Wanderlust

Author’s Note: Mah gawd this took forever @_@ But it's a nice meaty chapter for ya'll, the longest one of the fic thus far I believe! Jyota and Enoki's final showdown on the matter of them. Who shall prevail and how will they go on from here?

... I'm sure to get some angry letters on this one... It was always meant to be this way I swear D:

Chapter 11

Just as Jyota had feared, the legend of the naked troll tossed out of the officers’ quarters was the buzz of the Barracks for days afterward. Several different versions of the event even began to spring up and the mire deepened ever swifter as it morphed from a tale into a topic of debate as to what had truly occurred that epic morning. Enoki seized the opportunity to bask in the attention and fame whereas the calm, older party of the incident attempted to simply go silent whenever someone tried crack a joke or snicker at him about it. Jyota knew soon enough everything would blow over and just as he expected, not too long after his night with Enoki a rumor that one of the female Orc captains was with child surfaced and completely erased any memory anyone had of the two male Trolls and the deflowering of the camp’s most famous virgin.

The lovers were relieved in a way. The collective eye of their compatriots off of them meant they were free to continue their clandestine romps and find wherever they could to sneak away, tear each other’s armor off and hurriedly indulge in frantic bouts of passion. Enoki, after finally taking the plunge and spending the night in Jyota’s bed, found his body even more eager for his touch and himself anxious to learn as much as he could and frequently was the initiator of naughty escapes. Jyota was happy for the most part to have in him a generous, adventurous lover who was never sated and always curious to discover new ways to touch and please him, but his youthful libido once unleashed was taxing on both his body and his nerves.

If Enoki had a spare moment at all he was creeping through the camp, hunting him down. Sometimes he stalked in his spectral wolf form, or used an elaborately crafted, expertly acted ruse to call Jyota away and pounce. On occasion he resorted to carefully monitoring his schedule to be in the right place at the right time to grab Jyota by the belt behind anything that would give them a few minutes cover and have it off before their lips even touched. He had free reign over his beloved who enjoyed the free spiritedness of it all, but ultimately still had his duties. While Enoki was free to mouth off to his superiors and give no explanation for his lateness, or to be bluntly honest just to shock them into silence, Jyota frequently had to come up with viable, legitimate sounding excuses for why he was late to his meetings and overseeing shifts which ranked much higher than his redheaded partner’s grunt work.

Enoki hardly minded. After Jyota had finally accepted him there was nothing he could say or do to shake his loyal passions. Jyota was as a God to him, both of military prowess as well as sex, and his life became devoted solely to him. He had never enjoyed his tasks as a grunt besides, and living to cause mischief became a whole new game to him once he had a lover to tease. Jyota’s aloofness only made it that much more satisfying to see his lower lid twitch, his cheeks flush and the muscles in his jaw jump and ripple under his blue skin.

Though, as the season changed once again and the one year anniversary of Enoki’s consignment into the military loomed nigh, Jyota seemed to suddenly grow even more distant than he had before. As if overnight his Hunter went from a reformed, devoted lover to a near stranger. Quite frequently Enoki would go cheerfully hunting for him, only to be told by another officer that his partner had been with Commander Gor’rik in his chambers all day, or that had had been called away as far as Ratchet to discuss business. A few times he had even been stunned to be informed that Jyota had gone to Orgrimmar without telling him and then on top of that would be gone for several days. Upon returning the Captain would still never reveal the nature of his doings, but each time cunningly manage to quell Enoki’s firestorm of enraged questions with a kiss and a well placed caress of his most intimate areas.

At first the Shaman had believed Jyota when he said it was simple military strategy meetings, but as time went on and dry fall blew in with its bitterly cold nights and crisply hot days he began more and more to doubt him. More often than he was able to share Jyota’s bed he was left to his own devices as it were, frustratedly stroking himself in the privacy of an oasis or wherever he could find a moment alone. Though it proved a welcome distraction from mulling too long about what Jyota could really be doing. There was only one reason any officer had need to travel all the way to Orgrimmar and that was to meet with Warchief Thrall and his right hand; the Darkspear leader Vol’jin. He tried not to let that fact bother him, but steadily it began to weigh on his conscience, and his dreams and dark thoughts began to speak of his worries.

This did not go unnoticed by his compatriots, who had begun to grow concerned for their friend. They watched in dismay as Enoki seemed to look increasingly dejected every day and were horrified when in desperation the Troll began to actually complete his duties on time, just to busy his mind and body to keep from stewing over his mixed feelings toward Jyota. An Enoki who was not slacking off and goofing around was a depressed Enoki and they knew an intervention was entirely necessary, an intervention they staged in the usual forum; gossip around the dinner fires.

“I dunno, I guess he jes’… More important tah de Horde den I give ‘im credit for,” Enoki mused at the end of a long, angry list of grievances after someone had finally mustered the courage and asked how he and Jyota were getting along.

Winces crossed the faces of everyone who had listened to the griping and mumbles of sympathy rippled through those gathered close to him. The same compassionate Tauren woman who had taken such a vested interest in Enoki and Jyota’s affair the night the Shaman had admitted it, whom Enoki had later learned was called Ambelie, was seated directly beside him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder.

“Aww, well I don’t know about that,” she said sweetly, “Captain Jyota is just busy is all. He’s important to the Horde, but he’s important to you too, and he knows that!”

