Chapter 7 – Brothers and Sisters

I'm going to die. This thought was spinning around in my head, over and over, getting louder and louder each time my inner voice screams it out, until at some point it grows into a painful cry. This will be my end.

I can't see anything, even though I've opened my eyes, there's only blackness around me. Only occasionally flashes of light that seem familiar to me in some way, flare around me, even if I can't figure out where I know them from. They hurt in my eyes, and yet I can't do anything against it.

Helplessly I'm standing there in the blackness, breathing heavily and frantically hitting my arms around me, but there is nothing that could resist my touch. I hear screams, painful and desperate, so loud and penetrating that the source must be very close – is that me, screaming?

My feet are cold as ice. I feel water flowing around them, so cold that it resembles thousands of small needles sticking into my flesh all at once. No clothes protect me, completely naked; I am at the mercy of the dark threat, which rises from second to second, wrapping more and more of my body into the freezing cold and ramming even more needles into my skin.

How did I get here? What have I done to deserve such a cruel end of my life?

Once again, there is panic growing inside of me, stronger than before. The flashes of light are increasing, and yet I can't see anything of my surroundings. I keep my hands on my ears, why can't someone make these cries stop at least!?

The water has already reached my stomach. I don't want to die! A jolt drives through my body, my limbs are finally moving. There must be a way out; somehow I have to get out of the water!

Step by step I wade through the water, which is still rising higher with each breath that I take. The ground on which I walk feels soft, somehow unnatural, it pulsates with heat. But no matter how far I walk, I feel no change. Whatever is under my feet remains level, and walking is becoming increasingly difficult, as the thousands of needles and the freezing cold begin to cover every part of me with a numb feeling.

Suddenly the flashing light stops. Does it, though? Or is it just me, closing my eyes? Hard to say in this dark, but I force myself several times to open and squeeze my eyes. In fact, there is only complete darkness around me! But that doesn't help me, since the water is now bathing my chin, and second after second I can feel it covering more of my face. I won't be able to breathe anymore! I struggle with my arms in frantic movements, trying to swim to the surface to get some air at least, but in vain. The ground doesn't make place and the water still rising higher, as if something would make me stick to ground, still allowing me to move freely without loosening my feet from the hot pulsing mass.

My mouth fills with a disgusting taste, like rotting water that has been standing in the heat for far too long. The lips pressed together as tight as possible, I try to breathe through my nose, but soon no air gets into my lungs, but only cold, rotten water.

I scream all the air out of my lungs that my body could still hold, but no sound reaches my ears anymore. Gravity overwhelms me, presses me to the ground, forcing my face against the soft, warm something. Desperately, my lungs scream for oxygen, my whole body is burning, but with every breath I fail to take, only more and more water enters my lungs. I try to cough, but the only thing that happens is that my chest explodes with a tremendous pain. That's it. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

Like a mantra, these words are the only thing that I can focus on as my senses weaken gradually. Although I'm inside the water, I know that tears are streaming down my cheeks and mingling with the surroundings, as I can feel their salty taste inside my mouth.

Everything fades, even the pain in the end, only the freezing cold stays and just doesn't want to give way.

I don't want to die! Oh, if I just would have been able to stay in my world…

"Szallejh!"

A loud voice breaks through the wall which held me captive, and with a jerk, the water disappeared around me. Coughing and spitting, I tried to pump as much air into my exhausted lungs as possible, no matter how painful each breath was. I'm alive. I'm alive!

As my body calmed down and my senses were slowly coming back to me, I began to feel my surroundings again. Below me were cold stone tiles, wet with the tears that still streamed down my cheeks, and I myself was on all fours next to a completely rumpled hammock, clad only in a nightgown and still coughing like a madman, while every movement was like a fireball shooting through my body.

A warm hand touched my shoulder, but even its touch burned like fire, and I groaned involuntarily.

"Shhh, it's all good. It's all good, you've had a bad dream." I knew the voice that spoke to me. The figure of a sylvari appeared in my visual field and knelt in front of me so I could look at her. Purple bark and loafed clothes… Nahraija.

At last I regained my normal breathing ability and as the coughing sensation subsided, I leaned my back against the wall, which suddenly felt pleasantly cold. I closed my eyes and stifled the last sob.

"A dream!?" I rattled hard, my voice sounding like I hadn't used it for decades. "Oh no, that was not a dream. It felt too real for that. I almost drowned…" Tears welled up in my eyes again and my upper body was shaken by violent sobs.

