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Chapter 15: A Bad Outland Tattoo, Part I
"Turaho!"
It was nasal and it wouldn't stop. And when I woke up enough to realize what was going on, I really scared myself for another reason. I was actually thrilled to hear a Goblin's voice for once!
"Bonnie!"
I knew where it was coming from. My bag of so-called marbles. I patted my vest, then realized it must have been stowed away somewhere in the room. By those tricksy Blood Elf servants of King Kael'thas Sunstrider.
No chance his minions knew what those things really were. Well, unless they could somehow… 'read' Naga magic. And Naga magic is practically the magic of the old gods.
I know, I know. But I did tell you guys that Madam Goya was the one who procured those things for me, right? Bonnie did it through her. I thought I mentioned that.
The marbles were in a small drawer next to another drawer filled with what smelled like lumps of salt-lick? Interesting, as I hadn't packed any.
Probably some kind of sin'dorei hospitality thing that also bordered on offensive to Tauren. Again.
I poured a few of the little glass globes into my palm. It'd take ages to go through them all and find the one Bonnie was somehow using to speak with me.
"No, I'm on your beads! Your Sunwalker armor."
My brow raised. I smoothed down my flat beaded turquoise chestpiece, feeling for what I couldn't see. Nothing on me was marble-sized, I swear.
"I'm a seed bead!"
I heard her voice vibrate beneath my fingertip.
"Ho! Look at that—aren't you a little badass, Bonnie?"
She giggled. Oh, how I missed croaky, slightly-maniacal Goblin laughter.
"These Elves are crazy, Bonnie! You gotta come save me."
Then, I realized I was getting excited and lowered my voice—I suppose to inconvenience Kael'thas if he was still over there. Ugh… sharing a wall with Kael'thas of all people was still giving me shivers.
"Nice. You look great at every angle!"
"Yeah, I guess you've probably been peeping at me for a while, then. Lucky you. Why did you only speak up now? And how's old Fitzy?"
"Turaho, I need to tell you and this is important- you have to ask Kael'thas about his hair."
"What?" Oh, I'd heard her alright. I was more concerned at the level at which she was beginning to waste my time. Another Kael'thas fangirl? I had half a mind to have them all rounded up and—
"Ask him who does his hair! His hairdresser… it's important. I got a tip."
"A tip about what, exactly."
"See what Kael'thas says and how he says it. I don't got a lot of time. I'm not supposed to be on this thing during my midday break."
"Well, I'd hate for you to get fired. Fitz might try to marry you."
"Ack! Don't say that, you'll jinx it."
"Why can't you just tell me what the hell is wrong with Kael'thas' hair? I wondered about it too, but it seemed a bit vain to ask—"
She unleashed a slew of curses at me and I finally promised to take the hair thing seriously.
"I can't tell you how I know or who told me to tip you off. That's why they told me to put it that way."
"Hold on—someone told you to tell me. Then it's someone I know, if you're afraid I'll guess it. Is it Meydiri?" I instantly knew I was wrong. Almost before I suggested her. Meydiri might be angry enough to conceal her interest when we were engaged and I was supposed to have written to her by now, but that was also too petty for Meydiri. She'd just, well, come out and hurt me in some way. Like by showing up and doing it herself. Baine would have sent official correspondence, and that would have beat me to Silvermoon City. So then, it was someone who knew about my case, who Bonnie thought was a safe person. Someone that she didn't think was a threat.
Who else, then?
I think, really, I was afraid to accept what I knew. There was… no one else it could be. My guilt surged, though, so I nudged the whole thing aside.
I heard a new Goblin voice, a man's. "Bonnie! You still on that thing?! We got customers to serve, so shake that money-maker and jiggle those gams!"
"Fitz! Why you chauvinistic piece of—"
I couldn't help it. I shouted a hello to Fitz too, before the little yellow bead fizzled out. Then, before I got up, I carefully counted which row it was on and in what order so that I could find it again. Hey—you don't grow up with a bunch of Tauren aunties and things who make you help with the bead-work during the winter and never find a way to get something out of it in your life.
Just… don't tell any of my aunts that. And then that made me think about my mother. She and I were overdue our regular holiday chat from the spiritual world.
Ha! Though, knowing her, she was busy playing with Zoca up there, when Zoca finally crossed over to be a good spirit. Well, that cheered me to no end.
When I got myself together and stepped outside of the room, I noted that Kael'thas' royal apartment was very quiet. And, mind you, a Pathfinder can hear breathing. And the absence of breath, the lack of presence. All creatures have an energy, a kind of static around them. We notice clothes that don't shift their slightest. Throats that don't swallow. No friction between living bodies and the things that make up the world around them. The average person guesses that no one is there. The Pathfinder knows it in his soul.
I was almost sure there was no Kael'thas. Well, I hoped my old hunter instinct could also pick up whether someone dangerous was cloaked nearby. Hell—I'd dealt with shadowmelded Night Elves for months, there was a good chance I'd guessed right and nobody was home. The difference between the Golden Plain and now was that I had no idea Kael'thas could hide himself like that at the time. Now that I was anticipating him, I could look for the signs and trust my instinct.
Anyway, there was no need for me to go into his private sanctuary. The dragon cave. I knelt down and took one of the marbles from the pouch. I rolled it around until it was much smaller in the palm of my hand, about the size of a pea. Too small and I wouldn't be to do what all the best little boys and girls do with their toy marbles. I grunted a bit when I had to kneel down-you know, cause I'm an old fogey-but otherwise, I still 'had it.'
I looked at the scant space between the floorboards and the bottom of the door. I lined 'er up, and flicked my thumb to send the little ball spinning and hurtling fast down the line. As it went, it got smaller and smaller, then tiny. I was just able to notice it slip beyond, into Kael'thas' bedroom.
If I could listen in where he slept, then I might hear Saturna, too. And, one of those snooty royals might confess something.
I turned, and a servant had just walked into the hallway. Following him was Lady Daphne. I'd got to my feet just in time to confuse the butler, and miss cleverer Daphne having something to say about it. I tilted my head, and my horns, looking innocent.
She told me, "You have an appointment with the king."
"I don't remember scheduling one."
"You'll be late, Sunwalker Turaho. I'll lead the way so you get there without any unnecessary detours." She gestured politely, but then waited for me to walk first so that she could inspect my every move, this time. Like some jailor. The butler slipped ahead to get the door for us, but he wasn't being nice. He kept a few paces ahead of me to peg me in from the front.
Fine. Be that way.
This was such a danged setup, I expected to walk into a room that reeked of cigar smoke and see Kael'thas flanked by a band of beefy bodyguards-slash-lawyers while I questioned him.
