Homecoming

Keira was going fishing. That was all. Vitto had said that some of the best fishing was in Azshara and why not? There were some recipes she was itching to try, yes, and only the best fish would do.

She put on the last of the new armor Azzuria had skillfully crafted.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Durrlo." It's dangerous there and I wish to be prepared. Keira dabbed poison along the edges of her blades, and checked her supply of flash powder. Good.

"Shall we?" she asked Durrlo pertly, and scooping up Ghost the silver tabby, they rode off.

***

"Durrlo, wait here, please? I want to explore." Keira set the striped frostsaber to wander, pausing to bury her face in his neck ruff before taking a deep breath and blending with the shadows. She headed down the cracked road.

"It's so very changed, Ghost." Keira whispered, as she drifted through the strangely shaped chunks of rock and stone, weaving between the naga and the highborne spirits. "Everything is ruins and the smells are off. But the herbs of my youth still grow!" she said as she spied some Golden Sansam, waiting until a nearby naga was looking the other way before picking and blending once more.

"I suppose we should head for the coast. Just to see, yes? Just to see. And to fish of course." Keira nodded firmly at the small cat who could see her just fine, shadows or no shadows.

***

In the southeastern portion of Azshara, along the beach, Keira knelt in a small graveyard, still and quiet. She'd found the old Temple, now populated by strange sea-creatures, seen countless ruins under the sea, and found no sign of the ranging vineyards that used to spread across the land. But here, she'd found something of herself at last. She examined the faded stone.

It was coated in wind-swept soil and sand but the worn words of D'lloran Windsong stood out enough for Keira to read. She didn't want to touch the grave just now. It was enough that someone had been there to bury her and to remember her name. Ghost sniffed among the overgrown grasses and weeds before pouncing on something chittering and small. Keira smiled wanly at his antics.

"Yes, we should see it through properly I suppose. It should have been southeast of here, right at the tip..."

Blending in shadows once more, Keira found the remnants of an old road and her heart leapt, wondering if her father's stead may still remain. She crossed a bridge and was shocked to see the figure of an elf, his arms raised to the sky, his head thrown back in extremis. He was made entirely of some sort of blue mineral.

Keira whispered to the League of her find. "Azsharite, Keira." said Virgil and he cautioned that she'd find more. Tentatively, she looked closer at the statue, and was relieved to find that it was not her father's face.

Further south, and more strange new occupants to silently avoid, before Keira beheld two enormous feet of the same blue mineral, towering above her before stopping abruptly at the knees. Nearby was the rest of the statue, the vast head staring eternally at nothing Keira could see.

She breathed deeply. "I'm done, Ghost. I want to go home." Keira whistled for Durrlo and when he arrived, mounted lightly, Ghost held to her chest. "Wait, no, I've changed my mind. Durrlo, find a good fishing spot, won't you? Please?" The big cat roared and ran lithely off along the coast, nimbly avoiding anyone or anything who thought to attack. Keira moved with him, thinking she'd come back again to tend the grave, trying not to ponder that perhaps her father was still living.

Durrlo's throaty purr-roar brought her back to her surroundings and she looked at the bright blue water. "This'll do, sure," she said, and rumpled his ears as she jumped to the ground.

Keira fished, thinking of nothing but the sea.