Chapter 6

I woke up to sunlight filtering through the window, and I was in the bed.

Alone.

I sat up, startled to see Anduin under a thin blanket on the rug, one of the pillows under his head, fast asleep.

He must've put me in the bed-and taken me out of my armor.

I blushed, refusing to think about that as I stepped into the small bath chamber that adjoined to the room, gathered armor in hand as I washed at the sink, soon fresh and clean and ready to get moving.

I stepped back out to see Anduin packing up our bags, and he gave me a nod of acknowledgement.

"We should probably pickup the pace, I don't expect that it'll take to long to reach the summit," Anduin said, and I nodded, walking over and hoisting my bags up, when Anduin held up his cloak.

"We're climbing into a mountain summit, it'll be freezing." He said, and I rolled my eyes, thanking him as I quickly clasped it around my neck. His eyes were on my hair-oh yeah.

I put his headband on after I had washed this morning.

"Do you want it back-?" I reached to take it off, but he caught my hands.

"No It's fine, it's-keep it, you need it," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly and focusing on his bags.

Soon we were set, leaving the inn and not long after the hill, and a good night's sleep had given us both our energy back.

The wind blew suddenly, and I took a deep breath and stiffened.

"Anduin get down,"

"What?"

"Now!"

I turned and shoved him down, unsheathing his daggers from his belt as a trio of orcs appeared, and we all stared at each other, kind of startled.

"What are ya doin' with the human filth, your ladyship?" the one in the middle asked, his voice gruff and low.

"None of your business," I snapped, shifting my grip on the twin daggers, and I saw Bandit's hackles raise out of the corner of my eye.

So did the orcs, because one said, "We don't want any trouble, your ladyship, we-we was just concerned is all,"

"Not a word of this to anyone or I'll know who did it, and I don't think you want fog in Orgrimmar do you?" I asked, and they all started shaking, which gave me a sick delight.

If I willed it, others could hear the whispers of the dead as well, and if I wanted to, it'd drown them.

"N-no words your ladyship! Not one!" They stammered, and I nodded.

"Give the Warchief my…regards," I said, and they turned tail and ran.

Anduin stood, taking his daggers back and eyeing me warily, "I take it fog is bad?"

"It holds the whispers of the dead, Princeling," I said, "And as the lady of the mists, I am the deathspeaker. If I will it, those poor oafs would be drowning in it."

"You're…. sadistic, sometimes. You know that right?" we kept walking as he said this, and I snorted.

"The Horde needs sadism to function, Princeling. You forget, the stereotype of savagery came from somewhere." I said, and he laughed.

We walked around, until the mountain wall loomed over us, and we turn east, passing through an Apple Orchid.

I love the smell of apples, and I gulped it down as we passed through, until Anduin jumped up and ripped one from the branch, which was easily twice the size of my hand.

He held it out to me, and I squawked a little, "That's stealing!"

"I don't think the Pandaren aren't to strict on the theft of apples," Anduin laughed, and I rolled my eyes, taking the apple and taking a bite out of it.

My eyes rolled back in my head a little as the taste filled my mouth, and I grinned, dripping juice onto my chin by accident.

Anduin was grinning, watching me with emotions that I still don't want to talk about, and after an awkward moment, he cleared his throat and turned around.

"So you've told me about your home, Elvira, your absolutely lovely mother who I'd like to meet if she wouldn't take my head off in milliseconds, but nothing about your father?"

Anduin asked, and I laughed at his comment about my mother, knowing it was true.

"Well…Father works a lot, Lord of the Realm and all, but he can be very silly-most of the court agrees that if I were a few inches taller and had an eye patch I would be my father's secret identical twin." I said, and Anduin laughed.

"A lot alike?" he asked, and I nodded, ducking under a low hanging branch.

"I look more like him already than my mother, and we're both a little…stubborn, and argumentative, and aggressive sometimes, and-"

"Oh I'd love to see you two get into an argument," Anduin said, and I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"We argue over foolish things, really. Mostly things like 'can I not be courted by an idiot' and 'can I raise a Hawkstrider' and-"

"Hold up," Anduin stopped a moment, "Can you not what?" he sounded vaguely angry.

"Oh, be courted by an idiot?" I asked, and he nodded, still watching me as we continued to walk, "My father decided that I'm within two years of the bonding age for elves, and that I need to be courted by a slimy noble named Lo'Daras. He's prissy. I mean he makes you look positively manly." With that, I fled.

"Excuse me?!" He gave chase, and we raced through the orchid, and I struggled to keep running, as I laughed harder than I had in a while.

