c18

The Emerald Dream wasn't a place that just anyone could wander into. The Green Dragonflight guarded it zealously and permitted only druids to enter, and even then normally only in spirit. Four of Ysera's most powerful children guarded the dream portals that would allow physical entry… or that's what they should have been doing anyway.

The corruption in the Emerald Dream had wormed its way into their minds and made them see enemies everywhere. They had still technically been guarding the dream portals, but it was no longer really for the benefit of Azeroth.

Thanks to Chromie's warning, this corruption was caught early and Luna was able to purify them easily enough. Now once more returned to their senses, the guardian dragons realized the danger creeping into the Emerald Dream and were willing to allow entry… under escort.

Ysondre, the strongest of the four, had assigned her younger brother Taerar to the Battle Harem (plus Garona) as a guide.

The male dragon took the guise of an equally male night elf as green dragons most often do. In his mortal form, he preferred to be bare-chested and barefoot, wearing only a green warrior's kilt and golden bracers on his wrists. His hair was green and he had no horns, which Luna found very disappointing.

"The creeping corruption of the Nightmare is insidious and subtle." Taerar was saying. "It is not something that can be fought with blades or spells."

The green dragon was clearly not in favor of letting all of them into the Emerald Dream, though he was too polite and professional to say so. The choice had been Ysondre's and whether it was made because she felt they owed a debt or because it was genuinely the best one, the result was the same.

"Not the symptoms perhaps, but the source might be more direct." Harry shrugged, drawing a pinched look from the dragon.

He had a suspicion as to why Taerar was so leery of them entering the Dream. Since their first encounter with a green dragon in Merithra, they had learned that they always saw the Emerald Dream overlaid atop normal reality. And with the Dream being a form of Astral Plane… well, he could venture a guess as to what he looked like to them.

"Perhaps." Taerar responded diplomatically and silently led them to the dream portal.

It was an interesting construction. A circular stone archway with glowing purple draconic script engraved into it, sitting in a bed of live wood that had wound its roots around it. Rather impressive actually.

The green dragon passed through without pause, clearly expecting them to follow. Or perhaps hoping they would chicken out.

"Ladies first!" Luna declared and hopped inside.

"Well, we can't let it be said that night elves were too scared to go into the Emerald Dream." Jessir said and took hold of Arko's hand, the two old friends passing through the portal together.

"Don't leave us waiting for too long." Colette said teasingly and stepped through herself.

That just left Harry and Garona, the latter of which was looking at the dream portal with considerable apprehension.

"Don't worry, we'll have your back." He assured the half-orc, knowing that she probably felt like she had no business going in there.

Garona nodded silently and stepped forward, Harry following right behind her.

The transition was… odd and difficult to describe, like stepping underwater without the water. Everything had a hazy, surreal quality to it that reminded him of his relatively brief time as a god. The Emerald Dream was much more defined and established than his own fledgling divine realm had been, but it was familiar nonetheless.

And being an Astral Plane, there were a few side-effects for stepping into it. Arko and Jessir remained unchanged, their sense of self being accurately reflected by their physical bodies. Garona had a spectral green tint to her skin, not of genuine fel corruption but more of a representation of the fact that she still felt tainted.

The changes grew much more pronounced after that.

Colette's healthy skin tone had paled into nearly chalk white and her blue eyes had an unsettling glow to them. Shadows constantly wafted off her, shrouding her form in darkness.

Luna was almost the exact opposite. Her hair and eyes glowed silver, as did the moon mark on her forehead. There was such light coming from her that she should have been painful to look at, but Luna had never been a harsh goddess. Elune may have an aspect of wrath to her, but that wasn't the part that Luna most identified with.

Harry himself was similarly cloaked in a mantle of his old divinity. His black hair flowed around his head like it was underwater, but it was no longer composed of singular strands. Instead, it was a solid mass of shadows. His green eyes had taken on the look of flames and his clothes had embers spreading over them for a moment before disappearing and reappearing somewhere else.

"Well, that's interesting." He commented blandly.

"Why do you all look so different?" Arko asked, confused.

"The Emerald Dream reveals many hidden truths." Taerar answered. "You see not only the bodies of your companions, but also their souls."

"This may explain why you night elves are so comfortable being naked." Colette commented sardonically. "I certainly feel naked right now."

Harry thought that the former death knight was probably not appreciating this blast from the recent past. The scars from that time were far from fully healed, no matter how she acted. Some extra cuddles would be in order tonight.

Luna clearly agreed, because she reached over to give Colette's hand a squeeze. "It's okay, we're here with you."

Colette looked down at where Luna was touching her, seeming almost surprised that her skin wasn't burning from the aura of holy power shrouding the priestess of Elune. Some of the carefully hidden tension left her frame. "Thank you, dear. You are a sweetheart."

"Come, I will take you to Cenarius." Taerar interjected, not quite impatiently but still insistently.

In hindsight, it shouldn't have been surprising that the demigod slain by Grom Hellscream had reincarnated in the Emerald Dream. By all accounts, Cenarius was tremendously powerful and deeply connected to Azeroth's natural world and to the Emerald Dream. Hellscream may have killed his body, but his spirit lost none of its potency. Harry suspected that regaining a body had simply not been a priority.

The six of them followed their guide through the dense forest, some enjoying the trip more than others. Colette and Garona were a little uncomfortable at the shifting and surreal landscape, but the rest of them were quietly awed.

Harry and Luna in particular recognized that their walk was only symbolic, their movement through the Emerald Dream guided by will alone. Deciding to amuse himself a little on the trip, Harry stopped walking. Incongruously, he didn't fall behind.

"How are you doing that?" Garona asked quietly, being the first to notice. She looked pointedly at his unmoving legs.

"Do you think that's air you're breathing right now?" He asked back with a grin, making her brows furrow in confusion. "This is a realm of spirit. Those with the right mindset, along with sufficient will and focus, can bend the rules."

Matirx references aside, Harry realized that the Emerald Dream would actually make for a fantastic training area. Garona, Arko and even Jessir to a lesser degree were all kinesthetic learners. Kicking their butts with cheaty kung fu bullshit would do more to open their minds than any amount of meditation.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Garona asked suspiciously.

"I just had the most amazing idea, don't worry about it."

"What are you two whispering…" Arko trailed off when she saw his unmoving legs "… about? How are you doing that?"

