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--present day--
Eleazar followed a step behind the regiment captain as they approached the small group of dignitaries that were to accompany the dispatch through the Dark Portal – a trio of Draenei emissaries, one a robed ambassador and the other two fully-armoured Exarchs, each with a pair of adjutants that were currently standing to attention at a respectful distance as their superiors engaged in small talk with a fourth individual: a tall, stately Night Elf Priest wearing the traditional diplomatic mantle of the Kaldorei. Eleazar quickly disguised his smile of pleasant surprise as the captain introduced him to the delegates.
The captain bowed curtly. “Your Excellencies, I present to you Ambassador-Paladin Eleazar Thomaius Abraham.”
The Draenic ambassador smiled lightly. “Ah, yes – the esteemed Eleazar of Light’s fame.” Eleazar smoothly curved his spine in reply, and the Draenei returned the gesture. “I do believe you have made yourself a bit of a name among my peers,” he continued with an appreciative look.
Eleazar righted himself and smiled as well. “<You pay me much too great a credit, Wordbearer,>” he replied in only minutely accented Draenic. He exchanged bows and similar greetings with the Exarchs, before turning back to the ambassador. “<I am surprised that you would speak of me so highly.>”
The Draenei’s glowing eyes became solemn, but his smile didn’t falter as he replied in Draenic as well. “<The Prophet is a benign and attentive leader, but it is still considered a most high honour for anyone to speak to and be spoken to by him.>” The ambassador inclined his head slightly. “<I must say, your Draenic is impressive.>”
“<My thanks, Wordbearer,>” Eleazar replied with a smile and another bow. “<The result of studiosity.>”
The Draenei nodded and, with another exchange of diplomatic phrases, turned back to his kinsmen. Eleazar stepped away respectfully, and then turned to the Night Elf with a far broader and jovial grin.
Theluin chuckled warmly and extended his hand. “No need for formalities here, my friend,” he said in Darnassian as Eleazar grasped the offered hand in a firm soldier’s grip. “I do believe you’ve managed to iron out your pronunciation since.”
Eleazar smiled modestly. “Jus’ tryin’ to keep myself sharp, sir Theluin,” he replied in his lilting Common. “How’re the times in Kalimdor?”
Theluin leaned on his staff, switching to Common as well. “Thankfully, a little less frantic than a month ago. It remains to be seen how swiftly the Cenarion Circle will move to help restore the Silvermyst Isles, but overall I believe my kin have warmed to our new neighbours.” He smiled softly. “Lady Tyrande has a winning way.”
Eleazar cracked a lopsided, awkward smile. “I hope I’ll be able to visit th’ Temple of th’ Moon again some day, friend. That place is quite a sight.”
Theluin let out a soft chuckle. “I suppose. It is easy to become jaded when something has been a fixture of your existence for most of your waking days.”
Eleazar returned the chuckle, and they went on with their own small talk of wildly varying and wide-spanning subjects, from obscure sacred texts to their own respective field exploits over the past weeks. Theluin complimented Eleazar on the Paladin’s dedication to his riding circuit, and Eleazar responded in kind to Theluin’s extensive diplomatic exchanges with the Exodar and recent appointment as a representative of the Cathedral of Light.
As the discussion petered out while the other dignitaries began to prepare for departure, Eleazar found his attention piqued by a fifth individual in the immediate vicinity: a wiry, long-haired fellow half-sitting on a nearby stack of provision crates and picking idly at a gnarled twig with a small craft knife, seemingly paying little to no interest in the goings-on of the dignitaries standing barely a few steps away. Eleazar continued to observe him out of the corner of his eye, noting the roguish outfit and paraphernalia. The way the leather-armoured stranger reclined against the wooden boxes spoke clearly of a considerable physical conditioning, and the craft knife spun between his fingers with great dexterity as he kept carving out oblique shapes and curves from the dead, fragile shoot in his hands.
The young man suddenly looked up and met Eleazar’s gaze head-on, and the Paladin had to suppress a rush of mortification as he realized that it was actually a woman he had been staring at. Fixing him with a piercing, astonishingly intelligent silver-teal stare, the she-rogue made it abundantly clear that she had been perfectly aware of his scrutiny, and confounded the awkwardness of the situation further with a wry little smirk.
Theluin didn’t even turn his head. “Tuan, don’t be a tease.” The Night Elf’s voice carried that peculiar combination of reprimand and endearment that spoke of years of familiarity. The mischievous female snickered quietly in turn.
Eleazar couldn’t help throwing a wondering glance at his Kaldorei friend. “She is an acquaintance,” the Night Elf replied with a return glance and a small, apologetic smile.
“Don’t bother making up excuses for me, Thel,” the she-rogue called out – the Draenei delegates were well outside earshot, thank the Light. “You know I’ll just spend the next five minutes making every last one utterly obsolete.” She shoved herself off her perch, tossing the twig aside, and Eleazar had to force himself not to take a step back as she stood to her full height. “So who’s this bookish friend of yours?”
