He was a child. She hadn't been expecting a child, but then she had no real idea of what she was walking into as she hardly kept up with court gossip. From what cursory research she had done she knew he could at least speak Kaldorei and had been hosted in the house of Kay'Vathras for scarcely ten years, but she had been expecting a fully grown person.

Courtesies were exchanged between herself and his caretaker, before she gently but deliberately dismissed the other woman. Turning her eyes to Ahr'ri, she saw he was devotedly looking at his own feet and was tensed as if expecting some punishment. Taking a deep breath to calm her own nerves, she began speaking.

"My name is Tyrande Whisperwind, I am training to be a member of the Sisterhood of Elune. What is your name?" She started off, maybe a bit formal but then again she had no idea how fast his species might develop.

"Ahr'ri, servant to the house of Kay'Vathras." The rote reply came easily to his lips, they usually started with simple questions and proceeded to more invasive things once they were comfortable with his subservience.

Tyrande frowned at the stiff and practiced reply, and knew she needed to get him to relax if she were to get anything useful from him willingly.

"Raise your eyes, Ahr'ri." This was unexpected but not the first time the visitors had tested his training.

"Proper servants may not look upon their betters." There an easy statement that usually got them to stop pretending that they saw him as a person.

"Then look at me as an equal as I am also a servant, to Elune." His posture faltered at this, incredulity at her statement mixed with the hope that maybe she wasn't lying like all the rest had. He had been taught about the Moon Goddess and her following after all and the stories all painted them as compassionate. His good sense warred with his hope but in the end the chance at some positive contact with another person, even just to meet their eyes, was too alluring to resist.

He slowly raised his head from his hunched pose and as more of the woman came into view he had to stop himself from gawking at her. He had not seen more than the legs of another person in quite some time, especially not a woman as beautiful as she. He eventually met her eyes and had to stop himself from falling over at the glow he saw around her. He had seen them before of course, on some of the enchanted antiques around the manor, but this was his first chance to get a good look at one on a person. It was a soft white that contrasted with her dusky skin and softened the sharp lines of her facial markings. The whole effect was such that he couldn't look away as intent as he was on trying to understand what the glow meant.


Tyrandes lips traced a small smile of achievement as she saw Ahr'ri slowly rise his head to look at her, but she was puzzled by his wide eyed stare as he finally met her eyes. He seemed to be drinking in her features, surely he had seen other Kaldorei women before? No that wasn't quite right. His eyes were tracing her outline, looking at something that surrounded her. He seemed puzzled but since he was so captivated she studied his features in return.

His face had the look that children got as they were just transitioning into their adolescence, still the round of youth, but with signs of the changes to come. What stood out most were his eyes, the fresh green of new leaves and the faint scar on his brow, in the shape of lightning.

"Will you tell me what you see?" she asked, seeking a more natural interaction than that of giving orders, and interested in his reply.

This was tough, he had never told anyone about seeing the glow before, it was one of the few secrets that he kept from his mistress, a silent rebellion that he continued just to prove to himself that he could. He had already taken one leap of faith with this Tyrande and decided that maybe she could help him understand. It was the fact that she had asked and not ordered him that pushed him though.

" You.. around you there is a glow like the moonlight through the mist over a lake. Do you know what it is?" His reply was trembling, he expected to be rebuked for not delivering some compliment to boost her ego but his look was plainly hopeful that she could help.

Unwillingly, blood rushed to her face. That sounded very much like the first overtures that others had tried to court her with in the past, before she made it clear she would only take part in such things when the goddess allowed. She saw it was unintentional though and realized a second later that he actually saw a glow around her. A form of magical perception perhaps? It was not unheard of for it to develop, though only in those that had endlessly experimented with the arcane. She understood that it was seen as something of a status symbol amongst those that dabbled in such things.

Deciding to confirm, she called up a simple light in her palm and held it out.

"Is the glow stronger around this?" she asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.


Ahr'ri saw the effect his words had on the priestess, her cheeks darkening the slightest bit but her look turning contemplative. The light she produced was soft enough that he could see her hand through it, but the glow around it was like the one that surrounded her but magnified.

"Yes! Do you know what it is?" he answered excitedly.

Hmm it seemed that there was exuberance hidden in him, it just needed to be brought out.

"You have a form of magical perception, one that manifests as sight. It is not unheard of but quite rare nonetheless. It would do you credit to nurture it and hone your ability with it." Yes this was perfect, she needed a reason to come back and helping him train his skill was a perfect. She could observe his magic and try to understand more about him and how she might encounter another of his people in the future.

"How should I practice? Do I look at things from longer distances or smaller things or..." Ahr'ri trailed off, suddenly aware of his break in character and demanding tone, looking back to his feet awaiting the punishment that always followed. When he felt no lash or smack he looked up at Tyrande, completely lost.

She was becoming more concerned by the sudden reversal of his attitude, it seemed that he had been trained and harshly to meet some impossible standard of servitude. Was there ever a time when he was allowed to drop the act and express his personality? By the way the short conversation they had, being treated as a person and a not a thing for even such a brief time, was bringing out his natural energy and enthusiasm she didn't think so.

This was more worrying the more she thought about it, a clearly alien being that they knew only sparse details of, repressed and harshly treated by people that looked down on him for being different from them, it stank of future problems.

Out of a healers instinct she lay a hand on his head and sent healing magics questing into him seeking out any injury, while she turned over an idea in her mind. Maybe she could bring him to the temple with her on occasion? Give him a space where he could be his own person and she could have greater insight to him without the tedious constraints of formality.

All of that left her when she realized that the holy magics she was pouring into him were pooling in his forehead and healing what felt like some lingering corruption from whatever had caused the distinctive scar there. It was a simple thing to cleanse, barely anything was there. She didn't miss the way he stiffened when she laid hands on him however, or the way his shoulders loosened and the moan of relief he let out when she finished.


He had ruined it. The one person that treated him like a person and he had gone a ruined it by asking her questions and presuming to demand information from her. Now surely she would punish him and continue with her purpose for seeing him, whatever it was. Perhaps she was one of the not so bad ones that wanted to see how he compared to night elves physically? Those weren't ever that bad, just showing off to them and giving some simple comments about how he couldn't possibly be as good as a proper Kaldorei.

He saw her reaching for him with a frown on her face as the glow on her hand intensified and knew that it was going to hurt whatever she was about to do. He tensed, waiting for the sharp sting of magics designed to hurt.

It didn't, it felt like cool silk rubbing against his insides, and swept through him in barely more than an instant. He felt a strange pressure from his scar though, the one that the mistress couldn't ever remove as much as she tried, acids, spells of fire and frost and even some green cursed fire seemed to make no impression on it and she took her frustration out on him sometimes on bad days.

He felt the cool magic gather near his scar, sort of twist and cover it and then something happened that he couldn't feel and it was gone. There was a release of physical tension around his eyes and face that he didn't even know was there but more than that he felt like a constant headache was suddenly gone.

He felt quite lightheaded actually and thought he might pass out. That would be good, just remember this kindness from the beautiful woman, like a lovely dream. He never saw anyone more than once after all. With that he let the blackness close in and he slumped into unconsciousness.