COINCIDENCE & KISMET: CHAPTER 3

THE TREK

One whole year. 

One year of trying to figure out ways to pay off the debt without interacting directly with the Alliance, to figure out if it was worth just relocating somewhere else, and most of all, one year of having a very angry, very pregnant troll woman penned into the village.

Dotolo had told Sai’in’s brothers the whole story on their way back up to Revantusk in the days following Armesan and Teegan’s departure.  Of course, Duma was furious that Dotolo hadn’t gutted the Alliance on sight, but Enoki and Xan at least were willing to hear him out before they disowned him.  The bottom line really was that they did owe the two Alliance, fair and square, and that was the problem. 

There were various talks about how they could simply send a messenger, or how they could use a goblin auction house to simply deposit the funds into the gnome’s accounts (they hadn’t been able to find a surname to go with the night elf, but Fizzwidget showed up quickly enough.  The gnome apparently had a reputation).  In the end though, mostly through Dotolo refusing to bring any more trouble down on his tiny family’s head by changing the deal, it was agreed that they’d pay the two Alliance at the Thandol Span as promised.  Particularly after the second imp with a disturbingly cheerful reminder letter from Teegan showed up at their door.

He just hoped that the amount they'd managed to squirrel away from odd jobs throughout the year was enough. He hadn't actually thought to get the exact amount while he was pinned under an angry assassin.

That was a battle that waged about half the year.  The other half was dealing with Sai’in’s ever changing moods and trying to keep her actually in the village.  She’d had a fondness for roaming the wilds, back when Dotolo had been alive. Sometimes she remained a troll, but often she favored her mangled were-wolf form, but as her belly grew, so did the concern that shape-shifting into a hereto unknown shifter form, and getting into scuffles with moonkin and bears was not the best thing for the baby. But try telling that to a grumpy pregnant woman who could set you on fire or call lightning down on your head. 

It was a small mercy that their hut was on the outskirts of the village, so most of the commotion was largely able to be ignored.  Finally she’d gotten big enough that even she had to admit that roaming around was not something she was up for at the moment, which of course only made her grumpier.

The biggest problem came when Xan, Enoki, and Duma were packing up to get ready for the long trip to Ogrimmar, and Sai’in started packing her things as well.  Dotolo actually outright told her no, to which she replied, and punctuated with a few lightning bolts, that like hell she was staying put.  It was one of the more serious fights they’d ever had, and Enoki had to come in and put a stop to it before it burned their hut down.

Eventually they came to an agreement; Sai’in would come with them to the Thandol Span and then she and Dotolo would head back to Hammerfall until she’d given birth and the infant was strong enough to travel.  She wasn’t thrilled, but she agreed to it, and so it was that the entire family of five set out to meet what half of them hoped would be a quick and painless transaction, and the other half was convinced would be a trap.  For extra security, Xan, Duma, and Enoki were fully armed in their old regalia, just in case.

Dotolo was pretty sure it wouldn't matter if the two Alliance actually attacked them, though. Numbers were in their favor, but Teegan had a knack for summoning multiple demons at a time, including a Felguard able to hold off Enoki, who in his prime had been one of the more dangerous fury warriors in the ranks, according to Sai'in. And he didn't even want to think about what would happen if Armesan actually decided to put effort into fighting. She'd taken on two rogues and come out unscathed, and then had easily knocked him on his back with a few simple maneuvers. If she had wanted, his neck would have been slit a year ago in Booty Bay on that filthy bar before he could have drawn his runeblade.

He was not afraid to admit she terrified him.

But, terrified or not, aside from the wayward messenger imps, no hostile actions against them had been taken, despite their obvious knowledge of their location. It was only fair that Dotolo gave them the benefit of the doubt. It was not…however easy to convince his brothers-in-law of the same.

Xan seemed mostly calm about the whole thing, having been part of their current situation, though he was a fairly seasoned rogue himself, one of the more experienced spies and saboteurs before they were discharged. He probably could hold his own for a little while at least. Enoki, after the initial fury at the situation had faded, accepted everything with his usual aloof calm, but if you knew what to look for you could tell he was a bit more on edge than usual. Which, again, was expected.

Duma, on the other hand, had spent the last year pivoting between blaming Dotolo for his idiocy and treason against the Horde, and trying to forget that he'd gotten his ass handed to him before he could even draw his daggers. Which, of course, only made him angrier. Duma was the youngest of the brothers, and probably nursed more wounded pride than all the others combined. He hadn't been a fully fledged rogue for long, and he'd only just barely passed the qualification exams before that fateful raid. The crippling injuries did not help either.

Which was why the entire trip down through the Hinterlands and Arathi was spent with Duma trying to plan assaults that would 'take the Alliance scum by surprise'. Dotolo was surprised Xan humored his brother as long as he did before he threatened to leave him tied up on the Ogre mounds if he didn't knock it off and keep his mouth shut.

By the time they were within viewing distance of the broken towers that marked the Span, Dotolo figured they had a 50-50 chance of not starting an international incident and getting killed.

---

As it turned out, those expecting a trap, and those expecting exactly what was promised were both right.  Halfway across the bridge they spotted the familiar shapes of Teegan’s flaming "horse", and the gray warcat, out in the open, patiently waiting at the mouth of the bridge. Neither had weapons drawn and Teegan only had her felhound summoned. That Dotolo could see.

However, there was also a gigantic lich horse, atop which strode a fully armored gnomish Death Knight with a wicked looking axe three times her size across her back.  One might've been tempted to laugh at the notion, a probably three foot tall woman clad in heavy armor carrying a weapon that probably weighed more than she did, but any temptation to laugh died the moment the gnome looked at them. Her hair was ratty and frozen in snarls and tangles, tinged green with death, her eyes slightly sunken and her lips black from the frostbite. And the horrible seething blue burned in her eyes in ways that made Dotolo even more uncomfortable, even knowing he had those same eyes. Even from this distance, she did not look friendly.

