Luc and Silver waited at the city gates, watching the sun rise over the towers. Their forces were arrayed in front of the deserted wall, waiting for any signal to attack.

Stormwind seemed dead. The alert bells had rung a long time ago, and there had been no other sound since then. Doors occasionally opened and closed at the tops of the towers, but the number of guards stayed the same. No shots were fired, nor was there any sign of the Queen Regent.

"I do not understand why we cannot just storm the city now," Elivagar complained.

"Too much at risk. If she does still hold the Emerald Heart, that would be suicide," Luc snapped at him. It was the first words he had spoken to the other earthwarden since the night of his banishment.

"We would have seen some indicator of its presence by now if she was going to-"

As if waiting for his cue, a blinding flash tore open the cloudy sky. Lightning exploded from the roof of the Palace and arced up into the heavens, forming a slim thread of golden Light that shone like molten metal in the dimness. It hung in the air between the city and the sky. Energy raced up and down in pulses of green and silver.

Elivagar shut his mouth quickly. Silver clenched the handle of her axe and swore quietly to herself.

"So he failed," Luc murmured. "We need to retreat. Now. She could slaughter us all…"

"The gates!" A shout came from the front lines of their combined force. "The gates are opening!"

Luc nudged his horse forward. Silver and Elivagar followed close behind. A single rider was approaching them slowly, raising a black flag.

"It is a messenger," Silver said. "They are offering us a parley."

"This could be a trap."

"There is no need to trap us or kill us through some trickery when the Regent has already demonstrated the power of the Emerald Heart. Besides, she has acted honorably with shaman emissaries in the past." Silver lowered her axe and motioned for Luc to do the same. "If she allows us to bargain peacefully, we may be able to leave Stormwind territory without bloodshed."

COMMUNITY DECISION: Accept the parley and send three shamans under a truce to speak with Lady Aria and Queen Regent Serena.


"I will accept the offer, if no one has any objections," Silver said. "And I will go."

"We cannot risk you," Luc said immediately. "I will go."

"Do not act like you care about me," Silver muttered. "I will bring two of my Council-"

"Do you really think Serena will want to hear from the shaman who plotted the murder of her mother? Find Syncro for me, I sent him as emissary when she first took the throne. Hopefully she may be reminded of our agreement…"

"I am already here." Syncro hurried up to the group, leading his horse. "Iris is prepared to go as well."

"No," Elivagar snapped. He shoved the thunderlord out of his way. "I am going."

"You are not doing any diplomatic speaking while there is still breath in me," Syncro retorted. "I have dealt with the Regent and Lady Aria in the past-"

"And you doomed us all to the possibility of wasting away under the Crown," the earthwarden sneered. "No one has forgotten that."

"I will go," Nora piped up from the other side. "Lady Aria likes me."

"I cannot tell if you are very brave or very stupid, but either way, you are not doing the talking," Elivagar snapped at her. "I suppose she can come with me, though."

Luc and Silver exchanged conflicted looks.

"I believe the time for gentle diplomacy has long since passed," Silver finally said. "Zinc, accompany Elivagar and Nora to the Palace. Make sure they do not step on too many of the Regent's toes… but feel free to twist her arm a bit."

A few hours later, the three shamans followed the silent messenger through the city gates. Elivagar looked around and immediately felt claustrophobic as he passed under the stone arch. The heavy walls and tall buildings cast sharp shadows against the radiance of the Light pouring from the top of the Palace.

Acolytes watched them closely from both sides. A wide assortment of weapons were held at the ready, not enough to be threatening, but they served as a clear warning. Make one wrong move, and you die.

He tried to count how many there were, but it was impossible to tell. They seemed to be evenly matched in numbers against the shamans outside. He didn't see any signs of mages or warriors in the assembled army or on the walkways at the top of the wall. Looking up at it made him dizzy and he quickly concentrated on the feel of the horse's reins in his hands.

They turned down the winding main street and through a long strip of strange box-like houses, with very small windows and doors banded with metal.

"Acolyte's barracks," Zinc whispered to him. "They are going to meet us in the House of Light, I think."

Elivagar nodded and tried to push down his nervousness. They were meeting on Serena's terms, in the place where she held absolute power. He thought about what Silver had told him to say, and clung to her reassurances that the Regent was not likely to hurt them in any way. It was a fragile hope that seemed to wear even thinner when they reached the doors to the House.

"Dismount here, then enter the main hall and wait. The Lady Aria and Her Majesty will meet you there."

