“Uhm…do you need any help!?”

Peering under Vashi’s arm, Liaena stared up at the battle above them with a broad smirk across her face. “I dunno. They look like they’re doing OK without you”

“Uhuh. Mister Dal’dieb helped a lot” Kathlin concurred as she followed Liaena’s gaze, although with a more concerned expression. “That Draenei is really going to feel it in the morning”

“Well, you could always Smite the death knight”

“…..”

“Eh. I guess.” Kathlin said in a distinctly unenthused tone. “It almost seems rude”

“….why?” Liaena gave her a dubious look. “For doubting their skills? You’ve spent too long with the Night Elves”

“BIND HER, BLAST HER, TURN HER INTO CINDERS! EVERYTHING AS LONG AS IT’S EFFECTIVE!!”

“Nooo…it’s just…calling for divine assistance for something this petty? It’s like asking the Light to fix a paper cut”

“You call this petty?” Liaena snorted, before glancing at Vashi. “It’s all yours then. I only have A-O-E”

-FWOOOOSSSSHH-
“GYAAAAH!”

“The Light helps those who help themselves” Kathlin stubbornly recited over the screams from upstairs. “It’s in the doctrine, if you ever read it”

“AGAIN! HIT HER AGAIN!”

“Doctrine written by the ike of Marshall? Sure sounds like words to live by” Liaena snarked back at her companion, who merely gave her a slightly disgruntled look in return.
“Li, they hardly need divine intervention. A firebomb works just fine”

-BOOOM-
“ARRRRGH!”

“Tragic. I’m banned inside the house”
-CRASH-
“Really. Somebody managed to ban you. The church needs to employ them”
“The church can get nicer furnishings, then we’ll talk”

-splat-

“….”

“Are they done?” Kathlin queried into the sudden silence from upstairs.
“Looks like” Liaena concluded as she stared upwards, before finally giving Vashi a second look. “Oh did you say something earlier?”

Stuck in the surprisingly strong grip of the Draenei barbarian, Malizia found herself unable to free herself.

Rather than trying to force her way out of Mei's grasp through brute strength however, she would instead raise her runeblade up to the side in order to slice it down alongside Mei's arm, leaving a small cut down its side. While the cut was nothing major in and of itself, the moment the naked blade of the Runeblade touched and pierced Mei's skin, it was as though a frigid chill shot like a shock through her arm, temporarily leaving her muscles there numb and unresponsive.

This created a small window of oppertunity that was all Malizia needed in order to get free from the brutish Draenei's lock and back away, before reaching back to unsheath her second runeblade!

In the meantime, Sharon had been desperately trying to hold on to Mei's hair while also trying to avoid being caught under either of the two combatans as the two large women had just tumbled a bit down the stairs. Regaining his balance on Mei's shoulder just in time to see Malizia reach for her other Runeblade, he would quickly point his silver staff at her hand and utter a single word:

"Ruth!"

And with that word of enchantment, a kinetic blast shot out from the tip of his staff, hitting Malizia's left hand just as she unseathed the Runeblade. This caused it to be blown back, losing its grip around the handle and leaving the second Runeblade to tumble down the stairs!

Having lost one of her Runeblades, Malizia's eyes soon flared with anger, as she noticed the annoying little High Elf on Mei's shoulder. But before she could bring her first Runeblade about in a strike, a gust of fire suddenly burst up from the middle of the stairwell, mostly aimed at her!
Raising one arm to shield her face, she swiped her blade around, summoning a frigid blast that extinguished the gust of flame from Vashi! However, as soon as the flames had been quenched, another fireball soon made its way up the middle of the stairwell.

"Leave me be!" Malizia cried out, clearly frustrated at this point!

However, the fireball that made its way up towards them was no ordinary gust of flame. Instead, it was an explosive fireball, which was made abundantly clear as it suddenly detonated with a violent force behind Malizia, blasting her forward and right into Mei, who in turn was pushed forward by the flying Draenei to fly up to the top of the stairwell, smashing into the wall!

Pasted face to face into Mei, Malizia would pull her face back. At first, the Death Knight would narrow her eyes to cast a vicious glare at Mei and Sharon, before they suddenly opened in a more surprised look as the two Draenei soon found themselves peeling off the wall, and instead began falling down through the middle of the stairwell!

"I'll solve this!" Sharon replied, quickly casting a slow fall spell on Mei, causing all of them to suddenly fall much slower in the air, almost rolling about mid air!

