A small fish in a infinite sea (SI).

[Hiver]

"Wow...contrast." Dawn commented as we looked across the river from the Western edge of Duskwood.

"Yeah, no kidding." I said before I slid of the Kodo. On the other side was the plains of Westfall. Large outstretched areas of grass, rippling in the soft wind.

It was like the river was a physical wall between Duskwood and Westfall. Out there the sun was shining and the grass was golden. The sky was blue...here in Duskwood it was overcast, the trees were gnarly and the grass was almost grey.

In front of us was a roofed stone bridge, stretching across the river that divided the two very different areas.

"What do you say?" I asked, looking up at her where she remained in the saddle "Cross the bridge and then set up camp? It is getting a bit late."

Dawn sighed happily, "Yes please. I am so tired of dreadful forests and swamps..."


We did good time through The Swamp of Sorrows and even better through Deadwind pass.
We made it through Deadwind pass in less than a day, we couldn't stop there, it was bat country.

Still, we had been on the road for almost four weeks and getting out of areas that were not horribly depressing and somewhat dangerous would be nice.

Though...the journey was less dangerous than I thought it would be, or rather we were attacked less than I thought we would be.

Sure, there was a Crocolisk or two in the Swamp and a couple of spiders when we stopped for the night, but other than that things were actually pretty calm on the way. Not that we could completely relax, but a couple of summoned Varrens keeping guard under the night at least let us sleep soundly.


I stretched with a groan, taking a last look around to make sure we didn't have any spiders sneaking up on us before starting to walk across the bridge, Dawn and *sigh* Mr Fluffsy following behind me.


We where almost across the bridge when two men, wearing leather and chain armor, their lower faced covered with a red bandana each stepped out on each side of the Westfall side of the bridge. One was taller than the other and almost twice as wide, carrying a large maul. The other was carrying a knife...or rather a small sword.

"Well, well...what do we have here. A traveling merchant and his girl." The small one said, spinning that large knife in his hand "There is a toll on this bridge. If you want to pass, you need to pay."

Dawn brought the Kodo to a halt as I stopped to stare at them.

Seriously? I forgot about the Defias Brotherhood and now a couple of jokers are trying to shake us down.

I glanced back at Dawn "Don't do as I do. This is a really stupid idea." I said quietly to her and then I walked a bit closer, holding my hand up, three fingers held up as I addressed the bandits "You made three mistakes."

The bandits stared at me "What are you talking about? Give us your gold!"

"Mistake number one, You picked a stupid place to rob somebody. The bridge provides us with plenty of cover so your potential archers have huge problems getting shots at us if needed." I started, folding in a finger.

The large bandit looked down at the small one, getting a glare in return "Shut up. Now give us your money!"

"Mistake number two, You picked the wrong targets. We are almost unarmed, not wearing expensive equipment and does it look like that Kodo is carrying a lot of cargo? You wont be able to get very much from us." I then folded in my second finger, smiling slightly.

The small bandit snarled at me, spinning his small sword in his hand "Maybe we just need to show you we are serious..", but the large man had started to look a bit unsure about this.

"Mistake number three...You really, really should learn how to pick your targets. There are two of us, traveling alone through dangerous areas, unarmed and almost unarmored...and you picked us as your targets." I finished as I gave them a feral grin "Bad. Idea."

I raised my hand before they were able to react, lifting them into the air with a small channeling of Blue mana before I waved my hand to the right, slamming them hard into the end pillar of the bridge they were hiding behind when they waited for somebody to ambush.

Their weapons dropped to the stone of the bridge as I pulled them away from the pillar. The small one was knocked out but the large one was still awake...well, barely. His nose had broken and he moaned "P-please, don't hurt me!"

I shook my head and turned to Dawn who was staring at me "Rope." I called out to her. Their armor must have been really cheap if a smack like that took them out.

Even my armor, which was not as good as Dawns would have handled that easily enough. Barely would have stunned me.

She unfroze at the sound of my voice before digging out a roll of thin rope and tossed it over to me. I temporary used a white mana spell to bind them as I tied their arms behind their backs before starting to heal their most serious injuries. At the same time I made sure to look them over for hidden blades and similar surprises, finding two knives on the small one and three on the large bandit.

"Oh will you relax." I said as the still awake bandit tried to pull away as I moved to heal his nose "If I wanted you dead, you would be."

"W-what are you going to do with us?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Well, I figure I hand you two over to the first guards we find. Don't worry, I don't think they will execute you either. You will likely spend some time in jail though." I said as I floated them into the air again and over to the Kodo.

The awake bandit gave me a wide eyed look before he sighed and looked down.

"We are taking them with us?" Dawn asked with a frown.

I shrugged "Well, we could hardly leave them there to be eaten by spiders or come at us again from behind. Toss down some more rope, we tie them to the back of the Kodo until shorty wakes up."

She sighed but did as I asked her to.

All I could hope though that she followed my advice and never did what I just did. If I wasn't completely sure these jokers were alone, I would have simply blasted them.

But as it was, I figured I could turn them in for some kind of reward. Unless they were brand new, there should be some kind of bounty on them.

If not...well, maybe there was a standing reward for the Defias Brotherhood.


Besides, I dislike killing unless I really have to. Ok, I might have showed of a bit as well...


Making sure they were secure and completely unable to move I climbed back onto the Kodo "Come on, We should most likely push on instead of making camp though." I said "I'd rather not find out if these idiots have any friends."

Dawn swallowed and then nodded "Yeah..."

I smiled "Don't worry, Dawnie. If there was more of them here, we would have seen them by now if the where going to go after us. I'd just rather not camp where they tend to wander around."

She bit her lower lip slightly and sighed before she then nodded "Ok...But could you..."

I nodded and waved my hand and four varrens shimmered into existence in front of the Kodo with the help of a small application of Red mana, out of view of the prisoner. The large animal took a couple of steps back and snorted at them. The fishdogs simply looked back at us before running of the bridge and towards the tall grass along the road "There. Nobody will sneak up on us now."

Dawn nodded "Thanks. I know it's a bit silly with the rest of what you can do, but..."

"Not at all." I answered with a smile "It was a good idea. Now, we better get going. The further we get before it get dark, the higher the chance is that we find some sort of patrol to hand these idiots over to."

She nodded and urged the large animal forward once more.


Hopefully things will go smoothly until we find a farm or guard tower or something like that. I would rather not drag those bandits around until we get to Stormwind...





AN// Large thanks to frozenchicken for betaing this sectoid.

 

[Hiver]

"Halt! Who goes there!? Friend or Foe!" Somebody called out from the Dark.

We didn't stop for camp that evening, wanting to be rid of the prisoners as soon as possible which meant riding in the dark.

Calling up light is something I could do, at least in the way of fire, but I rather not pull more attention to us.

But it looked like we attracted some anyway.

Dawn glanced back at me in the starlight "Seriously, when is the last time you think somebody answered foe?"

I just shrugged and she turned back forward "We are travelers. Identify yourself!" she called out into the dark.

