Caevinni squint her eyes as the giant black raven she used a flying mount descended towards the ground with breathtaking speed. In the last moment, the noble beast broke the fall with two quick flaps of its mighty wings and the blood elf leapt from the ravens feathery back with a daring, if somewhat unnecessary acrobatic maneuver.

Nimble and silent as a cat, Caevinni landed with grace and dismissed the huge bird which then flew away somewhere; her mounts had a way of always finding back to her in a matter of seconds. It was really quite convenient.

The elf smiled as she walked towards the familiar, homely inn that was standing on a hill just a few steps away. This was where Caevinni liked to spend many a nights after a long, tiresome day of adventuring; and for a couple of reasons.

Dalaran, the magical, flying city of the magi and once so beloved to the blood elf has just not been the same since the Burning Legion had invaded the planet once again. For the most part, it was just because it was so dreadfully full all the time. With literally dozens of huge, exotic creatures like dragons, mammoths, huge spiders and whatnot stampeding through every single street – all of those serving as mounts to other adventurers – it proved a challenge just to move from one building to another. And that was not considering the loud, annoying motorcycles, flying robots and miniature airships that everybody seemed to own these days!

Besides, Dalaran was also linked with bad memories ... Sure, the elf also still had her old base in Draenor, but she dreaded to go there on her spare time. Over there, you couldn’t hear your own thoughts over the constant grunting, chanting and drumming of angry orcs. Besides, it was always snowing heavily there, all day long, every now. Now Caevinni didn’t mind her orcish allies or the cold – she quite enjoyed both under the right circumstances, really – but every now and then, she liked to kick back in a more cozy, relaxed and warm climate.

Just like it was around here. This small spot in the Eastern Kingdoms part of Azeroth was quite the perfect spot for the young blood elf. The sun had just gone down a few moments ago and as its last, faint orange glow of light was slowly disappearing over the western mountains, the rest of the land was overtaken by the gray mood of dusk. And yet, the air was still pleasantly warm, bringing a smile on Caevinni’s face as she strode up to the inn’s door.

Besides, money was not an issue, either. Caevinni absentmindedly gave her money-pouch a quick pat. The convincing weight of its content gave the elf a feeling of security. That, and her two deadly daggers that were placed on her belt just above it.

There was quite a bit of gold to make for an ambitious rogue nowadays and Caevinni had also been quite busy all day long, raking in the dough like crazy. Well, for the most part, some strange troll guy who liked to hang around in the sewers gave her literally thousands of gold coins every week in exchange for some useless coins Caevinni would pick-pocket from a few enemies in mere minutes. It was a miracle how that troll did not run out of cash, he was obviously not good at all with it. Not that the rogue would ever complain about that.

A broad smile spread on the blood elf’s face as she entered the building and the calm tranquillity from before met a quick end as her senses were overloaded. The dim light of the interior seemed bright as day to her elven eyes, a delicious scent of food and alcohol was picked up by her sensitive nose and making her mouth water and a mixture of laughter, dozens of muffled conversations and faint music was picket up by her sharp ears.

I could really go for a flagon of that dwarven ale right now ... Or maybe three of those. Caevinni greeted the innkeeper – a merry dwarf with a fiery beard – with a quick wave of her hand and retreated to a more quiet room in the back of the building. The blood elf smiled as she opened one of her bags and pulled some playing cards out.

There was this card game, Hearthstone. Caevinni had heard about it quite some time ago, but never paid it much notice. That was, until recently when she got her hands on a deck herself and had tried it out in this very inn. From the very first minute, she had been hooked. Sitting together in some place, playing a friendly game with strangers had truly been a lot more fun than the battle-hardened rogue would have ever imagined!

And this was the final reason why Caevinni loved to come here. This inn served as a cross-roads of a kind; all the different races, people from all over Azeroth came and went, which not only meant many interesting things to overhear, but also that a new partner for a quick game could always be found within minutes.

Just as Caevinni had sat down, her deck of cards plainly visible on the table for all to see, a serving girl arrived and handed the much-loved ale to her. She pulled her cap and mask combination from her head, allowed her somewhat short, light brown hair to fall just beneath her ears and stored her headgear back into her bag. Caevinni did however keep the rest of her armour on; better safe then sorry. And just as she had taken her first – and certainly not last – sip for the evening, an unshaven, grinning goblin had arrived next to her table as well. Caevinni figured that he looked sort of like a rogue as well ... But then again, so did most goblins.

