Whoo! Been a while! x)

Review responses:

Zarabethe: Yeah! I had to think about it for a while when I was writing that. On one hand, I had to make sure I didn't just write it from the point of view of a daughter... I wanted to take into consideration Lucian's fear on the matter. After all, he's only...Well, I can't say human, can I? :P
Also, I keep trying to review your story chapter and it says I've already reviewed it so it won't let me make another. So frustrating. I think it glitched my phone or something. -_- Pretty much, I wanted to say things along the lines of: "ERMAHGERD NERT ERLF BERBERS." Which roughly translates to: "Hooray! She's pregnant!" xD Although, she's not exactly all that thrilled with the timing though, is she?

Connet: That stupid thingy, it's creating way too many problems.. ;_;

Guest: Oh man, I wish I'd have seen that review earlier. Cuddling elves is always a plus. ;) It'll happen eventually... Somehow.

Strazor: Nyela as a hunter makes me excited! :D

PoemWhisper: Ahh! I have to watch the hobbit movie again.. It was too good not to.. And oooooh, you guessed correctly! :D Good one!

Guest: Hahaha! Lucian is a sweetheart! Totally! He just had a moment of weakness and went a li'l crazy. It's a parent thing... Bwhaha.

Shion Rasenka: Ha! I thrive on cliffhangers! ;) They encourage me to write faster, I think. And awwww, nothing like dog memories. 3 I'm basing Fenris off of my new-ish puppy and the experience I've had raising all my old dogs. I've had him 9 months, and oh my goodness, he's a monster! He's learning to be good, though. It just takes time, I suppose. :)

Raistlin: Oh goodness! Murder shows at 2 AM is not for the faint of heart. I wouldn't be able to handle that... x)

This was meant to be updated so much earlier, but I lost nearly the whole chapter twice. Twice. This is the third draft of the same chapter, and now, by the third time writing it, I feel like a broken record. The auto-save backup thing for my document malfunctioned or something, so both times that my computer crashed, I lost it all. So that was quite disheartening..

/Endrant

But here's the chapter now. :) Enjoy!


Neyla watched the final few glowing wisps of her father's portal fade from existence, leaving her in complete, empty silence. She stood there, stunned and almost unable to breathe. Fenris trotted over to her and raised up on his haunches and placed his big paws on her leg, stretching up to lick her hand, but she barely reacted save for a single blink. She just sat there, staring after where her parents and dying brother had disappeared into thin air.

She took a step back and let herself plop down onto her bed, still staring blankly ahead as she sniffed away the sobs that came in waves, her thoughts whirling.

This was her fault. She would've tried to argue with such a thought, but even her own father had accused her. And as much as it hurt to accept it, she knew she had to, because it was true. Julian was dying because of her poor judgement.

Or, as far as she knew, he could be dead now.

With that thought, Nyela began to hyperventilate through her tears and cries, shaking all over and becoming hysterical. She wrapped her arms around herself and curled up into a ball, head resting on her knees as she cried relentlessly. She wasn't one to let herself go like this, but in such a situation, she couldn't help herself.

She heard footsteps nearing her doorway, but she couldn't care less who saw her in this state, not to mention she wouldn't be able to care even if she tried. She was far too upset.

A shadow crossed over her doorway but she didn't look up, and a few moments later her woven blanket had been laid over her shoulders and an arm had wrapped itself around her, giving her some security that she hadn't felt when she was all alone.

"Nyela, are you alright?" She recognized Glenn's consoling voice almost immediately, and he sounded worried. "Where is everyone? I heard shouting."

Nyela attempted to calm down in order to be able to speak, but as soon as she began to get a grip, she broke again and began sobbing harder.

"C'mere," Glenn coaxed her to stand and she did, her blanket still wrapped over her shoulders. He kept one arm around her to keep her from stumbling, seeing as she wasn't fit to walk on her own, and he led her down the ramp and into his room, where she immediately heard Thalia let out a sound of surprise, and the room was promptly lit up with a lamp.

"What's happened?" Thalia asked, her voice alarmed.

"I can't get her to talk, but I think it's about her brother," Glenn said softly, and Nyela just continued to cry. Thalia took the sobbing girl from Glenn and led her over to their bed, allowing her to sit down into the covers. Thalia sat beside her, retrieved a handkerchief, and began dabbing Nyela's cheeks, drying her tears as she spoke.

