#Meredith Dragonblade

[odessii-dragonblade]

In Fields of Gold

The wind swept over her, causing her to stir with a light groan, slowly blinking her eyes open. Everything felt like a blur... She could remember Icecrown, could remember the way across the veil reaching her, and the feeling of being pulled through. But beyond that... Darkness, maybe a few flashes of light here and there, and the feeling like she was falling for eternity.

Odessii sat up straight with a gasp of breath, bringing a hand to her chest as consciousness made her heart race once more. Her breathing was still heavy, and she felt confined in her helmet - with deft hands, she reached up to pull her helmet off, letting it drop to the ground beside her as she caught her breath, eyes shut tight again.

Slowly, her breaths became steady... Her heart stopped racing, and she felt a calm wash over her. She’d gotten good at forcing herself to be calm, and that experience served her well. When finally she was passed that lingering panic of being pulled into the darkness, she opened her eyes, peering about. There was a cliff face ahead of her, the sound of running water... Pale, smooth stone beneath her.

And she was alone. “Adi? Adisor, where are you?”

Ode pushed herself to her feet, mind quickly turning to finding her brother. She turned around to look in the other direction - and found herself in stunned silence, unable to move as she marveled at the sight before her.

She was at a loss for words even in her own mind as she stared out at the wide, open sky, and the structures across from her. What looked like portals or gateways of some kind floating above it all, leading to Light knew where. Finally, she tore her gaze away to look down, taking a step back from the cliff’s edge she’d found herself upon. Beyond the cliffs below, there was only sky - the same sky that stretched out ahead of her, with no sign of anything on the horizon, if there could even be a horizon.

Wherever she was, she knew for sure that she was alone - no Adisor, no Ebon Blade... Just her. But the structures in the distance told her that there had to be others in this place. Someone she could find, to get an idea of where she was - of which way to go. So, she collected her gear, pausing a beat as she lifted her helmet, before she placed it back on her head and set off. 

Fortunately, there was only one way to go from where she was. She made her way carefully down the rocks, moved across the stream, and climbed back upwards to a point where the deep, dark green grass turned suddenly into a pale gold. Further on she followed this single stretch of land, until finally she came up to a point where she could see something ahead of her. Not a building, really, but a structure that had to have been built by someone. It was her best hope that whoever built it would still be there...

A destination in sight, she took her first steps towards it, before having her attention drawn away by a sudden roar from above her. She whipped around, drawing her sword and shield to ready herself for a fight. Some sort of creature, looking like a winged lion, swooped down not far off from her, letting out another threatening roar. Odessii stared the creature down - it was different than fighting another sentient being, but one beast wouldn’t be the end of her.

With a shout, she twisted her body, reeling back the arm she held her shield with and swinging it forward, tossing the disc and keeping her arm extended for it to return to her. Only, it never did - she had called upon the Light like she had countless times, but nothing happened. Instead, the shield flew like any other disc towards the creature, hitting it once and bouncing off, falling onto the grass. “What?”

Angered, now, the creature began to charge at her - it was all Ode could do to hold her sword tightly, balling her other, now empty hand into a fist, readying herself to fight. She held her ground, and as the creature pounced at her she braced - only to watch an arrow fly from somewhere outside her view, striking the creature in the neck and causing it to fall limp at her feet.

Once she was sure the blow had been fatal, Ode let her shoulders drop, letting her guard down. Someone had helped her, but that was the furthest thing form her mind in that moment, as she lifted her shield arm to stare at an opened hand. She tried to call the Light - a Judgement hammer, a flash of healing, something... But to no avail. The Light wouldn’t answer her call... And she had no idea why.

Her thoughts were interrupted, though, as a voice sounded out behind her. A voice that... That she was sure she recognized, in the back of her mind. Smooth like silk and elegant in its inflections - something about it was... Comforting, despite the teasing words. “That was a rather close call, friend - for what it’s worth, I believe the shield is meant to stay on your arm. But, at least you’re unharmed...”

