Chapter Two
Larraine looked over the objects she had laid out on her bed, taking stock of everything to make sure she hadn't forgotten something before she started packing it all into her backpack. She had a couple of water skins; some dried fruits for herself and preserved meat for her wolf; a roll of bandages in case anyone got injured; her journal for making notes and plotting out maps; a full supply of arrows; and a hearthstone in case she needed to get back to Stormwind in an emergency situation. It seemed as though everything was there, but a part of her kept thinking something was missing.
"Potions!" she said to herself and left her room to go across the hall to where one of the newer recruits was staying. To her surprise, the door was open so she walked right in.
"Bixby, could I get some potions from you?" she requested, then stopped in her tracks when she noticed the sole occupant of the room wasn't the perky, pigtailed gnome who was usually there but a different gnome with black hair – though hers was also styled into two tails which stood high atop her head – and techno-goggles covering her eyes.
"What kind of potions do you need?" came a squeaky voice from under the bed, and Larraine looked over to see a box slide out from the space beneath it, followed by two pink pigtails, and finally the youthful face of the gnome she'd been looking for gazed up at her.
"Healing potions, mostly, but if you have some fire and frost potions I could use those, too."
Bixby nodded and pulled herself out from under her bed the rest of the way, then popped open the latches on the case she'd been retrieving and began rooting around inside of it.
"It's good you caught me before we left," Bixby chirped merrily as she began gathering together some potions into a small pouch, the vials clinking together.
"Where are you going?" Larraine wondered, her gaze moving to the other gnome in the room for a brief moment before she looked back to Bixby.
"We're going to the new land to look for the prince!" she announced excitedly, then she turned to look at a framed portrait of Varian Wrynn on the wall next to her bed. "Don't worry my sweet king, we'll bring him back safely."
"You're going, too?" the black-haired gnome asked, her voice quieter and slightly lower in pitch than Bixby's.
"I am," Larraine said with a nod, looking once more to Bixby, who was still staring at her prized portrait of the king with a dreamy look on her face. With a sigh, she stepped around the young rogue and went over to offer her hand to the stranger.
"I'm Larraine McAlister," she introduced herself. The gnome smiled politely and set aside the small mechanical device she was tinkering with, then wiped her hands off on a cloth before reaching out to shake Larraine's hand.
"Gardenia Tinkerfoot," she stated her name. "Bixby is my sister."
"So you're the one she's told me about. It's nice to finally meet you, Ambassador," Larraine greeted her with a slight bow.
Gardenia cringed and drew her had away. "Please, don't call me that. Gardenia will be fine."
"Fair enough," Larraine agreed with a smile, then she nodded toward her sister. "You want to break her out of her trance or should I?"
Gardenia sighed and lowered herself out of the chair she had been sitting in, smoothed down the back of her robes, then marched over to her sister and unceremoniously slapped her up the backside of her head. Bixby let out a loud yelp in shock and pouted as she rubbed the spot where she'd been hit, turning her big green eyes to look up to the still-concealed gaze of her sibling, who was frowning in disapproval with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Stop drooling over that stolen painting and get a move on," she ordered, tapping her foot a bit. "Rell said we need to be leaving as soon as possible."
"Oh! Right! We have to save Anduin!" Bixby exclaimed, scrambling to her feet and carrying the pouch full of potions over to Larraine.
"Did you hear? We get to ride an airship!" She said as she handed the potions over before running back to the trunk to grab handfuls of herbs which she stuck in a pouch on her belt, speaking frantically as she moved. "It's going to be so much fun! I've never been on one before, have you? Deni has, and she doesn't really like them – do you, Deni? Which is weird, because she's a pilot, herself-"
"Wait, we're taking an airship?" Larraine cut her off when her brain finally processed the rapid-fire delivery of the young gnome.
"Mhm," Bixby relied with an enthusiastic nod. "Rell said it's hovering near the harbor, waiting for us."
"How am I supposed to get Fang up there?" Larrained worried.
"Fang?" Gardenia echoed, finally lifting up her goggles to reveal reddish-brown eyes and a light smattering of freckles just underneath them.
"Her pet wolf," Bixby explained. "He's really big, but don't worry he's nice. His fur is so soft, too, and he'll even dance with you!"
"Bixby!" Larraine nearly shouted to get her attention as she began rambling once more.
"Oh! Right, um..." her face scrunched up in thought as she scratched at her temple with one finger. "I'm pretty sure Deni can take him up there with her flying machine. Right, sis?" she asked, looking to her sister.
"I have a harness you can put on him and I'll take him up there for you," Gardenia informed Larraine with a nod, pushing the mass of black bangs out of her eyes as she crossed the room to retrieve her own packed bag and a scythe with a faintly-glowing blade.
"Is that safe?" Larraine asked her, and the gnome smiled at the obvious concern she had for her animal companion.
"It's completely safe, I assure you. I've already used it on several other hunters' pets and I daresay some of them even enjoyed it." With a confident grin, she took Larraine's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before tugging on it a bit as she made her way toward the door. "Come on, let's get your things and you can help me get it set up."
"I'll be along in a bit!" Bixby called after them, and Gardenia stopped and turned to poke her head back into the room.
"You better be down there by the time I'm finished harnessing her wolf, or I'm going to tell the king where you got that portrait of him," she threatened, and Bixby paled and gave a single nod.
"Understood."
