Rightly Considered Inconvenience

Chapter 1: Begin Again.

A/N: Aaaawwwwww, here it goes!
Sequel to Adventure Loves Company, Too. If you haven't already, go read it. It gets better, honest.

Netherstorm had grown quiet in recent years. There wasn't much to do in Outland anymore since the major competitors of dominion had been taken out. Illidan was killed in Shadowmoon, Kael'thas was destroyed in both Netherstorm AND Quel'danas, and there had even been talk of going back in time. Shaheen didn't really doubt the last one. He had seen some pretty crazy stuff in his life, and being a creature made of arcane energy didn't really allow him much skepticism about things. The Consortium didn't really have any interest in all of the fleshlings' running about, and time-travel wasn't deemed a very lucrative industry. There were some who fiddled with the idea, and wound up only being able to send things forward in time. Made sense in a way, though. Sending someone back in time would create continuity problems, and all projected continuity issues that arose would result in a net loss.

And losses were bad.

Although at this point, it would at least give him something to do. He was sitting at a Protectorate camp at...well, he had totally forgotten where he was, he had been here for so long. His current role was to collect odds and ends, find things that could be salvaged...then sell them to the goblins at 150% plus. Shaheen liked the goblins. They were quirky little creatures, and fleshlings after his own heart. They truly understood value. Or at least, truly understood it better than the other races. Unfortunately for them though, they were woefully inept compared to an Ethereal's bartering skills. After he felt he had collected enough goods he would trek out across Netherstorm to various encampments and seek out the nearest goblin.

He always came back from these little treks with profit. One time he had even come back 374.6% ahead. It was the highlight the season when he returned from goblin skinning to count out his gains. It also helped that he had taken to calling his merchandise what it truly was - junk. For some indiscernible reason, the goblin mind when absolutely berserk when confronted by a pile of nick-knacks and miscellanea nonchalantly dismissed as "junk."

However, even that was starting to seriously bore the ethereal. Peace was all well and good, but give him a good war any day. Wars brought in profits. Peace barely broke even. Shaheen had been getting increasingly dismayed as his wonderful red line of profit that was once so happily rising even above the chart that he had originally drawn had now turned into practically a straight line. It didn't help that Netherstorm was exceedingly dull.

Purple stretched out as far as the eye could see. Purple and gray. Sometimes the monotony was broken by a bit of black thrown in here or there, but it was largely just purple. It didn't help his case that his body was made of glowing energy of a similar hue as the environment. It was discouraging. The only flashes of color he ever saw was from going to the goblins or by going into an eco-dome, but he didn't really like the eco-domes. It was always a weird sensation passing through the barrier, and he didn't much care for jungles. The rich smell of life was almost nauseating, and the last time he had gone into one, a raptor tried to pounce him.

He found himself severely missing the paladin. He liked it when the paladin was around. The elf was somewhat insufferable at times, but he had a sarcasm that was often lost on his peers. Shaheen sighed and lounged back against his chair. Netherstorm had become so boring. There was more to it, though. He had been feeling quite unfulfilled recently. It was almost as though he was physically fatigued, which was just silly to comprehend. He didn't even have a physical body left anymore to be fatigued. He pondered this, and decided to list this particular sensation as "fatigued melancholy." He rather liked that label.

As if in response to his boredom, there was a roar from up above. A dark steel-blue proto-drake descended from the sky, atop which sat the paladin that the trader was pining for. He liked this particular mount. It was his favorite one by far that he had seen the elf riding. It always interested him how the drake was encased in steel. The elf had said something about something to do with titans and elderly gods, but again it wasn't something that caught Shaheen's interest. The drake was like a little puppy towards his master, and even after the paladin had dismounted, the great blue and black drake followed at his heels, trying in vain to not knock over piles of crates with his wings that he used to support himself as he walked across the ground. There wasn't much other option for it, what with those stubby little devilsaur arms the poor beast had.

Shaheen spirit was lifted when he saw the elf stride straight for him. He had a glorious honey blond head of hair that was slicked back and draped elegantly over his back and shoulders. He was dressed in a plate robe in glorious shades of red, gold, and black. It was like a fire walked into the shadowy blandness of Netherstorm. The ethereal then took a mental step backwards and realized he was getting overly-poetic again. If he kept going like this, he would start to think that he was enamored with the guy. Which would be just silly. He was just happy to have something to look at that wasn't purple. He did take that time to notice a few more lines at the corners of the elf's mouth, and the previously existing lines had become more pronounced.

"Xeledar, my dear friend, what are you up to today?" Shaheen kicked his legs off his desk and onto the ground in an exaggerated gesture, and stood to greet the elf.

"Babysitting, apparently," he replied. He was surly, and his long eyebrows twitched every now and then. The reason for his frustration became apparent quite quickly. A human girl staggered out from behind him. She was ragged, and had a wild look about her. She was wearing torn robes, and her hair was dirty. She had smudges of dried muck on her face.

"Who's your little friend?" the ethereal walked over to the girl, who immediately jumped back behind Xeledar, and glared at him with a surprisingly vicious expression. "I'm worried she might bite me," Shaheen said, only half-jokingly.

