Alinash’s Notes

We’ve finally returned to Stormwind. Harrier seemed worried that I would want to go back to Silvermoon or something because he said it was different going back home. I don’t think it was that different. People in the city are still two-faced liars and all the guards want take me in to make me pay for my crimes or some shit. Nothing’s changed. The only thing that has changed is that I’ve decided not to attempt to write to Syrina anymore. She’s not even my real mother. She’s just a whore who took pity on me at first, then took advantage of me when I was older. I hate her. Harrier thought it was because I didn’t want to get her in trouble. I suppose it’s fine if he thinks that. I’d rather not have to talk about the real reasons. For a long time, I forgave her, and I accepted it as the way things were. I don’t forgive her now.

It was the time I spent at the school in the Ghostlands that made me make that decision. The headmaster there never asked me for anything. I explained, with a lie, that I couldn’t pay the tuition, and he let me stay anyway. I figured there would be some strings attached, but all I needed to do was pass my tests. I was never asked for more than that. I didn’t have to do work, or sleep with him, or anything. Just study, and pass the tests. It was odd, but nice. I felt bad about lying to him in the end. I never really felt bad about lying before either. There’s no need to when everyone else does it, but he had never lied to me. He’d never done anything to hurt me.

I guess I learned a lot at the school, and not all of it was for my studies there. I learned that not everyone is out for themselves. Even that whore, Firewind, was looking out for the others, and I can’t blame him. They are good people, and I’m not, and he knows that. He knows what I used to do.

It was also during the time that we were gone that Harrier and I started sharing a bed. He had a room at the school because he got a job there making clocks, but he always snuck into mine at night. Things weren’t supposed to be complicated. I knew going into this that things had happened between him and the boss, and that things could happen between him and the boss again. And really, it’s not complicated. It’s just sex, but then last night, after getting back, we were talking to Josie, and she mentioned that the boss had missed him. He questioned her on it, and Josie said that the boss said she loved him. At that point, I was thinking to myself that it was done. There would be no way he wanted to see me anymore, but then Josie went to the kitchen to make cookies for us. Then we started talking about sleeping arrangements. At first he said I’d have to sleep on a cot, but then he said I could sleep in his bed. I don’t think he’d offer to let me sleep there if the boss and him are going to be sharing a bed, so I nodded, but now I’m confused. It’s not supposed to be complicated. She loves him, but I think he still wants me, which is odd. No one’s ever really wanted me before, not like that. So it might be more complicated than I thought it would be, but it feels kind of nice to be wanted. We did share his bed last night, and today he’s going out to find some clothes for me. I hope he can find things that fit right. In human sizes, I’m about average height, but I’m still kind of scrawny, even after eating amazing food at the school for the past months. I think I did gain a little, but it doesn’t show much. Humans tend to be a bit thicker than elves. I suppose I can make adjustments on anything that doesn’t fit quite right.

Julan’s Letter

Kuul,

Hi! I hope everything is going well for you. Have you found anything else out about the murders? Is the investigation still going? It’s nice of them to pay for your apartment for you. I’m glad to hear the murders have stopped, and I hope there won’t be any more. Maybe the guy got in trouble for something else, and that’s why they stopped. Or maybe he died or something. I wouldn’t let my guard down too much though. Not until more time has passed.

I’m doing well with the rangers. I still think you should come out and join them too! I mean, I know why you don’t, and that’s okay, but they do take care of their own here. I’ve been going on patrols and learning how to shoot a crossbow. It’s not bad work. One of the rangers is also a baker, so we have cookies and fresh bread and muffins and everything all the time. There’s also a mage school nearby with an actual real cook who makes amazing spinach rolls. I don’t even like spinach, but I think they’re good. If you ever change your mind, you know I’ll put in a good word with you with the Captain!

Part of my training is going to be working with and training an animal. Lots of rangers get animals to work with. One of the trainers here has a giant lizard, and the woman training me has a moth. The Captain and his wife have cats, and one of the other rangers just got a dragonhawk. I’ve been thinking about what I want for a long time, but I keep changing my mind. But then I guess one might have picked me.