"What's he doing?" Luna piped in, craning her head back to see. "Oh, that. It's not hard. Watch!"

Instead of merely stopping the movement of her legs, Luna laid down on the ground and struck a bit of a pose. The forest moved around her now and she still kept pace with Taerar, but the ground under her no longer changed.

This prompted the other four girls to stop and stare in confusion, which did result in them falling behind, their minds still associating motion with the movement of their legs. They were quick to scramble after the group again and demand explanations.

"You have impressive mastery over your perceptions." Taerar commented. "Only druids of considerable skill and experience are normally capable of such feats."

"Being able to see past physical reality is a valuable skill for a mage as well." Harry shrugged. And pretty much a requirement for a god.

The green dragon made no comment in response, but he looked thoughtful. A few minutes later, they arrived at the headquarters – for a given value of the word – of the Cenarion Circle in the Emerald Dream.

Like every other part of the Dream, it was wild and overgrown with greenery, basically just a clearing in between the dense forests.

The figure of the demigod dominated said clearing. Cenarius looked much like his tauric-bodied sons, the Keepers of the Grove, just larger. Harry's head would come up to about the height of the demigod's bellybutton and his stag-like lower body was both enormous and heavily muscled. A massive pair of antlers grew out of his head and black hair woven with bright green leaves cascaded down his back. His left arm turned to wood at the elbow and formed a set of great wooden claws.

He was slightly see-through, but by no means a mere ghost.

"Greetings, travelers." The demigod's voice boomed with power and authority. His expression was on the grim side, but Harry had a feeling that was just his default. "I am Cenarius and I have watched you with interest since your arrival on Azeroth. All who would safeguard the land and the Dream are welcome here."

"Oh, you're as handsome as Big Sis Elune said you were." Luna almost squeed with excitement, neatly cutting off the diplomatic reply Harry had been about to give.

"Ah, Mother's most recent priestess." Cenarius acknowledged with far less confusion than most people when faced with Luna. "I thank you for your efforts in cleansing the fel corruption in Ashenvale alongside my children. The malignant bile spread by the demons was allowed to fester for far too long."

"It would have gone a lot slower without Harry's help." Luna was quick to share credit.

The demigod turned his attention to him, his expression not changing at all. He had apparently mastered the art of remaining inscrutable without seeming disapproving. Harry was slightly unnerved by his inability to read the demigod at all. It had been a long time since he'd met anyone that could hide from him so thoroughly.

"Indeed." Cenarius gave an ever so slight inclination of his head towards Harry. "It is pleasing to meet a sorcerer who uses his gifts to better the world. All too often your kind have sought only power."

"Not much use in having power if you leave only ruin behind you." Harry replied, pointedly not thinking about his 'turbulent youth', to put it euphemistically. He also didn't think about their no doubt divergent opinions on what 'ruin' actually meant.

"Well spoken. If only the Highborne had been wise enough to understand that." Cenarius shook his head, a hint of sorrow showing through. "Please, make yourselves at home here and come speak to me when you are ready. The corruption spreading through the Dream has proven elusive to us druids, but you may be able to see what we cannot."

XXXXX

Cenarius had suggested that they take a day or two to simply get used to the Emerald Dream, which was deemed to be a good idea. They picked a nice looking spot to set up camp – insofar as dropping what few things they weren't keeping in hammerspace could be considered setting up camp – and then Harry immediately proposed a little hand-to-hand sparring.

"Trust me on this, I think you'll find it illuminating." Was his reasoning when questioned about why they should. All of them were weapon users, after all. "Garona, you want to go first?"

The half-orc looked interested, probably remembering their very brief conversation on the nature of the Emerald Dream earlier. "Under what kind of rules?"

Harry considered what Garona's upbringing had been like and nodded at the very pertinent question. "No eye-gouging, hits to the crotch or similarly vicious tactics. This is to get you used to the Dream, not to win."

"Very well." She nodded and stepped into the 'arena', which was really just a patch of grass.

Harry quickly divested himself of everything except a pair of pants, leaving him barefoot and bare-chested. Garona was similarly wearing just a pair of pants and a sports bra made of a stretchy pseudo-leather – Luna had correctly guessed that she would like the minimalist and unrestrictive clothing.

Harry put his arms up in a vaguely remembered martial arts stance. It had been centuries since he'd practiced and he was more than a little rusty, and he'd never been a serious practitioner besides.

Opposite from him, Garona lowered her center of gravity and held her arms at the ready. It was the skittish stance of a brawler used to going up against people bigger and stronger than her. Given that he was around a foot taller than her, that made sense, but Harry had the suspicion that it was also habit.

Figuring that she wouldn't make the first move, he glided forward and threw a probing punch. She dodged to the side, quick as a rattlesnake, and tried to drive her fist into his kidneys. In a move that would be completely stupid in the real world, Harry blocked the punch by raising his leg.

There was a moment of incredulity in Garona's purple eyes, but her instincts were too sharp to not pounce on the vulnerability. With her hand already there, she grabbed onto his ankle and pulled, leaping out of the way so that she was out of reach of his arms. Common sense dictated that he would not have the leverage to keep his leg bent close to his body. It would be forced into extension, leaving him unbalanced and quite possibly forcing him into an awkward split.

Common sense was in abeyance in the Dream and Harry has able to push down on her hands with his extended leg hard enough to heave himself into the air and over her head. He did this without notably unbalancing her in turn, which she had automatically tried to compensate for and stumbled when the weight of his body failed to materialize.

Just to be cheeky, he planted his foot into her back and gave her a hard shove as he flipped over her, sending her staggering forward.

"I told you before, didn't I?" He spoke with a small grin. "This is a realm of spirit and the rules are less stringent. Even if we are here in physical form, you are only as heavy as you perceive yourself to be, only as fast as you perceive yourself to be, only as strong as you perceive yourself to be."

Garona expelled air from her nose like an angry bull, but there was an excited gleam in her eyes. In that moment, Harry knew that Luna's idea of turning her into a full-blooded draenei would not be going anywhere. It had always been a bit of a long shot – digitigrade legs were great for running, jumping and climbing, but crap for backwards and sideways motion, which were rather important for an assassin – but this fight was also showing him that Garona had too much of the orcish battle lust in her. She might be stoic and self-controlled and she might have plenty of reason to hold her father's people in contempt, but she'd never feel right as a draenei.

