My Dear Sylvanas,
If only. If only I could teleport to you this instant, I would. I miss you almost as much as I did when I was in Icecrown. In a way, I think that it's good that I have those experiences to fall back on, because in retrospect, I realize that what I'm going through now isn't quite as bad.
But it hasn't been easy, my love. Not at all.
As a matter of fact, things have been pretty rough. I barely have the time to write anything every day, despite the fact that I don't need any food or sleep anymore, although I do need to rest sometimes. Maybe it's my body still attempting to breathe, I don't know.
I think you know what's been happening. We've been sending regular reports to Undercity, but since I haven't heard from you, I wonder whether our runner actually reached you. She should have.
Shall I start at the beginning?
I arrived back at the Jade Forest, as you will remember, and met several pandaren there who told me what's been happening. Apparently the Temple of the Jade Serpent was besieged by sha while I was gone. Nobody had the time to come and get me. I wish they had – I would have helped. They took care of that, although some pandaren were badly infected by doubt. I have no idea what the long-term effects are of a sha infection, but the pandaren are optimistic.
I didn't really have anything else to do in the Jade Forest, so I made my way back to Kun-Lai Summit, where I met a Brewmaster who brought me to Binan Village through a pass hidden in the mountains.
Now, you know me. I'm not really afraid of caves, unless there are crawling horrors in them. But in the Ancient Passage… there were these creatures… lizard-men made by the Mogu, called saurok. Think of naga, only meaner. Or maybe I just say that because I'm used to naga. They were aggressive, and nearly managed to sink the boat we were in.
But we managed to get to Binan Village without too much trouble, other than a few spears in the hull of the boat we were in. I might always have the sound of their hiss in my mind, though.
Sylvanas put the letter down, not liking the thought of Faith scared. The fact that she had gotten the letter she was holding implied that Faith was safe, but she hadn't been. For a few moments, Faith hadn't been safe away from her. Again. Glancing down, she noted that a few bits of the parchment was smudged with dirt and blood. Faith must have written to her during every bit of spare time she had. She began to read again, smiling at the next line.
I know you. You're going to hate the fact that I was scared even for an instant. I wasn't scared, really. I was a little nervous about going through the cave, but everything went okay.
So. Binan Village.
It was like every other pandaren village I've seen in Pandaria so far, right down to the curious inhabitants who stared at me as though they'd never seen a creature like me before. Which, granted, they hadn't. Some of them were obviously afraid of me, but others were helpful and pointed me in the direction of General Nazgrim.
You'll have to allow me a moment to laugh. Nazgrim and the others were being looked after by a group of pandaren monks who were trying to best to keep the peace between him and General Taylor, who was there with his people. I knew orcs could be crude, but if I'd said those words out loud at home, my mother would have washed my mouth out with soap. Twice. Honestly, I'd never heard so many insults flying through the air before. Not all at once. I guess that since they couldn't physically beat each other to a pulp, they did so verbally.
Nazgrim was pleased enough to see me. He mentioned something about how nice it must have been for me to be home (it was, incidentally) while he and the others were in Kun-Lai. I thanked him for mentioning my break to Garrosh, and he didn't deny having spoken to him about it.
So now we know how he found out that you, my love, decided to keep me hostage in Undercity for nearly a month while I recovered.
"I didn't keep you hostage!" cried Sylvanas, her voice echoing across her office. "Honestly, Faith…"
Don't argue. You know that's what you did. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway, General Nazgrim and General Taylor were too banged up to actually come to blows, so they were just sitting on either end of the room, hurling insults at each other so loudly that I could barely hear the healers who were trying to explain what was going on to me. Haldren, the dwarf paladin who was on my team in Icecrown, was actually there with me. I think that Varian has given him the same instructions Garrosh gave me.
Nazgrim's companions, namely Shokia, were still wounded from battle, even after a month, so they couldn't immediately go with me to set up a Horde base. So I stayed in Binan Village for a while with Haldren. I wish I could say that he and I fought, but really, we caught each other up on what we'd been doing.
It was nice not to fight for a while, but as I'm sure you know, it didn't last long.
A couple of days after I arrived, the yaungol started attacking us. It was pretty brutal because they tried to use flaming arrows.
Sylvanas smiled. Flaming arrows against Faith? The yaungol wouldn't have had a chance there. Closing her eyes, she imagined Faith turning their arrows against them and watching them burn.
Sylvanas… what are you thinking about? I can almost promise that things didn't go the way you're thinking about.
"Get out of my mind, Faith," she muttered, smirking and reading on.
These yaungol knew how to wield fire, much to everyone's dismay. But we were in luck, as only one of the houses in the village burned down, and by the time I left Binan, they were already rebuilding it. I had to resort to actual combat, but that was all right, I guess. A little bloody, but that's something I'm used to now.
The yaungol siege lasted two full days, and we were able to kill most of the attackers, including their leader. Whoever was left retreated back to their camp somewhere close to the village. I hope they don't attack again, but even if they do, the pandaren are surprisingly adept at taking care of themselves.