I was walking along the beach here below the mage school. They always have big parties there, so I like going for the spinach rolls. They had so much food! There was a lot of wine too. I had a couple of glasses and decided to take a walk, so I went to the beach. It’s cold here so I didn’t think there would be anyone else there, and there wasn’t. It was quiet and the stars were bright and clear, and the sound of the waves on the shore was relaxing, but then I heard a bird. It was just there on the ground. I had almost stepped on it! I didn’t think it was normal for a seagull to just sit on the beach and let itself be almost stepped on. So I bent down and inspected it. It was holding one of its wings out, and there was a bit of blood, so I picked it up and carried it back to the mage school. I fed it while I fed myself and at the end of the night, I took it back to the ranger building. Now I’m taking care of it. I took it to the priestess in town for its wing. She said she wasn’t a specialist with animals, but then she helped anyway. She said it was broken, but it should heal just fine. She thinks one of the bats tried to get it. I think that sounds about right. She also said it was a young seagull, that it’ll get a little bit bigger, but not huge. I’m not going to make it stay with me, but if it wants to, then I guess it’ll be my animal.

Anyway, I have to go practice my crossbow yet today before patrol, and I want to send this letter when we pass by the town on patrol, so I have to stop here. Again, I hope everything is going well, and that the murder investigation catches that guy!

Your friend,

Julan

The Winter Ball

Aeramin glanced up as his father sat down at his table. He had chosen this table as it was out of the way and quiet. It wasn’t near the food tables nor was it near where other people had chosen to sit. Most importantly, it was far from Imralion. He flicked an ear as he resumed bouncing the baby on his knee, causing her to squeal in delight. She loved watching all the people dance. Aeramin watched as well, not moving his eyes back to his father.

“Not even going to say hello?”

Aeramin twitched an ear, remembering this time to continue bouncing the baby on his knee. “I’m a little angry with you right now.”

His father frowned, “Do you want to talk about it? I’m not even sure what you’re angry about this time. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is.”

Aeramin chose not to respond as he watched Imralion approach the table.

“Hi Aeramin, Arancon.”

Aeramin refrained from flicking an ear. He was doing his best to not remind Imralion that he was spending time with his daughter. He couldn’t do that if he was walking up on him like that. He scanned the room for Kavia. Shouldn’t he be with her?

Arancon turned around to face Imralion, “Oh, hi.”

“Enjoying the party?” Imralion asked.

Aeramin brought Lyorri back onto the bench beside him. It wouldn’t be best to flaunt how much she means to him in front of Im. Luckily, Lyorri was really good at sitting now, and only needed one hand on her to make sure she didn’t fall.

“Yes. Are you?” Arancon answered Imralion as Aeramin steadied Lyorri next to himself.

“Yeah. Just getting drinks.”

Aeramin glanced at his wine glass.

“They have juice too.” Arancon said.

“That’s good.”

Aeramin grabbed his glass with his free hand, and took a big sip. He was already on edge just having Lyorri in the same room as Imralion, but she really seemed to enjoy watching people dance. She loved the music too. Aeramin could tell by the way she was trying to sway to it on the bench next to him.

They both looked at him as he put his glass back down.

“There’s a lot of other babies.” Imralion said.

Aeramin looked at him. He wasn’t fooled for a moment. The next thing Imralion said proved it.

“If you want her to play or whatever.”

Of course. He wanted her off in the playroom set up for the babies so that he wouldn’t have to see her.

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll just take her to the other room.” Aeramin muttered.

“I just mean if she gets bored.”

Aeramin got up, balancing the baby in one arm, the bag with her diaper change and milk over his shoulder, and his wine glass in his free hand. He knew what he really meant. Thankfully, he didn’t say it in front of his father. “It’s fine.”

“I should– oh. Okay.”

