The Romancer Opalbane

Episode Twenty-Five: Onyx doesn't play that, but his mom does

"Who was that at the door?" Priestess Feathershine eyed Shadowstep warily.

"Your son, the warrior." Shadowstep shrugged and leaned against the wall of the tiny room again.

Priestess Feathershine obviously felt there was something more to Shadowstep's answer, but the Master Rogue kept his mouth shut, and his mind on matters at hand.

"How did you become a rogue, Alessandre? The Kaldorei Rogue Network became aware of you about twenty years ago, when you caught my eye. However, you're not on any of the rogue rosters in Darnassus, and SI: 7 made it very clear to me that you chose not to be affiliated with them when I hired you to protect Opalbane in Stormwind."

Alessandre seemed to relax. He smiled and said, "Back in Silithus, I already knew how to use a dagger. I was already going around poking my head into business that wasn't my own. I was already a sneaky person, and I was willing to betray Cenarius and my country for a woman I wanted."

Shadowstep was about to object, but he leaned against the wall again, thinking better of it. "Well, some rogues can be very patriotic, like myself. Though, I do admit that you have a point there." He joked.

Alessandre continued, "Maybe if I was from a different family, with a little less power or wealth, I might have come up as a rogue. But druid was all I was ever taught. It was what I respected. However, after leaving Cenarion Hold and Silithus behind I couldn't let anyone know that I was a druid. To survive on my own, I had to come up with something else."

"So who trained you to become a rogue?" Shadowstep insisted. Priestess Feathershine's gaze had turned back to normal, and she leaned casually on the table. For some reason, she wasn't reading Alessandre's mind anymore, which worried Shadowstep.

Alessandre smiled. "Would you believe me if I told you that I figured it all out by myself?"

"No."

"Ah, I thought you wouldn't." Alessandre grinned wider. "Then you aren't the Master Rogue for nothing. Like I just told Priestess Feathershine, the first half millennia after my excommunication was like my own personal hell. I had no family, no friends, and the only woman I loved had been the cause of it. I was so messed up back then… I even went back to Silithus to try and free Arianna a second time, only hundreds of years had already gone by and I didn't understand that too much time had passed. It was like I was still stuck in that year I lost everything. Besides, many cultists like to think they are immortal. Many of them join up worshipping Old Gods for that lone fact. But the work the cult makes them do burns out their amazing powers too fast. It's all very ironic, really. That is why cults are always desperate for new recruits. That is why when I went back, Arianna was really gone."

"But you aren't on trial for what you did to the camp Arianna was in." Feathershine looked bored. "Or anything that came before Stormwind."

Alessandre stopped talking then, and flashed a look at Shadowstep over his shoulder.

The man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, because you clearly have a soft spot for him Feathershine, I'll keep that part off the record."

Alessandre looked grateful for a moment, then went on with his story. "Well, that was the first five hundred years or so. I couldn't really recall those memories if I wanted to. So much of it is a horrible illogical blur. But, about two hundred years ago, I slowly began to pick up the tricks of the trade. I learned to become a rogue while I hunted men in Stormwind. At the time, I didn't think of it that way though. I saw a man pick another man's pocket, and I needed money to eat so when I had a chance, I imitated him. Once, in Cutthroat Alley, I saw someone get stabbed in the back, so later I tried it out with a dagger I had. I kept paying attention to a lot of things, and learned the basics for myself. It wasn't until I killed that Defias monster, named Alessandre in Westfall, that I realized I wanted to become a rogue professionally."

Shadowstep balked. So Myrielle had been right. "So… twenty years ago, you decided to officially become a rogue?" he clarified.

"No, not exactly. But you probably think that because it's what I tell people who have to know something about my past. Twenty years is a convenient span of time… but I don't like to think of myself as a rogue before Westfall. I was doing roguish things, but I was no better than those cutthroats I hunted. No self respecting rogue could call that kind of stuff rogue-work. Starshatter and I were in Westfall, at the right place, at the right time. Killing that Defias monster was a true test of my skills and it was on that day I knew I'd finally become somebody important. I wasn't a monster anymore. I was the kind of person who killed monsters like Alessandre, for the right reasons. After that, I gleaned what information I could from the professional trainers in the Alliance, but I never saw the same man twice and used various aliases. Finally, when I felt ready to return to civilization as an honest person for the first time in almost a thousand years, I took the one name that ever meant something to me: Alessandre."

