Varrona Chapters

Chapter 1

How I Met The Over Excitable Paladin

I guess you could say I’m timid. I generally seem to come across and cold or mute, but I prefer it that way. I never was chatty and I don’t intend to start now. I would also like to thank some of the lower class Blood Elves for the reputation they have painted for all of us. Really I’m grateful! Hand over my chest here THANK YOU! Needless to say being quiet and spiteful didn’t make me many friends with the Horde.

I was trying to sell some items I had created when a very rude and particularly smelly troll thought it would be fun to taunt me. I had no idea how or what I did to insult him but the vendor was no help, they never are. This troll took one of my items and proceeded to try and sell it to the vendor for his own profit, when I asked him, quietly, to return the item to me he replied by grabbing me and lifting me out of his way to the vendor who was, again, no help.

I saw a plate fist come out of no where, hitting the troll square in the jaw. A female elf, clearly of the Blood Knight persuasion stood before the troll with a raised brow and defiant smile. “You might want to rethink stealing, buddy. I saw the whole thing and I know you weren’t just being nice enough to sell the item for her.”

The troll snarled something at her. She replied by pulling out a gun shaped device, pointing it at him, and pulling a very brightly colored trigger. The troll shrunk to the size of a small cat and the item I was trying to sell was plucked out of the air by the woman and handed to me.

