An Awakening (Epilogue)

Somewhere in southern Kalimdor:

She lay quietly, her head nuzzled against his neck as he stroked along her spine with a large hand. She mumbled into his neck, "You are so good to me."

"Mmm. You are so good to be good to."

After a moment, she raised up to look at him. "Not to derail the mood, but I wondered something..."

"Well, it's too late now – better finish the question. I'll answer it if I can." He grinned slyly at her.

"The other day, you hinted that you had been in a serious relationship before. What... happened?"

He sighed. "That is a long story – even longer than the story of Lith." He paused for a moment. "I'll see if I can break it down to a brief overview."

"We were intended for one another from a young age. Not an arranged marriage or anything – we just knew that we would be together. She was a Tauren from our village, a warrior. We spent every possible moment together."

"About the time that I ventured to the Moonglade for the first time, her brother was slain in a skirmish with the Scourge, somewhere in the Plaguelands. Fomaru was... she came unhinged after that. We started fighting over the most petty things, and she would stay away for days at a time."

"I eventually learned that she was spending a lot of time in the Undercity, and venturing out from there to the Plaguelands in search of her brother's killers. To me, one undead was no better or worse than another – not that you can tell the difference between them anyway. When she did come home, she chafed against home life and wanted to return to the battlefield. I was in druidic training with Hamuul Runetotem, and could not – did not want to – go halfway across the world on her personal crusade."

"This was in the early days of the Scourge, when people were still talking more of the Burning Legion than the new threat rising in the east. I don't think that many of us really understood what a massive threat they were, or would become."

"Fomaru became a mighty warrior, but she was driven by something... unnatural. We saw each other less and less, and it seemed that each time we left one another in an even worse state."

"Finally, about ten years ago, she did not return. I waited for news, but I knew that something awful must have happened. Eventually, I followed different clues and trails all the way to the Eastern Plaguelands, to Light's Hope Chapel, trying to find out what had happened."

He was silent for several minutes. She waited patiently. Eventually he continued. "She had become one of the death knights – one of the Lich King's personal army of warriors. I don't know how it happened, how she was turned. She remained loyal to the Lich King when the battle of Light's Hope Chapel resulted in the splintering of the death knight order. She ended up in Northrend, a staunch supporter of the Lich King and a leader of Scourge battalions in Icecrown. I never saw her again."

He paused in thought again. "Northrend was hard for me. I joined the Argent Crusade, eventually reaching the rank of Crusader. But every day I feared that I would see her across the battlefield. I knew what I must do if that happened, but I feared it. I didn't know if I could destroy my one-time lover, even though nothing of that person, the woman I had loved, existed any longer."

"I never set foot within the Citadel. I understood – felt – the vehement hatred toward the Lich King, but revenge... it was not in my destiny to bring it. Every day in Northrend, it felt like my soul froze just a little bit more." He shuddered. "That's why I spend so much time in Tanaris and Uldum now – they warm me up. They are regions that are as polar opposite to Icecrown as possible."

She kissed him gently on the nose. "Thank you."

He looked at her with unspoken questions in his eyes. For what?

"For telling me all of that. It says a lot about a person, that they can unburden their souls without being a burden."

"I think that's what led me to adopt Lith..."

"... a burden? I'll tell her you said that."

"No, you won't – I still have to translate between the two of you, remember? But, no, that wasn't what I meant. When I found Lith, she was about the same age as Fomaru was when we first met. She still had that wide-eyed innocence – that joy of discovery – that Fomaru did when we were young. I wanted to pour myself into her, to see her grow into the young woman that Fomaru could have been. Should have been. The wonderful young woman that Lith has become."

She sighed and snuggled back down against his chest.

"Speaking of being a burden..." He poked her gently in the ribs. She squealed and pushed his hand away. "I've told my story. What about yours?"

She groaned. "My story is so boring compared to yours. Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl loves boy, boy leaves girl for girl's best friend whom he meets under a silvery moon that then explodes for no good reason."

"Did it fall on him?"

"No, more's the pity for that. I have not seen him in months, but he has not acknowledged my existence for years – pretty much since the day after we slept together. Oddly enough, his relationship with her didn't last any longer than with me. She went the other way from me, though – she has turned into an adrenaline and excitement junkie, always looking for her next conquest. I'd rather curl up by the fire with a good book and someone I love. Though now, I've got other ideas for what could be done in front of the fire."

She winked at him.