He caught me, yanking me backwards and causing our momentum to send us flying to the ground. After some scrambling, we froze.

I was straddling him, holding his shirt collar, and we were nose to nose.

"I-um-"

"Sorry I-"

"My bad-"

We scrambled apart, staring at each other with flaming cheeks, and after a moment, we stood again, pretending that didn't just happen-or at least I was.

"Would you tell me about your mother? If that's okay," I said, looking away for a moment as we left the orchid.

"Tiffin Wrynn was…I look a lot like her, according to pictures, same hair and eyes. She laughed a lot when I was little, and she liked the smell of Lavender-I'll go out to the gardens when I miss her and smell the lavender and feel better almost instantly." Anduin said, and I bumped his arm with my shoulder reassuringly.

"She sounds lovely, Anduin," I said, meaning it-she sounded sweet.

"Hey-stairs."

I followed his hand, and holy shit were those stairs. Great giant steps that went up into-

"Oh no." I said, feeling vaguely ill as I saw the suffocating amounts of mists waiting for me.

"Can you make it?" Anduin asked, and I sighed.

"I-the mist knows me, and it's going to-tie me to you," I said, and he made an indignant sound.

"I won't be able to see or hear anything well, if that mist rushes in like it should. I can't climb blind and deaf and distracted, Anduin." I said, and he nodded, pulling rope out and tying it around my waist and linking it to his.

"Just follow the rope and let's pray we don't die." He said, and I nodded nervously as we began to climb.

I was right, as soon as we were up high, it rushed in, and I was gone.

Mist speaker!

You can hear us!

Please, I have a message for my children-

"Please, leave me," I said into the mist, clinging onto what I realized was Anduin.

I was already shaking.

"What?" Anduin said, and I think he looked over his shoulder at me.

"Talking to them! Keep going!" I shouted over the voices, and he nodded, pushing

forward. I felt Bandit against my legs, helping.

Please, Mist speaker! I just want to tell them-

I wasn't ready to die!

Where's my husband?!

You saved my son's life at the temple!

Suddenly, a presence pushed through the mist, and gave me my senses for a moment or two, and I thought-

"Oh god," my voice cracked as tears filled my eyes.

A shadow of Thessali was floating in front of us, formed in the mist.

"Banish this so that you can climb safely, sister." It came through in broken, garbled phrases, but I put it together.

Thessali never showed herself to me, and yet here she was.

"What is it?" Anduin asked, and I sobbed a little.

"Answer him, baby. Send us away." She twitched, and the mini shield she had up shook.

Even in death, she was ridiculously powerful.

"It's-it's-it's the spirit of my sister-"

My boy!

Another one pushed into the space of the shield, and Thessali convulsed. The spirit took form; it was-

Let me use you to speak-

"ENOUGH!" I roared, panicked, and my palms came together, banishing the mist from the mountainside.

Anduin was looking at me like I'd grown a second head, and he supported me as I eased down onto the stair, shaking.

"Who did you see? What did they say-?" he asked, holding me and untying us at the same time.

"My-my sister a-and-I think y-your m-mother," I rasped, and he froze.

"You…you saw her?"

"I…heard…her. I think," I panted, my heart still pounding, "Tried...to possess…me…smelled…. like lavender," I said, and he slowly helped me to my feet, silent and a little shocked.

"Oh."

"Sorry-I couldn't, handle the pressure." I was getting my breath and my composure back, and he nodded.

"It's alright, what did your sister say?" He asked, and we resumed the climb.

I explained what I heard, and he nodded, saying nothing for a while, and we kept climbing.

And climbing.

And climbing.

I felt like death by the time we found flat ground, the sun was almost gone, and my every muscle shook with exertion. Anduin was no better, but our salvation came in the form of a sign.

"Tavern in the Mists. Come sleep off the climb and get a drink or seven," Anduin read, whilst I luxuriated in the lack of stairs.

Bandit started growling, and I opened my eyes to see-

I leapt to my feet, putting myself between Anduin and this…human, on reflex, drawing my daggers this time. He was unlike any human I'd ever seen, with deep brown skin and burning red eyes. He wore extravagant clothes and pointed shoes, and he had on a turban that covered all by a few stray black curls.

"Bloody hell Jade don't fight him," Anduin whispered behind me, and I growled low in my throat.

"Ah, hello," The thing spoke with a draconic accent-

Dragon.

"Jadearra. Do not. That's a black. You'll get roasted." Anduin was holding Bandit back, and I bared my teeth at the dragon, inhaling deep and giving my scary face.

