#nahilvi

Part of the Midnight Mercenary Prompt 2 Dicenne’s Post Ryland’s Post Tinnaire’s Post

A thing Nahi knew well was that practice made perfect, but combat medicine was not something you could truly practice for. Not the injuries. You could practice the rest of it. You could make sure everything was in place, know where every kit and blanket was kept, know who was supposed to do what when the wounded began to come in. You could build a structure sturdy enough to hold against the chaos.

It would never be the same, it would never go exactly to plan, but having a plan was better than having nothing.

Having the company healers closer meant she had gotten to work with them more. It was one thing to be in camp while they were out in the field and help there. It was another thing entirely to sit with them, talk through expectations, listen to their experiences, and learn the rhythm of what they did. What helped the most was having Rynga around to learn from consistently. Between her and Nara, Nahi had gained a much better understanding of how the medics worked.

It wasn't really about the injuries, those would be too varied in the field to prepare for. It was about knowing her part in the process and doing it well. Her job was to assist the healers in the most efficient way possible, and to help keep the chaos around them from impeding their work. 

That made her more confident when the commander called them out again to the Coiled Isle. This time, she slid into place more seamlessly, already knowing where she needed to be and what was expected of her. She didn't have to think about it as much. Her body simply moved, falling into the practiced rhythm they had built.

Part of their company was settled in the Foothold with other mercenaries and the Amani when the calls of alarm went out. They pulled her from chatting with an injured crew member while she rebandanged his arm. She went to the stairs wihere others wer gathering and saw the group that had gone to the Bulwark stranded just outside of camp. She couldn't tell exactly what had happened from where she stood, but their cart appeared to have broken down, leaving the group clustered around it while creatures from the vaults poured around them.

There were so many. They swarmed the roadway, bodies and limbs and wings turning the space around the stranded group into a living wall, cutting them off from the encampment.

Nahi had only been there long enough to understand what she was seeing when a familiar voice called out behind her.

“What happened?”

She turned her head and saw Ry with others she knew he worked with.

“Our crew.”

The words came quickly as she shot another glance down toward the stranded group. Already, fighters from the Foothold were grabbing gear and heading toward the roadway.

She turned and ran back to the camp for supplies. The other healers were moving too, they all knew what was coming.

Many of the creatures spit acid, others were envenomed with it. They had prepared for that possibility, had kits ready for burns, bandages, salves, blankets. Preparation would have seemed almost excessive to an outsider, but it was always better to be over prepared. A situation like this was exactly why they had done it.

Nahi grabbed the kits they had prepared along with blankets and carried them back toward the stairs, helping establish a temporary treatment area close to the entrance. It wasn't ideal, but it didn’t have to be, it only had to be functional. Dragging wounded people all the way back to where the healers encampment was would cost time that would be fatal for some. Healers from other companies joined them in setting up and  the space became as good as it was going to get. Which freed her to help at the stairs.

“Clear the way!”

Her performer's voice cut through those gathered there. It wasn’t enough to override the clash of weapons, the shouting, the shrieks of the creatures, filling the vastness of the Vault, but it was enough to cause heads to turn and people to obey. Fighters from their side were already pushing forward, clearing a path toward the stranded group and that meant there would be more injured soon.

Then the first injured came through, a woman being assisted along. Nahi saw the blood where soaked through fa place where her armor had been melted away. Her fingers pressed desperately against her side and her face was white with pain, lips parted where she was drawing in ragged breaths.

“Here! This way!” Nahi directed her toward the blankets.

The sounds of the battle grew louder and the creatures were the worst of it.There were simply so many. The buzzing of wings, snakes hissing, scales scraping over ancient stone with a dry sound like sandpaper across stone.Then came the battle itself steel striking flesh, grunts of effort. Someone screaming cut through it all. .

Then another person stumbled through the foothold entrance and her smile disappeared. More injured were coming, the worst were directed toward the blankets. Those who could still walk were sent nearby, where they could wait until the healers had dealt with the people who needed them immediately. She didn't have to think about the decisions anymore. She saw a wound and knew where that person needed to go.

