Missing In Action

The swansong for Cataani "Cat" Blackpaw and her sister Ziani the Druid, and what became of them when I moved to play Horde on Defias Brotherhood. Special Guest stars: Hediori "Hed" Ravenkeep, Cat's lover and Arindir - Ziani's boyfriend.

Part I

Apothecary Fairwater smiled gleefully to himself. Such fine specimen! Such good test subjects. Night Elves in the prime of their youths, physically unharmed, healthy. Clear skin, such soft skin. He cackled to himself, thinking what he’d like to have done, if a certain part of him hadn’t decayed. Fairwater cleared his throat and straightened out his bloody robes before knocking the door to the Head Apothecary’s office. ‘Sir, we have the specimen you requested. Would you care to inspect them?’ The Head Apothecary rose from his chair without a word, and followed Fairwater back through the damp halls, to the Royal Apothecary’s own special dungeons, deep below Undercity.

At first the Head Apothecary couldn’t see any prisoners in the dungeon. As his eyes got used to the darkness of the room he glanced upwards, and let out a small gasp of excitement. Revolving slowly around her own axis from a chain in the ceiling was a Night Elf female, another similar specimen was kept in a cage hanging from the ceiling as well. ‘Why the cage?’ ‘Druid’ answered Fairwater ‘She kept shape-shifting when we tried to cuff her.’ ‘And the other one?’ ‘Mercenary’ snorted the apothecary. The Head Apothecary took a step closer to the mercenary, who was hanging with her head down. The undead’s head was at level with the elf’s chest. ‘What is this then?’ The Head Apothecary studied a small faded badge on the elf’s chest armor. ‘Knight Champion badge, I believe..’ he glanced at Fairwater.. What had the imbecile got them messed up in this time? ‘Discharged about a year ago, it’s a miracle she was allowed to keep that badge.’ Fairwater smirked. He had everything under control. ‘Good, good.’ The Head Apothecary nodded approvingly. He couldn’t have half the Alliance army come running, looking for an officer. ‘What else is there to this one?’ he asked, studying the pale face of the unconscious elf. ‘She’s about prime-age. Not married, according to records. Officer of her guild..’ ‘Guild? Which one?’ ‘Shadow of the Phoenix – it’s a non military unit. Should not cause any trouble.’ Fairwater glanced down on his notes: ‘She is healthy, fairly unscarred. Seems there’s been some minor disturbance to her brain recently, maybe a possession, but it seems to have moved on. Oh, and here’s the icing on the cake:’ the apothecary smirked ‘She’s about eight weeks pregnant. We could not have found a better test subject.’ The Head Apothecary glanced upwards. It was not yet visible, but if the elf was indeed carrying a child, it would be even more convenient, if they were to unlock the secret of the long lived elves.
‘And the other one?’ The Head Apothecary moved towards the cage. ‘Oh, we’re just drawing blood from that one. It’s a very young, quite sickly druid. Seems to have rather considerable druidic powers but.. As you see, she wasn’t that difficult to confine.’ Fairwater browsed through his papers ‘The druid does not show up on any of the military listings, not married either, also with these… Phoenix people.. We suppose the elves are related in some way, they are quite similar to look upon.’
‘Excellent work, Fairwater.. Quite excellent. You have authorization to do all necessary tests, I assume..’ Fairwater nodded. ‘Good. Make sure they don’t die, we can’t have that.’ Fairbanks nodded even more, smirking from ear to ear. ‘They’ll be a fine chance to test that memory potion…’


Part II

Someone was screaming nearby. Cat wished the screaming would stop, it felt like her head was about to explode. She leaned back against the cold, moist wall. She was grateful they’d taken her down from the chain; the world upside down had made her increasingly nauseous. She just wished the sickening feeling would go away, it made it even more difficult to eat the disgusting stew the undeads brought her twice a day. Still, she preferred the stew over the injections and the examinations. Cat didn’t mind the sleeping potions they brought her, though. She’d sleep like a baby, even if she was sitting up straight, chained to a stone wall. Sometimes she would get nightmares, but one time she had a nice dream. They were at home. In her house in Stormwind. Ziani was making breakfast, and Cat was sitting at the table, on the bench. Hed had been next to her, he’d had his arm around her waist and she’d just been so happy. Maybe this had happened some time, maybe everything was just something the undeads had made her see. When she had woken from this dream she’d screamed and cried and tried to pull herself loose from the wall.
Suddenly the screaming stopped. Now it was just someone crying. Cat opened her eyes, searching for the source of the racket. ‘Ziani’ she called out, making an effort to raise her voice beyond a whisper. ‘Ziani. Are you hurt?’ She was answered by the angry growling of a bear. Ziani was in her bear shape, in her once-per-day mad attempt to break the bars of the fel steel cage she was kept in. Furious with rage, the bear closed its massive jaws around the bars and tore with all its might. After what seemed like ages, but was more like a few minutes, the bear was tired out and Ziani shifted out and collapsed on the floor of the cage. Cat closed her eyes, her sore head finally filled with silence.