Dotolo felt a nagging familiarity when he saw the new Death Knight, but it came and went too quickly for him to place it.  He was too busy making sure Xan had a leash on Duma, who was whispering not-entirely-quietly about how he was right about dishonest Alliance filth, and making sure Sai’in, atop her riding raptor, was well behind him so if the newcomer was actively hostile, she’d be as protected as she could be.

“Good to see those nasty rumors of Horde being unreliable and dishonorable aren’t all true.”

Dotolo blinked a bit when it registered that Teegan’s greeting had been in orcish.  Granted horribly pronounced orcish, but orcish none-the-less.

“I see ya know o’cish now too,” Dotolo waved in greeting, shaking off the nerves and feigning calm. He put himself at the front of the group and eyed the huge deathcharger.  “Who be ya friend?”

“None of your fucking business,” the gnomish death knight sneered, glaring at them with disquietingly blue eyes as she brought her charger around to put some distance between her and the approaching trolls.  Dotolo did note she spoke orcish almost as fluidly as he spoke common, further cementing his theory that it was a side-effect of their time under Arthas.

“Ya weren’t suppos’ ta be ‘ere, so it be plenty o’ our business,” Sai'in piped up in response to the gnome.

The Death Knight snorted in Sai'in's direction and simply rolled her eyes, muttering something in gnomish with a disturbing mirror of the twang Dotolo found so repulsive about his own voice.

“Gentlemen and Lady, allow me to introduce Pidge.  She will be accompanying us on our way to Booty Bay,” Teegan said jovially, indicating the other gnome.  “We have business in Stormwind on our way through so we figured we’d lump it all together into one trip.”

“Pleasah,” Dotolo grumbled.  

Pidge simply gave him a once over and sneered, “Fuck you," before pulling her lich horse's reins and turning her back to them.

"Well ain't she pleasant," Sai'in growled under her breath.

“Wait, TO Booty Bay?”  Duma interrupted.  “I t’ought we be squared and done ‘ere and now! Now ya changin' da deal?!”

"Duma…." Enoki hissed in warning, keeping his gaze on the three Alliance.

Teegan took the accusation in stride and eyed the young rogue cooly.  “You’re telling me you’ve a crewed 20 gold BEFORE you’ve hit all the major trading posts?”

“20?!  Even after dey pay ya part last yeah?!”  Duma snapped.

“Back off, Duma,” Xan hissed quietly in Zandali, cuffing the younger troll on the good ear.  He was watching the night elf very carefully, lest she decide to do anything violent in response to his brothers’ outbursts.  Thus far she seemed content to simply watch, at ease, from atop her warcat.

“We agreed to a 40 gold fee upon taking them to Booty Bay through Duskwood. A total of three days, maximum.  You paid half up front.  Then, thanks to the undisclosed sickness your mate contracted, congratulations by the way, it took an extra day and a half, which amounted to a good 10 or so gold in stable fees, rations for all the charges, inn rooms, and as a result of our detours we were deducted from two separate contracts we had prior,”  Teegan rattled off, pulling out a ledger.  “Now we’re willing to ignore the deductions since it was our choice to take your contract, but the excess supplies and lodging fees due to the delays are on you guys.  The Matron paid us 37 silver, as she had agreed to pay you for your help, plus the 24 gold you already paid us.  That leaves you with a balance of 20 gold and 63 silver that you owe us.  And how much have you managed to earn before this little pilgrimage to Ogrimmar to sell your wares?”

Dotolo cursed under his breath. Not enough. And apparently, judging by Teegan's cheshire grin, she knew it.

Teegan looked at them expectantly, eyebrows raised skeptically.  The trolls were silent, more perplexed at the warlock’s accountant-like pinache she had produced out of seemingly nowhere.

“What are ya, a warlock or an accountant fo’ da black ma’ket?”  Enoki blurted.  Teegan grinned and slammed the ledger shut.

“I am thorough,” she purred darkly, flashing her teeth at the warrior.  “Now are we going to stand around here all day or are we going to get going?”

“We be goin’, you two be goin’ back ta Hammerfall,”  Xan answered, looking pointedly at Dotolo and Sai’in.  

"Awww, and here I was looking forward to seeing if Pidge could lift weapons made for the troll Death Knights too," Teegan mock pouted.

"Fuck you, warlock!" was the immediate reply from the gnome Death Knight.

"She can lift a Felguard's battleaxe by the way. It's hilarious," Teegan whispered conspiratorially to Dotolo. She did not seem that surprised by their intent to leave them with the brothers.

“Like hell we stayin' behind,” Sai’in snarled suddenly.

“Sai’, we agreed dat we go back ta Hammerfall aftah dis,”  Dotolo hissed quietly, not wanting to get into an argument within shooting range of dwarven patrol outposts.

She pulled Dotolo's arm hard, forcing his raptor to turn enough so she could look him in the eye and hissed under her breath, "I ain't leavin' mah bruddahs wit one of dem t'ings. Joo know what dey do, an' she dun look like she gives a fuck about keepin' 'er blade ta herself. I know ya trust dose otha two 'nough ta keep dere word, ya gonna trust dem ta keep 'er in check too?"

"We dun have a choice, Sai," Dotolo growled, but he did have to admit some trepidation. He knew exactly what kind of mind fuckery the newly freed Death Knights were dealing with, and he also knew not all of them were all there in the head after Light's Hope.

"Yes we do, we go wit' 'em," Sai'in said stubbornly.

"Something the matter?" Teegan asked smoothly, clearly unable to parse the hushed tones with her limited orcish.

“Yah, mah bruddahs got t’ree ‘lliance trailin’ em all da way ta da bay. Ya promised two," Sai'in snapped before Dotolo could stop her. He groaned. So much for diplomacy.

"Ya t'ink we gonna trust some Deat' Knight dat shows up with ya outta nowhere?!" Sai'in continued, turning fully to face Teegan.  "I’m not gonna sit by an’ wait ta...ngh….hear mah family been gutted by….” she trailed off a bit, her tirade broken by the groans pain as she suddenly doubled over and hissed through her teeth.

Dotolo blanched.  “Gods an’ loa do not tell me….”