A man was carried in with his armor half dissolved. The acid had burned through metal as if it were paper. Beneath it, flesh was blistered and peeling where the corrosive substance had reached him. Another had burns across his hands, the skin swollen and wet, fingers trembling uselessly as he stared at them. The smell hit her hard, it was acrid and caught in the back of her throat making her stomach turn. The stink of acid eating through armor and flesh mingled with blood and sweat. For one breath, she thought she might be sick, but she swallowed it down. There wasn’t time for that, there was work to be done.

Whenever she looked toward the healing space, magic filled the air. Light, nature, elemental, even shadow. Different powers, different ways of healing, all working over the same space. Spells were cast, bandages were pressed into wounds. Someone shouted for more water and one called for another healer.

Nahi turned back before she could get distracted. Another person came in, then another, then another. She sorted through them ensuring they would get the help they needed. It was the planned for chaos.

Then through all of it came Ry's voice and she turned her head to see that the Tauren from their crew had crashed into the line.

“He came in like a wrecking buuuuulll!”

For half a second, Nahi smiled. It was absurd and it was completely, wonderfully Ry. Even here, with acid pools and lakes around them and monsters flooding the cavern, he could still find a way to make her smile, but it didn’t last long.

The push had reached the cart. then she saw Dice and for a moment, she simply stared. He was holding the cart up single-handedly. The sight was so astounding that her brain stuttered for a secon. She knew Dice was strong, everyone that saw him knew Dice was strong, but this was stunning.

Breaking her thoughts from it, her eyes scanned the space quickly, searching for the others. She cared about everyone in the company, every person mattered, but there were a select few who mattered more to her. She caught sight of them one by one. Still standing, still alive. Only then did she allow herself to look away and go back to her assessing the injured. 

This was her job, not to fight, but to create a little bit of order inside something that was fundamentally chaos. To keep the wounded moving where they needed to go. To make sure the healers weren't forced to waste precious seconds figuring out where someone should be.

She had been lost to fear the last time they were out, when the plant zombies had risen in the camp. That terror had stayed with her, as did her reaction to it, her tearing through the camp in a panic, she had carried ever since. She had hoped something like this would not bring it back. This was was horrific, but it just didn’t bother her as that had. She wasn't drowning in the fear this time, she was still doing the work.

As the last of those with the caravan finally came through, Nahi's eyes immediately sought out her friends.None were among those being carrie. Relief coursed through her, a bright spot in all this pain. She did see Rynga trying to herd Dice toward the healers and her refused, of course he did. Then Nahi saw Tinn, the armor on her arm was gone, exposing the injury beneath it. There was blood there, more than Nahi liked to see on a friend. Tinn avoided the healing space anyway. Nahi sighed softly, she would check on them later.

For now, the stream of injured had slowed, the worst had been brought in. And now she had a different kind of work to do. Nahi let the commanding presence fall away, the performer disappeared, the voice that had carried through the chaos became quieter. She stepped into the healing space and began to help directly with the injured, a hand here, a bandage there. Holding someone steady while another healer worked, passing supplies before they were asked for them. Making herself useful wherever she was needed.

The battle had ended, people were moving alone and in groups to their camps, but inside their space, there was still work and Nahi knew her role in it.

As the Shal’dorei adjusted his tie, he looked at himself in the mirror, unsure if what he wore was right for a Sin’dorei memorial. Should he have chosen black? Was there some unspoken expectation of red and gold, or perhaps something more symbolic, rainbows or ritual adornments? Either could be true, given how his people’s allies handled such things.

He would have texted Iren, but his friend was in the depths of his mourning. Jes respected that. Grief deserved space. In their last exchange, when Irenthalas had invited him to his wife’s burial, Jes had asked how Nahilvi was. Iren had answered that he wasn’t sure. It was an odd response. If anyone would be able to leave someone guessing at her emotions, it was the Banshee.