A few days later, I left with Nazgrim's group to try to set up a Horde camp. Despite what we had managed to do in Binan Village, other pandaren in the area were a little reluctant to help us, because they had troubles of their own. I found out that the yaungol, who are the ancestors of the tauren, have been driven out of the Townlong Steppes area by the mantid, and that they're trying to find a new home, which is why they're attacking the pandaren.
No, I'm not going to try to help them get along with the pandaren, although I think that this would go a long way towards solving everyone's problems.
Sylvanas chuckled, setting the letter down again. "I think you're taking your role as ambassador a little too seriously, my darling."
Rotvine, who had just walked into Sylvanas' office, looked at her, "Are you still reading Faith's letter, my lady?"
"You know how she is when she writes to me."
Rotvine snorted, "Don't pretend you don't love it. I know you've kept every single letter she's written to you over the past few years. And she's kept yours."
"Has she?"
"Sylvanas, she used to sleep with your letters under her pillow."
"Under her pillow… maudlin fool." She looked down at the letter again, listening to Rotvine's laughter as he left her office.
We found several farmers who were willing to help us out, but first, we had to get their people to safety, and help them get food. It was easy enough a task, and once we'd done that, we had twenty people with us. The camp we set up isn't much, just a tent city, really, but there is a tower and a pen for the yaks people use for milk. We were able to fill an entire tent with ammunition and weapons, and that alone was enough to appease Nazgrim.
I wish I could say that was all we did in Kun-Lai Summit, but that's really not the case.
We had a hard time keeping the camp intact, what with the sha-infected wildlife that attacked us at every possible opportunity, and the yaungol not too far away that patrolled the area, not to mention the Alliance camp, which, as it so happens, was set up not far from ours.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
At the end of last month, I got word that something had happened at the Shado-Pan Monastery. That the sha had invaded it, and that Taran Zhu was infected, just as I had suspected. So despite my orders to not engage the sha at all, I went up there, meeting Lorewalker Cho at the entrance.
It was awful, Sylvanas. I've seen hatred before, and I've seen mindless ghouls and zombies tearing people apart, but there's something about seeing the pandaren filled with hatred. They hated us for being anywhere near them. We… we couldn't always drive the sha from them. We actually had to kill some of the Shado-Pan. Out of all the things I have done in my life and undeath, this was one of the worst, I think.
When we reached Taran Zhu, he was so consumed with hatred that we were barely able to approach him without being affected by it. It took us an hour to weaken him enough to get the sha out of him. I think it helped, but he still wasn't himself according to the people who know him.
He thanked us for what we had done for his Shado Pan, but left soon after that. I think he went off to try to kill the Sha of Hatred. I don't know whether he will actually manage it. I wish I could have gone with him, but Lorewalker Cho mentioned that it was something he had to do on his own, since he had been the one most affected by it.
And in any case, I couldn't stay there. A Horde emissary came to the Monastery to get me, stating that Garrosh knew I'd disobeyed his orders (again), and that I was to immediately go to the Krasarang Wilds and disable the night elf camp that had been set up there.
Me. Disable an Alliance camp. I still feel guilty about what we did in Theramore, and he wanted me to disable an Alliance camp, which obviously meant that he wanted me to kill everyone who was there. How was I supposed to do that? I felt it was a suicide mission, and even now, weeks later, I think that he was hoping I would get killed.
Sylvanas frowned and looked up at Rotvine, "Have you heard anything about our troops in the Krasarang Wilds?"
"A report has just come in about them being infected by the sha. Other than that, I haven't heard anything. There's a tauren camp there, but that's all I know."
"What about a night elf camp? Anything about that?"
"Not that I'm aware of. But I can find out if you want me to."
"No. The letter doesn't end here, so I'm sure that whatever Faith did, she's all right."
"You do realize that Faith is practically invulnerable now, don't you? I mean, short of cutting off her head, I don't think it would be that easy to kill her."
The idea of Faith being decapitated made Sylvanas' blood run cold. Or it would have had her blood been warm in the first place. "Thank you for that lovely image, Carrick."
"Look, she's fine. If she was able to get this to you, it means she's all right. She wasn't able to bring you her news herself, probably because she's busy and because she knows that coming back to Undercity would take more than a few minutes."
Sylvanas looked at Faith's handwriting. She'd always had beautiful penmanship, and it had remained so even after her death. "You want to read it?"
"Not if there's anything… intimate in there."
"It's not a love letter."
"In that case, I'd like to read it once you're done with it."
A nod. Sylvanas went back to the letter, her fingers slowly tracing the lines of ink on the parchment.
The journey to the Wilds was okay. We had to go back through the Valley of the Four Winds, which took us through Halfhill Market again. It was a nice breath of fresh air after the fighting we went through, but we couldn't stay there long. People tend to think that because we're undead, we don't mind fighting all the time. Garia hates that way of thinking, despite the fact that she's an orc. I guess even she craves peace sometimes.
