Rendering this steady hand obsolete.
The more I think about it the more of a burden it becomes on my mind.
Mordane is alive still around. His skin is cold as the plate he now wears; the Plume, once famed for its crimson splendour, is stained dark by his death. It pains me still to see him like that: once so vibrantly alive, now cursed to the same fate as our Lordaeronian comrades-in-arms.
Nothing is more different than what I see in his eyes.
Death changes one's outlook. In life he was our leader, as viciously, unflaggingly loyal to the Dark Lady as any three Couriers. Part of our bond was the bloodthirsty nature we shared, our willingness to do anything for Her. And now-
Now he watches me with distrust and a certain wariness. A familiar one. It's the careful distance I used to get from the less-hostile Forsaken when I entered Her service, the same I've gotten from fellow sin'dorei ever since. When the topic of the Dark Lady comes up I see it in Khaavren and Kae as well. They've seen what She has sanctioned. They've seen elements of Her plans unfold. And they are wary of me, because even though I'm officially retired, off the books I am still Her servant - still a champion of Her cause.
But more and more I question if Her cause is just anymore.
Arthas is dead. The Couriers' time has come and gone. Our duty, our purpose, has been fulfilled. By rights I should be like Khaavren: a man of leisure, content to stay at home on our island in the sky and tend my gardens and make love to these two. But I can't. The first taste of being part of something far greater than myself, and in turn becoming greater for the service, changed my life.
My time could be my own, he said. I don't believe it can. Not yet. Not with so much more to do.
So many more battles to be fought.
So many more lives to end.
Yet Her cause is no longer my own. I have to admit this to myself, and admit as well that I
don't know who I am anymore, if I am not Hers.
There is another whom I would call my Queen, if She will have me in Her service now.
I need to visit my brother. A year later and Kae still has yet to meet Thare. I wonder if they ever reinstated him with the Farstriders or if they're still trying to hang him with a noose of red tape.
Mordane is alive still around. His skin is cold as the plate he now wears; the Plume, once famed for its crimson splendour, is stained dark by his death. It pains me still to see him like that: once so vibrantly alive, now cursed to the same fate as our Lordaeronian comrades-in-arms.
Nothing is more different than what I see in his eyes.
Death changes one's outlook. In life he was our leader, as viciously, unflaggingly loyal to the Dark Lady as any three Couriers. Part of our bond was the bloodthirsty nature we shared, our willingness to do anything for Her. And now-
Now he watches me with distrust and a certain wariness. A familiar one. It's the careful distance I used to get from the less-hostile Forsaken when I entered Her service, the same I've gotten from fellow sin'dorei ever since. When the topic of the Dark Lady comes up I see it in Khaavren and Kae as well. They've seen what She has sanctioned. They've seen elements of Her plans unfold. And they are wary of me, because even though I'm officially retired, off the books I am still Her servant - still a champion of Her cause.
But more and more I question if Her cause is just anymore.
Arthas is dead. The Couriers' time has come and gone. Our duty, our purpose, has been fulfilled. By rights I should be like Khaavren: a man of leisure, content to stay at home on our island in the sky and tend my gardens and make love to these two. But I can't. The first taste of being part of something far greater than myself, and in turn becoming greater for the service, changed my life.
My time could be my own, he said. I don't believe it can. Not yet. Not with so much more to do.
So many more battles to be fought.
So many more lives to end.
Yet Her cause is no longer my own. I have to admit this to myself, and admit as well that I
don't know who I am anymore, if I am not Hers.
There is another whom I would call my Queen, if She will have me in Her service now.
I need to visit my brother. A year later and Kae still has yet to meet Thare. I wonder if they ever reinstated him with the Farstriders or if they're still trying to hang him with a noose of red tape.