Ode turned towards the sound of the voice, and felt her breath hitch in her throat. Her heart skipped a beat - several, even, as she stared at the figure ahead of her. There was shock, confusion, so many feelings, but they all brought the beginnings of tears to her eyes. Her sword dropped, as Ode quickly released it to pull her helmet back off her head, mouth still agape for a moment until she finally found her voice. “Mother?”

There was no mistaking who her timely rescuer was - her skin was a shade of blue, as was her hair, but her face... That was her mother, Meredith, she was sure of it. The other woman seemed confused for a moment, narrowing her gaze at Ode before her eyes went wide with realization. “Ode? Ode!”

There was a short breath of a laugh from her as she looped her bow onto her back, rushing towards Odessii and throwing her arms around the armored woman. Odessii was stunned for a moment, not sure what to do or say - but, in that moment, a hug was enough. A tight embrace, the first she’d shared with her mother in years... Over a decade. Part of her never wanted to let go - even if none of this was real, if she were dreaming somewhere after going through the rift to the other realm. She wanted this moment to last forever.

But, soon enough, her mother did pull away, tears of her own forming in her eyes, that wrinkled her face along with a wide smile. A smile that quickly faded, though, as worry overtook her. “There haven’t been any new souls in so long, I... But, you’re not - Ode, did you...?”

Odessii wasn’t sure what her mother was trying to say for a moment, before she remembered just where she was. Quickly, she shook her head, bringing up a hand to wipe away one of the tears that had come to her eyes. “No, no, I’m alive - but... A lot’s happened on Azeroth... Gods, I don’t even know where to start.”

Relief washed over Meredith’s face, and her own posture slumped a moment as her tension was released, and she smiled again. Though, it wasn’t long before she straightened, bringing her hands to Ode’s shoulders. “Well, however it is you came to be here, you’ll have time to tell me - tell us!”

Ode looked at her, brows raised. “Us? Is father-?”

Meredith nodded, pulling back and gesturing for Ode to follow her. “Yes, but not just your father - come on, hurry up! Don’t tell me you’ve gotten slow as you’ve grown up?”

Odessii smiled warmly at that, nodding and going to gather her things, looking around this place once again. She had much to tell, and much to ask... But it could wait until the time was right - but seeing her mother again, and the idea of seeing her father... All of that seemed to push everything else from her mind.

Everything but the Light not answering her call... That had never happened before, and it terrified her to her core. But, there would be time for questions, and answers... For now, she had come looking for someone who might be able to put her on her way, to tell her where she was... And she had.

Oh, she truly, truly had.

[adisor-dragonblade]

Regret

It wasn’t a short ride - but as Adisor had struggled to gather his thoughts, before what he knew had to be an inevitable conversation with Miss Elthron, there was nowhere else he could think to go. He glanced at Durnholde as he raced past, smiling at familiar banners that flew on the walls now. How Odessii had grown, he thought; from a brash, stubborn girl, to a measured woman, who was not without fault, but seemed to more than make up for it with a spirit of fire.

She might wonder where he went, for a moment - but his sister knew him well enough that she wouldn’t wonder long. With a shout, Adisor brought his steed to a halt, just outside worn, iron gates. He’d go on foot from there - breaking a chain on the gate and entering, peering around at countless headstones, yet undisturbed by the Forsaken. Was it wrong to be glad that they used those nearest the capital, then those who fell to them in battle? Perhaps. But Adisor shook at the thought of those here being raised the same.

Footsteps crunching dead leaves came to an end as he stood before four headstones. Each was different, save for a shared name. He read the top row of names - Avery, Meredith, Adisor, Amari. Then the last - Dragonblade. How long since last he’d stood at his own grave, or come to see his parents… His wife. Perhaps he could argue with himself, he was busy - first as a Lord, then a soldier, then an outcast. He could argue the case, should the words sound less hollow in his mind.

Plated knees dug into the soil as he kneeled at his wife’s grave, sighing to himself. “My dear, it’s been quite a while. So much has changed, yet one constant is the desire to speak with you about it all. What might you tell me?”

He looked towards the headstone, as though his beloved’s silver eyes were looking into his own lich fire orbs. The image was so clear, so vivid - how he longed to brush her hair behind one long ear, as he used to. “I regret much in my life, but this newest regret cuts me deeper than even the blade that spelled my end. I’ve become something I despise. For even a brief, instinctual moment, I was the sort of beast I’d sworn to combat.”

