(2025-05-03) An Afternoon in Highbank

Details

Author:	Alli
Summary:	Merelda, Lena, Aze, Ozzy, Shine, Shun, Fray, and Joelle have an afternoon coffee in the inn at Highbank, getting to know one another a little better before their main mission in the region commences. ~7100 words.
Rating:	M for Mature 17+

Arc: The Red String Game

Over the course of the last several weeks, Highbank — protected now from orcish assault — has begun to take shape as a proper fortress settlement. Of most note, in among the new fortifications and towers, what was once the skeletal frame of a building beside the gryphon roost is now an inn.

It is a very raw-looking inn, and one wing of it is still under construction, but it is an inn. Highbank is not as yet a popular tourist destination, and so in the fortnight or so since its official opening, the inn has stood empty of guests, serving chiefly to entertain soldiers and workmen in the evenings by virtue of having a proper bar and by offering simple, hearty meals to anyone with coin to spend outside the keep's mess hall.

In the last several days, however, the inn has seen an abrupt spike in custom. Word is that an Admiral has arrived at Highbank, and brought with him a motley assortment of guests.

The common room of the Highbank Inn — that is its name, no one at Highbank is much concerned with naming an inn right now — is a spacious raw-beamed room in more pristine condition than the usual Azerothian taproom. To the left as one enters is a long bar, a kitchen entrance tucked behind it, and farther along that wall is a broad flagstone hearth. It holds only blackened ash on this warm early May afternoon. The wide-planked floors are bare, save for the space directly beneath the barstools along the counter, which has been layered with sawdust. Sawdust is plentiful in Highbank right now, and soldiers and sailors spill a lot of beer.

The wall opposite the door is the inn's seaward side, and four windows run across it. Three of them have a picturesque view of the fortress's stone wall directly outside. The one farthest to the right offers a sliver of the dock and small harbor.

To the right of the door, a staircase leads upward.

The room contains an assortment of rough plank tables and ladderback chairs, several of which are arranged in slightly awkward configurations that suggest they were pushed haphazardly together by various large groups of patrons.

A warlock enters the inn from the outside, though one might be forgiven for not realizing at first glance that she was a warlock. Lena Coit, a blonde woman in her late twenties, is in a casual daily dress in light blue today. There's something in her confident step, though, that speaks to the fact that she is part of the miltiary in the region.

She stops by the bar to ask for coffee — once a small pot and mug is acquired, she makes her way to one of the assembled frankentables to sit and let out a low sigh of relaxation.
Lena hasn't had more than time to take a sip or two before an elvish woman — quel'dorei, maybe, but blindfolded — slips down the stairs with light footsteps and into the room. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, then turns and walks directly towards Lena's table.

Aze breathes in the scent of fresh coffee and says, "Breakfast? Are you just now up? Not to judge, but…"

Lena blinks. "What? No, it's afternoon. Afternoon coffee. I've been out and about Highbank all morning. Why, have you…?"

Aze is saved from having to answer that one by the hasty entrance of a worgen by the front door. She's striding towards the staircase, and between one step and the next her form resolves into that of a human woman in her mid-thirties with unruly red curls.

Merelda is not paying any attention to anyone in the common room, intent on getting away, from the public, when Aze calls out, "Lady Merelda! Come join us for coffee!"

"Us?" Lena asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you didn't get enough mugs," Aze says. "Or coffee, really. Don't worry, I'll handle it."

Aze heads over to the bar to do so, while Lena simply watches with amusement, taking another sip of coffee.

Merelda stands by the staircase in indecision, and finally, reluctantly, walks over to take a seat by Lena. "I hope I didn't startle you with my form."

Lena shakes her head. "It seemed a bit odd you didn't shape change, to be honest, given Ozzy. Did something happen?"

"Nothing serious," Merelda says with a sigh. "It is harder to keep in my human form at a warfront than I expected."

"Wo' abou' Ozzy?" says a large, wolfish, tawny-brown cat, popping out from under the table where it was apparently napping, judging by the sleepiness of its slightly luminous eyes.

Lena laughs. "Just how you're always some creature or other. And Lady Merelda's usually… not? But you're both worgen and druids, aren't you?"

Aze arrives back at the table with a tray of half a dozen mugs and a much larger pot of coffee, together with some simple cookies for a snack. She sets in on the table and slides back into her seat.

"We are," Merelda says, and looks down to Ozzy. "There are other differences."

"Roight," the cat says wryly, settling down and wrapping its tufted tail around its haunches. "She's a propah laydy. Blokes gotta stand up when she comes inna room."

Merelda winces. "That's not exactly what I meant. But there are different expectations of behavior when one is of the nobility. You have to think about how others will see you."

