prologue

The thick wooden door closed behind her without a sound as she entered the room. She missed it, the sound of the door. This small room held a few of her cherished possessions, a closet, a bed, a box… even some paintings. But this was no home. The ornate box remained locked, the bed had but one pillow, the closet stored only her clothes and the paintings had been covered by some linen cloth. No, these tokens from the past did nothing to making it have that special feeling of coming home. The sound used to have that effect. That particular, low-pitched creaking noise which had belonged to the door of her old house. It was the noise which had welcomed her home for all those years. Now, there was only the faint noise of cogs and hinges.

She pulled down her hood and removed her cloak, letting them fall to the ground as she walked to her bed, stepping over some sheets on her way. Standing before it, she momentarily regarded the figure lying on the bed before sitting down on a chair next to it.

“OOX-16, report.” The noise made by the hinges and cogs increased as the construct prepared its reply. “No change since the last report, cluck!” “I see. Continue monitoring the situation.” She glanced at the young woman on the bed, pondering her condition. “No mumbling. No movement of the eyes. No turning in her sleep. Not a single thing has changed since she was brought here.” A voice joined the thought process.

“You know what this means, you’ve known it from the very start. She won’t wake up on her own. Why have you not acted yet?” It was a pleasant voice, filled with warmth and kindness. Even this question, which could easily be regarded as criticism, could only be perceived as genuine concern.

“There are several reasons. It is not the normal procedure, it is against the rules. And then there is that other thing...”

“The rules eh? Today marks the 24th day that she has been unconscious and placed in your care. Don’t you think the point has come for your rules to bend to your responsibility? As for the other thing, due to the first, I think you are in your right to act.”

Shalisa closed her eyes for a moment, it served as a means to come to terms with the new course of action, one she had hoped to avoid. She pushed herself to her feet and dragged the chair to the door, making a small barricade. As she walked to the cabinet, the voice came again. “One of the mooncloth pouches at the back, those with the silver and black embroiling.” Her hand moved to the back of the cabinet, taking a carefully wrapped pouch. “I know.”

Emptying its contents on an incense burner, she inspected the herbs carefully to ensure this was indeed the right mix. “Don’t worry too much, what happened in the Keep is in the past now.” “You are very outspoken today.” “I am very worried today. After all, it is easier to destroy than to create. Even though it’s you… Will it be all right?” Shalisa lit the burner. And as the herbs turned to ash and the smoke rose up, filling the room with its heavy smell and white fog, she sat down on the ground, facing the bed. “It has to be.”

“I am the Priestess Shalisa Dusksinger, devoted servant of the noble Goddess Elune. I am about to tread the pathways of a mind, a mind of one of Your children to which I have been granted no permission to enter. For this intrusion, I shall accept whatever fate You choose to bestow upon me. However, I go without malicious intend. I enter to find this lost one and assess and mend the damage she has sustained. I beg of You, guide the both of us in this endeavor. Elune, if it is Your will, let it be so.”

She inhaled deeply and her body started to feel numb. As she closed her eyes the voice came again. “Don’t just be determined, be kind.” It was spoken with such clarity and urgency, that it wouldn’t fade away. As she was letting go of her body, letting go of her worries, letting go of everything that chained her to this existence… that last word lingered. Until finally, that too was gone and nothing remained.

A tiny moonstone appeared in thin air. It didn’t want to fall down to the ground, so it just remained in the sky instead. It also wanted to grow. So it did. It grew and grew until it was large enough. And then it burst. The pieces crumbled and disappeared, leaving only the image of the priestess, hugging her legs in a fetal position. Before any other movement, she spoke words which echoed to the far reaches of a mind.

Part 1

“Pardon the intrusion, sister Forestsong.”
“Intrusion, Priestess?” The reply was half-amused and half-weary.
The priestess stretches her limbs and intently observes the figure below without answering. A youth in silvery novice moon-robes was sitting beneath a partially uprooted tree. With her one hand she was attempting to keep a smooth piece of wood with parchment on it steady in her lap, and with the other she held a delicate writing brush. The writing on the parchment kept changing from being halfway done to being nearly finished. Near her right knee was a bottle of ink. To her left was a young doe with a wound that was healing itself over and over again, though the creature did not seem bothered by it in the least.

“I mean no disrespect, Priestess, but who are you and why do you call me Forestsong?” The youth rubbed the side of her nose with her ink-smudged fingers, which did not help the smudges already present on her face. “It was the name my mother gave me, you know? Everyone here insists on calling me Moonfang… I’d rather that they just use Ashtear.”

