Hello! I know it's been a while, but I think I've got this one the way I want it. This is going to be a long one as well, so I hope you all enjoy it. As always, thanks to all of you who alerted or added this to favorites. I value your support and hope you'll keep following to the very end.

I haven't forgotten my reviewers, so a big thank you goes to Alcyone-blk, and to Isangtao – who's been reviewing since the first chapter! Thank you!

Okay, enough of my rambling and on with the story…

A small community

The first thing he heard was whispering. It sounded as though he was crammed into a room full of people who didn't want to be overheard. He also discovered that he wasn't lying on the grass like he had been not five minutes prior. Sirius felt a serious case of déjà vu; hadn't these circumstances occurred before? Although this time, rather than finding himself in a strange forest clearing, Sirius opened his eyes to discover that he was on a fairly comfortable bed – the starch white sheets tucked in tightly around his frame, as if to pin him there. He also found, unlike before, there really were people whispering around him. A group of four surrounded one corner of his bed, backs facing him, deep in discussion. Sirius figured they were most likely gossiping. What confused him was the language that they were speaking so softly; it was one that he had never heard of before. Their voices were strange as well – quiet, yet melodious – and just within hearing range. It all stopped when they took notice of him, however.

Silence filled the small, yet spacious room faster than he could cast a spell. The room's occupants stared at Sirius intently, as if he were some kind of inanimate specimen to be studied. Sirius took this opportunity to get a better look at the situation he suddenly found himself in.

Sirius felt that the design of the room was something he would have trouble attempting to explain to anyone he knew back home. It was difficult to figure out how the building had been constructed, since the typical beams and visible supports in homes he had seen were noticeably absent. Two rows of beds were at either end of a wide staircase. The walls, he noted, had gaps in certain places; a breeze wafted into the room from behind him, and as he sat up to look around, he found that the level below him was in view. A large desk dominated one wall below, reminding him of a muggle information kiosk that he'd been dragged to once by an overexcited James. The dim lighting in his room afforded him enough to see by, and not blind him. The illumination came from strange blue lights on weird branches; Sirius could spot more of them outside.

As his gaze drifted around the room, Sirius was distracted by his fellow occupants' almost indiscrete shuffling – bringing them closer to him. They were tall and graceful, with long, dark hair and pale faces. One of the group, although white haired, seemed to be his age or younger, which surprised him slightly. What intrigued him the most were the eyes; there was no color in the iris, and yet they also seemed to glow with an eerie light. For all of his staring, Sirius was rewarded with the puzzled looks of his audience. One of the group quirked an eyebrow, as if amused by his interest. Not deterred from this, Sirius found himself doing a double take; the ears of these people tapered to points, similar to house elves. This appeared to be the only similarity he could find to compare them to. Sirius found himself at a loss of how to react, they were decidedly not human. He was unsure of their language and customs, and knew this put him at a distinct disadvantage. They may be inadvertently offended by Sirius at any given point.

"A sei hakka onna aya?" A soft voice interrupted Sirius' musings, causing him to turn his head toward the sound.

The young, white haired woman, or so he supposed, reached a hand out to place upon his forehead, a frown marring her slanted features. Sirius guessed that she was most likely concerned for his welfare.

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied calmly, putting on a small smile to reassure her. "What happened? How did I get here?"

The woman shrugged, shaking her head in confusion. After another query in her language, she waved her hands slightly to indicate that she couldn't understand him.

"Does anyone here speak English?" Sirius wondered aloud, glancing around the room.

The three others there with him had retreated to a corner on the far side of the room. They huddled in a tight circle, already in another conversation. Sirius was certain they had forgotten that he was there. He was desperate to find someone who could translate for him, so that he could thank these people for their generosity. Who knows what could have happened otherwise?

Footsteps echoed along the wooden floor, growing louder with each moment. Sirius peered over at the staircase in the middle of the room, where another dark haired woman made her entrance. She looked flushed, and out of breath, as if she had run all the way over for some urgent reason. Without the aid of a common language to assist him, Sirius had to assume that this was true.

