Draecember - 1
Yaas had been on Azeroth for less than a year on on the day she woke up in Strenglethorn and looked out of her inn room, past the piers, over the sea, and thought it looked nothing like an ocean should. Pink light was just growing out of the haze of the horizon, the black ocean flickering red where water peaked, like a thousand mirrors floating on its surface. Yaas tried to remember the view of the seas back on Draenor. She found that she couldnât. The smell wasnât quite right. There was so much salt, but something else too.
Arms slipped around Yaasâ waist. Vroanor was short enough that, hugging from behind like this, her shoulders were about halfway up Yaasâ back. Still, her considerable horns clicked against Yaasâ own when she lay her cheek between Yaasâ shoulderblades. Yaas looked down, crossing her arms over Vroanorâs blue over purple. It was like hugging back. Yaas said, âGood morning.â
Vroanor responded with a sleepy mutter, leaning more of her weight, making Yaas lean on the railing in front of her to keep her balance.
The mirrors on the ocean turned turned from red to yellow. The cool wind wrapped them and made Vroanorâs touch feel so warm, her sighs hot over Yaasâ skin. How far Yaas was from home now. How far she was from those sheâd loved there, from those who had given her comfort. And this new sea, this new touch: familiar, but not the same. Yaas moved her thumb on Vroanorâs arm, smudging a mark of charcoal; Vroanor was an artist whoâd been teaching Yaas to draw in exchange for Paladin training. A new hobby.
âDo you think itâs okay,â Yaas said, âTo be trying to be happy after everything thatâs happened?â
Vroanor shrugged, so she hadnât completely fallen asleep again, leaning against Yaas like that. It took her a long time to finally say, âI donât think itâs ever too late for things to get better.â
Yaas felt the muscles of Vroanorâs arms. The woman was getting stronger, gaining new skills, changing. A thousand years as a writer and artist, and now Vroanor wanted to be a Paladin. Would that make things better? It let Yaas give something to Vroanor, it let them share their talents, it let them have this moment. That was better, wasnât it? Yaas pulled Vroanorâs arms tighter around herself. When the sun was up, theyâd get their armor and leave, meet a unit of Alliance soldiers marching north through the jungle. She and Vroanor would not embrace there. Yaasnyaeval would be a soldier and Vroanor would be her ward. But for now, at least it wasnât too late to smell a new ocean, watch a new sun rise, feel a new sigh against her skin, the curve of a new horn hooking her own.
