(2023-03-11) A Totally Unexpected Chance Meeting

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Author:	Alli
Summary:	Eager to get out of Valiance Keep, Jo takes Celaven along when she goes to hang out in a Tuskarr village. By complete coincidence (or not) she runs into a friend from the Horde, Gethennis Jadelight.
Rating:	T for Teen

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Jo Sparkwire is bundled up in a red and black coat with some kind of wool poking out at the collar, and she sits by a smoky fire surrounded by the usual Tuskarr yurts. Nearby, a purple-haired elf in a very dark violet cloak stands, scanning their surroundings nervously.

"I understand your need to leave the Keep from time to time," Celaven says quietly. "But I do wish you would go somewhere more defensible. Or perhaps bring one of the fighters with you. My mother, or Dane."

"Oh, I'll be fine," Jo smiles brightly. "I'm not alone, and I just really wanted to spend some more time, um, in Tuskarr villages." She glances over towards the entrance to the village, with something like hope in her expression.

A violet cloak approaches, on foot. Due to the dramatic hood it's hard to tell who's underneath it, though the individual is slender and high-elf-sized. The hood is trimmed with luxurious silver fur, and the billowing violet material is long enough to be ice-crusted at the hem from being dragged over expanses of snow and frozen lichen. The figure approaches the fire at a slow but confident pace. Jo stands up abruptly and turns eagerly to the approaching figure. She peers at it, trying to make out a face.

"Are you expecting someone?" Celaven asks, following her gaze.

"Oh no, of course not," Jo says, smiling. "Just, might run into people I know and everything. Do you want to go check the perimeter?"

Celaven gives her a level look, but moves off obediently to the edge of the camp.The dramatically billowy figure approaches the fire and draws back his fur-trimmed hood, revealing a high-cheekboned face with luminous, long-lashed blue-green eyes. At the sight of Jo, the familiar face breaks out in a brilliant smile.

"Geth!" Jo nearly squeaks. "I knew you'd figure out where to find me."

He rushes forward and drops to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms and squeezing her tight. Jo makes a startled sound, but then reaches her arms around him as far as they'll go. He releases her after a good long squeeze, looking her over while holding her by the shoulders.

"You're unharmed, of course, I shouldn't have worried."

"You were worried? I was worried, after it sounded like the Kirin Tor hadn't told you anything." Jo looks up at him, eyes wide.

Geth smiles affectionately. "I suppose I should have known that nothing could harm someone as clever and resourceful as you, Cozy darling." He settles by the fire, holding out his gloved palms toward it. "But yes, the local Kirin Tor representatives are being awfully prickly about the shade of my eyes lately. Some of them will cooperate with me, and some will not, and that doesn't bode well for my getting important assignments.”

Jo bites her lip. "Surely they don't blame all of your people. It's like you told me, you're Kirin Tor first. But… things have gotten really dangerous. What've they told you about Coldarra?"

Geth frowns irritably. "I know something's wrong with the ley lines. I'm not blind. And I know Malygos is to blame, because his minions keep shouting his name. And I know that he's got some cult abducting mages, because I’ve seen it with my own eyes."

"Oh gosh, yes, that's one reason I was trying to figure out how to talk to you. I've got all our mages warned not to go out alone. I even brought Celaven with me here," Jo gestures at the slender kaldorei figure in the distance.

"I'm glad.” Geth rubs his gloved hands together briskly, then holds them back toward the fire. “Incidentally, you're adorable when you bite your lip that way." Geth mimics her, cutely.

Jo blushes and giggles. "I have sent one of our squads into the Nexus, so we've bought some time there. Malygos is going to need to be dealt with, though. Somehow."

Geth sighs. "Right now my hands are mostly full trying to ensure that no more of our 'geniuses' decide they are the exception to the 'no portals right now' rule. Over a dozen of our best have vanished without a trace."

"Oh, goodness, Gwen told me something about that," Jo winces. "We really need to get things sorted, somehow."

"My colleagues may have made progress in the past couple of days; I’m not certain.” He smiles slightly, hesitating, then tips his head, looking at Jo out of the corner of his eye. “I took a brief… vacation."

"Vacation?" Jo raises an eyebrow. "Where to?"

Geth waves a dismissive hand before holding it back toward the fire. "I gave professional notice and all - expressing my frustrations, but politely - and then took off into the wilderness with a very pretty friend for a day and a night and most of a day. But I should get back to work now I suppose." Gethennis sighs again, more tragically.

Jo steps closer to Geth, intrigued. "A very pretty friend? I hope that went… well?"

Geth laughs softly. "As well as usual, only — significantly colder. But now I am with you, my pretty friend, and that is what matters, hm?" He bats his lashes at her briefly, then glances toward the distant Celaven. "Alas, your tall friend might become angry if I manhandle you too egregiously. So I shall content myself with this…" He leans over and kisses her cheek in a lingering way that somehow verges on indecent.

