Winter Veil had fallen with the snow across Silverlight City, bringing with it all sorts of festivities..........and stuff.
Really? 'And stuff'? Are you kidding me?
Shut up, Lightbringer.
Snow was falling, coming down so thick that if you were walking down the street, you couldn't see anything that was more than three inches beyond your face - your own feet included. Almost everybody in Silverlight had made a tactical retreat into their homes or a warm inn, but there was one soul still on the streets.
Clad in dark armor, the figure's cloak billowed behind her as she went along, from a mixture of the strong wind and her own movement. Her eyes glowed through the thick curtains of snow falling, and eventually hit another figure laying prone in the street, a circular area of snow around it dark with blood.
The dark woman sprinted over, kneeling beside the body and going to roll it over. There was a groan, then a flash of bright pink as the second woman's hair fell out of her ragged bandanna. The dark figure chewed her lip for a minute, then carefully picked up the injured Acquiri and began carrying her through the streets, still moving swiftly but now weighed down by the second figure's bulk.
After a few minutes, a large mansion loomed out of the snow. Pushing the door open, the hood of the carrier was blown back with a gust of warm air, revealing her to be a pale elf, an angry red line running from above her eyebrow to just below her nose on the left side of her face.
"Ini!" she yelled, rushing the bleeding Acquiri to the floor in front of a fire roaring in the hearth. An Engelium walked in, opening her mouth to say something, then followed the trail of blood across the room to where the elf was sitting.
"Holy light Nalsia, what the hell happened?" she asked, kneeling down beside the Acquiri and snapping off healing spells as the elf told her what had happened.
A few terse moments of silence reigned after Nalsia had finished talking, but the Acquiri groaned again, and this time, bright amber eyes opened. "A.......Azur.......Azurae...?"
Laeini answered. "No, not us. Who's Azurae?"
The blue woman struggled to sit up, panic flaring in her eyes. "My.....daughter....where?"
Nalsia shot up off of her armchair and ran for the door.
Out in the snow again, but this time without a cape, Nalsia dashed for where she'd found the woman, turning for a few seconds before spotting a nearby alley. Padding silently into the darkened area, the elf found a cardboard box. Normally, she wouldn't give a box a backward glance, especially while she was looking for a person, but this box was different, as it moved.
Gently tapping the side of the box, she watched as a small pair of bright pink eyes fearfully studied her. "M-momma?"
Nalsia shook her head. "No, honey, I'm not your mother. But if your name is Azurae, I do know where your momma is."
"Y-you know w-where my m-momma is?" The elf could hear the little girl's teeth chattering just from the way she talked. Quietly cursing the fact that she hadn't brought her cloak, she picked up the young Acquiri, who squeaked in fear, and ran back to where she'd come from.
The older Acquiri was once again passed out, and Azurae ran to her. "Momma? Momma wake up!"
Nadia shook her head and walked out of the living room. It'd been several centuries since the vents that had led to Azurae becoming her adopted sister, and once again it was that day of the year, to look back and reflect on what'd happened. For Nadia, that meant gaining a sister, but to Azurae, it was both that and losing her biological mother.
But even the memories weren't enough to push down the festive Winter Veil feeling. And besides....she had a lot of mistletoe to hang.
The rogue rose from her spot by the window and grinned. Time to stir up some trouble.
Laeini sighed and cast another small hybrid spell, a cross between a heal and a cleanse, on a Draenei's infected gash. The wound ran along the length of the blue man's arm and took quite a long time to wrap and unwrap every time it needed to be treated. And on the side, he was coming down with the sniffles.
Just like everyone else, she thought absentmindedly, fluffing her wings as she began the time-consuming process of bandaging the Draenei's arm.
After she'd closed the door to Room 186 behind her, she strode down the halls of Silverlight's Chantry and signed out, closing the logbook and going for her heavy cloak. She had to help Nalsia decorate the roof this year, as every other year the elf took hours to string up all the lights on her own, and then also help cook. The latter was the cause of their extended guestlist for this year.
Whistling for Sunburst, she pulled a small, rolled-up piece of parchment out of her pocket and studied it.
Trynna Lightbringer & Gavrin Mchaile (Thrian's parents, probably going to be here tomorrow. Ian's showing up too)
Toranrea Swiftarrow (Aranas's cousin, only family he has apparently)
Arathor, Autumn, and Avery (You better know who they are by now)
Aiden's going to show up whether we like it or not
Darion & Zvarya (Lotta DKs this year...)
