6.
No More Regrets

Sure enough, everyone at Halfhill was gawking and whispering and gesturing at the arrival of the interdimensional entourage. There was a girl who looked like a smaller and more feminine version of Lightning who was removing herself from the wreck of a buffet table. There was a young man who was on the ground with his hindquarters sticking up in the air, and a little white creature with a red nose and a strange crystal on its head was checking in on him. Then there was the other girl, appearing childish in a white slip with a band of bird feathers in her hair. She tossed her mane back over her shoulder with a hand and turned toward the path leading to the Sunsong Ranch.

"You really need to work on that," said Lightning, nodding at the steaming black scorch mark under Yeul's feet.

"We were going to walk here," said Serah, brushing splinters and sawdust from her clothes. Her cheeks colored as she surveyed the damage she was standing in. "This place was just over the horizon, too, but—"

"This was much faster," Yeul finished for her. "Who wants to walk when you can use instant transmission?"

"You could've at least done it outside of town!" Noel groaned. He pushed himself onto his knees with both hands and rose. "Coming in like that is going to make the natives think the Legion's here!"

Yeul sighed. "We're here, aren't we? And, thanks to my good judgment, we got here just in time." She looked Armi and Mishka up and down. "Made some friends, I see. That's good. You're on the path to a better you."

"Eh, I'm getting there," said Lightning. "These were the people I told you about, the ones Wrathion hired to take down Garrosh."

"Had hired," said Mishka, shrugging one shoulder. "After everything, I don't think he'll want to take us back. Not that I'm complaining."

"I guess it's time for Lightning to go, huh?" said Armi, and then she giggled. "I-I'm sorry, but now that I think about it…it's kinda like she's a child being picked up by her family after school's done for the day, and you're her mother." One look at Yeul and she put a hand to her hand to stifle another giggle. "Wh-Which is funny, because you're Light-knows how old but you really do look like jailbait!"

"A-Armi…!" Mishka choked, shocked. Lightning sighed, unfazed.

One of Yeul's eyelids started throbbing erratically. "Oh…is that what you think of me?"

She rubbed the back of her head. "Well, it was kinda hard taking your relationship with Caius seriously because, you know, he was a full-grown man and your other selves were, well, not…."

"Ha! Says the 'old hag' who's going to be role-playing every literary trope under the sun for a goddess who's older than the Big Bang!"

Armi's face burned bright red. "Wait…role-play?!"

"N-Not that kind!"

"A-Anyway!" Serah interrupted. "We're really, really sorry for showing up in this manner!" She looked about her frantically, gaze passing between faces that were furry and fleshy and sloughing from their loose stitching. "U-Um, we don't have any, um, gold to pay for the damages. This world uses gold for currency, right? If it's alright, I have some gil that I can, um, put down as an invoice! It's not much and I doubt it'll cover it but—"

"Blimey!" said the drunk dwarf; his mugs had been refilled, and he pointed one at Mog. "I think I might've had one too many, because that pink elekk is FLYING!"

Noel and Mog looked at each other then at him. "I don't know what an elekk is," said Noel, "but this guy's called a moogle. Aren'tcha, buddy?"

"The wings are just for show, kupo!" said Mog, and he performed a loop-de-loop in mid-air.

Everyone marveled at him. "It's just like a baby cloud serpent!" said one pandaren customer.

"Or a sporeling bat!" noted a draenei adventurer.

"By Muradin's bushy beard!" the dwarf exclaimed, and he plopped back down in his seat. "Now I know I've imbibed in too much! That floating cheeseball can talk, and it doesn't have a mouth!"

"But I'm not a—" He didn't get to finish, as the dwarf had chosen that time to pass out. "Th-That was fast!"

"Oh, it's just a table! That can be replaced," said Gina Mudclaw. "Although you did give us cause to almost have a heart attack," she stepped over a wooden leg protruding from the pile. "But, uh, welcome to Halfhill! That was quite the entrance you've made! Is there something I might be able to help you with?"

"I'm here to pick up that crone over there," said Yeul, looking pointedly and uninterestedly at Lightning.

Gina laughed. "Don't be silly! She doesn't look a day over twenty!"

Armi nodded vigorously. "I know, right? I said the same thing!" Whatever else she was going to say was silenced by Mishka's elbow driving into her ribs.

"You couldn't be further from the truth," Lightning deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, she's overstayed her welcome," Yeul continued. "My boss is expecting us and—"

"Ah, but you must feel exhausted from having to, uh, teleport quite explosively from where you were to here! Surely you can find time to replenish your strength and mana with the Ironpaw family's famous dishes?"

Noel scratched his stomach. "Now that you mention it…I am starting to feel a little hungry."

"We can't stay," said Yeul.