"We are soldiers of Stormwind." the voice answered and a man walked out of a small grove of trees, raising a torch, his metal armor shimmered in the light, a yellow lion on his chest and his cloak was blue.

"Oh, good." I said, sliding out of the saddle as Dawn did the same "We were looking for the closest guard post."

"This isn't a guard post, traveler. We are on patrol. What are your names?" the soldier asked as he brought the torch a bit higher to get a better look while walking closer.

He was actually wearing a helmet. Careful guy...if he was that careful, they likely had archers in the treeline as well.

Or I'm being paranoid again.

"I'm Sunrise. This is Winter." Dawn said and I almost grinned at that. I did have a talk to her about using her real name...Sunrise might not have been most inventive name, but I did use it once before and it was easy enough to remember.

I nodded and motioned back towards the Kodo "Don't ask the name of the animal. Please." I said with a sigh as Dawn gave me a small glare so I quickly continued "The reason we were looking for a guardpost is that we were attacked by a pair of bandits."

The soldier paused and pulled his helmet off "I am Sergeant Thompson. Were anyone hurt in the attack? Can you describe the attackers?" he asked. He looked to be in his thirties and have a large scar across his chin.

Oh, Time to have some fun.

I raised my hands and shook my head "No, no. We are fine. The worst injury was somebody being knocked out. There were two of them, one tall and muscular and the other short and narrow. They were wearing some kind of leather and chain armor. The large one was armed with a large hammer and the small one a small sword. Oh and they had some kind of red cloth covering the lower half of their faces" I explained, pretending not to notice Dawns eyeroll.

Thompson shook his head "Sounds like Defias brotherhood scum. Just the kind my squad was sent out here to stop." he said with a sigh "They have been attacking travelers and merchants lately. Did any of you see in which direction they went?"

I nodded "Yes. They are tied to the back of the Kodo." I said, keeping my face as straight as possible while pointing back at the Kodo over my shoulder with my thumb.

Oh yes, That was the look I was waiting for. The look where his brain try to process exactly what it was I said and if I really said it.

It was completely priceless and it was so rarely I got the opportunity to cause it.

"They are..." He started before he paused.

I nodded "Yes. They didn't realize I knew magic until it was to late. I knocked them out and took them prisoner until we could find someone to hand them over to."

Dawn sighed as Thompson walked behind the Kodo and pulled away the cloth we used to cover the prisoners. No need to let them see where we were going.

The two ex bandits was tied up tight and gagged beneath the blanket, tied tight to the pack harness of the Kodo just above it's tail.

Oh looky, shorty had woken up.

"Well, they are Brotherhood alright." the soldier commented as he shook his head "Very well, I think we can take them of your hands." he said before he turned and whistled.

Four more men, wearing the same kind of armor as he did came out of the woods, two of them carrying bows.

Good to know I had not lost my edge completely since leaving Westeros.

I moved to release them from the Kodo as the soldiers under his command moved to catch them.

"There wouldn't happen to be come kind of reward for catching them, would there?" Dawn asked him as I let the large one drop first. He looked resigned to being a prisoner for now, the small one was squirming in his bonds, screaming into his gag.

The Sergeant shook his head "Not at this time, no. Not a general one for all member anyway, just for specific members of their gang, but if their little band continue like this, I don't doubt there will be one in the future."

I dropped the small one to the waiting soldiers and then shook my head "Oh well, at least we did some good."

To bad though. I still have some Jewelry to sell from the Zombie world, but not much and I rather not go back there if I can help it. Another traveler know about that world, that increase the danger by quite a amount....never mind that Walking is a pain in the arse, even for a Planeswalker.

"I would say so. These bandits will be locked away for a long time." Thompson said with a nod "Alright men, get them back to the camp."

"Do you know a good place to make camp?" Dawn asked him as his men lead the two bandits away.

The Sergeant nodded "You two are more than welcome to share our fire tonight or you can continue another hour down the road. There is a small community there and they have a pretty nice Inn."

Dawn turned to me "Bed. Please?" she asked, giving me a mildly desperate look. I couldn't exactly blame her for that, I felt the same. Spending another month on the road only weeks after getting to Hellfire was not exactly my idea of fun.

Sleeping in a actual bed would be very nice.

I grinned and nodded "Bed." before I turned to Sergeant Thompson "I think we will continue to the Inn, but thanks for the offer. We have been on the road for quite a while and sleeping in a actual bed is to nice a opportunity to pass up."

He nodded "So I hear. Well, I wish you more peaceful travels from now on. We came from that direction, so the road until the Village should at least be clear. But be careful, these lands are not as peaceful as they used to be."

Dawn nodded as we climbed back onto the kodo "We will be careful."


Besides, what is the chance we will run into more bandits just as stupid as the first bunch in the short time it will take to get to the village?




AN// spidermounky92k is the one to thank for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I let out a small sigh as I started to slowly wake up.

Too comfortable.

Opening my eyes slowly revealed the small, warm room. Maybe three meters square, a small window on one wall and a door on the other.

There were two beds and two shelves on the walls above them. Between the beds there was a small table with a unlit candle on it.

The sun was streaming in through the window and the room was warm, almost hot.

I closed my eyes again. A real bed...This was the first time since I left Sunnydale to look for Dawn that I was able to sleep in a real bed.

It's been hammock after bedroll after hammock....if not just the solid ground.

A real stuffed mattress, if a hay one.


So comfortable.


Wouldn't hurt to stay here for a day or two I guess. We do need to figure out where to go next and that depend on what kind of Land Dawn want to learn first.

As far as I know, she has not picked yet.

That thought trickled into my head and my eyed went wide, staring at Dawn's bed. It was empty.

Slow breath.


There is no need to panic. She is likely just downstairs finding something to eat.

I sat up and swung my legs of the bed before I pulled my shirt on, glancing at my chest armor before I shook my head.

No need to panic. She was likely downstairs...except her chest armor on the floor next to mine.

I...had actually never known her to wear anything else since I arrived on this world.

I blinked at that. Ok, I didn't actually think about that before. She always wore her armor.

But she had taken it off now...and left it here.


Ok, now it was time to panic.


I pulled the door open and quickly headed out into the small corridor before going down the stairs. Now, as soon as I get out I summon a bunch of Varrens to catch her scent trail while I interrogate the inn keepe...

"Oh, Good Morning, Winter." Dawn called out with a smile from her place by one of the smaller tables in the main room, eating some kind of soup and some bread. She was wearing those leather pants of hers and...is that one of my shirts?

"Morning..." I said and made my way over to sit down across from her. Oh goody, she was fine.

Panic over.

"Hope its ok that I borrowed one of your shirts." Dawn said with a small embarrassed grimace as she dipped some bread into her bowl of soup "I don't actually have any actual clothes...Just wanted to get out of the armor for once. Well, parts of it at least. You didn't have any pants that would fit."

I blinked in surprise at that. She didn't? "You don't? Really? Didn't you buy some in Thunderbluff? Hell, didn't you have any on the list to Buffy?"

She shook her head "No. I mean, the armor is self cleaning, just needs to be washed with water. I didn't actually 'need' more clothes and I didn't want to put even more of a drain on Master Cloudsongs funds. My old stuff was falling apart by the time he bought me the armor."

