Tucked away in the grassy highlands of the Kerazen steppe, the prosperous kingdom of Stoneglen stood near the large gravel pits Kerazen had to offer. Liberated centuries prior by the nomads who occupied the steppe, Stoneglen quickly became a prosperous nation given the sheer amount of iron ore found beneath the gravel pits. Stoneglen was a vast walled city, which contained many markets, tight living quarters, and several courtyards for public events. Several inns were scattered across the city and were normally packed once nightfall came around. During the day many traders tried swindling visitors into buying their product. The cities armed guard maintained a heavy presence within the walls to ensure no violence occured within or outside of the cities limits. King Theron and Queen Kallista at the time had recently given birth to their child, Princess Dahlia. At the time, Dahlia was their only child and heir to the throne. During her childhood she was raised to be proper and understanding. However, because she was set to be Queen, she needed to marry royalty from another kingdom in order to maintain the Royal bloodline and to forge ties with other kingdoms. At the time, it wasn't known to Dahlia that she was being set up in an arranged marriage with the Chancellor of Silverwood. She was only a child at the time. However, the older she became the more she realized that upon adulthood, she would be wedded to a man not of her choice. During her early years, it was learned that the fields of Kerazen possessed heavy amounts of arcane energy. These energies have been harnessed by the arcane attuned denizens of the steppe for eons. Arcane attunement was hereditary, not everyone was able to harness the powers that flowed around them. Queen Kallista came from a long line of mages. She herself was arcane attuned, and, by blood, so was Dahlia. From an early age, Dahlia was personally trained by Kallista in the ways of harnessing these powers. Dahlia proved to be difficult to train. Often, she skipped on her lessons to hang out with commoners within the cities limits. Kallista was strong and swift, often handing down harsh punishments to Dahlia for her inability to cooperate. Kallista often thought she could control others by force rather than reason. Royalty had no use of learning the arcane magics. As it stood, the use of learning arcane magic was to pass down the knowledge if Queens beared children whom would not take the throne and instead took more political roles. Wizards and Enchantresses were often seen as highly intellectual and respected. A nanny wasn't something Kallista expected to hire. As a Queen, and more importantly a mother, she thought she would have the time to raise Dahlia as her own. Often, Dahlia would spend many days and nights by herself at the whim of royal subjects. This led to many rash expenses at the cost of the kingdoms coffers as the teenage Dahlia hosted lavish parties in her parents absence for all of her commoners friends. This was not a good look by any means for the kingdom. Within the ranks of the guard was a retired Draenei paladin named Claribel, who often went by Claire. This paladin was renowned for her strategic assaults on the Black Empire and even escaping capture on her own. Her connection to the light was astounding and her stories were legendary. Being retired, Claire wished to no longer fight people unless it was necessary. She wished to have a simple role. Claire thought that baby sitting a princess would be a walk in the park. After being introduced to Dahlia, life went on as normal for the young princess. She continued to throw lavish parties. She kept inviting strangers over to the keep. All while evading Claire's presence. Dahlia thought she could outsmart the retired paladin. During the next extravaganza Dahlia decided to host, she realized that those making bringing of food, mead, and entertainment refused to deliver. No amount of gold could away their opinions. Dahlia had to awkwardly cancel the invitations to the parties she hosted. The friends she invited over would find that the windows into the keep that they normally used were now permanently locked. The only way in and out was through the guards at the front doors, exactly where Claire parked herself. Unless there was a royal duty that the guest needed to perform, the visitors were always denied access. Dahlia had become enraged. The treatment Claire gave her was unfair. She was a teen and she wanted to live her life how she wanted. She didn't want to be royalty. She didn't want to subjugate herself to learning the art of the arcane. She wanted to be a free spirit. During a night time escapade, Dahlia broke the locks off one of the windows and snuck out into town. There, she found herself at the life of a party in the basement of an inn. Loud music rumbled the floorboards of the inn, the flickering of torches danced across the walls, the movement of bodies flowed to the beat of the music. Here, a man introduced Dahlia to a substance that was brand new to the kingdom of Stoneglen, Val'kyr dust. It was crushed mana gems into a fine powder to be snorted to increased the feeling of power within oneself. After ingesting the powder, Dahlia felt her heart rate surge. She felt she was able to draw in more arcane energy around her to manipulate however she wished. The feeling was incredible. As Dahlia continued to dance the night away, someone snuck up behind her. While under the effects of the Val'kyr dust, her perception of