[IC] "Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

[Sinerathin]

“Thanks so much. Um…were you going this way?”

Astrid merely stared back at Liaena, keeping a smile on her face as the Night Elf was still watching.

"No... "

"Okay then, have a happy season!" Liaena said with a provocative sweetness that left Astrid's seething with fury behind her happy mask. Choosing to remain idle and not make any sudden moves, she watched as Ashei and Liaena walked away, the little girl leaning on the Night Elf's hips with her arms around her waist as if Ashei was her big protector or something. If it hadn't been for the fact that she knew the surrounding context, Astrid could imagine that she could otherwise easily have mistaken Ashei and Liaena for being in an intimate relationship or something judging by how close they walked.

This was the moment that most rogues would view as failed, and would leave.
However, there was just something about the human girls' attitude that stabbed at Astrid's professional pride. Not to mention the frustration from potentially losing her only clue as to Donald's whereabouts!

As Ashei and Liaena had walked a few feet ahead, Astrid suddenly took a step forward behind them. Retrieving a blackened bamboo blowpipe from her cloak, she raised it up to her mouth before blowing; sending a tranquilizer dart the size of a small needle flying through the air towards the Night Elf! Liaena, who had been throwing frequent looks behind her, saw Astrid with the blowpipe; but by that time, it was already too late!
The dart found its mark, hitting the back of Ashei's neck above her collar and beneath her helmet, where it dug its way through her hood, hair and eventually into her skin.

"Now you are mine, bitch... " Astrid muttered to herself as her eyes shifted towards Liaena, throwing the human girl a devilish grin.

[Rithy]

“Lii, where are you going?!” Rithrynn called after Kath-Liaena as the human girl ran out of the room like a torpedo, followed by the sound of a pair of feet rapidly ascending the stairwells from the atrium.

“What’s her problem? I thought she loved alchemy and experiments!” Vashi complained as she let out a huff, resting her hands on her hips; all the while the sprinkler came dangerously close to setting one of the scrolls on her skirt on fire!

“She’s not usually like this… it’s almost as if she was a completely different person entirely.” Rithrynn mumbled, throwing a confused look at the exit to the living room.

“Maybe someone have possessed her, or kidnapped her and taken on her guise with a morph potion. Those are popular infiltration techniques!” Vashi said jokingly, finally removing her sprinkler from her skirt just in time to save the half charred scroll.
However, when she looked back at Rithrynn; she got no reply from the sentinel, as Rithrynn merely stared back at her with big eyes. In her mind, her brain was rapidly processing memories from previous episodes, slowly beginning to piece together the different pieces of a rather uncomfortable puzzle.

“What? …“ Vashi asked, beginning to worry that she had said something wrong.
“Is everything okay, Ri?”

“Nothing. Oh, I mean, it’s all okay. Gotta go!” Rithrynn hastily said, before she turned around and raced out of the room with the same speed as Kath-Liaena, giving no further explanation to Vashi who was once again left on her own.
Charging up the stairs, Rithrynn saw a glimpse of Liaena’s behind as it rounded a corner. Sprinting after her like a wolf after a sheep, Rithrynn rounded the corner. Kath-Liaena barely managed to scream before the Night Elf charged straight into her, smashing them both through a door into a bedroom where Rithrynn pressed Kath-Liaena up against the walls, screaming hysterically down at her!

“What have you done with Li?!”

*

Feeling a sting in the back of her neck, Ashei quickly stopped, letting out a small yelp of discomfort.

“Oww, goddess; what the twisting nether was that for?!” Ashei sneered angrily as she reached behind her head to locate the source of the pain. Quickly locating the dart, the Night Elf pulled it out from her neck with a quick jerk before she held it up in front of her and Liaena.

“Ohhh… “ Ashei’s eyes widened and her face formed into a classic 'oh-shit' expression as she realized what it was, throwing a quick yet concerned look at Li-Kathlin and back at the dart.
“That’s… not, go-oooohd... zzzZZZz”

Falling to sleep in an upright position, the Night Elf began to tilt towards Li-Kathlin who was trying to keep her standing. The little girl’s efforts to keep Ashei on her feet resulted in a massive failure however, as Ashei suddenly fell down over Li-Kathlin, pulling them both down into the snow with the little girl now trapped under the much larger Night Elf who was currently deep in her own comfortable dreams!

[Feychild]

“Please, keep your voice down” Kathlin implored the Night Elf, suspended as she was several feet above the floor as her feet dangled freely. Glancing around nervously, the girl saw a drunk Night Elf peek into the room that they had just crashed through, visibly shrug at the sight, and wander off clutching a bottle.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER!?”

“…Nothing!” Kathlin protested quickly. The girl noticed an eyetwitch from the Night Elf that strongly suggested that something extremely painful was inbound very soon, and raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I’m just….trying to help. I’m a friend of hers too”

In the small lull that this comment afforded her, Kathlin chewed on her lip worriedly as she considered the situation, before pointing a finger up at the Night Elf. “You’re Rithrynn, right? So if Liaena was….theoretically off doing something she didn’t want anyone else to know about, then it wouldn’t be too bad for you to know as well? And you wouldn’t tell anyone else? Theoretically”

“……”

“…Could you just shut the door?” Kathlin suggested cautiously into the silence that greeted this pronouncement, pointing over Rithrynn’s shoulder at the entirely open doorway, door swinging open, for anyone to walk in and overhear the conversation. “…Then, I’ll explain. Promise”

*

Liaena gave a yelp of surprise and pain as Ashei collapsed right on top of her, the little girl failing to step back quickly enough to avoid the falling elf. Pinned underneath the Night Elf, Liaena struggled to push the elf off, free herself and get to her satchel. “This could be bad. Really, really bad. I didn’t thought she’d go that far!”

About to levitate the elf off her, and probably throw her at Astrid, Liaena hesitated at the last moment.

“….”

“How much do I want to stay in character?”

*CLONK*

That moment of indecision had cost her dearly, as Astrid, having started to run after them the moment Ashei had hit the floor, had jumped over the Night Elf and walloped the little girl solidly around the back of the head with the blackjack. Liaena immediately crumpled into the snow as Astrid put all her strength into shoving the snoring Night Elf away with a grunt of pain, before leaning over to grab the unconscious girl by the collar.

As Astrids fingers closed around her clothes Liaena suddenly leapt into life with a vengeance; latching onto the woman’s arm to pull herself to her feet as she tore herself free. The pain in her head was intense, but it didn’t stop her hitting out with all her strength for Astrids bad shoulder while the woman was still stepping back in shock at the unexpected assault.

The resulting scream from Astrid was beautiful as Liaena gouged her fingers into the half-healed cut through the layer of bandages. The girl scratched, hit, kicked and punched at the other for all that she was worth as she bore down on the woman, hoping to overpower the rogue under the initial surprise attack of blows!

[Sinerathin]

"Ohhh, little bitch! Gah!" Astrid snarled as she desperately defended herself against Liaena's frenzied attack! Liaena had taken the rogue by surprise, and been quite talented at locating her weak point which was her shoulder - a weakness that Liaena had not taken for granted in her hysterical assault.

