(2026-02-03) Little Snow Lilies

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Author:	OzmaAsimov
Summary:	Vesyllah departs in secret to finally deliver vengeance for her sisterhood. Well…maybe not as secret as she thought.
Rating:	T for Teen

The hour grows late in Ironforge, not that one can distinguish by the light from inside a mountain. But the sounds of the city dim, only the distant rumbling of the Great Forge as a constant presence. Vesyllah didn't really plan to trick the Cobalt Blade into gorging themselves on pie, but it worked out nicely thanks to the gullible Sgt. Quarterflash of the 7th Legion. With their bellies full, the rest of the Blade will surely rest well tonight. But the nocturnal kaldorei priestess is wide-awake as she slips quietly from Cobalt Company headquarters, pulling her black hood up over her silvery hair. She darts down the street of the Mystic Ward, headed toward the Hall of Mysteries.

In the doorway to the Hall of Mysteries, a familiar small shape appears as though from thin air at Vesyllah's approach.

"Going somewhere?" says Tadget Sharpgear, leaning casually against the frame.

Vesyllah jerks in surprise. "Goddess damn it, Tadget. Don't do that." Ves always gets grumpy when the gnome out-shadows her. She looks back toward CC HQ and frowns. "Weren't you just…? I swear I saw you asleep."

"Like I didn't know you were going to sneak out," Tadget said. "I had plenty of time to fake being sleepy, stuff some things under a blanket that looked Tadget-shaped while you were bantering with Thalstan and Art, and then get here before you."

"Ugh." The oldest trick in the book, and Ves fell for it. "Whatever. I just have something to take care of. Don't worry about it."

"I won't be worried at all," Tadget says, pushing off the wall and going to stand next to Ves. "So. Where we headed?"

Vesyllah groans as she strides forward into the Hall. "We aren't headed anywhere. I've just come to find a mage to send me somewhere." She sighs and looks down at Tadget. "Look, thanks and all. But this is kind of a personal matter."

"Like I care," says Tadget. "I'm coming with you. So make it easy, or I'll make it difficult."

Ves holds up a small bag of coins and announces to the few people in the room. "I need a mage to send me to Darnassus!" She jingles the coins, which draws the attention of a gnome lad. She tosses him the coins and points to Tadget. "And don't let her follow me."

The gnome peers at Tadget, looking a little worried. "Uh…suuure." Giving both of them some side-eye, he begins to cast the portal spell.

"Hey," Tadget says to the portal gnome. "Did you know that there are some poisons you don't even feel working until it's way too late to save your organs? I'd love to explain more about that to you, or I could follow my friend to Darnassus, I guess. Either way."

Vesyllah is already stepping through the portal when she overhears the word 'poison'. She tries to shout something rude back at Tadget, but she's already being transported across Azeroth to Teldrassil. She stands on the other side, arms crossed, scowling at the portal egress location.

On the other side, Tadget tests the portal to see how intimidated the mage was.

The mage stutters, "Oh…uh…whooooops. I suddenly can't remember how to close a portal. Uh…I better go review my spellbook…" He runs away.

Tadget grins and hops through the portal.

Vesyllah meets her with a very annoyed glower. "Oh. My. Goddess. Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" Tadget snaps back.

Vesyllah tosses her hands up and starts marching out of the Temple of the Moon. "I told you, it's personal business. It's holy business." She gestures up to the massive statue representing Elune. "I have to do this. I've already put it off too long."

"Okey doke," says Tadget. "I won't slow ya down." She follows, nearly treading on Vesyllah's heels as though to demonstrate how little trouble she'll have keeping up.

Vesyllah grumbles and deliberately sweeps her cape back to try to get it in Tadget's face. "Are you seriously going to follow me the entire way?"

"Yep," says Tadget. "Careful with that cape. I'd hate it if it accidentally got caught on one of my daggers."

"Ugh," says Vesyllan so very expressively. She picks up her pace as she crosses the long stone bridge from the temple, using her long stride just to make Tadget work harder. "Why? You must have something more important to do back in Ironforge…or anywhere else."

"Nope," Tadget says. She has to pump her little arms to power-walk fast enough to keep up, but she seems unbothered by this. Just getting her cardio in, her demeanor suggests.

"So you're just gonna hang around and annoy me. That's awesome." Vesyllah's tone does not suggest she thinks this is awesome. She heads toward the city's flight master. "Whatever. Fine. But if you're coming, you're following my lead. This is my mission."