Lena turns to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "And that's so different from the rest of us, is it? I still worry, sometimes, that a fellow might look at me and see a whore and not a soldier. And I've had over a year now to get my manner sorted. Everyone's got things they want people to see and not to see."

Aze gestures at Lena, at Merelda. "I would add to that, but my case is pretty obvious. Ozzy, what do you want people to notice about you?"

The cat flinches ever so slightly, eyes widening.

"Er… I suppose generally I'm 'oping no one notices me a' all, so I ain't get frowned at or yelled at or smacked aroun'. But oi'm no' exactly suttle, loike, so usually they do notice anyway, an' usually it's … me bein' loud, or me not wearin' shoes… but yeah, I ain't never troid to get no one's attention."

She pauses, tilts her feline head. She seems to reconsider.

"Well cep' maybe blokes o' course. An' that's easy enough if you's a bird. Roight blondie?" The cat winks at Lena. "She knows wo' I'm tawkin abou' I bet. They ain't care 'oo you are so long as you show em a bit o' somefing."

"Depends on the bloke," Lena says, with a wry smile. "And depends on what you're after, too. But, yes, what you're talking about, usually easy enough."

"Sometimes the whole demon thing puts… blokes… off," Aze observes, gesturing to herself and then to Lena. "Not all of them, though. I don't usually lead with that, but I've been pretty open about it lately. And I don't think anybody here wants to yell at you or smack you around. I… honestly couldn't tell you about the frowning."

Merelda reaches down to scritch Ozzy on the kitty shoulder. "Not all attention is bad, Oslynn. It's one thing to make sure the wrong people don't notice you, but maybe there are people who should. That is, people other than indiscriminate blokes."

The cat's ears flatten and it does a single writhing motion, feline body language that translates almost perfectly as a shrug.

"I dunno who oughter be lookin' a' me," she says, looking at Merelda out of the corner of her eyes in an almost shy manner. "Loike, wo' for? You mean loike Cobalt people? So I get more work? Pay's good enough I ain't gotta work more'n I already do."

"You were a ward of House Veyne, and now you're Gravehowl. I always felt you were… " Merelda looks away, her cheeks flushing faintly. She quickly busies herself with coffee, and looks around for sugar and cream. Finding none, she shoots a quick, unseen glare at Aze and takes a sip of the coffee black, picking up a cookie at least. "Through both groups, you have connections, if you want them. If you wanted to…"

To do what, Merelda? She doesn't seem to know what comes next in that sentence.

"If you wanted a place among the Stormwind nobility," Lena says, glancing at Merelda with a touch of curiosity. "There's room for folk like us — as friends, as people to be trusted. I mean, I came from not so far off to your folk, farmland in Silverpine, up till the Third War, when Gilneas…" Lena draws in a breath and doesn't finish that sentence. Time for more coffee.

Ozzy shifts her weight as Merelda starts talking about connections, and her ears flatten as Lena talks about a place among nobles, but they perk back up again as Lena talks about Silverpine farmland.

"Tha' bastard Greymane!!" Ozzy blurts. "Roigh' criminal, wo' 'e did to the Silverpoine folk. I'll 'ave you know I fough' for Lord Crowley…" She pauses, ears flattening again. "Not 'ard enough though I guess," she says more quietly, a touch apologetic, "as the lo' of us ended up dead or be'ind bars, an' it came to nuffing. Veyne money sprung me out o' there roigh' quick though," she adds, with surprising bitterness for someone who's talking about being spared a life in prison.

Merelda looks a touch wounded, and she almost says something, but she just continues to drink her coffee.

Lena smiles at Ozzy, a little sadly. "That damned Wall. I don't know if it would've made any difference, but… it's good to hear there were people thinking of us, wanting to help."

Merelda does not say anything to that either, looking down at her mug.

"You can never know what might make a difference," Aze says, nodding to Ozzy and raising her mug. "Just because it ended badly doesn't mean it wasn't the right fight to take on."

Ozzy gives Lena and Aze tentative little glances, ears perking up again.

"Fanks," she says. After a moment's consideration, she shifts into human form, still sitting on the floor in her undyed peasant style dress. The dress is clean at least, and so is she, and her somewhere-between-curly-and-wavy brass-blonde hair has been brushed.

She peers at Aze curiously. "So wot's wif the bline'fowd?" she asks. "Some kinda worlock fing?"

"This?" Aze says, raising a hand to touch the blindfold. She might still be missing words of Ozzy-accent here and there. "Not exactly. It's to cover… a wound. Two wounds, I guess is more accurate. Where I used to have eyes. I'm not… exactly a warlock. It's a whole demon thing."

Merelda stares at her.

Lena seems unconcerned, sipping her coffee.

"You got BOF' your eyes poked out?" Ozzy asks in horror. "By demons??"