“Hey, friend, up for a quick match?”, he said slyly, pulling out one of his own cards and spinning it flamboyantly between his finger and thumb while winking at the blood elf. Caevinni smiled, gestured at the free chair on the other side of her table graciously and replied: “You got it, friend. Nothing like a game of Hearthstone and a cold drink after a long day of making as much money as you can, huh?”

“Aheeheehee! That we can agree on!”, laughed the goblin, sat down and somehow made a gold coin appear in between his fingers. “Well! Who’s gonna go first?”, he said while placing his own deck on the table. “What do you say, heads or tails?” Caevinni gave a light shrug. “Tails, I guess.”

The goblin grinned and flicked the coin into the air with a lightning-fast move of his hand. The blood elf squint her glowing green eyes as she focused on the tumbling piece of gold. Does this coin ... Have heads on both sides??

With her trained reflexes and extremely nimble fingers, Caevinni let her hand dart forward and caught the coin in mid-air before it could come down again. The goblin stared at her with his mouth open as the blood elf stared at him with a slight, knowing smirk. “I think I will keep a very close eye on your hands, friend. But it’s alright, if you really want to get the first turn, you can. I’ll just let you, ok?”

The look on the goblin’s face was priceless and Caevinni had to fight the urge to giggle as she threw him his coin back. But just as quick as his expression had turned to one of shock and disbelief, it melted back into a smug grin.

“Hehe, you’re a real smart one, eh? Good, good, I do like a nice challenge...”, he said, drawing his first cards. Smiling, Caevinni did the same. What followed was an intense and close match which made the elven rogue shiver with excitement and her fingers tremble with the feeling of impending victory. More than once did it seem like all hope was lost; for both players each in turn.

The goblin had very good luck on turns, but so did the elf and after each of them scored many hits against their opponents and sweeping the board clean more often than once, both players were forced to fight a hard, bitter battle of attrition, the game would end any turn now.

Caevinni gasped and almost jumped up from her seat in triumph as she pulled her next card – fireball. It was enough to end the match. Grinning victoriously, she spun it on her index finger just to taunt the poor goblin for a bit before slamming it down on the table and declaring: “I win!”

The goblin’s ears sank for a moment and he looked distraught before drawing a breath and nodding slowly. “Well played, gal. Good game.” Caevinni smiled proudly, drank the rest of her ale and then swiftly gathered and shuffled her cards before ordering another drink. “I can say the same. It was truly a close call!”

Once again, her mage deck had proven its worth. Despite being her very first deck – or perhaps because of that – it was still one of her favourite ones. Caevinni picked up the corresponding hero card and regarded it fondly. It bore the image of Lady Jaina Proudmoore, legendary Grand Magus and former ruler of Theramore.

The blood elf sighed ... Her feelings about this human woman were mixed, to say the least. A couple of years ago, when Caevinni had just begun her own adventures, she heard the tales about Jaina and was quite fascinated about her for a long time. Being a close friend to Thrall – quite possibly the best Warchief of all time – Jaina had seemed to be no real enemy to her own side, despite obviously belonging to the Alliance.

Of course that all had changed when Garrosh – quite possibly the worst Warchief of all time – had taken over. The destruction of Theramore had changed everything for the worse, including Jaina’s character. Caevinni’s heart had been shattered when she heard about the Purge of Dalaran, even though she had not been around back then and her views on Jaina Proudmoore forever tainted.

But still ... Her past achievements and efforts were nothing to be simply ignored and somehow, Caevinni couldn’t help but still feel somewhat impressed and awed when she thought about the Grand Magus nowadays, even though a part of her would always despise her now for what she had done. Caevinni was not sure how she would feel should she ever meet with Jaina in person ... With the Legion’s attacks still raging, the two factions – Horde and Alliance – once again had a common ground to stand and fight together against an outside threat, but as history told, old grudges never die quick nor easy.