“But even still, Captain Jyota is awfully caught up in all his work for being just a Captain out in the Barrens. I didn’t even realize he was that highly ranked since he’s still stuck out in this awful place,” a young Orc recruit nearby commented, wrinkling his nose distastefully.

“Tch, yeah he like tah blow hot air up his own ass de subtle way by endurin’ dis shit ‘for de Horde’. Realleh, he got some standin’ wit de Warchief and Mastah Vol’jin I know. When I first came here he said somethin’ ‘bout bein’ even more highly ranked den Gor’rik, but he was doin’ him a favor or somethin’, I dunno I don’ remembah exactly what he said,” Enoki replied with a heavy, melancholy sigh, “Yanno, I could cope wit ‘im if he jes’ flat out said he was too busy fah me, but he don’. He sneaks off wit’out even tellin’ me where he be goin’ or how long he gonna be gone! An’ lately it jes’ seems he tryin’ tah ignore me on purpose, no mattah what I do! De jerk…”

Ambelie wrapped a strong, furry arm around Enoki’s shoulders and hugged him tightly.

“I’m so sorry, that’s awful of him, but I’m sure there’s a reason! He loves you, I know he does, I can see it in his eyes and the way he looks at you!” she proclaimed grandly.

One of Enoki’s ears swiveled up, and his lips quirked into a crooked half grin.

“Aw come on, don’ sweet talk me wit’ dat fairy tale crap! De truth be he was treatin’ me like dis before, an’ it got a little bettah once we fought about it, an’ now it bad again, I guess I jes’ need tah buck up an’ go slap ‘im in de face again eh?” he replied amusedly.

The group gathered around him laughed and various cheered sentiments of agreement bubbled through their replies.

“You see? He’s a military man. He’s not used to having someone so full of life around like you Enoki! You just need to remind him to let loose every once in a while! To be happy! He’s probably just stressed out about something that’s happening on the other side of Azeroth like a good Captain should be and just taking it a little too seriously,” the Tauren assured him, relishing the grin that was brightening over Enoki’s face.

“Yeah… Yeah! Yah totally right! De selfish ass think he so loyal an’ dedicated, but he jes’ be an ass, heh, an’ I been failin’ at my job’a ‘relaxin’ ‘im,” he snickered impishly.

The signs had been so obvious. Enoki rued himself for not noticing that it was a simple case of falling back into old routines. Jyota was Jyota, and he had proven time and again what kind of a person he was and where his priorities lay. A lover was outside his usual routine, outside his comfort zone and as Enoki thought more about it, the more he realized Jyota was simply clueless on how to balance his career and his wants. It was up to him to be the strong one, and to remind Jyota of his own words the day they had been reunited. It was fate.

“Damn straight! Dat all dis is! Enoki ain’ gonna take dis like no whelp!” Enoki announced boldly with the renewed vigor and determination in his voice.

Cramming the last hunk of braised beef from his plate into his mouth as he stood, Enoki tossed it onto the usual pile with stern resolve and brushed off his hands.

“If anybody want mah hammock tonight!” he called, mouth still full, “Go right on ahead! I ain’ gonna need it!”

Cheers and lewd jeers of encouragement rose from the troops within earshot and with a smug, satisfied grin Enoki turned on his heels and trotted gleefully toward the Officer’s Quarters where he knew Jyota had been holed up all day. Halfway there he paused for a moment, hands glowing white, and shrank himself down into the sleek, translucent wolf form he adored with mischief on his lupine muzzle. With paws swifter on the dry and dusty ground he then made his way silently and quickly to Jyota’s door. Tail wagging, and tongue lolling out one side of his mouth, he paced a few times in front of it before giving it a firm pounce and a scratch with his claws. He quickly scrambled away and flattened himself on the ground behind one of the burning braziers nearby to watch and wait.

A few moments later his sharp ears picked up the sound of the door opening. The familiar silhouette of Jyota’s coiffed Mohawk peered out, looked from side to side baffled, and the ghost wolf charged. A flurry of translucent tan fur sailed through the air, a battle howl ringing out, and Enoki was granted the singular pleasure of seeing the horrified expression twisting Jyota’s face before his paws collided with his chest and the Hunter toppled to the ground with an indignant shriek.

“ENOKI!” he bellowed, snarling and batting at the jovial creature lapping playfully at his face, “Get de hell off! Dat ain’ funny mon!”

Enoki remained atop him, but shimmered with bright white light as the lithe form of the wolf shifted back to the tall and lanky redheaded Troll. A grin still graced his radiant face even after Jyota’s surly snapping and his legs stayed astride his hips suggestively as he laughed.

“Aw come on, yah had tah know it was me! Lighten up alreadeh! Yah been cooped up in a dark smoky room all day, let Enoki make it all bettah fah you…” he purred, raking his fingers down Jyota’s chest.

Jyota’s eyes widened, his skin tingled and the hair on the back of his neck rose. His body immediately responded to the touch and invitation of his lover, but its betrayal only incensed his mind even more. In a flash of reflex and frustration the Hunter vaulted up and bucked Enoki to the ground. He was on his feet and on his way back inside the moment the other landed with a squawk.

“Ow! Oy! What be yah deal Jyota? You in de middle’a masturbatin’ all ovah yah damn little Loa shrine or what?! Why yah actin’ like an ass again?” he demanded, rubbing his side and getting up to follow him.

“Leave me alone, Sparky! I had a long, rough day an’ I ain’ in de mood fah yah games an’ jokes, not tonight,” Jyota snapped back, skulking to his desk and sitting back down to rifle through his papers and maps.

