The Dancer

Aeramin Firewind walked along the Silvermoon streets. He’d just gone for the fitting at the tailor who was working on the robes for Hethurin’s wedding, and was glad when he was finally able to leave the shop. Of course, Hethurin had insisted on being there the whole time and he kept going on and on about the wedding, and his robes, and the flowers, and the invitations. It seemed it never stopped with him. Aeramin was less than thrilled about having to be in the wedding, and thought it would be nice when it was over and things got back to normal at the school.

Despite not wanting to be in the wedding, he was enjoying the planning he was doing for the party before the wedding. It was to be a bachelor’s party, but with two bachelors who probably wouldn’t enjoy separate parties as much. Aeramin hoped that was the case anyway as he was planning their parties together.

He turned away from the road leading to the bright market filled with vendor stalls and shops, and passed through one of the gates to another part of the city. The buildings were closer together here, and at the angle they faced, the sun only made a rare appearance on the street below. Murder Row had always been dark, but then, he had never had a problem with that. His pale skin burned much too easily to enjoy the sunlight as much as other sin’dorei did.

It had been some time since he had been back, a couple years anyway. His last trip here was to help see his father out of the city and to the Ghostlands.  Before that, he had shown up occasionally to make sure the old man was eating and that the priests at the Spire were still bringing him food. Now that his father had a job in the Ghostlands, and had quit drinking, he could take care of himself again. While Aeramin was thankful for that, he was angry that his father hadn’t thought to sober up sooner. He frowned as he turned another corner to a smaller path.

It was still early in the day, but they were already out. One woman held a fluffy handbag which matched her fluffy stole which was conveniently not covering her cleavage. He didn’t recognize her. “Hello, handsome.” She said while making sure here cleavage was uncovered and taking a step toward him. She came close enough to put her hand on his shoulder.

Aeramin brushed it away. “Hi. Do you know if someone named Julan still works around here?”

She pursed her lips together in a pout before answering. She pointed first, and then said, “He’s usually down at the other end.”

“Thanks.” He turned before she started pouting again and hurried past another woman who called to him who was wearing a skirt and a vest that were far too short. A group of shirtless men watched him pass. One of them whistled. Aeramin recognized some of them, but didn’t stop. He wanted to ask Julan first.

The other end of the street opened up to another street. This one was slightly larger and a bit busier. He turned the corner to see the person he was looking for leaning against the wall.  “Julan. Hello.”

Julan turned to him, his long, blond curls bouncing with the movement of his head, and one eyebrow going up in surprise. “Firewind, you’re not coming back, are you? I’m earning more since you left. What happened to your face? “

“I got in a fight with a demon, and no, I’m not coming back. I have some work for you if you want it.”

Julan grinned, “You always were fun to play with, but you’re coming back as a paying customer now? I’m honored.”

“It’s nothing like that. I have a boyfriend now.” Aeramin paused, noting the disappointment on Julan’s face. “But I am planning a bachelor party, and we need a dancer. I know you’ve done that sort of thing before.”

“You remember that? It was a lot more than dancing, I’ll have you know.”

“I figured, but this will be just dancing. The bachelors will both be there together. I’ll be there with my boyfriend, and the only other who might consider it is undead.”

Julan shrugged, “I’d do it if he paid extra. I have this guy living in with me right now, but he’s lousy at helping with the rent. I need to make ends meet somehow.”

Aeramin tried not to shudder. Cold undead bodies were way past his limits. “Anyway, the dancing, will you do it? I’ll pay ten gold per hour. The party will last a few hours. You also get free cake.”

“Free cake is good, but I want twenty per hour.”

“Fifteen.”

“Deal. Where and when is this party?”

“It’s in the Ghostlands. It’ll be in a couple of months.”

“The Ghostlands? Aren’t there a bunch of undead out there? It sounds dangerous. I might need more after all.”

Aeramin sighed, “It’s not that bad actually, and the party will be at the ranger building. I can’t think of a safer place to be. All the same, I will be providing a portal. You won’t have to travel along the paths, and you’ll have zero travel expenses to worry about.”

“Is that both a portal there and a portal back?”

Aeramin nodded.

Julan paused thoughtfully before he smiled and said, “I accept then.”

