//------------------------------// // Level 11: Watching Those Hips // Story: Equestria Was Merely a Setback! // by Thunderscourge //------------------------------// A/N: Special thanks to GretzerGreen, GamerGoddessNayru, refferee, Amethyst Blade, SilentMech, Ozymandias42, and Ketvirtas for your comments last chapter! They were very nice and supportive, and they helped me put this together even as life continues to go on and drain energy away from these more fun endeavors. That and hackers taking Fimfiction down for a couple days. That sucked too. Anyone who gets the name references in this chapter without looking them up are awesome. Also, anyone who knows who Hope Saldean is, good for you too. I hope you all enjoy, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below! When Trixie entered the house she was met with the sight of a large open room with a staircase to the side that led to a second floor. A red carpet lined the floor, and in general the room felt more rough than the Elven rooms she had been in until that point. The reason for this stemmed from how, while the house was in no way scary or uncomfortable, it was patched together at various parts where what appeared to be years old damage lay. If it was a chair the house would have a single shoddy leg that was pieced back together while the rest was slightly worn. A middle aged woman with a plain white shirt underneath a soft brown overshirt was busy working in what appeared to be a small kitchen on the side of the large room that comprised the entire first floor. After Trixie came in the woman turned around to smile at the newcomer. “Hello. My name is Salma, and I guess you’ve met my husband. Have you come to stay the night?” the woman asked kindly, her face displaying a gentleness and kindness Trixie had not really encountered up until that point amongst the more serious Elves. Trixie had only come in a few feet before she found herself bowing before her new hostess, “If you would not mind. We are passing through and have very little.” Salma chuckled at the sight of someone bowing, the farmer’s wife not used to having such overly polite guests, “Of course not! We will take anyone in who needs help. You can even stay as long as you like, if you don’t mind helping us around here.” “You are too kind. I am Trixie Lulamoon. My partner and I are traveling magicians who are still studying, so meals and a place to stay are most welcome.” It wasn’t too much of a lie, and Trixie didn’t want to explain to the nice lady that they were runaways from an enemy nation who may or may not be pursued by an evil doppelganger. “Well, why don’t you have a seat at our table? We are just about to have supper after all, and I always make sure we have enough for some guests.” Trixie noticed a whoosh of air as someone swept past her and up the room’s staircase before she could even turn to look at who it was. She doubted that the farmer she could still hear talking to Kael outside was the culprit, so who was this third person? “Who was that?” Trixie asked Salma with a forcefully curious voice, when in reality she was more inquisitorial out of fear. What she didn’t know at this point could definitely hurt her. Salma shook her head as she finished preparing the food she had in the kitchen, “Oh, that was our daughter, Hope. She is shy around company usually, so I suppose I’ll have to save her something to eat.” Satisfied with this answer and no longer fearing the unknown person, Trixie let herself relax as Kael and Salma’s husband came inside the farmhouse. The farmer moved to kiss his wife on the cheek before taking a seat at the head of the room’s large table. This done, Salma turned to see Kael and gave him the same smile she had given Trixie. “This must be your friend. Please, have a seat with your dearie while I serve everyone.” Food once again on the brain, Trixie took a breath in through her nose and she realized quite quickly that there was some fresh bread. She dragged Kael over to some seats across from their host as his wife brought over the plates of food to the table. Kael would have offered to help, but he had been dragged out of helping range just at the moment she would have needed it. The food placed down, Salma tilted her head up towards the upper floor and in the direction of the staircase, “Katz, bring your brother and sister down for supper!” Some scuffling upstairs followed the call, and after a semi-loud “Owww!” a flurry of footsteps came flooding down the staircase and three young kids stood where none were before. The kids seemed surprised to see the two guests, and in true childish fashion one of them gawked, one of them hid behind the gawker, and the last one just stared at them all confused. Salma sighed at their behavior, though she wasn’t all that surprised at their reactions, “Children, introduce yourselves to our new guests. This is Trixie and Kael Lulamoon, and they will be here for the night.” The one who had been confused was a very young boy in a green shirt and who had black hair to contrast his light skin, and he was the first to recover from the initial shock of visitors who looked funny, “I’m Katz!” The one hiding was seemingly the youngest, looking to be no older than four, also introduced herself with a mumbled “Kikka” as she hid behind the last kid. Trixie would have laughed at the shyness if not for the fact it would be rude, and she had more tact than that…though just barely. The last one, another young boy wearing suspenders and with darker skin than the other two, helped push Kikka out from behind him as he introduced himself too, “And I’m Letz.” Now exposed, Kikka brought her arms behind her back as she struggled to look Trixie and Kael in the eyes, “Why do your eyes glow?” Salma was about to chastise the child for rudely interrogating their new guest, but Trixie’s amused laughter cut her off. “It’s because of our powerful magic,” she was bluffing completely, but it made sense to her so she would go with it. Having done the initial bluff, Trixie continued on with her previous