"Well, that is understandable I guess...but what about the supply run? I could have brought clothes then." I then asked, giving the innkeeper a wave for some food.

"You had a limited amount I could send for, you made that pretty clear." She said with a grin as the old inn keeper walked over and put down a bowl of soup and a plate of bread for me.

I gave him a nod "Thank you." and then handed over a gold coin in return. From the look I got I might have overpaid, but whatever. Only money.

"Well, you could still have added some clothes..." I then said to Dawn, trying the soup. Hmm, pretty good.

Chickenish and rich. I really doubt it is actually chicken though...

Dawn shrugged "I had to get supplies for three years in your one trip. I didn't want to waste the space as running out of things you don't want to hear about is a absolute pain." she said and then finished off her soup "This stuff is pretty good."

I nodded "Yes it is." and then I smiled "And just so you know, we go and buy you some clothes as soon as we get to somewhere where you actually have a selection to pick between." I said before I frowned "You should have told me about this before you know...I bet they sold plenty in Booty Bay."

Dawn shrugged "Not like it really mattered until now." she said before she relaxed and smiled "But thanks. That will be fun."

Yes. Clothes shopping.

Fun.


"Where did you get this anyway, this is a really nice fabric." She then said, feeling the sleeve of her new shirt.

I shrugged "I think that one might have been imported from the Dragon Kingdom, they do have the best fabrics. Feel free to keep it if you want, I have more."

Dawn frowned "The Dragon Kingdom? Is that a country on that Plane you was on?"

"A rather new one consisting of what used to be the free cities. They and the Seven Kingdoms are at..." I started and then I sighed "Well, peace is the closest term, I guess. It's a bit strained though due to the massive Westerosi tech advantage, the Dragon Queen's past and the dwindling trade superiority of the former free cities..."

"I...see?" Dawn said with a small frown, playing with her spoon.

I simply shrugged and dipped my bread in my soup with a sigh "Politics. Don't worry about it. Anyway, I was thinking we could stay here for a day or two. Get away from the traveling for a moment."

She nodded with a small happy sigh "That would be nice. Having a actual bed for once is amazing."

"You have my complete agreement on that one. Have you put some thought in what Land you want to try for first? That kind of determine where we go next." I then asked her with a smile, taking a bite from my bread.

Dawn hmmed and then shrugged "Not sure yet. I'm thinking green or red from your descriptions."

I nodded "It is up to you. All I ask is that you pick up one of each before you start on a new set."


Dawn nodded in return "I know, I just don't know what to pick first." she said before she stood up and stretched with her arms above her head "Anyway, I'm going to go take a bath, I saw they had a room with a tub."

I nodded, quickly focusing back on my soup as she did. Apparently her lack of clothes included a lack of bras and that shirt was not one of my thicker ones.

Buffy would 'not' be happy if she ever found out that I ogled her sister.


"I'll tell you when it's free in case you want to have a turn." Dawn then said with a grin before she turned to walk over to talk with the old innkeeper.




AN// Many thanks to frozenchicken for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I yawned and cracked my neck as I relaxed in front of the fireplace in the large common room of the inn. It was starting to get dark outside. We were not alone in the Inn, the Innkeeper was doing something by the counter, and a old man with an epic beard was sitting at one of the small tables. A dwarf was sitting by the counter, drinking something out of a tiny glass.

None of them was paying any attention to us. Well, Dawn caught a look or two, but who could blame them for that?

"Here." Dawn said as she walked up to sit down on the chair next to mine, handing over a plate of smoked meat and bread along with a cup of dark tea.

"Thanks." I said and leaned back against my chair as she took a sip from her own tea, making a bit of a face.

Bah. Tea noob.

This was the second to last meal in the inn, we are heading out tomorrow morning.

"How is the big green thing?" I asked Dawn and she shrugged.

"Mr Fluffsy is fine. I worried that he might overeat though so he only got half rations today." she answered "So where will we find a green land you think?"

"Well, I was thinking Elwynn Forest might be a good spot. It's Close-ish to here and will give us access to Stormwind as well. Also a somewhat peaceful place where we can focus on you getting a connection without needing to fight off the wildlife and locals at the same time." I answered and tried the bread.

Mmm. Freshly baked. Need to remember this Inn on the way back.

Dawn nodded and leaned back in her own chair, sipping her tea again. She was wearing her leather armor again, having taken to sleeping in the shirt instead of wearing it around.

"What kind of spells that use Green mana can you teach me?" she then asked.

I shrugged "Most of my green spells are summons and enchantments for living creatures along with a couple of healing spells, but we'll get to that part once you actually connect." I said and tried the meat.

Hmm, can't remember tasting something like this before. Wonder what that was... it wasn't beef and it's not pork. Lamb? I'm no expert.

"Do you think we have enough supplies? I looked at the map and it looks like we are at least a week away from Elwynn" Dawn then asked as she pulled out a knife to cut her bread up to stuff the meat inside "We don't know how much we can buy at the villages on the way you know, and we're not as well stocked as when we started."

"I would say the trip will take two weeks, not one. Always put it on the high side to make sure you don't run out." I answered, shaking my head "I checked earlier and we have at least enough for that left, and I talked to the Innkeep earlier. Next stop is the guard tower at Sentinel Hill and after that there are two more villages before we reach the Elwynn Forest river. We will be fine, even without gathering on the road like we have until now."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

In the end it took us a week and a half to get to the edge of Westfall, but it was an easy journey. Good, well traveled roads and no bloody bandits.

"Well, there it is." I commented as we slowly rode across the large stone bridge. At the side there was a small guard house and two guards were standing on duty, one on each side of the bridge, lit up by the fire of torches.

Night was falling, but we wanted to press on to get into Elwynn before we stopped. While we had plenty of supplies, the thought of finding an inn and a bed again was a tempting one. Last one we had access to was five days ago.

We did manage to get a roof over our heads a day and a half ago, paying (very little granted) for a spot to sleep in in the barn of a farm, but that was was about it.

Dawn nodded "Yeah. Finally." she said with a sigh before leaning back against me "So. Tired.", before yawning.

I chuckled at that "Well, we should be able to find somewhere with a roof to sleep tonight if we are lucky. Let's ask the guards."

She nodded with a smile and straightened up again as we got closer to the bridge.

The guard to the left of the bridge walked up, holding his hand up when we got close enough "Halt. We need to do a border inspection. We have been having problems with smugglers lately."

I raised my eyebrow at that. I thought we were already inside the borders, Westfall and Duskwood also had patrols.

I then shrugged as Dawn nodded "Go ahead. But wouldn't it make more sense to focus on ships instead of people simply moving along the roads?" she asked him.

The guard in the silver armor simply shrugged "Don't ask me, I simply follow orders." before he walked up and did a cursory look in the packing crates that used to be full of supplies and now simply contained our bags and remaining food.

We did stretch the food supply with plants and tasty looking animals on the way which was about the only reason the food supply lasted as long as it did.