“If that makes you more comfortable, I shall address you as such.” She kept her eyes on the parchment while saying this, observing its erratic behavior. The slow pace at which the text was written and unwritten allowed her to read some of it. It seemed to be a list with names, she recognized some of these as Quel’Dorei, followed by the crimes they’d been convicted off. “But forgive me my discourtesy, I am yet to introduce myself. I am the Priestess Shalisa Dusksinger.” She opened her mouth as to speak, but closed it, waiting for the young woman to reply.
The young Ashtear grins with an odd baring of teeth, but nothing of it reaches her eyes. "Ashtear Moonfang, but I guess I already said that." She looks back at the parchment. "Why are you here priestess Dusksinger? I'm nearly done with the task I got as punishment, honestly."
“My being here has nothing to do with your tasks, they mean nothing to me. You dislike the path of priesthood, do you not?” A frown suddenly crosses Ashtear's face. "Have we met before, you seem familiar..." After a long pause "I think I lost something..." Ashtear shakes her head as if to shake away thought. "I neither like it nor dislike it, but I'd rather be doing something else..." She smiles genuinely now.
Shalisa looks towards the shrine. "Perhaps we have met, perhaps not." She impassively looks down at the young woman again. "What is for sure is that we will meet. You will be doing something else then. Something you seem to enjoy. For now though, you need to hold on to that thought. What do you feel has become lost to you?"
Ashtear looks away and at the doe. "I'm not sure. Can you help find it?" The priestess nods. "You lost something very important to you. I have come to find it. Are you aware of what you are?" She was sure now. This was not Ashtear, it couldn’t be. It would have been too easy, too illogical. This Ashtear was a memory of the past. The surroundings also, were a memory. This part of Ashenvale and the shrine to which they were near, had long since been destroyed and corrupted during the third war.
Ashtear shakes her head. "Why are you here?" Her light blue eyes seem to flare now as she looks at Shalisa. Noticing the change, Shalisa can only sigh. Memories are like that. They are caught up in themselves, repeating the same thing over and over. This whole time, this Ashtear had been unable to recognize Shalisa as an outside force and it was only now that it hinted at any capability of sentience.
But no matter how small a hint, it was a chance. Shalisa quickly lowered herself to the ground, landing in front of the young woman who barely seemed to notice the change. “Stand up.” The youth frowned at the words and the outstretched hand before her, taking it after some consideration. Shalisa strained herself to pull the memory Ashtear to her feet, but to no avail. She might just as well try and lift a Mountain Giant. The very fact that Ashtear had taken the hand however, brought change about. The tree cast its shadow as it had done before, but it no longer covered Ashtear. This, combined with a certain look in Ashtears eyes, as if a new awareness had come over her, signaled a partial success for the Priestess. If only for a little, she had been able to loosens the bonds of the memory.
For memories are not only movies. The sensory recollection of an event as experienced by the body is but the most basic aspect of any memory, which holds a much deeper and more important layer: the recollection of the event as experienced by the mind. Thoughts, feelings, emotions… these too are part of every memory. And it is because of these, that every memory holds a partial, incomplete ego. Due to their nature, they are like a snapshot of the person’s real ego, having gained the ability to act on its own, independent of the memory they were bound to.
The memory Ashtear tilts her head to the side, studying Shalisa. "You're looking in the wrong place." "Is that so? Then where should I be looking?” The memory Ashtear rubs her nose again. "Where do you look for something that doesn't want to be found? Why are you here in 'this' place? What does it have to do with you?" She seems to be asking these questions to herself as well as Shalisa. The latter lets silence fall, half hoping Ashtear comes with an answer herself. “You are of no use to me if you remain this cryptic. Ashtear, I-”
The memory seems not to have heard, but just lets go of the wood and points toward the shrine. "As a priestess, these ground should be familiar to us both. Searching in such a place... is that a start? There might be something of 'use'.” With that, Ashtear falls silent again. The hand which had just pointed towards the shrine returned to its former position, steadying the piece of wood which had done fine without support a moment ago. Watching this, Shalisa realizes this is all the informative she will get and lets go of Ashtear’s hand. As the hand falls to the youth’s lap and the writing brush reappears within it, the trees shadow creeps over her again, reclaiming the youth as part of the memory.
The Priestess pays the memory no further heed, and tends to her own situation instead. Thinking about how the shrine as such isn’t part of the memory, she comes to the conclusion that it might indeed be of use. And so she turned her back to this Ashtear and started walking towards the shrine while ponder the youth’s words about not wanting to be found. Was there any truth to them? Wasn’t it Darkwing who had caused her to lose conscious? And even if it was true… why would she be hiding in the first place? And then there was the matter of why she was here. The one question she should be able to answer, was the one she understood the least. After all, this was a far cry from the entry point she had aimed for.
The matters remained unresolved as she came upon the entrance to the shrine. She took her time to observe the building, comparing it to her own memories of the place in search of discrepancies. There were none to be found and so it only served to help her place this memory in a point in time. She was just about to peer inside to inspect the interior, when voices behind her caught her attention. A look over her shoulder revealed them to belong to the memory Ashtear and a Priestess who, she supposed, came to check on her progression with the list. A priestess with who, she was sure, memory Ashtear had confused her. The scene played at as she expected, and she –the scene being of little interest for her- returned her focus to the inspection of the doorsill.
A doorsill… no matter how much she tried, she had no recollection of. Its color, its texture.. she really had no idea how it looked. It’s only the material which she remembered, but that was very vague. But then something catches her eye. An ink black feather. If looked at it in a certain way, light would reflect off it in a pretty blue-ish sheen. The feather felt as if it was infused with some sort spell energy. It could only be of a stormcrow.
It could mean nothing, it could mean everything. Regardless, Shalisa concludes it too much coincidence for Ashtear to specifically remember the feather of a stormcrow being placed on the doorsill of the entrance to the shrine. And so she armed herself for the unknown as best she could.

