"You cannot think of staying here, Faith!"

"Miro," I told the tauren shaman, "I can't leave. She's changed almost beyond all recognition, I know this, but I can't leave her like this."

"You don't owe her anything."

"Except for my life."

It had been two days since we had arrived in Undercity. Sylvanas had asked us to return to Kalimdor with a couple of her ambassadors in order to negotiate the Forsaken's way into the Horde. I knew that I wouldn't be following them back, that I would stay in Undercity to serve Sylvanas in any way I could. Even if she didn't love me anymore, and I was already wondering whether this new version of Sylvanas could love anything, I would keep the promise I had made to her when she had saved me from the Scourge.

"All right, so she saved your life. But this doesn't mean that you should stay here!"

I smiled, "I'll be okay. Please tell my tauren family that I love them and that I'll come and see them as soon as I can."

"Look… when you described her, I imagined someone valiant and beautiful, someone with a huge heart who wasn't afraid to sacrifice herself for the people she loved, despite being hard at appropriate times. This thing isn't her! That woman died, Faith, and you will never get her back."

"I know, Miro," I told him. "Except that she's still there somewhere. She remembers everything… and she's still wearing my ring." My voice broke, "Everything I am, I owe to her. I can't leave her, I won't."

And I didn't. As Miro and the others left Undercity a week later, having brought Prince to me, I stayed. I wasn't sure whether or not Sylvanas knew that I had remained, but it didn't matter. I found myself a room in an enclave away from the canals, where the fetid smells weren't as bad, and settled in as comfortably as I could. The Forsaken seemed surprised, but didn't protest, especially when I began to work.

Several times a week, I went to the surface to hunt and gather fresh herbs in order to experiment with spells and potions that would keep the undead from decaying too quickly. They were absolutely ghastly to look at, and dripped foul ichor wherever they went, so the city was always absolutely filthy, no matter how many hours the cleaning crews devoted to scouring it from top to bottom. But it wasn't the most pressing thing.

The Scourge was in Tirisfal Glades. Scores of mindless undead shambled along in the forests, leaping upon anything that happened to be alive. In that first week, I killed sixty of the fiends, modifying my black fire so that it didn't burn through their insignias, which I sent back to Undercity.

"You really are an excellent fighter against the Scourge," said a soldier by the name of Rotstain. "Does Lady Sylvanas know this?"

"She and I fought against the Scourge in Quel'Thalas," I replied. "Whatever she may have forgotten about me, I hope that's not part of it."

"I can go talk to her, see how she would feel about making you a part of our soldiers."

"I'd rather she didn't know that I'm still here, if you don't mind. She didn't take kindly to my arrival with the delegation from Kalimdor."

Rotstain just looked at me, "In any case, you should join us. We'd get rid of more Scourge with you in our ranks."

I did want to kill the Scourge. I felt a burning hatred for them within me, and a need to eradicate every last member of it, including Arthas. I wanted Arthas dead so badly that I could almost taste his blood on my lips. I didn't like this feeling, but it gave me more power than I'd ever had before.

"I'll think about it. But I've never had much military training before."

"That doesn't matter. You can kill the Scourge, and differentiate between them and us. That's something that we want in our soldiers."

And so it was that, a couple of weeks later, I joined the First Magi Corps of Undercity. A force numbering thirty people at first, it included twenty-eight mages and two priests as healers. In time, it would grow to become the biggest corps to fight against the Scourge, numbering fifteen-hundred people. But in the beginning, it was small.

We started off in Tirisfal Glades, dispatching members of the Scourge and occasionally fighting against the Scarlet Crusade, a group of humans who were as determined as we were to get rid of the Scourge, except that they viewed all undead as abominations, and also attacked the Forsaken. But before long, we were venturing in Silverpine Forest and into the Plaguelands to deal with bigger threats.

What had been the Kingdom of Lordaeron barely had any humans left. Arthas had killed and raised everyone the Plague hadn't gotten, creating a massive army that he had now taken to Northrend. It was presumed that less than five-hundred humans had survived, and we made sure not to fight any of the humans that we saw, unless we were certain that they belonged to the Scarlet Crusade. We kept all of their insignia to keep track of what we had killed, and therefore concluded that we'd slain nearly a thousand of them in a month.

One day, Sylvanas summoned me to the Royal Quarter.

"Did she know all along that I'd stayed?" I asked Rotstain. I wasn't entirely surprised by this, but I hadn't seen her in the three months I'd been in Undercity. I didn't want to see her.

I made my way there slowly, despite being well-aware that Sylvanas hated to be kept waiting.

She addressed me the moment I walked into her office, not looking up from whatever she was reading, "For future reference, Soldier Everstone, I expect you to get here as quickly as you can when I call you."

"I'll keep that in mind, General."

