Amber - 12 (Patreon)

"Have a safe trip, Trix," I said, giving my apprentice a hug before nudging her gently towards the coaches. "I'll be with you soon enough; listen to Heather and don't fight too much with Emma, please."

She nodded her blonde head firmly, resolved to be the better apprentice following several days of Emma being a brat. "I will." She said, her mature mask cracking as she grinned up at me. "You better catch up soon!" Smiling back I rubbed at her hair fondly. "Eh, no! Gwen! Stop!" She cried, batting at my hands half-heartedly.

"She'll be safe?" Adrian asked, his eyes flinty as he stared at me.

I nodded. "Celestine was my own teacher and I took the same journey when I was younger than her. She's ready, she's capable, and one day she'll take her own students with her."

Slowly Trix's father nodded before dropping into a crouch and pulling his daughter into an engulfing hug. "I love you, little Trixie." He whispered before giving her a little bit of breathing space. "You listen to your elders and come home, you hear?"

"Dad!" Trix whined, wriggling as she tried to get free. She looked utterly mortified. "I'm going to be late."

Leaving them to their moment, my piece said, I walked up to Celestine. She had originally intended to leave sooner, near enough a week ago, but Darius offered horses and carriages for everyone at least as far as South Gloaming, a small mining town in the Ember Hills. It wasn't all of the way there but it was most of the way, and where the best roads south ended unless you wanted to turn for Tempest's Reach.

The extra time with them here had been productive. There were by no means enough tree shelters for everyone Darius had brought in, not even close, but with enough given a place to sleep and work being put towards building new homes there was an end in sight to the refugee problem.

This refugee problem. There would surely be more.

"Gwyneth," Celestine said as I reached her, "Do you think you're ready?"

"I think so," I said, I'd had plenty of experience teaching students here, and had already made a start at our last meeting. Convincing others to part with their knowledge, as my part in making us more unified... would be tricky. But there was a lot to offer. "What about you? You've got to argue everyone into the changes we've got planned."

I didn't envy her the task of trying to turn what was effectively a social gathering into an actual organisation. There were going to be a good number who resisted simply because they didn't like change; Meredith almost certainly amongst them.

She smiled, shaking her head. "Not what I meant. It was at a meeting like this, though during Noblegarden as is tradition, that your mother met Gunther."

My mouth opened, my brain stalling.

"Oh,"

I'd misunderstood what she was asking. I... I didn't really want to think about that, but I understood why she was saying it. I couldn't do what my mother did, didn't want to, but even just... fooling around and getting pregnant by mistake would be a disaster with what was coming. I'd like to be a mother one day but not any time soon.

No, I wasn't going to participate, and that was that.

"You don't have to participate, I wish to make that clear." She said, her voice bearing the barest hint of tension and regret. "No one will be forcing you like I did when you first took this journey."

"I forgave you years ago." I shook my head, smiling at the reminder that she had learned from that mistake. "You made a mistake and learned from it. Thank you for the warning, Celestine."

She nodded, turning as a cry came up from the carriages, one of the drivers calling that they were due to depart soon.

"Safe travels," I said.

"See that Rosa is well settled if you would," She replied, "and I will see you soon."

I waved as the carriage started down the road, two of Crowley's men – men I knew personally and were well familiar with my magic – escorting them from horseback. It was only a start to things, and one years in the making, but still a sign that we could become accepted and normalised into Gilnean Society.

-oOoOo-

Seeing the changes that had happened to Northglade ever since the wall got built was... jarring. Even with the times I had come here during the construction, witnessing the massive framework of the wall getting assembled and made taller and taller, it was just jarring to see it completed.

Northglade had stood atop a bluff, rising out of the forest and giving a commanding view for miles around. But that was before. Now, stretching up above even the tallest towers of the keep was the immense fortification of the Greymane Wall, built into the bluff and through the curtain wall of the old castle. The entire town, which had flowed down the gentle slopes on the northern side, was gone. Torn down and destroyed to make way for the wall.

