After the shadows long faded, a feast was prepared at Amuuru's table, which was currently growing smaller with each guest. Dinner was a feast which Orlaith and Roan had worked on, of Imperial Manta Steak, Tender Shoveltusk Steak, Sauteed Goby, and Smoked Rockfin. Roan taught her a little more in the art of Northrend Cooking, and she graciously listened.
"Thank you so much, Roan," as she took a platter of Rockfin to the table.
"My pleasure. But I know how much you and Kay miss Akken's cooking. I'm sure he'll be back soon," the rogue winked at her. Rolling her eyes, Orlaith couldn't stop a smile from creeping up on her face.
"What made you want to be so skilled in the art of cooking?"
"My family, or lack there of, I guess. I've been on my own since my youth. I figured I better learn to take care of myself, or I'd end up eating my boots at the end of the day."
"I'm sorry. Did you lose them to the wars?"
"No," Roan hesitated, "they just wanted me to be something I'm not." He shrugged, as he brought another tray to the table and set up cups and plates.
"O-oh," the priestess understood that feeling all too well. "I see. Well, my family wanted me to become a great huntress or warrior. Look where I am, now. And I'm happier than I've ever been," she beamed.
"Yes, finding the right class is important." He nodded, not showing much emotion back. The priestess felt she went too far, and her cheeks darkened.
"So," she changed the subject, "I heard that you and Sabina were caught in the backyard doorway." She raised an eyebrow and grinned. Something she learned from her paladin. "Kay told me everything." The rogue felt his ears twitch as he held back a cringe.
"Well, what exactly did he say?" Trying to keep his cool, the blood elf ran his hand through his sleek onyx locks.
"You two raised the temperature about twenty degrees. I must say, bravo! But boo at being caught."
"Please," it was his turn to roll his eyes, shrugging off her comment.
"I'm dying to know," she stopped working and looked up at him, her eyes glittering with excitement, "do you like her?" Roan felt himself tense up, and the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. Usually, the question of his feelings for a female were easy to answer. It came with a crude joke and shrugging it off, but this was Sabina they were talking about. She wasn't just any ordinary girl he'd spent the night with.
"Um," he stalled, swallowing hard since his mouth had suddenly gone dry as the Barrens. Then, he heard the night elf giggle.
"You two are cute," murmured the priestess, clearly amused with the match.
"So you've asked her the same question?" It was Roan's turn to be amused. He watched her hesitate, and then he knew he had his answer. "So why don't you share with me what she said?" An onyx eyebrow shot up, as he grinned with his seductive smile.
"Elune save me," fearing she might have said too much, the priestess shuddered and pursed her lips.
"Is it possible that the pretty little warlock means what she says, and loathes me?" He suggested, carefully examining the night elf's face to judge the answer. "Or could it be that she cares for me, but doesn't want anyone to know?" he lowered his voice, and watched as Orlaith's eyes grew wider and she squeezed her lips together tighter. Roan was victorious. He had his answer and smiled triumphantly.
"I see," he nodded, covering his smile with his hand.
"Don't you go thinking anything different from before, you darned rogue!" Orlaith cried, as she flung a wooden spoon at him from the counter. The blood elf ducked, and the spoon clattered to the floor, harmlessly.
"Or the bonds of sisterhood will be broken? Really, are we children here?" Roan found himself suddenly annoyed. By the Light, any talk of the warlock jeopardized his mood.
"I warn you, Roan, do not go changing plans over this news. She never even admitted it herself, I think she is terribly confused at the thought of you."
"'Terribly confused' you say? I can still work with that," he mused.
"Roan, please don't. You can see it in her eyes, she's broken."
"Broken!" he repeated, in anger and disbelief as a hand shot up to his forehead. "I think she's completely in tact, just too damned proud to admit what she feels." Biting her lip in hesitation, Orlaith felt that his latter statement was true, but her theory was just as correct as his.
"Just be cautious," she suggested, "and use the spirit in your heart instead of the spirit in your breeches." Orlaith leaned out the kitchen window, and called for everyone to come to the table. She pulled her head back in, and gave one more ominous glance at the rogue before everyone else started piling in.
At the table, Sabina's eyes darted from Roan to Orlaith. They were watching each other closely, with furrowed brows. A disagreement perhaps? She wondered, as she picked at her food.
"Is it not good, Sabina?" Asked Roan, who had currently shifted his glowing eyes to her. Even though Amuuru was between them, she felt she was too close to him as the blood rose to her cheeks.
"No, it's good," she answered, forcing herself to look down at her half-eaten plate of food. Everyone else but she was already finishing up. "I just don't eat much," she defended. Just as there was an awkward silence that fell over the table, there was a knock on the front door. Everyone jumped, as the possibility of Horde guards could be at the door sunk in. Orlaith shot up from her chair, grabbing the warlock's wrist and dragged her into a closet in one of the back rooms.