At the very least, it was fun to play as Jaina, so to speak, in a Hearthstone match. As Caevinni was musing and brooding quietly, she heard the door open and close, but paid it no mind before the goblin on the other side of the table – who had just finished his own beverage – gave a sharp gasp of surprise and began to tap Caevinni on the fingers of her right hand.

“Yo ... Yo, listen up, pal! Real bad news inbound at six o’clock ... Think we oughtta hit the road!”, he hissed and as Caevinni looked up, raising an eyebrow before slowly turning her head, she almost knocked over her half-full flagon of ale. There she was, striding in in person as if the elf’s thoughts had somehow summoned her; Lady Jaina Proudmoore herself walked in, shot a few glances here and there and then went to a table, shortly followed by some robed figures, probably mages or wizards of some kind.

“What is someone high and mighty like her doing in an inn like this? Why this inn, in particular?”, hissed Caevinni, a sense of nervousness creeping up her spine. “Your guess is as good as mine, yo, but I tell ya what ... I ain’t gonna stick around to find out!”, the goblin answered as he nimbly rose from his seat. “You comin’?”

Caevinni thought for a moment. “No.” She truly had had a long, exhausting day and had well damn deserved to spend a nice, relaxing evening here with a few ales at the very least, if no goblins. She wasn’t about to run away just because some important person showed up! If anything, Jaina would most likely leave again soon, anyway.

The goblin gave a shrug. “Suit yourself. Take care, pal.” and with that, he vanished before Caevinni could blink. She had just known that he was a rogue!

As the blood elf was slowly and without too much of a worry finishing her drink, she couldn’t help but glance over to Jaina’s table every once in a while.

One of her companions was definitely a Dalaran mage, Caevinni could tell by his purple robes. The other two persons ... Caevinni wasn’t sure. They had large hoods that covered their heads and faces almost completely and from the distance and without staring at them too obviously, Caevinni couldn’t even tell if they were human or something else.

At one point, the Dalaran mage glanced about the room and locked eyes with the blood elf rogue, just as she herself looked over. She could see his brow furrowing even from over there and quickly turned her head again so she was looking back at her own drink and nothing more.

After a few more moments and her drink almost finished, Caevinni heard the tell-tale sound of a mage casting a teleportation spell. Ahhh, good. They are leaving again! Caevinni smiled and slowly played her fingers around the handle of her flagon. As she heard the spell go off and looked behind her again, she felt a cold feeling travel down her back, however.

The mage with the purple robes was gone, the other two figures were just getting up ... And Jaina remained there on her own, sitting at the table. Something else just became clear to the blood elf; as she looked around the room, she noticed that everybody else had left as well, leaving only herself and Jaina Proudmoore around. The room had not exactly been crowded before, but for everybody to be gone now ... Needless to say, this didn’t help in soothing Caevinni’s nerves.

Just as she thought about leaving as well, she heard a chair being moved and saw Jaina getting up from her table. Oh, yes! Please be leaving, please be leaving ... Oh, no! Instead of leaving, Jaina Proudmoore was walking right up to her own table. “Ahhh, a child of the blood! Good evening.” Jaina said as she stopped right next to Caevinni, smiling down at her pleasantly. The blood elf wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she figured she’d just play along with it.

“Greetings, Grand Magus! It ... It is quite an honour to meet you in person! Is ... Is there something I can help you with?”, Caevinni offered, failing to suppress a slight stutter. “Oh no, not really...”, Jaina replied, walking around the table and promptly sitting down just where the goblin had been not too long ago. That guy had the right idea ... I should have left when he did!

Smiling at the blood elf, Jaina produced a rather large book from somewhere and placed it on the table before her. As Caevinni raised one eyebrow, the mage explained: “I just came over to this table because the lighting is much better over at this side of the room.”

Caevinni doubted that. In fact, it was the worst lie she had heard in quite a while. Jaina cocked her head slightly and continued: “You don’t mind me sitting here, do you?” She asks that, after she has already placed herself...

Instead of saying that, Caevinni blinked, forced herself to smile lightly as well and replied: “No, not at all. I’m just finishing my drink here, anyway. I’ll be off before you know it!” “Hmmmm, hmmm, hmmm...”, Jaina made as she opened the book and flapped through some pages, seemingly looking for something. “Perhaps you might want to stay for a little bit here, with me.”, the human said quietly and Caevinni gulped.