“Good. I’ll contact you again when the time comes closer.” Aeramin said hurriedly. He was eager to leave the Row and get back home.

Alinash’s Notes

((Written poorly in thalassian script))

I hate schools. I hate stupid old books, and I hate dumb human mages. Most of all, I hate old, rusty, iron bars. We had to crawl out a window to get out of the old school in the Plaguelands. There used to be iron bars over the windows, but they had been partially removed from the window we used. There were still the ends of them sticking up and out all around. I was being careful, but one of the rocks that made up the window sill slipped, and while trying to catch myself, my leg slide against one of the bars sticking out from the side. I think it could have been worse. At least I didn’t get caught anywhere on the bottom of me, but it was hard to see that at the time. I’m not sure if Harrier understood my thalassian cursing or not.

Luckily, he was there so he was able to help me walk. I probably would have bled to death while I finished cursing otherwise. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t believe it was all mine. He helped me get it wrapped up so that the pressure would help it stop bleeding, and helped me get back to the chapel we’ve been staying at. Once we were here, one of the people stitched it up and used some light spells which made their hands glow bright. They said it would help it heal faster. I hope it won’t take too long. I hate being injured. The guy who stitched it said that it would probably leave a scar. I don’t care as long as I can walk normally soon.

At least we found the book, but there is bad news about that as well. It’s in really bad shape. Sections of it are missing. Some of the pages are torn. What’s left isn’t very readable, as it got wet. We did find some other things though, so if he deducts the condition of the book from our pay, which he shouldn’t because it’s hardly our fault, but if he does, maybe we can still make this trip worthwhile by selling the other things.

Of course, there’s another book too. Hopefully the second book will be easier to obtain, and it’ll be in better condition. I think it will be. It’s supposed to be in the Silvermoon library, and the sin’dorei take care of their books. I suppose if it existed at the time of the Scourge attack it may have been damaged, but I don’t doubt that if it was damaged, efforts would have been made to restore it. We’ll find out as soon as my leg is better. I hope it won’t take too long. It hurts a lot to walk anywhere, and I’ve been relying on Harrier to bring me food and water. I also hope I don’t have a limp or anything. I hate limps. How am I supposed to get back into Stormwind if I’m crippled?

A Letter to Linarelle

(( Carefully placed in her lunch before patrol. ))

Dear Linarelle,

I’ve been getting your letters so I thought I would leave you one. Maybe you don’t think about me on patrol, but I think about you a lot, and I think maybe you do too, so I hope you like this letter.

I didn’t tell this to you last night because I thought you might like a letter about it, so here it is. I went to the school to ask for a few things. Magister Fairsong has agreed to let us stay there for a night. It won’t be the same room as last time because he has a new student in that room, but he said the room we’ll have is really nice and the largest guest room. He said it has a nice view of the trees in the forest next to the garden. There’s a large bathroom across the hall. He said Tik would make us a special room and bring it up to us, as there is a small table and two chairs in the room, so it’ll be a private dinner. He said he could put candles all over too because he bought too many candles. I think that will be nice and romantic.

I keep thinking about you, and how special you are to me. It hurt so much when I thought you wouldn’t want to marry me and didn’t want to be with me. I never want to feel that way again! I can’t wait until we have our own cabin. I want to wake up next to you every morning without having to worry about packing up the tent and taking it back, or how much it rained, or anything like that. I want to nibble your ears in the morning light coming through the window, and not worry that there’s anyone outside listening. I want it to be just you and me. I can’t wait.

Oh, and your brother stopped by the other evening while you were still out on patrol. He wanted to let you know that he loves you, and that he’s still watching out for you even if you have me too.

I have to go so I can get ready for patrol!

