World of Warcraft®

Yoresh sat hunched over on the edge of the bed, arms on his knees and head in his hands. He hadn't been in the small room for very long when the day caught up with him all at once, leaving him drained and a little light headed. And that was on top of the fierce headache he had gotten arguing with the forsaken. It had been pure luck that another guard heard him mention his daughter's name and knew her to verify Yoresh's identity. That and he wasn't such a moron to think the amani would set foot in Silverpine Forest to attack a bunch of living corpses for no realistic reason.
In the end he had finally been allowed safe passage and a moment to rest and regain his strength, which was why he sat on the bed now.

Heavy scraping along the floor outside brought the troll to his feet and he opened the door to allow the innkeeper's aid to drag the large cauldron into his room. He could feel the heat coming off it as it passed him. Good to know that despite his odd request, they had carried it out properly. Yoresh payed the man and locked the door once he was out.

He took the threadbare sheet from the bed and spread it out on the floor next to the cauldron before striping out of his clothes and stepping on the sheet. Drying banana mush still clung to him everywhere and he couldn't stand it anymore. Her certainly wouldn't have appeared in front of Brae looking and smelling like this. He buried his hands in the scalding sand and breathed out appreciatively. Then, after a short moment, he began scooping out handfuls and scouring it over his skin.
He'd had to unbraid his hair again to clean it with the sand and shook it out, not not really caring that the sand went flying everywhere, he'd at least made sure most of it was on the sheet.
Once he was clean, he took his clothes and dropped them in the cauldron, enough sand left to clean them as well. He was sure he was never going to want another banana as long as he lived.

* * *

Yoresh had eaten some of the food Hasa had stored in the pack for him and slept a couple of hours, but he didn't want to waste anymore time. So in the middle of the night, he left the Forsaken Rear Guard on the back of a supply wagon headed for Tarren Mill. They'd told him it would arrive just before dawn and it was the closest he was going to get to Caer Darrow without money. It was more than he could have hoped for in any case and he gladly took the ride, consulting his map as they went. If it was still accurate, he would be able to go the rest of the way on foot and baring any setbacks, arrive somewhere between the afternoon and evening.

"Oh, come on, Brae! Even I'm not stupid enough to think he'd just haul off willingly....but you need to be willing to look at where the evidence might point."

Anyone who knew Brae knew her temper rarely got the best of her. Right now, it boiled over like so much water from a kettle left too long. It was simply too much to consider. She'd considered Saki one of her best friends for eighty some odd years, but after everything, Brae couldn't process what felt like a betrayal. Even though the huntress had been responsible for putting them together in the first place....so much of this was also her fault.

"Out. N-now. This...th-this is your f-f-f-fault as m-much as an-anyone's. I n-n-n-never should have l-l-l-listened to you and c-c-come here. I n-n-never sh-should have s-sent h-him to s-s-save you from s-so-some w-wild ch-chase a-after wh-who you u-used to be b-b-because you c-c-can't ha-handle th-that things are d-d-different n-n-now with Detton and the k-ki-kids and you c-can-can't be b-b-both anymore." Her nostrils flared, but she didn't take the words back even as the color drained out of her friends face as though she'd been slapped. She had six good inches on Saki and she used every one of them as she pointed to the door. "G-go. N-now."

The argument had been months ago, now. The friendship was still very much in a state of flux and repair. She'd helped Saki get her younglings to the monasteries in Pandaria because it had been the right thing to do and No'gor and Yanla shouldn't be responsible for paying for their adopted mother's pride and stupidity. Brae sighed and focused her search on a corner, tossing the corpse of another cooked creeper out of the door carelessly and cussing under her breath in troll.

For the last two hours of his travels Yoresh had been feeling increasingly uneasy about finally finding her again and it made him suddenly pause now that he was here at the bridge that would take him across the waters to Caer Darrow. He was so close now. Would she be happy to see him? Angry? Would she hate him for having vanished on her?

Yoresh took a deep breath to calm himself. He wanted to see her again so desperately and at the same time was afraid. It made him feel foolish. After everything he had gone through now he was hesitant.

With a tug on his braid he grit his teeth and resumed walking, focusing ahead of him instead of on the water around him until he finally stepped off the bridge. The island felt very depressing and he wondered what kind of book would make her come here willingly. His thoughts were startled right out of his mind when he passed a bunch of heads sticking up out of the ground, shouting insults at him.

What the--?!

