Khaeris Dawndancer

Too Much (WrA Faceless Plotline)

There was too much activity. That’s what Khaeris noticed as she walked through the streets. Too many people for this early. Too much commotion; too many carts; too many hawkstriders. People were going places. Fast. Maybe even a little anxious as they moved.

Her hand tightened in Andaeros’s, he’d already noticed, and they continued to meander slowly on their path home from the translocation orb. They’d stayed the night in Orgrimmar for Brewfest; they’d been too tipsy to chance portal sickness and all too happy to have a night out of Silvermoon.

A quick but sincere kiss and they parted for their respective days. Her steps were quicker now, the buzz in the air infecting her feet. Through the Bazaar, it was clear there was a general flow toward the Shielded Mind headquarters, and just as fast out of the district. It was here she started seeing posters with a flower and a warning. She didn’t stop to read them right away, uneasy about them and avoiding whatever unpleasant reality of which they warned.

Even around her wagon, a small knot of people gathered. A long-term customer, with her young son laying limp and ashen in her arms; but his arms were bound and there were rakes of his excoriations across his own arms. Another woman, older and unrelated, hovered but eyed the mother-son pair warily and never got too close, repeatedly pulling up a gauzy kerchief to her mouth and putting it down.

The boy’s eyes were glazed with fever as she approached. The mother looked up desperately as Khaeris ushered the woman into the small cart. “Please, help him.”

“I will.”

Long hours later, her hair was tied at the nape of her neck and her skin was dewy from a damp that came from from exertion and the continuous steam pouring her alchemy bench. She was flushed with health, unlike the young man who was now begging for help.

“You should go to the clinic.” Her voice was tired, but sympathetic. And then the letter from Xanelen arrived by way of a young courier. Khaeris finished the letter quickly and turned back to find the men eyeing one another; one frankly hostile and cautious, the other exhausted and ill. She dismissed the courier and turned to the other man. “C’mon. I’ll take you there in a moment. Just let me get some things together.

And so, in the late morning, Khaeris arrived at the Shielded Mind with a patient, a basket of rare alchemy supplies, and a purpose.