Aeramin walked briskly to the door and down the hall to the room where the babies were supposed to be. There weren’t any in there. At least, not currently. It was just him and Lyorri for now, and Lyorri was not happy about leaving the ballroom. He placed his wine glass on the table and dropped the bag on the floor. He walked back and forth, bouncing the girl in his arms. “Don’t cry. Look, there’s toys here.” He stooped to pick up a stuffed animal. This one was a hawkstrider. He tried to distract Lyorri with it, putting it in front of her, but she only batted it away and cried louder.

He picked up his wine glass and took another big sip just as his father walked in. He saw the older elf twitch an ear as he passed through the doorway. “Do you have to keep following me?” Aeramin asked over the baby’s cries.

“I was hoping you would want to talk. Maybe it’ll be easier here away from the crowd.” Arancon frowned as he looked at Lyorri, “Why don’t you let me hold her for a bit? I think she knows you’re upset.”

“That’s not why she’s crying. She liked the music.”

“Then take her back to the ballroom.”

Aeramin turned to glare at his father, “No.” He turned back around to continue bouncing Lyorri in his arms as he walked around the room.

Arancon waited silently for a few minutes as Aeramin tried to calm Lyorri. She hadn’t stopped crying when he said, “Your glass is empty. Why don’t you go refill it. I’ll watch her while you’re gone.”

Aeramin hesitated. His father was telling him to go get a drink. This was the same guy who was drunk off his ass for almost 100 years. True he was sober now, but Aeramin didn’t think he had any business telling anyone when to drink. Still, another glass sounded relaxing. He handed over Lyorri and picked up his glass. He noted Lyorri stopped crying almost as soon as she left his arms. He frowned and stormed into the hall.

He almost dropped his glass as he bumped into Imralion and Kavia.

“Hi.” Imralion said.

“Hi.” Aeramin replied.

“Hi.” Kavia greeted him as well.

There was an awkward pause before Imralion said, “We’re going to the garden.”

Aeramin held up his glass. “I’m just getting a refill.”

Imralion nodded.

“Have fun!” Aeramin tried to put on a smile, but he was certain the corners of his mouth twitched. He was far from being in a smiling mood.

“Okay.” Imralion replied.

Aeramin quickly moved past them and back into the ballroom where he made his way to the table with the wine. He refilled his glass, and returned to the other room where his father and daughter were. He sat on the floor next to them. While he was gone, his father had gotten out the blocks, and was building towers of three to four blocks tall. Lyorri’s part was to knock them over. Aeramin joined in on helping with the tower construction.

“Are you ready to talk now?”

“About what?”

“Anything. You could start with why you’re angry with me, if you want.”

“Why shouldn’t I be angry with you?” Aeramin looked up with an eyebrow raised for a moment before restacking the blocks that Lyorri knocked over.

“I’m trying my best now. I’m sorry I wasn’t a good father to you in the past.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Aeramin twitched an ear.

Arancon stacked up another three blocks, “Did I do something more recent?”

Aeramin twitched an ear. Did he really not know? “You can stop talking about my ex’s around Imralion for starters.”

“I figured he knew you’ve been with other people.”

Aeramin looked at his father. He looked at his daughter, then back at his father, raising a brow.

“See, he does know.”

“And I’d rather not remind him.”

“Okay.” Arancon nodded. “I see.”

Aeramin stacked the blocks again with one hand while picking up his wine in the other. He took a long sip from the glass before putting it back down on the floor behind himself.

“Is that why you try to keep her away from him?” Arancon asked.

“What?”

“Lyorri.”

“He doesn’t want to be around her. She reminds him.” Aeramin twitched an ear.

Arancon waited a few minutes before speaking again, “That bothers you.”

“Of course it does. I feel like I have to hide her from him like some shameful secret, but she’s not– I’m not ashamed of her. I’m proud of her, but with him, I feel like I can’t be. She hurts him.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” Arancon asked.

“Yes, multiple times. I just really don’t want to bring it up anymore. She’s a reminder, and talking about her is a reminder she exists. I feel like I have to live some crazy double life because I love her, and I love him, but the two can’t be together. I thought I was okay with it, but there’s just so many things I want to share, but I can’t. Not with him.”

