Making Connections

[Hiver]

"Ready?" Sheila asked and finished packing her bag, putting a book away.

I nodded. "I think so." I answered, looking into my bag. Imaging crystals, potions of various kinds, a good dagger, dried meat, a flask of water.

A couple of books and bandages. General supplies.

Quickly checking my reinforced leather armor I nodded again, picking up my spear. Actually, it was more of a short glaive than an actual spear. A heavier blade and a shorter handle. Even so, in total it was slightly longer than I was tall, if not by much.

It was my masterpiece in both smithing and enchanting. Adamantium handle and blade, both ingrained with dwemer metal in lines along it..

Heavily enchanted to be harder to destroy and sharper, making me stronger and more dexterous when held.

Dwemer metal inlaid along the handle to the blade making it possible to easily channel magic into it for different effects on the fly.

It was heavy, but not too heavy. I learned my lesson with that stupid warhammer.

"Let's go then." Sheila said and I rested the glaive against my shoulder as I followed her out of our 'apartment'.

"You know..." I said as she locked the door. "I have been thinking."

Sheila frowned and brushed her hair behind her ear as she put her bag away. "What about?"

"About that maybe we should find a new place to live."

She sighed and nodded. "... Yeah, me too. My place is cramped with two people, let alone three."

It really was. The bed was large enough for two, but the apartment itself was just one room. Sure, we didn't spend too much time there, but... With three people...

"We should wait until Ren is back but by then we should try to find someplace larger."

"Maybe someplace out of the city?" I asked as we walked along the canal towards the closest bridge. "Someplace large with no people around."

She frowned. "I was hoping for somewhere in Stormwind. I like having people around and it's close to the market and work."

"I suppose." I said and slowly nodded. "But with portals, we could be anywhere. Outside the city would mean Ren and I could spend time in our other forms." I continued quietly as we crossed the bridge to the city gates.

"You can portal to Northrend for that."

I guess that would work but...

"Yeah, I guess. I was kind of hoping we could maybe find some property in Dun Morogh?"

Sheila rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. Below freezing and snow all year around. What's not to like?"

"I think it would be nice."

She smiled and sighed, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "I know you do, but not all of us are immune to cold. Yes, it is nice to sit in front of a large fireplace, but I hate being cold."

"I know. Sorry." I said and put my arm around her as we left the city towards our normal leaving clearing.

"Somewhere in Elwynn Forest might be okay though I guess." She suggested and leaned closer. "The climate is pretty good for all of us and it's private."

"Private is nice."

That brought a giggle from Sheila. "Ren does get loud at times."

Not quite what I meant, but... also not untrue. I'm not sure you should be calling the kettle black though...

I knew better than to say anything of the sort, though, so instead I just shrugged. "I would just like a place where we could use our real forms and just relax on the grass and not need to worry about being seen. Somewhere other than the Nexus."

She nodded. "I know how much you like being in your real form. But we should table this until Ren returns, she is going to have her own suggestions."

"Yeah."

With that I leaned my spear against the fallen tree and put my bag down before moving to kneel in the middle of the clearing to make my change.

It really was much safer to do the traveling in my real form. Not only just in case we ended up in the air or in water or something, but also if there were hostiles around.

Like the middle of an Orc camp or something.

Opening my eyes I finished the transformation and stood up, stretching in all directions before I purred at the sight of Sheila, sans her clothes.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, yeah. I know you like this part." before she grinned and picked up our bags and my spear to walk up to me.

I turned slightly to let her attach the bags to my armor before she offered me my spear which I took in my jaws. "Ready?"

Sheila nodded and made sure the bags were attached securely before she put her arms around my neck tightly. "Ready. And Atreus?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to land me knee deep in snow again."

I chuckled and closed my eyes to focus my magic at my golden glowing soul, pulling at the effect capable of bringing me out of reality. "I'll try my best, but I don't know what kind of place we will end up in."

Sheila sighed and rested her forehead against the armor on my neck. "Well, we could hope."

We could indeed.

Reality rippled and gave way to shining flavors of sharp sounds.




AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Uncreation howled and shifted, ideas taking physical form around me and fading away as quickly as they came.

I pushed on towards the bead of reality ahead/behind, sweeping my limbs as I reached out towards it.

It was the longest I had ever traveled.

But I already checked the closest worlds to Azeroth before. The only ones with anything more than trees we could find was the ones I already had branches at.

Not that it said much, we had just explored each for a couple of days. Even flying and with scrying, it was a small area covered. For all I knew, we could have missed fucking Atlantis.

Bursting back into reality in a flash of light I spread my wings wide and flapped hard to keep from falling if I ended up in the air.

Instead I stumbled, gasping for air to catch my breath.

You didn't feel it between worlds, but you were holding your breath the entire time.

Sadly, I only had time to draw half a breath and I didn't have the speed to stop myself from falling the meter down to the surface of the water.

I ended up with a mouthful of water as I struggled against its pull. Resurfacing I gasped for air, looking around.