Sylvanas did look at me then, her red eyes boring into mine. I couldn't take it. I looked down. "Your eyes stopped glowing," she remarked quietly.

I nodded, "It happened after the war ended. My tauren parents say that it was because of grief. I let myself feel it once we were done pushing the Legion back." I cleared my throat, "What can I help you with?"

"Take a seat, Soldier."

I did so, reflecting on how bizarre it was to see Sylvanas Windrunner, former Ranger-General of Silvermoon, sitting behind a desk. I would have never believed it had I not seen it for myself.

"I've been told that you've been instrumental in driving the Scourge out of Tirisfal Glades and Silverpine Forest."

"I was only one part of a bigger team, General," I said. "I wouldn't have managed anything on my own."

"So the whispers I've been hearing about Blackfire riding again are, what, just rumors?"

"Not at all. I did use my black fire to kill members of the Scourge, but I wasn't alone."

Sylvanas nodded, "Noted." She looked at me for a moment, "You've grown, Faith."

"I kind of had to after Arthas invaded, don't you think?" The last thing I wanted to do was discuss this with her, "Is there anything else I can do for you, General?"

"For one thing, you can stop calling me that. I'm not your general anymore."

"You'll always be my general." There was a bit too much feeling in that statement, but I couldn't take it back now that I'd uttered it. I felt tears rushing to my eyes and looked away from the undead woman in front of me.

"We'll see about that." She shuffled some papers around, "Where are you staying in Undercity?"

"The Magic Quarter," I said, glancing at her quickly, then away again.

"That won't do. I'm going to move you to the Royal Quarter. You'll be more comfortable there."

"Sylvanas… my Lady, you don't have to do that. I can stay –."

"You will do as I say, Soldier. Do you hear me?"

I didn't want to be close to Sylvanas here. One of the reasons I had picked the Magic Quarter was because it was far from the Royal Quarter, and I had less of a chance of running to her there. But now, if I lived in the Royal Quarter, I would see her all the time. My chest tightened.

I nodded.

"Good." She pulled out a fresh roll of parchment and began to write on it, signing it and sealing it. Her handwriting hadn't changed at all, and looking at it gave me another dull blow to the heart. "Give this to Lieutenant Desmond. She'll help you with the move."

I was about to say that I didn't need any help, but Sylvanas looked at me and I lost my resolve. I simply nodded again and went to find the lieutenant, who was one of the Royal Deathguards of Undercity.

I didn't need to say anything when I found her. She seemed to already know what Sylvanas had planned. She came with me to my small room, but didn't need to help me pack, as I only had my black dresses with me, and not much else. I'd learned that material possessions were far too easy to lose, and they didn't matter to me anymore anyway. The only thing I still had from my old life was that picture of Sylvanas in my pocket.

"You travel light, that's good," said Sylvanas when I returned to the Royal quarter, carrying just my suitcase and my bow and sheath. "But it's unlike you, isn't it?"

"I don't need anything else," I whispered. "Everything I cared about was taken from me, already."

Lieutenant Desmond looked at me, then back at Sylvanas, her yellow eyes assessing us. "You knew each other before all of this."

Sylvanas turned her head towards the lieutenant, "You might say that Faith and I were rather… close before my death. Not that it matters now."

No. It didn't matter now. And it would never matter again.

You made a promise to her before she died. You promised to keep on going. And now you're despondent. Snap out of it!

"Are you all right, Soldier Everstone?" asked Desmond, taking me to the room that Sylvanas had set aside for me, which was through a narrow and twisted passageway.

I just nodded once. "Do you still remember everything you felt when you were alive?"

"Bits and pieces. It's not always clear what I felt. I clearly remember everything I felt just before I died. I remember wanting my family and my husband."

"Do you still love them?"

"My family died with me, and they weren't able to break free, so they're still in the Scourge. My husband, he's still alive, as far as I know. I would go look for him, but he would be repulsed by me. I'm a Forsaken, there's no reason he should be my husband now." She glanced at me, "You and Sylvanas were together, weren't you?"

"No… well, yes, but that was…" I quickly recounted what had happened, trying to leave out the painful details, but Desmond saw between the lines well enough.

"And now you're wondering whether Lady Sylvanas still feels the same way about you. I'm afraid I can't answer that. Everyone's experience is different, and what she went through was considerably worse than what most of us had to go through when the Scourge raised us."

I looked at Desmond, my eyes wide, "I kn-know she suffered."

"Yes. She suffered a lot. But after a year with the Scourge, I don't hate all living things. She does. She has a hatred within her that's not easily matched. I can, however, tell you that she does remember what her feelings were for you, and I think that this is the reason she asked you to live here with her."

She pushed open a door and we arrived in a large room with a vaulted stone ceiling. There were no windows, but a large Undercity banner was on one of the walls, concealing a door.

"This door leads to the Dark Lady's chambers."

