keeping it attached to his head. Toxic green frizzy hair poked from under his helmet.

Carolyn stood in front of Lawrence. "Iono, I can explain, I—"

She was cut off when he slammed the door, locked it, and skulked into the bedroom to make sure the window was shut.

"I could hear you through the door. Now tell me-Why. Is. This. Person. Here."

"Snickerdoodle fished him out of the lake," Carolyn sputtered.

Lawrence gasped and his dizziness eased, but his body couldn't move. Every bit of him was locked with fear.

"I'm being serious! He fished him out and dropped him at my doorstep."

Iono side stepped Carolyn and leaned over to Lawrence.

"Why are you here?" he demanded.

Lawrence swallowed, but his mouth was still dry. "Your kind brought me here. You kidnapped me, threw me in a wagon with a couple of other worgen, and that wagon fell in the lake over here. I've only stayed because I had been seriously injured."

"Please, Iono, don't—" Carolyn shrieked when Iono grabbed Lawrence by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Do I look gullible to you?" Iono hissed through blackened teeth. "I will give you two options, however. I kill you now, or I take you to Undercity where you get to live a little longer."

Iono's demands were nearly drowned out by the blood rushing in Lawrence's ears. A shiver ran through him as he felt hair grow thick and fast.

"I'm going back home," Lawrence answered.

Iono grinned and held Lawrence by the throat with one hand so he could grab his dagger on his waist with the other.

"Death it is then."

Iono swung upwards to stab Lawrence in the heart, but Lawrence's massive claws caught him at the wrist. The undead's fingers slipped as Lawrence's neck expanded and his head morphed into a worgen's head. Lawrence grabbed the hand around his neck and tried to pry it off, but Iono was much stronger than his decomposed frame suggested. But now Lawrence brandished his extended jaw full of sharp teeth that would rip his arm into ribbons.

Carolyn swooped in and grabbed at both of their hands, begging them to stop.

"Not in my home!" she wailed. "Don't do this! Step back, just please just step back so we can talk about this."

Iono still glared at Lawrence as he said, "Carolyn, do you know what it means to harbor the enemy? Sylvannas will give you a true death. If we kill him now, no one will know what happened here."

"Lawrence is my friend, Iono, and I promised I would help him get back home. Please, please, please don't do this. Please."

Iono twisted his lips and he spat with impatience, but Lawrence could feel his death grip loosening.

"Call your dog off," Iono said, "and I'll stand down."

Lawrence snarled at that, and Iono's grip tightened. Carolyn placed an ungloved hand on Lawrence's shoulder.

"Please, Lawrence, you have to let him go so he can let you go."

"He'll kill me if I do."

"He won't kill you, right Iono?"

Iono scowled, but said, "I won't kill you."

Lawrence trusted Carolyn, but who knew with this Iono. He may have just been saying that to get his chance to slit Lawrence's throat.

Carolyn put her other hand on Iono's shoulder and said, "I see that we may be having some trust issues. How about you both let go at the same time and walk away from this? If I count to three, will you both let go?"

"All right," Lawrence said.

"Fine," Iono said.

"Okay then," Carolyn squeezed her hands on both their shoulders. "On three then. One…two…"

Lawrence took what he feared would be his final breath.

"Three."

They let go of each other, and Iono took several steps back. Lawrence snapped his jaw shut to swallow down the sudden shot of bile in his throat.

Not taking his eyes of Lawrence, Iono asked Carolyn, "How were you planning on getting him back to where he came from?"

"Horse and cart through Silverpine."

"You'd be caught before you even left Tirisfal."

She put her hands to her hips. "What can I do, then?"

"Nothing." A half of a grin twitched up his face. "I have a bat. I'll fly him there tonight."

"What?" Lawrence gasped.

"Oh, Iono! Thank you!" Carolyn squealed as she ran up to him. "But what about the death guard? Don't you have work tonight?"

His grin vanished. "I'm not apart of it any longer."

