(2025-07-01) Try to Relax, It's a Party

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Author:	Alli
Summary:	Just before the explosive news, Alaisa and Aszera share a dance, where they chat about people they've seen at the party and elsewhere. ~1800 words
Rating:	T for Teen

Aszera stands at the side of the ballroom, with her arms crossed over her chest, listening to the music play. She taps gently with one finger along with the beat, the one clue that she might prefer to be out on the floor and not on the sidelines. Still, she makes no move to join the dancers. Her expression is intent and serious, as though she is observing the crowd as carefully as one of her more highly-trained friends in espionage might. She's certainly not getting the same information they would, but she has her own ways of watching.

Alaisa comes to a halt next to her. "Mother's bidding for me now," she says, tilting her chin up slightly with a look of pride. "I think she's deterred Lord Bertrand."

Aze grins. "Is she using the same sort of strategy as Tyrrell? Seemed pretty effective. As for mine, I don't really care if I get outbid. It just seemed like the thing to do — everyone else was bidding on things."

"The thing to do," Alaisa repeats, looking entertained. "Well, it's charitable, yes, if you can afford it. Want to dance?"

Aze's eyebrow twitches slightly at if you can afford it, but then she's all smiles again, as she reaches out for Ally's hands. "I'd love to. I haven't had a chance yet this evening — I've just been wandering around, people-watching."

"I can lead," Ally offers. "See anything interesting?" She takes Aze's hand and walks out onto the floor.

"Sounds good," Aze follows her out onto the floor, her shoulders relaxing in anticipation of dancing. "There's a lot of people here that I know, a lot of people that I don't. There's a girl I know who was polishing up for this as her first noble party, Ozzy — she's dancing with a guy now, so I think that went well. I don't know the guy. Not sure if Elle's alright, but he's got people — Mr. Boutille at least. There's more people who… are surprised to see me here. It's not like it was before, where the party was only people who already knew about me. There was another demon hunter I talked to earlier, kaldorei."

"Another demon hunter?" Alaisa raises her brows. "Who?" She leads Aze in the dance with ease - it's a Stormwind style, one she's familiar enough with to barely think about.

Aze follows effortlessly, responding to Alaisa's lead without thought even though she's less familiar with the dance. "Nylarria Felkiss. Not sure what to make of her, but she didn't seem hostile. There are a lot of kaldorei at this party, seems like. I guess there were plenty at Wyrmrest, too, but we weren't all… in a ballroom."

"Nylarria Felkiss," Alaisa repeats. "There's a good chance that I know who she is now; she's one of two blind kaldorei I've seen here. The other is Auralind Mistwalker, you can't miss the spectral cat."

"Spectral cat… is that what that was," Aze says with a laugh, putting a little flourish in her step. "I wondered. Yeah, it's the other one, the one with the hurt leg. Have you seen anyone especially interesting?"

"I may have," Alaisa says, teasing. "There's quite a few individuals from Cobalt Company here."

"Oh yeah? I guess because they sent a big force against Deathwing," Aze says, falling silent for a moment in thought. "Lot of them around in Outland before, too. Must be a huge company by now, they way you hear them around."

"Over a hundred, which is a fair amount for a mercenary company," Alaisa says.

"Wow," Aze says, raising her eyebrows. "That is big. And now they're all close with Stormwind nobility, too, it seems like."

"Lord Ference was the founder, after all," Alaisa says. "Cobalt Company did wonders for his reputation."

Aze laughs. "It's not every day you hear nobles are improving their reputation through association with mercenaries, rather than the other way around."

Ally smiles, amused. "Are you living in Drakewatch, now? You mentioned working with the orphans there."

"No, I have a place in Stormwind," Aze says, drumming her fingers once playfully against Alaisa's shoulder. "I could invite you there sometime, but I haven't like… furnished it. I'm working part-time with the orphanage, and I'm planning to work with a detective agency that's starting up in the city, too."

"Stormwind's my neighborhood, I could help you color coordinate your furniture," Alaisa offers. "Being a detective sounds fun. You'll probably be able to pick up on things your coworkers can't."

"That would… actually be really helpful," Aze says, with an easy grin. "I'm not great at color coordination these days. Or really style at all. I wasn't really sure what to do, besides ask my sister to help — and with the way things are going, there are several reasons she might not get along with shopkeepers. As for the detectives — that's the idea! At least the way I see can be useful for something. They also said they needed people that were good at non-lethal violence, which is not my specialty, but I can do it. Anyway, most of them know what to expect from me, since we did some work against the Twilight's Hammer up north like a month or so ago."