Jo giggles again. "I did mean to thank you, when I saw you again. It was wonderful advice. The anonymous gift went so well." Jo's eyes go a little dreamy for a moment.

[Gethennis]:"Well how? Details, my darling, details."

[Jocoza]: "Oh, it was terribly sweet. He came to ask me about it, and then I convinced him we oughtn't give up present happiness for future heartbreak."

Something in Geth's gaze flickers for a moment, a little shadow passing across it, but then he smiles a genuine, affectionate smile. "That's wonderful. And then he shagged you senseless, I'm hoping?"

Jo laughs. "Oh he's not really that kind of a… we agreed, and he did kiss me, and then he went off to the 7th Legion."

"Oh how dull!" Geth laughs. "Well, next time, perhaps. The 7th time? Is that the rule with those military types? I wouldn't know anything about it."

"I do hope there will be shagging involved at some point," Jo says thoughtfully.

"And how about the kiss? Was it good? Was there tongue involved? If it's too difficult to describe, perhaps you could demonstrate." Gethennis grins wickedly.

Jo giggles again, and gives a mock-arch look at Geth. "I would not kiss and tell, Mr. Jadelight."

"Demonstration it is then!" He puckers, puckishly.

"Oh, if you insist," Jo leans forward, reaching a hand to shift his head to the side and kiss him on the cheek.

He laughs. "Oh, he does move slowly, doesn't he? You must be all sorts of frustrated."

"Do you and your pretty friend move fast, then?" Jo grins.

"Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose we did? We moved nowhere for years and then one day accelerated dramatically within a matter of hours with very little acclimation or discussion."

"That is both very specific and very vague," Jo says, crinkling her brow. "But good, I hope."

"Very. Some discussion happened during this recent ‘vacation.’ Long overdue. But the… dramatic shift in our situation occurred some time ago. I'm boring you, I'm sure – how are your squads doing?"

"Oh, um, pretty well, I think," Jo says. She nods to Celaven. "He's not one of them, just one of our healers. I haven't had word from the ones who landed on the other side, but I hope things have gone reasonably well there. I did hear they killed a san'layn, so there's that."

"Those are real?” His feathery chestnut brows shoot sky-high. “I thought Archmage Venuvius had gotten into some of my good stash. After all, ‘bloodsucking elves’ is just the sort of thing certain human members of the Kirin Tor would spread baseless rumors about."

"Oh, very real," Jo lowers her voice. "One infiltrated the Alliance here! We had to find it out and kill it!"

“I presume that everyone made it out with their blood where it belonged?”

Jo nods. "Happily so, yes. I take it you haven't had any trouble from that quarter? Given you weren't even sure they were real."

“I haven't personally, no. But some of our number have had encounters with them, apparently. I didn't dig into the matter because I assumed it was just yet more anti-elf paranoia. Some of the Kirin Tor have despised elves since before the whole Kael'Thas disaster. In fact, I would go so far as to say that their treatment of Kael'Thas may be half the reason we ended up having a Kael'Thas disaster."

Jo winces at that. "And I'm sorry Elo contributes to it as well. I tried to talk to him, but…" She holds up her hands helplessly.

"Humans seem hardwired for bigotry, I'm afraid.” He gives a graceful shrug. “Which is in and of itself a bigoted thing to say, I'm aware. But not untrue."

Jo points over to Celaven. "That one, at least, isn't going to raise a fuss. I believe he has some sin'dorei friends."

Geth’s eyes narrow avidly as his head swivels back toward the kaldorei. "Reeeeally. What's his name? Who is he? He's pretty."

"Celaven Evensong," Jo supplies. "And I suppose he does have a certain sort of style."

"Love the hair. That color would look very good draped over— mmm, nevermind."

Jo giggles. "Shall I call him over to see if he'll flirt? Or maybe next time."

"Would he? No time like the present, if so."

"Celaven!" Jo calls, and the delicate, violet-haired man turns to look at them. "Come over here, I want to introduce you to someone."

Celaven walks over and smiles tentatively at Gethennis. "I take it you two know each other, Captain?"

Gethennis rises to give Celaven a courtly bow. “Lord Gethennis Jadelight, mage of the Kirin Tor. I assume you're a member of Captain Sparkwire's illustrious company? I'm such a fan."

"Yes, Celaven Evensong, Priest of Elune," he says, his silver gaze flicking over the sin'dorei. "Are we working with you concerning the Nexus problem?"

Geth makes a noncommittal sort of sound. "Trying to get whatever information I can. Certain parties have been less than forthcoming with me. The Kirin Tor's existence predates the existence of the Horde/Alliance conflict, and in theory we ought to be neutral. In practice, as Dalaran was once a nation of the Alliance, the Kirin Tor is very much not neutral, and so one look at my eyes puts some of them off."

