Musings of an Azeroth Mage Book 7

Musings of an Azeroth Mage (Book 7)
:- by Archin
==-20-==
(This is a long entry, so a brief rundown: 
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<BR>Archin complains about Hallows End, discusses some marital problems with Yumeko, grapples with betraying a trusted friend, takes part in a ritual of bloodletting... and yes... relaxes.) 
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<BR>Hallows-bloody-End as if we have the time or the reason to celebrate! 
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<BR>Ive been busy all damn week, and this stupid and insignificant holiday seems to make my work all the more painful. All that work and manpower that was put into decorating, filling stupid apple basins, and passing out candy! Instead, they could passing out swords, making food, and rebuilding bashed houses. 
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<BR>They say they want to celebrate during this scary time of war. 
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<BR>I say its a waste of time. Just like that blasted Darkmoon Faire. 
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<BR>Nevertheless, I have been exceedingly busy and my conscience has been tested very soundly, of which I will mention a bit later in this entry. This does run the risk of being a very long entry, Archin, so dont try to read this if you have a lot to do. 
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<BR>While most of my days were spent wandering around Stormwind, watching the idiots put on costumes and play pranks on each other, my nights were spent politicizing and socializing: Two things that I have grown to enjoy more and more as of late. 
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<BR>Needless to say, there has been a considerable amount of insecurity and instability in Stormwind as of late, not because of the festivities, but because of other, more serious issues. 
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<BR>That soothsayer, Veras, the one that gave Yumeko that cockamamie reading a few weeks ago, was murdered earlier this week and a considerable amount of trouble has surfaced in its aftermath. 
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<BR>I dont pretend to know all the details. I dont assume to know all the answers (though quite frankly, if anyone is going to figure this out, itll be a former Dalaran Mage), but I find myself in an oddly precarious position all the same. 
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<BR>The major suspect in this crime so to speak, is Lady Felena, a goodly Paladin, member of the Winters End, as well as a proud shield bearer of the Knights of the Silver Hand. This fair woman has been an associate of mine for quite some time, ever since my first marriage, when she selflessly defended my previous wife and myself against the disparaging and hateful remarks of one Maeka, the utter personification of idiocy. 
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<BR>Yet as of late, I have been talking with lady Meris as well, who was close to and worked with Veras himself, and she has helped me out considerably as well. This is where the dilemma sets in. 
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<BR>I wished to talk to Felena about some issues in the first place, personal issues between myself and Yumeko (which Ill talk of later) so I already had arranged to meet with her, but Meris had also asked that I try to find out where the remains of her fallen employer were hidden. 
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<BR>Im not a spy Id make a very poor rogue. Im also trustworthy and I dont betray those that I care about. I dont! Yet with the aftermath of all the Ordo happenings, seeing the heavy handedness of the Light itself, and watching so many people be shunned by those of power, I cant help but be jaded and angry towards those that stand for the Light. 
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<BR>I met with Felena, and managed to get just a small amount of information out of her. I dont even think it was anything substantial, and I did not try my hardest to lead her either. 
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<BR>She was so helpful! So forthcoming and trusting of me! If she was guarded, it would have been one thing, but she smiled at me and told me her plight. And she did not do it because she was bragging, she wanted help! Not from a Mage, but from a friend. 
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<BR>And here, in the back of my mind, Im somehow working against her. 
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<BR>It ripped my heart out. I felt rotten. I felt fake. I felt disloyal and dishonest. 
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<BR>I asked Felena about my dealing with Yumeko and I knew she would be against it. Yumeko enjoys her power, she does work for the Legion, and Felena loathes that, as a Knight of the Silver Hand should. 
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<BR>My core question was this: Is it wrong to follow your heart even if it is with something contrary to popular belief so that you can at least say you were true to your heart? 
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<BR>Her answer was somewhat reassuring, but she said that a path is not linear, that a path can diverge. That I should try to convert Yumeko to the Light. 
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<BR>I know thats impossible. I wouldnt give it a chance. Felena asked nicely that I see if Yumeko could see her, so that she could talk with her. I obliged, though I didnt hold out much hope. 
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<BR>Felena she talked to me as a friend. Any other Paladin would have struck me down for consorting with a demonologist. She put aside her beliefs, in a way, to help a friend. 
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<BR>And here I was trying to pump small bits of information from her for someone else. 
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<BR>Archin Brey what are you doing to yourself? Why is it that nothing feels wholly safe? Why does nothing, nothing at all, feel totally comfortable to you? 
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<BR>Where is that stable foundation you so firmly planted yourself for forty-one years? Where is your spine? Why do your shoulders sag when you sit alone and your head constantly go through contingencies and game plans? 