New Northglade was maybe two-thirds of the size of the old, nestled against the cliff beneath the castle with a set of staircases cut into the cliff to make travel between town and keep possible. Even if the town had been rebuilt, with all those who wished to remain granted new – and arguably better – homes thanks to Lord Mistmantle using the coin Genn distributed to the lords harmed by the wall properly...

It was nothing like it had been before.

There had been no great barracks in the town before, a rallying and staging point for the Royal Army. With the number of soldiers that patrolled the wall, once meant for guarding Gilneas' actual borders, there were even more pubs and taverns than there had been.

The rainways and cisterns that had kept the town watered were gone, no great catchment system of rooftops and sloped gutters to feed them.

I rode down the main street, a place too straight and too flat, cut into the land without thought instead of working with it, until I found Warp and Weft Tailoring. I slipped off my mount, one of Darius' mares, and patted her on the rear; with an acknowledging whinny, she set off towards the stables at the base of the cliff. With all the changes Tobias couldn't even use the ones built into his castle anymore, the stairs which were the only way to climb the cliff were too steep for them to traverse safely.

Too steep for any with sense in truth. Like much everything to do with the Greymane Wall save the wall itself they were hastily constructed with little thought put into them, it had only been after a fair amount of arguing from Tobias that they had installed safety rails and insets for lanterns.

Without both, they would've been a death trap waiting to happen.

"Hi Mama," I said as I slipped into the store, seeing my mother sitting at the counter with her spinning wheel. She was the first person I'd given a Carding Drum to, and that gift had been why it escaped and spread before I got a patent on it. I'd never told her. She had been so happy I'd given her anything for Winter Veil that year that I couldn't tell her it had cost me as much coin as it had. "Have you been well?"

She looked up, a smile blooming on her face. "Gwen," She said, jerking as if she was going to drop what she was doing. "Just a moment, please." With skill borne of years of practice, she slowed the wheel and let the thread rest, setting it down to be picked up later. "I didn't expect to see you so soon, is everything well?"

I shook my head. "Bad things are coming, Mama," I said as she moved to hug me, taking her in my arms and welcoming the warmth. It still hurt, what she'd done, but she was my mother and I loved her.

Never forgave, not fully, but I could... let it fall away until it didn't matter anymore.

"The ones you've been preparing for," She said, pulling back. Her eyes shimmered with worry. "I... is there any way I can help?"

"Stay safe," I said, squeezing her arms tightly. "Stay safe, stay behind the wall, if you hear about anyone smuggling food through the wall tell Lord Mistmantle to warn Lord Crowley. I don't want to worry about you, mother, part of me wants to drag you away from the wall and danger but that isn't right."

She smiled, her head tilting in faint amusement. "I'd do it if you asked me to,"

I shook my head again. "No, you're happy here. And I'm happy you're happy. The wall won't fall; it won't. It didn't fall and you'll be safe here." I pressed my head against her shoulder; it would always be just that little bit strange that my mother was shorter than me now. It wasn't like I was tall. But I had to get my lack of height from somewhere. "It's just silly fears."

Mama hummed, running her hand through my and scratching my scalp. It was nice and relaxing. Like it should be, like it had been when I was young.

"I'll stay," She whispered into my ear. "I won't go anywhere, not unless it's with the Lord or his men to find you. I promise."

A little knot in the deepest parts of me didn't believe her, remembered what her promise to Celestine to stay before had been, but I forced myself to smile and nod.

"Now, you didn't come here for just that!" Mama said, much more jovially. "How have things been in Crowford? Everything has been well here, Rhian is with her third from being careless this spring and may finally agree to start taking Rafflesia Tea..."

As I talked with my mother about the recent events, Trix and Emma's little rivalry and the work I was doing for the refugees, unloading on her all that I'd done of late and the plans we had for the coming meeting I was glad.

Lorna had been right, I had needed to take a proper break. To step away from growing shelters and just be for a while; coming to see Mama was a good diversion.

-oOoOo-

"What do you see when you look at this?" Darius asked, looking out over what had, a few weeks ago, been an overgrown but otherwise empty field.