"Look, can you both just take a break for a moment? This is my house! I'd prefer if you did not break it any further!" Sharon called out to the two struggling combatants. A battle of good vs evil be damned, at this rate there'd be nothing left of his mansion much longer!

Especially if Vashi continued playing with fire...

"And YOU! Yes, you, Vashi. Stop that! Stop!" Sharon said as he hung up side down from Mei, pointing at Vashi, and then at some of the walls and steps of the stairwell which at this point had been singed.

The slow fall spell would not last for very long however, as Malizia, realizing that they had stopped, raised a fist and punched Mei right in the face, breaking the spell and causing all three of them to fall at full speed once more down towards the spectating apprentices and Night Elf Mage below!

What a curious situation this was, Mei thought. She was actually seemingly overpowering the death knight for the moment. Soon enough she would have been well in her strength to crush her enemy’s neck, but as Ryuuna pulled her runeblade and cut her hand those pesky frost enchantments on the blades numbed her muscles for a moment. Ahhh the handicap of not wearing any armor right now… Mei right away prepared to fight as Melizia reached for her second runeblade, but luckily that was stopped by the tiny elf mage on her shoulder.

As the blasts of fire were hurled towards the death knight, she quickly used the moment the enemy was distracted to stand up from the ground. Both her wounds were hurting and probably would have been interfering with the movement of most people, but for her it was just a mild annoyance for the moment. What she didn’t expect was that the second fire blast exploded and propelled the death knight at her and then both of them up the stairs and into the walls.

They sure enough found themselves face to face, the two draenei, desiring to kill each other. As the death knight pulled her face slightly away, Mei quickly prepared to headbut Melizia, but that was stopped when they once again found themselves falling down the middle of the stairs.

“Sadly can’t help it, mister tiny elf mage.” Mei replied when Sharon stopped their fall with his magic. She had barely any time to react when she was punched in the face by Melizia. As they began falling down yet again, Mei roared in rage using the fact the death knight was under her. Her eyes narrowed in anger, her muscles tensed up as she suddenly spun around in midair by masterfully altering her center of gravity and using the centrifugal force to spin with great speed. In the next moment she dropped her hoof onto the death knight’s head. She was well used to aerial fighting form her days in Northrend… and the fighting on flying mounts and falling down cliffs and the like… Whatever don’t kill you, makes you stronger right? “ Die… death knight!” She roared as after the first dropkick, she was already doing the second spin to directly stomp the enemy under her as they were going to land.

"And YOU! Yes, you, Vashi. Stop that! Stop!"

While normally very sensitive about criticism directed towards her use of magic, a thing she had had enough about in her time with the rest of the warband; Sharon's own comment did not even cross Vashi's mind.

In fact, what Vashi was more taken by was the fact that there were currently two very big Draenei butts( + one tiny Sharon) speeding down towards the populated bottom of the stairwell.

"Uh, girls, I think we should evacuate the area... " Vashi quietly suggested as she looked down towards Kathlin and Liaena standing in front of her, before gently tugging them both by the back of their collars in order to pull the very curious girls away from the soon-to-be landing zone; the two seemingly having been too busy watching the fight and/or bickering with one another to really give a thought to their positioning!

"We need to give the combatants... "

*KRAK-BOOM*

" ... space."

A loud boom echoed throughout the mansion as the two Draenei finally reached the bottom of the stairwell, their impact enough to shake the floorboards to the point they exhumed a thick cloud of dust up from between them that filled the entire bottom of the stairwell!

“…..”

“…..I hope your Mister Dal’dieb is insured”

Studying the huge cloud of dust, Liaena took a tentative step forward. “What, against war zones? That’d be a premium”

“You live with him. It’s a reasonable expense”

Creeeeeeeeeak

….

CRACK

….

CRASHHHHHH!

With a very final splintering of wood, the much abused timber and plaster beneath the combatants gave way beneath the combined weight of Draenei + Draenei + Draenei’s heavy Death-Knight armour. Liaena was left staring at a large hole in the floor, from which a slight fog caused by Malizia’s frost spells gently rose.

“….I hope your Mister Dal’dieb is okay”

“With his luck, he’s probably stuck in the Death Knight’s butt….” Liaena hissed as she sat down at the edge of the hole, feet dangling over the edge as she started to lower herself in. “…I’m going down there”

“Okay”

Landing lightly on the floor of the room the pair had crashed into; Liaena identified the place as one of the many store rooms linked to the kitchen Miss Collins held sway over. In all likelihood the place would recently have been full, all of the shelves were now stripped courtesy of the Night-Elf storm that had swept through the manor….Liaena wasn’t sure whether or not this constituted a silver lining.