Instead, there was just one white-haired, slick looking man in a three-piece blue pin-striped suit. He prowled along the windows, looking out, and did not acknowledge me when Lady Daphne and the butler let me inside.
"This is my father-in-law, Lord Byron Mageblade. He'll be sitting in on this conversation."
"Saturna's father? But I recall that Whiteblade is actually her Bloodknight name."
Some people might be afraid to look rude or ignorant and then correct their thinking to match what the other person said. Not so when you're a damn good Pathfinder. Or, used to be one.
Now, that Lord Byron fop stopped and smiled falsely at me. "Queen Saturna's father, yes." He dragged a chair closeby and sharply offered for me to sit.
I glinted at him, "You're a lawyer. Or another investigator. I know you are. Believe me, I've seen enough in my time."
Kael'thas smirked over at me.
"Uh, Kael'thas? Your father-in-law is also your lawyer?"
"What can I say? I like to keep it in the family. For years, they called Lord Byron Mageblade The Shark of Silvermoon."
Arsehole. And the courts in Silvermoon were probably biased up the ying too—packed with Kael'thas' cousins as the judges and jurors too.
Kael'thas folded his hands. His chair creaked. "So then, where shall we start?"
"I dunno, I figured I'd ask you for your recipe for baked chocolate chip cookies maybe, as I never did offer to interview you first. Don't waste my time with games, Kael'thas."
Lord Mageblade rolled his eyes, smiled harder and strolled the other way. He pretended to look out through the large, gleaming windows.
So. Picture this. You're a mighty Bloodmage—or you think you are. You're trying to out-think a 'lesser race' and you're also so arrogant that you don't think you need to conceal your manipulation whatsoever. But, for some reason that you refuse to see, you've hit a wall. A wall made of 'I'm not taking this crap from you Kael'thas, and I see exactly what you're doing, Kael'thas,' which implies the Tauren man he is dealing with is, actually, dangerous enough. In the arena of investigating crimes, yes he is. He's a great big bull standing in the sands, crowds roaring, ladies shrieking about how scary this all looks, as that bull brandishes his horns.
However, regardless of what's real, the Elf man in red struts around, tossing his cape, waving victoriously to the spectators already. He could care less. I might as well be invisible, this guy is underestimating me so bad. But we haven't even started yet, and I still got some sharp horns on me, don't I? I saw all this coming together in my mind and it was starting to really piss me off.
I got up to leave.
"There—Lord Byron, he's being hostile, isn't he?"
Lord Byron suddenly produced a notepad from the inside pocket of his fancy jacket, started making notes on me. Some extensive ones, when all I did was stand up.
"Kael'thas, this can go two ways. Neither is easy, you've sensed that. But one of them is going to be extremely painful for you, if you keep messing with me." Me, pawing my cleft hoof one last time in the stained sand. "For the sake of the Horde. For the sake of your kingdom and what I can do to you if I have to… Stop this now, and let me get on with my work."
He should have called it a day.
Instead, Kael'thas decided to interview himself. "On the night of Greatfather Winter's disappearance, I was here, in Silvermoon. I was playing cards with my father-in-law."
I gripped the chair back, "How nice and tidy of you two."
"Saturna was there also. You can verify it with her."
I looked dead at him, "A wife as a witness. The one person who can't testify against you in a Garrosh-style court proceedings which you desperately deserve by now. Excellent."
Kael'thas sank back, relaxed. I guess he thought he had me running in circles around him, in that raucous arena in his head too. "Other than that…? Want me to tell you the suits of the cards Byron had up his sleeve? Or the ones left over in the deck?"
"You would be a cheat."
"My father-in-law was the one cheating; I was just trying to keep up."
"Why do I have a feeling you told the Sha'tar that when they came to collect about the Burning Legion. 'They were the ones massacring innocents. I was just trying to stay in fashion with them—'"
Lord Byron stopped pacing with a hard click of his heeled boot. He found the one spot that wasn't covered in carpet.
Okay, I admit now… that was kind of low. Maybe I shouldn't have. My bull in the arena snuffed hard, backpedaled a bit. And Kael'thas was striding forward, raising the red cape between us again.
Byron began writing more notes, while shaking his head, "Is this Tauren really going to conduct the entire investigation with such bias against you, Kael'thas? You'd better send away to Orgrimmar for a new man."
"Nice try, but I work for Thunderbluff, Lord Byron. And I've already been through all this 'who can fire me, who I owe' stuff with Saturna. Seems 'Team Kael'thas' isn't communicating so well with a very key blood relative? Now, I wonder what could have put her off?"
And so I bucked him off.
Kael'thas smiled again, too happily for him, "Warchief Sylvanas is going to be here in a few days as well, did I neglect to tell you? She and I are going over a new trade deal with the Forsaken in Lordaeron."
I set my teeth, I wasn't sure how to read that. Or if I really wanted the banshee queen herself so very close to what I was doing out here. I used it as a threat, but it pretty much scared me, too. Sylvanas is like that anyway, she likes to keep everyone on edge and slavering to please her.
Nathanos being a case-in-point.
"So." Kael'thas raised a hand absently. "I think you can read between the lines, can't you?"
"How now?"
"She and I will be the best of friends. I don't think summoning the Warchief here to undo me is going to work so well for you Turaho, when she's been eager to have these magical goods for so long, have the tax rates settled and all that." Then, he grinned as if he'd slipped free a silver sword for me, out from under that flimsy red cape.
I happily told him, "Or, Sylvanas might use my presence to pressure you into a deal that's not in your favor."
Kael'thas shook his head at me. I had a feeling I'd caught him off balance, though. "Sylvanas is coming here. She will be here and she will be spoiled rotten. So no more of you claiming to be her best friend when I actually was the one who used to date the girl—"
Byron even laughed at that.
Kael'thas surprised me and shot his own father-in-law a defensive look.
"Sorry, Kael, it's just… You offered Sylvanas an engagement ring out of nowhere. It came by courier, back then. She wasn't even sure it was from you, because she didn't remember ever speaking to you about marriage, or going on a date for that matter. Incidentally, I was there when the debacle took place as I worked for the palace at the time…" then he trailed off, "My king."
Fun coincidence, that.
Kael'thas squinted an eye, "Hrmph. I wrote her the most beautiful courtship letter. I know that she kept it."
"It's just… you wrote your courtship, is the thing." As Kael'thas began to glare, "You… well, wrote it all down."
Kael'thas had turned to me, folded his hands to get back to business. Then emotion flickered in his eyes and he swiveled his chair back toward the other man, "So? Why's that so wrong? I write very well, don't I?"
