Prologue - Chapter 1– Blue Eyes

The home was small and warm and smelled of drying herbs.

The crisp smell distracted the woman a moment. She sniffed the air recognizing the pungent smell of Swiftthistle and Peacebloom. Mageroyal had a softer smell to it which she could detect as well as the earthy scent of soil with the Earthroot hanging near the fire.

She breathed in the scent trying to calm her senses for the long night ahead. She could hear the wind howling through the chinking in the walls, but the hearth kept the large main and only room quite warm.

Oh how she wished she could be in her homeland of Nagrand. The birthing cave surrounded by women of her clan to calm and aide her in her task. She wished too for Thrall to be alive so he could claim the coming baby as his own on the naming day and present her to the clan. So many wishes were in her mind that if they all were Talbuks, than beggars could ride.

The lush green hills and air would do this child well, but it was not to be. She heard the howling wind outside and shook her head. This child, much like her father, would be raised by humans and learn their ways. They had forgotten what it was to live off the land and respect everything, even those whose lives you took to eat. One always had to thank them or the spirit would return. Humans seemed not to care or had learned not to heed the warnings of the spirits. Perhaps what they did not feel, they thought, would not hurt them.

She gasped and cried out as she arched up from the mat she was lying on. Greatmother Geyah was right. Childbirth was a challenge that if done successfully called for great honor. She reached down and patted her belly where the baby stirred, restless to be born this night.

She looked up at the rafters. This child would someday learn who she was and who her parents were. However, the ancestors would determine at what time that would be. For now she would learn the ways of the humans before she could learn the ways of the old ones.

She, yes, Aggra, being a shaman, well knew she carried a daughter. Her mate had known it as well. She shook her head. So little time with Thrall, her stoic and brave mate. If only the ancestors had not called him back to them. She had grown to love him and his different way of looking at the world. She suspected his human upbringing had tainted how he saw the world and yet, he saw more clearly the things that she would have never given him credit for. It was for this reason she had fallen in love with him. First, he treated her as an equal. Second, he knew her abilities with the elements rivaled his. And last, but not least, he was perfect for her. He took in what she said as she did with his own advice. Perfect mates with so little time together. She swallowed hard forcing the tears back. She had wept too much over his loss she refused to now. Sadness could harm the baby and she wanted the girl to be happy and free spirited as she was.

The door opened and in rushed cold, crisp air from the blizzard outside. She gasped and shivered as the wind dried the sweat on her brow as she saw a large figure enter the small room. He threw back his cowl as he shut the door. In his arms he held firewood, blankets, and a backpack of supplies. He was human, and elder human with silver hair that hung below his shoulders. His eyes were kind, but held the wisdom of many years both in battle and in reflection.

He removed his cloak and let it hang on a nail beside the fireplace and turned back to her. He wore the tabard of the Argent Crusade, the order he founded when he merged the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn. The white tabard with the silver-star and gold hand was very distinctive. Strapped to his back was the Ashbringer, the great sword he had cleansed from corruption. Highlord Tirion Fordring, The Ashbringer himself, was an imposing man. In his late seventies he stubbornly held his people together in fighting against the Lich King to put an end to the Scourge.

But for now he was simply a paladin helping bring a new life into this world. Tirion was the only man Aggra, mate of Thrall, could trust. He would protect this child of Thrall, the keeper of his legacy, until it was old enough to know the truth. She looked up at him as he set water to boiling and began to crush herbs together as he watched her.

Aggra gasped again in pain. He moved and gently touched a hand to her knee. She looked at him. Part of her was appalled by his presence. This was women's work, but Thrall had spoken about paladins and that they were both warriors and healers much like a coffin maker would also make cribs. Two sides of the same coin. Highlord Fordring patted her knee knowingly and helped her lie back.

"I will make you some tea soon." He said softly.

As the night progressed so too did her labor. Tirion knelt patiently. When it was time he nodded to her to start pushing. The woman clenched forward and growled deeply as she pushed downward to try to push the baby from her loins.

Aggra screamed and the baby came from her body with a rush. Tirion caught the baby and began to clean the small body as Aggra lay on the small pallet fading in and out of consciousness as she tried to focus on what was going on.

Tirion then lifted the small green skinned body to her chest. The baby already had the starts to her tusks that poked out from her small lips. The eyes, when they opened were shockingly blue. Aggra focused on the baby as Tirion rubbed her belly firmly to coax the afterbirth from her. It too came and Tirion quickly disposed of it by wrapping it in a towel and setting it near the door where he could remove it when he stepped out again.

He cleaned his hands and smiled as he watched Aggra looking at the small baby. The baby looked very much like her mother only with the green skin and eyes of her sire. Her flaming red hair was her mother's as was her angular face.

