[World of Warcraft and all characters used are owned by Blizzard. All non Blizzard ideas are my intellectual property and thus use of them without my express permission will result in a report of plagiarism to .]

I play World of Warcraft often [Moon Guard A] and the draenei are my favorite characters. Going over their lore and the current political situation in the Alliance due to the events of Northrend, it is noticeable that in the Alliance, the draenei are generally being ignored while in the Argent Crusade, they seem to be doing rather well. So after thinking about it for a while, I came up with a 'what if' type of idea, that turned itself into this story.

Ensemble

Chapter 1: Gamble

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Life on the Exodar was proceeding as normal. The once-spaceship had been the last on the list to be repaired-housing for the general draenei population being more important. Ammen Vale, Azure Watch, and Blood Watch were now fully built, and Odeysus' Landing was turning into a very healthy port town. Now the artificers had turned their attention to the Exodar, and were descending on it in full force. Since the ship itself had slammed into (and was) sticking out of a mountain, the plan was to at least make it look as if it was intentionally built into the stone…as intentionally as crystal and other non-Azerothian metals could look like. So far the plan had been working, the insides no longer looked as if they'd been wrecked, debris hauled away, cracks repaired, and formerly inaccessible parts of the ship now opened. The courtyard had been widened, now the Hand had proper stabling areas for their mounts and barracks to live in.

The Vault of Lights was being renovated into a full temple-which explained all the chaotic noise outside the building in which Velen and the Triumvirate of the Hand were currently meeting. Nothing could be heard inside however, thanks to sound-proofing spells. The Prophet had a grave look on his face, thoughtfully pulling at his beard while the other draenei watched. Several maps were strewn on the table in front of the quartet, along with various open scrolls.

"The situation at Forest Song is not good then?" Velen finally asked, dropping his hand to the table and pulling one of the maps to the forefront.

"The situation in Ashenvale has never been good, Divine." Armos responded. "But from this report-yes, it seems to be getting worse. The Warsong are starting to expand even further, putting Astranaar in danger. Forest Song is relatively safe for now, but that could change at any time."

"Is there an evacuation plan for them set?"

"Given the current inroads made by the orcs, it's undergoing modification but it should be ready soon." Despite the things the draenei had heard of Thrall, the populace and the army were still very leery of the orcs. News of Garrosh's activities in Northrend and his growing influence in the Horde were making Velen and the Hand even warier-thus the current discussion. While things over the years had tempered in other border lying areas between the Horde and the Alliance, the Sentinel/Warsong conflict had only gotten worse. No amount of diplomacy could get the fighting to stop-and it had gotten to the point where it was being considered its' own separate war.

"Vindicator Vedaar is doing his best in the situation. I don't think there's anything that we can do to help." Boros rumbled softly. Velen nodded, not liking what had been said but seeing the logic in it.

"Alright. What is next?"

"The new rotations for Northrend are set." Kuros, the last of the Triumvirate said, stepping forward and setting down a packet of papers. "The number of men and women you requested that we send to the Alliance has been cut-now we're at the basic minimum needed to at least keep our relations with them going."

"If they don't notice that I don't know what will." Armos grumbled, folding his arms. "Prophet, I think a better statement would be made by having us just pull out our people completely-"

"While it would make the better statement, it could also backfire on us." Velen said, holding up a hand. "I still harbor hope that Varian will come out of his rage-and that we can resume negotiations. And besides from the humans-the rest of the Alliance has accepted us as allies. We cannot leave them without some sort of help."

The draenei as of late had found themselves in a precarious position in the Alliance. Advancing into Northrend with their allies, Velen and the Hand had found their attempts to help had been blocked at almost every turn. The worst situation had been Valiance Keep-but even after it'd been learned that an agent of the Lich King was behind the sabotage there, the draenei were still being stonewalled and not allowed to help. Diplomatic relations were almost at a standstill-Taluun had reported that it was almost impossible to gain an audience with Varian-unless it was discussing the war with the Horde or Arthas. The draenei were now being regarded with suspicion and mistrust once again by most humans-many draenei were now choosing to avoid Stormwind in their travels, due to the societal upheaval the king's arrival had caused. It also wasn't helping matters that Varian had assumed overall command of the Alliance forces after the infamous Wrathgate incident and had immediately re-declared war on the Horde…without seeking the advice of his fellow Alliance leaders.

The draenei were only just getting back on their hooves. Their numbers were sorely reduced-whatever was left was split between Azeroth and Outland and it'd taken far too long to reestablish communication with Shattrath. They just barely had enough to start an active offensive (with the help of the Alliance) to reclaim what was left of Draenor, there was barely enough even now to give over to Varian for the Alliance armies. And what was in the Alliance army…had either left for the Argent Crusade, petitioning the Triumvirate to recall them back to the Exodar, or choosing to tough it out in the hopes that things would soon get better.

If things were unstable politically in the Alliance, it was far worse in the army. Velen knew due to the horrors of Northrend, he couldn't ask his people to hold out for very long. So as an informal protest due to how matters were being handled and the lack of negotiation, the Prophet had ordered the number of draenei serving in the Alliance armies to be cut to the bare minimum needed. This would give the Hand the troops they desperately needed to start shoring up the defenses about the Azuremyst island chain (the excuse that was to be offered if the Alliance noticed and complained) and the hope that Wrynn would take notice and reopen negotiations once again. Velen believed that the Alliance was truly part of the army of the Light K'ure had promised the draenei that they would be a part of so long ago…and it seemed on this planet, that promise was coming true. Another factor was the discovery of the Argent Dawn/Crusade- this had galvanized the draenei-relations were strong between it and the Hand.

But that's a topic for a different time. Velen thought to himself. No, right now the focus was on his people's position in the Alliance-while the Prophet didn't like what he was doing, he could see there wasn't very much in the way of options. Recalling back as many troops as they could was far preferable to having them die almost needlessly in the frozen wastes of Northrend on different battlefields. And they did need to shore up the Exodar and Azuremyst's defenses as a whole… Then it seems, I must pray every day that things take a turn for the better within the Alliance, and soon.

They had to. Any wrong decisions after the threats in Northrend were taken care of-could spell disaster as a whole. Not for the Alliance or the Horde, but possibly for all of Azeroth.