Make a Wish

"I know.

"I'm sorry.

"It was just real important to help Miss Freyara out, Mezzy. She's one of our few friends, who trust us, and helps us, and she's helped us so many times, it was only right for us to come to her aid when she needed it.

"That's real important, Mezzy. It's the difference, I guess. In the Cathedral on Sundays, they talk about what you should do ...

"But tonight, tonight we were just not talking about it ...

"We were actually doin' it.  Can you understand that?"

The two companions were in Kharanos, late at night, beneath the sable sky. The stars above were scattered like diamonds, the snow below shimmering in the soft moonlight. Alone on a small hill, overlooking the trail, the little gnome lass stood. She watched, as torch carrying messengers passed along the trail, carrying important missives between Ironforge and the outposts of Loch Modan. In the distance, through the cool dry air, the grumblings of the striders at depot could be heard, as well as the occassional growl of a snowcat hunting.

The big blue voidwalker drifted at the lass' side, his bracers reflecting a gentle blue and gold in the starlight. As she spoke, her breath frosted, the night air cool and crisp.

"I guess, well, I sometimes even I don't understand it. Every one talks about high morality, of lofty words and principles. Of good and evil and balance, and chaos and order.

"And that Their way, is somehow, good ... and everyone else is somehow wrong."

Looking down, she scuffed the snow with one boot.

"And yet, every night, I hear the alarm bells ring in Stormwind, or Lakeshire or Astranaar. I remember that quiet refuge, in the Ashenvale Forest, when we walked in to see the dryad's blood staining the fine wood floors and we knew something beautiful had been forever lost.

"Or when we sit in the tavern in Southshore, listening to the knights and squires and mages laugh and raise a glass, to toast their swords and all the blood they spilled at the nearby mill.

"Something's not quite right, Mezzy. And I can't quite fit the cogs together to make a workin' gadget."

She hugged herself, arms wrapping tight. Her garb was heavy, protective, collected from Ratchet to Booty Bay to new gloves gifted from a rare friend.

"I don't claim to be smart or philosophical. Or wise enough to tell other folks what to do - and yet I look at these fine words and overlay them upon the world in which we live, and they don't quite fit.

"We are at war. We see it every day. In the craters, the corpses, the broken war machines, the haunting of the Legion.  And we can't help but know that all they are doing is licking their wounds and preparing for their next invasion.

"I have heard one person speak of honor, sacrifice, the courage of oneself to stand before darkness, and prevail.

"And yet, that is how we live, Mezzy.

"You and me.

"Every day.

"How many times have we put ourselves into harms way, because it was the right thing to do? How many times have we been blasted to the spirit plane so that another might breathe and hold on a few minutes longer?

"And how many times have I had to look into those fel burning fires and say, no, you can't have him. To remind Them that you, Mezzy, you are my friend and you stand with me. Not Them.

"And yet there is a city full of folk who would send us to the abyss, with a cruel hatred as deep as those they claim to fight.

"Maybe I am too simple, too pragmatic, but I live here, in the mountains of Kharanos.  Our world, however, is a world of war crafted from experience ... and not a world of words that only exists in the breath of a voice, as hard to grasp as smoke, as hard to hold onto as the memory of a dream upon waking.

"I remember hearing that mercy is to be lauded, but for the wicked the path of salvation is bought with pain.

"But you know Mezzy, we've heard that before.

"Spoken to us, by a man of the cloth, I guess. He was wearin' bright fancy robes, just like the archbishop in tha Cathedral in Stormwind.

"Last night in fact.

"Up in tha Scarlet Monastery."

Rubbing her upper arms with her small hands, the small movement added a touch of warmth against the winter's night.

"In the end, Mezzy, I think it is very simple.

"Gods, demons, light and shadow ...

"We, me and you, we don't need beliefs in them. Gods and demons, they exist. That's a fact.

"We can summon them.

"Light and shadow are magics. Tools for healing and hurting.

"And in the end, what is important is not what you believe in.

"What's important is what you do with those beliefs."

"And that is what makes all the difference in all the worlds."

The Alliance warlock shrugged her shoulders.  Her quiet gaze rose to the clear midnight sky.

"Oh Mezzy look!

"A shooting star!

"Make a wish ..."