“Uhm ... Why, if you don’t mind me asking?”, she said, but Jaina seemed fixed on her book. Caevinni sighed and spoke up: “Excuse me, but if you want something, you can just-” “Shhhh!”, Jaina suddenly made, putting her index finger on her lips. This stopped the blood elf right in her tracks. “I’m trying to read here.”, was all she offered as an explanation and the elf rogue sighed.

Whatever. You read your book, Jaina Proudmoore. I’ll wait a bit for you to get into it and then I’ll just walk out of the door before you know it! Caevinni thought, finally drinking the last of her ale. Just as she thought about getting up, Jaina suddenly made a sort of “Ahhh...” sound and as the blood elf looked, she saw the mage having leaned back in her chair, swinging her shapely legs right up to the table!

Caevinni could hardly believe her eyes as she now had the bottoms of Jaina’s white boots to examine ... The human was pointing her booted feet right at her, a less than polite move. She seems to have rather large feet, for a human woman ... Caevinni mused as she had little else to do than to study Jaina’s boots which were now graciously occupying her field of vision. Unless her boots are quite a few sizes to big ... But for someone in her position? Hah, I doubt it...

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, how rude of me ... I should have asked!”, the voice of Jaina suddenly sang out and she parted her booted feet so she could look at the elf’s face. “It has been such a long day and I am quite sore all over from running around. Do you mind if I rest my feet up here for a little bit?”, the mage asked innocently.

She’s doing it again! What is it with her? Is she tiring my patience on purpose in order to overwhelm me with a sudden question later, if I put down my guard?

Sighing, the rogue just waved her hand. “Sure, no, it’s no problem at all.”, Caevinni replied and was quite surprised when she saw Jaina putting her feet back down from the table, in fact, she was now bending one leg so her foot was in her lap and her hands started to work around on it. “Wait, what are you-”

“Thanks!”, Jaina interrupted, “It will feel just sooo good to get out of these stuffy, hot, old boots again, oh you have no idea...” With a swift motion, Jaina pulled one of her high, white leather boots off and revealed her pale, bare foot. “ ... Ahhhh, oh by Antonidas’s beard, does that feel good. I tell you, elf girl, my poor feet had been stuck in there all day long.”

As if that hadn’t been bad enough, Jaina then swung her leg right back on the table ... Bringing her naked, heated foot just to the spot where it had been before. Caevinni was completely speechless. She had been right with her assumption before ... This was quite the big foot for someone like Jaina. It was easily the size of her own feet, if not slightly larger and blood elves generally had bigger feet than humans.

What was even worse was that the fact this foot had been trapped inside a very stuffy, hot boot was evident as well: its sole was slick and moist with a layer of fresh sweat, so much that it was shining in the dim light of the room with it; and it was so warm, that a few, thin tendrils of disgusting steam were rising up from its moist surface.

At least it was an extraordinarily pretty foot, Caevinni had to admit. As an elf; she had always had an eye for beautiful physique – or so pretty much all elves liked to think – and Caevinni had to admit that she had admired all parts of herself; feet included, before. And yet, this human foot in front of her came very close to perfection.

Despite its rather large overall size, it was slim, long and had a definite feminine charm to it. The round heel and ball were very curvy and pronounced, as was the instep. The entire sole seemed to be completely and absolutely smooth and free of any wrinkles; just by looking at it, it gave the impression of something perfectly soft and silky. Jaina’s toes were rather large and well and evenly formed, neither too thick nor too thin and together they formed a nice, even and round half-circle. Her sole had a light, creamy colour tone on most spots, though there was a slight bit of darker, yellowish discolouration on the places that had most contact with the ground; namely the heel and the ball of the foot.

All in all, definitely a pretty sight, had it not been for all the shining, slimy, moist footsweat. But the worst had yet to come when Caevinni began to speak up: “I’m really sorry, but that’s not-” the elf took a quick breath as she was speaking and that alone was almost enough to make her gag.

