Commission of EsperSprite’s lovely Yuuleth (Still so very sorry for the hiccups and various injuries / syndromes that caused things to take longer than they should have!)
Fire falling from the sky. Sparks of green lit the clouds above like crackling lightning, almost concealing the thick drops of rain coming down to the dried soil of the broken shore. The tomb stood impetuously, as though it'd been untouched by time or the devastation around it, and even while in its steps, it felt far from reach.
Weariness weighed heavy on the priestes' shoulders. Muscles ached, the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth when her body threatened to give. For every fallen demon, a dozen more seemed to surface from the portals. It was unbearable. It threaded the line of the impossible.
As she slumped forward with an outcry, tightening her grip on the flailing whip, she caught a glance of the figure standing by her. The taller elven woman pulled on the ethereal string of her bow, her expression placid and filled with unearthly determination. The glowing arrow beamed across the stairwell like a shooting star, yet she remained unflinching.
Yuu'leth couldn't help but stop and stare in awe, if only for a second. Quickly enough, she shifted her footing to cover the mist-haired beauty's rearward whist she prepared another steady shot, relinquishing the notion of her own pain. The glass appendages of her whip lit up, flaring with shadows as it cracked into the earth ahead, conjuring the deafening ringing of a thousand bells.
The strength of the wind enveloped them, allowing the coiling darkness to spread farther and give the group a short moment of reprieve from the assault. The battlefield was nothing like aiding refugees, or smuggling supplies. It paled in comparison to the confrontation with the Shal'dorei sentinels. There would be no retreat, no yielding.
Yet, standing side by side conjured strength to fuel both of them. Without a single word spoken, each movement turned into a slow, synchronized dance. Imprecise, effortless and mesmerizingly lethal. The two might've been forces of nature on the front on their own, but enough hope sprung from their joined efforts that any who witnessed it could come to believe that their strength combined could suffice to turn the barren, fel-tainted isles into endless flower fields.
Had it depended merely on tenacity.... Perhaps they could. That was enough reason to fight until the very end.
Janyice tucked Lycandria into the spare bed, in the spare room of her apartment. She watched her sleep, brushing a stray lock of hair from her sleeping face and smiled softly. She had kissed her forehead and helped lay her down. This was why Janyice had sworn off men. They were more trouble than they were worth sometimes. A woman was honest enough to know when she was wrong, but even then, they could conive with the best.
She stood, her form loomed over the sleeping woman, her face a mix of sadness for her troubles and lust from their earlier embrace and subsequent fit of sobbing. It had been a long night.
The patrol with the Shrouded Dawn seemed uneventful, but was still solid, and formulated a small lead at the Raven Hill graveyard, but nothing they couldn’t handle. With Braghaman down and out it would be up to the younger soldiers in their ranks to investigate on his behalf. Jan’s and Ly had offered assistance if they needed it.
Even Yuuleth had been there. She was following Janyice and mostly quiet, but there nonetheless. Janyice moved to make sure the blanket over Lycandria was set and turned to leave. She stopped at the door one last time, then shut the door behind her, she practically ran to her room, and tossed herself onto her own bed to “take care of her problem.”.
That night’s dreams haunted her again. Nightmares of people’s graves. Friends, allies. All the same, dead or dying before her eyes of some unknown plague or attack. Her mind’s eye burned images of fallen people she cared about. Then a final flash. Her own blurred face on a background of a happy place.
She started awake, the window in her room had opened at some point in the night. She rolled out of the tangled sheets and moved to close the window. As she closed it, she took a moment to take in a deep breath. She remembered that she had to help Yuuleth back to her place because of her constant fainting spells. She was worried about her too, hit she had insisted that Janyice go home. Herind wandered again as she closed the window.
Snatching up a long sleeve shirt and slipping on pants and leather boots, she walked out the front door and hefted her large pair of swords in both hands over her shoulders on the way out. It had to have been past midnight, but she was wide awake and needed to unwind from the nightmare.
Her path moved her to a Grove of trees that was an old training spot she used to use a number of years ago, before all the damage and war had ravaged Stormwind and the fallen earth aspect has ruined a favorite spot of hers. The trees were only for show, but the bark was eternal. Her blades would strike, bit do no damage, due to enhancements in place. It was a prime spot to work out her mind and her body so she could get some decent sleep for once.
She reached her spot, her swords were laid before her as she took a seat for a brief moment and said her prayer. Spoke her words as she opened her eyes. She stood, and began.
—
The night ended early for the half elf priestess, another fainting spell, but this time she had Janyice to help her arrive safely. On the scaled wings of the warrior woman’s proto Drake the flew to her shop near the Stormwind docks. They arrived and took to her bed soon after. Janyice helped her lie down and was soon off. Her apparent discomfort was plain as paper on her face as she strode out quickly. The fair haired woman chuckled softly as she roused her strength again.
The evening passed into night into the moonrise. The sisters were waning tonight, and the light was a bit dimmer than usual, but there was still the lights from street lamps and the occasional night watch guardsman. Her strength returned, Yuuleth made her way downstairs. A quick check saw her still missing a few key ingredients for potions requested, so she took up a small basket and some cloth to cover her items. Her gown was a simple yet elegant robe of soft pink and silver tonight. Stark in contrast to the darker outfit she had this evening. Her hair was loose and free framing her face and running down to her mid back in silver-white locks, as a waterfall cascading from a mountaintop.
She took out into the cool night air of the docks and began her quick trip to the beachhead. Her travel was short lived however as she took her usual route only to hear the sounds of fighting, or perhaps more accurately, the grunts and slamming sounds of metal on wood and stone. Intriguing enough a combination, she slid softly and silently towards the sounds. If was either fate, or the light that put today together as it had. As there, in the small clearing of a patch of enchanted trees, was Janyice, the warrior. Her body was kneeled, upon a single knee, weapons stabbed into the earth below, huffing and gasping for air. Her ragged breaths came as she clutches at a loose shirt on her form.
