Where are they now: Sapphois
The path that wound its way up Mount Neverest may have been paved centuries ago, but with the fierce winds and biting cold married to those steps, it was never an easy trail. Every few feet, a traveler might step on an unseen patch of ice, trip, and fall back losing minutes of progress.
Sapphois remembered the Grummel she passed at the base of the mountain who told her that the skies were a light breeze making it an ideal time to fly. He assumed, correctly, that Sapphois was a mage and she very well could just teleport or summon a carpet to rise the crags and make it to its peak. But Sapphois needed the challenge, she needed the cold, she needed the focus.
The temptation was strong to summon a shield of flame to keep her warm, as the bitter cold bit into her flesh even with the heavy robes she wore. She could have cleared the path with gouts of flame, so she could see when ice was coming and find a different path. She could have done so much to ease the journey with a simple snap of her finger and a conjuration.
“But, that’s the problem. It is too simple.” Sapphois said as she pushed the nagging out of her mind.
During the Fourth War, the easy option WAS present at all times. The option to betray Pact and Conclave had never truly left her mind. After all, Sylvanas was the warchief who saw her home freed from the Legion. Turning her back on her savior always felt wrong…though now that she’s learned without a doubt that the Warchief never cared for her, her city, or the Horde. The Shal’dorei realized then that blind submission to repay a debt was precisely how Ellisande came into power and that was exactly what forced her and others like her into The Dusk Lily.
“How foolish I’ve been.”
The decision to come to Pandaria and climb the peaks was a sudden one. She only left a note for her sister-by-all-but-blood and hoped that Az’goth wouldn’t scold her too badly when…if she returned.
That brought her to where she was, fighting and struggling to climb up the path. Fighting against ice and snow and pushing her body to its limit. Every time she fell and felt the urge to make the simple, obvious choice, she forced herself to recall the pride she felt when she made the journey last time. She had forgotten that her role as a Dusk Lily agent was never truly over and that she had neither the focus or wisdom to use her magic to proper effect. She doubted she had the power to stop Sylvanas on her own, but if she had interceded far earlier…
She shook her head. “It makes no sense to worry about what could have been. Take the information you have now, and act.”
The phrase was one her mentor in the Dusk Lily told her, mirrored by Nev’enra in the advice the noble often gave her when they were alone in her gardens. Regret and questions were the province of others who needed rescuing, not those who could rescue them, or so the elf thought.
She licked her lips and continued the journey up Mount Neverest. She felt in her soul that she’d find answers to her questions on these crags, and it was about time she let her heart and soul think.