Zinc bowed slightly to the messenger and swung down off of his saddle. Elivagar did the same and an acolyte took the horses' reins. Nora looked defiant for a few seconds, but Zinc shot her a glare and she grudgingly followed suit.

The gold doors opened and they went inside. It was dark compared to the searing Light outside, and Elivagar had to squint to see anything. There were rows of worn wooden pews along the aisle, but all of them were empty. Lamps lined the walls and columns, and there was an odd stone sculpture that stood on a platform at the end of the hall.

"So they agreed to a parley." A woman's voice echoed from the far end of the House accompanied by two pairs of footsteps. "Seeing as they mustered all of their remaining forces to confront the House of Light yet again, I was not sure wisdom still existed among the shamans' leaders. I thank you all for proving me wrong."

Nora opened her mouth and Zinc elbowed her hard in the stomach before she could speak.

"We are not here to trade insults, Your Majesty."

"I know." The Regent stopped in front of the sculpture, picked up a silver pitcher, and poured its contents into a small hollow. "Neither am I."

She lit a tiny candle over the pool of water and waved her clenched right fist over the flame. "I, Serena Rose, am the Daughter of the House… the Child of the Light who wields the power of the gods in mortal hands. I ask for your blessing in this time of strife. Send me those who walked before, the fallen, the weak, the timid, the wronged. Send me the strength they once had… and let their fury cleanse this world."

The water seemed to boil up towards her hand, rising and surging of its own accord in a glistening pillar. Elivagar felt a terrible wave of power so strong that his hair nearly stood on end. The air twisted and shattered around the sculpture, then reformed a second later. The tiny candle flame wavered for a second, and exploded into a column of golden Light that rose through the roof of the House into the clouds above.

"I have activated two shrines. The third will unleash the power of the Emerald Heart on every single one of your fighters. There will be nothing left of you, not even bones. The shamans will fade into memory, then myth. Soon the world will forget you even existed." Serena turned away from them and Elivagar heard a tiny click as she fumbled with her locket. Her right wrist looked odd somehow, but the illumination radiating from the shrine seemed to wash the color and detail from his surroundings.

"We are at your mercy," Zinc said quietly. "We ask that you allow our forces to leave unchallenged, and in return, the shamans will return all of our lands to the Crown. We will abandon this country entirely, and seek a new homeland beyond the sea. There will never be resistance to the authority of the Bloodline from us again, and we will not return."

"Oh good heavens," another woman quavered. "Zinc… oh, it doesn't have to be like this, dear."

"Aria, shut up," Serena said flatly. "I must say, I expected better of you, Zinc."

"If your expectations were that high, then you never truly knew me, Your Majesty."

"Hi Lady Aria," Nora chirped.

"Nora… oh my goodness." Lady Aria sniffled sadly and brushed at her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. "I am so sorry to be meeting with you here."

"If you are done having your little reunion, I will lay out my own terms for them to consider," Serena growled. She scratched at her wrist and glared at the Minister.

"I apologize," Aria said meekly. "Go on."

"Here is my offer. You will surrender your leaders and their Councils to me for public execution. You will allow me to select the new shaman leadership, and then you will proceed with your plan to abandon your current lands. I know that you helped to plot a direct attack on the Palace using the warriors at Neolithic. Lady Q_T has been warned about their involvement. She will make sure that all of their conspirators are silenced." Serena smiled coldly and turned her locket over in her fingers. "What do you say? Eighteen lives in exchange for thousands. It is a rather generous deal, considering the injury you did to me."

Cold numbness ran through Elivagar's veins and he nearly collapsed. Axoy had failed worse than they had thought. How had she traced it back to their plan at Neolithic?

"I will be meditating at the shrine if you need time to think." Serena turned her back on them and walked down to the front pew. "This does take quite a bit of focus, you know."

The moment she was gone, Aria rushed up to them and gripped Zinc's shoulders.

"I swear, this wasn't what she said she was going to do. I had no idea she wanted to… oh my goodness, I can't even consider it." Aria began to sob into her hands. "I don't know what you can do now…"

"We'll find another solution," Zinc muttered. "We cannot bargain away their lives without-"

"We have two things on her," Elivagar said suddenly. "We know that she took the crown by threatening Luc, and we know she killed the King's maids."

"What?!" Aria gasped. "These are outrageous accusations-"

"Aria, not right now," Zinc told her. "I do not see how threatening her will do us any good…"

"Do you think her own acolytes will stand behind a murderer and a liar?"

