World of Warcraft®

It was a simple message, but even simple things having a way of turning worlds upside down and lives inside out.

"She needs to speak to you about the Incorruptibles."

Gentyl saddled Traveler. Valor was a bit faster, but he was also more high-strung and the old warhorse hadn't been out for a while. It also gave her more time to think. What would she do when Holy Mother replaced her as Sepha of the Holy Guards? Gentyl knew it was a temporary position, but she had grown fond of her people. Surely they would let her stay in the Guards at least.

Maybe not.

The gods knew she hadn't been a very good leader.

The bankers made her pay extra to keep her explosives in the bank, but when he kept the blasting powder at the barracks, someone invariably thought it was sacks of flour.

AAMS charged extra for deliveries between her and Souleater after a few minor incidents…and major bombs. Well, there were also the enchanted bunnies she had delivered to the Grim Maw who had escaped their cages and bred profusely. It could have been worse. At least the Grim Maw didn't reproduce profusely. She preferred not to think about their breeding habits. On the plus side, nearly every living creature horde side got an enchanted bunny. Even the Maggot Lord.

The Maggot Lord got a white kitten also. In turn, he sent her some pet maggots. How the heck was she supposed to know they were pets and trained to do tricks? Her killing them only started a minor war, though. It could have been worse.

Then there were the parrots. Some AAMS people quit over the parrot delivery to Grim Maw. Who knew parrots singing, "This Little Light of Mine" would drive everyone insane?

Blowing up poor Plainswander wasn't good either. Normally, blowing up horde didn't bother her much, but she kind of liked the old bull. Luckily he got the oil, feathers and letters off without too much problem.

Oof. What is Holy Mother heard about the Playgoblin issue featuring-- Yeah, that one would definitely get her replaced. Holy Mother wouldn't take time to realize the body and head didn't match very well.

There was the drinking problem, but she had pretty much stopped that since Prophyt warned her he wasn't going to keep dragging her and her drunk horse out of the fountain. Not that she blamed him. Traveler was heavy, even when he wasn't drunk.

In the end, all the problems of the past few years had nothing to do with the summons. Haven was under attack. Gentyl wanted to send for the Guards to defend it, but Holy Mother declined. She was weary of war and they were going to retreat to the Crystal Shrine.

She needed Gentyl to help move the people. The less who knew where they were going, the better chance they had to remain safe and slip into the mists of the past.

Gentyl transferred leadership to Princess Bebus and escorted the last of the Incorruptibles who were staying with Holy Mother to the Shrine.

On the last day, she sat in the garden with Holy Mother and the personal guards. The woman was much older now. She was shrinking in on herself, but her eyes still glittered with life. "Do you still regret me choosing you to lead the Guards?"

"I still think you could have made a better choice. If you knew half the things that have happened, you would also."

"Like this?" Holy Mother pulled a dog-eared copy of a collector's edition of the Playgoblin.

Gentyl clutched at the bench and tried to keep from keeling completely over. She focused on the mimosas behind Holy Mother and waited for her head to clear. "That isn't me," she croaked at last.

Holy Mother laughed. It was still the light sound that reminded Gentyl of delicate chimes. "Unfortunately, the men passed it around quite a bit before it made its way to me. While it's an amusing image, I didn't think you had grown so tall and willowy and, shall we say, fully developed. I know everything that's happened. My people have kept me well informed about the Guards. The most important thing they've told me is how much you love your people. I could have chosen a skilled warrior, but I couldn't find anyone who cared more and that's the important thing. Anyone can learn to fight. Not everyone can learn to care."

"It's easy to care about people who have worn our tabard. They are very special."

The garden was already sprouting a few weeds here and there from neglect. Soon, the lands would claim the fortress and nature would once again rule here. There was a certain sadness in the truth of destiny. Gentyl loved this place. It had always been a place of peace for her. She had to ask. "You don't intend to return ever?"

(cont) 1

Holy Mother shook her head. A tiny silver curl escaped the carefully arranged pearled net. "My time is done. Sister Avi, will replace me when I rest. The rest of the Incorruptibles will live out their days in peace. They've earned it."

Gentyl looked to the south, over the limestone walls. "Most of the Guards are gone, Holy Mother. I'm not sure what to do."

"Each of us has our own journey," the elder replied. "They will treasure their time with the Guards. Some will find their way home when the time is right. New ones will find their way to you. Even you have journeys too remarkable to imagine. It isn't the end. This is a glorious beginning." Her eyes twinkled as if she knew something Gentyl didn't. "Trust me. There are wonders you haven't even dreamed of and companions who are just friends you haven't met."

((I'm going to be adding some things to this to get everyone up to speed, but I don't want to make the posts so long they are boring. Please feel free to join in if you have interacted with Pia or her members or just want to. Role play is like a smile, it's most valuable when you share it.))

2

Gentyl continued winding down the streets, trying not to ride over racing children and lurching drunks. Stormwind was changed, but the street children, adventurers and drunks remained the same.

She glanced around a barrel at something. It looked like a familiar little gnome. "Glippin? Is that you?"

The gnome was gone faster than free beer on a feast day.

Gentyl unsaddled Traveler and rubbed him down before she tossed some fresh hay and a scoop of grain in the trough. The stables were clean, but most of the stalls were empty. Perhaps everyone was on duty somewhere.

In her heart, she knew the truth. The Guards had been called to other lands and other adventures.

She set the saddle on a rack and walked over to the barracks. The garden was small, but tidy. At least it wasn't a crater, which meant no one had been experimenting with bombs lately.

Her footsteps echoed hollow on the puncheon floors.

Feathers. What in the world were all the feathers doing in her room? She bent down and picked up something small, black and shriveled. Raisins. Feathers and raisins?

