Exile of a hero

Karasae got up, letting the elf sleep. She looked back at the bed and gave the unconscious elf a sly smile.

Yeah, I still have that touch. I was beginning to think I'd forgotten how too.

The demon walked into the kitchen, looking around in an attempt to figure out where to begin her rather daunting self imposed task. Her first instinct was to compare cooking to something she did understand - alchemy. A recipe was little more than a series of predefined steps, using the right ingredients and equipment, and perhaps a touch of flair. And if cooking was the same, there should be a book full of such recipes somewhere.

It didn't take long to find a cookbook, but once she found it, she reached another problem. She had a good idea of what elves ate and when, but some of the ingredient names were foreign to her. The spice names in particular presented a problem to her. Of even greater annoyance to her was that Nessa seemed to have some things but not others, making Karasae flip through page after page trying to find something she could actually make with the ingredients on hand. Finally, she stormed off in a huff, grabbing a few gold coins out of a satchel Nessa had hanging in the bedroom. She opened the front door and put the coins into a rather surprised apprentice's hand.

"Cassia, is it? I need you to get me a slab of ham."

"Uh..."

"What is it?"

The young elf looked at the coins in her hand for a moment, then back at the demon. There were a dozen gold pieces in her palm, and a rather confused look on her face.

"Just how many people are you feeding?"

"One."

"Yeah. Um, this is too much money." She handed back all but one coin, "Far too much. One gold would get enough ham for a rather long time. Are you cooking?"

The demon hesitated before replying, thinking for a moment. Her expression became downcast as she realized how little she knew about her lover's world. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Do you want help? It's not entirely safe for Miss Felwhisper to be going out right now. I'm supposed to stand guard, but I'm not the only one here. Me being inside for a while shouldn't be a problem."

Cassia looked nervous, and seemed to be speaking just a little bit faster with each consecutive sentence, as if not used to leading the conversation. The demon finally smiled again, more at sensing the young elf's weakness than at her offer for help. Even the momentary pause was enough to make the warlock squirm uneasily.

"I found a recipe I suppose you could help me with... but I need that ham."

"Oh!" Cassia suddenly became aware of the gold coin in her hand again. "R-Right away!"

The warlock scurried off to the market area. The other two elves withheld comment, one of whom was analyzing the conversation. More specifically, he was studying the demon.

Perfect Thalassian... decent vocabulary and flow... and that accent. Looks notwithstanding, she could pass for one of us. Should I be impressed with Felwhisper's ability to tame such a beast, or terrified?

It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door. Karasae opened the door to see Cassia holding a wrapped up slab of ham and quite a lot of change. Karasae took the meat and beckoned the warlock in.

"Nessa's sleeping. Just stick to the kitchen and you won't wake her. Let me show you what I want to make."

Karasae lead Cassia to the kitchen and showed her the open cookbook, pointing to a page. The warlock looked down, briefly looking over the recipe. She was rather doubtful that the demon could pull this off without starting a fire, given her apparent lack of understanding about anything food related, but knew better than to speak against Nessa's lover. Resigning herself to standing in the background and offering the occasional bit of advice, she watched the demon work, noting the mechanical process unraveling in front of her. Karasae wasn't using her sense of smell or taste at all, simply following instructions.

But Karasae's attention was split. She was gauging the warlock at the same time. It was a game she hadn't been able to play for a rather long time, since Nessa hadn't been an initiate in decades.

"What is your focus, warlock?"

"My focus?"

"That which you specialize in - demonology, affliction..."

"Oh. I suppose I haven't really thought about it. I've only just learned to summon an imp not long ago. Quite frankly, I hate the little bastard."

"Everyone hates them," Karasae chuckled, "Except maybe fire specialists. Do you like explosions? Imps are brilliant where explosions are concerned."

"I... I don't like heat..." Cassia looked away, rubbing her arm self consciously.

"Then perhaps you'd like affliction. Destroying your opponent from the inside out, one of those vicious felhounds at your side?"

"I hear it's quite complicated..."

"Not as good as demonology I suppose," Karasae continued, as if not hearing the warlock, "But powerful. You know, Nessa's old commander was an afflictionist?"

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. We killed him. Tore his throat out. Ever watched a fish die out of water?" Cassia blanched, her eyes widening as the color drained from her face. Karasae shook her head, adding some spices to the sauce she was preparing. "Stupid bastard. He thought because his curses were stronger that it meant he was stronger."