“Saaaaaaaai…..”  Xan called warningly, immediately going up to her side to check on her.  Sai’in grunted a bit more, then looked pleadingly to her brother, and then to Dotolo, all anger gone and replaced by pain and fear.  “Shiiiiiiiit.”

“You have got to be kidding me,”  Teegan deadpanned.

“Wish we were,”  Xan snapped back, pulling his sister off the raptor and cradling her in his arms.  “Duma, ‘noki, git da raptahs and cart an’ follow me.”  Xan bolted for the abandoned defense towers that framed the Thandol Span’s bridge, disappearing with the laboring troll into the dark maw of one of the bunkers.  His brothers and Dotolo scrambled to gather their mounts and supplies and follow, leaving the three Alliance standing there in shock at what had just happened.

“So. Let me get this straight,”  Teegan said after almost a full minute of stunned silence.  “The shaman just went into labor halfway into accusing Pidge of planning to murder her brothers, and is going to give birth half a mile from a dwarven outpost.”

“Yeeeeeep,”  Armesan said.

“I’m beginning to think I was better off in that fucking prison with the Paladins,” Pidge huffed.

Teegan looked over at Armesan, pointedly ignoring the curmudgeonly death knight.

“Well we should make sure they don’t wake up the whole of Menethil Harbor if we want to see any of that gold back,” she sighed, steering her horse towards the tower the trolls had disappeared into.

There was another scream of pain from the tower.  

“And to make sure they don’t get killed by a raging elemental in the process,”  Armesan added quietly, following suit. She glanced at the Death Knight who wasn't making any move to follow them. "You're coming too. Unless you want to go back to the prison with the Paladins."

After a moment, there was a grumble of, "Fine. Fuck you." and the lich horse was kicked into action.

---

It was quite literally chaos in the towers.  The pack raptors were shrieking, Sai’in was shrieking, Duma and Enoki were shouting at each other trying to keep the cart from overturning,  and Dotolo and Xan were trying to situate Sai’in on a stone slab.

“This reminds me of a very bad trip I once had at a Goblin bender in Gadgetzan,”  Teegan mused.  

There was another cry from the laboring troll and then an arc of lighting that took out a corner of an arch.  Xan snapped something at Dotolo, grabbing Sai’in’s arm before the lightning bolt he could see sparking on her fingertips flew.  Sai’in spat obscenities at her brother in response before screaming again.  The rogue must’ve seen the hint of the berserker rage in Sai’in’s eyes and decided to pin her other arm for good measure.  There was a crash as the pack raptors continued to panic, shrieking in distress at the noises, lightning, and being herded into a confined area.  Enoki and Duma were not having much luck keeping all three under control.

“Those fuckin’ raptors are going to trample everyone if they get unhitched,” Pidge said matter-of-factly, peering over Teegan’s shoulder.

“Like hell they are,”  Teegan muttered back, hopping off her felsteed with practiced ease and preparing a summoning spell.  “Back up boys!  Teegan’s here to save the day!”

Armesan and Pidge watched as Teegan’s summon produced an All Seeing Eye demon, which proceeded to attempt to enthrall the three raptors if not into a calm, then at least into a hypnotic stupor.  It wasn’t clean, as demons didn’t work quite as well against animals as it did the more intelligent races, but it seemed to be having the desired effect, allowing Enoki and Duma to unhitch the raptors and safely tie them to sturdier posts.

“This is not worth 20 gold,” Pidge grumbled, looking at the night elf.

Armesan just looked back with mild annoyance.  “Just watch the door. If anyone tries to come in, tell them a warlock summoned a Doomguard and we're keeping it from getting loose.” she said, grabbing a pouch from the tiger's saddle and heading over to Xan and Dotolo.

---

"Fuck I thought you said you knew how to handle births?!" Dotolo snapped in Zandali as Sai'in doubled over again, thrashing to the side to curl in on herself to try and mitigate some of the pain. He was too panicked to care which language he was speaking in and just defaulted to the easiest. Everyone else seemed to agree, though Sai'in was also hissing and cursing in elemental which was…fun.

There were several tiny elementals roaming around from errant summonings already.

Xan glared at the Death Knight from his position rooting around in one of the packs, desperately looking for something to mix into a medicine that could help with the pain without complicating the labor.

"What I said was that I was there to help when my Ma had Duma and Sai'in, and I know anatomy because I'm a fucking rogue!" Xan barked back. "Fuck where the hell is that Goldthorn?!"

The one-eyed rogue's mad rummaging was suddenly interrupted by a small bottle that was shoved directly into his line of sight, held deftly by elegent fingers with dark clawed nails. Reeling back slightly so he could turn, he saw the night elf rogue standing easily just behind him, giving him a bored look.

"Don't use Goldthorn, it has blood thinning properties. Try this," she said simply. In Zandali.

Dotolo, still helping support Sai'in, glared darkly at the night elf in a defeated, yet accusatory way. "Of course you speak Zandali," the Death Knight grumbled. Sai'in gave a weak and slightly panicked laugh which quickly cut off as she pursed her lips trying to suppress the pain from the contractions.

Armesan merely shrugged unapologetically and waited, while Xan raised an eyebrow at the night elf and the little vial she was holding.

"And why would I use that?" he said in a bored tone.

"If you want her not throwing up from the pain of the contractions and coherent enough to follow instructions when the kid's ready to pop, this will numb her enough without causing any hemorrhaging," the night elf sighed, checking the label on the bottle. "It's a base for a numbing poison without the poison part added yet. You can check if you're worried I'm trying to kill her."

She waggled the little bottle in front of Xan's face again, and he almost looked like he wasn't going to take it, until he heard Sai'in's feet scraping on the stone again as she tried to hide the moan of pain. His little sister was tough, so for her to be in this much pain…

The elder rogue sighed and took the vial from the night elf. "You're an alchemist too?"

"Nope, but I know poisons and anatomy because I'm a fucking rogue," she smirked as he took the vial. He had to suppress the snort of irritation at her little jab letting him know she had overheard and understood everything he'd said in his native language up to this point. He should have suspected when Dotolo had told him she was an elder Kaldorei.