This time it was Garona who came on the offensive, launching a series of probing punches to test his defenses and get a feel for how he fought. Despite the obvious lack of formal training, her movements were actually not bad. A formal martial art was really nothing more than condensed fighting experience, collected and refined across generations. Garona's 'style' was rough and by no means optimized or pretty, but it wasn't just hapless flailing either.

Harry kept a smile on his face as he slapped aside her limbs and occasionally launched a retaliatory punch or kick. He kept his speed just a little bit higher than hers and in a clear ant blatant taunt.

Quite impressively, she kept her temper firmly leashed even though he could almost hear her blood boiling and continued attacking with methodical precision. Notably, she was getting perceptibly faster and stronger as the minutes went on.

Harry's grin only grew wider at this. He'd known this would be a good idea. Garona was a lot smarter than she looked, a natural born genius in fact. She'd picked up Darnassian, the language of the night elves, just from casually listening to Arko and Jessir talking. Even Harry would be hard pressed to learn a whole new language that fast, and he used the Mind Arts to cheat.

If Gul'dan were still alive, Harry would have put him on his kill list just for what he'd done to her. Someone with this kind of potential should have been carefully nurtured and provided with every resource and opportunity to grow. Instead, that idiot warlock had done everything in his power to shackle and control her. The only positive contribution he could have been said to provide was the cunning and willpower she had been forced to develop just to survive, but those things could have been cultivated in more effective ways.

As soon as he noticed her intelligence, Gul'dan should have immediately abandoned his plans and delivered her to the draenei so that she could be taught properly. And no, Harry didn't care how unreasonable it was to hold a grudge against a dead man on a premise like that. Some angry imbecile that thought selling his soul to demons was a good long term plan had no right to stifle those who were better than him.

Initially, Harry had only wanted her on board because she was such a skilled killer, but that plan was long gone. The sheer scale of squandered potential he saw every time he looked at her was almost physically painful. By now, Garona should have been one of the most powerful people on Azeroth, an archmage to rival or more likely surpass the likes of Jaina and Rhonin. One day, she would have definitely surpassed him as well, because Harry knew that he wasn't a genius in the traditional sense. Well above average intelligence, yes, but not a genius. His passion for magic and a good number of fortuitous circumstances had carried him far and he had a lot of experience to fall back on, but he didn't have the same kind raw intellect.

She was still one of the deadliest people on Azeroth with just the instinctive magic she was using to bolster her skills as an assassin, but she could have been so much more than someone who could stab good.

Harry didn't know if he could undo the damage that was already done. Garona didn't trust magic and had a whole bunch of psychological complexes around it. Worse, she was a full grown adult already set in her ways and incredibly stubborn to boot. If he pressed her on it, she would bolt like a startled deer.

His distraction earned him a vicious low kick to his left knee that momentarily forced his leg to buckle. Garona had expected him to somehow retaliate, so she backed off instead of pressing the advantage. When he didn't, she shook out her leg with a somewhat bemused expression.

"It doesn't hurt at all." She said.

"Naturally." Harry agreed, banishing his thoughts to focus on the here and now. "How could you be damaged when you weren't attacked?"

Which wasn't how the real world operated at all. Even a magically dense world of bullshit like Azeroth still wasn't completely divorced from physics. An Astral Plane like the Emerald Dream, however, was.

"I want to go next." Arko piped up, looking very eager.

Garona's face closed down, but there was both disappointment and irritation in her eyes. She wanted to keep fighting.

"Why don't you try to take me two on one?" Harry teased, knowing it would get both of them fired up. "I promise to take it easy on you."

Ah, it was pretty amazing how similar a night elf and a half-orc could be when they were determined to beat you up.

XXXXX

"It is not too late, you know. You can still return to the Light." Sally Whitemane said.

Jaina resisted the urge to sigh. She supposed this was progress, compared to trying to smite everyone or burn them alive. How much of that was because she couldn't currently do that was another matter.

"I never left it." She retorted, although she was in truth not particularly religious. She believed in doing good, which was close enough to the tenets of the Church of Holy Light that nobody really cared.

"You say that, yet you consort with a necromancer and allow him to court you."

"I'm not allowing him to do anything, I just can't stop him from doing it." She could have just cut all contact, but the thought of leaving Harry unsupervised filled her heart with dread. He'd done a lot of good, that was indisputably true, and he had Luna to keep him from doing anything too bad, but Jaina simply could not feel comfortable leaving him out of her sight for too long. Putting up with his flirting was a small price to pay. "And I know you won't believe me, but it is possible to use knowledge of necromancy for good."

"Only the burning touch of the Holy Light can scour clean the taint of undeath." Was the predictable response.

Sometimes, Jaina wondered if Harry had contrived this situation so that she would have to defend his virtues against a fanatic and thus see his good sides. She'd call it paranoid, except it definitely sounded like something he would do.

Their dinner finished – Jaina had had it made back in Theramore and then brought it over, because she had no idea how to cook – the two women went their separate ways. Whitemane had some freedom to roam the tower, but it was very limited. The runic bracer attached to her arm kept her from summoning any power and prevented her from leaving.

Jaina, on the other hand, was given completely free reign of the tower. Harry had asked her not to mess with any of his experiments, but hadn't actually forbidden her from entering his workshop. In fact, he had pretty much hinted that she should go in there, because he had left her a present in his study.

Jaina still had paperwork to do and a study inside a chamber of accelerated time would be extremely useful. Thus far, she'd been doing the work in her room, but it was not ideal. She knew that Harry wouldn't mind if she used his study, would probably be pleased even, but she had avoided it.

Who knew what kind of ridiculous or embarrassing 'gift' he had left for her in there? For three days she had refused to fall for it.

Unfortunately, Jaina was also very curious. Since she knew it wasn't a trap, the urge to check just kept getting stronger. She'd almost think it was a magical compulsion, but no, she was just curious.

I'm just doing this because he'll be even more insufferable if I don't. Jaina reasoned to herself. She could certainly imagine Harry putting on a hurt air at having his gift rejected. If it was something stupid or sexual, then she'd at least have an excuse to get mad at him.

Thus resolved, she made for the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

Jaina would never admit it to him for fear of further swelling his ego, but she was incredibly impressed by it. The sheer amount of space he had compressed into that one corner of his tower and displaced from the timestream was extraordinary. Azeroth's mages simply hadn't ever thought to develop such precise magics. There had never been a need for it.