Enoki’s red mane bristled and he stalked in after his lover, slamming the door behind him.

“NO,” he said firmly, “I ain’ gonna let yah get away wit dis again. You been actin’ like a complete an’ total ass again! Yah fuckin’ shove me away, ignore me when I practically fuckin’ NAKED on your lap! Yah leave fah days on end an’ don’ find me worthy enough tah at least tell where de FUCK yah goin’ off to! I sick’a dis shit! How de hell do yah think dat makes me feel eh?! Or did yah jes’ not even fuckin’ think about it?!”

A heavy silence sank into the wake of Enoki’s furious, obscenity laden words. Jyota’s eyes went wide and his hands paused in their frantic, aimless searching through his papers. He stared blankly for a moment, golden eyes wavering and shifting back and forth, but hung his head as he let the documents slip back onto the desk.

“I thought about it…” he muttered under his breath.

“Bullshit,” Enoki quipped back with his arms crossed over his chest and his hips cocked.

“I did! Yah don’ think I was thinkin’ about how you was feelin’?” Jyota continued, though still unable to look his lover in the eye, “Yah think I that much of an oblivious moron dat I didn’ see dat I was hurtin’ you all ovah again? I ain’ a moron!”

Jyota raised a fist and pounded it mightily against his desk which sang with the quaking thud. Enoki actually jumped, startled, and took a step back as his arms unfolded and fell to his sides.

“Tch, funny way’a showin’ it,” he hissed, though with less of the convinced fury of his first foray.

Jyota said nothing in reply. He simply stood right where he had been, his fist trembling on the desk and his free hand covering his face, looking ever the part of a commander whose fortresses were crumbling around him.

“I…” he finally croaked, his hand unfolding and body straightening, “Sparky I…”

Words were lodged too thickly in his throat and heart to bear to continue and even Enoki was able to clearly see something was drastically amiss.

“Jyota? Ey… ‘Ey what be goin’ on? What’s de mattah?” he started with a cautious step toward his Hunter.

Jyota remained a stoic veritable statue even still and the baffled Enoki’s gut twisted in horror. Never before had he seen Jyota so rattled and so shaken to his core he could not even conjure an eloquently sensual excuse.

“Look, I sorry I lost my tempah before I jes’… Ngh, I get so FRUSTRATED sometimes an’ I miss-“ he tried to continue, but quicker than he could even see Jyota’s arms were suddenly around his waist and his lips sealed against his mouth in a hard, desperate kiss.

The redhead was too shocked to even return it at first. Instead, he went rigid until he mind caught up to what had happened and he could shove Jyota back just slightly.

“J-Jyota! What in de hell are you-?”

Jyota’s lips plundered his once more and swallowed his protests, one hand reaching up and tangling into his wildfire hair.

“I’m sorry, Enoki,” he whispered, barely audible even directly against his lips, “Forgive me. I need you… I want you… Now, here…”

The heat, the touch, and the heady words of his lover reverberated through his core and as always made a pliant, wanton creature out of the assertive young Troll who offered nary a protest further.

“Mmmm, well… When yah put it dat way…” he murmured with a sly little grin.

The space between them vanished, their tusks and lips locked in violent desire and nothing more was said between the two that night as Jyota shoved his beloved to his bed and ravished the clothes from his body. Enoki forgot he had even been cross with the other under his exhilarating touch and rain of smoldering kisses over every inch of his body that never failed to drive him utterly mad with passion. Jyota made desperate love to his flame haired Shaman that night, love that could erase the hurt and the bitterness with one stroke, one loving word murmured in hot, moist words against his ear.

Only that closeness, that ultimate joining of their bodies and souls at once, could make Enoki feel so loved and avenged. Jyota worshipped his body such that he cared no longer for the issues that had been irking him before that suddenly seemed so utterly trivial. Especially if confronting Jyota could always end in their sweat slicked bodies tangled in lust drunk fever making wild and flesh starved love until both of them collapsed to a trembling, exhausted heap. Simply being able to touch him again and look into his earnest golden eyes was enough for Enoki to feel like all was right in his universe once more.

Jyota even allowed him the rare treasure of sleeping the rest of the night in his bed with his arms around him in sated bliss. When the morning came he permitted Enoki to slowly drift back into consciousness at his own pace and then sent him off to get dressed with a warm and loving kiss. It was a far cry from the usual harried predawn ejection from Jyota’s quarters every time he spent the night there, but very much a welcome one, and Enoki walked to breakfast in jubilant spirits.

He ate a hefty portion, dressed in his armor and, to the battalion’s relief, arrived a few minutes late to his group assignment. It was patrol duty again for his usual regiment, which Enoki usually abhorred, but even that was not enough to bring him down from his jubilation. He marched out into the Barrens humming an old and upbeat Tauren folk song with a spring in his step, much to the chagrin of the Forsaken and Orc captains leading them. Though they had been prepared for it, having lost the traditional game of dice to decide who was saddled with the infamous Shaman the night before.

Instead they chose to ignore him and passed the time chatting about things they were mutually interested in. Topics ranged from magic to weapons, from their homelands to the current state of affairs in Orgrimmar and the looming threat of the Lich King, which in turn, led to talking about the military and the quite unexpected change that had befallen them. Their small but proud outfit in the Barrens, while tedious and at times thankless, was still considered to be noble work. Every so often, however, someone would yearn for more. Some truly talented heroes had been born from the most humble beginnings.