Tiron lifted his hands to the new mother and the small babe and called upon the Light to bless them both. The Light's radiance moved from his body, down his arms to his hands, and finally around them. It remained a few moments before it dissipated, but had been strong.

"What will you do now?" He asked her, his soft voice gentle.

"I will return to my people." She said. "My daughter will remain here, safe. Thrall trusted the humans of Stormwind to keep him safe. I know his daughter will be well cared for." She looked down. "Especially when it is not known who mothered or sired her."

He nodded in understanding. "If that is your wish."

She stifled a yawn. "Yes."

He smiled and watched as the pair settled for now. The babe was tired from the birth as her mother was. She would not cry out for some time.

Tirion disposed of the afterbirth outside in a hole away from the house to keep the wolves away. He sighed as he rose to his feet. This child of Thrall's had to remain secret to keep her safe. He then returned to the small hut.

An hour had passed and Aggra was beginning to stir as the baby began to whimper wanting her first meal. Aggra instinctively drew the baby to her breast and allowed the baby to root about and nurse. Tirion knelt and helped her support the tiny head as she nursed. Oddly, Aggra found it comforting to have the elder paladin there gently guiding and helping. He spoke little, but once the baby was nursing he rose to go to the stove to start a kettle of water to boil.

It did not take long for it to start to sing and he lifted it out of the fire and poured some water into a cup over some herbs he had brought with him. He let the tea steep, but the room was filled with a comforting smell of calming herbs.

The baby finished and he took her offering Aggra the tea. She took the cup and blew on it gently letting it warm her hands as Tirion walked about the floor with the baby rubbing her back until she burped. He then took her to the small table and with methodical ease put her in a diaper.

Mother and daughter then slept and Tirion took the cup from the floor where Aggra had set it and pulled a blanket over them. The baby would sleep at least a couple hours now. Her belly was distended with her first meal of mother's milk, but as she slept her body would put it to use and by the time she cried for more the belly would be back to normal.

Tirion sighed and stepped outside to walk up a small hill near the cabin. The snow was letting up, but the wind was biting cold. He pulled his blanket around himself and looked at the outline of Stormwind City, the Capital of the Alliance nearby.

He was not sure how long he had been standing there, lost in his own musings, when Aggra, dressed in furs and carrying her baby wrapped in her cloak came and joined him. He looked back. It was hard to see the form due to her thick winter furs. He knew he was in no danger from her and so waited for her to reveal herself. She looked up at him her eyes full of hope. A new hope and still the weariness of the birth remained. When most human females would be abed for at least two days, the orc woman was up and walking within hours of giving birth. Eitrigg had told him females of his people were strong and strong willed. He was starting to understand these words.

She looked up at him and began withour preamble. "You will see her safe and away from the Horde and especially Garrosh Hellscream?" Aggra asked, her voice nearly carried off by the wind.

Tirion shifted the tiny burden he held beneath his cloak. "Aye. Rhenn and I will see her safe." He looked at her. "You could take her with you to Nagrand."

"No. It is known there that Thrall and I were mated. If I bring a child with me, it will be known who sired it. Thrall wished to keep the baby a secret and so only the Earthen Ring knew of my pregnancy. They will hold their tongues for the sake of Thrall's sacrifice if nothing else."

"You could stay here. Thrall did well among the humans. They accepted him as an ally. With the Queen and I with recommends, no one would do you harm."

"I must return to my people. The babe will do well here. Thrall spoke of Rhenn as a good woman and she would keep his child safe. She swore to him on his death bed."

He nodded. "Then I wish you well." He said looking down at her almost fondly. She nodded to him and walked back to where her wyvern mount who was sitting behind them.

Tirion sighed and pulled his cloak and hold closer about him as he walked down to the main path that led to Stormwind's gates. The baby was still sleeping and was not hungry enough to wake. She looked very much like Thrall with her sky blue eyes and green skin, but her fiery red hair was that of her mother.

He walked toward the main gate. The winter storm had driving snow and it stung his face. He continued down the nearly vacant streets marveling that even the rats had found shelter. He walked briskly making his cold-tired legs work. Once in the keep, he was warmer and he pushed back his cowl. Well it was not warmer, but it was out of the wind. He continued to walk up the stairs. His mind whirled. He, though he would dearly love a grandchild, could not stay within Stormwind to raise this tiny infant. He was bound by honor to avenge his brothers and sisters whom had fallen to the Lich King and his minions.

Tirion walked into the Keep. The guards saluted him as he walked by them. He then walked toward the private areas of the Keep. There he was stopped by a Home Guard. Crispin stepped forward. "What is it that you require, Highlord Fordring?"

"I request an audience with the Queen."

He looked down at the folds of the blanket in the crook of his arm to see if the baby still slept. Twin bold blue eyes stared back at him.