"Why are ya…urk….helpin' us…like this…" Sai'in grumbled weakly, having watched the exchange from her perch on the stone slab. Xan flinched. He could hear the deep gulps of air as she tried to keep herself together while she spoke.

"You can't pay us back if you're dead," Armesan shrugged. "And as your husband might have told you, I've been around awhile. You pick things up when you've been around as long as I have." She turned to Xan. "So…I hear you might know what to expect when it comes to midwifing trolls?"

Xan studied the night elf for a moment, then glanced quickly around the cave to assess everything.

The three of them were situated here in the back, with only the night elf, who while armed, was currently only standing there with a bag slung over one shoulder, her gloves and armguards removed enough so she could roll up the linen tunic underneath. Her intent appeared to be exactly as she said; to help with what was likely to become a very messy, very bloody delivery.

Teegan was on the other side of the ruins, hypnotizing the panicking raptors with one demon while she directed another to help Enoki and Duma move the cart over the rubble and situate it in a way they could move it out when the time came. He could also hear Duma yelling threats and insults at her while she seemed to cheerfully pretend she couldn't understand him and replied as if he were offering her flowery compliments. Enoki seemed far too amused by this, but didn't seem to be worried beyond occasionally glancing over at them when he heard Sai'in's groans of pain.

The gnomish Death Knight he had almost forgotten about, but a quick glance saw her standing stoically at the entrance to the tower, leaning against the stone frame looking supremely bored and utterly disinterested in what was going on behind her. Her axe was within reach but she seemed even less interested in using it than she did with the chaos going on in the tower.

Xan was starting to see what had gotten Dotolo into this mess in the first place.

"We're gonna need a lot of water and towels," Xan sighed accepting defeat and handing the vial over to Dotolo so he could give it to Sai'in.

"Will some leather scraps work?" the night elf pulled a few of the aforementioned scraps from her bag.

"Better than the rocks we've got now," he grumbled, grabbing a few other potions from his pack. They'd be needing them.

---

On the one hand, it was a quick labor, only a few hours of monitoring Sai'in and measuring out how much they could sedate her without side effects. After the initial friction, the two rogues had fallen into a sort of rhythm, Xan directing and Armesan acting as an extra set of hands and occasional sanity check. Sai'in had calmed significantly once the painkillers had kicked in, though the small tiny army of pebble elementals had steadily grown around them and any time she started thrashing again, they got antsy.

Teegan had deployed her imps to chase them away from the 'maternity ward' as she'd started calling their little corner, so there was a mini-war of Imp vs Elemental going on on the floor during the whole affair. Teegan and Enoki were currently 'in charge' of the supply wagons, digging through the wares if anything was needed. So far it had been simple things like suture kits, some hides for blankets, and the occasional potion or herb that Xan needed to mix up. Duma had eventually been banished from the cart for getting in the way of Teegan and her demons one too many times, and was now on self-appointed guard duty with Pidge. 'To make sure she doesn't try to sell us out to the dwarves', he claimed.

On the other hand…once the time came for the delivery itself, things got messy.

When things really ramped up, Sai'in's control over her magic started slipping. The pebble elementals started getting rowdier and…bigger. Enough so that Teegan had to deploy a Felguard rather than her imps, and eventually Enoki had to help keep them contained. She had jokingly thought about summoning that Doomguard Armesan had suggested as a cover story, but Dotolo wasn't entirely sure it was a joke after the third large sized elemental assembled itself from the pieces of tower rubble.

While that had been going on, Pidge had indeed needed to turn away a few dwarven patrols, but unfortunately she had all the civility and grace of a lead pipe and had insulted one of the patrols enough that they tried to force their way in and she had beat them within an inch of their lives. Only Armesan's timely intervention had kept them from having sent the patrol back in coffins rather than the stretchers.

Watching a single gnomish woman utterly destroy a unit of dwarven rangers without blinking an eye…the trolls were much more wary of the gnomish Death Knight after that, and Duma's paranoia jumped several notches up. Armesan had managed to drag the dwarves over to the nearby ogre mounds to stage a scene while Teegan had taken Pidge and gone to alert the nearby outpost to smooth things over, spinning some story about ogres and near death experiences.

And then, while the two Alliance had been dealing with that, the baby decided it was ready to come out and greet the world. Unfortunately, no one else was ready.

Dotolo had to step back from his place at Sai'in's side to help Enoki contain the elementals with Teegan gone, and she had panicked when it became obvious that this was it, and she had no idea what to do. When Armesan had rushed back in to help try and calm her down, the shaman went into a fight or flight panic, and started trying to get up and run, some combination of the exhaustion from hours of labor and the sedatives making her believe she was under attack by this night elf.

If it hadn't been for Xan's quick thinking, she would have bled out before reaching the door, but thankfully her brother saw the signs and quickly swapped spots with Armesan, restraining and trying to calm down Sai'in while Armesan handled the delivery.

The irony of promising Sai'in that the dishonorable scum of the Alliance couldn't hurt her or her child while said scum was making sure the baby didn't drown in blood or get choked by its own umbilical chord was something that they would look back on much later and laugh at.

But despite all the near misses, the almost disasters, and the very real chance that the elementals would wise up and form a colossal and just collapse the ceiling on their heads, after another hour or so the five trolls and three Alliance sat there on the ruined floor surrounded by recently sentient rocks, blood and bodily fluids, exhausted and frayed by the last 9 hours or so of constant vigilance. And most of them were grinning from ear to ear as they watched Dotolo and Sai'in fuss and croon over their healthy newborn son.

"This is so worth 20 gold," Teegan grinned, looking over at her exhausted friend, who looked like she had just gone toe to toe with a blood demon.

The night elf didn't respond, but her smile through the layers of blood and afterbirth was enough.

"How long do you think it'll be before they can travel?" Teegan asked, glancing over to her other side at the warrior she had more or less allied herself with through this whole ordeal dealing with the cart, the elementals, and his overzealous little brother.

Enoki looked over from his position on the floor, half asleep from his constant vigil of the last day. "Eh…maybe a day o' so? Depends how long til Sai can get 'er legs under 'er."

