Chapter One

The crickets and the sound of small critters stirring in the wood filled the air as Alyanne sat and listened. The moon was a hue of pristine white, an unusually clean color in an otherwise very usual part of Elwynn Forest. She had been coming to a small patch of grass every day, ignoring the opinions of her superiors in the Cathedral at Stormwind that she spent more time thinking than was healthy for a young woman. They mostly teased, and Aly was grateful for their loving playfulness.

A small golden-red dragonhawk flew towards her head. Aly lifted up an arm as the creature gracefully landed. "Hello there, Velas. Found anything decent to eat while out and about?"

Chirping disappointedly, the dragonhawk scrambled quickly down her arm and into her pocket in search of something edible. Alyanne raised an eyebrow. "I guess not."

If dragonhawks could frown, Velas would have, for he emerged from her pocket with a pitiful little chirp. "No, you little troublemaker, I don't have anything for you in there," she scolded.

Alyanne fidgeted a while with the corners of a large blue blanket she was sitting on. A lot had happened to her that morning that she wasn't willing to think about. Dwelling on it would mean mental confusion, and the last thing she needed was to wallow in her old self pity. Instead she began to pick at her blanket. She frowned disapprovingly and found a rather stubborn bit of thread. She pulled at it for a little while. Realizing it was stuck, she yanked hard. It suddenly gave way and she fell backwards.

To her absolute surprise, her back hit a pair of legs.

She let out a bit of a yelp, quickly whipped her long brown hair around as she turned, and found herself face to face with a pair of very bright blue eyes as Velas darted towards the top of a tree from the shock. "Oh my goodness!" she yelled and rapidly crawled backwards, crab-like across her blanket. "Who in the name of all things good a-!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't mean to scare you!" the man began apologetically. Ignoring his comment, Alyanne promptly grabbed a nearby stick and lunged towards his head. "Wait! No, wai- I'm sorr- Hey! Do you honestly mean to poke my eye out?" the young man dodged.

Alyanne got to her feet much faster than her appearance would suggest, and swung. "Well what do you think you're doing approaching a young woman at this time of night, then?" she glared.

"Sorry! Please calm down! It's just- I've just been watching you lately!" The man attempted to explain.

Wrong thing to say.

"WHAT?" Aly shouted. At the sound of the commotion, Velas streaked towards the sky and landed in the strange man's hair.

"No! Wait! I'm sorr- OW! Stupid dragonhawk, what is- OW! Let me explain!"

"You sick perverted stalke-"

"You're Aly Evenell, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know my own name. The real question is, what in the world do you think you're doing, huh?"

"I've been sent to protect you; will you put the stick down already? And for goodness sake, get this thing out of my hair!"

This next statement saved him as the stick stopped an inch from his nose. Whistling through the side of her mouth, Aly motioned for Velas to back off. Velas begrudgingly loosed himself from the strange man's hair and perched himself on Aly's shoulder. Aly's glare never seemed to waver, although her voice seemed faltered a bit. "Who are you?" she questioned, backing away slowly in defense.

"Well, are you or are you not?" Blue Eyes raised his eyebrows, unphased by the rather short, angry woman standing before him. "Evenell, right? Alyanna Evenell."

"Alyanne. Not Alyanna. You call me that again and your eye is mine."

"Point being, you're Alyanne Evenell, right? Your parents' names were Jennan and Kalira."

Alyanne back away once again, but this time more in surprise than in response to the instinct to run. It was unusual that someone would bring up her name and not accompany it with a sneer. What was more unusual was that this man seemed to be rather happy to realize he was talking with an Evenell.

As if the currently awkwardness of his facial expression wasn't enough, his physical features themselves were rather odd. She eyed him up and down. He carried no weapons at all, from what Aly could tell, but something about him was still unnerving. It was his eyes that stood out more than anything with their hue of bright, almost glowing blue. Watching as he lowered his hands as a gesture of friendship, she lowered her impromptu sword.

The scowl on her face faded, but she stood up straight. "My name is none of your business, you. Don't you think it's rather impolite to sneak up on a young woman at this time of night anyways?" she brushed the dirt off the dress.

"Well I would say it's your fault for being in the middle of the woods alone at night, especially for a woman of your age and appearance."

Her glare came back instantly in response to his sheer gall. "Do you want me to send this thing after you?" she asked, pointing at Velas. He had called her beautiful, juvenile, and stupid at the same time. Should she be flattered? Insulted? Before she could say a word, he stammered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that sounded awkward, didn't it?"

Confused and rather tempted to laugh just a bit, Alyanne raised an eyebrow. "Sir, what business do you have with me?"

"You're one of the acolytes at the Cathedral in Stormwind, aren't you?" he asked.

"Depends," she simply replied, praying the answer was suitable enough to stop the fellow's knack for asking inappropriate questions at inappropriate times in rather inappropriate situations.

It didn't.

"You're the one who cause all the commotion in the Cathedral Square this morning?" he chuckled. Aly's turned into a shade of crimson as she stared down at her feet. She immediately diverted her face away from Blue Eyes. The memories of a rather embarrassing scene of her leaving filled her brain all of a sudden. Why couldn't this man just leave?

"You have real talent you know, in your magic, I mean," he continued with a chuckle, apparently amused by her utter embarrassment.

"Hmmm..." He placed his hand on his slightly stubbled chin. "I should try and explain this to you, but this is not really the place, my dearest Alyanna." He grabbed her arm and began walking.

"You! Who do you think you are? I'll have your ass for this! And for the second, time, it's Alyanne! Not Alya- where in the world are you taking me, you bastard?" she yelled. She tried to reach for her branch but missed. When Alyanne tried to loosen his grip on her, she found he was much stronger than she expected out of a very tall, deceivingly scrawny man. He smiled, which only irritated her further.

"You know, for someone who supposedly followed the doctrines of the Light, you really are unorthodox. Then again, your parents dabbled in… shall we call it "alternative methods"? Yeah, they did that too. Don't think I haven't seen you practicing in the corner when no one's looking, Aly. I guess it makes you the perfect candidate."

"Are you accusing me of something? Really?" Her eyes widened. She didn't want to say the words out loud, but the idea of him proposing she practiced something so strongly discouraged was like a slap to the face.

"Not yet anyways. To be honest, your parents were amazing at it."

"And how would you know?"

"Who doesn't? Granted their portraits are painted in a far less favorable light within the public of Stormwind, but if only they could see your parents as bearers of great information and not some kinds of lepers. But I'll explain later when we get into the pub. Like I said, you're the perfect candidate."

"Wait, candidate for what? And let go of me, damn it!" Aly struggled. As if terrifying her wasn't enough, now he was accusing her parents? Who in the world was this man?

As he turned his head to face her, glowing blue eyes froze her in place. "It's about time you got both sides of the story, Aly."