Chapter Text
As they heard teleporting , both got up and ran to meet their guests before they got too far into the lair.
As they moved, they heard:
- “Anduin! Where are you?!” Jaina screamed, desperate. Then, they could hear, mixed in their steps, her speaking without screaming. “Why haven’t you told me?!” An attempt to speak from Kalec was interrupted by her. “Anduin!”
When the two groups finally met, Jaina saw Anduin first and approached him with her hand raised violently.
- “You! What did you think you were doing!” She finally reached him, but her hand weakened and she hugged the king. “Oh, my sweet Anduin. I was so worried for you…”
- “I’m okay, auntie. It’s ok…” He hugged her back, hearing her sobbing as she calmed down. “We should sit down a bit, you must be tired?”
- “Yes, she should!” Kalec cut in. “ She’s overworking herself the last few weeks, she needs a break. I’ll go fetch tea.”
Anduin guided her to the couch, the living room on the lair being way more accessible to humans now made it easier for visits like these.
Wrathion stayed nearby, quiet and watching the two, trying his best for Jaina to not notice him and for some reason be angry at him.
- “Are the SI:7 aware of where you are yet?” She asked Anduin. “ Does anyone besides me knows of this?”
- “We hoped Kalec would get the letter to Shaw, which I believe he is yet to do.” He looked around, searching for Wrathion. As he locked his eyes at the dragon, he gestured for him to sit with them. “And for others knowing…besides you and Kalec, Alexstrasza knows of it. And maybe some champions, and if they cared a few centaurs too.”
Wrathion approached as Jaina kept asking, sitting besides Anduin.
- “What are these clothes?” She asked as she noticed Wrathion approaching and eyed Anduin.
- “Oh. Uhm. How far did Kalec explain things to you?” As he finished saying it, he could see the sparkle on her eye.
- “Oh, Anduin…” She hugged him again, a happier one this time. As she returned to her seat, she chuckled a bit. “That explains a lot too, you should bathe.”
He coughed and covered his mouth with a hand as his face got red. He saw Wrathion hide his face by looking away, too.
- “So… what exactly happened for you to decide to stay here? Besides, well…” She returned the topic.
- “I was too exhausted. The whole being a king thing is tiring, I wasn’t ready from the start and I feared my so desired peace wouldn’t be a thing I’d be able to truly experience while in that position.” Anduin explained, his voice saddened. “I traveled for a while, but after I heard of the call to the isles… I wanted to see if I could find Wrathion. And I did. This choice has been helping me a lot.”
- “But before that, had you had your chance on seeing the world in peace?” She asked him.
- “Not really, no. The only places I could go without risk of being found were places with little to no activity from both factions. I did go to Pandaria, though. There’s mostly locals there, and very little champions, so it’s hard to see said peace.” He sighed. “Here, however, I can see how many of the alliance and horde are interacting. It’s good seeing it from another perspective too, it’s tiring to have guards all the time and many saluting without need for it. It’s refreshing, even.”
- “Sorry for the wait, the tea was angry at me.” Kalec returned, nothing on his hands.
- “You didn’t bring any…?” Wrathion raised a brow.
- “And as far as I remember you can summon it.” Jaina added.
- “Ok, ok. I went away to send the letter to Shaw, it had a spell for it to be recognizable as sent by me so I didn’t have to go myself. And I also included a stone for communication, to make things easier.” He sat down besides Jaina, summoning tea as promised. “He’ll probably contact us soon, if you two want the rock I won’t oppose to it.”
- “Of course, sounds good.” Anduin replied with a nod, getting himself a cup for the tea. “I wanted to decide who to talk first, after Shaw. I wanted to talk to Genn and Tess, if possible in the same way we are doing now…” He looked around, scrunched up his nose. “Maybe in a friendlier place, too. Sorry Wrathion this isn’t the most welcoming for most. No offense.”
- “None taken, I also don’t like most human architecture.” He draped an arm over the king’s shoulder. “We could meet them at Valdrakken, no? They have portals in Stormwind to the city, and same for the other way around, an easy and human friendly option.”
- “I’ll get somewhere ready, then. No good comes from public areas, specially the ones with adventurers.” Kalec mentioned.
- “Thank you, Kalec. Really.” Anduin smiled at the blue dragon. “Now, Jaina, you had more questions?”
...
The winds screamed while passing through the mountains near Valdrakken. Alexstrasza worried, it’s not been long since the primalists’ last attack, and because of it they’ve been gaining more and more followers. This worried the queen, should she fight Raszageth and she will have to truly do so, not hold back because of past feelings.
- “My queen.” She heard, as a drake- Selistra – landed besides her at the seat of the aspects. A welcome visit, she’d always enjoy talking to her majordomo, even in moments like these. “May I ask… What bothers you?”
The primalists, the lack of her power as aspect, everything about her felt overwhelming, even with her long years of experience.
- “I fear for what I must choose.” She finally replied. “ You saw me, at the life pools. I was weakened by doubt, I still am.” Selistra nodded for her to continue. “I have hurt her and she is after revenge, her, the one I once valued as much as I value the other aspects... if not more. And not only that, she’s wreaking havoc towards others. Whelps, even.”
- “I see.” They replied, unsure of what to say to their queen. “ I… Might not be the best for saying this, but I believe you are going through the right path. Stopping her is necessary, unfortunately.”
- “As much as I wish it wasn’t…” She was looking at the city, far from the two, full of life and very much aware of the predicament the isles were going through. “Do tell me, what were the reports from the plains? Is the green flight okay?”