"No?" Gina swept her arms out toward the buffet tables arrayed with plates of hors d'oeuvres and mugs of beer and tea, dishes of all the food groups sitting warm and inviting in a variety of sauces, the smoke and steam rising and swaying a flamenco from the heat of the stations. "Are you sure? You don't want anything?"

"No."

"We could use a rest," said Serah, peering longingly at a blood elf's bowl of noodle soup; he hugged it closer to him, unnerved by her gaze. "We haven't had a chance to settle down since we left the Caverns."

"We can't stay!"

"Food's really good," Lightning said, and from a plate she grabbed a skewered piece of meat. She held it out to her. "Try some."

Yeul grimaced. "Light, this isn't a time to mess around in the boon—" But she didn't finish nor did Lightning wait to finish, as she popped the morsel into the girl's mouth. Her eyes lit in surprise, and for a split second looked like she was going to spit it out; but she relented, and she chewed, and swallowed. She smacked her lips, appearing even more surprised. "That…What was that?"

Mishka took a sample and tore it off the toothpick. "Mmm…hamburger steak. They really loaded it up with the soy sauce."

"You should try the Pandaren Treasure Noodle Soup!" said Armi. "Trust me, it's really good!"

"But it's a big bowl," Lightning reiterated, smirking. "A shrimp like you won't be able to finish it in one go."

A muscle in Yeul's lower jaw twitched angrily. She whirled on Gina. "I'll have what she's having!" she declared.

The pandaren clapped her paws, delighted. "Wonderful! Come along, I'll take you to your table…."

So they sat together at Table Thirteen, drinking and eating, and Halfhill recovered its lost revelry to indulge itself once more. There had been a crowd surrounding them once they had been seated and after they'd been served, lobbing question after question at the outsiders. Yeul snapped at them and demanded they leave herself, her friends, and the drone in peace, and they scattered in fear when she told them she could and would send them through wormholes she was more than capable of opening up into various tangential universes where humans had an even larger presence in the Alliance (up to the point where if the various races constructed stations dedicated to professional jobs, they'd be replaced by humans), trolls had an uprising every time the world was in danger (and when the threat had nothing to do with them), and Go'el swooped in to save the day yet again (and much to the chagrin of everyone else).

Armi watched them go. "Can you really do that?" she asked Yeul.

The girl scoffed. "Of course not. That's god-level magic, and only Lady Etro can pull it off. Besides, if I were able to do that it'd mess with this universe's temporal integrity even more than it is. Barring Lightning's intervention, this timeline was altered a long time ago, when a human, a dragon, and an orc got caught in a temporal anomaly and participated in the War of the Ancients. It's much too long of a story to recount in such a short time, but simply put their interactions gave birth to a number of changes that were affected in their time period."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"You don't want to. It'd be like unraveling a ball of yarn for eternity. A big ball of wibbly wobbley timey wimey…stuff."

"I'd hate to be a cat."

"Cats are overrated." Yeul lifted her chopsticks, paused, and glanced sidelong at Banchou seated smack-dab in front of the table. He stared at her, his head tilted quizzically and his cocked ears lifting. Her eyes narrowed. "Speaking of which…what exactly is he supposed to be?"

"He's a quilen," said Mishka.

"This one looks like it can't decide whether he's a dog or a cat."

"I don't think Norushen could decide, either," said Armi. "It's one thing to make the mogu in your image, but what were the mogu thinking when they were creating quilen?" Realization lighted her face like a candle. "Do you think that's how cows were made? I mean you have the tauren that live in Kalimdor, the taunka in Northrend, and the yaungol here in Pandaria, but all we have are four-legged bovines we milk and slaughter for meat and behead to pass off as proof a pirate captain was killed to collect the bounty! There's nothing to write home about!"

Mishka covered her face with her palm. "Putting aside the graphic details while our guests are eating, you've been told time and again by the Explorers' League that the tauren are speculated to have originated from a bull ancient."

Armi rolled her eyes."Right. And the Elune the night elves have worshipped for thousands of years is not a god but a naaru. Or even a benevolent Old God!"

"Ignorance is bliss," said Yeul. "But don't tell the night elves that." She slurped a waterfall of noodles and guided them into her mouth with her chopsticks. One noodle smacked her between the eyes, which she glared at before sucking it down her gullet.

"Whatever he's supposed to be, he's a handsome beast," Serah gushed, and pet Banchou on top of the head. He made an appreciative growl and nosed her hand, tail thumping against the ground. "Who's a gorgeous dog-kitty? Who's da gorgeous dog-kitty?! You are! You are! I'd take you home if you weren't already imprinted to someone!"

"Yeah," Mishka drawled, and lightly flicked the girl's forehead with her fingers. "Not gonna happen."

"You have your cat," said Lightning. "And don't forget Merlin."

Her sister's joy melted away, replaced with an exasperated, accusatory look. "How can I? He never shuts up. The towel trick doesn't work either!"

"The towel trick?" Armi asked.