He broke his gaze with the eyes that weren’t there, unable to bear her imagined gaze as he continued. “A child. A mere girl, and my first thought was that she was a threat. It is only because I think twice, perhaps, that I held myself back. Only a moment - but a moment that will burn in my mind for eternity.”

The image of the child mage collapsing flashed in his mind for perhaps the hundredth time. He’d no reason to be there, anyway - just blind anger, and a need to place fault. Blackfyre was little more than a stand-in for the one Adisor truly wished dead. But Warlund was within his reach, while Marcus ever eluded him. It was wrong - all of it was wrong. His eyes shot open, as the slightest chill ran through him. “Amari?”

Silence answered him; dead silence. He knew that was all he’d receive, but still it broke his heart, just a bit more. Another sigh parted his lips, and he slowly rose to his feet. A hand reached up for a chain he rarely held outside his armor, and pulled at it to release the small locket at its end. A plated hand clasped the chain, as his brows pressed together. “Just wait for me a while longer, my flower. One day, we’ll see each other again. I’ll have a lot to tell you… Until then: ande'thoras-ethil.”

The words rolled off his tongue, as she’d taught them to him years ago. ‘May your troubles be diminished.’ She would rest easy, until she could be in his arms once more.

(( mentions: @risrielthron, @warlundblackfyre ))

[odessii-dragonblade]

Starcrossed

Avery Dragonblade was a simple man - the smell of the sea near his childhood home, the sound of hoofs beating on a dirt path, the feel of his sword clashing with another. Life was good, being in House Menethil’s army; always something exciting, around every corner.

His horse trotted down the path between trees, moving through the woods just south a ways from Andorhal, on his way back int Hillsbrad. A quiet ride, as ever, save for the low ambiance of birds calling out from their nests in the evening. There was a relaxation to it, that felt as a breath of fresh air to the soldier of Lordaeron.

His peace, though, was short lived, as an arrow whizzed passed his face, lodging itself in a tree to his left. As the arrow flew passed, Avery started, letting out a shout and falling backwards off his steed, into the dirt of the forest. A gasp sounded out through the trees, a brown-haired woman making her way onto the road, dropping to a knee at Avery’s side. “Gods, are you alright? I knew I shouldn’t be using sharpened arrows!”

Avery ran a hand over the top of his head, fingers brushing the red cloth that was tied around his forehead as ever. Bright blue eyes turned to the woman who’d stopped to help him, taking in the sight of her - simple leathers covered her body, but her face was far from hidden. She was slender, but clearly strong - it was obvious to Avery’s eye that she was no stranger to her bow, and had pulled the string taut many times. Her hair fell passed her shoulders in tiny waves of dark chestnut, what light that shined through the trees reflecting off the strands in a way that made her seem to glow. “I’m fine... Bit sore from the fall, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with. I’ve a good tolerance for pain at this point...”

The woman raised a brow, expression going a bit more stoic then. She gave a short hum of curiosity at Avery’s words. Piercing eyes stared at him for a moment before her lips cracked into a smirk. “I’m sure you do - your armor’s a mess of dents, and scratches. It’s a wonder that arrow missed you, soldier, seeing as you must be so poor at dodging.”

She rose to her feet, holding a hand out for Avery, who grasped her arm gladly. With a strong yank, she pulled the man up, her face just inches from his own when he finally came to a stop. Once again, he took in the sight of her - he’d seen her face somewhere, before. The place escaped him, though, and his thoughts were only drawn back to the present when next she spoke. “Are you trying to say something? A name, maybe?”

A smile chanced across his features, followed by a quick nod. “Aye, I mean... Not a name, really - though mine’s Avery. I was just... Wondering. I’m sure I’ve seen your face before, someplace. Been all across Lordaeron at this point, though, so I’m not sure where.”

The archer tilted her head, taking a step back from Avery and keeping her brow quirked. “Meredith Bradly. I’ve seen you, too - just wanted to see how long it took your dumbfounded head to remember me. You and your friends drank yourselves silly in my family’s inn, in Andorhal. Got quite the workout carrying your mugs back and forth.”