“So then it’s official? About Captain Jyota I mean,” the Undead woman asked, tilting her head curiously to the side.

Hearing the name of his lover out of nowhere faded the song from Enoki’s throat and pricked up his ears curiously to listen in.

“Yeah, it’s definitely happening now. He sent off a letter agreeing to Vol’jin and the Warchief’s request and he just heard back the other day they happily accepted. This is his last week here in the Barrens actually, the lucky bastard,” the Orc replied with a chuckle.

His words had been spoken so casually he never expected anyone to even react, but the moment those fatal words left his lips Enoki’s blood halted in his veins, his heart froze in his chest and his feet stopped dead in their tracks. The line of soldiers behind him buckled at the sudden stop and sent the Shaman stumbling forward as they crashed into him, his face visibly pale and his eyes dramatically wide. His compatriots voiced their displeasure and annoyance, but all Enoki heard was a rushing in his ears with a horrified wave of dizziness washing over him.

Hearing the commotion and scuffle of feet on the dusty earth, the captains whirled around and turned their attention on Enoki.

“Grunt, what’s wrong wi-“

“Is dat true?” Enoki asked before the older Orc in charge could finish.

He and his Forsaken partner glanced at each other warily and quirked their eyebrows before they turned back to the Troll everyone knew was Jyota’s lover.

“Is what true…?” the woman asked in a careful, confused tone.

“Jyota! About JYOTA leavin’ yah numbskulls!” the Shaman snapped, red mane crackling with electricity, “Is it true or ain’ it?! He be clearin’ outta here?!”

Both captains winced at the fearless audacity of the young recruit, as well as from the infamous sparking. Neither could believe Enoki was just then hearing about Jyota and his dealings with the leaders of the Horde.

“Uh, well. Yes,” the intensely uncomfortable Orc started again, “He told me himself he was deeply humbled and honored by getting to- Wait he didn’t… He didn’t tell you?”

“Duh he didn’ fuckin’ tell me if I be havin’ tah ask you rejects! Spit it out! Where de hell he goin’?!” Enoki continued as he prowled menacingly closer.

He should have told the young Grunt to watch his language and respect his superior officers but the Orc Captain simply shrugged.

“He…” he started, “This has been going on for a long time. Vol’jin and Warchief Thrall have been interested in Jyota since before you even came and they’ve been keeping an eye on his skills and his leadership abilities. They finally decided he would make an ideal candidate for one of Vol’jin’s Shadow Hunters so he’s leaving to go train under some special Voodoo master or something like that, it’s all very cloak and dagger and he-“

“Alright alright, that is more than enough of his charade, private affairs are to be handled in private, we have a patrol to make, lets MOVE OUT!” the Undead woman finally cut in, taking a commanding lead and waving the ranks back into file, “Back into your ranks Grunts, I don’t want a word out of any of you until lunch!”

Disappointed as they were to have the drama cut short, the soldiers obeyed and silently shifted back into their prearranged lines. Enoki, however, stood stone still as a pillar of fiery smoldering rage. He heard none of the orders. He saw no one moving around him. All he knew was the image of Jyota’s complacent, beguiling grin seared into his brain and the fresh, new feeling of raw betrayal cutting into his gut.

A gentle hand on his shoulder from one of his fellow Grunts ignited it fully into unbridled wrath, well intentioned as it was, and he roared with bestial rage as he slapped it violently away. Fire flew from his fingertips and lightning struck the ground around him as his hands burst into a radiant white light. It engulfed his form and shrank him down to a lanky, transparent wolf with his lips curled back and ruff bristling as he turned to sprint back toward the barracks. The Orc officer balked at the spectacle and reached out toward him with a forceful hand.

“Hey! GRUNT! Hey! What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!” he bellowed.

The fleeing wolf skidded to a brief, dusty halt just long enough to snarl over his shoulder.

“Gonna go tear Jyota a new one, what else?!” Enoki growled in reply, “So fuck off an’ lemme alone!”

With that, he bounded back over his shoulder and tore off across the plains as nothing but a cloud of golden dust with both captains shrieking after him.

“Grunt! Get back in file! Grunt! Get back here this instant! Commander Gor’rik will hear of this! GRUNT! You leave now you won’t see the light of day for a week! GRUNT! ENOKI!”

If Enoki could have heard them, he still would not have cared less what punishments they threatened him with, not when his universe was crumbling around him once again. He ran as fast as his four legs would carry him until his paws burned, his dry tongue lolled out the side of his mouth and his flanks heaved with the effort of keeping up his breakneck speed. He had to get to Jyota. He had to hear from him first hand why he had lied to him for so long, why he had deceived him and more importantly, he had to be the one to put his fist into his face.

Blind rage guided him in his flight back to the barracks as they finally rose into view in the hazy landscape. It kept his paws thundering, his teeth bared and his movements sharp and deadly as he blazed into the camp, much to the horror of the captains still working there. They gasped and darted out of the way as the Ghost wolf came galloping by to inspect them all while zeroing in on his prey he knew would have to be lurking somewhere in secret. He knew Jyota had to be somewhere still on the grounds and he would find him regardless of the repercussions.

