Thank you for the encouraging comments :3. A few quick things. I probably should have done my homework a little better to find out Darion Morgrain was leader of the Death Knights in-game T-T. In my story his name in Avrin, so you all wont be, 'lolwut?' And this chapter is kind of long, but hang in there with me please. For warning, this story takes a lot of twist and turns, after this chapter. Be prepared for the unexpected!

Vanessa's heart soared to endless heights as she raced on Ember. The living, chestnut colored horse, rode at break neck pace, mimicking the emotions of its master. Freedom. The word sounded sweet in her mouth. Driving her to spur Ember to a faster pace. Freedom, even a limited one was wonderful indeed.

When she had come to Sylvanas only the day before, she was surprised at her mistress' quick approval, although she had been made to swear to come back in one month's time. She had no doubt Kenton had something to do with it. The Forsaken warrior had been like a father to Vanessa, teaching her more fighting skills than the blood elves Sylvanas had tasked to train her.

The land passed by in a blur of green and browns the only sound of Embers hooves pounding the hard packed dirt and Vanessa's occasional laughter.

The sun was at its Zenith as she made her way to the bridge connecting the two Plaugelands. Vanessa dismounted the sweat covered, panting Ember, allowing the mare to feed and water. Even from here, Vanessa could see the crest of one of the towers rising above the diseased forest. She would make Lights Hope in a few hours if she kept her pace with Ember.

Freedom…The word permeated Vanessa's mind again causing the paladin to smile. Kneeling down to the river she drank her fill of the water then lay by the fast running river.

Involuntarily her hand went to the collar cleverly disguised by her plate armor and a leather jerkin. But even the touch of the metal could not bring her down. Perhaps Sylvanas would see her worth as a master paladin and finally see there was no need to keep her as a slave, surely the Dark Lady would realize her talents could be used abroad to serve the Banshee Queen.

Saddling Ember once more she took off more eager than before.

The sight of Lights Hope made Vanessa pause, the cathedral in the center of the town gave Vanessa ill feelings from her youth for a moment or two before looking at the larger scale of the town. Mounts of every sort trotted around the large stables, as the paladins in training and master's of the art darted about waiting for initiation.

Vanessa quickly dropped Ember off to the stables, and a dwarf hurried to rub down the tired beast. Shouldering her knapsack, and weapon, she made her way into the bustling town just as their speech was about to begin.

Humans, blood elves, dwarves, Dranei and a spattering of Tauren milled around. The crowd of paladins silenced as Tirion Fordring approached.

The aged paladin was indeed a sight, clad in golden armor, his Libram attached to a chain by his side, and of course the ash bringer strapped to his back. The blade that slew thousands of Arthas minions, Vanessa looked at it, as did all the new recruits with unconcealed awe. Tirion stood on the small erected stand; he had a serious frown of his face as he addressed the crowd.

"Welcome to the Lights Hope Paladin trials. No matter your race, background, or affiliation, you have all come here for two purposes. To serve the light, and protect those you love. Be reminded, this is no game. Some of you may very well die attempting to achieve the rank of master paladin, many of you will fail. But those who shine out above the rest will earn their Librams and go on to right this world's wrong in the name of the light!"

The cheering was deafening for long minutes, until Tirion held a hand up for silence so he could continue. "Your days will be divided into three lessons. Harnessing the light to heal, protect, and fight. If you make it through the trial your teachers will determine what particular function suits you best. In the cathedral are papers with your schedules. Good luck to you all."

The trainees filed quickly into the cathedral, although with all the excitement Vanessa felt akin to a leaf being moved along a river.

The three tables, piled high with papers, were set on immediately by the mass of trainees each going to the table of their preferred specialties.

Vanessa some how managed to weave her way through the press of people coming upon the table with the insignia of a hammer atop it. The table was nearly empty of papers as it appeared this was everyone first choice. Vanessa reached out for a crumpled paper at the same time another student did. Their hands met and Vanessa with drew, looking up to see who had nabbed the paper before her.

A tall man, with long golden hair tied behind him, stared a Vanessa, his green eyes causing her gut to clench.

"Apologies, My Lady, I can get a little frenzied around the tables." He said sheepishly, handing the numb Vanessa the paper.

She blushed a deep crimson as her brain reconnected to her body, suppressing a shudder she took the papers slowly.

"I-It's no trouble." To Vanessa horror her voice sounded tiny and squeaky in her ears.

The blond haired man flashed a relieved smile holding out his hand. "My names Darren Steelstrike."

"Vanessa."

She took his preferred hand shaking for the longest time, each simply staring at one another. It dawned on Darren first they looked like idiots and he slowly took his hand away.

He laughed awkwardly. "So, this first time at the trials?"