Apothecary Fairwater had struck gold it seemed. The druid proved a fine source of untainted blood and the pregnant one was now past the stage where the physicians reckoned she might miscarriage unprovoked. There was only one slight problem: impatience. Fairwater had to produce results fast, and he was concerned about how long the elf would be pregnant. No one had any luck with attempting to find out how long a healthy night elf was supposed to be pregnant before giving birth, and Fairwater certainly didn’t care to wait another five months, or more, if elves turned out to grow slower than humans. Then, almost like a miracle, a solution was brought to him by a fellow apothecary. A serum invented by those in charge of ‘recruitment’ for their ranks of abominations, untested on living yet, but sure to work. Test on dead subjects had shown amazing growth in very little time. ‘Perfect – perfect – perfect, promotion here I come!’ Apothecary Fairwater whistled a merry tune as he padded along the dark halls to the elves’ cell, syringe in one hand, and serum in another.

The sound of the cell door being opened tore Cat out of her blissful silence. Soon after one of the undead was tearing off the worn shirt they’d dressed her in. Cat looked down at her naked chest and stomach and noticed how bloated she looked. ‘Great..’ she found herself thinking: ‘..chained, sick and going fat.’ The creepy undead took his time, injecting her poor bloated belly in several places. After this, the undead took his time to examine her breasts very thoroughly. For once Cat felt happy about the sudden wave of nausea and the urge to be sick.


Part III

With the proper tools and sedatives, it was a small matter for Apothecary Fairwater and Nurse Miller to inspect the unborn child of the now very pregnant Night Elf. Fairwater was devoted to his notes and daydreams, while the nurse performed the actual examination. ‘Apothecary.. Sir! There’s something very wrong.. I don’t think the child has any ears…’ Fairwater would have frowned if he had more skin on his forehead, now he just hissed at the nurse. ‘Of course it has ears! Night Elves have huge ears!’ The nurse hissed back ‘Well, then this is not a Night Elf. It has ears.. It seems.. But they’re the size of my thumb!’ Apothecary Fairwater went from his usual cheesy yellow colour to a pale, pale white. Not for a second had it dawned on him that the child could be anything but a pure-blooded Night Elf. Nurse Miller kept droning on, while cold realization swept over the poor Apothecary.. ‘The skull size compared to broadness of shoulders is out of sync too..’ ‘Oh, and the child is ready. She will go in to labour any day now.’ Fairwater heard nothing of this. He rushed to the medicine cabinet, searched the very top shelf, found what he was looking for. He yelled at the nurse to wake up the elf, and the second she came around, Fairwater injected a large dose of truth serum into her. Waiting impatiently for the serum to work, the Apothecary paced up and down the room while the nurse closed up the elf.

‘What is your name!?’ the apothecary bellowed at the elf. ‘Cataani Blackpaw Darkwater’ the elf almost whispered. ‘What is your age!?’ A moment of silence. ‘I don’t know’, the elf answered truthfully. The apothecary kept going for a while, until he was sure the elf was under the influence of the serum. ‘Who is the father of your child!?’ The elf looked shocked. ‘I did not know I was pregnant’, was the answer. Fairwater took a deep, steadying breath. The elf looked up at him, pure amazement painted on her face. Strapped down on the table, she could not turn her head enough to see her own belly, and too sedated to feel anything below her neck. ‘Am I... Sir..?’ Fairwater did all he could not to ram his fist straight into the face of the woman on the table. ‘Yes, you are indeed. Now tell me. Who would- No! Screw who he is! What is the father!?’ The elf smiled dreamily. The mix of sedatives and truth serum had put her in a state of total, blissful enlightenment. ‘He is the most wonderful person I’ve ever met.’ The elf smiled up at the apothecary. Fairwater took another deep breath. ‘Is he a Night Elf!?’ the apothecary yelled at the elf. The elf kept smiling up at him then shook her head.’ ‘No, he’s as human as they make them..’ The elf’s voice trailed off, and by the time Fairwater had recovered from the shock of having his life’s work set back several years by something as harmless as an unborn half-blood, the elf was fast asleep, smiling blissfully.

