Epilogue

Stormwind City, Elwynn Forest

"It looks like rain, dad," Adelaide observed. "Are you sure you want to walk all that way?"

"If it rains, I'll duck into a shop," Brother Daren grumped. "I've got to pay the tailor a visit regardless. It's time he made some new clothes."

"Wear a cloak, at least," she advised. "And take Mimi with you. She's been pestering me ever since I told her we'd be coming for a visit."

Brother Daren chuckled. His daughter spent most of her time with her little family out in the Wetlands. Only rarely did they make the journey during peak spawning times along the coast. Her husband of fifteen years now employed several fishermen, making holiday trips easier. Brother Daren was pleased; he didn't often get to see his children anymore, and even less often, his grandchildren.

At twelve years, Mimi was the youngest and most precocious of the eight grandchildren, and Brother Daren's personal favorite. She also bore an uncanny resemblance to her namesake, something that never failed to inspire fond memories in the elderly priest.

"I'd be glad to," he replied. "I need younger eyes to guide my steps."

Adelaide huffed with amusement. "You've walked that path at least weekly for twenty years. You could find it in your sleep."

"She expects me," he shrugged. "I wouldn't fail her for all the world."

Following his daughter's directions, he found Mimi holding court in the park. She'd been too young to do much during her last visit, and so she spent all her time over the last few days exploring every nook and cranny of the great city of Stormwind. Here, however, she was happiest, for the great fountain had been stocked with colorful, exotic fish some years ago. She never tired of watching them, or regaling her swiftly growing army of devoted followers with wild tales of her wetlands home.

"... and green and orange and red. All sorts of colors!" Mimi was boasting as Brother Daren approached the half dozen youngsters gathered around his granddaughter. She lowered her voice dramatically. "I've even seen dead ones. No meat or skin on them. Roaming about." Shocked gasps erupted among the children. Mimi nodded importantly. "I've got a cousin in the Explorer's League, and he promised when I'm older, he'll show me around the digsite where those bone raptors are."

"Ain't you scared?" a boy asked, his eyes wide.

Mimi dismissed the idea with ease. "Of course not. They're just bones; nothing to be afraid of."

"But they move!" a girl whimpered.

"I can move faster," Mimi assured her with a grin. Then her eyes fell on Brother Daren. "Grandad!" She pushed past her new friends and leapt into her grandfather's arms.

"Telling tall tales again?" he chuckled, holding her close.

"It's all true," she protested indignantly.

Beaming down at her, the priest said, "Your mother said you'd like to come with me today, so here I am. Will your friends let you loose for a little while?"

Sudden recognition lit up the girl's face. "Of course they will! I can come? Really?" At his nod, Mimi hastily excused herself, promising to join them after supper. Then she slipped her hand into Brother Daren's, and they made their way down the walkways along the canals.

When they reached Cathedral Square, Brother Daren paused at the flower seller's stand in the courtyard. "Talandra's Rose, I think. It was always her favorite," he murmured half to himself. He pressed the silver coins into the middle-aged woman's hands. With a smile, he passed the bouquet to Mimi. "I need a hand on my cane, I'm afraid. Can you carry these for me?"

"Sure," the girl smiled. She bent her head to draw in the scent. "They're wonderful." The seller straightened proudly at the girl's praise.

"This way, Mimi," Brother Daren directed, gesturing toward the passageway back to the canals. "Have you been everywhere in this city yet?"

"Not everywhere, no. There's just so much to see! Can you tell me again about the valiant King Varian and the Defias Brotherhood?"

"Perhaps another time," Brother Daren chuckled. "That's too exciting a tale for my old heart."

"Will... will he be there?" Mimi asked, her tone suddenly hushed. Her grandfather glanced at her face, and saw fearful anticipation.

"Very likely," he confirmed, and squeezed her hand.

"I'm not afraid," she assured him, though her voice shook a little.

"Good girl."

