Splinter Tree outpost was not terribly far from Orgrimmar, but it was close enough to the alliance controlled woods and important enough to the horde's logging operations and supply tails that the outrunners patrolled it regularly. Sentries walked the near roads and riders on worgs went around a well worn perimeter to the river on the east that bordered Azshara north of Durotar. Caoimhe readied her hawkstrider, Pyewacket inquired with the guard about borrowing a worg. Skeptical at first, it took a little persuasion and mentioning of her father's name to secure the animal. Caoimhe swallowed hard. Cace's name carried weight in the outposts. She sighed. Pye rode cheerily up to her.
"Are we ready?" she asked.
Caoimhe marveled at her tone and demeanor. It was as if they had never parted company. She swung up onto the strider.
"We will ride out to the river with the next patrol. we can travel with them as far as the river, then we are on our own to go south," she said. "I will deliver my reports and then," she shrugged. "then to...to Negrand."
"When do we leave?" she asked, settling into the saddle.
"We'll wait at the watchtower," she said, peering down the hill. "It shouldn't be too long a wait, if their round went without incident."
They rode down the hill to the lashed wooden watch tower.
"Is it very pressing?" Pye asked as they rode behind the patrol.
"Pressing?" Caoimhe asked, turning her attention from the treeline to Pye.
"Your business in Orgrimmar?"
"Well," Caoimhe wasn't sure how to answer, she considered every task she was asked to undertake important. "I believe so. I mean, I don't think I should dally. Why?"
Pyewacket looked somewhat crestfallen. "I just thought we might take our time. I have never seen this part of Ashenvale."
"The cliffs are very nice," Caoimhe said, "but we will have to be carefull of spiders."
"Spiders?" Pye asked.
Caoimhe nodded, "There are giant spiders in the woods along the cliffs. They tend not to get too close to the water, though. They can't swim."
Pyewacket's eyes widened. "Giant spiders?"
Her companion looked at her and tilted her head in a half smile. 'Yes, surely you've seen the like? There are many...many different varieties. I have encountered them all over Kalimdor. And a few...a few in..." she trailed off. Pyewacket was staring at her with a peculiar smile. Caoimhe blushed, "I'm...I'm sorry. I am boring you."
"Oh, not at all," she said. "You are very knowledgeable."
"I've...I've just spent a lot of...a lot of time...out of doors," she said, fidgeting with the reigns.
Pye smiled at her overt nervousness, but didn't say anything that would have made it worse. They rode behind the patrol, Caoimhe switching her position on the road to keep an eye on the treeline, for about an hour. She felt certain they were watched as they rode, but that wasn't uncommon. even so, she said nothing to Pye. Jeckyl sniffed and growled and darted in and out of the brush. Caoimhe watched him carefully while she smiled at Pyewacket and tried not to bore her. At the bridge to Azshara, they parted with the patrol. Pyewaket looked across the bridge and across the cliffs.
"Are we crossing?" she asked.
Caoimhe looked across the river, to Azshara. Then she looked south down the east bank, a road she knew led into Durotar. It was the longer, but safer road. Her eyes drifted back across the chasm.
"Azshara borders directly with Orgrimmar," she reasoned almost to herself. "It would be faster."
Pye excitedly turned her worg onto the bridge.
"Wait!" Caoimhe cautioned suddenly. Pye looked at her, a mix of impatience and anticipation on her face.
"Yes?" She asked.
"It's...it's likely to be more dangerous," she said.
"And?" Pye asked.
Caoimhe did not have a ready answer. She blushed slightly. "And I...I should go across first," she said, dropping her gaze to avoid Pye's as she nudged her strider in front of Pye and started to ease it across the old rope bridge.
Pye grinned at her as she rode past. "Very chivalrous, hunter," she giggled.
"I am a scout," Caoimhe said quietly, "It is...it is what I do."
Pye nodded at her back as she watched her move out onto the swaying bridge.
Whatever her motivation might have been, Caoimhe was glad she had crossed the bridge first, and double glad she had done so on the hawk strider. The bird picked its path carefully, finding and avoiding breaks in the creaking structure that Caoimhe was not confident the worg, fast and sure on the plains or dusty hills, would have noted. Pye stopped giggling as soon as the first wind through the gorge caused the entire bridge to pull heavily to their left. About halfway across, Caoimhe dismounted and lightly led the strider the rest of the way. When she reached the other side, she tied her reins to a bridge post and went back to lead Pye's worg.
"You don't have to do that, I can get across just fine," Pye said, knowing that worg's were not easily led.
"I know," Caoimhe said, mostly to the worg. The willful creature snarled at her, but relented as she repeated her path across the swaying bridge. Pyewacket held her breath, and uttered a short prayer to protect Caoimhe as the heavier worg caused the bridge to creak. When they were safely on the other side, Caoimhe smiled at her.
"There," she sighed, "not so bad. They have bridges like this in Thunder Bluff, yes?"
"Yes," Pye said, "But they are better constructed."
Caoimhe looked back across the bridge and nodded her agreement. "Well," she tossed the reigns back up to Pye and started to untie her own mount, "South then. We'll stay along the cliffs until we get to the path down. We should be within sight of Orgrimmar by nightfall."
Pye was asleep in a bedroll next to the fire. Caoimhe watched the shadows dance across her face. She was perfect; calm and beautiful. Caoimhe poked at the fire, sending sparks into the sky. What had happened today? The ranger looked at the priest and frowned to herself. Pye had left Caoimhe's company over a year before. Caoimhe had returned to Booty Bay to find her gone, her only farewell was a note left with a friend. And then here she was again, confident and vibrant, with a new path in life looking...Caoimhe sighed. Looking completely perfect. The ranger had no idea what to expect from their reunion. She hadn't known Pye had taken up vows with The Order. She certainly wasn't expecting Pye to confess her love for her abandoned friend.