reality had been warped. She did not notice the man come up behind her. Withdrawing a knife, the man attempted to assassinate the princess. A small glowing spectral hammer spun through the air, a loud thud came from behind Dahlia as a body hit the ground. She began to panic. She was quickly nabbed by a person in a dark cloak and robe. Dahlia was kicking and screaming. Once outside, the person removed the hood, showing themselves as Claire. Claire was upset that Dahlia snuck out, was drinking, doing drugs, and almost got herself killed. Claire really hammered home the importance of her self awareness. She couldn't care less about the drinking and drugs, but if Dahlia wanted to stay alive she needed to be aware of what was going on around her. From that day forward, Dahlia did a lot of deep thinking about her choices in life. Instead of spending time partying, she turned to hanging out with Claire. The two of them ended up bonding over a lot of activities. Fishing, dancing, and traveling just to name a few. Claire even let Dahlia go out and party as long as she could supervise her, to which Dahlia agreed. With time, Claire loosened up a little and indulged with Dahlia in her partying. Claire did not lose sight of her duties though. As Dahlia came of age, it was her families wish over the past years that Dahlia be wedded to the Chancellor of Silverwood. Uniting the two families and increasing the political power both hold. It was not until the day of the wedding that Dahlia learned of who her pending husband was. A formal wedding was hosted. Everyone was made to wear lavish outfits. Elegant food was crafted for the illustrious event. World renowned bards were hired to entertain the event. As Dahlia walked down the aisle, she thought to herself that this couldn't be that bad. She looked up and saw the man she was marrying. A young dwarf named Edwin. Dahlia thought of her new husband as putrid. She held it together though and tried her best to survive the wedding. She kept glancing at Claire the entire time. Claire's expression didn't look too promising. After the wedding ceremony ended, Dahlia spoke with Claire. Dahlia learned that Claire was being relieved of her watch over Dahlia as Dahlia would go on to live with Edwin at the Silverwood Keep. The news broke Dahlia's heart. She wasn't expecting to lose her closest friend because of a marriage she didn't ask for. Months has gone by since Dahlia moved in with Edwin. He made many advances in her to attempt to produce heirs to his throne. All of which Dahlia turned down. She had zero interest in the Chancellor. She didn't care for him at all. One night, Edwin tried to make an advance on Dahlia and she had it. She snapped and stormed out of the keep. She rushed into the town, evading guards the best she could. She crept around a local inn and found a man selling the infamous Val'kyr dust. After purchasing some off of him she climbed up atop the roof of the inn and cried. After taking several hits off of the dust, she felt more alive. She felt like she could accomplish anything. She made the decision to run away from everything. If she wanted to live the life she wanted, she couldn't do it here with Edwin. She couldn't do it being royalty. Dahlia spent the rest of the night doing lines of Val'kyr dust and watching the stars overhead. The morning sun rose and as did Dahlia. She snagged a cloak from a clothes line and hid herself as she slipped through the streets. The guard presence within Silverwood had doubled, many peasants were pressed to answer for Dahlia's whereabouts. She needed a new change of clothing and a way out. The trading port within the city was always bustling. Many ships come and go, transporting cargo and performing monetary exchanges. In the distance, Dahlia spotted the hub of the trade: The Kingsfall Exchange. Inside the large exchange housed many aisles with various items with price tags. On the walls were busts of animals. There were many shelves along the walls with various relics, taxidermied animals, and trophies. Towards the back of the exchange was a long worn wood counter with several scales, lockboxes, and a massive burly, yet jolly, older man. Dahlia strolled up to the counter, cutting everyone in line and announced herself as Lady Dahlia of Silverwood. Giving a grand monologue about how she is the Royal wife of Chancellor Edwin Forthlon. The man behind the counter wrinkled his face and told her to either get in line or go home. Dahlia didn't expect the man to treat her with such disrespect, however, going home wasn't an option. She hopped in the back of the line. Several hours had gone by and Dahlia was 2 places ahead of getting help. The sun was setting outside. The man behind the counter began closing up shop, telling the remainder of the line that business was closed. This infuriated Dahlia. She was royalty and she demanded to be seen as such. She pushed the other two aside and began barking over the counter at the tired clerk. The man shrugged and pointed to the business hours on the sign. Dahlia screamed and stormed out of the business. She ended up behind the exchange, using her arcane magic to conjure ice shards to fling at piles of trash. She did several lines of dust and the shards she conjured grew more and more intense. She ended up flinging one which ricocheted and struck her in the arm. She fell to the ground and cried herself to sleep in the disgusting back alley. As the early morning church bells rung throughout the city, Dahlia