Author's Notes: This is the final chapter of Grace. Thanks for reading along and I hope you'll tune into the next installment of the Maerciless and Shirelle saga, to be called Temperance and published in the next week or two.

Song Cue: This Love by Taylor Swift

Shirelle hefted the pandaren baby further up on her hip and took her necklace out of its chubby hands. He waved his hands and made a noise in protest.

"No no, that's enchanted. You can't chew on that."

He made a grab for a loose strand of her black hair instead, and she winced as he pulled it toward his mouth. She tried to ignore the yanking as she carefully picked her way through the broken labyrinth. He was lucky enough to be alive, and she didn't really mind. If she wasn't worried he'd hurt himself on her necklace, she would have let him have that, too.

The glade that used to house the Jade Witch, her creatures, and the maze, was in chaos. The hedges themselves, only a manifestation of her magic, had crumbled, and many of the creatures fled in terror. Some of the larger ones, the ones that had needed more force to control originally, were confused and aggressive, and Maerciless had spent the first tumultuous minutes finding the rampaging animals and putting them down. Her runesword thankfully, had suffered no damage from its time turned into jade. Shirelle had seen her testing it out periodically with a frown on her face, but it appeared to have survived relatively unscathed.

The rest of the victims were another story. When Shirelle had first shook the green haze out of her eyes, she had spotted a tiny pandaren cub, the one that was now perched on her hip, sitting in the middle of piles of dust crying as if its heart would break. She had pushed away from Maerciless's protective arms and ran toward it, scooping it up in her arms. After all the horrors she had witnessed this day, and all the death, the sound of a baby crying had been nothing short of miraculous to her ears. He was uninjured, just scared and alone. She had been full of hope as she looked around the labyrinth. If the Jade Witch taking her own life was all that the spell needed to be lifted, then they would save hundreds of people. As she stood slowly turning in a circle, clinging to the cub as tightly as he clung to her, her heart started to sink. If that were true, then she should have been surrounded by an ocean of cubs, not the few walking around as if in a daze.

The cub yanked on her hair again, putting a fistful of it in his mouth. She cringed and tried to untangle it as she stepped over the final wall of the labyrinth. The outskirts of the Jade Witch's domain had been more organic than magic, and chunks of the hedges still remained in places around the outer wall. The interior was going through an intense takeover by vines and grass, as if Nature itself abhorred what had gone on in this glade and was trying to return it to a purified form.

Shirelle would never be sure what factors had determined which statues came back to life and which ones crumbled to dust. It could be age, but there were Pandaren of all ages walking about where once they only stood motionless. It could be the length of time under the spell, but although nothing could be certain until they returned to Dawn's Blossom, from the scattered conversations she had overheard, there were different generations among the survivors. Some hearty, some frail, young and old, every single one banded together with the others and helped them evacuate the glade. There were more children then adults represented, which was heartening to Shirelle: most of them would live a full life still, hopefully with minimal psychological damage. The adults were bouncing back, but she knew that sometimes scars ran deep. She would keep a careful watch on them as she worked in the Med Center.

Maerciless was standing at the head of the rescued pandaren. There was a small group of adults that had helped take the lead in the rescue, and they corralled the children and carried the ones too tired to walk. The death knight held one in each arm, her sword sheathed at her back and out of their reach. After she had dispatched the jade cats and wolves that were running amok in the courtyard, she had searched the survivors until she had located An's friend, Shin. He had been injured before being turned to jade, and Shirelle chalked it up to the short time he had been turned that he had been one of the ones to come back to life. She bound up the scratches on his leg, and tried to soothe his tears, but before she could calm him Maerciless had hoisted him into her arms and took him with her to continue the reconnaissance mission. He was scared, exhausted, and in pain, but he clung to the death knight's neck as if she were his life raft in a sinking ship. Shirelle was not sure where she had picked up the smaller girl, but Maerciless held them both with ease as she spoke with an older Pandaren man. As she waded through the crowd, the death knight turned her way with an expectant look on her face.

"I did another sweep, and it looks like we've got everyone that can be rescued. Everything else is crumbling to dust, even her hut."

Shirelle tilted her head back to the broken labyrinth. Even as they were speaking, it deteriorated further. By the time they reached the city, there would be nothing more than ruins and overgrown weeds to mark where the Jade Witch had lived.

Widow Greenpaw.

