Aedri Blightsong: 2- Making Friends

Aedri's plate armored boots made a loud booming sound as she marched down the marble hallway, her stride quick and filled with purpose. Although she hated coming to Silvermoon, her business had taken here there more and more frequently as of late, and now she found herself within the confines of an opulent spire owned by House Sunfire. Despite this, she found herself in a good mood as her task within the spire had been completed successfully.

The research that Selenthiel Sunfire had already completed was impressive to say the least. Clearly she had been considering the contamination of the Dead Scar for many years, for she'd drawn experts from many different professions in to study the problem from all angles. The fact that she'd reached out to the Ebon Blade at all meant that she was willing to explore avenues that she had not previously considered, despite her obvious distaste for death knights. Aedri smirked to herself as she continued walking, Selenthiel's discomfort with her presence something she found amusing provided that it would not interfere with her work.

If Aedri was being honest with herself, she was pleased with current events. It was rare that she was able to participate in a project that sparked her personal interest, and one facet of being undead was facing an eternity of potential boredom. To have something to work on that required her intellect, attention, and creativity beyond her normal work for the Ebon Blade was satisfying in a way she could not fully describe. It was for this reason she'd agreed to work with Selenthiel in the first place, and so far the project had provided all she'd hoped for and more in relation to such benefits.

She passed a marble bust of some long dead noble elf set back in an alcove along the corridor's length, her stride picking up as she reached an intersection with another hallway that she knew would lead towards the exit. Although she would prefer to simply open a death gate and return to the Ebon Hold, Selenthiel had asked her not to use such magics within her home and in the spirit of not threatening the project's success, Aedri had agreed. She would leave the spire the normal way and then return to her laboratory and write some notes before her evening's rejuvenation with necromantic magic.

As Aedri turned the corner, her brisk pace carried her forward and directly into the path of a blonde Sin'dorei who was coming the other way. With no chance to avoid one another, the two elves collided, the plate armor that both wore bounding off of the other with a metallic clatter and nearly knocking both elves down. In shock, Aedri quickly noted the freckled face glaring at her, the rather large two-handed sword on her back glimmering with gold. The elf's armor was intricate, but functional and left some of her body, such as her belly, exposed in classic Sin'dorei style.

"What are you doing in my spire?!" the elf demanded, still glaring.

Aedri shook her head to dismiss the confusion, her face falling into a frown, "That is none of your concern. I am leaving so step aside."

Kyliska Sunfire's glare deepened as the death knight attempted to step around her, one of her hands coming out and firmly pressing the death knight back, the palm of her hand flat across Aedri's breast plate, "I asked you a question, and you will answer it. What are you doing in my spire? We don't let death knights simply wander around in here."

Angry now, Aedri's hand came up and roughly removed Kyliska's hand from her armor, her contact with the other elf bringing a tingling sensation to her hands that hinted at use of the Light. Understanding now that she was dealing with a Blood Knight, she glared daggers at the Sin'dorei, "And I said that it is none of your damned business. Get out of my way so I can leave. Now."

Aedri attempted to brush past the Blood Knight a second time, only to find Kyliska's hands darting out and grabbing her by the arms. Kyliska whirled her around, slamming her back first against the wall. Not to be outdone, Aedri quickly moved forward, slamming her shoulder into Kyliska in an attempt to push her aside. They collided again, the clatter of their armor clashing louder this time.

"I am an envoy of the Ebon Blade and you will treat me with respect, or you will pay!" Aedri yelled in Kyliska's face.

"I don't give a crap if you're the King reborn!" Kyliska shouted back. "You don't come into my spire and act like a fucking bitch and think you're going to walk out of here! You want to keep all your limbs attached you're going to answer my questions now!"

Kyliska was taken by surprise as the death knight reached out and grabbed her long flowing hair, yanking her head back hard in an attempt to break her hold. She allowed her hands to fall free, using the opportunity to punch the death knight in the throat before lashing out with one leg, unbalancing the death knight and making her tumble. Unfortunately, Aedri did not release her grip on Kyliska's hair, and the pain of it forced Kyliska to follow her to the ground. The two landed in a pile, beginning to kick and punch each other in earnest, Kyliska's nails scoring several deep scratches on the exposed arms of the death knight.

The rough fight and shouting echoed down the hallway for several minutes, Kyliska at first getting the better of the death knight and repeatedly kicking her until Aedri managed to roll on top. The angry death knight's dead cold hands locked around Kyliska's neck, even as Kyliska repeatedly punched her in the face. A moment later a shadow fell over the two and an iron hard arm wrapped around Aedri's neck, yanking her back and up and breaking her handhold on Kyliska.

Aedri found herself pulled to her feet roughly by her neck, the cold edge of a blade pressed to her side and a male voice whispering in her ear, "You'd better start explaining yourself right now or you're done."