woke up. Covered in a weird slime from sleeping behind the exchange, she felt disgusting. She had thought about walking, but she would become an easy target by land because of who she is. Traveling by sea, no one knows who she is. She could realistically end up anywhere in the world but Silverwood. To Dahlia, becoming a stowaway on a boat was her best bet. She quickly rose to her feet and marched inside the exchange. This time, she waited in line. The line wasn't long today. As she waited, she realized no one queued behind her, which she found to be odd. When it was her time to reach the counter, the man behind it twisted his mustache and looked down upon the little lady. Dahlia found out that today the exchange was only open for a few hours and only for rush orders. The man behind the counter tapped the sign, which was also the same sign on the front door. However, since the woman did decide to wait in line and respected the business hours, the man decided to at least the very least introduce himself and hear her out. Monte was his name and running the exchange was his game. The towering man explained to Dahlia that he had been running this exchange, along with several others across the continents for many years. The exchange in Silverwood was his hub, however he was planning on rotating to one in Northrend rather soon. The eyes on Dahlia lit up. She explained to Monte that she wanted to self exile herself, she wanted to live a life that she controls. Not where she's judged by many for minor slip ups. Not where she's an incubator for royal children. She wanted to get away from it all and she was willing to do anything to make that a reality. She wondered if Monte could help smuggle her onto a ship, any ship that is going away from Silverwood. Monte was apalled by her words. He explained to her that there are many women in this world who would give up everything to be in the role she's in now. Monte questioned Dahlia if she really wanted to give up the highest form of comfort and stability for living a lowly life. Seeing how quickly Dahlia nodded, the sincerity in her eyes, and her dedication to approaching him in the putrid condition she is in was enough for Monte to tell she wasn't lying. The shopkeep made a deal with the woman. Bring him 5000 gold coins, earned by herself, and he will bring her to Northrend with him. Upon agreeing to the terms, Dahlia set out to attempt to start from nothing. She had realized two things: She couldn't use her access to the Royal coffers, nor could she keep her face around Silverwood without risking being caught. Dahlia traveled south to a town she read about in many proclamations, Skargard. Skargard is a town located within a rocky archipelago. At the southern tip of the continent, there was a bridge from a peninsula spanning to one of the islands that housed the town. Several days had gone by wandering the roads south to Skargard. Dahlia had been hungry, she drank water from whatever source she could find. This was nothing like living within the chancellors quarters. As she wandered along, she found that no one would spare food for her as food had already been scarce to begin with. She resorted to eating anything from scraps to trying bugs. She was incredibly embarassed that she voluntarily stooped down to this. Dahlia constantly reminded herself that it was worth it, that she wouldn't make herself susceptible to the mind numbing lifestyle of royalty. She was determined to carve her own path in life, despite how grueling it may be. Skargard wasn't much farther for Dahlia. She could see the port town from the hills. After entering the town, she now needed to figure out how to make money here. There were several avenues she thought about. She thought she could join a fishing crew, or possibly become a head hunter, maybe even learn a trade. She looked all around, many people from different walks of life wandered around doing business here. She ran around and found a call board. Searching through the listings she found one to start out as a sailor on a fishing boat. Dahlia found the shack that housed the fisherman and she walked in, wanting to apply. The men within the shack laughed, thinking that a small woman like herself would even be capable of lifting a barrel of crab. Dahlia became infuriated by their taunts. One of the men challenged her to lift him in the air, if she could she could join the fleet. Dahlia wrapped her arms around the man and tried lifting, she couldn't do it. The man laughed and watched as Dahlia stormed out of the shack. She returned to the call board and looked for a trade job. She's able to learn, she was arcane attuned after all. She found a carpentry job listed. She walked down to the carpenters guild and spoke with a man within the halls of the guild. The man was much nicer than the sailors she had met prior. However, the man kindly told her that even though she's willing to learn, she wouldn't have the stamina to keep up with the others. This greatly upset Dahlia. No one wished to give her the time of day. Night time fell and the streets were still bustling. Dahlia was sitting against a wall to a business. Her stomach was rumbling, she was thirsty, and tired. Her long blonde hair flowed over her knees as she rested her forehead against them. An old fraile elven man walked up to Dahlia. His bones creaked as he knelt down to talk to Dahlia. The man noticed she was down on her luck. A nefarious grim came across the man's face as he offered Dahlia 500 gold