Yet past the first barrage of assaults, the fight began to go considerably better while Astrid stepped back and blocked most of the girl's attack. Past the original surprise, Astrid quickly recognized that there was little form or rythm to Liaena's attack, as Liaena seemed to switch between angrily slapping to overly telegraphed attacks that the assassin easily countered. The worst she could do past Astrid's defense was pulling her hair and wasted kicks that, while uncomfortable; did not do much actual damage.

As Liaena tried to send yet another kick into her side, Astrid suddenly reached out and snatched Liaena's left foot mid air. Her other arm was still weak however, and could not do much more than merely block Liaena's flailing arms as the rabid girl hammered her fists down at her as if she was some sort of anvil.
Latching her still healthy arm properly around Liaena's foot that she had grabbed, Astrid began to suddenly walked forward - pushing Liaena off her balance and eventually tipping her over; as both of the women landed on the snoring body of Ashei!

Landing on top of Liaena, Astrid immediately followed up with a headbutt right into Liaena's template; an exchange that while painful ultimately ended with being worse for Liaena.
Yet to her surprise, Liaena still fought back! Although she was definitely not a professional fighter of any kind, Astrid was thoroughly impressed by the little girl's sheer resilience and endurance! One would have thought that she was a part-time boxing bag for the Night Elves in her spare time!

"Why won't you just cooperate you stupid cow!" Astrid railed furiously as she snuck her arm past Liaena's guard, giving the girl a short but firm hit in the side of her jawbone!
"WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO DO IT THE HARD WAY?!"

[Rithy]

Rithrynn continued to glare down at Kath-Liaena with extreme suspicion.

However, after the second pair of Night Elves eventually passed the door, throwing some quick looks in before wandering off again snickering to each other, Rithrynn finally began to lower Kath-Liaena to the floor.

"Don't. Move." Rithrynn warned Kath-Liaena, holding up her finger which she pointed at the human while the Night Elf walked backwards towards the door to the room, keeping her eyes on Kath-Liaena at all times. Upon reaching the door, she quickly turned around, closed it; turned the key, before pulling it from the keyhole and stuffing it into her pocket.

Marching back to Kath-Liaena, Rithrynn grabbed the human girl once more, and carried her over to one of the nearby chairs by the night table where she dumped Kathlin down into it.
Sitting down in the bed herself on the opposite of Kath-Liaena, Rithrynn leaned forward and peered straight at Kath-Liaena like a ravenous hawk.

"You're her friend?" Rithrynn repeated, raising a brow suspiciously at Kath-Liaena.
"Last I recall, Li only had rivals... "

...

"She is also a crazy alchemist. You mean she has friends she hasn't blown up yet?"

*

Ashei was walking through the forests of Ashenvale on a calm, beautiful night. The moon was on its highest in the sky, sending rays of silver moonlight down through the branches of the trees that reflected off the pristine water in the river.
Short of the cooing of the owls, it was a tranquil evening. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to take in all the sounds and the smell as she allowed her mind to drift away.

But as she took another step, she suddenly heard some rustling from the bushes next to her. Turning around, she barely had time to see the figure of another person before the mysterious assailant had already jumped right onto her, forcing Ashei down into the ground with a crash.

"Haaaai, Ashi! Where have you been?!" Naliyah exclaimed excitedly down at Ashei, who cast a horrified look back up at her fellow sister!
"I've been looking all over for you; ohhh, it's so beautiful tonight; we're gonna have so much fun, yeees!"

"NNNOOOOOOOooo!"

*

"NOOOOoooo!" Ashei suddenly awoke from the tranquilizing dart, shooting up and throwing both of the humans off her! Scrambling to get to her knees, Ashei looked frantically around to get a bearing on the situation!

"Ohhh, wait... I'm just being attacked by assassins. It was just a dream, phew... "

As Liaena-Kath sat up in the snow after having been thrown off the Night Elf, she barely had time to gasp just in time to see Ashei's fist as it rocketed straight into her face! As Ashei's mailed fist hit Liaena square in the face with a tasty crunch, it sent the human girl straight back down into the snow with a bleeding nose!

"Ah, oh... wait, I think that was the wrong one." Ashei suddenly mumbled as she looked down at Liaena-Kath who was currently writhing around in the snow, clutching her mauled face. Quickly spinning around, Ashei launched the plated surface of her wristguard straight into Astrid's face as the assassin tried to get back up on her feet; immediately knocking Astrid back down into the snow!

Grabbing Astrid by her cloak, she pulled the assassin to her as she glanced over at Liaena.

"Are you okay, little human? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you."

[Feychild]

"Auuugghhh...." Liaena groaned miserably into the floor, the cold snow doing its best to sooth her poor maimed nose. Raising her head slowly off the ground, she looked up at the struggling pair to see how the fight was coming along.

It was proving to be short, and to the point. Astrid might have had multiple knives and professional experience, but Serphia's sentinels tended to have a hundred years training in hand-to-hand as a bare minimum, and considerable strength and girth on account of their size on top of that. Liaena winced as Ashei laid a blow into the unfortunate rogues stomach and Astrid doubled over with a gasp. "...yeah, you should really have upped your dosage. Guess it didn't cater for Night-Elves"

-BANG-
-THUMP-

*splat*

Liaena was climbing slowly to her feet, using the wall of the building to steady her as Astrid collapsed into a crushed heap at Ashei's feet. The Night-Elf was polishing her bloody gauntlet thoughtfully as she looked over to Liaena. "Sorry, human. You all look the same to me"

"Mmh" Liaena said in response to that. Looking over at the rogue, Ashei followed her gaze. "...What're you going to do with her?"

"Weeell...I guess I'll keep it for now. Mistress did say she wanted another assassin, to replace that other one that got lost" Ashei said thoughtfully after a long pause. Scooping the assassin up, Astrid hung limply over one arm as she turned to go. "Come along human. It was this way, wasn't it?"

Liaena limped up behind her, quietly pulling out her dart gun to level it at the non - armoured small of her back. "Yes"

"Oh, goo...ooooooood"

"...sorry" Liaena told the Night Elf slightly apologetically as Ashei subsided into a snoring heap on the ground yet again, spilling Astrid out of her arms as she did so. Crouching down beside the rogue, Liaena started to search through the other womans clothes, discarding any daggers, guns, garrotes, or any otherwise violent and/or pointy things and putting them into a nice little heap next to the Night Elf. Any jars of powder, or vials, she put into her own satchel, for later. After she was done she pulled out a little vial of shrink potion, forcing it into Astrids mouth to shrink the woman to a tiny doll sized figure, putting her into the other sock of the pair and tying it off to place it in her pocket. Lastly, she pulled the unconscious Night Elf across the road to prop her against the wall of a nearby building and (mostly) out of the wind.

That done, she turned her face into the blizzard again as she set off into the snow. Her face was throbbing bitterly, and her head was ringing from the fight earlier, but it was not just her condition that made it even more important to get off the street and into cover, but the Night Elf repercussions that were now almost inevitable to occur.

"So much for a low profile..."

