COINCIDENCE & KISMET: CHAPTER 10
- Feb 27
- 52 min read
THE ASHES
It was over.
The Lich King had fallen.
Frostmourne was shattered.
The dead were countless, the wounds deep and permanent. But Arthas was dead and they were alive.
She was alive.
The more severely wounded were evacuated. The leaders of the various factions returned to their respective bases to assess the damages their victory had cost them. The soldiers and conscripted went to go celebrate their survival and triumph.
But to the night elf rogue sitting at the top of the glacier's castle, none of that mattered. Armesan had lagged behind, administering her own first aid and insisting they get the more severely wounded out first. But really, she was just desperate for some solitude so she could attempt to figure out what she was going to do next. In all honesty, she had not expected to survive, let alone succeed. She had genuinely thought he couldn't be killed. Now that he was gone…she had no idea where to go from here.
And it was that realization that unnerved her the most. All the conflicts, all the victories and near death experiences that came before in her long life, and 'what came next' was always the same. A foe was vanquished, the survivors celebrated, and the normal ebb and flow of everyday struggles and conflict resumed as it always did. She would dust herself off, move on, and find the next threat that required her blades.
This time was different. This time there were forks in the road of 'what comes next', and she didn't want to take any of them except for the one she knew she shouldn't.
Ten thousand plus years and it was just these last two that turned everything upside down. All because she left her heart unguarded and it was Xan who had caught it. She couldn’t even point to when their relationship had shifted from friends with benefits into something more. Until that damned party before the final assault campaign on the citadel…
Armesan grimaced at the memory and threw the stone she was fiddling with off the edge of the spire she was sitting atop of. Such a stupid mistake.
That night, Shaw had caught her before she had left for the tournament grounds, and had told her where the Alliance needed her. Straight at the head of the invasion force watching the front-liner's backs. She knew exactly what that meant, and exactly what kind of survival odds awaited her. What kind of odds awaited all of them. Very suddenly they were celebrating their own certain deaths that night, rather than a rare respite.
So when Xan had barged in and interrupted her spiraling thoughts of doom and dismay the way he always seemed to be able to, in a childish fit of defiance, she had decided to take a page from Teegan's playbook. She played his games, she made him play hers. She had let Teegan's words sit a bit too long and when it had been just her and Xan she dove in like she was young and innocent again. She didn't even realize it was far too late to stop it until Xan had asked that terrifying question.
What if it wasn't pretend?
And she had been so close to giving in. Even after they had parted, with space to breathe and a moment to collect her thoughts, that pull was still there and she realized how perilously close to the edge she was teetering.
It did not help that they had a lot in common beyond the shared profession and sexual satisfaction. They were both ruthless when it mattered, caring when it didn't. Their relationships with death and the murder they dispensed were both weirdly blasé, but there was a moral code underneath it, and she could tell he took pride in his skills. They had both known loss and pain and rejection. They trusted each other; that bone-deep trust that you only read about in story books and in their field of work, was largely considered a myth. Throw sex into the mix and that kind of compatibility causes all sorts of problems.
And like an idiot she had ignored all the warning signs. Given into the impulse to pretend like this could be something it couldn't. She had been so certain that he meant what he'd said, that it was all fun and games and that in the end nothing between them had really changed, despite all the red flags saying it had. Instead the son of a bitch had made her love him, and even if they weren't being sent to their deaths, the consequences of this had a far greater reach than just Icecrown.
So in the dark of the night before she left, she did the most merciful thing she could think of; she swore to never let him know. She had merely given some half-assed non-answer, and kissed him goodbye. Unfortunately, thinking back on it now, she realized that might’ve been more telling than any words she might’ve used. They’d only kissed twice during this whole torrid friend-with-benefits debacle; The first time, and that night when she said goodbye and buried her heart. Xan was way too perceptive to have missed that detail.
He probably knew. And what was worse, she had promised him a real answer.
Now…now here she was. A crossroads of a crossroads. If he survived as well…then she had a hard choice to make. If he didn't…
There was a sudden heavy weight in her chest at that thought.
Fucking asshole…he'd better have survived, an angry voice in the back of her mind hissed.
“Thought I’d find ya here.”
Armesan could not help but let out a physical sigh of relief as that uncomfortable knot in her chest unwound at the sound of the voice behind her. Two thoughts quickly ran through her head as she turned around and saw Xan coming over from the teleporter; 'Thank the Goddess he's alive', and 'Of course he was still alive, and of course he'd find her.' If she believed in fate she'd suspect it was trying to send her a message but she'd been alive far too long to believe in such fairy tales.
“I’m surprised you checked here first and not the infirmaries and morgues,” Armesan mused easily, but didn't try to hide the smile of relief. He looked just about as scuffed up as she was, his swords black and worn with the filth of battle, and his armor peppered with burns and tears as he limped across the platform. His survival had been just as hard won as hers but you'd never guess it by the look on his face.
"I did.” Xan shot back easily. "Ya got any idea how long ya been up here?”
“I had some thinking to do,” she said cryptically, but she scooted over to make room for him next to her at the edge of the citadel’s spire platform. Looking out, the twinkles of torches and fires of the army camps peppered around the castle’s base painted an oddly serene picture against the cold blue landscape. The troll took the silent invitation and sat down beside her, leaning gently against her. Despite what she knew she had to do, she couldn't bring herself to reject him, and leaned back easily.
“Ya ain’t hurt bad?"
Armesan raised an eyebrow at Xan. "I should ask you the same thing. You're limping."
He waved it off. "Eh, stepped on somethin' dat fell off somethin' else. I be fine in a few hours."
"This is why you should try wearing shoes with feet," the night elf snickered and accepted the playful shove and snort of indignation.
"Point bein' it ain't serious. But I heard dere was some shit wit Frostmourne almost killin’ everyone up ‘ere,” Xan said, scanning her quickly to note any obvious injuries.
Armesan's smile fell and she blew out a breath that was more a sigh of relief. “It was close, but I will be fine. The tingling has almost entirely faded now,” she said idly, flexing her fingers as if to stretch out some of the residual pins and needles from her fingertips. "I seem to have built up a bit of a resistance to whatever foul magic was in that blade."
“Hmm. Good ta hear,” Xan nodded, giving her an odd look. “So any reason ya hidin’ up here with an iceblocked undead paladin an’ not down dere wit da rest of da world?”
“I wanted to clear my head before I returned to all that chaos downstairs. The very instant I step foot down in the base camp I will either be abducted by the healers for evaluation, SI: 7 for intel and debriefing, or the soldiers for partying. Up here it’s finally quiet.”
“Ya could probably walk inta Thrall's tent an' take his hammer without anyone noticin'. Everyone be outta their minds, celebratin’ da end of dis whole thing,” Xan chuckled.
"I suppose that is also a possibility I hadn't considered," Armesan chuckled. There was a pause before she spoke again, this time with the intent on shifting the conversation away from her personal motives. "Any word from the Horde Vanguard?"
Xan rolled his shoulder with the torn armor. "Lots of casualties," he sighed heavily, the weight of victory peeking through that euphoria he'd had in his voice earlier. "None of 'em be 'noki though, thank da loa. He got banged up pretty bad though." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Teegan make it?"
Armesan smiled and nodded. "She was carted off with a concussion and a shattered arm, ranting about how Arthas made being a bitch everyone's problem, but I suspect she'll be fine once the healers get their hands on her properly."
The troll's rumbling laugh echoed across the empty sky. "Absolutely nothin' stops dat woman, does it?"
"I have yet to see anything come close. I had to promise to break her out of the infirmary for any celebrations to get her to agree to go with the first wave of wounded," the night elf chuckled.
"Uh huh, an' so she wouldn't bully ya inta goin' yaself?" Xan raised an eyebrow at her, looking pointedly at the bandages on her arms, some of which were very obviously bad enough to seep through the coverings.
"They are not that bad."
"Suuuuure dey ain't," Xan laughed, rolling his eye, and fishing something out of a belt pouch and handing it to her. "Since ya got a bad habit of not admittin' when ya be hurtin'."
It took a moment for Armesan to realize that it was a healing potion. He'd brought her a healing potion. Such a simple thing, and yet it felt like it was just one more crack in this perilously strained dam that was her resolve to do what had to be done.
"Promise dis one will taste bettah den da last one I had ta mix up fo' ya," he added with a wink. She seemed to have been frozen in place long enough that he thought she was debating if the thing was safe to drink.
Armesan snorted at the mention of that awful ad hocked potion and laughed, the gentle nudge breaking the spell of inner turmoil for the moment. "I wasn't going to ask…" she said but took the potion with gratitude and sighed in relief as the concoction went to work and her wounds began to close. "Thank you."
