Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft.

"Common."

"Assigned language."

Vael awoke with a start. It was a chilly morning in the lovely lands of Silvermoon and the birds were ready to begin their symphony. He leaned his head to the side with a long slender ear towards the window, planning to hear them. His eyes became glued on the imagery, expecting bright sunset hues, but he sky was still dark and looked like it would remain that way.

An old stable oak was stationed outside with a branch creeping into the room, the leaves were not orange. Or red. Not even magenta. Vael breathed in deeply and found the simple action hard to do. With a frown he fixed his blue eyes downward and tried to wiggle his toes. He regretted the thought immediately as not more than a second later a wave of pain raced through his entire body.

The blood elf took short shallow breaths, closed his eyes and tried to bear with it. He heard a rustle to his side, and despite the flaming pain everywhere, turned and opened an eye. A green haired night elf stared back at him, her silver eyes wide open and her mouth formed a silent "O".

"Uuuncle! He woke up, what do I do?" The night elf eyed the door and then returned to staring at him. Vael flinched when she spoke, her loud tone had shattered the silence and it was now bouncing back into a headache for him. But more importantly, who was this loud woman of the opposite faction and why wasn't he dead yet?

He could hear footsteps coming towards the room and immediately looked at the door when it opened. In came another night elf, tall and well built. His hair was tied back in a high ponytail and it was a rich green too. Vael blinked, he knew this man. In fact he had just fought him not too long ago in the previous tournament. How long... what... His heart started beating out of control.

"Relax you're safe," The night elf spoke in a strained orcish, but at least it was in his own language. Vael wanted to reply with something insulting but found he could barely open his mouth and his lips felt dry. He realized he was thirsty, hungry, in pain and his mind was in absolute chaos.

"Uncle he doesn't look very relaxed," The younger night elf piqued in. "In fact I think he's about to spazzle out."

Riyanis walked over to a firm wooden desk and started sorting through herbs, needles and some other mixtures he had made the day before. He shook his head at his niece's eagerness but welcomed it.

Vael didn't wait for the purple elves to assemble their torturing devices, so he took this chance and dove out the window. He would have gotten away if the smaller elf hadn't latched onto his waist immediately, so instead of flying out they both stumbled onto the floor.

He thought the pain before was unbearable, what he felt now made him want to vomit. His consciousness started slipping into a shadow he had grown to fear, the last thing he saw were a pair of worried silver eyes.

Rivanis was quick to move soon after that. He couldn't imagine how the blood elf managed to get out of bed or even move around. That had been close, far too close. His brother had been right when he suggested "roping him up."

"Ali are you alright?" He asked her, patting down her nonexistent wounds.

"Uuurgh Uuuncle, he's bleeding all over the floor," She whined back, her hands flailed over the bleeding abdomen of the unconscious elf.

"Go get me a fresh roll of bandaids. The white ones," He said while carefully lifting the blood elf off the floor. "And an enchanted mop while you're at it."

Ali nodded furiously, her aquamarine hair bobbing out of formation, and ran to get the supplies.

"Holy Elune Vael, you're nearly dead and the first thing you do is try to jump out the window," He muttered, placing the frail elf back on the bed. His glowing eyes scanned over the lean body and deemed it malnourished, amongst other things.

A tiny path of blood ran down the blood elf's abdomen and onto the white sheets of the bed. Almost instantly they disappeared, leaving the faint air that magic had been at work. Rivanis tilted his head to get a better look and nearly growled. "And you open up your wounds again."

"Uncle, Uncle, Uncle... ah what's wrong?" Ali cautiously approached him, rolls and a mop in hand. She peeked over his shoulder and her ears drooped. "Oh not again!"

He nodded and motioned for the smaller pool of blood on the floor. "That first while I take off the old ones."

She gave him a knowing look and he replied with a tiny smile. "Gaah I never see you clean up anything Uncle, I never get to do the fun stuff." She set the mop down and zig zagged it across the smear. The blood disappeared almost instantly.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Rivanis carefully cut the bandages vertically and tossed the scraps onto the floor. Ali immediately ran her mop over them and once she was done there was no trace left behind. Her eyes shifted over to the blood elf and she stopped to examine the abdomen as her uncle had done.

There were angry red marks everywhere, forming into symbols and strategically placed cuts. She didn't know what the symbols stood for but she recognized the incisions made. They were mostly used in medical procedures, though in her mind someone had tried to flay the elf. Definitely.

Rivanis expertly willed the wound to stop oozing. He applied an odd smelling balm on top, just in case, and then started the tedious procedure of wrapping his patient up.

"Uncle?"

"Hmm?"

"Uhm." How could she ask him? She didn't even know what she wanted to ask first, but it had been bothering her. "Uhmmm... well,"

"..."

"Uuuncle. Alright, first. I know who he is you know. And two, why is he here? What happened? And who did it?" Her eyes were wide with anticipation, but Rivanis only shook his head and chuckled. "If he's alive are the others alive too? And where did Pa find him... he won't tell me," She mumbled as an afterthought.

"Well if he won't tell you then it's not my place to inform you. Tyrande herself has assigned him under my care, whatever the reason may be behind it, but at the moment my priority is to heal him. I can't answer half of those questions and the other half I'd rather not," With that the tall night elf stood, draping a thick furry pelt over his patient. Ali was not satisfied with those answers, she stood with a mop in hand, pouting. "That's not going to work..." She intensified her look. "Now that's just ridiculous." They both bursted into laughter and resumed their routine.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A couple of hours later the moon rose and settled in place. The stars kept it company and an occasional cloud would greet them. Vael's eyes fluttered open after a brief struggle with dried tears. His body felt limp and heavy and numb, he couldn't feel anything now. He saw the unmistakeable figure of his rival standing his side, reading a book, and though he wanted to get a decent hit on him, nothing twitched in response.

"Your body refuses to heal at this point," Rivanis started, in orcish. "I've given you enough netherbloom to kill an elekk. But your chance of surviving is solid now."

"Wh-where..." Vael's voice felt foreign to him. It felt like an empty, dry echo and that surprised him.

"You are safe,"

"...wh...why...?" Hardly a whisper.

"Do not get the wrong idea. It's all done because you may prove to be useful to the Alliance." Rivanis cut straight to the point. The last thing he wanted was the sin'dorei thinking it was personal.

Vael remained silent after that, as he was unable to conquer enough energy to start a conversation. He felt an ill-boding feeling rise at the pit of his stomach, but didn't have time to dwell on it once the darkness started pulling him into a soothing embrace.

He could hear the King laugh at him in his dreams. He also heard his comrade's desperate cry for help and the powerless feeling that followed. He was being chased in this dream, like in so many others, but always something seemed to change. This one unfortunately turned for the worst, soon enough clawed hands from the darkness reached out for him, they wanted his light. They craved for his attention.

Rivanis watched the elf whimper and struggle against an imaginary force. He reconsidered his brother's advice on strapping him, but changed his mind again thinking it as... unethical... not his way of doing things. He sighed, lightly placed a hand on Vael's torso, and started channeling a soothing healing spell.

As expected the healing component bounced off in a similar fashion oil stands over water, but the calming part made it through. The sin'dorei stopped struggling against his nightmares, his face now calm and blissful. Rivanis took note of his fair features and considered his work done for the time being.

And that's that. Don't forget to leave a review, opinions or comments. Don't be afraid to point stuff out to me, I strive for improvement.

Thanks for reading.