//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Rest 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

When Trixie finished casting her teleportation spell, and moved herself to the Hall of the Guardian, she was surprised when she discovered that the entire place seemed much cleaner than when she had been here, after transporting the forge away with Alodi and Meryl. Now she could see all of the paintings and the statues that had been hidden the last time she had been here, though as she looked around she could feel the magic energy in the air as several arcane constructs patrolled the Hall. She also spotted several enchanted brooms moving around the Hall, sweeping up whatever dust remained since the last time the Hall had been used, but she eventually shook her head and walked up the stairs as she headed towards where Meryl would be waiting for her.

As she walked into the room where the forge was located, however, she noticed that the spirit of Alodi was absent, which meant that whatever spell had allowed him to come into existence had expired or he was merely resting until someone needed to speak with him about something.

"Ah, Trixie, it is good to see that you have returned, and with Aluneth I might add." Meryl commented, to which he turned away from the books he had been staring at and faced his new companion, though at the same time he took in the staff that she was now carrying, "Kathra'natir will rue the day he made you his enemy... though we should focus on the task at hand at the moment. The Forge of the Guardian can channel the power of other mages into one to create a Guardian, but it also allows the user to manipulate the power within the artifacts of this world. I'm sure that you know what will be coming next, thanks to your experience with your friend Lyra and her artifact?"

"I have an idea of what to do next." Trixie said, as she knew that this was where she would empower her new artifact and increase the power inside it a little bit.

Trixie turned towards the Forge of the Guardian, which rose out of the ground as she approached it, and gently placed Aluneth in the middle of it, to which she closed her eyes and concentrated. She could tell that the weapon had absorbed some arcane energy before she had come to claim it, how she had no idea, though she used that arcane power to empower the damage of her arcane spells. Once the deed was done, and she was done studying what she could potentially do with the weapon once she figured out how to give it more power, she removed it from the forge and allowed it to sink back into the floor.

With Aluneth in her hand once more she turned back to Meryl, who seemed pleased by what he had just seen, though at the same time Trixie hoped that he had a plan to truly use this place, and all of it's resources, to it's full potential.

"Impressive." Meryl said, looking at the staff in a new light, as if he had seen her empower the weapon and knew of Aluneth's true potential, before he shook his head, "However, even with your weapon you alone cannot stand against the Legion...and I don't mean with your friend by your side. We need to begin recruiting more mages into the order, though the wards around the Hall will prevent us from simply teleporting everyone here. However, I do have a solution to our problem that was apparently under our noses the entire time. There is a goblin mage, in Dalaran no less, who goes by the name of 'The Great Akazamzarak'... and his specialty is creating portals, which has gone unnoticed thanks to all of the preparations for the war with the Legion.

I'm sure that he won't agree to help us simply because we ask him to, which is no doubt in part thanks to his goblin nature, but there is a way around that flaw that we might be able to use to our advantage. I have prepared a bag of gold that can be used to bribe him into helping us this one time, maybe even more if he so chooses to do so, though all I need you to do is head to the fountain and speak with him. If I know him as well as I think I do, and I'm fairly certain I do, then he should come running to help us... and then we can get the order ready for the trials ahead."

Trixie knew that what Meryl wanted to say was that Akazamzarak was a street performer, like she had been before she had come to this world, but she held her tongue and simply took the bag that was offered to her, which had a decent amount of coin inside it. With the bag in hand she returned to the spot in the Hall that she had teleported to, which apparently had a portal to Dalaran already established for her and the others to use, though she paid it little attention as she moved herself back to the city. Once she was back on Krasus' Landing she approached one of the guards and asked if they had seen or knew the location of the goblin she was looking for... to which she discovered that he was near the fountain that was parallel with the staircase that led to the Violet Citadel.

It wasn't hard to find the goblin mage showing off his talents to the masses, like she had done so long ago and would have continued to do had she not stopped in Ponyville that fateful day... though she patiently waited for his act to be over before she approached him, to which she deposited the bag in his hat and caused the mage to close up shop.