Avery grinned, giving a short bout of laughter as a hand moved to rub the back of his neck. For a moment he was speechless again, a bit embarrassed that the woman had seen him in one of his less inhibited states - but he soon waved it off, nodding and extending a hand to the woman. “Aye, that we did... Dragonblade, by the way - my surname, I mean.”

Another quirked eyebrow that made Avery’s heart skip an odd beat. The woman licked her teeth a bit, turning to head back to the place she’d laid down her bow and quiver. “Dragonblade, hm? Sounds rather fancy - you have some long, prestigious bloodline you’re about to talk my ear off about?”

Avery followed her, after taking hold of the reigns of his horse, to lead the stallion through the trees into the clearing where she’d been practicing. Meredith moved with a nimble sort of grace, very naturally - yet there was still the broadness in her shoulders that showed her confidence, her natural strength. The bow bent for her like paper. Avery found his words again, as he tied his horse to an outcropping root. “Dunno about prestigious, but I’m proud of my blood. We’re simple folk - father’s a shiphand down in Southshore, mother was too before she took to tailoring. Learn to stitch a sail, you can stitch most other cloths. Beyond that, we’re just... Dragonblades - helping folk where folk need help.”

Meredith pulled back on an arrow, bending the bow as easily as Avery imagined she might have. Her eye scanned the trees before settling on a target she’d stuck up on one of the trunks. “Sounds like you think it’s pretty prestigious. But simple folk are folk I like spending time with - brings me back down to the ground when I’m feeling lightheaded from being lifted so high up.”

Avery stepped around her so he could be within her field of view, if not in her line of fire. She loosed the arrow, piercing the target just on the edge of the center mark. “And who, might I ask, is lifting you so high? I’m not so good with the flowery language.”

Meredith reached back for another arrow, smirking to herself. She loosed this arrow, which grazed against the first before lodging itself in just about the same spot. She gave a sigh, but if it was towards Avery or the arrow, the man did not know. Her gaze turned back on him, her expression losing that sense of amusement it had held just moments ago. “My parents. The Bradly’s are all but nobility in Andorhal - and ‘all but’ isn’t good enough for mother and father. They want the real thing, to be Lord and Lady Bradly. All my life I’ve been taught how to walk, and act, and speak so that I might make some nobleman that wanders through town fall in love with me, marry him quick, and drag my family with me to the upper class. It’s all ridiculous...”

Avery watched as she loosed another arrow, this one landing squarely in the center of her target. “I don’t know about that... Doesn’t sound so ridiculous.”

“What, grooming me from birth to be some bride?”

“No... A nobleman falling in love with you. I think that’s not too hard to believe.”

Meredith turned her gaze towards Avery, relaxing her bow of the notched arrow that held it taut as she eyed him over. “You been drinking yourself silly again? Could barely remember to tell me your name before...”

Avery gave a shrug, holding his arms out almost as an invitation. “You’d be able to smell it on my breath, if you got close enough, aye?”

Meredith gave a short laugh, shaking her head and peering over at him. “Suppose I could...”

She gave him a quick once over before quirking her brow again, starting to gather her things. “Give me a minute, Dragonblade. Then maybe we can talk a bit more before I get close enough to smell your breath...”

Avery smiled, going to lean against the tree he’d tied his horse to, watching the woman he’d met gather her arrows. What luck, he thought, that that arrow happened to fly my way - and that it missed.

[odessii-dragonblade]

Simple Distractions

Odessii knelt down, carving simple lines into the dirt with a metal trowel. A few other tools lay nearby, next to packets for seeds, some of which had already been opened and emptied of their contents. Odessii herself was dressed in simple, blue overalls, buttoned over a brown plaid shirt and tucked into a pair of black boots.