Nahraija dabbed my sweaty forehead with a piece of cloth. "I believe you. You screamed like a banshee, and when I came to look after you, I found you lying on the floor, wildly dealing out blows to left and right, gasping for breath, as if you were about to suffocate… By the pale tree, what was going on with you?"

"That's… exactly what it felt like." I muttered, covering my face with my hands. A strong headache started to seize me and I closed my eyes, hoping to beat the pain with this.

"I… I was trapped in a kind of space I couldn't escape from, and… and water kept rising until I couldn't breathe, and…"

My voice broke. I forced myself to inhale and exhale deeply and soothe myself. Gradually, I succeeded, and when I was reasonably convinced that the headache wouldn't get any worse, I carefully opened my eyes. Nahraija was still staring at me with a concerned look, but when she realized that I was feeling better, she helped me get up to my feet. Dangling dangerously, I allowed myself to hold on to her for a while longer, while she was watching me with an intense glance.

"You look like you could use some more sleep. We arrived here just over three hours ago, so you can lie down a bit more if you want to." She meant it well, I knew that, but her words made me feel ice cold again.

"Just to risk that this terrible dream will come back? Never! Besides, I wouldn't be able to find any piece of mind anyway. Not after that. I think… A hot shower would be a good thing now."

Nahraija nodded. "Meanwhile, I'll see if I can get you something decent to wear." Her gaze fell on the plain undershirt I wore, and then to the bundle of ragged and dirty clothes that had been carelessly thrown to the floor.

I grunted in agreement, then stumbled out of the room, letting Nahraija open the door for me. Walking had never seemed so difficult to me, I slowly put one foot in front of the other, careful not to stumble over my own toes, and more than once I nudged my claws painfully over the cold stone floor. Suddenly the running seemed incredibly complicated, the outward-pointing tows seemed to follow their own will and constantly bent downwards, and I wished for my dainty human feet. In general, I longed for so much that I would never have the luck of enjoying in my life again. My how shower that allowed me to stand under the water as long as I wanted (maybe the PeDACUR hat an option to extend the cleansing program, but with a pragmatic race like the asura, that was unlikely to happen). Or a clock, because I had never learned to set the time just by looking at the sun's position, and certainly I couldn't say from the gut where north was. I wanted to lie in my cuddly bed until noon, without pain, without worrying about my room being overrun by krait.

I opened the next door with a sigh, behind which lay the laboratory washing room. It was small and didn't show much luxury, but at least I could take a shower. That would push my day already a quite good bit forward. As I passed, I threw a glance into the mirror hanging on the wall – and at once wished that I hadn't. I'd never looked so awful in my life, neither asuran nor human. My hair was disheveled and dull, the week in the norn camp hadn't been filled with that much body care, and there were strands of hair standing in all directions as if they were loaded with electricity. My body was strewn with bruises, cuts and bumps, and my eyes were adorned with enormous blue-black rings, the origins of which had been fairly certain the precious night.

Shaking my head, I adverted my eyes and threw my undershirt carelessly on the floor. Did I lock the door? Who should come in anyway; except of Nahraija, everyone was already busy with their work, as I could hear from the curses coming from the down floor. Shuddering because it was a bit cooler than expected, I stalked into the cabin, which opened with a soft hiss and closed again as soon as I had entered.

After I started the process and pleasantly warm water washed away the bitter taste of the previous night, I closed my eyes and imagined what it would be like to be somewhere else. At home in my shower, then on my way to work, a normal day…

But the rush of arcane energy that followed the water dragged me back to the present. Here I am, in a swamp of monsters, tired, battered, just waiting for someone to attack this lab again. Sighing, I left the cabin, dried off the still damp areas with a towel and rinsed out my mouth in addition. I definitely had to ask Zojja how asura practiced oral hygiene… A pruned twig had served well the last few days, but surely there was something more suitable than a piece of wood.

On a shelf, I found vials of different colored contents and appliances reminiscent of toothbrushes, but I didn't want to use any of them, not until I knew what mouths they had been in.

A hesitant knock made me cry out softly and stumble back a few steps, bumping my toe again painfully. Panicking slightly, I held the towel to my chest, even though there wasn't much to see, and watched with a wild beating heart as the door slowly opened, and a dark pile of leaves appeared, followed by a purple head. Nahraija.

Relieved, I let the towel sink to the navel and tied it sporadically around my waist. The sylvari closed the door behind her and held put a stack of clothes that didn't really match.

"Here, Kamma gave these to me… She said some of them might be a little too big, but that's still better than those ripped clothes of yours, isn't it?"