"Yes." Vanessa nodded, as they wove their way through the crowd to the other tables.

"My fifth." Darren revealed, mumbled quietly. "The master paladins have already determined my best talents lie in the healing art, but I can never pass the last trial." He sighed.

Vanessa placed a soothing hand on Darren's shoulder. "Well, I hope you do well this time around."

Again the awkward silence echoed louder than the bustling paladins around the pair. Vanessa forced herself to turn away, readjusting her pack, for lack of anything better to do. "Well, um…nice meeting you, Darren, but I have to find my sleeping arrangements."

"Oh that's no problem." Darren grinned at her, pointing to the west. "The girl's barracks are in the next building over. The boys are on the east. They used to be joined, until a lot of the girls started having morning sickness, and half the boys couldn't concentrate on the trials."

Vanessa laughed waving good bye to Darren as she headed out the door. Yet even though he was gone, she could still see his face in her head, that lopsided grin that caused her to smile as well.

The girl's barracks door had been jammed open with a rusted broadsword hilt to allow a breeze to flow through the building. Vanessa enters timidly, and she quailed at the chaos before her. Double bunks lined both sides of the walls, women of every sort darted around, chatting excitedly, or attempting to find a bunk of their own. Bags, weapons, and armor had been tossed in one horrible mess, as women read through the jumble of items attempting to figure out whose was whose. Occasionally someone would yell out a name and another would answer, in which case the bag or occasional weapon would be tossed into the direction the voice had come from.

Vanessa ducked and dodged around the fray, vainly attempting to locate a bed that some on else's things hadn't been thrown on. She finally came to the far end of the room, the broken window beside it filtering in the dusk sun. Dropping her bag and gear at the foot of the bed, Vanessa practically leapt on the mattress. The off color white sheets smelled freshly washed, and the bed itself was actually not that uncomfortable.

Vanessa took a steadying breath drowning out the other paladins for a time. This was real, she was here and it was everything she hoped it to be. As she lay back, taking it all in, and praising Sylvanas' generosity, Vanessa was getting the feeling she was being watched. She opened an eye slightly to find a blue, tentacle face staring upside down at her. She jumped in alarm and the Dranei grinned at her.

"Hi, I'm Sari. Looks like me and you are bunk buddies." The Dranei said, never once loosing her grin that Vanessa was fast finding kind of creepy.

"Vanessa." She replied, her tone showing she was in no mood for conversation.

The Dranei's looked down to the end of the bunk, then back at Vanessa. "That's all you brought?"

"Yea, why?" Vanessa grumbled trying very hard to be trite so the Dranei would leave her be.

"I don't see how you're going to make it through, healing and defensive classes with fighter armor. You don't even have a shield."

Vanessa turned back around sharply, a confused look on her face, and Sari laughed cruelly. "You didn't think the Argent Crusade supplied you with those things, did you?

"Well…I-I…didn't…" Vanessa stumbled, causing Sari to laugh louder.

"Typical backward human, you think you can traipse in here with nothing but a little blessing from the light and a whole lot of pride. Only ten get to achieve the rank of master, and I plan to be one of them."

Sari looked Vanessa up and down in disgust. "You…you won't last a week."

Before Vanessa could reply the Dranei retreated back to the top bunk, leaving a worrisome Vanessa alone with her thoughts. It was true; Vanessa hadn't truly thought about bringing anything else, Sylvanas had always made sure her studies were mostly in the offensive arts although she had been trained in all three. To exhausted to do anything else, Vanessa closed her eyes to sleep, hoping she could make it through the next day without to much difficulty.

The morning bell rung at five and the trainees rolled out of bed, still tired from their initiation the previous day.

The sun was barely hinting the tree tops as paladins from both barracks trudged to the makeshift kitchens that had been erected outside the cathedral. Smells of bacon and huge cauldrons of oatmeal, seemed to rattle the mass' awake.

A line was formed with out to much hassle each waiting for a tallying out of breakfast. Vanessa thought she was the only one who didn't look dead on their feet. Having had to attended Sylvanas at court, along with her training, she was used to such early hours.

She was luckily one of the first to be in line, and she quickly found a spot to enjoy her meal beside the cathedral. She had just begun to dig in when a voice hailed her.

"Vanessa." Darren called out to her.

The hot oatmeal seemed to get stuck in her throat, before having to tell her brain to swallow.

"May I join you?" He asked hopefully as he stopped in front of Vanessa.

She nodded, patting the dewed grass by her side.

"Lucky me, I got healing master, Talus, for my first trainer." Darren said through spoonfuls of oatmeal. "Now all I have to worry about is making it through fighter and defensive classes alive. What about you?"

"Fighting, thankfully. I don't have the armor for much else." Vanessa replied sullenly, the talk with Suri, rearing its ugly head once more.