There. Land a couple of hundred meters away.

It was not easy to swim, but if I could fly in this armor than I could fucking swim in it. Taking off from the water though was out of the question. Maybe if I was in just my scales I could do it, I'd done it before.

But with armor? No way.

Still spitting out water I swam over to the sandy beach and climbed up, shaking the worst of the saltwater off myself. I'm so glad I didn't make my armor from steel.

Enchantments or not, saltwater is murder on steel.

Turning my head I cast telekinesis on the bags to hook them off my armor and put them down on the sand before I took a second to look around properly.

It was a narrow strait of water, a couple of hundred meters across between a pair of beaches that went up into cliffs and palm trees on each side with some grass spread around.

The sun was low on the horizon and slowly setting. Further down the strait seemed to turn into a mangrove swamp of some sort.

So not a strait, just a narrow bay then.

Well, the area looked good enough and not too cold. I sniffed the air. It just smelled like the ocean.

Seemed safe enough so I gave Sheila's soulstone a small burst of magic to let her know that it was safe to come out.

Wait... did I?

Oh son of a bitch. I dropped my spear in the bay!

"Well, this is nice." Sheila said and looked around before she reached for her bag, "What do you look so annoyed about?"

"...I dropped my spear in the bay."

"Wait, did we land in the water?" Sheila said and reached into her bag to pull out her soaking wet clothes, "...We landed in the water."

Fuck, that's my books screwed too.

Sighing I shook a bit more water off myself before I started to take off my armor, "I'm going to dive for my spear."

She nodded and put her robe on so she wasn't standing around naked, "Well, it's better than landing in snow at least." she said and walked over to a pair of large rocks on the beach to lay the rest of her clothes out, "We just need to get a fire going to dry everythi... What's that?"

Dropping the last gauntlet of my armor on the sand I looked over to see something slowly lumber out of the water, slowly revealing itself.

It was a large, white shell with a pair of big claws and six legs. The top of the shell was almost a meter and a half from the ground at the highest point.

"Giant enemy crab. Hit it's weakspot for massive damage." I chuckled and turned to it, "Also known as dinner."



XXXXXXXXXXXXX



"You know, this isn't bad." I said and leaned my back against the large rock, pulling a crab leg from above the fire.

I was back in mortal form and my spear was leaning against the rock next to me.

"It reminds me of that vacation we took." Sheila said and sat down against the rock on my other side, fishing some crab meat out of a pot where she had been boiling it.

I grinned at that, "It does actually." and cracked the shell of the crab leg, "I wouldn't have minded if we had these crabs there as well."

It was pretty damn good. Too bad it was a bulk ware or importing this to Stormwind would be a major industry. Yet alone Ironforge. The Dwarfs loved seafood.

Our belongings were laid out around the fire, the bags hung up to dry on sticks stuck into the sand. Sheila shifted to rest softly against my side as she ate a piece of crab and I put my arm around her, looking up at the moon far above.

A single large moon.

You know... once I would have found that familiar. Even with the craters being different than I remember from Earth.

Now? Now two moons meant home.





AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section. Today will be a double feature. Next part will be ready tonight.

 

[Hiver]

"Atreus."

I opened my eyes to see Sheila looking into the dim light of the predawn while giving me a small shake.

She had seen something.

First night on a new world, we always took turns keeping watch. When we were more secure, we could use bears or wolfs as guards, but first night was always the most dangerous.

I had taken the first watch.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know, I heard something. It didn't sound like a crab."

Nodding I rolled got up on one knee, peering into the darkness. There was something out there alright.

"You are right. There is movement." I whispered as I reached for my spear, "Can't quite make out what though."

Sheila nodded and stood up, "Let's spread some light over it then." and green fire flickered around her hand before she threw a fireball into the air in the general direction above the thing.

The fireball shone as it slowly arched through the air, lighting up the area in green light to reveal a bipedal creature about fifty meters away.

It... looked like somebody had taken a plant and turned it into a man before putting some red robes on it. At least I thought they were red, it was hard to tell in the green light.

The good thing was that we now knew what was out there. The bad thing was that... it saw us as well.

And it wasn't a human and we clearly were.

I really, really hoped there were humans on this world and that they had friendly relations with planty over there or things might become dangerous.

"Ahoy, travellers!" he called out, "I didn't see you there."

Well, at least the translator rings worked even if I had been unable to improve on the design.

I met Sheila's eyes and then stood up as she called back, "Greetings. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

"I didn't see you. How could I know not to sneak up?" he called back and slowly started to approach us as the light of her fireball faded away.

"What do you think?" I whispered to Sheila who shrugged.

"He seems friendly enough. If not, plants burn well."

Yes they do.

Nodding I quickly piled some wood on the firepit and relit it with a snap of my fingers, a couple of a seconds of concentrations and an application of magic.

With some proper light giving a better view, it was easier to see the features of the plant man as he got close.