I thankfully took the clothes after slipping into my underwear. The shirt was a bit loose and the pants could have been shorter, but they did their job and would certainly last until I was back in my room in Rata Sum. Preferably, I'd have started the travel right now without hesitation! But we had to wait for Narru's return, and who knew what else awaited us here…

I slowly span around in front of Nahraija. "Well, how do I look?"

The sylvari smiled. "You somehow remind me of a colorful bird. If you want to catch attention, you have reached your goal." The first time for this day, I burst into laughter and for a brief moment all misery was forgotten. I would have liked to pat my companion on her shoulder, but I kept my hands where they were, since I wouldn't have gotten higher than her stomach anyway.

"Kamma also said that you can keep the clothes, if you want. Said she doesn't need them anymore." Nahraija added, and we headed back to the bedroom so I could get the rest of my belongings. And hopefully I wouldn't hurt my toes everywhere now. "I'm not surprised she doesn't want to keep them, regarding that look!"

"Well, I think they're beautiful. For my part, I like everything colorful. Only a few loops here and there…"

"Don't you dare!"

After eating a late breakfast and telling the crewe members details of the last few days, Nahraija and I sat outside on the stairs of the lab to take a breath and let the warm late spring sun warm us. The swamp stench was omnipresent, but I was able to hide it far enough so at least it wouldn't make me choke anymore.

"When do you stink Narru will come back?" I mumbled after we had been silent for a while.

"According to her, she would have to arrive soon. Maybe she made a break in Hoelbrak, who knows? Don't worry, she's a warmaster. She'll be fine."

"I'm not worried. I just want to go home…" I tiredly rested my chin on my knees and wrapped my arms around my legs. The coast was calm, all the remains of the pyres had been removed, and somebody had even bothered to level the floor around the lab so at least the largest craters had disappeared. In the distance, some crewe members were buzzing around a whirring, enormous devide that reminded me of binoculars, and probably it was the megalaser Narru and Zojja had spoken of. In addition to the asura, I could still see other shapes, bigger and heavier, as they waddled through the area like giant frogs on two legs. I squinted because of the sun to get a better view, but what I saw proved my suspicion right: half a dozen frogs were working with the asura on the megalaser and on some smaller implements I couldn't see correctly from here.

"What are the Hylek doing here at the swamp?" I asked softly without taking my eyes off.

"They live here in the swamps," smiled Nahraija, sounding as surprised as if I had just asked why fish didn't float in the air.

"When the United Arcanists built their lab here, it was a chance for the hylek to male allies in the fight against Krait and Undead terrorizing the shores. And the asura could simultaneously explore the lifestyle of the local hylek."

"Positive results for both sides. But how did you know that?"

"Why did you ask, if you thought I wouldn't know the answer?" Nahraija laughed. "We Sylvari are anxious to learn as much as possible about the world an its inhabitants, and the knowledge one sylvari has gained throughout their life is given to the other unborn children in the dream when they die."

I muttered something incomprehensive and continued to watch as one of the hylek broke away from the group and slowly waddled towards us. Occasionally, his incredibly long tongue shot up to catch a fly, and his scaly, slimy yellow body was covered in places by a simple plate armor.

As he reached the stairs, he gave a friendly greeting in his inhuman, quacking voice, examining us curiously with gigantic brown eyes, especially me. "Are you new to our little friends?" Then his gaze went to the sylvari, "and you, are you coming from the plant people behind Chokevine gorge?"

Nahraija grinned and shook her head. "We're just passing through, my friend and I." Friend, well, well! "This is Szallejh, and I am Nahraija."

The hylek smiled as well, baring his huge mouth into which he could have stuck me completely. "My name is Utoctacel. Glad to make your acquaintance!" As he spoke, he made soft quacking noises and blew his cheeks, and the sight was so funny that I had to bite my tongue so as not to giggle. Nahraija thrust her elbow between my ribs, but a quick glance confirmed that she too could not resist a grin. Utoctacel didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't care, for his countenance remained friendly as he sat down beside the sylvari on the stone steps and stretched his slimy face into the sun.

"What brings two such young things as you to such a dreadful place like the Splintered Coast?" Asked the hylek after a while, and again grabbed one of the flies that had dared coming near us.

"I paid a visit to Warmaster Narru… to my mother… and together we spent several days in the Shiverpeaks. Well, and Nahraija came across the way while we headed there."

