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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | Thalstan writes back to Oranna to discuss how the ongoing story might progress, now that they've both come to a successful end to their respective missions. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Chain: Orastan
Dear Oranna,
I’m writing to you from Ironforge, upstairs from my ma’s tavern, and maybe that tells you already the first news I have to share. Outland’s saved, or at least as saved as it was before all this mess, and all the Blade’s come through it well and hearty. The fight was long and hard, and we had to chase Savar all the way through the Tempest Keep. We thought we had him cornered, but then he vanished through a portal!
We had only a few seconds there, before the portal closed, to figure out what to do. I’m the team leader, so I hope I made the right call. We couldn’t very well leave him to rebuild his power base and go again, I don’t think. We’d tried talking him down before, and while it might’ve worked on some of his followers, he himself was clearly a true believer. There’s a point past which giving a person room to change hurts other people, and I think his plan to kill everyone on Outland puts him well past that point.
You can probably guess from all that, but I had us go through the portal after him. It put us deep in the blood elf lands, so thank the Light we’d Arthur there to give us a portal at the end of it all. I don’t think we left any sign of ourselves, so it’s not exactly a secret – many folk would likely not even believe me if I told the story. One way or another, I’m just relieved we don’t seem to have upset any kind of broader military strategy. We weren’t there for war, after all, we only went there to stop that one Illidari fellow.
I was a little surprised Savar went back to Quel’thalas, but he must’ve still had some friends or contacts, folk he could pull on or leverage. Maybe it was just a question of leverage and not friendship, since he was just about as good a friend to them as he aimed to be to the people of Outland. Which is to say, I think we can safely conclude he was not supported by the folk of Quel’Thalas, based on the number of people he killed there. After we passed through, we got on his trail by following the bodies of his countrymen.
Either his cultists had portals themselves, or he’d already transported some to the elven lands, because there were signs of conflict all through. We were a few steps behind, so we mostly saw the outcomes. I suppose his cultists were coming out on top, because they’re the ones we ended up having to fight. That was likely fortunate, because I’m not rightly sure how we should’ve approached the local guards. We had the same enemy, but I somehow suspect that wouldn’t have stopped them from seeing us as an enemy, too.
Anyway, at first I just thought Savar was running to ground, trying to hide in a place we couldn’t follow. Maybe he had some touch of nostalgia that made him feel he’d be safe in his homeland. Turns out, though, this was his backup plan. We’d wrecked the rune engines, and so he was after another source of energy – a massive fel crystal. He said it’s the one old Prince Kael’Thas Sunstrider used, back in the day, when he was trying to invite the Legion to Azeroth. You’d think that context would clue Savar in that he was not on the right side of things, but unfortunately it did not.
He put up a hell of a fight, but we did stop him in the end. We also smashed that fel crystal to pieces, so nobody else could dream up a horrible world-ending plot with it. Then we took our own Arthur-made portal, a legal one, out of there, and celebrated a job well done. A world well-saved.
I’m still not sure exactly where we’ll go from here. Tadget joined up originally to get back in shape after her triplets were born, and now they’re old enough to draw disturbing child art. Vesyllah might want to go her own way, after that demon she’s set on finding. I don’t know if Arthur’s still got responsibilities to his teachers in the mage tower, or if he’s well beyond all that now. I hope Zaara will stick with us, wherever we go next. She’s a damn good healer, and also we might’ve taught her some unusual Common. I don’t know if we’ll stay with Cobalt, or join the 7th Legion, or split all five separate ways or what have you.
For now, though, we’re on a break till the new year at least. Since you’re planning to stick around Pandaria for a while, I’ve already started filling out the visa paperwork to come visit. I can’t say when exactly they’ll clear me to come through, but I’m hoping I can see you in person by Winter Veil. If you can’t hear the eagerness in that, the smiling, then let me also write that I’m doing that too. I look forward each day to the possibility of more Oranna-in-letters, and on days when I’ve not got a new one, I reread the old ones. They make me feel as though I’m there with you, or you with me. Maybe that sounds a bit sappy, but I think I’m just in the sappy stage right now and that’s alright. Just thinking about you makes me feel lighter and stronger, and like the world is a brighter place. And it’s only a matter of days or in the worst case maybe a week, till we meet in-person once again.