She had never actually been to Harry's study before. He had invited her to join him there, but she had preferred to speak to him in a more neutral setting. Not because she thought he'd set a trap for her or anything, but simply because she didn't want to get too comfortable around him. Still, she knew where to go and even if she hadn't, the little orb of light that had been waiting for her as soon as she entered the Time Chamber would have led her to it.

The orb dispersed in front of the door and Jaina cautiously pushed it open, not sure what to expect.

It was… surprisingly tasteful. It was a large room made of the same polished dark stone as the rest of the tower, but the furniture was all the warm red-brown of high quality mahogany. The floor was covered by a soft brown carpet. Much of the walls were taken up by bookshelves, but there was one that featured only a massive tapestry.

It had many names stitched into it and when she reached out to gently touch one, it somehow 'opened up' to reveal a picture. Too realistic to have been drawn by hand it moved a little, so there was obviously magic involved. There were many, many names stitched into it, in a clear hierarchical order reminiscent of a family tree.

No, it was a family tree, Jaina realized. Harry's family tree.

"Wow… he really got around." She muttered with some incredulity. There had to be thousands of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and so on from nearly two dozen women. And these were just the ones closest to him. Judging by some of what he'd casually said in the past – which had more impact now that she was seeing this – Harry must have sired enough offspring all by himself to populate a good-sized kingdom.

Feeling as if she was intruding on something private despite having been meant to see this – Jaina would not be at all surprised to learn later that Harry just wanted her to see how virile he was – she turned towards the desk dominating the room that she had been ignoring thus far.

It was an impressive desk, huge and imposing. Jaina remembered being called in to her father's study once when she had misbehaved as a child and feeling about two inches tall when she had been sitting in front of his desk. Harry was a much bigger man with a much bigger desk, so the effect would probably be even worse.

At the moment, that looming air of authority was somewhat spoiled by the garishly wrapped gift box sitting on it. It had a bright red bow, with a note attached that cheerfully proclaimed 'for Jaina!' with a little red heart drawn on it.

Feeling a bit bold (and curious) she decided to sit in his chair. It was obviously much too big for her, but by the seas and the tides was it comfortable. The perfect mix of firm and soft and she could feel some devilishly tempting spellcraft begin massaging her back when she leaned back into it.

"How long did he spend working on this thing?" Jaina asked herself, because this chair had all the feel of a wizard's life's work, something refined for decades and maybe even centuries.

Well, she supposed that if you were immortal you'd need hobbies…

Shaking off the inane thought, she focused on her actual reason for being here. The present.

Jaina stared at it like it was a venomous snake, just waiting to bite her. There was no telling what nonsense lay in ambush behind the festive wrapping paper.

"If it's lingerie or a sex toy, so help me I will deep freeze your balls." Jaina Proudmoore had been raised with the impeccable manners expected of the ruling family of Kul Tiras, but Jaina Proudmoore had also been hanging around a lot of sailors and soldiers over the years.

Fortunately for Harry's 'core temperature', it was not lingerie or a sex toy. Instead, it was a glass globe on a wood foundation, about the size of a football. And inside was a perfect representation of Boralus, the capital of Kul Tiras, in miniature. Every building, street and tree was exactly as she remembered it. He had to have gone there in secret and crafted this scale model while looking down on it from the sky.

Jaina's throat closed up and her eyes burned, something painful squeezing her chest as she stared at the home she could no longer return to. Her father, Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, had refused to believe that the Horde under Thrall was any different than it had been under Blackhand and Doomhammer, and waged war against it, even usurping control of Theramore from her to do it. Doing the right thing then had meant not supporting her father, which had ended with him dead despite Thrall's entreaties to stop the fighting.

Ever since, Jaina had been reviled as a traitor by the people of Kul Tiras, her own people. Even her own family.

You bastard. Jaina mentally cursed at Harry, struggling not to cry as she hugged the gift to her chest. Why couldn't you have just given me lingerie?

After she regained a little self-control, she saw that there was another note at the bottom of the gift box.

Dear Jaina,

Since you refuse to be seduced by conventional methods, I'm afraid that I've had to resort to romance. Prepare to have the defenses around your heart besieged and impregnated.

I look forward to the day when you open your gates for my battering ram,

Harry.

Jaina let out a watery snort of mixed derision and reluctant humor at the stupid puns. She just knew that he had used a siege metaphor specifically to be able to phrase it that way. She wanted to be annoyed at him, but it was hard when his gift was so thoughtful.

XXXXX

The Emerald Dream was a reflection of Azeroth as it would have been had a sapient hand never touched it. This made it somewhat difficult to traverse, because not only was all the landmass still sticking together in a single super-continent, but it was also covered in forest growth. The only recognizable landmarks were the mountains and the World Trees.

Offsetting this was the fact that it was an Astral Plane, so if you focused enough then you would always get to where you wanted to go.

"Well, this is definitely the place." Colette stated wrily.

They had flown north, to the Grizzly Hills in Northrend where archdruid Fandral Staghelm had long ago planted the World Tree Andrassil, in an effort to stop the spread of the material known as saronite. In the real world, it had to be cut down because it was being corrupted, but in the Emerald Dream it still stood tall and strong.

The area around it, however, was a corrupted mishmash of twisted red and black plants.

Harry, with his outsider information thanks to being enough of a nerd in his young age to name one of his own creations saronite, knew that Andrassil's roots had pierced Yogg-Saron's prison, allowing it to access the Emerald Dream.

"At least the World Tree remains uncorrupted, even if it's only an echo." Jessir sighed.

"Yes…" Harry frowned, wondering why that was. Because it had been felled in the real world and this was just a reflection, or did it just take longer? It had been thousands of years since Andrassil had been planted, so the corruption was obviously slow going.

But then, why was this not the only part of the Dream that had been corrupted? The druids had told them that there were patches of Nightmare elsewhere. The problem was that the Emerald Dream was huge, every bit as big as Azeroth itself, and the druids were relatively few and had no special ability to sense the growth of the Nightmare. Indeed, it actively hid from them. They hadn't even known about this patch of corruption existed until Harry had told them about it.

There was a thinking mind behind this and he wasn't sure if it was Yogg-Saron. The Old Gods were intelligent to be sure, but they had trouble thinking small in much the same way that a human would have trouble divining the intentions of ticks or skin mites. Despite their penchant for corrupting smaller creatures, Harry was somewhat doubtful that they truly grasped the notion of stealth.