“I’d advise trying to talk to him again.” Arancon said as he put up a few more blocks. Lyorri laughed as she knocked them over.

Aeramin shook his head. “This is my problem. I just need to get better at dealing with it.”

“Does this have anything to do with Kavia?”

“No. Not really. I mean, I’m upset and I’d like to be with him now, but that couldn’t happen tonight anyways. I have to watch Lyorri. I can’t be with both. I’m afraid I’ll have to choose for real some day.”

Arancon placed another block on a new tower. “Who would you choose?”

Aeramin glared at his father again. “I won’t tell you.” He reached back for his wine and took another big sip.

“Fair enough. Do you want me to watch her for a bit for you?”

“No, they went to the garden.”

“I mean just so you can have a little room to breathe and relax. Maybe you could go out front. I’ll take her back to the ballroom so she can enjoy the music a little longer.”

Aeramin hesitated a moment before nodding, “Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

Arancon smiled, “She’ll be fine with me. Go get some air.”

Winter Ball Notes

The winter ball was great! I was a little worried… Actually no, I was a LOT worried. I was worried the ring wouldn’t fit, or that she wouldn’t like it, or that she’d say no for some reason, even if we did kind of talk about it beforehand. I don’t think I needed to worry as much as I did because she said yes! I think she’s really excited too. I hope she can still concentrate on her studies!

She’s going to go for her testing a couple of weeks after the holidays are over. I’m so excited for her! I’ll be going with her, so I really hope we can go to eat after to celebrate!  Magister Fairsong has already offered her work after she graduates, and this spring, as soon as it’s warm enough, he’s having more of the houses on his estate rebuilt. One of them will be for her! We’re already discussing what we want. She’ll need a nice work room and office. We want a nice bedroom too! I’m sure I want a small stable built onto the side for my dragonhawk. I want it enclosed so that it doesn’t get cold, and I can get to it from a door in the house.

Oh, that’s the other thing! I went to pick up my egg from the breeder just before the winter ball. I was told it would hatch in a couple of days, but it hatched the next day! I’m so glad I was there because I got to be the first person the hatchling saw. Now there’s a lot of work feeding it. Luckily, it eats like a bird, literally. That means for twelve hours a day, I need to feed it every fifteen minutes, but the other 12 hours, it sleeps. It’s only for a couple of weeks before it’s older and can eat different food that’ll take longer to digest. It’ll grow a lot during that time too. Its eyes barely open, and it’s only about the size of my hand right now. I carry it around a lot inside my shirt. That way I know it stays warm, and I can still go on patrol and see Des. I take its food with me and feed it every few minutes.

I still don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl because when they’re this young, it’s hard to tell. It’s a beautiful blue shade which is good cause that’s what I paid for! I was lucky to have enough left over after the ring, but I had been saving for months so I guess that worked out in my favor. I got her a really nice ring with gems woven in vines. They aren’t large gems, but I think it looks really nice the way it is. I guess there was another proposal at the winter ball and the other girl had a huge diamond ring. It must have cost a fortune! I really hope Des likes hers. I picked it, not because it was cheaper, but because I thought it was the best one for her. I guess if she doesn’t like it, we could always go back and get a different one.

 

***

 

She said yes! I couldn’t wait to tell my father, which worked out well since I invited my family to the Winter Ball at the school. Now he can contact her parents, and get everything arranged! I’m so happy! I’m hoping it’ll be fine for her to move in with me in the house I’ll have in the spring. I asked Magister Fairsong, and he said if we’re engaged it’s okay as long as her parents approve of it. I think if they approve of the engagement, they’ll be fine with it. I hope they are anyway! I guess they could be jerks, and say they won’t allow it until we’re married, which will be after her studies are done. I really love her so I hope they’ll understand that!

I’ve been trying to spend as much time with her as possible, but I also have to dedicate a lot of time to review right now. I’ll be taking my test in just a couple of weeks now. I’m really nervous about it! Everyone keeps telling me that I’ll be fine, but what if they ask something I don’t know? Or what if I just forget? I can’t count the number of times I’ve forgotten something temporarily, but then it comes back to me later and I feel dumb because I forgot! I guess it’ll probably happen, but hopefully it won’t happen too much!