Drawing her dart-gun from a pocket, Liaena checked to ensure the thing was loaded with a suitable vial as she approached the groaning mass of limbs cautiously. “Sharon? Hey, Sharon?”

"By the light! Craaap!"

Sharon thought as the floor creaked beneath the two large, Draenei combatants, and the High Elf fell with them further down into the floor below, barely offered as much of a call as he fell down!

Being the first one to fall down, Sharon landed with a thud against the surface; his fall much lightened by his smaller volume, yet still enough to leave a bruiser.

"Not the floor... " Sharon muttered, half in distress over his ruined floor as he turned to look up, only to have his eyes suddenly expand in size as he realized that he was currently looking up at a pair of big, bubbly, dark blue buttocks belonging to none other than Malizia as the Death Knight was falling straight down towards him, rump first! The Draenei's hind quarters enough to dwarf most of the already considerable rears of the Night Elves!

"Oh crap... "

In an astounding feat of dexterity and agility, Sharon succeeded in planting his feet in the rubble below him, and kick off; causing him to perform a backflip through the air, soaringly elegantly backwards before landing on his feet!

And in just in time at that, as the second later, the big Death Knight would land flat on her butt right in the spot with a heavy *thud*, mere inches away from where Sharon was currently standing, the impact enough to shake the world around the tiny elf!

"That's one Draenei avoided. Now where's the other... ?"

Sharon thought to himself as he stared at the stunned Malizia's broad backside which currently took up most of his view, before turning his gaze upwards to look for the other who had yet to land.

As the pair of draenei hit the bottom of the stairs, Mei’s eyes opened wide when the wood gave in to their weight and the impact and they found themselves falling downwards another floor. Wooden splinters flew around them, scratching at her skin. One even drew blood, but Mei paid that no mind. What she did notice was that the tiny elf on her shoulder was gone! Melizia was a lot heavier so she fell first to the ground as the berserker was moments behind her.

As she saw her landing spot, she noticed in horror the tiny elf under her! If she fell on him with this speed, she would squash him like a bug! In a panicked moment of reflex, she used her arms to spin herself in the air, propelling herself to the side just missing the tiny Sharon. Spinning on the ground, she crashed into a wooden cabinet and felt a piercing pain in her arm.

Her body felt somewhat heavier than she was used to, as she slowly rose from the ground. Using the wall to lean on, she finally stood on her two feet as she looked around the room, the death knight was still staying on the ground, probably confused and shocked from the impact she suffered.

“You alright, mister tiny mage? You didn’t get hurn when I fell right?” Mei asked, throwing a look at the tiny Sharon. After all he did help her earlier so she owned him a debt of gratitude for that. She was going to have to find a way to repay him.

Making a single step, she noticed again the pain in her arm, there was a piece of wood sticking out. Grinding her teeth, she reached with her other arm, pulling it fast as blood ran down her arm. She then continued walking forward, reaching Ryuuna.

“This is it... this time die for good… go to your dark overlords!!!” Mei shouted as she rose up her leg and brought it down at the death knight’s head with full strength.

She planned to kill the death knight today! With her death, her vengeance would be complete! It had to be done for the eternal peace of her friends!

“…I’m going down there”

"No, you should be careful! That Death Knight looked particularly mean!" Vashi would warn as Liaena moved towards the hole, but the Night Elven Magi's words of warning fell on deaf ears as Liaena plainly ignored her, the little black haired girl jumping down after the two Draenei + her boyfriend.

"I should probably look after her... please stay right here and do not get yourself into any further trouble!" Vashi then said as she turned to look at Kathlin, before throwing half an eye up towards the stairwell above them, eying the cinders currently attached the surrounding walls.

"And... if you could do something about that fire, it'd be nice! I don't think mistress would approve of this house burning down prematurely... "

Vashi said, half trapped in her own mind, before the Night Elven magi turned around and jumped down the hole.

Casting a quick spell as she fell, she gracefully levitate the bottom of the fall; landing gently on her feet next to Liaena. Looking forward, she could see the two Draenei. Malizia was sitting on her butt, looking like she had just been hit by a speeding rhino, while Mei was speaking to something directly behind Malizia, although from where she stood, Vashi could not make out what it was; her vision blocked by the large Death Knight.

But when Mei brought her foot up to strike down on the sitting Malizia, Vashi would immediately spring into action, raising her staff!

