and/or “I’m not a monster.” for Amal'ghan
19. “I’m not a monster.”Amal’ghan x Alba’vida
Hunters had this habit of playing tracking games with each other, whether by conscious decision or a subconscious desire not to be found. Sometimes, the game was started because one hunter knew the other was seeking them out, and so deliberately set about making that hunter’s task more difficult. Sometimes, it was started because two hunters decided they wanted to make a game out of tracking each other through a bustling city.
In Alba’vida’s case, she simply did not want to be found.
The wind over Orgrimmar was brisk, and she stared out over Azshara. Red colors made the sky look like wine, and Alba’vida fiddled with the hem of her leather vest.
Behind her, a hydra chuffed. She spared a glance over her shoulder, then hummed.
Mal’ghan, and his ever faithful Vinlaji.
“What you be doin’ over here all by yourself?” the man asked gruffly, breaking the silence. Alba’vida sighed, shaking her head. Mal’ghan’s feet shuffled closer, “you, perhaps, be one of the more difficult tracks I be makin’.”
A soft laugh left her, “that be so?”
He hummed. She sighed again.
“What be troublin’ you, Alba?” Mal’ghan asked, his voice closer now. Alba’vida’s shoulders rose and fell, and she stubbornly kept her gaze focused on the red sky ahead.
‘I suppose it wouldn’t… hurt to let him in, would?’ she ventured a glance over her shoulder. Age had treated him well - and it had treated her well. The two had their banter over mugs of beer, or the occasional pretty drink. Alba’vida would be lying if she claimed she had not caught herself letting her eyes wander over him, nor could she deny catching him letting his eyes rove over her.
“… I be discovering today, that my child be thinking I abandoned her.”
Mal’ghan sat down next to her, “and what be leadin’ her to this conclusion?”
“When we be on First Home, I be taken by naga. It was a good thing they be ignoring my raptor, but… I could never be returning to her, and I think, when I be rescued from the naga by Sen’jin, I be too late to be meeting my daughter on the boats that be bringing us to Durotar.”
“And you never be comin’ across her once you get here?” Mal’ghan inquired, and Alba’vida nodded her head.
“No… though I… I didn’t be looking very hard either.”
Mal’ghan’s extended silence fell heavy on her ears;
“I’m not a monster, am I?” she asked softly - and she was not the sort to despise showing weakness. Not to Mal’ghan. It may have been something she refused to show Deonte, but she would admit that Mal’ghan’s presence was more comforting than the witch doctor’s had been.
‘Because we are the same.’
“No,” Mal’ghan replied firmly, his hand hovering over hers before he ultimately decided to set it against the small space of earth between them, “I am.”
Alba’vida laughed, shaking her head, “we all make mistakes.”
“Some worse than others,” she could hear the strain in his voice, as though it were not something he wanted to admit to.
“A mistake be a mistake,” Alba said, turning her gaze to him, “the severity of it lies in whether or not we choose to be making an attempt to fix it.”
Mal’ghan stared at her, eyes wide for a fleeting moment - and though he ultimately chose not to comment on her words, Alba’vida believed the hopeful smile that pulled relentlessly at his lips was comment enough.