Green 'skin' blades across his head as a sort of hair. He was about as tall as Sheila with a narrow build. He was wearing brown pants, a pair of black boots and a white shirt under a red...trenchcoat or sorts. A duster maybe?

"Hello." he said with a smile, "I'm Daegan, I didn't expect to see anyone out here."

"We are actually a bit lost." Sheila said carefully, "I'm Sheila, this is Atreus."

He frowned slightly but nodded, "Ah. I did wonder why somebody would set up camp here."

"Why is that?" I asked as I got up again, resting my glaive against my shoulder.

Deagan shrugged, "Stormbluff village is just a hour up the beach the way I came. Nobody who has any alternative would camp out here."

"Why?"

He gave me a strange look at that, "The marsh drakes come out of the marsh to hunt during the night. By this time they usually have returned to it, though.

"Marsh drakes?"

"...You know, territorial man sized lizards that like to eat people?"

"Yeah, sorry, I was just surprised. We had not seen any." I quickly explained. So not real drakes then. At least it didn't sound like actual drakes.

"So what are you doing out here? If you don't mind me asking?" Sheila asked as she moved to pick up her water bottle, "Water?"

He shook his head, "No thanks. I'm a herbalist... yes, yes, humans and their jokes. Seriously, heard them all. I'm after a flower that only blooms just before dawn. As much as I would want to stay and talk, I really should get going or I need to do this again tomorrow."

I started to nod but Sheila spoke up again.

"Want some help? I mean, strength in numbers and all that and we do owe you for your information."

Daegan hesitated, "...I can't pay you for it."

"Wont need to." I answered, "We would be happy to help and we are in your debt letting us know where we are."

He still looked hesitant but he finally nodded, "Very well. There is always the risk to run into a straggling drake. Some help could be nice. But you better hurry, it will soon be dawn and then it will be to late."

I quickly nodded and three minutes later, all our stuff was packed and we were ready to follow Daegan down the beach.

I let Sheila do the small talk as we walked. Daegan at least seemed happy enough to chat away.

Apparently he normally lived somewhere called 'Lion's Arch' but moved here after 'the attack' instead of heading back to 'Caledon Forest'.

All very interesting and said very little other than there had been some kind of attack. Well, humans and his people was clearly friendly so that's something at least.

We might be able to figure out more when we get to his village, maybe head to an actual city.

Until then, listen and learn.

So far though, this world seemed like it would be a interesting one. It's the first time we had seen plant people after all.





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

 

[Hiver]

The fishing village was a tiny one. Maybe ten houses, a watchtower on the hill overlooking it and a wooden bridge across the narrow part of the bay.

"Which way to Lion's Arch?" Sheila asked Daegan as we entered the village, following the coastline.

Most of the population we could see was human. At least they looked like it. But there were also others... a kind of small, grey, large-headed beings with large mouths and sharp teeth. They reminded me a bit of goblins, actually.

The other species was a single... cat-cow? It was like a large bipedal feline with horns.

Daegan shrugged, said, "About a day of walking." and pointed across the narrow wooden bridge. "That way." He stated as he adjusted his heavy satchel.

We managed to find a good amount of flowers, so at least he seemed happy.

"Thank you, Daegan." Sheila said with a smile.

He nodded. "You as well, Sheila Stark. The harvest was larger than I thought. You should consider a career as a herbalist."

Sheila grinned. "Thought about it. Magic is more fun."

Daegan chuckled and nodded. "Safe travels."

I nodded. "And you as well." and turned towards the bridge before slowly nodding.

One day's walk.

Yeah, easily doable, especially if it was a road. I would prefer to fly but... Walking it was.

"Come on, you big lizard." Sheila said with a grin, poking my waist just beneath my armor. "Let's get going."

I nodded, sighed and grinned, "Yeah, yeah." and started towards the bridge. "This is an interesting world."

My consort nodded. "Seems to be. I am worried about what he said about undead, though."

It was indeed.

Undead were never a good sign. Never mind that these were clearly being directed from his descriptions and not just mindless wandering zombies.

"There might be a Lich King." I said with a frown. "Might not be the best place to set up a branch."

She shrugged. "We don't know enough to decide one way or another yet, you know that."

I sighed. "Yeah, you are right about that too. We have to check out this 'Lion's Arch' first. It sounded like it used to be the capital of the human lands. Or at the very least a large trading hub."

"It did." Sheila confirmed with a nod. "It is so annoying to not be able to ask questions about 'common knowledge'."

I grinned at that as we stepped off the bridge onto a dirt road leading up into the hills on the other side of the bay. "That it is. But it would kind of give the game away, wouldn't it?"


XXXXXXXXXXXXX


"...I think we found it." Sheila said as we looked out over the bay.

The town had a massive cut down the middle, houses, structures, villages, large metal pieces the size of houses thrown around everywhere.

It must have been one hell of a ship that attacked this place... well, or a goblin got really drunk one evening.

"This place is a mess." I answered, nodding slowly. "Wow."