"E ma han o hakka sei? Ta me ha?" She breathed, frowning.

Her eyes darted around the room, as if she were searching for something. Sirius was curious when her gaze landed on him.

"A sei hakka onna aya?" She asked, repeating the other woman's gesture. Then, after a moment, she seemed to remember herself. She cleared her throat and started over.

"How are you feeling?" Her voice was gentle, with a slight touch of concern.

Sirius sighed in relief.

"I'm fine, thank you," he repeated. "I'm glad that I can understand someone around here; it was fairly awkward a few moments ago." He motioned towards the group of people gathered at one end of the room.

"Oh, I understand," she replied. "This is a small community here in this area of the forest. Most elves don't speak Common; that's usually for those who decide to venture outside of Teldrassil."

"Pardon?" Sirius was confused. "Teldrassil?"

"You don't know?" The elf was incredulous. "This is where you are, in Teldrassil forest. You must have hit your head pretty hard to forget something like that… "She stared at him intently as he shook his head. "Do you want to see a map?"

Sirius brightened at this.

"I'll take that as a yes," she finished drily, leaving the room. A few minutes later, she returned with a rolled up piece of parchment.

Sirius watched her enter the room.

"Where are you from?" The elf asked him as she flattened the map out on a spare bed. "Most humans in Stormwind have heard of our forest."

"London," Sirius answered without thinking.

"Where is that? I've never heard of it…"

"In England," Sirius responded, frowning at the reaction she'd given.

It occurred to him that maybe talking about his home wouldn't be a good idea. The winged woman had explained that this wasn't his world, so it made sense that the elf wasn't aware of London, or any other place he knew.

"It's a small community" he continued, covering his error and thinking fast. "Very small. We don't usually travel often."

"I see." The elf's face was unreadable, and her tone indicated that she didn't believe his story for a second. She appeared to let the matter drop, however. "This is Teldrassil," she began, pointing down at the map.

Sirius slid out of the bed he was resting in and made his way over to her, peering down at the parchment.

"It's quite a large forest," Sirius muttered, his eyes widening in surprise. "And it's an island?"

"Yes," she replied. "Is this your first time outside of – London, was it?" She kept her expression neutral as she waited for his answer.

Sirius nodded. The elf sighed, exasperated.

"I guess I should show you some more places while I'm at it," she muttered.

Sirius watched in awe as the elven woman waved a hand over the parchment, eyes never leaving the page. What amazed him was the fact that the image on it changed. A stray thought crept into his mind: Wandless magic. Instead of a massive island covered in trees and rivers, three large land masses now dominated the map. A large vortex-like image took up a reasonable amount of space in the center. Sirius placed a finger on it, frowning.

"What is this meant to represent?" He asked her, eyes glued to the page.

"That's the maelstrom," she replied, eyeing the spot. "It's an incredibly powerful storm that's been brewing for years, and most people wisely avoid it."

"Why?" Sirius wrenched his gaze away from the mapped storm to look at the elf.

She sighed, turning to face him. "It's been known to drag people into the elemental plane," she said, a cautionary tone entering her voice. "We currently have a powerful shaman there attempting to fix the rift between worlds." She glanced back down at the parchment. "It's strange that you are unaware of these things, especially seeing as you're so far away from home."

Sirius shrugged apologetically, worried about how she would react if she knew what had happened. But, he was certain that there would be very few people who would actually believe his story, none of them have heard of England – which he found hard to believe, since it was world famous back home.

"If you really did travel all this way," the elf continued, her gaze flicking back up to him. "How is it that you've never seen a map; not only that, but how did you get here without going through Darnassus? It's the only way to access this part of the forest!"

"I'm sorry," Sirius stammered, shocked. "I have no idea how I got here. One minute I was at home and the next, I woke up in some clearing of a forest I've never seen before."