"I'll help too!" Vashi called out to Mei as she pointed her staff at Malizia, and a ball of silver mist shot out from the tip! The magical sphere zoomed through the air like a rocket, hitting Malizia square in the chest with enough force to push the large Draenei backwards! And just in time, as Mei brought her foot down onto the Death Knight in an epic combo attack, resulting in Malizia barely moving a couple of inches back from the blast before Mei would hammer her back down into the ground with her foot!

"Whooo! Great hit!" Vashi cheered from where she stood, waving at Mei!

“Sharon!” Liaena cried out as she caught sight of the little mage stranded in the middle of the cellar floor. The girl swooped forward to pick him up as Mei executed a fairly impressive mid-air manoeuvre to avoid the high-elf and crashed into some boxes instead. “Are you okay? Sorry about the gate-crashers, I was about to throw them out…”

“This is it... this time die for good… go to your dark overlords!!!”

-STOMP-

“…I think we’ve won anyway” Liaena stated as the combination of Draenei stomp and Vashi bolt hammered onto the Death-Knight’s head, the latter sprawled on an unconscious mess on the floor. The girl eyed Mei with a rare look of respect in her eyes. “Thanks for the assist. Although really….do I know you?”

“She was summoned from a portal, so probably not” Kathlin called down from the hole in the floor above them. Liaena gave the broken floorboards an odd look, then glanced at Mei askance.
“….So is she a construct then?”

“Probably not, constructs don’t bleed”

“Right.” Liaena agreed after a moments consideration of this point, before returning her attention to Mei. “….Right! Sit down! You are literally running on adrenaline, your arm is bust up and I’m unconvinced about concussion” the girl was fearlessly pushing the huge Draenei at this point. This might normally have had zero effect, but Mei found herself floating under the effects of zero gravity once again. This allowed Liaena to propel her effortlessly across the floor to dump her onto an old chair that had been left as one of the rooms sole furnishings besides the shelves.

Taking a closer look at Mei’s arm that was currently bleeding profusely, Liaena wrinkled her nose as she dug into her bag to come out with a small vial and a roll of bandages. “Get down here, would you!?”

“Coming. Just dealing with cinders” Kathlin’s voice floated back through the hole. “Li - is there any liquid in this house that’s not flammable? I can only find alcohol”

“Really? I’d have thought water would be the thing that’s not touched” Liaena sniffed, before returning her attention to Mei as she uncorked the vial with a distinctly ominous sounding ‘plop’. “…This might sting a bit”

“Are you okay? Sorry about the gate-crashers, I was about to throw them out…”

"Yes, they are a bit persistent... "

Sharon muttered as he glanced across to see Malizia fly across the cellar for a moment; courtesy of Vashi's magic; right before being kick-hammered right into the ground - coincidentally at the very same spot Sharon had been standing only seconds ago!

"That... might have been an inconvenience at best. Good save, Li!"

The High Elf thought to himself, before smiling up at Liaena.

"That said, I think we have neutralized the most of them. Though what with some of them hidden as Night Elves, it's really hard to say. Maybe we should get Rithrynn or some other Night Elf who knows the warband very well to help us out."

Sharon reasoned as he thought about the intruders posing as Night Elves, which was a trick once used by Liaena now being used against them. Although he had to commend the intruders on their creativity, he was not so sure he could say the same about the execution of their plan.

And they had defeated the Death Knight surprisingly easily...

"Speaking of Rithrynn, do you know where she is? I thought she normally spearheads us during these combat situations." Sharon would suddenly comment as he sat atop of Liaena's shoulder as she tended to Mei, throwing the girl a quizzical look.

The death knight was finally down, it took the berserker a few moments to realize it as she took a shaky step back and saw the night elf mage waving at her. She returned her a big sincere smile. She owned the night elf mage a huge debt.

It was then that the human woman attracted her attention with the question. Well there was no way they met before… they may have passed on the street, but Stormwind is a huge city. There is no way to know everyone in it. When the other human woman interrupted and explained how Mei appeared, the berserker nodded.” Yes… I’m not construct. Many years ago I was caught by warlocks… they did something to me back then and since that event I seem to be attracted to summoning portals… whoa…” Mei suddenly was stopped mid explaining as Liaena, pushed her easily onto a chair. Well the draenei had no strength anymore. Her numbed by the berserker pain and sensations began to return.” No problem, I doubt it will be worse than infernal fires… I will do love some alcohol to drink while you deal with the wound though…”

“Miss… night elf mage…” Mei called to Vashi, using her still working hand to call the mage closer.” May I learn your name? I owe you a great debt of gratitude for summoning me here even if you didn’t intend it.” The draenei warrior said with a gentle smile.” I would have hugged you, but my body refuses to move right now.” She said to the mage.