But even with the city being wrecked, it was still impressive. You could see that the architecture was at least as impressive as Stormwind's if clearly in a different style. Less large stone walls and more.. ships?

Downhill, on this side of the bay, the road lead to a stone fort and even that was damaged, large metal shrapnel taking up half the courtyard.

"Come on." Sheila said and stretched, her arms high above her head. "I want to get into what's left of the town before nightfall. Daegan said there is an inn that's still open on the east side of town. The sun is already setting and I really don't want to sleep on the ground again tonight."

I nodded, said, "That would be preferable." and adjusted my satchel before starting to move again.

A bed would be nice... not to mention that with a locked door, we could easily get away with just a summon as a guard and both of us actually getting to sleep the entire night.

...Assuming there was an east side of town. Because from here it looked like it might be missing.

Damn, they got a right good kicking here. If this is what it looked like after a win..

Fucking hell.

The refugees alone... if this was their capital... The only thing that would have been worse would have been if the refugees had not been a problem.

Because that would have meant no survivors.

The fact that there might be a market for healing potions didn't make it much nicer.

"What's that?" Sheila asked and pointed into the distance towards the other side of the bay, where a soft purple glow shone in the setting sun.

Hmm?

I didn't notice that earlier.

Raising my hands, I quickly cast a scrying spell and flew the viewpoint over there, forming the view between my hands for Sheila to be able to see.

The view blurred as the viewpoint moved before it gave us a clear view of the... square with the purple things.

"Portals of some sort." Sheila said and peered between my hands. "Wonder where they lead."




AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Calling the place we spent the last night an 'Inn' might have been somewhat generous. But it had a door, three walls and half a roof.

At least the food had been good and it had been cheap.

Stretching, I adjusted my satchel while looking around the small square. Even being the furthest from the actual devastation, this place had still taken damage from those massive thrown beams of iron.

Damn, when the ships that hit this place went up, they must really have gone up. Airships, they said it was.

War airships.

Sure, Azeroth had airships, even heavy war ones, but these ones sounded much more interesting. Besides, the Azerothian ones were one off wonders.

Not effective enough for the expenses to build.

These ones? They sounded fast and sleek. I wanted to know more. They were clearly defeated, but they completely wrecked this place.

This wasn't the human capital either, that was something called Divinity's Reach.

This, however, had been a major trading hub, a sort of 'unofficial capital' for all the races. No wonder it was a target.

"Next time I insist on an Inn, remind me of this." Sheila sighed, rubbing her neck as she walked out to join me. "I think I have a cramp in my neck."

"We were lucky there was a free room at all." I said and moved to massage her neck, causing her to groan. "Besides, it was just one night."

Sheila sighed and pulled away. "I know. Come on, let's check these portals out."

At least we were able to pay for it easily. They were happy enough to take small pieces of silver as payment.

But as soon as we got to a less shelled to hell and back town, we really should sell it for local currency. This was the most dangerous part of it all.

Shouldering my glaive, I grinned and followed her, rolling my shoulders. She was right, though. I had given up that so-called bed halfway through the night and slept on the floor.

At least there were survivors around from this battle. Most of the population managed to escape during and just after the assault... and some had started to return.

I didn't spot it at first, but there were signs of rebuilding everywhere. Small things. A new bridge here, a new roof there.

It was... inspiring.

What was even more inspiring, was that the species... four that I managed to spot so far... were united. Not in one empire, but working together still.

To fight against the darkness of this world.

Amazing. I... wished Azeroth could do the same. Oh, they did, but it was always temporary. Otherwise the Alliance and Horde was always at each other's throats or at the very least... glaring at each other suspiciously.

"Well... would you look at that." I said softly and stopped as we entered the square. Well, less of a square and more of a grotto.

Five large, spinning stone portals with glyphs, a purple event horizon rippling across the middle.

They looked like Stargates.

Several guards standing by each portal, split up between species.

Humans at one, plant people at one, the small grey beings at another one... the cat people and what looked like bigger humans at another.

I really needed to find out what they were really called and fast.

Permanent portals. Something that was almost impossible to make with magic or enchanting.

"...We have to find out how those are made." Sheila whispered to me. "Imagine what it would do back home?"

She was right. Portals, even with a portal stone... were not easy. You needed the key and you needed some magical talent.

And to stop it from being instantly used by invaders, towns blocked portals inside them unless you had the right 'lockpick'.

They were also too small to really use for trade and didn't last long enough. Not to mention you needed to be a bit of a skilled mage, even with a portal keystone.

These... these looked permanent.

One in each capital would revolutionize trade. It would no longer take a month or more to get tea from Pandaria to Stormwind.

It would take hours. Minutes.

Not only just the Alliance either. Effective trade is the great stabilizer. If we included the Horde into it... with the Azure Consortium backed by the Dragonflights...

It could unite Azeroth. Stabilize it. It could end the eternal war between the Horde and the Alliance.

"Hey! Get out of the way!"

"Sorry!" Sheila called back and pulled me to the side to let a wagon past. It followed the road up to the one guarded by humans, exchanged a couple of words and handed over some coins before he drove the wagon straight through.