"Quite accidentally, of course." Nahraija added with a chuckle, then she returned the question to Utoctacel. His eyes were lost in the distance, and a sad shadow settled on his features. "This area hasn't always been this way, you know? Our elders tell us stories about our country before it overflowed with corruption. I hope I live long enough to live the day when everything will be like those times again." He sighed. "But we have to become active ourselves, it's not enough to watch inactively and wait for everything bad to suddenly disappear from this world. We…"

A grumpy asura, whose name I didn't know, interrupted the conversation as he loaded down with a huge box down the stairs and nearly stumbled over us.

"Away from there, you're in my way! Unfavorable pack, make yourself useful or disappear before accidents happen here because of you!" He bumped hard into the sylvari with his chest, and Nahraija softly cried out in pain, but he ignored her and Utoctacel, who was grumbling things to himself in an for me incomprehensible language, which were guaranteed no complements.

Shaking our heads, we walked to the edge of the stone steps, into the cool shadow of the building, which was very welcome after the time in the blazing sun.

"Asura, the epitome of friendliness." Chuckled the sylvari and immediately gave me an apologizing look as I tried to protest. "I'm sorry, but those are facts. Of course there are exceptions like you, but you can't deny that most asura look at everything that is not their own reflection with complete condescension."

Utoctacel laughed out loud as I mumbled my head back on my knees and frantically wondered what I could answer to that. But the sylvari was right; unfortunately, it was one of the main characteristics of asura to praise them boundlessly in the sky and treat everything else as filth. If I thought about it, I really had made positive experiences with my peers so far; my whole story could have been different if I had gotten the wrong people on my first day.

"So, where was I?" The hylek stretched for a moment and made a very loud quack before continuing. "I want to see this land live and blossom again! But we have to for together for that. All of us, not just the hylek. That's why we're here with our little friends and many of us have moved with the big fleet to kill the undead dragon. Because Tyria suffers, and what our country least needs are its inhabitants being at war against each other. We're all brothers and sisters after all, aren't we? And as such, we should hold together, not beat each other's heads in front of the eyes of our real enemies. Only if the people of Tyria manage to work together can we win."

Nahraija thoughtfully stared at the ceiling above our heads. "Do you really think we can do something like that?" Every race has enemies in their inner ranks… Nightmare Court, Inquest, Flame Legion… Not to mention the wars between the races. The creation of the Pact was a good start, but how can we manage to overcome even the tiniest conflicts that sustain hatred? Even recently there have been incidents of conflict between charr and humans within the Pact. How should such a diverse community last forever?"

Utoctacel silently rocked his head. "That, my little plant friend, I cannot say. But as long as the sun shines in the sky, I believe that the day will come. The day our country will be free."

After a long silence, the hylek rose, brushing nonexistent dust off his thighs, shielding his eyes against the sun to better see off in the distance.

"Well, my friends, it's time for me to go. Quaztocel is still waiting for a box, which I am supposed to bring him. Good luck on your further journey, and always remember my words. To win, we all have to work together!"

He smiled his broad frog grin again, then hurried up the stone steps to return shortly afterwards with a wooden box whose contents shone in a variety of colors. I looked after him until I could barely distinguish him from the surroundings, then I also got up to find a meaningful job for the day.

We had just has lunch and headed out to clean outdated energy cores with smelly green pumice when finally Narru's familiar figure became visible on the horizon. I lowered my sponge and thrust the energy core into Nahraija's hands, glad to no longer have this stuff on my skin, and rose to meet Narru. She looked completely exhausted with a dark shadow on her face and I feared that she might fall over at any moment, but otherwise she seemed uninjured.

"Szallejh!" She called out when she recognized me, and patted me on the shoulder as a greeting. "I'm glad you made it here. I have been held up in Hoelbrak longer than I expected. Knut Whitebear was worried about Jormag's servants already being so far from the dragon's center of power. And Halla's death was unexpected for some, so precautions had to be taken, and –"

"Alright," I interrupted, "we held the position here. You haven't missed anything." Except for a damn realistic nightmare and that nasty stuff that my fingers will smell off probably for a while longer.

"Well then. Come to my study room in half an hour, I want to talk to you in private."

She didn't gave me an answer to my confused look; instead, Narru passed me without further reaction and disappeared into the shadow of the lab. After last night, I could imagine how exhausted she had to be, even if I didn't really know what matters there were to discuss.

Shrugging, I returned to Nahraija, who had engaged the two asura next to her in a conversation about making chocolate bars, and resumed my work on the energy cores. Only this half hour, then I will never touch that stuff again. And think twice about whether I offer my help or not.

