***Author's Note*** Skylari actually belongs to a friend, and is her level 70 druid at the moment and one of our main RP sources, from which most of this story comes from. This section begins to introduce some love triangles and other types of family issues than taboo love/romance. And the same disclaimer stays, I don't own anything but Azhi, plot, and in this story, Zaeldra, Xavlen, and language spoken that doesn't make a lot of sense is Eredun, or the language of the Eredar (such as Kil'jaeden, Archimonde, Velen, and the general language spoken by the Burning Legion.)
One last thing before you read on! Any guesses on who the baby of the pregnant priestess might be? Hint! It's a girl!
Skylari drummed her fingers on her thigh as she waited for the initiation ceremony to end. She was relieved that new priestesses would be joining Elune and, at the same time, annoyed that she would be one of the ones in charge of overseeing their training. Wanting to distract her mind from the frustration of having to teach rituals, prayers, mantras, songs, and proper stances, she began to focus on the statistics of how many initiates would stay for a week.
Skylari looked them over, a gentle, warm smile hiding her calculations. The first lot to the altar seemed pretentious at best. The tallest girl—the one that stood out—however, looked as though she would make it past not only the first week, but ultimately wind up a potential High Priestess. Her name was Shadowsong. Skylari couldn't remember her first name, but she was pleased to see another girl with white hair joining the ranks.
The next group was the typical, sent from home on a pilgrimage, trying to stay out of trouble crowd. The third girl looked pregnant, but dedicated to her cause. The others looked like their mothers and fathers had thrown them out in the rain and pointed towards the temple. Clueless.
Upon deeper observation, Skylari realized the third girl in the row not only looked pregnant, but she was pregnant. Extremely. The way she walked made it seem that her water had already broken, and that she was using sheer willpower to hold the child in.
Then, as the ceremony began to unfold, Sky had to catch her breath to stop from gasping. The initiates removed their hoods, bowed to their goddess, and turned for approval. The girl in the second lot smiled weakly at her before walking out to be judged worthy or not.
The girl was Skylari's mother.
"What the hell were you thinking! Actually trying to interact with future times!"
"Buuuut Mada! Mada, you does interact!"
"I do only because it is my job! It's what mada gets paid to do!"
"Mada no get paid at all! Mada is not worker! She be do work with bada!"
"And I also disagree with you manipulating time—especially the time in the future of worlds that yet belong to us. And you, Lyla'mna varudesh Zaeldra'mna, are too connected in that time for us to continue this discussion while you hold the point. Later. I'll discipline her."
"Azshiri'nga madru'ashavri calvatoreh…"
"Ziendra, come. I've no time to walk back and forth between you and Xavlen."
"Azhi, wake up already!"
Azhi shook her head and pried her eyes open to find two concerned gold eyes staring back at her. "I'm fine…" she mumbled, pushing Illidan away. Her thoughts were trying to analyze what she had been hearing—or dreaming. The whole thing almost made sense. It was like she was spying on someone accidentally, and they knew she was there. Instead of immediately casting her out, they teased her, welcomed her, gave her a simple taste of their world.
"You just fell unconscious, Azhi, and you are trying to convince me that you are fine? Really?" Illidan ranted, pulling her into his lap and guarding her predatorily. "After you get over the daze, I am taking you home."
"You will not, and I'll make it an order if you protest," Azhi growled back. She sat up and shoved his arms from around her. She wanted to contact the people in her dream again. She needed to—she felt like they were just as much family as her own parents were.
"Seriously, Azhi? You'll order me?"
"I will. The dream you had. Describe it again, Illidan. Now."
"A little girl called me Iffidan, told me she'd met me, but not yet. And that I wouldn't be able to forget her once we did meet, though it seemed past-tense for her. She had a really guttural accent and a strange speech impediment that made all of her l's sound like f's. And she giggled a lot, and when she did, it was half-eerie, half-cute. Kinda like a bea—"
"So she acted like she was from the future. Because she was. And her name is Ziendra. And her mother's name is Zaeldra. And she has a little brother named Xavlen…but the father, I didn't get his name," Azhi stated. Illidan just stared at her blankly, waiting for more revelations to come and something about what she said to make sense.
Instead, Azhi stood up and pulled off her boots. Tossing them aside, she eased her feet into the shallow, pale blue waters of the moonwell. The sparkles fluttered up around her and teased her arms while the surrounding wisps began to hum an ancient tune. Azhi smiled and hummed along a few moments, then began to discern the tune. The Song of Elune was always a favored melody of theirs, but today they sang something much darker.
"What are you thinking, Azhi?" Illidan asked, interrupting the song and her thoughts. She turned to him with a scowl but her face softened when she saw his genuine interest.
"I just don't recognize the song today, is all. And I am trying to figure out what it is."
"The…song? Song of who?"
"You don't hear the songs the wisps sing, Illidan?"
He shook his head slowly and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply to try and find the melody she spoke of. He heard crickets and toads and bugs buzzing around, but no song. Not unless you counted nature as a song, which many did. His brother was one of those people. Illidan shook his head again and opened his eyes. Startled by Azhi's face being just two inches from his he fell backwards.
"Maybe you're going deaf, then?" she giggled. He growled at her and tried to push her away, only knocking her just off balance enough to fall on top of him. The sudden contact winded them both, and Azhi went quiet and her face darkened in embarrassment.