 

***

 

I’ve done it. I’ve finished copying and translating the book. It took a long time because I’m not really good at writing, and I’m sure the translation is riddled with spelling errors. I’m also sure the mage paying us will be able to figure out what I mean. I’m much better with speaking common than I am with writing it.

Harrier is finished with the clocks, but we decided to stay for the winter ball for the free food. There’s bound to be a ton of leftovers that we’ll be able to take when we leave.

This morning, I spoke to the headmaster and told him how much I appreciated everything. I was being mostly honest, though he doesn’t know about the book. He allowed me to stay here free of charge as a student. I think a poor student, but he said that I might have some slight magic ability. I never knew it. I just kept insisting that I wanted to learn theory even if I wound up never able to cast, and he let me stay. I thought I’d be able to find the book, and leave quickly, but it didn’t work out that way. Then the whore had to be a little bitch about it. He found the book. Somehow, he became a fire mage and is the instructor here for that. I guess he’s not a whore anymore, but he recognized me. Being a teacher, he has greater access to rooms that students can’t get into. He managed to find the book, steal it, and let me copy it. He never left me alone with it, which I suppose he knew I’d take it and run if he had. At last, I’m finally done.

Anyways, after I told the headmaster that I appreciated everything, I went back to my lie about my mother. My real mother is long dead. I don’t even remember what she looked like, but my fake rich mother wants me to go back to Silvermoon and go to a very prestigious school there. I told him I’d try to get her to send money here for my tuition expenses for the time that he allowed me to study for free. I don’t know why, but I felt a little guilty saying that. It’s never bothered me to lie before. It shouldn’t now.

Anyway, he knows I’ll be leaving soon. I think he also knows that Harrier is done, so hopefully it doesn’t seem suspicious when we leave on the same day.

Crystalsong Forest

It had been a week since Hethurin had first woke up in the strange room at a high elven outpost in Crystalsong Forest. The only person he had seen during that time was Zayel. She spent much of her day with him in the room, though usually she was at her desk when she wasn’t tending his wounds. She tried speaking to him each time she washed him with the herb-infused water, but he usually declined to answer her questions. When he did respond, it was usually short, one-word answers. He spent most of his time staring out the window at the crystallized tree tops while thinking about home.

Zayel was much more talkative than he was. She shared stories of her training as a priestess, of her trips to Dalaran, and about the guard who had helped her bring him to the outpost. He’d heard enough to figure out the guard liked her, but Zayel didn’t seem to notice. Hethurin didn’t point it out.

He’d also learned that his leg injury was severe. His lower right leg had a gash in it that cut almost down to the bone, and his thigh on the same leg also had a deep gash. The wound on his thigh was lengthwise, and while not as deep as the one on his calf, it was long, and just as painful. Both had swelled up around the edges and looked awful during the first couple of days at the outpost, but now the swelling had gone down. Zayel said he was on the mend, but still wouldn’t let him leave. His wrists were still firmly held by the arcane shackles.

He was more awake now than he had been the first few days. She had told him he had a nasty bump on his head, but she wouldn’t fetch him a mirror. She did seem concerned about his head injury. To be honest, he was too, but just in the past day his headache had lessened. He took that as a good sign even if he couldn’t walk yet. He hoped to convince Zayel that he would be fine if he teleported home.

He waited until Zayel sat next to the bed with bowl of water. She started dabbing the damp cloth on his forehead. It stung a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. “How are you feeling this afternoon?”

Hethurin decided to get straight to the point, “Better. May I leave now?”

Zayel smiled, “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but I can tell you’re still weak. I would be responsible if I let you leave and you didn’t make it to your destination.”

Hethurin frowned as she dipped the cloth in the bowl of water , “I’ll make it.”

