Notes: Takes place after the novel Dawn of the Aspects. Shameless fix-it. Also I wanted to write Alexstrasza! A bit inspired by reading the Warcraft Chronicle which gave us all kinds of awesome information about the Titans and the Aspects. I wanted to play in the universe a bit. :)


Alexstrasza leapt into the air, Tyr's artifact held securely in one forepaw. Angling her wings she swept towards the massive bones of Galakrond. She and the other original Aspects had grown in size as they had grown in power, but even so Galakrond was still larger. She remembered the battle with a shiver.

Alexstrasza had forgotten.

Not the events or that they'd happened, but the details had faded from her memory. She'd forgotten how it had felt to be a protodrake, how hard the world had been and how terrifying it had become. She'd forgotten the thrill of fear as the shadow of Galakrond's wings passed over the valley. She'd forgotten the desperation she and her sister had felt when they'd searched for their clutch brother and how it had only grown as Galakrond grew more monstrous. She'd forgotten the names of the other protodrakes who'd fought and died with them. She'd forgotten the feeling of growing camaraderie with Neltharion, Nozdormu, Malygos and her sister. So much had happened. The millennia had left scars and obfuscated memories.

Kalecgos emerged from the Temple, the small figure of Jaina Proudmoore perched on his back. He circled the temple once then left at speed in the direction of Dalaran. Alexstrasza watched him from afar. Kalecgos was an odd dragon, but perhaps he was someone she and the others needed. Kalec, she mentally corrected. He preferred the shortened "nickname". He still had much life in him; the millenia hadn't worn him down. And he was not the only one. There were others who still felt vital and eager to continue their charges. Eager for life and to live. She, Ysera and Nozdormu had been ignoring those voices.

First, she would stop ignoring them; that could be done easily and quickly and would help the reds from becoming as despondent as the Blues appeared to have become. Second, she would address the deeper issue affecting all the dragonflights. Feeling younger than she had since her beloved's death, Alexstrasza hummed to herself as she created a portal and returned home.

The reds lived in lovely valley with steep cliffs that had protected their eggs and shielded their young. Or it had. There were no new nests and they'd had none since the fall of Deathwing. More than anything, the lack of new children had sapped the strength and vitality from her people. The healers of her flight had tried every spell they knew, every remedy and magic. Her reds had even tried interbreeding with volunteers from other flights, something which had long been somewhat taboo. Nothing. But these had been the solutions created by dragons and, as Jaina Proudmoore's presence had reminded her, there were beings other than dragons in the world.

As revitalized as Alexstrasza felt, the lack of a future remained an issue for her people. Before Kalec's rather impertinent use of Tyr's artifact she'd only seen the death of her race. Now there was more than simple darkness. One path into the future remained more or less the same; her people would slowly die out and unless they took steps, all their knowledge would die with them. Down another, she could search for solutions to the Sorrow outside of the Dragonflights and continue to fight death.

A small part of her wondered if she hadn't fought as hard for her people as she should have. When the mantle had been burned away she'd begun to feel the weight of her years. Another friend, another lost to incurable sickness, was gone and to protect Life to protect Azeroth, she'd had to help engineer his death. As she had with Malygos.

Alexstrasza flew in a leisurely spiral as she approached the home of the red flight. There were fewer dragons present than there had been during the days of the war. Some had retreated to their own roosts around the world, to tend glade and gardens or to return to the towns and villages where they were healers or guardians. Many had died in the final conflict. Others had simply vanished.

Then there had been no nests in the spring, right when her people had been most eager to have children again! She'd missed her Beloved even more fiercely when she realized the strange absence she'd felt since Deathwing's fall was not just the loss of her mantle of power. An ephemeral something was missing from all her people not just from within her. Her Beloved would have had wise counsel for her and would have wrapped her in comforting wings. She flew over their favorite perch and missed Korialstrasz deeply once more, but the pain was older now and she could set it aside as she had for her other lost consorts; honored in memory and never forgotten, but without the savage raking claws in her heart.

Alexstrasza had been angry, had tried to solve the problem and then had given in and grieved. The finality had darkened her thoughts like oppressive clouds. She'd tried to assist her own people coping, had tried to remain strong and serene for them. She realized now that acceptance, as she had accepted the death of He who was her First in Love, was not what they needed. It was time for her to follow Kalec's example rather than dismiss the younger dragon as she had been doing.

Pride was ever the flaw of the dragons. She would swallow hers. As tired as she was, as much as the millennia weighted down her wings, she would fight for her children and their children. She'd fought death and had won, with assistance, before. Perhaps she needed assistance again. If it was her destiny to die, then she would fight for life until the last.

Alexstrasza angled her wings and flew in towards her personal residence; a lovely little glade shaded by an enormous tree her Sister had gifted to her when the world was fresh and new. It had grown in size as she had, a silent companion witnessing the years pass. Landing outside her home she greeted her handmaidens with a soft call. She was going to send them back to their mates and families as she had so often done since Deathwing's final fall, but she stopped herself. She would begin her work now when she felt most energized. She would begin to make the changes she wished to see; the ones she should have made before but had been too depressed to understand she needed.