Unaware of the rampaging wolf in the camp Jyota was indeed still on the Horde compound with Sharvari at his side walking slowly back to his quarters after a long meeting with Gor’rik about splitting his duties with a few other captains until a replacement could be sent from Orgrimmar. His mind and heart weighed heavy with his decision. Though he knew it was the noble and stalwart thing to do there still remained the fact that he still felt too guilty to even tell his lover what had been going on, not to mention just the slightest bit afraid.

He could only imagine Enoki’s nightmarish reactions upon being told he was about to leave for secret training even he knew little about. The redhead would scream, hiss and spark for sure, the Hunter thought with a grimace. More than likely physical violence would play a part at some point and he would end up bruised, battered and on the floor begging for forgiveness. Jyota, as it turned out, was more correct than he knew, he simply never guessed it would be a foaming, growling wolf, eyes bloodshot with rage and fur bristling on end that charged from nowhere and plowed into his chest.

The Violet-maned Troll let loose with an unholy bellow of horror as he toppled to the ground and landed in a tangled heap pinned beneath a snarling beast. The victorious Enoki craned down low to his face as he growled, lips shuddering over his dripping, wickedly curved fangs.

“Jyota…!” he sibilated, turning his name into a growl and making sure to dig his claws into his chest, “Jyota you getcha ass up right now an’ EXPLAIN yahself tah me yah lyin’ BASTARD!”

“Ow! I can’ get up wit you on me! Ah-! Enoki yah hurtin’ me! Geddoff!” Jyota yelped, shoving at the enraged wolf, “What de hell you talkin’ ‘bout?!”

A series of feral, enraged barks dangerously close to his face answered him and forced him to turn his head away.

“Yah know full well what I be talkin’ ‘bout! I wan’ de TRUTH!” Enoki screeched until his voice broke in agony.

Fury crumbled into sorrow that twisted his lupine muzzle before his body glimmered in white light and became a Troll once more astride Jyota’s hips.

“Stop LYIN’ tah me…! Yah always fuckin’… Jyota, are yah leavin’…? Is it true? You ditchin’ us all tah go tah Orgrimmar an’ be some big shot Shadow Huntah?” he asked in a low, bitter voice.

Jyota’s face softened as Enoki’s fire dimmed and became a quietly smoldering ember just waiting for the breath that would ignite his full rage again. Enoki knew. The very moment he had been dreading had finally come.

“Sparky…” he started, his guilt-ridden golden eyes shifting away, “Lemme up.”

The redhead’s weight on his hips shifted and was no more as he got up smoothly, but Enoki stubbornly refused to offer his hand to help his lover. Jyota was left to haul himself awkwardly up from the dusty ground himself and pat down his soiled back and haunches as he thought of how to word the secret he had been keeping. There were only a few precious seconds he could waste with cleaning himself up and composing himself, however, and by the time he was expected to speak all he could manage was a garbled croak.

“Sparky, um…” Jyota feebly muttered, “I… I dunno what yah heard, or who yah heard it from but I wasn’ lyin’. I jes’ didn’ tell yah cause… Well. Dis been somethin’ dat been goin’ on since before I even metcha an’ I-“

“Before yah even MET ME? An’ yah nevah thought it was important enough tah fuckin’ TELL ME? Fuck, Jyota, would yah jes’ spit it de HELL out alreadeh?!” Enoki suddenly interrupted, crackling with rancorous blue arcs of electricity and gesturing wildly with his hands, “What in de flyin’ fuck is goin’ on? An’ are. You. LEAVIN’?”

Jyota stood, silent a moment, his face unreadable, his expression unchanging. For Enoki it seemed to drag on for torturous eons.

“Yes…” the answer finally came like a cold knell in his ears, “Yes, I be leavin’ dis place, in jes’ a few days. But, Enoki, dis be somethin’ I wanted mah whole life! Evah since I was a little whelp even! I always, always felt such a strong connection tah de Loa, tah de spirits, an’ lately I find dey be answerin’ me! Fah de first time in mah life dey comin’ tah me, offerin’ deir blessin’s an’ deir guidance. Dey even come tah Mastah Vol’jin an’ tell him dat now, aftah bein’ so devoted so long I… I be one wit dem, dat I worthy’a MORE. Fah so long I show mah loyalty tah de Horde, fah so long I worship an’ live mah life always in de footsteps an’ path de Loa set down fah me. Now I can give back, now I can be one’a de elite, one’a de guardians’a de tribe an’ de Horde. Enoki dis been mah dream! Dis be… Dis be fate!”

Enoki felt numb. His body felt loose and formless and his vision washed in horrified white. Those words could have come from another world, another time, another mouth the way they rang in his ears. He was just a casual passerby to the conversation, walking past and feeling so sad for the heartbroken young redhead watching his entire existence crumble to nothingness in his hands.

“Dat. Dat can’ be, you- You nevah-! You tol’ me-! We were-! But Jyota I don’ get it! H-How could dis-? How could you not-?”” he spluttered, eyes wide and unfocused.

Jyota darted forward and grabbed his wrists to bring his hands to his lips. They pressed tenderly onto each of his knuckles and clung steadfast as he tugged him close and gazed up into his eyes.

“Shhhh, Sparky, calm down. Look dis ain’ as bad as all dat! Dis don’ gotta mean everythin’ gotta change!” he said with a hopeful smile on his lips, only to be met with a doubtful scoff as Enoki yanked his hands away and wiped the kisses onto his trousers.