Larraine chuckled at the exchange. Most of the members of SI:7 knew Bixby was a bit of a collector of fine things, and that most of her personal treasures hadn't exactly been openly available for collecting. The portrait of Varian Wrynn in her room was something she had 'found' in a vault within Stormwind Keep during a ball the previous year. Shaw had yelled quite loudly when he discovered her acquisition, but she had given him what she believed to be a completely logical argument in reply. The painting was one of the old portraits of the king, which had since been replaced by a newer one, so she reasoned that it was better off with her where it would be cared for and admired on a daily basis rather than in some vault where no one would ever see it again and it would just collect dust. Shaw had reluctantly let her keep the painting, and though he wasn't above using it as leverage to get her to do things – much in the same way her sister seemed to – Larraine had a suspicion that he'd actually admitted the theft to Varian.
"Is this your room?" Gardenia asked as she pointed to Larraine's doorway, bringing her out of her thoughts.
Larraine nodded and went into the room, and Gardenia waited patiently while she packed the potions she'd gotten from Bixby with the rest of her supplies and then quickly put on the light chain armor that had been specially made for her. She honestly hoped it wouldn't have to be tested, but with the Horde most likely bearing down upon Anduin she was thoroughly aware that she was going to get at least some use out of it. Once she had finished pulling on her boots and her gloves, she hoisted her bag up onto one shoulder and her quiver onto the other, adjusting the straps so they were comfortable enough for her to carry at the same time. As she retrieved her longbow from where it was resting against a wall, she gave one last look about the room, mentally running through a checklist to be sure she had everything she would need. She then started to head out, but suddenly backtracked and went to her bed. She set aside her bow and lifted up the mattress with one hand, sweeping the other underneath to retrieve a silver dagger which she then hooked to her belt.
"I didn't think hunters used daggers," Gardenia mused when Larraine finally joined her at the doorway and the two of them began making their way down the long spiral staircase to the lower levels of the building.
"They don't," Larraine said. "This one belonged to my mother. It's sort of a good luck charm, I guess you could say."
"I understand," Gardenia remarked with a sage nod. "Bixby and I lost our parents when we escaped Gnomeregan."
"I think everyone's lost someone, especially in recent years," Larraine quietly observed.
"Well, we're not going to lose the prince, so don't worry," Gardenia assured her, looking up to smile at her. Larraine forced a smile in return, though her stomach was still churning nervously as a million scenarios played out in her mind of what sort of danger he could possibly be in. Horde soldiers, vicious wild animals, man-eating plants, rabid ten-foot-tall murlocs... there could be any number of possible hazards for him to face in the unknown territory where Admiral Taylor's fleet had been when they last made contact with the Alliance military.
With a sigh, she shook her head an instead forced herself to focus on the task at hand. As soon as they exited headquarters, she let out a sharp whistle and her wolf came running to her obediently and sat down as he awaited her instructions. He, too, noticed the unfamiliar gnome at her side and he looked to Larraine with his head tilted slightly in curiosity.
"This is Gardenia, Bixby's sister," she explained to him. "Gardenia, this is Fang."
"Um... Hello," Gardenia awkwardly greeted the animal, giving him a small wave. Fang stood back up and lowered his head to the ground in a sort of bow, which caused Larraine to smile proudly.
"He says he's glad to meet you," she translated, then called the wolf's name to get his attention.
"Gardenia here is going to put a harness on you so that she can use her flying machine to take you up to the airship we'll be boarding to go look for Anduin." The wolf shied away a bit and whined, and Larraine shook her head as she gave him a gentle smile. "Don't worry. She said it's perfectly safe, and that it's a lot of fun. If it's not, you can bite her when we get to the airship."
"What?" Gardenia squeaked fearfully, looking from her to the wolf. Larraine let out a quiet chuckle.
"Don't worry, he only gives light nips... and he doesn't really have a taste for gnome flesh, so you should be safe so long as you don't try to harm me."
"Okay," Gardenia muttered with a hesitant nod before crossing the courtyard to where her small flying machine was, and Fang trotted off behind her with Larraine following the two of them. She climbed onto one of the landing skids and hoisted herself up so she could root around behind the pilot's seat, her short legs dangling a couple of feet off the ground. Once she located what she had been looking for, she hopped back down and blew her long bangs out of her face, then held out part of the soft leather harness to Larraine.
"Could you help me and put this on him while I attach the rest to the bottom of the cockpit?" she requested. Larraine nodded and took the harness from her, the set her things down and knelt next to Fang. He easily cooperated, and in no time she had placed the harness on him and adjusted the straps around his chest and abdomen so they were firmly holding him in place while hopefully still being comfortable.
"How's that?" she asked him and he gave a slight bark in approval.
"Okay, we're set!" Gardenia announced a moment later, tossing a wrench into the back of her flying machine before lowering her goggles back into place. "I'll head on up with him now, unless you'd rather I wait until you and Bixby are ready."
"You go ahead!" Bixby called as she ran over to them, her large, overstuffed pack audibly rattling as it bounced against her back. "We'll be right behind you!"
Gardenia nodded and climbed into the cockpit of her flying machine, then fiddled with the various levers and controls before starting it up. The engines sparked to life almost instantly, and Larraine briefly shied away from the loud noise of the propellers. She heard Fang whine once more and assured him he would be fine and she would be right behind him, then stepped back to allow Gardenia enough room to take off and watched as the machine slowly rose into the air, carefully lifting Fang up off the ground and to a height where he wouldn't hit any of the buildings or trees they would be passing over en route to where the Skyfire was docked and awaiting their arrival.
"Come on, Larraine!" Bixby urged, grasping her hand and giving it an eager tug once the flying machine had begun to fly off toward the docks. "We have a prince to go save!"