Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own the World of Warcraft, etc.
Author's note: Have you noticed the lack of ducks in Azeroth? Anyway… many, many thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys make me feel guilty enough to post another chapter even when I'm busy in real life ;)
Ga'vik watched his companions from the corner of his eye as they crouched in the dusty shade of a floating rock, eating in silence. Bruim's eyes were red-rimmed with grief. Ga'vik knew he had not broken the news to her gently, but he reasoned that bad news should be delivered like a killing blow: quickly, to get it over with. Despite the anguish in her liquid brown eyes, the female tauren had spoken no further about Eikahe, other than to insist on bringing the night elf - whom she claimed was another druid friend of his.
The night elf did not appear grief-stricken, or anything but distant and conceited, though Ga'vik thought they all looked like that. Eikahe had spoken several times of Bruim, to whom he had once been intended in the traditional, tauren sense. He had never mentioned a night elf, or not that the troll could recall. Even now, Ga'vik could not remember his name. Tianadoloas Shadowsong? Tiodonasal Dreamshadow? Tidoanolaos Dreamsong?
"Bruim," he rumbled in Taur-ahe (Tinoadaalnos Moonshadowdreamwhisper?), "Is Ti ready to go?"
She spoke briefly with the night elf in Darnassian. It sounded a lot like Thalassian, which had some surprising similarities with Zandali, but Ga'vik had decided not to encourage any unnecessary communication with the elf. He was relieved that both druids had traveled mainly in their cat forms, after huffing alongside him at his loping troll's pace for the first hour or so. It had mostly freed him from the burden of conversation.
"Yes," replied Bruim, looking down her muzzle at him as she lumbered to her hooves, "we are ready to continue. Ga'vik, we need to rest more often. The elementals are not such easy targets when one is exhausted. Not to mention the silithids."
Ga'vik knew he'd been pushing them hard since leaving Valor's Rest, but he was equally as anxious to find Litha as he was to get out of the silithid-infested wasteland again. The four of them had made light work of every beast they'd encountered so far, but each gleaming carapace reminded the troll of the seething, glistening swarm that had engulfed their camp in Tanaris.
"We need to keep up the pace," he retorted. "I don't want to run into any more of those… Qiraji." He had recognized the term when Bruim had used it, though ancient history was of little interest to him. Present survival was of much greater interest.
"None of us do," the tauren responded gravely. "Layo sent a rider to Staghelm Point this morning, as well, to seek assistance and advice from Ralo'shan, the Eternal Watcher. She is said to know much and more about the Qiraji."
Ga'vik only grunted in reply, and started off at a brisk pace. He would need to send word to his Horde superiors as well, as soon as he reached a mailbox. He hoped they would not learn that he had reported to the Cenarion Circle first. They would undoubtedly hear something about a human being involved, but it was possible that time and distance would muddle the issue enough to save him.
The two druids and the hunter took turns keeping watch during the night, and avoided any unnecessary battles during the day. The well-trod path made travel much easier than it had been over the shifting sands of Tanaris. A few other small groups passed them on the trail, both Alliance and Horde, but Ga'vik needed only to keep his head down as the neutral druids exchanged greetings and news with the other adventurers.
The troll was hopeful they would reach Cenarion Hold in peaceful and efficient silence, but his hopes were dashed on the second evening. The night elf sidled up to him next at the campfire, looking as haughty as ever, but also determined. Bruim translated again.
"He says we need to move more cautiously. We are tiring ourselves unnecessarily by keeping up this pace. There have been many attacks of late and we need to stay sharp."
"The less time we are out here, the less likely we are to be attacked," Ga'vik said shortly. "You two wanted to tag along, so try to keep up. If they attack us as they did in Tanaris... well, it won't really matter how much fucking sleep we've had." He stroked Lujin absently. She tipped her head out of reach with an imperious look.
"Besides," the troll added, ruffling his own hair instead, "without mounts, we're sitting critters."
Bruim stomped her hooves irritably before answering, "There aren't enough sabers at Valor's Rest to risk them on a personal mission of this sort."
Ga'vik was already shrugging in response when the night elf muttered something that elicited a loud snort from the tauren. The troll glanced up at them. "What did he say?"
Bruim hesitated a moment, blowing sharply through her nostrils. "He said - perhaps you should not have allowed a defenceless human slave to take your mount."
The troll looked away again, snapping his teeth together to dispel the uncomfortable heat in his tusks. There was little he could say to that.
The tauren and the night elf exchanged a few more words before Bruim spoke again. "Ga'vik, are you sure this is what Eikahe asked of you? To risk your life for this human who sold hers? And who, if I understand correctly, has repaid your assistance so far by stealing from you and lying about you as well?"
The troll looked up at the tauren, with her sad brown eyes, then over to the night elf, with his ethereal white ones. Instead of answering the questions, he asked his own. "How did you know Eikahe, anyway, elf? He never mentioned you."
Ga'vik had intended the slight, and felt a grim sort of satisfaction as the elf's ears drooped in immediate response. The night elf answered him directly. Though his Taur-ahe was rough, it was passable, and Ga'vik realized he must have been avoiding any unnecessary communication, as well.
"We meet in Moonglade, when we… small." He turned to Bruim and they murmured briefly in Darnassian. "Not small… young. When we train – to be bears."
The night elf's ghostly, glowing eyes seemed even more distant, perhaps turned inwards. His ears seemed to droop further as he reminisced. Ga'vik realized with a start that Eikahe had mentioned this elf, though he had never given a name.
The troll studied the slim blue figure intently, trying to see past his usual distaste for elves. Delicate-featured, pale and aloof, as they all were. Not at all what he'd imagined from Eikahe's story – he had always imagined Eikahe with another tauren, not with one of these… pretty snobs. Still, it made sense, in a way. The tauren were a warm and welcoming people, but rigid in their views on sexuality. Despite their cold exteriors, the elves were said to be quite open in the ways of love.
Bruim must not even realize the significance of their relationship, Ga'vik thought, or she would surely be acting differently around the elf. If this were the young male at the centre of Eikahe's Moonglade stories, he was the very reason the marriage had been called off.
Testing his theory, Ga'vik said carefully, "Ah… there was something, if I recall, about a … fishing trip? Was that you, then?"
The elf's eyes snapped back to the present and to the troll's face. He virtually hummed with attentiveness and a sudden, painful hope. "Eikahe – he mention me…?"
Ga'vik felt badly about his earlier jibe. He was not the cause of this elf's grief, but he had not needed to make it worse. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, man, he did talk about you. He, uh…" the troll glanced at Bruim, who was following their conversation closely. There was no need to give her fresh wounds, either. He would need to tread carefully here. "He said he had a great time on that fishing trip. A really great time. He talked about it a lot. I'm just fucking useless with names, you know?" He looked at the elf to see if his message had been received.
The night elf's eyes were shining as if they could not contain his emotions, but he only nodded tightly in response.
The troll breathed an inward sigh. It was awkward enough to be traveling with Eikahe's ex-fiance, but now his elven ex-lover, as well? Unconsciously, he rubbed at the bear outline on the inside of his forearm. Eikahe, he thought bitterly, you have left so many scars in this world – the loas must love you.