A/N: hello dear readers! Welcome to a winter blowout story where many of my younger OCs - the new generation born from my original set of older characters - deal with hormones, holidays and horror in a mountain ski lodge. For reference, you do NOT need to read any of my other stories for this one to make sense; all context will either be given in the paragraph below this one or in the narrative of the story itself.

This takes place in the year 66 on the Warcraft timeline. For perspective, the Warlords of Draenor expansion took place in the year 31 according to most versions of the timeline; this is Azeroth over three decades in the future, where the conflicts of the current game are just blips in the history books. Different chapters are told from different points of view, which I hope will be apparent in the opening lines.

Enjoy!

Corrianna hugged herself a little more tightly, huddling close to Uniol as the two of them waited at the flight point. Ashenvale became a little bit cold during the winter, and even the Barrens could get chilly at night, but neither were comparable to Winterspring. Her mittens kept her fingers warm, but her long ears poked out of the two slits in her hood, chilling the tips as well as her nose. Snow had only recently stopped falling, and according to the local druid assigned to the city of New Kel'Theril, more would start to fall as the evening approached.

And it was still technically summer.

Uniol put his arm around her, holding her a little closer as the two of them waited for the first wave of guests. His warmth was incredible, though she suspected that part of it was all in her head; when the two newlyweds stood next to each other, she felt like she could melt. Though he hadn't quite passed his druidic trials yet, he still had that sort of soothing voice that was simply relaxing to listen to. Though she also wasn't a full fledged archer, she liked to think that her voice bore that light, focused tone she heard from her mother. Both of them were quite young for elves (or a half elf, in her case) and weren't in a hurry to rush off and hone their classes yet. But it was still nice to take the nice, slow journey together.

A strand of dark, dark brown hair that looked more or less black fell from inside her hood, and she spent a few seconds trying to adjust it with hampered hands inside of mittens before he spoke.

"There they are, that Sindorei couple that your cousin knows," Uniol said while pointing toward two people riding on one hippogriff up in the sky. "What are their names again?"

Corrianna tried to remember what Navarion, one of her six cousins, had told her when they'd split up in Ashenvale. "Henaia and...Thelios, I think he said. I don't know them, but I think they're sort of...his type of people." She frowned a bit, remembering the last time Navarion had introduced the family to the people he met while working at mercenary camps on dangerous quests.

"Perhaps these folks are a bit more...relaxed," he replied as the hippogriff began to land on the flight deck.

"Perhaps...I hope he's hanging out with better people." The blood elf couple landed, laughing wildly as the male hugged around the female's waist. The flightmistress helped them dismount, tilting her head in confusion at the open displays of affection from two elves, regardless of whether their eyes were silver or green. "You know, when we were kids it wouldn't have been possible for blood elves to travel in night elf territory so easily," she remarked, almost admiring the way that the other couple at least behaved politely with everyone around them.

The two of them tried to ask the flightmistress a question while pointing toward the hippogriff roost, energetic despite the fact that the Kaldorei woman seemed rather annoyed by their refusal to vacate her flight deck right away.

"They seem like...oh my," Uniol gasped as the two of them tongue kissed in public after jumping off the flight deck and nearly dropping all their luggage. "They certainly seem like...friendly people."

The blood elf female tried to ride in the male's back while he dragged their bags behind them, only for him to slip and fall in the snow next to the platform. They rolled around for a bit, touching each other a bit more than was necessary as they helped each other up. Having been raised in a family almost as conservative as her husband's, Corrianna balked at the odd public behavior.

Awkward and unsure of how to react, she ended up just waiting for the blonde haired couple to notice them first. "Hey, are you Corra?" the female asked, waving with both hands and still laughing from her snowy romp with her guy friend. "I'm Henaia, your cousin told me all about you!"

Shy from the possibility of the male blood elf trying to shake her hand, Corrianna dragged Uniol forward with her, trying to keep herself aligned with Henaia. "Yes, Navarion gushed about you guys, too." She leaned forward to bow, only to receive a mock kiss on both cheeks from Henaia that felt very fake. "Uh...so you two just flew in from Mor'shan?" she asked as the two men engaged in what appeared to be an overly complicated handshake and shoulder bump combination that Uniol didn't quite know how to do.