Theluin merely continued to smile. “Eleazar, meet Tuan, Stormwind citizen and freelance adventurer. Tuan, this is Eleazar Thomaius Abraham, Ambassador-Paladin and Circuit Rider of the Argent Dawn.” The Paladin bowed curtly.
Tuan looked Eleazar over in a single, trained sweep, focusing momentarily on the man’s distinct tabard. “The Dawn, right. Figured that already.” For the briefest split second, her eyes seemed to flicker with a strange, not-too-distant memory, but the moment vanished almost as soon as it had occurred. She stepped forward and extended her hand. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, hopefully we won’t end up wanting to tear each other’s throats out within the next hour, all that stuff.”
Eleazar shook it almost on instinct, his diplomatic training kicking in. The woman’s grip was firm and sincere, though. He blinked a little incredulously at his new ‘companion’. “… my apologies, Miss Tuan, but ye do seem a mite strange a choice ta be present fer a dispatch such as this.”
She shot back a wry half-grin, her gaze sharpening noticeably as she held his hand firmly in place. “Well that’s the trick, Master Eli – you’re not really supposed to notice me. I’m technically not even here.”
Eleazar raised his eyebrows, and then he nodded understandingly. Tuan’s body language relaxed almost immediately. She let go, stepped back again and looked around. “Guess everyone’s getting ready to bail. I’ll go make sure they haven’t gone and put Sandy’s armour on backwards.” She spun on her heel and marched off, throwing a wave back.
Eleazar allowed himself a moment to recompose himself. Theluin smiled gently. “As long as she is being flippant, you can be quite sure she does not mean anything personally,” the elderly Kaldorei remarked in a low voice.
Eleazar smiled back a little uncertainly. “She’s … quite the character, if y’ doan’ mind me sayin’ so, sir Theluin.”
Theluin chuckled quietly. “But her heart is in the right place. Let us proceed to our mounts, then.”
They made their way swiftly enough to where the dignitaries’ steeds were being kept. The Exarchs’ adjutants were busy affixing the last straps of their Elekks’ harnesses, and beside them were Eleazar’s own imposing charger and Theluin’s Kaldorei Saber. The massive cat was resting idly on its stomach, already in full plating, and stood with an expansive yawn as its master approached. Eleazar patted his own horse’s head amicably, and the stallion puffed a warm breath against the man’s hand.
Eleazar looked around. “Where’s Miss Tuan? I thought she said she would be somewhere aroun’ here.”
Theluin put his head minutely to one side, his glowing eyes going absent for a moment. Then he smiled knowingly. “She’s giving her greetings to the Ebonlockes. She’ll be right with us.”
Eleazar glanced at the Night Elf. “I didn’ know she was part o’ the Night Watch.”
“She isn’t. But she has proven herself a considerable resource both in terms of combat prowess and detective work, and as such the Mayor and his daughter share a degree of respect for her. She likes to repay that respect whenever she passes through …” He chuckled quietly to himself as he stroked his outlandish mount’s smooth fur, the tamed predator purring deeply in its throat. “… as roundabout as she tends to make herself.”
Eleazar regarded him. “I take it ye’ve known her for quite some time.”
Theluin looked up, counted silently to himself, and then nodded. “Myes, I suppose I have. Three years, almost to the day.”
Eleazar was about to reply, and then blinked in surprise when a load of barrels was pushed aside, revealing a tall, armoured palomino carrying the Stormwind insignia on its breastplate, the beast stamping its hooves and tossing its head impatiently. “Whose horse is that? I know it’s not the captain’s …”
Theluin looked up and smiled. “Ah … no, it isn’t. That’s “Sandy”, I believe.”
Eleazar shot him a look. “That’s hers?”
“A diplomatic solution, nothing more.” Theluin eased himself onto the Saber’s back, adjusting his robes.
The Paladin didn’t look entirely convinced as he, too, mounted up. “S’not going to be very diplomatic if she’s late for departure—” He was interrupted as the subject of their discussion came ploughing through the throng, a sharp whistle on the air. The palomino gave a loud snort and turned towards the sound, briskly trotting away to meet his owner. She in turn took a few quicksteps and swung herself into the saddle with practiced ease and agility without the horse so much as slowing down, and then steered herself over to her companions.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said in a dismissive tone as she pulled level with them, hefting her backpack a bit more securely onto her shoulder. “Places to be, people to talk to.”
Eleazar couldn’t help but sigh and roll his eyes. Tuan shot him a broad, rascally grin in return. Theluin chuckled quietly.
“Something tells me you two are going to get along just fine,” the elderly Night Elf remarked.
Tuan arched an eyebrow at him. “Heaven knows it’s going to be a pretty dreary trip if we don’t.” She turned to Eleazar. “You think we’ll get along?”
Eleazar found himself smiling kindly in turn. “I do believe so, Miss Tuan. We have until Nethergarde Keep to find out, if nothin’ else.”
She cracked a lopsided little smirk back at him, but her eyes had a genuine glint to them. “Then I’ll have faith in your faith.”
The ram’s horn sounded, and the dispatch began to file out onto the road once more.
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Originally written by Tuan Taureo
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