Kael Gull was looking from some distance at a pavilion with a blond high elf organizing her goods that were being displayed on shelves, mostly vials, gems and jewelry. The pavilion itself was white with a touch of gold and deep red, as all other buildings around him. It reminded him of Imperial architecture only remotely, being much more light and plain, having nothing from the Imperial robust and ornamental designs.

  What he was currently doing was just inconspicuously stalking the customers while trying to catch enough words of their strange language to feed his insatiable universal translator. If he had to compare their language to the imperial common speech, it felt like comparing a bolter to a water gun with a broken trigger.

  "It is sticky like a piece of bread after ten days in water." Kael tried to ignore the looks of all the guards in the small village that were literally glued to him since the moment he entered it a while ago.

  He had to say that the environmental activists that sometimes bothered the worlds of adeptus mechanicus would have been pleased with the amount of greenery here, the high elves overdid themselves in this aspect. Naturally, such activists were solved quickly and efficiently, like everything else that hindered productivity on those worlds. Unlike here.

  The more concerning news was that he had not yet seen any ships flying over their heads, which was more than worrying considering that their main city, Silvermoon, should lie not far ahead. He was not able to see the city yet, but according to his experience, the space traffic should be seen from this distance.

  "Let's hope this place. . . " Kael dodged what looked like a high elf ridding an overgrown ostrich to appear polite in the eyes of the locals. ". . . is not just some shitehole."

  When he imagined none of the kingdoms having space traffic, he had to cover his eyes with his hand to recover his vision from turning black. He had definitely not signed up for building a spaceport to get off some backwater planet.

  "Maybe the plot of the Archenemy was more sinister than I have anticipated and this was the true trap they have readied for me." He whispered gloomily under his breath, while watching the woman sell another vial of red liquid. "Emperor help me lift my ass off this place."

  Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper of the pavilion headed his way after her next customer left, her steps hesitant and quick.

  "Visitor, you are scaring off my customers. Could you please wait somewhere else?" She displayed a fake smile, but he could tell that there was no honesty in it. Under her beautiful face, there was a murderous intent. He gave it no significance, as it was common for private business owners to go berserk when their coin was touched.

  A nearby guard immediately hurried over, as if he had been waiting for this opportunity all along.

  "Is there some trouble?" He asked, his right hand close to his weapon.

  "No, I am going to wait somewhere else, as the lady here requested." The inquisitor answered, it was not important where he was gathering data.

  "Thank you." The shopkeeper said, while doubtlessly wanting to say something completely different and walked back towards her merchandise.

  "Ah, alright." The local soldier looked almost disappointed and slowly retreated back to his station.

  "They have not kicked me out already just because they know I would have spanked their asses anyway." The inquisitor grumbled in High Gothic again. He should really work on his bad habit before his tongue slipped in front of the people from the Ecclesiarchy or Ordo Hereticus. Not that he feared them due to his status, it just tended to complicate cooperation.

  He decided to walk slowly towards the main city, leaving the small village on a hill behind him.

  Suddenly, he noticed something flying in the sky and his heart nearly burst with joy.

  Only for his glee to be cooled down again, when he noticed that it was just some kind of a bird with a high elf sitting on top of it, the bird quickly nearing a row of poles where similar birds were seated.

  "A flier alright, but this one will hardly bring me above the atmosphere." He watched the bird "dock" and a high elf ran in the direction from where Kael was coming. She exchanged a few quick words with the local guards, who suddenly looked all meek and disciplined and immediately rushed in his direction.

  "Oh, boy. I might have to go wait to a latrine this time." The inquisitor laughed sarcastically and waited until the female high elf reached him, her commanding presence betraying her high position.

  "You have come through the Lordaeron gate, what is the situation there? What is your business in Quel'Thalas at this time?" Kael listened while observing more riders in the sky, some of them continuing above their heads in the direction of the unfortunate kingdom of humans.

  "I had to make an emergency landing while conducting official business of the Inquisition." He spoke the truth, omitting the detail that he was also avoiding the angry mobs of Lordaeron soldiers after killing their corrupted prince.

  "I have no time for this, what is the situation near Stratholme? You will go to jail if you continue talking nonsense. This is a serious matter!"

  Kael Gull sighed in frustration. He, an agent of the Inquisition, feared everywhere he went, was now being threatened by some inadequate Eldar offshoot, hailing from a kingdom that had yet to produce any space traffic. How far has he fallen!

  "There was a commotion when I have left. Nothing serious." He spoke the truth. There were even no vehicles involved, not even speaking about Titans or orbital support. Nothing a few days of fighting would not solve.

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  "You are a suspicious figure, I can't have you wandering around. Especially not dressed in that!" She pointed at his power armor. "How much does it even weight? You are not a civilian."

  "Naturally, I am an inquisitor, as I have already told you." Kael knocked on the I symbol engraved on his power armor, but there was only confusion in the eyes of his conversation partner. She had not anticipated his confidence, his story being supported even by minor details.

  "Do you mean a paladin? It is true that this new faith in Light is too novel for us high elves to fully understand. What are you even doing here, when your headquarters is in turmoil?" The elf was trying to categorize him, as she would a native person. She tilted her head for a while, before forcing herself out of her deep thoughts. "This goes nowhere, you are going with me, I cannot have someone like you wandering around during a time like this. "

  "Alright, but I am not leaving this region after I provide support." Kael understood that returning to his supposed headquarters would prove problematic and should be avoided.

  "Fine, you have my word, I myself am against exiling humans." They turned in the direction she had come from where more high elves had just arrived.

  "Sylvanas, we are here. Are we going on foot?" One of them was clearly of higher status, standing tall in front of the rest.