Wow, they were really going to have this out. I imagined I had a bag of popcorn in my lap.
"Well, that also means you authored… both sides of the um… Well, it was a courtship. It's bilateral. Or, it usually is."
Hold on. Was Lord Byron trying not to say that Kael'thas had… imagined he was going with Sylvanas back then? Haha!
Byron smiled hard, "Kael'thas, look at it from this angle. I promise, I mean no harm at all. But what if you had sent a neatly signed, yet ten-page letter over to Saturna's side of the Black Temple when you first met her? It wouldn't have…" Byron stopped short and shook his head.
Kael'thas still didn't quite make it there. "I wrote Saturna the most beautiful invitation to an um… cherry tasting party, back then. It was her birthday party, I mean. And she loved it, and she even danced with me. Obviously, we went well from there."
Really? Cause I heard Saturna tried to kill your only offspring together, and that was years after you somehow made her dead… Well, that was the rumor Alessandre fed me, but Saturna dying for Kael'thas before they sorted out their romance finally, was strange and horrible enough to make me doubt a lot of what Kael'thas was claiming about his romantic prowess right now. She could have been his glorified demon pet he conjured himself, for all I knew. A nice one.
And, he was still talking, "…So all of that disproves your point, Lord Byron."
Byron winced, "If Sylvanas comes here and this subject happens to come up… As my king, as well as my family, I'd just hate for you to… You see, from her perspective, Sylvanas got a very long letter and a ring in the mail. Let's…" Byron really was trying, poor guy. I started to feel awful for him. Being related to Kael'thas, can you imagine those constant, ungodly, embarrassing conversations dancing around Kael's worse traits at family gatherings? Geesh, "Kael, let's just not assume how your very generous effort affected Sylvanas."
Kael'thas was petulant, "And Saturna kept her copy of what I wrote, too. That's two women impressed with my romantic letters. Now, I think we should just draw a line under this argument and move on-"
"Probably kept them as evidence..."
Kael'thas started raising his voice again, "What was that, Investigator Turaho?"
I smacked my forehead. "Alright! Enough. You've lied to me in the presence of your lawyer and sole witness to your so-called innocence, Kael'thas. Am I dismissed yet?"
"I'm surprised you know that I've got to dismiss you first." He waited, letting me stew in it. "Are you sure that these are the only questions you wanted to ask me? I may be incredibly busy later, unable to accommodate you."
"Oh, you will be available. You owe me."
He pretended to wipe his red-gloved hands, "Debt's been paid, now."
"No, this wasn't a formal interview, the kind I'm capable of. Far from it. You just rambled on. Kael'thas, once I have all the questions together that I want to ask you, trust me, I will come on by and grill ya. But you aren't at the top of my list. I mean, not after this sorry display. I'm sure there's someone else I'd better hear from first, if you clearly can't be trusted to even do your basic duty as a member of the Horde and give solid testimony about a crime, when requested. You completely resent authority, don't you? I don't even think Sylvanas herself could interview you and hope to get a straight answer or any slivers of truth to string together and make even a good inference about actual events. You're the one who's being hostile, Kael'thas."
He clearly hated it. Then, he forced himself to ask the one thing he knew I wasn't going to answer for him, "…If not me, then who is your top suspect?"
It was my turn to lean in, real bad-ass like. "You still talk to Illidan Stormrage?"
Kael'thas stood up immediately. I think he forgot where he was in that moment. Shock, concern on his face. And then what I really wanted to see. His nervousness, his fear.
"Get me in a room with Illidan. I know that you can. Then, maybe I'll play nice with you and your Bloodknights."
He sneered at me, it was his worst sneer yet! Well done, Kael'thas.
"One last question King Kael'thas, do you believe in Greatfather Winter?"
"What kind of question is that?" went the terrifying family lawyer.
Kael'thas waved off Lord Byron, "Yes, I do. Because he is a horrible man who put coal in my stocking at Tempest Keep instead of just telling me that the woman I loved was still around, haunting me. Meanwhile, crazy Illidan gets this perfect diamond—"
"Wait…"
"I assume this is somehow relevant to your investigation and that you're not just being a smartass. Yes, Greatfather Winter is extremely dangerous and not to be underestimated. He has the power to ruin your life if he so chooses." Then, as if he was seriously addressing the whole Kirin Tor, he scrutinized me like a fellow mage that could get his true meaning, "Use the information wisely."
I gawped for a little while longer. I was, in fact, trying to be a smartass and end my interview on a high note that would twist the knife. I really did not expect Kael'thas to go into such detail. Or really be this loopy.
"Uh, you take it very seriously, for an educated Bloodmage. Who knows that Azeroth isn't flat, and revolves around the sun and all that."
"In his own way, Greatfather Winter is the most powerful man on this planet. No—two planets." Then he closed his gloved fist, seemingly jealous of this strange power. Kael'thas leaned an elbow on his desk and covered his mouth, thinking through the implications.
I blinked several times. Kael'thas must have been high on something all a sudden.
"Hokaaaaay. Illidan time. I hope he isn't much crazier than you like to be..."
Kael'thas claimed that it would have to be at the end of the day. I figured I might rattle Saturna's chain to get it to happen sooner. She seemed to have a decent level of respect for duty, even if she was angry with me. But when I asked for her later, they said the king had suddenly sent Saturna out all day to see to some royal drama that I also couldn't know the exact details of, threat to Thalassian security, something like that. Also neat and tidy of him.
One small thing I can admire about the mighty King Kael'thas Sunstrider. Ladies, don't kill me, but being able to put your nagging wife on a shelf for a day while you sit back, put your feet up and do your own thing? Kinda useful.
Yeah, I just lot a few fans over that comment. Ah well…
And crud, I forgot to ask Kael'thas about his hair. Was there a chance I could squeeze it in later and not be suspicious? I doubted he and I were ever going to do another chummy bar crawl. Bonnie was probably being a weirdo tall-person fangirl again anyway. I bet it was some long-game joke that she and Fitz were trying to pull on me. I wasn't mad, those two Goblins probably just missed me in their strange way.
In all honesty, I like to make these things up as I go along, follow my gut. Lady Daphne Weaver was getting too comfortable being glued to me wherever I went in the palace, so I decided to make her my next victim. Time to show an arrogant Bloodknight and a potential shifty Knight of the Blood Nexus what a real Tauren soldier can do.
She found a cozy little room for us and ordered tea. More games. I didn't drink it.
"It'll get cold, Turaho. That's an offense in most Elf lands—"
"Where were you at the time of the kidnapping?"