"Barely a whelp, Princeling. Not to worry," I growled, blood lust rising.

"Jade no. That's the only sane one in existence. Alexstrasza had a hand in that," He said, and I stopped.

Out of respect to a Dragon Aspect who parades as one of my kind, I'll back off.

For now.

"Aren't you two quaint. Prince of Stormwind and Princess of the Thalassian Realm, all buddy buddy, quite interesting." The thing spoke, and I kept myself between him and Anduin.

"I am Wrathion, and yes. I am a black dragon. No, I'm not crazy like my father. I do actually want to discuss with you, come! Tong can set up a room for you," Wrathion turned and walked back toward the tavern, I slid Anduin a look.

"We shouldn't stay here," I said, and he sighed.

"You want to go back into the mist and sleep on stone stairs where we'll probably get trampled?" Anduin asked, and I growled, stomping after the whelp.

I sat down reluctantly beside Wrathion at the bar inside, Anduin sitting with me between them, smart Princeling.

"Tong, drinks please," Wrathion said, before sitting beside me.

I noticed only when he tapped his fingers on the table that he had long, thin fingers that ended in slightly unsettling claws.

"I am the last of the Black Dragon flight that I know of, and the son of Deathwing. Yes, I know my Father's methods weren't…well received, but I think his intentions were pure," he said, and my hands clenched around hilt of my knife.

"I'm not saying that what he did was pure, just what his end goal was," he quickly tried to mend, but it didn't help.

He took my knife and cut his hand, taking a bowl from behind the bar and dripping blood into it. The blood was black, and when it hit the bowl, it sizzled, before a vision sprung from it.

It looked like Azeroth as a globe.

"Our world is light in a universe of darkness, a candle in a tempest. There is reckoning coming, and I don't mean the petty conflict between the alliance and the horde. I speak of something bigger, darker, and infinitely stronger than our current forces. If the alliance and the horde do not work together, our world could be destroyed and absorbed into the darkness!" he exclaimed, and the little vision showed green orbs of fire hitting the world until it disappeared.

"I believe that you two are the beginning of what it'll take to overcome that foe," Wrathion said, his eyes raking over me in a way that I did not like.

"Tong, do show them to their rooms please, the woman looks positively exhausted," Wrathion said, and that's when I knew he had magic, because I went from wide awake to yawning and swaying.

"Whoa Jade, careful-do you have a room with a fire? She has a thing about cold," Anduin said, and I used his shoulder to help myself standing, eyelids drooping dangerously as I glared at Wrathion.

"Sleep well," he said as we were led away.

The room was another single with a double bed and fireplace, and Anduin set me down on the bed, taking the bags off my back and taking my vest and boots off, leaving me barefoot and in a cloth shirt with armor pants, and then he tucked the blanket in around me.

"Sleep well, Princessling," he mumbled, and I felt his lips on my temple as I was out.

"Well that was sweet,"

I jerked upright, wide-awake, but Anduin was frozen, mid step away, my bags in hand, and Wrathion was leaning on the door.

"Get out of my head lizard," I growled, reaching for my-

Right, not armed, shit.

"I just wanted to talk to you without spying ears, like your little courter, for example.

Quite attractive, if I do say so," Wrathion walked over to him, running a clawed finger along his cheek, and I growled low in my throat, crouching on the bed and ready to swing at him.

"Alright, I'll stop playing. I need information, darling. On the Horde, on your Warchief.

He's planning…something." Wrathion paced a little as he spoke, and I watched him with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not exactly best friends with the Warchief," I said, and he nodded.

"Oh I know. He's why you're the first bearer of the Theron curse in two thousand years, and why the darling Ranger General that was your sister bit it back when I was just an egg," Wrathion said, and I lunged, charging him, but he just sent me back to the bed.

"Oh please, like it's not common knowledge among those who need dirt on the Warchief. That's not what I meant by information. Why did he want the entirety of the Horde in Pandaria?" Wrathion asked, and I settled against the wall, nostrils still flared.

"He wants us to conquer-the court compromised in sending a team to map the continent, and me to learn everything about it," I said, and he hummed, pacing on the rug.

"Interesting, interesting…hm. Do you know of his arsenal?"

I woke up in a cold sweat, head pounding, and sitting up in the bed and panting. Anduin was now on the bed beside me, one arm strung lazily on my lap, but he wasn't under the covers. The fire was flickering in the fireplace, and Bandit watched me from the windowsill quietly.