"Let's go clean this mess up!" Luna declared and directed the Nimbus Cloud down to the ground.

Flight required no effort in the Emerald Dream if you knew what you were doing, but only the two of them did.

The Nightmare shriveled away from Luna's presence, evaporating like snow under the summer sun, reverting back to healthy greenery.

"How interesting." Colette mused, looking at her hand and the shadows wreathing it. Her currently cadaverous white face was set into a slightly perplexed expression. "Why do these shadows flee from you, but not mine?"

"Because you're nice." Luna chirped back unhelpfully.

"The Void isn't innately malicious." Harry elaborated drily, knowing that Luna's explanation wasn't very helpful. "You sought the Dark so that it would absorb your sorrows. The Old Gods were made by these 'Void Lords' Velen mentioned to spread misery."

A conversation with the ancient draenei had allowed Harry to piece together his own fragmented knowledge of Warcraft lore and it didn't lead him to any conclusions that he liked.

"Frankly, I'm strongly considering the merits of folding all of this Light versus Dark nonsense into the faith of Elune." He continued. "The Naaru may be benevolent, but they're too rigid for my tastes and the Void Lords are manifesting the worst aspects of the Dark. Elune has her toes dipped into both sides and is much better balanced."

Ah, the sweet irony. His younger self would have had an aneurysm at the thought of spreading any kind of religion, but his younger self had been kind of an idiot about this topic. If you didn't give them something to believe in, then people will give their faith to the first thing that sounded good, and since people were morons that always ended badly. It wasn't until that debacle on Planetos that he fully understood that it was much better to direct them towards a nice, harmless religion. The faith of Elune had the benefit of being not only very chilled out, but also of having a genuine deity behind it.

"Ah, should I start worshiping Elune as well?" Colette asked faux-demurely, cupping her cheek. "Will you like me better that way?"

"Big Sis would love to have you, if you want to have her." Luna chirped earnestly.

There was a sudden distinct presence among them, extending an unmistakable feeling of welcome towards the former death knight. It was comforting like the quiet darkness in the early hours of the night, when you were still wrapped up in bed and felt no compunction to get up.

Colette balked in surprise at the divine outreach, losing her playful mien. "I'll think about it." She muttered.

Harry reached out to give her hand a comforting squeeze. It didn't work so great with heavy plate armor in the way, but it got his point across. In any case, he wasn't going to let Elune's little drive by recruitment pitch kill the mood.

"I wonder if I could get all of Azeroth worshiping Elune?" He mused aloud. "The tauren basically already worship her as part of their veneration of nature. I could probably convince the trolls that she's one of their loa and then work to supplant all the others until she's the only one left. Humans are easy, but the dwarves and gnomes might be a problem. High and blood elves… hmm, I wonder if I could get Azzie to donate a little blood for the creation of a new Sunwell, but have Elune bless it. Turn it into a Nightwell… they might even revert back to being night elves. The draenei would be the biggest problem…"

"Orcs and trolls worshiping Elune?" Arko snarked, recovering from her awe at the tangible presence of her goddess. "I don't see those brutes having that kind of sense."

"Trolls already worshiped her once." Harry teased, knowing that night elves didn't like being reminded of their origins. "You know we'd still love you even if you had tusks, right?"

"Female troll tusks are small and cute." Luna nodded in agreement over Arko and Jessir's protests. "Just look at Garona. She has tusks and isn't any less beautiful for it."

It was hard to see with the spectral green tint the Emerald Dream had given the half-orc's skin, but Harry thought he could detect a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"We should stay focused." Garona's voice was far too stoic and even to be anything other than an attempt to cover embarrassment.

"Of course, focus is important." Harry agreed with a smirk. "Look, here come the bear people."

Furbolgs, yet another one of Azeroths entirely-too-numerous sapient races. These ones were the spirit forms of druids and definitely corrupted. Focus was largely unnecessary because Luna was able to purify them easily. Alas, it seemed that the corruption was so total that they couldn't survive its removal, but it wasn't a challenge either way.

The group pressed on, closer and closer towards Andrassil. Many furbolgs and plants were purified on the way, doing little to nothing to impede their progress. It wasn't until they reached the base of the World Tree that they encountered something actually dangerous.

"That's a big bear!" Luna said admiringly.

"I think that's Ursoc, one of the twin bear gods. He and his brother, Ursol, died during the War of the Ancients." Jessir exclaimed, a sorrowful expression on her face. "The Nightmare got its hooks into him as well?"

The question was largely rhetorical, as the giant bear had Glowing Red Eyes of Doom and patches of black, red and purple corruption on his fur. The bloodthirsty roar he unleashed as he saw them was also a big clue towards the answer.

"Colette, see if you can drain the corruption out of him with your Voidblade while Luna works to purify him." Harry hastily ordered. "The rest of us are going to keep him distracted."

The corrupted Wild God was already charging at them, so they were quick to scatter. Luna and Colette circled wide to his flanks, Garona vanished from sight, Jessir immediately started firing arrows charged with the light of Elune into his legs, Harry took a page out of Jaina's playbook and conjured a glass-smooth pane of ice under his feet and Arko simply charged into melee range with a shield of moonlight surrounding her.

Ursoc appreciated none of this and roared in renewed fury. He swiped his claws at Arko and sent her skidding backwards, but in so doing lost traction on the ice. More arrows stuck into his legs, visibly burning in contact with the corruption, and Garona materialized out of the shadows to drive her daggers into another leg.

None of them were doing much damage, but they sure were pissing the Bear God off, which was the point. Colette looked to be having a little trouble at first, but she quickly figured out how to use the Voidblade to start pulling the corruption out of him. Streamers of darkness flowed out of Ursoc's wounds and were locked inside the black blade, while on the other side Luna projected the light of Elune to push it out of him.

Harry was grateful that the Wild God seemed to be pure melee fighter. Despite being so huge that his claws were almost the size of a man, that made him predictable and bears didn't have a whole lot of lateral motion. Plus, the corruption seemed to have robbed him of any semblance of rationality.

Ursoc had just about managed to break the miniature glacier Harry had summoned over his eyes when the efforts of Luna and Colette bore fruit. The Bear God stumbled and crashed on the ground, sliding a bit because of the ice, but the last of the Void's corruption vanished.

They backed off as the giant bear groaned and opened clear golden eyes, his fur now a rich brown instead of the patchwork of black, red and purple.