"You could say that, indirectly," Aze says, with a kind of nervous smile. "Or, directly by me." She pauses, holding up a coffee cup and considering taking another sip. Then she sets it down untasted. "I'm still not sure what's the best way to explain, uh, me. Maybe the simplest is to say that I've made myself part-demon. My soul, anyway. To fight demons, of course. Like Lena and the other warlocks use demons to fight demons."

Merelda is still staring at her.

"Cor," Ozzy breathes. "I'd change me body into wotevah, but… I fink I draw the line at me soul. Groimy as it is, I fink I'd best leave it be. Does it 'elp though? Wif foighting demons?"

"Yes? I think it does, though I wouldn't suggest anybody else do this. Still, there are things I can do that I couldn't before. I'm stronger, faster, than I was," Aze shrugs. "I try not to rely on the demon unless I have to, but the line isn't always clear. It's probably a good idea to keep your soul nice and natural. I wish I had. But some choices you can't take back, you know?"

"Your soul?" Merelda says finally. "Is that dangerous?"

"Uh, yes, again," Aze says, hunching her shoulders a little, and resting her hands on the table. "I can change my body, sort of, too. But it's… riskier. It's not a healthy thing to do, like you turning into all the animals."

"It's loike the worgen curse!" Ozzy says, standing up and plopping sideways into a chair near Aze. "Before Lor— er, before I was bit, I was sickly all the time, me knees an 'ips always achin', fingers too sometoimes, for loike, no reason! Even when I was doin nuffing."

She pauses then to do a little double-armed flex. Her short sleeved dress reveals that the big-boned girl does indeed have respectable biceps, even in this form, though they don't bulge unless she makes them do so.

"Now I go' none o' them troubles, plus even wifou' magick I 'eal way farster. An' oi'm so strong now, specially when oi'm a worgen. But all that said, I wouldn't force it on no one. We don' even know wot it'll do long term, roight?"

Aze's turns towards Ozzy, straightening up in surprise as a sudden smile lights her face. "I hadn't thought of it like that, but yeah, you're right. A lot in common. I heal faster, too, especially when I'm fighting. And I think both things are mixed up with the kaldorei, right? Like, the kaldorei druids helped you all somehow. And it was a kaldorei who did this to me."

"As for what it'll do…" Aze reaches out to touch her bicep. "We just take it a day at a time, right? Make sure we stay ourselves. It's important to remember who you are."

Ozzy nods solemnly. "Honestly, oi feel more loike me than I did before oi was cursed. I got a pack now, when I used to 'ave nobody really, an' I can do all kinds o' stuff I always just wished about when I was a girl. Swim like a fish, cloimb loike a cat. Meet people an' 'elp people an' go on all manner of dangerous adventures. An' people seems more loikely to just let you be a bit woild when they fink o' you as 'alf dog."

Aze laughs. "That's one way to look at it. I sort of… lost the people like me. But it wasn't the same anyway. They weren't a pack — they weren't good to each other. It's probably better for me here, now, to be around people who aren't like me, but where we can find things in common."

Lena glances at Merelda, and says, "Is it the same for you? The strength, the wildness?"

Merelda doesn't answer for a moment, and then the answer in her eyes is yes, but she says, "My father would very much like to pretend I'm unchanged."

"@#$% farthers," Ozzy says amiably.

Aze flinches, but she holds her smile through it.

Merelda looks at Ozzy with a touch of sadness. And then she takes a breath, and a tidily-dressed worgen is sitting in her place. "I suppose he isn't here."

"Fel yeah!" Ozzy says approvingly. Ozzy shifts in solidarity, now seven feet tall, brown and cream colored with a few skinny braids in her brown mane. And a peasant style dress.

The door opens again and a lean one-eyed man in well-worn dark leathers steps into the room. He doesn't look around; his gaze has gone immediately to the four women (two women and two werewolves?) at their table.

Shine ambles unhurriedly in their direction. He goes around the table to draw out the chair on Lena's other side, nods courteously to the group, and drops into his seat, stretching his legs out beneath the table.

"Now we go' foive people wif seven eyes," Ozzy notes. Her voice has shifted along with her, now a deeper, huskier register.

"Always the odd man out," Shine observes, and smiles faintly at Ozzy.

Ozzy gives him a big toothy grin in return. My, what big teeth you have!

Lena smiles at Ozzy, and turns to Shine. "Care to join us for coffee? A ladies group, yes, but our conversation is all demons and worgen and such."

Merelda looks like a little self-conscious werewolf as the new person arrives, but she stubbornly raises her muzzle in pride and… attempts to drink coffee.

"And I'm the even girl in?" Aze asks, flashing a smile to Shine.