Though on that note, I ought to speak to expectations. Our story isn’t beholden to anybody else but us. It can go as fast or as slow as we both desire. I would love to kiss you and to see where things go after that. If the answer is, sightseeing around the pandaren lands together, that’s fine. If there’s a thing that happens between us that comes too close to the gun shy parts, just tell me to stop. I will without question. I’ll want to know why, but only because I want to understand you better. Understanding can come later, in its own time, whenever you feel ready.
I get what you mean about forever, and I won’t lie to you on that count. Your work is dangerous, and so is mine. Neither of us can predict the future, and every connection with another living person carries the future possibility of pain. I accept that, and if I can’t offer you forever, I offer you now, and what time that I have to give. If nothing is forever, I think that it makes the time we choose to share with other people even more precious.
If you’d like to hear, I can tell you a little about my past loves. The first was a lass called Ingria, and I bear a lot of the blame there for how things turned out. I had my head all filled up with stories and not so much filled up with experiences, and I thought I understood how lasses think and feel. As it turns out, lasses are individuals, and there were a number of things Ingria did not have in common with one of Firststone’s forever girls. At the time, I did not understand what I was doing wrong. Now, that’s why I try to be careful to see people as who they are, and not who I imagine them to be.
That’s one reason I try not to lean too hard on the stories these days. But if I do quote Firststone at you, I hope you’ll know it’s because the quote made me think of you, you specifically, and not that I’m thinking you’re just like the lass in the novel. Moving on to second lass, Tova – that story might be one for in person, like yours. There are happy parts to her story and Ingria’s, but also parts that are less so.
I can’t promise I’ll never feel bits of jealousy for what came before for you, and I wouldn’t blame you if you do for me sometimes. But I do want you to talk about Bargrimm, when you want to, and about other people that mean a lot to you. I’m glad Mordecai and Lireen were there for you, and that they likely are still now, if you need. Each person is different, and every connection is different, and I’m glad for any happinesses you’ve had. So what I can promise is that I’ll be honest, and if I’m feeling unsteady about a thing I’ll tell you so. I’ll welcome you to do the same.
As for bits of pain from those memories, there’s a few things, but not too much for you to dodge on my account. I suppose there’s a particular sort of savory pie Tova liked that I’m not keen on these days, with an anise flavor. Neither of them had any particular pet names or nicknames to avoid. Lots of people call me Thal, but Thalstan’s just as good. If you’d like to give me a nickname someday, I wouldn't mind it. I’ll be careful of yours. Do you like having nicknames specific to a person?
There is one thing I’ve got from my da, which maybe I should mention. They mailed us back his stuff from Silithus, what they recovered at least, and I’ve kept his compass. It’s the one he took with him everywhere, digs all over Azeroth. This last time, I guess something happened to it, because the needle doesn’t point true anymore. I’ve not had it fixed since, but I keep it safe at home. It feels like a connection to my da in a way, even though it’s broken. I know that’s not exactly the same thing you’re talking about, but I think I’d be right upset if anything ever happened to it.
I suppose what all of this means is that I’m a story in progress, just as you are, and I’m looking forward to where our stories go together. There might be some sad times ahead, but I hope the happy times will be brighter and more powerful. I’m maybe not as skilled a writer as Steelbloom, but I think we’ve already started writing our story piece by piece in these letters. I don’t want to make you feel like one of Firststone’s forever girls, but I do want you to be the heroine of our story. I think the world could do with more stories about lasses like you. Oranna Stormbreaker - no matter how the world tries to break her heart, it does not have the power to harden it.
On that note, I’m glad to hear you enjoy the Cobalt Blade books – I always thought Steelbloom did a great job with those, and I’m not sure how Sir Ference enticed her to the collaboration. I think Steelbloom’s work is quality, but then I’ve also never called a book trashy or felt guilty for enjoying it. Maybe you and I are the same there, taking books for what they are. Novel Thalstan is not exactly me, you’re right, but there are parts of me in it. It’s a bit like a portrait, where the artist picks what parts they want to highlight and what they want to smooth away. Maybe that’s a big part of making a story, and part of what makes it different. The imperfections, the chaos, the dangling threads, the pieces that don’t quite fit, they also make up who we are. And I’m glad it’s the real Thalstan you like, because I like the real Oranna. And I bet there are other lasses who feel the same way you do about cookies, but there’s for sure not more than one of you. I treasure each piece of what makes you the unique individual that you are.
