Zane'dorei

((Co-written with the player of Zane Grimsky, with my thanks))

Zane Grimsky had stalked the whereabouts of Jon Chess; she needed quite badly to see him. her mind was very unsettled, she was worried that she was losing him. She reached the closed shop - the Scribes and Nobles Bookshop - above which he lived in Boralus.  She paced outside his apartment, seeming quite frazzled. Her leather armor was not completely buckled, strands of her golden-blonde hair had escaped her messy bun, cascading down her spale golden-hued skin. Her cuffs were unfashioned, her collar not folded over, and most importantly, in her haste and disquiet, she had left the bracers which changed her appearance behind, putting her at risk of being caught by the Alliance as a Sin'dorei spy. Tears of worry stung her face for a moment as she turned, wrapping her fist on the locked door.

Every moment seemed like an exposed eternity before the sound of the door being unlocked reached her ears. The door opened, and the fellow most people know as Jon Chess stood there a moment while he recognized Zane without her Ren'dorei disguise.  "Get in here," he said, reaching out to pull her through the doorway into the safety of the closed shop.  Locking the door once more, he led her up the stairs to the room he rented - a simple enough space with a stove, a bed, a chest with his belongings, and a small bookshelf with the collection of books he was actively reading.  Jon went to put the tea kettle on the stovetop; like so many, his first reaction to unsettling events on his doorstep was to make a soothing cup of tea.

Zane knew the danger in which she has put herself in coming like this, but she felt more than a bit broken at the moment; she had this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she could not shake, even through her countless talks with her friend and employer Linenia. She sat on the ground, sort of behind Jon, trying to wipe her face clean and not let him see her so upset, even though several sniffles gave it away. "Jon..." she said in a weak voice.

Jon bent over and picked Zane up bodily, and carried her to his unmade bed.  He set down carefully, holding her closely in his arms, trying to comfort and calm her.  "Hush now, " he said, pulling her head to his chest.  "Relax and calm down... I am right here, you are safe... " he crooned softly, trying to calm his little bird enough that she could convey what had driven her to such a state.

Zane melted against him, breathing in his scent, enjoying the closeness. His touch seemed to make all in the world okay. She rested against him in what seemed to be forever, not saying a word at all. She needed this, his touch. She had missed it at their last meeting, while they enjoyed an evening together it had felt empty, maybe she had over-thought it then, but she took many of his words to heart. She lived the dream for a moment and then found herself having to look Jon in his eyes as she sighed. Her voice cracked as she just once again repeated just his name. "Jon..."

"Zaneyrne Grimsky," Jon said, kissing the top of her head.  "What is wrong, mi inamorata?" he said, using the Kul Tiran endearment.

She looked up at him and a soft smile painted her lips as she reached up and touched his face. "I... I... I am not very good at this part..." She closed her eyes and went over the lecture she had gotten from Linenia.  She opened her eyes, again trying her best to speak her feelings, "My heart is breaking... I fear... I am losing you..."

Jon nodded.  "I feel that you are not losing me so much as throwing me away."  Jon sighed.  "Part of it is probably unavoidable - whether Ren'dorei, Sin'dorei, Kaldorei, Quel'dorei, Shal'dorei, or even San'layn, all of the Elvin peoples are not very well-suited for life with ordinary humans.  Your sense of time... I spend weeks sometimes, with no word from you, no contact here," Jon touched his lips, "or here," Jon said, touching his enchanted necklace that allowed telepathic conversations with select others.  "Humans are like pet animals, Zane... we need care and feeding every day...or at least I do."

Zane shook her head and touched his face. "You're not a pet; you are my 'other me', the parts of me I do not know how to be.  Call me a romantic, odd for my race - a lifetime commitment to mates is from the Kaldorei mainly, but I am not one of those... just a 'Zane'dorei', and  I am sorry if my concept of time is sometimes a problem. I took your words to heart..." She found herself on the verge of crying, dabbing her puffy eyes a few times to stop it. "I would never throw you away, Jon."