She took her time, blowing off the hot tea, sipping. Then, sipping again, more deeply, then setting the cup down in its saucer.
All that to delay, "…At home. Asleep."
"And I assume your husband can verify this?"
Another careful drink. This time it took forever. I out and banged my fist on the table. It caused her to spill a little on her dress.
"That was rude."
"Because I am rude. This is the Horde! A person is missing! The safety of our entire faction is in danger if the Alliance thinks we're mucking about with this thing. So, I will throw anyone and everyone that I suspect through a wall if I don't get what I want!"
"The queen will not approve of your speaking to me in this way. I'm a lady of the royal house, and my husband won't—"
"Starting with him! That meathead, he didn't even see when his own friends were playing him, so I know I won't have any trouble hitting him where it hurts. And I wonder how cooperative he'll be when his wife is shipped off to Thunderbluff to sit in a jail cell. I think you could spend some down time in the Pool of Visions, with Royal Apothecaries and our Farseers, learning to show respect to another race that you're meant to be allied with. My friends and Sylvanas' best friends, they'll love hearing all about that. You think just because you're being posh, I can't see how nasty you're trying to be? Cruel is cruel! Black looks black wherever it creeps into the light, am I right? I got eyes! And when I put a report of how you flauted a law-man in front of everyone at the top, Horde and Alliance, guess what? They'll have eyes in their heads as well, and see this crap front for what it is!"
Daphne turned red while I shouted at her and she tried to be busy dabbing lightly at the front of her lace dress, finally looking like a fool for trying to protect herself with frippery against a raging bull, too. Then, she gave up and tossed the stained cloth napkin onto the table.
The problem, you see, was her thinking she could hide behind being a fine lady. A glass trinket that needed to be handled with gloves. It was her best defense, but I'd seen it before, plenty of times. I tore through it with my horns. Sometimes you have to. She was a fellow solider in a lot of ways if she was one of those Nexites, whatever they're called. Call me the Bluffwatcher, I called her bluff.
That's a good line and you know it.
Yeah, she might have thrown me in a golden jail cell for my yelling, but I was a one man army out here, like Meydiri warned me, like Bonnie said. And they hadn't needed to remind me of it back in Mulgore, I already knew that kind of hunt well. It had its downside, but it also proved I was something special. I'd hunted just like that, solo, in Ashenvale with the Night Elves, and successfully. A triumvir rogue of Darnassus was so rattled by what I did, all on my own, that he came to see me in person—Saturna should have warned her little clique about that by now. So they knew full well that I was totally happy to do the same in Quel'thalas, to them, and I might just succeed. I only needed to know the ropes, and they must have realized that I'd got comfortable anyway, though they tried to prevent it. Putting me in a room right next to Kael'thas, and him trying to knock me down a peg with his practical joke… I was back on my feet and now I had my second-wind, at that.
She went, "…Fine."
"Good, we're starting over. Full name?"
"Lady Daphne Weaver."
"That's not your birth name, is it? That's some honorific, a warrior's name. You told me the other day that you earned it. So, who gave it to you?"
"I weave spells—"
I kept the heat on, "That's not what I asked you. I know how you got it, but who gave it to you? Are you, or are you not a member of the Knights of the Blood Nexus? Blood Matriarch Saturna Whiteblade gave you that name at your initiation, just like she earned her Whiteblade name, when she actually started out as Lord Byron Mageblade's daughter. Didn't she?"
Daphne let out a breath through clenched teeth. She gripped the napkin on the table. "…Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, I was given that name to show I was fully initiated. Into the Knights of the Blood Nexus. Since you already know that it exists, that's no secret to you, is it? Saturna probably confirmed it for you herself," No, Saturna had given them all a proper status update. They were holding regular secret meetings, somewhere, and I was sure of that now. If I could guess the frequency and the location, then I could bust their whole thing wide open. Ha! And with just one well-aimed marble, too. She had trailed off, but I got the best of it, "…for you to be this bold, investigator. But you have no idea what you are getting into, nor how deep it goes."
"That's a threat." I wrote it down, might as well learn from The Shark of Silvermoon City. I'm good thinking on my feet, "A veiled one, but it still counts against you. Next, I want you to tell me about your service in Outland. You've sworn loyalty to Kael'thas, is that it? How long have you been serving him? What did that service entail?" I arched a brow at her, "Other than weaving spells."
"Is this really relevant?" I stared at Daphne until she eventually answered her own silly question. She hooked deep blonde hair behind away from her jaw, swallowed, "My first mission was in Tanaris with my girlfriend, but I was really brought in during the second mission to save Kael'thas. You see, three years prior to all of that, at the Black Temple-"
"The first mission was to save his soul; the second mission to Tempest Keep was to save his ass. I know, so don't drown me in details. Tell me what you, yourself, did."
She looked unseated by my phrasing. So, this was another Kael'thas fangirl, at least on some level. I still can't imagine why all these people, especially the women, are smitten with him.
Daphne read that in my eyes, that I was judging her for it. "He is my king. If you want me to show you respect, then you should give me some. Don't dishonor me being loyal to my people and our history, albeit a tragic one, and my honor as a woman and wife, by looking me over like a piece of meat Kael'thas has trod upon. It was never like that."
"But it was, once." I could read her pretty well, too. I made sure she was well aware of it. If Kael'thas and I were a bull and a fighter, squaring off, then Daphne and I were buck deer, something like that. Trotting alongside, prancing in time, trying to look for any slight flaw in character or intelligence to stab an antler through. I concede that she was good, she really started this face-off yesterday.
Daphne flagged, smiling indignantly at my well-timed sweep of my antlers, "… Back then, Kael'thas was everything to us. It was easy to get lost in him. But it was also easy behavior to correct when Lady Liadrin insisted we stay focused on saving him. The exact details are still classified, but I can tell you that I arrived at Tempest Keep to serve as a healer, and also as spiritual support to the man who became our king. I did exactly that."
"A healer, a confessor—"
"No, that was Fennore's job. I never went that far."
I smiled, because I hadn't known that. She assumed I'd got that far already, then softly cursed herself.
"He was just the other healer."
"And just like you, Fennore was also far more than that to Kael'thas."
"I used to babysit the king's son, as well. His oldest, Prince Belorim."
"Why have all of Kael'thas' children renounced their claim to the throne, do you think?"
Daphne settled back in her chair. But not the way Kael'thas had, like she was victorious and done with things. It was an easier topic to discuss for some reason, than whatever stressful shyte happened with them in Outland. Well, how bad was it when they were all cooped up with Kael'thas and Illidan! I was starting to worry (a lot more, I do confess to being nervous when I brought up Illidan kind of on the fly earlier) about my meeting with him.
