#meilahn silverstep

@bailousilkbrew has done it again!

There was a moment as the sky rippled over head with a virulent green that punctured through the storm clouds that she wasn’t sure where she was. Her body aloft in the air as she was speeding through it with the wind knocked out of her and pain a distant thought as there was a finality coming through her senses. This was it. She was certain of it as she flew through the air and watched as the skies were opening up only for more of the invading ships to be coming in and dropping their shock troops upon the world. It couldn’t just be here, oh no, wherever she was in that fraction of a moment that seemed to last for an hour, those ships and those demons were coming down upon the world in complete totality.  This was it. WHACK The rockface that she found herself crashed into and bouncing off of was hard and unforgiving as the sense of wonder was gone. Her head rattled with the echo of the impact and as she fell completely down onto the ground and felt the strange sand underneath her back she was helpless to watch the world starting to fade to grey at the edges. The colors that were so bright and dangerous were muting. Sputtering out a breath she watched the skies wide eyed as the ripping pain in her right arm decided then was a good time to rip her out of her reverie. Pink mist left her lips as she coughed where she lay, broken on the broken shore with little more than a struggling breath and muted whine escaping her, the idea of even crying out was ridiculous but she tried just once and it only came out as a shattered whimper to the roar of demons overhead.  The graying world around her was brightened for a moment as she saw overhead the Val’kyr from the Forsaken Troops come sweeping overhead and picking up figures to carry them somewhere. To safety. They weren’t looking for the nearly dead woman, completely singed from her close encounter with an infernal that was missing an arm and broken posed on the ground.  No. She wasn’t their target at all.  “K...Kong...” She was trying to move as she lay back on the sand, only to find in a moment of panic that one arm wasn’t responding how the other was and how it had always. Weakly she tried to lift her arm to look at it, to see what the damage was and how she was going to fix it when wide eyes went wider. Where once a functioning arm had been, instead there was the nub from below her elbow and the creeping green that had been in the sky as it worked along veins and had completely burned the wound sealed. Terror started to grip her dizzied mind as she felt tears roll hotly down her cheeks in a state of panic.  Of course they hadn’t picked her up, she was a crippled version of herself.  “S...s...” Her breathing started to come in gasps as she lay there on the ground, trying to force out words that no one would ever hear, ragged breaths losing their strength where she lay.  “...sorry...” lub- Sitting upon the sand she looked over to see someone sitting on the stones, two someones in fact that watched her. One was so much older and yet so completely unfamiliar to her as she leaned against the rock and shook her head. The other she knew, she had known that face since she had been just a few months old, Lau sitting next to her and stroking her face but looking so incredibly firm.  “You aren’t allowed this, Mei. Papa cannot lose two of his daughters in the same year. It would break him.” The older woman came forward, reaching out her hand to Mei as she lay on the ground.  “C’mon and get up. Dust yourself off. Booger can’t lose both of us either.” Booger? But I ca-... she thought. “You can and you will.” A third came out of the mists that were starting to shroud her. An older tauren coming froward, elderly woman that she looked to be, and she smiled down at Mei, coming to cradle her head gently where she lay. “The spirits are calling to you, Skyflower, the scream their pain and torment and you can see us, which means you can help them. You, shaman, are needed.” I...I never trained to...she wanted to frown but as she actually looked down at her body she saw a white ethereal version of herself moving away, lifting out of her body much to the same that they looked. “The spirits choose, Skyflower. It is a gift, not something you can train for. They want you. They need you.” The elderly tauren spoke, even as her sister continued to stroke her face, reassuring her where she sat. Kneeling down at her feet then was the unfamiliar elderly pandaren, taking her by the leg and shaking it gently. “You can’t do this to him, can’t just give up when he prays and keeps faith in your strength. Marvels in it. You are so much a part of him you can’t just let that all go now. Hold it tight. That tight feeling in her chest, hold it.” “Wake up, Mei Mei. The world needs you.” “Take this, Skyflower. The spirits have work for you still.” -dub A great surge came from her chest as she gasped, screaming out in pain as the ships were leaving so that the great cry of pain and anguish echoed against the water. Trembling there against the ground the apparitions vanished from her sight and she dug her fingers into the earth beneath her. A ferocity there in her cry as she forced herself to roll over, each movement its own little agony as she pushed herself up from laying to kneeling in the strange dark sands she had fallen into. Her glasses lay to the side of her, broken from her face and shattered on the ground, they would be useless for her now.  Digging into the ground with one hand she dug whisped fingers of air into the earth itself, tearing into it as the rock beneath the sands came upwards and almost seemed to fuse with her skin, fingers of earth firmly taking their heavy hold as her tool there at her side as she used it to push herself up fully.  Run. The winds spoke to her, and even over the din of the demons roaring their success and motors in the distance of the signaled retreat, she could hear the wind and a rush of soft voices speaking to her. With her hair torn from the ribbons that held it all together, it whipped in the new winds that rushed around her.  Looking to the water she could see in the distance more land, and in that moment she could only hope that the pull of the elements that she felt in her chest would lead her to some form of safety.  Oh, if she only knew that for certain.  “I...have work to do.” The winds rest at her feet as she pushed her body with the very ladt she had and all she had been given towards the shores that were spread out just over the waters edge. Away from the Maelstrom and towards solid land where the elements and spirits all cried out, pleading for her to help them all if she could. To the waters edge she came and then across it. How she managed to never sink was well beyond her thoughts at that moment, she only knew one thing for certain.  She had to find safety. She had work to do. She had to survive. She had to.