Darren placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, flashing a smile that momentarily made Vanessa forget her worries. "The masters don't really care about the armor. It's the skill in which you perform that counts to them."

The sharp clang of the Cathedral bell rang throughout the town, telling the trainees breakfast was over and class' were about to commence.

Darren leapt up, holding out a hand to help Vanessa rise. "Best not be late. See you at lunch time?"

"Count on it." She called to him, as he raced off.

Allowing herself a moment to stare at Darren, Vanessa promised herself, some how, some way, she was going to marry that paladin.

Tirion Fordring stood at the steps of the Lights Hope monastery grimly. Usually the sight of the large building gave him comfort, knowing that even in this diseased choked land the light prevailed. But not today, today he stood on the monastery step awaiting his 'honored guest' Avrin Morgrain, leader of the death knights and founder of the Ebon Blade. The two organizations had rallied together to defeat Arthas, but that had been 3 long years ago. The ties between the Argent Crusade and the Ebon Hold were strained till the point of breaking. Tirion was doing all in his power to prevent that. Other dangers were beginning to arise in Azeroth with the return of death wing. The last thing they both needed was fighting a war on two fronts. A chill filled the air on the warm summer morning, and Tirion knew his guest had arrived. Avrin Morgrain walked slowly down the path that led to the Cathedral. He was flanked by two Death knights and about a dozen tailing him, they all wore heavy black armor.

"Welcome, Avrin." Tirion held out his hand attempting to sound his most pleasant.

The ice cold touch from Arvin's grip made the paladin want to recoil but he fought the urge.

"Thank you, Tirion, for inviting me to witness these, trials." The raspy voice sounded annoyed and slightly aggravated but Tirion could tell, Avrin was trying to be amicable as well.

"Well, master Death Knight, allow me to show you around first. We'll begin with the fighter trainees…

The pair of leaders, along with the Death Knight entourage, walked across the grass to the fighters stationed behind the cathedral. Steel flashed off steel, the ring of blades chiming through the air. Every so often you could hear a trainer barking out different techniques and commands the trainees were to perform. Avrin smiled for the first time that day, thinking at least this would be interesting to see. As they came into view of the class, the first thing that caught his eyes shocked him in a way that he physically reeled. Backwards.

A girl was wielding a large, expertly cared for broadsword. She fought with an uncanny grace, the blade more a part of her than just a weapon. But Avrin knew that weapon. He would have known it anywhere, for he had crafted it many, many years ago. Even known, he could see his little brothers face, as he handed him the sword he had so fastidiously crafted. It was a face of awe and love, a happy time, before his brother's crazed affiliation with the Crusade had turned him into one of the monster he had tried defending the land against. That blade was a precious memory to him, something he wanted badly. Breaking free from the group of spectators, he walked up to the girl. "You, girl, where did you get that sword?" He asked angrily.

Vanessa turned around, breathing hard, the sword hanging lowly to the ground. She was startled at first to see a furious Death Knight walking toward her, and wondered what she had done.

"I'll ask you again. Where did you come by the blade?" Avrin growled dangerously.

"Someone I care for very much gave it to me." Vanessa replied shyly, seeing as the commotion had drawn the trainees to stop and stare. Even now some were filtering from the other classes to see what the yelling was about.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tirion asked out raged as he caught up to Avrin.

"There is an inscription on the bottom left side of the hilt." Avrin explained, ignoring Tirion. "It says D.M. it stands for Darion Morgrain. My brother. I don't know how any one came by that sword and frankly I don't really care. What I do care about is having it back in the possession of a Morgrain."

Vanessa clutched the sword tighter, it was ironic that it was in the possession of a Morgrain already, but only she here, knew that. Moreover it was a gift Sylvanas had bestowed upon her years ago. It was just as special to Vanessa as it was to Avrin.

"If I give it to you, master Death Knight, then I will be lacking a weapon." Vanessa replied, vainly attempting to use the pathetic logic in hopes Avrin would depart.

The Death Knight barked out a harsh laugh that made Vanessa cringe. "I will give you any sword of your choosing in exchange for my brothers."

"No." Vanessa shook her head stubbornly.

A few of the trainees and master paladins were nodding their head, mumbling their agreement with Vanessa, causing the plethora of Death Knights to bristle.

The situation was becoming more dangerous by the moment, Tirion could see. "What's your name, miss?" Tirion asked.

"Vanessa."

The master paladin scratched his graying beard slightly. "Vanessa, surly you can see the blade has some great value to sir Avrin. He has even offered you a fine trade for it."

"No." Vanessa said again, adding even more tension to the dangerous situation.

Avrin took a step forward his hand reaching for his own sword. "I warn you girl, give me that blade…"

"Eh, go back to your floating casket in the sky, dead man." A trainee yelled.

