Posthumous: Evaporating Clouds

“So the Val’kyr said it was through the Dark Lady’s blessing you awoke?”

“That’s what I said.”

“But you don’t remember actually hearing our Queen?”

Liam looked at Robert and shook his head no.  “To this very moment I have never heard the sound of Lady Sylvanas…and before you say a word, it’s been made clear that I would know her voice if I heard it.”  Liam went back to sharpening his arrows.

Robert persisted.  “It must be circumstance.  I mean, each of us who are gifted as Forsaken have a different experience and even react differently.  I mean, look at Lilian over there,” he pointed off to a girl near a tree.  “She’s off her rocker.”

Liam frowned.  “She just looks frightened.”  With that he got up and started walking over to her, Drake quickly taking in step beside him.  As he approached the, what was once, young girl she covered her eyes with her arm and swatted at him.

“Get away from me you abomination!”

“…it’s Lilian, right?” Liam tried to be as comforting as one could be while dead, er undead.  “I’m not an abomination.  I’ve learned they’re much bigger than I am.  I just wanted to see what was wrong.”

She cried out at him again.  “You undead are a taint upon Azeroth!  Every one of you creatures deserves to be destroyed!”

Liam was a bit frustrated with her at this point, but persisted.  “You know, Lilian…do you realize that you are undead as well?”  As Lilian ran away screaming that he was wrong and her father would save her, Liam looked down at Drake and the dog responded with his head tilted as if to say “not your finest moment.”  He shook his head at the dog and made his way back to Robert.

“What in the name of Lordaeron did you say to her that sent her fleeing?  Tell her what’s for dinner in the inn?”  Robert laughed at his own joke, but as he didn’t get a reaction from Liam he lifted a bone finger at the dog.  “You’re going to have to teach him how to proceed with caution Drake.”

The dog nudged Liam’s hand with his nose, seeking a scratch behind the ear that his owner was just as eager to provide.  Liam scratched and then sat back down beside Robert.  “So, tell me something.  I was clearly dead for some time.  Just how long?”

His friend looked back at him through his odd leather mask.  “Hard to say.  I mean, I was brought back seven months before you and I still have no idea how long I’d been gone.  I don’t even remember us dying.”  He pulled a cricket out of his knee and tossed it aside.  “All I know is that dog never moved from your grave.  It was…well, it was kinda eerie to be honest.  But then, the unliving is anything but normal, right?”

“Valid point.”  Liam looked at Drake and asked out loud, “Robert were you a dog person before you died?”

“Not really, no” came the answer.

“Then you wouldn’t understand.”  Liam fed Drake a piece of rat meat.  “While how we’re here now might not make sense, the bond between Drake and I makes complete sense.”