Was a bit harder to do in Westfall, but we could usually buy bread and meat on the farms we moved past.

He spent maybe thirty seconds looking before he closed them both again "What are your destination and origin?"

"We are traveling from Booty Bay and our destination is Stormwind." I answered him, putting my hand on Dawns waist to get her let me do the talking. It was kind of true, we just took a bit of a shortcut across outland.

"Your purpose in the city?" The guard asked in a bored tone. I could hardly blame him for that, he have likely asked the same thing a hundred times just on this shift.

"Purchasing wares." I told him. Also kind of true, we were going to go buying things, mainly clothes for Dawn and perhaps some books if I could find any.

"Very well. Move along." the guard said, waving us forward.

"Thank you." Dawn added "Wait, do you know a good Inn we could reach before it gets too dark?" she asked.

He nodded, giving her a smile as he answered "There is an Inn outside the Westbrook Garrison, Miss. A couple of hundred meters further down the road from the bridge."

"Thanks!" She said, giving him a smile in return before glancing back at me "Guess we get better than a roof tonight." she then commented with a grin.

I just snorted and shook my head as she urged the large animal to get moving again.

Nothing like needing to go without them make you appreciate the luxuries in life. Like having somewhere warm with a roof you can sleep under.

While we have a good amount of cash and some more jewelry to sell, we won't be staying at inns for the entire stay. Especially not if I take Dawn on a shopping spree.

Not if she is anything like her sister...

But then again, she managed to go for years without buying a ton of clothes so I guess it might not be quite that bad.

I do wonder though how quickly Dawnie will be able to connect to the land. My record doing it the right way was just over a week. My first try took significantly longer.

Likely it will take at least a month as she also has Shamanistic training to do and she has been slacking on that, only getting an hour or so in a day while on the road. Dawn did mention earlier that she wanted to try to catch up when we finally stopped. She have several books and instructions with her from Cloudsong on what to practice.

I was also told quite firmly by him to stay away from her books.

No objection there from me. I won't be teaching him to use the power inherent in the Lands either.




AN// Big thanks to Robo Jesus for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

"I wish we had the cash to stay at the inn." Dawn complained as she helped me put the large tent up. Until now we had not bothered to to put it up, just throwing a tarp up at some poles when it rained.

I shrugged "With the prices in Goldshire? Yeah, we could...but then we wouldn't have any left to go shopping later. Not without going to find more gold to sell."

"You could do that though you know. I'll help you carry!" Dawn said, shouldering her tentpole up into place.

"Maybe if we run out. That world is dangerous, another traveler knows about it. That makes it risky to go there, even if he is not a Planeswalker," I said as I looked around the large tent. Good enough.

We had reached Goldshire last night and checked into the inn.

For one night. Apparently being on the main road to Stormwind made it possible for them to have silly prices.

So we stocked up on supplies and then rode a couple of hours into the forest to set up camp instead.

Dawn sighed and walked out to get her bag "You are being paranoid!" she called back to me through the tentflap.

I snorted before I followed her "You fight cyber necromantic mindcontrolling space cuttlefish and then you get to think I'm paranoid." I said with a grin before starting to help her unload the last of our stuff from Mr Fluffsy.

"You know, at some point you are going to tell me that story," she grumbled while undoing the last strap, letting the crates fall off the Kodo.

The animal didn't even react to the noise, it just kept eating on his bush.

Yeah...maybe some day, Dawnie. What might have happened in this Mass Effect is not one of my better memories.

"So, how do you want to split up the training?" I asked as I picked up both our packs, switching the topic.

Dawn frowned and leaned against Mr Fluffsy's right rear leg "Not sure. What do you think? You are the teacher, right?"

I snorted and then shook my head "Never taught this to anyone else, remember? Most of mine should multitask well enough until you get the connection. It is mostly getting a feeling for the land, the energy, the scent. You should be able to do your homework from Cloudsong while doing that."

She nodded and lead the Kodo over to bind him to a tree before she returned and picked up the bedding "Hammocks or bedrolls?"

I shrugged "Why not both? Depending on the weather, both are nice."

When the weather is really bad, getting off the ground with a Hammock is really, really nice even when you are in a tent, the ground get moist. Otherwise a bedroll is easier to sleep in.

I dropped the packs in the corner of the tent before I moved to help her put the poles for the Hammocks into the ground.

Sometimes Red mana actually have constructive uses.



XXXXXXXXXXXX


I flung my shield up as a blob of lava splashed against it. Dropping the shield I responded with a bolt of lightning at my attacker.

She dove to the side even as a blob of water moved to help protect her. It caught the spell but splattered into nothing.

As she rolled back onto her feet she screamed and brought her hands together, a bolt of lightning arching between us.

I raised my hand and with a small application of blue mana made her spell change direction to hit the blue glow in the palm of my hand, simply dispelling into nothing as it hit.

I grinned and returned fire. With actual fire.

Dawn dove behind the closest tree as her last two spheres of water flattened into a shield, catching most of the fire, only a small amount of it hitting the tree, scorching the bark.

Before she could pop out again I spread my arms, channeling a good amount of green mana and I heard a squeal from the other side of the tree.

Chuckling I walked to peak around the tree. The roots of the tree she was hiding behind had reached up and wrapped around her, trapping her against the trunk "You ok there, Dawnie?" I asked with a grin as I leaned against the tree, crossing my arms.

That earned me a small glare "That was so not fair! I thought you would keep to the same power as my spells!" she said as she struggled, managing to pull her left hand free.

I shrugged "I did. You were already on and next to the roots, I didn't need to grow them or anything." I said with a smile "Want some help there?"

"I'm...fine!" she growled and managed to pull her dagger to start hacking away at the closest root.

Grinning I and channeled a bit more green and the roots relaxed around her, letting her go "That trick with the water was nice."

She sighed and put her dagger back on her belt as she struggling out from beneath the roots before she stood up "It's part of the notes Cloudsong gave me. I still cant get them to stay together after being hit though."

"I'm sure you will get it. Have you started to have a feeling of the land yet, Dawnie?"" I then asked her. It had only been a week yet, but wonders might happen.

Dawn frowned "I have 'the land' all over me." and brushed grass and dirt of her pants "I'm still not sure exactly what is is you want me to feel."

I slowly nodded and frowned in thought before I answered "It is hard to explain, exactly. A feeling of home is the closest I can think of. You recognize the wind in the trees, the trees around you and the sound of the animals. You feel comfortable. A connection to the place...That's when you can pull on it's power.". Honestly, I am horrible at explaining this kind of thing.

She sigh and crossed her arms, leaning back against the tree "You are worse than Master Cloudsong sometimes. You are always so clear in your explanations."

Shrugging, I nodded "You will get it. You do not want to try it the easier way."

Dawn looked up at me "Another way? Why did you not tell me there was a easier way!?" she explained, pushing of the tree to stand up fully while dropping her arms to her sides, staring at me.

I shook my head "It is not something you want to do. It is not exactly easier, just faster. The first time it is not that bad as you don't have that much power to go through, but it is still very hard on you. It have a high chance to knock you out..and the headache is a bigger bitch than Glory."