"Venir would kill us if we didn't try to get these things." I said softly and took her hand. "Let's have a look." I continued and headed towards the human gate.

There was also that.

We could hardly just walk up and start studying the damn thing, not with guards around... but it seemed to lead to a more civilized place, so at the very least, we could sell the silver and jewelry for local currency and then start looking around.

Because this might be one of the biggest discoveries ever.

I just hoped that they took jewelry as payment to go through.





AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Did you get the jewelry sold?" Sheila asked as we met at a small market place just inside the southern gate of Divinity's Reach.

I nodded, "Not too sure about the price, but I did haggle the best I could without actually knowing what it's worth here. You?"

She smiled, "About the same. Don't think I got completely robbed."

"This place is amazing though." I said with a smile, looking around. It really, really was. It was a fortress city, same as Stormwind but this was made on a completely different scale. The inner keep was as large as Stormwind alone, its walls reaching hundreds of meters above the rest of the city, towers reaching for the skies.

Hell, the outer walls of the city were massive. Tall and thick enough to have buildings, even entire districts built on them!

But even so, even as bustling as this place was...

...It had an air of sadness over it.

It was the last major human city. There were villages, but it was the last major city. One last beacon of light against the darkness.

There was the other species, some apparently new like the Asura, the little grey beings and the Sylvari, the plant people... but it was something about seeing a human civilization in decline that was fundamentally sad.

Sheila nodded and looked up at the massive central keep, "It really is. I never thought I would see someplace this... big. It makes the Nexus look small."

"Yeah. We should find somewhere to sleep tonight. There should be a Inn around here somewhere that we can rent a room."

"The merchant said there was a good one in the Eastern Commons called the 'Laughing Fox'. He gave me directions. Apparently it's one of the nicer ones."

"Worth a try at least. Lead the way." I said as I shouldered my glaive.


XXXXXXXXXX


"Your mead."

Sigh.

"Thank you." I said and took the large tankard from the barmaid before handing her some coins as she served Sheila her wine before … I guess it could be called walking... away in that short little dress through the rather full Inn.

Sheila looked more amused than anything, "You can look you know."

"Look at what?"

She rolled her eyes and gave my shoulder a small slap but seemed somewhat pleased anyway.

Point to me.

I tried the mead and sighed before pushing it away slightly. Mead was mead, no matter the world it seemed.

But at least it likely was safer than drinking the water, cure disease potions or not.

Sheila on the other hand seemed happy with her wine as she put her own tankard down, "A bit watery but fruity. Not horrible."

Nodding I focused on listening in the best I could to the rest of the tavern, carefully weaving a simple scrying spell. A kind of 'remote hearing'. Also line of sight, but very stealthy.

Closing my eyes I started to flitter it between conversations.

Most of it was laughter and drunken people talking about whatever. Potatoes, farming. The price of meat.

But in the corner I found something interesting.

Opening my eyes, I glanced over there.

A human and one of those grey beings. An Asura.

"...aitan's death proves they can be defeated." The small grey one said quietly, "But the price... and we don't know if it applies to the rest."

The human grunted and took a swig of his tankard, "If it's actually dead. Zhaitan was the Elder Dragon of Death. For all we know, it will return."

The Asuran shivered at the idea, "I sure hope not. But it's unlikely. The larger problem is the other ones."

Sighing the human shook his head, "Four more that we know off. The Priory believe it can be done, but if the fight with Zhaitan was the rule..."

"We lost tens of thousands. We have to find another way."

"Without Zhaitan spreading it's corruption, we might stand a chance."

The Asuran sighed and jumped off it's seat, "We better get going. The meeting starts soon."

"You always rush. We still have time." the human answered but got up as well to follow the small meter-tall being through the tavern.

Well, that was disturbing news.

The Elder Dragons. If that was what it sounded like, it was more than disturbing, it was apocalyptically bad.

If they had five Deathwings running around. Four now... yeah, I could see why this world was fucked up. Fucking hell.

"Something bad?" Sheila asked with a frown. She always could read me well.

I nodded before leaning close, "I'll tell you in private later. But you should probably not mention the words 'lizard' and 'scales' in public. Or dragon.".

In any case, we should likely not stick around for too long.





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

 

[Hiver]

"Up."

The small stone automaton stood up on the ground from where I put it. It was a rather remarkable little construct. Entirely made from chiseled stone and a couple of quartz gems.

No mechanics, no expensive materials.

Just a ton of enchanting work.

It was a childrens toy; Asura made. Picked it up on the expensive market... cost me half my damn money, but well, well worth it.

Sure, you could make things like it using Azeroth magic. But that usually involved bindings of elementals and significantly more advanced magic.

This thing? It was made from cheap stone.

The materials didn't make it valuable, the enchantments did.

If those could be reverse engineered...

"Down."

It sat down again.

Fascinating.

"Up. Walk over there, pick up that stone and give it to me."