An incredibly strong smell of pungent cheese, stale sweat with a hard to define, slightly bittersweet undertone greeted Caevinni’s sensitive elven nose with such ferocity that she could barely believe it. It was unmistakably the raunchy reek of ripe, smelly feet which had been sweating too much and had seen a few baths too few. But the sheer strength of the musky, sweaty aroma that invaded her senses right now was enough to hit her like a slap in the face and throw her completely off tracks. Only that it was also disgusting.

“I’m sorry, you were saying?”, the human mage now asked, having finished pulling off both her boots and now held out both of her large, overly sweaty feet to the distraught blood elf, soles first, presenting their astonishing beauty to but also exposing Caevinni to the fullest extend of their ripe, feety fumes.

The blood elf rogue was quite appalled to learn first hand that Jaina would have smelly feet like that. The great Lady Jaina Proudmoore, someone she both feared, once had looked up to and somehow still respected; and a very attractive human woman no less; the thought alone that her feet would become sweaty and gross at all would have seemed scandalous to Caevinni mere minutes ago. The fact that this very woman actually had monstrously malodorous stinkers with an aroma that could put many orcish huntresses feet after a long day on the prowl to shame certainly didn’t help.

Just like the fact that she was now constantly forced to breathe in the air which was getting more and more tainted by the potent, foul fumes which were graciously wafting from Jaina’s slick, moist footsoles all across the room and straight in the blood elf’s general direction.

The thought of spending any more time – and be it only a few minutes – in the company of the human and her reeking, moist feet seemed out of question to Caevinni. She had waited long enough. Jaina was ignoring her anyway; if she wanted to taint the inside of this room worse than the plaguelands of Azeroth, then it wasn’t her problem.

Caevinni slightly pushed her chair back, ready to get up when she suddenly saw Jaina’s stark, bright blue eyes locked on hers in a powerful stare, making her halt in her movements.

The mage smiled as she saw this, took a few whiffs of her air she herself was polluting right now and then waved one hand in front of her face in a slightly overly dramatic matter.

“Phew, between the two of us, I always get sweaty feet quite easily and it is especially bad in these old boots of mine ... Probably since I seem to wear them and only them every single day!” Jaina said lightly with a smile and Caevinni frowned, but remained quiet. The human continued: “And yet, I can’t quite remember the last time they smelled quite this ... Well, strongly. I suppose that’s what I get for handling so many appointments in one day, I was either arguing or running and walking around all day long, in this warm weather as well.”

Jaina stretched her arms as she said that and leaned a bit further back in her chair. Caevinni’s heart sank as this move also pushed Jaina’s feet closer to herself, increasing the effect of their swampy, cheesy scent. “I’m really glad that I got the chance to air them out and let my feet breathe for a little bit. They really need that right now, but I can’t do this in the presence of just anybody, because, you know, many people are just so intolerant of my sweet little feet, just because they smell a bit.”

Talk about an understatement. Caevinni let Jaina keep talking. “Which is why I’m thankful that you are so understanding and don’t mind me resting my feet next to you.” Jaina smiled at the elf in the most sickly sweet way and Caevinni’s patience finally ran out. “Uhm ... To be quite honest, I-”, she began, but as before, the mage starting talking right away and interrupted her.

“I guess it’s only natural. You’re a member of the Horde like most blood elves, am I not right?”, Jaina asked. Caevinni bit down her teeth in frustration but nodded. “Yes, yes, I am. What I was going to say-”, the elf attempted, but Jaina did it again. “Ahhhh, that explains it, doesn’t it?”, she blurted out and gave a quick chuckle.

“Heh, I suppose it must be nice smelling feet like these once in a while, huh?”, the human said tauntingly and Caevinni was so taken aback by this that she forgot what she had been trying to say. It is nice to smell her horrid feet? Has Jaina Proudmoore gone insane?

“I mean ... What with all those Orcs and Trolls and Goblins and what-have-you that you have to accompany yourself with ... They smell bad enough as they are, from a distance. I shudder to imagine the stink coming from the foot of one of those greenskin barbarians!”

Anger rose in Caevinni. Hadn’t Jaina once been a good friend to exactly one of those people? To hear her talk like this sent a terrible feeling crawling across the elf’s skin. Besides, even though she wasn’t wrong about the smell of some Horde ladies feet – Troll women were the worst by far and they never even wore shoes! - the feet of Jaina Proudmoore were something else, still.

