The druidess had a smile on her face, a new scarf, hoody and giant plushy anzu in tow, she was returning from an annual fair held in the frozen waste of Northrend. A place, a time she had come to become quite familiar with over the years. She wasn’t entirely sure who started it, who decided to turn those fairgrounds into the site of a gathering for all the nations of the world. She simply knew that a chance to see long lost friends, colleagues, and even some enemies was always a welcome one.
Prior to the fair, her adventures in Northrend had been at the spearhead of the alliance expedition, helping to quell the mage wars and the wrath of the Lich King. It was a place that for her had reeked of blood, of death, and bitter memories. Northrend was the last time her and Veraldan had worked together, operated as a team before his death at the hands of cultist following the cataclysm. And so in those moments sitting in the bleachers or dancing the night away at the goddess lit ball, the druidess had danced in a myriad of emotions.
Sorrow, happiness, fondness, loss, and more all playing at her heart. There was something unnerving though, something that her life as an intelligent operative would not let her put away. Prior to her retirement from the profession, the Fair had always been an excellent place to pick up information, to gather intelligence on the various operations by all the world’s intelligence agencies.
SI:7, The Rangari, The Watchers, the Deathstalkers, the Uncrowned. Every single organization would be sure to send at least one representative to keep an eye on the festivities, to extract a piece of information needed to weave the complex web that they all sew. Over the years she had come to know several of them, though they never officially met, it came easier for spies to pick out spies, to notice those whose eyes drifted across paperwork and security measures while others danced, those who blended in too well with their surroundings for it to have been natural.
But here in the chilling nature of the north, she saw none of them. Like old friends who had never met, who did not know each other’s names, but understood the vital role that the other played in keeping their people safe. They were the intelligence gatherers, the whispers in the dark that fueled the great armies that helped defend Azeroth.
While she still had mixed feelings about her own work with Section 28 to ensure the survival of the Kaldorei, the Alliance, the People of Azeroth, she had long ago determined that were the choices laid out before her again, that she would make them once more. The lives she ordered taken, the experiments she managed, she believed they were all vital to the eventual defeat of the legion. An uncomfortable choice, but a necessary one, a life that being in the industry leaves one all too comfortable with.
That work though had taught her that something wasn’t quite right. The usual quiet exchanges at the fair between agencies were entirely silent. The gentle hand offs of key relics and documents entirely lacking. It was if there wasn’t a soul at the fair, even remotely tied to the nature of intelligence gathering. It caused her ears to twitch, though she pushed it down. Perhaps she had been away far too long, perhaps she had lost her touch of picking up on who played their part.
Still, there should have been something, it was clear that they were preparing to assault K’aresh, the planet of the Brokers and Ethereals, and a staging ground for a great void lord which was based on all accounts prepared to move to Azeroth next, meaning it’s defeat at K’aresh was clear to the continued survival of the planet. For such a major event to be boiling in the background and the quiet chill of the Northrend air to not even give a hint of information sharing? It left the druidess deeply uncomfortable.
Still, her role at the fair wasn’t to sit and brood, it wasn’t to contemplate what could have been or what. She was here to have fun, to see old friends, to buy silly objects to bring back home to Elynxdria. She was confident she could extract at least one exaggerated sigh over her purchasing decisions and that brought her just a bit of joy. The dance had been wonderful, and seeing so many people had reminded her of just how lively Azeroth can be at times.
So, as she set out for home, stepping onto a boat in the harbors of Boralus, headed back to the cozy little apartment she, her wife, and the young worgen woman they were both looking after at the time, she gave a relaxed sigh, enjoying the sounds of the water as it rushed against the bow of the vessel. The smell of sea and salt intoxicating for the woman who had spent more than a few years as a sailor on a merchant vessel, a reminder of times past and comrades that have moved to other spots or places.
It would take several days and nights for the vessel to return to the humid, familiar little port at the tip of Stranglethorn, greeted at the docks by Elynxdria and Gwen the druidess went to hug them both giving a bright smile as she was eager to show off her little stuffed animal and winter wear, chuckling as she shared stories of the people she had seen and met, spent time with. The group chuckled at the end of the dock, the family feline, Summerblade, close by their side seeing what treats Alnarra had brought back from the fair for him.