Alessandre was obviously proud of his dramatic transformation, but he resisted smiling so much at his trial. "I never thought I would ever ask someone to show me mercy. Everything I ever did after Silithus was to become stronger, or else prove that I was a better person than who I really was. That I ended up here, finally in Darnassian custody, proves that I was being arrogant, yet again. But, Priestess Feathershine, I beg you to show compassion. It took meeting your Opalbane for me to finally recapture the beauty in life, to remember that it existed in every person, whether they were a no good beggar like I was for centuries or not."

Feathershine interrupted Alessandre. "And, you killed because a part of you was truly mad. You really did believe that killing those men was the same as killing the cultists who destroyed Arianna." She looked at Alessandre carefully. "I've peered into the minds of heartless killers, but yours is completely different. You have a layered consciousness. Perhaps you think that my Opalbane saved you, but she didn't. You believe that she is Arianna, and that Arianna saved you."

Alessandre began to object to this immediately. "I know they are different people! I could not have been with Arianna the way I was with Opalbane." He stopped going into detail about his romantic experience with Feathershine's daughter when the Priestess of Elune gave him a look.

She raised an eyebrow at his outburst and continued to explain her findings. "I don't doubt that you love my daughter. I can feel that much in you with my spell. This is going to be difficult for you to hear, but I think you deserve to know the truth after everything… Mirothalas Shademoon, you are insane."

Both Alessandre and Shadowstep looked astounded.

Feathershine kept going on casually about Alessandre's true mental state, as if the fact that Alessandre was really crazy didn't bother her at all. "It's been a thousand years, and your psyche has been distressed in a way that is hard to explain… but I understand. When you left Silithus, after losing your entire life, you were forced to come up with a new identity. It took many lifetimes to get rid of the anger and hurt that consumed you, but I can tell from your muddled memories that much of it involved you trying time and again to be someone else, but these new identities failed you every time, because of the anger. Since the Archdruid stripped you of your rank, you have been stuck in a kind of loop… you have common sense, and you know that today is not the same day and season that you defected from the Darnassian army. But your spirit is broken, your heart confused—perhaps those are the permanent effects of the excommunication process—in a way that, tragically, can never be fully healed. You were not able to escape that cycle, no matter who you tried to be. However, this story does have a happy ending."

Shadowstep was startled at Feathershine's smile. Alessandre tried not to look too hopeful. "Yes?" he asked her.

"When you became Alessandre, you finally got it right. It scares most people to think of it this way, but sanity is a precarious thing. When our minds are torn apart by grief, or we get mad at our little friends in the schoolyard and do something foolish to get them back, we momentarily forget ourselves. The Master Rogue is giving me a horrible look right now because he is not a highly trained Priestess of Elune. He can never dream of understanding my conclusions regarding the soul because he only understands manipulation and threatening the truth out of people."

Shadowstep rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you understand that Opalbane is not Arianna, but your mind can't really separate the two." Feathershine sat up then and leaned across the table. She lovingly caressed the side of Alessandre's face, as would a mother. "But never fear, dearest. It is what your heart needs. You've walked all over Azeroth for hundreds of years—though you don't remember it—looking for your Arianna, looking for a perfect woman with a pure heart and… well, some cultist tendencies too, that made you feel like you were nineteen again. Your heart needed that to finally get back on the right track. Praise Elune that you found that in my daughter. It is only sheer grace of the goddess that you found Opalbane in exactly the state she was in Stormwind, or else you might have missed her completely. It was just the trigger you needed to finally break out of this cycle and pick up where you left off."

"I… I don't understand. Feathershine, I killed so many people. I remember planning it… it was an addiction, I couldn't escape—"

Feathershine got up from where she was sitting and moved around the table to Alessandre's side.

