We ate a spare meal in silence. I could not keep my eyes off the children, and they likewise did not keep their eyes off of me. Bayard wiggled like a puppy, his eyes wide. His brother was more constrained, calm.

We were bedded down on the floor before the fireplace, and I watched the high clouds scuttle across the moon visible through the open shutters while Baudoin fell into an immediate sleep beside me.

"Mama? You're awake." So many times I had dreamed of hearing one of them call me that… Anelas had just been old enough to start. This one had never spoken a word, given away a mere fortnight after his birth. "Why?"

"I'm just… too excited to sleep." I lied gracefully, and Bayard stared at me from the shadows. "Why are you awake?"

"I had a bad dream. Melia doesn't like it if we wake her…" He wiggled his bare toes, and watched me through the comb of his unruly dark hair. I patted the bedroll next to me, on the opposite side of Baudoin and that was all he needed. He curled up next to me, and whether the dream had been real or manufactured, he fell to sleep quickly. It was too easy, pressed between them, to close my own eyes and drift…And once I gave into sleep, it was all too easy for Arthas to snatch me back.

I was on my knees, my forehead resting against the icy floor before him. I could feel the echoing size of the chamber, smell the ice around me. I had never really noticed how much ice, even clean, smelled like blood until that moment… My hair pooled around me, hiding me, but I had the slightest knowledge of his feet on either side of my shoulders. There was a cold weight at the nape of my neck, metallic…sharp…. Frostmourne.

"Clarimonde." He breathed my name, and I fought the urge to cower, to beg. The weight vanished, and I managed a shallow breath. "You have chosen to leave my service." He continued, calmly, and I opened my eyes to stare at the floor.

"Arthas….I….." What? I what? I didn't mean to? I meant to with every fiber of my soul. I had meant to when I did it. And I still did, in spite of the insane urge to start babbling, pleading.

"Stand." There was no request in the word, and I gracelessly scrambled upright. While I had been dressed in a simple flannel dress before, my stockings neatly darned, and worn ribbons in my hair, I appeared here in the finery which Arthas preferred. "My beautiful Clarimonde." He breathed. "My beautiful….silly…..Clarimonde." He dropped a gauntleted hand down on my bare shoulder, just on the edge of harshly. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked, dragging the leading edge of his knuckles down my cheek.

"I return to Baudoin." I stated, and his feline green eyes gleamed with an inner amusement. This mood was never a good one, and I ducked my head. People died when he felt like this…

"Yes, yes." He stated blandly, spinning from me and stalking back to his throne. I felt him sit, and a cautious glance through my hair proved that he had. "You return to Baudoin. To the Order. To your children… to my child." He flicked his fingers thoughtfully. "To follow your oaths."

"Yes."

"That tendency gets you in trouble. It brought you to Stratholme. To Northrend."

"Yes, my prince." That tendency had brought me here, and gotten me killed. "Arthas…" I expected him to silence me, but he did not, and I raised my eyes to his. He watched me from the throne, his fingers steepled in his lap.

"You are in poor shape." He breathed. "You do not feed. You do not sleep. When you served me… You were magnificent. Now… you are a shadow of what you are supposed to be. And you are a blithering fool!" His voice raised, and I dropped my head again. "No." He snarled, and I reflexively brought my eyes back to him. "You are the one permitted to call me by my first name. The one permitted to call me prince while the others call me king. The one permitted to look me in the eyes. You wish to return to Baudoin. To Anelas. To Bayard. Just ask it of me, Clair. Ask it of me!"

"I…." What?

"Do not betray me, Clair. You wish to return to your husband's side. To raise his child…and mine. Ask to leave my side, for awhile, to do just that. Do not betray me, Clair. Do not force my hand. Baudoin is a mortal man, but you are no mortal woman. He will die. Your sons, his and mine, will grow to be adults. And then what?"

And then what? The question I had refused to face before now could not be turned away from. "Arthas…."

"Ask to leave my side for this. If you just ask it of me…"

If I only asked, I could return. I could return if the Order failed to destroy him, if he succeeded in finally destroying the Order. A fall back position, just…in…case….