"It could be Akken," Sabina whispered hopefully, as she silently prayed under her breath that the warped paladin who sent her on the mission to recover the scrolls hadn't discovered her yet.
"It also could be any member of the Horde," whispered Orlaith, as she gripped the warlock's hand tightly. "Or worse," she squeezed her eyes shut. Sabina found herself trembling, knowing she would never forgive herself if Roan and the others were killed at her expense. The priestess recognized her fear, and drew her close into an embrace. They silently clung together, listening carefully at the voices in the kitchen. Then, the warlock recognized Roan's voice, as he spoke calmly in Orcish. She breathed a sigh of relief. She heard Amuuru speak, and then a light voice of a female. Who in Azeroth would come here this late at night?
"Do you understand what they are saying?" Sabina whispered to the priestess.
"I think so," Orlaith murmured back. "Roan's saying that she shouldn't be here, and it's dangerous."
"Who?"
"I don't know. The female says that she has been looking for him for a very long time. I think she's hurt that Roan is rejecting her." The warlock felt a pang of jealousy surge through her body, but then silenced with a wave of relief that he was sending the female on her way. They heard the female sob, and light footsteps running out of the house. Then, they heard heavier footsteps chasing after the lighter ones.
"What's going on?" The warlock demanded of Orlaith, but the closet doors flew open, and they blinked as light filled the tiny space.
"Wow. I must say, this is kind of erotic," mused Kay, smiling at the two females hiding in his closet, both tight in an embrace.
"You filthy pig," the priestess growled, as they stood up, straitening their skirts.
"What happened?" The warlock asked. This was unusual, considering she would have first punished Kay, then stormed out of the room. However, there were more important things transpiring at the moment.
"A female blood elf came, looking for Roan. Roan told her she shouldn't be here, and she ran out of here." The paladin shrugged, "and then he ran after her." Sabina put a hand to her throat as she swallowed her hurt.
"Are you okay, Sabina?" asked Orlaith.
"I'm fine," she lied, as she dragged her feet to the kitchen. Amuuru was cleaning up the plates, and the warlock started to help her.
"Who was that?" Sabina asked the old shaman.
"I'm not sure."
"Do you know why Roan ran after her?" The shaman shook her head. The warlock felt anger bubbling deep within her. It was impossible that no one in the house knew what relationship the strange female had with the rogue. It had to be a former lover, seeking him out for a night alone together. To make matters worse, he had chased after her! He still wanted her! Sabina tossed her crimson bangs out of her face and scowled, as she roughly scraped the plates clean into the front garden for composting. After the table was cleared, she stormed off to her room and slammed the door behind her. Amuuru rolled her eyes. How much longer were these two going to keep at it?
Roan chased the female into the darkness, determined to catch her. She stopped to try and mount up, he threw himself at her, interrupting her summon. She sprawled beneath him, and the blood elf looked up at him with sorrowful eyes.
"Stop running, and just listen to me!" Roan ordered, grabbing her arms and pinning her beneath him. She looked away from him, casting her gaze out to the rolling hills away from them. "Lumina," he said, gently, as he touched the faded scar on her cheek. "I don't wish to cast you out, I just want you to know there are bigger things at work here than you, me, and Father." She nodded sheepishly. "If I let you go, do you promise not to run from me?" The female paladin nodded again, and he released her. She sat up and picked at the grass, nervously.
"Brother, I thought you would be overjoyed to see me," she said, almost in a whisper. He gazed at her, with sympathy for his timid sister. He caressed her long, dark hair that cascaded past her shoulders. Her complexion was like his, tanned and worn from years of harsh battle training, but in her eyes, they lacked the fire that Roan had.
"Lumina, I can't begin to describe how happy I am that you left Father's house and sought me out, but I don't know if you are ready for the burden that is to be taken on here."
"So the rumors are true?"
"What rumors?" The rogue's heart sank.
"There are rumors going around in the cities that there are neutral families scattered about Azeroth. A few weeks ago, I heard a light rumor from the servants that there was a very dark-haired rogue who had allied with one of those families, so I prayed to the Light that it would be you." She looked up at him, fearing he would send her away, even though she had traveled so far. Roan let the information all sink in, before he started asking questions.
"First of all, I have to ask because the curiosity is killing me," he scratched his obsidian head, "how the hell did you escape Father? Isn't he going to come looking for you?
"That's another reason why I sought you out, Roan." Her delicate face crumbled, and she fell into her little brother's arms. "Mother died a few months ago," she sobbed. The rogue wasn't surprised.
"Did the bastard kill her?" He winced as he remembered the beatings she endured were usually worse than what her children suffered through.
"I don't know," she sniffled, burying her face in Roan's shoulder. "One night I went to bed, kissed Mother good night, and when I woke up the next morning, one of the servants woke me to tell me that she had died peacefully in the night. I fear that it was all staged, that Father did somehow kill her, and that I was in great danger."
"By the Light, Lumina," he cursed something terrible, as he soothingly held his sister close. "I didn't know it had gotten that bad." She sobbed harder, trembling with years of hidden grief.
