Echoes of Stranglethorn

Author's Notes: Hey all! Small story and a tiny update. For those of you I know are just here because of the Dungeonrunners story (which I know has to be a couple of you), it was on rocky territory but because of a special patron, it's being put back into production and we'll be seeing a new installment soon. I'll start working on that tomorrow and then get to the Baldur's Gate story, which... I mean, technically it's anyone's game since there are a good number of people have yet to vote, but I think we all know what it's gonna be at this point.

Anywho, if you're familiar with the old story Under the Moons of Stranglethorn, you may like this. It's light, more romantic than sexual, and serves as an epilogue to a series that was never properly closed... but also, potentially, a revival in a new form. We shall see.

If you aren't familiar with those stories you likely won't get much out of this one, but hey, who knows?

[story] [action] [F/F] [romance/cuddling/kissing]

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“You know what I really love about Azeroth?” the draenei woman grinned, doing a tight backwards roll and leaving a hidden trap in her wake, directly in the path of an oncoming infernal. Ending the roll, she pivoted quickly on her hooves, aiming her rifle at a felhound that was warily drawing near and unloading a couple of quick shots into it.

“Never a dull moment?” the night elf responded with a smirk of her own. Nariana dropped into a quick duck as a felbat rushed her from above, turning and slamming into the thing with one armored shoulder. It went flying from the hit, only to be grasped by chain-like tendrils of dark magic and yanked back just as fast -- shooting like a slingshot back towards the armored kaldorei back-first only to meet the edge of the death knight’s blade, neatly severing its spine.

“Exactly.” Mione let out a little chuckle, backpedaling a few steps back towards her wife and aiming her gun at the infernal still charging towards her. A rapid-fire volley of shots to the face didn’t fell the creature but it did appear to mostly blind it, sending it staggering forward... and not noticing the trap positioned between the draenei and itself. A roar of delight could be heard from the huntress as the creature was immolated in an instant explosion, chunks of the fel-pocked rock that made up its body flying in all directions.

The couple’s journeys, now that their children had been mostly raised and gone out on their own -- even the black sheep of the family, little Lina -- had brought them to the new Alliance battlefront on the Broken Isles, and specifically to the fel-scorched southwestern section of Suramar. Now, the couple stood back to back, blade and gun working in tandem to bring down the oncoming hordes of the Legion while felbats swooped and shrieked above, and massive demonic ships and citadels loomed on the horizon. They weren’t here for any specific reason; not that either could remember, anyway. They were here because they were together, free and alive.

Well, mostly alive in Nariana’s case -- but the death knight’s blood surged as she gave in to her lust for battle, purple pigtails bouncing and spiraling wildly as she marched through the forces of evil, chopping them down one by one while her draenei wife shifted and maneuvered around her, taking out weak points with precise gunshots and laying traps for the unwary (and unlucky) forward charge.

“They weren’t kidding with the ‘legion’ thing, huh?” Nari chuckled as she pivoted, slamming her blade down in a huge arc to bring down another diving felbat, driving the thing into the pocked, green-rimed ground beneath. “It’s like they never stop!”

The chuckle was returned by a heartier laugh from Mione, the grinning draenei hopping up nimbly onto the burned-out chest of a shattered infernal, balancing on her hooves as she tilted her hips in a semi-circle, taking out a swarm of felhunters with precise and deadly blasts from her gun. “Let them come!” she cried. “I needed some exercise anyway!” The bodies were piling so high now that the pair had to climb up onto them so as not to be buried, and ended up being the only obstacle great enough that the couple ended up needing to move. Nariana simply floated into the air, taking on a spectral form that allowed her to dash forward through the green-splattered carnage, while Mione had to take the more difficult route of leaping onto the back of a felguard and springing off, propelling herself backwards with a blast from her gun that simultaneously dislodged her and turned the demon itself into a chunky green soup.

The battle, if it could be called that, continued for some time -- the two lovers fighting through the ranks of the damned, taking moments, some brief, some long, to stop and gaze at one another, their eyes meeting as both warrior women became coated in the sweat of combat. It seemed like hours before the two were surrounded by a ring of creatures, forming a natural demonic wall around them that, out of common sense if nothing else, no demon dared to cross. It was only then that the two relaxed, their passion turning away from slaughter and to their own companionship. Nari held her massive, blood-dripping blade to her side while she tugged the draenei woman close with her other arm, hugging gently around those soft, full hips and drawing Mione in, clasping her lips to the other woman’s in a long, hungry embrace.

“Mmmpphh...” Mione whimpered into the hard embrace, dropping her rifle into the heap of bodies beneath her, her own hands slipping between the two to caress along the front of the death knight’s armor, her lips lunging back into Nariana’s. Their kiss was long and frightfully intense, Mione breathing hard against Nari’s breathless lips, sharing her warmth and recieving pure passion in return as the two held one another and embraced for that one long moment. Alliance be damned, Azeroth be damned. This was where they belonged -- with each other, and on the field of battle, as adventurers should be.