The little golem got up and waddled over to pick up the small stone before waddling back, raising it's hands to give it to me.

I took the pebble and turned it over in my hand, looking down at the little golem. That was a rather advanced instruction.

It wasn't sophont, that much was clear. But how smart was it really?

"What is two plus two?"

The little golem just stood there, looking up at me with it's single quarts eye.

Hmm. So not that.

I looked at the crowds moving past where I was sitting, I was close to the market and waiting for Sheila to return. It was procedure by now to split up to try to find as much interesting stuff as possible before we ran out of money on commendations and food.

"What about..."

Reaching I gathered a bunch of pebbles and put them in a small pile before the golem, "Take four of these stones and put them in two equal piles, one on my left side and one of my right."

The golem happily started to pick up pebbles and put them into small piles on each side of me. Two in each pile.

Hmm.

It could count then.

Oh, I didn't tell it how to respond before.

"Gather three times three pebbles and put in a pile in front of me."

The golem happily waddled around, gathering nine pebbles.

Fascinating.

This thing is at least as smart as the smartest super computer back on Earth. But not in the same way.

"Do whatever you want now."

The golem just stared at me.

It was smarter than any golem or automaton I seen in Azeroth, that's for sure, but clearly not sophont.

"Bring me the square root of 64 pebbles."

The golem kept staring at me.

Might simply not have know what I meant. Let's try ag...

"Hey."

Sheila dropped down to sit next to me.

"Hey. Find anything?"

She nodded, "Some fascinating history books and a couple of interesting potions. What's that thing?"

"A toy golem. It's actually quite smart, the enchanting work is fascinating. Golem, go bring the lady that flower."

The little magical automating waddled over and picked a small flower growing between the street stones close to the wall before returning to offer it to Sheila.

"Aww!" she said with a grin and took it, "Thank you." before she looked at me, "...Okay, how much did you pay for it?"

I grimaced slightly, "About half. We might need to cut our trip a bit short. Did you find anything out about the Asura?"

They were the Gatebuilders and they apparently kept that secret well guarded.

Which meant we had to do things the hard way.

She nodded, "I found a map with the location of their city, Rata Sum. There is a gate in Lion's Arch leading there though. For security reasons, capital cities are not directly connected."

Made sense.

I hmmed and picked the golem up, putting it into my satchel, "...Next time. We better focus our efforts here this trip."

Sheila nodded again as I stood up and pulled her onto her feet.

"Might be for the best. We are almost out of money anyway."

"We should save what we have for next time. Leave tomorrow?" I asked.

"Sounds like a plan."




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

 

[Hiver]

"There was one last month! Isn't that enough!?"

Venir simply smiled, "You own half the company, even if you are not that involved with the day to day operations. You have to attend."

"By everything that's holy, Why!?"

Sheila gave my arm a firm poke with a small glare and I looked down at her for a moment before I rubbed my forehead.

"...Fine. Winter's Veil party it is. Which one?"

Venir smiled, "It's the Royal Ball. All the nobles of Stormwind and the other Alliance cities, the wealthiest merchants and most honored warriors are invited."

My horror at the idea must have shown through.

"Oh grow up." Sheila tittered as she reached for her tea, "I think it will be quite nice actually."

You would. You may have grown up at a farm, love, but you were definitely getting used to rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful.

I, on the other hand, detested every moment of it with every fiber in my being. Stuck in a room with people, all pretending to be somebody other than they really were. Every single one of them suffering from chronic backstabbing disorder, more than happy to climb over everyone else in the room to get to the top.

But it was... necessary.

Venir was willing to let me skip most of the things, but she did insist that I attend the most important ones or it could damage the reputation of the company.

Well, at least it made Sheila and... Ren happy.

She's still in the swamp, even if the crystal in my lab says that she is okay. But she's still alone in some swamp.

I missed her.

"Ah! There you are." Venir said with a smile and got up as Gerard Hamilton, her consort, walked inside, "You are late."

No. Not consort. Her...suitor.

He wasn't wearing his armor, but he was wearing the officer's uniform of the Royal Guard. Tall, not as tall as me, but he had a more muscular build and short brown hair. He carried a longsword in his belt.

Gerard smiled and took Venir's hand, giving it a small kiss, "I'm sorry, Venir. I was held up by meetings." he said before he stood up and nodded at us, "Atreus, Sheila. Good to see both of you again."

"You as well." I said and stood up, giving him a firm handshake, "How is business?"

He sighed and then dropped the handshake to move and sit down next to Venir across the small table as she poured him a cup of tea, "Stressful. Guests have already started to arrive for the Royal Ball and Winters Veil festival, and there is a lot of organizing with the security to do. Most of it ends up on my desk and it's over a month left."

Gerard and I had a silent agreement going on. He kept making Venir happy and I didn't use every ounce of power I could get my hands on to feed him his own liver.

But I also doubted his competence at times. He was the middle son of one of the local nobles and I suspected strings had been pulled.

