Soaring through the air in the far west of Ashenvale, Anathil began to feel the fatigue of travel. It certainly had been a long way, and they hadn't even met up with Tan'jin yet. This was going to be a tougher trip than she'd thought.

Many times over the years, Anathil had flown from Ratchet across the Barrens and up to visit her aunt, uncle and cousins in Astranaar; in fact, Anathil and all of her siblings, plus one of her two cousins, had been born at a maternity compound just outside of the large city. All of those previous trips had been leisurely, however, and were usually either to celebrate Winter Veil in the lands of the Kaldorei or to spend the occasional month or so at her relatives' hollowed out tree house on the burgeoning island city. This, however, was grueling; true to Anjula's word, the older generation had ushered Anathil on to her father's pterodactyl - conveniently named Pterrodax, after its specific subspecies - as soon as she'd finished breakfast. What followed was a nearly two day trip from Ratchet to Orendil's Retreat, with only a few brief stops for food and bathroom breaks at the Crossroads and Raynewood Retreat. And even then, they would only stop in Orendil's Retreat long enough to meet up with Tan'jin, give the mounts some rest and sip on some water. Cecilia hadn't been kidding when she'd warned that in order to run a business and be your own boss, you really had to be your own boss and force yourself to travel long distances without sleep and other unsavory activities.

There were some upsides, though. For the first time, Anathil had been trusted with a great deal of responsibility and not had anyone accompanying her in order to monitor her work; although Valmar knew the logistics of the job, she knew that he had been sent along for an entirely different reason. She did feel a bit jealous of the undead man as he flew tirelessly across from her - Cecilia had lended him her hippogriff so he could blend in a little better - but she was glad to have him along all the same. Even if his job was to chaperone her and Tan'jin, one never knew what dangers lurked in the woods, and on a part time basis Valmar was the fencing trainer for warriors in Ratchet.

Not that there was much to worry about. Although Anathil had been born during a time of great conflict, the stories of factional wars that she'd grown up with were just that: stories. Despite having joined the Alliance out of convenience, the night elves had recently dropped out of the faction - not even a decade ago, in fact - returning to their independent state as a separate nation known as the Sentinels. In tandem, the undead separated from the Horde and the Forsaken became another faction as well, returning the world to a state of four factions like it had been during the Third War. If anything, those changes had actually reduced factional conflict; when there were more than two superpowers, leaders were less likely to wage aggressive wars like the still detested Hellscream had once done.

As of on cue, a group of younger night elves flew by on their hippogriffs, doing a quick double take at Valmar before continuing without comment. Although he covered from head to toe in rather expensive fur and silk, and wore an aluminum mask to hide himself, the light blue glow of his eyes always gave away his undead state. Twenty years ago, for him to merely encounter a group of night elves would have meant a fight; today, it simply meant an odd look that was soon forgotten by all.

Also on cue were their mounts; Orendil's Retreat had grown into a sizeable city by the standards of the Sentinels, but it was entirely below the canopy, and no clearing of the trees opened up to it. Diving low, the pterodactyl and hippogriff entered through the most barely noticeable of opening through the thick branches and large leaves, soaring just one level below the canopy and in between the enormous trees. The town wasn't particularly busy but it saw a large amount of through traffic on the ground, and it was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle they'd encountered at the Crossroads. As they lowered to a stop at the flight point, Anathil could already feel her hip joints stiffen after so much riding.

Pterrodax landed, and the flight mistress kindly helped the biological night elf wearing the trappings of a Darkspear voodoo priestess dismount. "Thank you so much, big sister," she gasped in poor Darnassian to the woman after feeling like her ribcage had just shifted.

The more traditional looking Kaldorei eyed the oddly dressed lady with jade colored hair up and down. "Oh...um, you're welcome."

After ignoring his round of odd stares, Valmar paid the mistress for lodging their mounts for at least an hour and joined the young lady in his charge. Mentally switching back to Common, Anathil began to walk over toward a public sitting area between the hippogriff roost and a riding equipment store without even asking him what he wanted to do. "Okay, I don't see Tanny yet...could we please just rest for a moment?" Obviously she didn't really mean 'we' since the undead never grew tired, but Valmar gladly obliged.