Part 2

As her feet touched the ground again, they touched cold marble stone. But as expected, it wasn’t the shining white of the shrine’s floor. Instead, she was now standing on a broken, ivy-covered pillar which was part of the life forsaken ruins of Ameth Aran. She looked over her shoulder, but there were just more ruins and forest to be seen. The doorway had closed again, this was a one way trip. The priestess looked in front of her again, curious to learn why she had led here. The first person she saw was Ashtear, who stood there in full priestess garb this time. Dead leaves decorated her hair. Her eyes shone dully and the markings around them had been masked with black. The skin which was visible, was crisscrossed with disgusting greenish scars. But the most interesting was that a feather similar to the one which had been on the doorsill was now tied into her hair.
Surrounding Ashtear were the Advisor Lillyandra Lightningvale and Silvereye sentinels Erynia Starshard and Laythe Steelleaf. There seemed to be a certain tension in the air, especially Ashtear and Erynia seemed cautious of one-another. Shalisa instantly recognized the scene, as it was the one she had been told about. Her gaze left the group and now focused on the surrounding trees, she knew there was another spectator. And there, in the tree left of Ashtear, sat a stormcrow shrewdly peering down at the crowd.
The whole scene somehow appeared blurry around the edges. Words were being spoken, but sounded as if spoken underwater; it was impossible to make out what was being said.
Quick movement came from Erynia, who threw something at the stormcrow. Whatever it was seemed to have missed at first, as the stormcrow jumped out of the tree and furiously flapped its wings. But seconds later it came crashing down and transformed into a man with black hair, pale skin and silver eyes. He glared hatefully at Erynia as he got to his knees, heavily leaning on one hand. Darkwing made an odd sight, kneeling down being mostly covered by a cloak made out of what looked like only shadow and feathers. He seemed unable to speak, or even get up and was breathing heavily. Whatever Erynia had thrown at him had obviously hit him after all.
A tired and confused Ashtear looked startled at Darkwing’s appearance. Her eyes widened and moments later she was also sent to her knees, though Erynia had thrown nothing at her. This was it. Shalise locked her attention on Ashtear and Darkwing, making sure she’d see the change. Soon Ashtear would lose consciousness, and subsequently, herself. To prepare for that very moment, the two ends of the priestess’ transparent ribbon reached out to Ashtear, hovering but inches away from her, ready to entangle her.
Conversation continued on for a while as both Ashtear and Darkwing seemed to be slowly draining of strength to keep consciousness, this was apparent not only by their body language, but also by an increased blurriness of the entire scene. While Ashtear ‘could’ still speak she appeared to be more focused on Darkwing than anything else. She stretched out her hand at him, with a pleading look in her eyes and shaking from the effort. Moments later they both fell at the same time. Shalisa looked at Ashtear who fell into unconsciousness, taking all visual elements of the memory with her. As the ruins and the forest all slowly disappeared into black nothingness, Shalisa saw Darkwing fall to the ground as well from the corner of her eyes. Though she had not meant too, he caught her full attention as she thought to see him disappear before everything else. The notion of something that should be a static part of the memory vanish on its own had unsettled her, leading to her shifting her focus from Ashtear to Darkwing. Though it was for only an instant, it was too long. The ribbon coiled together a split second too late, catching nothing but thin air. Ashtear was gone, and Shalisa was left alone in the dark.
The priestess remained characteristically calm over the setback. She merely retracted the ribbon, returning it to its normal size while turning around to observe the surrounding nothingness. “When will you reset..?” the rhetoric question was unexpectedly answered with a short laugh. Apprehensive, Shalisa looked around in all directions in an attempt to locate the sound. As the sound ebbed away, a small hand took hold of hers and gave it a gentle tug. Shalisa turned around in a flash while the ribbons honed in on the attacker.
“Hi!” the girl smiles happily at Shalisa, who instantly interrupts her attack. The child doesn’t seem to have taken notice of how close she’s come to getting hurt and happily rambles on. “He’s coming to visit again.” The girl beamed. “He promised he’d tell another story. I like stories and he’s really good at telling them, even mama says so.” The child starts to walk into the direction of where Ashtear had fallen down, trying to drag the priestess with her. “Come, you really have to come and hear it.” Shalisa suddenly stops, and the girl looks up to her with disappointment. “Where are you taking me?” The girl points to the ground (for as far the ground was distinguishable in the dark) where Ashtear had fallen. “Over there?” The girl nodded with a smile, thinking she doesn’t have much choice anyway, Shalisa agrees to letting the girl lead her through the darkness.
After a while, the girl stops. “We’re here.” Shalisa looked down over the girls shoulder, and saw, much to her satisfaction, a big hole in the ground through which she could see a forest trail. “I see. So here’s the door.” The girl snickered. “No you silly, this is just a hole. A door looks completely different.” “That is not what I meant, you misunderstood me. This is a door in the-” She stopped short as she saw the girl look at her with big glassy eyes. “Nevermind. Let us proceed.” “Let us what?” Shalisa sighed. “Just go through the hole.” The girl’s face lit up again, and they went into the hole.