Now it was anything but empty. All in all with the help of the others more than a hundred and thirty shelters had been grown, spilling out of the first field and into several others nearby. The decrepit farmhouse had already been refurbished, providing more shelter for those that needed it. I had thought there was only enough space for maybe one family in each tree, but with a decently sized home to myself and having my own, small, home back on the Tolbecker Farm after Mama left...

I'd forgotten just how many people could cram themselves into a small space and make it livable. Some of the trees were hosting upwards of ten people, with many utilising the vertical space of the trunk to create lofts and some enterprising folk had used the branches to hang awnings or as frames to build extensions to their small homes.

The shelters were where they slept, where they stored their possessions, but most of their lives were outside. Dozens upon dozens of communal cookfires lay scattered around the veritable forest that covered the field. Someone had set up an archery butt where some young men made a game of practising their shooting, elsewhere someone had laid out hoops on the ground and there were a number of children playing hopscotch with them. All over the field men and women were chatting, working, and living. There was something of an air of... relief amongst them. Not happiness, it didn't seem that upbeat, but relief and security.

Enough that they were looking towards relaxation and comfort rather than survival.

But, for all there were more people than I'd expected fitting into the shelters it still wasn't enough. A thousand people was barely even a drop in the ocean compared to the millions that would die or be displaced as the danger in Lordaeron escalated.

"Not enough," I said, looking out over them. I'd done what I could for nearly two weeks, but it just wasn't enough. "As much as I can manage by myself but not enough."

The land here was taxed as much as I could tax it. By pushing as far as I had I'd cut down the life span of the trees greatly, they would be lucky to survive ten years even if I checked up and maintained them. With people hammering nails into their bark for shelving, door hinges, or cutting out windows like some of them had... some of the trees wouldn't last more than a year or two.

It all looked like something out of a storybook, an amazing paradise brought up out of nothing to give people homes, but when it came down to it, what I'd done was nothing more than patch a band-aid over a gaping wound. It wasn't a solution on its own.

"That is not what I see. I see a village worth of people, several villages, at peace and secure. I see more effort put forth by one person than could be asked of any man, woman, or child." Darius dropped a heavy hand onto my shoulder. "I must thank you, Gwyneth, for aiding my people."

Feeling mildly embarrassed by the praise I tried to shrug it off. "It's what you pay me for," I said flippantly.

He squeezed my shoulder gently and I turned to look up at him. His lone eye stared down at me curiously and he shook his head. "You have done more than you think. Many of the northern lords, those subject to me and those that are not, have listened to my warnings – to your warnings. And though it has been difficult I have convinced them of the danger of the plague, made easier of late due to what occurred in Stratholme. Those that do not believe yet will in time as worse comes.

"I have worked with the First Sea Lord, Lord Arthur Candren, to see that the fleets of Gilneas survive Genn's madness. A grand expedition West, sponsored by the Silverlaines and Marleys, in the vein of our ancestors that found and settled Kul Tiras in ancient days, as an excuse for him to provide them with the fleet at little cost. As an incentive to the Silverlaines to have them agree to the scheme I surrendered my rule over Pyrewood Village, and land at the mouth of the river Arevass for them to build a port to shelter the ships. The cost is great, but one I can bear." He paused, just for a moment, his voice falling into a whisper and turning grave. "If it saves my people, I could bear far greater."

I nodded, staring up at Darius. He had taken what I had told him and worked swiftly, far more swiftly than I had imagined. It wasn't as if I hadn't known Gilneas had a navy, of course it did; I'd seen ships flying our flag in Keel Harbour often enough in my younger years. From great ships of the line carrying as many as half a hundred guns to smaller frigates and brigs carrying only a dozen.

Gilneas had always been a merchant nation before Genn decided to cut us off from that, one which had a history of sailing the seas and exploring. It was how we had found the dwarves, how the colonies which later became Kul Tiras were settled, and how the lands which would later be home to Stormwind were found. A history many of our people were proud of. Which Darius was using to his advantage.

