"Oi! Wendell!"
"Oooh, my fair lady!"
"Ye clean up nicely, Wendy! Who woulda guessed!"
Mariella laughed and grinned appreciatively at the raucous crowd of guards who greeted her upon her entrance of the tavern.
"You slay me with your jests, Wilkes," she said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly at her short and stocky fellow guardsman as she took a seat.
"I would've guessed it," came a familiar voice from behind her. Mariella turned to find the sergeant approaching their rowdy table.
"OI! You hear that, fellas? Sarge's had his eye on ol' Wendell-y!" another guard by the name of McGuire said loudly. At once, the table burst into a ruckus of laughter and pounding fists on the tabletop.
Mariella found her face growing hot again and dared a glance at the sergeant, but the sergeant didn't look embarrassed one bit. Instead, he laughed along with the rest of the men as he took a seat on the opposite side of the table.
Looking for a quick escape, she noticed most of them were already pink-faced and slightly tipsy.
"Looks like you boys have already started in on the spirits. I'll just go throw back a few to catch up," she replied quickly, before making a beeline for the bar.
With a flood of relief, she found that her close friend, Linda, was working as barkeep this particular evening.
"Evenin', Mari!" she greeted happily as she wiped down the surface of the bar. After a moment, she added, "What's got you all riled up?"
"Erm, it's nothing, Lind," Mariella replied, feeling her blush deepen. "I'll take my usual, please."
But, Linda didn't move.
"Oooh, is it Williem?" Linda asked, eyeing Mariella slyly. Mariella stared blankly at her for a moment.
"Who?"
"The handsome Sarge, you silly woman! Has all that Murloc-killin' made ya daft?" Linda cried, reminding Mariella that, of course, Sergeant Dean had a first name.
"Um, what gives you that idea? What does the sergeant have to do with anything?" Mariella asked defensively, not quite feeling up to a blatant lie.
"You mean, besides the fact that he's crazy about'cha?" Linda asked, as she set about preparing Mariella's drink.
Mariella was sure that if she had been drinking something she would've choked and was suddenly grateful for Linda's delay in her work.
"I-I'm sorry? I could swear you only just told me my sergeant fancies me."
"It's true, Mari! He does!"
Mariella was quiet as she mulled it over in her head. Maybe…
"No. No, it's preposterous. Sergeant doesn't even like me. He put me on Murloc duty for goodness' sake."
"Oh, don't be stupid! I see him out there on the docks repeatedly in his spare time, watching you on the shores from a distance."
Mariella was shocked into silence by this tidbit of news.
"Really?" she croaked after a moment; her throat had gone very dry.
"Aye, Mari! Have you ever wondered why he put you out there on the shores?"
"Well, yes. I assumed it was because he didn't like me very much and he believed I wasn't skilled enough to defend the city against the Forsaken forces. I thought it was simply a way for him to keep me out of his hair."
Linda thumped Mariella's drink down in front of her a little harder than she had probably meant to. The mugs contents sloshed over the top and splashed across Mariella's hands, the strong scent of alcohol tickling her nose.
"Mari!" she scolded. "That's ridiculous! Anyone with a brain knows you're a highly-skilled warrior! Otherwise, the Stormwind Guard would have never stationed you here along with the few select others they thought capable of defending the city to it's fullest!"
Mariella took a swig of her drink, feeling slightly reassured and flattered by Linda's outburst.
"I think the real reason he stationed you on the beach with the Murlocs is to keep an eye on you. Clearing out the Murloc camps is one of the easiest-"
Mariella started to protest but Linda continued on loudly.
"-and safest tasks in the Southshore Guard's line of duty. It isn't that he believes you can't defend the town, it's that he doesn't want you to defend the town. Mari," Linda said, leaning on the counter to peer into Mariella's face," he cares for you. That's why he gave you those orders."
Silence reigned between the pair for a moment as they both stared one another down. Mariella finally broke the gaze to turn back toward the table.
As she did so, the sergeant glanced up and their eyes met. He smiled at her. Mariella returned it with a twitchy half-smile and turned back to Linda, her head spinning.
It couldn't be true. Herself and Sergeant Dean??
Never. He'd hardly even spoken to her before today.
Besides, he already had a woman of his own.