"She just might." Xeledar pushed on the girl's head. "Be nice, or I'll drop you right back off where I found you."

"Where did you find her?"

"Zangarmarsh. She was hiding out in a hollowed-out log. Her freaking weird lizard nearly bit my face off."

"Weird lizard?"

"Her warp stalker. Big brute of a thing. He phased behind me and jumped me. I wasn't expecting to encounter one of those damned lizards there, it caught me completely off guard."

Sure enough, there was a hiss behind them as a big fifteen foot blue and red monstrosity phased into reality next to the girl. It hissed balefully at the paladin before nuzzling against the little girls thigh.

"That's kind of outrageous," Shaheen observed.

"It's more than outrageous." Xeledar scowled. "Anyway, she called off her enormous watchdog there, and I dunno. She just looks so...pitiful."

He had to agree with that. The girl was scrawny and looked as if she had been out in the wilderness for quite a while. Shaheen felt his fingers twitch as he felt an overwhelming urge to clean the girl up. He wasn't particularly bent on cleanliness, but it was almost an affront to nature how dirty she was. Then again, who knows how long she was living in Zangarmarsh? He sighed.

"Well, we have a washing station, but it's not really made for living things. We use it to clean out machinery or artifacts that we find."

The girl looked at him again, this time without the glare. Without the malice, she had a peculiar kind of innocence about her that was strangely disarming. He was suddenly a lot less confused as to why the paladin was so willing to carry the girl around with him.

"It'll do. I'm starting to worry about my armor smelling like swamp mud. Come on, girl." He motioned for her to follow him.

"Claryssa," she said, her voice surly. Xeledar turned to look at her.

"Well, you do know how to speak," he said sourly. "I was starting to think you were mute."

Claryssa sniffed disdainfully. She walked around to the warp stalker's side and sat down on the animal's back, crossed her am and set her face into an aloof pout. The lizard shuffled after the paladin, who rolled his eyes.

"Like a princess riding her litter," he grumbled as he passed by Shaheen. "She's been like this the whole way."

If the ethereal could grin, he would.

It was a little while later, and they were all sitting about a table having a meal. That is, Shaheen watched the other two eat. He was impressed with the girl and how well she cleaned up. Her hair was a golden blond that was a few shades lighter than the paladin's, and her dusky blue eyes were focused intently on the food in front of her. her skin was surprisingly smooth and fair, but the trader reminded himself that she had been covered in mud in the murk of Zangarmarsh for probably quite a while. She was seriously restraining herself, taking barely civil bites of her food. He was certain that if there was no one around, she would have plunged face-first into the plate.

"So what have you been up to, friend?" Xeledar said after a while, breaking the silence.

"Oh, not much. Surprisingly, I've been getting bored with with turning goblins upside down for their pocket change." Shaheen stretched out and crossed his ankles. "I think I need a change of scenery."

Xeledar grunted. He took one last bite of his food and leaned back in his chair, looking up toward the dark sky to contemplate the subtly shifting ribbon of glowing dust and debris that arced from horizon to horizon. "It does get boring after you've been everywhere."

"Especially when there is no more profit to be had," Shaheen muttered. He sighed as his mind traveled back to his profit line.

"Of course," the elf said with a sardonic twist on his lips. The other didn't reply, and there was silence again for a little while. Claryssa finally finished off her third plate of food, and settled back to relax. Her massive warp stalker waddled over to her and set its enormous head in her lap. She stroked its head absently and stared at some point four feet beyond the edge of the table.

"So, my dear," Shaheen began, leaning forward to set his elbows on the table, "how did you get to be in such a terrible state?"

She jumped, taken off guard by being addressed directly. She shifted slightly, and her eyes darted between him, Xeledar, her plate, and the lizard.

"Well, it's kind of a weird story," she said, quietly. He figured that she hadn't had much contact with sentient creatures, and hadn't spoken much. She started into a story that was actually quite silly. A big adventure across Azeroth, with a slew of unlikely characters. Strangely though, Shaheen found himself very engaged, and his interest gave the girl more confidence. Her voice steadily grew stronger and her storytelling more dynamic. Eventually, she got to the final battle in Desolace, and her forced teleportation.

"So this guy sent you to Zangarmarsh?" Xeledar interjected. He had spent the whole time staring up at the sky, and hadn't shown much external acknowledgement other than an eyebrow twitch here and a tightening of his lips there. He righted himself and leaned forward to look at her, his hand massaging the back of his neck.

"No, that would be ridiculous," Claryssa scoffed. "There is absolutely nothing in Zangarmarsh. I was sent to Shadowmoon Valley. I was standing in Desolace, and then there was a bright green flash, and then I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a large cage." She shuddered. "I didn't like Shadowmoon. Its color palette is an eyesore, and its denizens leave much to be desired."

"So how did you get out?" Shaheen asked, urging her to get back on point.