"Others," He continued, "such as Baron Haggen of whom I am sure you are familiar, have also entered the scheme to protect their prized flotillas. Fishermen and merchants all seeking to find safe harbours in the borderlands after Genn ordered sea traffic curtailed by force if necessary."

"How many?" I whispered. How many ships had been saved from Genn's insanity? How many people could they carry to safety when the time came? Even if they weren't the massive cruise liners or passenger ships I remembered from before, they wouldn't be small. Not those saved from the navy. They had crews in the hundred, didn't they? Even with provisions they could likely fit as many men again on board.

I wasn't a sailor. I didn't know the numbers. But... this didn't sound like it was going to be small.

The journey would be hard, to be sure, but the direction was simple. West and ever westward, around the Maelstrom. They would find Kalimdor eventually. How much of Jaina's expedition would be Gilnean this time around?

Darius smiled widely. "Near enough the whole of the navy, and including the larger sea-worthy merchant vessels? More than two hundred ships all told. Far more smaller vessels will be able to hug the coasts, smuggle people past the wall, or carry them further to Kul Tiras or Stormwind if the danger in bringing them behind the wall grows too great. The numbers vary but I believe the average to be five hundred people per ship, at the least."

He let go of my shoulder, gesturing out over the shelters. "What you have done here is barely a fraction of what you have accomplished, Gwyneth. With the preparations already set in motion, there will be space for as many as a hundred thousand souls to make their escape west, and tens of thousands to flee south. More with careful planning and provisioning; the Silverlaines have the wealth to charter more ships from Kul Tiras when the time comes. And I have not forgotten your warnings of the battles that our people will face there, I have already assembled a force to travel with the ships, a thousand soldiers to go alongside Silverlaine's own men. William Silverlaine, a clever young man I have heard well of from a number of sources, will be leading them in my stead. Jaina Proudmoore will have her Gilnean Brigade."

A gaggle of children ran past us, screaming and hollering as they played a game of tag. Darius smiled at them as they bustled past, waving at his guard to let them by without interruption.

I was still dumbfounded as their voices faded into the distance, Darius had managed that much already? It had been mere months, not even half a year yet, and he was arranging things to involve carrying a hundred thousand people west. More than ever my efforts seemed... small.

"Preparations are still underway," He continued, ignoring my state, "and will likely not be complete until the spring, but this is what you have achieved."

Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and shook my head. "This is your achievement, Lord Crowley. I may have had a part to play but it is yours, not mine."

Darius snorted. "Don't dismiss your place in things so easily. Perhaps it will not be your hand that steers the tiller, not your hand that sees those ships launched, not your word that convinces men and women to board and leave their lives behind." His eye met mine, some great determination and degree of respect shining there. "But it was your hand that set these things in motion. William Silverlaine is using an old rumour of a plague and following tide of death that came from Dalaran to warn his people, to encourage them to consider signing on to the expedition."

I winced. "Oh..." It was a surprise to think someone was using my reputation as a crazed doomsayer that came out of Dalaran to do good, and something I had... mixed feelings about. It wasn't bad, what he was doing, but I knew I had made many mistakes in Dalaran. I had pushed too hard, too quickly, while too young. I hadn't thought out how to handle revealing my knowledge properly and in failing to do so destroyed my credibility.

It wouldn't be right to begrudge William for doing what he was, but at the same time, I wasn't sure I could face meeting him. Not with how embarrassing it would be.

"Hold fast to the knowledge that you have made a difference," Darius said, turning away from the field. "We cannot achieve everything by ourselves. Even kings need loyal men to enforce their rule, to enact their laws, to ensure the realm remains strong. What you have done is worthy of praise, and I am truly grateful you chose to trust me with all that you have. One day I will find a way to repay you for all that you have done."

I moved to follow Darius, a bubbling well of joyous laughter threatening to burst free. He was right.

To see that I had made a tangible difference all I had to do was look over my shoulder, and... and he was right. Even if it was his words that brought these events into being, it was my knowledge that made them possible to begin with. A hundred thousand people could be saved simply because I had been here.