(2022-10-24) A Friend's Intervention

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Author:	inkie
Summary:	In the wake of last week's officers' meeting regarding Ralaea Westwind's future with Cobalt Company, Ben tracks her down for a serious conversation.
Rating:	M for Mature 17+

The autumn evening in Stormwind carries a knife-edge threat of winter chill beneath the warmth of hearth-smoke and forge-smoke and the usual clamorous odors of people and animals and the city canals. Jack o’lantern lights leer ghoulishly from windows in the gathering darkness, and festival bunting flutters like bat-wings overhead.

The Cathedral District offers some small respite from all of it save the cold. The air here is brisk but scented more of chill stone and incense than the riot of city smoke and bustle. The plaza is not yet empty but it’s quiet: the orphanage’s inhabitants have been herded indoors for their supper, and only clergy and the pious stroll the pale pavements now.

Whether Ben Hazan fits either of these categories is a decision left to the reader’s discretion. In any case, he’s among those heading toward the Cathedral, though his stride is more purposeful than most. He’s dressed in his paladin’s armor and the tabard of the Argent Crusade; in concession to the weather’s bite, he also wears a heavy cloak in a shade of grey so pale it’s almost silvery in the dusk.

He takes the Cathedral steps two at a time. Once within the vaulted nave, he takes a step out of the aisle so as not to obstruct other comings-and-goings, and surveys the dim, candlelit interior narrow-eyed. He is clearly searching for something or someone.

Ralaea sits on an out of the way bench, her misshapen bag in her lap. She appears to be organizing her supplies all over the seat and floor nearby–including her bombs. Somehow she has not been asked to leave yet, and a passing priestess even sends a look of sympathy in her direction, though she doesn’t see it.

Her armor is probably the only neatly kept thing about her, as though long hours were spent keeping it clean and polished. She looks as though she hasn’t slept in days.

Ben studies her in silence for a time, until a novice priestess passing in front of him briefly disrupts his sightline, murmuring a shy greeting as she goes. Ben flashes her an automatic smile and a nod; as soon as she’s vanished into one of the transepts, he approaches Rae. He doesn’t stride now; his pace is quiet and measured, a conscious effort neither to startle nor menace.

At the end of the bench he halts, gazing down at her. “Hey, Rae,” he says. “Mind if I sit?”

Ralaea stares up at him, and it takes her a moment to process his request. “Oh. Yeah, sure, let me just…move some things.” She glances suspiciously at the entryway, almost as though she suspects he was followed. “Did you see him?” She sets her bag on the floor and begins transferring the holy water off of the bench seat, her haste causing the glass vials to clink together.

He waits until the vials are safely stowed, and then settles comfortably and carefully at a distance from her. “See who?” he asks. “I did not see no one particular. Couldn’t find you by turnin’ over half Ironforge, an’ then it occurred to me if you are plannin’ to run off to someplace, you might be stockin’ up.” He tips his head down at the bag of vials on the floor, but his gaze stays on her. “Pretty good guess, huh?”

Ralaea glances again at the entryway. “Ironforge has…too many shadows. Corners. I can’t watch them all. At least here…he wouldn’t dare come here.” There is a question in her eyes, as though she doesn’t quite believe her own words. “Colson told you, then? About my plans? He said he was going to. He might’ve told half the Plaguelands about them too, I don’t know.”

“He told us,” Ben says, emphasizing us. “The officers. Captains an’ Lieutenants. It is– I got to tell you, Rae, I asked ‘em to give me a chance to come an’ talk with you before it all goes too far bad. I asked ‘em for a chance. If you will give me one too?” He settles back on his corner of the bench. His eyes are dark, steady and concerned. “When is the last time you got some sleep, Ralaea?”

Ralaea distracts herself by returning the rest of her supplies to her bag, though she keeps one bomb close at hand. “Been a little while,” she says. “Can’t remember, exactly. There’s no good place to do it. Here, maybe, but I don’t think he’s forbidden from entry, which means…” She glances at the entryway for the third time. “Did you know my brother sides with them? Don’t know what they’ve done to him. Probably the same thing they did to Colson.” A thought occurs to her and she stops packing to look at Ben. “You’re not with them now, right?”

“With who?” Ben asks mildly. His expression says he has a guess, but will not volunteer it. “I am with Cobalt Company, an’ with the Church an’ the Argent Crusade. I am not with no one else, Rae.” He waits a beat and then adds, gently, “You know me. Yeah? What d’you think?”