Jes had his own secrets, important ones, the sort that could reshape how the Shal’dorei leadership of the pre-Legion era was remembered, but even so, he felt more open with his emotions than the lovely performer ever was. Nahilvi remained an enigma. No matter how long he watched her, listened to her, tried to read between the notes, she was never someone he could figure out. He might have texted her directly about Sin’dorei funerary customs, but she was likely overwhelmed already. And he did not know if Irenthalas had told her that he had been invited at all.

Reaching into his jacket sleeve, he tugged his shirt cuff down until the sapphire cufflink winked in the light, then repeated the motion on the other side. A deep blue suit, pristine white shirt, and grey tie would have to suffice.

Using the coordinates Iren had sent, Jes adjusted a portal near and stepped through. His polished black shoes landed quietly on a walkway of crushed shells. Ahead, people gathered along the path, and he fell in step behind a couple walking toward the house, yellow and red roses cradled in the woman’s arms. Ah. People brought flowers to these funerals. Too late now. Besides, he had known the deceased only through her husband’s fond recollections over long lunches.

Nahilvi’s violet gaze landed on him as she greeted others. Confusion crossed her features, followed swiftly by anger, quickly masked beneath a warm, welcoming smile, as she thanked the woman before him for the flowers and asked if she would lay upon the coffin.

Jes barely heard the exchange. His attention lingered on Nahi herself. There were shadows beneath her eyes. Charcoal grey was not her color, though the gold and red accents she wore made her look like the inside of a jeweler’s display case. He wondered if she had eaten. If she looked thinner. It was difficult to tell, and he was far too wise to comment on such things even if he knew.

When it was his turn, he caught the stubborn tilt of her chin, the one that always preceded frustration with something he had said or done. Irenthalas stepped forward, and Jes turned from the near glare Nahi fixed upon him to clasp the man’s hand.

“Thank you for coming, Viscount,” Iren said. He rarely used Jes’s rank, but today he kept things formal. When Iren looked back to Nahi, Jes saw a flash of understanding and she dipped her chin in a greeting, Nahi’s eyes found Jes’s silver gaze, and her smile warmed. Even drawn with grief and sleeplessness, he was pulled in by her. “Jes. Thank you for coming. I’m glad you’re here to support Iren.”

Nahilvi drew in a steadying breath as she set her focus on the people that arrived behind him. An older Sin’dorei man approached, accompanied by a younger woman whose pinched expression suggested she had swallowed something unpleasant. The woman stared daggers at Nahi. There was an expression on her face that made him  want to pull her free from whoever stood behind him. He would have, if she wanted that. But he knew she didn’t. 

“I’m glad to be here for you both,” he said. This was not a day for anything but quiet presence. Still, he would not let her believe for a moment that he did not care about her grief as well.

Iren guided him past Nahi, leaving her to greet the newcomers. Jes watched carefully. The normally loquacious beauty offered only a short, polite greeting before stepping aside to let them approach the plot as they wished. There was a resemblance between the older man and Nahi, subtle but unmistakable. Another man approached her, murmuring something low. She placed a calming hand on his arm. He rubbed one hand over the other, fingers pausing at the faint indentation where a ring had once been worn long enough to mark the flesh. He, too, shared Nahi’s features.

At last, Nahi moved to tuckher arm through Iren’s and murmured that it was time. The four moved to the grave’s edge. A blonde woman took Nahi’s free hand and squeezed gently.

There were not many in attendance. Most formed lines along either side of the coffin. Jes positioned himself behind Iren and Nahi, where he could watch, where he could protect, whether or not it was needed. His attention did not linger on the casket, instead he watched those who attended. 

Most of the mourners were openly moved. The final two arrivals were not. Years of navigating social arenas had sharpened Jes’s eye; he could tell immediately that they felt nothing for Nahilvi’s mother’s passing. The woman stared openly at Nahi and then the man  ahi had calmed. The older man surveyed the grounds when he could, appraising, or else his gaze rested on Nahi, cold and measuring.