"You're talking to an experienced soldier, here," Tadget says. "You think I don't know how chain of command works?" Tadget sprints ahead of Ves to hand the flight master some coin. More coin than any flight could conceivably cost. "I'm going where she's going," she says, pointing over her shoulder to Vesyllah. "I should be cleared to fly anywhere. Sgt. Tadget Slipshank of the 7th Legion."

It's possible no one has updated those particular records in a few years. It was a low priority. The coin may have been a hedge against the possibility that the records have been updated.

Vesyllah groans. The little stabber is too clever for her own good. She sighs and tells the flight master, "Felwood. Whisperwind Grove." She rolls her eyes. "Both of us." After mounting the hippogryph, she waits a moment to see that Tadget is securely aboard her own. "Let's get this done," she says through her teeth and launches into the air.

By now the flight master is used to securely seating gnomes despite their short little legs, so Tadget is not far behind on her own hippogryph. Her smug expression can be detected from space.

The flight passes largely in silence. It's hard enough to shout at one another through the wind, but Vesyllah finds her attention occupied by the sights below. Darkshore, once a place of serene darkness and whispers of the ghosts of the past — now a shattered land, overrun with maddened elementals, even madder cultists, and animals suffering mysterious afflictions. It is no better as they soar over the mountains into a forest so tainted it is now known as Felwood.

Whisperwind Grove, at least, has become a symbol of hope in the blighted forest. The druids have been hard at work trying to restore the land and drive out the demonic influence embedded there.

Vesyllah's feet touch earth once again, and for a flicker of a moment she considers hurrying off before Tadget lands. But she is really only seconds ahead, and the clever gnome would likely find her again regardless. So she waits, her glowing gaze fixed on Tadget when she arrives. "Kalizra is here," she says bluntly. "At least, she was when I pried the thoughts out of that Shivarra bitch in the Arcatraz."

Tadget's short brown hair is even more askew than usual after the ride. She unsheathes her blades one at a time and applies some fresh poison to them. "Just point me at where to stab," she says, looking up at Ves with steel behind her eyes despite her flippant tone.

Vesyllah takes a moment to regard her companion. She'd always admired how easily violence came to Tadget; sometimes that's exactly what is called for. "Just…don't kill her. Please," she says with unusual sincerity. "That vengeance is mine and Elune's."

Tadget rolls her eyes. "Sheeeeeeeeeeesh," she says. "Look, if you want to be the one to kill her, you're gonna have to be quicker than me. I won't be trying specifically to rob you of the pleasure, but I'm also not gonna hold back and let you get ganked for no reason. 'Cause, you know, I don't answer to the moon. The moon's done squat for me. People have to earn the right to give me orders. So. Like I say, if it's super important to you that I don't land the killing blow, you'd better be sure you don't get lazy about it." Tadget grins wickedly.

"I'm serious about this," Vesyllah frowns. "Don't steal this from me. If you can't handle that…then just don't get involved. Do whatever else you want to the bitch. Take off a limb, cut out her eyes, whatever. But the killing blow has to be mine." She sighs and starts walking, heading northeast out of the grove. "She's a demon. Killing her will just send her back to the Nether. But…I am the Night Warrior's vengeful hand. I believe she will destroy Kalizra utterly. But it has to be through her instrument: me."

"Wow, must be super cool to be so special that you break all the rules of nature and cosmology," Tadget says dryly as her little feet hurry to keep up with Vesyllah. "Wish I'd had you along when it was god-killing time; maybe I wouldn't have needed that whole army. I could have just said 'Hey Moon, use your instrument or whatever! This guy sucks!' And poof, god destroyed forever."

"It's hilarious that you mock my destiny after your years of boasting about godslaying." Vesyllah smirks. "But you're probably right about not needing the army."

"Hey, I never said I killed a god alone," Tadget says, unbothered. "I think killing a god is worth boasting about even if you're with an army. Maybe especially then, because I had to cooperate and use strategy and stuff. I was still definitely right up front doing the stabbing. Smelling its disgusting old god stench. Getting briefly digested by it and so on."

"And there it is," Vesyllah snickers. "At least I'm not claiming I can destroy a god. Just a demon." She pauses, then adds, "An extremely powerful demon, mind you." Leaving the grove behind, the two move through denser woods. The trees are twisted and cracked, many seeming to bear menacing faces, a sickly green glow emanating from their sharp eyes and jagged mouths. "You ever been inside a barrow den before? They can be a bit of a maze to the unfamiliar."