"They have to! We have no chance here. I know you do not like hearing this, but the odds are much too high to try anything-"

Elivagar nudged him aside. "Aria, tell her that we will surrender on my terms alone. She will give up the crown that she took by force, and she will resign her position as the Daughter of the House. The Ministers will punish her for the murder of the king's twenty maids and a warrior of Stormwind. The true heir will be crowned as soon as she is of age, and Serena herself will live out her days in Arathi as an exile. Those are our terms. We will not accept any other."

Nora's eyes bulged and Zinc went deathly pale. "Have you lost your mind?"

Aria opened and shut her mouth several times, glancing at the three shamans. "Her Majesty… will not be happy with your decision-"

"It's not her decision to make," Elivagar snapped.

"Clearly I spoke too soon about the presence of wisdom among the shamans," Serena muttered from the front of the hall. "Have you forgotten that I can wipe out your entire force of fighters at any time?"

"I think the dead are the last ones you would want to answer to," Elivagar said quietly. "I am sure they remember the face of their killer very well... particularly the Palace maids and a certain warrior."

The Regent seemed to freeze in place. "Who?"

"Save the innocent act for someone stupider than me." Elivagar gripped the handle of his felflame blade. "I know what you did to wear that crown, and I know you will answer for your crimes."

Serena fixed him with an icy stare. "You presume to know far too much-"

"That crown should never have been yours!" Elivagar shouted back. "We know you coerced Luc into giving you the Regency! Where are your promises now, oath-breaker?"

"There was no alternative!"

"There was an alternative. One that you could never consider. Forgiveness. Allowing your sister to return to the Palace, not as a prisoner or an exile, but as your own flesh and blood. Then the Regency could have been yours by the Chieftain's free choice, and this might never have happened at all."

Aria let out a little squeak of panic. "Don't listen to him, Your Majesty, he hasn't any clue what he's talking about-"

"I do not care about what he knows or does not know, I will not stand for this-" Serena began.

"Take a seat then," Elivagar sneered. "Take several seats actually. One for your arse and five for your ego."

"Excuse me!" Serena hissed. "As the Daughter of the House and the Queen Regent of the three cities, I can have you killed-"

"You are also living proof that neither of those positions require great gifts of intelligence," Elivagar said pointedly. "We are here as your guests. I am neither a subject of Stormwind nor an acolyte of the House- you have no power to threaten me here and now. I will ask only one more time: accept my terms or stand aside, you stupid woman. "

The Regent's pale face turned red with fury and the Light shrine raged even brighter than before. "You have overstepped your bounds. Tell Luc to make his peace with whatever gods he prays to. He will meet them soon."

"Your Majesty," Aria whispered. "He does have a point about your-"

"This is not a time to bring up Lucy to me Aria. Lead them back to the gates and help the other Ministers ensure that the city is secure. I think this will be over even faster than I thought." Serena turned away again and lit another tiny candle in front of the shrine. "Go."

"You will pay for what you have done," Elivagar called to her. "We both know that the dead have a lengthy score to settle with you."

"Your knowledge of the Heart's capabilities is basic at best." Serena picked up the candle again and faced him. "If you knew anything about its true power, I think you would not have said what you did… but this is what we have come to now."

"It is," Elivagar said. He brushed Aria's trembling hand off of his shoulder and met the Regent's gaze. "No matter what happens next… there is blood on your hands. We will take our leave."

She was quiet for a long time, staring into the tiny flame. Aria fidgeted nervously with the sleeve of her robe.

"It is true," Serena said finally. "This war is my doing… and I have spilled innocent blood."

She set down her candle and turned towards the three shamans. Metal clinked softly in the tense silence as her finger claws slid over her hand.

"But what you know will not save you now."

Light footsteps whispered past Elivagar before he even saw her move. Zinc reached out, but it was too late.

Nora's breath stuttered in her throat. She looked down. The three silver blades stuck out of her chest, dripping crimson onto the polished tile floor.

Serena pulled her claws from the shaman's back and shoved her to her knees. Nora choked, clutching her chest and gazing up at Zinc and Elivagar in horror. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth, staining her armor.

"That was hurt," the earthwarden gasped weakly. "Don't let her…"

Nora's weapon slipped from her hand and clattered on the floor. She swayed for a moment before collapsing. More blood flowed from the wounds and ran across the tiles, making a black puddle in the strange Light.

"She was fortunate," Serena said calmly. "When the time comes, you will wish that I had killed you here as well."

She wiped her claws on Nora's furs and walked back to the Light shrine with her candle.

"Aria, escort them back to the gates before I decide to kill another one."