"They take after their father. When you're a renegade Sunstrider, and your children also have that as their legacy, it's hard to live down, I think. But you're wrong that all of the royal children have refused to rule. Princess Anthene is still keen to try."
"So she takes more after Saturna? The more honorable, Bloodknight side of the family?"
Daphne slipped a little smile at the notion. "Anything else, Investigator Turaho? We seem to be getting casual here. I thought you didn't want to have tea."
She was stressed and insulting me to shake off the extra energy. I continued to take my time, go in and out of being serious at my own pace. Let her keep guessing which part was important and which wasn't, "Talk to me about the first time Greatfather Winter disappeared. I remember reading a cute blonde in a costume helped nab him from Shattrath. She was a Bloodknight as well as a Sunfury. And Saturna was a ghost, gone, at the time. Weren't you the one?"
She sniped, "How can you possibly know all that."
Time to tell on myself, "I read Goblin Gentleman's Magazine. They like to gossip, and you've risen far since the incident so… they did a season's best recap last holiday. They made sure to do their research and make some pretty strong suggestions about who was who this time around. You know it, too. Someone important like you couldn't have been totally unfazed by that leaking out."
Well, I only had an excellent guess from the article. Figured she didn't exactly read GBM, so that was my edge and it worked. Also, sitting before Daphne now, I admit, she did sort of look the part. She obviously didn't dye her hair and had aged well. I suppose Elves do. Some lovely shade of blonde, nice legs… Oh-Not to get weird on you guys or anything.
Daphne looked disgusted, but only for a moment. "Have fun interviewing my husband when you get around to it. He reads that garbage as well. I had to hear about it from him."
"Only happy to make him put it down forever, for you. But you have to answer my question. Truthfully."
She sighed, with nostalgia as well as embarrassment now that I look back. "It wasn't my idea, or really Tempest's…" then whose was it? But I wasn't going to interrupt her right then, at the most important part, "But we wanted to motivate ourselves, I guess. Play up the idea of a bad girls' day out, of being Sunfury for Kael'thas. She had us wear these… red and black. And it also helped to distract all the guests in Shatthrath, with our feminine wiles," she rolled eyes at her old self, "It worked well. We used our powers, combined, to summon Greatfather Winter right out of there and back to Tempest Keep. All he did was host Kael'thas' party for his son. After that, I guess we all got drunk and chased boys, I don't really remember."
"I suppose Kael'thas doesn't have a… three-year-old, or a three-year-old, going on four, to impress with the real Greatfather Winter now."
"No, he really doesn't."
Daphne was sure that Kael'thas didn't do it. I sort of hated to see it and know that it carried some kind of weight, her jumping to his defense in a natural sort of way. She was tired of the accusation and tired of the idea. She regarded it as silly. And Daphne didn't want to waste any more energy defending Kael'thas, as if it had come up many times already. It had, with the Alliance, in all the reports I'd been made aware of. This wasn't loyalty Daphne was showing, it was practicality. She was weary. But who would have been accusing him, constantly, inside of Kael'thas' own kingdom? Who were the dissenters? Dissenters Daphne spoke to regularly, and who weren't under the jail right now in this crooked kingdom Kael'thas and his ministers were running, with their badly stilted newspapers?
Who could get away with accusing Kael'thas, in their own circle? And why would they do it?
I wondered if it was an argument between husband and wife, happening at home. That would make me weary. I could just see her, like Meydiri and me, talking shop at home and driving each other crazy with the same complaints, or concerns, over and over again. If Daphne did not doubt Kael'thas, and someone else in her close orbit regularly did, then I guessed who was driving her up a wall and getting away with it too.
Or, it might be a good girlfriend, or her Goblin footbomb instructor down at the country club in Eversong, how the heck did I know? But Pyorin the Tank was most handy.
"One more question, eventhough you might not think it's relevant. Do you believe in Greatfather Winter?"
A smile. She could smile very prettily. "Are you serious?"
"People who believe in Greatfather Winter being something other than a rotten Dwarf scheister would be more motivated to go to extremes for him, however this turns out." This time I had a realistic sounding purpose, though honestly it was for shits-and-giggles after how Kael'thas handled it so badly. Maybe it was a funny Elf thing?
She arched an eyebrow at me this time.
"Sounds like you don't, Investigator Turaho. Did he never visit you as a kid?"
I refused to answer that.
"When I was a girl…" she hugged her arms, "There was this pencil set I really wanted. These beautiful, colored pencils that were creamy and bold and better than anything I had ever seen before. They did a demonstration in the toy store once, when I was there with my dad. He wanted to get me something else, it was my birthday… but I just wanted those pencils. Maybe they were cheap ones. Looking back, that was probably his main objection. He was a judge, an important man. But his daughter wanted these crumbly, copper-piece pencils. I think it was more how they made me feel. Like I could draw anything. Make a rainbow come alive. Make real rainbows. Well, it sounds silly now. I must have been about… six? Seven? Very little."
A smile edged at my muzzle, too. "Not too little to want to believe in miracles and magic."
She really grinned, "So you understand. My father, he spent money on this giant, fancy set with these big ole' pastels that I couldn't even really deal with. And they were far too nice for me to take to school, I had to use special paper for them. And, they broke. I mean, they were pastels, so they would break. They weren't covered in cheap paper on the sides, to keep your hands clean and all. They weren't crayons, but proper adult artists' pastels. And I would have had to try and… mix for the colors I really wanted. Magenta, and jade green… even back then, I was precise. I couldn't figure out how to get exotic colors so easily. Dad used it as a chance to try and teach me about the color wheel. He made me get a tutor, just to learn how to use them. But I just wanted rainbows, right away. I was tormented by all this new responsibility, as a kid, I was in agony. Whenever my tutor came over and I just wanted to draw… I'm sure I cried."
Daphne came out of it.
"Then what happened?" I was more mesmerized at how gentle and real she could be when she wasn't in Bloodknight, or lady-of-the-royal-house mode. I could see big, brawny Pyorin struck dumb by how warm and open she could be, how in need of—no offense—protection. But a man wants to hold a girl like that in his arms, keep her safe and all to himself.
"Well, the toy store got bombed. I grew up, I mean, then Arthas came. I only remembered about those pencils when I walked past the place as a young woman, years later. It was rubble. And my longing for… that innocent childhood longing, it made me so happy to remember it, then it just flickered out again. If not for the war, I might have just walked in, at any time in my life, and bought those silly cheap things for myself. But I always took it for granted. Then, I became a Bloodknight, and then a Nexite. I thought we'd die in Outland, then I didn't. I thought I'd…" she told me this for some reason, "…die a virgin in Outland, but then I didn't. I came home and I got married. To a wonderful man. Then, one day, last year, actually, I walk in and this stupid, ratty pencil box is on the table. I didn't believe it at first, I was afraid to touch it. It was the exact day of Winter's Veil, you see."