*

"Yes." Kathlin responded carefully, eyeing Rithrynn sitting opposite her as though the Night Elf was planning on lunging across the room to rip her throat at any moment, which did not appear to be that far from the truth. After a moments pause as she seemed to rethink the question, a crinkle appeared on her brow. "Well, no....that depends on what you define as, uh, "blown up". But she does have friends. Like...me"

"...."

"I work at the Cathedral" Kathlin volunteered helpfully after a pause, when it became obvious that Rithrynn had little interest in maintaining her end of the conversation, instead opting to stare at Kathlin like she was a vulture and the girl was a defenceless little baby rabbit. "That's how I know Li"

"She never mentioned you"

"...Okay" the girl said somewhat awkwardly in response to Rithrynn's cold remark. In the hopes of defrosting the situation somewhat, she opted to give the elf a tentative smile. "She did tell me all about you, though"

"Really? What did she say?"

It was at Rithrynn's question that Kathlin clearly realised the hole she had dug for herself and cheerfully walked into, as her cheeks reddened noticeably. "Uhhhhhhhh....she said you were...her friend"

"...."

"And that you were...large" Kathlin mumbled into the floor when it became clear that Rithrynn was not planning on letting her off the hook. "and that you meant well, sometimes, and look--"

Breaking off, the girl shook her head as she gave Rithrynn a resigned look: "--couldn't you just ask her this, when she gets back?"

[Rithy]

"Well, where is she then!?" Rithrynn exclaimed, letting out a deep sigh at Li-Kathlin's rhetorics.
"To use her as your main defense when you won't even tell me where she is isn't going to get you far!"

Rithrynn had at least abolished any doubt that it might have been the real Liaena merely suffering from a brain damage or something that she was dealing with. The hallmark of Liaena, besides her lack of sanity or any sense of self preservation was the fact that she was more than capable of spinning a half-decent lie at worst.

"One would have thought that her royal stuntiness; mistress of lies would at least have chosen a better decoy... " Rithrynn mumbled to herself, clearly more disappointed than she was angry.
As her mind drifted back over all the things she had done for the imposter she had thought to Liaena at first, she couldn't help but grimace. If she had known it had been just one of Liaena's pawns, she would have just left Kathlin back at the tournament table and been done with it!

"Elune, I hate that girl sometimes... "

*Crash*

"Rithy, have you seen the human assassin?!" Shani called out into the room as she burst in through the door, almost knocking it down in the process. As she hastily scanned the room, her eyes landed on Rithrynn with a desperate gaze. The Night Elf shuffled her lips for a bit, shrugging her shoulders before throwing the frantic Shani a passive and indifferent look back.

"Nope... "

"Goddess, shit-shit-shit! Where the hell is he?!!" Shani grinned her teeth before slamming the door shut, continuing down the corridor. The sentinel's stressed curses could clearly be heard through the door before she eventually vanished out of hearing range. Rithrynn merely listened to the voice of Shani until it faded away, before looking back at Li-Kathlin.

"I need to know where Li is... "

[Feychild]

“I need to know where Li is…”

Tearing her gaze away from where the harassed Shani had so abruptly exited, Kathlin looked over at Rithrynn cautiously. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. Sorry”

“That man was an assassin?”

Rithrynn appearing to have subsided into a moment of gloom, Kathlin took advantage of the moment to scrutinise the Night Elf closely. The elfs bad mood was blatantly obvious, with mingled anger, frustration and worry clear on her face. “…I think I know a way to contact her though”

“….”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” the girl responded warily. Looking uncomfortable under the sudden heightened refocus of Rithrynn’s attention, Kathlin got up to start walking towards the door before opening it. “Come on. I’ll show you”

*

Opening the door to Liaena and Sharon’s room to slip inside with Rithrynn right behind her, Kathlin was vastly grateful to see that Sharon was not in residence. The only life in the room besides themselves was the small white owl perched beside the bed, who removed her head from under her wing to give them a baleful look as Kathlin approached. “Hi, Hester. How’re you doing?”

Extending her arm, the owl glared for a brief moment longer before deigning to walk up her sleeve to sit haughtily on her shoulder. Producing a treat out of her pocket to wave it enticingly in front of the birds face, Hester snatched it out of the air to begin to tear into it savagely. “Hester’s really good at tracking Li when she vanishes like this. I’m not entirely sure how she manages it, but she used to belong to a mage, you know, and there’s definitely something magical about her. See the blue in her feathers?”

Here Kathlin shifted the bird slightly, much to the latters displeasure, to point enthusiastically at the blue ends in her plumage. “Those aren’t natural pigments. I’m pretty sure they’re because of being exposed to some sort of arcane activity, and as for her diet—“

In full flow, the girl caught the expression on Rithrynn’s face and stopped abruptly. “Uhh….sorry. Anyway…"

Here Kathlin tried for a tentative smile "…do you think she might help you?”

[Rithy]

Rithrynn's eyes instinctively narrowed as she gazed up at the white owl who was sitting on Kathlin's shoulder, and the owl returned with a similar, belligerent stare.

The Sentinel knew the owl; one could say that she knew Hester way too much as it was. She had no love for Hester, and the owl had no love for her. Whatever divine powers that had intertwined their destinies sure had a terrible sense of humor as the Night Elf threw an unimpressed look down at Kathlin.

"I'm not worried if she can help. I'm worried if she WILL help... " Rithrynn explained to the human as her eyes returned to the pretentious owl.
" ... the feathered rat, meh... "

Rithrynn muttered under her breath, clearly not liking Kathlin's proposal. Although Night Elves may have been famous for making great use of the native owls of northern Kaliomdor, Hester was a pretentious feathered ball of a completely different and lesser quality. She was considerably smaller than the rest of the owls employed by the Sentinels, and lacked any of the qualities to substitute for even the weakest of them; most notably humility, obedience and loyalty.

Hester was an glorified paper weight meant to live her life as a part of the furniture in some dusty, mage study. She did not have the magnificent appearance or presence of a pure-blooded lunar owl like the ones Rithrynn had back home!

"I guess that's why she's so bitter!"

"Alright. I guess we have no other choice. Find a coat or something. I'll get my gear." Rithrynn said, quickly moving towards the door; before suddenly pausing to look back inside at Hester, glaring at the owl.
"And find some payment for the feathered fiend... "

Throwing Hester a final look of contempt; one that the owl returned in kind; Rithrynn finally turned around and disappeared out into the corridor, rushing towards her own room.

*

Within less than five minutes, Rithrynn came storming back into Liaena's chamber where Kathlin and Hester stood. The Night Elf was now wearing her Sentinel winter uniform, helmet and cloak, having acquired both her bow and her sword.

Walking inside of the room with long, careful strides; Rithrynn's eyes lay firmly on Hester whom was standing on Kathlin's shoulder. As she approached the human and owl, Rithrynn stopped; reaching inside of her cloak to pull out a cloth bag. Hester's head instinctively turned as the owl gazed suspiciously down at it as the Night Elf held it forward. Slowly untying the top, Rithrynn opened the satchel just a little bit, allowing the owl to see down into it.

"Is this enough?"

The satchel was full of chocolate balls and a few bars. Some of them were half eaten, while others remained in their paper. Reaching over to one of the shelves, Rithrynn looted some of Liaena's own chocolate, moving it back and forth in front of the owl; before dropping it down into the bag, and zipping it tight before the owl could get any closer!

