Disclaimer: World of Warcraft is copyright Blizzard Entertainment 2005. In fact, so is anything else that doesn’t look like it was invented by me. Gelles is my level 60 Paladin on Thorium Brotherhood. Gelki/Mnemosyne is my mage and Aoni is my other paladin. Please don’t sue me.

This story is rated R for swearing, violence and sexual references

Stand Alone

A World of Warcraft fanfic

By Kristin Renee Taylor

Part Six - Shifting Lines

The tower was still standing.

She supposed, though, that "tower" was no longer the accurate word for the short, squat structure that jutted up from the top of the hill. In her travels across the length and breadth of Azeroth, she'd seen many things that better suited the word, or even went beyond it. This place just sorta... sat there. Like an impacted ogre molar. It wasn't really a tower anymore... it was more like... like...

"It'th a dump," the urchin said.

"It is not," Gelles countered. She frowned at the dilapidated former fort. "It's just a little old. And... smaller than I remember. And probably in need of repairs."

"It'th a dump." The urchin spat through its teeth onto the dirt track they had been following for the past couple of hours. It sat. "I ain'th theepin' in there."

"Well, you're not sleeping outside, if that's what you're thinking." Gelles glared in what she hoped was a stern and authoritative manner at the youth.

Said youth smirked and spat again.

The paladin sighed. Clicking to her horse, she led the tired beast up the rest of the path.

"Well, Tabitha," she said softly to the drab mare plodding beside her. "I'm home."

***

Somewhere in Silvermoon...

"What'cha doing?"

"I'm trying to work."

"Work on what?"

"A pet project I have running in Arathi."

"Oooo! I love pets! What kind? Is it a bunny, like Tim? Or a kitty? Or a doggie? Or a hamster? Or a hedgehog? Or a bear? Or a viper? Or a wee-"

"AONI! Will you SHUT UP?!"

"...you don't have to shout.."

"Oh, for the love of... stop crying! I- I'm- I'm s-s-s-s-"

"...yes?"

"I'm sorry I let you back in here! Get out!"

"Hmph. Fine!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!

"FINE!"

"..."

"..."

"Wanna make out?"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

***

Despite the layer of dust and debris from a few broken windows, the tower was just as she remembered it.

'And why shouldn't it be?' she thought as she moved through the lower rooms, checking for animals or vandalism. 'It's only been a year since I left for Stormwind.'

And what a year it had been. Gaining a new family, falling in love, getting married, getting divorced. Finding and losing and finding and losing herself. Losing her faith...

Nasty habit, that. The losing herself. She'd have to make a note to get herself straightened out one of these days. She wondered if there was a therapist for reclusive, socially-diseased paladins.

***

"This is boring. All you're doing is watching her."

"Gah!"

"Hey! Watch the fireballs! You almost singed my hair!"

"...how the HELLS do you keep getting in here?!"

"Your back door was unlocked."

"I don't have a... well... look at that. There's a giant gaping hole in my rear wall. How nice."

"Yeah, that explosion was pretty loud. You were really into... whatever it is you're doing."

"I'm going to murder you in your sleep."

"Hey, what are these glowing lines for?"

"They're a map of a person's leylines, not like I expect a bimbo like you to- DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

***

Her bedroom, barring a birds nest in the rafters and a veritable army of spiders in various nooks and crannies, was essentially the same as she had left it.

In other words, it was practically empty.

Bed. Desk. Trunk for clothes. These three pieces of furniture had been all she had needed when she was younger.

Gelles carefully stepped over the rat decaying in the doorway and into the small, circular chamber proper. A shaft of sunlight had penetrated the thatch roof; standing in the beam, she shielded her eyes and glanced up at the hole. If she planned on staying here for any length of time, she'd definitely have to clean up and make some repairs. And maybe travel to the town a few hours away and get some furnishings. It was time this place had a feminine touch.

Hrm.

Maybe that's what she needed to sort herself out: a place in the forgotten backwater of nowhere where she could spend some time in peace and quiet, not having to worry about duty or obligation or the Light or any of that mess.

Maybe this was what she needed to find-

"...don't touch..."

"Gelles?"

Startled by the unexpected voice, she turned towards the doorway and discovered she wasn't alone. A night elf leaned against her doorway, dressed in torn and ripped gray clothes.

Gelles felt her heart drop out of her feet. "Farahl?"

The Kaldorei rogue stretched out one bleeding hand. "Help... me..."

A spike of pain drove itself through Gelles' eyes. She hissed in pain, shaking her head violently, fighting back a sudden swelling wave of nausea. 'No... not now.. not when she needs me!'

She was falling again, but she missed the ground and landed in darkness.

End – Shifting Lines