I started at the idea of Sylvanas being able to come into my room whenever she pleased. In another lifetime, I would have been thrilled to have the opportunity to have a room adjoining one Sylvanas was in. But those days were gone.

I ached for her. I ached for her so badly I couldn't breathe.

"Where are you, my love?" I whispered. "Why did you leave me?"

I sat where I was, not caring about the cold stone floor, and began to cry. I heard the door close softly, but the sound didn't really register. I was too lost in my own pain.

I wasn't aware of time passing by. It could have been seconds or hours for all I knew. But some time later, when I finally began to dry my tears, the door opened again, violently enough for me to jump out of my skin.

I never thought that she would be capable of looking at me like that. Sylvanas Windrunner. My general. My everything. But there she was, glaring at me as though I was some maggot that had dared touch her.

"Are you done?" she asked me.

"Done… oh…" I wiped my face again, and nodded once, swallowing the lump in my throat and beginning to battle what was bound to be a roaring headache.

"What clothes have you got with you?"

I hadn't shopped much in Undercity. The Forsaken, remembering their culture, had nice clothes that decayed very quickly once they put them on. But I had bought a couple of dresses made of black wool that, coupled with the right spells, kept me warm enough in the dankness that was Undercity. I'd also brought my dresses from Mulgore, but didn't have much of a wardrobe.

Getting to my feet, I opened my bag and pulled each of the dresses out. Save for the cut, which differed slightly from dress to dress, they looked almost exactly alike.

Sylvanas looked at me, an inscrutable expression on her face. "In all the years we spent together, I never knew you to wear black. I think that purple dress was the darkest thing you owned."

"I was carefree back then, even when I sat at my window waiting for you to come home."

"And now you're in a state of perpetual mourning." She sounded as though she were merely talking about the weather. Did she really not care about anything anymore except her hatred for everything?

"Why did you ask me to move here?" I asked her.

"I have my reasons," she replied, looking around the room. It was clean, and, more importantly, didn't entirely smell like death. I had grown accustomed to the stench inside the city, but it was good to be able to breathe fresher air than in the rest of the catacombs.

A black wrought-iron bed stood in a corner of the room, under a small tapestry that represented the banner of Lordaeron. It was covered with a black and silver bedspread, with two matching pillows.

"I thought that Forsaken didn't sleep?"

"We don't. Nor do we eat or drink. But if we're going to be joining the Horde, we'll need some places where living creatures don't feel oppressed by death."

"So, this is an experiment," I said, mostly to myself. "And here I thought my life had ceased to have meaning after you died."

"You are here," snapped Sylvanas, "so that I can have you on hand. I remember what you're capable of, Faith, and I know that I can count on you to eliminate the Scourge when it needs to be done."

"Okay then, I'll be here when you need me. Or I could be by your side if you wanted. I made a promise to never leave your side again after you got me out of Everstone Village. And then you forced me to leave you and you died. So now, I'll devote the rest of my life to serving you."

Sylvanas looked at me for a long moment. Finally, she nodded, "All right. I'll expect you to be dressed more appropriately then, Sergeant."

Sergeant. She was promoting me? I didn't question her on that point, but I did want to know what she meant by dressing more appropriately.

"These are good," she said, indicating the wool dresses I'd gotten in Undercity. "The others you can throw out, or keep them if you want, but don't wear them here again. I want you in the throne room in two hours for a meeting.

"Yes my gen… my Lady."

She left shortly after, and I did the same, quickly familiarizing myself with the corridor, although there wasn't much to see. It was made of the same stone as the rest of Undercity, lit by torches that had been sporadically placed on the wall. With a wave of my hand and a gentle mutter, I brightened the torch in front of my door, after which I left the Royal Quarter altogether to go to the small market that rested in the center of the city.

The selection of clothes they had wasn't huge, but most of their dresses and robes were black, which suited my purpose. I bought three new black dresses: one that had a purple sash at the waist, a velvet dress with bell sleeves that fell down to my knuckles, and a hooded dress that was lined with white ermine fur.

Going back to my room, I took a bath, conjuring my own hot water and thoroughly washing my hair. I remembered that I had done that exact same thing every time I'd heard of Sylvanas coming over to our house. Except that I'd also be rummaging in my closet for something decent to wear.

I was expected at court, whatever that meant, so I decided to wear the velvet dress for this first occasion.

Nervously, I left my room and found Sylvanas in the throne room, where she was sitting on a throne-like chair that seemed to have been sculpted out of white bones.

Bones… she's sitting on bones…

Should I have laughed, or should I have cried? I wanted to do both, but managed to do neither. The love of my life was sitting on a throne of bones. The mere idea of this should have clawed out my sanity, but I think that I took it in stride. Of course, I didn't realize that the look on my face was frozen into one of horror until Sylvanas glanced at me and raised her eyebrows.

The love of my life… on a throne of bones.