"I throw a towel over his cage so it makes him think it's night and that it's time to go to sleep. But it doesn't. It doesn't work at all. In fact, it makes him squawk even louder." She puffed her cheeks out. "You don't know how close I was, Claire. How close…I was…to taking matters into my own hands."

"Merlin's not clipped, so if Snow makes a sudden move he'll just fly away," said Lightning.

"Why would her boyfriend go after your bird?" Armi asked.

"I meant her cat. His name's Snow, too."

Armi turned toward Serah, staring at her as if she'd suddenly sprouted Old God eyes all over her body. "Why would you name your cat after your boyfriend?"

The way her face went from pink to a bright shade of red so quickly was astonishing. "I-It's a long story! And, well, I thought—"

"Snow—her boyfriend, that is—perused the timeways to try to find Lightning," Noel added for her. "We were with him for a time, Serah and I. I think we have enough time to tell them, don't we, Yeul? If it's not too much to ask…."

"Might as well," said the girl, whose head was twisted away from them. She was eyeing a pandaren who was being rapidly and expertly eviscerating a big piece of daikon, the gin-ji knife blinking silver in his scarlet paw. The hand holding her chopsticks tapped against the rim of her bowl. "I'm going for seconds."

Lightning leaned over and peered into it. "Holy crap…you actually finished the whole thing."

"Damn straight I did!" Yeul turned up her nose and nodded proudly. "Never underestimate an agent of Etro!"

"Ah, but can an agent fit another helping of Pandaren Treasure Noodle Soup into that small body of hers?"

"I will bet my entire stash of galactic standards on it! You watch! You watch and you learn!" Yeul snatched the bowl and hefted it high over her head. "Yo, waiter! Waiter!"

"Hey, Light, I don't think we should push her," Noel said, one eyebrow cocked worryingly at the pandaren hustling to and fro between tables. "I mean, this Yeul's small and that bowl's, like, pretty big—"

"I'm not your post-apocalyptic Yeul, son! I can take care of myself!" the girl snapped at him, to which he flinched.

Serah giggled. "I don't think we're in too much of a hurry anymore, Noel. We have time to spare."

"Well I dunno about Mishka here, but I'm all ears!" said Armi, rattling the silverware with a simultaneous slap of her hands on the table. "Let's hear it!"

Noel hung his head and sighed, admitting defeat. Lightning sighed, too, but there was a ghost of a smile, a twinkling of the eyes betraying a font of fondness and amusement. She sat up and flagged down a passing waiter to refill her mug as another arrived to take Yeul's order.

Mishka leaned back and contented herself to listening to Serah regale the table with her story when she felt something feathery touch her shoulder. Inclining her head slightly to the side, she caught Mog floating at the edge of her periphery. "She looks happy, don't you think?" the moogle asked, pointing a fingerless paw toward Lightning.

The high elf glanced at her and took notice. "I think it had something to do with pouring her heart out to me and mine before you guys got here. But yeah, she's a lot better than she said she was before."

"She's going to be very busy when she gets back. So will I, but at least I'll leave knowing Serah and Noel will be returning to their world to be with their own families."

"What could a little grommet like you be busy with?"

"I help guide the souls of the departed in the unseen realm with Caius Ballad and the other Yeuls. We three provide balance in the world, allowing the souls to either reincarnate or go to sleep."

"No kiddin'?"

"No kiddin'. One time, I guided a woman back to her mortal coil—she had been doing a report on a civil war when she got caught in a missile strike. She said…she said she wanted to make the world a better place, so the efforts Lightning and the others made in the old one won't go to waste."

Mishka shrugged. "It's no different here. The Alliance and the Horde are always at each other's throats, but when someone—something—comes around and threatens Azeroth they all band together to stop them. But only just, because after a while everyone's back to doing the same old dance." She watched Armi, listening to the unfolding story with a cocktail of childish curiosity and confusion. A small smile tugged at one corner of her lips. "It's why we left, Armi and I. Why be a part of a cycle of violence that won't end when we can resolve to protect the world on our own terms? We don't need a King or a Warchief telling us how to fight our battles." There was no malice in her voice.

Mog nodded. "The people will decide the course Azeroth will take, just as the people in the New World will decide where they'll go. Good or bad, we'll see things through."

"Mmm-hmm. As it should be." Mishka peered into her own cup of tea; it was empty. "This tale's going to be a long one, isn't it?"

"Eh, it varies," Mog said, shaking a little paw. "Serah can…exaggerate sometimes. Noel tries not to but he can't help it, he wants to impress upon others."

"Then I better ask for a few refills," said Mishka, lifting the cup. "Armi's bound to dissect every detail of a story until it makes sense to her."

"And for you to correct her and make half-hearted, sarcastic quips at her expense, right?"

She grinned. "Wouldn't be a normal day if I didn't."