"Can't say that I have," says Tadget. "The only extended time I've spent in night elf territory was when I went bonkers and hid out in Feralas for a bit, but I was just living out in the ass-end of the woods in a little camp. I never tried to take shelter in a barrow den. I think even in my state of mind I knew that was a bad idea."

"Probably for the best. Barrow dens have a bad habit of becoming havens for evil. Druids can't seem to protect their own shit." Vesyllah grumbles. She peers curiously at Tadget. "When did you 'go bonkers'? Just…doesn't seem like you."

"Hmmm, let's see, nutshell version." Tadget scratches at her jaw idly as she tags along at Vesyllah's side. "Oh I guess it was kind of a vengeance-related thing too, come to think of it. When I was fleeing Gnomeregan, my brother and my girlfriend left me for dead under a pile of rubble. Then after a couple years of me pretending to be someone else and honing my skills, my girlfriend popped up in my sights again, and I went a little bonkers determined to torture and murder her. Only it turns out she wasn't such a bad person after all, she just genuinely thought I was dead. And she hadn't left me for my brother like I'd thought. Oopsie! But Finn put me in a cage until he was pretty sure I could restrain my urge to go on an insane killing spree, and he taught me how to channel those urges more appropriately."

Vesyllah's only sign of surprise is a slight lift in her brow. "Never knew that. Even through all the stabbiness, you've always seemed pretty stable. No wonder you're so into your Finn. Guess he helped a lot." She smirks, "Though I'm pretty sure I'd stab the hell out of anyone that put me in a cage."

"Oh, I asked him to!" she says. "During one of my lucid moments. Kind of a 'lash me to the mast' thing, like in that Kul Tiran story about singing harpies or whatever. That's not to say he didn't enjoy having a pet Tadget, though, the sicko." Tadget grins.

Vesyllah snorts a laugh. "Okay…kinda hot. And yeah, actually that makes more sense." She shakes her head, "If only the public knew. Then maybe all the fan stories involving chains and dungeons wouldn't be about me."

Tadget cackles evilly. Don't tell her it sounds cute.

Vesyllah walks in silence for a time, considering the mission ahead. The sounds of the forest — already not quite natural and certain not soothing calls of nature — have gone eerily silent. Finally she speaks, "The Shivarra's memories gave me a glimpse of the barrow den and where to find it. She believed Priestess Kalizra is inside. I'd assume she's not alone. Expect to fight our way through her own personal coven of demons. Nothing we haven't faced before. Kalizra herself might be another thing entirely, though."

"I got your back," says Tadget. "Don't worry. You just focus on not getting us lost in those tunnels, and I'll perforate some demons for you, so your spells can get in 'em better." Tadget grins evilly.

"Good," Vesyllah says, her earlier humor going cold, her voice turning icy, almost hollow. She says nothing else as they trudge through the ever-darkening wood. Even when they finally stand before the half-collapsed entrance of an ancient barrow den, she steps through in silence. As the darkness within surrounds her, the shadows seem to cling even tighter to her, engulfing her. (She is totally the Night.)

Tadget slips into the shadows instinctively, also pretty hard to see, but maybe mostly because demons aren't looking down that low.

The pair descends into the twisting depths and deepening shadows, only the occasional bioluminescent lichen to light their way. Just as it is beginning to seem as if the den has been abandoned…a vicious snarl lights up their senses. A felhunter charges from around a bend, followed by a pair of imps. To the average adventurer, these might seem menacing. But to seasoned members of the Cobalt Blade — a veteran of the 7th Legion and a Hand of the Night Warrior — this is Tuesday. The demons breath their last Azerothian breaths within seconds. But it doesn't end there. The den is on alert now, and a seemingly endless tsunami of demons pours out of every tunnel, crevice, and shadow. Tadgets knives flash in the dark, and Vesyllah wields the very darkness against the fel forces.

Neither the demons nor Vesyllah are in a place to appreciate the incongruity of it, but if anyone else were to witness the path they carve through the barrow den, they might be unnerved by the echoing sounds of Tadget's cute little giggles.

Time loses meaning in these dark places, deep in the earth. It feels like hours by the time the last of the demonic onslaught falls. Both women are drenched in gore, stinking of demonic blood, shoulders heaving with the labored breath of battle.