"No wonder the Kaldorei and the Sin'dorei don't get along then.... Kaldorei mate for life, like wolves, and the Sin'dorei seem to mate like rabbits - fast and ubiquitous... well, to be fair, feral rabbits with sharp fangs.  But still... revolving beds," Jon said.  "By the way, is that why the beds in Silvermoon are round?" he teased, trying to get her to laugh a little.

She rolled her eyes at Jon. "No, they're round so you don't have a corner to hold onto, you just have to take the pounding given to you..." she could not help but pipe out with a little smile, and then went back goes back to being serious. "Jon, you are my Azeroth... the last meeting we had, felt so empty and you were cold almost, it killed me... I could not piece together all that I did to make you this way." Her ears turned down expressively at the tips as she frowned.

"I am sorry for that, Zane," said Jon, frowning.  "That mission for the Sentinels, where I almost got you fucking killed, really bothered me... I don't mind taking chances when it's just myself at risk, but then you went off and I didn't hear from you afterward for weeks..." His voice trailed off.  "And now, the ungrateful bint may want is to do more...  And then Trias fired me... and I have really only seen you once, when you did that translation job  - good job, by the way - and then I had to go out to Northrend on a missing persons case... the only way I can function as your commanding officer is to be the Rook, and the Rook is ... not known for his warmth."  In point of fact, the Rook was the manifestation of all of Jon's ruthless and cruel nature and had once been a separate personality in Jon's mind. The two parts had been integrated, but Jon still referred to that part of himself as if it was a different person.

She reached up with both her hands let her soft hands touch his cheekbones and trail across his face, to touch his normal ears and tug on the earlobes. "Jon, I understand that takes me from working me to regular Zane, but I never want to be that serious, cold Sin'Dorei around you, because the moment I see you, you warm any cold part of me.  I probably deserved it, I should not have returned to Silvermoon for medical care, but I did not want to see you while I was injured, and it's not like you can just walk into Silvermoon and visit me. But you never have to be Rook with me, as I will try and never be... 'Grim' with you."

Jon chuckled.  "Oh, I can just walk into Silvermoon any time, my cover identity is pretty well established..." Once upon a time, while he and his former fiance Lynesia Deh'lorei had been protecting a client, they had killed a Sin'dorei assassin named Dalmilandril, and Jon had taken his identity so that he could operate freely inside Silvermoon and Horde territories. "The only question is whether or not I get to walk out again."

She sighed. "I did not want you to see what you did, or what you would take the blame for. Jon, you know in our line of work we get hurt, and sometimes even hurt really, really badly. Its just with the job, my biggest fear was for you to have seen me and then blame yourself for it."

"So, instead of knowing how bad your injuries actually were, I could instead imagine the worst and then blame that on my actions?"  Jon said gently.  "I was the field commander, love... I not only feel responsible, I am responsible."

"Jon, it was not my best decision okay? I think about me - if it were me - and you slipped and fell to some doom of a sinkhole, and then I saw you all broken and stuff...." She looked down, her lip quivered, and she started to cry again, her voice squeaked as she looked up at him, "I just...just thought it was the right thing... I thought that Sentinel would of given you my message of where I went, but she seemed stuck on her mission. I am sorry Jon."

Jon pulled her close to him again, comforting her.  "Lets forget about it, mi amore; or rather, let us both learn from it.  If you get injured,  I need to be able to assess it for myself  - I do care all these medical supplies for a reason, y'know.  Let me help.  The last time... well, I couldn't help at Theramore, and it almost killed me just as dead as the Mana Bomb would have."  He was very careful to say that he would much rather die himself that survive that kind of loss again.

