"Blast Jenny! You scared me to death! Why are you slamming our door so late at night?" Jenny spun and slammed her back against the door. She stuttered and quickly then locked the door and aimlessly found her bed. "What happened to you? You weren't out wandering around were you?" Jenny looked at her roommate and nodded weakly. "You went out dressed like that?" She nodded again; her voice seemed to have run away leaving her body behind. Sara shook her head. "You really are a slut. I'm surprised you came back at all." She watched the girl pause and then a wicked grin spread across her face. "You're lucky Calcepher didn't find you wandering around like that. Who knows what he would have done to you?" Jenny snarled suddenly and stood up. "Don't you talk about him like that! He isn't some monster! He wouldn't have hurt me!" She was almost shocked her at sudden outburst and sat back down just as quickly as she stood up. SH glanced to Sara who had crawled to the far end of her bed. "You met him didn't you?" Jenny's eyes darted around the room. "We need to get some sleep. We have to sing tomorrow." She heard Sara's protest but ignored it as she slipped under the covers of her bed and squeezed her eyes closed. She had just stood up for the Captain of Jaina's guards. She had always thought he was a monster and had told everyone she knew that he was, but after meeting him. She couldn't stop thinking about him, or his eyes, or voice, or those remarkable wings of his. She drifted off to sleep thinking about him.
Calcepher paced back and forth in his room. He didn't feel like sleeping. After the sun went down, he was always restless, but tonight he was even more so. After having that encounter with the girl in the hall, he was restless. He had wanted to ask when she sang, he would gone to see her. He was going anyways. He would wait all morning if he had to. He had wanted to hold her close to him and inhale the smell of her honey blond hair. He wanted to do so many things, but instead he was pacing back and forth in his room. The knock at the door had his temper rising. "Cal! Let me in!" He snarled as he almost ripped the door from the hinges. "Tobias, not right now! I am not in the mood for this." He watched his friend pause before pushing past him into his room. "You keep getting stranger and stranger Cal." He shook his head as he pulled a chair and dropped the bottle on his desk. "I just made it into the second ring, and pretty soon I'll have your job. I thought we'd celebrate." Calcepher didn't have the patience for his friend's competitive spirit, but he eyed the bottle very carefully. "I'll agree that I could use a drink…" He watched Tobias unscrew the bottle with a cheer and grab two glasses from a drawer. Calcepher walked to his dresser and pulled another bottle of his own. He pulled the cork and tipped the bottom of the bottle to the ceiling. The liquor burned its way down, but he didn't mind that as the numb crash covered him. As he lowered his bottle, he saw Tobias staring at him. "You're not the only one that can drink." The grin on his friend's face told him they were about to get into another competition. "Oh yea?"
Jenny stood before the judges, and felt like being sick. She had never seen such important looking people before. All of them were in the finest suites and dresses, while the girls from her home all looked like poor children in rags. She tried to smile, but felt as if the weight of the eyes on her were crushing her. She heard her headmistress introducing them, and she knew they would have to sing soon, and she knew she wouldn't be able to, not with all these people looking at her. She had practice so hard on this solo, and now it felt as if nothing she ever did would be good enough. What if they didn't like her, what if they thought she was horrible, what if they all shouted that she should never sing again? All sorts of ideas flashed through her mind, from shouts, to rotting apples being thrown. She almost felt like crying.
"And for our solo, I'm so pleased to introduce, Miss Jennifer Swan." She watched her headmistress turn to face them and nod to the others as she lifted her baton. Fear clutched her chest, and she could barely breathe. The others began to sing the words that she knew by heart, she had always loved to sing, but now she stood silent as the eyes pinned her where she was. She watched them taking down notes, silently judging her when the back door swung open with a crash, and everyone's eyes flashed back to see who it was that couldn't seem to read the sign on the front of that door that said "do not disturb".
Calcepher, stumbled through the door and ducked his head trying to avoid all the eyes that instantly landed on him. He glared back at Tobias who was snickering to himself on the other side of the door. "Don't forget, right after this, the upper five needs to speak with the Eternal Families." He nodded and waved his friend away. Turning back he waved his apology to everyone as he took a seat trying to hide his hurt pride, and his hang over from the night before.