They were quiet for a bit leaning against each other looking over the glacier. Eventually though, Xan finally spoke up.
"So ya gonna tell me what's really eatin' at ya?"
"I…don't…know what comes next," Armesan settled on after a long pause. That angry little voice in the back of her head said she'd earned the right to be a little bit selfish. She could delay the inevitable for a little bit longer. "After all the wars and conflicts I've lived through…been through…you would think I would be more used to this."
"Nothin' wrong wit not knowin' what's ahead when da world be different den da one ya woke up to," Xan shrugged. "Sometimes takin' little steps help wit da bigger ones, in my experience."
"Such as?"
Xan grinned and scratched the back of his head, jingling the bands and beads in his braids as he did. "Well, one of da first things I'm doin' aftah checkin' in on 'noki, is findin' a mage willin' ta do some portal work on da sly ta get a letter ta Duma. Let everyone know we lived. After dat?" He paused and grinned at the night elf, and leaned down to her notched ear and 'accidentally' nipped gently at it. "Probably invite dis elusive elf I know ta get shit-faced wit me an' da rest of Dalaran."
Armesan's head tilted involuntarily towards Xan as he hit that sensitive spot on her ear that he always liked, and she couldn't help the hum of approval in her reply.
"Sounds fun. You going to bother cleaning up first?" she chided, using her lean into him as an excuse to pick a shattered fragment of bone out of one of his braids on his blind side. She held it up with a smirk and tossed it off the edge of the spire. Xan merely chuckled and swiped a finger across her pauldron and held up the black ichor that was still slick and fresh.
"Suppose we could both do wit some of dat first," he admitted, pushing himself to his feet with a grunt. He grinned down at the elf and held out a hand to her. "Ya know, if ya happen ta be headin' dat way an' all."
Armesan couldn't help but snort at the echo of her own words back in Ratchet oh so long ago when they'd started down the long strange road.
A road that had to end…for both their sakes.
No it doesn't and you know it, you coward.
She grimaced internally at the angry little voice, stamping it down quickly as she took Xan's hand and let him help her to her feet.
"If it just so happens," she smiled back and began walking towards the teleporter with him.
One more night, before she took the fork in the road she didn't want. One more couldn't hurt.
"ENOKIIIIIIIIIII!"
It was like a goblin rocket of black and green and gold, as out of seemingly nowhere Teegan rushed at them, knocking into Enoki hard enough that he lost his grip on Xan's shoulder and fell harmlessly to the ground, where she flung herself around his neck before he could protest.
"Teegan!" Enoki laughed, completely ignoring any he pain he might've been feeling in favor of returning the desperate affection.
"Thankthegodsyou'reokayIwassoworriedtheysaidyouwerealivebutyougothurtandI-" she babbled incoherently, face buried in his hair.
This was not exactly how Xan had expected the night's festivities to start, but in hindsight, he probably should have seen this coming.
When they'd left Icecrown Citadel, Xan and Armesan hadn't even bothered to keep up the pretense of walking out separately, and rightly so because no one so much as spared them a glance let alone a comment. There was nothing even close to resembling order down at the base of the glacier. It was a mass of tents and stations erected so hastily to deal with the wounded that any adherence to faction lines was purely by accident. The more severely wounded were being treated by harried and run down healers, while those deemed fit enough to move without dying were shoo'ed away or sent back to Dalaran. It turned out that Teegan had been among those moved out of triage almost immediately and sent back to city, so instead they had gone to collect Enoki so they could hunt down the warlock all together.
That had been the plan, anyway, until they saw the extent of Enoki's injuries. Xan had known he'd gotten hurt badly enough to be pulled out during their confrontation with Sindragosa and her brood, but he'd missed exactly how badly, as his group had been hurried back to the spire to keep the undead forces away from the teleporter leading to where everyone else was fighting the Lich King. When he got a good look him, not for the first time Xan had to wonder if his brother really just was THAT tough or if there was some otherworldly force looking out for him. Xan was leaning towards lucky, this time, because whatever had taken Enoki out would have finished taking off his leg if Pidge's support brace hadn't taken the full brunt of the damage. And from what Enoki had told him, if he'd have been fully crippled, he'd be dead, rather than just stuck with a couple hours of painful regeneration as the bones knit themselves back together.
This did, however, mean that getting him on a flying mount was suddenly an interesting exercise in coordination as he couldn't really walk properly yet. By the time they made it to Dalaran, the city had exploded in celebration. It was a small miracle they were still able to stable their mounts when they landed. Finding Teegan was going to be a nightmare.
Or rather it would have been, if a very familiar, chunky, felhound hadn't approached them about six seconds after they left the Flight Master's port, and aggressively lead them to this bar in Dalaran's entertainment district where Teegan was lying in wait. She'd ambushed them as soon as they cleared the dance floor and got to the tables.
Once the shock of watching a several hundred pound troll get tackled to the ground by a four foot tall gnome wore off, Xan looked over at Armesan, who was shaking her head at her friend.
"You would never know she had a shattered arm and brain damage less than an hour ago," Armesan said airily, crossing her arms in mock disapproval. Teegan gave the elf a middle finger without letting go of Enoki.
"I be glad ya be okay too, Teeg," Enoki grinned stupidly and ducked his head enough so he could lean in and kiss her full on the lips, to the hoots and hollers of the nearby patrons who happened to glance over and see what the ruckus was.
For once it seemed like Teegan was caught off guard and froze momentarily before completely melting into Enoki's embrace. Xan got the impression she wasn't used to him being the instigator, and honestly, Xan was a bit surprised himself. He did not have 'Enoki making out publicly in a bar' on his list of things he ever expected to see.
Very suddenly, Teegan broke the kiss and grabbed the collar of his tabard so she could look him dead in the eye. "Marry me!"
Everyone just froze and stared at the gnome.
Enoki's eyes went wide in shock. "WHAT?!"
"Marry me!" Teegan repeated, louder over the din of the rowdy crowd. "Before anything else happens!"
"Well that escalated quickly," Armesan muttered quietly to Xan.
"Iiiiiiiii…" Enoki stammered, glancing wildly between Teegan, the bar behind her, the floor, anywhere as if somehow the words would appear and help him out.
""Just say yes ye dolt!" came a distinctively dwarven accent from across the room.
Teegan shot a dark look at the eavesdropping dwarf. "Do you mind?! We're making an impulsive decision over here!"
That little interruption seemed to be just the pause Enoki needed because when Teegan turned back around, he kissed her again before she could do or say anything else.
"Wasn't plannin' on doin' dis in a bar, but fuck it. Of course I marry ya," he grinned against her cheek as he pulled back, leaving Teegan for once in her life, speechless. Instead she just resumed what Enoki had started.
Xan, having been watching this entire exchange in a rather stunned stupor of disbelief, finally decided to intervene after it became obvious they were not going to stop on their own.
"Ya mind lettin' my bruddah off da floor now dat ya done proposin' ta him?" Xan said calmly, leaning down to give Teegan a bored look.
Teegan blinked rapidly at the sound of Xan's voice and glanced at him, then at Armesan and seemed to finally realize they were there. "Right…floor…." Teegan said and she let go of Enoki's collar and climbed off him so he could hoist himself up off the floor and up onto the bench of the table her felhound had claimed. She winced when she saw him completely favoring his right leg. "That wasn't me, was it?"
Content at rescuing Enoki from the floor, Xan joined Armesan off to the side where the night elf had settled.
"Nah. Took a bunch of dragon whelps ta da face an' a chunk of saronite ta da leg. I be back ta da normal limp in a few hours," Enoki waved off her concerns as he shifted around to get comfortable.
"Like hell we're waiting a few hours," Teegan scoffed.
"Wait, seriously?"
"What do you think I meant when I said 'before anything else happens'? Some other crazy bullshit could happen at any minute! I'm not waiting to see if another Dragon Aspect decides to blow us all up just for kicks. We're doing this now!" she declared and looked out the rest of the bar. "Is anyone here a priest?!"
Predictably, because at this point a good three-quarters of the establishment was paying attention to them now, about a dozen hands shot up.
"And are you drunk enough to officiate this without any questions?!"
That knocked it down to about three hands. One of which was the eavesdropping dwarf from earlier.
"You!" Teegan yelled out, pointing at the dwarf. "Congratulations!"
"Woohoo!" was the reply, as well as a few cheers from a few of the other tables. There were some side-eyes and grumbles but they were promptly ignored.