white lie with enough force to hint to Kael that this was what they were going with, “We are magicians after all.” “Woah, awesome!” both Katz and Letz exclaimed at the same time, though a look from their “mother” sent them into a frenzy to take their seats on the sides of the table. It was obvious to both Trixie and Kael that all of these children were adopted by the couple as none of them held any resemblance to the farmers. “Perhaps you can give us a look at your skills tomorrow morning. I’m sure the children would love it,” the head of the household mentioned as he took his wife’s hand in his own, his other hand wrapping around Letz’s as the boy sat down. Trixie continued to do the speaking for the “traveling magicians” so as to make sure Kael wouldn’t trip up on anything she had said yet, “Of course. It would be our pleasure.” With that, Mr. Saldean nodded to her and gave a calm smile. Something he knew about magic was that even basic magicians could conjure food, so these two visitors were most likely the very greenest of novices. While the lady seemed a bit overconfident in her skills or at least boastful, the man seemed to know his place more, though in the end it didn’t matter so long as they could pull their weight somehow. “Now, everyone, let’s take hands and say prayer,” the farmer announced, leading Letz to take his younger sister’s hand who in turn nervously held a hand out to Trixie. Trixie smiled down to the young girl as she gently took the hand, using her other hand to wrap around Kael’s and squeeze it. Across the table Salma took Katz’s hand and her husband’s while Trixie leaned in slightly towards Kael. “What’s a prayer?” she whispered as softly as possible to her partner. The word wasn’t ringing a bell and she didn’t want to be rude and not partake. Kael wanted to respond and explain what a prayer was, but the family began to give a chant related to “the Light” that Trixie and Kael were forced to just smile and nod to the words. Trixie made a mental note of researching this “Light” and finding out what the heck it was, but for the moment she wasn’t going to ruin a good meal over such an insignificant matter. The two had slept in one of the three bedrooms of the house, previously belonging to Hope but the eldest of the children had cleared out her things for the guests while they all ate. Trixie still hadn’t gotten the chance to meet the elusive elder daughter, though she didn’t really feel the need to after getting a belly full of bread. Unlike the feast Evangelin had put together in the prosperous Silvermoon City, the Saldean family had much more meager means of getting by. Trixie actually only managed to half-stuff herself before she realized how there would be no follow up plates of food to replace the originals. She was a guest to a rural farm, not a paying patron to a well off inn, so not only would eating an exorbitant amount of food be rude, it would be depriving everyone else of what little there was to eat. “Rise and shine everyone!” The sun was just rising when Kael jolted awake from the sound of Farmer Saldean loudly projecting from downstairs. From the sounds of it there seemed to be a routine, one which Kael decided he would obey for the purpose of fostering good will. Sleeping through such a thing could cause the kind farmer to consider him lazy. Still, this did not cause him to enjoy the act of getting up. He rubbed his eyes as he lifted his body off the bed and complained quietly, “Who wakes up at this ungodly hour?” He didn’t notice a hoof slip off of being on top of him as he got up, so when no response came from Trixie Kael found himself surprised to turn and see that she was in her equine body. “Trixie? You slept all of yesterday, how can you possibly be tired still?” Trixie had her face buried into the pillow, the pointy horn atop her head only not having impaled the pillow beneath her blue coated face because she was very still in her sleep. Trixie’s only movement after Kael left the bed was to roll onto her back, her front legs withdrawn and close to her chest with the upper parts under the covers while right at the bottom they poked out and sat above the blanket provided. She wasn’t all that big of a horse, luckily. If that could be considered a lucky thing given that she was still a horse. She must have sneezed at some point of the night while he was asleep, or there could always be an alternate method to her transformation… Kael smirked as he sat back down on the bed and brushed a hand across her blue cheek. When she wasn’t being haughty and was this serene she was quite adorable. Her long ear twitched at his touch, though she made no further movement as Kael removed his hand. “I guess we’ll talk about it another time. You had better be alright.” All this sleeping could have to do with her alternate form, but they had not solved the mystery that was her transformation yet. It could always be something more, and that worried the more reserved of the two partners. Trixie didn’t seem to want to really solve the puzzle since she wasn’t searching for a solution despite it being her body, which left him to do all the caring. As he stood again a small murmur left Trixie’s lips that brought him to stop in place. “Kael…” That got his attention. Was she waking up? Her eyes were still closed, and she wasn’t moving. “Yes?” he questioned her as a kind of test for the sleeping or not question. Of course, the soft breathing helped with the theory that she was still asleep as she then murmured quietly, “…bread…” That was confirmation that Trixie was either asleep or hungry, but perhaps both, “Even in your sleep? Did you grow up only on starch?” “…Luna…” Kael shook his head in defeat. She was still asleep, because she would have retorted or complained if she was awake. It had been some time since the wake up call had been uttered anyways, so he really ought to go catch up with the stampede of footsteps he could hear outside as the free former orphans made their way downstairs. Kael had been watching Trixie sleep long enough anyways, and