"I see," Celaven says, a faint smile on his face. "You would think they would learn neutrality, as so many of their people recently lived alongside yours in Shattrath. I admit, though, I have had little contact with the Kirin Tor myself."

"Politically I am a member of the Horde,” Geth confesses, with an apparently contrite little bow of his head, “because I have to be a citizen of somewhere, and my appearance makes me unwelcome in Alliance territory. Also, more importantly, Silvermoon has better parties. But my concern is for Azeroth as a whole."

Celaven blinks at him, and then laughs. "For reasons noble and otherwise, then."

Jo smiles at the two pretty men, getting along so well.

"Yes, Noble and Otherwise should be the title of my autobiography, in fact."

"I'm sure it would be a thrilling tale," Celaven raises one long eyebrow.

"Assuredly.” Geth’s smile is slow and slightly wicked. “How about you? What is your story, Mr. Evensong? How did you get involved in Cobalt Company?"

"My sister joined, and then my… mother's lover," Celaven shrugs. "It is kind of a family thing. Though I admit part of the appeal for me is to meet unusual people from different cultures."

Geth nods appreciatively. "And this sister and mother-lover of yours… do they have names? Perhaps I'm familiar with them?" His eyes are as innocent as a child's.

"Larawen and Caspis," Jo is happy to provide the names. "We do have a number of families in the company. It's nice for people who care for one another to get to work together!"

"Are they squad members? Part-time?" Geth's tone is very much one of casual conversational interest, not at all one of Mercenary Company Espionage or anything.

"Caspis is squad," Jo explains, before Celaven has a chance to speak. "And Larawen's still back in Kalimdor. There's also the other one, right? The one with the drama on the ship? Your half-sister, was it?"

Geth clasps his hands together delightedly. "Oh, this does sound like an interesting family. So much more interesting than mine. My terribly boring married parents and terribly boring younger sister, always doing terribly boring mage things."

Celaven smiles. "None of my family are doing boring mage things, as none of them embrace the arcane. But yes, Florande is here too. My druid half-sister."

"I just love night elf names,” Geth says dreamily. “Larawen… Caspis… Florande…" He's not memorizing, or anything.

"Are your parents Kirin Tor, too, Geth?" Jo asks innocently.

"They are!" he says brightly. "Were. They are, sadly, no longer with us. But probably doing boring mage things in the Shadowlands, ha ha."

"Oh! I'm so sorry to hear that," Jo reaches a hand over to pat his arm. "My own parents are gone as well, decades past."

"I've no idea how long ago mine died. I said farewell to them more than twenty years ago. Sons of Lothar and all."

"They were heroes then," Jo smiles sadly.

Geth nods reverently. "And that would technically make me a grandson of Lothar, wouldn't it? And yet that gets me nowhere with humans…" He winks.

"I'm not sure it quite works like that," Celaven says with an amused smile.

"Alas." Geth sighs dramatically. "So do you get along well with Caspis then, Mr. Evensong? Is your family reasonably harmonious?"

Celaven's expression grows a little guarded, but he smiles and says, "Yes, reasonably harmonious, I would say."

"And my parents were tinkers, so I'm terribly stereotypical," Jo adds with a smile.

"Nothing wrong with that,” Geth says warmly. “And I’m happy to hear of your familial harmony, Celaven. The only person I ever knew whose mother took a lover, said lover was found with the son's knife in his back. Quel'dorei nobles can be so dramatic. Sin'dorei more so."

Celaven looks startled. "Oh, I didn't mean to imply that my mother… my mother and father are no longer together. Haven't been, for centuries now."

"Oh!" Geth allows his ears to droop in an expression of mild embarrassment. "I did jump to the most salacious conclusion, didn't I? Typical. I am sorry about your father, then. But at least this new gentleman seems … acceptable?"

Celaven's smile turns a little wry as he says, "So am I, but my father is not dead. Just absent. Caspis is a welcome addition to the family."

"That's lovely. I do love a happy ending. Speaking of which, I must end this conversation on this happy note, as I am expected elsewhere shortly. I hope we'll have the chance to talk again, safely, sometime soon, hm, Cozy darling?"

"Absolutely! If I can get to Dalaran…" She turns a hopeful gaze on Geth.

Geth makes a slightly strangled sound. "That would… not be wise for the foreseeable future. Ley lines being as they are. But you will be among the first to know when I can have a party at my townhouse, I assure you." He bows to both of them.

"Well, then," Jo glances around with a grin. "I do hope you don't mind the scent of fish. I should likely head back to the Keep as well. Stay safe, Geth."

"Alas I cannot make my usual dramatic exit. If you want to watch me leave, I fully understand." He winks at Celaven and then, with an elegant swirl of his cloak, strides off into the tundra.