They stand at the entrace of a large cavern. Twisting pathways curl upward toward a central platform supported by a column of earth and dozens of thick roots. Upon the platform, the ten foot tall, statuesque form of a Shivarra demon, each of its six arms wielding a wicked sword as long as Vesyllah is tall.

"Ah, the little roaches are stronger than they look," she says. "Good. I need to stretch my limbs anyhow."

Tadget finds some shadows to disappear into, but not before quietly making a very disrespectful face.

"Priestess Kalizra," Vesyllah spills the name from her lips as if tasting bile. She draws her dagger and starts to ascend the ramp toward the Shivarra. Shadowy ravens flap and soar around her — manifestations of Elune's darker powers. "You slaughtered my sisters. You thought you killed me. But the Night Warrior always has her vengeance."

The demon pouts as she looks Vesyllah over. "I'm so terribly sorry…but…who are you, again?"

Vesyllah snarls angrily, "I am Vesylla Rivenheart! Last survivor of the Sisters of Ashenvale! You attacked our temple!"

Kalizra just sighs, spreading her hands in mock apology. "I'm afraid…it doesn't ring a bell, my dear. Perhaps it just wasn't that important."

The scream that leaps from Vesyllah's throat is pure, burning anguish. Years of suppressed pain and rage burst out of their cage all at once. As she lunges toward the demon, the light in Vesyllah's eyes goes dark; luminous orbs turn black as obsidian — Elune's loving gaze turns away, leaving only Vengeance.

Tadget gazes at Vesyllah, and for a moment one can believe she's a mother of three, so resigned and patiently knowing is her expression. And then she dives in, daggers lashing out to cut tendons and disable the nearest arm.

Priestess Kalizra grins, bringing all six of her swords to bear in a seemingly impenetrable stance. Vesyllah's initial assault is deflected easily, knocking the kaldorei to her back with incredible strength. Quicker and more alert than she seems, three of the Shivarra's arms engage the attacking gnome, two nearly cleaving Tadget in half were it not for her nimble little feet.

Undeterred, Vesyllah pushes herself to one knee and cries out, "I am Vengeance!" The shadows seem to darken around the demon and close in on her, assaulting her mind. It is enough of a distraction that she doesn't notice right away that Tadget has shimmied up one of her arms.

Tadget swiftly drives both blades into the shoulder and gives them violent twists in opposing directions, using leverage to pry the bone loose from its socket and leave only flesh to cleave through.

Kalizra howls in pain. Her injured arm drops the sword it is wielding…as does another arm that now reaches to try to batter Tadget away.

Vesyllah doesn't let up. If looks could kill…well, actually they can in her case. She glares at the demoness, pouring her hatred into her psychic assault, driving a spike into the Shivarra's mind.

Kalizra snarls, gritting her teeth. "The little roaches have some real teeth! I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Oh, you enjoy dying?" Tadget quips. "Then I guess this is gonna be a real party for y-" Tadget's snark is cut off as a powerful blow from she shivarra's uninjured arm strikes her directly in the mouth and sends her tiny body flying against a wall. "Oof," says Tadget as she bounces off and faceplants on the stone beneath, sounding as though she has lightly stubbed her toe.

"I enjoy stepping on irritating insects," Kalizra spits. She lunges toward Vesyllah, forcing a rapid retreat.

The kaldorei woman tumbles down from the ramp to the floor below, near Tadget. She hisses a whisper, "Keep at her! I need to get close enough to invade her mind…like the other Shivarra."

"I thought you didn't need my hellllp," Tadget whispers, somehow managing to do a sarcastic whiny tone. But even as she complains, she's doing a running jump and then her little trick of using her daggers as pitons to climb the wall of her taller enemy's back.

"Ugh," Vesyllah grumps. "You are literally the worst." She grins as her companion-in-arms launches back into the fight, scaling the immense Shivarra.

Kalizra marches down the ramp to find her foes, unaware that Tadget has leapt up behind her. She howls in pain at the repeated stabs, flailing behind her with the free arm trying to knock Tadget loose again.

Ves keeps a distance for the moment, extending a hand toward the demon. A twisting tendril of shadow leaps from her fingers to wrap around Kalizra's head, ripping at her mind and causing her to stumble. "Now! Bring her down!"

Tadget launches herself into action, her daggers a blur as she slashes at each of the major tendons in the Shivarra's arms with her poisoned blades - then she finishes by dropping out of reach of flailing hands and using her daggers to slide down (and sever) the demon's left hamstring.