“I love you,” the night elf whispered softly, her hands sliding up along her wife’s hips, then back down, grabbing two handfuls of the huntress’s full backside and squeezing gently, kissing again. It was met by a returned smooch, then another, alternating between long and soft kisses as the two women stood in the center of hell on earth, unafraid.

“And I love you,” Mione whispered back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

“You were amazing, out there.” The soft whisper crept into Nariana’s pointed ear before it was gently bitten, then nibbled, from behind. “I’m so glad we’re back in action.”

“Tired of playing mommy homemaker?” the elf giggled back to her wife, wiggling back against her. After calling for a mount and flying back to their new home in Dalaran, the two had stripped and... “availed” themselves of one another, and now lay naked in their bed on their sides, with Mione cuddling into her wife from behind. “Not that we were ever too good at it.”

“You’re telling me,” Mione let out a little giggle, leaning in to gently kiss the side of her lover’s throat, her hands creeping up along Nari’s belly to her breasts, toying playfully with one of the barbells in the death knight’s firm, dusky pink nipple. “By the Naaru, the mistakes we made. I’m just glad they all ended up alright.”

“You mean you didn’t think giving the twins to Sylvanas would be the best for them?” Nariana teased, biting her lip as her wife gently fondled her. She could feel the warmth of Mione’s naked body at her back, enveloping and comforting her, making her necromantically-sustained body feel just a little more... alive. She never felt more real than when she was like this, curled up and laying in bed with Mione’s arms around her, one soft blue leg draped along Nari’s leaner one.

“We didn’t have much of a choice,” Mione said wistfully, then smiled, nibbling again at the end of her wife’s long, pointy ear. “At least they came out of it alright. We all did. Even that whole val’kyr thing.”

“That still seems like a dream to me... I wish I could remember more.”

The draenei shrugged, nuzzling in a little more and squishing forward into her wife, feeling that perky elven backside grinding into her lap. She continued to playfully tease and rub at Nari’s nipples, just idly toying with the piercings, tugging and turning them this way and that. Just enough to get a little moan out of Nariana once in a while, just to keep her awake and squirming. She liked that. “You were out of it most of the time. If the twins hadn’t saved us you might still be under her spell.” Mione let out a little sigh, closing her eyes and just nestling into the elf’s neck, getting comfy. “We don’t have to worry about that anymore. We can make our own future from now on.”

“You’re right,” Nariana smiled and turned, squirming until she’d flipped all the way onto her other side, facing her wife now and leaning in to steal a long, soft kiss. “A long, beautiful future with you. Which is why we’ll have to win this war against the Legion.”

“Remember when the Iron Horde was the biggest thing we had to worry about?” Mione chuckled, stealing a little kiss in return and pulling in close, her hands sliding down to her wife’s hips. Their breasts pressed into one another, the excess flesh spilling out to the sides as they locked lips for a long moment, finally breaking away again to keep talking. “Naaru, it feels so far away now. Since Sylvanas first warned us of their coming.”

Nariana nodded solemnly, nuzzling her nose tenderly into her wife’s and letting out a contented sigh -- not a real breath, but merely a soft sound mimicking one. “And now they’re at our doorstep. Let’s just hope this new king is wiser than our last.”

“And hope that Sylvanas does her part in focusing the efforts of the Horde,” Mione countered. “Maybe we can visit her at some point, and... ‘talk’ her into it, you think? She seemed to like us a lot last time.”

“She seemed to like you,” Nari giggled, tilting and nuzzling her wife’s cheek, kissing again, her cool pink hands trailing up along Mione’s hips, exploring the draenei’s soft skin like she was touching it again for the very first time, admiring every inch. “What if the package deal is more than she can handle?”

“Then she’ll just have to toughen up,” Mione smirked back. She stole another kiss, then another, her voice dropping to a soft, slightly-accented whisper; “Whatever I do, and wherever I go, I want you to be there with me, Nari. You’re the dark star that lights my way.”

“And you’re the flame that keeps my heart beating, my love,” the elf whispered in return, returning the kiss sweetly, then flicking her tongue gently forward to stroke and slide along her wife’s, deepening their kiss, kindling the fire of passion that only so recently had been doused by satisfaction.

Shifting her weight once more, Nariana shifted her naked body to the side and then upward, settling her hips on top of the draenei woman’s and kissing her harder, deeper, mounting her now. Her black-nailed fingers entangled with Mione’s and pinned them firmly to the sheets of their bed, and a playful grin curled the corners of the kaldorei’s lips as the two made out. She could feel her wife growing more excited beneath her, feel the draenei’s nipples stiffen when they were rubbed and prodded by her pierced ones. “Now, my love--” the night elf whispered, breaking away so that her lips were less than an inch away from Mione’s, tongue snaking out to lick along them affectionately. “Where were we?”