Shine nods gravely to her, which Aze may or may not see. "Aye, that's right. You were four with six until I arrived."

He glances at Lena. "I'll have a cup if I'm welcome. Otherwise I'm just passing to say hello on my way to the room." He hooks his fingers over the back of her chair. He seems pretty comfortable for a guy who was just passing through.

"More the merrier!" Ozzy says.

"By all means, Mr. Shine, do join us," says the worgen Merelda in a perhaps incongruously formal tone.

"Very kind of you, ladies," Shine says in an abruptly equally formal Stormwindian accent. "I wouldn't wish to intrude." He gives Ozzy a slight, conspiratorial smile.

"We were just talking about the surprising similarities between worgen and demon hunters," Aze says, gesturing to Ozzy… and Merelda, now.

"I would ask what those are, but I wouldn't like to make you rehash a conversation if that's tiresome," Shine says, still in that incongruously formal mode. He straightens and sits forward to pour himself a cup of coffee.

That is very many words. Apparently Formal Shine talks more than Regular Shine.

"It's loike, @#$%in' yaself up but it makes ya stronger," Ozzy summarizes.

"If I followed, mostly that it's a curse, but also one that's left them stronger, faster and more able," Lena says with a little shrug. "And that they're both tied up with the kaldorei somehow."

"And that demon hunters aren't as kind to each other," Aze adds. "An important note, that. Part of why I left, really."

Lena points at Ozzy. That was very succinct.

Shine nods thoughtfully and salutes Ozzy with his cup. Then he sits back to drink coffee. Shine speeching done.

"So wot's your story?" Ozzy says to Shine, clearly not content for Shine speeching to be done.

Aze leans on the table, propping her head on one hand as she angles towards Shine.

Merelda looks like an amused worgen.

Shine looks up from his coffee. "Me? Marine lieutenant with Proudmoore's Fleet, under Fallon's command. Lost an eye at Theramore, came to the mainland." He looks around the table. That's it, that's the story.

"Proudmoore?" Ozzy says, unknowingly stepping onto thin ice over starved piranhas. "As in Jaina Proudmoore?"

Lena sets a hand casually on Shine's arm, just in case the ice is too thin today.

Aze turns uneasily towards Ozzy.

Merelda has no idea about ice or piranhas, either.

Shine's expression goes very flat and he stares at Ozzy for a moment. "No," he says in a mild tone that does not match the slightly dangerous look in his eye. "Her father. The late Grand Admiral Proudmoore, Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras."

Shun silently saunters in to sit in a shadowy section of the room, slipping a serious nod towards Shine as he sips a mug of something.

Ozzy has no context for any of this, but she is an expert at reading Dangerous Looks in Eyes, and she shrinks slightly in her chair, lupine ears folding against her head. So, just six foot ten, now.

Shine glances down at Lena's hand on his arm. He relaxes back into his chair and offers Ozzy another faint smile. His gaze travels after Shun and he tilts his head at the other man's passage in what might be a return nod.

"There was a problem at Theramore," Lena ventures to explain. "Between the Grand Admiral and his daughter, which led to his death and her being… still there in Theramore. We don't talk about it all that much."

Ozzy remains slightly slouched, ears still flat, and says no further on the subject, but you can tell by the look in her eyes that she's inferring that the Dad must have Done Something To the Daughter To Deserve It.

"Not the end of the story, though, is it?" Aze says. "Mr. Shine's, I mean, not the… other thing. Though maybe that's not over either, in a sense, but… I meant Cobalt Company."

"Mm," Lena nods. "He's been with the squad here. I've been up when I can. Was down south for a while chasing Zandalari."

Shine nods too. "Joined last year." He glances over at Lena and smiles faintly. "I left the fleet, joined Cobalt. She left Cobalt, joined the fleet."

"I ain't know oo's on squad," Ozzy says. "I know there's newslet'ers an' such but… well… readin's a… work in progress for me. Avoid it when it ain't important."

She has nearly worn her copy of Azerothian Interest to death in her room, observably.

"Maybe it could be good practice," Merelda suggests. "I could go over them with you, if you'd like."

Ozzy makes an ugh, Mom, not in front of the cool people face. Worgen version.

"You could read it to me, if you want," Aze offers casually. "I can be a patient listener."

Ozzy perks up at … virtually the same offer from someone (anyone?) else.

"Yeah?" she says. "Ey, you could tell me if I say fings wrong too. I'm still learnin' Stormwind-speak."

Shine leans back in his chair to look toward Shun. He lifts his coffee cup at the other man in a silent question.

"Sure, yeah, it wasn't that long ago I was learning Common myself," Aze says with a smile. She waves a hand dismissively, "Sometime around the Second War."

Ozzy snerks at the clarification.