Stalking in a Winter Wonderland, Part 3

The Amberpine Lodge was an outpost in the Grizzly Hills region of Northrend.  Once a base of operations for hunters and trappers, it had been commandeered for military use by the Alliance. Jon had arrived on the back of a griffon from Valiance Keep, and had immediately begun questioning the staff, talking with the charming redheaded Innkeeper, Jennifer Bell.  While Bell had professed to not have seen her, she had rented Jon a room for the night.

The next day, Jon questioned the Amberpine Lodge staff, but nobody had professed to have seen her. Later that day, Jon had encountered a woman in the Amberpine Lodge common room while eating lunch, and he had grinned.  Rising from his table, he had approached the woman from her blind spot and had the cruel satisfaction of seeing her jump a little when he had cleared his throat behind her. 

"A little far from your home, aren't you, Miss Reynolds?" he had said, his usual insolent grin on his face.

She had turned, and reached for her knives but relaxed when she recognized Jon. "Jonny, how good to see - such an unexpected pleasure!'  She paused before continuing.  "It is unexpected, yes?  You aren't looking for me, perchance?" she added nervously.

Jon chuckled. "I swear by the Uncrowned we both serve, I was not looking for you... but I am looking for someone... perhaps you might have seen her?" replied Jon, describing Macee Welch. "She's supposed to be in the area." The lady he knew as Saffron Reynolds - and he also knew that was not her true name - was a merchant in the kind of herbs folks like Jon used for pest control, whether the two or four-legged variety.

"Well, I don't know whether or not it was her you are looking for," informed the seller of poison supplies.  "But there was a woman who was paying off the staff not to remember her, should anyone come looking."  Saffron grinned.  "She was headed off to the Drakil'jin Ruins, south of Thor Modan."  The Drakil'jin Ruins was mostly a burial ground of the ancient ice troll Drakkari Empire, one of the largest troll nations ever to have existed in Ancient Kalimbor before the Sundering. 

"I appreciate the information, Saff..." Jon said, grinning.  "And it was a pleasure not seeing you again!"  Jon paid his score at the lodge and stepped outside to the deck overseeing the river below.  Mumbling an ancient Arokkoa cantrip, he summoned a Shadow Raven and headed for Thor Modan.

*     *     *     *     *

"Miss Macee Welch?"  Jon asked the Wogen woman standing in the midst of five rapidly-cooling corpses.

"Who wants to know?" the Worgen snarled.  Jon had arrived in time to see her successfully conclude her encounter with the ice troll priests who guarded the tombs of the Drakil'jin Ruins.

"My name is Chess. Jon Chess," he said, offering his new business cards proclaiming him to be a Private Investigator based in the Curious Octopus Inn in Boralus.  "I was sent to find you by Kaneka Hillyard, and to make sure you hadn't managed to get yourself killed..." Jon looked pointedly at the ice troll corpses"... as opposed to visa versa."

Jon recruited her for teh Brotherhood of Valor Scouts division that afternoon.

Stalking in a Winter Wonderland, Part 2

The fellow named Jon Chess took a mage portal in Dalaran to the Wyrmrest Temple in Northrend.  The Wymrest Temple was an ancient structure built by the Titans at the dawning of time, when the five Dragonflights were created, and has remained a meeting place for them ever since. From there, Jon hired a griffon to go to Valiance Keep.

Valiance Keep was the major point of entry from the Alliance to Northrend, and the logical place Chess to begin tracking his quarry.   Valliance Keep was the headquarters for the main armies of the Alliance in Northrend during the campaign against the Lich King. While the main conflict with the Lich King had subsided, there was still plenty of work to be done to prevent the Lich King and his minions from spreading beyond Northrend and into the rest of the world.

After the destruction of Theramore, Jon had enlisted into the Army of the Alliance, serving as a reconnaissance scout.  He had realized years later that he had done so to punish himself - perhaps fatally so - for having (through no virtue other than blind luck) lived when everyone he had allowed himself to care about had perished in the detonation of the Mana Bomb.