He stood, crossing back to me, and rested his gauntleted hand on my neck, his fingers at the nape, his thumb over my throat. "Exactly." He breathed, raising glowing green eyes to me. "Do not betray me, Clarimonde De Nemesio."

"Arthas…my prince. Permit me…" I swallowed, and his eyes went triumphant. "To return to my children. To raise ours and my other…. I…" I dropped to my knees, bowing my head. "Beg of you."

He pulled me back to my feet, brushing the weight of my hair back. "Clair. Do not push me again. Do not forget what you are, who you are, and who you belong to. Return to Baudoin, knowing he will be fleeting. Return to the children, who will be likewise. Return to the Order, which thinks it is equal to the task of my destruction…. It is all fleeting, Clarimonde. What is not fleeting is you and I."

"I….understand, my prince." I breathed, and cursed my cowardice. A true paladin of the Order, a true daughter of Uther…

"Would be given the escape of a wondrous death." Arthas noted pensively, spinning away from me and striding back to the throne. "But neither of us has that escape any more, Clair. And until they face immortality as we do, none of them has the right to judge us. Go. Return to Baudoin. Return to your children. Raise our son as a Menethil. Plot and connive to return Lordaeron to him, and your estates to Bayard. And always remember just who that ambition serves…."

"You, my prince." If Arthas could not hold Lordaeron, then his son was his second choice. I still served Lordaeron. I still served the Menethil family. I still served Arthas…. Nothing changed. He turned away again, and I recognized the motion. I had been dismissed.

I woke in confusion, trying to place my surroundings. It was much, much later than it should have been, I could smell the sun warmed air and knew it was afternoon. I stood stretching the kinks out of my body, the motion capturing the attention of the only person in the house.

"Ah. So the lady awakens. Baudoin told me I was to let you sleep your fill."

Of course he had… he would have been relieved to see me sleep at all. And he also wasn't nearby. My gaze flicked around. He was gone. His brother was gone. The eldest two of Baudoin's nephews were gone.

"Where are the men?"

She laughed, coming out of the kitchen. "Chasing bandits. They come down occasionally from the hills. Maybe if Baudoin would settle and stay, we could stop them for once and for all. What's the point of a paladin in the family if all he does is foist children on you, hide in your barn, and come and go as he sees fit? He gets the glory, and we do the paying."

"If I could repay you, I would." I stated. And I also knew it wasn't that simple. As if to prove my thought, she laughed.

"With what? Gold? Baudoin arrived flush with it, more than I'd ever seen before. It's no good if there's no food to buy with it. What we needed was Baudoin here. Baudoin settled down with the woman who has her eye on him, raising those babes, instead of wandering like a tom cat. What with you nowhere to be seen. And I suppose, since you're completely the lady… you have no use?"

I wouldn't quite go that far. My mother had been quite conscientious when it came to my upbringing… I had been destined to run a lord's household. To do so, I needed to be able to do the tasks I would delegate to my servants, so I would know if they were done correctly. "What needs doing?"

She gazed at me warily for a long moment. Obviously she was one of those who believed gently born ladies lolled their days away eating niceties from silver plates while everyone else worked. If it were only so… "Cheese." She stated, and I praised the Light. She happened to pick one of those I was best at. My cheesemaking skills far outstripped my sewing skills.

"Fine." I agreed easily, and she took me back to the cheese shed. "Any particular way?"

She grinned viciously, shaking her head. "No. However it was made at your home."

I nodded, well aware she was hoping I'd fall on my face. If there was a young farm girl in the area with her eyes on my Baudoin, obviously this one found her a better candidate than I was.

I sensed Baudoin's return a little later; felt him in the doorway behind me. "Clair. What…are you doing?"

"Making cheese." It had required raiding the herb drawers, but I could come close to my mother's prized recipe on this as well. She had set tables for the finest of Lordaeron's nobility, for the king himself; she had a multitude of prized recipes only shared with me.

"Cheese." He repeated dumbly, and I chuckled.

