A few days later, Renwa found her by the fountain, drawing.
"What did you do to my Captain?"
She sat her pencil down. "Why?"
"Because he won't look me in the face, and he avoids Grogek at all costs."
"Oh... do you want the specifics? Because that might not be a good thing to discuss in public places."
"I wanted you to make him relax, not make him edgier."
"Oh, don't blame that on me. He's the one who went for a twofer, and that was AFTER Grogek got involved."
"Holy shit."
She shrugged. "I got plans for you when I get you and Grogek in my room at the same time." She winked.
He actually blushed. "You know no bounds."
"Damned skippy"
"Huh. The caravan is early." Renwa walked the direction of the entrance to town. Elunara closed her board and followed along.
The foreman of the wagon train jumped down.
"You're early." Called Renwa.
The wagon master nodded. "Yeah, about that." He nodded to Elunara before turning back to Renwa. "You see, we picked up some extra passengers recently. A group of adventurers freed some slaves from the ogres. You know how that goes."
Renwa nodded.
"Anyway, they had nowhere to go, so we've carried them with us, trying to find someone who'll take em off our hands. Unfortunately, the women came from the sex slavers."
Renwa swore.
The wagon master nodded. "They're kind of messed up; if you get my meaning. Anyway, they heard about your little art project, and they've acted like it was their mission in life to get here."
Renwa sighed. "I just figured out how to store all of the new recruits we got in. Now I have to figure this out. How many?"
The wagon master winced. "Twelve of them."
Renwa groaned.
Elunara popped open her board and began to draw. The other crew had begun to empty the wagons, and passengers climbed out. She continued to document the scene as Renwa continued to talk to the wagon master. She saw them. They were sort of obvious. Four Draenei women huddled together in a lump. They looked around the area and looked frightened. Elunara strolled towards them, sketching them all the while. Finally one of the women noticed her and nudged the others.
Once she was close enough, Elunara added details. She recognized that almost dead look in a couple of the faces, but the one in front looked at her with avid interest.
"Are you the artist?" Her accent was pretty thick.
Elunara held up the quick portrait of the four women. They looked at the picture in amazement. "My name is Elunara." She smiled and held out the picture.
The front woman took the picture. "I am Tulani." She handed it to another woman. "This is Nia, Lysel and Minya."
"Come, let's go somewhere more private." Elunara cocked her head to the side and then walked on. She led the small group of women to her barracks and let them in.
The women eyed the beds nervously, so Elunara pulled out some chairs. Three of the women had their chairs close enough that they could continue to lean on each other, but the fourth woman, Tulani, watched her like a hawk. Elunara could appreciate the sentiment.
"I have heard you came to participate in my portrait project."
Tulani was the only one to speak. "We heard that you were drawing people to make a catalogue of them. So that they can be found and identified, should anything happen. We want to do that."
Elunara considered. "I have not done women yet, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Let me explain my methods and your options."
Tulani nodded.
"First, I will draw you, fully clothed, in a standing position. Front, sides and back. Next I will draw you in the nude. Front, sides, and back. When I am satisfied with my drawings, I will go over your body completely, finding scars, skin shading, tattoos, anything like that. Once I am finished, we can work on poses. If you want a simple portrait, fully clothed, we can stop there. You will have to describe any anomalies that I need to catalogue. However, for the process of identification, being fully naked is the most accurate. At any point in time, you tell me to not continue, I will stop. Are you ok with that?"
The three women whimpered and cringed as Elunara spoke. Tulani had twitched, but maintained herself. "I will do it all."
"Tulani!" Whispered one of the women.
Tulani stood up and stripped off her simple dress. Even Elunara was forced to blink and stare.
"I want my body back." Tulani turned to the women. "You hear me? They took it away from me, and I want it back! This" She pointed to Elunara's board. "This will help us. This will give us our bodies back."
Elunara coughed. "This is currently my home. If you ladies are more comfortable, the healer has opened a room in her building for this process. She felt that you might feel strange in my home, rather than in a clinical area."
Tulani nodded. "I will do it here. They may wish to do it at your healers."
"Please put your clothes on for now. I will see about getting the four of you a place to stay while you're in town."
Tulani picked up her dress and tugged it over her head. "Forgive me."
Elunara stood up and patted Tulani's arm. "It's fine. I understand about wanting to take your life back."
They walked out of the door and Elunara saw Grogek coming up the path. Three of the women shrank back against the wall, and Tulani half scooted behind Elunara.
Elunara turned her head. "Grogek is... what you might call my husband."
Tulani's eyes grew huge. "But he is of Iron Horde."
Grogek stopped in front of Elunara. He bent down and brushed his lips on hers. "Who are your odd followers?"
"They came on the caravan, they want portraits."
Grogek raised an eyebrow. "Women?"
Elunara shrugged. "Where are you headed?"
"Renwa asked for my help with strong arming some of the supplies out of the wagons."
"I'll join you." She turned to the women. "Follow us, and we may be able to get you that help." She didn't bother to check. Tulani was at her shoulder, and she knew the others wouldn't want to be left on their own.
It took a few days, and a few unlucky troops got to sleep outside, but eventually another Barracks was raised. Tulani had become Elunara's constant companion. Even when the other women wanted to stay behind, she was at Elunara's side. Elunara just hadn't had time to do her portrait.
Once in the barracks room, Tulani stood as Elunara had left her. Elunara worked with Tulani until Tulani said she wanted a seated portrait. Elunara complied, giving her what she wanted. Then Elunara asked for Tulani to remove her dress. Carefully, Tulani put it to the side.
Elunara narrowed her eyes. "What's that?" She pointed to Tulani's leg.
"It is a slaver tattoo." Tulani said quietly.
Elunara nodded. "I'll get to it then." Elunara continued through her method, including running her hands over Tulani's body checking for marks. She was quite upset by what all she had found on the Draenei's body. Only the most seasoned of the army had scars like these. There were burn marks, cuts, and deep, not quite healed bruises. The more Elunara found, the worst she felt for the poor woman. She ignored the desire to kiss them better, and instead marked them in her papers.
"The man who told me about your portraits..." Tulani began.
"Hmm." Elunara acknowledged as she examined the tattoo. She ran her fingers over it. "I'm going to have to get you to sit so I can get this one better." She guided Tulani to a chair and had her spread her legs. She knelt there, in between Tulani's legs, examining the intricate tattoo. "Who did this?" She started recreating it in her papers.