coins to spend a night with her. Dahlia realizing this was the first real offer she had seen, and it paid enough for several weeks worth of meals. Dahlia's head snapped up to look at the old man. She wasn't sure what spending a night consisted of, she thought the man, being so old, needed help with his living situation being the age that he is. She thought if he would pay her 500 gold coins every night just to watch over him, she could go back to Monte in under 2 weeks. Dahlia stood up and walked off with the man. Once at the man's abode, she wandered inside and heard him lock up. Dahlia was checking out the place, there were lots of antiques along the walls. Many paintings scattered around, the place was quite cozy. Dahlia's exploration was stopped when she heard a belt unfasten and the sounds of cloth hitting the floor behind her. She slowly turned around and saw the old man stark nude dangling the bag of coins with a greedy smirk on his face. Dahlia freaked out and shot an ice shard straight through the guys face. Once she realized she had unintentionally killed the man she began to freak out more. There was blood all over the room. The sack of coins hit the ground with a loud thud as the body fell backwards. Dahlia scrambled trying to shut all the blinds in the small house. The sack of gold coins glimmered on the ground. After a few moments she took a deep breath and looked between the coins and the body of the nude old man. The ice shard was beginning to melt and vaguely began to resemble a puncture wound from a sword. The coins whispered to her. The whispers grew louder and louder. She snatched the coin sack and unlocked the door. Lightly closing it, she casually walked off back down to the town to grab dinner. The first nights payout was spent on a nice stew, new clothes, and a room at the local inn so she could shower and sleep. That night, she tossed and turned in bed. Visions of that naked wrinkled man played in her head over and over; him dangling the sack of coins as if it was a taunt that she needed to be of service for her money. After unable to sleep for hours, she decided to take a stroll to try to clear her mind. As she paced through the winding illuminated cobblestone streets, she bumped into a friendly looking woman. She stopped and chatted with her. The woman was actually trying to peddle Val'kyr dust to whoever was willing to buy. Dahlia obliged and bought a small pouch worth. She ended up snorting some, which helped lighten her mood. She pranced around the streets, the face of the dead man plastered in her mind. She felt invincible, she was able to murder the man and take his money. Her mood quickly changed as she stumbled into a group of tired fishermen wandering the streets after a long day. They had been drinking and were loud with one another. Dahlia did not see them and apologized for her stumbling into them. The men recognized her from earlier as the cute lady who wanted to be a fisherman. They surrounded her and began pressing her for why she was out so late. They started to yell at her, giving her shit for bumping into them. They made all sorts of lewd comments, suggesting she would be great for morale on long trips across the seas. Dahlia spun around the group, she couldn't see a way out. The pressure the group put on her was beginning to frighten her. Dahlia pushed back, trying to get out and they kept closing the circle. Dahlia picked one random man and conjured a several ice shards. The shards flew through the air pummeling the man in front of her. As the body hit the ground, she leapt over and ran off. The rest of the ground had been more concerned for their injured friend. The next following weeks Dahlia wandered the streets of Skargard, making the pouch of coins stretch as far as they could go. Dahlia found herself unable to sleep as she had impulsively ended the lives of 2 men. Most nights she would be found on a bench curled up replaying the scenarios in her mind on an endless loop. Her mind couldn't stop. A small woman who liked vaguely like Dahlia ended up sitting next to her on a bench overlooking the water. The woman had been eating from a bucket of marinated mutton strips. The woman was a bit sloppy with her eating. As Dahlia looked up at her, the woman introduced herself as Gina. As Gina wiped her hands on her pants, she questioned what drove Dahlia to kill those two people. Dahlia froze. She wasn't aware that anyone reported her. She was royalty, a woman of high nobility. She couldn't be found guilty of murder, she would be publicly executed by her husband. Dahlia broke out crying, she started begging Gina to not take her away. The crying came to a stop when Dahlia heard Gina laughing hysterically. Dahlia questioned what was so funny to Gina. Gina had been following Dahlia since making the deal with Monte is Silverwood. Gina was meant to be a kind of mentor to Dahlia as Monte knew that a woman of nobility wouldn't be able to fit into society without taking extreme measures. Gina had cleaned up the bodies of the two men and eliminated any potential witnesses, including the group of fishermen that harassed Dahlia that night. Dahlia was speechless. A mentor? Someone to look over her because she's incapable of doing common labor? Was Monte expecting her to stoop down and take whatever she could? No. He couldn't have, he was only making a simple deal with her. Gina explained that Monte was going to offer her a job since getting a normal job was too difficult for Dahlia. Monte