"There was a lot of blood," Teegan mused, smirking over at Armesan who gave her a loving middle finger. The night elf had finally managed to scoop herself off the dirty floor and was shucking off the ruined armor as she wandered back over to where her war tiger had sat guarding the entrance after the "Pidge Incident" as Teegan had started calling it. "Hey lovebirds! You gonna introduce us sometime this century? I wanna see what I spend 75 soul shards defending over the last half a day."

Dotolo and Sai'in jerked back to attention, as if they just realized that the rest of the room was still there, and after a few hesitant looks and false starts, Sai'in handed the small bundle of leathers and blankets to Dotolo. It was adorable, seeing this hunched over hulk of a Death Knight cradling such a tiny thing, and the look of adoration on his face melted even Teegan's cynical heart ever so slightly.

Dotolo crouched down in the small group of his brothers and friends, gently cradling the swaddled child in his arms so they could see past the armada of blankets.

"Say hi to ya uncles an' aunties, eh?" Dotolo grinned, pulling back one of the blankets to reveal a fuzzy tuft of magenta hair over a pair of wide bright brandy-hazel eyes.

"I ain't that thing's aunt you fucking asshole," Pidge snarled from her perch on a large boulder in the back of the group.

"Wasn't talkin' ta you," Dotolo grumbled without preamble. He was rapidly getting used to ignoring the gnomish Death Knight's crude remarks.

"Heh, he's got Sai's hair, dats fo' sure," Enoki laughed. Xan, who had been sitting off to the side mixing up some more potions to replenished their very diminished supply, peered over and snorted in agreement.

"Ya two figure out whacha gonna name 'im yet?" Xan asked smoothly.

"Sohto," Sai'in piped up, her voice rough from the hours of screaming. "Aftah 'is bruddah."

She paused, looking at Teegan and Armesan, who had come back to the group, now with no armor and wearing a less bloody shirt. The shaman sighed and it seemed the last of the fight and distrust melted away from her.

"Aftah all…I wouln' be 'ere if it weren't fo' him."

Teegan smirked, not missing the shift in the shaman's demeanor, and leaned over to get a more clear look at the infant troll. "Well, welcome to the world, little Sohto."

---

It ended up being more than a few days before they were able to leave. The next day and a half was spent letting Sai'in recover and making sure Sohto was healthy enough to make it the entire way to Booty Bay. Xan and Teegan had spent those days replenishing their devastated herb supply, and had noticed an increase in dwarven patrols at the Thandol Span itself. After a quick dip into town, Teegan told them that their story of a vicious ogre attack might have worked too well, and they had closed the span until they'd thinned out the ogres more thoroughly. There was a significant uptick in hired mercenaries and adventurers being sent over to the mounds, just close enough to their hiding spot that it did not seem wise to try and sneak a cart of goods belonging to a group of trolls out through the Span.  

Several times, in between tending Sai’in’s needs and fawning over his infant son, Dotolo noted how the three Alliance didn’t say a word of protest, and simply waited for the opportunity to get going.

Well, most of them.  Pidge did not make any attempt to hide her irritation at the delay, though Dotolo suspected she did it mostly to piss off Duma, who seemed to take everything the Death Knight did and said as a threat.

He wasn't going to lie, Pidge was a rather terrifying presence, but he'd overheard enough hushed arguing between the Death Knight and Armesan to know that they were in no danger of Pidge turning on them. Whatever leverage the night elf had on her held her leash tight. So while they did not doubt that Pidge could kill them all, they all realized that she wouldn't actually do it.

It did not stop Duma from being plagued by a drooling ghoul whenever he made some snide remark about Pidge or gnomes or Alliance or…really anything. Pidge hated everything.  It really was disturbing how frightening the diminutive Death Knight was.  Dotolo secretly detested his new abilities as a living undead, and was more than a little unnerved to watch someone so eagerly accept the vulgar magic and wield it so recklessly.  The gnome had no fear of herself, unlike Dotolo, and he half wondered if she'd gone insane under Arthas’ thrall, the way she embraced the mantle.

As no one knew what she had been like in life, including Pidge herself, whose memories from before her death seemed to be severely scrambled and sometimes missing all together, it was anyone's guess.  Much of the tension seemed to have alleviated between the brothers and the three Alliance.  Enoki and Teegan he even caught talking civilly at one point, mostly Enoki correcting her terrible orcish.  

Dotolo did have to ask though.

“You’re goin’ ta add this to our tab, aren’t ya?” he asked point blank one night when Armesan was on watch.

She smirked.  “Only half of what the delay will cost in supplies.  Consider it a gift for your son’s birthday that I don’t add in the cost of my shirt.”

“You two be heartless,” he said, without malice.

Armesan chuckled.  “We’re survivors.  Can’t get by in this world without coin.”

“Ya didn’t have ta do all dis.  We be able ta take care of ourselves, an’ I know you two be capable of makin’ twice as much gold den ya be gettin’ outta dis deal wit’ us just by takin’ jobs fo’ dat human king,”  Dotolo volleyed.

“True, but we don’t like leaving loose ends.  And it is nice once in a while to help preserve life rather than end it.”

Dotolo took that to heart, and let the conversation lapse.  Whatever strange twist fate had in store by gracing them with these adept Alliance soldiers as their guardians, he wouldn’t question it, if only for the sake of his mate and son.  And he would be lying if he wasn't becoming slightly fond of their presence, however many complications it seemed to bring.

So it was that nearly a week later they were finally able to pack up and continue the journey to Booty Bay, starting with working their way down through the Wetlands towards Loch Modan, where they would turn off into the Badlands.  

Xan, Enoki, and Duma had made this trek enough times at this point to know when to go off the road to avoid patrols, which roads were unsafe, and which guards respected tradesman’s truces.  Dotolo was more than a little jumpy, and steadfastly wore a hood and some of Enoki’s old warrior armor to hide the tell tale seething blue of his eyes and wounds so as not to unduly alarm anyone they ran into.  A few rogues and a warrior with a shaman that carried a newborn, sure they might give them a sidelong glance, especially with Alliance guards, but mercenaries were plentiful and often looked the other way when it came to the faction allegiances.   But a death knight?  Rumors and fear were in full swing about the Death Knights breaking free of Arthas’ thrall and the power they wielded.  No patrol would allow a Death Knight of the opposite faction to pass unmolested.