She pressed the cloth against his forehead again, causing him to wince. “You don’t know that. You’ll need at least a few weeks to recover your full magic ability.” She glanced at his leg, “And at least a few months to recovery physically. I may let you go once I have a better idea of your magic capabilities. If I know you can make it to somewhere you can continue to heal physically, I won’t have a problem seeing you off, but for now you are quite weak, both physically and magically.”

“I’m weak because you keep these arcane shackles on me constantly. I can’t cast anything with them on.”

“Those are there to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m not going to!”

“You’ll try to attempt to teleport home the moment I remove them.”

Hethurin glared at her. Of course he would, and it wasn’t a stupid idea.

She regarded him curiously, “I’d offer to help get you home, but you obviously won’t be able to walk from where my portal would be, and since I’ve never seen your home, I can’t open one directly there.” She picked up the bowl and stood, taking her time as she walked around to the other side of the bed. He felt her sit down on the bed behind him, and heard her wring the water out of the cloth. He felt the cloth against the wounds on his back. They still stung a bit, but not as much. She spoke again, “Besides, there’s something off about you, and I’d like to figure out what it is before I let you go.”

He almost let that go without a response, but curiosity got the best of him, “Off?”

“Off. It’s almost as if you don’t belong here.” She continued dabbing the cloth at the wounds on his back.

“No, a sin’dorei doesn’t have much business being at a quel’dorei outpost. I just want to go home.”

“It’s not that, nor does it have anything to do with the purge in Dalaran.”

“I don’t know what it is then.” Hethurin twitched an ear.

“I find it curious. That’s all.”

He refused to answer anymore of her questions, choosing instead to stare intently at the crystal tree tops out the window until she was done tending his wounds and had returned to her desk. Then he drifted off to sleep again.

Nessna’s Log

Rylad has a little brother. He was born early this morning and is perfect. I think he looks a lot like Sath. I was at the clinic in town since the night before. Lani has a room for overnight patients which is good as the baby was born overnight. Esladra said I could have had him at home, but I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with growing up with my father’s clinic being just in the front of the house. I felt a lot safer knowing that if anything went wrong, everything was right there.

Lani and Esladra both attended the birth. Lani had sent Vaildor to the school to ask Hethurin to get father from Silvermoon. A portal would be fastest, but Vaildor returned and said Hethurin was on errands. Tik didn’t know when he’d be back! Vaildor went again this morning, after the baby was already here, and Hethurin is still gone. Luckily, one of the students helped him get to Silvermoon and back so father is finally here. He’s staying in Lani’s guestroom, and wants to hold the baby all the time.

Sath passed out at one point during the birth. I think he was just that excited. It was really cute. He likes to hold the baby while he’s sleeping.

The Nurse

Hethurin Fairsong opened his eyes. Daylight shone on his face from the window near the bed. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. Panic set in as he noticed someone else in the room, sitting next to the bed. He also noticed that he had been rolled over on his side. Both hands were restrained to the same side of the bed now. He pulled his hands against his restraints as he tried to free himself.

“Relax,” a soft female voice said, “I won’t hurt you.” She dabbed a cold wet cloth on his head with one hand.

Hethurin flinched away.

“You won’t get better if you move out of the way.” She frowned as he continued to hold his head as far from her reach as he could. “This water has been treated with special herbs to help speed your healing, and prevent infection. Judging by the look of your wounds you’ll need both.”

Hethurin hadn’t seen his wounds. He knew most of them must be on his back, though his leg burned at the reminder of his injuries. His head still hurt. He tried to relax and placed his head back on the pillow as the woman dipped the cloth into the bowl of water. One of her slender long ears twitched as she wrung out the cloth. She leaned towards him and held the back of his head with one hand as she dabbed the cloth at the wound on his forehead with the other.

He could see her better now that her body blocked the sun off of his face. Her long blond hair hung in front of him and her features were soft. Her blue eyes focused on cleaning his wound. He moved back away again, as far as he could. Even though she had put her hand behind his head, she didn’t try to keep him in place. He started trying to force his hands out of the arcane shackles again. She moved the bowl of water and herself back away from the bed. She frowned as she watched him struggle against the restraints.