"Your mind is not your own, love. You lost it on the very day that the Archdruid chose to take revenge on you. I'm sorry, but you can never get it back. It is hard to explain, but you've managed to survive the madness by convincing yourself over and over again that you were someone else. Your final transformation in Westfall was profound but, that alone could not have saved you. That you went to Stormwind to start your normal life with a new job as Opalbane's bodyguard, and only ended up in Cutthroat Alley again is proof of this. To heal your broken spirit you needed to be a new man, which you did in Westfall. But, for your mental health, you needed to stop reliving the past, change it completely so that it would not hurt you anymore. The only way to achieve something like that would be to go back in time and alter events already long gone. You attempted to go back and save Arianna before, remember? That is what you told us a little while ago. It was too late to save Arianna back then, but it was not too late to save Opalbane a few weeks ago. When you made the choice to save my daughter, you were finally able to alter your broken consciousness. The past and the present finally united within your troubled soul. And might I add that you did a wonderful job with my daughter." Priestess Feathershine motioned for Alessandre to get up, but before he was completely on his feet, she hugged him.

Priestess Feathershine began to cry. "I love you dear… you are so precious. One thousand and nineteen years old, but still as young as your last day in Silithus, you poor boy." Aware of Shadowstep's heated gaze, Alessandre cautiously hugged Priestess Feathershine back. "No wonder my daughter cares so deeply for you. Maybe she does not know everything, but she could tell that you needed her. Maybe she refused to become a Priestess of Elune, but like one of us, her heart must be made of gold."

Priestess Feathershine leaned up on her toes and kissed Alessandre's forehead. He allowed himself to smile at her warm gesture.

Shadowstep cleared his throat loudly and Feathershine indulged her secret lover at last. She separated from the rogue she'd recently become maternally fond of.

"You can't possibly be done with him already, Feathershine. There is still a lot more that Darnassus needs to know." Shadowstep objected.

"You mean, a lot more that you would like to know. I am ready to pass my judgment." She smiled at Alessandre.

"Stop it, Feathershine," Shadowstep warned.

"I find Mirothalas Shadowmoon innocent on all accounts."

Both men just stared at Priestess Feathershine.

Alessandre stood. "Priestess… I've dreaded this day from the moment I left Silithus a thousand years ago. I did defect from the Darnassian army. I wrongly accused the Archdruid of corruption, disobeyed a direct order… I am not innocent. I killed people. I killed a lot of people." He sounded delirious.

"You were not yourself." She insisted.

"Their blood is on my hands!" Alessandre shouted. Even Shadowstep flinched.

"Do you think I don't know that killing people is wrong, even if they are criminals hanging out in Cutthroat Alley that the courts have not tried yet? I am well aware of this, Alessandre. But I've looked into your head, I've peered into your heart and soul, and I know that you were not yourself when you did these things. Furthermore, the trauma of the Archdruid's barbaric practice set you along that path. As I said before, your mind has been irrevocably lost. It is still gone, and always will be. Maybe other excommunicated druids took their lives to escape the madness. You made up a new identity for yourself, which is much the same thing. But the result of the excommunication process is the same in either scenario. You, Mirothalas Shademoon, have been, and always will be insane."

"You are free to go." She emphasized, and folded her hands up into the sleeves of her long priestly robes.

Alessandre swayed on his feet. It was good news, but also very disturbing. He did not like to think of himself as insane… but perhaps that very fact was evidence of his madness. How could Alessandre have done all the horrible things in his past and not be truly insane? Alessandre stared into nothingness for a long moment, as it all began to make sense. It was deeply satisfying--though a little upsetting--to finally know the sad truth about himself. With a deep sigh, he turned to go, but Shadowstep stepped into his way.

"Perhaps the priestess finds you innocent, but I'm not so easily swayed by emotion." Then he looked over Alessandre's shoulder at Feathershine. "As his class leader, I have a say in his punishment too, you know. What you did to our friends in Stormwind over the last two hundred years was cold-blooded murder. I will not stand for it."

"I've already passed my judgment." Feathershine warned the Master Rogue.

"That is because you know how much your daughter cares for him. You'd rather have her marry a murderer then get on her bad side." Shadowstep spat back. Priestess Feathershine averted her eyes.

"He's a good person deep down." She defended her judgement.