he doubted he could wake her if she slept through the yelling. “I am just going to assume there is a connection between those words. Have a good rest.” One more thing caught his eye though as he began to leave: a mark on Trixie’s hip. Her blue fur wasn’t fully covered because of how he moved the blanket when he got up, and the peaceful mare in bed wasn’t conscious enough to move it back. As such, Kael got a good view of what appeared to be a tattoo of a wand and a moon in a different color blue than her normal coat of fur. A horse with a tattoo visible despite her fur? Looking at her gave him a new surprise every day it seemed… “A tattoo…huh,” one of a wand no less. Coincidence or a sign? “No wonder you think being a magician is your thing…” When he got downstairs Kael noticed that everyone was in similar seats to the night before, though this time he noticed three empty chairs: presumably one for him, one for Trixie, and one for the missing Hope. As Kael smiled to all of the others the Farmer smiled back at him and spoke first, “Is your wife coming down for breakfast?” Kael didn’t want to lie, so he gave a version of the truth that would stall them long enough likely to keep them from checking on Trixie and noticing her…more surprising side. In retrospect Kael realized he should have forced her to sneeze before leaving, since there was still a chance her secret would get out, “Trixie has an odder sleep schedule than most, while my own is more amorphous.” Kael still hated being up, but he did not want to appear to be some upper class twit who could not adapt to his surroundings. From her seat Kikka waved a hand wildly to get Salma’s attention, “Mommy, I heard a horse last night. Is there a pretty pony outside?” Salma looked to Kael for the answer, though the Elf continued to use words in a way that would keep him from lying to his gracious hosts, “I assure you that I brought no horse.” It was true in a way: he brought an Elf who had the ability to turn into a horse. He brought an Elf. “Sorry, Kikka,” Kael apologized, feeling partly bad at how she seemed dejected by this news. She must have really wanted to see a horse. To carry the topic off of the horse sleeping upstairs Kael turned to face the farmer and bring up a topic from the night before, “So, you mentioned that you would like help around the farm. However may I lend my aid to you?” Saldean sighed as the family all began to eat, Kael making sure to eat as little as possible like he had the night before to not impose upon them, “Well, times are tough, my brother. With the downtrodden masses of Stormwind migrating into Westfall, resources are stretched as thin as they've ever been. The people are restless and in need of help.” That alone gave Kael a good idea on what the situation was around here. The human capital city likely was overpopulated and was forcing some of its people to leave, and given Westfall’s close location to the capital it was an easy location to move to. This, however, was countered by the previous mention of bandits. Bandits who must plague the farmers in one way or another or else things would not be so rough. “Our own farmhouse has been serving as a halfway house for years. Salma does the best that she can to keep our guests alive, but sometimes the watchers get 'em…” Saldean’s voice trailed off as he realized Kael didn’t understand what he was talking about. The farmer gestured to a window that was facing the fields, from where Kael was able to peer through and see that there were large machines roaming the fields at a slow pace. They were brown in color and appeared to be bulky or even overweight scarecrows with glowing red eyes. What made these golems scary though was the nasty talons they had in place of more gentle hands. Some even had bloodstains on the cloth that covered their metal bodies, proof of their murdering ways. Watchers are those twisted abominations roaming my fields - a little present left behind by the Defias, before they were driven off.” The Defias…if Kael could recall, those were the bandits mentioned the night before. So even now, while driven off, the Defias were a nuisance to the land? Whoever had wronged them so to make them want to harass simple farmers? It wasn’t even as if Westfall seemed like anything important… Still, the mentality of a pack of thieves was not of his concern. Helping the farmers who were harmed by them was, and it seemed the way to do that would be destroying the machines outside. Kael snapped his fingers and created a small flicker of flame to show off a bit of his power. He could do more, but that would require actual work, and this was enough to impress the children gathered at the table, “I possess fire magic. I can melt the machines if you so please.” The farmer nodded to him in agreement and grew a smile where had previously been a depressed frown, “Melted Watchers are better than people-killing ones, and we can use the resources from them to trade and for our community. I am not much of a fighter, so I would be most grateful if you helped us clear them out.” This would be perfect for Kael: not only would it allow him to practice his offensive magic, it also would let him prove his worth to the family so kind to take them in and not murder them during their sleep. “It will give me an opportunity to practice, as well as earn my keep. I would be glad to lend my skills.” It took some time for Trixie to wake up, but when she did she was quite glad that their bag with their pepper was still in the room. It was weird waking up as a horse, especially since she did not remember sneezing at all at the time she went to bed…could someone sneeze in their sleep? She had never seen it happen, at least not with her limited memories, so perhaps that was the issue. A forced sneeze later, Trixie prepared herself to go downstairs. She was grateful that her equine body was not that of a full sized horse, for all she seemed to do when she changed bodies was push off her robes rather than rip through them. It would be embarrassing if she was left