Shirelle corrected herself in her head. In the chaos of organizing the survivors Maerciless had quietly filled her in on a little of her history. The death knight had kept her theories from the victims, she noticed, and went about the rescue methodically. Shirelle couldn't help but feel pity for the late Widow. War had taken her husband from her, and grief and loneliness had driven her mad. What she did in this secluded glade, especially to the young ones, was unforgivable, but it didn't keep Shirelle from feeling that the victory against her was empty. Shirelle directed her gaze to the solitary statue left standing in the ruins of the labyrinth. It had not crumbled to dust like the others, but remained there, pure and green. The intense growth that was springing up to cover the glade had not taken over the Jade Witch's statue so far, but it was encroaching around her knees and the priest expected her to be completely hidden from view within the hour.

Maerciless nodded, shifting both children so she could carry them more securely. She gave the word to the elder Pandaren, and he started the expedition out of the glade. Shirelle turned for one last look as they departed into the forest undergrowth. Her eyes met a rustling sea of veridian as the forest rushed in to cover up the tragedies there. She wondered if sometime in the future a curious cub would go wandering into the glade, long since grown over, and tear down the vines that covered the Jade Witch's face and wonder what happened and why someone built a statue only to cover it up.

There was a low murmur of conversation as the group traveled through the Forest Heart. Normally pandaren would be playful, ribbing each other and talking excitedly. Everyone seemed weighted down by the events of the day, and they all held the same haunted, tired expression. Shirelle tried to keep an eye on the worse looking ones, the youngest and the oldest or the ones with injuries, but the pandaren had rallied around them and were watching carefully over their own. She was fighting the cub on her hip over her necklace again when she fell into step beside Maerciless. He let out a tiny wail as he finally managed to bite down on it. She wrested it away from him again, tucking it into her robe.

"See, I told you not to chew on it, now you've hurt your mouth." She shifted him to in front of her and held him to her chest with both arms. He seemed so light at first, but it was tiring having to haul him around after the fight they had been through today. She glanced over at the death knight. She seemed to have no problem carrying her two cubs, Shin, who still clung to her neck, and the little girl, who was now awake and blinking in confusion. Maerciless herself looked distracted, her face dark in thought. Shirelle spoke instead to the boy.

"How is your leg, Shin?" He looked over at her, his eyes a little less fearful than before. He bit his lip and nodded at her, then buried his face in Maerciless' neck. She started out of her reverie, and shifted her grip on the boy.

"He seems to be quite taken with you," Shirelle said quietly. She thought perhaps the death knight hadn't heard her, because she didn't respond right away. They walked in silence through the forest as darkness started to creep in around them. The lights of the road to Dawn's Blossom were visible through the dense trees before she spoke.

"I promised An I would find her friend and bring him home safe. I wanted to do it personally."

Maerciless looked her in the eye then, and Shirelle was startled at the intensity of her face. "The Widow Greenpaw enslaved, killed, and toyed with hundreds of people. She tortured children for her own means. She knew nothing of the value of life, and her actions sicken me."

She had slowed her pace, and wrapped her arms protectively around the children she carried. "I wanted to kill her more than anyone or anything I have met since I took up a blade, and that includes the Lich King."

Shirelle saw her shoulders stiffen at the mention of her former master. The death knight sighed and looked forward where the group was emerging from the trees and some of them were breaking off into a run to the city.

"But as I was fighting her, when I remembered her story and what had happened to her, all I felt was pity. Pity." She spat the word out as if it were disgusting in her mouth. "For a woman who had manipulated me into slaughtering helpless children."

She stopped completely, not yet leaving the shelter of the trees. She spoke quietly. "Since you healed me at the Jade Serpent Shrine, I have found myself at the mercy of stronger feelings than I have felt since Northrend. It is unsettling."

Shirelle swallowed down sudden nervousness in her throat. "I am sorry. I'm not exactly sure what I did at that time, my only thought was to save your life. I let the Light do whatever it needed to. I probably should have waited and found someone who knew more than I did, and let them heal you, but I was scared to lose you."

By the end of her tirade she was looking down at the ground in guilt. "My impetuousness has always been my downfall."

Maerciless bent down and set the girl on her feet. She pressed up against the death knight's leg nervously as Maerciless crooked a finger under Shirelle's chin and lifted her head to meet her eyes.

"You are not impetuous Shirelle. You are simply led by your heart. It is not a downfall."

Maerciless cracked a half-smile, the first one since they had left the village that morning. Shirelle smiled in return, relieved to see something lighter on the other draenei's face. The death knight leaned forward and carefully pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Your heart is one of my favorite things about you. Don't ever apologize for it."

Shirelle felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she whispered, "Ok."

She shifted the pandaren cub to her other hip, and entwined her fingers around Maerciless's as they started for Dawn's Blossom. The pandaren girl held onto the death knight's leg as they walked, rubbing her eyes and still looking confused. The pandaren cub in her arms had finally tired himself out, and he was snoring quietly against her chest as they joined the crowd that had met the rescued pandaren at the gates of the city. To her surprise, Maerciless did not drop her hand as soon as they were in sight of the others, and Shirelle glanced up at her, a question in her eyes. The death knight leaned closer and spoke so only she could hear.

