Ralph Loysimer loped through Stormwind in his were form. The human form was too slow to dodge the rotten vegetables and over-ripe fruit that was flung at him by the citizenry and even by the guards. Not that he could blame them. Death Knights committed incredible atrocities in the last days of the war.

Following the directions given to him, he dashed through the town. He made a wrong turn and found himself in a smoky zone that smelled of metal and fire. The dwarven zone, where metallurgy was practiced by all of the races. He hastily backed away, back onto the canals. The smoke and heat held too many memories. He was glad that his own skill was with Ice, which preserved and slew with merciful swiftness.

At last he found the correct route, and hastened up the broad steps. The official words, welcoming him to Stormwind and as an Alliance citizen, flowed past and over him. He was glad when the ceremony was done and he could escape.

He had a little gold in his pocket, so one of the first things he did was to divest himself of the Death Knight regalia, depositing it into the bank. He wasn’t sure why he kept it; something told him that he might one day need such strong gear. But for the time being, he bought a set of ordinary scale mail. Although still warlike, it looked no different from that worn by many of the guards. Certainly, it was far less exotic than many of the costumes worn by the adventurers who thronged the trade district.

He wandered down by the fishing docks, where he was hailed by a pretty lass. “Could you help me, sir? We are sadly short of fish today, and I cannot leave the docks during business hours.” She sold to him a fishing pole and explained the rudiments of catching fish, and then gave him directions to Stormwind Lake.

At first he caught little but the flotsam that flowed out of the canals into the lake: driftwood, bits of cloth, tangled fishing line left by careless fishermen. But finally he caught one small fish. Thus encouraged, he settled into the task. The sun shone warm on his back, and he could hear the little druid who lived in the house at the end of the lake singing to her plants. Either the fish were getting hungry or his ability to place the baited hook better, but he began to catch larger fish. Soon he had the requisite fish the girl had requested.

Something un-knotted inside him, out there beside the lake. Yes, he had done terrible things. Hideous deeds he had committed, that could not ever be undone. But he had come out of that terrible cauldron of war, and perhaps he could make a difference. He wouldn’t call it atonement. He wasn’t sure there was anyway to atone for the monster he had become, but he could make a difference. As he passed the druid’s house, he smiled and called out a cheery greeting. She sang back a pleasant response.

As he passed through the streets of Stormwind, he dropped coins in the cups of each beggar as he met. He picked up a brace of buckets of water, and carried them for old Emma, the scullery woman. He smiled at the antics of the school children who were out taking a walk with their teachers. If the smile was a little watery around the edges, it was still a smile for all that. Suddenly two children dashed through the midst of the others — a little girl carrying a mechanical gorilla and a slightly larger lad chasing after her.

He swung around through an alley and came up in front of the pair, blocking their way. “Hey,” he said, “What is all this?”

“Donna took my gorilla!” the lad pouted.

“Yeah, that’s payback for all the times you stole my Dolly, William,” the girl glared at him.

“So now you are even, right?” Ralph asked.

“Oh, no way!” Donna declared. “I was littler last year, and he could run away with her and I couldn’t catch him. He used to call me cry-baby. But I grew over the winter and now I can out run him. Plus, he got this Gorilla thing at Winter Veil as his Great Father gift. It means almost as much to him as Dolly does to me. So he’s gonna pay, pay, pay for being so mean!”

William muttered something under his breath. Inwardly, Ralph sighed. The whole world had toppled under a rivalry that didn’t make a lot more sense than this one.

“Where is your Dolly now?” he asked Donna.

“On my dresser,” she replied. “Momma told William he couldn’t touch it again or he’d be washing dishes for a month.”

“Yeah, and I’m tellin’ Momma that you stole my Grindgear Gorilla. Wonder what she’ll make you do.”

“Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care!” Donna declared, dancing back out of reach.

Ralph regarded them for a minute. “What would happen, do you suppose, if you each got your toy and played together?”

Both children looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Just then a woman’s voice called, “Donna! William! Time for lunch!”

“Gotta go,” William muttered, grabbing his sister’s hand.

“Think about it!” Ralph called, as they scurried away up the street. He turned away, shaking his head. Clearly, there was a lot of work to be done in the world. But he could have sworn there was something protective about the way William grabbed his sister’s hand as he hurried her away from the stranger. He had to believe that, somehow, hope was still alive for his world and for himself.