wants Dahlia to work as a debt collector along side Gina. Monte knew of Dahlia's arcane attunement. Attunements were exceptionally rare outside of royal families. The night Dahlia conjured ice shards to fling at the trash heaps behind the exchange, Monte watched her carefully after he closed up. Someone with her potential could help hunt down past due debtors. The task given to Gina was merely to observe how dedicated Dahlia was to her own personal mission. Gina cleaning up after her was a kind gesture, she didn't have to do that. Dahlia looked back upon her interactions with the common folk. Seeing how she was treated and not given a chance to make an honest living. She was growing to appreciate the potential Monte saw in her. Dahlia then left Skargard back to Silverwood with Gina to barter for work. Upon a hasty return to Silverwood, several guards stopped Dahlia and Gina. They quickly noticed that Dahlia was indeed the missing wife of the Chancellor. The guards quickly grabbed her and began to walk her off back to the keep. Dahlia struggled in the arms of the guards, kicking and screaming for them to let her go. She did not want to go back to being Edwin's trophy wife. During her fit, she realized she wasn't being ushered to the keep. Looking around, the guards actually had brought her to the back entrance of the Kingsfall Exchange. Dahlia was utterly confused. The back door flung open and Dahlia was quickly ushered into the basement of Kingsfall. There were many crates, barrels, and pallets of products. The basement was poorly lit and musty. The airflow was poor. From the shadows emerged Monte alongside an old shirtless dwarf. Dahlia thought to herself: Oh not this song and dance again. The guards let her go and Dahlia stumbled forward. The old dwarf introduced himself as Giddeon. He was a member of the Blackwood Accord, a guild of morticians within Silverwoods sovereign reach. Monte and Giddeon spoke with Dahlia about collecting debts with Gina. Gina didn't need a partner but being able to create portals to far away lands would make the debt collection process much more efficient. Giddeon's presence was there as he had many grieving families who had refused to pay their debts to the Accord for a funeral or burial services. Giddeon was a prominent business partner to Monte as Monte helped import and export remains on cargo ships. Dahlia was appreciative of this opportunity but was concerned for her well being in Silverwood. Monte offered to take her to Northrend with him, excluding the 5000 gold coin fee in exchange for her help with debt collecting. Dahlia quickly agreed. She was exorbitantly happy. All of her hard work is beginning to pay off. That night Dahlia took Gina to a very popular spot in Silverwood to go dancing. Tucked away above a cafe was a function room often used for hosting wild nightly parties. These parties were often visited by Dahlia during her escapades living in Stoneglen. The sounds of music could be heard from blocks away. Dahlia and Gina danced their hearts out with themselves, by themselves, or with other partners in the function room. The two of them found themselves enjoying drinks and doing lines of Val'kyr dust off the bar top. The two of them were having the time of their lives. As the party died down later in the night, Gina had lost track of Dahlia. It was nearing the end of the night and she needed to get out of there. Gina wandered around trying to look for Dahlia. Dahlia was slumped over hyperventilating in the hallway for the bathroom. She had a nose bleed and the blood had partially dried to her face. Gina knelt down and felt her head, she was overheating badly. Gina lugged Dahlia over her shoulder and rushed her out of the function room back to Kingsfall. Even though the exchange was closed Monte normally slept the back room there. Gina bashed on the backdoor. Monte answered and discovered Gina pushing the mountainous man aside to get Dahlia indoors. Gina rushed around the exchange and grabbed a large metal tub, filled it with cold water, and dunked Dahlia in the tub. Dahlia's eyes turned a soft blue from the normal purple that they were. Gina chalked it up to poisoning from the influx of mana in her system. Monte pulled up a chair and sat with Dahlia as she waned in and out of consciousness. There was nothing he could do except watch. As Dahlia awoke the next morning, she had no recollection of the night prior. Everything was a haze. She realized she was in a tub of cold water with her clothes still on. In front of her, Monte was sitting in a chair facing her, casually reading a book. Monte explained very carefully to Dahlia that if she pulls a stunt like that again, he is going to hand deliver her back to Edwin. He told her that he didn't care if she was doing Val'kyr dust or not, but she needs to be reliable. Overdosing is not a sign of reliability. He was more than happy to overlook this incident but she needed to clean up her act. Groans filled a dank stone basement. A large burly man had been strapped to a chair. Nails were driven through the chairs legs and arms, set up to inflict pain if he even dared to escape. The man's fingers were swollen and decrepitly purple. Blood dripped from little pin holes at the finger tips. Gina had been humming a tune to herself, wandering back and forth between a wooden cart several feet away and the man. Dahlia had been watching Gina from a dark corner, wondering why she was going so far to extract information from this man. Gina