"Ladies," she greeted. "Walk with me." She transformed into her humanoid shape and began to walk around the perimeter of the lake at the center of her home. The three dragonesses looked at one another then transformed and fell into step with her.

"I have had a long and interesting day," she told them. "And I have been reminded that there is life yet worth living in the world." She paused to watch the youngest of her reds tumbling and wrestling at the water's edge under the watchful eye of many minders. They were the last generation. Unless she found something. She turned away from the adolescent dragons and returned to the path to her personal residence.

"I will be going a abroad a great deal for the foreseeable future," she told them. They entered the little hidden valley, bright grass softly crunching underfoot. Beneath an enormous tree was an equally large pavilion in the style of the night elves. Alexstrasza headed for the sun-dappled shade of the giant evergreen.

"Lirastrasza," she addressed the eldest of the three, "I need you to coordinate with Afrasastrasz. Both of you have had concerns regarding the security of our flight I have brushed aside. Work with him to address your concerns. If he wishes to have us engage in activities abroad I would hear his report first, but otherwise act as it upholds our Charge and our Flight. You are my Voice while I am gone. Summon me if you have need of me."

"Yes my Lady," Lira said, bowing.

"Ceristrasza, I want you to take point on surveying our current magical assets including our artifact makers. I want to have an idea of what we have currently. We both gained and lost items in the war. We should have an accurate accounting."

"Of course, my Lady," Ceri said, bowing.

"Xerestrasza, I'm afraid I'm going to be borrowing your mate for a bit," she said, smiling at the youngest of the three. Xeres was mated to one of her sons and while she was physically a very small red dragon, she possessed an incredible magical gift and was one of the best healers within the flight. Her daughter-of-choice had taken the inability to resolve their infertility situation as a personal failure. And a personal loss. The pair had only been able to produce two nests together and while each child was loved and adored, Alexstrasza knew they'd wished for more.

Xeres blinked. "You're going someplace dangerous then?"

"Possibly," Alexstrasza admitted. "I don't want a big deal to be made of this so I'll be taking Ravi with me. Afrasastraz won't object if one of our Guardians is with me. I would like you to take a census of the flight for me. Please do so discreetly."

"Of course, mother," Xeres said, dipping her head. She exchanged a look with the other two and tilted her head. "Is it wise for us to know what you are doing?"

Alexstrasza studied them for a long moment then gestured for them to step closer. They did so, trusting in her. She hoped she would be worthy of their trust now and what they'd shown even when she'd been despondent.

"Kalecgos reminded me of who I was today. Who I am. He reminded all of us. I do not know what my sister or Nozdormu might choose to do with this gift, but for me, I am going to fight for our future."

"You're going to resume the search for an end to the Sorrow?" Xeres exclaimed before quieting down. The others had held their tongues better but they too look surprised. It broke Alexstrasza's heart. Her depression, her dark acceptance, had spread. They'd given up.

"I am," she told them. "We did not search far beyond our own knowledge. When we had no answer for ourselves, we fell into despair. Our pride has always been great. Perhaps mine has been greatest of all. If there is a solution out there, I will find it, even if I must beg."

"What if there is no solution?" Ceri asked.

Alexstrasza placed a hand on the younger dragon's shoulder. "Then we will spread our gifts as widely among the younger races as we can, adopt them as our heirs, and leave them as our legacy instead. This is why I wish to have an accounting of our assets. We prepare for the worst, but we hope and we will fight for the best." She looked each of her handmaidens in the eye. "I do not wish to get anyone's hopes up so please do not spread word of this. If I need help I will request it but I have already asked much of the flight."

"Where will you go? What is left for us to look into?" Lirastrasza asked. "Lady Ysera asked Cenarius. Kalecgos and the blues tried arcane magic. Even time cannot erase what has happened. The most powerful did not have solutions for us."

"The Aspects were blessed by the Titans and when we lost our mantles is when we lost our nests. I am going to find whom among the Keepers of the Titans might remain and what answers they may have for me. Beyond that, I do not know. I will keep in contact."

"You're going now?" Xerestrasza asked.

"I must. Every day our hope fades a little more. If I don't act I might lose hope as well. Again." She hugged each of her handmaidens. "Ceri, I will need a case to hold a valuable artifact for travel." she said holding Tyr's artifact up. Ceri bowed and ran off to retrieve a container. "Lira if you would alert Afrasastraz I will be departing as soon as possible. If he has anything for me to hear now would be the time." Lira bowed and departed. "Xeres if you would fetch Ravi?" Xeres gave her another hung the raced off, transforming between one step and the next. She lept into the air and winged her way towards her home roost.

Alexstrasza took a deep breath then let it out, feeling an energized determination fill her heart. She secured Tyr's artifact in a travel case then transformed and hung that around her neck. Afrastrasza stopped by only long enough to wish her luck and assure her that their home would be secure then she leapt into the air, meeting Ravistrasz.

She swept around him then opened a portal back to Northrend and the two red dragons flew through.