"It's all yours; but only if you find Liaena for us! If you do, then you can eat until your heart stops! Got that!?"

(( maybe Ri will borrow the Nightsabers to chase Li... I feel they still have their uses ^_^ ))

[Feychild]

“Ehhh…maybe you could try and be a little more polite…” Kathlin volunteered nervously, now garbed in one of Liaena’s hooded cloaks she had apparently removed from the wardrobe. Hester, who was still perched on her shoulder, was glaring and fluffing up her feathers angrily to the point she was starting to look like a white, evil, puff-ball at Rithrynn’s comment.

Reaching out to pet her, the girl deftly avoided the attempt from the bird to snap at her as she ruffled the feathers on the back of her head. “Aw, cmon. Rithrynn’s very sorry about being so rude to you, it’s just that she’s worried about Li. And we know that only you are clever enough to find her…and you can have some chocolate now, if you want”

“….”

Edging closer to the bag that held all the goodies, Kathlin shot Rithrynn an imploring look as she hastily unzipped it to pull out a large chunk of chocolate and shove it into the beak that opened expectantly. Hester gave a muffled squawk and fluttered to the window, where she started to attack the glass panes viciously. Kathlin followed to open it, causing a flurry of snowflakes to come in as the bird left, blending almost immediately with the white of the storm.

“I think she went down towards the main gate…it’s as good a place to start as any, I guess” Kathlin mumbled as she craned her head to see where the owl had gone, before shutting the window carefully behind her. Turning to Rithrynn, she gave the elf a shy smile. “Shall we head down there then?”

*

“This weather is…something else. Wasn’t it supposed to be spring!?”

Trekking through the snow, Liaena was grateful for the storm wiping out all traces of her prints behind her, but less so for the flakes that found their way through her – undersized – cloak and shirt collar. Her scarf, she had already tied around her face to stop any blood leaking out of her badly bruised nose to leave a trail behind her, and it also had the secondary effect of warming her face – at least until the blood soaked through and left it cold and soggy.

Most of the general public had taken the general precaution of going home or taking refuge in the nearest inn or shop when the storm had hit, and it left Liaena relatively isolated as she crossed one of the canal bridges. She took solace in the thought that Astrid probably felt worse than she did.

Taking a tattered leaflet out of her pocket, she squinted at it again through the snow before turning down a side road to stop in front of a large ale-house with its large wooden door….looking recently repaired, and firmly shut. It had a very prominent ‘CLOSED FOR BUSINESS’ sign on the front as Liaena tapped on it.

-knock knock-

“…..”

*BANG* *BANG*

This time, there was some movement before a grumpy, and slightly drunk sounding voice called out from inside. “We’re closed!”

*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG---

“WHAT!?”

At this point, a shutter near the bottom of the door slid open and a very angry looking dwarf peered out. His countenance looked nearly as battered as her own, with two black eyes and a fat lip as he glared up at her. “Dinnae read the sign!? We’re closed fer tha storm! An’ fer drinking! An’ refurbishment!”

“I want to talk to Doin Broadshield, or Fran Broadshield” Liaena snapped right back. Her bruisers, and the cold weather, made her extremely unwilling to stand around outside to bicker with a random doorkeeper. “Go and tell them that it’s about Liaena Rune, and it’s important”

The dwarf squinted at her weirdly, before adopting a very recalcitrant expression. “…An’ why should I?”

“Because. Believe me when I tell you that if you don’t, they’ll have a metal boot so far up your ass you won’t be able to sit down for a week afterwards” Liaena said coldly. A glint showed itself in her mittened hand as she held up a gold piece. “…and also, because you get this if you do”

Holding it up to the hatch in the door, the money was snatched in a moment out of her hand and the latch thudded shut. Liaena grimaced as she leant her back against the wall of the building to wait. “I hope I won’t need to blow the door down. It looks expensive to replace”

[Sinerathin]

Moments passed as Liaena stood outside of the entrance in the snow without any new signals from the alehouse. Faint voices could be heard through the heavy wooden door, which through the weather looked to be actually quite new and reinforced with a solid metal frame and heavy iron studs.
Yet after almost a minute had passed, a clank could suddenly be heard from the other side of the door as it swung inwards, and light shone outwards from the warmth of the alehouse and illuminated the snow around Liaena.

"What's this talk about Liaena? Who ar,- ohh."

In the doorway stood a very familiar face, the white bearded face of a dwarf, Doin. He was wearing his armor which consisted of layers of leather, chainmail and some plates beneath his red cloak. When he saw Liaena in the form of Kathlin, the old dwarf squinted his eyes to look closer. Reaching down to a small pocket on his belt, he retrieved a pair of small glasses that he placed on his nose to give Liaena an even more scrutinizing look. But then suddenly the curiosity on the dwarf's face was replaced by a brief look of disappointment, before he shook his head.

"Ye said Rune sent ya?" Doin asked as he looked at Liaena, placing his glasses back into his belt before he opened the door completely and motioned for Liaena to step in.
"Come-in, come-in! I dunt want ye tha freeze yer butt off at me doorstep!"

As Liaena was led into the alehouse, she was met with a wave of warmth and tightly packed air eager to escape. The lower floor she had entered had multiple rows of tables lined up through it, though some of them seemed to be missing. There were two bars at the opposite ends of the room, most likely to ensure that no patron became sober during the main hours.
There was a large brick fireplace at the end of the room, which was burning with a weak flame. Large kegs of beer lined the walls alongside tall, red banners with the guild insignia of the Red Vanguard; a rampaging bull.

Close to the entrance and facing her as she entered was a large wooden bill board, with multiple notes, papers and letters attached to it through the use of an assortment of sharp objects, be it nails, daggers and even an axe. But in the middle of the billboard stood a newer, large looking note that read with bold letters "NO NIGHT ELVES ALLOWED!"

The whole main room of the alehouse was actually quite empty when considering its size. There were barely more than nine people in the room total. By the corner was the dwarven innkeeper who oversaw the reparation of some broken chairs and tables by two of the Vanguard's members, one of them being Frarn and another a young human, with a large pile of pulverized furniture next to them that still needed fixing, or more probable; salvaging.
In the center of the room a couple of feet away from them stood five other men and dwarves in red capes, surrounding one of the bar tables with various scrolls and books on it. All of them were wearing their armor, whether it be plate, leather or mail. Judging by appearance, they seemed to be some of the higher ranking members of the order. One of the older men, a human with gray hair, threw Liaena a suspicious look as she entered the alehouse; and positioned himself between the girl and the table to block her view.

"My name is Doin Broadshield. Sorry about the mess, buttercup; but we had a... ahem," Doin explained, though hesitated as threw the rest of the alehouse a quick glance.
" ... well, eh. It was a pretty big party, aheermm! ... "

Doin stopped as he had lead Liaena to the nearest table, the dwarf's mind seemingly having taken a sudden vacation as the dwarf merely stared forward at the wall for a few seconds; before he suddenly turned around and gazed up at Liaena.

"Why did ye come here? Is the little gal in trouble? The assassins? Did the Night Elves finally get tired of her?"