"So, I take it you, and whoever sent you, are looking to hire me on full-time?" Akazamzarak asked, to which he carefully collected his hat, and the bag that was inside it, before he turned to Trixie, "Well, with this 'payment' I can tell you that I am all ears at the moment. So what exactly do you need me for?"

"We need your skills in opening portals," Trixie replied, knowing that the goblin mage would likely only agree to this if there were more payoffs like the one she had given him, though she had the feeling that Meryl knew that and was likely prepared for such an event to happen, "The Hall of the Guardian, which is going to be the mage order's base of operations, is surrounded by wards that keep our enemies out, while at the same time making it difficult to get people inside it. If you can get inside the Hall, with your skills in opening portals, then we can summon more allies, with your portals, to help us in the fight with the Legion."

"Ah, so the first part of this is a test of my abilities." Akazamzarak stated, to which he gathered his energy around him, indicating that he was going to see if such a thing was possible for him, though he smiled a moment later as a portal opened between them, "Piece of cake. I'll see you on the other side."

Trixie let out a sigh as she followed the goblin into the Hall of the Guardian, though when she appeared on the other side she knew that the portal had been designed to close behind them. Once she was back in the Hall she led the goblin to where Meryl was standing, though once they arrived the undead mage nodded his head and beckoned the goblin over. She already knew that he was going to explain where everyone he intended to summon was located, though not a few seconds later the goblin started the summoning process, which was followed by eight portals opening and eight well known mages stepped through them... one of which was Kalec.

"Mages of Azeroth." Meryl said, approaching the group of mages he had called to the Hall of the Guardian, while at the same time Akazamzarak left to go explore the Hall, "I have summoned you here because we face a threat to the future of the world itself. The Dreadlord Kathra'natir has escaped into the Twisting Nether, carrying with him the secrets of the Council of Tirisfal. We must hunt him down and ensure that the knowledge he has cannot be used against us... so to this end I hereby reform the Tirisgarde! Will you join us and take up arms against the Legion?"

Not even five seconds had passed before the assembled mages shouted their agreement to reform the Tirisgarde and join the ancient order, so they could defend their world against the Legion that sought to kill them all.

"Then the Tirisgarde is reformed." Meryl continued, to which he turned towards Trixie for a moment, who was pleased by the progress they were making, "Trixie Lulamoon, the newly restored order will require leaders to help them in the near future, though while I am capable of such a role I'm not a strategist. Will you take up this challenge and lead us to the best of your abilities?"

Trixie was slightly caught off guard by that statement, because she had fully been expecting the undead mage to take up the position of the leader of the Tirisgarde, as it was his idea to reform the order, though at the same time she knew that something like this had been coming. She had been the one called to arms when the Forge of the Guardian had been threatened, it was she who, with the aid of Alodi, defeated the Dreadlord Kathra'natir, and it was she who claimed the staff known as Aluneth. She never wanted to be any sort of leader, especially after what she had done under the influence of that one necklace she had worn, but she guessed that her fate was sealed in this matter. If she refused she could potentially shatter the new order before they even started their war against the Legion, to which she simply sighed and nodded her head towards Meryl.

She had no idea if the undead mage even knew everything that she had told Khadgar, as by this point in time the Archmage knew everything about her, but Meryl smiled and turned to the others.

"Very well then." Meryl said, to which he addressed the other mages that were assembled in front of them, while keeping his eyes on Trixie, "Here, in the presence of so many of Azeroth's greatest mages, I hereby dub you Trixie Lulamoon, Conjuror of the Tirisgarde. Though, before you do anything else, you should take the rest of the day to rest and restore your energy... we'll start our war with the Legion tomorrow."

Normally when someone told her to rest, which was usually Khadgar when she was trying to learn all of the spells this world had to offer her, she would try to ignore them and continue what she was doing, but she had been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. She had done so much that she hadn't noticed how tired she was getting, from all the running around she had been doing and all the spells she had been throwing. Now that she knew that someone thought that she looked tired, however, she was starting to feel exhausted, to which she simply nodded to Meryl and headed for the Dalaran portal. The moment she reached the portal she stepped though it and headed back to the city, to which she stretched her arms as she looked around Krasus' Landing for a few seconds.