About two days out from the Badlands, it finally occurred to Dotolo why Pidge had been brought along and why she wasn't disguised like he was.

“I hate you, ya know,” he grumbled to Armesan and Teegan that evening around the fire while the others were distracted.

The gnome and night elf looked at each other, then back to Dotolo with a look that clearly said “explain”.

“Ya brought dat damn deat’ knight along on purpose,” he clarified.  “Ya usin’ her ta distract da patrols from me.”

There was a moment of silence before Teegan broke out into a cheshire cat grin.  Armesan sighed and handed the gnome a few coins.

“You were takin’ bets?!”

“I said you’d figure it out before we hit the Badlands,”  Teegan proclaimed proudly, pocketing her prize.

“If it makes you feel better, we actually do have business in Stormwind,” Armesan added nonchalantly.  

“Not really,”  Dotolo grumbled.

“Good t’ing ya were a warrior befo’ ya died, ‘Tolo.  Ya be worse at dis game den Duma is,”  Enoki chuckled from off to the sides, earning a swat from his little brother, who he grabbed into an affectionate headlock in response.

Dotolo was saved from further teasing the rest of the night by the muffled cries of his son from where he was curled up next to Sai’in, who was still sleeping every minute she could catch, only truly half recovered from everything. Most of the energy she had went into staying upright on the raptor and feeding the ravenous newborn.  Dotolo tended to stay up during the hours they weren’t on the move to tend to little Sohto’s needs.

However, as was bound to happen eventually, Dotolo’s seemingly inhuman ability to go with no sleep gave in, and Sohto was left in the hands of his various uncles.  For the first half of the night, Enoki kept watch with Duma playing quietly with the baby. During Xan’s watch, the elder rogue somehow found himself in a state reminiscent of his past, sleeping infant in the crook of his arm while stoking the fire with the other.  It had been decades since he'd done this, but he fell into the familiar pattern far faster than he'd expected.

Armesan was up as well, which in and of itself wasn’t much of a shock.  She seemed to grab small naps on tigerback during the day and stay up and keep watch during the nights while the others slept. Xan recogized that pattern. It was one of the first things rogues learned how to do; sleep when there were other pairs of eyes available, stay alert when they weren't.

“Ya got kids, Kaldorei?”  Xan said suddenly.  The night elf looked up from where she had been watching the little whelp doze happily in the oversized cloak.  

“Why?” she asked warily, raising an eyebrow at the larger troll. She hadn't said much after Sohto had been born, opting to let Teegan do most of the talking. Unless it was threats to Pidge or reports of potential dangers she'd kept mostly to herself.

Xan chuckled a bit thinking about it. He recognized that pattern too. Being a rogue was generally a solitary path unless you took up the more con-artist type roles. According to Dotolo, she wasn't any of those things and if she was an elder, she'd been on her own for a very, very long time.

“Ya got dat look in ya eye, lookin’ at ‘im.  Like ya remembrin’ somet’in,”  Xan shrugged lightly, careful not to rouse Sohto.

The normally calm features on Armesan’s face fell a bit, but she didn’t answer.  Xan took that in stride and changed the topic.  “I nevah thanked ya for ya help.  Coulda been a lot worse without dat extra set of ‘hands.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied quietly, waving it off, but she shifted a bit, and then looked up to Xan.  “Do you mind if I hold him?”

Xan paused a bit instinctively, but the far-off look in her face, so out of place from the calm, in control persona she normally maintained gave him pause.  A few minutes of further deliberation found Xan carefully picking Sohto up and handing him over to the extended arms of the night elf. “I'm killin' ya if ya hurt him, ya know dat, right?”

He flashed a grin at her when she narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but if she was skilled enough she'd see that it wasn't entirely an empty threat.

She paused right before taking the infant from Xan’s grasp, giving him a rather bored look, but nodded, and gently collected the slumbering bundle of troll into her arms with a practiced ease that only came with having done so hundred of times before.  Xan smirked a bit.

“Ya definitely have kids,”  he snickered, watching carefully.  He trusted her…to a point. Old habits died hard.

Armesan didn’t answer, instead completely absorbed by the tiny troll in her arms.  Sohto stirred a bit, making whimpering noises now that he was bereft of his uncle’s warm downy fur, which the night elf responded to almost instinctively, tucking the blanket in a bit tighter and humming some Darnassian lullaby to calm him down.  It was pretty.

“Dun’ speak Darnassian'.  Whaddya singin’ to ‘im?”  Xan asked after she’d finished lulling the infant back to sleep.

“An old lullaby meant to ward off dark dreams,” she answered quietly, gently brushing the magenta tufts of hair.  

They sat there for a few more hours before Sohto was fussing enough that Xan had to wake up Sai'in and Armesan had to hand him back.  Xan noted the night elf didn't resist, but there was a glint of sadness in her expression when she looked at Sohto resting against Sai'in's chest, and just like that it was gone and the night elf spent the rest of the night's watch up on an outcropping with her wartiger.  He could make a million guesses as to why, but ultimately decided it wasn't his problem, and decided to grab a few hours of sleep before the sun rose.

If anyone noticed that for the rest of the stretch of the Badlands Armesan remained at the head of the group, nowhere near Sai’in and Sohto, they didn't say anything.  Teegan took it in stride, merely making note and continuing on as she had been, which currently was teaching Enoki how to curse in gnomish properly.  She was having a blast and wasn’t about to let the elf’s moods ruin it.  

For the last few weeks she’d been quite happily shattering the troll brothers’ stereotypes concerning gnomes.  She’d nearly fallen off her horse laughing at Duma’s expression when she’d jokingly propositioned him for sex.  Enoki had a good long laugh at his brother’s expense at that one, and had asked how many times that had backfired on her.  Thus the conversation had spiraled everywhere from awkward bed-partners, to which bars had the worst ale, to the most creative curse words in the various racial tongues between the Alliance and Horde.  