Ziani was woken by the sound of the cell door being opened. A huge abomination was carrying Cat into the cell and placed her with surprising gentleness on the floor. Right behind the abomination was the apothecary she reckoned was called Fairwater. The creepy undead in the stained apron was as usual carrying a bottle and a syringe. As the apothecary injected her sister with something from the bottle, Ziani was wondering what they was going to do to Cat today. It seemed to her like they had made Cat pregnant and made the child grow very fast. Following the undead’s every move through the bars of her cage; Ziani had reached a point where she no longer felt scared. It was not indifference, more a sad kind of acceptance. She would never see Arin again. She would live and die in this cage. Eat the stew they brought her, and once a day let them draw blood from her. Her favourite pastime had become imagining how Arin would grow old and happy. She had imagined the perfect wife for him, given them a handful of beautiful children, a house somewhere safe and secluded. Ziani was drawn back to the present, when the abomination suddenly tore the door of her cage open, and pulled her out. Holding her in a tight grip, the abomination pulled her head roughly backwards and the apothecary approached her, syringe held high. The last thing Ziani felt was the cold steel needle piercing her neck, and then everything stopped.



At first she thought she was dead. The light was so bright. The sound of birds singing was so intense. Blinded by the light, she felt the ground around her. Wet, tall grass. She dared open her eyes, and looked up at green treetops. Ziani looked around for a moment. She was in a forest somewhere. It was late morning, and Ziani had no idea where she was, or what she was doing there. Slowly she got up; feeling like it had been months since her legs had last carried her weight. She found her clothes in a messy pile not far from there. It was dusty and smelled a little mouldy, but Ziani put it on anyway, realising she had to fasten her belt two wholes further in than usual and that her tunic sagged on her. Picking up her staff and trinkets from the ground, she wondered if she was supposed to be here alone. Fully armoured she slid into her cat shape, trying to catch any familiar scents. She had a hunch that Cat was supposed to be somewhere nearby. She found Cat only a short while away. She was sitting perfectly still up against a tree, stroking her huge belly gently. Her eyes looked misty and her smile had a queer stiffness to it. Ziani padded up to her, carefully and quietly. ‘Ziani...’ Cat smiled hazily ‘..We’re having a baby. Where did we find it?’ Cat looked up at Ziani, the mix of sedatives and what not still tampering with her. ‘Can I keep it..? I think it’s alive.’ Ziani placed her hands on Cat’s belly, searching for any sign of life inside her. Ziani nodded at Cat, the child was alive. ‘Can I keep it, Ziani..? Is it mine?’ Ziani nodded again, ‘Yes Cat, I’m fairly sure it’s yours..’. ‘Where are we, Ziani? When did we go here?’ Cat looked around the forest, smiling at the tall pine trees and the feeling of the cool wind on her skin. For a while Cat seemed to slip in and out of a delirious state, until she finally fell asleep. Ziani wrapped her own cloak around her, and set out to look for Cat’s clothes and the rest of their equipment. She found their backpacks and Cat’s clothes in a shrub nearby. With great difficulty she managed to dress Cat in a gown from her backpack, she strapped both the backpacks to her own back, took her bear form, and somehow managed to get her delirious and sleepy sister on her back. If Ziani was right, they were somewhere in Silverpine or Alterac. Possibly Southshore. No matter where they had to get out of the forest before nightfall, unless they wanted to deal with worgen, wolves and Goddess knew what else during night. Slowly Ziani padded through the forest, keeping her head down, focusing on not dropping her sleeping sister. As the low winter sun sent it last rays through the trees and they did not seem to be nearing the edge of the forest, Ziani felt all hope of getting somewhere civil before nightfall fade from her. Instead she started looking for a good, big clearing where she could put up their tent and build a huge bonfire to keeps wolves and worgen at bay. She was exhausted and quite starved too, and Cat was in no fit state to fight. As darkness fell, Ziani felt the terrain slope upwards, and soon she was on the top of a small hill, looking out over the windswept treetops. Realising she probably wouldn’t find a better place than this she carefully eased Cat off her back, shifted out of her bear form and began to set up a camp. When Ziani finally got the fire going it was dark as night all around them. She had faced the open side of the tent away from the wind and facing towards the fire. Cat lay quietly on her side, eyes closed. Ziani sat quietly by the fire, eating the few berries she found, and a lump of stale bread from her backpack. She looked at Cat, trying to piece the puzzle together. The last thing she remembered was going to Moonglade. They had passed through Felwood when Cat suddenly had suggested they inspected a cave she’d spotted by the road. Ziani had tried to talk her out of going into the dark place, but Cat seemed overcome with wild determination and Ziani had given in. Then she remembered nothing until she had woken on the forest floor. Ziani’s mind raced through the same questions over and over. Where were they? How did they get there? How long had it been since Felwood? How did Cat get in this state? She found no answers at hand. The fire started to die out sooner than she expected and Ziani got up and went in to the forest. Upon returning she found Cat standing in the outline of the clearing, leaning dizzily against a tree clutching her huge belly, calling for her. ‘Ziani..‘ She called.. ‘..the baby wants out.’