The elf stared at him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"You expect me to believe that?" She cried. "What if you're a Horde spy, disguised as a human to fool me?" Her voice had increased in volume until she was practically yelling at him.

It took much of Sirius' willpower not to cover his ears. He shook his head frantically at her question.

"I wouldn't put it past them," the elf muttered, scowling. "They've done similar things before."

"I'm not a spy," Sirius growled, glaring back at her. "I just escaped from a war myself, and I understand how you feel about infiltrators," his gaze softened. "– but I'm not here to do anything like that."

He glanced down at the map and lowered his voice.

"I just want to go home," he continued, frowning. "My friends are in trouble, but I don't know how to get there. Surely you've been in a similar situation – kind of…" Sirius trailed off uncertainly.

The elf sighed, sweeping a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"I've spent far too much time around humans," she murmured. "I didn't yell or get so suspicious like this in the past."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, humans are expressive creatures; elves, however, very rarely display their emotions." She met his gaze. "You'd do well to remember that, as it's much harder for you to predict what we'll do next."

"Why are you telling me this?"

She rolled the map up and placed it back on the bed.

"If you're truly as ignorant as you claim to be, then I can't let you wander off into the rest of the world without knowing this: Humans aren't the only race in Azeroth."

Sirius nodded solemnly. "I'll try to remember that."

The elf smiled grimly, "Good."

"So, I'm supposed to follow this path all the way to the city gates?"

Sirius was standing in the middle of a small town – or village – staring off at a winding road that meandered past hills and cliff-faces, trees and bushes. There were only a handful of buildings, clustered together against one hillside overlooking the lake he'd been at previously. He had been told that the little town was called Dolanaar, a rest stop for elves undergoing their training in various fields.

The young elf woman, who had referred to herself as Astara, nodded. She had changed into her leather-hide hunting gear, complete with a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder.

"It will be hard to miss it," she replied, smiling. "Once you get there, look for a sentinel; they'll show you how to get to the dock at Rut'theran."

Sirius nodded, grinning. After several days' worth of talking – more like arguing, really – it seemed as though he and Astara had somehow come out as friends. She was certainly helpful with all of the information she'd given him about the state of the world he was currently in.

A piece of parchment obscured Sirius' view for a moment. Reaching up, he pulled the offending object down and out of his face to get a better look at it. The map Astara had used to show him Azeroth was now resting in his hands. He glanced over at her, confused.

"Take it," she told him.

Sirius attempted to hand the map back to her, but Astara wouldn't permit it. She smiled at him, pressing the page back toward him.

"It's yours, now," she said. "I already have one, and the innkeeper had a couple to spare."

"Thank you," Sirius breathed, surprised at the gesture. He was already thankful for all of her help so far.

Sirius had spent an extra few days here in Dolanaar, at Astara's urging, to better acquaint himself with things. In the two weeks that he had spent in the small community, Sirius found himself slowly becoming accustomed to the strange new world and the people in it – although, according to Astara, just being in Teldrassil wasn't enough to think that way.

Astara's eyes widened and she reached into one of her many pockets. Sirius was intrigued when she pulled out a small, white stone, engraved with pale blue markings in swirling patterns.

"What is that?" Sirius asked her, staring at the rock.

Astara smiled at his puzzled expression, reminding herself that her companion wasn't as aware of this world as most humans were. His naivety was quite amusing to her, and she tried not to laugh.

"This," she said, holding up the object in question, "is a hearthstone."

Astara placed it on one of Sirius' upturned palms. It balanced there for a moment before Sirius' curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself turning it over in wonder.

"It takes you home," her voice broke through his trance, and he snapped his head up to look at her. "If you're in trouble, and need to get out of there fast, this will bring you back."

Sirius nodded. "How does it work?"

"Hold the stone in your hand, and think of the last inn you labeled as home. You can do that in any town by talking to the innkeeper." Astara pulled her own one out. "They reset it for you."

"So, I could do that here, too?"

Astara nodded, her gaze fixed on the hearthstone in her hands. "Yours has already been synced with Dolanaar, but you can easily change it later."