"But I thought—"

Lawrence, still flat against the wall, growled, "How can I trust you after you just threatened to kill me or to take me to Undercity? What will stop you from throwing me off your bat?"

"Nothing," Iono answered lightly, "except that I promised Carolyn that I would take you to Gilneas."

"Promise that you'll take me and leave me alive."

"Of course."

Carolyn turned to Lawrence, took him by his claws and beamed up at him. "Iono is my friend as well. I'm sure that he'll make sure you'll be safe. He always keeps his word."

He looked over her shoulder and inspected Iono, who keep his dark, ragged face infuriatingly neutral. He looked back down at Carolyn.

"There's not much daylight left. I'd like to leave tomorrow night instead of tonight to plan exactly where Iono should drop me off, and better prepare myself when I am there."

"The longer you stay here, the better chance you have of getting us all caught," Iono said.

Lawrence remembered Father sleeping besides his overturned tea cup the night he ran away.

"This isn't the first escape I've made. The less prepared we are, the better chance we have of getting caught, and I don't plan on getting caught."

Carolyn went to Iono, smiling sweetly to him. "I have to agree with Lawrence. If we had ridden out on Snickerdoodle with as much time to prepare as you want to give us now, we definitely would have been caught. Besides, I need to make Lawrence provisions for the trip and when he finally gets home. And he's been here for a while and no one's seen him, so one more day wouldn't hurt."

"How long?" Iono demanded.

"A little over three weeks, and no one's seen him!" Carolyn said, her smile so wide that her skin tugged at the stitches in her jaw.

Iono, however, looked far from cheerful. "We'll leave tomorrow night. Both of you, stay in here and keep the door and windows shut. Do not leave until I come to the door tomorrow at sundown. Don't even answer this door unless it's me."

He pivoted and slammed the door shut without another word. Carolyn ran to the door and locked it, but held onto the doorknob for a moment. She looked at Lawrence, looking absolutely terrified.

"Everything is all right. No cause for alarm," she said faintly. "I was careful, about everything. There's no way someone would know. If they did, they would have reported it already and we both would have been dead by now."

Lawrence took a shaky step forward, wanting to voice his doubts but deciding against it. He took a deep breath, and focused on changing back into his human form. Slowly his body shrank, the fur sunk back into his skin, and his body returned to normal again, only now his clothes were stretched out and a little torn.

"Oh!" Carolyn said, "Your transformation is so…so interesting! Oh, but your shirt and pants. I need to fix those now."

"Actually, aside from the rips and tears, I don't mind it stretched out. I have a feeling that I'll be growing into these clothes soon."

Carolyn laughed at that, and they began to prepare for the next night. Lawrence picked three possible spots for Iono to take him to. The Blackwald was his first choice, of course, Stormglen being next, but for his third choice he went a little closer to the wall: Emberstone Village. The village being so close to the wall meant, of course, that there was a good chance of Forsaken invasion. But if it wasn't overrun, maybe Mrs. Evergreen would be there. Alive, dead, but hopefully not undead.

After a supper of murloc fin soup and heart-shaped gooey spider cakes, they sat on Carolyn's couch before a fire and reviewed the items in Lawrence's leather pack.

"Here's some dried peaches, some rice cakes, a couple of meat pies, some water, a blanket, a new shirt, and my big knife. It's pretty light, but hopefully this will be enough until you find your family."

He tied up the pack and knotted it to make sure nothing would fall out on the bat ride. "Thank you, Carolyn, for everything. I wish I had something to give you in return."

"I don't need anything, really. I'm just glad I could help," Carolyn said and tugged at the edges of her frilly night cap with a shy smile on her face.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything!"

"Do you really consider me a friend, or did you say that to get Iono to help us?"

Carolyn folded her hands under her chin and sighed.

"Well, I did tell him that to get Iono to help us, but I did that because I do think of you as my friend and I want to help you. Do you consider me a friend?"

"I do," he said, and meant it. His heart overflowed with an aching need to stay with her, to know her better. "I almost wish you could come with me."