"What about Julian? Is he alright?"

Nyela let out a shuddering sob and shook her head. No. He was far from alright.

"I take it your father is with him, though?" Glenn asked her.

She nodded, and Thalia spoke this time. "Did they go to Darnassus? Is it that bad?"

"It's v-very ba-ad," Nyela said, but her words choked with each short, hysterical breath, and by now, due to her erratic breathing, she was starting to feel lightheaded.

Thalia and Glenn shared a quick, worried look, and Glenn knelt down in front of her, placing his hands on either side of her face softly and looking her straight in the eyes.

"Nyela," he said coolly, his eyes soft and pleading, "You're hyperventilating. I understand this is hard for you, but you will harm yourself if this continues. Take a slow breath through your nose, and then let it out through your mouth." He took the lead, breathing in slowly and giving her an imploring look.

She did her best, though her breath kept hitching as she inhaled, and it was somewhat difficult. Due to her crying, her nose had become puffy.

"Now, breathe out," he said, and she felt Thalia's hand brushing her back reassuringly. She repeated these two simple steps until she wasn't choking on her own air, and she finally managed to take in a clean breath, then let it out without difficulty.

"Much better," Glenn smiled at her, his spectacles shifting on his nose with the action. "Do you think you can tell us what's happened?"

Nyela tried to find words that wouldn't send her into another crying fit, but merely thinking about what had gone down in the past half hour had tears in her eyes again, so she just shook her head.

Glenn nodded his head knowingly. "Alright, that's okay." He rubbed her shoulders comfortingly, then stood back up from where he'd been kneeling. "Would you like something to drink or eat? Something to get your mind off things?"

Nyela nodded dumbly, and Thalia cleared her throat. "I've got Moonberry. Does that sound good?"

Another nod, and Thalia left Nyela's side, going to a cupboard at the far end of their large room and pulling out a good-sized flagon of the alcoholic drink. She poured two small glasses, then cocked her head at Glenn questioningly, and Glenn nodded, so she poured a third and handed it to him. She brought the other two glasses back over to the bed and gave one to Nyela.

"This will help," she said softly.

Nyela took it gratefully and sipped the sweet berry juice for a moment, then downed the whole glass in just a few large gulps. Glenn, before he could stop himself, let out a loud chortle.

"You take after your mother," he laughed, and then sobered quickly at Thalia's short glare that could easily be interpreted as: 'not the time for jokes'.

Nyela just forced a tiny smile before frowning again and staring at the floor. She supposed, in truth, that she could have gone with her father through the portal, and he had actually probably expected her to. But at the time the thought didn't even cross her mind; he'd been upset with her, and she had subconsciously punished herself by staying behind. She wasn't sure which would be better, though. Perhaps staying home was a good idea for her, seeing as she'd be completely useless in Darnassus and the only thing she could accomplish would be getting in the way.

But this, the waiting, the uncertainty... It was terrible, too.

Thalia refilled her own glass and Nyela's as well, and when Nyela drank that one equally as fast, Thalia let out a worried laugh.

"I think that'll be enough for all of us. Drinking at four in the morning isn't a normal practice of mine, and I don't want to make you sick too."

Nyela finally got enough sense to speak. "I'm sorry I woke you guys," she said, voice quiet and somewhat shaky.

Thalia shook her head and Glenn sat down beside her as well.

"No no, sweetheart," Thalia cooed, "Don't apologize."

"I'm just glad I decided to come upstairs," Glenn said. "Don't ever feel bad for needing company, Nyela. We're always here for you."

Nyela felt another sob trying to make its way back up and she fought it, but was mostly unsuccessful. Here they were, trying to make her feel better, taking care of her without a second thought. If they only knew that all of this was her fault...

A million things she could have said, a million explanations or confessions, but the only words she could force out were, "Thank you."

Thalia gave her a tight hug and then spoke. "Well, now that we're awake, I'm feeling a bit peckish. Glennolan, could you please grab some blankets? We can head down to the fires and stay there for now."

Glenn nodded and began piling various knitted and woven blankets into his arms, and Thalia stood up, helping Nyela up with her. It was only then that Nyela realized Fenris had followed her down here and was lying at the foot of Glenn's bed, and when Nyela stood, the wolf hopped up, stepping over beside her and flopping down in a sloppy-style sit, practically leaning against Nyela's leg.

