There, You'll Find Your Peace [Open]

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

In light of her run-in with that odious, terrible, frustrating the Death Knight and the Tauren, Nehaalista had chosen to retreat to the sensoriums. While it still baffled her a bit, it was there she could call up Tuurem, as she'd known it, before the Horde, before her own training had led her family to the city.

It was a little collection of small homes and buildings (small as compared to a Draenei, anyway), along the river. Villagers she remembered, now long, long dead, bustled here and there, attending to business that had never concerned Nehaalista. Huntsmen and bakers, blacksmiths and fishwives, all protected by the peacekeepers that patrolled the town in twos. The sound of hooves were everywhere. Somewhere in the distance, an elekk trumpeted as it came down the road. The light in Terrokar was blue as ever, thanks to the olemba trees filtration.

Nehaalista sat next to the riverbank and watched workers setting up tents for a festival of one kind or another. She smoothed a hand over the skirt of her robe and nibbled at some bread. She passed it over to the little Draenei boy next to her and signed, [Eat, Faram.] The words appeared over her head as she signed them. It was good to hear her mothertongue spoken in such volume again, coming over the buildings and rooftops in half-muttered curses and well-meaning joking.

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[sonofether.livejournal.com]

By all logic, Stephen...probably shouldn't have followed Nehaalista. It probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done in his life.

Even now, he was peeking in from the side, ignoring the fact that while the Sensorium left the goggles on his head alone, it transformed his plantsuit and labcoat into something that looked more like an Indian kurta.

He was just checking up on her, he told himself. And she seemed fine. This meant that he could probably just go without her seeing him, and it'd all be fine.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Faram, beside Nehaalista, rested his head on her arm as he watched the workers. The two of them had a sense of carefully refined peace about them. Until the little boy's tail twitched mischievously and he popped up to go running across the town square.

[Faram! Faram!] Nehaalista signed as he ran, uselessly. She sighed and shook her head, picking apart the remains of the bread for the fish. Nice to know the sensoriums remembered just how... not-still her little brother had always been.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

The other Draenei didn't seem to be noticing him. Perhaps it was just a memory and not something he'd cause chaos in. Not that either thought was incredibly reassuring.

He could either break up the entire festival by being an alien, or just be a boor. Some choice.

One was preferable to the other, though. Stephen did his best to sort of sidle over in Nehaalista's direction.

"Hey, are you all right?" That'd be jarring, he's certainly not fluent in Draenei. Though he offered her an apologetic smile.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Nehaalista looked up from her fish-feeding, and nodded. [I'm fine,] the little words showed up as she signed. [Just forcing myself to relax and remember why I'm fighting as opposed to who I am fighting.]

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"I was thinking about it, and I think I kind of understand why you might've been so upset. Though I was putting it in my sort of terms." Stephen gave a little shrug at that, and looked around.

The city--maybe town was a better term--wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Still, it and its people had an interesting sort of serenity.

"You lived here, before you came to the ship?"

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

[When I was a child, yes.] That had been centuries ago, though Nehaalista didn't think Stephen needed to have his brain broken by the concept. She'd learned that lesson with Luke. [This is Tuurem, outside of Shattrath.]

She sighed and motioned for him to sit. [It must've been the straw that broke the taubulk's back. That Death Knight showing up, I mean.]

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"It's nothing like where I grew up. Though I suppose that's a given. Pittsburgh..." He let his words trail off and just shook his head. "This Tuurem is nicer."

Stephen folded himself down into a seated position, arms around his knees. "Do you want to talk about it, or is the thought of her just going to make you upset again?"

[seraphicthunder.livejournal.com]

Reimi had decided to return to the Sensoriums for a little peace and quiet when she found the peaceful looking town and the hooved people walking all around the place. "Pretty," she breathed at the splendor of the area as she walked along.

Little children played, adults worked and slacked off, and in the middle, Reimi wandered through the pack, looking around the area, smiling at the relaxed atmosphere.

She noticed a woman signing to the child. Deaf? No, doesn't seem like it. Wandering up, she cleared her throat. "Hi, are you the one who made this recreation?"

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

[To tell you what I am thinking right now would be terribly uncharitable to her.] Nehaalista signed wryly. [And hardly befitting a Vindicator, or a paladin.]

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Nehaalista looked up and the little boy beside her, still chomping on his bread, answered. She signed rapidly as he spoke, "My sister says that she did, and that you're welcome to wander as you will." She grinned, and ruffled the spiky his spiky, blue-violet hair.

[It is nice to meet you.] Nehaalista signed as Faram returned to his bread. The little subtitles over her head faded from white to transparency.