Looking out over the edge of the zeppelin she watched Thunderbluff fade into the twilight, the sun still a distant thought as the sky was only just starting to warm and the stars were still prevalent but fading as if washed away from the dream that they were. With the girding of her armor holding her secure it was all she could do but watch that singular tent and knowing that inside was the grace of the heat sick man that she was leaving behind by declaration and with him were the two Garn that would keep him safe and secure. She trusted them to do so, they had to, because she wouldn’t risk the pup coming with her on this. The air of the fading night was still chilled but the further east she traveled the warmer it became as the sun grew and grew on the horizon starting to bleed its beautiful colors into the world once more and wash away the darkness. A shining light for hope for what was to come. Over and over she read the note that she had been given, her and several others that were riding the boat so early in the morning that sleep still held in their eyes as the motor ran cleanly and dragged them over the expanse of the Barrens and only then could she actually see what was coming. Over the height of the zeppelin were great ships that appeared in the sky, ringed in wicked green fire and pulsed with an energy that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on edge as they loomed with their threat being their simple shadow. It was real. It was all so very real. The zeppelin soared through the lingering clouds and mist of night, coming upon the awakening city of Orgrimmar and just from the flight in she could see the bustling going on at the docks. That there were so many already starting to filter in and that the zeppelin from the other continent was just as full, people coming through portals and riding on the backs of flying creatures that they owned or had rented caused a small surge of hope. Surely with numbers they could do something. Couldn’t they? With the heroes of the Horde? Yes Mei, hold onto that hope, you are going to need it in the time to come. Even after stepping off the zeppelin she touched the cool edge of the shield that was strapped to her back and the axes that were at her hip, knowing full well that by days end she was going to have to use them at some point. That was something she had not had to do since she had first joined the opposition of Garrosh and his crimes and the idea of having to do so again brought her no joy, but instead filled her with a quiet determination to get it over with so that she could just go home. How much better would this have been if she had been requisitioned with friends, people she knew she could fight alongside? If Kong were there with a shield to hide behind, Malourn and her control over ice and her own undeath, Quinh and her speed that belied her strength, Xingba and his cheery nature mixed with the darkness of battle. Any of them would have been a comfort, but instead she had not seen a single familiar face on the boat over to the rock bound city. It still filled her with dread, coming back to this place even though now it was only by the ghosts of its own history, the past coming up and licking at her heels as a constant reminder of what had happened in her first excursion and adventure away from home. How the world had just changed in an instant and called the might of the Horde and Alliance crashing into the home of her forest and laying destruction in their wakes, smoke that rose from buildings a memory that was all too real and the sulfur of the fires of home seemed stoked by the smell of sulfur distantly in the air. This was yet another conflict that she found herself in and yet this one she hoped with all of her might that they could get through it and recover from it, just as the forest was growing once more surely they could survive through the Legion and fight them back as they had been fought back before. This place though, with its high walls of stone built into a mountain side as a testament to the Horde’s strength, new gates put in place for security and a field of different faces patrolling...it was a sign of change. There was an anxiousness that crawled through her as it did whenever she was in a large group of people, but she had to focus on the fact she had been called, she had to go, even as her stomach twisted into a painful knot to remind her of things that had been left unsaid. Panic was there and threatening in the back of her throat, to close it up entirely and suffocate her if she allowed it to and the strength of it made it painful to swallow. Her heart beat in her chest furiously almost as if it was going to rattle her apart as she felt pressured and pressed in by the crowd as they all walked towards the same goals. There was determination in the eyes of those around her, some fear, some even crying as they kept their faces stoic as they marched on towards the gates, exiting en masse for what was to come. Every one of these people had homes, had families, had people that cared for them in one way or another and the depth of the impact of what was about to happen hit her. Some of these people were never going to come home, never to be held again, never to be touched to talked to. Lights snuffed out in the oncoming darkness. ‘You just have to make sure that it isn’t you, Mei Mei. You have to get home, you promised.’ She had so many promises that she had made that she had yet to make good on, and though they were scattered through many people including herself, it was Kong that she had to come back to. She had promised to come home and it was what she was going to do. There could be no other outcome, not in her mind. War changes everything. Gathered there each went through several people, handing in the writs that they had been given and in turn being issued a symbol of the Horde to be pinned to her armor, the cloak that she wore being then held together by the crest of the Horde there at her shoulders on either side. Shuffling through lines the world seemed to be a blur of movement, all of these lives coming together and words being spoken of it being a last meal. For some of them it would be, and she balled her hand in her lap as she took the plate gratefully and sat as she watched what was going on. There were people sparring back and forth in a ring down the road, testing themselves against each other as the boats were all being prepared. There were excited new bloods in the groups that were eating, all eager to have their first taste of action and battle, so very young and fresh faced contrasted with the seasoned faces of Veterans who, while appreciating the enthusiasm and smiling wistfully at them, seemed to hold that air of dread in front of them. That quiet silence of white noise that war puts between the ears and drowns out the rest of the world. This was where they had gone to again. A taste of sweet relief, only to be driven back down once more. With the plate of food nearly finished as she was mindlessly eating she had a brief moment to smile,  nothing big and definitely not shining, but it was the first time in over a month that a meal had not immediately caused her pain. A spark of hope and health surged in her and caused a whole new line of worrying as she looked across the faces still desperate to see if she could find someone familiar. Anyone. Even someone from the past that she recognized would have been better than being so lost in a sea of souls that she had no connection to. Standing up and setting her dirty dish to the side of the tables, looking across to the people that had prepared the food and were still busily working hard to prepare for the soldiers she had a moment wishing, hoping that she could have been one of the few to stay along the sidelines for this evening. ‘Meilahn, how selfish. There are so many out here ready to pay for their homes and families with their lives and blood and you wish to stay at home?’ It was a sobering thought as she gave them a salute, with her fist in her palm and small bow before she headed down the road to the next waypoint that had been marked out. Everyone had a boat that they needed to get onto but there was no sign nor word that the boats would wait for those that had not yet arrived. Instead she was moved to stop at a table, where others had been before her and crowded around it, given a jar with polish within it, the smell of it mixing with dirt and sweat before she was ushered on down the line. Next would come a small container and within it bandages soaked in a thick fluid that she was told was mojo. With no idea of what that meant, really, she gave them all the same salute and acted with respect before being pushed down the line. The offer was there for others to test themselves, to make sure that their abilities were measured and ready, and yet she shook her head. She had been told she would be taking care of wounded more than she would be actually doing anything in the thick of the fighting, and testing herself at this moment with her heart racing out of control wasn’t going to do her any favors. Neither would be getting injured from someone overzealous, and so she politely declined and instead headed to the harbor master. Several people sat at a table, going through dockets of who was going on what ships, and she patiently waited for her name to be found as to where she was heading. The man that was sitting at the table, the goblin to be exact, adjusted the monocle that he wore as he zipped through the pages, licking his finger to turn each paper with a small ‘hmm’ while he was looking. Obviously they had taken her name down, she had been given a writ after all, it was just a matter of finding it and that seemed to be a task in and of itself but given the magnitude of people that were here perhaps it wasn’t too puzzling. An assistant, a little blonde haired female goblin went up to him, sighing, and words went back and forth between them before she heard her name, and the goblin woman grabbed an entirely different stack of papers and pointed out the name to him. “Ya on the airships! Go up them stairs towards where they’s docked an’ be quick about it.” Without another word she was shuffled to the side by others that had been waiting and stuck looking up at the large tower that he was referring to. Alright, fine. Flying. Not exactly something she was looking forward to but it was better than portals. Anything is better than portals. Shivering she shifted the shield on her back, pocketing the polish and bandages and headed up to the large winding stepway that seemed to have a single file line already going up to where they were assigned. