A harsh knock awoke Jaina just after dawn. For a moment, she chose to remain in her blissful slumber. Why was she back in her Dalaran study? She languidly tried to remember the events of the past few days, but they were inaccessible to her through the thick fog of her mind. Suddenly, she bolted upright in bed, looking frantically over her surroundings. Arthas. She whispered into the silence of her chamber. But the former death knight was nowhere to be found. A blanket which she had placed over his sleeping form the night before had been neatly folded and placed on her nightstand; her books and paperwork were all in order on her desk, and the morning sun was streaming in through her east facing window. It really does look like nothing is out of the ordinary, Jaina mused to herself as she rolled out of bed and tightened her robe around her slender waist. Wherever Arthas was hiding, she thought as she walked towards the heavy wooden door of her study, I hope he has the sense to remain hidden until the coast is clear.

Om the other side of her study door stood Aramyra, the young female apprentice who had been sent to assist her after the passing of Antonidas. Like Jaina, Aramyra was human, but she lacked the natural skill and focus of her master. Her penchant for mixing up magical incantations had garnered her somewhat of a negative reputation among the other senior mages, but Jaina admired the girl's apparent sincerity. Her conjured mana bread, Jaina considered privately, was among the sweet-tasting she had ever sampled.

"Good morning, Lady Jaina," Aramyra greeted the mage excitedly. "I was asked to look into whether you had indeed returned from Icecrown last night. The whole city has been discussing your arrival."

Jaina swallowed nervously and quietly debated her options. If she admitted that her quest in Icecrown was indeed completed, the public would no doubt inquire about the Lich King's whereabouts. She was certain she had teleported Arthas out of the citadel before the Heroes of the Alliance had seen him fallen. He could have just disappeared, she rationalized silently. He could just be off somewhere licking his wounds, regrouping his army, and considering his next move. Truthfully, it was unlikely that many of the civic leaders would believe that Jaina could have fallen the Lich King on her own merit. Jaina briefly imagined the reaction of her friend Varian, leader of Stormwind and head of the house of Wrynn. "You must broaden your horizons," he had once advised Jaina, "if you wish to become a true, powerful leader of the Alliance. Your all-consuming dedication to magecraft could be a great weakness." Though a dear friend, Varian was inclined to prefer brute, physical strength over the power of the arcane. And while Jaina had frequently laughed off his attempts to mold her professional training, she still was hurt by his insinuation that she could not fight among the best of Azeroth's warriors.

Jaina decided that telling the truth- or at least the closest to the truth as possible—was the ideal choice. Spinning a complex web of lies, she considered carefully, would risk her reputation as well as the life of the man she kept hidden within her chamber.

"I did indeed return from Icecrown late last night," she confirmed shakily, "And you have probably gleaned by now that the Lich King is no more."

Aramyra's eyes gleaned excitedly at this piece of news. "I knew it!" She exclaimed proudly. "I felt a change in the arcane force late last night, as though a powerful source of evil had finally been defeated."

Then it is true, Jaina thought to herself. The evil which had once inhabited Arthas' body had been destroyed. Though she had sensed it last night, this confirmation from one of her most trusted apprentices made her more confident in her decision to keep Arthas close by.

Jaina cleared her throat loudly. "I am sad to say," she clarified carefully, "that I was not the one to defeat him." Jaina winced slightly at her next words. Her concealment of the fact that she alone had felled the Lich King, though necessary for Arthas' protection, was still a blow to her own self-pride.

"When I arrived in the citadel last night, the Lich King had already fallen. All that remained of the death knight was his armour and cursed blade, both already rusted and decaying in the arctic air."

Aramyra's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You mean you really had nothing to do with his demise? I am astonished to hear it—you are the most powerful mage I know."

Jaina offered a small smile and silently thanked her apprentice for believing in her. "I am afraid I did not contribute in the least. As I said, the power of the Lich King had already dissipated from his blade and armour when I arrived in the citadel."

Aramyra bit her bottom lip and took a small step inside Jaina's study. Glancing out the window, Jaina noticed that small crowds of mages had begun to gather in the civic square far below her chamber. They are no doubt celebrating Arthas' fall, she thought to herself amusedly, when in fact he still lives within the very walls of this city.

"It's funny," Aramyra said to Jaina after pacing a few steps, "But when Masters Yera and Pomorra returned from the citadel last night, they said they had examined the Lich's blade when they arrived in his chamber."