Glenn took the lead, arms stacked high with blankets, and after him followed the two women and the wolf. Nyela was still sort of in a daze, so she didn't really register what was going on until she'd been wrapped in blankets and settled into a seat beside Thalia while Glenn lit a fire. Once the fire was going, Thalia brewed a large pot of hot herbal tea.

Some time passed, possibly as much as an hour while Nyela half-listened, half-zoned as Thalia chattered about various things Nyela honestly didn't care about, though she understood why the woman was doing it. Distraction is one of the best medicines sometimes, and honestly, despite the fact that Nyela wasn't fully paying attention, she had to admit Thalia's tactics were working. She still felt a bit distant, dazed and out-of-it, but at least she wasn't bawling her head off at the terrifying mental image of her brother convulsing on the floor, an image forever burned into her memory.

It wasn't until she heard other unexpected, familiar voices, that she actually became fully aware of the present.

"Verdell, is that really you?" she heard Sarion's voice heavy with disbelief and humor to boot.

"No way!" Unaril's incredulous voice piped up, and Nyela craned her neck around to see the twins, who were giving Glenn a full inspection. Sarion had even gone so far as to catch Glenn's forearm and raise it up, inspecting Glenn's muscular arms, which Nyela had to admit were pretty impressive.

"Buddy, you gotta tell me how you did it," Unaril said in admiration.

Glenn chuckled as the twins poked and prodded at his shoulders and arms, and he pulled his arm away from Sarion's grasp and put his hands in his pockets as he looked between the twins.

"What in the world are you two talking about?" he asked with a heavy dose of humor.

"You're not the same as I remember!" Sarion exclaimed.

Unaril's vibrant, blue-haired head danced in a nod. "You're a hulk, kid!"

Glenn laughed aloud now. "Uh, guys, it's been a hundred years..."

"Well, you do know we used to call you 'Little Glenn'," Unaril chuckled, to which Glenn laughed again, and Unaril continued, "So you can understand our surprise to see you so... So..."

"So perfect?" Thalia smiled happily and stood from where she'd been sitting beside Nyela, sauntering over to Glenn and leaning on him lovingly. Glenn's smile softened and he wrapped her close, leaning down for a kiss.

Unaril's smile just widened in complete disbelief with what he was seeing, almost like a proud big brother, and he reached an arm out and elbowed Sarion in the side repeatedly, trying to get Sarion to see what he was seeing even though Sarion was standing right there and could obviously see the whole thing. Sarion tensed up batted Unaril's hand away, then sent Unaril a scathing look that read, 'I know! Don't shove me!'.

Nyela silently took a sip of her tea, and at the movement, Unaril glanced over at her from behind Glenn and Thalia. He raised a questioning brow at her, immediately reading into her distressed, blanketed state, and he suddenly looked concerned. This made Nyela a little self-conscious. Did she really look so bad that he'd immediately become worried just by looking at her? She pulled her blankets a little tighter around herself, attempting to curl into them and hide her face in case it looked as bad as she feared.

Unaril's eyes flicked back to Glenn and Thalia.

"What's up?" he asked, subtly nodding his head toward Nyela.

Glenn cleared his throat, speaking sort of quietly. "Her brother, Julian, relapsed a few hours ago. Apparently it was worse this time. A lot worse. Norivana and Lucian took him to Darnassus."

Unaril's expression fell, and he let out a dispirited breath, eyes falling back over on Nyela. Sarion looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he spoke to Glenn again. "Did they find out what caused it?"

"Yes," Nyela said, and Sarion's golden eyes flicked to hers immediately, her voice acting as his beacon.

"Is it...?" Sarion began to ask the question, then hesitated. Nyela remembered overhearing his part of the conversation a few days ago outside the tree. He was worried Julian was becoming possessed.

"It's not fel magic or demons," Nyela shook her head, "At least, I don't... I don't think it is. I hope not..." She trailed off.

This did nothing to help Sarion's worried expression, but then Glenn spoke.

"Nyela says it was because of some creature Julian was keeping in his room."

Unaril's head lifted back up, eyes imploring. "Say what?"