"There will be justice." Shadowstep narrowed his eyes at Alessandre. "Since I am your class leader--however you became a rogue--my judgment counts here as well. It is my opinion that you are guilty, on all accounts. What do you think of that?"

Alessandre furrowed his brow. "I don't know how to feel… but it's fair, I think. I guess I deserve both verdicts, one for each of my personalities. The rogue in me has finally been exonerated, though the druid in me has been captured at last." He smiled sadly.

Shadowstep shrugged. "Your sincerity is charming, but I'm not the right gender for it, am I?" Shadowstep smiled cruelly at him. "You are as guilty as sin, and I sentence you to hard labor for the rest of your life."

Alessandre looked confused at first by the vague punishment, but then he smirked confidently. "Oh, I see what is going on here. You made up your mind about what you wanted to do with me before you even got in here. Let's see, how would you define "hard labor?" Will I be carrying heavy rocks up and down a steep hill for years and years? Shoveling dirt behind the Cenarion Enclave, perhaps? If you put it that way, you could have me do whatever you want."

Shadowstep folded his hands behind his back and went on as if he didn't understand Alessandre's sarcasm. "You will be beholden to me. As the Master Rogue, I know best how to select assignments that someone with your unique skill will find challenging. Whenever I retire, the next Master Rogue will continue the process."

"Do you think I am going to be your personal minion, and run all over Azeroth risking my hide to take out various people? I might be a druid as well as a rogue, but I'm not some kind of monster, that you can send even into Thrall's chamber! This is precisely why I didn't want anyone to know about my powers! I'm not an idiot, Shadowstep. I'll not be abused that way."

"You will also seek treatment for your addiction to "ganking people", as they call it these days, from a druid I will assign to you in the Cenarion Enclave. That should improve your abilities, and curb that nasty split personality you have. Also, you are not to tell another soul that you are a druid."

Alessandre lost complete control of himself. "I will NOT hand myself over to the Archdruid again! Do you know what they would do to me if they found out? Do you really want to release the monster brooding inside of me onto Stormwind again, or the Exodar, Ironforge, or even Darnassus? I warn you, you are playing with fire, Master Rogue."

Shadowstep didn't budge on the matter at all. "Complain all you want, Mirothalas. I own you now."

Priestess Feathershine gently cleared her throat. "Are you quite through, Shadowstep?"

"Certainly. I believe we're done here." He turned to leave.

"No, actually, we're not done at all." Priestess Feathershine smiled. She rubbed Alessandre's back in gentle circles until he calmed down and faced her.

"My dearest, there is a reason that they put Priestesses of Elune in charge of these proceedings." Then, she pinched Alessandre's cheeks like a grandmother and began to talk to him in a mock baby voice. "Now, I don't want you to mind any silly little thing that mean man just said to you, okay?" Then she glared at Shadowstep to make her point. Shadowstep's jaw clenched, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Now," she said, composing herself and went on, "I am going to override Shadowstep's punishment. I am allowed to do it on rare occasions when the class leader I make my ruling with is clearly biased against you. This man, who is always jealous when I show kindness to another male person, is clearly outstepping his bounds. He wants to bury you so deep that you will never see the sun or moon again. But I'm not going to have that."

"He doesn't even know about us! How can he be seducing you, for me to be jealous?" Shadowstep flared.

Feathershine sighed. "Everyone knows about us, Jebbidiath. And, if I tell Tyrande that you ruled out of passion after we three were locked in a confessional cell with this gorgeous creature for hours, she'll believe me." Then she narrowed her eyes at Shadowstep. "Even if it isn't actually true."

Alessandre almost burst out laughing at Shadowstep's real name. A stern look from his guild leader made him think twice, though.

"Alessandre—and I call you this because it is your rightful name—I sentence you thus." Priestess Feathershine continued. "Though I find you innocent of the murders in Stormwind, I only do so because you are truly and fully insane. Your mind is not your own, and any Priestess of Elune who reads your mind will be convinced of this as well. Therefore, I order you to spend the rest of your life in the care of a skilled Kaldorei priestess." She raised an eyebrow to make it obvious to everyone in the room that she did not say 'Priestess of Elune' for a reason. "It will be her duty to love, honor, and cherish you as if you were her own kin, as is befitting a person with a gentle psyche like yours. Alessandre, do you think we can get said Kaldorei priestess to agree to that, in an official kind of way that no one can deny?"