[Rithy]

“Shall we head down there then?”

Rithrynn peered down at Kathlin. The Night Elf sucked on her lips while furrowing her brows, gently shaking her head.

"No... not yet at least. There is one more thing that I'd like to get before we embark on our girlhunt." Rithrynn said with a thoughtful expression, seemingly deep in her own thoughts.

"What's that?"

"Transport."

*

Seconds later, Rithrynn and Kathlin were passing through the main level hallways and corridors of Sharon's house, the human having to skip to keep up with the Night Elf's long strides. Counting the doors that they passed, Rithrynn suddenly stopped at one of the guest rooms.

"Here we are. Alright, you stay outside." Rithrynn warned Kathlin, before the Night Elf opened the door; revealing a guest room occupied by three large nightsabers that instinctively turned their heads to look at the newcomers. Their eyes seemed to ignore Rithrynn, and instead gazed at Kathlin with a predatorial instinct.
The room around them was a mess. Tables had been flipped, books lay strewn around, and the queen sized bed in the middle was occupied by a white nightsaber with black stripes. Said nightsaber had also apparently torn whatever sheet and mattress had been in the bed to shreds, what with feathers and ruined cloth filling almost half the room. There were also bits of flesh and bones covering parts of the room from a butchered pig carcass that had been dropped in there earlier.

Eying the biggest nightsaber, the white one in the bed; Rithrynn went down on her knees before extending a hand.

"Heeeeere kitty kitty, come on!" Rithrynn said with the most adorable, cute voice she had. The white nightsaber merely reared its head at her, before it lazily dropped down into the bed again.
"Dammit, Nisha. I said come here!"

Rithrynn cute features quickly grew darker as the lazy nightsaber seemed to much rather continue to sleep in the bed than venture out in the snow outside. Having grown tired of Nisha's disobedience, Rithrynn let out a huff before she marched over to the bed. Grabbing the nightsaber by its tail, Rithrynn channeled all the might she had to suddenly pull the rather surprised Nisha out of the bed with one swift, decisive yank!
As Nisha fell out of the bed, the other two nightsabers immediately leaped off the floor and onto the bed where they collided into each other; and a fierce fight broke out between the two large predators that caused feathers and scraps of cloth to fly in every direction.

Nisha let out a ferocious growl as it lashed its head back to Rithrynn, but Rithrynn merely glared back down at her.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Rithrynn growled back, before she pointed towards the exit with her thumb.
"We're going out, whether you like it or not. And don't give me that sad look, you're not the victim here, so go!"

Letting out a soft groan of complaint, Nisha eventually lowered her head and walked towards the exit of the room. When she reached the doorstep, the large Nightsaber suddenly stopped to turn to look at Kathlin who was standing there, brandishing its teeth at the human girl. But another shout from Rithrynn made Nisha quickly ignore the human again, and walk down through the corridor towards the atrium.

"Bah, that overgrown housecat can be quite a pain in the ass sometimes, but she is the closest thing I have to my own mount." Rithrynn said as she walked up to Kathlin, closing the door to the room behind her. The noise from the two competing nightsabers inside could still be heard out into the hallway, as the queen-of-the-bed battle had seemingly just started in there.
"Let's hope that owl of Liaena actually finds her. Otherwise I'm tempted to give her to Nisha."

Rithrynn said as the two girls began to head for the atrium as well, with Rithrynn walking in front.

...

"Or maybe not. With all the chocolate that feathered ball has eaten in her lifetime, she might even be poisonous to her... "

*

Arriving outside after having installed a saddle and blanket on the rather unwilling Nisha, Kathlin and Rithrynn ventured out into the snowy garden with their new nightsaber companion. As as she mounted Nisha, Rithrynn was suddenly approached by the watcher Falaani from the gate, who by now seemed halfway on her way to becoming a walking snowelf!

"Hey, where are you going?" Falaani quickly called out as she hurried over to Rithrynn.

"Oh, I'm searching for the lost prisoner." Rithrynn quickly explained, but Falaani threw Rithrynn a suspicious gaze in return.

"The prisoner is hiding in the house...

"No, as far as we know, he could be outside already."

"I have to ask the mistress before,-"

"Fal, I am a LIEUTENANT remember?"

"A temporary lieutenant! "

"But still a lieutenant until the mistress says otherwise!"

Falaani paused, merely glaring up at Rithrynn.

"Fine then, but be back soon. Have you heard anything about my relief? I've been waiting for hours!"

"Nope. But since a prisoner escaped, it's probably been delayed... "

"Goddess, I hate this night!" Falaani exclaimed as she gritted her teeth, before turning and walking away; tucking her arms back under her cloak as she headed back to the gate.

As Falaani had left them, RIthrynn peered down at Kathlin from Nasha's back as she signaled for the human to come up to her.

"Mount up, human. What are you waiting for?" Rithrynn called down to her with a rather impatient voice while the Night Elf pulled her hood over her head to shield herself from the snow and the wind. The nightsaber, Nasha, turned her head as well to growl threateningly towards Kathlin!

[Feychild]

“Mount up human! What are you waiting for?”

“….”

“She’s…beautiful” Kathlin breathed after a good few seconds of Rithrynn’s comment meeting nothing with silence, and the girl continued to stare spellbound at the magnificent beast, all glossy white fur (albeit with several blood splatters still visible in her mane), silky soft and looking incredibly strokable. Approaching the tiger, Nisha turned to give her a bored stare before returning to looking for something to eat as Kathlin stroked her fur as if she was indeed, a very overgrown house cat. “Hello, Nisha. Who’s a gorgeous girl, hmm? Who—“

-SNATCH-

An impatient hand lunged down to grab the girl and yank her onto the large beast, sitting right behind Rithrynn. Taking a moment to process that she was actually riding the Nightsabre, the girls smile only increased when she did so, wrapping her arms around Rithrynn’s midriff to hold herself in the saddle as they paced slowly out of the gate. “Okay! Okay. Go left here”

“…did you see that cursed bird?”

“…No.” Kathlin admitted. The snow was still dense enough to make visibility difficult, and finding a white owl in a blizzard was a challenge all on its own. “…but that’s the road into town. She’d be more likely to have gone that way”

“….”

“By Elune, if you and that stupid parrot are leading me on a wild goose chase….”

With many more muttered complaints, Rithrynn nudged the sides of the large nightsabre and Nisha leapt forwards to gambol down the snowy street. A few seconds later she pulled up to a halt, as something caught her attention.

“Um…yeah. That does look like a Li Thing” Kathlin observed to nobody in particular as Rithrynn climbed down from the Nightsabre, gave Nisha a firm warning to stay put and started walking towards the sleeping elf propped up against the side of a building. Looking around, something else perched on a post box caught her eye. “Hester!”

The bird glared back, before fluttering over to her outstretched hand to start preening and looking extremely satisfied with herself. “You know, it isn’t very helpful if you don’t show us where you’re going. Now is it?”

Hester continued to look smug, and gave no indication of having heard her. “Hmm. Anyway. Nisha, Hester. Hester, Nisha”

Reaching out to ruffle and stroke the Nightsabres fur on her head, Nisha rolled her eyes before turning her head away. Hester meanwhile, shuffled around on her perch until she was fully facing in the opposite direction, causing Kathlin to give her a disapproving frown. “You guys….”