Love,

Sunashe

Aeramin’s Notes

• Hethurin’s getting married to Terellion. It’s not that I didn’t expect it to happen eventually. I just didn’t expect it now. Hethurin did talk to me a few times about it. I wanted to tell him that he should wait ten years, and if Terellion hadn’t been driven nuts by that time then maybe he’d ask.
• He asked me to be in the wedding. I don’t want to really. Who in their right mind asks their ex to be part of their wedding? He keeps asking when I can go for a robe fitting though, so I know it’s really important to him. I told him I’d think about it.
• I did talk to him a little more today. Luckily, I was able to catch him before he teleported away to get more wedding books or whatever. They’re literally littering every flat surface of the school now. Anyway, I wanted to ask him what exactly I was supposed to do at the wedding. He said I’m his best friend, besides Terellion, and he wanted me there in the manner that friends stand by each other, especially for important things. He also needs someone to make sure the train on his robe doesn’t get dirtied, so I’m supposed to be a friend, and do that for him. He said he trusts me to help him make sure everything goes smoothly.
• I asked if I was supposed to throw a bachelor’s party for him. He gave me a look. So I said it’s not clear because there’s kind of two bachelor’s. He gave me another look, like I’m supposed to be smart enough to figure it out or something. So I guess the party is for both of them. I can’t have the party at the school because Terellion would most likely figure that out pretty quick and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. My place is too small to host a party of any decent size. We do have a nice sitting room, but not for more than seven or so people, and there’s so many trees around, we barely have space outside either. I’m going to ask the rangers if they’ll host it at the ranger building. The plus is they have a baker on site who, if I know him well enough, will have no problem at all making a penis shaped cake. The bad part is he’s also my ex, so I kind of don’t want to ask him. I’m going to ask Imralion to ask him, then maybe I can talk to Sath’alor and see what he says about the party being there. I think he’ll agree since Hethurin is his brother-in-law.
• I haven’t officially told Hethurin I would be in the wedding, but it seems I’m going to end up in it anyway so I might as well go for the robe fitting. I’m already planning the bachelor party for them. I’m just still not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I’ve been engaged a couple of times. When my mother’s mind started going, she tried to exchange me for rent to marry the landlord’s daughter. Then there was a time before that too that was of my own doing, and luckily, didn’t work out in the end as I think I was being young and stupid. In truth, I’m not sure I’ve grown out of being young and stupid. I’ve certainly made some big mistakes in the past year.
• It feels wrong calling her a mistake, but she was, or rather, her mother was. I guess I’m feeling guilty about a lot right now. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to go there, but at the same time, I want to go there. I hold her and talk to her and she smiles at me, and that’s when I start feeling like shit. How am I going to tell her the truth when she’s older? Then this whole thing with the wedding going on is just reminding me that even if I do stop being young and stupid and wind up marrying Im, how would we be able to adopt? I don’t think I could. I mean technically, I could, but I couldn’t do it to her. I don’t even want to imagine her knowing what it feels like to know that not only did I not want her, but I wanted a different child. I can’t do that.
• I know she’s safe and happy with Kestrae and Ordinicus. At least, she is for now, but what about when she gets older and starts asking questions? I do want her to know that I’m her father. At the same time, I want her to know that Kestrae and Ordinicus are her minn’da and ann’da. I’m not the one who deserves to be called her ann’da.
• She’s really got the cutest smile. Yet, this isn’t something I can share with Im, and that hurts too. Everything’s so unsure right now, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Then there’s this stupid wedding on top of everything else, and I don’t want to be in it, but I’m going to have to.
• Maybe before I talk to Sath, I’ll find my father so I can yell at him for a bit first. That usually helps.