flicked the tip of another syringe. With a devious smile she approached the man, who began wailing and promising he would confess. What wasn't known to Dahlia at the time is that the man Gina had been interrogating had owed Monte a whopping 250,000 gold pieces. Dahlia thought this was some random bloke off the street. As the man began to fade from the pain of his fingers becoming necrotic, Gina had injected him with a stimulant to keep him awake. The man's head slumped backwards, then snapped forward again. He began spilling information about what happened to the money he borrowed from Monte. He made a promise that he would have it all back plus interest within a month. Gina demanded two weeks, threatening him once more with another needle. The man conceded and made the promise of two weeks. Gina unstrapped him from the chair, but before he could leave she made him kiss her shoes as a way to test his obedience before leaving. Dahlia was stunned by the showmanship Gina put on. Gina's ability to perform all these heinous acts to another person was both horrifying and admirable to Dahlia. She saw how strong Gina was, despite her small stature. Gina went on to explain that she's been doing this stuff since she was little. She was trained to harm, the fact that she is a debt collector is just a sub-specialization of what she is capable of doing. The whole experience Dahlia witnessed was incredibly eye opening. This wasn't the side of life she saw being coddled by royalty. Dahlia was met with an ultimatum: either run back to Edwin in fear or embrace her new life. Gina dragged Dahlia to her favorite place to eat: The Wandering Cauldron. The quaint cafe was crammed between two larger businesses. The only way to access the cafe was from a back alley. Inside, the cafe was incredibly narrow. There was a small counter which had a glass case displaying many different pastries. Behind the counter were several crude coffee machines. The man behind the counter was young, cute, and battleworn. He had asked Dahlia what she wanted as he was already preparing Gina's order. Gina was a frequent customer here so the man memorized her usual order. Dahlia shyly ordered a coffee with extra milk and sugar. Going up a narrow stairway, Gina carried a plate with a giant chocolate cake on it and the most complex frappe Dahlia had ever seen. They picked a small table near the only window and sat down. Dahlia watched as Gina began devouring the cake. Dahlia couldn't stomach eating or drinking, so she watched Gina in silence. Dahlia confessed to Gina that she didn't think that this job was cut out for her. Gina promptly interrupted her with a mouth full of cake. Gina explained that what happened today isn't the norm. That this was the most extreme case. However, she explained that Dahlia needed to be strong, assertive, and cunning. Because they were both small statured and they both were women, it would be a lot harder to convince most people to pay back what they owe. People didn't take them seriously. Most of the people that borrowed money were dim and think they could flick the ladies away. This was a hard reality check for Dahlia as she wasn't so accustomed to taking charge. Dahlia swallowed hard, she didn't want to return back to Edwin, she surely didn't want to stoop down from royalty to prostitution, she nodded her head after listening to Gina. Monte had tasked Dahlia with her first collection. A man on the opposite side of Silverwood had owed Monte a mere 1000 gold pieces. Her task was to go collect the money. Dahlia was set to go by herself, she was incredibly nervous. As she began walking through the city, she kept a cloak over her head and made sure to pass through the more populated parts of the city to avoid detection. All around the city were posters with her face on it with a reward if found. She was staring at one of the posters and accidentally bumped into a guard. The guard looked down upon her and questioned her. Dahlia began to fumble over her words as she was scared. The guard removed her cloak and looked at her. He rubbed his chin and pondered, the woman did have a striking resemblance to the missing wife of the Chancellor. However, her eyes were blue instead of purple, so she couldn't have been it. The guard shoved her away, Dahlia draped her cloak over herself and continued her trek to the outer limits of the city. Once at the abode of the debtor, she quietly knocked on the door. A minute had passed and there was no answer. She looked through the window and saw a short young man reading a book. She knocked on the door again and heard the book get slammed down. Dahlia shrunk a little. As the man answered the door Dahlia said that she was here to collect a debt that the man owed to Monte. The man laughed at her and slammed the door in her face. Dahlia felt terrible but she didn't want to give up. She took a deep breath and knocked again. Once again the man answered the door and proceeded to tell Dahlia that if Monte had to send over a measily little lady to collect his debts that he would keep the money. The man showed no respect for Dahlia and this made her twinge. People never disrespected her, people were never this mean to her. The door was then again slammed in her face. Dahlia thought back to the other day when Gina was torturing that man for information about a debt he owed. She thought about how cold Gina was. The word cold rung through Dahlia's head. Through sheer rage, Dahlia put forth her plan. Pulling condensation