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The airship left the docking station not long after she had entered, everyone else there testing their armor straps, manning their stations and some getting down to the hold where they would watch from below deck. Opting for the lower deck, next to an open window she watched as the rest of Orgrimmar was shrinking in the distance, the sound of engines overpowering the ocean below and the distant roar of the ocean preparing for a storm and reacting to the fleet that was starting to follow behind. Quietly she took up the work of taking off each piece of armor, one at a time, and taking a rag and polish to the chainmail, making sure that each was clean, that they wouldn’t chink together in a practiced motion that came from this being her meditation. This was something she did to wind down, it was a small comfort to wash and buff away the stains of the past and there was something satisfying in the idea of making sure that her armor was at its best. Especially as this had been an emergency call out to gather forces. It was a sign of them trying to make sure their people were ready even if that meant ripping them away from their own beds. They were fed, there were even some down near her that were drinking to numb themselves to what was coming or to celebrate their impending victory. At least the spark of hope was tangible. Even as she sat there quietly she could feel movement and it left her at peace. She had to get through this, she had faith that the Celestials would guide her and that in the end all of this would be better. The suffering would come to an end. She knew it deep in her heart as it washed over her. Peace was there. With her locket on her other leg and open, she looked down to the smiling faces there, that captured moment of happiness that she was so grateful to have staring back at her. There was a tangible piece of love just proving itself to her as she polished her shoulder guards. What a dichotomy, to have them compared against each other. One a girding for turmoil and the other a celebration of contentment. She just had to get through this moment of trouble to get back to that moment again, and the sharp smell of the sea filled her lungs as she felt bolstered in her determination even as the engines droned on. There were conversations all around her as she finished up her armor, and tucked away her locket, talking about strategies and there were even whispers of the Alliance coming to join the fray as well. Assaulting as a gathered group, a joined forces of Azeroth coming forward to put their foot down and face the Burning Legion head on. If there were so many coming from the cities of the Alliance then surely this battle would be one hard fought but won. Finally a moment of the world coming together. How honored she felt in that one moment that she was going to be a part of the moment where the Alliance and Horde fought side by side towards a common goal instead of against one another. A sudden crash through the air like thunder rocked the boat, turbulence knocking a few people about as she started strapping her shield onto her arm. The weather was changing and the sky was darkening as she toyed with the reinforced leather straps and she bound them tightly, connecting them to her bracer for it to be steady.  Tall and sturdy in a deep gray steel it stood nearly as tall as she was, something she could easily hide behind if need be and yet light and sturdy enough that she could maneuver it around.  Inside it she saw the etching from Kong’huo, that he had made it for his Skyflower, and underneath the dedication on it where she had in turn etched the address of their tent in Thunder Bluff as a home to return it to in case it had ever been lost. Home. That was home right there. He was there. Another crack through the air like thunder rattled the wood and metal frame of the ship that she was on and she leaned against the frame to look down at the water’s below and behind. A fleet of ships  just in the trail of the air ship that flew overhead, and there in the distance an echo of the humming engines as the Alliance could first be spotted. But the tint of green in the air was not to be ignored and her head turned towards what was coming, and the rocky shore of broken islands was there before her, and with the sight was the smell of sulfur that twisted something cold in her chest. It was real. It was coming. It was time. From the shore she saw more than she heard the first volley that was coming to the ships. Great orbs of green hellfire wrapped around something rocketing through the air, and though some missed she saw the connection happen to another ship...and from it something of her nightmares rising out of the pit that it had created on the great flying machine. It was large, oh she had never seen one so large in her life, covered in green fire and incredibly angry, the infernal roaring in defiance as a volley of arrows came its way as it clawed out of its birthing area. From across the way she could see the arrows and the people battling the demon the front of their ship, a surge of adrenaline coursed through her veins and warmed that cold spot in her chest, and instead set her on fire in her chest. It was time for her to be on her toes and she silently urged the ship to move faster. To be safe in it’s- A loud crash came through the decks and she could see on the other side of the ship that she was riding that something large and fiery was coming out of its own hole that it had created and the echoing cry of fury struck through the entire crew. There was a frenzy of movement as a contingent of people that were below deck started going after the creature as well as those who were still trying to keep the boat afloat. She grabbed the axes that were at her sides, and as she saw no one hurt at that moment the surge was to get the monster down before it injured too many. Spinning once, twice she gathered wind around her axes and drove herself at the ankles of the great demon as it was heading up and out to attack those that were above. Only after the first connections though did she hear the cries of those that had actually been hurt in the fall, and she took herself quickly away from the burning felfire and instead to where a beam was half crushing a young orc where he had been pinned, never even being shown the chance to battle and the others all lost in the frenzy of the attacker that was trying to take down the