When he had mustered out in Hearthglen, he had never wanted to see Northrend ever again, but as usual, life did not give a shaved rat's behind about Jon's feelings.

Jon pondered his course of action for a moment.  When people thought about what being a private investigator was like, they often thought of dramatic heroics written about in the cheap fictional accounts, but they were highly inaccurate.  Most of Jon's work was remarkably dull and pedestrian, and much of it was the result of the process of canvassing likely locations - engaging and questioning people.

Fortunately, for travelers entering or leaving Northrend, the only inn here was the Valiant Rest, run by a middle-aged human named James Deacon.  Jon remembered the fellow from his time in Northrend; he had stayed here himself before he had enlisted. Jon walked around the corner - the inn was right next to the griffon master's roosts - and sought Deacon out, finding him behind the bar, as usual.

"Got any better ale than that crap you served the enlisted guys, James?" said Jon, leaning against the bar. "My tastes have gone more high-brow than that..."  Jon smiled to show there was no intended sting behind his teasing.

"Sergeant Chess... Light save me, I thought you were long dead, frozen out in Icecrown with the <Argent Exodus>" James replied with a professional smile.

Jon was amazed that James had apparently remembered him and his unit after all that time, and said so. "Well, we lost a lot of us is storming Icecrown, that's true - but I am surprised you remember us."

"Of course I remember you - the <Argent Exodus> never did pay the damages from their last unit party before Icecrown!" said James.

"No?  Well, how much was it?" asked Jon.  "I should have enough to cover it now..."

"Nah, forget about it - I billed the Alliance, and they paid me off a while back when the unit was disbanded; that's why I thought you guys had all died."  The <Argent Exodus> had indeed dissolved under the heavy casualties that the unit had taken, including the apparent death of their leader, a Death Knight named Craft Ramsey. Jon had himself been heavily injured, and had been sent to Heathglen to recover afterward.  "What can I get for you?"

"Hearthglen Ambrosia" Jon replied, asking for his favorite alcoholic drink - a mixture of spices, black tea, and rum.  "and maybe some information?" Jon said, placing a stack of five gold coins on the bar. "I'm looking for an Afflicted Gilnean named Macee Welch, dark hair, violet eyes, mid-twenties maybe?  She was headed out to the Grizzly Hills?"  Jon showed him the miniature portrait of Macee Jon had been given by the client."

"Huh..." said James Deacon, his blading head shining in the lamplight.  "Maybe... but I get so many people coming through.  Was she army?"

"Nah, civilian," said Jon.

"Well, if she took the griffon, then she probably ended up at the Aberpine Lodge," Deacon informed.

"Fair enough,"  Jon said, taking his bottle.  "Much obliged."

Jon took the next griffon to the Amberpine Lodge.

Stalking in a Winter Wonderland, Part 1

(Co-written with my RP compatriot and friend, the player of Kaneka Hillyard, with thanks and gratitude. Special thanks for my favorite bartender, Kitten, for coming otu to play!))

The fellow many knew as Jon Chess sat at a table on the mezzanine level of the Curious Octopus Tavern in Boralus, located on the road along the southern wall that led from Crosswind Commons to Greystone Keep. The Curious Octopus was a bit of a dive, but ideal for use by Jon as a place to meet clients; not many of his clients came from wealth, and few were intimidated by the atmosphere of the Curious Octopus.  Russel the Bard always seemed to be providing music, and patrons often danced on the first floor.

Location of the Curious Octopus Tavern

Jon had restarted his business as a private investigator after his assignment for Elling Trias as his "Agent of Cheese" was completed. Jon enjoyed both jobs, but he had missed being able to help people who were not able to get help from the normal constabulary; in Boralus, as in Stormwind, the constabulary was corrupt, inefficient, and bigoted.  Jon took great satisfaction in his work.

He had worked through about half of his mug of Suramar Spiced Tea when he noticed a friend and member of the mercenary group Brotherhood of Valor come through the door.

