“Sir?”
Kun peered around the tent flap, holding a helmet under her arm and looking more then vaguely concerned. Also, ugh. Her head was pounding. Thank goodness she’d been put on guard duty, although…crap, yeah, they probably knew she rolled back into camp hungover from Boralus. At least that dark skinned dwarf in the tavern had been cute…
*Don’t think about the wolf, don’t think about the wolf…*
“Mmm. Come in, private.”
“Yessir.” Right. Salute. Stand at attention…yes? Yes. She tried not to fidget as the commander put his papers back down and looked at her. O….kay. He didn’t look mad, although he rarely did. Oddly though his look was thoughtful. Pondering.
“So I just got a report back from Stormwind.”
*Gulp*
“When you volunteered, you were vetted, of course. Not that we don’t trust you, but…”
*But of course. The other side. Pandaren had been neutral, there was fur on both sides of the conflict. She’d been given an extra hard eyeball, more so then the others, but that was fine. It was fine. It pissed her off, but she was trying really hard not to be resentful of it. Fuck. Pay attention.*
“…so that was all right. We don’t judge where our people come from, as long as they hold themselves up now. And you have been. You’ve been doing a damn fine job on the field for a new recruit.”
“Thanks, sir.”
The man nodded, then glanced at the papers again. His expression shifted. “Your vetting did provoke an interesting reaction from some people…upstairs, shall we say. You were a fairly active thief in Dalaran, yes?”
“…yessir..” Good thing her ears were flat to her skull or he’d see the bright pink interior. Godsdammit.
“Mmm. Like I said, I don’t judge.” There was a brief, mirthless smile. “You’ve paid your dues and then some. But you still have contacts, is what they were hinting at. You know things, and more importantly you know how to *do* things. The lads and lasses above were wondering why you weren’t working for SI:7.”
Kun frowned, her ears still flat, and made a face. “I don’t want to be that person anymore, sir.”
“I can understand.” His expression softened. “But I also can’t let valuable skills go to waste. You’re doing well, aye, you’re turning into a damn wall on the field, but you’re still young. You still can learn. And we have need for more then just walls.” He gestured outwards. “We’re getting stuck in a war of attrition out there. Brennadam doesn’t need more bullshit. I want to weaken them enough at the source, cut their supply lines, guerrilla attack their camps. I need a sneak.”
Kun kept frowning as he spoke, but her ears slowly began to rise, listening. It was true…somewhat…she didn’t want to be that thief. An assassin. But she did love to sneak. She loved getting a job done and scampering away. She….
*The Three Virtues. The conversation with Ace still resonated, and there was another pang. Don’t go if you weren’t ready, or if you couldn’t trust yourself. Doubt had no place on the battlefield.*
She wasn’t afraid. No, not that. But she was starting to feel bits of herself get lost in the muck and the blood and the violence, and she couldn’t maintain that. She needed to do something, she *had* to do something, but she was getting tired. This, however…she had debts to repay still, and there was more then one way to fight…
“Okay, sir.”
“Okay?”
“Yessir. I’ll…I’ll do it. Whatever it is.” She spoke slowly, matching his gaze with a spark. “But I’m not going to compromise my princples. They want an assassin they can go bugger off to someone else, there’s plenty of them out there. But if you want a sneak I can be quiet and I can get done what needs to be done, and if a step in the shadows saves the soldiers here blood and tears then I can do that.”
“Very good.” He nodded, even looked somewhat relieved. “I may have something for you. The lads monitoring activity near the shrine need some backup, and they’re worried about a camp of mages by the shore line. We can’t do a direct attack, not with the kind of magic they have at hand, but it needs taking care of. I’ll get more information for you, if you can get some people together.”
“I…yessir, I will try.”
“Good. Back to guard duty with you, then.”
She snapped a salute, turned around, and stomped out. Well. That was that, then. She was going to do a thing. She…okay, Sis, and Cael, and maybe even…
Him…
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