She frowned "Why can't I do that? I mean, I can handle a headache, not like it is permanent. It would be faster, wouldn't it?"

Sighing I shook my head again, crossing my arms as I leaned my side against the tree "It is a bad idea. Burning through all your power just so you can demand more, leave you completely helpless. Even in a safeish area like this...Well it just is a bad idea, Dawnie. Safeish is not safe, this place is still crawling with wolfs and Gnolls. While recovering you would be helpless, barely able to move. Besides, it is better you learn how to do it the right way from the start."

Dawn sighed in frustration but she finally nodded "Fine."

Pushing of the tree I grinned "So...ready to go again?"

She nodded and then pointed at me "No trees this time!"


Actually being able to train my skills against another actual magic user was very nice...and something we were not able to do in the caravan or in outland as I wanted to keep most of my power under wraps.

Not the best thing to do when on the road either...

Dawn was actually pretty good...oh I could drown her in power if I wanted to, but as long as I kept to her level of magic, she was actually a decent challenge.

I didn't exactly have a abundance of magic users to duel with in the past...




AN// Winchester is the one to be thanked for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I sighed and frowned as I knelt next to the sixth rabbit snare. I only put seven of them and still no catches. At least this one had been triggered even if there was no rabbit in it.

Resetting the trap around the hole in the bush, I then stood up and continued towards the last trap.

I could have much easier caught dinner if I simply summoned a couple of Varrens, or rather Dire wolves if I didn't want to stand out so much if they were spotted.

I did that during the journey to gather meat to help the supplies last longer... but now that we're stationary for a longer time in a place where I knew had rabbits, I wanted to practice some skills I learned in Westeros.

Just because you can use magic, it doesn't mean you need to use it for everything.

It didn't take long to get to the last trap and pick up the final prize. A fat, brown rabbit had gotten caught and broken it's neck.

Perfect. Looks like we get fresh dinner tonight.

Freeing the rabbit, I reset the trap before strapping it to my belt and started back to the camp.

Another week with no progress with Dawn's land connection. Still, I didn't expect it to be fast. It was not an easy thing to do, I brute forced my first two connections.

Not very comfortable. It was better that she learned it the right way first, even it it took a bit longer.

I walked back into camp, spotting Dawn sitting on the tree trunk by the firepit, tending to the fire.

"Dinner, Dawnie." I said with a grin, holding the rabbit up.

"GAHH!" Dawn screamed and she surged onto her feet as turned to face me "Will you STOP calling me that!"

Uh... what?

"ookay..." I said slowly, lowering the rabbit again "I won't? Sorry, I didn't know you minded."

Looks like somebody might be at that time of the month...

Dawn sighed and collapsed back down to sit on the log again "I-it's fine. I should have told you earlier that I don't like it. It's just..."

I frowned and walked over to sit down next to her, putting the rabbit on the log next to me "What's bothering you? Are the nightmares getting worse again?"

She frowned and bit her lower lip slightly, shaking her head "I haven't have a nightmare for a week. It's just every time you call me that, I feel like you or Xander were babysitting me again. I'm not little 'Dawnie' any more. I'm not a little girl."

"Sorry, I didn't know it bothered you that much." I said as I shook my head "I won't do it again... but you know I never actually babysat you, you know? I spent most patrols with your sister... and you didn't actually exist at the time anyway. Besides, nobody who see you will ever think you are a little girl."

Dawn rolled her eyes but blushed slightly "I know it wasn't real! It's still how I remember things, you know?"

I nodded "Sometimes I wish I had some of those memories... just so I would know what you remember happened. What brought this on anyway?"

She shrugged "Last night realized I turned twenty about two weeks ago... if I counted it right."

I smiled at that "Happy Birthday, Dawni..." and then I sighed at the look she gave me "Sorry, slip of the tongue. That is going to take some time getting used to, so you'll have to forgive me if I slip up."

"That's fine, I guess. Sorry, I know I kind of overreacted." She finally said and put her head against my shoulder.

I shook my head and slipped my arm around her "How about this for a birthday present? I did plan to go to Stormwind just before we started our trip back to The Dark Portal... but how about we do it as soon as you get a land connection instead?"

Dawn turned to sit up straight as she gave me a smile "Really?"

"Yeah, It's pretty much what I have unless you want a dead rabbit. We could go earlier, but I don't want to interrupt your growing connection to the Land." I said, letting my arm drop down again "That's one of the big problems with this kind of magic. You need to stay in the same place for some time to get the first connection. It has some more problems, but that's the biggest one."

"What's the other problem?" She asked with a small frown, looking like she had calmed down by now.

I tapped my finger against the log "The second largest problem is that while we can in theory hit very hard... we are then 'tapped out'. While the mana from the land recharges, we're helpless."

"So are normal mages too, you know..." Dawn said with a shrug.

"Here, yes. But did you ever see Willow 'run out' of magic?" I asked with a smile.

She shook her head "Good point."

I nodded before I stood up and stretched "Well, then. I better get this rabbit ready for the fire... Sunny."

"Sunny!?" Dawn squeaked and stood up, staring at me in horror.

"Well, yes. Sunrise... Sunny." I said, giving her a grin "I do have to find something new to call you now, after all."

"Sunny sound like the name of a stripper!" Dawn complained, poking my chest.

I simply shrugged "So it's a work in process." I answered with a smile, very wisely not commenting on the way she dress "Come on. I had, like, four minutes to come up with one."

Dawn gave me another glare "What's wrong with my name?"

"Nothing at all." I quickly said, clearing my throat "Dawn it is."




AN// Rechte is the one to thank for betaing this one.

 

[Hiver]

The early next morning, my eyes flickered open.

Something was wrong. There was an energy in the air. I threw my blanket off of me as I sat up, looking over at Dawn's bedroll. It was empty.

I quickly threw a shirt on before I exited the tent and had a quick look around. The fire had gone out completely since last night. Only ash remained, but other than that the place looked untouched. So no signs of a struggle but she wasn't there.

Channeling a bit of blue mana, I had another look around. There was magical energy to the West of the camp. For me to be able to detect it like this, it had to be pretty close.

Don't tell me...

I broke into a run through the underbrush, skidding to a halt fifty meters from camp in the small clearing we used for duels.

Dawn was sitting in the middle of the clearing, the morning misty grass around her, burned black. As I entered the clearing she opened her eyes and smiled, her eyes shining a dark green, it was like a mist of green covered her eyes.

Did I look like that when using mana?

The green mana faded from her and then she simply collapsed to the side, hitting the ground before I was able to reach her and catch her.

That was not a normal connection to the land. She burned through her magic and pulled.

Exactly the way I told her not to do.

Bollocks.

I shook my head and sighed as I knelt to carefully pick her up. "Dawn... You really should have listened," I said as I carried her back to the camp and to the tent, putting her down gently on her bedroll.

I did another quick scan of her with both white and blue, as well as adding in black mana to boost my sensory perception. No actual damage was done that I could detect, she was just completely exhausted.

If I remember the last time I did that correctly, I was out for a day and then woke up with the worst headache known to man.