When Nahi stepped forward to sing, all attention settled upon her. From the first note, Jes was lost. The song itself was beautiful, but it was the emotion threaded through it that captured him. He could not say what happened among the others; he could not tear his eyes from her. He had always enjoyed her performances, but this, this was different. This was a masterpiece of a song, sung with a voice filled with.

When the final note faded into the breeze, no one moved. Silence held, reverent and fragile, unwilling to intrude upon what she had given them. Jes did not fully return to himself until they reached the patio.

Iren spoke with a physician he had once worked alongside, who he had introduced Jes to. Nahi made polite conversation with those who approached her but she was not his focus. Jes lifted his drink and watched the oddly acting pair  over the rim of his glass. The man remained calm, eyes roaming the estate and gardens. The woman kept her attention fixed on the man Nahi had soothed earlier.

Without knowing who was who, Jes observed and prepared to act if it was needed. Eventually, the woman crossed the patio and confronted the man who was her focus. Their argument grew heated, voices rising. When Nahi’s name carried across the space, Jes’s attention shifted to her.

To her credit, she ignored it entirely, turning instead to speak with another guest before moving with them toward the buffet.

The older man intervened, diffusing the confrontation. The arguing pair departed shortly after. The man she had confronted stormed off around the manor house, which appeared far more neglected than Jes would have expected of a noble estate. There was a story there. Likely several.

As the gathering dispersed, Jes made his way home, wisps of curiosity weaving through his mind. There were pieces yet uncovered, threads that might, if followed, draw him closer to the delightful, elusive Banshee at the center of it all.

(Mentions of @nahisummerhold)

(Breaking this up into individual pieces!)

🔥

"Nahilvi is quite a lovely woman, I think. I do not know her as well as I might like to, but she certainly seems rather sweet and endearing. She is warm and welcoming. Very friendly with everyone. I think I admire most her ability to draw others to her and to so effortlessly make friends. She has that kind of personality. If I were to pin down what exactly it is about her that accomplishes such a thing, I would not be able to. Perhaps it is that she is a fair bit mysterious. For all that I feel I know about her—her studies, her home renovations, her appreciation for tiramisu—I find that I know really nothing more. Perhaps it is the mystery, the illusion of knowledge and not having any real knowledge, is the draw...!"

—-—-—

"We get each other. At least, I think we do. Nahi's full of life. I'm really drawn to people like that. Obvious reasons, I guess. If I'm not full of it and if I can only act like I am, then it makes sense for me to be around people who are like that. I... think I have a crush on her? Don't know if that's possible. She's cute, though. She's got this great zest for life. Doesn't seem to care very much what anyone thinks of her. I feel like we're on the same level. And I feel like she gets me. Even though I'm gonna guess I don't really share much of myself with her."

As Magister Palecrown took to the fighting ring Hoovanil watched him, the man was absolutely ruthless, it was what built their friendship on. Palecrown looked for opponents with enough skill to make him look good, but never beat him. Hoovanil’s only experience fighting had been in these confines, a world of dulled blades and padded tips. It was nothing compared to those who had actually taken the field in conflict like Palecrown had. Hovanil was solid with a bit of flash that he learned in his days of fighting those worse that him, it made him the perfect opponent for the magister. Allies had been made in lesser ways. 

The fights today were no different, Palecrown won, Hoovanil would have a number of bruises, but he would make it look like it was a fairly even match. With a salute they both went to the side of the ring where others would not hear them. “So it is going well? I know that serving the papers had a big impact.” He didn’t say he knew because his son had stormed into Hovanil’s fiancée’s manor demanding to talk to him. When they were situated in his den, Hamdil took him to task and threatened to expose him. Hoovanil had claimed it had nothing to do with him and acted surprised at the news, which wasn’t believed but the threat of his secrets coming to light made him nervous, he would have to get that smoothed over, hopefully before this legal machination was handled. 

He did not plan on even being at the court proceedings for that very reason. None of this could be linked to him. He and Palecrown were opponents in the ring, but not thought of as friends or acquaintances outside of the club. 