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<BR>The walk to the mailbox was a very long walk and I wrote to Meris the small amount of information I had found. I also told her that I felt rotten and that it is against my nature to be hurtful towards those that truly give me their trust. 
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<BR>I probably made a fool out of myself. But if I did, at least Im an honest fool. 
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<BR>I am honest arent I? 
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<BR>Miss Peejee the fair Night Elf Priestess with her endless supply of bananas, has also been missing and reportedly murdered. This does worry me so many of my newer friends are in trouble. 
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<BR>But, time moves on my fair wife had been gone for most of the week, off doing various jobs for the Legion. That left me with my boy and my conscience, to work out all these irregularities. 
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<BR>Last evening, however, Yumeko and I were able to come together once more, and what an interesting reunion it was. 
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<BR>We stole away to Darnassus to catch up on the events in our lives she knew that something was weighing on my mind as well. She can read me like a book, that girl. 
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<BR>I told her of my meeting with Felena, and her reaction was hardly what I expected. 
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<BR>She was smashed utterly crushed. 
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<BR>I destroyed her faith in me. Talking to a Paladin for reassurance of what Im doing with her she saw it as a horrid transgression against her trust and she is probably right. 
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<BR>I do love her. I dont deny it its just the path, the track, it is difficult for me. I find myself torn and wrestling with the two alternatives all the time. As I mentioned in another entry, Im still walking that tightrope and I have to fall on one side or the other eventually. 
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<BR>I told her that I loved her I told her that I cared for her and our family. That I would never abandon her, and that Id never doubt what I ultimately chose to do. But she wasnt convinced she didnt believe me. 
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<BR>That was the hardest part. She did not believe me. 
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<BR>If I can say I love you, Yumeko and she doesnt accept it or doesnt wholly believe it what good is anything else? 
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<BR>What a rotten husband I have been! 
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<BR>I walk around Stormwind and I appear to sure and ready for anything. In the back of my mind, Im crumbling. 
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<BR>Someone once told me that I Think too much and dont DO enough. 
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<BR>Maybe they were right. Maybe I dont act enough and think too much on a subject. 
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<BR>I have to prove to Yumeko that I will follow her wherever the path will go. Yes yes 
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<BR>Let this entry be the start of a new man Im committing to it and to her! 
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<BR>I had taken the time out, as well, to properly reprimand a member of the Ordo Hereticus as well. A young woman, her name: Pamandria I believe. She had been with Calithos the day that Yumeko was nearly killed, and though I had let Calithos know my opinion on the matter, she had emerged relatively unscathed. 
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<BR>I wished to change that. 
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<BR>Lying to that little tart wasnt much of a chore. I walked up to her in Stormwind and told her that I had a grave story to tell her, and that it should be told in private. We walked into a private room, her, me, and Yumeko, and I told her the truth. 
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<BR>If she got in our way, Id flatten her. 
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<BR>I hope she took it as a learning experience. I hope she learned her lesson. I could have killed her right there, Yumeko and I both could have, and not a single person would have helped her. 
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<BR>She said she could scream, but who would hear or care? The Ordo may think theyre all powerful, but theyre also all-hated. If one person came to help an Ordo member, I am sure fifteen would come to help put her down. 
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<BR>I didnt harm her Im not a brute I just wanted to educate her. I left her shaking in the room and left, though I do admit, she stood tall against me, she didnt break down, though I could see some hints of fear in her eyes. 
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<BR>Shell make one hell of an adversary in time. 
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<BR>The aftermath of that action was experienced later that evening. Following our talk, Yumeko had to take time off to think, as did I. I went to Stormwind and none other than Calithos Blyde was there to greet me. 
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<BR>Shouting Brey as I rode past him, he led a strange entourage with him. A pale, tall Night Elf with red streaks down her cheeks, as if bloody tears had stained her white face, and a woman walked beside her who was just as pale. 
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<BR>The Elfs name was Jenovah the woman? Feyll, I believe was her name, of the house Antigone. 
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<BR>Calithos was quick to reprimand me for my actions against Pamandria. However, I merely stated that I can tell who I want what I want, and if he wishes to get into a fight with me, there I was. He was busy, however. Jenovah was mumbling something about a Lich and was quite subdued he was taking her to the Church to do some sort of odd ritual. 
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<BR>Im not one for rituals like that, but I had nothing better to do. Besides, he could use the mind of an intellectual in such a matter, since obviously he falls short in that department. 
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<BR>The Cathedral District was full of filth and fools, however, and we could not get any peace, so instead we went to the Park, in the very room where my wife had given birth, and Calithos took care of his business there. 