“No matter what, I will return this debt with my whole being. Let me stay by your side from now on!” The draenei pleaded to Vashi, her face sincere." I'm a good warrior, I will protect you well!" She added quite humbly actually for her skills were way beyond simply good.

"I will do love some alcohol to drink while you deal with the wound though…”

"Well, we are in the cellar... " Vashi would comment as her eyes drifted across the rows upon rows of shelves that had not been collapsed during the first fall.

Most of them had already been scavenged dry by the rest of the warband in their endless search for more wine to keep their never-ending party going. However, Vashi was able to find a small bottle beneath one of the shelves, lying in the dark of a corner which the Night Elven mage picked up and brushed off, before bringing it towards Mei.

” I would have hugged you, but my body refuses to move right now.”

"I, uh,-"

“No matter what, I will return this debt with my whole being. Let me stay by your side from now on!”

"I... "

"I'm a good warrior, I will protect you well!"

At that moment, Vashi simply froze right on the spot where she was standing in front of the sitting Draenei, merely holding the wine bottle as if she had completely forgotten what to do with it!

Was this mysterious Draenei actually commenting on her magical skills and abilities as something that could be considered a positive thing?! Was she not going to scold her for any near-friendly fire incident or anything?! The gears that were usually churning away in Vashi's brain had come to a complete standstill at Mei's kind words and lofty promises, to the point she simply stood in front of her in completely silence for a couple of moments.

"That's... that's very sweet." Vashi eventually came to realize that the world was already moving ahead, as she quickly took a step closer to Mei, holding up the bottle to her.
"Oh, I think this is what you might want! I'm not that good with wine, but I think it's a good label! It looks fancy!"

As she handed the bottle over to Mei, Vashi got a strange tingling in the back of her mind that there was something she was forgetting.

...

...

Nope, it was probably nothing!

Maybe it was the fact that she didn't have a corkscrew, but that did not matter much, seeing as she had plenty of spells that could function in the place of one! Obviously she was not thinking clearly, she thought to herself, before finally smiling at Mei.

"You fought really well, miss Draenei. But you need to be more careful. I also recommend a swig or two before you let the human girl do her thing. I hear she's good, but can be quite rough!"

“I’ve heard one of those things, at least” Kathlin observed dubiously as she floated slowly down from the hole in the ceiling. “Li, maybe you should let me handle that”

“Hmm…I’ve run out of disinfectant” Liaena mused aloud as she peered at the most serious looking jagged wound in Mei’s arm. Choosing to completely ignore the other apprentice, the girl’s eyes fixated on the bottle Mei had just been handed. “Perfect, thanks”

Removing it with a deft swipe out of the much larger woman’s hands, the girl reached into her bag to produce a corkscrew that she held like a weapon. Liaena then started to attack the cork with a vengeance, levering it slowly out of the bottle as Kathlin hovered behind with an Are-You-Sure-You-Know-What-You’re-Doing look painted all over her face. “Poultice”

“….I do rank you, you know”

Glancing around briefly in the fairly decimated cellar, Kathlin reached down to grab the edge of her robe and tear off a sizeable length of it. Rolling this up and passing it to Liaena, the latter started cheerfully soaking it in alcohol. “Really? Since when?”

“Forever? But I passed an exam, so it’s now official”

“Well congratulations. I’m sure that gave you all you need in real-world skills” Liaena said in a decidedly sardonic tone as she pressed the soaked poultice into the cut – hard. From Mei’s perspective, it was as though her arm had just been set on fire. Kathlin watched her eyes anxiously for any sign of a bezerker rage. “Tell me, did they test your kidnapability?”

“No.”

Kathlin pointed up at the Draenei, who looked as though she wasn’t particularly enjoying being the centre of the two girls’ attention – particularly Liaena’s. “Would you mind if I healed her now?”

“….”

“Fine, fine….I’ve cleaned the wound for you” the smaller girl grumbled after a long, grumpy silence. Shifting away from Mei, Kathlin replaced her at the Draenei’s side, laying a hand on the still oozing wound as she gave Mei a light smile. “I’m very sorry to hear about your warlock problem. Light protect you. And uhm, heal you”

Closing her eyes, Kathlin raised her chin up to look towards the ceiling as she began to mouth words silently under her breath. As she did so, a glow started to emanate from under the hand that was resting on Mei’s arm, rapidly increasing to then fade away. As the girl finished the prayer and removed her hand, the bleeding wound was replaced with scarred tissue that looked like the injury was at least a week old. The girl gave her a somewhat awkward smile, shrugging her shoulders clumsily before moving on to the next injury, a far less grievous wound in her leg. “I can’t…uh, promise the protection bit, but I’ll do my best”

“She can’t fight” Liaena informed Mei in a loud, not-whisper. A hand reappeared briefly from behind the massive hulk that was Mei to hold up a finger defensively. “Protect those. That protect themselves. Scripture!"

