The next morning, she headed down to the Warsong camp. She was pleased by the decorations and grandeur.
Charnak met her near the altar. "The preparations are complete. Is there anything else you require?"
"Someone who can perform the ceremonies, I wish to sit and capture the moment for the ages."
"At once."
"I am going to sit, I wish for you to bring me anyone I have missed."
"Do you wish for me to sit?" Tylia blushed.
"You can do as you please, my beauty. If you wish to work, go work. If you wish to sit, feel free." She waved her hand.
Tylia sat down beside Elunara. "If I may be so bold."
"Speak your mind." Elunara brushed a hand down Tylia's hair.
"This is all very surreal. While the Warsong and the Frostwolf have differing opinions on what is right for their clan, the end result is still that my people found me too timid and endlessly frustrating. Not wanting to be a burden on my clan, I left. The only reason Charnak even accepted me into... this army, was in his opinion, "even a great army could use a washer woman"." Tylia shook her head. "Now you wish for me to marry him? And you find my timid nature to be a strength? I just can't wrap my head around it. Or what you've had me do."
"Ah, but that's the thing, my beauty. You will come in to your own at Charnak's side. With you helping him, he will command thousands."
"Thousands?" Tylia squeaked.
"I knew it the moment I found you. You will be an extension of me, and you alone will bring Charnak to greatness. I cannot physically follow him where he goes, my role is too important. But as my most cherished avatar, you will bring him great strength."
"How will I do this?"
"By being you. You will find your spine, I am confident. But you do not need force to bring greatness to my army. No, it is your timid nature that is my greatest asset. A man like Charnak may think he needs a strong warrior bride, but he is wrong. He needs softness in his life. That is why Grogek remains far above Charnak; because he accepted this side." She motioned for the orc to leave and pulled a fresh sheet. "I am the Goddess of War and Mercy. Charnak is my war, and you are my mercy. There must always be a balance of the two in order to get the best result. You are my two halves made whole. I wish for you to marry so that I may properly bless the union."
"I think I understand."
"Do not fear him, for I give you strength. You are unhappy with anything he does, you speak to me."
"Yes, my goddess."
"Ma'am or Mistress works for you. It can grow tiring being called only by that title."
"Yes, Mistress."
"There is one other purpose you may serve."
"That is?"
"You will go a long way towards convincing any stray Frostwolf to join my army. For even though you were timid and easily cowed, you still found yourself chosen. Perhaps, an even greater and more difficult task, would be to show mercy to the Draenei. To bring these two great factions into one? Miraculous."
It was nearly dark before she had finished and she ordered several bonfires lit. She sat behind everyone on the platform and began to draw furiously. Once the vows were said and the ceremony near completion, she jumped off the platform and made her way to the front. She took the place of the shaman and held up Charnak and Tylia's joined hands.
"Through this ceremony, Charnak the Fierce and Tylia the Gentle have become one in my image! May their union inspire greatness among the world of Draenor! Tonight we celebrate, and tomorrow, we spread the word! May all know that my army is the strongest and the most devoted."
She stepped back and held out her arms. Flexing her hand, the dagger appeared, and she began to channel her energy outward. Praying this silly little experiment would work, she tried to remember the focusing energy from before. Slowly, she rose into the air, great multi-colored wings sprouting from her back. The dagger channeled silver energy upwards and she transformed it into a sword. A sudden infusion from an outside source had everything exploding in brightness. She held the dagger in front of her, brandishing like a broadsword.
The crowd below went wild with admiration, and the pair of orcs below her gawked in awe. She raised the sword in front of her, swung it in a way she hoped looked mysterious and then angled it down as she dropped down, her dagger piercing the large genesaur skull that made the base of her altar. The power went out across the crowd, infusing them with the light of her excess energy.
She stood and waved the dagger around in an impressive display. "YOU ARE MY CHOSEN!"
The crowd knelt at once. "WE ARE YOURS, OUR GODDESS!"
"THE WORLD MUST KNOW! That my path, is the path of the strong, the proud, the merciful! Take my word across the land, and show them the will of your goddess! My chosen, I have tested you mightily and I will continue to test you until such time that I feel you are ready. Go! Bring me more believers. But, for tonight, we celebrate this union!"
The crowd went wild. Deep into the celebration, she found Charnak and Tylia again. Taking each of their hands, she smiled. "Celebrate tonight as husband and wife. Then, I will grant you leave to take our message across the lands." She kissed Tylia gently on the mouth and then turned and gave Charnak a brain searing kiss. "My loves, I hope you enjoy yourselves immensely. I must be gone. I have much work to get back to. Show them your pictures, tell them your stories, challenge their best fighters, but always allow them to have the freedom of choice. That is most important to me. We do not start wars in my name, we end them. When you have returned to me, I will send you on your next task."
"But, my goddess..."