He tried pulling his hands out first without any luck. He managed to raise his good leg and get his foot on the shackle and tried to push it off, but it didn’t budge. Lastly, he managed to get the lower half of his body off the opposite side of the bed and tried to dislodge them using his own weight to pull. Neither the shackles nor the bed frame broke. He did learn just how bad his injured leg was. He couldn’t put weight on it at all, and the pain was immense. He started to cry, burying his face in the blankets while still kneeling on the floor next to the bed. His arms were outstretched across the bed to the arcane shackles.

The high elven woman frowned and walked around the bed to stand next to him. “Are you ready to get back in bed? You need your rest. As I stated before, I won’t hurt you.”

He didn’t reply until she put her hand on his back.

“Terellion! Help me!” he shouted as he raised his head from the blankets.

“I don’t think you want to yell. The guards are unaware that I have a sin’dorei patient in this room. Well, most of them are. One of them helped me get you here, but he’s off duty now. You don’t want to meet the others. Trust me. I am glad to know you can talk. I was worried that your head injury was much worse than I thought it was.”

Hethurin lowered his head and continued crying.

She waited a minute then asked, “Do you want to get back into bed now so I can care for your injuries?”

Hethurin sobbed, “No. I want to go home. Let me go.”

“You lay perched on a mana-crystallized bush for almost two days, and you think you’re just fine to go home? That much exposure weakens you, and you got it in your blood. You’re lucky you didn’t go wretched before I found you. I insist that you rest here. If I take off those shackles and you try to teleport anywhere, you’re not going to get further than the front doorstep. I highly doubt you want to deliver yourself to our high elven guards. They do their jobs first and ask questions later. You will stay here until you are strong enough to go home, and I hope the home you’re speaking of is not Dalaran. I don’t agree with it, but that human mage ordered a purge. I assume that’s how you somehow wound up in the forest.”

She was right. He was weak. He felt like sleeping again already. He barely remembered what happened in Dalaran, but he remembered falling. That wasn’t home anyway. Home was with Terellion, Malwen and Narise. He had to get home to them, but if this high elf woman was being honest, then he had to get better first. He had no choice but to trust her. He lifted his head again, “Do you have some water?”

She walked away for a second and returned with a glass. She held it to his lips. “Will you be ready to get back into the bed after this? Your wounds need care.”

Hethurin nodded, not seeing any other way out of the situation.

“My name is Zayel. What should I call you?”

“Hethurin.”

“Well, Hethurin. Let’s get you back in bed then.”

The Strange Room

Hethurin Fairsong opened his eyes. It was dark, but it wasn’t cold anymore. He was inside. He remembered being outside, stuck in a bush. How did he get inside? He looked around the room, taking note of things while trying to figure out where he was. There was a warm glow coming from the fireplace, providing the room with what little light there was. He was on a soft bed with lots of frilly blankets and pillows in light colors. He couldn’t tell which colors they were in the low lighting, but he doubted knowing the colors would help him figure out where he was anyway. There was a sofa nearer the fire place, and a desk against the further wall. There was an empty cloak hook next to the door.

The decor reminded him of Malwen’s room. There was even a doll on the small bedside table next to the bed. Still, this wasn’t home, and nothing he could see helped him know where he was other than some strange female’s room.

His head still hurt. He went to raise his hand to his forehead only to find his wrist had been secured to the bed frame. He tried his other hand, but it had also been secured. Panic swelled up inside him as he began to try to pull his hands through the restraints. He almost yelled, but thought better of it as he was in his captor’s home. The last thing he wanted was to call whoever it was to him.

Pulling his hands out wasn’t working. He decided that rather quickly as his head ached more as he struggled. He was also reminded that the bush he had been in before was thorny and very sharp as the thorns had turned to crystal. His back side felt like it was on fire, and the pain in one of his legs was almost too much to stand. Movement was not helping any of his pain. He tried to force himself to calm down, pulling once more on the restraints before resting his head back on the pillow and staring at the ceiling. That’s when he remembered he hadn’t tried magic yet.