[seraphicthunder.livejournal.com]

Wow, subtitles. That was actually really cool and so meta since Reimi's universe was a MMO for 4D beings. Reimi bowed politely. "I'm Reimi Saionji, a pleasure to meet you both."

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

He nodded in acceptance at that, thoughtfully.

"Can you tell me why you're mad at her, beyond what little I caught during the argument? All I remember is something happened to the Exodar. A spaceship of some sort?"

Then Stephen gnawed on his lip a moment. "Well, no, if that's too painful, you don't have to tell me that, either." Interesting impasse he'd gotten himself into.

"Maybe so. But I don't know what a Vindicator is." Even if he had a clue about Paladins, if only because of a certain tabletop game.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

[It is not painful. But like many others, I am not above the prejudices of my people. It is because of them - the Blood Elves - that my people were forced to crash on Azeroth. We had only wanted to make our escape into the stars, and they'd claimed Naaru technology for their own. We chose to take it back, and escaped with one part of the Keep. The Exodar. Unfortunately for us, they'd sabotaged it. While many of my people died several decades before, even more died in the crash. My family was probably among them.] Nehaalista sighed, steadying herself. It did not hurt so much any more, but only because she'd put much distance between the disappearance of her loved ones and arriving on Azeroth.

[Of all the races of the Horde, I cannot think of any in more recent memory who are so worthy of being put to the sword.] Well, she could, of course, but for the moment... [Though I'm sure they had their reasons, whatever sense of nobility they had in the cause was grossly distorted by the time they fell upon my still-recovering people like hounds.] Nehaalista shuddered.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Faram grinned and whispered something to Nehaalista, who rolled her eyes and signed, [Go on with you. Go home.] She nudged him towards the collection of houses and Faram sighed at her. [You heard me.]

"I can't 'hear' you, Nehaalista."

[Don't be smart.]

Faram, in the nature of little boys, laughed in a way he probably thought was rakish and ran off, his hooves clattering against the walkways. Nehaalista shook her head. [Reimi, you said? That sounds a little like one of our names.]

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

Stephen wasn't entirely certain of what to say. At times like this, he usually had the bad fortune to put his foot in his mouth and irritate or annoy the person he was trying to comfort.

So he just reached up a hand and patted Nehaa on the shoulder, and gave it a squeeze.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Nehaalista smiled and patted his hand. [It's fine, really. But thank you for your concern.] She pointed out at Tuurem. [If I ever want to remind myself what I fight for, I have this, after all.]

[seraphicthunder.livejournal.com]

Reimi smiled. "It's a Japanese name, from my homeland. Well, what's left of it anyhow."

"I'm from Earth, and I'm part of the space exploration group. Is that your brother?"

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"It's definitely a good reminder. Maybe I ought to see if I can get a family photo of mine made from memory. I don't know if I'd forget...I can't say I don't have a couple friends here already. Friends I'd fight for."

But still, reminders were always good.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Nehaalista looked back out to the small island of tents that was forming. [It's good to have something to fight for. Even if our worlds don't get restored, we'll at least have something.]

A twang of string instruments tuning came over the water, followed by the slow thump of someone playing a hand drum as they waited. [Looks like they're getting ready to start.] She smiled.

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

[Faram? Yes, he was my little brother.] Nehaalista nodded. It would be unfair to Faram - no, to the rest of her family to think of them in the present tense.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"Start? Start what?" He gave Nehaalista an expectant look, as he had no idea whatsoever what he'd stumbled upon, when he'd followed her into the Sensoriums and barged in on her session.

He gave her a sheepish sort of smile by way of apology.

[governorkang]

Tuurem didn't look like anything Kang had ever seen before, yet it felt more like home than most of the other glimpses of crewmates' worlds he'd encountered. He knew immediately who had conjured it up; it was obvious with how many other draenei were going about their business.

He'd seen a bit of Nehaalista's tussle with the undead elf, on the Observation Deck, but he'd been too far away to do anything before Stacy had stopped it. Curiously, he sat down next to her, "A festival?"

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

Faram grinned at the draconian and nudged his sister's arm, "He's speaking to you, Nehaa."

Nehaalista looked beside her and smiled, [That's right, a festival.] The little words appeared beside her head as she signed them. [The last one I remember before we moved from Tuurem to Shattrath. How are you, Kang?]

[dearest-nehaa.livejournal.com]

[The festival!] Nehaalista signed with exuberance. [You can always tell: someone starts tuning instruments just before, to call the people to celebration.]

[governorkang]

That was a neat trick. Kang smiled at both of them, "I'm feeling a lot better now that I'm healed up and gotten the training started again. What's the festival celebrating?"