We left the market the day after we got there to give our pandaren companion a chance to rest. Suro decided to come with us, because he wanted to go see people at the Temple of the Red Crane, which was on the way, more or less.
You know, when I reached the Krasarang Wilds, I felt, for a moment, that I was back home. The place is aptly named, as it's a dense forest, but it's green and full of life. The trees are different than the ones in Quel'Thalas, but regardless of that, it was like going back in time. I think you would like it.
What can I say about the Wilds? We immediately saw that something was amiss when we got to the tauren settlement. They are indeed having problems with the night elves. One of their runners had just been killed by Kaldorei arrows, and they had sent people to kill the Darnassus runner, which I thought was a bad idea. The way I see it, they could have sent one of the druids there, and met up with a druid in the night elven camp, to negotiate things. It might have been easier than all the bloodshed.
I didn't really have time to worry about the night elves, to be honest. There was a mogu settlement nearby, and they were using some of our people for necromantic experiments. I'm not really sure what they were doing, but almost as soon as we arrived, we had to go rescue whoever was alive. Garia nearly lost an arm during the battle, but despite all that, she got me out of a tight spot. I guess I can't fight off five mogu at once, even with your essence inside me. Not that I had a choice in the matter.
No, I won't give you details about the fight. You'll just get worried again. And I know you want me home, but I can't leave, not yet.
I won't bore you with details of life at the tauren camp. Let's just say that it was nice to be with the people of Mulgore again. Some of them accompanied us when we went with Suro to the Temple of the Red Crane, because the Wilds aren't safe for anybody. Other than the mogu, there are some very aggressive tigers, some of the biggest ones I've ever seen, and giant snakes.
Most of the wildlife here has been corrupted by the sha of despair, and it got progressively worse as we neared the temple. I don't know how many animals we were forced to kill, but part of me hated to do it. We only stopped the slaughter when we saw a group of pandaren monks a short way from the temple.
They looked battered and sad. And, Sylvanas, I have no idea how he got to be there, but Prince Anduin was with them.
I know what you're going to say. I shouldn't mention Anduin in a letter. But you don't know me as well as you think you do if you forget the fact that I know a few tricks here and there. If this letter is intercepted, all someone will see at this point is… something else.
Sylvanas burst into laughter. Calling Rotvine over, she showed him the passage she was reading, and asked him what he saw. He began to read, but a moment later, he stepped away from her, rubbing at his cheek slowly.
"Why are you… you said this wasn't a love letter!"
"It's not. Faith masked a passage here that's only for me. Anybody else reading it sees whatever it is that you've read."
"Whatever I read definitely wasn't for my eyes. I'll never get that image out of my head now, and I've seen the two of you doing plenty of… things."
Sylvanas smirked, "Things?"
"You know what I mean."
"I wonder what she wrote."
"I'm sure she'll tell you when she sees you. Or that she'll show you. But whatever it is, please leave me out of it. I've been scarred enough in my life without having to witness that."
Still smiling, Sylvanas kept reading about Faith's time in the Krasarang Wilds. "She didn't have an easy time of it over there. They were attacked by the saurok and by the sha. And they lost people."
"I don't think that anybody expected to get through Pandaria unscathed, not with everything that's going on. I mean, we have the war with the Alliance, the sha, the mogu, and the saurok. That's a lot of things to contend with."
"She says she's grateful for her experiences with the Scourge because it helps her get through that. Still, I wish I were with her."
"And how would you fight off the sha of despair?"
"I don't know. Faith says here she couldn't do it right away."
When we got to the temple, Sylvanas, the whole place was overrun with sha. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and it was all I could do to not succumb to the despair that suddenly overwhelmed me.
Everything that I've felt since your death, every moment of despair, was multiplied tenfold in just a few minutes, and I thought that I was going to just to end my life. Even thinking about it now makes me want to kill myself.
But things got better. Prince Anduin was able to erect a shield around me, and helped me as I fought off the entities as best I could. I'm not ashamed to admit that I needed help, but if Garrosh finds out, I don't know what he'll do.
"Faith Everstone! You get over here this instant!" screamed Sylvanas suddenly.
But she didn't materialize in front of her as she had done last time. Sylvanas was forced to read the rest of the letter, which detailed the way Faith and the others had been able to cleanse the temple, and how they were now using it as a base in the Wilds, with the Alliance on one side of the temple, and the Horde on the other.
Things are all right now, and calm enough to allow me to send this to you. We're waiting for more orders, and while I know that Garrosh will hate the fact that I didn't break apart the Alliance camp, I think I've done okay here, as we were able to open a trade route for the Horde. All of the animals that we killed should bring enough food and pelts for the soldiers here.
Although I honestly don't think that anybody should eat sha-infected meat. Who knows what kind of effect that might have on an unsuspecting person?
Putting down the letter one final time, Sylvanas laughed, her fingers now tracing the ink that mentioned Faith's love for her.
"I'll see you soon," she whispered.