Nyela chewed her lip for a moment. Would they be mad at her like her father was if they found out?

"He kept a weird jelly-ish oozing green thing in a box in his room." Her eyes flicked between the brothers, but their expressions didn't switch to anger, so she felt a little relieved. "I guess Lucian said that was the cause."

Everything got extremely silent for a moment as Nyela's mood began to drop.

"I could have prevented it," she said quietly, donning a pained expression and curling into her blanket tighter, her voice beginning to break, just on the brink of turning into an actual whimper. "I knew he had that thing for two months but didn't say anything. And then this morning, he came into my room and... And..." Her lip quivered and, despite her attempts to thwart it, she began crying again. She cried, internally becoming immensely upset with herself for doing so in front of the twins, who she for some reason felt more of a need to impress than one's average acquaintance. She wasn't crying loudly, just sniffling with tears running rampant down her cheeks.

Unaril and Sarion exchanged quick glances, and Sarion spoke up.

"Nyela," he said calmly, holding out a big hand for her to take. "We need to show you something."

Nyela did her best to regain her calm but she continued to sniff and blubber as she reached out and took his hand. He tugged on it and helped her stand up, leaving her blanket behind. He began to lead her out of the orchard, over to the path that led to the main tree. Fenris began to follow her, but when she told him to stay with Glenn, to her own surprise, the little wolf did what she said.

Unaril walked on her other side, hands in his pockets and brows tight, deep in thought.

They reached the tall tree, but rather than taking her inside like she'd initially expected, Sarion took her around its gigantic trunk to the back of it, which she immediately took as strange. The back of tree had little-to-no traffic, seeing as it was near one part of the forest that hadn't been 'tamed', where no one generally went.

"Look here, closely," Sarion said, stooping down at one part of the tree that looked like it'd been dug up.

Nyela peered at it, but it was a little dark out, and she couldn't really see much. "I don't see anything."

To the side, Unaril rubbed his hands together. "One second. This'll help." Suddenly both of his hands erupted in a golden light, which lit up a good ten feet around them, and now Nyela could see everything clearly.

She inspected the odd space again, and this time saw what Sarion had been pointing at.

It was strange, really. There truly was not much else to describe it other than entirely 'strange'. From the weird hole in the ground, there had begun growing all sorts of natural things that shouldn't have been able to grow there, like random desert cacti flowers and tiny jungle ferns and even so much as a gigantic vine that'd sprouted and had begun growing up the side of the tree, all the way up into some of the windows. As well as the more natural things, there were also remnants of... not-so-natural things. Nyela's eyes widened when she saw the same weird green and black goo that'd been left behind by Julian's 'pet', clinging to some of the plants and leaving slime trails away from the tree.

Not only that, but the entire nature-y cluster appeared to be spreading. It wasn't spreading in a radius from the center, though, rather it had fanned out almost like a controlled blast that ran straight into the deepest part of the forest.

"What.. Is this?" Nyela finally breathed, taking extra care not to get close to the goo.

"We're not entirely sure," Unaril said thoughtfully, "But our best theory is that because I came back to life in an... unnatural way, the orchard - or on a more broad scale - nature itself, has been trying to mend the imbalance on its own. But it's messing up; it's doing more harm than good. We actually caught this months ago, just a week or so after Sarion and I returned, but Lucian claimed we could get it under control before anyone had to worry. He asked Sarion and myself to seek out some of the Cenarion Druids, as they are experts in balance and our tribe... isn't. That's why we were gone for so long. We had to convince them to help us out, and considering our past, they're not so easily convinced, especially by a rebel tribe."

Sarion spoke to her now, "That thing your brother had in his room? There's a lot more where that came from. And it all started here, where Unaril sort of... crawled out of the ground."

Nyela took all this in with surprising calm, though half of it was due to dumb shock. Finally, she found her voice. "So... All of this, everything that's happening, it's because you guys woke up?"

Unaril blinked, then nodded coolly. "I... I suppose so, yes."

"And the only reason you guys woke up," Nyela began to piece the facts, "Is because of me."

"Well, yeah, but it's not like I'd never have been awakened," Sarion reasoned. "Lucian was going to wake me up eventually, so all of this still would have happened. I still would have brought Unaril with me."

