Weeks had passed since they had first met, and now they were planning to train together. He knew what to expect up in the frigid wastes of Northrend, and she was stronger in power than him for now, so she would help him train his skills.
Anata tapped her hoof hurriedly on the dock as the boat pulled into Menethil Harbor. The Lady Mehley's gangplank was lowered and Anata hurried on board.
The captain smiled and shouted down "Long time no see, gorgeous."
Anata gave a small chuckle and rolled her eyes "Ay bet you say zat to all ze draenei females zat grace your presence."
Abe rushed up from the lower decks and bounded towards Anata and gave her a hug. "I've missed ya ma'am, not too many people fish from the boats anymore. They're in too much of a rush to get to where they're going, and the traffic has sure died down now that everyone's headed up to Northrend!" He let go and stared up at her.
"Ay am not going to Northrend just yet, however, Ay am bound for where eet ees cold."
Abe smiled and turned "I've got to run and fetch a few things for Grace before we depart!"
Anata smiled back and ruffled his hair. "Go zen, leetle one."
She climbed onto the aft of the boat, with Tomas following her, laying down, and looking patiently at her. As she assembled her fishing pole she turned around to her tiger and said "eet may be a while, but yes, you're going to get zem."
He licked his paw and purred as he knew he was going to eat well in the next couple of hours. She heard Abe clamor back onto the boat with the supplies he bought and scurry back down to the galley where she could smell Grace cooking something.
Anata giggled as Abe jumped on to the railing and sat down beside her, his fishing pole in hand. She said watching her line "Ay have already caught a few sagefish, but nothing beeg." They sat together for the rest of the trip, fishing up food for Tomas.
When they pulled into Theramore's harbor, she said goodbye to abe and conjured up some fresh cinnamon rolls for him to eat. She put away her fishing pole, grabbed her bags and walked off the boat towards the gryphon master. After she had paid the gryphon master, she took off towards Winterspring.
She hurriedly dug into her pack and took out a waterproof coat as it started to rain. She wrapped it around herself and cursed her luck, hoping she wouldn't be soaked all the way through by the time she got to Everlook. As she passed through Ashenvale, the rain turned to sleet, then into snow. She was wet, cold and feeling miserable by the time the gryphon landed at Everlook. She ran as fast as she could to the in and sat down right in front of the fire.
"Whatcha looking for, friend?" The innkeeper asked.
"you have any stew?" Anata asked, her teeth chattering
"Sure thing, made fresh today," The goblin said, walking over to the pot and ladling a large bowl full of the soup. "Two silver, please" Her bracelets clinked together as she walked over to Anata to hand her the soup.
Anata took the bowl of soup and set it beside her, before reaching into her coin sack and handed the innkeeper the two silver pieces. She held the bowl of stew up to her nose and took a big whiff of it before putting the first spoonful into her mouth and savoring its tasty warmth. Hours passed as Anata sat warming herself by the fire, and eating two more bowls of stew. The snow outside had slackened up to light flurries as night overtook the land.
She stood up and plopped her bags down on the table, as she started to take her warm winter gear out. She put it on and thanked the innkeeper for her hospitality before she went towards the gates of Everlook. She unhitched Tomas from the post, and climbed onto his back, setting out for Mazthoril, since she knew the greener fighters would be heading into Everlook for the night for its safety and warmth. She knew the blue dragonflight had become a problem up in the bitter reaches of Northrend, so she decided to deal with what forces were left down here. They were the only stronger monsters in that area of Azeroth that she could actually benefit from fighting by getting used to exerting herself in colder climates.
She had stayed buried in the deep caves of Mazthoril for two days straight, and nearing sunset on the third day. Looting the corpse and taking the coins of the dragonkin she had just killed, she sighed, looking at the sky, for the first time in three days. Durnhelm was to meet her here in Winterspring tomorrow, up near Frostsaber Rock. She had gotten their early to train so that she wouldn't appear so weak to him. Calling to Tomas, he rotted over holding a rabbit in his jaws, looking pleased with himself; he had hated that cave. Anata chuckled and patted him on the head.
"Seely theeng, do you want to go to ze hot spreengs?"
Tomas continued to stand there going "See? I caught something. I'm a good frostsaber. You can have it as a present, but I'd prefer to keep it." oblivious to what Anata was asking.
She shook her head, took the rabbit and slung it across the handle of the saddle as she climbed on him. Patting his side she told him "Alright, you weel get eet when we get zere." He pounced off at full speed towards the hot springs. When she arrived, she pointed him to a secluded spot in the back and had Tomas stand guard. She then quickly slipped off her clothes and jumped into the hot water.
