World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard, not me. Sakela and Kala(Kakela) are mine, and can be found on Wyrmrest Accord (US). Nari, is, alas, fictional.

Sakela fingered the worn silver bracelet that was the only memory she had remaining of her twin sister. Identical in appearance, but definitely not in personality, she wondered, not for the first time, why the pale imitation was the one to survive and the real one bite it? It just wasn’t fair! If only that selfish bastard Gallywix hadn’t tried to take so much useless junk with him-

She laughed at her train of thought and put the bracelet back in her pocket. Useless junk. What kind of goblin was she calling gold and riches useless? Then again, what value was gold and riches when she didn’t have Nari’s life, and besides, she didn’t have the gold anyway. Their asshole of a self-proclaimed “leader” did.

She turned away from the slums and headed out into Orgrimmar proper, maybe there’d be work, honest or otherwise that’d get her out of this place, away from him, away from all of them. Selfish, whiny, money grubbing, uncaring…

“Filthy little elf. That’ll teach you some honor. You fight face to face like an orc or starve.” She looked over at the obvious fight happening in the shadows of one of the buildings. The elf in question, one of those “Sin’dorei” or whatever they called themselves, was dirty and wounded, but not beaten down yet. She, at least Sakela thought it was female, she’d never really seen them up close before, but it looked female, crouched in a fighting stance, knife ready, green eyes glowing angrily at her attacker.

“I told you already, you thickheaded ogre spawn! I didn’t take it! Wrong ‘filthy’ elf! Can’t give back what I didn’t take! Now leave me be, or I will hurt you.” The orc was a whole lot bigger than her. Hell, the orc was a whole lot bigger than Sakela. Still, she seemed confident of her chances in combat.

The orc seemed to agree with Sakela’s assessment, however, and sneered at her. “With your little knife?”

“Yes, with my little knife.” She smiled and tilted her head slightly. “Don’t you think it’s enough?”

Sakela frowned, thinking. They weren’t supposed to fight in orgrimmar, not that it didn’t happen sometimes, but if she showed this to a guard like that one over there, would they get the elf or the orc in trouble. The elf was interesting, she wanted to know more about someone who thought they could take on orc warriors with knives and win. They might be a profitable friend, after all, but how to get her away from the orc without a confrontation…

“There you are!” She strode up to the two pretending like she was supposed to be there. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” Sakela put one hand on the elf woman’s, for she was certain it was a woman now, arm.

“You have?”

“You were supposed to meet me about that thing we discussed?” She sharpened her words at the end and looked up at the orc.

…The orc who was looking rather angry at her. Uh oh.

“Oh look pal, I ain’t got room for a new business partner on this. It’s just us girls at the moment. You got a problem with that, you take it up with that guard over there.” She gestured at the guard walking patrol just a short distance away.

The orc narrowed his eyes. “I’m not stupid. This is some sort of trick.”

Sakela smiled. “Some sort. But hey, it’s better than me yelling that you’re attacking a poor defenseless upstanding goblin woman such as myself.” She practically dragged the stunned elf out behind her.

When she returned to her small corner of the slums with the elf woman she said “So, not that I’m gonna rat you out, but, did you take his stuff?”

The woman grinned. “Of course. Thanks for that, it would have been messy. I’m Kala.”

“Sakela.”

She smiled and winced as it opened a small cut on her face. Sakela gestured for her to sit. “I can do some healin’. Stay awhile.”

“Your name’s similar to mine.” She sat on the ground and Sakela examined the cut on her face. Superficial. Not a problem at all.

“Yeah. I used to be called Sa’la when I was a kid even…” Only by Nari… She looked away as she used the elemental powers she was so used to harnessing to heal Kala’s wounds.

“You lost someone?”

“Everyone. My family was out to sea when what they’re calling the cataclysm hit. You?” She ran her fingers over her healed face.

“My sister. She didn’t make it off Kezan before the volcano went. Could you really kill an orc with just a dagger? I gotta know.” Sakela sat facing Kala, and looked her over. She was the palest creature Sakela had ever seen, her skin looked like beach sand or seashells, and her hair wasn’t much darker than that. She was incredibly delicate looking too, like she might be made of glass, but Sakela doubted that. Elves who were made of glass didn’t fight orcs. Maybe she was a fine lady or something, and this was her ticket to riches.

“Well, no.” She grinned, a hint of a wicked smile showing on her lips. “The paralytic I’d coated the dagger in would have taken care of him though.”

Sakela stared at her for a long moment. Poison. “That’s fantastic!” She laughed. “You’re something else Kala.”

She shrugged one thin shoulder. “By the time it wore off he’d likely have forgotten why he was coming after me anyway. I’m pretty sure half the orcs in Orgrimmar can’t tell particular members of other races apart anyway.”

“You know, I was sort of noticing that. They put us off in this little corner, and then that ass leaves for Azshara for his resort in the mountains. That Thrall guy totally lied to us when he told us about the Horde. They don’t seem all that better than the jerks that bombed our boat. ”

Kala sighed and patted Sakela’s shoulder. “It’s not a nice place, no. Stick with me, Sala, and I’ll show you how to take this town by storm.”