"But..." Nyela still stood there almost frozen, lips frowning and eyes tense as her mind turned. "Because of me, not only my brother, but my home, is dying?"

"What?" Unaril snorted, "That's-" He nearly laughed, though it wasn't out of humor, more out of the ridiculousness of her conclusion. "That's absurd. If anything, I should take the blame. I screwed all this up by merely being alive."

"It isn't your fault," Sarion shook his head at his brother, "And it's not yours, either, Nyela. No one person holds the blame for this, because it's entirely out of our hands; it never could have been predicted, never could have been prepared for. Nyela, you claim you're to blame because you woke us up from the tree, yes?"

Nyela nodded quietly.

Sarion just shook his head. "By that logic, it wouldn't be your fault, it would be your father's for giving you the ability to wake us up in the first place. Or better yet, mine, for giving your father a reason to merely create the spell. Or before that, it'd be Unaril's, for dying, which in turn made me need such a spell."

Unaril smirked at this, giving Nyela an apologetic shrug. She was unsure of what to make of Sarion's reasoning, but he continued.

"Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? How pointless trying to blame one's self can become? Do not dwell on such things; it does nothing but tear you apart. We cannot change the past, Nyela, so we work to change the future instead. Channel your energy in a better way. Work with us on this; it can still be fixed."

Nyela clung to his words as he spoke. Honestly, that's all she'd been needing: Someone to tell her everything would be okay, but also someone who would be able to back such a claim up with reason and motive, not just as an attempt to make her feel better.

She cleared her throat. "How far has this spread?" She motioned toward the odd mixture of infected plants.

"Follow us," Unaril took the lead, and she followed behind. She walked, trying to keep up as the twins led her through the waist-deep, dense underbrush, dark and shady due to the thickness of the trees overhead. Her clothes got caught on thorns and twigs and quickly became dirtied and torn, but she didn't mind too much.

The orchard's infection seemed to widen its hold, she noticed, to the point of where by the time Unaril and Sarion stopped in a tiny clearing near one of the lesser-used pools, it was at least sixty feet wide on both sides, covering the entire area, its vines crawling and snaking up the trees, looking like sickly veins.

Sarion walked over to the pool. "Look here," he said, kneeling down by the water, but Nyela noticed he took great care not to actually touch the liquid, so she did the same. She peered down at what he was pointing at in the water, which should've been clear, but she noticed it looked smoky, kind of foggy and murky.

"What's in it?" she asked, and the dark elf hesitantly held out a hand, dipping it into the water and letting it pick up a glow as he readied a spell. The water around his hand began to fizz and bubble, and then out shot a spark from his fingertips that sank deep into the mud, but she could see it traveling almost like lightning deeper into the water until the murk of the pool was too much for her to see it anymore.

"What did that do?" she asked again, feeling a little bad for asking so many questions, but she was curious.

"Just wait," he murmured, removing his hand and immediately flicking the water off, then infusing his hand with a healing spell as it dried. Nyela waited as he'd told her, and then suddenly let out a yelp as she saw movement in the water, which as it got closer, she saw one of those oozing creatures, just like the one Julian had kept. It was small, only about a foot in size, but Nyela had seen what it could do to a person. She scrambled back away from the edge, though the twins didn't move.

"Get away from it!" she pleaded as she saw the ooze crawl out of the water, but Unaril shook his head.

"As long as we don't touch them with bare skin, we're okay."

"Them?" Nyela's breath caught when she realized that there wasn't just one, but many, sliding out of the water onto the bank on all sides of the pool.

"Uh, guys," she warned, backing up a little. "Now what?"

Sarion shrugged. "They're agitated, but they'll return to the pool in a bit. They need water or they get violent. I'm going to bet this is where Julian found his 'pet', yes?"

"Well, he did say he found it by a pool," Nyela said, then frowned. "What do you mean by violent?"

"They expel a toxic gas that, if left exposed for too long, eats away at both your immune system and nervous system. Pretty much makes you prone to every disease and also screws with your electrical neural signals. I've only seen it happen once, but it was long ago, back in Ashenvale, and it wasn't one of our own who got infected." Sarion shook his head. "Nasty, nasty creatures, these things. It now makes so much sense with Julian. If only we'd gotten to him sooner, though."

Nyela swallowed dryly. "So... What happened to that person who was infected?"