I muttered a quiet thank you, trying not to stare at the Elf. She was rather tall, and very well built for a female, intimidating. Or, rather, she would have been if her hair wasn’t navy blue. She had her gun looking shrinking device casually slung over her shoulder as she giggled at the tiny troll now trying to kick her plate boots. She stood there smiling at me for a few very uncomfortable seconds before asking my name and why my eyes were so incredibly green. “Varrona. Born green.” I muttered as I sold my items, but she didn’t leave. As I turned away from the vendor, no help, she stepped in front of me. “Varrona right? Well I’m going to call you V. You seem... a little soft to be wandering Orgrimmar all by your lonesome, and I see you have no guild colors. You should consider joining mine. The people are pretty nice actually and you could definitely use some protection. A lowly troll almost just walked off with your gold. Heck they might enjoy having an elf that doesn’t talk their ears off like I do, you do actually talk right?” The troll had given up kicking her and wandered off though her boot did now have a noticeable wet spot. Yuck. “Yes,” I replied, completely taken aback by her words and how she didn’t seem to breathe when she spewed them. “I speak. Just not as much as you.” “Well I would hope not!” She smirked and circled around me putting a very heavy arm on my shoulders causing me to trip. “Oops sorry! My Light you are tiny!” I sighed wondering if the troll stealing from me would have been worth it after all. I looked up at her trying to figure out what if anything I could say to not insult her. “Look V, yup, calling you V, we are a nice bunch. No smelly trolls.” She giggled like a child, “We do have our fair share of Death Knights though, but I’ve learned to adore them. The guild leader is a big teddy bear of an Orcy Death Knight, we will have to have you meet him. Please?” I didn’t realize it at the time but she had steered me right to the Orgrimmar bank, stepping up to the teller she opened her guild’s vault grabbing a tabbard. “V?” I looked at her a few long moments, I wanted to say no. I really didn’t want to offend this girl though, she had been so nice punching a troll in the face, “O-Okay fine.” “GREAT!” She clapped with a little too much excitement, jumping off the ground a bit before leaping forward and hugging me, correction, crushing me. She jerked back and forth as she hugged me, lifting me clear off the ground, “Oh this is so exciting! We need new members!” I immediately started to rethink my decision as she put me down. I started rubbing the back of my neck. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” She laughed and smiled, handing me the tabbard. “OH! Did I even tell you my name?” “No, I don’t believe you did.” She threw her head back and laughed, hands on her hips, I could help but become intimidated by her vibrant personality, “Name’s Spynx. Paladin of the Light. Not Bloodknight! Didn’t have to kill anyone to learn to bring them back.” She extended a hand that I was slightly hesitant to take. I took her plate gauntlet covered hand bracing for a good crush to my delicate fingers. Her handshake was firm but not crushing. Breathing a sigh of relief my hand fell back to my side. “Very adamant about not being a Blood Knight.” “The Light was very adamant in keeping me semi pure of their what I like to call douchebaggery. You know that is the longest sentence you’ve said since we met!” I cleared my throat, wow she was blunt. “Not much of a talker.” “It’s fine! I am!” She chuckled and crossed her arms blowing a wisp of blue hair out of her face. Spynx pulled a small device out of her pocket as we turned to leave the bank, “You’ll need this too. Comm system. We have a goblin that made talking mechanical squirrels but I find I don’t like critters following me around.” She giggled, “OH you’ll like him! Mekro is absolutely adorable!” I arched a brow finding it hard to think of a goblin as ‘adorable’ and took the device. “So... How do I use this?” Spynx took the device from my hand with a slight smile, gently placing it around my ear. “There no one can see that you have a comm in your ear but if you touch the flat part behind your earring you can talk and hear the rest of us!” I nodded, knowing I would probably never use the device. I felt it with my fingers all the same, it wasn’t completely uncomfortable but it would probably still end up being removed as soon as she was gone. “Let’s get a drink.” “What?” “Drink, you know. There is a nice bar across from the bank, they have the BEST stuff.” “I don’t drink.” Spynx laughed steering me out the door anyway, “Well how do you hydrate yourself?” “I mean, I don’t drink alcohol.” I didn’t know how else to explain to her without sounding anymore pathetic than I had already made myself out to be today that I had never drank alcohol in my short life. “Well lucky for you they don't serve just the booze. Come on, let’s get to know each other guildie!” She grinned at him so innocently I couldn’t say know I just blindly followed her across the Valley of Strength to the bar. I was surprised at how few people there were in the bar when we got there, then again it wasnt too late in the afternoon. We sat at one of the tables in the corner and Spynx went to get beverages. She returned a few moments later with a glass of sun fruit juice for me and some odd green looking liquid for herself. “Do I want to know what you have?” I couldn't’ help but wonder what was in her glass. “Frog something. It’s surprisingly good. I don't ask what’s in it, all I know is a troll makes it.” Spynx took a sip from it, grinning at me. I sipped my juice, I had never been good at starting or contributing to conversation and I was hesitant to start here. I smiled, “Thank you for the juice.” Then returned to looking around the bar. “It’s no problem. So tell me about yourself. You seem so sheltered, have you been a kept woman broke free of her master’s grasp?” “What?” I had no idea what she was talking about at first, “No, I just tend to live quietly. Why don’t you tell me about you. I am sure your life is much more interesting than mine.” “Ha!” She took another sip of her frog drink, I couldn’t help but stifle a grimace imagining what that must taste like. “Well, I am originally from Falcon Wing.. Poor side. My mother was a literal whore. Lovely stories could be told of my childhood but I prefer not to be so cruel to myself and relive those memories.” “Fair