The Line in the Sand

Ironforge Region
Kharanos Sector, Divine Order Encampment
2050 Hours

The fire crackled in the cold night, throwing its flickering light and, more importantly, its heat a short distance around the small clearing between the trees. Two bedrolls were laid out beside it along with packs and excess equipment used for long-range hiking and camping. Nearby two figures sat on a log, the firelight illuminating the shapes of an elf and a human woman as they tended to their weapons.

Silver eyes glowing in the dim light, Erawyn was carefully checking the fletching on several of her arrows, ensuring that each was perfectly balanced and that they would fly true. Next to her, Belleri had her rifle laid out across her lap, a soft cloth in her hand rubbing oil along the firing mechanism to ensure that it would operate with a smooth motion. Now and then she would run the cloth down the barrel, polishing and cleaning it with a long-practiced motion.

The raven-haired woman and silver-haired elf sat in silence as they worked, no words necessary between them. Their mission against the leper gnomes in the valley below had been completed earlier that day, and they had returned to the Divine Order's encampment where the assault had been staged only an hour or so before.

The silence was broken by the cracking of branches as someone approached the little fire. Almost instantly both women subtly shifted, Erawyn's hand reaching down and pulling a dagger and Belleri's hand straying to the scatter-shot pistol she kept on her hip. The two relaxed a moment later when a figure trudged through the snow outside of the perimeter, the shape resolving itself in the fire's light to be one of the Order's warriors. The man smiled as he approached, his black tabard with golden bell emblazoned on the chest glittering in the firelight.

"Evening ladies!" he said happily. "Just heard you two came back so I thought I'd see if you wanted to share a meal or a tale!"

Neither woman responded, each resuming their tasks, checking and cleaning their weapons as the man sat on another nearby log. He grunted as he settled himself down, still grinning, "Aww come-on now! You've gotta have some downtime. We've got sentries out and you just returned from a mission!"

Erawyn shook her head as she placed another arrow in her quiver, "No, we need to be ready in case we're called on again. We didn't come here to enjoy a friendly fire and a campout."

As Belleri nodded, the man frowned and shook his head in turn, "Are you saying you don't think this camp is secure? I can assure you that the lads on watch will not falter while you rest."

Belleri sighed, her hand still polishing the rifle's barrel, "We will set our own watch here. We've seen enough casualties as the result of careless defenses to last us a lifetime."

The man looked at Belleri, his eyes boring into her own brown orbs as his frown deepened, "You should have more faith in the rest of us. Besides, the way I hear it, your last mission had quite a few casualties. Talk is that you drilled one of our own women with that rifle of yours there."

The hand running across the rifle's barrel stopped in mid-motion as Belleri met his gaze, "That would be correct sir." There was no emotion in her tone, no hint of regret or sorrow but also no anger. The man sat back a little, looking at her curiously.

"You're alright with that? It doesn't eat you up that you shot a companion?" he asked, his voice curious rather than hostile.

Belleri looked back down at her rifle, her dark hair partially obscuring her face as she went back to work polishing the weapon, "I do my duty for the Alliance. Sometimes that means people don't come back. The woman had been corrupted by an Old God's magic and presented a threat to the mission. There is no right or wrong to it, it just is. The mission must be completed. How I feel about that is irrelevant."

The man blinked, staring at the ranger with wide eyes, "Don't you ever turn off? You can't be on guard all of the time, nor on duty. Don't you have any downtime? You can't sacrifice your entire life for a cause."

Erawyn snorted, her mirth more sarcastic than amused, "You don't get it do you? This is who we are and what we do. The Alliance needs our skills, and we do our duty so that others don't have to make that choice."

The solider nodded as the elf spoke but then spoke out in disagreement, "That's all well and good for you to say, since you will have hundreds of years to live your life when your duty is done, but she's only got so many, and she's going to waste the bulk of them in war if she doesn't shut down now and then."

Belleri looked up, a serious expression on her face, "Erawyn's sacrifice is greater than my own. You make a mistake when you think otherwise. We will both die in war, serving our country, serving the Alliance. She will lose far more years than I when this happens. It is inevitable, like the rising sun at dawn. The question is only whether or not we can make enough of a difference and secure peace and strength for the Alliance before we do."

The man looked at Belleri critically now, shaking his head as if sad, "What a waste. You're a pretty lass. Could have a family, a home at some point in the years to come. You'll have nothing but a grave far too early if that's how you think."

Erawyn angrily shoved an arrow into her quiver, shooting the man a glare. "Understand this. We serve the Alliance because we believe in something greater than ourselves. We believe in hope for the future, in justice for our people, and in security for our loved ones and those who cannot defend themselves. The Alliance is not some notion to be cast off when it becomes inconvenient. It is not something that will remain alive without the blood and hearts of those whom it encompasses. It is who we are. It is what shelters us, what protects us from the darkness. It is the line in the sand that is drawn against those who would slay our families. The line where we say 'here is where there will be no more, where we will tolerate our foes no longer'. The Alliance is our mother and father, our family, friends, and loved ones, and we are PROUD to give our lives for it if need be."

The man rose, seemingly unsettled by the anger and strength in the elf's words, "I d-didn't mean to offend you. I s-see that I probably should be going. Sorry ladies. If you change your minds, me and the lads have a camp just down the hill to the east."

Belleri didn't bother to look up, still cleaning her weapon, "Just go."

The man offered a stiff bow and then turned and trudged away through the snow. Once he was gone, quiet fell over the camp again, the two women saying nothing to one another. After a time, they finished cleaning and preparing their weapons, brown eyes meeting silver eyes and all the communication needed passing through a simple glance and several short words."I'll take first watch," Erawyn said, ignoring the fact that the camp was surrounded by sentries.

Belleri nodded, her face expressionless, "Good hunting."

The elf grinned and snapped off a salute before trotting away, her last words drifting in the cold air, "Always is."

Belleri walked over to her bedroll, kicking off her boots and laying with her face towards the fire, letting the warmth soak into her beneath the fur covering. Although she knew she should sleep since she was on second watch, her eyes stared into the dancing flames for a long time, not seeing them. Instead she saw the face of the priestess she'd killed in blackfathom and the blood on the ground from her corpse. After a time, she managed to shrug off the nagging memory. Confident that Erawyn was properly guarding the camp, she drifted off into a fitful slumber.

Sometimes duty was a heavy burden to bear indeed.