Kalizra screams and thrashes wildly, but most of her limbs just won't seem to cooperate after Tadget's precision bladework. The Shivarra collapses to one knee, one of two good arms barely holding her up.

Vesyllah sees her opening. She rushes at the demon in a reckless charge. Kalizra's last good arm rises, stabbing viciously at her foe. Blade meets flesh, piercing through Vesyllah's chest, the fel steel protruding through her cape, covered in fresh blood.

For a moment, Vesyllah is still, a look of shock on her face. She coughs up a mouthful of blood. Then she brings up her own blade, stabbing the dagger through Kalizra's wrist, forcing her to relinquish her grip on the sword. Vesyllah takes a shaky step closer and seizes Kalizra's head, locking her obsidian gaze with the Shivarra's.

"I've been saving this for you," Vesyllah whispers, her voice echoing with something…distant…and powerful. "The pain my sisters suffered. The anguish I've felt every night since. It's yours now. All at once."

Kalizra's mocking face turns ashen. She shudders and tries to pull her eyes from Vesyllah's, but cannot seem to close them or look away. Her mouth drops open in a silent scream, the noise choked off as if too great to escape her throat. Impossibly, tears fall from the demon's eyes…tears that soon turn to crimson streams of blood. The demon's spasms of pain wither to her final twitches, and at least she collapses to the floor in a sea of her own ichor.

As Vesyllah stares at her fallen foe, a tiny smile finds its way to her lips…tiny, but genuine. Then, she falls. Her body, still impaled on the demon's sword, just gives out, landing on her side. The darkness in her eyes gives way once more to moonlight…but now the light begins to fade as well.

Tadget sprints over to Vesyllah, grabbing the demonic hilt with both hands and bracing her small feet against Vesyllah's ribcage as she slowly, painstakingly pulls the blade out. It clatters onto the stone nearby as Tadget tosses it aside, backing up to watch the blood flowing from the wound in Vesyllah's chest.

"Okay," she says rapidly. "Now you heal yourself. Come on. I can't do it. I'm not a priest. You're the priest here. Come on. Come on, stupid!"

Tadget sounds a little panicky, her high-pitched voice more childish than usual without its snarky edge.

The blade pulls free of Vesyllah's body with a sickening squelch. Blood flows freely from the wound. Her silver eyes twitch, looking up at the blurry shape of Tadget. She lets out a faint, rasping breath, her murmur barely audible. "Told you…she'd take me…when…it's done." A softness overcomes her features; a peaceful surrender…and the light in her eyes vanishes.

"No!" Tadget says, standing over her, her tone suddenly pleading. "No no no!"

When this doesn't seem to work, Tadget paces away, then abruptly back, rage crackling from her peridot-green eyes.

"You stupid… coward!" she yells at Vesyllah's body. "Yeah, yeah, I know you can hear me. So listen up. Unless you're scared to listen. Unless you're scared I might know something you don't."

Tadget gives the body a gentle but disrespectful little kick. Then she looks around, as though she is trying to pinpoint the exact location of Vesyllah's lingering soul.

"I know what's up, dumbass. I've known it the whole time. This whole 'deal with Elune' garbage is all just a stupid excuse! Gods don't make deals like that, dummy! You're alive because you didn't die, that's it, not because Elune needed you to do One Last Job. It happens sometimes. I outlived my whole family. Waaah waaaah, you lost some people. So you close everybody else off and become an Instrument of Vengeance, and you think it's so cool. Been there done that, sister. But did you ever ask? Nooooo. Because of course nobody else ever lost anyone they loved."

Tadget paces a bit more, then leans down close to Vesyllah's ear.

"Well guess what," she whispers. "We've all lost people. Ask Zaara. Ask Thalstan. Ask Art. We've all had to deal with our worlds crashing down around us. That's a frickin' Tuesday in Azeroth. Only difference between us and you…" Then without changing her distance from Vesyllah's ear she bawls out, "We're not cowards! Dumbass."

She paces some more, gesticulating wildly as she talks at the air where she imagines Vesyllah's spirit to be.

"We don't make some holy-sounding excuse to lie down and die because we're too weak to deal with being sad. Waaah, waah, waah. You wanna serve Elune? Fine. GET UP AND SERVE HER. You could heal that chest wound right up if you weren't afraid to actually live your life. Oh but nooooo, that might mean getting hurt again, and you're a dewicate wittwe snow wiwy, your wittwe petals would wilt!! Elune is hiding her face in embarrassment right now, you little wuss!"