It was then that she spotted Lyra standing near some of her Illidari, no doubt listening to their reports and sending them off to scout the other areas of the Broken Shore that they didn't know about yet... though at the same time Trixie had the feeling that her fellow Equestrian was getting tired as well, but she waited till the others were gone before she bothered to approach Lyra.

"How are things going on your end?" Trixie asked, causing Lyra to look behind her and smile, though at the same time it was clear that they both needed a break before they started their assault.

"Good at the moment," Lyra replied, though at the same time she glanced around, reminding Trixie that she could tell if demons were nearby and was likely making sure that they were safe, "Is there somewhere we can talk... somewhere that's not out in the open like this?"

Trixie nodded and beckoned for Lyra to follow her, to which she led her back into the city and made a right turn the moment they left the Landing. They walked forward for a little bit before she brought them to the Legerdemain Lounge, one of the three main inns that existed in the city, though it was more accurate to say that it was the neutral inn. There was one inn in both the Horde and Alliance sections of the city, where members of that faction were allowed to enter, but at the moment Trixie didn't care too much about that and simply wanted some rest. When they arrived at their destination she approached one of the barmaids and put in an order for something to eat, though once that was done she beckoned for Lyra to stay put as she headed upstairs... where she rented out the room with two beds for the night.

Most of the people who lived in the city, and worked on their professions or their talents, lived in the place of their practice, though only they had the keys to those sections of the buildings and knew where the hidden doors were located. As such the inn Trixie had chosen had, at most, two to three open beds at any given time, though one was usually rented out to the same person every night and left Trixie with only one option. Sure, she could have easily gone to A Hero's Welcome, the inn that was located in the Alliance section of the city, but she had the feeling that someone might be showing up later on and wanted to be in a neutral inn so they didn't get harassed when they tried to find her.

With the deed done, and the room reserved for the night, she returned to the lower level of the inn and found that Lyra had taken one of the open tables for herself, the one that was near the middle of the room oddly enough, but Trixie smiled as she took a seat in one of the chairs.

"So, what have you and your forces discovered so far?" Trixie asked, though at the same time she helped herself to some of the food she had ordered, as she had expected it to be done and delivered by the time she arrived, because the cooks in Dalaran were some of the best she had ever seen.

"So far we have heard rumors about four of the Pillars of Creation," Lyra said, though as she spoke she pulled out the map of the Isles she had been carrying with her, before she pointed at the zone that was the closest to the floating city, "From what we can tell the Tidestone of Golganneth is rumored to rest in Azsuna, though we would no doubt have to ask the inhabitants of the area if they would be willing to help us locate the relic. The second Pillar, the Hammer of Khaz'goroth, is rumored to be hidden by the tauren of Highmountain and only a select few know where it is located. The third Pillar we have rumors on is the Aegis of Aggramar, which might be located in the land of Stormheim, though we don't know much about the land itself. And the fourth, and final, Pillar we have rumors on is the Eye of Aman'thul, which may or may not rest in Suramar... and in the Legion's hands if the worst case scenario plays out."

"And what about the fifth Pillar?" Trixie asked, pointing to the zone that was known as Val'sharah, "Surely this zone also possesses the last Pillar of Creation."

"Yes, Val'sharah does possess one of the Pillars," Lyra continued, though at the same time she didn't appear to be annoyed by the interruption, as she had done the same thing to Lord Illidan when she was first learning how to be a demon hunter, "We have it on good authority that the Tears of Elune are located within the ancient forest, though personally I feel that the druids should be the ones to recover that artifact. I feel that the Tears will be the easiest Pillar to collect, and my fellow Illidari agree with me, so I have determined that my forces will be heading to Azsuna first... and, if the rumors are to be believed, there are some Blue Dragons living within the area as well."