Aedri stiffened, her voice cold as she choked back her rage, "I am a Knight of the Ebon Blade, invited into this spire to perform work here. This...goon accosted me as I was leaving and then physically assaulted me. I am not at fault."

"The hell I did!" Kyliska snarled, rising to her feet and glaring at the death knight. "You were a bitch from the moment you were raised I'm pretty damn sure, let alone in the hallway here. Like I said, this is my spire and I don't recall inviting you here."

From behind the death knight, Braeth'el shook his head, "Calm down, Kyli. We need answers before you start punching her again okay? She said she was invited." He paused, glancing at the dead elf in his arms. He could see her anger in the blue glow of her eyes, hidden as it was under a now messy tussle of snow-white hair, "Who invited you?"

"The Lady Selenthiel Sunfire requested my presence," Aedri said begrudgingly. "She will be informed of this...this...unacceptable treatment! I should not have to deal with her underlings treating me in such a fashion when she asked me to come!"

Kyliska stepped close to Aedri, her faces inches from the dead elf's. When she spoke, her voice was cold and hard, "Get something straight here, dead elf, I'm the Lady Kyliska Sunfire, and like I said, this is my spire. Selenthiel may have invited you, but she did not tell you to act like an animal. For her sake, I won't have Braeth'el carve you into pieces, but make no mistake; I don't want to see your dead face in my hallways again. Got it?"

Aedri's glare deepened and to Braeth'el's surprise she reached out suddenly, grasping the knife blade he held, the metal cutting deep into her flesh as she snatched the weapon from his hand. Black ichor dripped from her wound as she stared at Kyliska before flinging the knife away with a clatter. In the silence that followed she nearly hissed her words, "Believe me when I tell you I'd rather never see another Blood Knight for as long as I exist. Your wish is more than granted, although I advise you never to come to my home, because I will escort you out of the Ebon Hold quite fast, and it's a very, very long drop."

After a moment of glaring, Kyliska finally nodded, and Braeth'el released his hold on Aedri's neck, shoving her away. She stumbled several paces before regaining her balance. With a huff she straightened, using her unwounded hand to pat her hair back into place before storming off down the hallway, her boots intentionally stomping on the marble to make her ire known.

When she was gone (and clearly heading towards the door), Kyliska finally breathed a sigh of relief, turning towards Braeth'el and wrapping her arms around him. She pressed herself against his muscular frame as he held her, his heartbeat in her ear, "Thank you."

"I'm pretty sure the entire spire heard your yelling and guards were already on the way, but you're welcome," Braeth'el said with a smile. He reached down, tipping Kyliska's head up so he could look at her. "She gave you a bit of a shiner there. Might want to heal it or get some ice at least."

Kyliska snorted, "I kicked her ass, so it's fine. I don't know where she got off thinking she could talk to me like that but I won't have it! I'll have to have a talk with Selenthiel about this."

Braeth'el nodded, studying his ichor-covered dagger on the floor, "Yes, I'm surprised at her as well. Normally she would inform us about guests like that. We should make sure that nothing is going on that is going to cause a security concern at the least, although I'm sure she has everything well in hand and can explain this."

Kyliska hugged him again, "She'd damn well better be. I'm pretty pissed. She's lucky I didn't carve her little dead friend up into pieces, especially since I just came from the practice yard and have my weapons on me."

"I'm glad you didn't; I don't want to know how much work it would have been to get all that black goo off the walls and floors," Braeth'el said to break Kyliska's dark mood. He was rewarded with a smile a moment later and he released her, "Why don't we go and get you something to eat and let you calm down a bit, and then we'll go find Selenthiel together okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I always get hungry after a good fight anyway," Kyliska agreed. Together the two turned, walking deeper into the spire and leaving the bloody weapon on the floor behind them for the servants to clean.

There would be a lot of talks to be had with Selenthiel, by many parties, in the days to come.

Aedri Blightsong: 1- Return to Quel'Thalas

The air shimmered briefly and then turned black as a hole tore open through the fabric of space, a link to the shadow plane briefly glowing purple as it disgorged a Death Knight from the deathgate. The two acolytes waiting in the laboratory came to attention as a figure that would have been a horror in any place other than the Ebon Hold appraised them with malevolent eyes.

Of average height for a Sin'dorei, the Death Knight Aedri Blightsong was anything but typical for an elf. Her skin was slate gray, her hair a bleached snow-white that was artfully arranged atop her head with saronite clasps. Her armor was similar to those worn by lesser ranking acolytes, consisting of a robe with saronite plates sewn into it combined with wraps that covered much of her flesh. It was her runeblade that gave hint of her place within Acherus; the blighted, rusty, diseased looking weapon was atypical even for a death knight, and it was clearly imbued with unholy magics far beyond those used by the newly raised or by the amateurs amongst the living who styled themselves as necromancers.