After half an hour, or at least I thought that about half an hour should be over, I hurried to Narru's study. She seemed to be quite good to talk to today, but I didn't want to destroy that with my tardiness.

I raised my hand to knock, but just before my fist touched the wood, the door was torn open and I almost hit Narru's nose. Unimpressed by my fist, which I quickly pulled back, Narru looked at me with raised brows. "Just in time. I thought I'd have to pick you up." Which wouldn't have gone too well. "Come in, sit down."

For a while, Narru stared at me in silence, as if she didn't really know how to begin. Finally she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "Well… I was in Hoelbrak and told Halla's relatives about her demise. May her skalds still sing songs of her victories for a long time. However, the head of Hoelbrak, Knut Whitebear, was not thrilled that Jormag's servants had penetrated so deep into the land of Tyria. So far, we thought Zhaitan was the only thread, but the other dragons are also growing in their power dangerously fast… Too fast. But I have at least one good knows. Aidan seemed quite taken with you, and he agreed to take over your training."

Confused by this revelation, I almost choked on my own saliva and had to cough a few times before I could respond.

"Please what, training!? I thought our training was complete! You said you are happy with…"

"Oh please, that's just what you say to give the kids a little feeling of success! You may be able to prove yourself against an unarmed Grawl, but there's still a lot missing for the war against the dragons."

Anger rose inside of me. One day ago, she had said that I earned her pride, and now suddenly I was a worthless person again? I snorted. "Oh yes? And the fight against Aidan was all a show, right? Am I now to weak for you to be trained by yourself, so you just hand me over like an annoying student?" I suppressed the need to jump up and to poke something into her head, but the tears of anger that welled up in my eyes couldn't be prevented.

Narru sighed again and raised her hand as if she wanted to put it on my arm soothingly, but after a moment's consideration she let it be, whatever had come to her mind.

"Your actions are far too impulsive. After all, that makes your story more believable that you grew up under norn… But you misunderstand me. You fought well against Aidan, one more reason why he likes to take on the training. But there is so much more you need to know for being a warrior. You need stamina, strength, experience, you have to deal with emergencies, and be able to survive out there for a while. You need to know how to deal with wounds, if there's no healer nearby, you need to know which enemies you are going to face and which you prefer to avoid. All those things can't be learned within a single week. And on top of that you need proper armor! You can't handle a fight in those rags, at least not without having to buy completely new clothes every time. Besides…" She seemed unsure if she really should complete the sentence. "Besides, you're not my student, but I have accepted you as my daughter. And you can't just leave your kids like a student, even if you wanted to."

I snorted again. "You could do that. You have not confirmed anything to the Council yet, you can always back down…"

"By Oola's ghost, I've given my word and I will keep it! Even if I have no idea where you came from, but you'll surely tell me when the time's right. And Zojja trusts you, and if you even know her the slightest, you'll know that her trust is something only the fewest of people will get. So if Zojja believes in whatever you're telling her, then I do too. And I have to give up on the training, not because you're not worth my effort. But because I'm going to prepare the final strike against Tequatl here, and then my order requires me to return to the Shiverpeaks once that's done. There would be no time for you training, but I will regularly check your progress, believe me! Therefore, Aidan will travel from Hoelbrak to Lion's Arch weekly, and await you there. Don't let him wait if you want to survive his training."

I was almost ashamed of my outburst now, but I couldn't prevent my human emotionality. After all, until about a week ago, I was nothing but a normal, sensitive human. And I wasn't sure if would ever be able to change that and adjust myself to the asuran way of living, or if any part of me would always remain human. Always… Have I already given up any hope of going back?

"So, Szallejh. Surely you will return to Rata Sum soon, am I right?" I nodded. "In a few days, I'll start a job in the Aquatarium to stay afloat financially. And then, let's see… Maybe a crewe will take me?" Narru tried to camouflage her upcoming laugh attack as a cough, but I had already expected such a reaction. Who would take such a stupid asura as me in his crewe anyway…

"Aquatarium, eh? I wouldn't eat there myself, but if the pay is good… But kid, if you're really this focused on joining a crewe, ask Zoj… your aunt, if she'll give you some tuition. She is extremely picky about her students; recently she took on a twelve year old tinkerer, an orphan who, with her own golem, has already cleared out most of Metrica's predators single-handed. But I'm sure she'll do you a favor for her sister." She grinned, as if she didn't believe herself what she just said.

Surely Zojja would at least consider to teach me a little bit, because the more I knew, the bigger was the reputation (or the less the shame) that I brought her as a family member, but it wouldn't be fun for her. Three-year old asura probably knew far more than me, and if she really taught only such geniuses… Good luck, fat chance.