Well, when she wakes up, she will find out why doing what she just did was a bad idea... but at the very least, she has her first connection now.

"Welcome to the big leagues," I commented before I covered her with her blanket and left the tent. Might as well get some food going and gather some more wood before settling down to wait for her to wake back up.



XXXXXXXXXXX



Twenty eight hours later I was sitting in the tent working on getting a Magelight spell working. This was something I have tried in the past but never gotten quite right.

Either it gave off heat, something I didn't want or it didn't last for any amount of time. One or the others... but with the help of some theories and a variation of it already in one of my magic books, I might be able to do it this time.

The goal was something like a Magelight from the Skyrim game. Cast the spell and it floats along above you, lighting your path with a sphere of cold light... but I am currently quite some time away from managing that.

You would think something like that would be relatively easy compared to fucking wings of fire, but noooo. Likely because what I wanted it to do didn't line up with any of the mana colors. Red was the closest one and that color did not like what I tried to make it do.

Maybe I should just start completely over and try to recreate it as a blue spell instead? I'd really rather not...

I canceled my last attempt when I heard a small whimper from Dawn's side of the tent "Welcome back to the real world," I said as I moved to sit down next to her, grabbing my water bottle on the way "How are you feeling?"

"Not so loud..." Dawn whined and covered her head with her blanket.

"I told you the headache was a bitch. You knew exactly what you were getting yourself into," I told her, not lowering my voice whatsoever "Now, drink some water. You have been out for over a day and you need it. Being dehydrated will not help with your head."

It took some working but in the end I managed to get her to drink about half of the bottle.

"So, do you still think that doing it the fast way was a good idea?" I asked as she covered herself completely with the blanket again to get away from the evil light shining through the tent.

The shaped under the blanket shook her head with another whimper.

"Well, the headache should go down over time. It should be gone in a day or two. I'll get you some food in a couple of hours, perhaps you can manage to get it down by then," I said as I stood up, going back to my own bedroll.

I was not the yelling type even if at times I felt like it. I told her exactly what would happen if she tried it this way and told her that the slow way was much better.

But no, she had to be impatient and try it this way. Well, it was her choice and now she have to live with it for the next couple of days. Yelling at her for being a idiot would not help, she was likely feeling stupid enough at the moment as it was.

I glanced over at her and then turned my Omni-tool on to get a reading.

I hated seeing her like this. If I could stop her pain, I might have done so.

I tried to take my first actual swamp the fast way so I wouldn't need to spend a couple of weeks in it. The pain is not physical, it is magical stress. Magical healing did nothing to help it get better faster. Besides... this might discourage her to try it the fast way again.
I know my absolutely horrible hangovers kept me from drinking as I didn't want to risk it.

But the point is moot as I can't help with that anyway.



XXXXXXXXXXXXXX



"Good morning," I said as Dawn stumbled out of the tent that evening "Well, evening anyway. Feeling better?"

"Barely. This is horrible. Don't we have any painkillers?" she whined and collapsed onto the log next to me.

I shook my head "Sorry, it won't work. The pain isn't physical, neither painkillers or magical healing help against it. Trust me, I tried after the last time I did what you did," I said and offered her some bread.

Dawn quickly shook her head "No... no food."

"I know the feeling. Horrible, isn't it?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dawn groaned and held her head with a whimper, her eyes closed tight.

I took the rabbit out of the fire and checked the meat. This time I had a Dire wolf hunt it down, no traps.

Not quite finished.

Putting it back, I relaxed slightly "You should feel better by tomorrow. Perhaps we should push the trip to Stormwind up a week or so, let you learn a spell or two first. What do you think? Let you recover fully?"

Dawn simply nodded meekly.

Her headache might actually be worse than what I get when I do something that stupid. I remember them being bad, but I got my first two lands like that. Sure, it was a bitch and the more mana I got, the worse it became to try to do what she did... but this was her first land.

Perhaps some kind of reaction to her connection to the spirits?

I shook my head with a sigh as I took the rabbit from the fire. Dawn slid down from the log and curled up on her side on the grass on the fire side of the log.

Unless I teach another shaman, there is no way I will know. I'm not asking her to try again.




AN// Many thanks to Rechte for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

"Do you feel it?" I asked as I leaned my back against the tree. We were in our 'training clearing', a open area about fifty meters from our camp. It wasnt big, only about ten to twenty meters across depending on where you were. It was likely formed by a lightning strike clearing away the vegetation at some point.

Dawn nodded, biting her lower lip as her eyes slowly turned green.

Before I saw that I honestly didn't know our eyes did that when we pulled on our mana. It never really occurred to me to look in a mirror as I pulled on my magic.

"This is so... So much power." She said softly as she looked around. "I had no idea."

"Land is the strongest source of magic I have encountered. But do not think this make you invincible, you are still as squishy as anyone else." I told her. "Ready to learn your first spell?"

Her eyes turned back to their normal white and blue as she let the mana go. "I'm... Sorry I didn't listen to you before. It was stupid."

"When I say something is a stupid idea, it usually is. But you learned that lesson now, right?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

Dawn sighed and then nodded. "Yeah... Ok, so what do I learn first?"

"Puppy." I said with a smile, waving my hand and summoning a Direwolf with a small application of green mana. The wolf was massive, almost a meter and a half tall at the shoulders, the size of a small horse.

In theory she should be able to pick of essence from my summons because they are actually real, if consisting of magically created material.

Dawn almost fell over in surprise. "Holy crap!" as she stumbled back from the massive wolf. I am not blaming her for that one, it had canine teeth as large as my thumb. I smiled and mentally commanded the wolf to sit and behave.

As the large wolf sat down and let it's tongue hang out Dawn started to calm down.

"Wow... That thing is massive. I know you could summon those Varren things, but..." She trailed off as she started to slowly move closer, still keeping her distance though.

I grinned and rubbed it's ears. "I can do larger as well. But let's start with this, this is one of my better summons that require Green mana."

"So... I will learn how to summon that thing?" Dawn asked and I shook my head.

"Technically, it is not summoning or your sister would have ended up in Westeros. It is more like...copying the concept of the Direwolf and using it as a matrix to recreate it at any time you want using mana." I explained. "It is however just as real as the real deal as long as you allow it to use the mana used to summon it."

Dawn frowned. "So that is a actual Wolf... So what happen when you cancel the spell?"

I frowned and stroked a large ear "When you cancel the spell... The summon die. It dissolve into nothing, even it's soul are destroyed."

She turned from the wolf to stare at me and I nodded "Which is why I do not summon Sophonts." That is a word I had taught her in the past.

"But... You copied my sisters essence. You already said that you summoned slayers." Dawn slowly said with a frown, looking between me and the massive wolf.

"There is a loophole. I noticed at some point that a Varren I summoned was using less and less of my mana to stay in existence. It was eating, slowly replacing it's magical matter with the real deal. If it had time to finish, it would have been real. No more magic needed." I said with a sigh. While it was a good thing that that loophole existed, it was still a pain in the arse.

Dawn slowly nodded. "That was why you stayed in Westeros for so long," she said.