Sai’in and Sohto, for the most part were kept at the center of their little caravan, flanked on either side by her mate and at least one of her brothers, though as the journey continued, Teegan was found more often at her side, entertaining the little infant with flashy cantrips and shiny spellwork.  Sai’in, who for the most part was just tired, sore, and a bit humbled by how badly she seemed to have judged these particular Alliance members, merely regarded her with a raised eye ridge, until Sohto started trying to catch the little fireballs Teegan was flipping around.

“Awww see he’s a natural!” Teegan crowed.  

“He be t’ree weeks ol’,” Sai’in had drawled, swatting away the wisps of shadow magic  “If it be shiny o’ a tit, ‘e be interested.”

“Oooooor he could be the first troll warlock!” the gnome elbowed the shaman, waggling her eyebrows.  Sai’in gave the exuberant warlock a bored look.

“No.”

“Awwww come on, keep an open mind.  Your husband’s a living undead powered by dark magic, the least you can do is entertain the idea.”

“No.  Go away,” Sai’in said, not unkindly, but the joy in Teegan’s voice was a bit disconcerting.

“Just sayin’,” the gnome chidded, but took the hint and dropped it.  Much to Sai’in’s dismay, Sohto whimpered some when Teegan’s spells faded, and was only placated when she set off a little delayed shadow spark spell that exploded quietly in front of him in a harmless shower of rainbow light.  The infant giggled madly for almost a full hour after that.

Pidge’s most riveting contribution to the conversation had been a middle finger and a suggestion of just where they could shove it.  Everyone seemed to take the hint and gave the Death Knight a wide berth, save for Duma who had apparently taken it upon himself to prove that the Death Knight was just waiting for them to drop their guard before murdering them all.  Which of course ended up in the two of them brawling on more than one occassion. 

“Your brother is not a good rogue,”  Teegan observed, indicating a fuming Duma as they passed through the border between the Swamp of Sorrows and Deadwind pass.  “If even Pidge can tell he’s watching her, then I’m surprised he isn’t dead.”

“Duma be young yet,”  Enoki chuckled.  “‘e was only jus’ graduated when….well…..”  Enoki tapped his tusk to indicate the missing one on Duma.

“Ah…”  Teegan nodded.  “I’ve been meaning to ask you how those happened.  And don’t try denying it, I’ve seen your limp.  You all have scars from the same weapons.”

Enoki sighed.  “Long story sho’t?  Zul’Gurub.”

Teegan blinked.  “As in Blood God Hakkar, Zul’Gurub?  Damn.”

“Yah,”  Enoki agreed, and quickly changed the subject before Teegan could pry further.  “What ‘bout you?  Ya got any scars worth tellin’?”

Teegan huffed with mock indignity.  “I, sir, am a warlock of the highest regard in my circles.  I do not get scars, I give them.”

“Bettin’ ya got one dat’s embarrassin’, wit an answer like dat.”

"Do not.”

“Dat be a yes.”

“Up yours, troll,” the warlock stuck her tongue out at the warrior and spurred her felsteed on faster to ride just ahead of him.

---

“Here’s to making it to Booty Bay without any other major screw ups!”  Teegan cheered, holding up her mug of ale.  Seven other mugs joined in, clinking together.

“Amen ta dat.  You gals be expensive,”  Dotolo drawled.

“Hey now, you only get to refer to me like a prostitute if you actually sleep with me,”  Teegan shot back, enjoying how Dotolo choked a bit on his ale at the comment.

“Ya be a fuckin' pervert, ya shrimp,”  Duma growled from his corner.

"Says the hairy hunchback who probably can't hold his dick any better than he holds his fuckin' daggers,”  Pidge spat.  

Duma made to yell something back, but a warning glance from Xan made him think twice.

They had made it, after another week of travel, to Booty Bay without any major incidents, and had decided to celebrate their last night in the inn’s pub.  Sai’in sat nearby with Sohto protectively nestled in a sling. The Goblins had bought up a large share of their goods, earning them enough to square their bill with Armesan and Teegan, and make it to the next stop on their route which was Ratchet, so in essence, this was the last they would see each other.  It was unspokenly agreed (by the majority at least) that since they had actually come to NOT hate each other’s guts, they’d have a bit of a celebration.

“So where ya off to now?”  Dotolo asked, genuinely curious.  Teegan jerked her head in the direction of her fellow gnome, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that she was three mugs in already.  Most everyone was only on two.

“Gotta swing by Stormwind and vouch for our grumpy friend here,” she smirked.  

"Wait, vouch?  Ya not be part of the Alliance?”  Enoki blinked at Pidge, who looked about ready to punch something.

“Nooo, because someone had to make a detour to Booty Bay first and it took an extra fuckin' MONTH,” she shot a poisonous look at Armesan and Teegan.  “Fuckin’ treaties.”

“It’s a formality.  One or more recognized members of the Alliance must vouch for a Death Knight and present them to the Vanguard.  In this case, Wrynn and his various allies,” Armesan shrugged.  “Thrall has something similar set up for Death Knights who used to be Horde.  This prevents the Argent Crusade from just outright smiting them, and the Ebon Blade from instilling potential moles in the ranks.”

“Dis only apply ta dose wantin’ ta fight, ya?”  Dotolo asked warily.  He was suddenly very aware that his desertion could bring far more dire consequences than just a few nights in the stocks for abandoning his post.

“As far as I know.  Seems different for every Death Knight, based on their skills,” the night elf looked at Dotolo’s sudden unease.  “Find yourself a trade and they might let you pass as a craftsman without much harrassment.”

“Hey, I gotta ask something.  Have you seen any of those undead guys come out of those Death Knights?”  Teegan blurted suddenly.  “I mean, you die, then Arthas raises you with all this cold magic, and then you’re a death knight, right?”

“Dat’s about da jist of it, ya.”