I took up my boots and Anduin's cloak-and after a moment's thought, my daggers-and padded out to the front, sliding my boots and cloak on, and sheathing the daggers.

With a crack of thunder, rain poured down, and I sat on the Tavern's porch, my toes getting soaked.

I heard the creaking of wood, and whipped around, both daggers drawn, only to see Tong with a tea tray, his hand on his own not at all hidden holster, where a gun sat.

"Apologies Tong. I thought you were Wra-someone else,' I said, sitting again, and Tong set the tray down and sat beside me.

"It's alright, I get all characters here. What keeps you awake?" He asked, pouring me a cup of tea, which I accepted gratefully.

"Headache," I said, and he hummed agreeably.

"Did Master Wrathion visit you tonight?" Tong asked, and I choked a little on my tea, burning my tongue, before nodding.

"He did that the first night he came here. The young boy is quite paranoid about eavesdropping, the tea should help. Just set the cup on the bar when you head back in, and get some sleep," Tong said, and I thanked him as he stood, gathered the tray, and left.

I drank my tea and watched the rain in silence, my headache subsiding, and I went back inside, slipping off my boots and leaving the cup on the bar. I went back into our room to see Anduin sitting up in the bed, Bandit standing on the rug and staring at the door.

"Could've told me, got woken up by him," Anduin said, and I set my boots down, along with his cloak.

"Needed air," I got back into my spot as freezing wind came through the window, and I burrowed under the covers.

Anduin pressed against my back, "Better?" he asked, and I nodded sleepily as warmth seeped into the blankets.

"G'night, Princeling."

I was home again, in the dead clearing.

No grass grew, no wind blew, nothing, it was still dirt, as it should be. This was where the spirits passed on into the mists, where they came into my jurisdiction.

If I truly needed to speak with them, this was where it was easiest.

My hair sat in platinum braids that were tied off my face, black feathers from Thessali's Hawkstrider hung in rows, patterned with feathers from the Raven Lord Anzu of outland-his shadow realm was similar to our own in a way that the imbued power would be helpful. I wore a black dress that was modest, covering more skin than most of my armor, and my eyes were heavy, with heavy under eye circles showing how long I'd been awake.

I stood in the centre of the clearing, swaying slightly in my fatigue, before calling, "Thessali Theron, return to this realm and speak to me!"

Silence, again. Dammit.

It's been three months since that horrid day, why hasn't she spoken to me?

"Thessali Theron, the lady calls! Return to this realm and speak to me!" I shouted, and was met with only silence again.

I opened my eyes and studied the runes that I carved into the dirt 40 or so hours ago-were they incorrect? Am I getting an incantation wrong?

I've never actively sought out a spirit before, this is harder than I thought.

Wait..

I took my carving branch, fixing one rune and then carving Thessali's name at my feet-maybe that would help-before standing again.

Wait, I am forgetting an incantation!

"Mist! Come!" I held my arms up, using my most commanding voice, and I was swarmed.

It rolled in from every direction, responding more powerfully than ever before, and I couldn't see the clearing anymore.

"Thessali Theron, the lady calls! Return to this realm and speak to me!" I shouted into the mist, straining my eyes as it puffed and moved in front of me, until finally-

A misty shadow of her came forward, hair flowing and armor stained still, her neck was bruised-bitter memory hurt-her eyes glowed white here.

"Sister. You should not have come." Her voice was just as I remembered, with a hint of the rasping dead in her undertone.

"Thessali," I grinned hard, tears already straining to roll down my cheeks.

"Jadearra, release the mist. This is abuse of power, to use it this way," Thessali would know, she helped me learn everything about this realm.

"I Just-I-I had to see you one more time. To say-" my voice cracked, "To say goodbye."

The form moved forward, circling me, "You will grow up well, sister. You will make

amends and bridge chasms of hatred, and I will be with you every step of the way." She stopped in front of me, and the aura of peace radiated from her, calming me, "Do free your hair, the braids are so...youthful. Unbecoming of the Theron Heiress. I love you," with that, she faded into the rest of the mist, and I sent it away.

The clearing became achingly clear, and I fell to my knees, smudging the runes and curling into a ball, sobbing. I took the feathers from my hair and ripped it from it's braids, crying out form pain as it fell in overly wavy ringlets, until it hung to my waist in lanky blonde chunks. It looked horrible right now, but I didn't care.

I was covered in dirt and damp from the mist, and I felt empty.

"Jade? Come on princessling, you're crying,"

I opened my eyes to see Anduin above me, and my face was damp.

"Nightmare?" he asked, moving back as I sat up, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my palms.

"Something like that."