"Cheese." I could feel his ire rise, and I glanced back at him. "Baudoin. Did not Uther teach us that there is no dishonor in honest work? If this is the task your sister in law sets me to, then I am content with it."

He bowed his head at my unsubtle rebuke, then nodded. "I came by to make certain you were awake to watch the farm and the children."

"I am awake." I turned my head to study him. He was frustrated, and more than that, he was gaining the sharp focus of righteous fury. Something had gone wrong.

"Are you as capable as you were when you lived?"

"More… but if I am called on to delve into that…."

"If they arrive here, show them no quarter. Do what must be done to protect the children, to protect my brother's wife…to protect yourself. I do not care if the entirety of the foothills realizes your true nature afterwards." He extended his hands; he held the runeblade cautiously, touching only the doe fine black leather of the scabbard. "You may want this."

"So we are not leaving as quickly as you'd hoped?" I took it from him, neither one of them was happy with him carrying it. Our original plans had been to leave as soon as possible…

"No. We are needed here."

I nodded, returning to the cheese press. These were his family; they'd raised my babies when I was dead. If Baudoin asked me to stand for them, then stand I would. He whirled, vanishing out my sight, and was gone. Not long after he was gone, I sensed another arrive, and I peered from the cheese shed. A woman, perhaps a handful of years younger than I was, wearing the same plain dress as I did now. She had thick brown hair and wide brown eyes, pretty now. A few babes later, she'd run to chubby…

"Melia. Where is Baudoin?" She demanded without greeting, and Baudoin's sister in law blinked, pausing before beginning the greeting she was obviously starting on.

"Off playing paladin with the other men. While the chores go undone…. Leaves me his wife, of all things, and tells me she can protect the children. A woman."

"There were women paladins." The stranger didn't sound convinced of that, in spite of her words. "Baudoin told me his wife was one."

I felt a familiar disconnection; the ones I watched were being watched by another… I accepted the information, seeing them through the other eyes. He watched… the young woman first, he'd followed her here. Stupid cow. Then his eyes found Anelas, watching from the porch, and they lingered for a long moment before moving on to the two eldest of Baudoin's nieces. They teetered on the edge of womanhood both, and I picked the runeblade up. Whoever that was wanted things he wasn't allowed to have… I stepped into his view, the blade hidden on my off side from him. He acquired me immediately, his interest piqued. I had been lovely before my death, well born and gently raised, gracefully made. Now I was more. I passed across his field of vision, heading for Anelas.

"Something is wrong." He stated without preamble, and I nodded.

"The woman was followed here." I stated, and he frowned. "I need you to make certain the children do not break and run. They need to stay close to me." The last thing I needed was my wards scattering like rabbits.

"I will do my best, mother." He promised, moving away to gather them up.

"The only reason why there were ever women paladins was for the same reason men have wives, Risabeth. To cook and clean…." And Uther would have died to hear it. But her words were unimportant; I steeled myself to remain still although I felt the bow pulled. The arrow impacted the porch support next to me, a good two hands over my shoulder. I spun, charging the two women and the open fighting area of the yard. How many and what?

"Mostly human males." The blade was wide awake, the hostilities had begun, it was a guaranteed feed now. "They are being obscured by at least one worker in the arts."

"Let them commit to the field." They could still run, and deny us. Then I would have to give chase…

"Good afternoon, ladies." His words were calm, and I half pivoted to bring him into view. He was a big man, equal in height with Baudoin, but much lighter. "Let's keep this as civilized as possible, shall we?" His eyes fell on me, and I stared back. It was all just a front; an act…this one was as dark as any I'd had the misfortune to meet. "I want…. You." He pointed at me, great surprise there. "You." He pointed at the woman whom he had followed, equally as surprising. "The two eldest of the little girls and the pretty boy."

In other words, hell no. No. Hell no. And, yes…hell no, in that order.

"In return for this, I will not burn the farm; kill the animals, or any of the others here. And you…" he pointed unerringly at me, "Drop the blade." He wasn't bad at this; I'd have to give him that. That was, however, all I intended to give him.