"Oh?"
"Pyorin goes, all casual-like, 'Some Dwarf was selling these in Dalaran while I was on my holiday shopping. He said my wife would love them, I kinda agreed, so I just bought them. Like a stocking stuffer.'"
Watching her tear up, made this big ole' Tauren tear up if I'm honest.
" 'They're cute, like you. Little bunny on the case,' Pyorin said. Just like that. I had never, ever forgot that little white bunny though. Encircled in all those striped colors. And look, I love my husband, but he isn't so… clairvoyant. I'm sure I never even brought it up, such a little thing. So then, just as a secret or a deal I made with myself… I decided on that day it was Greatfather Winter who did it. I didn't even think they made those color pencils any more. I did check; I'm that kind of bookworm. I've read all I could about the Color Bun Pencil Company. All I can conclude is that I was an especially good girl last year."
"And did you finally draw a rainbow?"
"I made Pyorin do it with me. He complained until I finished explaining it all to him. That was a really great holiday, especially when I was missing our son so much. It was his first holiday away, and then that stupid, stupid GBM picture leaked…" Daphne stopped because I was getting her to tell me a heckuva lot. "Investigator, we have to be wrapping up about now, right?"
I came back to the moment as well, cleared my throat. "Thank you. Now I want you to send your husband in here."
Daphne let out another annoyed breath.
"Hey, I keep my promises. Why not tell him to bring his latest issues of GBM with him too, that'll make my life lesson really fun."
Regardless of our moment we shared, Daphne marched out of there in the best 'oh no you didn't' huff that I'd seen in a while.
About an hour later, and I was fine with waiting—I enjoyed my tea secretly while they tried to stir me up with the delay—Pyorin came in with a… I kid you not, wrinkled brown paper bag. And he looked a bit shifty eyed.
"Is this really happening?" He half-grumbled-half-accused me, before taking his wife's old seat.
I heard the doors lock behind us. His wife knew all about not ruining the good family name, I could tell.
We went through our favorites together, though he was understandably reluctant to begin with. I wanted to get him warmed up for an awkward conversation. Don't worry, I'll spare you the details. Except for one—we both are justifiably into Goblin women, and I think more people in the world need to know that, and here I have my little soapbox to do it right. There you have it, folks, even handsome, beefy Blood Elf men who are already married to Elf women agree. Goblin ladies can be lovely.
"… So is this your wife?" I pointed to last year's Season's Best edition. Page twenty-one, a little old and grainy, but all the same, it was a portrait of a giant evergreen holiday tree set up by A'dal, two Elf women and a succubus… it looked like they were dancing in front of a shocked crowd of Shatthrath City citizens and orphans. Yep, those tiny outfits would have done that. Just as Daphne claimed.
Pyorin itched the back of his neck. "Well, it's kind of why I started reading it."
"Really?"
"I heard Daphne was in there. Which is just… I mean if your wife, or your fiancee, was in there, wouldn't you buy one?"
I'm quick as a whip, "You guys know about Meydiri, too?"
Pyorin avoided it, though Saturna was clearly filling them in on absolutely everything, "It happened last year, me reading these things."
Because of his wife? That's… sweet.
"You didn't tell your wife this?"
"She's not flattered by it. But I think she looks…" he trailed off, "I love seeing her again, from back then. That's the lady I fell in love with. I remember her and everything we said to each other at that one holiday party when she was in that cute costume. That was a nice time." He straightened himself out, "That was a nice thing for Kael'thas to do, for Belorim and for all of us. We all got presents, the kids enjoyed it, too. They wore these cute costumes… it was a mash-up of Hallow's End and Winter's Veil, I think. Since Belorim was that kind of kid. He wanted to wear a cat costume for some reason, even though it was a winter holiday. Heh, what a great kid he was." Pyorin sat up, "What a great boost for morale that was for us, can you imagine? Right in the middle of a war. I think it got us through the second half of that whole conflict. Although, Kael did get a lump of coal in his stocking. Heh. Greatfather Winter does have a sense of humor."
"Do you believe in Greatfather Winter?"
"Haha! What? I… well, after that party? We were the worst people for him to visit, but he did. He gave us these… really awful joke presents. But I did learn from the experience. Yeah, he's real. He's a real Dwarf that can get an attitude with you. And you should have seen how he left it… I wasn't there, but I hear old GW just snapped his fingers and disappeared. So it never mattered that the girls threw some nets and ropes around him in Shat City."
Shat City. A vengeful Sunfury would call it that, back in the day. "So if the old Dwarf could've just left, why did he wait hours through a rotten Sunfury party?"
Pyorin tapped the picture of the naughty Elf helpers again, to make his point. Hrm, one was a succubus. I hadn't noticed that prior.
"Yeah. I guess I would have let it happen, too." We both stared, getting lost in the picture. Until Pyorin covered the dancing blonde Daphne with his hand.
"So…"
"…So."
Then I whined, "Please don't tell me I'm searching for a Dwarf that's only waiting to teach me some stupid lesson about being a grump this holiday season? If he has the power to just up and disappear?"
"But a lot of people are complaining, Turaho, two factions over, that Greatfather Winter did not just up and disappear." Pyorin lifted an instructive finger.
Either Pyorin was being stupid for helping me, or Kael'thas and his crew definitely did not have Greatfather Winter. But then, why would the Blood Elves go through all that effort to try and cover it up? Why would Saturna trek so far to Thunderbluff if she didn't feel there was viable evidence against them? Why would the Night Elves accuse the Blood Elves if they knew Greatfather Winter, and knew him better, that he could just magic himself out of any mess?
It must not have been so easy. Someone very powerful and talented must have him, then. And so that brought be back around to Kael'thas. Unless… No. I would tear all my hair out if, after Kael'thas believed he had perfected the binds to hold Greatfather Winter in some dungeon to maybe harness his power or something, the old Dwarf was just messing with all of us again. I knew that I would seriously go and jump off the Great Lift if I could still find it. I wouldn't care if it had been a wonderful life, this whole unbelievably painful thing would be a giant, friggin… piece of crap. Ugh!
I tried not to think about it at all. Maybe it's just easier for his Elves to believe in holiday magic. I'm not bitter or anything. Well, moreso than I already am.