Jenny almost burst out into tears as she watched Calcepher take a seat and grin back up at her. She didn't give a damn what the judges thought anymore. She wanted to sing for him, and let him know that she was thankful for walking her to her room the night before. She stood a little straighter, and smiled faintly as she tapped her foot keeping the count in her head. The other girls in the choir had a nervous tremor when Calcepher stumbled in, but she felt none of it as she took a deep breath and began her verses.
Calcepher stared. He couldn't move his eyes. His heart pounded in his chest, and he worried that the sound would distract everyone else. The rest of the girls' voices slowly faded to a faint whisper, and he watched memorized as Jenny started singing louder. Her voice reminded him of the sunrise. He felt the slight throbbing of his previous night's drinking start to fade away, and all that was left in the room, was him and her.
Jenny finished her solo and smiled faintly as she watched Calcepher stare at her with his glowing green eyes. The other girls' voices rose and took over the song, as she took a deep breath and felt her heart flutter.
Calcepher nodded to her as she glanced towards him. His smile grew as she returned his grin in kind. As the song ended, he was about to start clapping when the door behind him was thrown open. "Captain! There is a situation at the gates that require your attention." Calcepher swore viciously under his breath. He stood and grabbed the third ring guard and slammed him into a wall, leaving an imprint of the man's body in the stone. He leaned his face close and bared his teeth. "Can't you see there is a competition going on in here? Can't you read the sign on the door?" Just then he saw a flash of something moving very quickly into the room. He saw the shine of plate armor, and dropped the guard quickly turning his focus on the movement.
He spread his wings wide and finally caught sight of the object that was moving at such speed. He snarled as he watched the fel stalker slam into an elderly judge. The man's scream of panic ended just as quickly as it rang out. Calcepher watched as the stalker drained the man of his arcane energy and then stomped on the dry husk, sending up a cloud of dust. Calcepher snarled as he reached for the blade at his side and found it was missing. "Dark out the sun!" He stopped moving as he watched the fel beast twist its head back at him.
He leaned back and whispered to the guard behind him. "I need a sword…" He felt a leather wrapped handle press into his hand, and he grinned as the fel beast rushed towards him. He felt his own magic begin to drain from his body as the red blur rushed towards him. Snarling viciously, he raised a hand and unleashed a vicious little spell of uncreation. He watched the blur dash out of the way and a chair begin to crumble behind it. He shook his head. "Looks like I'm going to have to do this the old fashion way. Steel, sweat, and blood."
He pumped his wings and rose from the floor slowly. He lifted his feet as the fel stalker rushed right under him and slammed into the guard behind him. Calcepher didn't feel any remorse, the guard should have known better than to cower behind him. He twisted in the air and felt the lash of a tentacle sting its way down his back. He shouted and swung his arm in an arc, separating the tentacle from the stalker. He dropped quickly as the howl rose from deep inside the stalker's body, and lowered his shoulder as he charged forward, the blade in front, his wings pumping to add onto his speed. He growled as he plunged the blade into the stalker's face up to the hilt and rolled back. He watched the creature stand still for a moment as if trying to decide if it had really just been stabbed, before hitting the ground.
He turned and found everyone else was staring at him. He saw Jenny's face full of concern, and the others' nervous glances towards him. "Everything is going to be just fine. We'll sort this mess out. I recommend you girls stay in your rooms until everything has been cleared." He started to walk towards the door as if filled in with his ring of guards. He stopped and turned for a moment, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. We have the finest guards in Azeroth protecting this place." He smiled at the unified roar behind him. He turned again and found Tobias pushing his way towards him. "That was pretty ballsy, taking on a fel stalker with out your gear." Calcepher wanted to smack the man, but settled for grabbed his armor from him instead. "Before you get to my ring, you are going to learn that not everything is always fun and games." He grinned at the man's laughter. As they started out of the room he felt his hand clap across his shoulder. "Of course it is. How else would we survive this job?"