Durnhelm had arrived that afternoon after spending all morning getting the Timbermaw furbolgs to be friendly to him. As he rounded the corner of the road on his steed, Beast, he saw in the distance a Draenei cross the road on a frostsaber. His laugh echoed softly in his helmet. He trotted up to where the tracks left the road and followed the fresh footprints. He dismounted Beast, and he drew closer to the hot springs, hiding in a thicket of evergreen trees and scrub. He saw Anata disrobe and smirked as he peeked from behind the trees. 'This is going to be good' he thought to himself.
She let down her dark hair as she lounged in the water, the only thing that was above water was from her nose up. She blew some bubbles in the water for fun and then dived underwater and swam around.
Durnhelm was still watching her every movement from his spot, with a leering smile on his face. He took out a goldenbark apple from his bag and began to eat it. He knew that she probably had figured out that he wanted her. He was also confident that she didn't have the skills to sense people watching her.
She laughed popping her head back above the water. She gathered rocks from the spring's bottom and fashioned a makeshift seat she could recline against. When it was done she shivered as her head felt the cold blast of Winterspring's wind upon it.
He watched as she laid back onto that contraption she was making. He wondered to himself how relaxed she was going to get. He tossed the apple core aside, and it landed with a soft piff in the snow. His grin got bigger as her head tilted back, she closed her eyes, and her mouth parted slightly. He didn't dare move a muscle until he was sure that both her and Tomas were completely relaxed. The frostsaber had devoured the rabbit, and had laid his head on his paws to fall asleep. Durnhelm waited for what seemed like an eternity to him before he felt brave enough to chance moving down to the closer spot. Anata was in the middle of her moment, and Tomas was asleep, or so he thought.
He moved slowly and carefully down the snow banks and reached the next clump of trees without startling Anata or Tomas. He watched her intently, her every small movement, growing more excited with each passing moment. He laughed in his head know how much trouble he'd be in if she saw that he was watching her unannounced. His eyes grew wide and his breath grew more ragged as he saw her mouth open wider. The wind picked up and dashed his hopes as it carried the soft sounds of her snoring to him.
"Dammit!" He cursed to himself
Tomas' ears pricked up and he stared at the clump of bushes Durnhelm was behind. Tomas let out a loud growl as he stood up and stalked towards the bushes. Anata jolted awake when Tomas growled and she ducked down lower into the water, watching what Tomas was doing.
"Nice kitty… nice kitty." Durnhelm said softly, backing away slowly.
Tomas stopped for a split second as he coiled his muscles and pounced after Durnhelm.
"Dammit you stupid cat! Get off of me!" He screams as the heavy frostsaber landed on top of him, knocking him over. Durnhelm grabbed Tomas' sides, undaunted by the snarling maw in his face and threw Tomas off of him. Tomas yelped as he hit the snow, but recovered and bounded back towards Durnhlem.
When Anata saw who it was, she chuckled. "You know Greatfather Winter eesn't going to have you on hees nice list thees year." She called out to him.
"Call your damn mount off of me, I swear it's more fit for a hunter's pet than something tame you can ride." He yelled back, keeping his eyes on Tomas.
"He just likes you," She said, still laughing. "Now keep your eyes on heem while Ay dress myself."
Durnhelm snorted as the frostsaber swished his tail back and forth like he was playing with a small bird or mammal. "Don't even try it kitty. I've got a sword."
"One chunk meesing from your flank won't hurt" Anata said laughing. She whistled and Tomas looked smugly at Durnhelm before racing to Anata. She told Tomas to go catch some game, and she walked over to Durnhelm, smirking at him.
"He's a good pet because ay like hees unpredictabileety." She said brushing some snow off of Durnhelm's spaulders. "He makes for one wild ride."
She saw he was uncomfortable and decided not to question him about it, let him stew in his own follies. "Seence you are heer, should we head to frostsaber rock, then, and start traineeng?"
He coughed and bowed. "After you, my lady." She rolled her eyes and began walking with him through the snowy terrain.
A week had passed since they had been training in Winterspring and Anata had her bags bursting with herbs she had picked, and Durnhelm had gotten fed up with fighting just the owlkin and the furbolgs. Anata left Durnhelm at the goblin's auction block as she went outside to speak to her gnome friend over her hearthstone.
"Leetle one, are you zere?" She tapped the stone.
A small gnome voice sounded back through the stone. "Mhmm, I can't really talk right now, I'm kinda fightin' the sand trolls down here in Zul'Farrak."
Anata giggled "Are you going to be home tonight, zen?" and waited for a reply.
"I don't believe so, I'm having a tough time and there's a lot of area to cover." crackled the stone.
Anata smirked, a few minutes later, Durnhelm walked out of the auction house with a few bits of cloth to make bandages with. She looked at him and said "Well, Ay need to get zees to ze auction house for ze alliance, zey sell better zere," She opened up a portal and through it appeared the image of Ironforge "Care to go someplace a beet warmer?" She asked.
He gave a small chuckle and stepped through the portal, and found himself torn through the nether to end up in Ironforge.