enough. So how did you become a Paladin?” I was honestly interested in how she got her power over the light without abusing it as so many of our kin had. “It’s pretty unbelievable, when I tell most people that refuse to believe me and I can’t really blame them.” She tilted her head to the side a moment, “Remember when the scourge ruined our lands and we all fled to the Outlands?” “Yes.” There was a memory I wasn’t soon to forget. “Well I was young, and not really useful for anything. I had never been to school and I had no natural affinity for anything magical. I was basically put into hard labor. No one cared about me and I returned the favor.” She stopped for a moment thinking. “We will skip the hard bits, I just got sick of it and left. I had no survival skills at all so you can imagine how successful I was out on my own, wandering in the wilds of Terrokar.” “You were alone?” I propped my chin up on my hands listening to her. The woman had a way about her when she spoke that you couldn’t help but listen. I flickered my eyes around the room realizing I wasn't the only one who had noticed her. She didn't seem to see any of them though, or care. “I basically, with no fighting ability, got overrun by wolves. I honestly don’t remember many of the details but this bright light coming out of no where and scaring them off. The next thing I know I am waking up in a strange room, on a strange bed, surrounded by even stranger beings. The Aldor.” She stopped a moment eyeing me carefully. “Now I know this sounds really really strange, I mean at the time we were enemies. Sometimes I think it was as strange for them, but the Light sent one of their guards to me and it must have been the Light that told him to spare me and bring me back.” I watched her as she told the story, her eyes told only of honestly and a bit of fear. It was the first time I had ever seen such emotion in her, while I still found the tale almost too unbelievable to believe I let her continue. The girl could talk. “I spent weeks with them, learning a bit of their language, culture, and how to use the Light. They were as shocked as I was when it seemed to come to me so naturally. I found myself to be a natural born healer, I still struggle with using the light offensivly. I use it best to protect those I care for or heal.” She shrugged and finished her drink. “That is amazing, hard to believe but still amazing.” “I know. I get a bit of slack for it, but I don’t care. I am still no Draenei lover. The Aldor are above the Draenei that joined the Alliance. It saddens me that because their ship crashed in Night Elf territory they just joined up with the first people they met.” She shrugged. “I learned a lot from the Aldor. When I returned to Azeroth a few years ago I had a whole new outlook on life. I traveled and met some fine creatures in Ratchet. I usually stay away from Sin’Dori towns. Still filled with too many rich snobs.” I cleared my throat when she said that, I had been one of those rich snobs she spoke of. “So what about you? It’s your turn.” She looked at me expectantly. “Well.. I.” I looked down at my glass, now empty. “I grew up with a nice enough family. It’s boring.” “Oh come on.” I sighed, I didn't want to offend her with what I was. I didn't think she would exactly like that I was once one of the wealthiest elves in Silvermoon, or rather, my family was. “Boring really. Schooling was about it.” “So you were rich?” “I-” I looked down, I really hadn’t wanted to offend her, “Yes. Knowing what I know now I was ungrateful and the life was horrible.” “How could it have been so bad?” “With money comes insane expectations. I was groomed to be a perfect little wife. My husband hand selected for me when I was a girl, then I had the misfortune of setting my wedding day to be the day the Scourge stormed through our lands.” “So you lost your entire family, life, and wealth?” She was watching me with a look of almost understanding. I suppose she and I had both suffered great loss by the invasion. I had to stop and wonder why I was only now realizing the faults of my society. “Yes. I am pretty sure they are all dead. I escaped with the few others to Outlands but.. I don’t even know what I would do if I found any of them alive. I have changed so much.” “Wouldn’t it be romantic if your fiance happened to say.. Enter the bar and sweep you off your feet?” “If that were possible I suppose but my fiance viewed me as little more than breathing property. I suppose I would have to go with him though, even though my family never lived to use the money, his parent paid a great deal of gold for our bethrothal and my well being growing up.” “Well that sucks,” She turned around scanning the bar, “Well no elves in here besides us. If he does show up, let me know. If you don’t want to go with him I’ll shrink him!” “I don’t think I have a choice Spynx.” “V. It’s not how it was anymore. You have clearly changed or you and I wouldnt be talking. No one owns you. Ever. That isn’t right.” She sat back and crossed her arms. It was really odd to see her so serious, very intimidating. I nodded, I really had nothing to say, but I sure had a lot to think about. I suppose she was right but I couldn't help but question if I even had the right. Time’s had changed but it didn’t change that his parent had still paid for me. It was dishonorable to offend them so in death, then again he might be dead too. Spynx tilted her head to the side, “Hey cheer up, he is probably dead anyway. I do know a few single men I could put your way. Are you opposed to orcs?” All I could do was blink. Did she really just say orc? “Guess not. Then again you are a bit too small for an orc... Even though I know just the runty little charming orc for you!” “Stop, please. I’m not interested in set ups.” “Alright fine. Well If you need me use the comm, though I am sure you and I will see more of each other. I know this awesome spot for relaxing that I have been dying to show someone. We will have to go sometime.” She took a quick breath standing. “For now though I have to go play pet healer to some of the other guildies. See you around V!” I sat there alone for a few long minutes after she left. I had never willingly told anyone that much personal information before. I looked down at the tabbard I had placed on the table and put it gently into one of my bags. This was certainly the oddest day I had lived through in a while. I set a few coins down on the table and left for the night.