"Well then, that would have been clarified. In one week, Aidan will await you on the first day of training at Macha's Landing, do not disappoint. If necessary, ask for directions, at least you'll find the way to Lion's Arch on your own. It's a breeze from there. But I still have one thing left."

Narru got up and motioned me to do the same before rummaging around in a bag, gradually pulling out pieces that were almost certainly part of an armor.

"In Hoelbrak, I have had these made for you, as to say as a little… welcoming present in this family. I can't offer you a helmet, since you should have it made custom in the near future. One of the crewe members, Zort, is very good at making and repairing armor. You should talk to him as soon as you have time."

With the pieces of armor in her hands, she came up to me and helped me put them on. When I asked where she knew my size from, she just grinned.

The armor itself was surprisingly heavy when I finally had put it on completely, and I snorted under the unexpected weight. Narru instructively lifted her firefinger as she studied my crimson head. "Do you see? And that's exactly what I meant with perseverance and strength. An armor will protect you from most damage, especially if you refine it with a few runes, but the extra weight must not put you in a competitive disadvantage. That's why you need to train. Otherwise you'll be heavily armored but way too slow to run away from a horde of trolls."

She led me to a small mirror that I had never noticed before. Slowly turning, I studied my reflection in the mirror; despite the extra weight that pulled hard on me, the armor pleased me a lot. The breast protector was made of ocher-colored leather, with red metal around the chest, and embedded in the middle a bluish shimmering hexagonal gem. The shoulder pads were gilded, as well as the belt, on the left side hung red fabric almost to the ankle and right were enough buckles attached to hold all the bags in the world. The gauntlets, also red with gilded ornaments, fitted in astonishingly well with the burgundy leg gown Kamma had given me, and the shoes were made of hard brown leather with shiny toe guards and red metal bucklers. And the best: it fit perfectly!

"That's beautiful! Narru, it must have cost you a fortune! What do I owe you for this?" Unsure if I had enough gold to repay it all, I clung to my gauntlets as if to keep them that way.

Narru shrugged. "If you have contacts in Hoelbrak like me, it's not that hard to get cheap armor in good quality. You'll need a better one at some point, but it'll be enough for a start. And hopefully it will keep you away from having to buy new clothes every day. The Aquatarium certainly doesn't pay well enough for that. And as I mentioned before, take it as a gift."

I laughed and felt a big stone fall off from my heart. That Narru gave me such a beautiful gift meant that I hadn't disappointed her as much as I had feared. And that she accepted me slowly but surely as what I now hat to pretend to be, as long as I hadn't found a way home.

"Phew. Thank you… mother." The word left my lips only slowly and very quietly for fear of ruining everything. Narru's eyes widened, and for a moment it was obvious how much I must have had taken her by surprise. But after a few heartbeats, her mine was already unreadable again and clearing her throat, she scratched her ear. "Well, then…"

"Can you possibly help me out of the armor again?" I babbled on to break the awkward silence that had filled the room. The armor was magnificent and certainly helpful in combat, but I was not used to it and not only did the sweat run down my spine in small streams, but my arms began to ache under the unfamiliar weight.

Laughing, Narru assisted me as I awkwardly slipped out of the leather and metal, then stuffed everything together so I could grab it without losing half of it on the way.

"Okay, I'll but all that stuff in my bag then; if possibly I'd leave tomorrow at the latest. And, err, Narru?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

Narru waved goodbye to me and opened the door because I was too busy to find the handle.

"Oh, one more thing…"

Narru waited in the threshold with her brow raised, the knob still in her hand.

"If we're a family now… Can't we at least leave the formal address? With all this warmaster stuff? I think that's kind of strange, or is it… Is that common…?"

Luckily, she left my ognorance of asuran speech uncommented and just smiled.

"I think we can."

The whole lab was in turmoil; asura ran wildly around, grabbing the bare necessities and engaging each other in heated discussions. Nahraija and I were already standing in front of the stone building, our packs ready, waiting wildly for the troop to start moving.

Just now a carrier pigeon had flown in with the news that the pact had successfully defeated the first of the Elder Dragons, Zhaitan, and that on their return from Orr a victory celebration would take place in Fort Trinity. Full of anticipation to see Zojja again, and to witness this tremendous celebration myself, I padded from one foot to the other and listened to the excited asura around me.

"This victory was made possibly only by the genius of the asura! First commander Tippa, then Zojja's Megalaser. Without us, the pact would long have perished!"