Illidan blinked once, then again. His mind was teetering back and forth between wanting her to get off of him and wondering why she was making no effort to get off of him. Azhi sat up slowly, her legs astride him and smirked down at him through her blushing.
"I'm really throwing your chemistry out of whack, aren't I."
"Azhi, if your mother knew—if your father knew! Off! I don't want to die!" Illidan shouted, his face flushed worse than hers and his actions directly counteracting his words.
She laughed and obeyed, despite having the upper hand in the situation. "If my father knew, you wouldn't be worried about dying."
"No, no I wouldn't…have you seen what he does to people? Hell, did you see what he did to his own face?"
A quick slap across Illidan's cheek reminded him that family ties made things much more understandable and forgivable than the ties of apprentice to master, or citizen to leader.
"Sorry…I'm still not handling the fact that your father is a Satyr, and of all the Satyr to be, he is Xavius, Lord Counselor of Azshara. Though it really makes a lot more sense than her being with any…low rank guy, I guess."
"Is every conversation in this stupid world about who has what rank? The Kal'dorei hate the Quel'dorei, the Quel'dorei hate the Kal'dorei! We're all from the same stupid ancestry, some of us just look a little different and wield a little different magic than the others! We're just as equal as the trees and bushes!" Azhi scolded, slapping Illidan again with less emphasis. He sighed and rubbed his cheek, thankful she was wearing cloth gloves as opposed to mail. No mail also meant she really didn't intend to run away.
"Azhi, really…I'm just confused, is all. I'm not good at saying things—"
"Can you not just shut up or apologize and let it go, Illidan Stormrage?"
"I…no. I don't let go of things," he growled. And before he could get slapped again, he grabbed her hand gently and kissed her. "I can shut up though."
She pushed him away and turned back to the well, listening to the wisps change their tune. Suddenly it was happy and bouncy. The music was mirroring her internal emotions, it felt. "Illidan, things don't really make sense to me either…but it's about dusk and I want to go talk to Sky. You want to come?"
"Yeah, I'd love to, but I really don't feel like being glowered at by matrons and sitting on a wall outside while the two of you chitchat. So…I'll see you around?"
"Don't be having sex with Mal tonight. I'm coming over. You two still live in Suramar, ninth house down the main road, right?"
"That's the place. I'll be sure to tell him you're coming, so he can rant and rave about not having enough time to clean house," Illidan chuckled.
"And yet you're the bitch in the relationship," Azhi snickered back, whistling sharply and hopping onto her personal nightsaber. "Be around moon fall that I'll be there, tell him not to worry about being too fancy. "
Before Illidan could respond or argue, Azhi was fading into the distance headed towards the temple just a mile north of his house. Standing in a mild daze, he waved and turned to call his own nightsaber who had chewed through his leash and run off. Cursing loudly and frequently, he began walking home.
Skylari had gone outside as soon as the ritual was over, only talking to those who talked first and avoiding as many people as she possibly could. She wrung her hands over and over as she stared up at the moon, praying for guidance on what to do. Priestesses weren't required to be celibate, and they weren't required to avoid getting pregnant. However, during the training, they were not allowed to raise their children. Skylari knew that her sibling would be put up for adoption if her mother was accepted into the priesthood. And the deep, foreboding feeling in her stomach begged that the child be raised by a Kal'dorei, not a noble.
"What's up with the high priestess in training this lovely, cloudy evening?" a voice chirped from beside her. She couldn't help but smile as the Princess of the Night Elves threw her legs over the balcony and settled in, eyes set on the moon.
"She has a bit to think about. And what is going on with the Princess?"
"I got better, obviously, and ran away for a while. Mom is in one of her moods…well, really just the mood. I don't want to hear that sort of thing while I recover," Azhi explained. She noticed Skylari's face grow severe and bitter and gently reached out to take her hand.
"Apparently, Azhi, my own mother had those sentiments not too long ago…" she murmured in response. Azhi squeezed her hand gently and leaned her head on Sky's shoulder. A long moment passed and neither girl spoke until the clouds completely covered the moon, turning it into a bright hazy circle as opposed to the glorious symbol of their goddess.
"She came to the temple to become a priestess. And if they accept her, the child is to be sent elsewhere to be raised. With the current state of the Quel'dorei and their constant bickering…I'm not sure who I want to raise my younger sibling. Not that I have any real choice in the matter."
Azhi listened intently, understanding the concern and political unrest all too well. Before she got sick she remembered highborne vanishing, rumors going around about murder, torture, portals to dark realms, and power. Though she'd only been lucid two days at most, she could feel the anxiety from before steadily rising. "I'd take it in, if your mother would agree. My parents would be ornery about it, but I'd be willing to raise the child…"
"You're still a child yourself. Not even a choice, Azhi," Sky snapped, then quickly added, "But thank you for offering. It's a better plan than anything I've come up with. Maybe it's best you give me some space to process all that's going on…it's not right of me to snap at you because I'm uncertain."
Azhi smiled and nodded, quickly hugging Sky and standing up on the edge of the balcony. "I'll see you—"
She slipped, dizzy from the quick stand and still exhausted from being ill. The fall was five stories down and Azhi reached the bottom in four seconds. The murmurs around her seemed cheerful and peaceful, the warmth flooding around her head relaxing. Her eyes flickered back and forth between open and shut as she tried to figure out where she was. Giving up and deciding the best thing she could do was get some rest, Princess Azshiri slipped into a coma.