"I don't know why, but I think he felt bad for it." She made out through her tears.
"What?" The shock was enough to make him want to sit down, if he wasn't already in the grass with his sister. "How?"
"He started drinking late at night, and he locked himself in their room for hours at a time. He seemed to be mourning. He became harsher and stricter with his punishments with me, putting me in the cellar for tripping on the edge of a rug, and he started looking at me strangely. So one night, when he was giving me his strange look, I casted Hammer of Justice on him, and ran off."
"By the Light," Roan felt a terrible feeling deep in his belly. "I'm a terrible brother for leaving you there."
"No, no," Lumina sat up, wiping the tears from her glowing green eyes. "I should have listened to you all those years ago. I should have left with you, instead I made my choice. Today, I make a choice to follow where you are going. Are you really neutral, Roan?"
"Um," he hesitated. She spoke nothing of the scrolls, and it seemed like she had information that there were other neutral families like Amuuru's. "Lumina, you must understand, this is not an easy decision to make." He remembered the warlock, who was still struggling with neutrality.
"Roan, I've cast Father and Silvermoon aside, I'm so tired of living in fear of him. I want to be more like you!" She cried. "I beg you, Roan. Let me become neutral. I've had time to think about the idea, and it's settled with me!" She prayed that her brother would agree. The rogue sighed.
"I would take you in a heartbeat, sister. But the decision is not mine to make. Instead, I will take you to Amuuru. She can decide if we can take in another."
"Oh, Roan," her heart rejoiced, as she threw her arms around him. "Thank you!"
"I didn't say yes or no," he protested.
"I won't fail." She said, determinedly. "When can I meet with Amuuru?"
"Tonight, I guess. Why wait?"
"Oh, thank you, brother!" She cried, knowing that her salvation was near. She could smell her freedom.
Inside Amuuru's kitchen, the family stood and sat around the kitchen table. Orlaith and Sabina sat at the table, Kay stood behind his priestess, Amuuru stood next to Sabina, and Roan and Lumina stood on the opposite side.
"This," Roan began in Orcish, "is my sister, Lumina." Orlaith gasped, and Amuuru nodded. "Do me a favor and keep this little detail from our little warlock," he said.
"But why?" Orlaith asked in Orcish.
"I would like her to squirm a little," giving a wolfish grin, Roan looked to the warlock, whose eyes were currently glued to Lumina.
"This isn't time for games!" Spat Kay.
"Swear it to me, or we shall leave." The rogue snarled, and the family uttered an oath of secrecy. "Okay, thank you. Now, Lumina has recently abandoned our father's home, and she has some useful gossip that she heard in the cities. Tell them, sister."
"There are other families like yourselves. They hide within the ranks of Horde society, and some are banished to the far corners of Azeroth." The female paladin explained. "Also, there was a whisper of a dark-haired rogue among those lines."
"So they know about Roan?" Amuuru chimed in.
"I don't know," Lumina admitted, looking down at the floor.
"So, why have you come here, dear?" The shaman asked. Suddenly, her eyes snapped to the shaman, and her expression turned soft.
"Please, please let me join you all." She begged. The reactions went off around the table, except for Sabina, who didn't understand what they were talking about. "I beg you, I will be the most obedient servant." She dropped to a knee, and lowered her head, as if kneeling for knighthood.
"Dear, please stand," Amuuru spoke, as she went to her. She put a hand, kindly, to the young female's shoulder. "If you understand fully what you are committing yourself to, you are welcome to stay."
"I do," She rose from her position.
"Then let us become sisters," Orlaith started to stand, and she took her paladin's sword in her hands. Kay started to protest, but she stopped him with a kiss on his cheek. She took the blade and sliced her hand. Lumina's eyes shot open in amazement, as the priestess held her hand out for the other female to shake. Roan whispered in his sister's ear what to do, and she nodded, taking her own blade out and slashed through her palm. She gritted her teeth as sharp pain shot up her arm, and she took the night elf's hand in her own.
"I hope Akken gets back before this harem drives me insane," Kay said, rather curtly.
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Sabina asked in Common, as she looked around the room.
"Sabina," Orlaith smiled at her, "this is-" Roan caught her eyes and gave her a ominous stare. "-A friend of Roan's. She heard rumors of a blood elf resembling him took refuge with a neutral family, so she tracked him down to become a neutral herself." The warlock lowered a glare to the beauty that had just exchanged blood with the priestess. The female paladin's eyes grew wide, as she feared the warlock was challenging her.
"Roan," Sabina's vengeful glance switched to the rogue, who was hiding his amusement in how much she was affected by all of this. "You're a loathsome swine who I do not wish to associate myself with anymore." With that she stuck her chin out, and spun on her heel to her room, slamming the door behind her. The rest of the family was left to themselves. Kay started laughing, as Amuuru and Orlaith shook their heads at the rogue.
"Don't worry," he grinned. "She'll come around."