Jaina bristled at this news. She had assumed the voices in the citadel last night were Heroes of the Alliance, no doubt human warriors and paladins, come to claim their prize after a heroic struggle through the citadel's antechambers. She had never considered that the arrivals had been high-ranking mages of Dalaran like herself.

"The blood on the sword looked as though it had come from a human mage." Aramyra paused thoughtfully. "I had never believed it myself, but they say that the blood of an extremely powerful fire mage glistens gold in certain lights." The young apprentice looked towards Jaina, her eyes wide with concern. "We were so worried, Jaina, that you had been there and had been slain by the Lich King's blade. Thank the light that he had vanished before you reached the citadel. That could have been your blood on his sword!"

Jaina smiled uneasily at Aramyra, her mind working a mile a minute. Aramyra might be fooled into thinking that another mage had challenged Arthas, but Yera and Pomorra, two of the eldest and most experienced mages in Azeroth, would not dismiss the case so easily. How could she have been so careless last night? Not only was her blood smeared across the Lich King's blade, but she had left the tell-tale signs of her remarkable pyroblast behind on the citadel ground. The soot which she had vigorously washed off her hands the night before no doubt covered the cold tiles of the plateau where she had battled Arthas. Imbued with a special arcane power, the soot would not doubt be recognizable by an experienced mage as a remnant of Jaina's signature spell. Being notoriously difficult to manage, only a handful of mages had mastered the pyroblast and none of them, besides Jaina, was known to be in Icecrown the previous night.

Turning towards the smiling apprentice, Jaina knew she had to act fact in order to preserve Arthas' safety. "I am sure you will be anxious to pass on this news to the other mages of Dalaran." Stretching lazily, she produced a huge yawn and blinked sleepily at the woman in front of her. This has to work, she though determinedly. "I would be glad to provide further details of my adventure in Icecrown to Masters Yera and Pomorra this afternoon, after classes have ended for the day. But for the present, I simply must get some more rest. The journey has taken quite a toll on my physical strength, I'm afraid."

Jaina studied Aramyra carefully, and was relieved to find the apprentice gazing back at her sympathetically. "Of course, my lady," Aramyra said apologetically as she began to walk towards the chamber door "I should have known that you would need more rest after your difficult task. It's just..." she paused, her hand on the doorknob as she turned to look back at Jaina, "I wanted to see if you were alright, that's all."

Aramyra smiled again at Jaina before pulling open the heavy wooden door and stepping through it. Jaina felt a mixture of guilt and relief flood through her. Poor Aramyra, she thought sadly, She looks up to me so much. What kind of an example am I setting for my apprentice by harbouring a fugitive in my very own study? But there was little time to worry about Aramyra now. Sinking back against the heavy door of her chamber, Jaina briefly considered approaching Yera and Pomorra and telling them the truth about what had happened. She could find Arthas and convince the other mages that he had indeed been poisoned by the evil of the Lich King against his will. That the murders of thousands of citizens of Azeroth, both Alliance and Horde, were not truly his fault if he was not conscious of her own actions. But was Jaina herself even convinced this was true? She needed more time, she decided, to question Arthas and discover what had really been happening in Northrend over these long years since he had disappeared.

Jaina gulped audibly. She had made a promise to accept the truth about Arthas, no matter what it was. But she still wasn't convinced that she could live with her own actions. If Arthas himself was behind the atrocities of the Lich King, Jaina had only enabled him further in his quest for power. She had helped him escape the citadel, no doubt sparing him death at the hands of Yera and Pomorra, who had reached the frozen throne only moments after she had teleported them away. She needed to remain faithful, she resolved, in her belief that Arthas had not been responsible for his own actions these past few years—that there had been something inherently human within him that was worth saving.

She would teleport them somewhere distant and remote, where she would have the time and space to question Arthas thoroughly, she decided. Glancing briefly outside her chamber window, Jaina noticed that the sun was already high in the sky and the crowds of mages below her study had swollen considerably. From a far-away bell tower, Jaina heard the familiar clanging of a musical bell, announcing that morning classes had ended and lunchtime was beginning. She paced quickly across the length of the room and began rifling through her clothing chest, removing an extra robe and pair of slippers, her practice wand and a tome of favourite spells to take with her on her journey.

She needed to find Arthas quickly if they were to escape unnoticed.