from the humid air, Dahlia conjured a vortex of frost to freeze the lock of the home. One she was certain the lock had froze over, she leaned back and kicked it, shattering the lock. The door was sent flying open and the man inside stood up. Dahlia created another vortex, this time freezing the man in place starting from the legs upwards. She demanded to know where the money was. As the man was almost encapsulated in ice, he nodded towards a dresser on the other side of the small cottage. Dahlia checked the drawers and found a small box full of coins. She carefully counted them out, all 1000 were there plus more. Dahlia smiled and ran off with the coins, leaving the man to thaw in the icy cocoon. As Dahlia returned to Kingsfall with the box, she was greeted by Monte and Gina. Monte counted out the coins and looked at the large sum of extra. He asked where that all came from. Dahlia mentioned she took the entire box. Monte found her thievery to be amusing. Monte took a small portion as interest for the late repayments from the man. Dahlia was paid 100 gold coins from Monte's lockbox for successfully returning the money. Dahlia was told she could keep the rest of the excess that she stole, which summed up to 700 extra gold. Monte didn't tell her that she couldn't steal extra, he only mentioned he wanted what he loaned to be returned plus interest collected. As night time rolled around, Dahlia found herself perched atop of the roof for Kingsfall, gazing out at the dark ocean waves crashing into the harbor side. On her left was her jacket she brought up as the nights by the sea were often cooler. On the right was an empty board sprinkled with finished lines of Val'kyr dust. Dahlia felt free, free from her anxieties, free from her fears. She smiled as she looked down at the pouch of gold coins she had acquired. This was something she could get used to. She looked down at the board and poured out another line for herself. Months had gone by since Dahlia first became a debt collector. She had been able to evade the city guards still looking for her, become more lucrative with her debt collecting skills, and began networking to source information and tools for her trade. Dahlia had spent a good amount of time working hand in hand with Gina collecting the debts that Monte had out. The date that Monte was expected to depart for Northrend was quickly approaching. Dahlia was beginning to encounter one issue, she didn't feel as if she was strong enough to work on her own in a place very far away. She didn't have Gina to back her up. Through various people, she heard of a man who laid outside of a Runewood forest just north of Silverwood. This man had been casted away by his village and forced to live in exile. However, the man refuses to leave, so he remains at the forests edge. This man was important because he was a Satyri Arcani. The Arcani art had been practiced by a small sect of Satyri as far as anyone could remember. Dahlia needed to find him. Venturing northward, Dahlia found herself lost. She barely traveled outside of Silverwood or Stoneglen by herself. She rarely paid attention to the surroundings when she did. At that time she was a child. The maps she had were crude and only pointed to landmarks of which she couldn't find. Frustration quickly set in. Nothing made sense. In the distance, she heard the soft strings of a lute being played. The path she had taken was empty and had been ominously quiet the entire time. She followed the sounds. As she began to walk off the path to follow the lute. The leaves beneath her shoes crinkled with each step. In under a second, Dahlia was now hanging upside down by her ankle. Confused and scared, she began to panic. She tries wiggling around to loosen the grip but it wasn't going. The lute playing had stopped. In front of Dahlia was a Satyr with curly brown hair and a depressed demeanor. He seemed a bit saddened that he had caught an elf. He was really hoping for a dear or rabbit to eat for dinner. The Satyr mentioned that he couldn't have witnesses for all the traps he's set out here as the Silverwood Guard had been trying to solve who's been setting them out here for years. As the Satyr withdrew a knife from his leather quiver strap, Dahlia freaked out more. She quickly conjured an ice shard and flung it through the rope suspending her in the air. She hit the ground with a hard thud and her world went black. Dahlia slowly woke up to the smell of cooked venison. She heard the clanking of a spoon in a metal pot. Dahlia had a ridiculously bad headache, her neck felt stiff. She looked down and realized she was in her clothes. She looked up and around the room she was in. It was a dilapidated shack somewhere in the woods. Her vision was quite blurry but when she figured herself out she saw the Satyr cooking a meal. She was mortified, worried that he was going to eat her. The Satyr introduced himself as Azlin. He sounded calm and sincere, yet his voice had a depressed undertone to it. The two of them began to talk. Azlin explained that normally he would have killed people that he had caught in order to evade the guards, but because she is arcane attuned, he decided not to kill her. Those that are arcane attuned are a rarity in the world, and he was a very lonely man. Dahlia had dinner with Azlin and told him that she was actually seeking him out for his help. She needed someone to mentor her magical skill set. Azlin perked up, happily agreeing to mentor her. Having been someone who's