Caoimhe shook her head. She wasn't abandoned. Sure, she had been traveling alone since Softsong left Stranaglethorn to return to Thunder Bluff, but Caoimhe had willingly declined that invitation. And Pye had good reason to leave. Her father's enemies had made life very uncomfortable for her, and as much as Caoimhe had tried, it was clear that the young ranger had been ill equipped, however willing, to protect the then mage. Pye's most reasonable course of action, Caoimhe reasoned then and now, was to go back to her father. Caoimhe was used to being alone anyway. And she had Jeckyl. She dropped her head to her knees.
Caoimhe head started to swim with doubt. She wasn't fit company for a priest. The Order didn't want her, why would Pye? Caoimhe had always considered herself a devote of the Light, despite her difficulties with the Order, but nothing she had ever learned prepared her for how she felt now. Somewhere in the back of her head, the words of the Order floated, unwelcome and unwanted, but persistent. The Priests are the vessels of the light, and we are its servants.
Caoimhe looked back at Pye's face, her eyes wandered to the rise and fall of her chest as she slept. She sat for a moment, transfixed by the rhythmic rise and fall of her breasts.
Virtue of the Light lies within the priesthood.
Caoimhe's face flushed and she dropped her eyes back to the fire. Virtue was not on her mind when she looked at Pye. She stole another glance.
When had she started to...have feelings for Pye? Was it there all along? Had it grown in her absence? Caoimhe bit her lip in frustration. It had surely been there in her absence. She hadn't been lying when she said confessed to Pye that her thoughts always went back to her. But even if this burning in her chest, in her stomach in her...even if it was love, the Priest deserved better than her.
The Order is the protector of the Light.
Caoimhe finally lay back and stared at the stars as the clouds drifted over head. Regardless of what she might be feeling, she still had a task to complete. She could at least serve the Horde, if she could not serve the Light. Since sleep refused to come, she lay awake and stared at the glow of Orgrimmar in the distance.
Caoimhe had only met the Warchief once. And 'met' was a strong word. she had stood in silent awe next to the Sin'dori Magister while she presented the message from Silvermoon that she had delivered. Then she had presented a letter from the Undercity. It had been years. Caoimhe was slightly taller, much tanner and couldn't imagine that he would have any idea who she was. She remembered him, though. He was massive, in black armor with intense eyes. She remembered having the impression that he could squash her very easily, but also having the impression that he was more honorable than that.
This time, she stood in front of Thrall alone. He still wore the black armor, his eyes were just as intense, and she was sure he could still squash her, and she knew now that he was, indeed, more honorable than that. But he looked more worried than she remembered, and older than she would have thought. Still, Caoimhe found Thrall remarkably reassuring as a leader. He looked over the maps, letters and documents she had presented to him. Then he looked at her.
"I see you have learned to keep your feet still," he grinned a little at her as he looked back down at the second letter.
Caoimhe blinked in surprise. "Sir?"
He frowned at the second letter and called an adviser over to consult with him.
Caoimhe bit her lip, but didn't dare move until she had been properly dismissed. Or even offhandedly dismissed, as was usually the case with the orcs. Either way she did not want to be disrespectful.
After a low and intense discussion, Thrall sighed. He stomped to a table next to his seat.
"Ranger," he boomed. He motioned her to the table, where he was hastily writing. She stepped closer to the table. "You have been a stalwart servant of the Horde. Don't think it has gone unnoticed," he continued. "and I need your services as a messenger again." He looked at her, "You still do that, don't you?"
Caoimhe flushed, "I am at your service."
He nodded, blew the ink on the scroll dry, rolled it and dropped it, and one of her maps, into a hollowed tube. He sealed it and handed it to Caoimhe.
"This must be delivered, with all haste, to Cairn Bloodhoof," he said. "You are familiar with him?"
"I know where to find him, sir," she said quietly.
Thrall nodded. He threw out his chest and in a bellow that almost knocked her over yelled "For the Horde!"
Caoimhe's voice was drowned out by a dozen guards who all yelled back, "For the Horde!"
She saluted, and with her ears still ringing, turned sharply and left the hall.
Caoimhe walked through Orgrimmar proper to the Valley of Wisdom. More open and less marshal, it was where she had left Pye. The trolls had built homes there that were more to their liking, airy and light and less intimidating than the Orcish structures. Caoimhe caught sight of Pye sitting by the pond, chatting amiably with a small group of trolls. She excused herself when she saw Caoimhe and ran to meet her.
"I have arranged a portal to Shatterath," she said happily, "We can be there in no time."
Caoimhe shook her head. "I..we are going to Thunder Bluff."
At first Pyewacket looked surprised, then elated. she threw her arms around Caoimhe. "Oh thank you," she beamed.
"No..no," Caoimhe tried to explain. "this is...this is still...official."
Pye pulled back and looked at her, "Does it matter?"
"No...no, I guess not," Caoimhe smiled. "But I have to leave right away. we won't have time to wait for the zep. We'll hire windriders." Caoimhe looked down at Jeckyl, panting at her side. "This will be fun, eh boy?" she looked at Pye, "How quickly can you be ready?"
Pye smiled, "I am ready now."
Caoimhe smiled back and they headed together to the windrider landing at the center of the Valley of Strength.