And there as they stood at the edge of the pier, Alnarra happily showing off the dress she had worn to the ball, there was a bit of a shake, the planks of wood rattling, followed by a brilliant explosion. It took only moments for it to become apparent what had exploded, with shrapnel from the groups shared apartment starting to rain down upon them, flickers of a set of drapes Alnarra had bought only a few weeks ago now drifting down, the cloths edge burnt, a tiny lit flame remaining on the edge.
There was a moment of total disbelief, immediately going through all the possible things that could have caused the explosion. Was there some experiment the druidess had left running and failed to account for? Hushed whispers were soon followed by the expected response from the Goblin Bruisers which patrolled the bay. A crew of firefights swiftly responding to the site to extinguish the fires all while Elynxdria, Gwen and Alnarra ran towards the site of their former home.
The woman was distraught, blinking and lost in the moment. Only seconds ago, she had arrived at the dock with gifts in hand ready to be embraced by family and friends, now she sat at the edge of her apartment, looking at the burnt and scarred remains of the place she and Elynxdria had called a safe haven for nearly five years. A frown seemed stained upon her face as the goblin firefighters rushed to save what little remained of the building, hoses of water poured onto charred ashes of what were once cherished goods.
A tear streamed down her cheek as she hugged tight to her wife, biting her lip and giving a deep sigh. There was some degree of luck in that no one was in the apartment when it exploded, but that provided little comfort knowing that Elynxdria, Gwen, or Summerblade could all have been inside and engulfed in the flames. Confusion washed across her face as she tried to piece together what could have happened. Taking a deep breath it did not take long for the Booty Bay inspectors to show, asking question after question about where everyone in the house had been, if there were any flammable or explosive items inside. For goblins, exploding facilities was pretty par for the course, so they had this all laid out in a fairly mundane manner, paperwork, insurance claims and the like.
There was a line though that caught her eye as she started to work through the papers there in front of her
“Do you have any enemies which might choose to plant an explosive device to have you, your business, or possibly unpatented devices destroyed to prevent competition.”
For a goblin, it was standard fair, but for the druidess it forced her to think. During her time with section 28, she had become familiar with the concept of making a few enemies along the way. It was just as much par for the course in the intelligence agency to cause others to despise you for your actions. Had any of the various groups which seemed accent over the past week been responsible for such a thing? Had anyone she had known sought to plot revenge?
What of Elynxdria’s sister? A warlock by training and a woman with a vendetta against all the things that Elynxdria loved. She would not be so careless though, not so imprecise in her methods. The thoughts swirled around in her head before a bruiser stepped out of the burnt remains of the apartment and presented something to the inspector, the fragments of a timer, clear remnants of shadow magic still flickering on the device.
“It appears this just became an arson investigation,” the goblin clarified as he held it in his hand, “Looks like something that SI:7 uses when they want to get rid of someone,” the man chuckled looking the elf over, “You haven’t irritated anyone back in Stormwind have you?”
The woman shook her head, “Not that I know of,” Alnarra answered softly, looking to her Wife and Gwen both of them shaking their heads as well. The woman bit her lip as the inspector seemed to look things over.
“Either way, if it is arson, we have a duty to lock down the port and investigate anyone who was planning on leaving. If you three and your feline would head down to the station, we can get yous some accommodations while we do our own investigation.”
Once again, a simple nod was given as Elynxdria, Gwen, and Alnarra along with Summerblade made their way towards the little station there in booty bay, glancing back at the charred remains of their home, a new fear riding through all their minds. Who could want to have them killed? Who had she irritated in recent months or days or perhaps even years that would go so far?
The druidess could only ponder as she sat quietly in the little makeshift room that the Booty Bay bruisers had provided for them to stay in. In some ways it felt like a prison cell, with guards at the door watching to make sure no one would enter. She was certain that this explosion would cause someone from the Alliance to become involved and gave a quiet sigh as she waited for the individual to arrive. It was going to be a very long night.