"Hush, Charnak. This is my will." She let go of their hands and disappeared into the crowd.
Elunara made it back into town and closed her eyes. "Elune, I know that was you."
"Actually it wasn't."
"Who...?"
"Your kind calls them naaru. They understand that what you are trying to do would bring peace to their people. They question your methods, but don't disagree with your results."
"I don't even know what the hell I'm doing."
"It's enough that you try."
"Well, they're welcome, I guess." She sighed. "Still weird that I have an open line to you in my head."
"It is what it is. Now, go home."
She slipped out the back way, cloak covering her outfit. She really didn't want to explain why she was wearing her event dress, but she figured it'd add a nice flair to the procession. Making her way through, she found Charnak.
"I wish to speak with you a moment."
He frowned and climbed down from the platform. "Yes, my goddess."
"There is an Iron Horde encampment to the north east of here. This seriously displeases me and I wish to have them dealt with. Wipe them out so that I may take the land for myself and place my faithful there." She brushed her fingers under his chin. "Do this for me, and when you return with sufficient faithful, I shall regard you greatly."
He took her hand and kissed the palm. "Your will be done."
Once he was back up on the platform, she went to the altar. She watched the organization of troops for some time, before throwing back her cloak and holding up her lit dagger. "GO WITH MY BLESSINGS!" She cried, before using the age old Night Elf trick of shadowmeld. She struggled to not laugh, while the orcs murmured in amazement before roaring. Stealthed, she dove through the trees and snuck on home. With a laugh she changed into normal clothes.
"So now they're out of our hair for awhile."
"How long?"
"Honestly, I have no clue. I also have no clue how he expects to find more "faithful". I've basically sent him running around on a wild goose chase. With any luck, he'll wipe out that Iron Horde camp and then keep right on going.
"And you're certain this whole marriage thing won't just turn them against you?" Admiral Duchie frowned.
"I have both of them under my power, so to speak. She's as malleable as the rest of them." She chuckled. "You should have seen them when I did the display. It was all fireworks, but they bought every word of it."
"Aren't you pushing this "goddess" thing too far?" Duchie snarled.
"It's working." Renwa interrupted. "Regardless of how silly it is, it's working."
Elunara flexed her hand and held her dagger. Flipping it up, she formed the sword. "One of these days, those loonies are going to figure out this is worthless. I can't even cut anything with it. Watch." She sliced at the desk, but the light went harmlessly through.
"Then how were you able to break the skull?"
"Well, it's a demon skull, being attacked by pure light; it's kind of its thing." She shrugged and dismissed her dagger.
"I have to ask, Lu, what finally broke your funk?"
"People have started treating my kids better."
Renwa frowned and Zelinnia looked up from her work.
She sighed. "No one has been actively mean, but some treat them both with a level of disgust or pity respectively. That's changed significantly in the past few days. And as it was put to me, "we were already brothers, but now it's an actual thing". They don't want to say it, but I managed to eek out a few extra words to the effect that, they believe they have to protect Zelinnia's babies for the same reason. They haven't told me who has said what, but people tend to not realize who's around them when they say things."
Zelinnia put a hand to her belly and Renwa reached out and stroked her back. "I guess that's the hazard of doing what we did." He sighed.
Elunara nodded. "I agree with my kid's assessment that people don't actively say these things because they're too damned afraid of the both of us."
She walked through town, smiling and waving and felt like a stupid prom princess. She spotted John leaning against a building, looking around a corner. Reaching out, she grabbed him by the arm. He yelped and struggled, but froze when he spotted her.
"It's not what it looks like!"
"It looks like you're spying on someone."
"It's not... quite what it looks like?" He whimpered and kept looking back. "Please, please, just another couple minutes. I swear. I'm not doing anything bad... I just..." He looked over and froze.
Elunara followed his gaze and watched Tippy come out of her inn and head down to the market area. "Oh, I see how it is."
"PLEASE, I beg of you, don't tell her."
"That you're spying on her?"
"I'm not... spying. I just... I just wanted a glance."
Elunara let go of his arm and sighed. "Start talking."
"Well, it's just..."
"If you use the word "just" one more time I'm going to smack you."
He swallowed hard. "You see, I've always liked her. She's so funny and tough and sweet and," He sighed. "So beautiful and she cooks like a dream. But my sister forbade me from ever speaking with her, because Tippy didn't believe the whole frail bit, not for a minute. For that alone she was practically my hero. Then... well, you know I'm just gutter trash now."
Elunara eyed him. His clothes probably hadn't seen a good washing in months and the rest of him was a complete mess. With a nod she formed a plan. "Alrighty John, I think I can help you redeem yourself."
He clasped his hands together. "Really?"
"In the end, it will come down to how useful you are to me. You run a few tasks for me, and I might even see fit to get Tippy to be nice to you."
