Well Intentioned (From the Blackhilt Vault)

[Nokha]

Well Intentioned

Autumn sat quiet and somber in the abandoned fortress. Her leg bounced impatiently whilst crossed over the other. The warmth of the distant fire licked at her face. She toyed with a quill in her right hand, a stack of papers in her lap. The druid gazed down at the paper, reviewing each item in order.

Provisions:
Food -NONE!
Clothing -DWINDLING!
First Aid Supplies -Good thing Skavannah is here, OUT!
Ammunition for the sharpshooters. -Also dwindling.

Autumn sat and stared at the list, coming to the realization that the Wardens’ were not correctly prepared for this mission into the Foothills. She scratched at the list. leaving one last note.

**Visit Stromgarde**

~~~~

The druid woke in the same chair before the flickering fire. On it’s last hot breaths, Autumn stood, and walked over to it, taking a log and stoking the embers, placing the log right on top. The crackling and popping of the fire as it began to slowly engulf the log didn’t muffle the footsteps from the upstairs corridor. Quickly, Autumn sidestepped into the corner of the room, the shadows engulfing her and hiding her from the eyes of the prying human that came down the steps. Only her amber orbs pierced the shadows.

Wearing a red and white tabard, the man searched the room. He paced around, gun drawn, looking for any signs of life. Autumn watched curiously as the man looked around the spacious room, not finding anything, he paced back up the stairs and out of the bunker.

Autumn followed him out, her leathers muffling her footsteps. “He must have been looking for the Gnomish brigand. Too bad they abandoned their post here.” She thought to herself.

A hand fell on her shoulder as she paced back inside the bunker, a feral growl escaped her and she turned to viciously swipe with her hand, she stops abruptly, her eyes soften as she moves to simply cup his cheek with her hand.

“Careful!” Taelyren exclaimed, “It’s just me!”

Autumn sighed. “By Elune, Taelyren… The spirits have me paranoid.”

The Commander of the Wardens’ nodded, his hand gripping her shoulder tightly. “You are okay.”

Autumn gazed up into his eyes a worried glare.

“Aye, but we will not make it another week out here if we do not get supplies coming in again. Opide has been missing for some time now, and her supplies to us are valuable beyond belief. Look at our stores, they are dwindling, and our meal last night was the last of the food rations. Taelyren, we need to go into Stromgarde and fetch supplies.”

“Shh.” He cooed, attempting to calm the druidess. “So? Let us fetch supplies from the Kingdom. I’m sure they have some to part with.”

“We also have no gold to spare.”

“Right.” He sighs, pacing before her.

Autumn watched him pace for some time, a smirk toyed at the corners of her lips. She reached and rested her hand on his shoulder, allowing it to slip and grip around his upper arm. “The least we could do is ask for a… loan of some sort.” Her inflection was one of mischief, and not one of curiosity. Taelyren couldn’t tell the difference and rolled his shoulders.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Come, lets go.”

Autumn smiled, and tugged him along, nearly tripping him up the stairs. Their sabers awaited them outside the bunker, feeding on a fresh kill of a doe. Together, Taelyren and Autumn tacked up their mounts.

The Druid heaved up onto the saddle, not quite making it, a healing rib was still bothering her. She lead her saber to a fallen log, mounting it and then plopping down into her saddle.

"I could have helped you." Taelyren remarked, a look of frustration playing on his face as he watched his co-commander struggle.

The druidess waved her hand through the air, dismissing the idea. "Never mind that."

She tangled her fingers in the mane of her moonsaber, urging it forward with a mumbled word in Darnassian. Taelyren did the same, and they, together, traversed the path up and around Dun Garok into the Arathi Highlands. They left their sabers at the road, continuing up the ruined cobblestone that lead to Stromgarde. The heavy stone gates were shut. Autumn caught herself with mouth agape at how amazing this keep is, and only imagined what it was like years ago...

As they closed in on the gate, Autumn reached out and knocked three heavy times.

"Uh! Arathorians?! We are the Blackhilt Wardens, stationed in Dun Garok, we seek supplies from a vendor, if you have any!" Autumn shouted, up and hoping her voice reached over the gate.

The gate clicked and then whined as it swung open, a human in golden and white armor with his red and white tabard poked from the crack in the door.

"Hello!" He exclaimed with a warm smile. "Welcome to Stromgarde, uh, the vendors are in the most southwest corner. You might be able to catch them, it is getting late." He ushered them into the gate and begun walking them up the path.

"We need food and first aid, first and foremost." Autumn explained. "Our sharpshooters are also out of ammunitions."

The human nodded, "We do not have any ammunitions here for sale, but you will find your other needs down this path here."

He pointed down the southern path and left them to be.

Autumn looked at Taelyren with a gleam in her eye and then frowned.

"We forgot to ask for the loan!"

He shrugged. "We will make our plea to the vendor."

They made their way into a closing vendor strip, although it seemed as there wasn't many vendors at all. At the very end, in a small cul-de-sac, was a single vendor that was still tending his stall.

Taelyren approached him first, and the man seemed startled at the sight of a Kaldorei.

"Sir, we need some supplies but don't have the gold to fund them. Could we have some supplies to make it through the week and we will bring you the money later!"

The shopkeeper was clearly upset at even the mentioning of the idea and he slapped his hand on the table in front of him. Behind Taelyren, Autumn slunk into the shadows, taking on the form of a great panther.

"What do you think I'm running here?!" The shopkeeper hollered at Taelyren, and he sulked over himself. "A charity?!"

"No, I-"

"Get out of here! Only paying custo-"

Autumn charged forward out of the shadows, headbutting the shopkeeper into the wall, the blow knocked him out instantly. Being unable to speak Autumn stared at Taelyren as if saying 'Grab and run!'

She herself sifted through his pockets, leaving the gold at his side but taking his clothing for bandage creation.

Taelyren looked at Autumn in shock, then smirked, "I think I love you." He smiled, playfully admitting his love for the Druid.

They ran, Taelyren's arms and bags full of food, and Autumn's maw full of clothing, they rushed as fast as they could out of Stromgarde, mounting their sabers and quickly returned to Dun Garok before the shopkeeper awakened.