Before long, Brother Daren's feet had taken them unerringly to the cemetery, forming a great arc around the lake beyond the city walls. He felt calm descend as they passed the threshold. Though there were far more markers now than he knew when he was Mimi's age, he no longer grieved for the lost lives. He knew he would join them in the Light one day soon.

The pathway curved before them, gravestones and tombs on either side. Mimi held tightly to his hand, much of her bravado extinguished as they neared their destination. Perhaps a dozen yards ahead, the lone figure could be seen, dark against the stark white of the immaculately tended stones.

For twenty years, he'd stood behind Miona's gravestone, unmoving and silent. No one save King Anduin Wrynn had managed to pry from his stiff lips the reason for his vigil, for which permission was granted long ago. If any thought his purpose was nefarious in the beginning, their fears eased over the decades of the watcher's statue-like immobility. In spite of the instinctive aversion his presence inspired, when his simple garments rotted and shredded from wind and rain, replacements always found their way to him. Brother Daren himself took ownership of the duty years before, when the previously anonymous donor, an aging gnome mage who'd been a close friend of Miona's, passed away. Soon he would have to name a successor of his own.

"Say nothing of the smell," Brother Daren advised his granddaughter. "He is undead, and can't help it."

"All right," Mimi whispered.

When they reached Miona's grave, Brother Daren slowly knelt to begin his prayers. Mimi automatically knelt beside him, but he knew her attention was focused upon the grim watcher. He was, after all, the true reason for her keen interest, for she was too young to have known the woman who was the family's nanny for years.

"Mimi, you may place the flowers in the vase, if you like," he gently suggested. She clumsily obeyed.

A lengthy silence stretched before it was broken by her timid little voice.

"Hello."

Startled, Brother Daren glanced at Mimi. She was still beside him, her eyes wide and fixed on the watcher. The priest shifted his gaze, and saw that the figure had dipped his chin and trained his blue-glowing eyes on the girl.

"I've... I've never seen an Orc before," she told him. "That is, I've seen pictures, and... from a distance. You're not green."

His response seemed difficult to manage, as though words had rarely passed his lips in all these years. "No. Not anymore."

"How do you do that with your voice?" Mimi blurted, fascination at a curious new thing pushing aside her fear.

Brother Daren almost laughed at the comically baffled expression on the Orc's face. So little movement could ever be seen in the faces of the undead, that he must be startled indeed by such a question. One that Brother Daren had to confess he would never have had the courage to ask himself.

"It is... what my voice sounds like," the Orc replied uncertainly. "I am not of the living."

"Oh," Mimi replied. "I was named for her: Miona. But everyone calls me Mimi."

Again, the Orc blinked. He stared at Mimi for a long moment. When he spoke, a strange tremor could be heard in his sepulcher voice. Unexpectedly, a lump rose in Brother Daren's throat.

"I am pleased to meet you, M-... Miona."

"I've heard all sorts of stories," Mimi ventured, emboldened by the Orc's attention. "You've been here ever so long. I'm quite sure you're the only Orc in Stormwind. Why are you here?"

Brother Daren considered shushing the child, but his own curiosity got the better of him. He knew the Orc's name, and that he was the same Orc who, in life, spared Daren and his sisters from their parents' fate. Whenever the priest saw the lonely figure, his mind filled with the faces of his children and grandchildren, his nieces and nephews and their children. So many lives begun, and lived well, because of this Orc's moment of mercy.

Perhaps the Orc's condition denied him the blessings of the Light, but Daren prayed for him regardless.

"I made a promise," the Orc replied, "that I could not keep in life."

"What sort of promise?"

His mouth twitched. "To be with her always. And to guard her. She will not suffer as I did. No one will raise her as Scourge."

"Oh," Mimi whispered. "That is very brave of you." The Orc nodded politely. "Did... did you love her?"

Brother Daren pressed his lips firmly and fished in his pocket for a kerchief. He knew the answer before the Orc spoke.

"I did, when I lived," he replied. Though his voice was flat and lacked emotion, Brother Daren could feel the Orc's grief as profoundly as his own. "I could not be with her in life, but in death, we are one."