Then I nodded as if I was on his side, still, and not completely stressed out. I didn't expect Pyorin to fall for my act fully. For some guys, confiding about the GBM together is like when my female cousins bond over gossip about who Chief Thunder-Skins is currently dating, of the Elite Tauren Chieftans or something. I guess? What do I know about women anyway. Crap! I need to send that letter to Meydiri, speaking of…
"So, you also don't think Kael'thas has a good reason to kidnap Greatfather Winter these days?"
"It's probably the only way to guarantee he'll get presents this year, that's all I can think of."
I averted my eyes. It was a damned good back-handed insult and I didn't want to give away that I really enjoyed it. And that it betrayed something else.
"Your wife seems to disagree. She thinks Kael'thas has been a very good boy, this year. You guys fight about that a lot, don't you?"
"Daphne doesn't think that Kael'thas did it. And I didn't say he was guilty either, did I?"
He was digging himself deeper in though, by being defensive.
"If you think Kael'thas needs help…" I let my real meaning linger, I'm in a position to twist his arm."
"You want to destroy him and everything we stand for."
"Uh, that's going a little too far. I like Blood Elves." I amended when he stared, "Generally. I like Saturna."
Welp, that was a slip.
"Yeah, we all do."
And that was a commiseration. Geez! I bet then that they all played boudoir freeze-tag back in the day. Why did I add the freeze part? Probably because, every once in a while, someone like Pyorin got frozen out by 'just a friend', like Saturna, ice cold!
I'm still funny, you can laugh.
"So you can't think of any motivation at all for Kael'thas-fame, notoriety, to threaten someone in the Alliance, something like that-which would drive him to have Greatfather Winter kidnapped? Something I and other members of the Horde might understand, a threat to his honor, his heritage… If it's itching you, I promise I can scratch it. Good. And, I can be discreet. I have eyes, I can see how things are around here, the newspapers never mentioning the real truth, everyone calling Kael'thas a hero when he isn't."
"Kael'thas is a hero. He might have had a long journey, a dark one, but he made it. We made it."
"You mean, you all dragged him kicking and screaming back onto the throne."
"Kael'thas is my hero." Pyorin said it again, like he needed to breathe it, drink it in order to survive. "You try having as many demons as he has, or had. And then still surviving to do the right thing. Even when other people, like you, can't let go of that past." He leaned back in the chair, "Try it someday and see, Tauren. And then, to have Illidan Stormrage on his back of all things…"
"What does Illidan have to do with it?"
"Illidan has everything to do with it. Always. He's in Kael'thas' hair, pretty much literally. He can never get him out."
"Even today? You sure?"
"We watch for Illidan even today." He nodded like the head man he was, in front of his royal guards at muster every morning, "Yes, we do."
Pyorin didn't mean it in an 'Illy-Kael are still planning world domination' way. Pyorin feared Illidan, even though he was nowhere around Quel'thalas. I would have to keep guessing why until I met up with Illidan. I supposed Kael'thas would summon the two of us someplace at o'dark thirty, while Saturna was fast asleep.
And that made me worry, how did Kael'thas send messages to Illidan? I guessed we weren't going to surprise him. Also, how mad would Pyorin be with me and Kael'thas when he found out we ignored all his careful vigilant efforts? Ah well, a little sweet revenge for me.
"Maybe Kael'thas took Greatfather Winter because Illidan wanted him."
"Why would Illidan Stormrage want Greatfather Winter?" Pyorin thought that funny.
I immediately knew I stepped wrong. Pyorin was genuinely amused by the idea.
"Maybe the Night Elves do. The old Dwarf was in Darnassus before they brought him to Thunderbluff, where everyone claimed the Blood Elves were behind his disappearance. There's gotta be racial rivalry beneath all this, Blood Elves versus Night Elves, Saturna's Bloodknights versus… the rogues of Darnassus."
Pyorin hesitated. I'd hit on something, there. Nice to see it confirmed from within the Nexus. So they talked it over too, a lot. It wasn't just accusations coming from the Alliance side.
"Who else is a member of the Knights of the Blood Nexus? Other than Saturna Whiteblade, Fennore Immortal, Sunthraze the Sly, you and your wife? Isn't Liadrin one?"
"That's classified."
I leaned in, "It's not all that classified."
"Why should I make it easier for you? If you can get Saturna to order me to say, then I'll say it. Until then…" he shook his head at me.
Daphne was sure Kael'thas didn't do it. Pyorin was afraid that he did. Kael'thas was covering up what he did on the night of the kidnapping, and his father-in-law Lord Byorn felt concerned enough about it to help cover it up, too. Saturna's opinion didn't matter because, guilty or not, she was going to back up her husband. Her marriage, her money, her reputation, too much was at stake. I counted three people so far, acting like Kael'thas did it, including the man himself, and one, who was the most intelligent of Saturna's henchmen so far, Lady Daphne, being very sure that Kael'thas was innocent.
Could it have been the why, you know, the circumstances behind what happened, rather than whether or not it occurred, that Kael'thas' inner circle was undecided about?
I wasn't going to show how stumped I was starting to feel. Really, Pyorin and Daphne had told me the same thing. They worked for Kael'thas as Sunfury. The weird holiday party way back when was just that-a freakish Tempest Keep party that for some reason required a kidnapped Dwarf. No solid connection to now. The Knights of the Blood Nexus were real and they were loyal to Kael'thas. And the Night Elf rogues, like Alessandre (rest in peace), were in on it too and the Nexites knew all about that.
Things were flowing about the way Meydiri theorized, that this was about a Night Elf problem. It was my only solid motivation for Kael'thas. So, the Blood Elves were getting on their nerves about their World Tree, somehow. But why? Would Kael'thas take Great Father Winter away to sabotage that World Tree? If so, then shouldn't the Cenarion Circle be involved by now? Maybe that was coming.
I almost ended the meeting right there, almost. I glanced down at the magazine. A pretty Goblin girl in something slinky, lounging on a rocket sort of reminded me…
"You said… Illidan was literally in Kael'thas' hair. Like, that was exactly his problem. You meant that?"
"Kael'thas isn't so vain."
Was Pyorin really meatheaded enough to just tell on him? I was about to hit the jackpot. I asked it innocently, man-to-man.
"Aw, come on. If Kael'thas did do it to impress his wife, then who could blame him? It doesn't look exactly that bad, I'll admit. And he seems the type to me to be perpetually in the doghouse with Saturna."
Yep, I took shots at both of his idols, to see where that landed me. A Bloodknight should take the bait, an insult to king and his order.
"Kael'thas and Saturna usually get along just fine, not that it's any of our business. Those two are madly in love after all these years, actually—"
"Emphasis on the word 'mad.'"