He was still weak, and had just spent a great deal of the energy he did have trying to break free. That would have a great effect on how much he could cast and how good his spells were. He decided to try for just a small teleport, one that would get his hands free, but still leave him in the same room. He took a deep breath and cast the spell.

Nothing happened.

He tried again. The spell was definitely being cast in a way that it drew magic away from him. He could feel it, but still, nothing happened. Using his leg that didn’t hurt as much, he held the blanket with his toes and pulled it down, then repeated the motion until he could see his wrists. That was the problem. Arcane shackles. No magic was going to get past those.

He sighed. He was far too weak to break out of them now and he hurt everywhere. He cried himself back to sleep.

Awake

Hethurin woke with little recollection of where he was or why he was there, and a lot of thought about one thing: pain. His body screamed of it all over. His head was pounding. He tried to move only to send new waves of agony throughout his limbs. He fought against panicking and trying to move again while trying to get his bearings. Where was he? He was in a thorny, crystal bush. Why was he in a thorny, crystal bush? He didn’t remember going to sleep in one. How would one go to sleep in a thorny, crystal bush in the first place? Where was Terellion? Certainly, he would help.

He realized then that he wasn’t in the Ghostlands. The Ghostlands were cold, wet, and often gloomy. This place was cold, dry and sparkly. Everything seemed to be made of crystals. He couldn’t remember how he got here. Maybe it was a dream, but dreams weren’t supposed to hurt so much.

He tried to move his arm to lift it off the thorns, but it only put more weight on the rest of his body. He winced and held his breath. He was sure now that if it was a dream, that much pain would have woke him up. He ground his teeth together as he lowered his arm back down. He did not want to cry out in a strange place.

But it wasn’t strange. It seemed familiar, then the name of a city came to mind. Dalaran. He was in the forest below Dalaran. He looked around again, trying to figure out why he was here. Had the past years only been an elaborate dream? If so, that would explain why Terellion wasn’t with him, but then where was Aeramin? He made a face finding the thought repulsive now. He didn’t want to be with Aeramin. He wanted to be with Terellion even if he did wind up just being a dream elf. No, there had to be a better explanation. Terellion was real. He was sure of that.

Terellion must have went for help.

He was groggy and weak, and a light snow began to fall around him. He passed out again.

The Not-So-Slow Fall

Hethurin immediately regretted throwing himself off Dalaran. Everyone and everything he loved flashed in his mind all at the same time as the crystal forest below the city appeared closer and closer. Would they even know what happened to him? He hadn’t told anyone where he was going, but maybe Thalien’s presence in his practice room would give them a good idea. But even then, would they be allowed to come back and look for his body?

Malwen had just found a family, and now he was going to die and leave Terellion to raise her and Narise alone. They might not even know what happened to him. Would Malwen believe he had left them on purpose? Maybe with her imagination, she’d believe he had turned into the dragonhawk! Narise would miss being carried around in the sling while he taught his class. He was sure of that. Terellion’s heart would be broken, and that broke Hethurin’s heart to even think about. He loved Ter and the girls more than anyone, and couldn’t imagine them suffering because of his foolish mistakes. The school that he had done so much work for would be left without its headmaster. Who would keep it running now? Desdeyliri and Keyalenn were to go for their testing after the holidays. Would they be able to go if the school closed?

His robe flew up over his face blocking his view of the approaching ground. He tried to move it out of the way only to decide there was no time to bother. His only hope now was that the silencing would wear off before he hit the ground. He tried to cast the spell to slow his fall, but no words came out. He tried again, and again. Time was running out.

A sharp crystal branch tore at his leg just as the words came from his mouth. Another tore at his thigh. The last word of the spell came out as more of a yelp of pain than the actual word, but it worked. His head hit the broad-side of another branch just as the spell took effect, but it hit hard enough that he passed out from the pain. His body continued to float slowly to the ground, the remaining branches scratching at him as he broke through the forest canopy.  He came to rest in a thorny crystal bush still unconscious.