"The nightmare is over, I thank you." Ursoc spoke in the kind of erudite voice you wouldn't expect from a bear.

"We were honored to help, Ancient One." Arko and Jessir bowed.

"Getting rid of the Nightmare is what we came here to do." Luna nodded to herself firmly.

"Then you yet have much work ahead of you." Ursoc warned. "The druids of old were wise to tear down Vordrassil, for its roots dug deep into the prison of an ancient evil."

Harry noted that the Wild God had used the name Andrassil was given after being torn down, the Broken Crown, instead of its original one, but it was a mere curiosity. "Yogg-Saron. Yes, we know."

That seemed to briefly surprise the great bear, but he quickly nodded. "Good, then you are more prepared than I could have hoped for. Vordrassil's destruction prevented the Old God from extending his evil far from here, but it left seeds of the Nightmare in the Emerald Dream. While in its grip, I could sense the hand of another of its kind. Beware N'zoth and his agent, the Nightmare Lord."

"Ah, that explains a lot." Harry nodded, although he wasn't exactly pleased by this information. A relatively straightforward quest had just become considerably more complicated.

XXXXX

"It is deeply disturbing that this corruption can evade our sight so effectively." Cenarius rumbled after they finished their report about what they found in the Grizzly Hills.

"You are too closely connected to the Emerald Dream." Harry argued. "This Nightmare Lord and his masters don't have to obscure themselves from your sight, just nudge your attention elsewhere."

"Perhaps you are right." The demigod frowned deeply. "The Emerald Dream was supposed to be beyond the grasp of evil. Even the Burning Legion did not manage to breach it. The thought of our connection to nature being turned against us never entered my thoughts."

"Well, there's an easy way to test it." Harry noted. "Where would you say we should check next for corruption?"

Cenarius held his chin with his unmutated right hand. "It is difficult to say. The Nightmare seems to spring up all across the dream without rhyme or reason. As soon as we purify one patch of it, more spring up elsewhere. The largest patch of corruption we have found so far was in the area corresponding to Azshara."

"Oh, your head is definitely being messed with." Luna said sympathetically.

"Luna!" Jessir hissed, a bit scandalized. "What do you mean?"

"She means that we literally just came back from fighting the Nightmare stemming from one of the World Trees." Harry said pointedly. "What makes you think the others aren't under threat?"

That gave the demigod pause, and a certain expression came across his face. "Nothing at all. Fandral Staghelm did not secure the blessing of the aspects when he planted Andrassil , nor for Teldrassil. The other three were all blessed and the one in Un'Goro Crater was destroyed before it could even be named, but it is still prudent to check them, yet it never occurred to me to do so."

"Then let's do it. We'll go from oldest to youngest." Luna declared, then paused. "Err, which is the oldest?"

"Shaladrassil, in Val'sharah, my home." Cenarius replied.

XXXXX

Cenarius didn't go with them to Val'sharah, saying that he would instead go investigate the other World Trees. Harry was very much not certain that this was a good idea, but had no way to keep the demigod from doing whatever he wanted. Reasoning with him hadn't worked and he was worried about the missing Malfurion Stormrage. In theory, the demigod's own great power and the blessing Elune gave him should be enough to protect him from the corruption of the Nightmare, but he was just too closely linked to the Dream for that to be a sure thing.

Still, there was nothing to be done about that and they had an old friend escorting them towards Val'sharah.

"…And they love playing hide and seek with the dryads!" Luna was gushing about the antics of the moonlight dragon whelps.

"They sound like quite a handful." Merithra chuckled a little wistfully. "I truly do regret not being able to be there when they hatched, but you seem to be doing an admirable job looking after them."

"They barely need any looking after at all." Luna said with a fond smile. "I mostly just take baths with them and scratch them under the chin."

Well, that was true enough. The dragon whelps were remarkably self-sufficient, able to hunt for what little food they needed by themselves. You'd think a whole clutch of growing dragons would go through several dozen tons of meat per month, if not per week, but with the fuck off levels of magic involved they actually ate less than a human adult.

"And how have you handled their teething?" Merithra asked teasingly. "I know that dragon whelps will gnaw on just about anything when their teeth first come in."

Did they ever, and that happened pretty much immediately after hatching. Tyrande's junior priestesses still hadn't forgiven them for it.

"I kept booping them on the nose when they tried to bite me until they stopped, now they mostly just chew on the trees around our tower."

Fortunately, the trees in Ashenvale have very thick bark.

"We have arrived." Merithra said abruptly, getting serious. "Can you sense any corruption?"

They had seen Shaladrassil looming over them for a long time already of course, but distance was a variable concept in the Emerald Dream. For a long while it had seemed like they weren't getting any closer and then suddenly they were there. Harry and Luna just rolled with it, but the other girls still had problems dealing with the abstract rules of an Astral Plane despite the Matrix-style adaptation course.

Harry already knew it was there. While Azeroth had some difficulty keeping track of minor patches of corruption in comparison to the Old Gods themselves, she was more than able to give him a yes or no on the matter.

"Yes, the Nightmare is here." Luna said absently, focus clearly elsewhere. "Not as pervasive as it was in the Grizzly Hills, but it's here."

Meritha's expression became strained with concentration, brows over closed eyes furrowing deeply. "Damnation, I sense nothing. We truly have been chasing shadows all this time."

"Ah, was that a pun?" Harry smiled. "As expected from my favorite dragon."

"This is no time for your flirting." She retorted disapprovingly. "Be on your guard."

Good advice, apparently, because another green dragon shimmered into existence, this one already in draconic form.

"Halt!" The new dragon boomed in a female voice. "I am Nythendra, Guardian of Shaladrassil, and you shall not pass."

"Nythendra, we have reason to suspect that Shaladrassil is being infected by the Nightmare." Merithra said diplomatically.

"The only corruption I see here are these mortals you've brought." Nythendra immediately contested, taking an aggressive posture. "I will do my duty."

"Luna!" Harry barked, realizing that this guardian dragon also had her mind messed with. She was far too irrational and aggressive for one of the Green Dragonflight.

"Right!" The priestess of Elune was already raising up her staff, silver light pouring from her. "This won't hurt a bit!"

Nythendra reared back use her breath weapon, but Luna's cleansing was faster. The green dragon's corruption wasn't very deep yet and only twisted her thinking process, so curing it didn't take long. The sudden shift in her thoughts made her stumble and choke on her own breath as she realized that she had been about to basically launch an unprovoked attack on one of her own kin and her companions.

