A/N: Chapter 7 is a little long winded so I split it into two parts. Hope you enjoy!

The Homecoming

"Where are we going?"

Dahj pursed his lips until they were perfectly parallel, swallowing a thick wad of words one should probably not give voice to in the company of anyone with fully functional hearing.

"... Are we lost?" Kishka prodded once again, oblivious to the fact that she had asked the same question eight times and counting. "Do you even know where you're going?"

Another layer of his enamel was ground into dust as Dahj's thoughts marinated in dark, murderous brain-sauce. However, he was a man… bull… person of infinite patience. Unfortunately, this was coupled with an equally infinite surplus of sarcasm.

"Of course I know where I'm going," the annoyed bull grated, "I've been going crazy for some time now, courtesy of your innate ability to construct the most annoying, asinine questions, and fire them off in rapid succession right into that last, shriveled nerve I've been hanging onto since your mouth opened and never shut. No wonder you're blue; lack of oxygen, especially to the brain."

The priestess bristled, sending him a look so deadly it could have singed him bald. Or maybe she had "accidentally" set him alight with holy wrath… from her hate-blind glare, it was hard to tell.

"You know, Dahj," said Kishka, "I only keep repeating myself because all you've only answered me with is a half-hearted grunt which you seem to think qualifies as a response. With your pathetic excuse for a reply, I'm really starting to find it hard to tell the difference between you and a content dairy cow."

Dahj appeared to misstep, clutching at his shirt as a pained expression suddenly surfaced.

"Oh! Kish', you wound me so!" he groaned in mock agony, slowing his pace to a painful crawl.

Kishka did her best to ignore the amused glint mocking her from those twinkling, honey hued orbs.

Noting how his gaze was actively being avoided, the tauren couldn't help but add another dig, beginning to enjoy himself now.

"Another kiss might make the hurt go away."

That, if anything, brought her attention back to Dahj, who was walking alongside the priestess.

"Or, conversely, with the right momentum, one of my hooves lodged into just the right area of your temple could also 'make the hurt go away'. Permanently. Much more effective than your temporary solution."

Based on the pallor of her cheeks and the sheer number of creases created by her frown, he gauged her anger level to be somewhere between aggravated and the-back-of-my-eyes-hurt-from-emanating-this-much-hate. This left him oddly satisfied; now, at least, he had given her a taste of her own medicine. They were both at relatively equal levels of being at each other's throats. And thus, some twisted sense of balance was restored.

"Ouch," Dahj said, wincing. "Remind me to have you declawed."

Kishka narrowed her eyes warningly.

"Okay, fine," the tauren assented with a sigh. "You can keep the claws, but that means you at least have to curl up in my lap and purr. It's only fair."

The draenei rolled her eyes, her attempts to look insulted and appalled upended by little twitches at the corners of her mouth.

"You're a pig."

Seeing her relax slightly, Dahj allowed himself a chuckle, one hand taking a quick swipe at his damp brow.

"I was a cow only a few moments before. Let's try to remain consistent with our insults, my dear. Really sloppy work; I thought you were a professional wit-spitter."

The remainder of Kishka's anger melted, and she replied, glibly, "I doubt I would have been able to put up with you for this long if I wasn't."

"Ahhh… now you're just throwing salt into my wounds, my oh so forgetful dominatrix. You know, I don't recall forcing you to come with me. Seeing as you're the one dishing out the pain, I would think it would be the other way around."

The realization that Dahj was partly right was enough to cause the priestess' cheeks to warm involuntarily and leaving her gaze to wander everywhere but in the tauren's general direction.

"Fair enough. Although, I'm only doing this out of pity."

A crooked smirk broke across Dahj's face.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that. Especially from women," he said, playfully coy.

Before Kishka could decide whether to acknowledge that with a reply, the bull-man added, "Regardless, we're here."

Both of the woman's eyebrows quirked in surprise. "Here? Where?"

Rather than respond with some remark that had a fifty-fifty chance of inducing bodily harm to his person, he merely pointed ahead. The pair had been scaling the steep face of a particularly high mesa and were just now reaching the summit. As they hoofed their way up to the peak, Kishka's eyes fell upon something she would have never expected to find at such an elevated area, much less in the middle of the Barrens.

It was a house.

More like a well made shack. The wooden frame looked rough and sun beaten in some places, but overall, appeared to be sturdy, and, most importantly, a sufficient respite from the unrelenting sun. Kishka turned to Dahj questioningly, but he seemed not to notice. His eyes, normally the hue of wheat, had darkened to the color of warm amber, transfixed on something, or somewhere, the priestess could not see. As if in a daze, the tauren shook his head, his gaze finally meeting Kishka's.

"Home sweet home," he jested, a half-formed grin on his lips.

Though she would not admit it, Kishka found herself somewhat disturbed that this time, the humor of his voice and warmth of his smile did not reach his eyes. Taking long strides, Dahj made his way to the door, wasting no time in using one broad shoulder to thrust it open. Instead of entering, he turned to the woman who was watching him in a sobered silence.

"You know…" said Dahj, seeming hesitant, "I've never brought a… lady here before."

Confused, Kishka tilted her head slightly, unsure of his meaning.

Could he possibly be embarrassed about the state of his home?

Thinking this to be the case, Kishka waved her hand dismissingly, her face a mask of sympathy. Any sense of sympathy, however, was quickly sucked back as Dahj held the door for her, grinning like a goblin.

"Just thought I'd fill you in on that little secret. Oh well. On the bright side, we can always pretend you're a lady. That way, I can salvage some semblance of my masculine ego and you might be able to muster up some sex appeal if you try hard enough. Win-win, eh?"

Kishka didn't reply, sucking the back of her teeth as her temper flared. It was almost funny to Dahj to think that the first sounds echoed in that shack in years was an abruptly ended chuckle, a sharp slap and the word "pig" hissed ever so vehemently in a crude homecoming welcome. Yep… home sweet home.