Twenty-Five Years of Everley

"Hey, Mallory! Catch!"

 

Mallory spun in time to catch a small object tossed by her twin sister, Emma. The heavily armored paladin approached the priestess, grinning. The goblin bodyguards nearby craned their heads and stood on tip-toe to see what value the gift might hold.

 

"Sorry I didn’t wrap it," Emma said. "It’s been busy. Happy birthday, sis."

 

Mallory smiled back. She knew just what this was, and had a feeling Emma would give a gift like this. The small rock, only a few inches around, was a piece of Draenor’s moon, taken from a larger meteor that had fallen not far from the garrison. The gift may be predictable, but Mallory couldn’t deny it was perfect for a priestess of Elune.

 

"Thanks, Em," she said, quickly pocketing the stone before the goblins deduced too much. She wrapped Emma up in her arms and hugged her tight. "Happy birthday to you too. I’ve got something for you too; it’s just not with me right now."

 

Emma just chuckled. “Hey, this year I’m not stuck on a bed with burn wounds and fire seeds crawling through my legs, so that’s good enough for me! I’m just glad everything’s worked out as well as it has.”

 

"Twenty-five years… Here’s to many more, right?"

 

"Many dozens more," Emma answered, a grin crossing her face. "And then, immortalized forever in statues and history books."

 

Mallory laughed. “What’s gotten into you?”

 

"You see those statues in the old ruins you explore… Each one is depicting *somebody*. You’ll achieve greatness, Mal. If you haven’t already…you’ll do something worth recording, worth future generations telling stories about."

 

Mallory shook her head with a dismissive wave. “What about you?”

 

"Well. I’ve still got time to catch up to you!" She winked.

 

Somewhere off to the side, Peter Alabaster smiled and turned away.