[Rithy]

"It's not my fault Liaena can't even raise a bloody bird properly! Hmmmpffh!" Rithrynn scoffed as she pointed accusingly up at Hester. Realizing that there was little point in arguing about it, as the bird was as stubborn as her owner herself, Rithrynn let out a deep sigh as she instead turned to look over at Ashei who was still sleeping along the wall of some random house in the middle of the street.

Walking over to her unconscious sister, Rithrynn grabbed Ashei by both her shoulders before shaking her back and forth.

"Wake up, Ash! WAKE UP!"

"Wha-wuh-weh, uh... Rithrynn?" Ashei immediately woke up as she was shaken violently back and forth by her sister. Eyes zeroing in on Rithrynn's face over her, a moment of confusion and surprises landed on Ashei's face as she recognized Rithrynn.
"What... are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing HERE?! Why were you sleeping in the middle of the street!" Rithrynn insisted, ignoring Ashei's own question. Ashei remained quiet for a moment, as the sentinel gazed around herself at the empty street, noticing Kathlin and Nisha in the back. Her own legs were almost halfway on their way to become buried by the falling snow, and she now realized how cold she actually was.

"Uhm, I was... escorting that other human girl from the mansion," Ashei said while chewing her lips, trying to remember what had happened before she had suddenly fallen asleep. Reaching behind her head, she let out a quick moan of discomfort as she yanked out a dart that she held up in between herself and Rithrynn.
"And... then I got hit by this."

Rithrynn's eyes grew greatly in size as she recognized the pin. It was obvious who's handiwork this was. For who else had no larger affection for doping down Night Elves for mild offenses than the notorious midget Liaena herself?!

" .... when you fell asleep, where did she go?"

"I don't know! Goddess, I was drugged, Ri!

"I need to find her. She's in danger!" Rithrynn quickly explained as she extended a hand to Ashei to pull the sentinel up from the snow and back onto her feet. Ashei brushed off the remaining snow flakes as she threw Rithrynn a suspicious look.

"On your own?"

"Yes, I'm her friend you see." Rithrynn explained as she walked back towards the nightsaber, before mounting up in front of Kathlin. Motioning for the human to give her the chocolate bag, Rithrynn opened it as she gazed back down at Ashei.
"That means she is less lilkely to drug me... "

Rithrynn broke the connection with Ashei at the last sentence, for she knew all too well that it was a lie of the century. If anything, Liaena was more than happy to use her as her own personal guinea pig!

"I will come with you!" Ashei called out, and Rithrynn paused to look up at the air with a sigh.
"No, I don't nee,- offh!"

However, Rithrynn was interrupted as Ashei suddenly jumped up on Nisha's back behind Kathlin, squeezing the little human into Rithrynn's back as Kathlin was now trapped between two fully grown Night Elves. Nisha let out a growl of protest, and reared her head up to Rithrynn in a typical "You got to be kidding me" look, to which Rithrynn only responded with an apologetic shake with her head.

"Alright, here's your blood money you little vermin!" Rithrynn called out as she suddenly threw a bar of chocolate up to Hester who was perched on the mailbox. The gluttonous little owl immediately reacted, and snatched the bar in between her greedy, ravenous beak.
"Now lead us to Liaena!"

Rithrynn shouted as she grabbed the reins of Nisha, ready to kick off.
But rather than immediately bursting off, there was an awkward silence that followed as Hester merely gazed back down at Rithrynn with the chocolate bar still in her beak, throwing the Night Elf a long, hopeless look.

However, finally, Hester spread her wings and began to flutter out into the winter sky; with bits of chocolate falling down from the sky as she was gobbling up the chocolate bar mid flight. Rithrynn immediately followed, kicking Nisha into a bout of speed as the nightsaber leaped forward, and sprinted through the narrow pathway of the mage district in pursuit of Hester.

[Feychild]

Having reached the nearest chair Liaena sank onto it gratefully, glad to be out of the freezing cold of the storm outside as she rested her battered face on her hands. Having heard Doins words she opened her eyes again to look up at him. “….No. Not exactly”

“….”

Looking past Doin, she glanced over at the group of men that were huddled around the table nearby. A couple of them were still watching suspiciously, and Liaena returned their glares with a look that was just as frankly untrusting. There were also a few dwarves and humans still wandering about the room at various tasks, not counting the barkeep. “She gave me a message for you….but I don’t want anyone else to hear it. Do you have like, a private room we could go to, or something?”

Looking around the room, Liaena indicated the group of plotting men not so far away with a tired toss of her head. “Honestly, it looks as though your friends would rather I got out of their way too”

*

“Mmmphff!” came Kathlins muffled protest where she was sandwiched between Ashei’s bust and Rithrynn’s ass. The fact that she was wearing Liaena’s rather diminutive form made the entire set up even worse, as it meant that her head was round about the level of the formers rather considerable…assets, which shoved her face into Rithrynn’s broad back as if the airbag of a car had gone off.

Thankfully, the entire ordeal did not last long as Nisha stalled suddenly and Ashei climbed off her back to steady herself on the snowy ground. Less than thankfully, this had occurred because as Kathlin looked forward, she saw Rithrynn looking back and scowling at her. “So where are we going?”

Craning around her, Kathlin eyed the direction the tiger was pointed in. “…towards the trade district”

“Is that where Li is?”

“Maybe?”

This response clearly did not please the Night Elf at all, whose purple skin was already starting to attain a slightly darker angry hue. “That cursed bird vanished! AGAIN! Traitorous wretch of a creature!”

Staring up in the sky, Kathlin could not in any way distinguish the white of errant owls from the white of snowflakes as she tried to see through the blizzard. The girl sent up a silent prayer with the wind to defend her against the fickleness of Liaena’s pets, as she turned back to the angry Night Elf. “Oh.”

[Rithy]

"Who's grand idea was it to follow that feathered ball of gluttony anyway?" Ashei asked as gazed up into the sky from where she stood, throwing Rithrynn a narrow look. Rithrynn merely scoffed, before gazing over to Kathlin herself.
"Maybe you shouldn't have given her all that chocolate. For all we know, she could have realized your prophecy on eating herself to death in the storm."

Rithrynn simply stared forward at the road ahead, letting out a deep sigh as she raised her hand to cover her face with her palm. She had to admit that trying to follow Liaena's owl had been a retarded plan that had been doomed to fail from the get-go.
If Hester had been anything like her mistress, it should have been painfully obvious; but Rithrynn had been too optimistic!

"Great plan, human... " Rithrynn growled back at Kathlin who was sitting behind her, casting Kathlin a quick look.
"We've wasted our time here. Liaena could be anywhere by now!"

She said as she glared down at the human from her hood. Kathlin on the other hand was still looking up to the rooftops, seemingly ignoring her.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

...

"Idio,-"

"There she is!" Kathlin suddenly exclaimed as her arm flew past Rithrynn's face as if the human had tried to hit her, as Kathlin pointed up at the rooftop in front of her. Rithrynn's head immediately spun around to look up at the rooftop, where she could see Hester fluttering around one of the warm, smoking chimneys.