Others were beginning to brandish their blades, the trainers doing the same. Death Knights began clutching their weapons, as Tirion vainly tried to calm the situation. Some one, either Death Knight or Paladin threw a rock towards the two leaders. And all hell broke loose. The Death Knight yelled out angrily reaching to strike the nearest paladins. Trainees swarmed the fray, fighting with fist and weapons to defeat the Death Knights.

Seeing his chance, Avrin lunged for the sword, but Vanessa nimbly jumped back, nicking the Death Knight in the process. Avrin unsheathed his blade swing with abandoned at Vanessa. She parried a few but most she had to keep leaping back to avoid, Arvin's deadly arch. After one upward swing, Avrin rushed Vanessa with a spiked cauldron, ripping into Vanessa's shoulder. She shrieked, tumbling to the ground in pain. Immediately though, Vanessa knew it hurt a lot less that it should. Already, she could feel the flesh knitting back together. Rolling out the way of Arvin's blade that stabbed down, Vanessa leapt up, seeing her healer. Darren stared at her, flashing her lopsided grin. His mouth moved silently in prayer to the light, asking it to lend him its power. Vanessa could have run to hug him. Suddenly, Darren stiffened, his eyes went wide, a look of confusion plastering on his face. A red blade appear through his chest, and Darren fell forward. Dead.

At that moment, time slowed. Something inside Vanessa that had long been suppressed broke free. She stood there numb and Avrin didn't waste a minute attempting to run her through. His blade got within two inches of Vanessa before he was incinerated in a flash of holy power. People within a foot of Vanessa were thrown across the grass some landing with sickening crunches never to rise again. The holy power surged through her veins burning like fire. There was a sound of shattering like glass, and the collar broke in a myriad of pieces. Her aura of retribution was akin to a physical force, it was literally on the offensive attacking anything that came near. Tirion called upon the light to protect him but it was not enough. The aura broke through the divine shield as a hot knife through snow. The stunned Tirion was thrown aback, into a cluster of fighters. Vanessa walked slowly to the Death Knight hovering over Darren's limp form. He seemed frozen in fear, his blood drenched blade falling out of his hands. Vanessa twirled the sword of Darion Morgrain the steel bristling with holy power. She lashed out at the unfortunate soul who body was rent in two with one powerful strike. Slowly the fighting was changing to simply getting out of the powerful paladins way. Any Death Knight caught in her way never stood a chance. In mere minuets that fighting was over, leaving many trainees dead, and not a Death Knight alive. Vanessa sank to the blood soaked ground, quivering. After such a feat she felt as if she hadn't eaten or slept in hours. The survivors were giving the exhausted paladin a wide berth, no one daring to near her. From the corner of her eye, Vanessa could see the Tirion walking warily towards her. He stood about a foot away from here, shaking his head in awe. "Never in all my days have I seen the light wielded with such power. Where did you come from?"

"I can't tell you." Vanessa replied quietly, her eyes staring at Darren's limp corpse.

Tirion nodded in understanding, a sigh escaping his lips. "Did the people, from where you came from, know you had this kind of power?"

"Maybe." Vanessa shrugged.

Vanessa didn't care if Sylvanas had known, or not. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. Because of her, Darren was dead. Because of her, he never realized his dream. Being here now felt wrong, like she had desecrated this holy place. Fighting back tears, Vanessa rose slowly, walking towards the stables. People literally flung themselves out of her way, not wishing to take a chance that they two might be attacked by her aura.

"Miss Vanessa, where are you going?" Tirion asked, trailing behind the grieving paladin.

"Somewhere… anywhere. I don't belong here." She replied.

Vanessa gave a sharp whistle, as she opened the stable doors, an Ember came running. After all the commotion, many of the beasts were spooked, but not Ember. The mare appeared to guess Vanessa's thoughts and gave a whinny of comfort.

"Leave?" Tirion said in disbelief.. "You can't leave, you need to learn how to control your gifts. From what I saw today, you have the potential to be the greatest paladin Azeroth has ever known."

Vanessa mounted Ember bareback, not even caring to fetch the saddle first. She looked at Tirion with a glare so profound, the master paladin took a step back.

"Try and stop me." She challenged, and Tirion complied.

Tirion reached out to grab Ember, then sunk to the ground, unconscious. Vanessa looked down in shock, she hadn't known her repentance would knock him out, though it produced her same desired affect. Spurring Ember, the pair rode off swiftly, down the old road, Vanessa had never wanted to be back in the Undercity, as badly as she did now. As they left the harsh words of Suri rang through her head. 'You…you wont last a week.'

The tears finally came then, hot large drops that cooled against the wind. She hadn't even lasted a full day.