Ralaea sighs. “Okay. Yeah. But I never thought Colson of all people, would… That Death Knight had to have done something to him. And if it could be done to him, then who else? They’ve already got the King somehow. And that other paladin, the one at Light’s Hope.” She folds her bag closed. “Seeing one of those things in HQ was… horrifying, and now the other one’s stalking me, and I know I said I would kill it, but I was hoping… that I wouldn’t have to see him. Like that.” She blinks a few times. Something in her eye, maybe.

Ben shifts his weight to ease a little closer on the bench, though he makes no more direct move toward her. “I will be honest, I only just heard from Sil that Cole sent them after you. If anyone had fucken come to me —” His voice has risen just slightly, and he catches himself before glances are directed their way.

“I am sorry, Rae. I don’t know what he was thinkin’. I do know that it was not official Company sanction to do any such thing. Captain Jo an’ Sir Elohad would never sign off on sendin’ those things to hunt down one of our people.” He studies her in a brief silence. “I am sorry about Harvey. That you seen him like that. That’s the one stalkin’ you?”

Whatever adrenaline was keeping Ralaea awake seems to be flagging in Ben’s presence. She stifles a yawn and nods. “Saw him once. On the tram. Only briefly, but I knew it was him, and even if I hadn’t, my brother’s all but admitted it. And Colson… I dunno. He seems to think the Death Knight will follow his orders. And maybe it did the once, but also maybe it’s trying to build false trust. I don’t… want him to get hurt because he thought he could control the thing. Maybe I should’ve told him as much, but I was angry.”

She leans forward to rest her arms on her legs, cradling her bag so it doesn’t fall or spill open. Quieter, she says, “I don’t think I’d be putting anyone at risk, going up there. It’d be just like going on leave, right? Take a break, handle my shit, come back when it’s over.”

“The thing is,” Ben says gently after a silence, “if you do go on up there on your own — if you even can figure out how — I do not think there will be a place for you with Cobalt when you come back. I am tryin’– this is why I asked the rest of ‘em to let me talk to you. Cole has told the rest that you are plannin’ to hare off on your own and that you would not listen to him when he asked you not to. Sir Elohad and Auralind do not know you, and they have got an impression from what they have heard that you are not someone who will listen to reason. Cole said that the only person you might have been willin’ to listen to was Harvey, back when he was– Harvey.

“But I think, based on workin’ together with you before and on our talks in the Plaguelands and on our friendship, that that ain’t true. So let’s call me Reason, for now, and I am here hopin’ you will listen to me, at least.” He is somber and sad-eyed.

“I would hate for Cobalt to lose you, Rae, you know that. An’ I would hate for you to lose Cobalt. You are a good girl an’ one hell of a fighter. I have seen how good you can be with a squad at your back, an’ how good a squad can be with you on it. You have come a long way since you come to Cobalt, and I know it an’ you know it. Harvey known it too, which is why he wanted you north with the Dawn. I am askin’ you — not right yet as a lieutenant, but as a friend — not to run off and do this. Let’s talk about it first, and about options. Okay?”

“We can talk…” Ralaea holds her bag closer. “Why’s the Company care, though? I’m not on Squad right now, got no outstanding obligations, everything I said I’d do I followed through on… how’s this different than going on leave to handle something personal? I’m not involving anyone else, I’m not putting anyone in danger, and I have every intention of coming back and making up for my absence. I just… want to know why. Is all.”

Ben nods thoughtfully. “Well. Because it is not a leave, you know? A leave is like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take a week to get home to the farm for harvest.’ It ain’t, ‘Hey, I’m undertakin’ a mission into enemy territory we ain’t even quite sure how to get to safely, unsanctioned by Company or Alliance or anyone, to do a thing might get me killed or worse than killed.’” He spreads his hands in a shrug. “The Company’s people are important to us, Rae. We do not throw ‘em away — it’s right there in the Code of Conduct. We don’t want ‘em throwin’ themselves away, neither. Captain Jo an’ I talked to you about this after Tanaris, yeah? About trust, an’ backup, an’ relyin’ on the Company and your team. We do not want this turnin’ into another kind of Tanaris situation. Right?”