"Elune, that's about time. Let's go!"

"Wait, Ri... wait for me!" Ashei immediately reacted as Rithrynn grabbed the reins. Ashei sprinted up behind Nisha and jumped up onto the nightsaber's back, with Kathlin once more getting sandwiched between the big elves as they took off in a burst of speed to follow Hester!

Thus continued the frantic chase of Hester through the city, as they charged through the snow filled streets. Innocent bystanders who were simply passing by were shocked as a giant, four legged feline predator suddenly raced past them, mounted by two large elves!
As they rounded a corner, two guardsmen had to leap to either side of the archway to dodge the frenzied Nisha as the group stormed past them! As they had passed, angry shouts soon followed, including one "Stop, in the name of the King!"; all whom were firmly ignored by Rithrynn now obsessed with not letting Hester escape again. In some places, ice lay concealed beneath the snow, but Nisha merely dug her claws down deep, enabling the predator to make turns that would have sent a normal horse spinning into the wall!

Eventually, after a crazed five minutes chase through the streets of Stormwind, and at least thirty horrified innocent bystanders later, they finally arrived at a corner to a lonely street. With the little, disheveled Kathlin now halfway trapped in Ashei's bust, and halfway up Rithrynn's ass after the wild ride.
Ordering Nisha to stop, Rithrynn managed to see Li-Kathlin just in time as she entered a building, lead in by a short but stout dwarf in the doorway who promptly shut the door behind them with a bang!

Hester fluttered round the rooftops above, before perching herself on a snow filled barrel by the wall the group was now hiding and observing the scene from. As the owl cast Rithrynn a rather expectant look, Rithrynn peered out across the scene.

"That didn't look like LI... " Rithrynn said with an annoyed voice as she glared back at Hester. The owl in question, merely rolled her eyes around before covering her face with one of her wings, looking thoroughly disappointed.
"What?! ... I said no more chocolate until you found me Li!"

"I think she's making fun of you, Ri. Want me to shoot her?" Ashei asked as she leaned forward, throwing Hester a rather amused smile, clearly not taking the situation as bad as her sister.

[Sinerathin]

"Oh, sure I got a place we can go, it's just," Doin said to Liaena as the dwarf cast a glance over to the table with the officers.

"That would be a good idea. You are free to go, Elder Broadshield." The white haired man by the table stated, motioning for the dwarf that he could go. Doin gazed back at the officer, before nodding; beckoning for Liaena to follow him as the dwarf lead the human girl up a set of stairs at the side of the room.

"Sorry about that deal. We've been kind'a busy as of late." Doin explained as he eagerly lead Liaena up the stairs and into the corridor above, with doors leading to the order's private quarters on every side.
"Business has been bloomin' as of late, ye see. Rumors of an especially notorious elven warband terrorizing the streets has got people runnin' scared, and with that the demand for personal protection has gone up."

Doin continued eagerly in good spirits, until they reached the dwarf's private quarters. Shoving the door aside, Doin lead Liaena into his room which seemed like a small living room. It housed a bed, an extinguished fireplace, a long couch filled with wool and a long table lined with various sorts of drinks and discarded equipment. The walls were decorated with candles, a large banner of the Red Vanguard, and shelves carrying a wide variety of different bottles and liquors, some of whom were even half or completely empty; a collection that was clearly a trophy of the dwarf's adventure through taverns and bars all over Azeroth.

"There's also been talk of a new criminal gang moving into the Trade District. Admittedly, crime's never been lower over there, but people still get riled up 'bout it. Can't say I complain. Easy money in a peaceful district."

The dwarf smiled as he paused momentarily, stroking his beard when he suddenly remembered why the human was here!

"Oh, yes; why don't ye sit down?" Doin suddenly reacted, grabbing a fur lined chair that he pulled over to Liaena, while finding a stool of his own that he sat down on.
"What be the news? I trust she's in good health?"

Doin smiled, before finally noticing Liaena's nose.

"Muradin's beard, I hope ye didn't get into trouble deliverin' the lasses' message!"

[Feychild]

Sliding off Nisha as the tiger stalled in the road, Kathlin spent a moment simply enjoying the freedom of unrestricted breathing now that she had been released from the prison that was Ashei’s boobs and Rithrynn’s ass, before looking back at Rithrynn. “Uhm…did you see someone?”

“No. Nobody important”

“…but who didn’t look like Li?” the girl persisted. Rithrynn merely tossed a disgruntled look over her shoulder, before going back to measuring Hester up for being transformed into a feathery scarf with her eyes. “How should I know? Some girl.”

“What did she look –“

At this point, taking the lack of argument from those around her as permission, Ashei fished her longbow out of her quiver and began to cheerfully fit her string to it. Hester apparently took this as a personal offence against her, shooting vertically upwards with a screech of anger and vanishing from the scene, to be seen distantly fluttering around the chimney of the pub occasionally.

“Nice one, Ash. Now we need to get it back, again”

“Hey I could bring it down here if you want, Ri…”

“What good would that do!? I still need it to find Li!”

“What? How many of these monkeys do you even own, anyway?”

While the two elves bickered between themselves, Kathlin was padding away from them through the snow to reach the door and tap on it. After a long pause with a couple of repeat knocks, the window in the door eventually slid open. “WHAT? Closed!”

“Sorry!” Kathlin responded immediately, before clearing her throat and trying again. “Uh…sorry. For bothering you. But I’m looking for a friend of mine. Long, kind of reddish brown hair, might have acted like she owned the place a little bit?”

“……”

“Hey! What are you doing!?”

Jumping slightly as someone else called out to her, Kathlin looked back at Ashei who had turned around to stare at her. “Uhhh….I was asking….to use the bathroom”

“…the bathroom?”

Kathlin gulped as the Night Elf gave her a probing look. “Yes.”

“……”

“Haaah….such a primitive biology…” Ashei snickered as she turned away from the little human to give Rithrynn a grin, inviting her to share the joke also. “monkies, huh?”

*

Liaena sunk gratefully onto the chair that Doin had offered. It was considerably more comfortable than the hard bar stools downstairs and warmer to boot, even with the fire no longer burning in the grate. It took a moment to realise the dwarf was actually still talking, as she looked over to him. “Oh yes. About that. I am Li.”

“…..”

In the immediate shocked and/or disbelieving silence that her statement caused, Liaena held up a finger to the dwarf to shush him for a moment as she continued talking. “I know it does sound weird, but there are an awful lot of people in Stormwind that want to kill, maim or otherwise abduct me, even for my standards. So, I might have bought a few polymorph potions from Gimpsi when we visited her last, and they’ve been pretty handy actually. Not that it always helps entirely….”

Here Liaena waved a hand absently at her nose to illustrate her point, with a brief sigh before she looked back at Doin. “So yeah. Sorry about lying to you earlier, but I really don’t want anyone to know that I’m here. As far as everyone else is concerned, I’m still back at Sharon’s house and I’d kinda like it to stay that way”

The room falling into a lull as Liaena subsided briefly to consider her own situation, she looked over at Doin with a smile. “How are you, anyway? You look waaaaay better than last time I saw you”

[Sinerathin]

Doin had retrieved his pipe when Liaena told him about the polymorph potion, and the claim that Liaena was in fact Liaena, wearing only a disguise.

