“W-wait, how do you know my name? You look familiar, but…”
“Who do I look like?”
“I…Well…Like my momma. Her name is–”
“Lycannon.”
Kaludra blinked. “You know her?”
“I am her younger sister. My name is Luraela, and you are named after me.”
The girl clung to her stuffed elekk as she started to back away from the woman. “But you…you’re…you…”
“I am supposed to be dead?” Luraela said, and then chuckled. Her voice was in no way menacing, nor was it offensive. In fact, the huntress seemed quite calming. “Do you remember Esixa?”
“Yes.”
“And I suppose you remember what she tried to do to your mother?”
Kaludra nodded. “She wanted to kill her because of what Momma did on Draenor…when she wasn’t herself.”
Luraela nodded in turn, and then settled herself down on the floor against the wall opposite of Kaludra. The worg that had been laying at her feet wasted no time in wiggling himself into her lap, and she groaned with the weight.
This made Kaludra smile a bit. “He seems really friendly.” she said.
“He is, perhaps too friendl–ah!” Luraela was interrupted by several licks to the face. “Altair!”
Kaludra giggled, and couldn’t resist coming closer to pet the wolf. “I like his name!”
“Indeed. Esixa hired an imposter to take on my persona. She got nearly everything right, even going as far as to mimic my dialect, my mannerisms, and Altair. Of course, she took it a step further and pretended to be your mother’s child from the future.”
“I remember that,” Kaludra said, pausing to look up at Luraela, “But she didn’t look like you. Not completely.”
“She could be somewhat liberal with her appearance. My sister has not seen me since we lived on Argus, and memory fades. She used that to her advantage.”
“Ohh, I think I know what you’re saying now…But how do I know you just aren’t another pretend Luraela coming to hurt us?” Kaludra frowned, and grabbed for her elekk again.
Luraela leaned back and stretched her arms out over her wolf, knitting her fingers together at his belly. “I figured you would ask. Let me see that pendant around your neck.”
The girl blinked again, and gently pulled the necklace from her tunic. The chain dangled loosely between her fingers, with the faintly glowing, semi-circular gem hanging under her palm. Luraela reached inside her own blouse and revealed a pendant of her own; it was almost identical to the one Kaludra had around her neck, yet something was different about it.
Kaludra’s eyes grew wide. “I-I don’t understand!” she exclaimed.
“Watch.”
Luraela took the trinkets in each of her hands, and slowly touched the straight sides of the shards together. When they met, a quiet chiming sound, along with a bright glitter of light, engulfed the gems. Kaludra had to shield her eyes from the brightness, and when her eyes adjusted, she was overcome with wonder. The two pendants were now one, and it floated by itself when Luraela withdrew her fingers.
Kaludra traced a finger of her own across the chain still around her neck, and down to the newly formed relic. When she touched the thing, it chimed again. The sound was soothing, and there was a feeling of peace. “I…I don’t…”
“Our mother made one for each of us; one for your mother, and one for me. She gave them to us as reminders that although we may be broken and scattered to the wind, we are never lost. We all meet again one day.” Luraela said, letting Kaludra watch the dancing relic a bit longer before she reached up and pulled it back into the two necklaces used to create it.
Kaludra nodded, touched by Luraela’s words. She now understood why the woman had come. “Mother is sick again. She went with a friend to try to help her overcome it.”
“I know. I am going to seek her out when I leave here, but I wanted to see you first. I needed you to know that everything will be alright, and…that you will have a visitor in a few days.”
Kaludra swallowed. “Me? A visitor? Who is it?”
Luraela shook her head and pushed the worg off of her, standing and tucking the necklace back into her clothes. “You will find out soon enough. Altair will stay with you.”
The wolf whimpered as he moved to sit in front of Kaludra, who stooped down to pat him on the head. She was slightly confused by all of this. “Okay…Be careful, Miss Luraela.”
The huntress stopped as she headed to the door, and chuckled, “Aunt Luri, dear. I am your aunt, and I love you.” She spoke quickly and stepped out just fast enough so that Kaludra couldn’t respond, but she did anyway.
“I love you too…”
Harbinger Lycannon 