"I wonder how many victims there have been…"

"Does that mean the undead will finally shun this coast?"

"What about Tequatl, is he weakened by the death of his master? Will he ever attack again?"

Finally, the last asura left the lab, and together with the hylek, who had also received the message with joy, and a few Peacemaker golems, our little troop set in motion, led by Narru and Kamma, who seemed to know exactly which way they had to lead us. They set a pace that would have been worthy of a marathon, but no one complained, because each of us eagerly wanted to arrive as soon as possible.

I was the only one who wasn't surprised by the win against Zhaitan, but nevertheless the general euphoria tore me away. Of course, I was prepared to experience this situation through the game, nut it was another sensation to actually stand between all the asura and celebrate that it indeed was possible to defeat a dragon. I knew what that meant for Tyria: an enormous ray of hope for a continent that had been suffering the dragon's corruption for far too long.

Our way led us only briefly through the swampy coastal area, soon Narru and Kamma turned off into a tunnel that was partly flooded with water and was illuminated at regular intervals by strange, lively-looking lamps. On closer inspection, I realized that the lamps were basically just wooden scaffolding on which roundish vessels hung, filled with glowworm-like luminescent insects.

Just as the pleasant temperature of the tunnel had cooled me down somewhat, we left the darkness and landed in the middle of a sylvari camp, shielded from the enemy environment by a huge thorn wall. Only a short exchange of words was necessary, so that the sylvari joined us and tuned melodic victory songs.

The afternoon came to an end when we reached a small ravine that marked the boundary of two areas. Kamma offered to rest, but no one wanted to waste time unnecessarily, and Narru promised that if we proceeded swiftly, we could be at the Fort at sunset, possibly ahead of the pact itself.

The environment hadn't really changed, except that the air had cooled down noticeably, as there always was a cool breeze coming from the water. Still, it kept warm enough that I was relieved to have contradicted Nahraija when she wanted me to wear the armor to demonstrate it to Zojja.

A narrow path led down a steep slope, and the horizon was filled with the view of the sea. Basically, this was just a bay, but it was so big that you couldn't see the land behind it. But what could be discerned was the many inhabitants of Tyria, who cavorted in this path and all had the same goal: Fort Trinity. Suddenly every dispute seemed forgotten, Charr walked alongside humans, even talking to each other in a friendly tone; sylvari and asura exchanged words without even mentioning the dark events from the past.

While our pace seemed to be accelerating still, it was Nahraija who kept the conversation going, putting her excitement into words and telling me exactly why that day meant so much to her. I snatched up terms like "love", "wyld hunt", and "happy future", but most of what she said went past me, since I was too focused now on the view between the rugged area and huge trees that certainly were hundreds of years old.

The evening sky shone like liquid fire, and a beautiful moon rose behind what was probably the Fort Trinity. An incredibly huge complex, with walls of metal, and the gates provided with gears whose size were even four times that of a norn. A blue-glowing cube shimmered over everything, and similarly blue-luminescent lights adorned the bath in front of the fort. As impregnable as it looked, the doors were wide open and from inside came loud noises of celebration and victory. When we passed the gate, I had to swallow, because among these gears, which were wider than I was long, I definitely didn't want to stand in between when they were being closed. Quickly I crossed the threshold and glances at what lay behind the tons of steel.

The interior of the facility was too much for me to assimilate in this moment, because everywhere stood inhabitants of Tyria, cheered, celebrated and told stories to each other. To the right of me stretched a heavily armored harbor, on which were various types of ships, and ahead of us a ramp extended towards another heavily guarded forecourt. I had long since lost sight of Narru, and I was completely convinced that I'd lose my bearings in no time at all if left alone, so I attached myself to Nahraija's verse and was led by her. She seemed to be pulled by an inner urge, ran through the crowd, ignoring the ones she knocked over. I got an answer to this unusual behavior of my friend when we passed several more gates and ramps and came to stand on a copper dome with blue-green glass. Here the crowd was the most dense and from the sky gently fell bright and colorful confetti.

Where the dome was highest, the heroes of Tyria stood in a circle: Logan Thackeray, the man so immortally in love with his barefoot queen, next to him Eir Stegalkin, legendary Norn warrior with her formidable wolf Garm, and Rytlock Brimstone, Charr tribune of the Blood Legion. Behind him stood Zojja, with a huge grin on her face, since it was her Megalaser that made up most of the victory, and Caithe, Sylvari thief and one of the firstborn. They formed the former Edge of Destiny, whose first attempt to defeat the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik had failed miserably and resulted in Snaff's death, so much did I know. In the middle of the circle stood s amall, dark-skinned asura with thick black curls and round ears that reminded more of skritt than of asura, whose face I had never seen before, but I knew her name from the crewe's stories: Pact Commander Tippa.