There was a tapping on Xan's arm, and he turned to see Armesan had fished a coin out of her pouch and was handing it to him. "You win," she with a shrug. "I thought for sure she'd wait for the corpses to get cold before going through with it."
Xan snorted in amusement, taking his token winnings. "Survival be a hell of a drug,"
"Stripes! One-Eye!"
Both rogues blinked in surprise at Teegan's sudden attention. "You're both going to be our witnesses!" She paused and bit a nail nervously and looked at Enoki. "Oh…fuck, I don't have any rings that'll fit you…"
"Teeg, ya don't…" Enoki began, but Teegan shook her head before he could finish.
"No no, I always swore if I was going to do this I was going to do it right! I'll improvise. Stripes! I need you! And your vault!"
"My va-why do you need-" Armesan started, but Teegan was already starting to shove her towards the door.
"No time for questions! We'll be RIGHT BACK, Enoki!" Teegan glared at the priest she had singled out. "And YOU! Don't you dare go anywhere!"
The dwarf held up his hands innocently.
Armesan gave Xan an apologetic look. "I….guess I'll be right back?" she said uncertainly and swatted Teegan away as she started moving. "Ow, okay I'm going. Why the hells do you need MY vault?"
"I promise it's for an actual reason. Any chance you've hoarded jewelry over your 10,000 years of adventuring?" Xan heard the gnome ask before they were out of earshot and disappeared out the open door to the streets.
With the chaos that was Teegan momentarily paused, Xan took stock of his poor shell-shocked brother and decided to throw him a bit of a lifeline.
"Sooooo. Yes, dat really did just happen, and yes, ya are about to get married in a bar with the help of a half-drunk priest of…whatever it is that dwarves are priests of," Xan snickered, sitting down and throwing an arm around Enoki's shoulders. "Congratulations."
"Ya know, I was going to ask her AFTER this…" Enoki sighed.
Xan patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Sure ya were. Seriously though, I'm happy for ya."
"Thanks," Enoki laughed nervously. "Fuck I don't have anything for this. What would I even give…" he paused suddenly, and then glanced at Xan curiously. "Oh…wait we do have…ya kept our old pendants, right? Da ones from Mom an' Dad?"
Xan blinked a bit at the mention of the old trinkets. He hadn't thought about them in years.
"Probably sittin' in my vaults somewhere if I had ta guess," he said slowly, following the line of reasoning easy enough. "I take it ya be needin' me to go get yours?"
"If ya wouldn't mind," his little brother grinned sheepishly, indicating his immobile leg. "Apparently ya be my witness anyway. It's ya job."
"Apparently," Xan grinned and ruffled Enoki's hair the way he used to when they were kids, only to have his warrior brother shove him off with a disgruntled snort. Xan dodged easy enough as he got to his feet. "Try to keep Teegan from burnin' down the place 'til I get back, will ya?"
"No promises."
"How is it you've been alive for over 10,000 years, are from one of the most jewelry horny cultures alive today, and yet you have NO non-combat rings?!" Teegan moaned from the depths of yet another of Armesan's vault boxes.
The Night Elf shrugged. "I never saw a point. It wasn't like I was going to be invited to fancy galas or be presented to a suitor."
"Did you even marry your first hubby?"
Armesan smirked. "Technically we eloped."
There was a distinctive clang as Teegan's head shot up from the box and knocked over the lid. "What do you mean 'you eloped'?!"
"It's a long story."
"Man you owe me SO many explanations after we get back to the Continents," Teegan groaned, resuming her search after giving her friend a glare. "Gods how old is this box?"
"I don't know I stopped paying attention to how many I had awhile ago," Armesan shrugged.
"This paper is disintegrating. Do they even make…what even is this?"
Armesan just chuckled, watching idly from the side as Teegan rummaged through her possessions, occasionally holding up one thing or another that she couldn't readily identify. This continued for a good while, enough so that Armesan's attention had started to wander, until she heard Teegan crow in success.
"AHA! I knew there had to be something."
Glancing back, Armesan blanched when she saw what Teegan had found; an iridescent metal bangle engraved with kal'dorei sigils and crests, a moonstone set in the center of it. She'd completely forgotten that she still had that.
"Not that, you can't use that!" the night elf said quickly, snatching it from the gnome's grip before she could even think to react.
"What…why? You said you didn't care about any of this old junk," Teegan said, completely flabbergasted by her friend's sudden about face.
Armesan's grip tightened involuntarily on the bangle and she paused, glancing down at the trinket. "I don't, I just…I forgot this was in there…"
"What is it?"
The night elf chewed her lip a bit before letting out a heavy sigh. "It's…from my mother."
"Oh," Teegan said, suddenly understanding. "Right, family heirloom."
They were quiet for a moment before Teegan climbed down from the box and sat on the edge of the table they'd been unloading the boxes onto. "Well, that's fine, it'd be weird giving Enoki some night elf stuff anyway. But now I'm out of ideas. I can't find rings that'll fit him, the shops are all closed, and every crafter in a 100 mile radius is asleep, dead, or plastered."
"You could wait until morning. Or go without the ceremony."
"Not happening," Teegan said quickly. She gripped her left arm tightly, the arm Armesan knew had been broken when she'd left the Citadel. "I'm not waiting for whatever next big bad or crisis to take him from me. And fuck hiding. I love him, and I won't hide that."
Armesan couldn't help the slight twinge of envy at Teegan's declaration.
"You know it's going to be hard for you two back on the Continents, right?" Armesan said softly, but not unkindly.
"We know," Teegan said, equally softly. "We actually talked about this…sort of. The what-comes-after." She blew out a breath and leaned back to look at the ceiling of the vault room, idly kicking her feet. "The Horde won't let Enoki out, we know that, but I'm just a mercenary, no one in the Alliance will care what I do so long as I don't mess with them directly. And if we keep our distance from the fronts for awhile, maybe stick to places where the more neutral factions are in charge of things…it'll work."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we both fake our deaths and go into hiding," Teegan grinned. "It worked for Twigs and Frosty."
Armesan snorted. "And you're not worried about any fallout if the Alliance suddenly does care? They would not be above using leverage to use you to get to Enoki if it suited them."
"What are they going to do, go after the family that disowned me and hasn't wanted anything to do with me for over a decade? Go after you?" Teegan grinned at her friend with a wink. "Sure, see how far that gets them. I know, Enoki's really strong, and some of the commanders are weirdly obsessed with his lineage, and I may have been…less than subtle about the things I can do, but we're one warrior and one warlock out of thousands. We're in no more danger of being targeted together than we are apart. I don't care that he's a troll or is fighting for a faction that…kinda hates my people. I love him. He loves me. That's worth any risk."
Armesan sighed. It really was so much simpler when you didn't know the endings, wasn't it?
"Well…far be it for me to get in the way then," she settled on.
"I still don't have a ring though."
"Does it have to be a ring?"
Teegan paused and blinked a bit. "I…guess not? Still doesn't help the whole, I-don't-have-a-rock-to-put-in-it part, though."
"How about a temporary rock?" Armesan asked, glancing down at the bandolier Teegan had across her hips that usually housed her soul shards these days. Currently it was empty, but Teegan got the message and her eyes went wide.
"Oooooo, I have a better idea!" she grinned and hopped off the table, bolting over to where her own vault boxes were strewn all over the floor. She frantically pawed through the piles of junk until she seemed to find what she was looking for. "Yes! Thank you, past me, for not throwing this away!"
Armesan couldn't even see what Teegan was holding before she bolted out of the room, leaving the debris of decades of vault boxes behind her.
"Teegan, where-"
"I'll just be ten minutes! Tops! And you better come back to the bar! You're giving me away!"
"I'm what?!"
"Ten minutes, Stripes!" she called, her voice indicating she was likely out of the bank by now.
It was eerily silent in the vaults, being so late and with the whole of the city celebrating outside or elsewhere. Aside from the lone bank teller outside the vault itself, Armesan was alone. It shouldn't have felt so poignant, but she couldn't help hate how quiet it was.
She shook her head with a frustrated grunt to dispel the melancholy and started gathering up the trinkets and various baubles that Teegan had left behind, returning them to their proper resting places.
Until she got to the bangle.
Remember…even when the lights go out, the shadows will protect you.
Goddess she hadn't thought about her mother in centuries. It had been so long ago, she barely remembered what she even looked like.
And yet she still held onto this one memento, and even now for some reason was reluctant to put it back into the oblivion of the vault box. It was such an odd thing to have kept, but it was the one relic from her family she still had. Her mother had gifted it to her quietly before Armesan had been sent off to the Dormitories where she would learn her craft. Where the Guilds would be her family from then on, and she would belong to her house no longer. The only thing she could remember that was given freely and with pure intent. A gift of farewell.