Kaneka Hillyard had asked around a little bit as to the whereabouts of the cheese master. She was quite surprised at the looks she had gotten upon inquiry, a curious sweep of their eyes over her frame before an answer was given - The Curious Octopus. Heading through the Mariner's Row, she wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable by the way the inhabitants eyed her hip pouches as she walked.  These kinds of places did not frighten her one bit; she was on a mission and was intent on seeing it through.

Heading through the door of the tavern, she looked around for her 'mark'. She didn't see him. Kaneka bit her lip and gave a soft 'humph'.  Turning to the bar, she approached slowly, preparing to ask the bartender a few questions.

Kaneka approached the bar counter slowly, clearing her throat in an attempt to get the bartender's attention. She hoped that she was heard over the hustle and bustle of the common room.

Kitten, the Ren'dorei bartender on-shift, had been sitting behind the bar, admiring her bright pink fingernail polish on one hand while sipping from a glass of milk through a straw. She looked up and grinned at Kaneka, placing the glass of milk down on the bar as her deep purple tongue swiped over her lips.  "Hey Sugar what can I get ya?"

Kitten - Bartender Extraordinaire!

Kan smiled at the bartendress, also admiring the pink fingernails. "Oh, nothing thank you - save for a little information. Have you seen a fellow by the name of Jon Chess around as of late and if so, do you know where I might find him?"

Kitten looked up from the bar, visually scanning the crowded room.  She winked at Kaneka and suddenly leaped onto the bar counter.  Putting two fingers in her mouth, she let out a shrill blast of a whistle. The room fell silent as she loudly announced "Hey! Anyone here seen Jon Chess? Come on speak up  - I ain't gonna bite ya."

A voice came from the upstairs seating.  "Well, if you aren't going to bite, why should anyone answer, dear Kitten?  Kaneka, have Kitten put something on my tab, and come join me?"

Kitten scanned the room again, finally locating the direction of Jon's voice.  She shouted back. "Sorry Sugar!" said in a tone that revealed nothing like actual regret. "I can't be biting yah anymore,  I'm a married piece of fluff now, and my man gets awful jealous when I share my toys with others."  The bartender winked at a man standing near the bar, who helped her down onto the floor.  Turning to Kaneka, she said, "You heard the man... what can I get ya Sugar?"

Kan trained her eyes to the upstairs seating area and grins. Of course, he would be up there, why hadn't she checked first? Turning her chocolate-colored gaze back to Kitten, she smiled. "Um, I suppose just a coffee. Sweet and black please, and thank you for your help."

Kitten nodded, filling a large coffee mug from the pot behind the bar.  She dropped in a scoop of sugar, paused, and dropped in another scoop - because she could.  Grinning, she placed the coffee down on the bar in front of Kaneka.  "There you go Sugar just holler if you need another round."

Kan picked up the mug and smiled.  "Thank you so very much!"  Turning, she headed upstairs to find Jon's table.

As she might have expected, Jon was in the furthest table, with his back to a wall so he could watch anyone who approached.  In this instance he stood as she drew near, and bowed, offering her the seat with her back to the wall, something Kaneka recognized that he only did for someone he trusted to watch his back, or for someone he would stand in front of in case of attack.

Smiling, she shook her head. "Please sit Jon, I'll not take your seat. This one is fine."  Sliding herself into the seat across from him, she set her mug set on the table top and she looked at him. Her face not as jovial as usual.

"Well, dear Kaneka, to what do I owe the honor?" Chess asked. "Decided that you want to join the Scouts?  You want me to find a different flavor of ice cream?  To reveal my source of high-quality chocolate in Kul Tiras?"

Shaking her head slowly, she looked up from her coffee to his face, looking him in the eyes.  "I need you to find someone for me."

Jon's smile faded to a more serious look, and he gave a short nod. "Very well... I will require a one gold piece fee, which is to be paid in full, and in advance."