Nahraija, however, had eyes only for one: a green dressed sylvari, who kept himself in the background rather shyly. Trahearne. How strange to see them all so close – and so realistic! – in front of me… In the game it had always been a matter of course, I knew the faces, knew their voices. Now, however, they seemed completely alien to me, only in those moments did I realize how strange the sylvari actually looked with their bark-like skin and how scary such a charr could actually be if he stood on his hind legs raising above your head. The sounds and smells were not at all what I had expected; in the air was a strange mixture of fragrant flowers, sweat and wet animal, all in all, not necessarily unpleasant, but yet very unfamiliar. So many voices mingled in my ears; the squeaky, arrogant voices from the asura; sylvari, whose sound was similar to humans, but had something indescribably fluid and melodic, and so many, many more.

As soon as Trahearne became aware of the sylvari, he lost all his insecurity and hurried towards her with his arms open, lifting her and hugging her close. At that moment, I realized why Nahraija had been so nervous when she had learned of the Pact's victory, and why she could hardly wait to arrive here. With a warm feeling in my heart, I watched them for a while, ignored the thought of what Trahearne would probably had to face in the near future, and was just happy that in this time of suffering and feat, there still existed such a thing as love.

But then suddenly Zojja stood in front of me, blocking the view of my friend, and without further thinking I pulled my aunt in a tight embrace. She stiffened, but she didn't push me away, and that gave me affection, for at that moment I was filled with adrenaline and happiness hormones.

"Zojja! I'm glad you're alright."

Eventually, Zojja broke loose from my embrace, wiping off invisible dust of her knees, cleared her throat and stood in front of me with folded arms.

"Believe me, dear, a genius like me doesn't get shot down that fast. I have to tell you more about the Megalaser later. My invention, as you surely know, and it has brought us a fair way further, believe me!"

"I know," I laughed, "I heard nothing but stories about your awesome Megalaser! But what about you, are you alright?"

Zojja snorted. "I'm fine, don't you worry! You feel fresher than ever after killing a dragon." The shrill, arrogant undertone in her voice was balmy for my ears right now, and I willingly het her head us a little further, where the crowd stood not that tight.

"Remind me to introduce you to the commander later. You'll like Tippa, I'm sure. She is just as emotionally inclined as you, in fact you'd both have provided very good norn… But now let's just celebrate a little!" She eagerly ordered two pitchers with something weirdly sweet, which certainly contained as much alcohol as sugar. A soft voice on my head told me not to overdo it with the alcohol, but I didn't pay much attention to it; after all, this was a celebration, and celebrating included having a drink with the others.

"Is it not a silly thing for a genius like you to get drunk? I mean, because alcohol kills brain cells and all this…"

"Pah! The thinking capacity in my brain is enough for whole Hoelbrak! One or two cells less are doing nothing. Now let's drink on Zojja's brilliant Megalaser!"

We had just started when Nahraija and Trahearne joined us together with a third person whom I did not recognize at first. But finally, I managed to assign this asura with brown curls and equally brown eyes, which grinned at Zojja and me (especially me!) with a crooked grin. "Hello, Bromm! Nice to see you." Zojja laughed between two sips of the stuff that I had now identified as Omnomberry-booze. Bromm, right! The one who can cook so well!

"Right, that's me." He laughed and also ordered something to drink, while I put my hand on my forehead because I had spoken out loud again.

"How come I haven't seen you in the recent days?"

Embarrassed, I tugged at my ear. "Well… I was, let's just say, on the way. To do something…"

"Alright, you don't have to justify yourself. I only missed you in the Synergetics College, that's all."

I was sure my face was starting to look like a ripe tomato, and my heartbeat was pounding loud in my ears. I was all the more relieved when Zojja drew attention to another topic. "So, one dragon defeated, the nation united for the first time in forever. What's next?"

"The next dragon, I'd say." I ventured. "If the Pact was strong enough to defeat Zhaitan, then we can do more if we stick together. After all, we're all brothers and sisters, aren't we?"

"Righed," laughed Trahearne, Nahraija still cuddled in his arms, "we are all brothers and sisters."

Thank you for the lovely reviews even though I have been silent for so long! I have a lot to catch up, and there's still so many chapters to go ~