“You didn’t tell me that she would be so prepared, was she tipped off in any way?” Palecrown sneered at him. 

Hoovanil thought for a moment, only Banictusia had known of the plan, and then only in general. She cared little for the method, only the result, and currently the result was not that pleasing to her, but she would be loyal to him to the end. “No, no one could have warned her, and as good of a performer as she is, the surprise was real.” 

The magister looked him over, as if he would pull out his soul if this didn’t work in his favor. “She has retained some of the best lawyers in the city, and my office has been buried under a mountain of paperwork that has been filed with the courts in her defense.”

“She has proof of her birthright?” That was impossible, even if someone had made the same claim against his children, it would be hard to prove it. Just like with Nahilvi, most of the records were lost with the Scourge attack, and his family had never  been concerned about filing things with the court system.

The other man began to stretch. “No, they are all financial records. We are having to wade through inventories and deeds, banking records and legal documents about her mother. If her mother was not dead we would never have a shot at this at all.”

Hoovanil had assumed that, he had flipped through the things she had brought with her when Nahilvi first returned with her declarations about her and her mother’s presence, and how she would kick them out if they didn’t comply. He never thought that she would really do it. Banictusia just had to know why Nahi didn’t want her mother bothered and kept making attempts to get them inside the Dowager’s House, couldn’t leave well enough alone. “A good thing she is dead then.”

He had been making inroads at getting his debts settled before the losses to the estate would be noticed after she came back. His niece’s anger at their refusal to honor her wishes, had been swift and harsh. 

He couldn’t believe she would even kick out Hamdil and his children, the cousins had always been close, maybe too close when they were young. It was part of how Banictusia had become so dedicated to Hoovanil, she was always jealous of Nahilvi and Hamdil together, but was no proof anything improper went on with the two, unlike he and his daughter-in-law. 

“I had no idea. She always seemed out of touch with anything but her own needs.” Had she really changed that much since her spoiled behavior as a young woman? He figured that she had become like her mother, not caring about much but her own pleasure. “In fact, with the request to keep her mother sequestered when they came back from Dalaran, I thought that she was stealing from the Diva and needed her silenced.”

Palecrown threw him a filthy look. “These attorneys of hers are sharks, they will tear apart any weakness. Make sure your witness is ready, and there better not be any others out there to speak for her or we will lose for sure.”

He had given the star witness just enough inspiration for their appearance, and they would never betray him. A deep sense of right and wrong made a zealot, even if it was for a poor cause. 

There weren’t any that would, or could, testify differently. The only loose end would be if his brother came back from the dead, which Nahilvi herself had verified that he couldn’t. That was something he had doubled checked through, his brother was truly lost with so many others that had followed their Prince. “I will make sure everything is in order with the witness. Will the date be delayed?”

“No, it seems they are not looking to drag this out.” Palcrown sighed, “That is a good sign, it gives them less time to find witnesses, but it also gives my office less time to go through all the documents. Hopefully, this will be cut and dried once we get to the courts.” 

Hoovanil took a breath and nodded to his friend, “Good, see you next week?”

The Magister looked around the club, “No, better to not be seen together until after we win.” Gold eyes fixed back on him, “And we better win, a loss like this will look bad for me.”

He nodded at the man and then threw one of his gloves to the ground looking like he was mad about the match and stormed off. Look bad for him? This would be devastating to his family if it went wrong. The magister was right, this better not go wrong.

The Banshee’s Wail

TW: Dementia, infidelity, violence

A woman’s voice screeched through Nahilvi’s comm, hidden under her hair, you could hide an entire engineering shop there with as full as the ombré curls were. “You PERVERT! You stay away from me! My daughter will be home any minute!”

It was the last day of the Hearts Of Tenacity fest and Nahi was kicked back around the fire sharing snacks with Pheonix, a woman she just met, while wearing her jeans, boots and Starstriders tee. One last night of freedom, then she would go back to the chaos of her family life, that was all she had been hoping for, one last night.