After all, he was a captain of the royal guard and still managed to literally miss the dragon in the room.

"That does sound stressful." I said with a nod, leaning back in the comfortable chair.

"Are you two going to attend?"

Sheila nodded, "We are. Atreus is less than pleased about it, but he can deal."

Grumble.

I hid my annoyance by sipping my tea.

Well, at least the food was usually top notch, that was for sure. Royalty made sure of that and I was sure to have some people to talk to there.

I knew for a fact that Lady Proudmoore was invited and if she came, then Kalecgos would likely as well, if under disguise. There was also the small plus that Sheila actually liked it and that she really enjoyed dressing up.

I liked it when she dressed up. She looked amazing normally, but when she really tried... wow.

Okay, so I would complain about it, but I could handle the occasional ball. It was actually easier when Ren wasn't along, even if I disliked it more.

Because it was one guest each and I could only bring one of them and they both enjoyed it. So I had to pull some strings every time to get another invite for her.

Stupid human mating customs limiting it to two people.

I may have grown up as a human in society with similar rules, but the dragon way of doing things really made much more sense. At least to me.

"Atreus?"

"Hmm?"

Sheila shook her head, looking amused, "Well?"

"Well, what?"

Venir giggled, "Ger asked how your travels have gone."

That was the cover story. Venir handled the local stuff and I traveled the world looking for opportunities. She wanted to tell him, but I didn't trust him. Didn't know him well enough.

Perhaps sometime in the future he might get to know who I was.

"Well enough." I said and sighed, "Sorry, just got back last night and I'm still tired."

I need to stop spacing out like that, I might miss something important.





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

 

[Hiver]

"So what do you think?" I asked with a thoughtful frown.

Sheila shook her head, "I don't know. How are you going to balance the flight enchantments?"

"The distance in the matrix, here, see?" I said and pointed out a part on the blueprint/enchantment schematics.

She put her head against my shoulder and looked down at it before she shook her head, "I don't think it will work. To unstable."

Sighing I put my arm around her and looked into the fireplace, "What if i move it to the wing sections?"

It was a design for an airship, using the same magic as flying carpets instead of balloons and propellers.

Something I made on what little free time I had. If I could get it working, I might be able to integrate the same enchantment into a new suit of armor, making it practical to be heavier and more protective while still being able to fly. If I could get it to work. A carpet was one thing, it was symmetrical and easy to enchant.

Sheila closer her eyes, "I don't know. Maybe." she said and relaxed against me, "I'll have to check the calculations. You should run it past Masagos, he is the one you have working on enchantments, right?"

"He is in charge of that group, yes." I answered with a frown, "But this is a personal project. It's value to the Flight would be limited."

I wanted to do it more or less on my own.

Because... flying ship? So cool. I should even have the money to have it built. It wasn't a cargoship, after all.

Seventeen meters long, based on the hull design of a one mast sailing ship normally used by the navy.

Propulsion, lift, all of it would be handled via enchantments. It would be able to carry some cargo of course, but it was mostly a prototype.

Wooden hull with metal reinforcements. The wings were more for stability than actual control. If I could only find a way to balance the design without adding weight which would slow her down, she would be amazing.

But it was a difficult task that might be beyond me. Nobody has been able to scale the enchantments of a flying carpet enough to integrate into a actual ship.

Well... nobody alive.

The Scourge did. Their floating necropoli used a similar system, but not identical. I rather not have the ship be powered by actual souls. That seemed like it could have scaling problems in making the system popular.

Never mind the actual ethical complications.

But I couldn't afford to have it built, even handling the enchantments myself. However... I knew what could afford it.

Azure Imports.

But I don't want to present the proposal to Venir before I'm a hundred percent certain it will work. Even with company assets, a ship, especially a experimental design... It would be expensive.

Very expensive, even for a small ship like this.

On a full scale cargo ship... several times that. You couldn't just use a normal ship and slap enchantments on it. It needed reinforcing, balancing.

Believe it or not, watercraft were not actually meant to fly and even if you could use the hull, it still needed significant modifications for it to work.

"You could try it on a smaller scale." Sheila said after a moment, "Buy a rowboat."

"...Maybe? Think that will work?" I asked and gave her a small nuzzle on the top of her head, "The entire calculation change if the scale gets too small."

"So get a large rowboat. One of those the navy use to ferry men to shore."

...That might just be large enough to work as a proof of concept.

Grinning pulled her a bit closer.

I love smart women.

A sound cause me to glance back as the doorhandle was turned and pushed open to reveal Ren. She was wearing her armor.

Well, the platemail bikini one at least and... she was covered in mud, her normally blue hair was sticking to her, covered with the stuff.

"Ren..." I said softly and quickly got up as Shiela turned on the couch.

"Hey..." Ren said as she closed the door, letting out a sigh.

Rounding the couch I ignored the mud and pulled her tight into a hug. She clung tightly to me before she pulled back and kissed me with a purr.

"Missed you." I murmured softly, running my fingers through her mud covered hair, resting my forehead against hers.