with nothing to wear, since she still did not have a spare set with her. She also was a fair bit taller than the oldest woman in the house, Salma Saldean, so borrowing clothes was not really an option. That wasn’t even mentioning how Trixie was half the other woman’s size in terms of weight, not that Salma appeared overweight. Trixie was just skinny for an Elf, exaggerated by her height, and humans seemed to possess a thicker build than Elves as a whole. While Kael was quite fit and broader than the average male Elf, he was still slimmer than the farmer as yet another comparison. Take the height of an Elf and some of the broadness of the Human and you receive someone as imposing as Reuenthal…though his eyes were definitely more scary with their different colored glows than his physique. Trixie would hate to get on his bad side, and actually kind of pitied anyone seeking to kill him. He was just one of many people she would have to catch up to if she ever desired to make a name for herself. Trixie didn’t really care that her robe’s neck piece was stretched enough to hang at the edge of her shoulder, but when she went downstairs Salma noticed. Salma was going about some chores when Trixie stumbled down the stairs and let out a large yawn, earning a chuckle from the elder woman who was quite amused at the sight. “Good morning. What have I missed?” Trixie groggily asked Salma, not even noticing the three children who were across the large room with their heads peeking outside the door. Salma lowered a cleaning rag onto her kitchen counter as she turned to face their guest, “Nothing too much. I’m sorry, but I did not have anything more than bread to save you. I hope it is enough.” That woke Trixie up in a hurry, her long ears standing up as straight as they could at the mention of her favorite food group: delicious bread. “Bread is just perfect!” Trixie thanked her hostess as she was given a small plate of bread rolls, which Trixie took to the dining table and prepared herself to eat with the unused utensils left there. “Oh bread, how I love thee. I just had a dream about you along those lines,” Trixie laughed to herself about her sleep the night before. No nightmares, just fluffy goodness and happy thoughts. And a lot of bread and assorted things she liked as much and more, though she was having trouble recalling the dreams. She just knew that they were good, and that she wanted to dream like that every night because she felt very well rested. Salma snorted at the mention of Trixie dreaming about food. She had been quite hungry before, but she couldn’t remember once dreaming about eating, “No wonder you were hungry.” “I eat like a horse. My apologies for my diet in advance,” Trixie sheepishly admitted after quickly downing the entire plate of food, though she did manage to hide the truth in what would sound like a simile. Salma nodded and winked at the other woman, having a wholly different idea in her mind as to how and why such a skinny being could eat so much, “Oh, I remember what it was like for my friends to eat for two back when they were all newly married.” That gave Trixie a laugh. Married? To who? As if she would be married! Once she calmed her laughter Trixie shook her head, “I doubt I’ll be getting married anytime soon. Definitely not in this chapter of my life.” “Oh, you’re not married to Kael’thas?” it was a legitimate question born of actual confusion and not some kind of joke. The odds that two random travelers of opposite sex going around, shared a last name, didn’t look alike, slept in the same bed comfortably, and were affectionate towards one another while NOT being married or at least lovers was quite slim. In fact, the idea was completely perplexing to Salma, who had seen people for years and years come through Westfall and never once could think of something so...unusual. Luckily for her, Trixie realized how this might look given what these people were likely thinking, and she instantly began to backtrack. “Well…” Trixie cleared her throat. Kael was just her companion and good friend…though she had to admit he was quite enjoyable to be around. And, if she were to be married, she could do worse than a kind man who was smart, reasonable, and was possibly a prince. Still, she had to find a way to spin this so as to calm the confusion of Salma. It wouldn’t do to have the family ask too many questions and find out that they were really not whatever these High Elves were supposed to be, “We are partners, and we share our lives wholly, so why bother getting married?” Salma nodded, though her eyes glanced over Trixie’s stomach regardless. No noticeable bump lay there, so perhaps Trixie wasn’t carrying a child like she had thought at first, “I see. Well, your companion is quite the good man. He’s outside right now cleaning up the farm.” That elicited another fit of laughter from Trixie, though this one was less like a cackle than the other. “Cleaning? Kael? Have you met him?” Trixie’s clothes may be nearly ripped, but Kael’s were in tatters ever since she met him, and their condition only worsened with every passing day. Salma frowned and thought over the condition her guests had come in. Neither seemed particularly well off, and their level of dishevelment was something she’d expect more of Stormwind’s poor than two High Elven mages, “Oh, yes, about that, I noticed that all of your clothing is damaged…” she moved across the room to bring a hand to pat a pile of what appeared to be linen cloth, “I hope you do not mind, but I was thinking about tailoring you some new clothes to wear. Yours appear to have been stretched almost to the point of ripping and are quite loose, and his are in tatters.” Trixie blushed at the offer, “Our apologies for being so bedraggled. We have not had money or time to acquire new clothing yet.” “Oh it is no problem at all. It is funny to find High Elves who are anything less than snobbish, perfect looking beings though.” So even their appearance was a give away? Perhaps, Trixie thought to herself, they could just give their