Unaril cleared his throat almost uncomfortably, and Sarion suddenly looked like he regretted saying anything.

"She... Died." Sarion admitted.

Nyela bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. A few silent moments passed, and then Unaril stood a little straighter, donning that jovial, cheerful expression of his.

"Well, that doesn't mean anything," he reasoned with a slight, oddly-reassuring laugh after catching Nyela's disturbed state. "Back then, we didn't have any of the resources nor the knowledge we have now. We were completely in the dark." He scratched his stubbly chin and then shrugged. "The Darnassus Priests are not."

Sarion nodded. "He's right," he encouraged in a cool tone. "It was only after an intense study of the illness that we finally found out the basics, such as what it was and how it was caused. Now, we know more. I'm sure Julian's getting the highest possible treatment available." He looked thoughtful for a second. "And, the fact that Julian hasn't returned yet is a good thing. It probably means something's being done to help him. If there was no hope, he'd be back by now."

The way Sarion spoke, it sounded less like he was trying to console her and more like he was just voicing reason. Something about the way these two talked to her put her at ease; with Unaril's sincere, ever-optimistic state and Sarion's calm composure, it was somewhat... disarming. She couldn't help but trust everything they said.

"So," Nyela finally began, voice surprisingly chipper despite how she was feeling. "While we're waiting for word on Julian, what do we do?"

"Well," Sarion said, "I suppose whatever you like. We recruited two Cenarion Druids specialized in cleansing this sort of thing, since we aren't exactly good at... Balancing nature." He smirked a little, then continued, "And they'll be instructing the more-advanced Druids of the tribe on how to purify the orchard. As for you and me, though," his shoulders raised in a slight shrug. "We're in the clear."

"As a matter of fact," Unaril interjected, tapping his blue-tufted chin. "I think breakfast is past-due, wouldn't you say, brother?" He held his arm out in an 'after you' gesture to the both of them, and as a response, Sarion gave his brother an agreeing nod and, as he began walking, hooked his arm into Unarils and they began strolling through the path they'd cleared earlier, their stride leisurely. Nyela followed, smirking as she noted the brothers' unorthodox walking method, though she wasn't all that hungry and probably wouldn't be for quite a while.

She was deep in thought by the time they reached the food storage buildings, and Sarion and Unaril got out large platters and filled them with generous helpings of nearly everything they could find. Nyela got a smaller plate and began putting a few things on it, though honestly she wasn't hungry. She'd lost her appetite since this morning and she wasn't feeling up to eating, even though Glenn and Thalia had both told her that doing so would help her feel better.

By the time she'd gotten a few fresh, cool grapes from the frozen storage and other various berries on her plate, Unaril and Sarion had filled their entire platters with food, which Nyela noted looked more-or-less just big edible mountains.

"Holy..." she exclaimed when she saw their plates, eyes wide. That was a lot of food, and she wondered how in the world they'd manage to eat all of it. They both glanced over at her, then down at her plate in unison.

"Why aren't you eating anything?" Sarion asked her, looking perplexed.

"I am," she cocked her head slightly, glancing down at her plate.

"I don't see anything there," Unaril said, giving her an unimpressed look, though his eyes flashed with mischief. "Do you see any food there, Sarion?"

Sarion shook his head. "I don't see any food there, Unaril."

It was then that Nyela finally realized they were teasing her and she pursed her lips. "It's enough food for me," she countered.

"Not if you're going to keep up your strength for your Hunter training," Sarion responded. "I heard about your new pastime. You need to eat."

"This is fine," she said, nudging past them through the door and walking over to the sitting areas. She sat down at one of the tables nearby and leaned her elbows on it, picking at the skin of one of the grapes on her plate. She knew she should eat, but she didn't feel up to it. Besides, who said she'd still do her training now? She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep it up, with everything that'd happened.

She zoned out for a bit while she stared at her plate, so when a big platter of food just like the twins' platters hit the table in front of her, she startled and nearly fell out of her seat.

"Now this is food," Unaril grinned at her, snaking a hand in and stealing her old, nearly-empty plate before she could even react, which he spontaneously tossed toward the food storage, the remaining berries flying every which way, then nudged the plentiful platter so that it was right in front of her. The two sat down across from her and Sarion looked at her expectantly. "Dig in."