"Make me." I responded blandly, and he blinked. Obviously that was not the answer he expected. It was rather a shame; he wasn't bad looking, either. But the world was full of waste; he would just be one more.

He drew his own blade, a beautiful rapier, and pointed it towards me. Foolish, it opened his entire sword arm up to me, and he was unbalanced as he did so. He was untrained, and I had learned at Arthas's and Uther's side. I pulled the runeblade, holding it naked in the brilliant late afternoon sun. The carvings etched in its liquid length glowed in a cascade of dark blue, and the man's face fell. He probably could not identify it as what it was, the runeblade of a death knight, but he could recognize that it was an enchanted blade. Any fool could.

"Very pretty blade, milady." He breathed, unchaining his short cloak and draping it over his off hand. He wore a flashy, billowy white shirt beneath it, and no armor… he was not expecting a true defense against his trespasses this day. "I wonder, do you know how to use it? It would be better for you to just lay it down now…"

"You will not touch my son." I promised coldly, and his eyes flicked towards the silent Anelas standing in the doorway of the barn, the younglings hidden behind him. He gave a slight grimace as he made the correlation between the pretty boy he'd just asked for, and the chances that I would back down. Of course, the fool had also demanded me, and that was unacceptable.

"I could have you cut down with arrows, milady. Then who will stand for your son?"

I took a guarded position, and he raised a brow. He'd pinned me as nobility, and now obviously pinned me as trained. "You have just overstepped what you are capable of taking."

"You may be good. You have been trained. But you're still just one woman, in a dress. Either stand down, or my archers will take you down. Then we will heal you, and this will have gained you nothing." He gave me a winning lopsided grin, and I sighed. Poor clueless fool…. I summoned my armor and he took a step back.

"Yes." The blade purred, "You are beautiful. Majestic. How dare this stand against us?"

I opened with a broad swipe, and he danced back, turning pale. "Archers!" He snarled, and the air sang with arrows. Those around me, the women, Anelas, all fled for safety. I powered into my next attack, ignoring the shafts that fell around me. Once I tapped the power, it was too difficult to leash it.

He cursed vividly, for just a moment. I cut him down, and turned on his men. They were much farther away, and none were operating under the delusion that they were dealing with a paladin, no matter what my tabard proclaimed. They did the only intelligent thing possible, breaking and running. There were too many to chase, and I was not secure enough in the area to do it… at home in Northrend, I would have played with them. Now they just needed to die, quickly. The casting circle erupted around me, around them, in the same lambent blue as the runes carved on the blade and their caster turned to me. His hands lit with power, until the circle powered itself and he simply dropped dead.

"You have attracted attention." Arthas warned. "You are too close to Sylvanas's border. Take the children and run. I will keep her amused, and make her believe that it was my doing, and no fault of the family. They will not remember..."

"Keiran! Bayard!" I bellowed, summoning my dreadcharger. It was time to embrace the theory of discretion over valor… Anelas appeared; trying to drag his heavier younger brother towards the snorting, dancing dire black animal newly appeared in the yard, and failing. I mounted, galloping towards them and sliding to a stop. I grasped Bayard with an inhuman strength, lifting him wailing up before me, and then extended my hand to my elder child. He accepted it, and gave a graceful hop when I yanked him up behind me. "Time to go." I yelped, clapping my heels to the charger and giving him his head. He powered down the road headed east, away from Lordaeron's border, towards Arathi. Southshore was too close… I rejected it as a refuge immediately.

"Papa!" Bayard wailed, while his brother remained grimly silent. "Papa!"

"Will catch up to us." I promised. At the worst, Baudoin knew I would head for the Lodge in Stormwind. If he failed to intercept me along the way, he knew my final destination and would meet us there. "He knows where I am going."

I heard the cadence of hooves behind me, and looked over my shoulder. He most certainly did know where I was going, his charger gaining on mine with every stride. Finally… finally… Baudoin the Ironfist rode, in full armor on his charger, burning with the glory that was rightfully his.