Fortunately for Corrianna, the male had eyes for no one but Henaia, and barely even noticed her as he spoke. "Indeed; it was one abortion of a flight, let me tell you," Thelios chortled while trying to peek down the front of Henaia's unbuttoned coat. "The hippogriff wouldn't shut up, either."

Corrianna pursed her lips into a straight line as she glanced at the visibly upset flying mount, its feathers ruffled in a pitiful display as the flightmistress tried to calm it down.

"Yes,vwell. Hopefully we'll all be able to relax for a bit," Uniol said as he picked up both his luggage and Corrianna's. "My mother has reserved the lodge especially for all of us for the weekend, so I'm expecting everybody to unwind a bit."

Following suit and lifting their bags, Thelios began to walk side by side with Uniol, thankfully letting Corrianna slip behind them. Henaia continuously bumped into her as they all followed the beaten trail in the snow leading to the large hills overlooking the reclaimed Highborne ruins that the Sentinel government had transformed into a modern Kaldorei resort town.

"Yeah, Navarion mentioned that your mom is like some bigshot brigadier general among the night elves. Is that true, Uniol?" Henaia asked, her voice loud and grating in an unintentional way that made it impossible to blame her (though not to find her annoying already).

The party of four slowly made their way through the upscale town defined by the numerous, post Sundering style of wooden night elf cabins. Unlike cities in warmer regions, there were no hollowed out trees being used as dwellings due to the thinner trunks at such an altitude.

Uniol pointed toward an uphill path to direct them as they walked and talked. "Retired, to be exact. My mom was born before immortality, like Corrianna and Navarion's mothers, so she's getting up there in years. But we were always established in Winterspring, so the current military command seek her advice all the time."

"And she totally has access to all of these resort lodges and stuff?" Henaia asked bluntly. The eagerness in which she switched the topic from Uniol's family to the material comforts of his family's property bothered Corrianna deeply, but she remained quiet.

"Well, yes, a few. Most sentinel lodges are used for active military personnel only, but there are the few rare ones used for rehabilitation after injuries or rewards for unused vacation days. My mom helped establish the latter at a wellspring above town here, so she can claim it periodically-"

"Oh, it's like a timeshare!"

Corrianna pressed her molar teeth together at Henaia's over enthusiasm. "Sentinels in need of rest will never be denied quarter here; Uniol's mother was generous enough to grant us access for a weekend when there were no wounded servicewomen in the area."

Suddenly contrite like a hyperactive child, Henaia seemed to comprehend Corrianna's stiff reaction. "Aww, your mom sounds like a great lady! I can make really cool origami dragonhawks, maybe I can send her one if she's around!" the Sindorei woman chirped like a real dragonhawk.

"I'm sure she'd love to see that! Mother doesn't do origami herself, but she quite enjoys seeing it done." Uniol slowed down as they reached the first level of the high hills where the path evened out. They had a great view of the frozen lake below and the resort town around it; they were so high that a few hippogriffs ridden by tourists passed by at the same level as the ledge they were standing on. "Before we go up to the lodge, we need to stop to see the groundskeeper. He should have stocked everything in the lodge for us, but it's always courteous to double check. He lives alone."

"Sounds like a crazy old hermit in the woods," Thelios remarked casually, not even noticing when Corrianna's brows furrowed angrily. She had no idea who the groundskeeper was - this was actually the first time she'd see Uniol's family lodge despite the great length of time that they'd been together - but she found it rather rude that Thelios would make a rude comment about a person he didn't even know.

If Uniol was also offended, he didn't show it directly. "Well, Mister Montanha enjoys his privacy, you could say."

"That's a weird name!" Henaia replied, pushing Corrianna to the edge of irritation.

"It's obviously Taurahe," she said as curtly as she could without crossing the line over to rudeness herself.

"Yes, he's a tauren, but he's been in the region for a very long time. He doesn't talk much, but he's the most incredible healer my family has ever seen; it's said that he can cure cancer."

"No way!" Thelios replied. He couldn't have appeared more stupefied if he'd been tucking a surfboard beneath his arm and watching an awesome wave approach.

"I kid you not; people come from all over to see him, but he insists on living alone on the other side of this mountain. He maintains the lodge and runs errands for the sentinels if they're here, but otherwise doesn't like being bothered."