Part 3

“Interesting.” Shalisa remarked as she looked up at the black hole above them. “It is still there.” The girl pouted and impatiently tugged her hand. “We’re going to be late, hurry up!” The priestess gave one last glance at the hole as she started to follow the girl along the path and towards a house.
The house was an attractive one, it lay nestled into giant old tree and appeared to be almost a part of it. It had three floors, one of them high up in the tree. Two other giant trees stood as nearby sentinels, as if protecting their brother; not that the nearby hills would harbor anything dangerous, though. “Are you taking me to your home?” “Yes, how’d you guess?” “It is the most logical choice.” Shalisa kept the real reason to herself. The first memory had appeared, all things considered, normal. The second one had been dark and blurry and this one… it was larger than life. Sounds were so clear that they sang, the colours were brighter and the light radiated in a way Shalisa hadn’t thought possible. The strong, positive feelings Ashtear associated with this place had seeped through to its physical appearance. This was a happy place. This was home.
As they came to the house, the girl didn’t bother with knocking and just barged into the house. Shalisa respectfully remained at the entrance and watched how the little girl immediately went and plopped herself down next to an aquamarine haired youth, who gave her a welcoming grin. It was very easy to recognize a family resemblance, though the boy’s skin had a somewhat different and lighter shade to it. Having greeted what Shalisa presumed to be her brother, the girl now looked expectantly at the man sitting across from her at the other side of the table. It was a person who could not be mistaken for anything other than a demon hunter. His eyes were covered by a blindfold. Black bandages were wrapped around his clawed hands and covered most of his forearms; he had done the same with his feet and ankles. One black thorny ring tattoo encircled each of his upper arms and both gave off a nasty green hue. “You haven’t started yet, have you?” “How could I possibly start without you here, Ashtear?” The man smirked at the girl, but Shalisa knew his real focus was on her. “Now, who’s our guest?”
Shalisa was about to introduce herself when a woman entered from a door at the back of the room, a tray with glasses in her hands. Her haircolour was the same as Ashtear’s, but she wore it longer and tied neatly in a ponytail. “Ashtear?” The warmth in her voice evaporated when she saw the woman in the doorway, suspicion written all over her face. “Oh, we have a guest.” With all eyes on the stranger, Ashtear tried to explain the situation. “I found her outside. She seemed a little lost, so I brought her here. It’s much nicer here, she can listen to Sindweller’s stories.” “Your daughter is correct. My name is Priestess Dusksinger, and I seem to have lost my way while searching for someone.” The explanation was acceptable for everyone in the room, and the initial hostility was gone. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that priestess. I’m afraid I haven’t seen anyone though. We don’t get many visitors here, so I’m sure I would have remembered.” The man grinned playfully. “And it shows Ehrana! Aren’t you going to ask the lady to come in?”
Whether the woman didn’t like being corrected in general, or just not by him Shalisa wasn’t sure. What she could clearly see however, was that the comment was not received in good spirit. Courtesy of the piercing glare she gave Sindweller. The demon hunter however didn’t mind, he kept grinning and seemed to be amused by the comment rather than offended. Shalisa expected the woman to become more aggravated, but to her surprise noticed a softening of the woman’s face, followed by a cough which served to regain her composure rather than actually clear her throat. “We don’t know if she has time to stay with us, now do we? You’re currently in Nightsong woods priestess, south of Forestsong. There’s a road nearby, I’d be happy to take you there, if you’re in a hurry. If you’re not, you’re welcome to stay with us.” “I am not.” Though she had no interest in exchanging pleasantries, Shalisa was determined to stay in this house. “Please come in then. I will introduce everyone while I’m at it… I’m Ehrana Forestsong, you’ve already met my daughter Ashtear, next to her is my son Tephras and this charming individual” It was hard not to hear the sarcasm. “is Sindweller, an old friend of the family.”
Shalisa left the doorway and took a chair near Ashtear and Sindweller who were seated on the floor. The first shifted impatiently while the latter gave her a welcoming smirk, happy to be able to observe her from up close. While Ehrana distributed the cups –giving her own to Shalisa- Sindweller decided to make some conversation. “This person you’re looking for, is he dangerous? And will you be facing him alone, priestess?” “First of all, a Priestess is never alone; Elune is always with her. Second,” she paused to think of what was best to say “she might be. To young Ashtear here, that is.” The child blinked in innocence and the two adults yelled “What?!” in unison.
“You should have said so the moment set foot in this house!” Though a little harsh, Ehrana’s reaction was to be expected. “I do not think she is in any immediate danger. The person is after something Ashtear has, rather than Ashtear herself. This is why I would like to inspect her room.” “Hm, of course. Ashtear, show the priestess your room.” “NO.” Ashtear pouted and her mother gave her a stern look, the one that usually precedes the reprimanding of a child. “I wanna hear Sindweller’s story!” “Ashtear Forestsong, you wi-” Ashtear was saved from a verbal scolding by Shalisa, who motioned for the woman to be silent. “Ashtear,” Shalisa started “this will not take very long. So you wait here with your brother and mother, while Sindweller shows me your room. He will tell you a story when we return.” The priestess glanced from Sindweller to Ehrana. Ehrana merely raised an eyebrow, finally giving an agreeing nod and Sindweller frowned at Shalisa before his expression fell back into a lazy smirk. Ashtear crossed her arms in a huff, but had given up on protesting. After instructing Ehrana not to let anyone enter the house, Sindweller led the priestess upstairs, while Ehrana chalked a circle on the ground and clenched her glowing pendant with the other hand.