With his question left hanging dead, Sharon nodded.

"I guess nobody knows where that girl is then."

Well, obviously with the exception of one; Naliyah, whom seemed to have some kind of mental GPS of Rithrynn, to know her every location. But Sharon had no clue as to where Naliyah was either.

"Not the most pressing matter, regardless!"

As the conversation between Kathlin and Liaena dragged on, with Kathlin being positioned on the other side of the big Mei, making her rather hard to see; the tense atmosphere became easily noticeable, to the point at which Sharon wondered if Mei couldn't genuinely taste the salt between the two priestesses.

"Hrmmmmgh... " A low groaning eminated from the other end of the cellar as the previously unconscious body of the Death Knight began to move, Malizia opening a weary eye as the bedraggled Draenei returned to life.

Noticing the crowd that had gathered on the opposite room of the cellar, with everyone gathered around Mei, Malizia would receive a small grin on her face. Suddenly raising an arm towards them, she would create a wave of energy that crashed into all of them.

Within seconds, the first thing the group would hear would be the quiet muttering from Malizia, before a wall of force hit them from behind, knocking Mei, Vashi, Kathlin, Liaena and Sharon forward with considerable force and into a pile on the other end of the room!

"Not today!" Malizia panted as she reached into a pouch hanging by her side, producing a scroll of some kind. Unfolding it and quickly muttering what sounded like an enchantment, the Death Knight would be consumed by a white light, before disappearing into thin air!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appearing outside, 30ft above the mansion, Malizia would rematerialize.

At first, she was smiling.

Then she was frowning, as she realized she was not standing on anything.

Then, looking down, and realizing she was currently hovering above the mansion; gravity about to kick in; she would gasp, before letting out a cry as she began falling!

Landing onto the tilted roof, she would crash into the snow, passing by a rather surprised Sentinel as she raced towards the edge!

"Shit! Shit-shit-shit-shit-sit!" Malizia would exclaim as she flailed around and sliding down through the half frozen snow on the roof, grabbing about to try to get ahold of something; which just so happened to be the end of the cloak of the surprised sentinel; whom in turn was dragged off her post and with Malizia as she continued downwards!

In one moment, Vashi was lost in her own blushing as she was staring back at Mei, unsure what to even say as her dark blue, purple skin gained a very visible pink hue.

In the next moment, Vashi then found herself lying on top of a fallen Mei, having just been knocked over by a sudden force wave of some kind!

"I... !" Vashi merely gasped, looking down at Mei whom she was lying on top of with an astounded expression. But the cause of the expression would be less the sudden attack from behind, and more the position that she found herself in!

Or on...

"I... did not intend that, sorry... but thanks for catching me!" Vashi would eventually find a sufficient amount of words to produce a coherent sentence, looking down at the Draenei currently lying under her, whom in turn was probably lying on top one of the human girls that Vashi could no longer see. Now with a smile on her face, Vashi would raise a hand and reach down towards Mei's face, gently touching her cheek.

"You're quite cute." She eventually said, raising an eyebrow at Mei.
"Are you sure you were not sent to me as a gift from the goddess or some kind?"

Vashi gently chuckled as she winked slyly at Mei, playfully tilting her head as she looked down at the Draenei.

“Nahh… I had to at least risk this much, considering I went against a fully armed death knight.” Mei replied as the bottle of alcohol was taken from her hands.” If I had proper equipment, I wouldn’t have taken this much damage, but hey… I live… still.” She said with a slight smirk and shrug.” I’ve gotten used to being all wounded up a long time ago so rough and painful treatment of said wounds isn’t anything new to me.”

As the poultice was pressed really hard onto her wound, Mei’s nerves once again exploded with pain as her eyes narrowed slightly, her mouth tightly shut and her other arm gripping the arm of the chair she was sitting on with such strength that the wood began making a sound of being crushed.

“Don’t worry about it, that was a long time ago and they got what they deserved.” Mei replied at Kathlin’s comment and let out a sigh of relieve as the healing magic started. She felt the warmth in her arm and watched with smile as the wound began to close up and finally vanished, leaving only a scar behind.” Heh, light cannot protect me. I just always seem to end in harms way no matter what.” Mei mused.” If it’s not portals, it will be so many other things. One way or another I get hurt a lot.”