"Maybe he's like the crazy old wise man on the mountain?" Henaia surmised out loud. "Like, he totally makes people run weird quests with reagants from other continents so he can cure their cancer."

"He might just enjoy being alone," Corrianna huffed, though her version of being upset was so low key that neither of the blood elves seemed to notice.

"Hey, I see it!" Thelios beamed, pointing with his entire arm and leaning his entire body over as of striking a pose for Henaia.

The discussion had annoyed Corrianna so much that she hadn't even noticed how far they'd walked. They'd actually looped around the small mountain (or large hill) on a beaten, circular path ringing it, and found themselves next to a distinctly tauren style cabin overlooking the jagged, unnavigable valley on the other side. Thin pine trees provided a measure of cover, though the totems set up outside unmistakeably marked the dwelling of a tauren spirit walker.

"The totems have been lighted, so he's inside. Let me just get him; there might be news we need to be filled in on." Uniol left the rest of them standing by the high totems with small fires burning at the tops but not burning the wood. "Mister Montanha!" he said while knocking on the door lightly. "It's Uniol, I'm here with the first wave of guests! Are you awake?"

Corrianna relaxed even as Henaia insisted on leaning against her for balance and Thelios inexplicably insisted on leaning against Henaia. At least they were about to meet a person who Corrianna expected she would like. Her image of tauren in general was a rather positive one: large, bovine nature worshippers with similar beliefs to those she'd been raised with. There were always exceptions to the rule, but all of her personal experiences had been positive. Ideas over what the spirit walker who gifted cancer patients with a second chance on life would be like floated around her mind, causing her to wonder just how exactly the mystery man would lighten everybody's mood.

Would he be big and heavy set and tower over everybody like a giant, furry grandfather?

Would he give everyone wise words and inspire them with his insights on the environment?

Would he invoke the ancestors to watch over them during their stay so that the forecasted snowstorm wouldn't chill them to much?

Or would he turn out to be an uncouth, temperamental old coot with a bad attitude?

"I heard you the first time you knocked, now wait a minute!"

Speaking Common with fluent diction but a noticeable accent on pronunciation, Mister Montanha sounded as if he'd learned the language perfectly but didn't care about how he sounded to other people. How apt, considering the fact that he yelled so loud that all four of them jumped. Hooves clopped inside, and two separate voices spoke in hushed tones as cloth was dragged across the floor inside. Uniol stepped back from the door just as the rare white furred tauren stepped outside, a shy pandaren woman in a parka hiding behind him.

Mister Montanha was short for a tauren, probably shorter than Corrianna's cousin Navarion, and not in great shape. He was a whole heap of mean, however, and didn't seem to take issue with glaring at the son of his boss. "Now I'm ready to go unlock everything," the audacious healer said without a hint of shyness over his outburst.

Uniol looked toward the pandaren woman in confusion, though she didn't move from behind the white furred tauren. "Oh...kay then, Mister Montanha. The rest of the guests will be here shortly, but we wouldn't mind going to set up and relax for a bit as well. I trust everything has been stocked?"

Without even motioning for them all to follow him, the spirit walker began to walk toward a second path leading further up the mountain. "Yes, I took inventory again this morning. There wasn't enough toilet paper after the last group there brought that dreadful goblin cook, but I ran back to town to have the druid down there conjure some extra soft vine leaves."

Seeing her opportunity to avoid her cousin's irritating friends, Corrianna speed walked forward, joining her new husband and the lodge groundskeeper as the three other people formed a second row behind them. In retrospect it was a cruel punishment to the poor parka preferring pandaren, but her act was one of desperation. They'd just arrived and she already found herself becoming annoyed; she didn't want anything to ruin what was technically a way to make up for her and Uniol's botched honeymoon the year before (screw all hotels with that horrid, copper tubed system that the gnomes called indoor plumbing; conjured Kaldorei cisterns and water fountains were the way to go).

Holding on to his hand as the tauren rambled about inventory and the blood elves assumed the pandaren was also a guest, Corrianna took a deep breath and tried to look on the bright side. She'd never seen Uniol's family lodge before, and her mother in law - who'd actually tried to prevent their wedding from happening at one point - had begrudgingly warmed up to her so much that the woman had invited Corrianna's cousins and friends to spend the weekend there as well. It was a fun trip without all the burdens of a world of crafted war.

What could possibly go wrong?