“Dis changes everythin’ yah dumbass! How can yah stand dere an’ tell me dat it ain’? You gonna be all off in yah secret Loa club an’ yah ain’ gonna have two seconds fah me! Not tah mention dis was so important tah you an’ yah nevah shared one bit wit’ me?! How de hell can it be fate now when yah fuckin’ told me WE was fate?!” he bellowed back.

“Because we are! An’ I ain’ gonna be in trainin’ forevah, I promise as soon as I can I will come back fah you,” Jyota tenderly answered.

Enoki only looked like someone had slapped him unexpectedly across the face.

“Wait… Wait wait wait, hold on a damn second, what de hell do yah mean, ‘I’ll come back fah you’?!” he demanded.

“Huh? Well, I mean-” Jyota started, taken aback by the simple question, “I jes’ mean dat I… Well I was gonna ask you dis all along, before I left. I… Enoki, I wantcha tah wait fah me. Because you… Thinkin’a comin’ back intah your arms would make everythin’ all worthwhile. Thinkin’ a’ you waitin’ would give me de hope I need tah make it through all dis.”

He offered his lover a heartfelt, yearning smile as well as a pleading hand, which Enoki glared at as if it were covered in manure.

“So,” the fiery youth began in an eerily calm tone, his red mane pricking up with static electricity thrumming in the air around him, “You… Gonna go off an train wit de elite fightahs’a de Horde, learnin’ all kinda secret Voodoo kick ass skills, you gonna be doin’ missions wit Mastah Vol’jin, an’ de Warchief, an’ I…”

He paused, letting the growl in his throat rise to a dramatic crescendo and his arms thrash dramatically to illuminate his furious point.

“I gonna be SITTIN’ out here in de fuckin’ middle’a NOWHERE, cleanin’ out Silithid shit an’ tanglin’ wit Quillboars an’ fuckin’ rank ass Centaurs?! Waitin’ all wistful an’ teary eyed fah mah lovah tah come home home an’ save me from mah own life an’ doin’ jack shit like some PATHETIC, simperin’ army spouse? Jyota are yah SERIOUS? You can’t be serious! What be wit all dis ceremony an’ secrecy anyway? Jes’ take me wit’you!”

A long silence and an anguished expression were all Enoki wrung from the soon to be Shadow Hunter and he knew all too well what he was going to say.

“But yah can’t. No wait, yah WON’T, right?” Enoki snapped at length.

“I CAN’T Enoki, what would yah do anyway? You’d be cooped up in Orgrimmar or Sen’jin or somewhere an’ yah wouldn’ even have no patrol duty! You’d be goin’ stir crazy, I know you!” Jyota defended stubbornly.

“So what?!” came the haggard, desperate retort, “Jyota, yah don’ think I be good enough tah join up wit de guards in Sen’jin or somethin’? Yah don’ think I could handle life bein’ sucky an’ you bein’ busy fah a bit jes’ tah be wit’ you?! I thought we was a team! I thought we was togeddah!”

“It ain’ dat eiddah! Even if I wanted tah take you I can’t! I jes’ can’t okay? It gonna be jes’ de way it is now! I gonna be gone fah days, I won’ be able tah tell you a damn thing ‘bout what I be doin’ or where I be goin’! I-“

“Wait! Wait a damn sec, you don’ even WANNA take me? What de fuck, Jyota!? Is dat what dis is all about? Is dat what you been tryin’ tah hint at me by treatin’ me like crap all de time? Dat yah wanna shake me off but yah dunno how?!” Enoki barged in ruthlessly.

“No! No no no! Sparky, absolutely not! You don’ get what I be sayin’! I onleh sayin’ dat I think yah should stay here fah de good of both’a us! I gonna be consumed by dis. It a long, very private an’ deeply spiritual process of devotion, prayer, trainin’ an’ meditation dat requires every last shred of me. You need tah be free, tah do what yah want! I don’ need tah be worried ‘bout you runnin’ around Orgrimmar bored tah tears an’ doin’ stupid stuff tah embarr-“

Jyota’s eyes widened as he caught himself before the sentence escaped his lips completely. He clapped a hand over his mouth, shook his head and held a trembling hand out for Enoki whose jaw had fallen open and eyes gone blank with utter shock.

“Wait- Wait shit-! Shit Enoki I din’ mean dat okay? You don’ embarrass me, an’ I wantcha tah come wit me, I PROMISE you dat! B-But it jes’ ain’ possible!” elaborated the older Troll, “Dis be serious, I can’ even tell yah what I gonna be doin’, or even… Where de trainin’ gonna take place. Yah gotta undahstand dis don’ got nothin’ tah do wit you! Yah jes’ don’ undahstand!”

Jyota’s desperate words were so distant in his ears they were nothing more than a passing breeze through the trees. All Enoki heard was the stark note of truth in what he had said in anger. He embarrassed him. He was an embarrassment to Jyota who was his reason for being. He was a liability, baggage, a part of Jyota he wasn’t proud enough of to take with him on his journey, and everything finally made sense. Enoki finally understood. Jyota’s wanderings, his distance, his occasional bursts of passion that ended in him repeating the cycle all over again; all of it came from the magical spark of lust that one lost visit that seemed so long ago in Mulgore and his own blind devotion.

Jyota was nothing like the beautiful, flawless warrior he had idolized and obsessed over. He was mortal.

“No… No I get it,” Enoki finally started, deadpan, “I think I finally DO get it… I don’ embarrass you. Not here. Not in dis Gods forsaken wasteland filled wit’ nothin’ but sand, Centaurs and shit! But I would embarrass de hell outta you in front’a people who actually mattah! Right?!”