With a stab in the heart, she pocketed the relic in her belt pouch before closing the vault box and turned to leave.
It had taken some digging, but Xan finally found what he'd been looking for, buried at the bottom of one of his deposit boxes under papers and currencies. Meant to stay hidden away where they could be kept safe…but also where they wouldn't bring up the memories.
Memories of his mother telling him when he was young where they had come from. The history behind the totem she was carving. Of watching his dad help customize it to so it would fit his eldest son. Learning the hows and whys as he watched them pick the foundations for all his siblings as they slowly came along. Until…they were gone, and the little pendants were all that was left of them.
Xan sighed as he fished out the little bird fetish that Enoki used to wear like a badge of honor. Hells, they'd all worn them like that. It was a way to stay connected whenever they were separated. A way to remember where they came from even while everyone around them told them they were Gurubashi swine, or Bloodscalp savages.
But over time, they began to mean other things too. Looking at the three charms in the box, it was a stark reminder of what was missing. Sai'in had given hers to Dotolo at some point; he'd seen the Death Knight wearing it on the rare occasion he wasn't wearing armor. The fifth they never were able to recover, as they'd never been able to find or properly bury Zorka. After Zul'Gurub, when they had thought they'd lost Sai too, Xan had thrown the rest of their pendants in here to avoid the reminders, and Enoki and Duma hadn't objected.
Until now, when there was a reason to want the reminders. Yes they'd lost much. So much. But they were gaining much as well. Friends. Lovers. Family.
Mates.
It was almost an afterthought that Xan paused and glanced down at the box, side-eying the stone carved troll skull that was his pendant. Enoki hadn't explicitly asked for Xan to wear his as a show of solidarity. He didn't necessarily have to if he didn't want to. Though...if he ever found an opening to ask the questions that had been burning in the back of his throat since those fucking tournament grounds...
After a moment of indecision, he grabbed the pendant and put it around his neck before shutting the box, and tossed the key to the lone forsaken attendant on his way out.
Thankfully the Horde bank wasn't that far from the bar and Xan was able to make it back quick enough. It had taken longer than he'd anticipated to find the damn things, so he wasn't surprised to see Armesan already back.
He was surprised to see that Teegan wasn't.
"Where da hells did Teegan go?" Xan asked once he was back at the night elf's side.
She gave him a helpless expression and shrugged. "She ran off saying she had an idea for a wedding ring and to be back here in ten minutes. That was about fifteen minutes ago."
"She didn' break inta da jeweler's store, did she?" Xan asked jokingly, only to realize as Armesan and Enoki exchanged looks that said that was a possibility.
"There is a non-zero chance of us having to commit a jailbreak as a wedding gift," Armesan sighed, patting Enoki on the shoulder, to which the troll just sighed.
He looked about ready to say something when there was a commotion at the door in a very familiar voice.
"I'm here, I'm here don't-whoops!" Teegan yelled, racing around the corner and almost barreling into the doorframe. She caught herself just before tripping and falling to the floor and wove her way over to them. Thankfully it did not appear like she had committed any larceny, but she was clearly much more unsteady than she'd been when she'd left.
"Are you okay?" Armesan asked as she helped her friend right herself.
"Yeah yeah I'm good, I'm gooooood woo okay I'm good," the warlock said, accepting the help and dusting herself off. The three of them all looked at each other with concern and then Armesan gave her friend a side-eye.
"Is this a 'I'm actually trashed' kind of 'I'm good'?" the night elf asked a bit sternly.
Teegan blinked, and then seemed to replay the last few seconds in her head and laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Nooo no, I'm not…" she glanced at the two trolls behind Armesan and whispered something they couldn't quite hear and handed her something. The elf's eyes went wide and she looked at her friend incredulously before she glanced back at Enoki, shaking her head as she stood up.
"What?" Enoki asked, a bit worried all of a sudden.
"You're a lucky man," she said with a grin, taking her place opposite where Xan was standing. He raised an eyebrow in question at Armesan, who simply flashed him the rogue hand signals for "You'll see".
"So are we doin' this or not? Because I got another round of ale with me name on it if yer gonna take yer sweet time!" the dwarf interrupted, looking between Enoki and Teegan.
"Oh we're doing this," Teegan giggled, and clumsily hopped up to stand on the bench so she could be at a more equal height to Enoki, who still couldn't stand steady. She took Enoki's hand and took a deep breath before asking him with an uncharacteristic seriousness, "We're doing this, right?"
Enoki grinned and put a hand on her cheek to reassure her. "We be doin' dis."
"Then take it away, priest-man!" Teegan beamed.
The dwarf glanced between the gnome and the troll, then at the other troll, then at the night elf, and simply shrugged. "Alright then! Ahem! Now…TRADITIONALLY…the bride an' groom exchange vows of devotion, as well as gifts from each clan as a sign o' unity. Now I know ye gnomes like to get all flashy and tinker-ey…but seein' as this isn't a…uh…TRADITIONAL…ceremony...an' I fancy not getting thrown out this early in the evening..."
"Nope! I promise no electrocution. Don't worry, I got it covered!" Teegan interrupted, nodding to Armesan who retrieved something from her pouches and handed it to the gnome. Finally able to see it clearly, Xan saw it was a vibrantly glowing purple shard fixed into a pendant. It reminded him a bit of the soul shards Teegan used in combat but it was glowing much more vibrantly than those tended to. The priest gestured for Teegan to continue.
"I am Teegan Fizzwidget, a gnome, and high warlock of the Alliance. And before friends, family and these filthy drunks-"
"Hey!" came an insulted shout from the back of the room.
"Filthy heroic drunks," Teegan corrected flawlessly, not even bothering to look away from Enoki.
"Thank you!"
"I declare that I love this man, Enoki of the Darkspear, with all my heart, and with my soul."
She reached up to fasten the necklace around his neck. It was only at this angle that Xan noticed there was a small line along Teegan's collarbone that disappeared down her robe that was glowing the same purple as the shard and suddenly he realized what it was.
She'd given Enoki a soulstone shard. A literal piece of her own soul now forever separated from her. Now the disorientation earlier made perfect sense. She had cracked her own soulstone. Xan very suddenly had a newfound respect for Teegan's abilities, as you generally didn't do this unless you wanted some sort of permanent injury or deformity. That she managed it with only some minor disorientation and a superficial scar…
"Ya be fuckin' insane, woman," Enoki laughed helplessly, clearly understanding exactly what Teegan had done and just given him, and she just smiled back.
"Take's one the know one," she grinned, swaying ever so slightly but Enoki caught her effortlessly.
"And does the groom have anything ta say?" the dwarf turned to Enoki who fell silent for a moment before he just chuckled helplessly.
"I...uh...dunno if I can really follow dat up. But...I would be honored ta spend da rest of my days by ya side. An' whatevah comes aftah, too," Enoki said and glanced back at Xan. Taking the sign, the rogue took out the charm pendant and handed it over. "By da spirits of mah ancestahs an' da loa, I, Enoki, bind myself ta dis woman in dis life an' any dat come aftah," he said, biting his thumb and smearing the drops of blood across the bird skull before fastening the pendant to the outside of the wrap that bound Teegan's ponytail. It wasn't quite as flashy, but the trolls in attendance understood the significance of the words and gesture, especially if you happened to notice the blood vanish to signify the acceptance of the offering. You didn't make an oath to the loa with blood unless you meant it. Xan noticed Armesan blink a bit when it vanished, and she glanced at him to which he smirked and gestured back at her, "I'll tell you later."
"Well…not the most traditional of exchanges, but I s'pose that works," the dwarf priest shrugged helplessly. "Then by the grace of the Light an' clan an' kin, I declared ya married! Or at least something close to it!"
The bar erupted in cheers when Teegan leapt into Enoki's arms and they started kissing again, and it was hard not the cheer along with them.
"Now THAT'S how you celebrate a victory! Next round's on the house for the newlyweds!" the barkeep whooped, eliciting more cheers and hollering from the crowd. Enoki and Teegan seemed deaf to it, but at least had the decency not to get too explicit in public. Xan had no doubt they'd do that later after his bones had put themselves back together.
Somehow, this is exactly what Armesan imagined Teegan's wedding would look like if she ever had a wedding. There were a few things that she hadn't predicted, but by and large this was just so very Teegan and even Enoki, reserved wallflower that he had been two years ago, seemed to be reveling in it.
As much as one could revel with one working leg and probably a few dozen fractured bones still.