He turned and walked backwards to make sure there wasn't a rest to them that would crawl out of the ground and attack him when something hit him in the side of his head a moment later. He spun with a ready snarl but there was no one there. Yoresh bent down to pick up what turned out to be a charred husk of a creepy crawly. He looked up again, focusing on the dilapidated building it must have come from and moved closer to it. It wasn't until he was halfway through the doorway that he suddenly froze, the critter dropping from nerveless fingers.

There she was. Right there in the corner.

"Brae..." it came out in a painful gasp.

She froze. Even the air in her lungs stopped. She had to be hearing things. The damn place was getting to her. Maybe she really should go back to Booty Bay and wait to do this until she could bring someone with her. Still, she couldn't resist turning to look. She expected to find vacant space in the door- just she and her thoughts. What she got...

The color drained from her face, making the smudges of dirt and dust even more prominent on her cheeks. She felt like she was being crushed from the inside out. Breathing wasn't painful- it was impossible. Slowly, she shook her head, unruly curls bouncing in what looked like disbelief of their own. "N-no. Oh, n-not fair. Not f-fair at all. I al-already t-told you st-stupid sp-spooks I'm not pl-playing your st-stupid games. G-go away." She tried to make the declaration as firm as possible, but the boulder in her throat had apparently spawned pebbles in her mouth for her tongue to trip over. Her fingers curled and uncurled in unconscious twitches. This couldn't be real. It just couldn't be.

It was Yoresh's turn to shake his head; a little to vehemently it felt like. He quickly stopped, his hand pressing against his own chest. "No spook," he breathed out. He just couldn't seem to get enough air to speak properly. The overwhelming need to touch her, to make absolutely sure she was real drove him forward and he reached out to grab her shoulders, a hand swiftly moving to cup the side of her face, touch her hair.

"Loa, Brae- I..."

Without thinking he pulled her against his chest with the practiced ease they had developed so she'd never accidentally get hurt by his tusks. He just wanted to hold her so badly and wrapped his arms completely around her.

Her hands pressed firmly against his chest after a long moment of paralysis. She'd finally lost her mind. That was the only explanation, because he couldn't be here. He was dead. There was no way he could be here. Except it seemed that he was- everything about him was entirely solid and exactly as she remembered.

She shook her head again. "N-no. You c-can't be real. You're gone. You h-have to b-be gone." She wasn't sure who she was trying ton convince more. Convulsively, her fingers bunched up the robe beneath them. There were little tears all over she'd have to repair lat- She stopped herself and took a ragged breath. "You have to be gone. I've f-finally l-lost it and yo-you're not re-real." She felt a little dizzy as the ramifications drove themselves home and she felt the fury she'd tried to keep hidden start to stir.

Oh, this couldn't be happening. He couldn't be real, because he couldn't just leave her like that and waltz back in after letting her believe all this time... She swallowed again, hard, as she started to shake.

The mage felt the way she remained stiff, the pressure against his chest; her words. When she began to shake he loosened his arms around her, moving back enough to look down into her face. His hands squeezed her upper arms, her shoulders as he spoke. "I'm real Brae," he said his voice finally sounding like himself again. "I'm here- you're here!" He ran his hand over her hair again, closing his fingers in it without hurting. "I finally found you!"

Whatever other words he wanted to say didn't make it out and his hand opened on her hair again as he registered the look on her face. "Braedori?" He hated how uncertain that one word sounded.

She swallowed again and fought to keep the white-hot hurt and anger that threatened to consume her at bay. Brae was only partially successful. "N-no. You c-can't be re-real. B-because th-that would me-mean you j-ju-just left. Wi-without a wo-word. And you wou-wouldn't do th-that t-t-to me. So you c-can't b-be." He could hear the self-doubt running under even the hurt. "If you were al-alive, you w-would have c-come." Her fingers tightened in his robes before letting go and curling into small fists.

"I l-looked, we looked f-f-for you f-for...f-for so long. If you'd b-b-been alive, you w-would have c-come- I wouldn't have spent months st-stuck in the V-Violet H-Hold b-because you would have co-come...would have t-tried to m-melt th-the stone of D-Dalaran a-around their ears, or d-died trying." She swallowed convulsively, those little fists beating at his chest with about as much effect as flowers against stone. "You c-ca-can't really b-b-be here b-b-because it would me-mean you l-left and di-didn't...."