"That was thanks to Azbek," she said, stroking the lizard fondly. It crooned at her, and wagged its massive spiked tail once. "I don't really know how it happened. After a couple of months there, I was going crazy. I thought for sure the demons in that camp would have long since killed me...but this was worse. They just ignored me. Left me there. Sure, they gave me food and water, but I was left completely alone. No jeering like they did to the couple of other prisoners around me. I got sick of it, I needed to get out. I was laying on Azbek at one point, and he phase shifted, and I somehow went with him."

Now this was interesting. Shaheen leaned even farther forward. He had never heard of anyone going with a warp stalker when it went invisible. He would have to investigate this. Claryssa shrugged in response to the silent question, "how?"

"I don't know how it happened. I saw the world around me change. All of a sudden, everything was shadowy and seemed...insubstantial. Anyway, I saw the demons come to my door to give me food, but I wasn't in the cage. They opened the door wider and stepped into the cage, opening up the way out. Azbek took that opportunity and ran forward, me holding on to him for dear life. He's nice to ride on for a leisurely walk, but when he starts running, it gets very hard to keep your grip. I nearly got thrown off as he charged through the demon camp. He didn't stop running for a long time after we left the camp." She paused to think. "I wouldn't have survived a lot of things if it weren't for him."

"What I don't understand," Xeledar started, "is that to get from Shadowmoon to Zangarmarsh, you need to go through Terokkar. Terokkar has the biggest city left in Outlands, Shattrath. Why did you not simply go to Shattrath?"

The girl gave a little embarrassed chuckle and blushed. "See, I haven't got a very good sense of direction, and I knew literally nothing about Outland. I didn't even know where I was until after I escaped. I was also not very sane at the time. I'm still probably not." She grinned in a rather frightening manner. "Anyway, I finally got fed up with trying to survive while moving, so when I found the first habitable hole in the wall, I stopped and set up shop. I don't even know how long I lived in that mushroom stalk. I kind of don't want to know."

"What about your friends?" Shaheen asked. The girl blinked.

"I haven't thought much about that," she admitted. He could tell she felt bad about that now that she thought about it. "I don't know where they are or what they are doing. I don't even know what has happened on Azeroth in the time I've been gone. I don't even know how long I've been gone."

"Well, you mentioned Thrall as the Warchief," Xeledar said. "That makes it at least two years. Maybe almost three. Since then, the Horde has been very busy under the command of Garrosh Hellscream. He upgraded the Horde war machine, and it has been on a rampage. At least, it was for a little while. Then Deathwing ripped out of the Maelstrom and broke the world."

Claryssa cocked her head. The paladin flapped his hands in a half-assed gesture of wings.

"Big-ass dragon. He caused earthquakes throughout Azeroth, changed the geography a fair bit. Destroyed part of Stormwind. With his appearance, everyone was called to action to defeat him and his Twilight's Hammer cult. Eventually shit got serious and Thrall stepped up and killed him with the use of the Dragon Soul and a handful of heroes. Now that's all over and focus has been re-centered on war. Except there's something else that is going on, that I have absolutely no clue about. Or really any interest in. Something about pandas."

"What's a panda?" Shaheen asked, perplexed.

"It's a black and white bear."

"Sounds silly."

The paladin shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose eventually I'll find my way back to Azeroth and get thrown into the thick of things, but I think that I'm going to spend a little while here." His eyebrow twitched in irritation. "It was going to be a nice, leisurely time to myself, but I picked up this girl."

Claryssa sniffed again and crossed her arms. "I don't remember asking you to bring me with you." She paused, and her expression softened. "I am grateful though. Thank you."

The elf was obviously caught very off-guard by the show of appreciation. He cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and shifted in his chair. "Yeah."

Shaheen loved these little moments where his friend was unsettled like this. "Oh, so the grumpy old elf has no sharp retort to a sweet little girl saying thank you?" he teased. "Maybe you do have a heart after all."

"Pfft," Xeledar dismissed the jab with a wave of his hand. "Any heart I have left has long since turned to jade. We both know that." He stood up abruptly and stretched his shoulders. "Perhaps we can continue the teasing of me tomorrow? Unlike you arcane beings, us fleshlings need rest."

"Of course." The ethereal stood himself and offered a hand to Claryssa. "My dear, could I show you the way?"

She gave him a suspicious look. "You calling me 'my dear' is making me nervous," she said, but took his hand anyway. He laughed.

"I mean nothing by it. Merely being sociable."

The camp became a lot more quiet after the two went to sleep in a small sectioned tent set aside for beings of a more corporeal disposition to rest in. The other ethereals in the camp were largely uninterested in Xeledar and Claryssa and went about their various activities. Shaheen lounged back in his chair again, looking over some unimportant bits of paperwork he had been neglecting.

Maybe these two were his ticket to that scenery change he had been hoping so much for.

There we go. It has started. Be prepared for infrequent updates, as the same with Adventure. Not because I mean to. I just have to get the right inspiration.
Also, please don't take Xeledar's comments about the pandas seriously. I am super excited for the MoP expansion, and can't wait to make my hunter a panda. Those Pandaren girls...hnnnnng. They are so ridiculously cute, you don't even know. Especially with those red panda tails. They're just so darn adorable!