Hethurin’s Notes

• There’s so much to do today. Terellion and I talked a bit last night and we’re going to see his mother and sisters. His mother works at the spire with the records, and while my falsified records are very good, I think I should just get my name officially changed. I’ll probably have to pay a fee for using a fake name in the setup of the school, but I expect it won’t be too much because I won’t have to change the name on the school papers if I just go ahead and officially change my name. I didn’t before because I didn’t want anyone to be able to find me just by going to the spire and asking for the records, but now I’m not hiding from anyone so I guess it would be better to just make it official. Anyway, I need to talk to her about that, then I’ll probably have to go during lunch sometime this week to pay whatever fees I need to.
• Terellion said they might want to move out to the Ghostlands too, so we’re probably going to talk about that some too. He was worried that she might get bored. Maybe he was asking if she could work here at the school. I’d be fine with that if she wants to. I guess she does a lot of paperwork now because she works at the spire. I wonder if she’s good at math. The spire collects taxes too, and even though I have a school, I’m not exempt. I hate math. I like magic more. I wish I could get it done by casting a spell, but I don’t know any spells like that, so I have to do it or I have to find someone who can! It has to be done, or they won’t send funding for the children’s classes, which I guess I could handle on my own, but it’s nice to let them pay for it.
• Anyway, after we see his mother, I need to sneak away for a bit to go to the robe shop and see if they can do what I want. I’ll need robes for Vaildor and possibly Aeramin too, and that’s a lot of work to be done! I want only the best materials. I’ll also have to go to a jewelry shop and ask them about making some earrings and stuff. I usually don’t wear any, but this is a special occasion, so I think it would be nice.
• We should probably also order the flowers we need. I need to talk to Tik about that for all the decorating and how much he’ll need for that. I’ll need a path lined with carpet from the front of the house to the garden, and it would be nice if flowers were along the path, and I’ll need to find twelve people to hire to hold up the swords for when I arrive at the garden, and I need to go to a smith to get the swords made. I should do that last one today too. They’re going to be beautiful swords, but that’s going to be a lot of work too, so we should order them soon. I’ll also have to mention to the tailor that we’ll need twelve identical outfits for the sword tunnel people, but I don’t know what size they are because I haven’t hired them yet!
• We’ll also be ordering the invitations soon. I’m making a list of everyone I know and like. I’m not inviting my mother, or Vallindra, or Aranae. I would almost invite Ara, but her bear friend would eat everything. Everyone else can come though. I just need to finalize the list so we know how many invitations to order.
• It’s going to be outside as long as it’s not raining. If it is, I can still arrive in the white carriage drawn with six white hawkstriders, but the carpeted path will lead to the door and someone will have to hold an umbrella for me. Then we’ll have it in the ballroom which is big enough and then we can just move the chairs out after and everyone can dance! I’d prefer to have it in the garden though.
• I can’t wait!

The Ring

Tik sat outside by the kitchen door to the garden. Magister Fairsong had once again gone fishing, and brought back more fish. The Magister never filleted them, so Tik was always left with the task. He was glad that it had warmed up, and he was able to sit outside to do it without freezing his hands.

He picked up another fish and started cutting. He’d have to find more recipes that used fish. The fish the Magister had brought to him early this morning were local Ghostlands fish, something the Magister had proudly pointed out as he left the fish with Tik. “I caught them here, just at the river, just now, in real time!” he had exclaimed before hurrying off to get ready to teach his class. Tik hadn’t questioned his excitement. The Magister had just gotten engaged after all, and came across as being excited and happy about everything he talked about.

Of course the future wedding meant a lot of planning to do very soon, not just for the Magister, but for Tik as well. He would have to make sure there was enough food, and decorate the house for the wedding. The day of the wedding would be non-stop work, much like the balls, but he did hope he’d have time to dance with Lilithel at the end, like he had at the ball just a few days ago. He had been in luck that the enchanted instruments were still playing their last few songs, but most people had left already, or at least, had left the garden. He had to clean up yet, but he could handle a little delay in the work if it meant getting to dance with her.

He smiled a bit as he thought of her. He reached for the next fish and began making the necessary cuts when he felt something inside it. It was something hard in one of the spots where there shouldn’t be any bone. Tik made another cut to investigate, frowning with a puzzled look at what he pulled out. It was a ring of golden vines with small intricate leaves. In the center, one of the vines twisted to hold a bright red ruby. It was a beautiful ring. Tik wiped it off and began looking for any identifying marks. On the inside of the band he found an inscription, ‘To Linarelle, with all my love’. He knew a ranger by the name of Linarelle. He supposed it was possible she had lost it. He tucked it into his pocket. He’d have to make a trip to the ranger building later to ask if it was hers.

Diving

“Are you sure you won’t help?” Sunashe asked as he pulled himself up on the muddy bank of the river.

“I am helping.” Arancon looked up from his book he was reading under a nearby tree. He knew his friend wasn’t the best swimmer, but he had been in luck that the rains hadn’t been too heavy over the past few days. While there had been a drizzle now and then, the river was lazy and calm which meant for much easier swimming. Still, Sunashe only had one and a half legs. He shouldn’t swim alone. “I’m making sure you don’t drown.”