  "Yes, we will avoid the sky for multiple reasons." She nodded towards Kael and the newcomer directed a frown in his direction.

  "Who is he?"

  "That is to be determined, but we should not have our main force in the air. We would be too easy targets for magic users, it is better to be hidden in the woods." Sylvanas looked around and spoke to Kael again. "You should mount a hawkstrider, you will slow us down on foot in all that steel."

  "All right." The inquisitor chose not to argue, looking forward for the obvious to happen. If he remembered right, the term belonged to the flimsy creatures that were running all around.

  Under the clear sky and golden leaves of Quel'Thalas, there led a cobblestone road south, leading to the kingdom of Lordaeron. On the road, on the edges of a picturesque village called Tranquillien, a mournful sound of a squawking animal could be heard, sitting helplessly in the middle of the road, trying to lift itself onto its shaking feet.

  "Well, I think you get the picture now." Kael said calmly from top of the animal that had his admiration for not being completely crushed under his weight. The idea of it running around with him on top was a pipe dream obviously.

  "Stop this brute at once!" He immediately gained the ire of half of the females present and Sylvanas had to act quickly to prevent an accident from happening.

  "That is enough! You have proven your point. Lor'themar, stay with him, you two will catch up to us later." A serious-looking elf did not seem thrilled by the prospect, but did not argued against it.

  "Yes, general." He quickly walked to stand next to Kael, who finally unburdened the poor hawkstrider and let it be taken away by a stable master nearby.

  Needs to be said that Kael's decision to be careful not to hurt the bird was very prudent, as some of the high elves seemed to be overly attached to the feathered animals.

  The Ranger-General quickly left and Kael was left there with the lone high elf who decided to go on foot as well.

  Keal had originally intended to swing his status around, as it would have been the quickest way to solve everything. But only if the circumstances were normal. The population might have been separated from the Imperium for hundreds of years, judging by their behavior. He saw himself being stuck at the place for far longer than he had originally anticipated.

  "I guess the xenos in Segmentum Tempestus will have to wait." He grumbled, walking alongside his babysitter who did not seem to be much of a talker.

  They jogged back towards the gate, Kael controlling his speed, not to embarrass his supervisor. The sky above them was still bright, but in its northeastern part, there were already stars glittering through the nearing darkness.

  Night was coming.

  "Nights are beautiful here, are you people traveling to the stars?" Kael tried to start a conversation, but his subtle approach was met with failure in the face of the serious expression of his temporary companion and only heavy silence and fluttering of the golden leaves in the wind answered his question.

  "Perhaps, you yourself have been to the stars, Lor'themar." Kael pressed on when met with ignorance and the high elf finally noticed him and gave him an unfriendly look.

  "For you, it is Sir Theron." He said seriously. In fact, his face was so serious that Kael had an urge to grip his cheeks and stretch them apart just for fun.

  That was saying something, as those were usually not the thoughts of an inquisitor.

  "Have you, Sir Theron?" Kael Gull chose to risk being extremely annoying, as the information he was trying to get from Lor'themar Theron was very important to him.

  "Wha- What?!" The high elf was flabbergasted by his intrusive behavior, but before he could burst into anger, Kael formulated his question again.

  "Are your people traveling to the stars, Sir Theron?" The elf seemed undecided whether to be angry with Kael's rudeness, or content that he honored his request and no longer called him by his first name.

  "What nonsensical question is that? Better be on your guard, human, we will be leaving our territory soon." He ended up saying and moved to the front, running through the elven gate without stopping, the gate guards not even saying a word.

  They traveled through the mountain pass that marked the end of high elven territory, the soldiers that had been searching for him nowhere to be found, probably busy with other duties.

  "I am on my guard and I would really like to hear your answer, Sir." Kael continued to be annoying, he simply needed to have a glimpse of the bigger picture and he doubted that the high elf in front of him would kill him. If he judged the person right, he seemed to be quite disciplined and was unlikely to violate a direct order of his superior.

  And the order was to escort, not to kill.

  Out of the blue, the tip of a long, curved blade moved towards Kael with considerable speed, the high elf already turned to face him with his facial muscles tight. Kael snickered in his mind, quickly pulled out his combat knife and deflected the attacking blade away from his chest while pulling out his chainsword with his right hand. He pointed it at his opponent who made a step back.

  Needs to be said that the combat knife was of the same standard adeptus astartes were using, meaning it was no toothpick even when compared to an ordinary sword.

  In the next second, Lor'themar switched to a bow and unleashed a powerful shot with his bow aimed at his thigh. The inquisitor blocked it again with his knife, but was surprised by the force of the blow that did not seem to correspond to the physical force unleashed by the bow.

  "What? Warp? Is he a psyker?" Kael was shocked by the mysteriously added force that left his left hand tingling. It was obvious that such a feat could not be achieved though a pure physical force of the thin male.

  His counterpart was not any less surprised, staring at the inquisitor's motionless left hand that had not been forced back at all by the shot. Instinctively, the inquisitor gripped his hand tighter, until the itch was gone and he was ready for another blow.

  Both of them realized that they had been taking the other party too lightly.

  Kael decided to be the first to break the uneasy silence.

  "I am on my guard, Sir Theron, no need to check my combat readiness." He said in a level tone, as if nothing had happened. Kael thought that it might be a good idea to provide the high elf with an escape route, after he miscalculated and instead of a teacher giving his reckless pupil a lesson, how he most likely wanted to conclude the situation, he made himself look overconfident in his ability.

  "Noted." He answered dryly, checking his weapon again, as if trying to find fault with its design. "Let's hurry, we are close to our target."

  They turned right, heading to Stratholme.