I nodded. "Yes. I summoned Sophonts. They fought for me, died for me. They were loyal... They deserved better than being thrown aside. You may create living, thinking beings... But that do not mean you can throw them away when you are done with them. You have a responsibility. I waited until they were able to survive without me there before I left."

She swallowed and then nodded, moving a bit closer and extending her hand to let the direwolf lean in to nose at it.

"So... What do I do?" Dawn asked, giving me a nervous look.

I grinned playfully. "What? Nervous for your first time?" I asked. Finally I got the opportunity to fire a return volley! Yes! She have sniped me so many times!

Dawn blushed and gave me a small glare.

"Well, just touch it and channel some of your green mana." I then explained with a smile. "You will feel it resonate with you. You will know what to do."

She swallowed and stepped up to stroke the fur of the wolf softly, her eyes taking on a green misty shine again and I stood back to simply watch.

I never seen it from this side before.

Dawn closed her eyes and took a slow breath before she lowered her hand and took a step back "I think...I think I did it."

I smiled and nodded "Show me."

She turned and extended her hand, green mana whirling down her arm and there was a shimmer of light beside her in the form of a wolf before it formed completely.

It was just as large as mine but with darker grey fur.

"Good job Dawnie!" I said with a grin.

She lowered her hand, shooting me a small glare at that before turning to run her hand along the back of her massive wolf.

"Now, tell it to sit." I said with a smile, mentally commanding my own wolf to pad over to me and to sit down again.

Dawn bit her lower lip and glanced back at me before she nodded and turned back to her summon "Sit!"

The wolf tilted its head at her in confusion.

"Sit!"

I grinned in amusement and mentally commanded my wolf to head out and find us some dinner before I sat down and leaned my back against the closest tree. Wonder how long it would take her to figure out how you actually do it?

Four minutes later she was trying to push the rear end of the wolf down.

"Sit!!"

The direwolf just looked horribly confused. Only the threat of revenge kept me from rolling in the dirt at this point.

"Dawn?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"What!?" She sighed as she turned to face me. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You are trying to tell it what to do. It is a untrained, wild animal. It doesn't understand you. It may be completely loyal and very willing to do anything, but it don't understand what you want it to do. You need to 'will' it to do what you want it to do." I explained while I tried not to sound to amused.

It was quite difficult not to.

She go a look of 'oh!' on her face before she turned and frowned at her wolf, a look of concentration on her face.

Seconds later the wolf was sitting.

"Good job, Dawn." I said as I crossed my arms, leaning back against the tree with a smile. "Now... For the last part of this lesson. One of the more important ones."

Dawn frowned and then nodded. "What is it?" she asked as she petted the ears of her wolf.

I sighed. "This is... More of a mental thing than anything. To make things easier for you. Don't name them. Seriously, don't."

She frowned. "I know you don't like Mr Fluffsy as a name, but..." She started before I cut her off.

"That's not it. The thing is, that summons are ultimately temporary. They will die defending you or when you leave the Plane. Unless you stay for the seven or so years it take for them to become completely 'real', they will be destroyed when you Walk the next time. It is much easier on you if you don't name them. Trust me on this." I explained with a sigh. "I speak from personal experience on this one.".

Poor Kira and Trya.

Dawn swallowed and looked back at the direwolf who was still sitting where she left it, looking at her "This summon thing is... It's not very nice, is it?" She said softly.

"No. It isn't. But is one of the strongest, most versatile abilities there is."

She sighed then nodded, waving her hand in the direction of the direwolf with a look of concentration on her face and it became blurry in the edges before dissolving into nothing in less than a second.

As it faded away she just looked sad.

Better that she found out like this than the way I did.

That does not change the fact that seeing her sad make me feel bad as well.



AN// Many thanks to Lord Sia for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

"Stormwind. The capital of the Alliance." I said as we slowly road towards the massive open gates.

"It's only a model." Dawn quipped with a grin.

I poked her waist "I didn't even know you had seen that movie." I said with a grin.

She shrugged with a smile "You are the one that showed it to me. Well, memory you anyway."

I shook my head as we followed the wagon in front of us in through the massive, but wide open wooden gates.

As soon as we entered between the two watchtowers on each side of the massive gate, we found ourselves on a stone bridge over a water filled chasm.

On the other side of the bridge there was another large gate, this one also open to show a stone wall where the path split.

The only cover on the bridge was a pair of large statues.

I looked around and swallowed slightly, trying to not tense up. You might call me paranoid, but this was the most effective killing ground I had ever seen.

Trying to assault this city on the ground...was suicide. It don't matter how many men you have. How the hell did this place fall once in the past? Troops from the air maybe? Or did they change the design when they rebuilt?

"This place is amazing." Dawn breathed as she looked around, urging the Kodo to continue following the wagon in front of us so we didn't stop the traffic.

"Yes. It is...even more than King's Landing." I answered as we slowly took the bend as we entered through the second gate into the city proper.

The city really was greater than King's Landing. The city itself, that is. More solidly built but a bit smaller, built between two mountains as it was. It was cleaner too.

A fortress city, not a sprawling walled city like King's Landing.

This castle had nothing on The Red Keep though, not in looks anyway. Too flat looking.


I smiled and looked around "So many people.". The place was buzzing, there were people everywhere, trading, carrying goods. Talking and walking.

Dawn nodded "Yeah...You know, before you showed up, the only other humans I saw was a pair of Ambassadors in Orgimmar when Master Cloudsong took me there. It was before he agreed to teach me..."

"Were they not surprised to see another human?" I asked as she skillfully brought the Kodo to the side to avoid trampling a group of kids that ran across the road.

She shrugged "I don't think they knew I was there. I only saw them at a distance while Master Cloudsong was off to talk with someone."

I frowned slightly "That's almost three years with no human contact. Did you miss it?"

Dawn frowned and then glanced back at me, shrugging a shoulder "Yes and no...I mean, I still had people, just not humans?"

"I get exactly what you mean." I answered with a smile "Now, where do you want to start?"

She shrugged "A stable place for Mr Fluffsy and then clothes?"

Oh boy...and so it began.




XXXXXXXXXXXXXX



I sat down on the steps down from the Bank of Stormwind and flipped my brand new book open.

Clothes here are not mass produced which meant that Dawn spent the entire day jumping between tailors.

Two hours in she had not even progressed past looking at fabrics, not even picking a design yet. I did try to get her to pick one of the half finished dresses all the tailors had, but nooo.

Well, I guess I cant blame her. She is female related to Buffy after all and she went without shopping for clothes for years.

Better to simply let her get it out of her system.

Still, at two hours I had enough and left to find somewhere I could find some magical literature and we had agreed to meet at the bank.

Dawn can handle herself, especially now when she can summon a pack of five direwolfs if she needs to. That should be able to handle anything that doesn't already have the power to level half the city.


I flipped the page and continued reading as I relaxed with my back against the pillar behind me, switching between reading and people watching.


Hundreds...no, thousands of people walking around and nobody looking at me. For somebody that spent ten years being stared at everytime he did something, that...is quite nice.