"Almost?" she chuckled.

"Gilneas is probably in ruins and the other worgen would probably kill you if I brought you along."

"That's very true."

Lawrence pulled his knees up on the cushion and practically melted into the couch. The heavy food and warmth from the fireplace made it very hard for him to keep his eyes open.

"I wish you could have seen it before the Worgen curse and the earthquakes and the Wall falling," he murmured. "The Blackwald will always be my true home. It's an ancient forest, quite peaceful, and easy to become lost in. You might have liked the city better, though. It's where myself and my cousins were born and grew up."

"Cousins?" Carolyn asked.

Lawrence gritted his teeth for a moment. He had been careful not to talk to her about his family, partly because she didn't need to know and partly because it still hurt to think that everyone she knew may be dead.

Carolyn flashed an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry."

"All you'll find is regret if you pry far enough."

"I know that feeling too well," Carolyn said with a laugh. "It's strange, when I was alive, I wished that I could be someone out of the ordinary, who went on the grand adventures she wrote about. Now, I wish I could be ordinary again. I'm trying to be ordinary again, but..."

Carolyn swooped her boney arm over herself, and gave a small, sad chuckle.

Lawrence chewed on this for a moment, then said, "I've been feuding with one cousin because when his son ran away to live with me, I didn't force him to go back home. The first time he did, he was ten, so of course I made him go back home. My cousin and I agreed to have his son stay with me for a year, and then he would return. The son returned, was unhappy with his home life, and ran away back to me when he was fifteen. When his father came to collect him, I stood by his son's decision to stay with me. My cousin was furious with me, saying he was only a child. Well, I was fifteen when I—"

He stopped himself just as he teetered on the edge of giving his whole life story to Carolyn. Carolyn, who listened with her head propped up by the back of her hand, looked at him with an eager face.

"Not a word of this goes in your stories," Lawrence warned. "Not a word of this leaves this house."

Carolyn held her hand out. "Deal. Would you like some tea?"

Lawrence shook it. "That would be lovely."

After Carolyn brewed a bit of tea, she listened intently as Lawrence unraveled his story from his childhood up to the point of his great falling out with Castor. He had not given her any names and she thankfully didn't ask for any. By the time he was finished it was quite late in the night and his voice had grown hoarse, even after several cups of tea and honey.

LLL

"Blackwald and Stormglen are too far away," Iono said immediately after Lawrence proposed his three possible drop-off ideas.

Lawrence knew he couldn't hide the irritation on his face as he looked down at the map on the coffee table. "What about Emberstone?"

"The Forsaken have claimed that, and I haven't heard of any reports of worgen there. There's fighting in the Headlands, definitely in the Northern Headlands. You might want more cover, though, so I suggest we go to the Northgate Woods."

"Who occupies Gilneas City?"

"The Forsaken."

Lawrence sighed and handed Iono the map. "We're going to the Northgate Woods then."

The three of them went outside, where a vampire bat that was the size of a fat horse waited for them. Its glowing green eyes glared at Lawrence for a moment before clicking its fangs in greeting. Iono ruffled its black hair, then threw a large, burlap sack at Lawrence.

"What's this?" Lawrence spat.

"A very large potato sack, what else would it be?"

"Isn't it going to look strange to have a potato sack riding a bat?"

"Of course it would, which is why Ashwing is going to carry you."

Carolyn stepped in between them. "Wouldn't that be terribly uncomfortable, Iono?"

"It will be if he decides to change into his worgen form. Might scare the bat and make him drop, and it wouldn't be anyone else's fault except yours, Gilnean."

"Iono, you promised to take him to safety—"

"I will, and this is the best way I can think of for now to do so. He'll be uncomfortable for a few hours, but he'll be safe once I reach this er…Northgate Woods." He took her hand, which surprised her. "Do you trust me or not?"

"I trust you, I just worry."

"You needn't worry," he said, then looked up at Lawrence. "Why aren't you in that sack yet?"