"Oh, this is rich." Shadowstep complained aloud and rolled his eyes.

Priestess Feathershine only smiled at Alessandre.

"I… I don't know what to say. Are you giving me your blessing?"

Feathershine pursed her lips. "For the record, I can't, but since Shadowstep owes me many favors, I think he can 'happen not to hear' what I am about to say next." Then she paused. Shadowstep threw his hands up in the air and turned his back on both of them.

"Yes, for the love of Elune, please marry my daughter!" Feathershine begged him, while Shadowstep pretended not to listen.

Alessandre bit his lower lip and blinked at the ceiling so that no one could see how emotional he was getting. Just when he thought his life was over, he was getting a second chance.

"But, I do agree with Shadowstep on one thing, however. Two things, actually. First, I think that you should seek treatment for your problem. I didn't release you into Azeroth to wreak havoc you know. Perhaps Shadowstep seems like a villain to you, and I also complain about him, but the Master Rogue can also be very gentle. I think he understands that you need some help, and I don't think he offered you access to his secret druid contacts within the Cenarion Enclave because he wanted to see you get hurt. Furthermore, I suggest you also take advantage of the offer because Shadowstep may go to extraneous means to control you in some way if you don't give him some kind of leverage over you. Since he is your guild leader and the Master Rogue of Darnassus afterall, it's only a fair compromise."

Shadowstep looked at Feathershine sideways, but he wouldn't admit that he agreed with her.

"Secondly, about your being a druid…" Priestess Feathershine put this very carefully. "I am very tempted to rule one way or another about this, but I can't imagine how having to absorb your druid past into your new identity will affect you. Not that I'm advocating for you to lie to my daughter, I could never condone something like that." Her long green eyebrows wilted as she admitted to her failure. "But I just can't, in all my years of sentencing people, see what you should do in this situation. There is far too much at stake whether you tell her or you don't. I will leave that decision in your hands, since you are the only one who will suffer the consequences. I do strongly suggest that you tell Opalbane though. I feel confident that she will understand."

"Just like a woman, to give such a weak sentence." Shadowstep complained.

"Just for that, I'm not coming over tonight." Feathershine put in quickly without missing a beat. Shadowstep began to brood about this immediately.

Alessandre looked at both of his captors. He couldn't believe this was happening. "So, I can go, just like that?"

"Yes." Feathershine squeezed his hand.

Alessandre went to the door. Grudgingly, Shadowstep moved away from it.

"I'm going to finish my mission." Alessandre told him. "Maybe I'm free to do what I like, but I don't want to see Opalbane get hurt. I really do love her." he told Shadowstep. Shadowstep nodded. Something still nagged at Alessandre though, and he had to ask.

"I hate to bring this up, but before I go and commit myself to Opalbane, I think you all should know… she doesn't react very well to my fel mana. I wouldn't mention it at all, but I think my marrying her will actually put your daughter at risk. After what you've done for me, I just couldn't bear—"

"No, that's not what happened." Feathershine went and sat back down behind the table. Shadowstep joined her, taking Alessandre's place on the bench.

Alessandre almost fell over. He hadn't sensed Feathershine going that deep into his mind. She'd seen how he and Opalbane made love?

Priestess Feathershine blushed a bright pink. "Every woman… changes when on their moon cycle. Opalbane has always been a bit weird during that time of month. I've heard her talk in those demonic voices before. I'm afraid it has nothing to do with Zar'teus or the cultists though. It's just her way."

Alessandre's eyes went wide. "So, when she—?"

"Yes."

"And then when I—?"

"No, that's just your strangeness. But it did seem to help her for some reason."

"And then later that night, when we—"

Priestess Feathershine sighed. "It's her way, Alessandre. Please don't ask me any more questions about your Wreathe Day two nights ago. Evenso, I hope you won't hold something like that against Opalbane. I don't know where it comes from. Her younger brother isn't like that at all, even when he gets very emotional."