"Yes, of course. If you'd like, you could close your eyes for a few minutes while I go in the lookout for him. He might have arrived, or he might still be on his way from Moonglade; I'll ask around for him."

"Thank you so much," she yawned, lying down on a bed of soft yet sturdy vines that had been grown into the shape of a cushion. She watched the undead man who had been like another uncle for her and her siblings walk away toward a patrolling sentry before nodding off, sleep overtaking her quickly after the long trip.

When Valmar's voice came back to her, it felt far too soon and she instinctively recoiled.

"Young mistress Anathil, it's time," he told her in his rather refined tone.

"What? What? I can't even close my eyes for a minute?" She stirred and looked up at him her vision a bit blurry after sleep. When he chuckled much in the way that her or Tan'jin's parents tended to do, she felt perplexed. "What's so funny?"

He reached his hand down to help her rise to a sitting position on the public vine couch. "Anathil, Tan'jin is two hours late. You've been asleep the entire time."

Confusion transformed into panic inside of her as she began to worry that Tan'jin would see her just after she'd woken up. "What? Oh, my goddess! Where is he?"

"He's exchanging the hippogriff he rented for another one right behind this garden. I came to wake you now because I thought you'd want to freshen up before greeting him-"

"Yes! Thank you so much!" she yelped while leaping up off the public couch and running to the fountain in the middle of the public garden. Looking at her reflection in the water, she quickly splashed her face and hair. Her hair looked like a mess, so she figured she might as well just get it wet and go for a freshly showered look. "I'll be there to greet him in a minute!"

As she tried her best to comb her hair in a way to make it look casually uncombed, she tried to remember the last time she'd seen Tan'jin. She saw his parents frequently, but he'd been undergoing special training to improve his rejuvenation spell for the past year and a half; that would mean she was still a teenager the last time she'd seen him, and he was only a few years older. It was a short period of time apart, but it was during a significant period. Questions about how much he'd changed - or, for that matter, how much she'd changed - floated through her mind as she straightened up the voodoo fetishes she wore like necklaces and walked out to meet him. Her heart was already pounding in her chest, and her apprehension increased as she realized that she'd be reunited with the boy she'd grown up with.

When she saw Valmar speaking to someone around the corner of the flight point platform, she paused. For a few brief seconds, shyness stung her as she laid eyes on him once again.

In her eyes, Tan'jin was magnificent. Taller than a night elf and shorter than a dark troll - or even a jungle troll for that matter, since Anjula was terribly short for her sub race - he stood an entire head and shoulders taller than her. Just like when he'd been a boy, his race was impossible to determine, and people would often ask him about his roots. His skin was dark purple, which could belong to either people; his hair was like a shade of grey so dark that it could almost be described as 'light black,' a color most people didn't know existed until they met Tan'jin. His hair and beard texture were somewhere in between elf and troll, just like his features: his cheekbones were high but not too high, and his jaw jutted forward but not by too much, sort of like her middle brother Zengu. Like Anathil's middle sister Issinia, Tan'jin had been born with tusks but they'd been removed by a dentist due to growing in an unnatural angle in relation to the shape of his skull. Coupled with the fact that both elves and trolls could have glowing amber eyes and the tattoo designs of a druid, and it made Tan'jin even more of an enigma. And Anathil absolutely loved that about him.

Oh, and he was buff as hell. She quite enjoyed that part as well. The movement of his uncovered abdominal muscles when he laughed almost mesmerized her, and she almost forgot that he and Valmar were technically waiting on her.

Practicing the best way to bat her eyelashes first, Anathil eventually came out from her hiding spot behind the platform and positioned herself behind Tan'jin strategically, sticking her hip out and doing her best to strike a pose. When Valmar continued to be engrossed in their conversation and failed to indicate her presence, she became a bit irritated and cleared her throat.

"And then I tried telling him...oh, Mister Bowleaf, it appears that our companion has finished her preparations," Valmar said once he finally noticed her presence.

In her mind, Tan'jin turned around in slow motion even though he actually didn't, and the folds of his fur hood and cowl rolled without wind as he faced her. A pair of eyes that were so familiar yet so mysterious at the same time peered down at her in surprise. Medium length eyebrows that looked similar to those of humans knitted together as she felt those two amber orbs drifting from her face and down. She didn't need to fake a smile as she grabbed ahold of his attention and kept it on her.

