Chapter Text
It was a temperate spring morning when Zonya padded out to the balcony of the home she shared with Cail, to find him sipping a warm drink from the comfort of a couch, watching the sun chart a course up from the horizon.
“Morning,” Cail greeted her, as she made her way to the balcony rail. “Weather’s nice. You’re up late,” he noted.
Zonya smiled, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face, before she turned to look at her partner. “True,” she agreed, “but no later than I meant to.”
Cail chuckled. “Bronzes,” he muttered. “Meeting ran over long again?”
“However did you guess?” Zonya replied ruefully, with a laugh. “Wait, why are you so chipper this morning? Weren’t you out drinking?” She directed an exaggeratedly suspicious scowl his way.
“I was,” Cail confirmed with a nod. “Then I came home early, just to surprise you.”
Zonya raised an eyebrow at him. “The Sentinels closed the bar early again, huh?”
Cail gave her a level look. “Alright, fine, yes, they threw everyone out so I came home early.” He politely waited out Zonya’s little victory jig. “So, your meeting?” he prompted.
“Oh, yes. First, it was the laundry list of issues from Estella Moonsong, again, having another go at getting any of us to do something about it.”
Cail frowned in remembrance. “That’s the one who hates her neighbours, yeah?” he asked, as he stood up and made his way inside to the kitchen. It faced out onto part of the balcony, and they could still talk through the window.
Zonya nodded. “The very same. She lodged a dozen complaints, each with a meticulously detailed bullet-point list of faults she finds in them.”
Cail whistled from inside, above the noise of him moving kitchenware around. “Are any of them valid?”
“Not a one,” Zonya confirmed. “Not a single, blessed one. Their garden smells like a garden, she says. The children make noise when they play, she complains. He has too many attractive visitors, she bemoans.”
“Good thing she isn’t our neighbour then.” Cail stepped back out onto the balcony, a fresh mug of tea in hand, which he offered to Zonya.
“Oh, you’re a dear,” she said warmly, and accepted the drink with pleasure. “Which of us are you suggesting has too many attractive visitors?” she teased him.
“Both of us, my dear, and I don’t think we’ve had enough. ” Cail shared a swift grin with her, and sat back down on the couch.
“I’ll be sure to inform the Council of your increased needs as soon as I can,” Zonya said, and moved to elbow him gently.
Cail laughed. “Ow! Ow, stop! I concede,” he said with a laugh, playing it up. “So, Estella’s list. Was it under or over an hour to deal with?”
Zonya nodded. “Two hours to soundly reject with prejudice. If she weren’t there to object and defend every single damn thing it would have been over in ten minutes.” She shook her head. “Estella’s not used to living with others close by. She kept to herself, back in Teldrassil, by all accounts.”
Cail nodded. “She’s going to have to get used to it if she wants to stay in Aludrassil.”
“I think she knows that, deep down. She’s just... I don’t know, putting up a last-ditch fight? Trying to hold on to what she had. It’s understandable.”
“Maybe, but she can’t keep tying the Council up for hours every meeting,” Cail reminded her. “So, what was after hour two?”
Zonya grimaced, and swallowed some of her tea. “Second item of the agenda: fallout from the murder in the library.”
Cail raised an eyebrow. “Still? We solved that,” he said. “We untangled that whole thing and sorted it out.”
“Tell that to the Council,” Zonya retorted. “Please. Maybe they’ll leave me alone for a single blessed week.”
“Hmm,” Cail said. “Maybe. I’ll see what I can do when they see to my increased needs, ” he said with a smirk.
“Smartass,” Zonya accused, and Cail shrugged. “Oh, speaking of, Astragosa was asking after you,” Zonya added.
Cail grinned cheekily. “Yeah? What was she after?”
“Some historical research she’s doing for her flight, cataloging events from Outland, back in the day. Asking about some place called… let me think.” She tapped her fingers against the side of her mug. “It was an Eco-dome,” she said musingly, and missed Cail’s sudden, sharp glance. “Eco-dome Enkaat, I think-“
Cail suddenly stood up. “No,” he said, forcefully.
Zonya trailed off, nonplussed. “There was a military operation there, Astragosa said,” she ventured carefully. “Apparently she tried to track down those involved.”
Cail stared out over the balcony. “She won’t find any,” he said stonily.
“No,” Zonya replied, looking at Cail carefully. This.. wasn’t normal. “Only you, apparently. And the after-action report was, apparently, never filed.”
“I don’t do paperwork,” Cail bit out.
Zonya frowned. “What’s wrong? Is there something I-“
Cail glared at the horizon. “No. I won’t talk about it. She can forget it.” He spun on his heels, and marched back inside.
Zonya blinked in confusion. She’d known Cail a while now - known him very well, and she’d never known him to act like this . She scrambled to follow him back inside, and followed him to the bedroom. He was pulling on his brawling jacket and fighting shorts. “Cail!” she exclaimed, shocked. “What is it? What did I say?”
Cail laced up his boots, silent. When done, he stood up and looked her in the eye. Zonya stepped back - he was angry, and upset, that much she could tell, to an extent she’d rarely seen.
“You’re a Bronze Dragon, aren’t you?” Cail asked. “I’m surprised you don’t already know. You usually do.” He grabbed his swords. “I’m going for a fight. Yes, I’m an asshole, yes, I’ll apologise later, but I’m going now.” True to his words, he stormed out the door, which closed silently behind him - too well made to slam, for better or worse.
Zonya stood for a moment, shocked. This… wasn’t like him. At all.
She walked back out to the balcony. She was concerned, and hurt. She and Cail didn’t fight often at all, and when they did it was easily solved, usually with talk, and sometimes with more fun interactions, but always something they could work through, together.
She looked out at the horizon. Astragosa had been asking about Manaforges and Eco-domes, out in Netherstorm, on Outland. Back from the days when the Sunfury, the Scryers and the Aldor had fought over it, pushing Prince Kael’thas back to Tempest Keep. Back when the Horde and Alliance had fought the Burning Crusade, pushed them back until they were driven from the land. Cail had been involved in some of that, she knew; he had been Sunfury, until Voren’thal the Seer had deserted with his armies to A’dal. Zonya only knew passing details - not much more than Astragosa had known, in fact, which is no doubt why the Blue has asked Zonya to bring her inquiries to Cail.
And now he’d stormed off in a huff, practically accusing her of running up and down his timeline like it was the Deeprun Tram.
Well, he practically gave me permission, she thought. And if it upset him… well, he deserved that for the tantrum just now. Distantly, she was aware that wasn’t entirely logical, but her emotions were high, too, in the moment, and she suppressed that far voice.
With an elegant gesture of her hand, fingers splayed, she carved an amber-hued portal out of time and space, and stepped from their balcony through into the past.