hosts a version of the truth to cover any such issues? Trixie would tell Kael later about her plan to cover their stories, “To be honest, I am suffering from a bit of amnesia, as is Kael, so I don’t remember all that much about High Elves as a whole…” “Oh, I am afraid I do not know much about them other than how they look. Even then I doubt I could tell the difference between them and that other Elf group the…Blood Elves? Was that it?” Trixie was glad Salma was looking at the cloth and sewing materials nearby it, because a chill went down the magician’s spine at that. The sound of some screaming outside did nothing to make the chilled feeling leave her. She hadn’t been caught in her lies, but it sure felt like that. She was forced to play dumb in response, “I believe so.” “In any case, I think perhaps you should go out and help him. He sounds like he could use it.” Trixie turned her head to where the three former orphans were all poking their heads out, finally realizing their presence and noticing that perhaps they were looking at something interesting. “Help him?” Trixie questioned just as a yell of pain reached her ears, “Is that what that screaming is?” “Yes, he agreed to help with our mechanical menace problem…” Salma peered out a window and frowned at what she saw, “I think his clothes are going to need to be tossed entirely.” Trixie threw down the napkin she had been using to eat her meal and stood up quickly. Apparently Kael was in some kind of fight, one it sounded like he was having trouble with solo, “Oh dear. I think I have a dear friend in need. Sorry, I promise I’ll clean up when I’m back inside!” “Don’t worry about it,” Salma reassured, not blaming Trixie for her urgency. Trixie excused herself as she pushed the door outside open and forced the three children out of her way, partly sorry but also more worried about Kael being physically harmed than the feelings of three children. The sight she was greeted with was one which caused exasperation rather than concern in her though: Kael was running in circles from what appeared to be a giant scarecrow with claws for hands. Well, more than one giant Scarecrow, actually. Three were in hot pursuit of him as Farmer Saldean stood to the side stalling another with a long rake. The casualness demonstrated by the owner of the property showed that he was used to this, but the way Kael had pulled the attention of multiple of the machines seemed to indicate that he was not quite so used to handling such a matter. “Kael, stop your foalishness at once! They’re just metal buckets!” Trixie shouted at him, not caring for the humiliation he was earning them both with this display. One of the machines chasing him had burn marks on its torso as well as its metal face, metal and cloth burnt to reveal some of its inner cogs and machinery. The sight interested Trixie, but she ignored her inquisitive side to instead focus on how to solve this whole issue. The crop field was filled with such machines, though only these three seemed to have noticed Kael, with a fourth causing Saldean grief. That meant they had a pretty low range of sight or sensory systems or whatever, which made the fact that Kael had pulled multiple all the more embarrassing. One of the undamaged machines chasing Kael heard Trixie’s insult and turned to face her, causing the magician to take a step back into the three children gathered behind her. “Taunt registered. New target detected. New objective: Eliminating secondary target.” Trixie rose an eyebrow. They could register speech like that? They were better built than she expected, “Taunt? Eliminating—?” It lunged at Trixie, though its thick metal legs were not built for speed thus allowing Trixie to shout out a spell in time, “Gi’kor!” A lance of ice burst forth and impaled the mechanical contraption, though the ice was not deep. This slowed the machine down enough for Trixie to start running to the side and it began to give chase, albeit at a lumbering pace. She did not want it to charge her while there were people behind her, and she doubted that the Saldeans had expected the machines to get that close to the house. A burst of fire ripped into the machine’s back, dealing far more damage because of the difference in elements, and so the previously taunted machine turned to face its previous threat…who was no longer in sight. Trixie had to dodge out of the way of a sliding Kael, who had taken the machine’s moment of confusion to slip past it and fire another attack on it from below. One of the machines pursuing him collided with its brother machine that was both on fire and chilled, leaving one still in pursuit for the time being. Trixie helped Kael to his feet and prepared another spell, an icy blue aura forming around her hand with purple tinges to it. Kael did the same with his hand currently not held by Trixie, only his was red from the flames building up in his palm. He began to say something, but the long reach of the still pursuing Harvest Watcher managed to slash down his chest and give him an abdomen-long wound that cut right through his already damaged clothes. Trixie used the close proximity of the machine to fire off her attack accurately into its neck, which had the effect of covering it in ice all around the head and neck region but did not stop it from taking another swipe at Kael, who had lost the magic gathered in his palm and was brought to his knees at the damage he received. Kael was knocked onto his back from the second hit of mechanical talons and Trixie found herself assaulted too by the sweeping motion, the remaining strength of the strike making her stumble to the side just as she finished channeling her spell again. The impact hit and pierced straight through the frozen material, making the Harvest Watcher crumble onto the ground as its head unit fell off and the top part of its chest exploded as the systems within it went haywire. She was forced to jump to the side to get away from its falling form, though she yelped as she tripped over Kael. On the soft soil of the field Trixie