"I don't care to hide anymore."

Shirelle's face broke into a grin, and she clung to her hand tightly as they wound their way to the center of town.

As much as she didn't want to, Maerciless released Shirelle's hand as they reached the center of town. There were more people crowded there, and she had an important delivery. She leaned over and whispered "I'll be right back," before wrapping both arms around Shin and pushing to the front. The little girl, the first one she had encountered as she fought her way through the maze, had ran from her as soon as she saw a familiar face. It turned out she had only been missing a few weeks, and her family were sobbing as they all tried to hold her at once. The death knight felt the twinge at her scar that was starting to become familiar as they reunited. Perhaps she would be used to this awakening of feelings soon, and it would no longer cause her to flinch.

Shin retained his death grip around her neck as they moved forward. She wasn't sure what had compelled her to scoop him up in her arms at the shrine, but he had trusted her completely and she felt this tremulous obligation to deliver him to his family herself. She had seen enough death today, too many children still and gone, and this one was alive and breathing, and she wasn't letting go of him until she knew he was safe.

In the center of town a group of the elders spoke to some of the survivors and tried to establish order from the chaos. As Maerciless strode forward, she heard a voice calling out.

"Shin!" "SHIN!"

The death knight was not surprised to see Li Shao herself running to her, tears streaking down her face and her entire countenance distraught. Maerciless waited for her to reach her, and only when Shin responded by crying out for his grandmother did she deposit the boy into his grandmother's arms. The elderly woman cried as she held Shin to her chest. She put one hand on the death knight's arm.

"Thank you. Thank you for returning my grandson to me. He means everything to me."

Maerciless reached into a pouch at her belt and pulled out a yellowed photograph. When she had been looking for Shin, she had discovered it in the crumbling walls of the Widow Greenpaw's hut. It was a picture of a much younger Li and Lana Shao, before Lana had met Gao and her life destroyed. She held it out to Li, and the pandaren's face stiffened when she saw it. She took it with a trembling paw.

"You must understand, death knight, that I have only been trying to protect my sister-"

"By ignoring her? By glossing over the people she murdered and the atrocities she committed?"

Maerciless's hand shook and she clenched it into a fist at her side. "I know you knew."

Li Shao looked at her shrewdly as she held Shin tight to her. "What are you going to do?"

Maerciless made herself unclench her hand. "I have contained Lana Greenpaw so she will not hurt anyone again. I have rescued the victims of her madness." The death knight rested her hand on the pommel of her runesword and adopted a casual voice. "Perhaps your own guilt will spur you to do more."

She leaned forward and patted the pandaren boy on the head. "Be safe, Shin." Li's eyebrows arched at her gesture, and Maerciless turned from her and headed back to where Shirelle was handing the pandaren baby off to a sobbing couple.

"Maerciless!" Someone was calling her name, and she turned in a circle until she saw An Windfur running toward her as fast as she could. The death knight knelt on the ground and caught her as the pandaren flung herself into her arms.

"Thank you! Thank you so much for bringing Shin home!" The death knight sat her down before she could hurt herself on her armor. She shook An's hand solemnly and An straightened herself up, trying to stand taller.

"It was my pleasure, An."

An grinned and ran past her to embrace her friend. Shin hugged her back with a wan expression on his face, and Li kept a protective paw on his shoulder. The pandaren woman had tucked the photograph into her tunic, and Maerciless did not expect her to publicly admit anything. But she knew that the death knight was watching her, and if nothing else, maybe she would have an easier time at her stay in Dawn's Blossom than before.

"My robe is soaked with baby drool," Shirelle complained as she joined her. She was brushing at it in vain, but despite her words, she didn't seem to mind too much. Maerciless put an arm around her waist, and the priest leaned into her as they navigated through the town. Several pandaren caught them and thanked them before they made it away and Maerciless noted that although they hesitated, their gratitude toward her was just as sincere as it was to the priest. She led them to the edge of town, where a small bridge overlooked a koi pond. It was mostly secluded, especially with everyone grouped in the center of town around the rescued pandaren.

"Shouldn't we be making a report or something?" Shirelle asked as Maerciless sat down, pulling the priest down to sit with her. Maerciless wrapped an arm around her waist and rested her chin on top of her head.

"Later." She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the draenei pressed up against her, feeling in her heart that over all, they did good today, they saved lives. A late evening wind sprung up as the sun set red and gold into the background behind them, and they watched the reflection of it in the pond as the day faded into night.