Passerby -- Jorgen's case file

Although they encountered some setbacks, both of them eventually found work with Shakes. Naturally, the job was near the wells of Shimmering Flats. Khalif was responsible for standing guard and running errands, while Bossia joined a small team to eliminate the desert creatures that threatened the workers' safety. Truth be told, as long as they adapted to the desert climate, the work wasn't tedious, and they could even enjoy fresh, cool well water.

When it came to hiring Bossia — Sharll — Shakes hesitated only briefly. Although Livigaz had ordered no further contact with this woman, he was far away in Booty Bay. Now that Shakes had sent her to Shimmering Flats, what could Livigaz possibly know? Moreover, the benefits of hiring her and Khalif were obvious: Shakes could exploit them by paying lower wages since, in his eyes, both of them owed him their lives.

What puzzled Bossia even more about Khalif was that he insisted she keep all his wages in order to "save up for the storage fee." In reality, since they were stationed in the desert long-term, they had no chance to spend money, so it was rather unnecessary. Regardless, Bossia agreed under Khalif's insistence; she immediately felt like a hardworking sister who took all her younger sibling's earnings to carefully manage the household. Some of their coworkers, having learned about this from the accountant, occasionally joked about it, but without malice.

One night, Bossia saw Khalif shivering while on guard duty and walked over to him. There was a desperate anxiety in his eyes, his breathing rapid, as if he wanted to close his eyes and leave this place immediately. It was clear that he wasn't trembling from the cold but from fear.

"What are you shivering about?" Bossia asked.

Khalif seemed to realize she was beside him only when she spoke. Without turning his head, he stared straight ahead and said, "I saw... I saw my father."

"Your father?" Bossia found the word strange coming from Kalif's mouth. "Where is he?"

"Right... over there."

Bossia looked in the direction he indicated. There was no one in sight, but she did notice an old, sealed well nearby, which seemed to have been there for quite some time.

"He died in that well," Khalif said. "Some say it was an accident, others say enemies threw rocks into it on purpose. Just now, he climbed out and called for me."

Bossia saw nothing but the swirling yellow sand above the abandoned well, caught in the cold wind.

"He's still there," Khalif said. "He wants me to go over. Sharll, don't look in that direction. My father hates red-haired women; don't let him see you."

The fear in Kalif's eyes was genuine, and his neck was stiff as a post. Even though she couldn't see anything, Bossia shivered as well. She turned to face the same direction Khalif was looking and said, "There's nothing there. You're seeing things."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because… I don't need to answer that. You really are just a kid."

"I'm not…" Khalif tried to argue but didn't finish the sentence.

They didn't speak again, and Bossia stayed with him until the shift change. What Bossia didn't know was that her comment about him being a "kid" had another impact on Khalif.

At times, Khalif had to admit that he had childish habits, like comparing his height with anyone he met. He had secretly stood against a rock wall and carved a mark at the top of his head with a knife, measuring it every few days, only to be disappointed each time. Later, a small group of people began gambling at the foot of that wall, and Khalif stopped doing it. He also had another secret: he wet the bed until he was eleven, but luckily, the only person who knew this—his father—was already dead.

In any case, Khalif misunderstood what Bossia meant by "kid." Or rather, he misinterpreted how to shed that label.

Sometimes, caravans from Gadgetzan would bring women to the site. They set up small tents nearby, and workers could pay by the hour to go inside. To those who had been living in the desert for a long time, their arrival was like a holiday. Khalif suddenly decided he wanted to visit, but then remembered that Bossia was holding all his wages. Embarrassed, he asked her for money without explaining why, and Bossia, seemingly pleased to give him some pocket change, didn't ask either, showing little interest in guessing how he would spend it.

Khalif stayed in the tent for only a few minutes and came out. Since his time wasn't up, he even got some change back. He sheepishly returned the money to Bossia, who frowned slightly but took it without question.

"Sharl," Khalif said.

"What?"

"Maybe we'll be able to get the key back soon."

What he had meant to say was, "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Maybe," Bossia replied, though she never showed any enthusiasm for the topic.

Khalif returned to his tent in silence, lying down with his back to the entrance. As a child, he had longed to visit the edge of the desert to see the sea. When that wish was finally granted, he was stung by a nearly fatal jellyfish and almost drowned. His current mood was similar to that time but with more bitterness—he couldn't describe it exactly. It was unpleasant, and his only choice was to adapt to it.

"Never trust a red-haired woman. They only bring disaster." In the past, Kalif's father often taught him this. Khalif never understood where this life lesson came from, but since his father had been swindled out of his entire fortune by a woman, forcing him to flee to Tanaris, Khalif assumed she must have had red hair. Either way, paternal teachings were to be taken seriously, at least when Khalif found Bossia's key—or, as he witnessed it, when it fell from her torn pack. It was his father's warning that made him quietly pick it up and pocket it.

After betraying them to Shakes, Khalif didn't immediately take the key to the auction house. He stared at it for a long time, wondering what kind of past its owner might have.

In fact, ever since Bossia was imprisoned, Khalif had been secretly watching her. He saw how, in the first few days, she gave her food to a much larger female orc. He saw how, the day after Shakes announced they had to fight to the death for survival, the orc finally took up her axe, and Bossia went from passive defense to driving her sword into the orc's heart. He saw how, after doing this, Bossia retreated slowly, sat down as if she were the loser, and didn't get up for hours. When she finally stood, she turned her face away as she pulled the sword from the body. He saw how she survived the following days, carefully avoiding the burning iron rods during the day and pulling her cloak tightly around her at night to stay warm.

He once saw someone throw a boiled potato into the cage. She didn't touch it, and when Khalif checked later that night, it was still there. But by the next day, it was gone.

He didn't decide to retrieve the key out of pity. No matter how he looked at it, this red-haired woman hadn't brought any "disaster." Khalif thought, taking the key would be the last time he obeyed his father's irrational teaching. Besides beatings, that lesson was all his father had left him; and since his father could no longer hit him, the lesson didn't need to stay either.

That was only part of his reason for deciding to return the key. The other part he couldn't fully understand, because he was still a child.