Black Cat

Lord Kast commands us ever deeper into Ulduar. His eyes face forward only, as if in rebellion against the fear that awaits beneath; every guardian and watcher is only an obstacle in our way. One by one they fall.

Among the scrap heaps, where the giant mechanical screams and throws its tantrums, I spotted a shadow. It dashed for cover when we entered the chamber and disappeared when we engaged the mechagnomes and their equipment. While the others picked apart the remains, gleaning for gold or treasure, I sought the shadow among cast off metal plates, piles of robotic guts, wires and gears and cogs. A shadow amid the shadows, it huddled beneath a great beam and hissed, batting at my gauntlet as I reached for it. I could pick it up with one hand, wrapped about its ribs.

A small black cat, separated from some other adventurer, it was spotted with grease and thinned by lack of food. It miaowed plaintively, opening a pink mouth full of sharp white teeth. It was young, with round copper eyes, aware of everything – probably why it had managed to survive here, avoiding whatever triggered alarm system would seek even such a little creature of flesh and blood. I forced it – somewhat unwillingly – into the largest pouch of my backpack, closing the flap securely. Ulduar was no place for a lost kitten.

The next meal of fish I served to the Scions I did so discreetly, so they would not notice the chewed corner of the paper wrappings or the missing portion of salmon. The extra weight in my pack grew heavy and silent and did not stir until I was unpacking late that evening. Then, the little shadow darted out, slinking close to the floor to disappear beneath our bed. In the morning, it meowed for more fish; in the afternoon, I found it curled on my open pack, as if willing to travel again. Ah, then, little friend, we shall travel.

He went with me to the Vault, to watch over my shoulder as we battled Earth and Storm. I glanced his orange eyes watching everything: every round of ammunition I loaded, every shout from Amara or Lord Kast, every cry from Shar as she shocked and whirled. Never once did he duck his head in fear. Jishnu, I whispered, naming him. Irrepressible warrior: I felt his claws digging through my pack to prick my shoulder as he clung to the battle.

Now he lies on my chest, as the three of us rest on our bed above Dalaran. Shar is asleep beside me, drained by calling both life and the elements, and perhaps by her long conversation with the spirits inside the strange draenei Melitza – no, not draenei. The soul of a draenei, perhaps, but a body made of elements, all bound together. I know what it is to be bound. I look over to Shar, to her sleeping features, though her eyes move beneath closed lids. Someday I will walk where you walk, shadare-mishunor. Someday I will see and understand all that has always so freely come to you.

Jishnu bats at my hand that was stoking him, and takes a finger between his tiny teeth. Ah, little one, I was not paying attention to you, was I? And you will demand it now, yes, after your trial. Your coat is sleeker and your eyes even brighter; you will recover and grow even stronger. That is what we do, black cat. Shar spoke it to the girl full of elements in turmoil. Nuadhu, the old tree, nodded his agreement when I repeated her words. We are burned, we are crushed, we are abandoned, we are separated – then we learn to live again.

I feel my heartbeat beneath the little cat's warmth, slow and steady and matching Shar's. Nuadhu had asked of the marshes, had reminded me of Zangar, of my parents' graves, of the island to which Shar and I will always belong. Perhaps once Nuadhu was a seedling, I wonder, and perhaps he still remembers the land on which he first grew. What was he then but a fragile sprout? What were we but orphans, refugees, the one who talks to imaginary voices, the little runt who clings to her... What are we but misfits, lost souls, homeless wanderers, all manner of changed and altered and misformed, reformed, broken, reclaimed from the refuse?

What are we, Jishnu, who will save this world?