Shun is mostly observing the conversations at hand as he lifts his mug of tea back at Shine. He might be trying to pinpoint who are the Cobalts of the group.

Shine nods once and turns back to his conversation. The conversation he is not having. He turns back to listening to the conversation.

The movement of the mug-lifting seems to catch the predator's peripheral vision, and the sort of cream-and-cocoa colored worgen turns her head in Shun's direction.

"Oh, 'ey, it's you," she says. "Quiet guy in the marsk." She smiles in a friendly manner, ears pricked forward curiously. "Why you wear 'at fing anyway? Face got messed up or somefing?"

Shine turns his one-eyed look s l o w l y on Ozzy.

Aze gives a quiet laugh. "Not everyone's injured. But, you know, who knows?"

Ozzy seems to feel Shine's gaze and loses a couple inches of height again.

Shun slowly stares at Ozzy. He quietly sips his tea as he levels his gaze on her.

"No," he says after a moment, "I simply prefer it. Especially while working."

That said, he does have a scar that's visible.

"She's just asking because my eyes are cut out," Aze says casually. She starts to gesture to Shine as a follow-up, and then thinks better of it. "No shame in covering injuries."

Shine nods equably. It can be hard to tell, Ozzy, but that wasn't a death stare.

"Fair enough," Ozzy says with friendly interest. "Also I 'eard some people wear em not to get sick. Medics an' fings. Lots o' good fings about wearin' a mask I guess. Cool scar though. 'At's why oi f'ought maybe you got all cut up or somefing. My scars is covered up all the time just because that's where clothes generally go. My face 'as been lucky so far." She crosses two clawed fingers hopefully.

"I do not hide my scars with that sort of intent. It is as you put it - other things happen to go over where they are. I quite prefer to have my armor on."

Ozzy nods. "If I 'ad any cool scars, wif good stories, I'd want 'em to show."

Shun grunts, "Few scars have good tales."

Ozzy sighs, for just a moment looking older than her years rather than younger.

"Too roight," she says.

Shine nods wordlessly.

"I'll just keep mine covered," Aze says with a faint smile, turning back to the coffee.

"What makes a scar 'cool'?" Shine wonders quietly but aloud. He quirks his brow at Ozzy.

"Umm…" Ozzy considers carefully. Maybe a bit more seriously and carefully than the topic deserves. Her tone is also a bit quieter than usual. "Looks good? Makes you look tough, got it doing somefing brave or important maybe."

Shine nods. Fair enough. He goes back to his coffee.

"When it comes with a tale of victory and sacrifice! When it was earned in service of good!" Booms Fray from the doorway. Shirtless Fray. With scars. Don't worry Natalyah, he's not breaking the shirtless rule completely. There is a blue bandana over the rune on his arm.

Shun's finger twitches at the sudden loudness. He sighs.

Aze's eyebrows raise. "All the more reason to keep mine covered."

Lena nods quietly, but doesn't offer any words.

Merelda jumps as yet another person joins, and visibly resists the impulse to transform back into human form.

"Ey there!" Ozzy greets the shirtless man enthusiastically. "It's Old Farrens! 'Ow's yer boys doin?" She makes no attempt to hide her curious visual investigation of his scars.

"The Chosen One is… hiding. The other enjoys his privacy," Fray says. Is he disappointed? Maybe. "But! I have here, the mighty Joelle!"

Fray steps aside and gestures the only slightly shorter man into the room. Joelle waves at everyone.

Shine sets his coffee cup down and gives Fray a weary, wry look. He's sort of used to this guy.

He nods to the Mighty Joelle.

Aze claps for the Mighty Joelle.

"Hello, Joelle, Fray," Lena says politely. "Would you like to join us? It's lucky I picked a larger set of tables."

"Ey little fella," says the seven-foot worgen to Mighty Joelle. Then she changes back into a five-foot nine human and says, perhaps unecessarily, "It's me, Ozzy."

"Hello Ozzy," Joelle says, a smile in his eyes. "And Lena."

Does Fray need coffee? Further stimulation? Probably not, but he will have it anyway. He finds a seat with everyone at the table. Joelle sits nearby. He is on Fray watch.

"Hi Elle," Aze says with a friendly wave. "Everything going alright?"

Ozzy turns to her worgen-form guardian, Merelda, and says, with atypical tenderness, "You can stay worgen if you want. It's okay."

"It is… easier in some ways," Merelda admits. "This form feels more natural, doesn't it?"

"Nobody is dead," Joelle answers. What, it's good news!

"That's good news!" Aze says brightly. "Doesn't happen everyday. Lathrik's still holding up, then?"

Ozzy gives her a warm smile and a slight nod, then gives the older woman's furry hand a little squeeze, perhaps ever so briefly reminding Merelda why she even bothers with Ozzy.
Ozzy turns to listen in on the Farrens Report.