found herself breathing heavily and actually in pain: these things were way too tough for either one of them, which meant that each of them was lucky to have the other. Perhaps Kael had not been so wrong to run at first…and even then he had taken time from his own evasion to help her combat the one who came at her. Then she tripped over the poor bleeding man. That made her feel kind of bad, since he was letting out pained noises. The damage he sustained had not seemed deep, but she was quite sure it hurt like Hel, and someone tripping over your wound couldn’t help matters at all. “Oh wow, I thought they were just scary scarecrows…” Trixie complained to herself Even in a world of pain Kael managed to wisecrack at her statement, “Redundant much?” Her sympathy for him burned out the moment it conflicted with her pride, “Shut up you foalishly foalish foal.” Trixie moved off of him and started to get up and rearrange her own damaged robes now that they had a series of lines cut horizontally through them. As she tended to her own egomania Kael began to pick himself up too, still laughing despite the pain because of her speaking pattern. Where could she have picked up such eccentricities? “Speaking of redundant, is it a pun when you likely mean that in a wholly different way than some might say it?” Trixie hadn’t noticed her mistake, causing her to question him as she watched rather than helped him get up, “Say what?” “Foal instead of fool.” “Stop being a smart ass and help me,” Trixie groaned. If it was just them she wouldn’t care, but she could see the children giggling over at the house, “I say we kill seven more of these abominations and then see if they need a hand with anything else inside?” Kael was curious about her specific choice of seven, since there appeared to be far more than that in the field, but he wasn’t sure he could handle a full ten more, “Works for me,” one of his hands rose to his chest where his red blood was streaming down onto his similarly colored clothing, “Though I must warn you I am getting a bit…tired, and low on mana.” “Mana?” Trixie asked, something about the word striking a chord in her mind. Had she read about it? Heard about it? Kael wasn’t quite sure where he got it from either, “The energy that powers our magic. Did I just remember the name from my old memories, or did we discuss this yet?” “Who knows? It’s not like our teacher told us much more than ‘beat up those poor animals’.” “I suppose you are right,” he sighed as he tried to muster the strength to cast more magic. He could honestly use a break, but he also wasn’t sure he’d be getting up anytime soon if he stopped and let the adrenaline wear off. With both of them working together it was actually a pathetic display from the remaining Harvest Watchers, who were unable to do much when ice rooted them to the ground and as fire melted right through them. The two didn’t even receive any other wounds now that they had aid, but Trixie began to notice the toll Kael’s previous ones were taking. He had been hit and maimed even before she came outside, probably having thought he could handle the machines easier than he actually could. As their quickly decided battles progressed Trixie moved to keep Kael propped up by using her own body. He didn’t say anything to thank her, his speech having dropped off as he channeled all his energy into casting spells, but Trixie didn’t need the act to be recognized. She wasn’t going to let him be the only one who helped selflessly, and she was already used to carrying him in one way or another. “Woah, you guys are awesome!” Five more machines had fallen when the praise came from one of the two orphan boys, causing Trixie to look back and watch as his mother ushered the children all inside, “Get inside, Katz. It’s dangerous to go out when the machines are active.” “But I wanna see the Elves beat up the robots…” he complained. She usually let him watch when someone came to beat up the Harvest Watchers, but this time the fights were taking place closer to the house. Of course, as a child, he wasn’t able to really piece together the difference in situations and as such was upset to be told to come inside like the other two had already gone. “You can watch from inside.” “Okay…” he agreed, though his voice revealed he wanted to watch from a closer view. Trixie looked back to Kael as the door shut, a weird feeling having slowly crept into her ever since she saw the three children that morning. “Is something the matter?” Kael questioned her, finally having had a moment to catch his breath since they took a break from destroying robots. “I…” Trixie started, though she had no real idea about how to finish. What was she feeling? It wasn’t anything good… She shook her head as she attempted to dismiss the subject, “Kids make me feel weird. That’s all.” “Whatever do you mean?” Trixie tried exploring the emotion more but only came up with more vagueness. Perhaps the cause of her feelings came from before she remembered anything? Past experiences with children could be giving her these feelings, “I don’t get the feeling that I like them…” she sighed as she thought about anything these children had done. They hadn’t done anything to really irritate her, at least not in the way Kael was moments ago, so the feeling wasn’t personal towards them, “But there isn’t anything wrong with these ones…at least not yet…” Kael smirked. He might be able to plant certain seeds in her mind that would pay off farther down the line, all through an innocent suggestion, “Perhaps you can think of a way that they would be more appealing to you,” he shrugged weakly and gave a small laugh to make it sound like he was joking, “Maybe if they were your own you would feel better?” That actually did sound quite better to Trixie. While not having any desire to be a mother in particular, she doubted she could bring herself to hate her own children, and so perhaps viewing children as if they were not unlike her own could help her issue…especially since Trixie was partial to the idea of having more