entire livelihood gave up on him because of his progressive ideas, Dahlia coming to him specifically for help brought back some happiness into his life. Over the next few weeks Dahlia practiced the ancient technique of mana weaving. All around her was the raw energy of mana, which she is able to control with her finger tips. Because of the frost abilities she learned from Kallista when she was younger, this became her specialty. Azlin helped Dahlia hone in on the conjurements of ice, helping her produce massive shards of ice and using mana weaving to propel it forward at ludicrous speeds. Impressed barely scratched the surface for Dahlia. For how quickly she was adapting to mana weaving, she was extraordinarily happy with her progress. This was something she couldn't achieve with her mother and she couldn't understand why. Azlin had explained to Dahlia that because she was living in a situation she didn't want to be in, learning the art of wielding arcane magic wasn't on her list of priorities. That made sense to Dahlia as now that she's on her own, she needs these skills more than ever as she isn't physically equipped for close combat. Azlin, being an outcasted man, didn't want much in return for setting up the foundations for Dahlia's learning. He merely wanted to see her again in the future. He thoroughly enjoyed the time they had spent together and wished he could have spent longer with her. Dahlia made that promise to one day return to him. Shortly after arriving in Venture Bay, Dahlia accompanied Monte to the Portside Exchange. This trading post was set up in a very similar fashion that Kingsfall had been set up in. However, along the side wall was a large fireplace with a mantle littered with numerous trinkets. The man behind the counter nodded to Monte and had resigned from his position to rotate to another of Monte's exchanges. A short man walked into the exchange, the business wasn't open yet. He wore an oversized fluffy parka with leather boots and padded leather pants. Upon removal of his hood, Dahlia realized the man was none other than Giddeon. The short man offered to help Dahlia unpack. He was ecstatic to see a familiar face aside from Monte. Giddeon explained that he tagged along with Monte's fleet of transport vessels in order to find undertaker's within the lands of Northrend to add to the ranks of the Blackwood Accord. Dahlia happily accepted the olive branch he extended. The two of them brought several bags off of the boat and returned to the small living quarters within the backroom of the exchange. Giddeon had offered to buy her dinner that night. He heard that the food at the inn was fantastic. Dahlia was a bit nervous with his approach. He had been nice to her but she barely knew him. Plus he was significantly older than her. She pondered his request but ultimately agreed, but only on friendly terms. Giddeon had no problems with this, he was very understanding. That night the two of them enjoyed a meal together at the inn, all at Giddeon's expense, his treat. Dahlia and Giddeon bantered back and forth. Giddeon actually knew of Dahlia, he had heard of her during her time at Stoneglen and how she was married to Edwin. Dahlia was embarrassed that he knew of her past, she was trying to leave that part of her in the past. Giddeon was very empathetic, he understood her reason to drop everything and start a new. His situation was similar in a way and he shared his experiences with her. Dahlia didn't feel as misunderstood hearing Giddeon's experiences. She found him to be quite admirable for how successful he became, she aspired to be like him. Dahlia shared her hatred for Edwin and the fact that she has no romantic interest in him. Their marriage is purely political and wasn't her own choice. She explained that the longer she's been away from the politics, the more she realizes she does have decisions she can make in life. However, these decisions come with greater risks than being a chancellors sidepiece. She was okay with a bit of risk. After they finished eating the two of them ordered two snow cones to go. They walked along a dark snowy path by themselves, enjoying the sweet snack and each other's presence. Dahlia had an itch that she couldn't scratch. She reached into a pouch she had on her belt and pulled out a smaller pouch. She looked up at Giddeon and wondered if she should really so this right now. Dahlia asked if Giddeon had ever tried Val'kyr dust. He had not but he was open to it. The two of them paused their walk and did a few lines before returning to the trading post. The next morning Dahlia woke up in her makeshift bed with Giddeon next to her. The blankets were soaked, she was aware of what had happened the night prior but she wasn't sure why the sheets were soaked. She slowly got out of bed and found her way to the restroom to clean up. Dahlia looked back at Giddeon and smiled. Standing in front of the dirty mirror, Dahlia looked at herself. Underneath her nose was flecks of dried blood. She put her hands on the counter and sighed. The blankets were soaked because of her profuse sweating from the drug. She slept with this older man because of the drug. The drug pushed her to the brink of death before in the past. She's been starting to feel the effects of the addiction on her body, craving more of the euphoria that it has to offer. Was this a concern of hers? Was it controlling her? Dahlia wasn't sure. She finished washing up and came out to get dressed and move on with her day.