Along with her tools lay some wooden posts, Odessii working them into the dirt as she planted tomato seeds that would grow up, entwined with the wood. It was a difficult task with her broken arm - but not impossible. Behind her, just passed the small fence she’d set up hours earlier, and leaned against the wall of her home, stood Odessii’s soldier and current bodyguard, Brent Camden. “My Lady, I really wish you’d take it easy. You’re meant to be resting, not toiling away at-”

A bit of dirt flew just passed him, against the wall he leaned against. His Lady stared him down with a determined expression, not hindered by the specks of dirt that clung to her face from the work. “I’ve been resting for the last two months. It’s torture - I’m either going mad in my own home, or wandering Stormwind aimlessly. I can’t pick up a weapon, so I can’t train, my armor is in pieces and I’m still waiting for the new gear I commissioned from the Exodar. Even when it’s done, it’ll still have to get here,  and Light knows how long that will take. Let me have this, Camden.”

The soldier held his hands up by his shoulders in mock surrender, as Odessii smiled and turned back to her work. Once more, the metal trowel dug into the dirt, and Odessii dragged it back to make a line for her tomato seeds. The sound of metal carving through dirt brought back memories of her youth… Of her father.

——————————————————————————

Avery Dragonblade let out a roar as he pushed the plow forward, carving another foot forward through the dirt. He grinned triumphantly, turning to flash the smile back at his wife and daughter, watching from the fence that marked their plot of farmland, which was just a bit taller than his young daughter. “See, what’d I tell you? Just because the mule’s sick, doesn’t mean we have to give up a day of work. Who needs the beast, when you have pure Lordaeronian grit and muscle?”

Odessii smiled ear-to-ear at the display, thinking of the day she would be able to perform such feats. Her mother, though, kept her arms crossed and rolled her eyes, somehow seeming unimpressed. “And when your back pops and you’re stuck in bed for a month, I don’t want to hear you complaining. Our son has his own life to live now, Avery; he can’t always drop everything to come cover for your stubbornness!”

Another roar of effort came from Odessii’s father as he pushed the plow forward another foot. He set the heavy piece of equipment back down, leaning forward on the handles and breathing heavily, so much that his shoulders rose and fell as his chest did. He looked back to Meredith, sweat rolling down the side of his face towards that same confidant grin. “Please, my stubbornness is part of why you married me.”

Suddenly, Odessii’s father moved away from the plow, making his way towards his wife. The woman backed away a couple of steps, though she grinned, letting Avery know she was just trying to tease him with a bit of feigned “hard-to-get.” Avery soon closed the distance, wrapping his arms about the love of his life and pressing his lips to hers gently, yet passionately. For the briefest of moments, the pair was so caught up in the embrace, the world about them faded.

Until, of course, they both overheard a higher-pitched roar, otherwise similar to Avery’s own. Tearing himself from his wife, Avery looked over his shoulder at Odessii, just barely able to reach the handles of the plow. She had her arms stretched as far as they could go to grip the wooden handles, her boots digging into and kicking back the dirt beneath her as she tried in vain to push the plow as her father had. Avery smirked, turning to peck his wife on the lips one more time before going over to his daughter, dropping to a knee beside her. “Not budging, hm?”

Odessii’s face scrunched up in frustration, especially as she was running out of dirt beneath her feet from kicking it back. Frustration turned into a simple pout of disappointment as she released her grip on the piece of farming equipment, crossing her arms. “I’m not as strong as you... But I’ve got Lordaeron muscle, too!”

Avery smirked, placing a hand gently on Odessii’s shoulder. “Aye, but you’re just a child, Ode. Bit of patience, and hard work... And you’ll be just as strong as anyone in Lordaeron! Maybe even stronger - you are a Dragonblade, after all.”

Odessii smiled up at her father, dreams filling her head of the day she was a big, strong soldier - just like him.

——————————————————————————

Odessii stared down at her work in the ground, like a shrunken-down version of the work her father did throughout her childhood. The memory was a sweet one, but bitter... She never got to fight alongside her father, in defense of others. He never got the chance to see what she’d become, though she was sure he was watching, even now. It took a moment that felt eternal, but finally, Odessii smiled at the memory - whatever pain there was, her parents were worth remembering. She planted more seeds in the ground, combing the dirt back over to cover the soon-to-be fruits of her labor. She looked forward to watching this garden grow... And tending it with her own daughters.