It was not just that it was an especially exotic smell; by the light, it was unpleasant, but it was just the good old, cheesy and salty reek of sweaty, stinky, unwashed feet, but the sheer force and thickness of it made Jaina’s personal foot-scent so powerful and overwhelming.

Caevinni realised she was beginning to have trouble breathing and failed to suppress a small gagging sound. Enough is enough! Babble on, Jaina Proudmoore, but do so in solitude! I’m out of here. The blood elf finally pushed her chair away and got up from the table. Just as she thought, she heard Jaina calling out from behind her. “Oh, where do you think you are going?”, the mage asked indignantly.

This just made the elf laugh. “Haha, I’m not sure yet, but I am going away, so much is certain. Farewell, Lady Proudmoore.” Caevinni smiled at the still sitting mage triumphantly, but this smile froze as she saw the expression which was now creeping onto the humans face. “Oh no, we are not done here. You are going nowhere.”

Ignoring this, Caevinni turned to the door and gasped as she saw that the entire area around the handle and the lock was encased in a large block of ice right now. Turning around angrily, the blood elf saw that it was now Jaina who was smiling in triumph. Furrowing her brow, the rogue dug around in her bags, reaching for her hearthstone. Not the stupid card game now, the actual thing. But as her fingers clutched the tried and trusty magic stone, it wouldn’t work this time. Nothing happened.

“Trying to teleport out, are we?”, Jaina Proudmoore taunted and her face basically lit up with joy as she watched Caevinni fume with anger. “Good thinking, little rogue ... Except I have set up a magic barricade around the room just after my colleague left. No teleportation spells will work as long as I hold it up and that includes hearthstones. And that means that will now come over to me and finish the nice little talk I wish to have with you ... unless you happen to be a more highly skilled mage than I am, hahaha!”

Great. Just great. I am trapped in here now, imprisoned together with this snarky human wizard and her repulsive, smelly stink-feet as my cellmates. The elf knew that Jaina was having the upper hand right now, but she wasn’t about to just meekly obey to everything she said.

“Very well. Let’s talk then. I will stand over here, at the door.”, Caevinni said, crossing her arms. Amazingly and much to her dismay, she found that the foul, sweaty odour had spread all the way across the room; it must now be utterly filling up with the powerful aroma of Jaina’s feet. If she walked back to the mage, it would only get worse.

Jaina Proudmoore sighed at this. “Ugh, no my dear, you will not stand over there, you will walk right back to me now and sit back down!”, she demanded and Caevinni bit her lip nervously. Jaina was getting increasingly hostile now; she neither wanted to aggravate her needlessly, but neither did she want to allow her to just trample all over herself.

“If I come back over to you, will you put your boots back on?”, the blood elf offered and Jaina actually laughed at this. “Hahaha, oh, is that it? My feet within your hand’s reach is too much for you to handle, little elf girl? You know I was just playing around with you before, right? Of course I know that you abhor the powerful smell of my tired, sweaty feet, especially with how pungent they are right now. Any sane person with a working sense of smell would feel that way!”

Jaina now showed a very toothy, mean-spirited grin to the blood elf. “And I happen to know that you elves have an even better sense of smell than we humans do, so ... Hahaha, I quite literally don’t even know how bad it must be for you to have to endure my foot-stink!”

“But, I am not without mercy ... Here, let me give you an offer. You can either come here to me as I say, sit down and stop being so pathetic about the smell, or I will make my feet come over to you. Which means that I will knock your rebellious butt to the ground with a spell and will have my talk with you whilst using your body as my chair and your face as my footrest. That is, if you can stay conscious in that position, which I doubt. So what will it be? Do you think I am just bluffing?”

As the mage was done speaking, Caevinni was thinking about her options, of which there were few. As disgusting as sitting right back down next to Jaina’s bare, sweaty feet and having to breathe in their smell even closer, the elf did not doubt the sincerity of the mage’s threat.

Since the very last thing she wanted was to have those hellish things anywhere near her face, Caevinni slowly walked back to Jaina. “Good. I’m glad to see not all hope is lost with you. Hurry up and sit down!”, the human demanded and the elf began to feel a bit dizzy as the rank smell of pure feet got stronger the closer she got.