The Ballad of Svenn and Grayce

Whilst Svenn was a young Paladin in training, long before he had any adventures of any kind in Azeroth, a delightful frost mageling named Grayce caught his fancy. The road to Grayce's heart was hard, and filled with peril, but young Svenn wasn't daunted and set out to melt the icy maiden's frost barrier and make her his own.

Clearly out of his league, Svenn's initial plan involved a lot of wistful thinking and very little action. Grayce and he attended the same University, and despite their different roles, he a tank and she a DPSer, had many of the same classes. Initial meetings established a tentative friendship, but too soon they were separated. Svenn went off for a summer of pally training and jumping out of airplanes at Ft. Lewis and Ft. Bragg, Grayce stayed local for a summer of mission work.

Their paths converged again on campus that fall. Older, wiser, and a bit more banged up, Svenn knew he needed more direct action to secure Grayce's favor. Steadied by the crutches he was dependant on, (made necessary by a knee reconstruction from a skateboarding accident, I mean Plague Bear Wrestling accident) he asked her for a date. Grayce had studied well the frost mage craft, and never has any frostbolt cut quicker to the core of the young paladin than her icy rebuff of his initial advance.

Stunned and shaken, Svenn determined to maintain friendship with the Mage, after all, who else would carry his librams while he was laid up. Autumn turned to winter and the passage of time healed Svenn of his physical wounds as well as his emotional ones. Emboldened by his recovery, Svenn attempted once again to curry the Lady's favor and once again was brought up short by the Ice Armor she had surrounded herself with.

In utter dismay, Svenn fell into a despair he could scarcely be rallied from. Loyal companions attempted consolations, but their words fell on deaf ears. In his heart young Svenn knew that Grayce was "the one" appointed by the light to be his life mate, but he could not bear to face another rejection and as such grew distant.

Spring fell across the land, laying its particular brand of magic upon the earth, melting the snows of winter and bringing forth new life from the ground. With his time at the university drawing to a close, Svenn set his focus on successfully completing his studies and setting out into the broader world as an Army Officer. Having given up all romantic aspirations with the beautiful mage, he was still in close contact with her and enjoyed her continued presence in his life. For her part, mayhaps the snow was not the only thing melted by the onset of spring.

One fine spring day, Grayce suggested the two skip their studies for the day and take a trip to the shore, a location close to the ancestral home of Svenn's parents. With some reluctance, Svenn agreed, anticipating nothing more than the bitter sweetness of an afternoon spent in the company of the woman he could not have.

Maybe it was the sun's reflection off the ocean, maybe it was the way the sea breeze tossed her hair in playful fashion, maybe it was the way her face crinkled into a cute little scrunchyness of beauty when sand stung her cheeks, but never was Grayce more radiant than in those moments. And in those moments some twist of fate played out, Svenn and Grayce found themselves holding hands.

The pair spent some time there frozen as surely as any iceblock, huddled together against the wind, neither one willing to leave lest the magic of that moment be broken and lost. Eventually the two made their way back to the University. Svenn graduated and went off for more training at Ft. Sill, while Grayce finished the last of her studies. They wed in the spring, almost a year to the day after that moment on the beach. I would love to say they have been together ever since, and in most respects they have, but Svenn has gone to war a time or two leaving Grayce to man the home front.

In all the triumphs, conquests, and glories since that moment, Svenn has never experienced the same exultation he felt that windy day on the beach. 7 years have passed since then, yet it seems as if it was only yesterday. Svenn is still madly in love with Grayce and I don't see that changing no matter how many patches life throws at them.