"He doesn't like to talk about it," Joelle says. "I think he's scared, though. But he won't give up."

Ozzy's eyes go all soft. "I mostly only see 'im when e's sleepin'. Maybe 'e's not so scared then. Oi 'ope not. Bein' scared all the time's the worst. Just wastes you away, loike."

Shine studies Ozzy in silence.

Fray wraps a firm arm around Joelle. "When you're afraid, that's when it's time to scream the loudest," he says. "Shout back at what scares you. Show it you won't back down!"

Shun raises a brow. "Please do not shout."

Ozzy covers her mouth, muffling a giggle.

Shine smiles faintly without looking back at Shun. He picks up his coffee again.

"That's not an approach I've tried, I'll be honest," Aze says, grinning. That kind of goes without saying for Lena and Merelda.

Fray peers at Shun. "Young man, you look like you haven't had a good shout in years. Show us what you've got!"

"Don't fink that's 'appenin," Ozzy says dryly.

"No," says Shun.

Ozzy squeals with laughter at the curt reply.

Aze laughs quietly.

"I do think that the soldiers outside would become concerned if we all began screaming," Merelda offers. "That might not be a kind thing to do in a location so close to war."

Lena is not even trying not to smile.

Shine finishes his coffee and sets the cup down on the table again. He is also smiling, though sometimes it's hard to tell.

To Lena, he says, "Going upstairs. I'll see you." He rises to his feet and nods to the rest of the gathering. "Afternoon."

Lena nods to him, her gaze lingering on him for a few moments longer than strictly necessary as he leaves. Then she turns back to the table.

Ozzy nods to Shine, then looks curiously at Elle. "So ow'd a noice bloke like you get mixed up wif all this madness, again?" she says, gesturing to Fray to demonstrate the Madness.

"Lathrik is my friend," Joelle says, starting at the beginning. "Fray is my friend's father. And I'm…"

"Joelle Ebek, practically family!" Fray declares. "I learned his name just moments ago."

Joelle blinks at Fray. Oh. That explains nothing. He hesitates. Maybe… he shouldn't explain?

Ozzy looks between Fray and Joelle, and her brow furrows. She puts a hand to the side of her mouth, as if it would actually shield her words from a lip-reading Fray (it wouldn't) and says to Elle in a half-whisper that the equidistant men could theoretically both hear equally, "E ain't gotta be your fam'ly unless you want."

Joelle's brow furrows in thought. This appears to be a new concept to him. He copies her gesture, half-whispering back, "Unless I want?"

Ozzy nods. Then in a more regular voice, she says, "You was gonna say somefing, before 'e interrupted yellin'. You said, 'I'm' - an' then 'e said wot you was for ya. But I wasn't askin' 'im, I was askin' you. 'E can talk when it's 'is turn."

Joelle looks a little uncertain, but he was asked a question. "He knows my father," he explains. "They are old war friends. He met me when I was young, but I don't really remember."

Ozzy nods, then turns to Fray. "So you was in the war then?" she asks curiously. She eyes him up and down. "First one?"

"The very first," Fray says, then pauses. "Not according to the elves."

"When you were young?" Aze asks. "Wait, what you do mean first one? The first orc one?"

Ozzy giggles. "Well we call it first. First one 'umans remember."

"I mostly grew up in peacetime," Aze says with a shrug. "Until recently. So it might well be my first war, too. I wasn't really involved back then, though. Elle, you were… in it?"

"My father was," Joelle clarifies. "Fray came to Lordaeron after, to look for his family. They weren't there."

"Well now e's found em!" Ozzy says. "Most of em anyway. Still got the lady to rescue."

Fray's gaze smolders at that, his eyes fixed on the table in front of him, one hand balled into a fist resting on its surface. "And we will," he says firmly.

Lena nods. "And hopefully that's the piece that turns this into a happy, curseless reunion."

Ozzy studies Fray. "Oi fink oi get you," she says. "You're an alpha, you are. You won't stop until the pack's all togevver again. My alpha's loike tha'. Just… maybe no' quite so loud."

"Of all the things I might say of Lord Graves, indeed I would not say loud," Merelda says. "But yes, he gathered us up, one by one. He kept us together, through the danger. That is a good impulse, I think."

Ozzy turns back to Elle. "So wot's your da loike?" she asks him. She looks prepared to give sympathy about Awful Dads.

"My father is in the Stormwind Royal Guard," Joelle says. He sounds proud of this. "He was… hurt before I came here. Someone tried to kill him. Ren — that's my other friend — thinks it was a cultist. We don't know who did it. My cousin found him in an alley. But he's not dead."