“So how can you be undead, then be dead, then be undead again, but like….super-undead.  Don’t you have to be alive for that to work?  Otherwise wouldn’t they just be regular undead like they were before they started working for Sylvanas?  Does that just mean you really suck at staying alive?”

“I...REALLY….don’t want to have this conversation with you,”  Pidge deadpanned at the buzzed warlock.

“But it doesn’t make sense, right?”

“Ya really have no filter on dat mouth a’ yours, do ya,”  Enoki snickered.  This called Teegan’s attention to him, which had her grinning in a way the trolls had come to recognize as trouble.

“Wanna see what else has no filter?” she purred at Enoki, tapping a sharpened fingernail on her mug.  The warrior coughed and decided that his mug was suddenly far more interesting.

“That’s it, I’m out of here before she ends up fucking one of you,” Pidge threw up her hands and pushed away from the table, collecting her weapon and walking out of the tavern.

Which of course left Teegan giggling uncontrollably, nearly falling off her chair.  Armesan silently slid the mug away from the gnome while she wasn’t looking, sliding it over to Dotolo who promptly dumped it on the floor where she couldn’t see.  Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much left in it.

“Ya do dat a lot, don’ cha?”  Xan mused cryptically, watching Armesan deftly de-beer the warlock.

“More than I care to admit.  Ever since the Tauren incident,” she smiled when Teegan abruptly stopped laughing and glared at the night elf.

“Don’t you dare tell them about that.  You swore on your godsdamn ancestors” she hissed.  Sai’in chuckled heartily.

“Dis soun’ good,”  she laughed gruffly.  “Anyt’in’ worth swearin’ oaths ovah be wort’ ‘earin’.”

Armesan shook her head.  “Not gonna happen.”

“Ya no fun,” she pouted, sipping her water.  She was still in no real condition to drink, nevermind what that would do to Sohto by proxy.

“Fine, den tell us one ya not swear silence on,” Enoki said, leaning back and propping his bad leg on the chair Pidge had vacated.

Armesan looked at Teegan, and smirked.  Somehow, through channels the trolls could only guess were built over years of travelling together, Teegan figured out which story she was about to tell and blanched, groaning and burying her head in her hands.

“Bronzebeard’s ass, not that one.”

“Yes, that one,”  the night elf nodded, dramatically putting her hand on the warlock's shoulder. 

---

“10,000.”

"Nope, try again.”

“11,000?”

“Keep guessing.”  Armesan chuckled, leaning back in her chair and nursing her drink.  It was well into the morning hours now, and their group had slowly shrank in size as the night had worn on.  Teegan was snoozing quite thoroughly on the table, Duma had left hours ago, likely off to go pick a fight with Pidge and get arrested by consequence, and Sai’in had taken Sohto upstairs to sleep.  Enoki had limped his way to his room shortly after, leaving Dotolo, Xan, and Armesan chatting around the table.  The conversation had dumbed down into actual conversation rather than drinking games, though it had somehow turned to how old Armesan actually was.

“Dere’s no way ya be 15,000,”  Xan laughed, but raised an eyebrow as the night elf grinned.

“That's a bit over, but close enough,” she mused.  

Dotolo whistled.  “Damn lady, ya be olda den most o’ my family tree.”

“What can I say, we night elves lucked out when it came to lifespans.”

“So how old be ya kid den?” Xan chimed in flawlessly.  The smile fell from Armesan’s lips as she glared at him.

“Never said I had a kid.”

“Didna’ have to,” the rogue smirked, but the mirth was not returned.  They sat in silence for awhile, until finally Armesan piped up again.

“You tell me what exactly happened, and I answer your question,” she proposed, tapping her eye to indicate Xan’s missing one.  

“‘ey now….”

“You’re so curious about my past?  Then expose some of yours.  Fair is fair,” she said, reassuming her previous air of confidence.  “And simply saying ‘Zul’Gurub’ doesn’t count.  Trolls regenerate, none of you should have the scars you have.”

Xan glared back at the night elf, not entirely keen on having the tables turned.  Dotolo wisely decided to keep quiet and nurse his drink while listening.  He knew the story.  He also knew it was a sore spot with Xan in particular, but part of him was genuinely curious as to where this was going to go.  

“Dire trolls an Hexxahs, if ya be so curious,” Xan finally relented.  “Our raidin’ party got cocky, tripped an alarm, an’ suddenly we be swarmed by da damn t’ings.  I lost my eye, ‘noki lost ‘is leg, Duma lost half is face, an’ Sai got captured an’ tortured.  Hex magicks fucked up any healin’ from dat raid.”

Dotolo watched Xan carefully, wondering if he would mention the brother that didn’t make it out, but the elder troll left it at that.  Armesan seemed to sense something was being left out, but let it slide and nodded.

“11,432,” she responded. “Is how old my son would have been.”

Xan and Dotolo blinked at her choice of words.  They did not believe for an instant that it was a slip of her tongue.

“What ‘appened?”  Dotolo asked purely on reaction.  The night elf set down her drink and made to stand up.

“It’s late, and you have a boat to catch in the morning,” she said, effectively ending the conversation.  

“Wait, A’m….” Dotolo stammered, standing quickly to cut off her escape.  “I’m...sorry I jus’....”

Armesan blinked a bit at the nickname, and grinned, patting Dotolo’s shoulder.  “Take good care of your family, Dotolo.”  She deftly moved around the Death Knight to leave, but was stalled again by Xan’s voice this time.

“Ya know we be back ‘round ‘ere in a few mont’s, if ya be interested.”

She smiled a bit, and waved to the two remaining trolls as she disappeared up the stairs to her room.  “It’s been fun boys.”

Xan sighed and pushed up from the table to follow suit, stretching the hours of immobility out of his legs.  A sudden snore from the warlock reminded them of the unconscious Teegan, and the fact that her friend had just abandoned her in a seedy tavern.

“T’ink we should just leave ‘er here?”  Dotolo asked, indicating the gnome passed out on the table.

Xan glanced under the table and chuckled.  “She be fine.  Dat Felhound o’ hers be invisible unda dere.”

Dotolo couldn't help the snort of laughter.

---

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