Daughter of Azeroth

60 | NOT LIKE THE REST OF US

Much later on, a servant wearing Kirin Tor livery arrived at Idira's room carrying a neatly folded pile of bed linens, blankets, and a set of pillows. On the top of the pile, a set of fluffy white towels embroidered with the sigil of the Kirin Tor lay tied together with a golden cord. The servant set the items down on top of the bed and waited, her hands folded in front of her, her eyes on the floor.

'Um,' Idira said, uncertain. 'Thank you?'

The servant didn't move or answer. She just stood at the end of the opposite bed, silent, and as still as a statue. Idira raised her eyebrows and moved away from the wall to sit on the edge of the bed, feeling a little uneasy. The woman, who looked a few years older than Idira, wore a simple blue dress and a crisp white apron bearing sigil of the Kirin Tor emblazoned over its breast; her dark blonde hair had been tied back into a neat bun, and a little square blue cap perched on her head, her face bore no cosmetics and was as plain as a piece of blank paper, utterly forgettable. Idira waited some more. The servant still didn't move. Idira had no idea what was happening. In Moonbrook, the servants carried out their duties automatically, unobtrusive and near invisible. She'd never needed to talk to them. Wynn passed by the door, her head popped back around the doorframe.

'Oh,' she laughed, coming in to lean against the jamb, her hand on her hip, 'happened to me too, you have to say which bed you are planning to use, so they can make it for you. They can't talk. It's a silencing spell, it's so they can't gossip.'

'What!?' Idira asked, utterly flummoxed. 'Why ever would anyone want to work in a place where they are forced to become mute?'

'They get to see some crazy stuff,' Wynn shrugged, 'so I suppose it's worth it, plus I heard the pay is amazing. No taxes here, either, so they can retire when they are forty, go home and live in wealth for the rest of their days.'

'But they can't talk ever again?' Idira asked, eyeing the poor woman as she pointed at the bed she wanted made up.

'Nah, they can talk again, once they leave,' Wynn said as she came in to watch the servant work. 'One year later, the spell wears off. I guess the Kirin Tor figure anything the servants would have to talk about would be old news by then, so it's okay.'

'These Kirin Tor,' Idira murmured, suddenly uneasy, wondering how Khadgar could be a willing part of such a political, hierarchical, abusive organisation, 'they are not what I expected. At all.'

'They aren't all bad,' Wynn said as she opened the wardrobe, and looked at Idira's new dress hanging inside. 'Pretty,' she said closing the door again. 'No, there's this one Archmage on the Council of Six, he's old but kind of important, what's his name again?' She looked up at the ceiling, snapping her fingers, trying to remember. 'Starts with a K, I think.'

'Khadgar?' Idira offered, feeling a tingle of pleasure just from saying his name.

'That's the one,' Wynn said pointing at Idira. 'Him. Well he's an interesting one. Ages ago, he saved Azeroth by closing off a portal to another invading planet, but then he got stuck on the other planet for some reason. I don't know why. Anyway, he stayed there a long time until the demons opened up a new portal again, so then he was able to come back, but then there was a bunch of other stuff that happened in between then and now so he was away a lot in another time-line trying to fix the past or something.' She started to look confused. Idira raised her eyebrows, dubious. 'Look, it's complicated,' Wynn snapped, impatient, 'I guess he just likes to spend his time in a lot of other places that aren't here. But what I'm trying to get at is, he's finally back and hanging around Dalaran a lot, like all the time, and now he's here he's seeing all the injustices and stuff and has been trying to fix it.'

'I bet that's going down well,' Idira muttered, glancing at the servant who was clearly listening to their conversation with great interest. A thought struck Idira, she dithered for a beat, then decided to take a chance, curiosity overwhelming her. She moved nearer to the servant who was folding the most perfect sheet corners Idira had ever seen.