"Thanks again," Sirius said, smiling. "I seem to be saying that a lot recently."

She laughed. "You should probably get going, now, if you want to make it there by sundown."

Sirius frowned. "I guess so."

Astara raised a fist up to chest height in a fluid movement, saluting him.

"Good luck on your journey, Sirius," she called.

He attempted to mirror her gesture, making her smile.

"You almost had it there, but it was slightly off," she told him, correcting the greeting. She showed him again, this time much slower. "See," she said, raising a hand. "You put your fist here, and stand straight," She watched him copy it again. "Yes, that's it!" Astara applauded his effort, smiling as he grinned at her.

"Good luck to you as well, Astara," Sirius replied, sobering. "Are you sure we can't go to the city together? It wouldn't be as boring…" he trailed off hopefully.

Astara shook her head. "Sorry," she murmured. "I have tasks here that I must complete, but I can assure you that we will probably cross paths again someday."

"Here's to hoping, then," Sirius muttered, causing her to grin. "We'll stay in touch though, right?"

Astara nodded. "Of course," she replied. "I'll want to hear about your adventures on the mainland," her eyes narrowed. "And don't think of leaving anything out, because I'll know!"

Sirius laughed. He held his hands out in front of him in surrender.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he chuckled. "I don't think I want to see you angry again, that was terrifying!"

"Good," she said. "It'll be great to catch up later on, and I'm sure you'll have many stories to tell." Astara nodded over to the path leading out of town. "Shouldn't you be leaving, now? It's much better to wander this forest during daylight."

Sirius nodded, sighing in resignation. He regretted having to leave, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Delaying his departure would mean that his friends back home in England could be in even more trouble, and he wanted to return to them and end that stupid war. He knew Astara couldn't help him with this problem, although she had told him about several of the political leaders. Apparently a number of them had access to powers that could aid him in his plight.

"Are you alright, Sirius?"

Sirius glanced up at Astara, who was staring at him in concern. He smiled sheepishly, shrugging.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Just thinking."

"Copper for your thoughts," she said, placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. There are many people out there who will help you out."

"I'm not worried about that," he replied, looking down at the ground. "It's just," he sighed, turning to face Astara again. "I'm not sure if this will work; what if I can't go back?"

She nodded sympathetically. "If that's the case, then you can find a way to contact your friends instead."

"I can do that?" He murmured, eyes widening in surprise.

"We have many who are skilled in communicating with the spirit world," she said. "I'm sure that there's a loophole somewhere that will allow it."

He nodded, frowning. "And if there isn't?"

"Then you'll just have to live your life to the fullest, here in Azeroth. I'm sure that your friends are doing well on the other side."

"If you're sure…" he trailed off.

"Of course I am!" Astara cried. "Don't lose faith though; I know you'll get there, although I'll miss you here..."

Sirius smiled gratefully. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," she replied. "That's what friends are for." She grabbed Sirius' arm and dragged him over to the path leading out of town. "And you need to get going; I've already told you this, what, three times already?"

Sirius laughed. "Alright, I'll leave."

Turning back to face the path, Sirius waved over his shoulder and set off for the elf capital.

"Send a letter when you get to Stormwind!" Astara called.

"Will do!" He called back.

A/N Alright, now that that's done, I can finally focus some more attention on part 7. I hope you all don't mind the time jump there; it didn't seem to make sense for a sudden friendship to form between Astara and Sirius if she was originally hostile towards him.

And the explanations about the spirit world last chapter – I used a little bit of poetic license with that one, the game doesn't mention much about it, so I figured that it would flow better and feel more real, that way.

I'm thinking of putting up a short companion story to this about Sirius' time in Dolanaar, called A Leafy Interlude. It will go over how their friendship formed, and what he learned while he was there. I'm not sure when I'll be posting the first part, but keep your eyes peeled for it – I just need a bit of inspiration to start it up. Happy reading, and until next time:

Peace out,

Shadowcaster01