And thinking of you brings me to romance stories, and how I think they tend to exaggerate. It’s a bit like acting, maybe, where a person can feel a way inside, but they also have to make sure it’s easy to read in their face and their actions, even if they have to be a little unnatural to make it come across. They put out the feelings for people to understand, but they’ve also got to hit them a little harder than you do in real life to make them resonate. Most people probably don’t feel an instant smolder like heroes and heroines do when they catch each others’ gaze for the first time. And the storybook feeling might touch something in some people, but aye, not every person. It’s an art piece like any other, and different things resonate – the exhilaration of riding sharks and shooting two rifles with each hand, the exhilaration of love at first sight, or something entirely different. There’s no wrong or right to how art makes you feel.
As for the other type of story, I can understand folk who feel a need for vengeance, like Dane after all those years of war or Ves with her demon. Still, it’s never been a big thing motivating me, either. I don’t feel like I need to go to Silithus and avenge my da, for instance. I suppose they’ve already defeated the Old God there, so maybe I’d feel different if that weren’t the case. I couldn’t really say. It does sound a bit dangerous with the Horde, though. I don’t think this Warchief they’ve got right now is a very good idea. He seems dead set on having a war, even though we’re not raring for one on our side. Maybe if it’s the Sha riling them up, your team’s work against them will make a difference.
I won’t tell you if I’d guessed who Ian was correctly, but I agree that it’s a rough time for him to be lost and alone, with the Sha and the Horde about. Maybe we dwarves haven’t much room to talk, though, and not only on account of Brann Bronzebeard. Muradin spent years with amnesia up in Northrend, aye? And then Moira over in Shadowforge City under Ragnaros. Our royalty does not seem to stick to safe places, though at least they’re all adults. But if the humans are going after the prince, maybe they’re doing what can be done. I hope if you run into him again, he doesn’t run off. If they need more to be done, I’m sure his father will send orders.
Speaking of fathers and children, that’s a hard thing, the father with his daughter. I think it’s hard enough losing a parent, without knowing that they gave it for you. I hope the researcher’s daughter can find some peace with it, and see it as love and not a burden. As for Florande, maybe I’m not sure what youngish is for a kaldorei. Could be she’s lost a parent herself, in similar circumstances? Not mogu curses in the Wilds of Pandaria circumstances, but maybe emotionally similar. I suppose if she was back to normal by the next time, she’s handling it well enough. We’ve all got our ghosts with us, after all, and we learn to carry on.
The mantid, though, that’s an entirely different threat. I’m beginning to think, between the mogu and the mantid, that the pandaren might not have been entirely honest about Pandaria being a peaceful place before our lot arrived. Or maybe it has been peaceful for a thousand years at a time, and all these problems are just coming up right now out of cycle for some reason. I reckon we still can’t completely rule out that it was us coming that tipped everything off, but we wouldn’t have come if the mists hadn’t cleared, right? It sounds a bit fanciful to say we might be meant to have arrived to face whatever crisis is looming, but even if we weren’t, I think it’s a good thing Cobalt and the Alliance are there.
In any case, I think it’s downright impressive that you all, faced with the mantid swarming, managed to find a way to draw the sha out of them. That’s a thing I admire about you, that even when you’re facing an enemy on a battlefield, there’s a part that’s thinking about whether they need help and how. You don’t let it stop you from defending your people, but you don’t reduce the enemy to something simpler than they are. It makes me think you might be right about the Horde, and that something’s got into them that can be got out in some way.
On another note, thanks for the warning about their possible silithidness, but I’ll be fine if we run into them. Though honestly, I might be a little less fine if we run into something the size of your drawing, and it attacks us. I don’t think I truly got the scope of the creature until I saw it compared to all you lot. Far too big for a mask, I see. In that case, I’ll trust your tripod and your good aim, and I’ll keep my shield up and hold it off till you can get a good shot.
I hope the folk there will stay safe, seeing as you all have brought them together and also plugged the wall. They said at the beginning that this was a mission of diplomacy, and you can really see how Cobalt’s going through helping folk, learning, and making friends has made such a difference. I don’t doubt that you’re where you need to be, but I’m looking forward to being there as well, soon as I can manage.
Yours truly,
Thalstan
P.S. I appreciate the warning, but I’ve a lot of hair myself as well. I bet we can keep from suffocating one another!