He continues to watch her earnestly. “You can’t be reckless about a thing like this, you got to play it smart. It’s fucken Northrend, Rae. It’s the Lich King’s ground. We don’t know what’s up there, what it looks like. We just know he is dug in, and no one’s got through up there for… I dunno. Years? You got no idea you ain’t throwin’ yourself away at this, and we cannot have that. You got to show some steadiness, some carefulness, an’ some patience.” He sits forward now, resting his elbows on his knees in a casual posture that looks a little at odds with the gleaming armor and bright cloak. “And I say patience, Rae, because I promise you we are goin’ to go there. The minute we got the sanction, the minute the Alliance an’ the Crusade start loadin’ ships, Cobalt will be on ‘em. This is all of our fight, Rae. We was at Light’s Hope too. I know you got personal business up there and right now you are boilin’ over with it. But so do a lot of us. He got some of ours, you know? He got some old Cobalts he made into them things. We got other Lordaeron veterans in our number, includin’ Sir Elohad himself, who lost his whole family, wife and kids, to Scourge.

“This is our business. And you play it smart right now, you will get up there soon enough with the whole of the Crusade and Cobalt Company at your back. Think like a soldier, not like a angry girl runnin’ on her own. Because you can only be one of those things.”

“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime, sit on my hands?” Her voice sharpens, just a bit, before softening again. “The instant we get out there as a Company, I’ve got to find her. Colson’s Death Knights will be trying to beat me to the kill. One of ‘em thinks he wants her dead more than I do. But you’ll tell me that’s being reckless again, right? That I can’t just run off. And I still have that… thing stalking me. Can I at least… do something about it, or are you gonna tell me I can’t, because King’s laws and whatever? And besides all that, if my arms get any worse, I don’t know if I’ll be able to…”

Ralaea pauses to take a breath. “I’m worried about… how much time I’ve got to see it done. Either I live and some Death Knight kills her first, or I wait too long, something happens, and then I turn into… I don’t know what. There is a chance it all works out…but it’s a small one, you know? And I just… I hate not doing anything. If I stay here… and wait, like you said… what should I do?” She turns to meet his gaze, her eyes genuinely asking for answers.

Ben doesn’t answer at first; he holds her gaze and considers all of this seriously. “First thing,” he says at last. “Your arms, Rae. None of us has forgot. Cole, Estel — all of us are still on the trail of what it is, exactly, and how it can be fixed. With Cobalt, with the Alliance, you got access to holy water, to priests an’ paladins an’ druids an’ ordinary medics an’ alchemists, people who might be able to help or at least keep it at bay.

“Now, let’s say you pack up your satchel there with all the holy water you can carry, an’ you head north. Assumin’ you can make it, how long’s the trip take? When you get there, what is the lie of the land? The Lich King’s been dug in, nobody from the Kingdoms been up there in years, we seen what happened to Lordaeron in that time. What’s the terrain? How safe is it? Where are you headin’? How long’s it take to get there? Because the one you are after, she ain’t gonna be waitin’ conveniently at the coast for you to make a neat finish of it. You say you are worried about runnin’ out of time if you don’t go now. I reckon you are gonna run out your time a hell of a lot faster tryin’ to strike your way up there alone. And nobody wants that.

“When we get up there, you will find her. We will help you find her. The Death Knights — I do not think I’d call ‘em Colson’s Death Knights — I do not reckon she is gonna give up that easy to one of them, yeah? You know that whatever it is with you and her is personal, on her side as much as yours. If she knows you are comin’ for her, she will wait. That’s her game, right? She wants you up there for some reason. And she will get you, but not how she expects, because you are not gonna go runnin’ up there headfirst and alone, you are gonna march up there ready for her with steel at your back. You cannot just run off after shit, because that ain’t the smart way or the soldier way — but in this especial case you cannot just run off after her because that is what she fucken wants. Don’t give her what she wants.”

He sits back and rakes a hand through his hair. “As to the one stalkin’ you. I am gonna tell you not to set off after him, for all the same reasons I just give you. But if he comes at you, well, that is self-defense, Rae, an’ it is as much the King’s law as anything he has said about makin’ nice. So you do not go huntin’ for him, but you feel free to lie in wait if you got to.

“As to sittin’ on your hands, no, that ain’t ever gonna be my advice. That is dumb fucken advice. You are gonna work, because workin’ keeps you sharp and gets you ready. You are gonna work your ass off and you are gonna be in fightin’ form like you never been before in your life by the time we hit Northrend. It has got to be probation, I am warnin’ you now. That is the terms the officers set: you are out or you are on probation.

“I will give you choices. You come to Outland and give the Legion hell some more. Or you go north to Lordaeron and pitch in with the Argent Crusade. We got people doin’ both. You report in to me or the Captains — better the Captains, I am gonna tell you up front, just for the looks of it — regularly. And you get ready.” He raises his eyebrows at her, a silent question.