ship. Kneeling next to him she put her axes at her hips, quickly attaching them and grabbing instead the mojo covered bandages that she had been given. Sure, they had been for her but that wasn’t going to happen right at this moment. The soaked bandages were thick and as she wrapped them around the boy how she could she heard more than she saw the beam being moved off of him with the careful but strong arm of a Sunwalker as he was staring up towards the upper decks and listening to the melee. “Stay still, let the bandages work, just please...stay still.” The mojo worked its magic as she had never expected it to, invigorating the young man to standing as he was finished being wrapped by the first bandage. To his feet he stood, giving her a nod of appreciation for only a moment before he clashed his sword against his shield and roared on his way up to the melee above. Moments later, fractions of seconds, she could hear voices crying out as they soon disappeared before the explosion of the infernal falling apart and some of it crashing into the waves below. But the damage had been done. As she came up to the top deck she found herself holding onto the rigging to keep herself upright, the boat itself swaying in the winds and finding that it had little power to actually keep itself upright anymore as they had been damaged by the demon in its fall. The shore was coming up quickly and she could only watch as it was coming closer. She reached for others, pulling them to the ropes, to the masts, anything to keep them from falling off of the deck and into the waters and unforgiving land below as the mountainous range just beyond the beach was coming into sight. This was not how you land something that flies. With a screech through the air the airship was crashing, careening to an inevitable end and she did all she could, meaning that she was trying, in vain to slow the ship with the winds, trying to buffer the ship and building up a cloud of condensation to try and soften the impact that was coming. Below she could hear the cries of demons and fighting for a split instant before the world was only a deafening crack of impact. The great ship she had been riding on was rocked and split in half with the landing that it had been forced into. The ship itself was split in half and she had been rocketed with the front end of the ship into a cluster of buildings that seemed to have come from absolute nowhere and yet were filled with the smiling faces of eager demons waiting for their blooding. Around her were collapsed bodies of those that hadn’t made it through the crash, having hit rock or been impaled on a melee of weapons that had been lost by other hands. So many simply lost in the explosion that came from the engines and the fire that were surrounding them. Even as she herself picked up from the ground and started to stand she could hear only a deafening silence, confused faces staggering to try and gather together. Though her mind was cloudy, Meilahn was still focused, had to survive, especially as she felt her body twitch to let her know that everything was still where it should be. From the air and ground around her she pulled water to her hands, pulling away the fel taint that seemed to soak into the water and rain started to fall from the sky, healing rain to soothe those that were around her. From her hands shot a chain of water, bouncing between her allies and leaving them surprisingly dry having been drenched for half a second and she called out wordlessly for them to come to her for support. With a clatter of swords and armor heading her way, there was another squeal through the air before they were all knocked backwards from the impact, and before them seemed the same marked Infernal as before, soaked in felfire and roaring victoriously at its landing. Beneath the demons feet were four more that had been killed that day without a moment of reaction, crushed by stone and fire. A great stone arm, sickly green, swung down at the group of survivors, and she ducked down, her shield high over her head to protect it. She wasn’t low enough. It is funny how in just one instant you can be welcomed into a world of pain that you had never imagined before. Within just an instant there was impact, the sickening sound of ripping skin, fur and twisting metal as the top of her head was hit with the edge of her shield and not a second later the shield, with her forearm and flower was sent flying across the battlefield and stuck into the earth itself. A wailing cry left her lips as she felt the sudden pain course through her body and the crushing grasp of the demon as it picked her up by collar and necklace. In a small act of defiance she contorted her face through the searing that went through her nerves and the water she had called on turned towards the demon, from where it held her starting to soak out the fires and coat it down as her comrades, including the young orc from before, trying to defend her and break the arm that held her. You are tiny in a world so vast. Without a word ever coming from her lips she was flung like a childs toy against the mountain side, flying over it and impacting along a far side of the mountainous region. The thoughts that run through your mind when you feel like you are about to die are numerous and it is hard to hold onto just one. Terror from her situation and the impact she was just about to feel, all the faces of those she loved flashing before her eyes before thinking of just one shaggy looking, wild bear and that goofy smile that he offered when trying something new for her...and that twitch of muscles along her abdomen, that little sign of hope reacting for her, before the world was nothing but burning white pain. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Along the rearline, and holding for those that had been wounded from the boats she stood, silent as she saw the world crashing together and the injured that were being sent back to the ship at her orders. With a few runners she patrolled the lines as others moved ahead, caught in the fury and bloodshed for those that fell and those that were suffering. Countless faces being sent back to be tended to quickly, to be stabilized or at least so that their families could have some token of their loved one. Pacing back and forth, a small orc, barely cutting his adult teeth came running up to her with two objects. One, a shield much bigger than he was, and inside of it was an arm that still held fast to its grip, still laced in meticulously tight and only from the elbow down remained of it, and beside it a shattered glass flower, or it must have been a flower at one point as it was in pieces. Quickly she nodded, looking to the address and writing it down upon a bag before a wave of ice encased it all to preserve it. “Take it back to the ship, we will have it delivered when we return.” The boy nodded, and instead another came forward, a forsaken man with a grim look in his eyes as he shook his head. ‘Name on the back goes ta Thunderbluff, got another one that fell in the mess.’ In his hands was a rather ornate locket that had been half crushed, a blurred image inside barely intelligible, but the back of the locket was completely solid. The address upon it belonging to one Malourn Deathwalker in case of the item being lost. The chain was broken in half and the delicate creature that it belonged to was nowhere to be found. “Take it to the ship then, put it with the other belongings. We have more to find.” ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It was a chilly thursday afternoon as the somber duty of the couriers became far more dire. With a sad face the Tauren woman, draped in black and the vines of white flowers blossomed along her arms she walked towards the Hunter Rise. There was a depth of sadness and mourning that couldn’t really be put into words, especially not her own as she greeted Malourn at her tent. She didn’t have a word to offer, but instead she offered the tall and icy woman who was laying on a cot, obviously recovering, with the tender hands of a Forsaken working over her, a gentle condolence squeeze of the shoulder before giving her a small box. Inside the box was a lining of soft cloth, and a letter. “To one Malourn Deathwalker, in this your time of loss know that it is not in vain. Our losses turn our determination into iron. Take heart that your loved one died in the heart of battle and honored their ancestors.” Underneath it was the crushed and crumpled remains of the necklace that had been so carefully crafted, the thing open and the smiling face of Meilahn and Kong staring at one another bent to almost being unrecognizable. Beside it a little placard, noting that it had been found on the path from the Broken Shore Landing Site. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The same thursday, at the tent on the Elder’s Rise the same dark shrouded woman came up to the door on the tent of Kong’huo, and she knocked gently. There were tears in her eyes as she waited for the door to open, the rather tall Pandaren on the other side with two large garn at either side in such a small tent. “I am...so sorry.” She took from the cart she was pulling a rather large box, not enough for a body but still it was remarkable in size as she set it down at his feet. With a whisper and a prayer to the Earthmother she opened the insides, which was shrouded in a cold mist as if it had been temporarily enchanted to preserve what was inside. On top of the spiked shield that had been so carefully hand crafted was a letter. “To Kong’huo Bellstout, in this your time of loss know that it is not in vain. Our losses turn our determination into iron. Take heart that your Skyflower, one Meilahn Silverstep, died in the heart of battle and honored her ancestors.” Below the shield that was battered from the rocky onslaught that it had suffered was the arm, still attached to the grip and fingers still tightly bound to holding onto it, for dear life as it were, and beside the fingers the broken remains of a shattered flower, once encased wholly in glass.

Dearest Kong, It's before sunrise, and you are still asleep and I didn't think I should wake you even though I really wanted to do so. I just received a writ from Orgrimmar asking me for my immediate presence at the Dranosh'ar Blockade. I forgot that I had signed up for drafting purposes back when Garrosh was tearing the world apart and I just never decommissioned myself. Apparently the Burning Legion has returned and they need me there to take care of others, or my axes. I'm sure you are going to get one soon, please be safe. They want me there immediately. I love you, Shield Bear, please stay safe, Always, Mei Mei. Dear Mal, The sun isn't quite up yet and already it seems like there is work for me to do. I just received a writ from Orgrimmar that I am needed at the Dranosh'ar Blockade this morning and that I need to get there immediately. I signed up for the draft years ago with Garrosh tearing the world apart and I never decommissioned and it is too late to do so now. Something is wrong, Mal, I can feel it. I haven't told Kong'huo yet, and please, please Sister don't be rash until I get home. I will take care of myself, I promise I will. I just wish I could have a hug before I go but the boat is already here. Please take care of yourself, be safe if you get a writ as well, I'll be home soon! Always your Sister, Mei Mei.