- “I’ve been told there’s growing on the number of primalists there, my queen, but no problems around the flight.” The drake corrected it’s posture. “There’s one thing that worries me a lot, though…”
Alexstrasza moved her head to look at the smaller red, eyes more tired than they had ever seen. Not only tired, worried. Guilty.
- “We have word that Wrathion was attacked and injured by the primalists. The centaurs say he was taken to Maruukai and got first aid before the blue aspect showed up with a healer, who used-“ She could hear the quotation marks on their voice “ ‘intense’ light to heal him before the three left.”
Light? Could it be-
- “Some champions, the ones present, seem to believe the healer is the king of the Alliance.” Selistra added.
She moved up fast, fast enough to alarm the majordomo.
- “My queen?” Their eyes, previously wide, now narrowed. “ The king of the Alliance can’t be here, can he? Wasn’t he missing?”
- “He was.” She replied, voice small. “ Is that information causing any kind of reaction on champions?” She asked, her voice now on it’s usual level but worry lacing her tone.
- “Not really, no. The ones that came to me with the information seemed too confused to argue with their parties about it. No rumours around so far, too.” The majordomo looked at her, she could see the questions forming. “I’ve heard of Wrathion’s interest on the human, mostly drunken crying from him. Do you believe this is something to worry about…?”
- “I wish I could say it’s not a problem, but I fear the reaction this might cause. Humans fear Wrathion for his flight’s actions, and this wouldn’t be the first king to go missing because of a black dragon or with a black dragon.” She sighed, she should focus on her own problems right now but thinking of the two eased her mind. “King Anduin might convince his allies he’s fine, but he’ll probably have many against him for his choices.”
They stayed silent for a while, watching as drakes and it’s riders flew around the city. Common citizens also were flying near the riders, only calmer. The dragonspawn seemed to be enjoying the crowded look of the city, many working extra and always smiling at the visitors.
Large wings beating, however, grabbed her attention back to the seat. Kalec arrived from the shores in a lazy flying, not taking long for her to see that Jaina was with him, not seating on his back like riders would but hugging on one of his horns.
- “Queen Alexstrasza-“ The blue dragon started.
- “Hello, Kalecgos.” She replied, calm but curious about the human mage.
- “Yes, hello. I have a favor to ask of you, or Selistra.” The majordomo raised a brow, curious too. “I know you’re informed, but I’m not sure of Selistra-”
- “They’ve been informed about it by reports from Maruukai, yes.” The queen replied quickly, wanting to know what the other dragon had to say. She wasn’t one for gossiping, but her worry for the king and the black whelp was a thing she couldn’t ignore as she saw the rushed state of the blue.
- “That makes it easier, yes. King Anduin decided to contact his allies and tell them of his current state, not to worry them more. He requests for help with somewhere to meet these allies within the city, preferably not an inn taken the influx of champions.”
- “I might know of a few houses we have vacant at the moment, if that’s the kind of place that you wish.” Selistra replied him.
- “That would be great, yes. Do you think we can stay there for the next days? A week or so, we believe.”
- “Of course.” Alexstrasza replied, her voice with more happiness in it, even if subtle. “Selistra, can you help them with this?”
- “Of course, my queen.” The drake readied themselves to show the two the house.
- “I do want to visit when you settle, if you allow me.” The dragon queen said, a smile on her scaled face. “ I want to talk to the two, make sure they’re well.”
- “We’ll tell them to come, then. When they get here, I’ll inform you.” Kalec answered her, his voice free of the earlier worry.
- “Shall we?” Selistra extended their wings, Kalec nodded and followed them, Jaina on his horn sending the message to tell the other two to come. Oh, the power of magic.
…
- “Ready to go?”
- “Help me here, would you?”
Wrathion sighed.
They’ve been waiting for Jaina to signal them to go for some good minutes, yet Anduin was still struggling with his things.
- “It’s not a bad set, come on!” The dragon looked over the king’s shoulders, seeing the stuff he’d picked to take to Valdrakken. “ Also you do realize we can come back and grab things in less than half an hour if needed, right?”
- “It’s not but I gotta fold it correctly, I want to take some other things too.”
He looked at the packed items. The ‘other things’ the king mentioned were half of his collection of ‘the lord of the wings’, that occupied 70% of the backpack.
Anduin, after lots of effort, managed to fold 3 outfits in the same ball of clothing, stuffed it on the bag, and got up.
- “Ok, ready.”
- “You sure? We have the jihui set Tong gave us somewhere in the bookshelf.” He joked, then saw the king’s eyes light up and look around. “ I’m kidding! come on, we gotta go.”
- “ But the set…”
- “ I’ll get it later. Half an hour flying, remember?”
- “ That sounds good, yes.” He nodded, following Wrathion outside.
Wrathion shifted to his true form, waited for Anduin to climb on and as soon as the king secured himself, he took flight.
…
They arrived at the area Jaina told them, looked around for the mages but didn’t see any signs of them.
Until…
- “Up here!” They looked at the voice, it was Kalec. The house they’ve managed to get had a second floor and a large balcony, where both the blue dragon and Jaina now stood on. “ Come in, I received a reply already.”
Wrathion hadn’t shifted to visage yet, and Anduin was still secure on his back, so he jumped up to reach the mages.
It surprised both humans: Jaina wasn’t ready for black scales jumping so fast towards her, and Anduin got caught off-guard by the jump too.
Kalec was unfazed by it, only offering the two newly arrived boys some conjured tea. He sat down on the couch the balcony had, he stayed besides Jaina while Anduin and Wrathion stayed on the opposing couch.
- “Shaw responded on the crystal.” He said, little worry on his words. “He’ll be here tomorrow.”
- “Until then, we plan.”