of herself around, “I do love myself…” “I do too,” Kael commented, fully knowing she wouldn’t catch his meaning. She would assume he was speaking of himself like she had just done, and he was fine with that at this point. Her oblivious innocence was a nice contrast to the sometimes grim world they found themselves in. “We’re really egocentric, aren’t we?” Trixie laughed as she misconstrued his statement as expected. Though there was a slight bit of nervousness to her laughter Kael realized… Was she oblivious, or pretending to be? “I like you just the way you are.” That thought caused her laughter to simmer down and for a frown to grow on her face. They weren’t close enough to anyone else to hear them unless they were loud, so she spoke softly on purpose, “Even though I’m a horse?” That was certainly an interesting point. If he were to pursue a relationship with her he would most certainly prefer she remain in her Elven form except for when it was more convenient to have a way of transportation, but in reality he didn’t mind too much. Something told him that shapeshifting wasn’t abnormal in this world, so making a fuss about her changing of forms was not high on his priority list, “It makes you all the more interesting.” Trixie snorted, “They think we’re married. I can almost see why, even though it’s a silly idea.” Kael felt his stomach drop. He would have to choose his words carefully if he didn’t want to reveal to much to her, especially since she seemed quite oblivious to his growing devotion to her, “Oh, yes, I was meaning to mention that to you.” “Consider yourself lucky. Something intuitively tells me that married men don’t see as much skin as you do most of the time.” “I don’t think most men are married to nudist animals though.” Trixie balked at his statement despite previously having enjoyed her playful joke, “You make it sound profane. I just find wearing full clothing…” she paused to consider the issue. She didn’t mind clothing, but it did not feel like a necessity to her, “Well it’s weird. Some isn’t bad, and I like it, but anything more feels wrong.” Trixie would have suggested they go back to their job when she was interrupted by a hand moving atop her head. It took her a moment to realize her hair was being stroked, which made her blush in embarrassment as she realized Kael was chuckling. “Kael, I’m not some animal or pet you can just touch for your own amusement! You touch my fur enough as it is!” “If I had fur I’d let you touch it,” he offered, though he had no intention of changing bodies like her. He was comfortable and secure as he was. In an attempt at retaliation Trixie brought a hand up to his hair and began to play with the blonde locks strewn wildly about given his lack of a comb. This not feeling like enough, Trixie began running a hand over his chest to show him what it felt like when he scratched her belly as a horse, “See? How does that feel?” Kael closed his eyes and did his best to focus on accomplishing a singular goal, “Good and…uncomfortable.” How could something good feel uncomfortable? Trixie was baffled by his response, though it stemmed from her general naiveté rather than a lack of intelligence, “How is it both?” He chose to give her an alternate explanation rather than the one that’d make her blush, “It’s not for the same reason, but you definitely like it when I pet you, yet you find it embarrassing so it’s uncomfortable for you despite the physical pleasure.” Trixie certainly wasn’t comfortable with the tingling and odd feeling she got when he pet her, so perhaps he was correct in labeling it both things, “I guess you’re right…” A random thought from their previous conversation crept into Trixie’s mind and made its way out in the form of her crossing her arms and pouting briefly, “Anyways, don’t do anything to blow our cover. For the next few days I am your wife, and you will treat me like you would the woman you love.” “I don’t foresee needing to make any changes,” Kael joked, though Trixie did not appear to catch it given her response. “Why, because they won’t notice the difference?” after all, the Saldeans barely knew them. That wasn’t it though, but Kael was fine with letting her assume that, “Something like that…” It was his turn to have a random thought creep into his mind as a subtle glance over Trixie’s body brought this particular memory rushing back. “Oh, and also, I noticed you have a tattoo on your hip. Probably in both forms, but definitely in your equine body.” Trixie did not feel like she was the type to get a tattoo, especially on such a place as her hip, and so his statement made her confused, “A tattoo?” “Yes, it was of a magic wand and what appeared to be a moon.” Trixie glared at him as she resumed her previous position as a third leg to him to keep him standing, “You will tell no-one of this,” her glare deepened when she realized that to notice something like that he had to have taken a look at that part of her, “And why were you looking there, Kael?” He held a hand up defensively, though the other covered the part of him that was still bleeding, “It just caught my eye since it’s different. That’s all.” That was a lie, but Trixie bought it. Kael had been checking if her large hips carried over across forms, though he had a feeling that since they didn’t seem out of place on her equine body that her large pony hips led to her having large Elven hips. Yes, he was thinking about the logic and science behind her behind. He would feel bad if not for the fact that she slept in underwear on top of him every night. This, he reasoned, was most definitely why he found himself falling for her at twice the speed he otherwise might have. Not only was her personality adorable, she was physically attracting him at all points of the day and then accidently flaunting herself because of her equine mentality. At least, he reasoned, he was the only one privy to this side of her. He was not quite sure he would like to share it. He only hoped these facts about her quirks did not spread, since it might ruin any reputation