Thorn woke up to the unpleasant smell of Maldraxxus' air as the dream of her first meeting with the late Stormwind's chief architect faded away. The dream shook her moderately for she had not had a dream of the man for which she had fallen for close to a year now. She thought her memories of her time on Draenor would have stopped plaguing her sleep by then. She did not want to re-live the unfulfilled moments she had spent with him, the moments he had made her smile, the moment the assassin had almost driven the knife through her heart but failed when he jumped in front of her and—

She banished the thoughts from her mind and got up from her sleeping mattress. After freshening herself with a cloth and a wash basin, she went to fetch her morning rations from her knapsack. As she pulled out some beef jerky, her eye landed on something inside the bag. It was a glass jar, and inside it was a rose preserved using druidic magic. She stared at it for several heartbeats before taking it out as well.

While natural light lit up and stirred the battle-scarred realm from its slumber, the worgen commander found herself at her table in front of her tent working on the leftover reports from the previous day. Keeping her company were the documents themselves and, placed in a corner on her table, the same glass jar she had taken out of her knapsack. After an hour or so of dipping the quill in the ink bottle and dragging it across paper, a courier showed up to take her reports and deliver new ones to her, and after another hour, a familiar Maldraxxi skeleton came into her view.

"Good morning to you, commander," Robas said as he stopped across the table from her. "I assume you want to take a look at the construction in person."

"Good morning to you too, Robas," replied Thorn who decided to put off the reports for the time being, "and yes, I'd like that. Lead the way."

The walk to the construction site, which was situated northwest of the Seat of the Primus, was a short one. When they arrived, she could see a couple dozen of Maldraxxi skeletons occupying the place. For the rest of her time at the site, Robas proceeded to explain what they would be doing, for instance, digging into the ground and laying the foundations for the bunker, as well as talk about relevant topics, such as where the building materials came from and the other architects in Maldraxxus. Thorn put on the guise of being attentive as she listened. In truth, she was paying attention half of the time for her mind was fixated on his speech and not his speech's contents—she could not deny her hunch that the manner in which he spoke was similar to that of someone she had known.

She headed back to her tent not long after, the Maldraxxi architect in tow as he insisted on escorting her. They chattered for a little more along the way, the Maldraxxi clearly enjoying conversing with her from what she noticed. Robas would continue to inquire her a few more times regarding what was happening in the other major realms after they reached her tent before he left her be. She could not blame him for pestering her with questions, though, partly because she had also enjoyed chatting with him.

On the following day, Thorn was not able to visit the building site as she had to take care of some business concerning setting up temporary tents similar to hers for the new arrivals in Maldraxxus. She had told Robas to meet her later on in the day instead, and when she came back to her tent in the late afternoon, she saw a recognizable Maldraxxi at her table, his back facing her.

"Robas?"

The skeleton architect jumped—if the movement counted as one—at her voice as he whipped around to face her.

"My apologies, commander," Robas said, his voice vaguely wavering. "Didn't expect you to be back so soon."

Once he regained his composure, the Maldraxxi went on to report the events at the site, none of which was out of the ordinary, and before long, the formal conversation devolved into an amiable one. Throughout their chatter, Thorn could not help notice how the glowing orbs in the architect's eye sockets would occasionally flicker toward the conspicuous glass jar on the table.

"Commander, may I ask about this"—Robas finally gestured with his hand to the glass jar—"particular ornament of yours?"

Thorn's breathing hitched at the mention of the object in question. She turned her face toward the transparent container inside which sat a common Azerothian rose.

"What do you want to know, Robas?" breathed Thorn after staring at the flower wordlessly for a few heartbeats.

The Maldraxxi became quiet for a moment, possibly due to the sudden change in her demeanor, before continuing. "Is it a gift from someone?"

Thorn closed her eye as the memories of that someone were slowly rediscovered after having been buried in the most obscure corners of her mind for a long time, and within seconds, she was back in the now-abandoned garrison on Draenor.

"What are you working on, Baros?"

Late into the night, the inn was mostly empty save a few night owls. The worgen lieutenant, currently in her human form, went up to the garrison's architect who was sitting alone at a table, pulled out a chair beside his, and then took a seat in it. Seeing that he was too engrossed in his work to hear her, she leaned forward with her face over a pile of papers and writing instruments, an action that drew his attention.

"Lieutenant! My apologies for not noticing you sooner." Baros flashed her a smile as he reached for a ruler and resumed drawing. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I just wanted to see what Azeroth's greatest architect is doing at this hour," Thorn teased, her gaze shifting between the template for the blueprint on the table and the man next to her.

"I'm afraid flattery doesn't work on me, lieutenant," said Baros whose eyes never left the paper he had been working on. "But I'd take that compliment any day."

For the next minute or so, no words were exchanged between the two as they enjoyed the comforting silence of the night. Accompanying them were the occasional scratching of pencil on paper and the flicker of the candle flames in the inn.

"This is for the townhall's next renovation and expansion." Baros set the pencil down and held the finished template up, his eyes scanning the drawing for errors. "The walls are going to be much thicker this time so they can keep the barking noises in, you know, in case one of the building's occupants becomes grouchy all of a sudden."

Thorn frowned when the architect began to chuckle, then quickly gave his shoulder a playful slap after her mind registered what he had said. The impact sent him into convulsions, his hands dropping the paper and coming to clutch his chest as he howled with laughter.

How could he! Out of all the people she had known, he was the first person to joke about her worgen guise. It was a good one as well, she had to give him that. Despite being made fun of, she did not feel upset or angry in the slightest. Instead, seeing him being merry like this brought warmth to her heart. There was a reason why she felt this way, and she knew it clearly and deeply even though he may not. And she would not reveal that reason to him until it was the right moment. Seeing that his laughter had not stopped, she decided to join his with hers not long after.

That night, mirth and joy emanated from the Lunarfall inn.

Thorn slowly opened her eye as the piece of memory faded away in her mind. Once more, her gaze sought the flower—the balm, the comfort, the only remaining piece of him that told her the feeling she had felt toward him was mutual. "Yes. He is… was a good man."

Silence befell the skeleton who must have caught on to her usage of the past tense and the raspiness in her voice.

"I'm sorry, commander."

Thorn looked up at the Maldraxxi after she felt composed enough. "What about you, Robas? Who were you before you ended up here?"

For the tiniest moment, she could see his reaction being akin to a surprise or a panic judging from the unusual flicker of the glow in eye sockets. His body language also radiated hesitation when he replied.

"I… I cannot remember, commander. I was probably an architect on some world and nothing more. It's just that my memories of my past life are all hazy."

While she had heard a fair share of made-up stories and claims throughout her life, his answer easily took the cake in terms of obviousness. His badly-put-together pretense of not having all of his memories intact certainly did not help make it more believable. Despite seeing through his lie, she decided to let him off the hook when she noticed how uncomfortable he had become.

And even if she wanted to probe further, the sudden arrival of another Maldraxxi skeleton fortunately provided the architect an escape. Apparently, there was an unannounced meeting among the architects at the Seat of the Primus. Robas, who seemingly was avoiding meeting her gaze, visibly relaxed upon hearing that his attendance was requested. Making a brief eye contact with her, the skeleton architect quickly bade her a farewell before leaving with the skeleton messenger.