Missing

Lena's voice cut through the mental connection and over the communicators: "All of you. Enough. There are enough voices in this room without you all prattling on."

They continued to threaten and posture within the mental channel while tactics and strategies and infighting waged in real time. Lena resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands. It was all too much.

Between the meeting and the mental chatter, Lena's struggle with the unknown voices in her head threatened to push her over the edge. She kept her hands in her lap and remained mute for the remainder of the meeting, peering at the leggings under her tabard. Her hat shadowed her face quite well, and she smirked when her eyes caught the emblem of Shadows pinned to her shoulder. She was, at least temporarily, in charge. Ruling as a group proved difficult sometimes, but they all would have their turn at being the "leader".

Arloth's booming voice from the chair next to her made her long for her blankets, her own bed, and the comforting silence of laying with Krastos, in their quiet little house at the end of the cul-de-sac in Stormwind. But to get up and teleport away would be rude.

Besides, she still had work to do in Pandaria. She knew, though, that Krastos was worried. But Arloth had put him on leave, and Kras was currently at home in Stormwind, or in their country home on the outskirts of Elwynn Forest, near the Wetlands. She smiled to herself. The benefit of being alive for so many millennia is the ability to manage money. They weren't flashy about their wealth, but they did live quite a bit more comfortably than many of the other races. While Lena didn't want children of her own - no matter how many times Krastos asked her about it - they did offer sizeable donations to the orphanages. Nearly every one they came across in Azeroth so far, actually.

But her work took her away from Krastos. Arloth had not put her on leave. So she was left to her research, urged to find a key to the Sha problem, to learn the terrain of the continent and make detailed maps, to ferret out any bit of information she could from what she was given in order to stay one step of the Horde.

Much of her time was spent on archaeological digs with Lorewalker Cho, sifting through the soil, disturbing ancient lands to seek out artifacts that would guide her in her research. Cho was a pleasant sort, but a bit too clingy, Lena thought. He would often hover close by, especially after she would have an episode - which she had previously thought she was hiding well.

Once in a while, she would work up the energy to teleport to headquarters. Which is where she sat now, listening to the bickering between races. She'd plopped herself in a chair, sighing when she realized she was sitting next to Arloth. Even he'd recently encouraged her to rest more, to take time with Krastos. Her mind drifted in and out of the meeting, which seemed to be about arguing where the Horde would next attack.

The night continued, bodies drifted on their ways, and Lena stood at the bottom of the staircase in Shadows' headquarters in Ironforge, staring up at them dubiously. The dwarves had odd manners of construction, even in the interior of the massive city, preferring to burrow downward. She cursed this layout briefly, then sighed, shifting her pack on her back and checking the pouch at her waist over and over. The box was still safe.

Kirahti caught her by the arm, swaying at the foot of the staircase, and urged Lena to lie down. The Auchenai and the nearby hunter, Siliros, after much argument and resistance, finally dosed Lena with the negligible poison from a Warp Stinger and tucked her in, placing pillows and blankets all around where she lay on the floor.

It was true, Lena had been working too hard. But the voice - voices? - from the box wouldn't let up, and neither would she until she figured it out.

---

She awoke, blinking against the sun, which was baking her ever so slightly as she sat up in a strange combination of mud and dust. Lena sighed as she recognized her digsite. Her tools were scattered around, surprisingly right where she left them. She figured the prowlers in Kun Lai would make off with some of her most treasured tools. She looked north, squinting in the brightness of daylight, looking at her tent. The one she had dutifully set up and promised herself - and Cho - that she would sleep in. At a reasonable hour. Pryt knickered softly behind her, and she rubbed the talbuk's muzzle gently after she hoisted herself to her hooves.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

Lena stretched her back and lumbered toward her tent, grabbing a towel and something akin to clean clothes - at least they were dry - before heading down towards the ocean to freshen up.

---

Krastos was painting shutters on the house in Stormwind, and with every stroke of the brush, his frustration grew. Lena hadn't been around in weeks. He missed her. More than that, he was deathly afraid that something was wrong.

He had spoken to Arloth in confidence a few weeks prior, expressing his concern, but the warrior had brushed him off, commending Lena's work ethic. Frustrated even more, Krastos returned to their home and continued to tidy the house, fixing what he knew how, hiring workers to assist with what he didn't, frequently testing the mental connection he shared with his mate to no avail. Before she had disappeared, she had scribbled a list of work she wanted to start on with the house, and Krastos passed his leave by tackling most of it.

He was curious, though, when refinishing the floors in Lena's study, when he found a a safe, disguised and well hidden in the knots of the wood along the base of the wall. He pried open the door, and found a magically secured box within. He knew he'd never get it open, but he wondered what was in it. Lena was overwhelmingly the expert in magical locks. And if she was going this far to hide it, she would have doubled her efforts to keep this box secure. But was she hiding it from him or someone else?

The week before, Arloth had come to him, saying that he had seen Lena at headquarters in Ironforge, that she looked tired and unwell, and that he had given her permission to bring Krastos along for her work. But she hadn't checked in with Krastos. He closed his eyes and sighed. The field marshal continued taking jabs at Krastos, insinuating that Lena had finally run off, had found someone else, perhaps someone who could tolerate the stress of this job without needing leave. That cocky bastard. Krastos ground his teeth as Arloth continued speaking, his fingers curling into fists. The shaman called upon the power of the earth as his fist acted on it's own accord, slamming into Arloth's jaw and felling the solidly built warrior. .

Arloth laughed heartily, rubbing his face as he stood, smirking at Krastos. "There's the Krastos I once knew. I knew a rest would do you good." Krastos narrowed his eyes at the marshal, seething.

Kras let his voice drop to a deadly calm, "Where is she?" He clenched his teeth and his fists, ready for a fight. "You know where she is, don't you?"

Arloth smirked and raised a hand, brushing off the shaman's concerns, "I'm sure she's fine. No idea where she is. She'd have gotten in touch if she really wanted to, wouldn't she?" He crossed his beefy arms across his barreled chest and chuckled at Kras, who growled and lunged.

Arloth hit the ground with a thud, but sprung to his hooves quickly, throwing a punch of his own. The two draenei fought, wrestling, growling at each other, until Arloth finally pulled away, panting.

"Maybe you are ready to come back to work, Kras." The warrior grinned, bowing slightly at the waist to signal the end of the fight.

"Not until Lena is found - alive - and safe," he hissed between clenched teeth. "I will search all of Azeroth to make sure you haven't sent her on some suicide mission."

Something in Arloth's expression changed, and his eyes softened. He offered a hand to the shaman and nodded, grasping his wrist and drawing him close and speaking under his breath, "Find your mate, Krastos. I truly don't know where she is. She hasn't answered communications in weeks, and only rarely does anyone catch a glimpse of her at HQ. We always assumed she was checking in there before coming home to you. If necessary, Shadows will engage in the search."

Disarmed and surprised, Krastos took Arloth's hand and shook it. "Once she is safe, we'll talk about me coming back to work."