"I... I suppose demonology is pretty strong then..."

Karasae smirked, unseen by the warlock as she was facing away. She suddenly turned and walked towards the girl, slowly and deliberately placing each hoof in front of the other. Cassia backed away, but couldn't go far as she was rather close to the wall, and quickly ran out of space. Karasae placed a finger on the girl's chin, raising her head. Cassia trembled, not wanting to maintain eye contact, but finding it impossible to look away. The demon's finger slowly ran down the elf's neck, then stopped at the top of her breast bone. Sighing, Karasae shook her head and turned away, going back to her cooking.

"Too easy," the demon said, making her way back to the saucepan, "Don't be a demonologist. You don't have it in you."

Cassia's mouth opened in shock and anger. She closed it quickly, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow at the demon. Her cheeks were a lovely shade of embarrassment, though the redness could be attributed to anger as well.

"It's only because you're Felwhisper's lover, demon. Don't flatter yourself."

"Who are you trying to convince, me, or you?"

"Your summoner failed and gave into your advances, and you let it go to your head."

"A hypothesis shared by many. I had to earn her trust, and still maintain that my sisters are largely horrible creatures. They're too stupid to see beyond murder and domination. Too shallow to leave themselves open. As smart as I am and as hard as I try, it's frightening to make yourself vulnerable to someone you love. It was months before she learned my name."

"You're one of those... eretaefi-"

Karasae reeled, baring her teeth at the elf, who was now directly behind her. She grabbed the front of the woman's robes.

"Don't you ever use that word with me, child. You don't know-"

"But aren't you? You hate your own species. Yes, I studied demonology, if only out of personal interest. All this fuss over a warlock fucking a succubus? I had to find out why. So I looked up the classes. I thought for sure you were erefaelu."

"I don't own her!"

"Hell, even ere-"

"Stop." The two turned to see Nessa standing in the doorway, glaring at the pair. "Erefaelu, eretaefi, erepasee, and erejaelu... the four derogatory terms used to describe warlock lovers. Owner, aspirant, con artist, and recruiter, respectively. What right have you to enter my home and use such words?"

"I... I didn't know they were derogatory... I just thought they were the proper terms in Demonic."

"And when is stereotyping not derogatory? Maybe you're too young to have seen racism, but it hurts. You know what hurts more?" She stepped forward, gently placing her hand on Karasae's and removing it from the girl's robes. "When your own people hate you for being different. I don't expect you to understand why we love each other, Sunspire. Just accept that we do. And there is no turning my lover into an elf, so 'eretaefi' is just a silly notion."

"I need to know that I'm not making a mistake in agreeing to be a part of this... this movement to protect you from the paladins. Succubi are devious. What if she's just using you to achieve her own ends?"

"That would be one hell of an act. To pretend for this long, and do it this well, falls into the realm of questioning if anything is indeed real. One day, when the paladins take notice of your power, you will feel what oppression means. You'll wonder why they can't just let you be. I suppose I got a bit of a free pass for a while when they found out how good I was at alchemy, but before that, I got all the worst jobs, with outdated intelligence and dangers I was neither warned about or prepared for."

"Nessa..." Karasae began, her voice quivering, "...don't." She put her arms around Nessa's waist, resting her head on the woman gently.

"It's okay. I've come to terms with everything that has happened to me. They would send me into dangerous territory for no good reason, no perceptible gain... until one day I was finally captured by alliance. A night elf tortured and raped me, dumped my body and left me to die. And tell me, what sort of creature sees something worth their time in a crying warlock, curled up in a fetal position?"

"St-Stop it now!" A tear streaked down her face, her grip tightening on the elf.

"My situation isn't unique. Warlocks are sent to their deaths every single day. In our home cities, we're forced underground. Have you ever wondered why you have to go into night elf territory for something as trivial as bat wings? It's an easy way to get you killed before you become dangerous. And if you survive, hey, free bat wings, right? Just make yourself useful and don't give any indication that you're a warlock, and eventually, you might make it all the way up to second class citizen."

"Life isn't as bad as you make it out to be, Miss Felwhisper." Cassia said defiantly, though there was a hint of concession in her voice nonetheless, "They hate us out of fear, and for good reason."