Miral & Ryoli (Torel's siblings)
Alleria, Turalyon, Liralei (Yes, I have a lot of cousins deal with it)
Vereesa, Galadin, Giramar
Liadrin, Imhadria, Hadriana
And that should be it.
N
Laeini tucked Nalsia's note slash relatives cheatsheet back into her cloak's inner pocket and climbed onto the gryphons back, urging him forward with a soft command in Angelic. The priestess knew that the extensive list meant a massive dinner, as Nalsia would not allow one person to go to bed hungry. "Not on my watch," was her official statement on the matter, and what Nalsia said, she always stuck to in some way.
After stabling sunburst, she walked into the front door and was not surprised to see Nadia standing a few feet away with an impish grin, pointing at something above her. Laeini didn't even have to look up to know it was most likely a sizeable sprig of mistletoe, and only shook her head, suppressing a laugh.
"Now that," she managed, "Is something you got from your mother."
Nadia laughed as well, then grabbed a basket of the plant and sprinted away.
Nalsia trotted along towards the orphanage, preferring on-foot travel while in Silverlight. Spectral, however, had saddlebags weighed down with small containers of warm soup on one side and small bags of candy on the other. A few full canteens and thermoses of hot chocolate were carefully tucked in with the other goodies, and even though it wasn't too much work, the pegasus ran a tirade of mock-complaining from the moment they stepped out of the stable to the moment they arrived at the orphanage.
When they did, Nalsia rapped on the door with one plate gauntlet and waited. A few moments later Matron Irvine opened the door, and the worgen smiled when she saw Nalsia carrying the full saddlebags. "Champion, a pleasure to have ya here," she greeted, her Gilnean accent thick but not necessarily unpleasant.
"A pleasure to be here," she responded, edging past the Matron and into the main room of the orphanage. Setting down the bags, she began carefully removing everything and setting it out : soup to one side, hot chocolate to the other, and then candy canes of all flavors and colors, mints, and some chocolate thrown in just because.
A quiet clopping from down the hall announced the arrival of the youngest matron, or rather matron-in-training, Kerati Earthweaver. The young Tauren abruptly stopped when Nalsia came into sight, then gave a gleeful smile and ran to hug the elf.
"Well hello to you too," she laughed, as Kerati squeezed her. "So...you want another candy cane this year, or...?" The Tauren clopped over to the pile of candy and carefully selected an orange one, then crunched it down in one bite. Making the 'Mmmmm' of approval, Kera flashed her the thumbs-up and retreated down the hallway with a huge grin on her face. A few minutes passed in silence, Nalsia sitting cross-legged by the roaring fire and Irvine planting herself in a rocking chair and picking up her knitting, before the sound of laughing children reached their ears.
They filed in, directed by Kerati, and obediently sat down around where Nalsia was, eyeing the candy and cocoa eagerly. Once the last child - a small Blood Elf - had gotten comfortable, she smiled. "So, who here has been a good little one all year long?"
Vereesa smiled as she let herself get caught up in her sons' childish excitement. "Come on ma, we don't wanna be late," Galadin reasoned, tugging her towards the portal that led to Silverlight. Bundled up in their winter attire, the trio were barely recognizeable, which would be perfect for passing through the city undetected.
Giramar was tugging along his and his brother's things towards the portal, lagging a few feet behind them. "Guys, wait up!"
They stopped and grabbed their own suitcases, relieving him of some of his burden, and crossed through the portal one by one. Silverlight was a very nice city, and it was easy to tell why her niece had decided on settling there. Walking down the streets, they received enthusiastic greetings from total strangers, though she had to refrain from scowling when a Blood Elf waved at them.
"Mom, give it up for just this once. Yes, they killed Dad. But it's Winter Veil, just lighten the hell up for once." Giramar whispered to her, as Galadin waved back. Sighing, Vereesa resolved to try to be pleasant. But trying was all she'd do.
As they neared her niece's house, they noticed the number of people around thinning out. Which made sense, as the Mansion was located a good ways away from the true center of the city - the market - and was pretty much isolated in that way.
On instinct, she glanced up, half expecting to see Nalsia up on the roof, stringing up the lights, but she wasn't there. And if she wasn't there, she was probably at the orphanage or giving soup, cocoa, and conversation to the homeless.
Which, she supposed, was a good thing to do in this time of year. After all, Winter Veil was supposed to be about the giving instead of the receiving....."Alright fine," she muttered to Giramar. "I'll give it a go."
And she was half-proud to say that the next time a smiling Blood Elf waved at her, she waved back with an equally large smile.
