The city was dark, with only the street lamps to provide pools of illumination. Beckyann enjoyed this time of day in Stormwind, when most of the citizens had gone home to their evening meals and beds and she could walk the streets with less fear of being harassed by the living. She made her way down the canal district, deciding that she could take a short cut near the Cathedral given the time of day. Dressed in one of her elegant silver and black dresses and sporting her green tinted glasses, she looked like any other woman who lived in the city. In the evening hours, her disguise tended to work even better, and she rarely got more than a polite nod from passing Stormwind guards.
Turning through one of the tunnels that lead to the Cathedral Square, Beckyann made a right, heading towards the side of the square that connected to the Dwarven District. She'd just returned to Stormwind only to find that the 1113th headquarters there was in less than satisfactory condition. It seemed some of the ghouls had not only scattered and confused many of the files, but one of them had actually consumed some of the office supplies including most of the paper, a majority of the quills, and much of the writing ink. Given that the new 'General' of the 1113th had charged Beckyann with attending to him in the city, she had set out to put in orders for replacement materials from local sources to avoid any long-term interruption in his work.
Secretly, the blonde death knight found the chaos in the office amusing. It was clear that someone had either ordered the ghouls to create the havoc or had simply not given them any commands at all, leaving them to their own devices. She knew that she certainly had not provided them with any instructions before heading out on her errand to Brill the day before.
Lost in her thoughts, Beckyann strolled past the orphanage that had been erected to one side of the cathedral, her boots clicking on the smooth cobblestones. As she neared the side of the edifice, she heard low murmurs and voices filtering through the wall. Curious, she paused, tilting her head to listen.
"Lady, just put it all in the bag and keep your mouth shut," a male voice said.
"P-please, this is for the children! You c-can't take all of the food!" a female voice murmured shakily.
"I said shut it! If they want it, they can buy it from us at a reasonable price, ain't that right boss?" the voice replied.
Several gruff voices laughed and the female's voice could be heard again, "Please stop this! Y-you can't take all of it! Eeee! Y-you're hurting my arm! Let go!"
The final words were overshadowed by the sound of flesh meeting flesh and a grunt, with more laughter in the background. Beckyann's eyes narrowed as she stared at the side of the building, as if her hostile gaze alone could cut through the stone. She stood for a moment, her fists clenched as she realized that some ruffians were likely robbing the building. She felt a slight throbbing in her temples as the anger stirred whatever foul fluids flowed through her now. She angrily shook her head, trying to deny the feeling, "It's not my problem. It is a problem for the living."
With that, she turned, prepared to make her way from the square and return to headquarters. Before she took three steps an errant thought drifted through her mind.
If I had lived long enough to have children, they might have ended up here. Many of the children in the building are old enough to have been mine. If I had lived that is. If I had been given the chance.
She paused, her fists clenched on either side of her body as she ground her teeth in frustration. Back stiff, she turned, staring down the side of the building again. More muffled laughter drifted from the other side of the stones and her eyebrow twitched as irritation flowed through.
"Fates damn me," she muttered, stalking towards the entrance to the orphanage.
In a moment she was in the doorway, her form obscuring the view of the street. She took in the scene through her tinted glasses, her eyes missing no detail. Five men stood around the table, sacks full of foodstuffs sitting on the wooden surface. Amongst them stood a woman, likely one of the matrons that cared for the children, her arm twisted behind her painfully as one of the men gripped her. Beckyann also noted the tiny eyes of frightened children peeking out from amongst the bunk-beds where the orphans slept. She took a step into the room, clearing her throat loudly.
"That will be enough of that," she said in a silky purr.
The men looked up in surprise, only to laugh as they saw a woman in a stylish dress talking to them. One of them sauntered up to her, a knife in one hand. He reached out with his free hand, gripping her arm, "I think you came into the wrong building lady," the man said with a laugh. "But since you're here, you can shut the fel up while we finish up unless you want us to take more than just the food."
Saying nothing, Beckyann casually broke the man's grip on her arm, her hand coming up to grab the wrist of the hand holding the knife with her icy cold fingers. Offering him a half smile, she applied force to the bone and it snapped audibly. The echo of the sound was quickly overshadowed by the howls of pain coming from the man and the clatter of his weapon hitting the wooden floorboards.
"What the..? Get the bitch!" the leader of the men yelled. One of the thugs with him smirked as he brought his arm up and hurled a throwing knife at Beckyann.
The weapon tumbled end over end, hurtling towards her. Without moving, she brought her arm up and the dagger embedded itself in the meat of her forearm. She made not a sound as she reached up and slowly pulled it out, holding it up before her and studying the diseased, brackish blood on it.
"Fascinating that you would wish to die for a few sacks of food. Then again, I've seen worse folly than this," she said calmly. She dropped the blade that had stabbed her, grinning at them. "Although I have standing orders not to engage in battle within city limits, I might just be inclined to make an exception in this rare instance given that you are threatening the well-being of children of the Alliance."
The men gawked at her and looked at each other through bloodless lips. She had just been stabbed and seemed not the least bit concerned about it. One of them stared at her, his voice sounding much less confident as he finally spoke, "W-who are you lady?"
Beckyann merely offered him a smile, a hand coming up to tip her glasses forward. Her baleful eyes stared hatefully at the men, who grew another shade paler. Looking to each other, they seemed to nod and the one holding the matron released her. The men shifted, walking in a bunch towards the door, which Beckyann gracefully allowed them to get to by stepping aside. All the while she kept her gaze focused on them, the threat of what she was hanging in the air and something that common street thieves did not care to deal with.
The men gathered up their wounded companion and quickly hurried out the door, leaving the food behind and the matron unharmed. Beckyann sighed, pushing her glasses back into place before heading towards the door. She was stopped by a slight pressure on her dress. Turning her head, she looked down to find a young girl pulling on the fabric.
"Thank you miss!" the little girl said, her eyes full of tears. "They were gonna take our food! I've been hungry before and I don't wanna do it again!"
Quickly other children approached the death knight, little hands reaching out to touch her dress, little arms wrapping around her legs and hugging her, little voices giving her their thanks. Beckyann found herself confused at first, looking up at the matron who also dipped her head in thanks, murmuring words of respect.
Deep inside, Beckyann felt something stir. Some undefinable feeling that grew as she realized that the children around her were living much as she did as a child, and what it would have meant if someone had helped her that way. To have them thanking her, to have them willing to come near her despite what she was sent an ineffable thrill through her that left her utterly speechless.
Seeing the expression on the woman's face, the matron smiled and clapped her hands, "Children! Come now, I'm sure the nice lady has things she needs to do. She knows how very grateful we are for what she's done."
The children all smiled and quickly moved towards the matron, surrounding the table and beginning to unpack the nearly-stolen food to put it away. Beckyann looked at the matron again, her mouth opening and closing with no words coming out, completely unable to process the emotions she was feeling. The matron nodded sadly, as if understanding. She offered Beckyann a smile and spoke softly, "Go with our thanks miss. We will not forget that your kind can still make a difference."
Beckyann nodded once and turned, almost running from the orphanage. Her boots pounded away on the cobblestones as she held her dress up at her hips, letting her move as fast as was inhumanly possible away from the Cathedral District.
She really did have to stop taking short cuts through there...
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