Kaneka dug into her hip pouch, pulling out a small handful of coins. Quickly she slid them across the table to Jon.  "Here, I don't care how much it costs. If you need more, tell me. I'll spare no expense."

Jon selected a single gold coin from the pile, and pushed the rest across to Kaneka.  "Under both Stormwind and Kul Tiran law, a single gold establishes the contract between us.  Rule One is 'The confidentiality of a client is absolute', and now you are my client, if at the 'Friends and Family Rate'.  Now, tell me about the person you wish for me to locate?"

Once again, she dips her hand into her pouch, the coins left on the table top. A small portrait of a younger girl with violet eyes is pulled out and handed to him.  "Do you remember, from our days in the Watch, a young rogue named Macee?"

The Missing Miss Macee!

Jon picked up the small portrait and smiled gently.  Taking out his sketchbook, he thumbed backward until he found a sketch that he had done of the woman Macee. "Of course... I did a threat assessment of everyone in the Gilnean Watch at the time... standard practice" Jon informed her.  "What is her last name?"

"Welch. The last I heard, she was in Grizzly Hills. She used to send me word of her whereabouts, but...I've not heard from her in many months.  I fear for her Jon. She's to spontaneous and can easily be led astray."  Hands wrapped around the coffee mug, her fingers tapping nervously.  "I know there is that pack of Worgen there, I do forget their name, and I would hate for her to get wrapped up with them... I'd hate for the poor thing to go...feral."

Jon Chess' face remained impassive, but inside Jon flinched - at one time he had been deeply scarred from the trauma as a child, of watching the people he had thought were his parents be torn apart by Arugal's feral Worgen minions when he had destroyed Pyrewood and taken Silverlaine Keep, renaming it Shadowfang.  He had lived for years with an instinctive terror of all Worgen, even those he knew to be friends.  The only good thing that had come out of the psychic butchery done on Chess to attempt to turn him into a Ren'dorei serial murder had been a mental disconnect; he still felt the terror, but at a remove, as if he was watching it happen to someone else.

The phobia had not stopped Chess from dealing with Arugal and his cultists in the Grizzly Hills when he had been ordered to investigate and deal with the threat, and it would not stop him now.

"Very good, Kaneka. I'll head to Northrend immediately," Chess informed his new client and dear friend. "I will send you regular reports."  Jon had paid a small fortune for the ring that allowed him to teleport to Dalaran, and it was easy to get from Dalaran to anywhere important.

Kan reached over and grasped his hand, giving it a soft squeeze.  "Please...bring her back safely Jon. She has no one."

"I will do my best, Kaneka.  But she has at least one person - she has you."

"I know you will Jon, it's why you're the only one I trust with finding her."

Transitions

The fellow most people knew as Jon Chess went down the stairs beyond one of the myriad secret entrances to the Hall of Shadows in Dalaran, hoping to find Elling Trias, his boss as an Agent of Cheese.  The Hall of Shadows was the headquarters of a clandestine organization known as The Uncrowned, which was an affiliation of thieves, spies, and assassins from both the Alliance and Horde, providing a neutral ground where they could collaborate and co-operate against the Burning Legion in Azeroth and beyond.

When Lady Jaina Proudmoore had been sent to Kul Tiras by the Alliance, in order to bring them back to active co-operation, Elling Trias had asked Jon to suspend his career as a private investigator, and resume his position as Trias' Agent of Cheese, a job that Jon had held prior to his service in Northrend.  Elling Trias had found an orphan operating as a rat exterminator in the Old Town section of Stormwind, and sponsored him for training at Ravenholdt, which produced the finest assassins and spies in Azeroth.  For years, Jon had spied for Theramore and Kul Tiras while making new customers, taking orders, and making cheese deliveries all around Azeroth; clearly the occasional political assassination on behalf of the Alliance, goods and funds smuggled to operatives, and intelligence reports written on the back of the cheese order forms in invisible ink was clearly a coincidence. 