Sunashe pulled himself up onto a rock and wiped his face with the towel he had left there. “I’m hungry. Did you bring the sandwiches?”

Arancon nodded as he grabbed the bag sitting on the ground next to him. He opened it, and took out one of the sandwiches. He took it over to where Sunashe sat while wiping the mud off his hands.

“Thanks.” he said while taking the sandwich. He started to unwrap it as Arancon sat next to him.

“Do you really think you’ll be able to find the ring?”

“I threw it right here. It should be around here somewhere.”

“It might have been washed downstream or maybe the mud covered it.”

Sunashe shot a glance at Arancon, “I’ve been looking through the mud. The current isn’t very strong. I don’t think it was washed downstream.

“We have to leave for patrol in about an hour, less than an hour if you consider that we have to go back for Kavia first, and it looks like it’s going to rain more.”

“I know, but I can keep looking until then. I have to find it!”

Arancon sighed, “It wasn’t very smart to throw it in the river in the first place.”

Sunashe twitched an ear as he took a bite of his sandwich.

“You’re going to get a cold if you keep this up. The water is freezing.”

“The air is worse. It doesn’t matter. I have to get the ring back.”

“Why? You’re not going to ask her to marry you tonight.”

“No, but the longer I wait, the more likely I’ll never see it again. Like you said, it could get buried in the mud or washed downstream. I spent every copper I had on it, and I’d like to find it in case I do decide I’d like to ask her.” Sunashe stood up, unsteady on one foot in the mud, and handed the other half of his sandwich to Arancon. “Can you put this back for me?”

Arancon sighed, “Sure.” He headed back to his spot under the tree while his friend hopped carefully in the mud back to the freezing water. As he was placing the remaining half of the sandwich back into the bag, he noticed an envelope. He took it out just far enough to see Sunashe’s name was written on it. He glanced towards the river in time to see his friend take a deep breath and disappear beneath the water’s surface. It was too late to tell him now. He placed the letter back into the bag and picked up his book. Hopefully, Sunashe would find the ring soon, and they wouldn’t be late getting back for patrol.

Hethurin’s Notes

• I’m engaged. I’m still a bit in shock over it because I really wasn’t expecting it so soon, but it’s real and I’m so happy. I keep crying all the time because I’m so happy. I didn’t think it was real at first. Sometimes I dream about it, and I always wake up disappointed, but now I don’t have to anymore.This is real. In the dream he always gives the same reason for changing his mind which is because he likes my cute butt, and thinking about it now, I don’t think that’s a very good reason at all, but that was the dream and that’s what he always said. He said something different this time, so I know this isn’t a dream. I think if it was I would have woken up by now too.
• He said that he didn’t want to wait fifty years, which is good because I don’t want to either. I was really worried that he did, and then I’d be too old to adopt, or maybe not too old, but I’d never see my grandchildren, and I want grandchildren someday too.
• I’m so happy now.
• The ring is really stunning. It has a little dragon on it holding the gem and it’s the best ring I’ve ever seen and it’s perfect. I love him so much. I’m crying again.
• We need to pick a date. I think sometime in the summer would be best, but I don’t know when yet. Around the end of June, I’ll be working a lot on the lesson plans. It would probably be best to wait until the summer term is well underway. Of course, we’ll take a trip too, but we could go to a different time for that, so we won’t miss any of the school days. We could pretend to take a weekend trip somewhere but really go for two or three weeks. The spell back will just be for the two days. I’ll have to talk to him about it, and see if we know where we want to go.
• Oh and I have to get a robe. It has to be the best robe ever. I have to talk to him about what colors we want, but I’m leaning towards white and gold with blue accents, so I’ll need a robe with those colors.
• And I still want carriage drawn by six white hawkstriders and a sword tunnel. Maybe I can stay with Lani the night before so I can arrive from somewhere. I think the path out here will need to be fixed so that it isn’t too bumpy first because the way it is right now, I don’t think a carriage would work very well. Maybe I could just make a big portal and the carriage could go through that.
• There’s so much to plan and so much to do, but I still keep crying because I love him so much and this is really happening. I think I’ll calm down a bit eventually and be able to actually start planning!