At one time, he'd been a gangly, awkward teenager just like her. She could remember times where they flung applesauce in each other's hair and tackled each other in the grass while rolling around. Oh how she wished to do one of those two things at that moment, and she didn't have any applesauce. Forearms and shins that had once been skinny and bony looked rather meaty now, and albeit short, he did have a full beard in the place where one or two curly hairs had once grown awkwardly on his chinny chin chin. The fur wrappings many apprenctice druids wore just barely covered the bottom of his chest and thighs, almost teasing her as she wondered how different those and other parts of his anatomy looked then. The way his gaze darted meekly from her silver eyes down to her bare, war painted midriff and back up again excited her in a way-

"-even listening to me?"

The refined voice practically jumped in the air between them, causing Anathil and Tan'jin both to flinch and shake the stars from their heads. Valmar didn't appear upset, but the authority figure certainly didn't enjoy being ignored.

"Uh...what?" Anathil mumbled, slightly overwhelmed as the noises of the forest that had faded away without her noticing suddenly reached her ears at normal volume again.

Patient but firm, Valmar restated his words for possibly the third time. "I said: are you all set for the last leg of the trip? We'll be meeting these resterauntuers after you two wake up tomorrow evening, and you'll need all the rest you can get until then."

Tan'jin looked completely dumbstruck, obviously not having expected to see the little girl who used to eat her sandwiches in circular patterns grown up into a woman. He mumbled something inaudible, and when his cheeks began to blush an even darker shade of purple, Anathil felt a warm rush upon the realization that she'd stunned him into silence.

"I...yes, I'm ready if you're ready," she replied, disappointment obvious in her voice.

"Alright then, let's not waste any time. If we hurry, we can make it to New Auberdine in just over three hours and you two can get some rest."

As Valmar ushered both youths back over toward their mounts, Anathil turned her head away and pretended to look at the forest beyond the settlement in order to hide her frown. Here she was face to face with Tan'jin for the first time in her adult life, and they wouldn't even get to spend any time with each other. Flying mounts traveled fast, and holding a conversation while flying would require them to slow down to an unreasonably slow speed in order to hear themselves over the wind.

Doubt crept into her head as the flight mistress brought out the three mounts...she hadn't even been able to speak one word to Tan'jin. Did he feel the same? Was she wasting her time? Heat began to rise in her temples as uncomfortable questions floated through her mind, all until she felt an external source of heat tickling her left side.

"Um...Thanil?" asked a voice which was familiar yet foreign. Deep, rugged and a world of difference from the boy she'd grown up with, the sound coming from Tan'jin's mouth surprised her quite a bit, though not as much as how incredibly warm she felt when he stood behind her.

Looking up at him, she saw an expression of uncertainty and nervousness in her face even greater than what she was feeling, and her heart already began to flutter as her doubt crashed into a wall of excitement that made her head swoon. "Y-yes..." She cleared her throat and straighten up her posture, forcing a great deal of false confidence to protect herself. "Yes...Tanny?" she answered, fighting off a grin when she called him by his nickname.

A wall of muscle stood before her, powerful and strong yet uneasy and unsure before her; her heart raced as she realized she was the cause of that, because it certainly wasn't a normal part of his personality. He hesitated, almost as if he wasn't sure of what he wanted to say. "May I?" he asked, offering one of his big hands to her.

Quickly, Anathil had to look away, fearing that her checks might flush right there. Neither side of their respective families typically engaged in such behavior; trolls of all varieties were generally far from gentlemen, and night elf women often found chivalry to be demeaning. It was a pleasant surprise, however, and when she placed her relatively dainty hand inside of his, she almost twitched at the intense tingling sensation that burned into her fingertips and palm.

"Why, thank you," she almost giggled, and she could already feel the nervous energy shaking in his hand just like in hers.

His palms were a bit calloused, but not excessively so, and the gentle firmness - or perhaps firm gentleness - caused her to feel suddenly very cold once he'd helped her onto her father's pterodactyl and then let go. She watched him mount the new hippogriff he'd traded for - he and his parents were all solely guardian druids, and since bears weren't known as sprinters, he was relegated to flying on a mount. The back of his shoulders and upper back were still covered by his cowl, and his lower back was partially obscured by the hippogriff's plume, and Anathil felt frustrated as she wasn't even able to subtly spy on him anymore.