It very much was not, however, Armesan's preference. As much as she was happy for Teegan, she much preferred quieter affairs, so as the volume and the celebration rose, the night elf became a bit more unsettled, until she felt a nudge at her side.
With a grin, Xan nodded up at the balconies and loped off through the throng of raucous dancers, weaving expertly through until he disappeared up the stairs. The message was clear enough, and none too eager to get swept into the absolute lunacy of whatever going to go down here, Armesan followed suit.
It was still loud, being an open rotunda above the lower levels of the bar, but the openings out to the walkways that ringed the roof offered some respite from the noise, and no one else was up here. She found Xan waiting expectantly near one of the open balconies and she readily joined him.
"So on a scale of one to I-shattered-my-own-soul-to-make-a-wedding-ring-for-you, how big a deal is that little blood sacrifice Enoki just did back there?" Armesan asked, sidling up beside Xan.
The troll snorted in bewildered amusement. "Ya break one of those, den ya bettah get ya affairs in order. Da loa dun take kindly ta oath breakers, ya mighta noticed."
The night elf whistled, thinking back to the mess in Zul'Drak. "Well if there was any doubt that they're equally crazy about each other, I can say that's safely dispelled."
"Nothin' mo' romantic den mutually assured destruction," Xan laughed. "Dey are gonna be absolutely insufferable."
"Oh, of that I have no doubt," Armesan chuckled, but the conversation she'd had with Teegan earlier was sitting uneasily in the back of her mind as she watched the festivities. This was a known refrain, the coming together to fight a common foe. Tossing aside grudges and pains of conflicts past to ensure a better chance of survival. But without that common enemy, those old hurts come back, and eventually everyone splinters again. What peace was here was not lasting. Among individuals, perhaps. Among peoples?
Armesan scowled slightly. Peace never lasted. The only question was who would get swept up in the path of the war that would follow. Because there was always something waiting in the wings. The only thing mortals could do was stay out of its way the best they could, and try to live and love in the crevices where it might not be able to reach you.
She looked down at Teegan, leading some sort of toast while sitting on Enoki's shoulder.
Or, she supposed, you could barrel headlong into it, grab the hand of the person you had the misfortune of falling in love with, and the two of you could give the world and war the biggest middle finger imaginable.
"Hey, ya okay?"
Armesan glanced up at Xan who was studying her with a concerned look on his face, and with a heavy sigh, she let some of the tension leave her shoulders and leaned against Xan's side. "Sorry I just…found some old relics when we were delving our vaults and they brought up some old memories."
"Old memories like da good kind or da bad kind?"
"A bit of both," she sighed after a moment, turning away from the impromptu wedding feast going on downstairs and stepping out into the cold night air of the balcony. Xan followed suit.
"Must be somethin' big if it be distractin' ya from ya best friend's weddin'," he said idly, leaning out of the doorframe. Armesan chuckled a bit as she glanced at Xan. Always avoiding the cold when he could. But she needed the air.
The night elf blew out a breath and leaned back against the domed roof that the balcony encircled. "I was reminded of my mother. The last time I saw her."
Before she could think better of it, her fingers drifted to her belt pouch and she pulled out the kal'dorei bangle she'd pocketed back in her vaults. "She gave me this."
Curiosity got the better of him and Xan stepped all the way outside, so she held it up so he could see properly.
"At the time I thought she was giving me some sort of blessing, that maybe she didn't really want to relinquish me to the Guilds but…I think in her own way she was just saying good-bye, and that this was better for me," Armesan said sadly as she watched Xan run his fingers over the metal, still pristine and shimmering even after 10,000 years. "She was right, of course. If I hadn't been sent away I likely would not be here now."
"But it still hurts, don't it." Xan said. It wasn't a question.
"In the way an old scar might twinge when the weather turns foul," Armesan shrugged. "But it has been quite awhile since this particular scar has acted up." She sighed and looked up at the sky, silver eyes darting between the stars.
"Memories got a way of doin' dat," Xan mimicked her posture, leaning back against the shingles of the dome and studying the stars. Armesan noted he was fidgeting with a pendant around his neck as he did so and she couldn't help her own curiosity. She never could when it came to Xan, it seemed.
"I've never seen you wear that before," she indicated the charm pendant.
Xan glanced over at Armesan and then down at the trinket and smiled a bit. "Enoki asked for 'em fo' da weddin'."
"What are they? Favors?"
"Dey were from our parents. One of da traditions ma an' dad both shared across tribes. When ya come of age, ya parents make ya a charm like dis. Some liken 'em ta loa, or great warriors, or somethin' dat resonates wit ya. Over time, ya add to it, like life adds on parts of ya as ya grow up."
"That's…a lovely tradition," Armesan said gently, studying the pendant. "Yours looks vastly different than Enoki's though. Is that intentional?"
"Not really… it be 'cause I made his," Xan sighed. "Only Zorka an' I got ones from Ma an' Dad. Enoki an' da others weren't old enough when…ya know. Dey had 'em started befo' dey died but I ain't dat good of a carver so…had ta improvise."
"Ah," Armesan said gently. "It's a beautiful tradition, regardless."
They were silent for a few more moments before she added, "I'm sure they'd be proud of the job you did, raising them."
"Yeah," Xan sighed. "Problem is I been doin' it so long dat I nevah really planned past needin' ta watch out fo' dem all da time."
"You have a lucrative career as a spymaster if you so chose, after all this, I'm sure," Armesan said idly.
"Yeah….probably…" Xan hedged, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye before he shifted and nuzzled her ear like he had on the citadel earlier. "Thing is…dere's dis otha thing I want too. But I gotta couple of questions dat need askin' first."
Predictably, Armesan's ear twitched and she reflexively leaned in like she always did, and Xan took that as a sign to push a bit further, nipping at her playfully. "An' she promised she'd answer dem dis time," he purred against her neck.
Say yes. It could be that easy.
It was never that easy. And he didn't deserve all the thorns that this path would come with.
“Xan," Armesan said quietly, her voice shaky and unsteady as she pulled away ever so slightly. "Say we do. What then? There are murmurings that Thrall is planning to hand leadership of the Horde over to Garrosh. Peace will not last with him in control of the Horde. All the signs point to relations going south again."
"So a normal day of da week den?"
She gave him a stern look. “They have you on their rosters. They know what you can do. What happens when they point you where you don't want them to and pull on your leash?”
She could feel him flinch when she said that last part and it sent ice through her heart. Reality really was a cold callous bitch.
"Jus' cause dey got my name dun mean dey control me," Xan said, but there was a heaviness to his voice that wasn't there before. "An' if ya hadn't noticed, Vol'jin leads da trolls. Not Garrosh."
"And the Horde protects your people so long as you swear oaths of loyalty to the Warchief. Just as the Alliance protects my people." Armesan sighed heavily.
“Wouldn't be da first time I've lied ta da Horde. At dis point it kinda be a family trait,” Xan gave her a studious look. "Where's all dis comin' from? Since when ya been worried about what da Alliance an' Horde t'ink? Ya've been skirtin' around ya people's treaties since I met ya."
Armesan sighed. “You asked me…'what if it wasn't pretend'. I'm asking you, do you really understand what that means?”
Xan gave her a rather annoyed look. "I'm not an idiot. Of course I know what dat means."
"Then think this through. Really think this through. The Continents are not as blind or forgiving to mixing factions like they have been up here. The Alliance may not have access to weapons like the Blight, or the Sunwell, but they are willing to cross many lines so long as it protects their people. Lines like using children to get what they want to protect the Alliance. Can you safely say there's no spymaster in the Horde that would stoop to such a low if it's ever discovered you have connections to the Alliance they can use? Do you want Sohto to grow up a tool of the warlords the same way you all did?"
"Did ya give Teegan dis lecture too?" Xan said, a bit irritably.
"Teegan has no family. The consequences are different for us. For you. The information and access we have to people of power in our factions makes a whole lot of powerful enemies and very jumpy allies, and that brings a lot of attention to those around us."
"Speakin' from experience?"
It was Armesan's turn to look annoyed. "It's espionage 101. Look for an opening. A weakness. And exploit it. We're too valuable to write off the way they might write off a warlock and a warrior. And you have family you can lose."
"Ya act like we can't handle ourselves. If ya t'ink Sai' or 'Tolo would just sit back an' let anyone take Sohto as a bargainig chip…if ya t'ink any of us would even let dem get close…"
"I'm saying you shouldn't have to! My being anything more that a casual war-buddy puts you and your family in needless danger. Danger that can be…avoided."
