Wilting Away (Part 4)

To say that Jeremy Simmons was a complete and utter wreck was an understatement. No lone thought that passed through his mind brought him a single inch of solace, nor did trying to cease thinking. The former just meant that he continued to consider and reconsider every single dark possibility of what had happened to Elena. Or, even worse, what would happen without Elena. She had never been far from his side for more than a few days since their resurrection, and it wasn't until now that he even came to realize that particular fact.

The latter manner of thinking simply made him feel empty. Hollow. Terrible.

Yet all he could do was sit there on the grass, under a tree he and the worgen had found, and stare at the giant elven city. They had hit a dead end in Elena's trail hours ago, though they still sat here, staring at that city. Far as they could determine, she had ran off into the city. Which meant any number of things.

It meant that they didn't have a very reliable method of tracking her, for one. Dirt and tracks were one thing, but eventually she would practically disappear into the city, for any number of reasons. Based on what Red had told him, the place was massive, and he was unfamiliar with the lay of the land. On top of that, they now had to deal with the much higher likelihood that she had gotten captured. Her being captured could mean that she was just dead now, or was being kept somewhere far out of their reach. He couldn't tell which one was worse.

Far worse even still was that tracking Wiltmend in the first place meant trying to process the thoughts of some scatterbrained elf. A scatterbrained elf, who had actually managed to maintain some composure more recently. She had seemed rather lucid when she requested that their next stop be in the Broken Isles. That first of all should have been a point where he just said no, but he had relented. So they had ended up in the middle of a war zone that he was unfamiliar with.

He turned to glance at Redamous, who for some time had been staring Suramar City down. As though he could just will the city to cough up the woman they sought. But despite any forceful glares, the city hadn't relented, and they were still sitting here with nothing. Letting out a sigh, he began turning his head to resume his own staring, before he saw the worgen's ear twitch. Red's nose made a similar motion, lifting into the air somewhat.

The beast slowly rose from the ground, and Simmons just watched. First he turned towards a nearby bush, staring at it for a long time. Simmons noted that unlike the way he stared at the city, this was with more of a wary nature. As though something was hiding in the bush, ready to pounce.

Oh.

When the fact that someone was probably skulking about in the bushes hit him, he was quickly on his feet, sword drawn, feeling like an idiot. Like an idiot for being in this situation to begin with, as well as the fact that he had been so zoned out as to allow someone to sneak up on them like this. Perhaps somewhat foolish for bringing a worgen who was weaponless, but that was lower on the list than anything else.

They stood there for a solid minute, staring at the bush. The flora didn't so much as rustle in that time. Eventually Red sighed, raising his voice, "Just get the hell out here already."

Simmons blinked at him, but kept his sword raised as there was finally motion. From the bush emerged a pale blue elf, who looked at the minimum half starved. He almost wagered that she was probably closer to three-quarters starved, or perhaps even four-fifths starved, but he wasn't that familiar with starved elves, so he settled on half.

The elf's face was mostly hidden behind a leather mask, which was attached to her leather hood, which appeared to be attached to the leather cloak that coated the rest of her figure, sickly thin limbs included. Her fingers twitched in a manner he almost found familiar, as though she were the near-dead version of the very same elf they sought. Except she wasn't. The first clue of which being that when she spoke, it was in clear common and made complete sense.

"You'll have to forgive me, Redamous," even her words shook, as though she were standing on a different planet entirely. One whose state was constant earthquakes. "I just saw you sitting there and didn't want to interrupt your...Longing stares."

Redamous frowned, looking the elf over. Simmons could only assume they knew each other, but given the worgen's usual disposition when ever they actually had the time to catch up he assumed that such a relationship was rather strenuous. Given, they hadn't caught up in years, but one's feelings towards elves rarely changed, especially among many members of the dead and damned.

Eventually the elf broke the silence, since Red refused to do so. She stepped forward somewhat, "I couldn't help but overhear, that you wished to enter the city."

It was Simmons's turn to frown, a gesture which he turned firmly at the worgen, seeking an explanation. He didn't really get one, with Redamous letting out little more than a grunt at the man. Turning back to the elf, Simmons nodded, "We do. We need to find a woman. Now."

The elf's twitching fingers curled around her chin as she considered the prospect, eyes narrowing as she processed it. Yet with little more detail than that, she nodded, "I wish to do the same. I have a plan for doing so, as well. We could," her voice hitched and shook, "Cooperate."

Once more Simmons turned to Red, waiting for some sort of input. Eventually the worgen relented, nodding slowly, gaze drifting between the human and the elf. Letting out another sigh, he looked back to the elf, "Then let's sit down an' hash this out quick, 'cause we sure as hell don't got long to work out the finer details."