"Alright. New Auberdine, here we come!" Valmar said in about as close as his controlled tone could near to 'cheery' as the three of them spurred their mounts forward and took to the skies.

Still tired even after two hours of rest, Anathil found it difficult to focus on much of anything as they flew. She wasn't as sore as before, but she was drowsy and a bit worried about the business deal, which heretofore she hadn't thought about much. She'd accompanied her adoptive aunt Irien on business deals before, but this would be her first time leading such a deal without an older person present; her family was obviously depending on her and Tan'jin, and the pressure mounted as the wind whipped by her long ears.

Thus, by the time the numerous wispy lights and spires of New Auberdine came into view a few miles away, Anathil felt thoroughly exhausted and just about ready to collapse. If there was one consolation, though, it was that the three hour flight seemed like less than one hour.

Far below them, a roving band of murlocs stalked in the bogs. Sightings were occasionally reported on both the east and west coasts of Kalimdor, but many of the clans of the barely sentient fish people had been beaten back. The presence of a few always signaled the presence of more, but obviously these creatures wouldn't risk moving any closer toward a Sentinel city.

Mischievousness possessed Anathil once more, and she tried yelling in Zandali across the wind. When Tan'jin didn't quite take notice, she hit him in the back with a harmless voodoo spell to get his attention. Despite the rush of air hitting both of them in the face, he looked back at her in confusion, leaving Valmar to fly ahead of both of them.

Wordlessly, she grinned and pointed to the murlocs far below. It was a long distance between them and the fish people, and she was taking a risk; if this didn't work out, she'd look rather silly. Focusing all of the shadow magic her father had taught her, she reached one of her hands out toward the five fish people, channeling the more sinister of the ley lines she could feel in the area. Mild panic set in when she couldn't sense the souls of the five murlocs at first, and she began to wonder if she was too far away to affect them.

Then, slowly but surely, two of the murlocs stopped and shook. Writhing on the ground, they began to shift and fold in on themselves painfully as the three others jumped back in shock. Anathil's hex spell succeeded, transforming them both into large grubs that sank into the murky waters. Noticing the three people flying above, the surviving murlocs ran along the ground, shaking their pointy sticks and growling in their guttural language.

Satisfied that she'd shown off her newfound powers to the man she'd once played army with using checkers, she grinned, feeling her spirit soar when Tan'jin laughed guiltily. As a druid, he probably didn't want to harm anything without cause – even creatures as vicious as murlocs – but as she'd make sure to tell him later, hexing didn't actually hurt anybody permanently.

Eventually they covered the last five miles or so and landed at New Auberdine. The port city had once been destroyed in a natural disaster just around the time that Tan'jin had been born, but one couldn't tell at all; it was almost as bustling as Ratchet. Rather than houses made from naturally hollowed out trees and bridges made of thick branches reaching across the canopy, New Auberdine was a city out in the open, made of numerous wooden buildings naturally grown but densely packed like any other metropolis. The familiar arches that so defined Kaldorei architecture reminded Anathil of her family's house, and the bits of sparingly grown moonstone for the spires and high outer walls made the place look like a true city rather than a town growing into and made from the forest.

Curiously, an aqua haired huntress was waiting at the flight point, eyeing the three of them as if they'd been expected. Selarin, a woman who Cecilia had served alongside during the fight to exile of the highborne over seven thousand years ago, had been alerted to their visit via a messenger – light hippogriff riders moving at twice the speed of Anathil, Tan'jin and Valmar's mounts for the purposes of express mail. Warm yet stern like Cecilia, Selarin waited patiently as the three landed, dismounted and paid the flight mistress for lodging.

"You're over two hours late," the older woman said in the typical dry, flat tone of a night elven sentry. "I was beginning to worry."

Valmar stepped in, and judging by how Selarin didn't recoil from the undead man speaking to her, Anathil guessed that she might have known him, or at least known of him, before. "Terribly sorry, officer; I hope we haven't caused any difficulty for you."