they were building for themselves. After defeating two more Harvest Watchers without any real difficulty the two made their way inside and prepared to take a rest. That was quite the task they just did, and it hurt like nothing else they Kael felt since they woke up, and the wound was about on par for Trixie with her humiliation against the Huntard previously. Oh the Huntard…Trixie was glad a more skilled Hunter put that Huntard in her place the last time they saw her. Justice, Trixie believed, though it was brought about by someone who might no longer be alive… Back at the Fairbreeze Inn Trixie and Kael had stayed at for some time there was quite the crowd gathered. Many Elves had lost their homes in the brief invasion as fighting waged across the city, and so the Inns were housing extra people who weren’t able to return home just yet. The cities carpenters and workers were working hard, but it would be a few days before people could return home. The Fairbreeze Inn ended up housing a few of the surviving military members in the city who were not at the hospital camps set up around the city, and if one were to be honest there were more members of the military being nursed back to health than there were those in good health because of how terribly their forces had been crushed by Kargath’s Orcs under the command of Prince Kael’thas. Some men hanging by the bar of the Inn were speaking about the two travelers who had earned some slight reputation from them being around two high ranking military officials before the invasion, which is why their words ended up playing a part in the building repute of Trixie and Kael. “You remember that guy who came through that the stuck up Hunter wanted a bounty on?” one military man laughed as he drank with his many friends. They were all getting their drinks and were going to take seat at a large round table set up to accommodate the extra guests when their conversation began. “Yeah, what about him? I didn’t really get to see his face because of the freaking bandana,” the second man complained about the hidden Kael who had slipped by them. The first man grinned wildly, remembering something for all of the wrong reasons, “You remember that girl that was with him?” “Oh boy, do I ever! Those hips were huge! I bet I couldn’t even take that backside of hers in with both hands if I tried,” a third man in their group laughed as he remembered Trixie, who was…differently proportioned from other Blood Elf women. Across the room, their conversation caught the ears of some other men who were playing Pool quietly by themselves. They just finished a game, making their tally equal for the day of wins and losses. No longer distracted by the game, they began to intently listen in on the raunchy men across the room. The first man spoke up again, “I hear she isn’t all that modest. Perhaps that loser won’t mind sharing her…” The fourth and final man in the original group winked to his friends as they all toasted a drink to the beautiful woman they all had noticed, “They were staying at this cheap inn too, so I bet she’d be willing to do quite a lot for a few silver pieces.” A second pool game did not begin as the raven haired man and the stocky blonde beside him each grit their teeth. Neither was anywhere near remotely okay with what they were hearing, and yet the other men continued to yak on and on about their perversion. Reuenthal grabbed Mitter’meyer’s shoulder and stopped him from approaching the profane group of men. They were both recovering from wounds sustained in the recent battle, and it would make a fight difficult. That was not the actual reason he halted Mitter’meyer though. He had a much better reason, and in no way was it because he did not want Mitter’meyer to discipline them with a barrage of fists. “Don’t. It will be seen as excessive force if you use the pool cue.” Mitter’meyer looked down to see that he had begun to wield the pool cue as a weapon. Realizing this, he put it down, and Reuenthal let go. They didn’t need a weapon, as proven by how later that day four more casualties were added to the official record. It was one thing to insult his majesty, a crime punishable in the harshest of manners, but it was another entirely to insult the lady of his majesty, even unknowingly. As the two men had their opponents dragged off to be healed at the medical camps, Reuenthal wondered to himself how Kael and his companion were faring in Westfall. It had been some time since he had visited it himself, and things were surely to have changed given that the Defias’s leadership had lost its head years back. Perhaps they could warm up their skills on the lowly Human bandits who could still be skulking around, or on those damned Mrgles or whatever their species was called. Fish people with less brains than the four men now in the hospital. Mitter’meyer was less worried because his faith in his lord, and so he instead was more chipper as he thought about going home, “Reuenthal, care to come over for dinner? Evangelin probably has put together something nice, and I have had enough of this bar for one night.” Reuenthal dispelled his thoughts and shook his head no, “Sorry, Mitter’meyer. I do not possess your speed, and so I can only do tasks so swiftly. I have other matters to attend to.” His old fashioned friend put his hands on his hips and gave Reuenthal a knowing look. This again. “Does this ‘matter’ have dark or light hair?” “Light,” Reuenthal smirked, knowing that he had been caught. He was going to be spending the evening with some woman. “It was dark days ago! Why must you swap lovers every week?!” “Week? I think you are undervaluing my skill.” Mitter’meyer scoffed and shook his head. He closed his eyes to further show his disapproval, “I hope you’ll drop this debauchery one day…we have few enough people as it is, it won’t do if you hog all the ladies of our race!” When he finished he opened his eyes again to find that he was all alone. “Hey, where did you go? Reuenthal? Reuenthal! I wasn’t done lecturing you yet about family values!”