“What do you intend to do with her?”
Admiral Barean Westwind was a well built, greying man. I had never seen him before, except for the statue that decorated the Hall of Arms in the Monastery, and like everyone else, thought him dead. That’s how the other attempt of the Crusade against Prince Arthas and the Lich King has ended: in utter disaster.
But apparently he was well and healthy and had made his apparition as soon as the Onslaught had pulled ashore, full of advice and suggestions and words of wisdom…
I tried to find the source of the discomfort I felt in his presence. As I stood with my head down I could only glance sideways at his face. He looked forty, despite the graying hair. Oddly enough, he had been approaching forty five when the Northrend expedition started, and that was five or six years ago, barely at the end of the war.
High General Abbendis stared blandly out the window, into the darkening sky. From my angle I had another great view of the scaffolds.
“I don’t know…” She sighed , after a while. “I believed them all lost…whoever remained back there, in Lordaeron.” A frown touched her otherwise smooth features. Her eyes were clouded and unfocused and she bit her lips, as if struggling to catch an eluding thought… “I wish the Light would speak to me again. Show me the way…”
It was all I could do to keep my head low and stare into the floor tiles. The Admiral made a small approving sound, then looked back at me.
“I’ll take care of it. You need to rest more, Brigitte.”
“I do”, she agreed. “I feel so tired…”
The Admiral's steps measured the room precisely from one side to the other, then suddenly he stopped in front of me.
“We must see how true her intentions are, of course”, he said and he smiled I didn’t like that smile. On another man, it would have been fatherly and warm. On his lips it became a wicked grin which promised very unpleasant things. “She has been away from her brothers and sisters for too long…”
I swallowed hard. I did not want to think about the initiation ritual each crusader went through. No one among us ever discusses that matter.
Admiral Westwind lifted my chin with one hand and peered deep into my eyes. The world seemed to lurch a little, then steadied itself and I found myself breathing more easily for a second.
Home. You are home,you are safe now.
“Surely you have seen things that might be useful for us, during you stay in Wintergarde, for example”, he said slowly. “And we are never going to turn away anyone truly dedicated to our cause…anyone truly willing to submit to the Light…”
I believe him. I had to submit and serve without questioning…be purified from all the doubts and evil I have touched during these months. I needed to pray, to suffer and be forgiven…I needed to…
“I think she’ll do”, the Admiral concluded lightly, stepping aside. I struggled to stand when I would have rather bene humbly on my knees. In the depths of my mind a small, unknown voice seethed with anger.
“As you say”, High General Abbendis echoed him, her tone level and emotionless, as if coming from a great distance. “Welcome home, child…”
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