“Huh… that is one way of looking at it.” She replied to Liaena. This smaller girl certainly talked in an interesting way.

“Well… we left two of the night elves back in the room where I appeared. Maybe one of those is the one you are looking for?” Mei said when the elf mage stated about the missing night elf.” I may rage a lot, but I don’t really lose my attention to the surroundings.”


“RYUUNAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Mei shouted as she heard the death knight’s words, as she twisted her body to fall on her back to catch Vashi. Melizia was about to escape… or not… huh. She wasn’t sure why, but she had the feeling the other draenei’s plans wouldn’t go that well. Well no need to chase right now and she wasn’t really able to. Next time they meet, she isn’t going to escape though, especially now that she knows Ryuuna is in Stormwind.

“No need to thank me. I told you, didn’t I? That I will protect you~” Mei replied with calm voice as the night elf touched her face. The night elf mage had made a complete turn from being shy and unable to talk to flirting.” Who knows… Maybe… it isn’t always that I get dragged to the portals…” She replied with a smile, looking into the eyes of the night elf. They were beautiful.” Actually… will you help me get up now, miss mage? I have the feeling the human girl under us would appreciate it.”

“….”

“Oh no, don’t mind us” Kathlin said meekly as Mei twisted around to realise that she and Vashi were in fact floating several inches off the floor. Underneath them both in their shadow were the two girls, both giving them amused smiles – one decidedly more sardonic than the other. “Do carry on. The church doesn’t discriminate”

“Not sure….Night Elves, they’re basically love’s terrorists” was Liaena’s input into the equation as she clambered to her feet. “--and we preach against radicalisation”

“It’s alright. Draenei and Kel’dorei actually have similarities in their mating practices, despite their different background. While Draenei are not necessarily matriarchal, their culture upholds fighting for their mate and as for areas of stimulation---“

“SHIT! The Death Knight! Where did it go!?” Liaena cut off Kathlin’s recitation of an encyclopaedia with a curse as she locked eyes on the striking absence of Malizia in the room. Glancing around, the girl hissed a couple few choice words under her breath as she realised Sharon was also not immediately to be seen. “Sharon? Sharon! Where are you!?”

Hurrying over to where Sharon had been thrown against the wall, Liaena picked up the little elf gently to deposit him with the greatest of care on her shoulder. “Sorry, Sharon. I’ve got your antidote here”

“Gahh…I hate it when you’ve beaten a bad guy, fair and square – and they just up and vanish!! What’s the justice in that!? It’s like cheating!!”

“You – Vashi. Save the canoodling for later. Do you know where that Death Knight went!? She must have teleported, right? Can you trace that?” Liaena demanded as she strode back towards Vashi and Mei – neither of whom seemed particularly eager to disentangle from each other.

“It depends on the spell, Li. If it was an extradimensional portal, she could be anywhere” Kathlin volunteered quietly as she also got to her feet, with a brief nod in Mei’s direction. “Like what happened with your friend here. But if it was a teleport, this house is covered with anti-teleportation wards. It’d be pretty difficult to defend if it wasn’t, let’s be fair. So she’s still inside the land boundary”

The girl bobbed her head in Sharon’s direction. “Is that right, Mister Dal’dieb?”

"This day just keeps getting better and better... "

Sharon thought as he was picked up by Liaena. Being forcefully pushed and knocked back into a stone wall was rarely a fun experience for anyone, regardless of their size. Though for whatever consolation it was, his sudden meeting with the wall had not been accompanied by an equally sudden meeting with the rear end of a large Night Elf flying in behind him or similar.

All things considered, it could have been worse.

“Is that right, Mister Dal’dieb?”

"Yes, if she's using a normal scroll of teleportation, she should be within 30 feet of the mansion in any direction. But although the barrier may have stopped the teleportation short, it won't prevent her from simply running past it once she's out." Sharon would reply to Kathlin as he looked towards the apprentice, suddenly smiling as he nodded with his head.
"And good job on that description on the nature of spacial magic. I could almost have sworn it was something you had taken out of one of my own arcane thesis a couple of centuries back!"

Commendations aside, Sharon soon realized that they had a more pressing matter; that being the runaway Death Knight who was presumably getting closer and closer to escaping for every moment they wasted chatting.

"We should not delay, however. Either the front yard or the roof will be our best way of spotting her! Once we do, I got a couple of spells that could help us catch her."