That last part caught Trixie's attention more than the fact that a Pillar of Creation might be in the zone they were discussing, because she had to wonder if Azuregos had any family that was living with the Blue Dragons in Azsuna. The reason was because of the necklace she had been given, as she was curious as to why the dragon would have simply given it to her without any explanations as to why he was doing so. The only thing he told her was that she and Kalec might be able to figure out what to do with it, as if he expected the two of them to suddenly raise the dragon from the grave... though she guessed that the necklace was better off in her hands at the moment, as she might get some answers from the dragons in Azsuna.

Trixie also guessed that she had been touching the necklace and ignoring who was around her, because when Lyra coughed she shook her head and cast her thoughts about the piece of jewelry out... to which she turned her attention back to her companion.

"Azsuna sounds like a good place to start your search for the Pillars of Creation," a voice said, one that Trixie immediately recognized, to which Azuregos, in his blood elf form, appeared next to the table with a smile on his face, causing the two Equestrians to turn towards him for a moment, "From what I have heard there's supposed to be an army of spirits that are guarding the Tidestone, though I have never personally been to the area and cannot confirm whether the rumors are true or if they were lying."

"Azuregos?" Trixie asked, as she was shocked to find that the Blue Dragon was even here, as he had told her that he was planning on remaining in the Nexus until he sealed away the Vault, "What are you doing here?"

"After a few minutes of internal debating I decided that I might as well come and speak with Kalecgos myself," Azuregos replied, to which he carefully removed a necklace from beneath the collar of his robe, one that happened to look a lot like a key, "I checked on the rest of the Vault and it appears that the Ethereum were only after Aluneth, so the majority of the seals are still in place. To be sure that something like this doesn't happen again I decided to come here and see if Kalecgos might have some suggestions as to how I can permanently seal away the Vault... though hopefully he'll figure out how to make the Vault respond to someone who possesses this special key, and only the key."

"I'm sure that he might have something in mind," Trixie commented, though at the same time she had another thought come to mind, as there was someone else that might be able to help the Blue Dragon out, "though if he's a bust you can always ask my mentor, Archmage Khadgar, if he has any ideas."

"I see." Azuregos said, to which he lowered his head for a moment, as if he was bowing to her for a few seconds, "I will return to you and your companion once I have spoken with Kalecgos, and your mentor if necessary... and hopefully you would be willing to have another fighter at your side."

Trixie recalled how well she and the Blue Dragon had fought side by side in the Nexus, and how the two of them were able to take out groups of two to three on their own, to which she wondered how well they would function with Aluneth on their side... along with Lyra and her Twinblades. She was sure that the three of them would be able to hold their own against the demons that may or may not be in Azsuna, to which she nodded her head and noticed the smile that Azuregos gave her. Not a few seconds later the disguised dragon respectfully bowed his head and left the inn, no doubt heading to where Kalec and her mentor were discussing matters with the other members of the Council of Six.

However, she wasn't the only one that noticed the look that Azuregos had given her, because out of the corner of her eye she could see the smile that was on Lyra's face.

"Trixie and Azuregos..." Lyra said, though she did it in a tone that sounded like she was singing, but at the same time she seemed to be happy about something for once.

Trixie had no idea why her fellow Equestrian thought that she and the disguised dragon were something other than friends, but at the same time she decided that it was best not to take away Lyra's happy mood. It was clear that Lyra had seen some terrible things before she was imprisoned in the Vault, and had likely done some terrible things that she would rather not think about, so she decided to let her be happy for once. Sure, she was letting Lyra think that she and Azuregos were more than friends, but if such a thing made her laugh and smile, and restore some of the happiness that had been taken from her, then Trixie was willing to take the embarrassment.

Tomorrow they would be beginning their assault on one of the zones in the Broken Isles, likely Azsuna by what they had discussed so far, though Trixie was all for getting some rest before then and she was hoping that Lyra would do the same thing... once she stopped laughing and got serious once more.