She stood quietly on the dock in Keel Harbor as she awaited the Pearl Queen, fresh from her victory over the Seaking off Freehold. Though in the opposite direction, Captain Pellerin had promised to transport Dame Catherine and her party to Khaz Algar. The main fleet had already departed, leaving those like herself to catch up.
Just before leaving her home in Gilneas City, she had received a message from the Dragon Isles.
I hope this reaches you well. I hear you and your people have returned to your homeland and begun rebuilding. If I can ever endure traveling beyond the isles, I would like to see this Gilneas myself some day. But the thought of being on one of your wooden sea-craft makes my hooves turn to stone, so I will stick to what I know.
With Fyrakk dead and peace restored, it looks like we are all returning to “what we know”. For me, it’s hunting with Tomul and her band. There are still the remnants of the Primalists and their allies here, but they are but whispers in a storm now. I hope it is the same for whatever has troubled your land.
Go with Ohn’ahra’s grace, Eirena of Gilneas, and know that you will always be welcome in Maruukai.
Shiban of Clan Shikaar
“Cosmic thoughts, Eirena?”
Eirena Valmy turned to see Catherine standing there. “Not quite so far away… or long ago.” She explained the message from Shiban, the centaur hunter she had met in Maruukai during the Dragonscale Expedition.
Catherine nodded, noticing the Gilnean huntress still wore the Shikaar banner he gave her. “Would that all of our time was spent so… constructively.” She looked around. “Things seem to be moving along here.”
“One day at a time, they often say.” Eirena ran her gauntleted fingers through the fur of Leatho, her hunting bakar - another friend she had made in Maruukai. “I feel like there’s something else I should be doing here, but I know there’s not. I’m a creature of the wild, Catherine, even without the curse.”
“I know the feeling. It’s been much the same for me since Northrend, when I was a priestess in the Cathedral. Going to the front made me start questioning myself. After the Broken Shore, my decision was made - I wanted to fight for the Alliance, not just pray for it. So I went and joined the Silver Hand.”
Eirena’s head tilted. “No regrets?”
The paladin snorted. “Don’t I wish…” She sobered. “There are a lot of people I wish had been, or still were, with us. Eran, of course… Saavedro, my old mentor, no matter what he became… my parents. They died when I was a teenager. If only they had stayed dead.” At Eirena’s curious glance, she explained, “They had been in Lordaeron for trade when the Scourge came, and were among those taken by the plague. Then they ended up with the Forsaken, as part of the expeditionary forces during the Cataclysm, before they were killed.”
Eirena was horrified. “Killed here… during the invasion.”
Catherine nodded, her good eye glistening as she looked towards the sea, spotting the Pearl Queen in the distance. “I never found out until much later, of course.” She sighed. “They devoted their lives to two things - their family, and the pursuit of success. The latter was what got them killed.”
Eirena’s eyebrows rose. “Seeking success is a bad thing?”
“No. But letting it become an all-encompassing goal is. Our failures shape us as much as our successes do. Our pain as much as our joy. You know this as well as anyone.”
“Aye… I keep thinking, for all the life choices he made, that Eldred should have lived to see… this.” Eirena indicated the landscape around her. “I’m sure some amnesty would have been made for his actions during the rebellion. Now… now I’ll never know.” Her elder brother had been a warlock, banished from the Gilnean enclave in Darnassus for murdering a city guardsman in a panic during the worgen crisis, and then banished from Darnassus because of his use of dark magic. He had been killed in Tyrhold by the Eightfold Path, his essence used to resurrect the eredar warlock who now acted as its true mastermind. When Gilneas was liberated, Eirena had brought Eldred’s remains to Aderic’s Repose for burial.
Whatever he had been, whatever he had done, he was still the only family she had had left. Now she had no ties of blood - only those with brethren in arms like Catherine. And Shiban, come to think of it…
The Pearl Queen came up to the dock. Captain Pellerin stepped from the wheel and raised her voice. “All aboard who’s coming aboard!”