And over a little warlock, sitting on the steps of the tavern. So far into the night, she sat alone, even the most late of travelers tucked in and asleep in the inn's rooms or resting, warmed by the glow of the hearthfire.

Almost alone.

She had cleaned the snow from the carven steps, careful, precise. And next to her, as she sat half turned, was a small wooden crate before which was placed five coins in a precise row. Coins collected from Darnassus, from Moonglade, from Ironforge, from deep inside Blackrock Mountain ...

And even from Auberdine, far, far across the oceans.

From the box she carefully took out the small automaton. A gift from long ago. She couldn't help but smile as the mechanical squireel rattled itself into life, its metal tail swishing, its head tilting, eyes blinking, as if in search for a mithril acorn. The young lass carefully set the squirrel up on the box, gazing at it intently, as if trying to divine some arcane truth from its whrrrring nature.

She spoke, to the blue shadow at her shoulder. To the voidwalker, at her side, where he fit so naturally.

"Mezzy ...

"I don't understand ..."

I was born in the winter in'na blizzard o'white,
The stars up above were dancin' and bright.
One bad dream later I was an orphan too.
Woken up all alone, passed from home to home was the life I knew.

Warlock, cursed and damned ...
I hear it from the men of every town,
They tell me, Warlock, cursed and damned.
But come the night an' a dragon goin' down,
To me they're comin' 'round.

" ... I don't understand, Mezzy. There's got to be something I'm missing, some piece of the puzzle that no one told me about.

"Maybe, maybe its because I'm just not smart enough.

"Not like her ...

"You remember, when we came home late and found the tavern full of gnomes, like they had come and taken over our home. Well, taken over in a very nice way. She was the one with the little squirrel. That's right ... just like this one. Well, maybe not just like this one. In fact I'm sure not like this little one at all. Her squirrel was kinda like you in its own way.

"I ... I wonder if she dreams of her little squirrel, like I dream of you?"

The warlock smiled at that, hugging herself, just a bit.

"But I bet she knows all about gears and chains and cogs and pulleys and mechanic-o-bobbles and gizmatics and heat tensioned auto-rotating eccentric flywheels.

"But you figure, Mezzy ...

"The little squirrel here, listen to his mechanisms spin. That's regular as clockwork, everything fitting just the way its supposed to be ... every gear spinning true. Nothing contrary or contradictory about it.

"Now imagine, Mezzy ..."

The warlock's brow furrowed, as she then pointed to two of the coins.

"Imagine if these are gears Mezzy. And when one spins, the other spins, and there's a consistent manner in that. This gear turn this way, and that means this gear gots to turn that way, which makes this one go like that and on and on and on. It's ordered, Mezzy, it makes sense, and one leads to another and another and the little metal squirrel sits up and comes alive.

"But Mezzy ... what happens if this gear decides to turn in the other direction. To hold a rotation that's contrary to the logical chain of mechanics?"

The voidwalker simply through back his arms and roared.

"That's right. Everything goes all wrong and the little mechanical squirrel would choke up and explode in a flurry of broken parts.

"It would be wrong.

"And that would be sad."

Fingers touch the top of the automaton's head, between its artificial ears, contemplative.

"I don't understand Mezzy.

"Cause that's exactly where we are right now."

The oldest friend I have is a demon blue,
Never met a boy who was ever so true.
In the plaguelands, left for dead.
Mezzy'd never do that,
A harsh lesson learned upon Maris Stead.

Warlock, cursed and damned ...
I hear it from the men of every town.
They tell me, Warlock, cursed and damned.
But come the night an a dragon goin' down,
To me they're comin' 'round.

"Five coins."

Looking down at the metal discs, the young woman let out a long breath.

"Everybody's out seeking the Elders, slipping from Moonglade to the Silverpine Forest. There's rockets making brilliant sparkles against the dark night sky, the kind that makes folks smile.

"I wonder ...

"How many of folks actually take the time to realize that the hands that share these gifts ... are those fine and soft of a fair born night elven lady ...

" ... and are those of a strong and proud Tauren, his touch gentle, his words kind?

"Mezzy ...

"I wonder ...

"How many of those folks take that coin, set it in their pack ...

"... and then forget that circle of light at the call of the muster, to draw their swords and not sheath them until they are stained with the blood of those ...

"... who had, but a hundred hundred heartbeats before, shared with them."

She closed her eyes, quiet.

"Like gears spinning contrary.

"Just tearing things apart."

It's a broken heart path tween Fire and Light ...
But tell that to a Knight.
It'd be so easy, to break and fall ,
But then I'd be what they say - hey,
I'd be just what they say - hey ...

I was born in the winter in'na blizzard o'white.
The stars up above were dancin' and bright.
Now there's a new sigil on my gear,
Could I've finally found a home, a place where I shall never hear ...

"I don't understand.

"Are we the only ones that see this, Mezzy?

"This dark contradiction?"

Soft eyes opened. To look at squirrel and coins.

"Maybe its just because of who we are.

"Me and you."

White teeth set upon her lower lip, gnawing just a bit.

"They curse us. Call us dark and evil and the tools of the shadow."

Her eyes closed again.

"And yet they smile and call us forth ... as if expected, as brother to brother, as sister to sister.

"When they wish our soft green magics to keep them well ... when they want us to hold their soul in our protective care against the slaying of a dragon fierce."

"Coins ...

"Soulstones ...

"Gears ..."

Warlock, cursed and damned,
I heard it from the men of every town.
They told me, Warlock, cursed and damned.
But come the night an a dragon goin' down,
To me they'd come around.

The little gnome lass reached out, taking up the second coin from the right. She turned it this way and that, watching earnestly as the starlight reflected off its surface, casting subtle shadows across the bas relief of its crafting.

"This is the coin I got from that nice Tauren, Mezzy ...

"This is the one I'm gonna keep for me."