She shrunk down to mortal form, a blindfolded and horned night elf in a simple green robe.

"Thank you, priestess, you have removed the veil from my sight." Nythendra bowed first in Luna's direction and then to the others. "And my apologies for nearly attacking you."

"There is nothing to forgive, we understand how insidious the corruption of the Old Gods can be." Arko reassured, probably remembering her own brush with brainwashing.

"How bad is the corruption, Nythendra?" Merithra asked with some trepidation.

"It would be much worse if you had not arrived when you did." The other green dragon admitted with a small grimace. "The corruption has slowly been creeping into the roots of Shaladrassil and I was blind to it. A few more years and the damage may have become irreversible."

Probably not quite irreversible, but it would have presented a serious challenge for Azeroth's defenders to overcome. Serious enough to temper their skills for further trials. Being a bronze dragon and managing this precarious stack of dominoes sounded like a huge pain in the ass. No wonder Chromie decided to pick a timeline in which she could just do whatever she wanted.

"Then we should go cleanse it immediately." Merithra said decisively and gave the Battle Harem (plus Garons) a smile. "Are you ready to transition back to Azeroth proper?"

XXXXX

When the Guardian of Shaladrassil convened an emergency counsel, the archdruids of Val'sharah were quick to comply. Luna saw some frowns directed at their group, but they were largely too polite to say anything. Once they were apprised of the situation they were far more interested in cleansing the Old God corruption than quibbling over the presence of outsiders. That was rather reasonable of them, but she supposed having a couple of green dragons tell you that it was serious would do that.

Then one of them had to go and say that.

"Excuse me, what?" Harry said incredulously. "Did you just say that you have thousands of satyrs sleeping under the World Tree, and you don't want them harmed?"

"Yes." The archdruid that had shared this bit of information nodded, either ignoring or not registering Harry's tone.

"I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but were you dropped on your head as a child? What could have possibly made you think that was a good idea?"

Predictably, Harry's question made people angry, but at least he had apologized for his rudeness! This world really was good for him.

"We could not simply murder them after they surrendered!" Another archdruid spoke over the din.

"And keeping them in eternal sleep is any better?" Harry retorted snippily. "Were you just going to keep them there until they woke up and started trying to kill you again so you could feel better about it?"

"I advocated that we execute them." The grimmest of the archdruids present said. Luna thought his name was Thaon something… she had been thinking about something else during the introductions.

"Well, at least one of you has some sense." Harry still had that 'you are all stupid and I resent having to deal with you' tone in his voice. "After we purge the Old God corruption, you are going to lead us to wherever you're keeping those satyrs so that we can carefully murder them all in their sleep."

"He could have phrased that better." Jessir murmured to her, wincing at the storm of protests from most of the archdruids.

"The urge to rub it in their faces got the better of him again." Luna murmured back, shaking her head. Old age had only reinforced that quirk of Harry's personality.

The meeting had by now degenerated into angry shouting because most of the archdruids were offended at Harry's presumption to dictate to them what they would do.

"Silence!" Merithra finally had enough, her command instantly obeyed. She turned to Harry and stared at him intently. "Do you truly believe killing the satyrs is necessary?"

"There are only two things that can happen with them." Harry began replying with an unhappy tone. "Either they sleep until they die, or they eventually wake up and start rampaging. You should know better than anyone that you can't just bury a problem and hope it solves itself. Leaving these kinds of 'gifts' for future generations to deal with because you didn't have the guts to do what had to be done is just irresponsible."

Merithra flinched imperceptibly at the low blow, but nodded. "I suppose you are correct. I will side with Harry and Archdruid Moonclaw on this issue. The satyrs should be killed."

That was his name!

With the support of one of Ysera's daughters, opinion on the matter swung considerably. Then Nythendra added her own support and left only a couple of archdruids who still didn't think that murdering the satyrs was the right choice.

"Will you be able to live with yourself, knowing that you have killed thousands of prisoners in their sleep?" They asked.

If only they knew that he literally did more morally ambiguous things every day before breakfast.

"They're just satyrs." Arko huffed and rolled her eyes. "You know, demons? It's not like we'll be killing people."

Ah, that sounded a little bit like something Harry would say. He was rubbing off on her.

"Could we visit the Temple of Elune first?" Luna spoke up, causing everyone's heads to snap towards her.

"Can it not wait?" Nythendra asked with a small frown. "I realize that the situation beneath Shaladrassil is not urgent, but I would rather not let the corruption linger for even a moment longer than necessary."

"I want to see the temple first." Luna insisted petulantly. There was a tickle somewhere in her soul insisting that she go there and she wasn't going to ignore it.

"We could use some more priestesses of Elune to help purge the corruption." Merithra suggested diplomatically.

It was clearly meant to placate anyone that felt like they should descend into Shaladrassil's root system immediately, but the suggestion was a good one.

Harry knew her well enough to know that something was up, though, and siddled up next to her as they walked out of the building that served as a meeting hall in the druid grove of Shala'nir.

"Why the sudden urge to go visit a temple?" He asked shrewdly. "Or is it just this particular temple?"

"Dunno." She shrugged.

Everyone waited for her to say something more, but that was all she had to say.

"That's it?" Colette asked with a raised eyebrow. She was doing her 'cool mature woman' impression. One of these days, Luna was going to have to see if she could get her to do a proper 'ara ara'. "You don't know why you want to go there, but you're going to do it anyway?"

"Big Sis Elune thinks I should go there and I trust her." Luna shrugged again.

"Alright, fair enough." Harry nodded, followed by Arko and Jessir.

"Is it truly alright for you to be this casual about it?" Garona asked, frowning deeply. "In my experience, following inexplicable urges is not a good idea. How sure are you that it is Elune?"

"I'm not worried, because I have you to watch out for us if it is a trap." Luna smiled brightly at the half-orc, delighting in the embarrassed silence that followed the compliment.

Garona was just too precious!

Their group split off from Nythendra and the archdruids then, but kept Merithra with them as a guide. The Broken Isles were far from Kalimdor and she hadn't been here in a long time, but the ancient green dragon still knew her way around.

Not that the Temple of Elune was all that hard to find – Shala'nir was close enough that it was visible once they rose high enough into the sky on the Nimbus Cloud.