Xan snarled a bit at that one but held his temper in check, and after a moment he sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "Look, nothin' in dis world worth doin' be easy. Doesn't mean ya should nevah try in da first place."
“I’ve been alive long enough to know which stories have happy endings and which don’t,” the night elf said coldly, as she pushed herself to her feet.
“So dat’s it? Aftah all dis, aftah everythin' we been through, ya jus’ gonna run after all?” Xan snapped, following after her. There was anger now in his voice, and she winced a bit internally when she saw the hurt in Xan's eye, but drew the thousands of years of indifference she'd lived around her like a cloak to hide how much she didn't want to do this, and turned to walk away.
“Whatever happened to not complicating things? We can still be friends. And there will always be the festivals,” Armesan said, trying to hide behind the cool aloof shield she'd used for centuries. She noted she was about to run out of balcony and jumped up the slope of the dome to walk across the roof instead.
“An' dat’s all ya be wantin’? Friends?” Xan yelled loudly after her.
That stopped the night elf in her tracks as his words echoed across the rooftops. A million things ran through her head in those few seconds of silence, and the whole time she could feel Xan glaring at the back of her head waiting to see what she'd say.
It took a long, agonizing minute before she mustered the willpower to say the next part, because that angry selfish little voice was starting to get louder and harder to drown out.
Don't.
“Yes," she hissed through a tight throat and clenched teeth without turning around.
LIAR!
Before she lost her composure completely, Armesan made to start walking again when she felt Xan grab her wrist, hard. She hadn't even heard him follow her up onto the roof, and she whirled around and glared at him with icy silver eyes. The troll rogue leaned down to return the glare.
“Say dat to my face if ya gonna lie ‘bout it,” he growled, a hurt and angry snarl at the end of that sentence.
Armesan only narrowed her glare further.
“Let. Go,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Not 'til ya listen! I heard ya piece, now ya 'ear mine!” he shot back, his accent getting thicker and more broken the more worked up he was getting, which was only sending more stabbing pangs of guilt through Armesan's heart. "Ya t'ink dis doesn't scare da shit outta me too?! Ya t'ink I haven't been t'inkin' of how any fallout could hurt Sohto? Duma? Sai'? Enoki? YOU?! Ya t'ink I haven't thought 'bout all da ways dis could go bad?! Da difference is I didn't fo'get all da ways dis could go good too!"
“I know how this ends! I've SEEN how this ends!" Armesan yelled, shaking off his grip violently and gesturing wildly, her normally cool exterior completely broken now. "I am TRYING to do the right thing for both of us!"
“Sometimes da right thing ain’t da smart thing!" he volleyed, crossing his arms defiantly.
"Spies and assassins don’t get to have hearts, Xan! It only leads to trouble! The kind of trouble that leaves everyone scarred and broken at the end of it! And I…care…too much to do that to you!”
"I know da risks! An' despite ya treatin’ me like a kid in over ‘is head, it still be YOU I want!" He hissed, and glared at her. “Da only way ya gettin' rid of me is if ya tell me da truth. If ya don't really lov-”
“DON'T!" Armesan cut him off with a hiss. "Don't. Say it. It’ll only make things worse than they already are.”
She paused for a moment, trying to force herself to calm down, with only minor success. “You think it’s that easy? You think I don’t want to run to you and ignore the world? I have never wanted anything MORE! But we don't live in a world where that works! I cannot rewrite the stars just because I love y-” She caught herself halfway through saying it and fell silent. She stood there for a few agonizing heartbeats before her face softened, the anger gone and replaced with what could only be described as the hollow feeling of heartbreak. “I’m…not…the one you were meant to fall in love with.”
"Dat's fo' me ta decide, ain't it? Xan growled. He paced around a bit, fingers frantically wringing through his hair before he just flat out turned to her and yelled with a snarl, "Everythin' in my life has been a fight! Had some hidden cost dat either I walked right inta o' got blindsided by! Aftah awhile I figure dat was jus' da way it was. Survive an' keep watch so no one else gotta make da same mistakes I made. And den I meet you an' I wasn't just survivn', I was livin'. I was havin' fun. I wasn't alone no more! I could talk to ya, I could trust ya! Ya got any idea how fuckin' rare dat is fo' me?! An' now ya tellin' me dat it was all a lie?!"
"It's not a lie!" Armesan yelled back immediately.
"Den why won't ya even give me a chance?! Is it because I be a troll?!"
"No!"
"Because I'm youngah den you?"
"No why would-"
"Because I'm a soul eatah?"
"No it's not-" she was panicking now.
"Den why are ya so scared of trustin' somethin' good in ya life?!"
“BECAUSE I WAS FINE BEFORE I MET YOU!" Armesan shrieked, her voice tight with some poisonous mixture of anger and despair as she finally broke. Xan seemed startled at the anger and she pressed the advantage. “I mourned my son, mourned the husband I lost to that grief, and I was FINE! Ten thousand years and I was fine! I did what I was good at and let people believe whatever they wanted about me, and I was fine! But then YOU come along, this persistent, lunatic of a troll, and somehow steal a heart I didn’t even know I had anymore, and suddenly I'm NOT FINE! You make me believe that there’s a life for me out there beyond JUST being a shadow with a knife! That I can be proud of being a skilled assassin and be capable of love at the same time without judgment! That I can BE loved for that!"
There was silence again as her words rang out between them, only her ragged breathing audible in the heights of the city as she searched Xan's expression for a reply, but for once she couldn't read him clearly. The anger had dissipated some but there was something else there too. Confusion?
"Ya've always been dat, A'm. Nevah known ya ta be anythin’ else.” Xan said finally, shaking his head. "An' I nevah would want ya ta be anythin’ else."
Now it was Armesan's turn to be confused, and Xan took the opportunity to lessen the distance between them some.
"I mean, sure, da first thing I thought when I met ya was 'fuck, dat's an assassin'. But ya don't help a couple of deserters an' an orphanage from ya enemy's side if ya don't give a shit about who ya kill. Ya don't help cover up some murders ta protect a family dat ya barely know if ya be incapable of carin'. Ya don't keep a secret like mine from ya leaders if ya be heartless. I respect da assassin, A'm, but it be da woman who chose ta do all dat without question dat I love,” he said, taking the last few steps to close the distance. “An' whetha ya say yes o' no, I'm still gonna love ya."
Xan grabbed the charm around his neck and yanked the cord free so he was holding it in his palm and took a deep breath, like he was about to jump into the deep end of a pool he couldn't see the bottom of. "If…ya really want me ta go, I'll go. But if ya feel da same as I do, den dat be worth takin' all da chances in da world, even if ya be right about how it ends.”
He held out his hand towards the night elf with a weak and hopeful grin, but the look in his eye told of just how scared he was about what her answer might be. "My ma always said ta make sure whoever I gave my heart to, I give dis too. But I can't make ya take 'em. Ya gotta be da one who does."
Armesan swallowed hard and just stared at the pendant and all it represented. This was it. Stay or go. Yes or no. And he was leaving the choice up to her.
She should let him go.
NO!
She was stock still for a moment before her hand lifted ever so slightly and reached for the necklace in Xan's hand.
This was a mistake.
He loves you.
It was a lot smoother than she thought it would be.
She shouldn't do this.
You love him.
"Goddess…damn you, Xan, what did I do to deserve you?" Armesan whispered weakly as her resolve crumbled and she took the pendant fully from his hand, studying the trinket with trepidation.
“I dunno, but I know bettah den ta pass up a gift from da loa when I see one." He was smiling now, his voice light as if the weight of everything suddenly evaporated and the world let out a sigh of relief. He gently took it from her hands and leaned down to fasten it around her neck. There was something strangely ritualistic and heavy about it, as if this were more significant than him simply gifting her a family heirloom, and she suddenly felt woefully unprepared for what was happening.
She ran her fingers over the stone troll skull when he had finished, and almost by accident glanced down at the bangle in her other hand. She'd completely forgotten she was even still holding it. Suddenly an idea came into focus and she took a few moments to collect her thoughts.
"I…was told…when I received this…that when the light goes out, the shadows would protect me. At the time I thought it was just a passage from the priestesses, told to those who would never walk in Elune's light. But…maybe there was some truth to it," she said shakily as she took the ends of the bangle and pried them apart, careful not to strain the metal enough that it would break, so that it could accommodate a much larger wrist than it was originally meant to. She gently took Xan's hand and shakily angled the bracelet so it could just barely manage to fit into place around his wrist.