"…Oh." Ozzy looks unsettled for a moment, like she isn't sure how to process all of this. Finally she says… "Oi 'ad somefing similar 'appen once. Um… 'ope you're okay about it."

"Oh, shit," Aze says, her focus sharpening on Joelle. "Do you have any more clues? Do you think they're still in Stormwind, or maybe they came up north, if there's something we could tra…" Aze trails off, maybe realizing her reaction was not the most helpful. "…hope you're okay, yeah. And that he heals up."

Joelle nods reassuringly. "I have to support Lathrik now," he says. "To make sure no one dies. Hann is resting at home. No one will hurt him with Miralynn there."

"Miralynn, the lad's mother, is a spicy one," Fray vouches. "She'll keep 'im safe and well."

Ozzy studies Joelle, clearly struggling to figure out the appropriate emotion that's supposed to go along with all of this, and finding no help in his face.

Aze seems to have settled on a combination of concern and sharp-edged desire for violence. "Do you know why they went after him? Do you think your mom will have to fight them off?"

Lena looks over sympathetically.

Merelda watches Ozzy with concern.

Joelle shakes his head. "I don't know why. Other than he's in the Royal Guard. But Miralynn won't lose a fight, if it happens. And Ren is working sixteen-hour shifts. He's watching, too."

"Good," Ozzy… estimates.

Joelle nods at her. Correct answer, apparently.

Whew! Ozzy's relief is visible.

"I am really good at search and destroy, if you get anything to go on," Aze says, pushing her mug between one hand and the other restlessly. "But I'm glad he's safe."

"It's entirely possible that the cultist will meet their end entirely apart from anything we do," Lena comments. "People here are fighting the cultists every day."

"Meet their end? Unlikely," Fray says. "Cockroaches the lot of 'em. They'll scurry back into their holes for a time. Strike again when it suits."

Ozzy is studying Aze now, something wistful and unidentifiable in her expression.

"Oh, I don't mean to say all of them," Lena clarifiies quickly. "Just if you're looking for a particular cultist, who's to say?"

Merelda is watching Ozzy, but the concern is softening to something more like sympathy.

Aze turns slightly towards Ozzy, maybe noticing the attention. Unfortunately, identifying unidentifiable expressions is beyond her, for several reasons.

Ozzy instinctively smooths out her expression when Aze turns toward her, even though uh, there is probably no need to.

"So Aze," she asks her, with a sudden energy. "'Ow often those Cobalt newsletters come out anyway?"

"I don't, uh, actually know…?" Aze turns towards Lena for help.

"Every week, usually," Lena explains. "Sometimes a little less frequent, in the rare occasions where there's little news in Azeroth. I'm still on the list to receive, and well… I suppose if they ever take me off I'll get them through Shine."

"Do they come on a particular day?" Ozzy asks Lena.

"Not the same day," Lena says, thinking back. "Usually sometime between Wednesday and Sunday. It varies. Have you been getting them?"

"Um, probably?" Ozzy says. "Just wonderin' when the next one's comin." She looks to Joelle, eyes lighting up again. "Aze is gonna —" She hesitates, reconsiders halfway through her sentence. "Oi'm gonna read it to 'er," she says. "You know, so she can listen to it!"

There is a smile in Joelle's eyes. "That's good of you," he says. He looks to Aze to judge her response as well.

Ozzy looks to Aze with a look in her eyes that says Narc On Me And I'll Cut You. And a smile.

Aze misses this entirely, but she smiles and says, "Yeah, I don't get a lot of written news." She tilts her head to Ozzy and says, "Elle gave me a little machine that records messages, so I can send and receive mail without reading and writing, isn't that cool? That's for personal letters, of course, not like, news. But it's good to have friends like you all looking out for me."

Merelda is not going to narc on anyone, at least. She just seems content that Ozzy is practicing reading.

"Yeah, that's cool," Ozzy agrees. "But yeah, always good to 'ave friends, too." She fidgets, and chews on a strand of her hair. She glances at Merelda, then away. "Oi'm tryin' to make more friends. You know, outside of pack."

Merelda smiles encouragingly. She's long since given up on dignified worgen coffee drinking by now, but she picks up a cookie to nibble.

"Yeah?" Aze says. "I am, too. Trying to make more friends, I mean, in general. I don't have a pack. I knew a few people when I first came into Stormwind, but it was kind of a… daunting thing, if I were prone to getting daunted, I guess." Given the way her hand tightens on her mug, she might have been a little daunted.