Alaisa leads Aze in a twirl, smiling. "We'll go shopping, then. Who are the other detectives…?"

"One of them I haven't met yet — Mayellen Hazan," Aze says, and then continues, "The one I know is Natalyah Kensington-Whit. I'm kind of hazy on who else might be involved, but maybe her guy Lathrik, and their friends Ren and Elle. The three of them are guards in Stormwind, though, so they do already have jobs. There's probably others that might join — they cast a wide net."

"Oh, interesting. I know of both Mayellen and Natalyah, and I've met Lathrik." Alaisa sighs wistfully. "If I had the free time I might join up too. But free time is always in tragically short supply."

"If you have no free time, I hope it's because you have lots of interesting things to do," Aze says with a smile. "But if you ever do find yourself free, I'd be happy to hang out. Introduce you to people. Anything."

"I'll be taking you up on that, neighbor," Alaisa says, grinning.

Aze dances a few more steps in contented silence, before she says, "I'm glad you had time for this party. It's always good to see you, but especially now, when Roper and Yara are traveling, I…. I think I appreciate the connection to that part of my life."

"Yeah," Ally says. She sounds a little nostalgic. "I get it."

"We had some good times, up in Northrend," Aze says, and she kind of sounds nostalgic… for the war against the Lich King. "Like when you came up to visit. So… what is keeping you busy these days, if it's something you can tell me?"

"Work," Alaisa says breezily. "Not that I can't tell you, you understand, only this is hardly the place or time."

Aze flashes a quick smile in surprise at the sign of trust, even housed as it is in deflection. "Maybe when we have that shopping trip, we can spend some time at my place. Talk more freely."

"Sounds like a plan," Alaisa says, smiling back even though Aze can't see it.

"Let's see… for things that fit this time and place…" Aze says, more at ease. Maybe she could feel the smile, even if she couldn't see it. "What did you think of Lathrik? I've only actually talked to him a little bit, though I did go up to the Highlands with him and his friends."

"He's good at his job," Alaisa says, which sounds like a high compliment. "I worked with him on the Graufowl case, which is what Natalyah and Mayellen consulted on as well, only I just got to read their notes on the crime scene. I helped with witness questioning and suspect retrieval, and Lathrik was fantastic during both."

"The Graufowl case," Aze repeats. "Don't think I've heard about that one. Maybe that's when they got interested in investigating stuff. Did they solve it?"

"Let's say yes," Alaisa says. "Lady was framed for the murder of her own parents. Nasty business. She didn't do it."

Aze grimaces. "That's rough. Losing your parents, and then catching the blame on top of that." There's a faint shiver in Aze's shoulders, but then she calms and adds, "Good on them for sorting it out. He does seem like the sort you'd want on your side for something like that. Good at inspiring… confidence? Loyalty in people around him, for sure."

Alaisa hums quietly and doesn't elaborate any further on the Graufowl case in public. "He seems flexible," she says. "Good at being who's needed. That's my verdict, I suppose."

"Flexible is a good thing to be," Aze comments with a light laugh. "For a number of reasons. Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting Mayellen — she's a warlock. And I think you'll like Natalyah. She's… really open-minded. They work some with Mourn, too."

There is a bang from outside the ballroom, the sound of the Little Parlor door slamming open. Alaisa maneuvers Aze around so that she has a view of the doors and watches Siamus almost run past the ballroom. "Oh," she says. "Looks like something's happened."

Aze tenses, starting to pull away. "What do you mean, something's happened?"

"Something interesting," Alaisa says, watching Vane lead a woman who has clearly been crying from the Little Parlor. "I don't know if it's good or bad. Perhaps we'll find out."

"Is someone hurt?" Aze asks, and her expression sharpens to a searching intensity.

"Not that I saw, but I don't know." Alaisa reaches for Aze's hand and squeezes it comfortingly, then leads her off the dance floor. "Want me to go find out?"

Aze follows off the dance floor, taking Alaisa's hand, and nods. "If you can. I guess I'm a little more on edge than usual with all the… stuff happening lately."

"Makes sense." Alaisa bumps her shoulder against Aze's affectionately. "In that case, I'm off to eavesdrop. Try to relax, it's a party."

Has Alaisa herself ever relaxed at a party? That's another question entirely. But she's giving advice to Aze, not herself.

"Sure," Aze says with a warm but distracted smile, her focus still on the crowd. "I'll follow your lead."

That's not exactly the advice Alaisa gave her, but oh well. Who knows, maybe she's planning to go hide in the hallway to keep an eye on her auction bid. It's one way to enjoy a party.