"Twobits!"

"I didn't do it."

He was in the kitchen. She followed his voice and found him sitting with Surabar and Savengriff. They were munching sammiches from a huge tray in the middle of the table.

"Didn't do what?"

"Whatever's wrong." he said with his mouthful.

"You didn't clean up my room beautifully?"

He narrowed his eyes. "This is a trick, isn't it?"

She pulled a sammich from the stack. "Is this beef?"

Surabar nodded. "Freshest beef in Stormwind."

"With dipping sauce," said Twobits proudly and pointed at the bowl.

It wasn't that she didn't trust her Guards, but history tends to repeat itself and some of the greatest disasters in Pia history had occurred in the kitchen. Of course, many of them were her cooking adventures, but there were others.

She bit into the sammich gingerly. No blasting powder smell so they hadn't mistaken it for flour. "This is really good." She reached for two more sammiches.

Twobits glared at her. "I thought you weren't allowed in the kitchen."

Surabar and Savengriff agreed.

"I'm just eating! I haven't even tried to cook anything."

Savengriff pulled out his sword. "Make sure you don't."

"Does anyone know anything about feathers and raisins in my office?"

All three of them grabbed more sammiches and kept their gazes averted.

"So you all know about it. It looks like someone was plucking chickens in there."

"The chickens did it," Twobit said.

"The chickens plucked each other in my office."

"I didn't do it."

She looked at the mage and the paladin. "Would anyone like to explain to me what happened while I am still young?"

"Not really," replied Savengriff.

"Well, do it anyway. Why is my office full of chicken feathers? Were you fighting chickens?"

Twobits rubbed his little bald head. "Define fight."

"You were! How could you do that?"

"It was pretty easy," he replied. "We got these pillows--"

"You were hitting chickens with pillows?"

"No," Surabar said, "actually, we glued the feather pillows on their wings and they had pillow fights."

"The chickens enjoyed it," Twobits said. "The winners got extra grain."

Gentyl rubbed her temples to stave off the approaching headache. "What did the losers get?"

"A side of mashed potatoes and extra gravy," Savengriff answered and licked his lips.

"Oh my stars. I can't believe you two went along with this. You're supposed to be responsible adults."

"I'm responsible," Twobits protested.

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes, you certainly are. Which brings me to the stack of notices, fines and paperwork on my desk. Do you have any idea what that's about?"

"Bills," the gnome said. "We used a lot of water keeping things clean while you were gone."

She drummed her fingers on the table. "Yes, well, we'll see. Any reason for all the raisins in the office?"

"Do g@*@#s turn into raisins?" Surabar asked.

"Yes."

Surabar and Savengriff looked at Twobits. "I didn't do it."

"Do what, Two?"

"Pay dancing girls and g@*@# girls to entertain us."

"There were no dancing girls and g@*@# girls in my office?"

He tugged at his collar. "I said I didn't pay them, didn't I?"

"That's probably one of the bills in that stack," said Surabar.

"I'm so glad you two kept an eye on him while I was gone."

"We were with him every minute!" said Savengriff.

"Yes, well next time do you think you can keep him out of trouble instead of just watching?"

(This is in response to this story by Glippin. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1536333726)

Gentyl left the kitchen and went back to her office to finish cleaning up the chicken feathers and raisins. The problem with sweeping up chicken feathers when you're aggravated is they just ten to fly around more. After several minutes of swinging the broom around like a sword at a well-deserving practice dummy, she slowed down and carefully pushed the feathers and raisins into a pile. She had just finished gathering the last of them when Calejo walked in.

"Sepha. It's good to see you." The young paladin looked at the basket full of feathers. "Are you starting a new craft?" The tone was almost hopeful.

"Eh? Oh, no. I'm still an engineer. Apparently Surabar, Savengriff and Twobits were involved in a chicken pillow fighting business while I was gone. My office seemed to be the idea location." She looked at Calejo. "You didn't know about this?"

Calejo chewed on her lower lip. "No, ma'am. I was keeping the world safe and watching Glippin like you instructed. It's kept me rather busy."

Gentyl dropped the last of the feathers in the basket and sat down at her desk. Finally, something was going right. Well, sort of right. that damnable dragon had definitely raised havoc with the safe world concept. "Sit down. I understand Glippin probably kept you busy. I don't really understand how such tiny people can create so much chaos."

"Yes, ma'am." She fidgeted in her chair. "Speaking of chaos...."

Gentyl ground her teeth and then stopped when she thought about Imperon. "What did Glippin do?"

"He had good intentions."

"They always do. The roads to the the nethers are paved with good intentions and gnomish contraptions."

Calejo brightened a bit. "Exactly!"

"So what did he do?"

"He was going to save everyone from the goblins dressed up in Winter Veil costumes."

"Why did everyone need saving?"

"That's what I asked him. He felt it was important so he built a machine."

Another machine. Glippin and his machines never turned out well. "And what did this machine do?"

"Well," Calejo hesitated. "It actually turned him into a goblin."

Gentyl waved her hand. "That's nothing to be concerned with. Those disguises never last."

"Actually, in this case, it did. Glippin's a goblin."

"I'm positive I saw him when I rode into town."

"No, he's a goblin."

"Is it possible it split him and he's a goblin and there's still a gnome?"

Calejo looked doubtful. "I suppose anything's possible. He's a, was a gnome, after all."

"Indeed. Anything was possible with gnomes. Abon turned herself into a gnome and could never change herself back. Iecia had a sister named Lecia. I always thought they were mirror images of the same person." Gentyl leaned back in her chair. "Well, nothing to be done for it. We'll just have to see what happens."