"I don't know what twist of fate brought you to me, if some deity or spirit made our paths cross when they did, or if it's all just chance and coincidence. I just know that I love you, Xan. Whatever comes next, I love you. And should the shadows of the Crowrunners hold some sway with Elune, let that which protected and guided me, now protect and guide you."
The more religious might have seen the flash of moonlight in the stone as it settled into place as a sign of the goddess's acknowledgment, but Armesan was a bit too jaded to believe that it meant anything other than reflected light.
Xan couldn’t hide the grin that split his face as he flexed his wrist to test the fit, and seemed to find it to his liking. “A’mesan Crowrunna’ eh?”
“My full name. I don't actually have much else that I care to call my own. Unless you want a bunch of knives. I always have a bunch of knives," she shrugged with a sheepish smile.
"Ya really do always have a fuckton of knives, don't cha?" Xan laughed.
She grinned and looped her arms around Xan’s neck, leaning in between his tusks and brushing her lips against his as she whispered, "Last chance, Xan. Because after this I'm not ever letting you go."
"Promise?" He growled and leaned in to seal the kiss. When they both managed to come up for air, he held her tight, lifting her off the ground and into his arms, which she didn’t fight, locking her legs around his waist. Her heart felt light and giddy, and she let all the masks drop. He was hers, she was his.
And for the first time in over ten thousand years…the world felt alive again.
"How it be dat even goblin mage portals manage ta almost explode?" Sai'in scowled as she shook off the excess sparks of arcane and stepped onto the cobblestones of Dalaran.
Dotolo shrugged helplessly, using the gesture to adjust Sohto in his arms so the boy didn't get nicked by his pauldron. One of these days he was going to have to get the spikes filed off. "Could be worse."
"I dun see how," the shaman grumped, but stepped aside so Duma could come out as well. The rogue shuddered as the portal snapped shut behind him and dusted whatever invisible charges were left on him off.
"Hate dat guy's portals," he sighed. "Where did Xan's letter say dey were stayin'?"
Sai'in pulled out the letter she'd received from their emergency mail contact. They'd gotten the notice in the middle of the night and ridden as fast as they could to Ratchet, fearing the worst, only to find out that not only was Xan still alive, but Enoki and all of their friends were too. And they had won. The Lich King's campaign of death and destruction was over, and the Alliance and Horde were victorious. Needless to say, Sai'in had been very insistent that they go find them right away, hiding be damned, and Duma, while agreeing, had a better idea than marching into Ogrimmar's portal room.
It helped being on a first name basis with the goblins that controlled the supply lines to most of Central Kalimdor.
"Just says dey be stayin' in Dalaran," Sai'in sighed.
Dotolo was about to ask how they were supposed to even start in a city like this when they stepped out of gardened square where the portal tower was, and an orc warrior ran by with a shirtless forsaken and a human on his shoulders hooting and hollering, waving their tabards around wildly in celebration.
All three trolls came to a dead stop and just stared. "What daaaaaa…" Duma started, staring in abject horror as they disappeared down the street towards the lights of what could only be the red-light entertainment district. Nothing else was open this time of night.
"Well if it isn't the peanut gallery. Word travels fast once the danger's over, doesn't it."
Dotolo jumped slightly at the twanged voice, whirling around to look behind them and see possibly the last person he ever expected.
"Pidge?!" Dotolo balked, his voice rising a bit in disbelief.
Sure enough, perched on the top of a dividing, holding a disgustingly bloodied oversized axe, was the same gnomish death knight Dotolo remembered from two years ago.
"Why are you still alive?" Duma half-sighed, half growled, glaring at the Death Knight who was seemingly staring at nothing.
"Why are you still a dick?" Pidge shot back coldly but much subdued from the seething rage Dotolo remembered. There was something different about her now, but Dotolo couldn't quite put his finger on what. Two years hadn't done much to change her apperance, but she was covered in dirt and blood and ichor, clearly fresh from the battles. Or at least fresh enough that she hadn't bothered cleaning off her armor yet. Nothing else was different, though. Her hairstyle hadn't even changed.
It took a minute for Dotolo to realize what it was.
Pidge wasn't glaring. From the moment he'd met her, this gnome had done nothing but glare and seethe and carry herself with disdain for everything and everyone around her. Now she seemed…empty. Listless. Pacified, even.
"Why are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be hiding in the fucking desert?" she scoffed when she noticed them staring at her, but even that lacked the vicious bile that always used to lurk behind her words.
"Got a letter sayin' it was ovah an' had da wild idea ta comin' ta see if everyone be okay. Since da big dummy didn't actually say if he was hurt o' not," Sai'in muttered the last part to herself as she waved the letter at the gnome.
Pidge glanced at the letter and then back at their group before turning back to the nothing she was focused on. "They're alive."
"I said 'okay'. Not 'alive'," Sai'in snipped back, earning a weak glare from Pidge but the shaman's familiarity with death knights made the icy blue stare far less effective. "Ya know where dey might be?"
After a few more moments of the stare down, the gnome sighed and pointed her oversized axe in the direction of the entertainment district the streaking orc had gone.
"Some drunks were screaming about a couple of idiots getting hitched in a bar down that way. Probably your best bet."
"T'anks," Sai'in said, looking towards the direction she had pointed and making her exit. Duma followed suit, but it was a few steps before she realized Dotolo wasn't following. "'Tolo?"
Her voice seemed to be enough to snap Dotolo out of the daze he was in, but the death knight still didn't move to leave. "I'll…catch up wit' ya," he said, glancing between Pidge and Sai'in. The shaman scowled a bit and sighed.
"Don't lose ya head," she said, coming back to collect her son from Dotolo's arms. "C'mon, Sohto. Let's go see what trouble ya uncle Enoki an' Auntie Teegan be causin' now."
"Auntie Teeg!" Sohto crowed happily.
Dotolo sighed and watched them go for a moment longer before he turned back to Pidge, and all the swirling questions and thoughts that this chance encounter had brought to the surface. Things only another death knight might even begin to truly understand. If he could figure out how to phrase them in a way that made sense.
Thankfully Pidge broke the proverbial ice after another minute of awkward silence.
"Are you just going to stand there all night like a fuckin' tool or do you have something to say?"
Dotolo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and decided to just go with his first instinct. "So he really be gone? Da Lich King?"
"What do you fucking think?" the gnome snapped.
Dotolo paused for a moment and sighed, leaning against the wall the Pidge was perched on top of. "Don't feel no different den when he was alive."
"ARTHAS is gone. THE LICH KING is not," Pidge hissed angrily.
"What be da difference?"
"Bolvar might be less homicidal, but we'll see what a few decades in a block of ice does to his sanity."
Dotolo sighed heavily. So it was over, in a way. They were free, for now.
"What are ya gonna do now?" the troll asked quietly, glancing at his counterpart.
"Probably keep killing shit. Maybe kill myself. I don't know," the gnome scoffed with a disinterested shrug.
Dotolo flinched at her casual mention of suicide. "Heard ya be pretty good at engineerin'. Ya could always do dat."
"Why do you fucking care?"
"I just...was thinkin'…seems like it be kinda a waste ta botha survivin' dis long only finish Arthas' job fo' 'im now."
"It's all we're good for with this damn curse," Pidge said listlessly.
"Death can't be da only t'ing left fo' us."
Her sharp eyes narrowed at Dotolo. "How many corpses do you have running around your little hut? More than your wife knows about, I'm sure."
Dotolo bristled at that, because it was just a bit too close to the truth. He did not like that he'd been hiding the fact that the curse wasn't actually abated by killing critters like Sai'in believed. He also wasn't sure how long he could avoid telling her before it became obvious.
"Peace isn't an option for people like us," Pidge scowled. She glared at him harshly. "The only question is, who are you going to be pointed at when the blade comes down. An enemy? A friend? Your son?"
Dotolo sighed. "Yeah….yeah I know."
"You done asking stupid questions?"
The troll simply pushed off the wall and said without turning around, "I just…wanted ta thank ya is all."
"For what?"
Dotolo paused and glanced back up at the gnome, who was looking at him with genuine confusion. "Savin' Enoki. Xan's lettah said he got hurt pretty bad but dat da brace ya made fo' him probably saved 'is life."
Pidge blinked at him incredulously, almost as if this was the first time she had ever had anyone thank her. Actually, now that he thought about it, if her memories had never come back…maybe this was.
"Fuck off," she grumbled, breaking the spell and looking away back out into the streets and the low din of celebration.
Dotolo took the dismissal in stride and waved as he headed towards where Sai'in and Duma had gone. "Hope ta see ya around. It be kinda nice ta have someone who gets it ta talk to once in awhile an' I don't know any other Death Knights."