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<BR>A Ritual of what was it called? Ritual of the Sacrificial Defender, I think that was its name. It basically amounted to wonton bloodletting, body art, and thrashing bodies. Calithos slashed himself up and drew runes on the girl, while I had the dignified responsibility of holding her still. 
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<BR>So allow me to paint a picture. 
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<BR>We stand there, in the middle of an abandoned tavern. Calithos, with his horrid eye for a homunculus (which subsequently makes noises and moves on its own) stands before the girl, slashes his bicep, and starts to draw on the subject. 
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<BR>The subject: Jenovah, speaks in an otherworldly voice, is absolutely frigid to the touch, and appears to be already dead by all accounts. 
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<BR>Feyll watches on, and moans softly at the sight of all the blood, begins to grow fangs, and rushes out of the tavern in a hurry. 
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<BR>Now I ask you I am the one that is called the heretic in Stormwind!!!??? 
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<BR>I was clearly the most sane and normal member of that motley crew! 
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<BR>I wont go into the details of the ritual but when all was said and done, a Lich of some sort did stop by to check on his quarry, in which Calithos seemingly warded her from. Amidst all this, Yumeko comes to my side; a Night Elf druid joins us, another female warlock, and a gnome rogue. 
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<BR>It was a regular bloodletting party, if you ask me. 
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<BR>The Lich ultimately fled Jenovah was cured and Calithos was successful. Ill also be unable to eat meat for a week, thanks to the entire ordeal. 
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<BR>Calithos also, believe it or not, apologized to Yumeko for trying to kill her. Apparently he just remembered that fact, and that it was discovered that she summoned the Infernal out of self defense. 
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<BR>A shame he didnt realize that before he tried to kill her, a lot of good this revelation would have done had he succeeded! 
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<BR>As the group dispersed, I was left with Yumeko again, and the thoughts of our previous conversation were still fresh in my mind. However, Tyyrlym, a Night Elf warrior friend of ours, was nearby as well and helped to lighten the mood. 
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<BR>Yumeko tried, desperately, to get me to relax a bit. It is so hard to relax but I tried. I began eating that Hallows End candy that I had gotten and transformed into various strange costumes 
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<BR>We sat for an hour, the three of us, and talked, ate candy, and goofed off. 
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<BR>Yes Archin Brey goofed off. 
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<BR>Yumeko, myself, and Tyyrlym all laughed at one another and we generally had a grand time! 
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<BR>I went to bed with Yumeko shortly after that she was a wisp and I was a duskbat, but in our strange forms, we could still utter the words I love you. 
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<BR>Hallows-bloody-End a waste of a holiday? Maybe not. 
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<BR>That blasted candy and those decorations could very well have saved my marriage. 
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<BR>Archin Brey <BR>
==-21-==
(In this installment, Archin reflects on nearly getting arrested. The corruption of the Crimson Hounds Brigade and his fear of eventual death) 
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<BR>I was arrested last evening. 
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<BR>Aye, Archin, you read that correctly. Last evening I was arrested in the middle of the Trade District. I was nearly stabbed to death, led to prison, interrogated, and then grudgingly let go. 
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<BR>I sit here in my house as I write this, quietly scrawling at my table next to my bookshelf full of magical tomes. My home, in a sense, has become a bit of a prison itself. Im on some sort of cockamamie house arrest, though thankfully some of my friends have lifted such a burden so that I can roam freely albeit I have to be careful. 
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<BR>But how, one might ask, did this all come about? 
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<BR>First and foremost, before I get into the ordeal, I found a banana peel sitting on my journal this morning very strange. 
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<BR>Anyway, I had been busy in Silithus for a considerable amount of time, thinning out the resident insect population and frying cultists in my spare time, when I decided to return to Stormwind to relax. 
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<BR>What a novel idea relaxing in Stormwind! 
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<BR>I stopped at the Jester to grab a cup of tea, in which I ran into a strange individual by the name of Crick. He pestered me about information on Dalaran, and I wasnt quick to give him any. He claimed he was a historian, much like myself. When I asked that he prove it, he showed me his historian identification card. What an idiot as if Im supposed to believe that. 
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<BR>Furthermore, the idiot had no sense of tact, said my robe was a dress and claimed that I was loud and obnoxious. At least, he claimed that was how I was described. 
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<BR>After finding out that this flowery assessment was given by none other than Wendall of the Crimson Hounds Brigade, this fellow had to leave and dashed out the door what a waste. 
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<BR>As I sat there, I traded barbs with Aelannor of the Ordo Hereticus. This fellow has twice, in my presence, threatened to kill Yumeko and who knows how many times while I was absent so I thought it my specific duty to insult and aggravate him as much as possible. 