The frustration is clear on her face, but so is exhaustion. She slips one of her gauntlets off and runs her hand over her face. “Alright… I hear you. But I want to be on the first boat over there,” she says. “The first boat, and if I catch wind of her, someone better be ready to back me up. But the kill? That’s got to be mine. I fight her, the rest of you stand back in case shit goes wrong. And if a Death Knight tries to interfere with my fight… I can’t promise I won’t blow ‘em up. If we can do that, I’ll work to make the higher-ups change their minds about me.”

She shoulders her bag. “And I know you’re looking for a cure. But unless someone’s got the abomination in their sights, I don’t think you’ll find it. And even if you find her, getting her to cough it up is unlikely. I’m not… counting on it, is all. As for the thing following me… I’ll just have to… outpace it or something. Give it the slip, somehow. Maybe alternating between Outland and Plaguelands. Don’t suppose you’d allow me to set traps for it?”

“I will let you do what you got to do to keep yourself safe, so long as that ain’t settin’ out to hunt it. You are allowed to protect yourself from any citizen of the Alliance stalkin’ you with bad intent, and I reckon that goes for them things, too. You are not allowed to stalk someone back with intent to kill him, because we call that murder. But so long as it ain’t that, you go on and protect yourself how you got to.” He nods once. “An’ I will let the officers know, also, that you are feelin’ unsafe an’ we should keep eyes on it.”

“And for the rest of it — you keep your account clean with the Captains, you put your head down an’ work, and I will get you on the first boat to Northrend when the time comes, and you will get your clear shot at her. Like you want. That is my word, an’ you know it’s good.”

Ralaea lets her breath out in a sigh. “Alright, but if I turn up missing again, it won’t be ‘cause I ran off this time. I’m watching for it to try something, but those things don’t sleep, and eventually I’ll fall asleep whether I want to or not. I’m only mentioning it, because… Well, just… make sure they know. I’m giving you my own word that I’ll stick around and work, and if the worst happens while I’m trying to sleep, I don’t want anyone thinking I couldn’t keep it.” She glances towards the entrance of the Cathedral again, then gets to her feet. “Suppose I’ve got work to do. If you should… happen to find any Scarlet insignias with the names Jothran, Alver, Mevlin, or Taya… me or Jenzelle would like to have them. We made a promise that the last person alive’ll bury them together someplace.”

“Rae.” Ben rises too. “I will tell them. I will have– we will look out for him too. I will put people on it. And this again is where havin’ people at your back can be a help. I will get you a list of names, okay? People on either side of the Portal, whichever one you’re on, you can look to for work an’ for backup. No warlocks, nothin’ fishy. People like Sil or Estel or Miss Oranna on this side of the Portal, or a paladin called Erixa or Miss Nellie on the other side. Keep by Jenzelle or Tabiana if you can, until we got it sorted. If you want to ask Captain Jo to help you out with some kind of trap or protection, you know she can, she done it before. Miss Oranna knows traps, too. If you can’t report in person to the Captains, you send in a report, an’ it’s okay if someone else got to write it for you.

“And I will make sure… I will make sure about the insignias, too. To you or Jenzelle.” He studies her, his expression drawn with concern again. “It will be okay. You keep to Cobalt, an’ Cobalt will keep to you.” After a pause, he adds, “If you are reportin’ north to the Crusade, maybe ask for Sir Sevastyn up there. Or Dame Briellen, or a priestess called Merenel. There is a young fellow called Brother Vond, also, who is a decent fellow and feels the same about them things. The Death Knights. Any of them, they will look out too. I will make a list. I know for myself names are rough readin’ when you ain’t know them, so if you need anyone to read it off for you time to time, have ‘em do it, but don’t let ‘em charge you. No goblins.” He gives her a tired smile, his gaze searching.

After another moment, he offers out his hand to her for a handshake.

Ralaea sees his offered hand and hesitates, probably out of habit more than a conscious aversion to handshakes. A thought, probably a memory, flickers across her face and she blinks again, before finally taking his hand. “Thanks, Ben. Know you’ve got a lot of people to look out for, and I don’t make it easy sometimes. I’ll do better.” She turns to leave, but as her gaze falls on the entrance again, she can’t seem to bring herself to move forward. “…Don’t suppose you’d walk me to the Gryphon Master?”

“‘Course,” Ben says, after a startled hesitation. “F’ course I will. I am goin’ that way myself anyhow. Glad of the company.” He gives her a rueful smile.

As they exit the Cathedral, though no one can be seen, there is the unmistakable prickling of eyes on their backs, and a cold, lonely wind that follows them to their destination.