Aedri paused for a moment, glancing around the laboratory and ensuring that her underlings had performed the tasks she assigned them. Satisfied that the experiments she'd ordered were running properly, she determined that she would not need to discipline the two for the time being. She waved her hand, her black-painted nails dully reflecting the torch-light, "You will prepare two tables for a new experiment in the secondary laboratory. My business in Quel'Thalas has lead to a new project."

The two acolytes bowed deeply and turned, heading towards the exit to an adjoining chamber. All together, Aedri had three small laboratories under her command within the Ebon Hold, along with private chambers set behind them for her own use. Unassigned to any particular company, she served as a plague and disease expert, performing experiments and research for the Ebon Blade where needed to combat their enemies.

With a second glance at the bubbling alchemy equipment in the lab, she nodded in satisfaction and headed towards a sealed door at the rear of the lab. Speaking several words of magic, she unlocked the wards that barred it and slipped inside, closing it behind her. The room within was slowly lit with a blue light as magical torches came to life at her presence, illuminating her personal work space and living quarters.

The room was smaller than one might expect, holding just a large desk, a book shelf stocked with various tomes, and a small cot that Aedri used more for reading than for sleeping, her body being far beyond the need for such mortal concerns. A closet off to the side contained her meager worldly possessions including extra armor and wraps as well as a few dresses and outfits used for mingling with the living when her work required such unfortunate measures.

With a sigh of satisfaction she sank down in the plush chair behind her work desk, reaching out to take a small journal from a drawer and grabbing a fresh bottle of ink and a quill. She opened the book, making several notes relating to her meeting with the priestess Selenthiel Sunfire in Silvermoon City. Her neat, precise script clearly spelled out the details of the experiments that Selenthiel wished her to conduct as well as Aedri's own thoughts and theories on the reasons for the continued contamination of the Dead Scar. When she was finished, she set the quill down and examined her writing, nodding in satisfaction.

"It will be an interesting project at least," she murmured to herself, her voice echoing with a hollow quality not shared by the living. "Although I dare say it will involve several unpleasant aspects."

She sighed again, watching the ink dry for a moment before closing the journal and setting the book back in the drawer where she'd retrieved it. Today had been the first time she'd returned to Quel'Thalas since her raising as a death knight. It had brought with it a mix of emotions she'd not expected, including a certain amount of resentment for some of the living Sin'dorei that she'd seen patrolling the streets.

"And how many years has it been?" she wondered aloud, still considering the strange mix of emotions she felt. She'd died some time ago, just before the Northrend campaign had begun when the Scourge had struck at all of the races of Azeroth. Since then, she'd been freed from a horrible enslavement as an undead creature and then been absorbed in her work against the Lich King and other threats that the Ebon Blade brought her to combat. She'd not even considered returning to Quel'Thalas in all that time; there was simply nothing there for her now.

With another sigh she rose, leaving her chambers and returning to the main laboratory to study the experiments there. Several animals in cages along one side of the room drew her notice, and she walked over to them, still considering what her meeting with Selenthiel had brought up. The animals in the cages appeared fragile and sick, and she smiled as she realized the plagues they had been infested with continued to affect them. It had been twenty-eight days since they'd become sick, and still they lived on and suffered; the experiment to create ever more unpleasant and non-lethal illnesses was going well at least.

She moved slowly about the room, checking each experiment one by one, her mind occupied by her thoughts of her meeting with the priestess. Once, long ago, she had been in much the same position as Selenthiel, albeit without the noble title or authority. It was an amusing exercise to consider what life would have been like if it had continued, although eventually it led her to black thoughts about how that had turned out for her.

"No matter, I will do the research as Selenthiel requested," Aedri murmured, reaching down to pick up a squirrel from a cage. The animal struggled only fitfully, the disease it had contracted much worse than the others and likely not a candidate for her ongoing experiments. "If it provides a boon to the Ebon Blade then it will have been worth my time. If not...well, weakness must be expunged once it is discovered, and if Quel'Thalas is going to make me feel...unpleasant...then I must come to terms with that in some way or another."

She set the likely dying animal back in its cage and shrugged, completing her rounds of the various experiments laid out in the room. In unlife she had achieved something of success, and the struggles of the elves in Quel'Thalas meant little to her now. If seeing people like Selenthiel put her mind ill at ease she would need to force herself out of the labs more and into the field. It would not due to be brooding when there was work to do.

As she returned to her room to perform her regenerative necromantic rituals for the evening a final thought about the matter crossed her mind.

It could be worse after all, she could be a damned Blood Knight. That I do not think I could have tolerated. 

The torches in the laboratory flickered and died out as she closed the door behind her, leaving her suffering experiments in the darkness of the Ebon Hold, much as her black thoughts were trapped within her own mind.