Alessandre's eyes went wide. Of course he couldn't say it in polite company, but any man who experienced what he had with a woman two nights earlier would feel like he'd hit the sexual jackpot. It was like he'd made love to two women in one night, and there was never going to be anything wrong with it, as far as his girlfriend was concerned. "Oh, no, I never could hold that kind of thing against her… in fact, I think I even fixed her for the time being."

Shadowstep scowled. "I am not going to ask what you mean by that."

Feathershine began to shake her head. "Nor will I. Alessandre, you're a darling, but will you please go and become one with my daughter already? That Mind Vision Spell has already made us far closer than I need to be as your mother-in-law, and I've already suffered through that kind of thing with my other foster-child." Her features flooded with irritation when she brought up Onyxbane.

Alessandre thanked them both profusely, and then rushed out of the room. When he exited the Temple of Elune, he ran. He ran for his life. He forced some gold into the hand of some young soldier walking by the bank and told him to tell Priestess Opalbane to meet him in the Temple Gardens in an hour. Then, he darted off to make preparations before the kid could ask too many more questions.

"Why do they always give such confusing quests, with no directions at all!" the kid whined and went off to find this Priestess Opalbane in Darnassus.

Of course, for that reason it took a while. At sunset, Opalbane walked up the long ramp to the entrance of the temple then made a right. She was wearing a simple blue dress that she hadn't thought too much about. Though the priestess felt it was odd for Alessandre to send someone to summon her, she tried not to worry about it. He'd been gone all day, but she assumed it was rogue business. She hoped against hope that he wouldn't tell her something was wrong and that he had to leave for Stormwind right away or someplace else even more dangerous.

When she entered the tiny domed alcove, the shadowpriestess was at first taken aback by the abundance of beautiful flowers hanging everywhere, off of the tree branches and even covering the walls and ceiling. Obviously, someone was getting engaged. Adorning a place with flowers like that was a part of the Kaldorei custom. As she occasionally did when coming to the Temple Gardens and seeing the place decorated thus, Opalbane felt a painful stab of jealousy.

Finally, Opalbane looked down from the gorgeous decorated walls and saw Alessandre there. He was down on one knee.

The shadowpriestess' hands trembled. She covered her mouth, shaking her head that it could not be so.

"Yes, Moonlily. I do love you this much." Alessandre calmly reassured her. Then he opened the little wooden box in his hand. A tiny carved trinket lay inside. A fluted bright flower done in tiny yellow pearls.

"Shadowpriestess Opalbane, daughter of the pale woman you named yourself for in Felwood, daughter of the dark man you named your brother for in Felwood, foster daughter and no less beloved by Priestess Feathershine of Darnassus…" then he chuckled softly, "Whomever you are, will you marry me?"

Opalbane was overjoyed. She ran to embrace him but the horrible hollow whistle of an enormous weapon being drawn and dragged through the air came between them. Alessandre got up immediately to challenge the stranger. But when he looked up the length of the gigantic Arcanite Reaper that kept him from the woman he loved, then up the taught muscular arms that held onto the horrible implement, Alessandre saw a face that was far too familiar.

A menacing smile broke blue skin and spread the jawline that reminded Alessandre of Opalbane. His long white braids completed the effect.

"Onyxbane?" Alessandre made a hasty guess before attacking the stranger.

"Have you ever seen an Arcanite Reaper before?"

Alessandre inhaled an annoyed breath. Yes, this was Opalbane's little brother Onyxbane. Except that he wasn't so little. Alessandre considered himself the king of witty remarks. The rogue briefly wondered what he could say to his girlfriend's brother to throw off what was obviously some kind of silly line the warrior liked. That the axe was right in front of Alessandre's face made it an incredibly stupid question for Onyxbane to ask. But Alessandre saw the fear flash in Opalbane's eyes, and he knew that he couldn't fight with her brother.

"No." Alessandre said, sensing that was the answer the warrior wanted.

"It's about this big," Onyxbane said, and brandished the deathly blade with a laughing skull at its center. Steel spikes ripped up out of the blue leather handholds along the shaft. "And I'm going to shove it up something sensitive if you don't STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

Onyxbane's clear threat resounded in the Temple Garden, and even shook some of the carefully placed flowers from the tree branches and stone walls. Alessandre went pale.