She couldn't stop the torrent of words or hot tears and she felt like such an utter fool. She looked up at him, mouth working but failing her for a long moment before she fished in her pocket and shoved something at his chest, hard. "Y-you l-left." It was all she could manage as her shoulders slumped and she took a step back as he took the thing she'd shoved at him, biting her lip and tugging helplessly at a curl. They were remarkably lucky something hadn't been accidentally set on fire. "We f-found it, j-just by itself. N-no ost-struggle. J-just l-laying th-there." It was there, written in her expression. Not just 'you left'. It was more specific. You left -me-.

Yoresh couldn't have been more stunned if she had pulled a dagger and gutted him. It would have certainly hurt less than what he was hearing; the accusation in her eyes like a physical blow that momentarily stole his breath. He stared down at the feather in his hand. His feather. The feather she had given to him so very long ago. The feather he had cherished ever since. The feather he thought he had lost forever and she just shoved at him.

"I didn't," he said barely over a whisper. His hand carefully closed around the feather and he looked back at her, hurt and angry. "I didn't leave you," he said louder, an edge of growl sliding into his words. "Is that what you've been thinking all this time? That I left you of my own will?! Left left?!"

He didn't want to be angry at her, he couldn't even really blame her. He had vanished on her. But still. "Why? Why, why would you ever think that?" He held out the hand enclosing the feather. "Do you really think I would just throw this away? Truly?"

Brae lost her temper, too, and a small pile of rocks burst into so much dust. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD BECAUSE THE ALTERNATIVE WAS UNTHINKABLE!" She hurled the words at him, not even registering surprise that she'd shifted the conversation into Amani, or that the words echoed in the deserted ruins.

"I wanted you to be alive, but when we couldn't find anything that told us if you'd been taken or had an accident....I had to believe you were gone because otherwise it meant exactly what the clues we had in front of us meant! It's not as if everything was like it always had been, was it?" Her fingers twitched and her nostrils flared. "It's not like you weren't angry, or frustrated, or...." She threw her hands up. "The whole damn mess just...." She pushed her fingers through her hair, sending cobwebs tumbling and curls bouncing before she looked at him again.

"Loa! Convincing myself you were dead was probably the worst thing I've ever had to do because i just couldn't believe you'd go...but now you're standing here. A year, or close enough, without so much as a word! And my gift just set out like someone had done it with care as a...." She trailed off with a growl of frustration. Brae certainly wasn't the same shrinking violet she had been. "I don't even bloody know. But you disappeared and nobody could tell me where you'd gone and you'd been so...so...." She couldn't find the words. "Even though I tried everything I could to help, shy of telling Saki to disappear herself- which I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know happened not long after you disappeared, although even she told me she couldn't believe you'd just go so it had to be something else..."

Brae had to stop to take a deep breath, nearly panting. She couldn't find words, couldn't find a way to stop the fury running through her. So she found a target that wasn't the troll and another pile of debris disappeared with a faint 'whoosh' and rush of flame. "I thought you were dead because I refused to believe everything in front of me. And here you are, angry at me?"

Yoresh actually jerked back in surprise when she erupted in amani and growled in frustration when she had finished. "You can't imagine what I went through to find you and then you retreat from me," he growled heatedly. "I'm not trying to be angry at you! I'm angry at this whole situation!" I'm angry at me. But the words remained unsaid.

He turned away and punched the wall. "I was too weak!" he snarled and punched it again. "Those bastard cowards stabbed me in the back with a poisoned blade and I couldn't even set them on fire! I barely managed to teleport to the other side of Orgrimmar and there were more of them! Like they were looking for undesirables; pretty much anyone who wasn't a wretched orc!"

When he turned back, his eyes were shimmering and thin ember lines crawled up his skin. "I tried Brae," he ground out. "I tried and I was too weak. To weak to fight them off and too weak to escape for.. I don't even know how long it took." He brought his hands up as though he could strangle his captives and dropped them to his sides again, his shoulders slumping. "I've failed you Brae, in the... worst way." He stepped closer to her, his hand momentarily hovering between raising and staying where it was before he closed his hand and shook his head. "I didn't fight hard enough," he said, shame thick in his voice. "I wasn't there when you needed me most."

For a long moment, her hands curled and uncurled in silence. Letting loose the torrent of anger had felt really....good. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to hit him, hug him, or kiss him. She settled for the fourth option, which was to none of the above because she wasn't sure she could be trusted not to do them all at once.

"Because clearly learning to fend for myself is such a terrible thing- much better that I'd stayed stuttering and afraid of my own shadow." It sounded as though the thought galled her. "I did't- don't- need you or anyone else to protect me, if that's what you meant." She bit her lip uncertainly. There were so many things that had been left unsaid for so long before he'd disappeared, and so much had happened since....it was going to be different, that was for sure.