The forest was completely still, there was no roaring wind to cover his tracks. Arin found himself putting all his determination into moving forward silently. He was not exactly sure what he was doing in Silverpine, but as he headed north towards the Sepulcher he was sure he’d find something to do alright. Suddenly a noise made him stop dead. Someone had cried out in pain, and the sound made his inner predator wide awake.. Wounded prey was easy prey, and an orc was an orc, no matter how many bandages you attached to it. Picking up his pace a little, he followed the sound of the pained creature, and soon he spotted what looked like a campfire on a hilltop. He crept closer, slowly, careful not to draw attention to himself. By now he could make out the shapes on the hilltop. A Blood Elf, he thought.. Skinny, long-eared creature, dressed in black.. Ranger.. Or assassin. The other figure was flat on its back, half way inside a tent; he could only make out the head. Blood Elf too. As silent as he could he crept a little closer, staring at the Blood Elf on the hilltop, his hands closing around the hilts of his blades. With a roar he rushed to the hilltop, determined to take out the unwounded ranger first. The second he broke the silence, the ranger spun around, swift as lightning the tall dark figure picked a huge staff off the ground and before he knew it, Arin found himself pinned up against a tree, staff pressed against his throat, staring straight into the face of Ziani. There was fear and determination in her eyes, but before he could ask her anything, let alone plead for his life, she’d flung her weapon aside and kissed him so passionately he had trouble breathing and knew he was forgiven.

That night Arin faced troubles none of his military training could ever have prepared him for. In a matter of seconds Ziani had explained what was going on and made it clear to him that yes, he would be assisting whether he wanted to or not. Half the time he would fetch whatever Ziani wanted from the forest. Clean water, Silverleaf for the pain, Peacebloom to dull the fever, Briarthorn to stop the bleeding. The other half he spend trying to calm Cat down, holding her hand, quietly encouraging her. In a quiet moment he looked from one sister to another, realising how the roles seemed to have changed: Cat was the frail, vulnerable one, and Ziani the strong one in charge. When Ziani at dawn finally thrust a small, slippery and screaming being into his hands, without any of the care and warmth he would have expected from her, Arin was already suspecting something had changed his beloved druid. He washed the little creature carefully and wrapped it in his own shirt. It was a small girl, smaller than they were supposed to be, Arin thought. She seemed healthy enough, ten fingers, ten toes.. All that. As he carried her over to Cat, the girl opened her huge green eyes for the first time and stared at him, Arin thought she smiled at him and for the first time in a long while, Arin smiled back at someone.

When Cat woke up, she had no idea where she was. The room smelled like summer and the sheets was clean and crisp. Blinking she sat up, realising she ached all over. The room was familiar, but still strange. ‘Nagrand..’ She thought, suddenly recognising the upper floor of the familiar inn of Telaar. Suddenly, she remembered she was not supposed to be alone; her eyes darting around the room for what she knew had to be there somewhere. Arin was nowhere to be found, but in the other end of the large room, Cat found Ziani and the little one both fast asleep. Cat stood still, watching her little girls for a long while, wondering whether or not they would both be better off without her. Cat did not know where this idea came from, but they both looked so innocent and blissful in their sleep. She stood quietly like this until Arin returned and ordered her back to bed.