He couldn't be sure but Dotolo thought he heard a muttered, "Yeah, it is I guess. You're still a bitch though," under her breath as he left and he did the merciful thing and pretended he didn't hear it.
"I cannot fuckin' believe ya did dis," Sai'in sighed, giving her second oldest brother a resigned look.
"I can," Duma folded his arms at Enoki who just grinned stupidly.
"Mama said da bad word!" was Sohto's contribution on the matter.
"An' ya gonna hear a lot mo' of it befo' da night is ovah," Dotolo snickered, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. "Jus' don' let 'er catch ya sayin' it 'til ya older."
"Okay, Papi." Sohto whispered conspiratorially.
It actually hadn't been that hard to find them. Once Pidge had narrowed it down to the entertainment district, gossip and revelry lead them the rest of the way to the Ledgermain Lounge where an impromptu wedding feast had broken out and people were either inviting themselves to the party or griping about how disrespectful it was. The barkeep didn't seem to care which so long as the patrons kept the coin coming and the damage to a minimum.
It was fairly easy to spot who had started this whole thing, and Sai'in had immediately handed Sohto off to Dotolo so she could interrogate her brother and her new sister-in-law.
"Fuck off, it be mah weddin' night," Enoki sing-songed, sliding a mug of…something at his little brother. "Enjoy yaself fo' once."
"Who are ya an' what have ya done wit' Enoki," Duma deadpanned, but sat down next to him and accepted the drink.
"Oh all sorts of nasty things, wanna hear about them?" Teegan grinned darkly, enjoying the look of horror on Duma's face.
"No…absolutely fuckin' not," he hissed, but he needn't have worried because Enoki gently flicked her ear and gave her a chastising look.
"Quit torturin' my siblin's, dat's my job."
"Know what else is your job now?" Teegan grinned, dragging a nail under Enoki's chin who purred in response. Dotolo had to laugh. They were so very, very broken to the world around them.
"AHEM!" Sai'in cleared her throat to get their attention. "Sohto, ya remembah ya Auntie Teegan?"
"Auntie Teeeeeg!" Sohto squealed, hopping out of Dotolo's grasp and pouncing on the gnome in a bear hug. He was about as tall as she was, so it was quite amusing to watch Sotho lift her up like he might a stuffed toy.
"Heeeey! Wow you got big kiddo!" The gnome coughed in surprise, but the grin on her face said she was just as happy to see the little troll as he was her.
Watching his wife get thoroughly distracted, Enoki glared at Sai'in. "You did dat on purpose," he pouted.
"Dere be children present," she smiled innocently, but then her expression dropped and she glanced around the rest of the bar. "Ya seen Xan anywhere?"
Enoki glanced around as if he'd just noticed their eldest sibling wasn't there.
"He was here earlier. A'm was toooo-oh," Enoki trailed off and glanced at Teegan who had managed to extract herself from Sohto's grip by distracting him with an imp that….might be trying to teach Sohto how to throw dice.
Why did Teegan's imps know how to do that?
"What?" Sai' asked, suddenly wary. "Why's dat bad? I thought dey got along."
"Oh…they do…they get along REAL well," Teegan waggled her eyebrows and elbowed Enoki in the shoulder with a wink.
Dotolo couldn't help but start laughing.
"I told ya," Duma snickered at his sister as Sai'in just groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"Fo' fuck's sake…da hells been goin' on up 'ere?!"
"Ask 'em yaself," Enoki grinned looking at the far side of the bar towards the stairs that lead to the upper balconies, and let out a sharp whistle. As one Dotolo and Sai'in turned to look and spotted Xan's imposing figure on the other side of the crowd. It took a moment before he spotted them and Enoki let out a sharp whistle and started pointing exaggeratedly at Sai'in and Dotolo. "Look who I found!"
It took a moment for Xan to apparently parse what was going on at that distance, but when he did, Dotolo could see it in his body language and the rogue turned behind him to say something before braving the mosh pit of patrons between them. About halfway across the room, Dotolo realized the person behind Xan who he had been talking to was Armesan.
"Da hells ya be doin' 'ere Sai'?! I told ya we be fine!" Xan yelled before he'd even cleared the last line of drunks loudly cavorting around.
"Fine in yo' book might mean half dead ya dolt!" she shot back. "I leave ya alone fo' one war an' look what happens! Enoki got 'imself married!"
"Now ya know how we felt when ya dropped 'Tolo on us," Enoki laughed and Duma couldn't help the bark of laughter at that one. Sai'in scowled at her youngest brother.
"Ya supposed ta be on my side."
"I be a neutral party in dis." Duma grinned, enjoying his sister's mock distress.
"Spoken like a true Information Broker," Armesan said from Xan's side.
"Fuck ya too, A'm," the youngest brother snipped, but there was a smile on his face and the night elf returned the grin. She looked to Sai'in and Dotolo and nodded in greeting. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise," Dotolo smiled back, but paused a bit when he noticed they both looked very unkempt and disheveled. Which was about the same time he saw the charm around her neck. The troll skull charm. And Xan had a bangle that was very…un-troll-like on his wrist. "Is…dat…"
Apparently Sai'in noticed as well and glared at her brother.
"Oh come on, you too, Xan?!" Sai'in groaned dramatically, running a hand through her mohawk in exasperation.
Xan and Armesan, looking entirely unrepentant, just looked at each other, smirked, shrugged, and said nothing.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Teegan's head snapped up from where she was entertaining/corrupting Sohto to see what Sai'in was griping about. Dotolo could see the dots getting connected slowly but surely, until her green eyes went wide and her hands flew up over her mouth that had dropped open in shock.
"No. Way. No way no way no way no waAAAAYEEEEEE! Yousneakybitchyoudon'tgettojustdothatbehindmybackbutI'msohappyforyoubutI'malsomad-" she babbled maniacally and launched herself at the night elf, immediately latching onto Armesan's leg and doing her very best to try and lift the rogue off the ground in a bear hug. Obvious failure to do so did not stifle Teegan's enthusiasm in the least.
"Weeeeheeeee!" Sohto mimicked joyfully, echoing Teegan's squeal with wild glee and copying the gnome, attaching himself to the elf's other leg. Even Sai'in couldn't keep up the grumpy facade and just threw up her hands and sat down dramatically, grabbing the rest of Enoki's drink and muttering something about terrible friends and evil brothers.
Dotolo would look back on this night fondly for the rest of his days.
After the initial flurry of reunion, they stole a few neighboring tables and created a large enough seating area for all them, which wasn't that hard as the rest of the tavern was well and truly into the madness of celebrating either their survival, Teegan and Enoki's wedding, or loa knew what else. It truly didn't matter. Tonight was an anomaly where neither race, nor faction, nor gender, nor reason mattered. He was surrounded by rowdy drunks in a city floating miles in the air, listening to Xan, Enoki, and Duma all gang up on his wife and started telling embarrassing stories from when she was little. Watching Teegan demand proof that Xan and Armesan weren't just fucking with all of them. Laughing when Sai'in then threw peanuts at Armesan when she pulled Xan down and started making out with him in front of all of them. Keeping an eye on Sohto, as well as Teegan's imps that were definitely trying to show him what gambling was.
As time wore on and the bar eventually succumbed to the exhaustion of its patrons, they still remained, unwilling to break whatever spell of peace and contentment had been cast on this tiny corner of the bar. Sohto was asleep against Dotolo's chest and Sai'in was sitting comfortably next to him while she was talking to Teegan, Duma, and Xan about something. Enoki was stretched out on the bench, Teegan draped in the crook of his arm and resting her head on his shoulder, while he was half asleep. Xan was likewise stretched out opposite him with his arms wrapped around Armesan who was lounging in his lap, her back against his chest, idly toying with one of Xan's braids as she listened to the conversation silently.
Dotolo had no idea what lay ahead, nor even any idea how to deal with the problems he already knew were there. He had a feeling none of them did anymore, and eventually they would have to face tomorrow, but for one glorious night it did not matter.
What mattered was that ever since he'd woken up on those cursed hills in the Plaugelands he'd always questioned if he had made the right choices. Had it been fair to crash back into Sai'in's life? Had it been wise to desert? Had he doomed them all turning to two random Alliance mercenaries for help? Was he putting his family in more danger staying with them rather than putting himself somewhere the curse couldn't potentially hurt them? It was only now, in this liminal hour between the Lich King's demise and the day after, that he finally had an answer.
Whatever choices had been made, this was right. This was where they were all meant to be. Somehow, a random encounter and a desperate gamble on a road through Deadwind Pass three years ago had lead to all of this.
And it had never felt more like home.