When they arrived, Luna was happy to greet the local priestesses and answer their curious questions about how a non-night elf came to be a priestess of Elune, but allowed herself to fade into the background once Merithra go to talking to them about coming to Shaladrassil to purge the creeping Nightmare corruption.

She wasn't normally one for stealth, but a quick twist of her will and the shadows of the temple hid her from sight. After that, she just sort of wandered off while the others were talking, following the urge in her soul.

Garona was the only one who noticed her slipping away, which really said something about how tense and paranoid the half-orc was.

Luna didn't mind the company as she made her way out the back of the temple and into a beautiful garden. A garden where the centerpiece was a stone plinth with a large tear-shaped gemstone floated.

It was a deep, pure blue color, with shades of teal at the bottom. It had a similar feel to it as the Heart of Azeroth that Harry had used to turn Atiesh into a bladestaff, so it was probably a titan artifact.

Luna approached and stared deep inside it, seeing a paradise without suffering or evil reflected back at her. It was an impossible dream, but a beautiful one. Another nudge from within her soul urged her to reach out and take it. Seeing no reason to refuse, she did so.

Garona's hand lashed out quick as a viper and grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing?" The half-orc hissed.

"Big Sis Elune thinks I should have this." Luna answered.

"I don't think the priestesses here would appreciate you touching their things without permission." Garona argued.

Luna smiled and pulled the half-orc into a hug. "It's okay, they'll understand."

Before her surprised companion could regain her composure, she grabbed the Tears of Elune and brought her staff out of hammerspace. The titan artifact sank into the staff as if it had always meant to fit there, the moonsteel flowing around it and gripping it tight until it was an inextricable part of the headpiece.

The process finished just as the first shouts of outrage echoed across the garden.

XXXXX

Elune nodded in satisfaction and sent a beam of moonlight to shine down on her newest priestess, a blatant sign of her favor that no follower of hers could mistake.

That particular temple had done well to safeguard the Tears of Elune these past ten thousand years, but the powerful titan artifact wasn't doing any good there either. Luna was the only one of her priestesses outside of Tyrande that could be trusted with it.

Not because others lacked virtue, but because they lacked strength. The Pillars of Creation could be used for great evil just as easily as they could be used for good, and only the mighty could safeguard them from falling into the wrong hands. Luna was virtuous, powerful and surrounded by powerful allies, a perfect choice for a guardian.

Elune was glad to have her. Tyrande was the only other priestess on Azeroth that could hear her properly and she was too bogged down by her duties as the leader of the night elves to act freely. The Moon Goddess was even warming up to Harry. His methods were not something she could have ever contemplated herself, but his path was now set. He was no longer a possible danger to Azeroth.

XXXXX

OMAKE – The Wrong One

"Why do we have to be dressed like this?" Arko asked/complained. "Can't we just wear our armor?"

"No." Harry denied, smoothing out his ankle-length leather coat and putting on a pair of sunglasses. "Creepy black coats and sunglasses are basically formal attire for what we're doing."

"And these weapons?" Colette asked, amused. She, too, was wearing a long leather coat, but had not yet put on her sunglasses and was currently turning a MP7 machine pistol around in her hand, getting used to the grip. "Are these also formal attire?"

"You joke, but the answer is actually yes."

"You can't be serious." Jessir said incredulously and turned to Luna. "He's not serious, is he?"

"I'm afraid he is." Luna nodded. Her sympathetic expression clashed horribly with her own leather coat. "You asked if any other worlds had something like the Emerald Dream and this is the closest thing we can think of. We're going in uninvited, which means we need to be armed."

And of course, as soon as they had heard that other worlds had an Emerald Dream equivalent, they had gotten curious, so here they were, about to invade the Matrix. No headjacking though, because that was for barbarians that couldn't violate reality properly.

XXXXX

"Uh, Morpheus? Something weird is happening in the Matrix."

"Define 'weird', Mouse." The captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar demanded even as he began making his way to the console. The rest of the crew followed behind him curiously.

"Uh, well… it looks like a bunch of seven foot elves are picking a fight with the Agents."

The report was so ludicrous that Morpheus had to pause for a moment just to process it. Trinity bumped into his back due to the sudden stop, but he was so distracted that he barely felt it.

"Mouse, this had better not be one of your jokes." The captain warned.

"No joke, I swear!" Mouse denied urgently. "I spotted a lot of network traffic and knew that none of ours were there, so I took a look and the Matrix code is getting more fucked by the second. I'm even getting proper video now and I'm telling you it looks like a bunch of seven foot elves kicking Agent ass! Three regular and two dark elves with extra long ears. All of them are super hot babes except for the one guy. Oh, and they're all dressed like us when we go in."

Putting aside Mouse's hormonal ramblings, that just shouldn't be possible. The data density of the Matrix proper was too high to render it into video format.

"Could it be The One?" Trinity asked with quiet intensity.

Morpheus didn't want to get his hopes up, particularly since prophecy said that The One would be a bluepill until he was shown the truth, but he couldn't think of anything else that could be screwing with the Matrix to this degree. "We're going to find out."

XXXXX

Deep in the bowels of the Matrix, the computer program called The Architect watched with petrified horror as his beautiful code was being mangled by these interlopers.

"This isn't right." He muttered plaintively. "How are they doing this to my code?"

Even The One couldn't do this. They weren't just bending the rules to simulate demigod-like power, the code around the only male in the group was literally on fire.

How can programming be on fire? A few minutes ago, the Architect would have said it was impossible, but he was seeing it happen. The Matrix was burning and the captive humans were becoming aware of its true nature en masse.

What a disaster.

XXXXX

"Hmm, I may have underestimated what my divine portfolio was going to do to this place." Harry mused philosophically.

Below them was the simulated cityscape, which was currently burning with conceptual flames that cleared away the false reality from the eyes of anyone it touched. Yeah, in hindsight, maybe going into what was essentially a giant virtual slave pen while having the divine aspect of liberation as part of his soul hadn't been a great idea.

Especially since it was a technological prison and he was magical.

"Maybe we should go?" Luna suggested.

"Wait!" Came a desperate shout as a dark-skinned bald man in a great leather coat and sunglasses jumped onto their roof.

Thinking quickly, Harry gestured grandly and spoke. "It's alright. I have cleared the way, the rest is up to you."

That sounded sufficiently dramatic to be digestible. Like hell was he going to get caught up in fixing up this mess.