"Oi fink we could be friends, if you want," Ozzy says, and immediately blanches as though she's just stepped out on a high wire. She covers it by babbling. "Elle said we was friends. 'Im an' me, I mean, not me an' you. 'E don't seem loike the toipe to decide for you, roight?" She laughs nervously. "Oi mean that don't mean you an I got to be friends just because 'im an' me are. But I f'ought since we was gonna be… readin' stuff togevver anyway, maybe we could loike, I dunno, 'ave lunch or… " She trails off, maybe not entirely certain what friends do who aren't worgen or gangs of Dickensian street urchins.

"Sure, yeah, a friend of a friend can be a friend," Aze says, picking up as Ozzy trails off. "And I'd like that. We could read stuff together, and have lunch, and be friends who…" there's a slight pause as Aze reviews what she usually does with friends, "Dance? Play music? Get in trouble? What do you like to do?"

"Mos'ly tha' last one," Ozzy answers wryly.

Aze laughs. "I have to be careful about real trouble, or it'll hurt the Aspenwoods for vouching for me. Probably like for you and the Gravehowls? But I bet we could raise some hell without breaking any laws. Or, you know, cause trouble for other people, like the f— Twilight's Hammer…" Aze trails off, and then adds, "That was a yes, I'd like to be your friend. If that wasn't clear."

Ozzy flushes a little. "Okay," she says with feigned nonchalance. She then snatches the half eaten cookie right out of Merelda's hand and pops it into her mouth.

"Oh," Merelda says, pawing at the air for a moment, then she chuckles. "Maybe we should get more refreshments soon."

"I can get more snacks, if we want?" Lena offers, starting to rise. "Or if there's anything you'd all like other than coffee and cookies."

"They got carrots?" Ozzy asks hopefully.

"I bet they have," Lena says with a smile. "They're tasty fresh, aren't they? So sweet. Good for baking."

"You can make all koinda fings wif em," says Ozzy. "Savory, sweet, raw, steamed, grilled… they're loike the greatest fing ever. Me favorite's just… dug straight up an' washed, but you can't ruin a carrot no matter wot you do to it. Still carroty. Inspirin', really."

"May we all be like carrots," Lena says with a quiet smile. "Only maybe a touch less edible."

Lena heads off to the bar to talk to the barkeeper about the possibility of a raw carrot snack.

"What was it like?" Aze asks, trailing her fingers along the table. "Before the druid ritual, I mean. Being a worgen."

Ozzy glances at Fray and Elle, and at Lena's back. Then at Merelda.

"Oi… don't remember much," she says. "Foggy loike. Wot I do remember… um… probably not best fer… mixed company." She does not seem to understand what the mix is that is indicated by that phrase, but the sentiment is clear.

"For non-worgen company?" Aze asks.

"The memories aren't very clear," Merelda confirms, reaching over to touch Ozzy, an unconscious gesture of comfort. "But we were wild creatures, without inhibition."

"Huh," Aze says, perhaps not imagining the right things.

Lena returns with a little bowl of raw carrots, and sets them on the table with a smile of triumph. "Not technically on the menu, but they had them. Enjoy!"

"Awwww, wow!" Ozzy says, her eyes lighting up. She grins at Lena. "Loike an 'arvest witch you are, makin' carrots appear out o' thin air!" She grabs one and bites into it with a satisfying (to her, at least, evidently) crunch.

Lena takes one herself, and enjoys a small bite.

"I don't think we had that, back in my hometown, actual harvest witches," she says, considering. "But we did have some of the traditions, with the changing of the seasons. Anyway, it's kind of you to say. Tastier than what I usually summon out of thin air."

"I don't know, depends on who you summon," Aze says casually, reaching for a carrot.

Ozzy looks very determinedly at the table at that last comment, crunching her carrot.

Merelda takes one for herself as well, melting back down into human form. "I think I'll not try carrots with worgen teeth. But, maybe while I'm out here, I can put less effort into holding my form. I'm not likely to frighten anyone, it seems."

"No one in our group, certainly," Lena agrees.

"Yeah," says Ozzy. "I loike yer worgen form. Seems more… I dunno. Comfy." Does she mean for her? For Merelda? Both?

"It is, for some things," Merelda says, reaching a hand to fail in tidying her hair, and crunching her carrot.

"Well, I've enjoyed speaking with all of you," Lena says, nodding to the group, and starting to rise again. "But I reckon I should probably be getting on before dinner. I'll see you 'round later?"

"Yeah," says Ozzy. "I ain't goin' nowhere." She cronches her carrot again.

Lena waves farewell and makes her way over towards the stairwell.

"And perhaps I'll head out and…. see what needs doing," Merelda says, rising with her own now-half carrot. She nods at Ozzy and her new friends, have fun without mom supervision. "There's still considerable construction around here. I'll be back before evening, for certain, for our usual shifts."

Woo! No Mom supervision! says the glint in Ozzy's eyes. Her words, though, say "Okay Merry, see you then!"