She smiled softly, "Missed you too." she whispered as Sheila joined us in the hug.

"I did too." Sheila said with as mile, "Glad to have you back."

"Has he been behaving?" Ren asked with a small tired smile and Sheila grinned with a nod.

I was always outnumbered. But it was well worth it.

"How did it go?"

Ren grinned and let go in order to step back and raised her right hand. An ...aura... of black magic surrounded it, "I did it. Next time you two are heading out, I'm coming."

I grinned back and pulled her close again, nuzzling at her neck, "Yes you are... but I'm sure we will be able to do that tonight as well."

She giggled at that, "I'm covered in mud! Let's fix that first at least, or we ruin the bed."

"Who said anything about the bed?"





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

 

[Hiver]

Everything was right in the world.

I have not felt this relaxed for months. Ren purring against one side and Sheila cuddled up on the other.

Pulling them both a bit closer I let out a small happy sigh

Like normal, Sheila kept her head on and forced us to clean up first rather than drag the mud around the entire place before we could get to our... bed.
That said, it turned out to be rather fun in and of itself.
Being able to conjure water was just plain practical sometime.

I was almost asleep when Ren spoke up quietly.

"Sheila... you awake?"

"Mhmm?"

"Did you get to talk to Zrazta?"

Sheila stirred and I could feel her lift her head from my shoulder, "Several times... but not about her question. She never brought it up." she answered softly.

"Really?" Ren whispered back and did the same, "That's strange."

"Are you sure you read her intentions right?"

I felt Ren move as she nodded, "Definitely. So what did you think of her?"

"She seemed nice." Sheila whispered, "Really know her alchemy. But she is still not joining us."

Ren sighed, "It's your decision to make."

"...Why do you sound disappointed?"

"Because it would make Atregos happy." Ren whispered back, "She is also very skilled and talented. Zrazta would make a good Co-consort."

"I'm still not going for it." Sheila whispered back, "Even ignoring the fact that I like and have gotten used to sharing with you, It's still not exactly something I am completely comfortable with. You are the special case."

Ren sighed softly, "I know... and I am thankful for that." and shifted slightly to reach across me to presumably take Sheila's hand, "You didn't need to let me in, but you did. Thank you."

"I think I really did need too." Sheila said quietly, "I... didn't mind the idea too much and anything else would have been worse. But you are the limit, okay? The bed is cramped enough with just us."

"I will back you on it." Ren whispered, "You are the lead consort. I... just wanted you to know what you needed to know."

"...I know. Thank you... I admit I would be slightly lost without your advice on these things at times..."

"Atregos isn't the best teacher. He is still learning about it himself, after all." Ren whispered and I sighed, pulling them both back down and close.

"Atregos is also tired and wish that you two talked about this some other time." I murmured while holding them tight.

Ren snorted and nuzzled at my shoulder, "Thought you were asleep."

"Almost." I said and sighed softly.

"We should get some sleep." Sheila said and relaxed again, "Early morning tomorrow."

Early morning today you mean.


XXXXXXXXXXXXX


"Tired?" Targos asked with a raised eyebrow when I yawned for the fifth time.

"...A bit. Was working on my ship blueprint." I said, reaching for the next book.

We were in his store in Stormwind and I was double checking the enchantment schematics for the flying ship, redoing them for a much smaller vessel.

Sheila was right, I should try with a large rowboat first. A five meter boat like the navy used would be large enough to not invalidate the experiment.

"And it had nothing to do with Ren returning?" He asked, sounding rather amused.

Dragon culture is not as... hung up on certain things as most mortal ones are, but there is no way in hell I admit that to her father, dragons or not.

"On that note, I have a man to see about a boat." I quickly said and closed the book, rolling the schematic up and putting it in my bag before heading out the door.

You can stop laughing now, it's not that funny.

Adjusting the bag's strap I walked down the street, towards the harbor. They actually had a shipyard as well and that's where I am heading.

I needed a boat. Where else would I go?


An hour later I stood and looked at a six meter boat with a grin. It was perfect, just big enough for my experiment and made of sturdy wooden planks.

At this size, it wouldn't even need to be reinforced, just have some minor changes made, such as adding the stabilizing fins and having the mast removed.

It was actually not a large rowboat, as Sheila suggested, but a small sailing boat of about the same size which was currently sitting on wooden plinths of the dock. Made for small trips to fish oysters up and down the coast. The previous owner apparently grew too old and had to sell it.

It wasn't new, but it was intact, sturdy and seemed to be in good working order. It was also mine now, the price for it wasn't too high...I think.

Now then I just need too... get it to my lab.

I looked both ways down the six meter hull with a frown before looking up the steep hill towards Stormwind.

Okay. I think I found a problem with this plan.




AN// Many thanks to Evillevi for betaing this section. Also, I have decided to start something I like to call Double Feature Fridays. Every friday, unless I start to fall behind in my writing so you threaten to catch up, you get two parts. One in the morning and one in the evening.