Scrambling to her feet, she apologized to the people around her who could hear the screaming, it had been so loud, and ran away from the circle. She stopped behind a tree and clicked the small device. “Mother… what in the Fel is going on?”

“There is a MAN here who tried to climb into my bed.”

Before she could respond another voice came from the shared family channel. “Hey Nahi, sorry, she has been so good all weekend.”

The singer ran three fingers up the center of her forehead then down to the bridge of her nose and kept her voice calm, “Mother… that is your husband Irenthalas. You have been married for years now.”

“No! I don’t KNOW him.” The pitch of the wail was so high only a trained singer could project it. Her mother had been an opera singer for hundreds of years, she had perfected it.

Well there went the last night of the festival and she hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to the new people she met. “I will be there in a minute, Iren.” It would do no good to address her mother, she was in one of her lapses. The dark skinned performer reached into her pack and pulled out her hearthstone, setting it for their home in Dalaran.

In the time it had taken for that simple action, Nahi could hear something shatter upstairs. The stairs were traversed three at a time with her long strides and she slid into the doorway to take in the chaos. Irenthalas was on the floor, blood streaming from his head, there was shattered porcelain in a blue and white pattern around him and her mother was lifting a lamp like she was going to throw it. “Mother stop!”

“Call the guards! Where is the one posted at my door? Our Prince would never leave me unguarded! Did this man kill him?”

Alright, this was one of her bad episodes. Nahilvi’s mother had been a singer in Kael’thas’ court for a long time, one of the favored entertainers that only performed in the main throne room. When the keep was attacked, she had fallen after taking a blow to the head. Nahi had picked up a sword to protect them but luckily the invader’s were focused on Prince Sunstrider by that time and it had allowed Irenthalas to get to them.

He had secretly been infatuated with Acenadalia for decades, but he was a lowly priest and her mother was married to Viscount Preado Sunburst, the ennobled bastard that her mother had found in her dressing room getting head from two of the Summershade triplets while suckling the third’s breast. Of course that wasn’t the first time he had been caught with his pants down, but it had been the latest.

Iren had helped get them clear before the keep was locked down completely, taking the women to his familial home in Dalaran. He treated her mother but the damage that had been done had left her permanently impaired. She had taken a glancing blow to the temple from an invader’s mace, the skull fracture and cuts healed well, but when Acenadalia woke it was clear she was not in her right mind.After it was clear that Nahi’s father had not made it out, Iren and her mother were wed.

With more work the lucid times outweighed the spells when her memory lapsed, but her mother had to be watched all the time. The last time she had not she walked right into the Alliance alcove in the city and demanded that she be taken to Kael’thas immediately along with no few ‘don’t you know who I am’s’ thrown in for good measure,

“Iren?” Nahilvi questioned while keeping an eye on her mother as sometimes she wasn’t recognized either.

The man’s deep voice sounded exhausted, “I’m alright, she just threw a teapot at my head. I never liked that set anyway.”

“Wasn’t that your grandmother twice removed’s set?”

“Yes, but family lore said she was a harridan.”

Nahi wanted to laugh but was expecting a lamp to be hurled at her or her step-father at any moment. “Mother, it is alright I am here now.”

“He crawled into my BED!”

The shrillness of her mother’s voice caused daggers of pain to embed themselves in Nahi’s head, “I am here now, you are safe, put down the lamp.”

“MY BED!”

“MOTHER!” Nahilvi yelled, she hated doing that most of all, “I am here, we will get everything sorted, put down the lamp.

Acenadalia’s gold eyes snapped to her daughter and narrowed, then they opened wide, “Nahi? When did you get home? Did you enjoy your festival? Did they like my song? I bet they did, you have such a lovely voice. Iren? Why are you on the floor? Did you fall?” She set the lamp back down and crawled into her huge bed, “Come to bed dear, I am sure our daughter would like a bath and settle in for the night.”

Just like that, all the drama ended and they were all one big happy family again. Her mother hadn’t been wrong, she did want a bath and bed, but that bath was going to be accompanied by a bottle of brandy. “Sleep well mother, Iren. I love you.”

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