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<BR>But this all came to a screeching halt as my love awoke from her prolonged slumber. I dashed out of the Jester and fled to the Trade District, to find my love with Lady Elilla. They were poised to both summon Infernals into the Trade District I grudgingly obliged. 
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<BR>Fate intervened at that moment what a funny thing to say, considering that I dont believe in fate, but as the two prepared to summon their minions, Aelannor rounded the corner and once again began to trade barbs with me. 
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<BR>I tried to keep him busy as the women summoned their Hellspawn. I really dont believe he was focusing too much on them. I watched both rocks crash into the ground and rise, and Aelannor continued to talk to me as if nothing was wrong. It was not until I turned and walked towards Yumeko, who nonchalantly walked towards me, that he seemed to be alerted to the presence of the Infernals. 
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<BR>Instantly he blamed Yumeko for summoning the Infernal, though the immediate situation we had to deal with were the creatures themselves. 
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<BR>As if the situation could not get more volatile, Dugald and several Hounds came through the Trade District and surrounded the Infernal after much commotion and a large mass of onlookers, the Infernals were ultimately dispatched, and all eyes turned to me and my wife. 
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<BR>Okay so Yumeko DID summon the Infernal but there was no proof! No hard evidence. Any time a demonic incident occurs, everyone blames the Warlock without any proof. Aelannor claimed he saw the Infernal fall that he saw her summon the creature, but he had no hard evidence. 
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<BR>I had spoken to Lieutenant Dugald about a situation just like this, and he had told me that he would handle the Ordo if they tried to harm my wife. 
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<BR>But instead of being the man I thought he would be, Dugald bent like a piece of grass in the wind and did anything Aelannor asked. The Hounds drew their weapons and put them to our throats, demanding that we disarm and go with them. I argued, stubbornly, that they were charging my wife over something someone said, but they did not care. To them, that was evidence enough. 
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<BR>I disarmed. I didnt want any trouble. My wife, however, is even more stubborn than I. Several passersby stood up for our plight and put themselves in our way, but Dugald didnt care. He wanted to arrest anyone he could deem arrestable. He claimed I was obstructing the arrest, and that I would be charged. I feel it my duty, as Yumekos husband, to always protect her and as such I was arrested as well. 
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<BR>It wasnt until the Hounds were poised to skewer us that Yumeko relinquished her weapons, and we were corralled into the Command Center of the Brigade and questioned. 
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<BR>I once thought Dugald was a good man. Now I see he is a spineless lapdog to the Church, just like everyone else. To believe the word of someone, pertaining to a crime that is very grim, shows how idiotic he is. 
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<BR>Aelannor had to leave and we were subsequently questioned by a Lady Volkova. Though a member of the Ordo, she was fair and seemed to be concerned for our plight. I held Yumekos hand the entire time my beautiful wife I would never let anything bad happen to her. I would fight tooth and nail with every last breath to defend her from harm. 
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<BR>I will make the long ordeal shorter by saying that we left the prison unscathed, but in the care of Wendall, one of the Hounds, who was sympathetic to our cause. Volkova let us loose, I paid a fine to that spineless bastard Dugald for obstructing justice and we were allowed to sleep in our home. 
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<BR>Wendall seemed horribly torn as we walked through Stormwind. I admit I was somewhat embarrassed. 
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<BR>I passed my old friend Jaffar as we walked, and I could see the sadness in his eyes. He had warned me that something like this would happen I had assured him I would be all right. 
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<BR>I once was his Guild leader I once was a respectable member of this society. Now I was being corralled to my house like cattle for a crime. 
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<BR>Wendall was supposed to watch us all night, but he let us go and be alone he trusts us. I trust him. 
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<BR>I hesitate in trusting him. I trusted Dugald with my life, and he nearly took it out of blind injustice. Why should I trust anyone? 
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<BR>I did soundly berate Yumeko and Elilla. I actually threw Elilla out of the house, even. I tried to make it clear to Yumeko that by being flamboyant about such matters, by flaunting ones power in public we were rendered powerless. 
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<BR>Why, Yumeko? Why do you not listen to me and believe me? Why do you take these unnecessary risks and nearly get us killed? 
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<BR>There are forces working for us, that is for sure. Volkova seemed sympathetic, as did Wendall. Even Calithos seemed perturbed by the lack of evidence, which surprised me. 
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<BR>I pray to the Light and the Shadow that my wife keeps herself under control I dont want to die an early death not at the hands of a group of puppets like the Hounds. 
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<BR>Now more than ever do I see my path as the correct way. 
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<BR>Away from the old order towards a new one. 
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<BR>My own. 
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<BR>Archin Brey
End of Musings of an Azeroth Mage Book 7
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 [<--- Book 6] [Book 8 --->]
Category:Story