Before he had opened his cheese shop in Stormwind, Elling Trias had run the Stormwind intelligence service.  When he had 'retired', Trias had turned the Stormwind SI:7 over to Matthias Shaw and opened the shop. If he did occasional favors for "old friends" like Lady Jaina Proudmoore, that was nobody's business but their own.

When the trip to Kul Tiras was decided, Trias had decided that someone needed to seek out Kul Tiras merchants and innkeepers as customers for cheese.  If the merchant network Jon created had potential insights into other matters, so much the better.  Jon had managed to make himself useful to the Proudmoores and to the king of Gilneas, Genn Greymane, who had served as an ambassador of sorts to Kul Tiras. Princess Tess Greymane, one of the leaders of the Hall of Shadows, had informed her father of Jon's capabilities.

So as Jon Chess, Agent of Cheese, made mercantile contacts, the spy and assassin known as the Rook had come to Kul Tiras, removing impediments for the Alliance effort to win back Kul Tiras to its ranks.  It had surprised Jon to find out that Lady Jaina had remembered the Rook from when he had operated as part of the Theramore intelligence network and had pressed him back into service as well, on an unofficial basis.

Elling Trias had been kept apprised of all of these matters in regular encoded reports sent to him by his Agent of Cheese, and he had asked for a meeting with Jon, away from Stormwind.  Jon found him near the secret entrance to the Uncrowned council's meeting space.

"Hey Boss, you summoned me?" said Jon Chess.

"Hello Jonny... I trust you are keeping well?  And how is that gorgeous Zaneryn Grimsky?" the cheesemonger asked.  Jon just shook his head - he was not surprised that Trias knew about Zane.  Finding people's secrets are what he did, after all.

"She is beautiful, sneaky, and teases me incessantly," Jon bragged to his boss.

"Yes, so I have been told, Agent Boo Bookins..."  Trias chuckled as Jon's face turned red. "But, pleasant as picking in you is, that is not why I wanted to meet.  Jon, I think your work in Kul Tiras is done."

Jon nodded, having come to the same conclusion.  Kul Tiras was now a part of the Alliance, and Lady Jaina Proudmoore was the Lord Admiral.  Local cheeses were flowing into Stormwind, and cheeses from all over the world were shipping to Boralus and other parts of Kul Tiras.  Jon had arranged for the 7th Legion to buy their cheese supplies from Trias, and they consumed a lot of cheese.

"Naturally, the commissions for the deals you arranged will continue..." Trias said.

"Naturally," replied Jon. The commissions had made Jon comfortably well-off.

"So... what now, then?  What game does Chess play now?" asked Trias.

Jon thought about the question before he replied.

"Well, someone wants me in Darkshore, fighting the Horde," Jon said with a sigh.  He was tired of killing, but his duty to the Alliance and his uneasy relationship with Aviana.  Aviana was an Ancient, the mother of harpies, and mistress of the Mother Tree, G'Hanir. She had been killed in the War of the Ancients, but had been resurrected during Ragnaros' siege on Mount Hyjal. Aviana had arranged for one of her Talons, druids dedicated to her service, to rescue Jon when Jon had been captured and had his mind twisted by the Scarlet Crusader offshoot, the Crimson Cabal, to turn Jon into a serial killer of Ren'dorei elves. 

Trias nodded. "Well, that sounds like a job that needs doing.  Naturally, any resources that <Universal Exports> can supply is yours for the asking."  <Universal Exports> was a merchant company through which many of Elling Trias' efforts were funded.

"I appreciate that, Boss," Jon replied but both of them knew that Jon would not take advantage of that connection unless the need was dire; among his other faults, Jon was stubborn and willful.  "I think I'll start doing private investigations again... helping other people with their problems helps me deal with some of my own demons."

Trias nodded.  "Happy Winter Veil, Jonny."

"Happy Winter Veil, Boss."