Vashi was rather surprised at the sound of Liaena and Kathlin's noticeably not-pained voices, before realizing that she and Mei were in fact floating; fact that had initially completely passed her by due to being so caught up in Mei's eyes to really notice!

"Wait, you're saying the Death Knight is gone? ... "

It took a while, but eventually Vashi would succeed in tearing her attention away from the Draenei to look around for the second Draenei; which at this time was nowhere to be seen, having seemingly vanished from her spot.

"It's almost like every cheesy story ever... when the heroes got the upper hand against the villain, he just uses some cheeky means to escape right out of their clutches!"

“You – Vashi. Save the canoodling for later. Do you know where that Death Knight went!? She must have teleported, right? Can you trace that?”

"Oh, easy!" Vashi gleamed as she sat up on the hovering Mei, raising a hand whilst concentrating on something. A blue, shimmering mist briefly wreathed her fingers, before she suddenly looked up and pointed at the roof.
"Oh, she went that-a-way! Straight up, if we hurry, we'll... WHOAAAAHH!"

Vashi was in the middle of explaining while also at the same time trying to get off Mei. But even though the Draenei was suspended in the air above the ground, she was by no means stabilized; a fact soon discovered by Vashi as she, and Mei, suddenly spun around mid-air as the mage had accidentally leaned too far to the right!

*

Meanwhile, up in one the high towers of the mansion that Captain Serphia had made her own, the door would open up as the Captain walked in with a big smile on her face.

"Ohh Syn'dial, I never realized before that you looked so beautiful... " Serphia would speak, gazing down at something she was holding in her hand; which on further inspection would reveal itself to be the shrunken form of Rithrynn, the tiny sentinel trying desperately to wriggle herself out of the Captain's grip while throwing her a pleading look.

"Uh, mistress, clearly you are mistaken! You are not yourself, you'd normally never say,- !"

However, in her rapid talk, Rithrynn would be promptly silenced as Serphia laid a finger on her mouth!

"Sshhh... I may have been mistaken my entire life, but that does not make this realization any less true." Serphia said with a smirk as she placed Rithrynn down on one of the cupboards next to the bed, before the Captain next moved her hands to begin unbuckling and removing her sentinel uniform with an impressive degree of efficiency. Although perhaps there was not much to remove to begin with...

Rithrynn, whom had been about to say something in the beginning, was left dumbstruck and with her jaw hanging as the tiny elf simply gazed up at the massive, towering body of her Captain now looming in front of her, most of her view taken up by Serphia's large hips right in front of her!

"One moment, just you and me, it will be... " Serphia was about to begin talking when suddenly she would be interrupted by a scream from outside!

Looking to her left and out the window, Serphia's eyes would widen as she saw one of her Sentinels + Death Knight just slide down the side of the roof outside the tower in a duo of shrieks!

" ... "

" ... "

"Should we investigate that?" Rithrynn carefully suggested, looking up at her Captain with a hopeful look.

"Oh no, they got it under control." Serphia would quickly reason, before turning back to gaze down at Rithrynn with a particularly mischievous grin on her face!
"Now, where were we... "

*

"LET. GO. OFF. ME!" The Sentinel would shout as she hung from the edge of the roof, with the heavy baggage of the big Malizia hanging from her legs below as the Sentinel squirmed around, trying to get the Draenei off!

"You fell first, tentacle face, so you should make the drop!"

“Yes, she teleported just as she hit us with some form of magic attack that led us to our current position.” Mei explained as Liaena started to panic up a little, searching for Sharon.” He should be fine… somewhere…around here I think.”

“She wouldn’t be able to move very fast for a while at least.” Mei said to the rest as they wanted to chase after Melizia.” The damage she took will take some time to heal, not to mention I nearly shattered her skull with that stomp earlier. It would be frankly miracle if she can walk in straight line.” Mei stated with a smile, as she found herself being the comfortable sitting place for the night elf mage on her. Vashi looked adorable.

What she didn’t expect was the fact they spun in midair as the centers of gravity changed, but they still were kept in midair. Mei quickly pulled Vashi into a hug to protect the night elf’s head from meeting the stone floor.

“Careful there…” She said, no being above Vashi.” Can someone break this levitation already?” She asked with a frown.” And while you are at it, it would be good if we teleport outside.”

“As for you…” She said, looking back at Vashi.” Call me Mei… My name is Meirie Leran, but everyone calls me simply Mei cause it’s easier.” She said with a smile, now that she learned the night elf’s name – Vashi.” You know, you do have a very pretty name, miss Vashi…”

“But yeah… I suppose we have to leave the personal stuff for later… someone break the levitation and let’s go.”