The hands of the warrior slid from the weapons as she slumped to all fours and just gasped and clawed at the earth. She was utterly exhausted, worn to a breaking point that was only seen after longer than anticipated combat. Her body shook as she pulled in each breath of air, trying to stave off unconsciousness.
The half elven woman dropped her small basket and flew to the other woman’s side, letting go a soft whisper from her lips as a soft glow of golden white light hummed between Yuuleth and Janyice.
Janyice clutches at her chest as the healing touch brought her the ability to stabilize. Her face looked pained, her eyes puffy and her hand was bleeding slightly from over work without gloves. Yuuleth frowned and took up Janyice’s hands. Touching palm to palm and let a soft glow emanate to repair the stress damage. She nodded and tilted her head with a smile, eyes slightly closes as she spoke “Prone to this, are we. I won’t be having a patient undoing my work and my reputation, my dear”.
—
Janyice had been swinging for almost half an hour straight. Her lungs were stressed her left hand was slipping from the hilt of her blade until she tightened her grip, only to force the large blades into the ground. Her body trembled and she fell to one knee. Trying to catch her breath, her face streaming with tears. She was so torn, her mind wandered so much. Lycandria was so close, so many times. Her mind wandered again, Yuuleth. She had healed her, but there was so much more that she had done as well. She wanted more, she wanted to feel whole again and she didn’t know how to get there again.
Then, Mara. Sweet, beautiful, loving Maralina. She missed her so much, but she knew there was things she had done that would drive her away. Her tears flowed from her eyes, rivers of emotion as she sobbed, gasping and wheezing for breath. She had over exerted herself and she knew it. Then the feeling overwhelmed her. She slid from the weapons and fell onto her palms. Her right hand slammed with a heavy thunk, and she felt something pop while she gasped.
The emotions felt strange as the warmth pressed into her lungs. Familiar, her left hand grasped at her chest, feeling her body become light as a feather. Her eyes darted back and forth across the ground, then she pressed back onto her legs as they folded under her frame. She saw her. Yuuleth. She clicked at her in derision as she saw her palm and hand. Letting the warmth heal at the wounds. The bones popped again and the blisters healed.
Janyice was still crying, her face was pained and she fell into Yuuleth, her sobs were soft, and she shook slightly. She didn’t have any way to express her gratitude, but she know that it was only a matter of time before things were going to spiral out of control. Janyice knew this was going to be a rough rest of the night.
She felt her body become wrapped in the light and the magic seemed to cover her again. She sighed, her breath coming in and out almost regularly now. She gripped at the smaller woman’s robes and just let it wash over her. It was difficult to not feel happy as it waved across her form, as her hands landed gently on Yuuleth’s lap. It wasn’t the first time she had felt that form, and it still seemed so familiar.
Their eyes met, in the small clearing, among a dense pack of trees. Blue ocean met with Lavender pools flecked with gold. The feeling seemed to call to her, as her eyes moved from feature to feature. Janyice couldn’t help it any longer. She broke the silence with a soft murmur of a voice, meek, weakness and vulnerable.
“Please…”
Yuuleth shook her head and smiled, “You poor thing. You’ve been hurting for so long, yet you push yourself so hard no matter what. You take all this punishment out on yourself, and for what?”. The half elf lifted a elegant finger up to Janyice’s chin. The half elven form, kneeling and leaning forward stole a kiss from Janyice’s lips.
A spark shot down Janyice as her insides felt moved, shaken to her core as she stayed prone. Her form relaxed as if a pressure was lifted for a moment then slammed back into her with a ferocious assault on her senses. Janyice had no defense, no way to resist as her muscles relaxed and she slipped into a slumber.
Her dreams were filled with visions of events. A bedroom clad in soft linens, the familiar scent of Vanilla warming with that oh, so tantalizing flavor of lavender. The breeze of the ocean, on a warm spring afternoon. Birds in the distance, enjoying the sunlight as they taught younglings how to perch and take flight for the first time.
She felt her body, whole for the first time in close to a decade, both arms, hands, feet. Everything was there. Her eyes adjusted to the bright light as she looked around. A sense of pure bliss washed her form again, and again. Against her body, she felt pressure. She was naked, clothes left folded and cleaned next to the bed on one side, the sleeping form of another woman next to her. The silver in her hair reminded her exactly who it was.
Everything felt right, her being here and the sensations she had around her. It must have been a good night, as the gown the other woman had on the night before was tossed aside on the floor. They must have enjoyed every second too, Janyice chuckled as she noticed the hastily covering of blankets shoved to one side of the floor and only a sheet to cover them both with.
Yuuleth must have folded her clothes after she had passed out last night. She blinked again, her eyes adjusted again and double checked her body. Her mind was so taken aback she had all but forgotten she was not whole. Her left arm, still robotic brought her from her revery but the scene didn’t change. Yuuleth was still asleep under Janyice’s arm and the room was still as calming and familiar as before.
The bells of the cathedral chimed the hour, 2 rings shook her. It was already the next afternoon. How long did they stay up last night after she had been found? Her chest seemed to exhale as the half elf stirred awake with a playful smile and a cheerful giggle. “Mmmn, afternoon already. You know, if you keep this up, I may have to call you something else besides Janyice, my dear.”. She tapped her finger to Janyice’s nose with a “Boop” and rolled slightly to stand next to the bed. Naked she turned with a finger to her chin. “Lover, perhaps?”. Her smile widened as she took to a partition to gather a house robe.
Janyice flopped back onto the bed and sighed. What was going on. She needed to figure out her head, and soon.