Lawrence shook his head and turned his attention to Carolyn. "I suppose this is goodbye."

Carolyn threw her arms around him, and Lawrence hugged her back. Even with her thick wool cloak and padded dress, he could feel her pronounced ribs. When they released each other, Carolyn wiped phantom tears away from her cheeks.

"Please take care of yourself," she said. "And if we never meet again, I'll never forget you."

"I'll never forget you either. And thank you again, for everything you've done."

Carolyn helped Lawrence and his pack into the potato sack, and Iono tied up the end tight. Luckily, a rip in the burlap just at Lawrence's eyes allowed him to see and breathe a little easier. Iono's vice grip on his shoulder sent shivers down Lawrence's spine.

In a low, gravely voice Iono said, "Listen, you need to be very still. Don't move, don't scream, don't even whisper, or your choices will be either be death by crushing claws or death by gravity. Understood?"

Considering that he wasn't allowed to speak, Lawrence didn't answer. Lawrence sucked in his cheeks as he took a breath of relief, listening to Iono's footsteps.

Powerful claws grappled his body and suddenly he was lifted into the air. Lawrence let out a yelp of surprise, but the bat cradled him closer to its body that stunk of old blood. He felt fur sprouting from his arms. Taking deep, long breaths, he calmed down and willed the transformation to postpone itself, even though he felt it gnaw on his temple.

The bat climbed and climbed in the sky, pressure building in his chest and ears until he lost consciousness. A moment later his eyes flew open and he wheezed until he could breathe normally again. He couldn't hear the bat flapping his wings, and he assumed they were gliding.

He groaned at a sharp poke to his head. Iono laughed.

"Good. I forgot you needed to breathe," he yelled, his cackle quickly fading away into the night wind.

Lawrence wanted to yell back him, but his dizzy head thought better of it. So he watched as stretches of forest disappeared under the night, pearls of burning red torches and sickly green wagons that blazed with fel magic scattered throughout the dark land. This may be as good a time as any to try and get some sleep, and at least the bat's body was warm and alive. Lawrence closed his eyes and tried to dream of something pleasant.

He opened his eyes when he heard guttural yells of what he guessed were more Forsaken. Several wingbeats matched Ashwing's. Slowly, carefully, Lawrence rose his fist up to his face and bit it. More choppy, wet sounds that almost sounded like Common. He grappled to Iono's voice, praying that he was coming up with some excuse for flying here, wherever here was now. Some hours must have passed since they had left. Maybe Ashwing looked tired and the others were concerned.

The other voices and wings faded away, and they dropped.

Lawrence screamed until his voice gave out, but Ashwing screamed for him. They dropped, then curved sideways silent and swift. Lawrence threw up on the burlap, and it stuck to face and ran hot down his hair. Suddenly they were upright again, slowly lowering until Lawrence felt the wonderfully solid ground.

Lawrence shredded the potato sack as he emerged from it, quickly transforming into his worgen form. He scanned and sniffed the heavily wooded area, but it appeared that the two were alone. The Forsaken cackled at him.

"You were right, you know," Iono said, "I was planning on throwing you off this bat and letting that be the end of it, or at least bring you here safely before letting ol'Ashwing have you for dinner, but, as you can probably guess, she is my weakness."

"Kindness isn't weakness."

"Pity is," he sneered, and he flew straight up into the early morning sky.

Lawrence stared up at the thick, familiar sledge of gray clouds and felt the first pinpricks of rain. His nose twitched as it took in the scenery. Far off, there were the undead, but there were worgen. He needed to find them before the rain washed their scent away. Falling to all fours, he sniffed until he found a promising trail, and set off in unfamiliar territory.

It didn't matter that he had never been in these woods before, because he was in Gilneas. He was finally home.

AN: Thank you so much for your patience! This chapter ended up being longer than anticipated. :p But there's only three more chapters left for Lawrence! :O His story ended up being longer than anticipated. Thanks for reading and reviewing!