I repeat a previous statement, Glory is fucking nuts.

Frowning slightly I tilted my head back against the stone of the pillar. Wonder what did happen to that nutty deity?

Ben did want to become a doctor, but what would Glory do now when she only had equal power to him and a complete inability to get home?

Well, considering Buffy was still alive and didn't tell me anything about a crazy hellgodess running around, it did look like she might have behaved at least.

Shrugging I returned to my book. I'll try to remember to go find and check up on them next time I stop by Sunnydale.


Mana shield did seem like something I could already do so I flipped to the next page. Blink?

Now that's more like it.

Learning to bend space would however not be easy to translate into my magic system.

Sighing I shook my head before letting my attention get absorbed by the information in the book while trying to figure out where to start translating it into Mana spells.

Some will be easy enough like fireball which I already have a version of...but if I read this right, their version might be more mana effective, even after the change into mana.

Interesting...but not unexpected. They had generations of refinement, I just made mine up.

Ok, maybe not the fireball, I got that from my books back in Sunnydale but I still had to adapt it. But the rest of my spells could use a looking over.

Some, like the flame slash, one of my directed heavy damage fire spells was pretty much just a overpowered blast of fire and magical energies in a cutting configuration.


"Hey." a voice said and I looked up as I was pulled from my thoughts to reveal Dawn. She was wearing a nice looking white and blue dress. Knee length, showing some cleavage but not as much as her so called armor.

What really struck me was that her hair was no longer in a braid, instead it was hanging freely almost to her waist.

Wow.

She grinned "That good?" she said and did a spin.

I cleared my throat and then closed my book before I stood up and walked down to her "Beautiful." I said with a smile "I didn't think you would have anything ready today."

Dawn shrugged with a shoulder "Most things wont be done for a couple of days, I just picked one of those half finished dresses to get something else than my bloody armor to wear until then."

I gave her a amused look "I thought you liked that armor?"

She rolled her eyes "I do, but I have been wearing it for two years! Come on..."

Nodding I then had a thought "What did you do with it?"

"Oh, I got us a room at a inn. Don't worry, it was cheaper than in Goldshire, we can afford it." Dawn said with a smile "Come on, let's find something to eat, I'm starving."


XXXXXXXXXXX


We arrived at the Inn she picked as it started to get dark, a place called The Gnomish Tankard. Despite the name, it was in the Old Town, not in the dwarven quarter.

The building was old, but the wooden structure looked well taken care of.

I pushed the door open and Dawn stepped past me before I followed her inside.


In the middle of the room there was a circular fireplace with a large table circling it. Around the main room there were another five smaller tables.

A old human with a small beard was tending to the bar. The place looked about half full, the air full of laughter and talking, smelling of smoke and mead.


Nice.


"Good pick, Dawn." I said with a smile "I do hope the room is at the far end of the building though..."

She nodded and glanced back at me, taking my hand "It is. This way..."

I chuckled and followed her to the other end of the main room and up the stairs, around a corner and down a short corridor.

"Here it is." She said as she fished a key from her bag to unlock the room at the end of the hallway. Here the sounds of the party downstairs could barely be heard.

"Good pick, indeed." I said as I walked into the room and looked around. Not the largest room, but looked comfortable enough.

Clean, a small table next to the bed and a window overseeing the alley behind the inn.

Not bad.

Then I noticed something.

"Uh...Dawn? There is only one bed." I asked and I turned to look back at her.

Dawn nodded "I know." she said before she then closed the door and turned to face me again, biting her lower lip nervously as she gave me a rather cute look while moving closer "Winter...we need to talk."


I'm going to be honest here. My first reaction? Panic.





AN// Many thanks to Zuzak for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

My thoughts were moving at lightening speed.

Panic.

Dawn wanted to talk, she had arranged a room with a single bed and she had gotten herself even more pretty than normal with a new dress.

Yeah, I saw which way this was going.

The question was...did I want it to go that way?

I loved Dawn...but did I Love her?


That's a question I did not dare to think before now because the answer might be yes. Because if the answer was yes, things immediately got much more complex.

I'm at least a decade older than her, her teacher and a friend of her sisters. Her very scary sister with lots of experience killing supernatural beings.

But the question at its' base was simple.

Did I Love Dawn?


"Hello?" Dawn asked, waving her hand in front of my face "Anyone home?"

I blinked "Oh...sorry. Tuned out for a second there. You were saying?"

She smiled and shook her head "I said, we need to talk."


I looked down at her big blue eyes. Beautiful.


Yes, yes I did.

Damn.


"I have been thinking..." Dawn started and then sighed "I think we should go back."

My thoughts went to a screeching halt as the train of thought completely jumped of the rails.

"Uh, what?" I managed to get out.


Dawn sighed and sat down on the bed, crossing her legs "I think we should go back to The Portal and rejoin the forces. As soon as we are done in Stormwind."

"Dawn, I'm not sure that is such a good idea..." I slowly started "It has only been a couple of months."

She nodded "Most of it was spent traveling so it will take us a couple of months to get back. I'm mostly fine already, you know that. The reason we even went away was for me to get my head screwed back on. I haven't had a nightmare for over a week, Winter. I think I will be fine."

I sighed and then dropped onto the bed next to her, leaning my back against the wall "Dawn...mental trauma is not that easily overcome. It might be better to leave it another month or two..."

"But that's just it. I have another month or two as it will take that long to get back, especially if you still want to stop to get me a White mana in Westfall." Dawn said, turning to face me.

Damn, she look cute like that.

I cleared my throat "Well...I guess? You are doing better..."


She smiled "Thanks..." and then she frowned "I just...It feel like I'm not doing anything. People are fighting and dying to save this world from hordes of demons, but I'm just buying dresses. Just lazying around here make me feel bad."

Summers girls. It really wasn't the Slayer spirit.

I nodded "Fine. We wait until your things are ready and then start making our way back."

Dawn smiled "Thanks for understanding." she said and then hugged me tight.


Hugging back slightly awkwardly I sighed softly. Not only did I completely misread the situation, I also managed admit to myself that I love Dawn.

Yeah, that wont complicate things.


She pulled back with a smile, sitting up properly again before I frowned and looked around.

"Ok, but now I have a question...why is there only one bed?" I asked, slightly cautiously. I had already misread the situation once today.

Dawn shrugged and sighed "Only room they had free. I didn't want to go out looking for a inn with a room with two beds only to not find one and need to come back here and find that this one had been taken as well. Besides, it is almost half the price of a double room."

See, jumping to conclusions is bad.


I nodded and cracked my neck "That's fine. I'll unpack a bedroll and take the floor, you can have the bed."

Dawn turned to frown at me "Don't be silly, you don't need to sleep on the floor. We can share."

"Share?" I asked her carefully.

She nodded "Well, yeah. We are both adults. We can share a bed, right?"

"Yeah. Sure." I answered, hopefully sounding normal.


Bollocks.

Yeah, this didn't make things more complicated. Not at all.


If I didn't know better, I could have sworn she was doing this to me on purpose.





AN// Big thanks to frozenchicken for betaing this section.