"You think he has to try out a new hairstyle and that's going to impress her? You're making assumptions about vain Elves again. Look—" he tried to cut me off before another insult I had ready, "Not to be weird or anything but Kael'thas is a good-looking guy. It even annoyed the hell out of us at the Black Temple and at Tempest Keep, to always be competing with him for women, even when he wasn't trying. His hair is darkened because he enslaved Illidan, and that means he's got all that junk in his system. He has the powers of the old Demon Lord of Outland running through his veins, ontop of being a Bloodmage and all that. So it manifests as dark hair. That's not as bad as demon horns. He looks fine."
Point and check. It also explained how Kael'thas could arrange a meeting with Illidan at the drop of a hat.
"Is Kael'thas actually a Felblood Elf? He has horns, you said. He covers them up with magic." No, Pyorin hadn't said, but I wasn't going to miss my chance to take it there. If there was some fel craving involved, and Kael'thas needed a regular supply of demon magic to cope with whatever his issue was, then that meant the Burning Legion was probably still involved, somehow. Less surprising considering Kael'thas' vile history. I felt like a fool already for jumping right over that.
Pyorin could have gone in a few directions with my latest bait. Outright denial felt too obvious, I bet. "That doesn't stop Saturna from sleeping with him, so what? The man is fine."
I needed it confirmed. To take it as high as Sylvanas herself, especially once she was in Silvermoon, I needed someone close to Kael'thas to come out and say it.
"So then, our worst fears are confirmed. Kael'thas is, in fact, a Fel Elf."
I overreached. It's like Pyorin saw me tiptoeing, with big obvious Tauren steps, away from the trap I laid, that time.
He kept his mouth shut and stared me down. I waited for him to give over to speaking again, for far longer than I was comfortable. He had excellent training, alright.
"I have to keep a promise to someone," I wriggled out of it. "Next time, just subscribe to GBM as a deluxe member. They'll send you a scrying orb that can transmit all the newest issues, then project them on the wall. All over the wall, in vibrant color."
He lost the start of what I said, so fascinated by the last part, "…What? Really? How do I—"
"Pay per month. It's discreet. If you can cover for one funny scrying orb in the mail and leave it on your desk at home, like it's nothing… she'll never accuse you again. You can encode it and everything." I have a house full of family members for roommates, remember?
"It's not like I'm in any real trouble with Daphs, but… Hey, thanks for that, man." He looked at me, mystified. The sage Tauren again, speaking about the mysteries of life. The life of a dirty as a dog Pathfinder who has a secret fetish for the Venture Co. Goblins he investigates. Also, the Elf women.
I got up to leave, I was exhausted. I didn't have his stamina. Not so unusual when you're up against a tank. "No problem."
"Hey, mind if I eat these?" He meant the cold tea sandwiches Daphne left. Well, I ate a lot of them, but left a couple.
"Sure." I opened the door. Pyorin even helpfully showed me how to undo the lock from the inside first, which surprised the guards on the other side, when I exited. "Oh, and Pyorin the Tank?"
"Eyup?" He was busy having his secret lunch, and flipping pages.
"…Enjoy your magazine."
I shut the door and laughed to myself. Moments later, I heard an exclamation, "Woah! The Kaja-Cola Flava Girls are getting back together? Nice."
Wow, that really is great news!
Next, a tinny voice whispered up from my beaded vest, "Fiesta Lime Trixany is pretty much the best one in that group, I think."
It was Fitz. I wondered how he got a hold of Bonnie's marbles, but then I was distracted, "Who? I'm more into Mega Meghan Mango, myself."
"The only Tauren gal in the group? You would, you fink."
"Fitz, how's Bonnie doing? Can you get a message to her and promise not to be an ass about it?"
"Eh… she's kinda right here. But she's sleeping. I don't wanna wake her up."
"Woah! Good job, Fitzy!" Secretly talking to the most notorious Venture Co. supervisor while strolling around in the fancy Sunspire palace is surreal, I tell ya what.
"Not like that. We just took a walk down to the lake."
In broad daylight? Oh, it was probably night time there. They were on the other side of the world, on another date. Probably stargazing, cudding… Aw, those guys!
"Hey Fitz, tell her thank you about the hair tip. And that, now, I'm about to go see somebody's boss thanks to her, but I'll be fine. Well, the brother of somebody's boss."
"Who? You in some kinda trouble, Turhao? Be straight with me now."
Goblins. You say the word 'boss' in front of them and they freak out like Gallywix himself is about to explode. It's like yelling 'fire!' in a crowded queue at the auction house. People drop their stuff and run screaming. Then, watch all the auctioneers just stand there, smiling at the free product while the building burns down. At least that's what happened, twice, in the Valley of Honor… The Horde and its shady safety regulations and even shadier auctioneers.
"I can't explain, but I'm about to meet a very important Night Elf man." Then I did go on and brag, "It's only a Stormrage."
"Which one! Is it Malfurion? I secretly LOVE Malfurion. Hey, can you get me his pawprint? That'd sell big! Or, wait—is it a handprint? A swatch of his hair, then. Is that too creepy? Maybe while he ain't lookin' you can sneak me one. Ya got scissors? Ya need the really sharp scissors, for cuttin' hair, mind, if you want it done right, and quick. No mangled hair ya might get off a battlefield, I tried that, but this one time…"
See? Even evil Venture Co. Goblins do. Everyone loves Malfurion.
But then, Fitz fizzled out. Bonnie must have awakened from her nap. I bet he wouldn't tell her. He'd do anything to keep an advantage over that girl, I suspected.
Another thing I suspected then, but was afraid to accept? Remember, I said I keep track of the small details, I'm good at stringing things together. Daphne had said it, but Saturna had already said it. In a way, Mey had said it too, and Alessandre also alluded to it, in everything that he did, while he was alive.
This thing went deeper than I could have imagined.
And now I pretty much had confirmation, that Kael'thas had a lot of fel in his system. Forget the Twilight Cultists, this was rubbing up dangerously against Legion bullcrap, and I didn't like that. Or possibly both. What if the Twilight Cultists and the Burning Legion were both after something big?
Soon would be time for me to talk to the maniacal man who once called himself 'a god', that the world would need him that badly if the Burning Legion ever bothered us again in a real way.
For the second time since seeing Kael'thas burn a man alive, I started to get truly frightened on this mission. And here I thought I'd recovered from that, somewhat.
Illidan. Illidan Stormrage.
How did I even dare to question him? I was a lowly Sunwalker, a Pathfinder, a mere Tauren, and starting to feel like much less.
This Greatfather Winter jerk had better be real for all the crap I was going through…