Tadget folds her arms, paces away again, paces back. Says in a suddenly calm, casual tone:

"Anyway, I don't know how to find my way back out of here, and I forgot my hearthstone. So unless you want me to starve to death in these tunnels or get eaten by demons on my way out…" One last primal scream. "Get the @#$% up!!! Unless you're too scaaaared."

The pain…the pain is gone. The fierce anger, the drowning regret…all of it, gone. Vesyllah feels light…lighter than air. There is a sensation of rising…weightless. The world blurs away into shadows…and then, in the darkness, pinpricks of light appear. Stars. First just a handful, but as hundreds more appear…thousands more…she finds herself surrounded by a galaxy of stars denser than she ever thought possible. Home…she is going home…to be with her ancestors…with Elune…

The stars…they sing. A heavenly choir lifting their voices in a song to welcome home their lost sister. Vesyllah can almost make out the words…

"…dumbass…"

"…stupid excuse…"

"…We've all lost people….only difference…we're not cowards…"

What the crap? This song is weird. It sounds like…Tadget. Vesyllah looks down. Somewhere through the eternity below she sees her. Tadget screaming in her dead body's ear.

Oh no, she did not.

The stars turns to lines of light as the world comes rushing back up at Vesyllah. The floor seems to hit her like a rampaging kodo, knocking the breath out of her.

Vesyllah's eyes snap open with silvery brilliance and she gasps, fighting for breath. Oh damn, there's the pain. She'd forgotten she has a hole in her middle. She weakly drags her arm to her chest, and whispers a ragged prayer. Moonlight envelopes her hand, then seeps into the wound, pulling it closed and staunching the bleeding.

The recently-dead priestess lifts her head, glaring at Tadget. "Hey…fuck you," she rasps, still struggling to breathe and pointing a shaky finger. "'m not a…fuggin'…snow lily…you loudmouth…little shit…"

"Oh yeah??" says Tadget, hands on her hips, glaring at the prone priestess. "You're not a coward, huh??"

She glares at her. Then her lower lip trembles, and her eyes slowly fill with tears. She stumbles over, drops to her knees, and buries her face somewhere in Vesyllah's side.

"I am," she whispers raggedly. "I was so scared… I thought I was…" She hiccups softly. "I thought I was gonna have to tell everyone… that I couldn't save you. That I just… sat there and watched you go."

Vesyllah's lip is curled, ready to fire back at Tadget. But when the unexpected happens, her retorts evaporate. Tadget…crying. The pain in Vesyllah's chest is takes a new shape — her heart feels tight.

She manages to push herself to a sitting position, and with what strength she has, her arm goes around Tadget as if of its own accord. "I didn't know you ever got scared," she says quietly.

"Only a couple of times," Tadget sniffles. "Maybe three times." She cuddles against Vesyllah for another moment, then pulls back and wipes her nose on the back of her arm. She meets Vesyllah's gaze squarely, her enormous eyes red-rimmed, her long lashes spiky with tears. "Trying to hang out with those three saps, without you there to get my sick jokes? I mean, that's a genuinely terrifying prospect." Hiccup.

Vesyllah chokes out a laugh, immediately followed by a wince and her hand goes to her chest. "Ow." She lets out a long, slow sigh, then sniffles as silent tears flow from her eyes. "So…you wouldn't let me die because you'd miss me too much? Huh…what a wittwe snow wiwy." She smirks at Tadget and wipes her cheeks.

"You know what," Tadget says flatly, "changed my mind. You can go ahead and croak. Be my guest."

Vesyllah grimaces as she pushes herself to her wobbly feet. "Don't tempt me. It was pretty nice, y'know. All stars and songs and shit." She offers a hand to Tadget. "You'd've hated it."

"I've died like a thousand times," Tadget scoffs, taking the hand up. Her legs are a bit wobbly. "And yeah. I hated it. That stupid hole in the sky, yech. Did you see the hole in the sky? Oh, I guess we're in a cave. Lucky you."

"No hole. Just stars. I'm kaldorei. We're special. Heroes get to go become a star. I'm definitely gonna be a star. What do gnomes become? Scrap metal?" Vesyllah starts to trudge back toward the tunnel to lead the way out of the barrow den.

Tadget toddles along behind her, like a tiny shadow. "Legends," she says. "We become legends."

"Legendary scrap, maybe." Vesyllah snorts, the sound echoing in the tunnel. "Ow."