Jyota was so stunned he could scarcely find the mental prowess to breathe, let alone respond.

“Wh-What?! Where in de HELL did you get dat idea? D-Dat be preposterous! I would nevah be-“

“I tolja tah stop fuckin’ lyin’ tah me! You don’ mind bein’ wit me out here cause we all beneath you, you doin’ us a FAVOR by bein’ here jes’ like yah told me de day I signed up fah dis! But now dat yah gonna be someone I ain’ worth takin’ along an’ presentin’!” Enoki screamed, cutting Jyota off and taking a menacing step toward him.

The Hunter held his hands up and backed down from the Shaman who had become a powerful and intimidating warrior, shaking his head and reaching out for him even still.

“No… No, Enoki… Please don’ think dat… I… I meant every word’a what I evah said tah you, you gotta believe me, please,” he pleaded with him.

“Got a damn hard time believin’ dat when all yah evah DONE is smothah pretteh words on me! You can praise me tah de skies, you can call me a God, you can tell me I hot an’ a demon in bed, you can tell me I mean de world tah you… But when yah jes’ abandon me- Like yah done so fuckin’ much! It don’ mean shit! An’ yanno? Fah someone who got such a silvah tongue, yah nevah once EVAH told me dat you-“

“I love you, Enoki.”

Three words were enough to snuff out the flames of Enoki’s rampage, if only for a moment. His jaw remained open in mid sentence with his tongue poised to form the next word. It fell stiffly back into his agape mouth, his viridian irises fixed upon Jyota’s flushed smiling face, and he froze stone still.

“You… Y-You… What…?” was all Enoki could manage to wrench from his paralyzed throat.

“Please Enoki,” Jyota murmured, looking up into his eyes, “Sparky… Please… Wait fah me. I gonna come back tah you an’ then everythin’ gonna be perfect! I promise! Please…”

Jyota glided on soundless feet to him and cupped his face preciously in his hands, but Enoki felt nothing. All he felt was a tautness of irritation in his spine and a heat in his gut as he watched the all too familiar scenario play out again. Jyota had just the right words every time. He knew exactly where to touch him, how to smile, how to look into his eyes and make him believe that everything he said was true. For so long he had believed in that ultimate fantasy. He had richly lived the daydreams he dreamed out in the fields of Mulgore, but hearing Jyota’s hollow, empty words it was clear they had been only dreams. Every morning when he woke up he was still the same soldier in the same dreary place, feeling jilted and lonely, missing his lover’s embrace and yearning to run free with him by his side always.

Those beautiful words should have been the climax of the story Enoki had written for himself in his head. He should have been able to smile, throw his arms around his beloved’s neck and kiss him with all of his being, but the furious twisting of his gut felt far from the giddy effervescence of love. Jyota was still there, smiling, charming, handsome as always, promising love, life and adventure but in the same breath sentencing him to the monotony of an indefinite tour of duty in the desolate savannah of the Barrens.

A story had unfolded from his journey out into the wilds, but it was not his. Enoki’s destiny had been penned in the Hunter’s hand. He had followed every word and in so doing submitted to the jail of the very pages upon which his epic was to begin. He had done everything to keep the myth of it alive but finally it was plain. Jyota’s feelings for him could have been always that ardent, deep and pure. His passionate confession and meaningful pleas just might have been sincere. Even if he were finally speaking the whole truth, Enoki’s eyes were clear. Everything about their affair was wrong. His myth of the wide-eyed country boy and the strong, noble soldier was finally erased, its curtain of romantic deception lifted and its intoxicating idealism shattered.

“You know… I heard dis story a million times before…” Enoki hissed through his teeth after his lengthy silence, a bitter smirk on his lips, “You make dese big, grand, sweepin’ proclamations… You sex me up, you fuck me and let me sleep in yah bed whisperin’ dat we gonna have dis big, epic romance if I jes’ patient and wait fah you… Den you leave me hangin’, waitin’ on you. You do all you gotta do tah keep me WAITIN’… Always WAITIN’!”

Enoki had to stop to breathe a ragged breath and wring his hands into his unruly red locks in frustration.

“You make promises you don’ keep, you hide things, you lie, you hurt me an’ say it all gonna be fine, jes’ like you doin’ right now. It always all about YOU,” he rasped at length.

Jyota quickly opened his mouth to respond, but Enoki whipped out a finger and bore his teeth with a snarl.

“No! Cram it!” he barked authoritatively, “I be fuckin’ talkin’ here dis time, an’ you know what? Too little too late dis time pal! I done sittin’ here thinkin’, wishin’ an’ dreamin’a you, my very own knight in shinin’ armor, jes’ like I did as a stupid kid! I DONE feelin’ like tomorrow things gonna be bettah, like you gonna shape up an just fuckin’ GROW a pair an’ talk tah me, fight fah me an’ SHOW dat yah want me by yah side! I done wit YOU!”

It was Jyota’s turn to be rendered slack-jawed and silent in the wake of Enoki’s outburst. He stared at him for several moments as his brain struggled to make sense of what he had said and the change in the lover he had fought with and reconciled with so many times before.

“W-What? You don’ mean dat. Sparky, yah can’t mean dat!” he choked.