Nyela frowned and inspected her food. In truth, it did look quite good. They'd arranged the different foods so it looked surprisingly artistic, not at all like the mountains they'd created for themselves. It was appetizing, for sure. But at the same time, Nyela couldn't bring herself to eat.

Sarion looked back up at her after a moment of indulging in his food, a piece of bread in his hand as he chewed. He swallowed first, his golden eyes watching her curiously from under his dark brows before he finally spoke.

"I have an idea," he said, and Unaril raised his head to look at his brother.

"An idea?" Nyela smirked. "Sounds dangerous."

A corner of Sarion's mouth tugged at a smile and he raised one hand from where it'd been resting on the table and pointed a finger at her. "I'd like to challenge you, Nyela, to an eating contest." He then sent her a smug grin, a look both inviting and provoking at the same time.

Nyela squinted at him. "An eating contest?"

He looked around at all their plates. "I'd say we have pretty much equal amounts of food. Whoever finishes their plate first wins."

Unaril suddenly looked excited. "I'd like to partake in said contest."

Sarion held his hands out in a shrug, his elbows resting on the table, before he folded his fingers together again and nodded his head toward Nyela. "It's up to her."

She looked down at her plate, then glanced back up at the twins, one brow raised. She knew why he was doing this. He wanted her to eat. It was quite obvious, but then again she didn't want to be a spoil sport. They were just trying to help.

They eyed her expectantly, so she finally sighed and let a smile creep onto her face.

"Fine."

Both brothers looked triumphant, and Unaril made to eat his food, but Sarion stopped him.

"Wait," Sarion laughed, "We've got to time it. On countdown, ready?" He quirked a brow at Nyela.

"Ready," she smirked.

Sarion glanced at his brother with a cocky smile, then began counting. "Three, two, one!"

Nyela took a bite of her food, but then due to her own laughter nearly spit it out when she caught sight of the brothers. They'd both begun digging into their food like animals, a sight most entertaining, and it was all she could do to keep her food in her mouth through her snickering. They weren't making a mess of things; on the contrary, they were surprisingly neat about it all, but somehow they were managing to shovel the food down faster than Nyela could have dreamed of doing herself.

It appeared this really was a serious contest, she noted, so she began to dig in as well. She wasn't going to lose a challenge all because of her lack of appetite.

After only a minute, Nyela began to slow down, and she let out a sigh, grabbing a pomegranate-like fruit off her plate and peeling its thick shell with her knife, then began nibbling on the juice-packed seeds one by one. She glanced up at the brothers and was not at all surprised to see that they were nearly halfway done with their entire plates. She smirked and let out a quiet laugh, amused by how invested they both were in this contest. Unaril glanced up from his plate at the sound of her laugh and paused.

"Oy!" he piped. "Contest isn't over yet! Don't stop now!"

Sarion looked at her as well, assessed what she was doing, and smirked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Keep trying. You could still get third place."

Nyela bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to hide a smile but failed. She rolled her eyes at him sarcastically.

"Mmm, as opposed to last place?"

He just sent her a wink, and she, still smiling, shook her head and put her focus back on her fruit again, which to be honest, she was enjoying.

Unaril cleared his throat and stood up from the table, grabbing his glass and giving them both a smug look.

"Well, seeing as I'm so far ahead and have already secured myself as the winner, I'm going to take a break to refill my drink."

He sauntered off toward the wine storage and Sarion just snickered to himself, watching his brother leave until he was out of earshot.

"I think he needs knocked down a peg or two," Sarion hummed, leaning back in his seat leisurely and picking at his thumbnail, no longer paying attention to his meal.

Nyela looked up at the raven-haired man. "And how do you plan to do that?"

He just gave her an impish stare and then leaned forward, reaching his long arms over the table and taking hold of her plate.

"You done with this?" he asked her.

She shrugged and nodded, so he, after sending a glance back to make sure Unaril wasn't watching, proceeded to dump Nyela's plate onto Unaril's, effectively filling it back up to its original amount. He separated the food out and bunched it up so it looked less like someone had tampered with it, then handed the empty plate back to Nyela.

"He won't fall for that," she said.

"That's not my intention," Sarion replied, leaning back and returning to his lazy, relaxed state in his seat, again picking at and cleaning his Night Elf's claw-like thumbnails.