"What I did need most was for you to be alive. Even if you'd left-" The word was a little strangled. "Even if you'd left, it would have been better than thinking you weren't." She stepped forward a hair's breadth. "It's not....it can't be like it was, you know that, don't you? You're different. I certainly am. It won't be the same, if that's what you've come looking for."

Yoresh stared at her somewhat helplessly, trying to keep the hurt from his eyes. Hearing her say she didn't need his protection like that stung even though he had been trying to help her become more sure of herself from the very beginning. It had all started with a simple deal so long ago. And now here she was, so much stronger. He really would have liked for it to have come about differently though.

He knew he had a tendency to be overprotective of her and now he couldn't help wondering if she resented him for it; perhaps even thought he had been trying to hold her progress back on purpose.

"I never said I wanted you to stay afraid," he rumbled, there was no anger in his voice this time. He straightened up properly and cleared his throat, his face taking on a neutral cast. "I came looking for my mate," he said then. "If she'll still have me."

He didn't know how he had been able to keep his voice so calm when his heart felt like it wanted to escape through his ribcage, but he wasn't going to trap her; he would never do such a thing to her no matter what it might do to him.

Her lips twitched slightly and she reached over to pluck the feather from his fingers, where it had been clenched. "All this time I've kept it safe and you're going to just crumple it." Brae rolled her eyes at him and smoothed it out with her fingers before tucking it into the braid it had been missing from neatly. She shook her head, smoothing out the robe beneath it, too.

"You couldn't manage to steal something less raggedy? We're going to have to fix that until I can get this mended." She lifted a brow at his incredulous expression. "What? I said I was angry, silly grumpy troll. I didn't say I wasn't happy to see you back." She poked him. "Besides, no one else speaks a properly civilized tongue around here and who else would I talk to?" Her lips were twitching again, but she couldn't keep the smile out of her eyes.

Yoresh breathed a short laugh which was more relief than mirth. He brought his hands up to settle on her waist and gently tugged her closer to him. He leaned down and touched his forehead to hers, mindful of his tusks and closed his eyes. "I love you more than I could ever say," he murmured, a little at a loss of what to do or say.

He was just so glad to be able see her again, talk to and touch her. Hell, she could beat on him until she felt better and he would still be happy to have her back.

She hugged him tightly. "If you ever do anything like this to me again, I will kill you myself, do you understand me?" There was still a great deal hanging between them- but not wasn't the place, or the time. He was alive, and he hadn't left her, and that would simply have to do for now.

"Maybe I'll take you back to the office and you and Telirra can argue about who gets to take care of me." She was almost laughing. "Loa- that would be an interesting afternoon." She furrowed a brow. "Wait...we're on an island. How...what...how did you get here, exactly?" She lifted a brow at him in question.

A soft rumble went through his chest when she hugged him; loa how he'd missed it. "I will never let anyone take me away from you again," he promised.

He was about to comment on that Telirra person when she'd asked the next question and he tensed ever so slightly and moved just enough to give her a wry smile.

"You know the expression 'I'd walk through the fires of the abyss for you'?" he gave a little shrug. "It would be my version of that." He reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear. "I traveled over water. On a ship. Two ships and an escape boat actually."

"You....boats....I..." She just shook her head and hugged him tighter. "Loa. How'd you even know to find me here?" She changed the subject because frankly, she was having difficulty wrapping her mind around the image. 1

While one arm held her close around her waist, he moved his other hand slowly up and down her back. "The short version is that I ended up at Hasanah's door and she said you were staying in Booty Bay," he began carefully. "She'd let me into your room." Not home. "And I found this," he reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper. "I hope it wasn't anything too important," he gave her a somewhat apologetic look. "I wasn't in the best... state of mind. And it was rather illegible to begin with actually."

"I should have guessed she'd point you my way- although you should hear her clucking like a mother hen about your manners." She nearly shook with suppressed laughter. She hadn't felt so at ease in...well. It felt rather nice to be home- it wasn't the house, it was wherever he was. It had been since she'd met him, even it had taken a bit longer for her to catch on to i than it should have.

When he held u the paper, she broke out in a brilliant grin. It was one of the particular selection that wasn't seen outside his company. "Lucky thing I left my notes, isn't it?" She couldn't help herself and hugged him tightly again. It was taking some time to settle in that he was actually there in one solid, breathing, warm piece.