"But?"

"But... I hate it. And I hate them for it. It's not my fault I was drawn to this field of study. And... you're really not collecting that tear?"

Nessa stroked the back of the demon's head gently. "I'd rather see her smile than sell her tears. Making a demon cry is exquisitely difficult, but not a goal one should ever set forth for themselves."

"You should... you should probably take the ham out of the oven..." Karasae nodded and pulled away, opening the oven and reaching in for the meat. She pulled out the pan with her bare hands, startling the younger warlock. "Um... oven mitt?"

Karasae shrugged, setting the pan down on the counter. Nessa raised an eyebrow, noticing the food for the first time. She looked around the kitchen and inhaled deeply, finally smiling.

"I wanted you to have a real meal," Karasae said, fussing over the meat, "Not just something you threw together in a few seconds."

"I was... I didn't do anything useful. I just wanted to see that she would be okay to cook by herself. Excuse me."

Cassia quickly left, shutting the door behind her. Nessa chuckled and shook her head.

"You've been toying with her, haven't you? You're horrible. How does she fare?"

Karasae shrugged. "Weak. I completely barreled over her until she called me... that. Bitch."

"Don't let her get to you. Now then... this is far more interesting. Have you been in the kitchen the whole time I was sleeping?"

"I have. You're really bad at keeping ingredients on hand, you know."

Karasae turned around, holding out a plate covered with neatly arranged food. Nessa accepted it with a grin.

"Like I said, I didn't really have much time to cook before."

They sat at a table in the next room, and Nessa began to eat. Karasae watched her intently, eager to know if her cooking was acceptable. It was, in all honestly, somewhat simplistic. The demon didn't know about subtle nuances or in fact the art of cooking in general. She had simply followed the recipe while largely ignoring anything Cassia had to say. Even so, it was the best thing Nessa had eaten in a while, and she was more impressed by the fact that her significant other was cooking for her than how it tasted.

"So... what do you think?"

Nessa cut a small piece of the meat and offered it to the demon on her fork. "You try it first, then I'll tell you what I think."

To say the demon was tentative might have been an understatement. She hesitated, then nervously accepted her first ever bite of food. She chewed carefully, as if afraid it would explode in her mouth at the slightest provocation. Nessa grinned at her, resisting the urge to giggle. When she finally swallowed, she cringed a little at the sensation.

"Oh, come on!" Nessa protested, "It's not -that- bad! I actually like it."

Karasae shook her head. "It's okay, I guess. I'm not used to swallowing anything solid is all. Sustenance is different for me."

"I won't make you eat anymore if you don't want to. You made me really happy, Karasae."

Nessa leaned over the table and kissed the demon softly before settling down into her meal again. Karasae mostly watched the woman eat while she talked about how odd it was for her to be cooking. She was trying to push something out of her head, something that had been on her mind for a while. By the time Nessa had finished her meal, Karasae had run out of new things to say, and that thought was creeping up on her again. It was easy to dismiss before; they had to keep their relationship a secret. But with that ship having long since sailed, there was no longer any excuse, and quite frankly, Karasae was terrified.

As the couple held each other on a sofa, Nessa began to relax and let the burdens of the day leave her. The demon had no such luck. She was tense, staring at nothing. At first, the warlock tried to ignore it, thinking that Karasae would relax in time. But said time never became the present, and Nessa was beginning to worry. Karasae sat up and spoke shakily, finally breaking the silence.

"There's something I want to do with you... It's... It's really important."

"Of course. What is it?"

"It's um... h-how much do you know about demons' rituals? I-I know you've read a lot on the other side... but there's one I want to do from my own... J-Joining." Nessa cocked her head to the side, furrowing her brow in confusion as the demon continued to talk. Karasae wrung her hands nervously and added, "I've been thinking about this for a long time, but I never said anything because I didn't want anyone in Silvermoon to know about us. It's a sacred ritual to us... joining of souls... I-I don't really know how to explain what it means to me... b-but it's like... it's like..."

Karasae's voice caught in her throat. She looked into Nessa's eyes, and in doing so, showed Nessa for the first time how vulnerable she really was. A demon with the look of a frightened child sat before her, and she held this demon's heart in her hands. Finally regaining her voice, but still quivering, Karasae spoke again.

"Marry me."