“Don’ fuckin’ call me dat anymore! I mean every damn word! We had dis exact same fight ovah an’ ovah again an’ I sick tah fuckin’ death’a it! Go! Jes’ fuckin’ go!” Enoki screeched, pointing a finger high and off into the distance.

“Go off an’ do yah damn Shadow Huntah Loa cocksuckin’ bullshit! Be a big shot hero an’ rub elbows wit de oddah heroes! Yah don’ gotta worry about me no more, we DONE. Ovah! Finished!” he continued at the top of his lungs and making a deadly final sealing motion with his hands, “I can’ do dis anymore… I jes’ can’t… It hurts too bad Jyota. It fuckin’ hurts tah even LOOK at you. Jes’ GO, an’ don’ bothah sayin’ goodbye, I don’ even wanna see yah face again.”

His final peace said, his mind made up, and his heart threatening to shatter in his chest and break his façade of calm, Enoki turned his back on his beautiful, noble Hunter for the last time.

“Wait! Wait no please! Sparky don’ do dis now please! I’m sorry!” Jyota cried desperately, darting forward and grabbing his shoulder, “What can I do? I’ll do anythin’ fah you! ANYTHIN’! Jes’ name it! Please! Jes’ don’ walk out dat door. Don’ you dare walk out dat door.”

Where once that heavy, calloused hand on his shoulder would have made his heart skip a beat and his teal skin run hot, it only made his lower eyelid twitch and anger roil up within him. His words, once sacred as if handed down from the Loa themselves on high, were pitiful and desperate. They solicited a peal of laughter from his lips instead of a wanton, lovesick sigh, and Enoki grinned arrogantly as he turned back around to face him. Once again Jyota proved to have not heard a single grievance.

“You a real piece’a work yanno dat? You didn’t listen tah a word I jes’ said did you? Dat be EXACTLY why we ovah yah idiot! Yanno what yah coulda done? Yah coulda grown a pair an’ jes’ been wit me de way yah wanted, instead’a bein’ a chickenshit wuss an’ sneakin’ round tryin’ tah hide me an’ hide yahself!” he said with finality.

Jyota merely smiled; a bright, tragic smile of a man desperate to save something that they both knew was doomed.

“I can be dat now! I can! Dis fight be good fah us! We can make somethin’ great outta it! Now I know how you feel, an’ you know what be goin’ on wit me, we can have a fresh start an’ move on tah biggah an’ bettah things! Dis jes’… Dis jes’ a small bump in de road, a-a short partin’ of de ways! Yanno? We at a crossroads, but dey gonna meet up again! Jes’ cause we can’t walk down de same road right now don’ mean dat we gotta walk away from each oddah! Right? We alreadeh been separated, we alreadeh done dis, we can do it again, right? Sparky?” the violet-maned Hunter implored his beloved.

Enoki’s core smoldered as Jyota spoke. The muscles in his jaw quivered and rippled under his skin as his lips curled into a half grin. His eyes went wide and wild and the blue, furious snaps of electricity danced a mad, frenetic waltz of fury over his skin that tingled with the static. The smell of ozone permeated the room with the oppressive heat of a subterranean cave and tiny, spindly fissures burst through the soft earth beneath Enoki’s feet.

“Dat what I still am tah you huh…?” he sibilated, looking up into Jyota’s golden eyes with a feral gleam in his own, “Sparky… Little Sparky. Jes’ a wide-eyed kid who can’t handle de truth… Jes’ a stupid little brat who don’ undahstand how de real world works right?! Well guess what? I gotcha fuckin’ SPARKY right here!”

Enoki hurled his sparking fist straight into Jyota’s face. His knuckles pummeled into his jawbone, lightning cracked around them, a blue flash lit the room and a thunderstorm pounded him clean off his feet, sending him twisting through the air. Jyota flew with a strangled yelp and crashed headlong into his desk covered in his precious hoard of military documents, correspondence, and maps. They scattered frantically into the air like a flock of misshapen birds while he pitched upside down onto the old wooden structure which splintered and buckled under his weight and deposited him unceremoniously upon his skull on the dirt floor. Jyota groaned in pain, the papers still fluttering around him, his mohawk a frazzled puff of static violet around his head, and draped over the broken wood like a discarded rag doll. By the time he managed to open his bleary eyes, Enoki stood over him, cracking his knuckles and grinning from ear to ear over his destruction.

“Somethin’ tah remembah me by,” he sneered and made a sharp, military worthy turn on his heels to go.

Then, Enoki streaked out the door of Jyota’s chambers leaving nothing in his wake but a set of cracked footprints, the smell of ozone, burnt hair and sulfur, and a bedraggled, statically charged pile of a Hunter. Jyota reached out for the fiery red shadow as it fled into the light of the setting sun, but he dared not make a sound to call him back to his side. Enoki had made his decision, and when Enoki made a decision it was final.

In the end, his wild spirit would not be content to be contained any longer and he had slipped from his grasp. His tenuous hold on the firestorm that was Enoki had broken completely, he realized as he lay propped upside down against the ruins of his desk, smoking slightly and gazing out into the radiant column of light spilling in through his open doorway. Asking him to wait was akin to pleading with a wildfire to cease its consumption of a hillside, or a raging hurricane hungry to ravage the earth to linger offshore and play with the surf instead. It was the ultimate insult for the Shaman as raw as the elements themselves, but Jyota could not help but wonder who could have possibly blamed him for wanting to look into the majesty of such primal life for only a moment longer than he was allowed.