~Unfinished

This story will remain unfinished.

I had imagined the plot as such to go on with:

Sindweller confronts Shalisa with her lie when they inspect Ashtear bedroom. He tells Shalisa something about Ashtear and her family and then leads her to a library/study which has been wrecked in frustration by the real Ashtear. The books represent her memory and some books are stuck to the back of the shelves and have a stormcrow drawn on them (some neat some sloppy). They are the memories that Darkwing has locked away.

Little memory Ashtear comes in to tell Shalisa that the real Ashtear ("that person who did this") has gone to Forest Song. Shalisa find Ashtear there in the grey mist and thorny vines of her own dispair, grief and shame.

Shalisa the maiden manages to save Ashtear from herself, but she will not leave unless she has all her memories back, which requires finding Darkwing's connection.

They search through a couple of memories Ashtear has of Darkwing and eventually stumble uppon Darkwing's old residence in Zin'Azshari where they meet a green dragon who's taken on the form of Darkwing's long dead wife. The dragon sends Shalisa to the Emerald dream to retrive him. Ashtear cannot follow.

Shalisa easily locates him and Darkwing expresses his disgust in being sent to the dream like a naughty little school boy. But is hesitant when it involves helping Ashtear. He admits to Shalisa having destroyed one of his students before and doesn't want that to happen again.

They manage with the help from another green dragon in the dream to return to Ashtear's mind. Darkwing is pretty surprised at what he sees and used to dealing with minds in a different way than Shalisa. Exchanging knowledge they eventually manage to unlock Ashtear's memories.

Shalisa retreats to leave Ashtear to wake on her own and Darkwing is pulled back to his own mind, just to be lectured on what he did for several weeks.




This story was a co-op by Ashtear and Shalisa, that followed up on a botched up attmpt at a story line of Ashtear's IC story line.

Shali: You're welcome to give your own plot interpertation, but I never want to see this story finished. So please, do not continue.

All praise for this story goes to Shalisa/Lillyandra.