This is the final chapter of Love Potion. It's been a wonderful learning experience both in storytelling and in prose and I came to realize a lot about my own style of writing in the process. I hope everyone's enjoyed it!
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Well into the deep Stranglethorn jungles, Zul'raja and her party of volunteers had traveled past Ren'jai and Ithildess in their effort to lure a boar towards them. They were hiding near the far end of a natural funnel between two grown saplings, marked by animal tracks so dense Ithildess couldn't tell one from the other; perhaps that was a good sign of things to come.
The jungles seemed different to her, as if it could get more silent, and the odd sound of a bird or the rustling of leaves far above accented the silence rather than interrupting it. Ithildess certainly wasn't comfortable, the jungle floor felt wet and soggy under her boots, and Ren'jai had laughed when she stuffed the ends of her leggings into them at the mention of venomous spiders and insects that loved to crawl into boots at night. "Everything here can kill ya," Ren'jai repeated a she knelt opposite Ithildess, totally barefoot but troll feet were infamously thick-skinned and no insect in Azeroth could penetrate something like that, Ren boasted as she stomped a millipede to death, going out of her way to do so.
"Water?" Ithildess asked, she saw the sweat on Ren'jai, yet not nearly as bad as Zul had it.
"I didn't see ya bring any," Ren'jai said, then fixed her eyes as Ithildess weaved her hands over her canteen to the sound of it filling rapidly.
"I didn't," she smirked, and Ren'jai reached out and took the canteen from her hands. She swirled its contents, brought it to her nose, even poured some on the ground.
"So this is your magic, cold water?" Despite her mocking tone, she drank deeply and tossed it over, "ya think some water will stop a charging boar?"
"And ice," Ithildess added, "but not regular ice, it's far colder and hard as bone,"
"Good for stabbing someone in the back," Ren'jai brought her voice down, and smiled coldly as Ithildess' froze.
"So you spoke to Zul about what happened," Ithildess asked, and Ren'jai kept her steely glance on her. She had seen big cats hunt before, and right before they attack they stay perfectly still, which is what Ren did, the bones and claws tied to her hair slowly spinning.
"Zul'raja is the one who made this village, we fought in the arenas and we stand on a mountain of death. I respect anything she does, but I will not trust a sin'dorei until she earns it," Ithildess opened her mouth, yet she remained silent as Ren stared her down, unmoving still.
"This potion of yours I don't care about, and not that you killed for her or have her scent all over ya. But," Ren yielded briefly, looking towards the dirt path, "she entered a bloodrage for you, still there's no anger in her."
Terms like 'bloodrage' were things Ithildess had only read about in books after her love for trolls had taken her on a few academic studies across Azeroth, yet it had never been properly explained so she had understood. She knew it was violent, that much was evident.
"What are you trying to say?" was all she could manage to answer.
"Zul'raja has not told you anything, has she?" Ren smirked, and the words stung Ithildess, "do ya know what her name means?" Ren said after some deliberation. Ithildess shook her head silently, and Ren filled in, "Zul'raja is a great anger, it's her old name, older than Raja'Mai."
Confusion and anger rose in Ithildess, she hissed, "all this mention of anger, bloodrage, arenas and the past, but you have told me nothing!"
Ren'jai grinned with malicious glee, "The bloodrage, the raja, is the power of the berserker. That is Zul. We fought in the arena, she threw her weapons to the ground and tore men apart with only her hands and blood and coin rained on her. Is that the answer ya wanted?"
Ithildess just could not see it, but the image of that man from the house, his chest distorted and his head a reddish pulp, and Zul astride him, shaking with rage; it hadn't made sense to her then, the sight had been too sickening.
"That is who you love," Ren'jai's voice felt cold, "you don't get to love her thinking she is perfect, that's what it means to love a troll."
"What does it mean for Anji?" Ithildess said, the only thing she could think of.
"We are not as fresh as you, she knows who I am, every side of me."
"And I will know every side of Zul," Ithildess said defiantly, "I'll have her tell me, I shouldn't have heard this from you. And if I find you've been lying I'm coming after you."
To this, Ren'jai laughed so loud Ithildess was certain it had stirred the whole jungle, "trust no-one, sin'dorei."
Ren'jai went back to watching the funnel, and Ithildess was left alone with her own thoughts. Zul had kept something from her again, lied by omission, and Ithildess felt frustration when she couldn't understand why. Yet she could not bring herself to hate Zul, that emotion would be reserved for herself, but she found no issue in the bitterness of being promised honesty and not receiving it. She considered this deeply but was awakened by an odd whistling noise that pierced through the jungle from the other side of the funnel. "The signal," Ren'jai whispered, and they leaned their heads out and saw a black boar charging through the forest floor, with two trolls maneuvering past the trees and after it.
Watching as the boar skirted around thick roots and kicked up wet leaves as it skidded on the wet ground, Ithildess, driven partly by anger, channeled cold into the palms of her hands, and the moment the boar entered the funnel she unleashed it all onto the ground and it spread as a large patch of white ice. The animal had no time to stop; it lost all friction, rolled and kicked until Ren put her weight over it with a trained precision, and struck a blade into its neck. It kept kicking its hind legs in a run, then that was reduced to a sad quiver, and Ren'jai hauled it over her shoulder. Like that, it was over.
"This is a fine one, plenty of meat will come of this," Ren patted its black fur and looked at Ithildess with approval, "go to Zul, I'll find my own way," she said and walked away, and in seconds the mass of trees obscured her. Zul came jumping over the ice, and smiled widely at Ithildess, who stood leaned by a slender tree.
"You're wonderful! I don't think a hunt has ever gone this well, all thanks to a little magic," Zul took her hands, looked at them, then blew hot air onto her palms, "You're freezing."