"No, not difficulty…but her mother would have my head if she found out that I wasn't able to locate her," Selarin replied while tipping her armored head toward Anathil. Regarding the two odd youths carefully, Anathil hoped that questions about whether she was adopted or not wouldn't be asked – people didn't know, but she still always felt a little offended when people asked if she was 'really' Cecilia and Khujand's daughter. "You both look very tired," Selarin said, allaying the young woman's fears.

"Look it, and feel it," Anathil laughed, glad that the first leg of the trip was finally over.

"Well, there are numerous inns here in town, but your mother's telegram insisted that you both stay at one called 'The Sleeper.' I've already reserved your rooms. Follow me, please."

As Selarin led the three of them a rather short distance away, the plural word rooms echoed in Anathil's mind. She was tired, flustered, worried, excited and confused all at the same time. Questions about the business meeting, about the rest of the trip, about herself, about the man whom she made sure to walk as closely to as possible without attracting attention all danced around her head, weighing on her even heavier due to lack of sleep. She wanted to talk to Valmar about the exact details of the potential customers' needs, talk to Selarin about what she knew of the restaurant scene in New Auberdine. But all she could find the energy to do was follow the old sentry toward the inn.

Once inside, the inn's porter – a young man Tan'jin's age who appeared tired himself – recognized Selarin and stepped forward. "The rooms are ready, big sister; please, allow me."

Valmar, who had been holding on to the supply bag that contained the spice and herb samples, staked out a spot in the lobby near a bookshelf and a table where other non Sentinel travelers – 'outlanders,' as they were referred to, including the Alliance members who had once been a part of the same faction – were sitting and chatting. "You two go up and get some rest; I'll keep watch over the merchandise. Once it's time to get ready, I'll wake you."

"Thank you so, so much mister Valmar, you're a tremendous help," Anathil called after him as she walked up the stairwell.

The undead man just nodded politely, ever watchful, never tiring and always willing to help. "Don't worry about it. As long as they have books here, I'll be fine."

Anathil wasn't able to reply, as the porter and Selarin were already halfway up the stairs. The stairwell and even the hallways were narrow and claustrophobia inducing, a far cry from traditional night elven construction despite the outer appearance of the building. Space was usually valued, but this place felt like a goblin motel. Not that Anathil minded; because it was easier to walk down the hallways single file, she was better able to walk in front of Tan'jin and slow down every few steps, feeling her tired heart pump fast again every time he almost walked in to her. Despite the pull of sleep on her mind, she still imagined what it would feel like if she just…stop moving completely. The simple leather and bone armor she wore left her lower back uncovered. Maybe he would just…accidentally step into her. Then his abs and chest would press against her back…and she could just lean into him-

"Hearthglen, watch where you're going!" Selarin ordered as she pulled Anathil out of the way of a wisp constructed marble vase on a tall wooden stand.

"Sorry! Sorry!" As Selarin pulled Anathil to the side with an iron grip, the younger elf spun around to see that Tan'jin and the porter had disappeared entirely. "Wait, where's Tanny?" she blurted out.

Selarin pulled her along, but gave her a quizzical look. "Who?"

"I mean…where is my companion?"

Just continuing down the long hall, Selarin didn't seem too suspicious, but Anathil instead traded one concern for another. "In the other side of the building like your mother requested," the old sentry replied as she stopped in front of a small door. "Here, this is where you'll be staying for the next two nights."

Anathil's heart might have sunk, but she was already so tired that acquiescing and just shuffling inside of the room was surprisingly easy. "Okay…big sister, thank you for taking care of all this."

Though Selarin seemed pleasant enough, she didn't walk Anathil inside the small, one person room, and there was a certain seriousness in her demeanor. "Your mother asked me to watch over you, and that's what I'm going to do. You won't be getting into any trouble while I'm here." There was an ominous sound to Selarin's words, and the way she stared at Anathil before shutting the door made the young woman want to know what exactly the telegram from her mother had said. "Good day."

"Good day," Anathil replied as the door shut. Crashing onto the bed without even inspecting the room, she felt the defiance bubble up inside despite her weariness. "But it will take more than just you to stop me from getting into trouble."

She was unconscious by the end of her quiet retort, falling into dreams about how exactly she'd create a diversion for both Selarin and Valmar tomorrow night.