This resulted in the dwarf freezing as he gazed with a look of utter disbelief at Liaena, with the pipe sitting in his mouth and holding a burning match in his other hand. Doin's surprised gaze was accompanied by a deep look from the dwarf, as his eyes passed over Liaena's features with a confused look on them.

"Wha? ... " The Dwarf uttered, letting his pipe fall from his mouth and down to his lap where it spilled crushed leaves all over. It took until the match had almost burnt down to his finger before the dwarf quickly put it out, and got back to his normal self.

"Really? Damn modern alchemist! What can't they make these days?! Next ya kno, they'll learn tha split the fabric of reality an' create a bomb to lay waste tha entire cities!" The dwarf chuckled, smiling contently at Liaena as he leaned back in his chair and picked up his pipe, trying to scavenge whatever he could of the crushed leaves that were now spilled all over his legs and chair.

"Ahn, thanks for that miss... I may be old, I'm not as flexible as I was in me childhood years, but I am also much tougher to bring down, heh." The dwarf smiled, seemingly not affected by his older wounds at all as he laughed. After having retrieved all he could of his tobacco and put it back into his pipe, the dwarf gazed over at Liaena, before leaning forward.

"Uhh, if ye don't mind me askin'... 'ow long does it last?"

---

There was a moment of silence from the doorway, as the doorkeeper had seemingly disappeared behind the small window. Low voices could be heard emanating from the small hatch, before the steps from the innkeeper finally could be heard again from the inside.

"What's it to ye?"

"Who's out there?" Sounded a voice from the inside. The innkeeper's bearded face disappeared from the hatch momentarily, as yet another set of voices could be heard from the inside.

"Just sum dark haired lass lookin' fer her friend."
"Did ye get a name?"
"Nope, didn't ask."
"Can I see?"
"It's my door."
"I'll buy another pint."
"Deal."

Another pair of steps sounded as someone approached the hatch from the other side, but this time it was another face. It was the younger dwarf, Frarn who looked through the hatch this time. As he gazed out into the snow and spotted Kath-Liaena, the dwarf suddenly froze in his spot as a look of recognition passed over his face.

"Liaena?!" He exclaimed! Without a warning, Frarn disappeared as he slammed the iron hatch of the door shut! From the other side, the sound of locks being turned and chains being moved could be heard; until suddenly the heavy wooden, iron reinforced door swung open to reveal Frarn looking out across Kathlin.

"What are ye doin', standing out there, lass? Come in, come in!" Frarn urged Kathlin as he motioned for her to enter.

"I, uhm... "

But Kathlin was denied a chance to speak, before Frarn reached out, grabbed her shoulder and pulled her inside. The door slammed shut behind her with a loud bang, with a notable click as the lock moved back into place.

"What is the matter of this, Broadshield Junior?!" Sounded the rather annoyed complain from the elder officer from the table as he had turned around to gaze angrily at Frarn and Kathlin.
"There is a reason we are closed! I won't have strangers walking in here willy-nilly when we are supposed to have a meeting!"

"Everyone, everyone! Let me introduce you to my hero!" Frarn shouted, raising a hand up to calm the rest of the building.

"This is lady Rune," Frarn then said, motioning towards Kathlin standing next to him.
"She is a shrewd alchemist, who saved me pap... and even beat up one of them Night Elves in hand to hand combat, while flying through the air above the city! That's how I met her!"

Frarn explained enthusiastically to the rest of the crowd, as most of the men in the alehouse were now staring at the pair. The disgruntled look on the officers had faded slightly after hearing the small story from the dwarf, as they now all gazed at Kathlin with a touch of curiosity. Turning to look at Kathlin, Frarn stepped a little to the side.

"Why don't ye tell 'em the story? I'm sure they'd love it!"

[Rithy]

On the outside, the two elves were both staring from the top of the nightsaber Nisha at the doorway that Kathlin had just disappeared in through.

"She went inside without asking for our permission?!" Rithrynn exclaimed, as the Sentinel lifted one foot over Nisha's head to slide down from the saber's back as she turned towards the alehouse. But before she could take another step, Ashei suddenly reached down and grabbed her by her shoulder!

"Rithy, wait! I know that place!" Ashei said as she pointed at the door that Kathlin had walked in through. Rithrynn gazed suspiciously at the door, as she recognized the establishment as an alehouse, before raising a brow at Ashei.

"You mean you like to drink that dwarven swill they call beer?"

"Noooo! It's not that! You would have known if you hadn't run away from us in the first place!" Ashei growled as a vein popped up on her forehead, before she gazed back at the alehouse.
"Mistress tried to find us a place to rest, and we got into a fight over in that house. We kicked their butts and wrecked the place, so I don't think they'll just let us waltz back in!"

Rithrynn peered up at Ashei, as she slowly nodded her head.

"Ohhh, that's just great! Now we got to wait and hope that our little Li-imposter doesn't stab us in the back in the meantime! Elune!" Rithrynn huffed as she walked away, kicking some snow off the ground as she raised her arms to the air in defeat.
"This is sooo,- "

...

" ... wait,"

"What is it?" Ashei asked, as she gazed at Rithrynn, who was now staring up at the long, slanted roof of the alehouse, and a nearby brick wall that almost reached the bottom of the roof.

"I have an idea... "

*

Just a few seconds later, Rithrynn and Ashei were already crawling up along the snow covered roof of the alehouse. Fortunately the layer was not much thicker than a few inches, but that still didn't stop Rithrynn from prying her dagger inbetween the tiles to ensure that she got a proper grip.
Below them, Nisha had huddled together in a big fur ball in the refuge of one of the alleyways, as she scouted the area in front of the alehouse from her hiding spot; occasionally throwing a dumb look up at her two mistresses as they stumbled their way onto the roof.

"I like dwarven architecture." Ashei commented as she climbed up behind Rithrynn, shoving the snow aside as she followed her sister.
"It's always so ideal for espionage!"

"That's what happens when you leave the construction to a bunch of drunk midgets, they.... sssshhhh!"

Rithrynn immediately motioned for Ashei to be quiet as her sensitive ears picked up some dim voices coming from a row of windows up ahead on the roof. She remained still for a moment, trying to make out what they were saying, but they were coming from inside and the windows were all closed so it was impossible to make out what they were saying.
Signaling for Ashei to assist her, the two elves slowly climbed up towards the windows where they gazed down into the rooms below. Moving from window to window, it seemed as if most of the rooms were empty.

But as she stopped at her third window, Rithrynn finally saw some activity; as Doin and Li-Kathlin were talking to each other below her. Carefully brushing off some of the frost to get a better look, Rithrynn motioned for Ashei to come.

"That's the servant girl!" Ashei whispered to Rihrynn, pointing down at Liaena.
"It was she who drugged me!"

"Sounds like something Li would have done... I think we have found her." Rithrynn whispered back, as the two Night Elves continued with the observation.
"Check to see if you can't pry the window open without breaking it, I want to surprise them... we will enter on my command."