Unaril returned shortly with a now-full glass in hand, and he sat down in his seat, though still not inspecting his plate as he drank. It appeared he hadn't noticed yet what Sarion had done, and Nyela bit back a smile, nibbling on her fruit.

Unaril placed his glass on the table. "You two ready to find out what losing tastes like?"

"Actually I'm afraid you're too late," Sarion said nonchalantly, still not looking over at his brother. "We already have a winner."

"What?" Unaril half-laughed, looking at Sarion's plate. "You haven't fin-" he stopped when his eyes rested on Nyela's empty platter.

"How did you..?" He cocked his head, appearing thoroughly entertained and impressed.

Nyela smirked and waved her hands around. "Magic!" she exclaimed over-enthusiastically.

She caught Sarion's smile to the side as Unaril looked down at his own plate, then at hers, and finally made the connection.

"Hey!" he began laughing. "You cheated!"

"I did nothing but eat," Nyela responded, holding her hands up innocently. It's true, she thought to herself. Sarion had technically done it; all she'd done was eat her fruit.

"I guess we have no choice but to give her the honor of first place," Sarion shrugged resignedly.

Unaril's thoughts were projected through his expressions as he flipped from argumentative to thoughtful and then finally to resigned. He let out a drawn-out, exaggerated sigh.

"Fine," he drawled. He sent Sarion a scathing glance, though his eyes were still somehow twinkling. "Just so you know, if I'd done that to you, you'd have stuffed that food right back onto her plate. Or thrown it in her face. Or mine..." He smirked. "Food would be thrown."

"Speaking of thrown," Sarion half-smiled, glossing over what Unaril said with nothing more than a smug flash in his expression. "You may want to go grab that plate you so unceremoniously chucked into the grass over there earlier. Silverpaw won't be happy if he comes back to a trashed, littered orchard. There's no spell to fix laziness."

He wasn't all that happy when he left, either, Nyela recalled the look her father had given her right before he went through the portal.

Unaril rolled his eyes jokingly. "Silverpaw? Unhappy?" He snorted. "Please. The man wouldn't even get angry if someone pissed in his shoes."

"What's that about pissing in my shoes?"

Nyela could swear she'd just heard her father's voice, yet for a moment she didn't really process it. It wasn't until both Unaril and Sarion had stood to greet the man that Nyela finally realized that Lucian was standing behind her.

She turned slowly in her seat and craned her neck up to see her father, unsure of the sight that'd greet her when she did so. Honestly, she was worried. Why was he back so early? Where was Julian? Was he okay, or..?

She cleared her throat.

"H-hi," she croaked a little too quietly.

He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving it a subtle squeeze. "Hey," he said softly, kneeling down beside her seat so he was a little more on her level. "Why didn't you come with us to Darnassus?"

"Is Julian okay?" Nyela ignored his question.

"I... I wouldn't say he's 'okay'," Lucian murmured. "Alive? Yes... Okay?" He shook his head, "Not quite."

Nyela felt her lip tremble but she steadied her emotions for the moment.

"I really am sorry," she said, "I didn't know that thing could hurt him. I feel so horrible... If I'd done something about it, he'd still be okay. It's my fault, all of it." Her throat was tight, again on the verge of tears, and at her words Lucian's brows turned up in concern and sympathy and he shook his head, silencing her as he wordlessly pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's not your fault. It was never your fault, Nyela," he reassured her, and she, now in the safety of her father's protection, began to cry for the bazillionth time that day. He continued, "I'm so sorry I snapped at you, Sweetheart. I was scared, and although that doesn't justify the blame I dropped on you, it's all I have. You don't have to forgive me."

Nyela tightened the hug in immediate, silent forgiveness, keeping her eyes scrunched shut. Her tears were now tears of relief. The fact that he wasn't angry with her, that he wasn't blaming her, had lifted such a huge weight off her shoulders that she didn't know had been building up since he'd left. She still felt responsible for what had happened, still felt like she was to blame, but having her father back on her side did wonders for her stress.

She heard Sarion clear his throat, serving as a reminder that he was still there.

"What news on Julian?" he asked Lucian.

Lucian let out a sigh.

"Come with me," he beckoned the three young elves, "I think it'll be better if I just show you."