Chapter 25: The Tomb of Sargeras

The next three days were some of the best Addy could remember since the attack on Westfall. Whenever they could find a moment alone they would be attached at the lips. They had a kind of freedom that they'd never had in Stormwind, able to sneak around the ship, hiding from the guards, sneaking out beer and wine and drinking in the hidden places, before getting closer than they had before. They never made that final step, maybe due to hesitation on both sides. Like if they continued, slept together, it would become real again, instead of the magical dream like state that they'd been living in.

Anduin was very different from any other man she'd been with. He was...romantic, in a classical way. Like the stories of knights in shining armour winning the love of the fair lady with a single rose. Most people she had known were dirty and rough and rude. She'd never cared much before - after all she was all of those things. But there was something...nice, about having someone who seemed just as smitten with her as she was with him.

The last day of the trip to Pandaria was bittersweet. Addy knew that once they were back home things would be different. There would be no time for stolen kisses and hazy nights of embraces and caresses fuelled by booze. It would be back to hundreds of eyes watching their every move, and political games that would keep them at arms length.

Addy instinctively tried to pull away, hiding away in the kitchens, chopping vegetables and cleaning the dishes three times over as she avoided facing Anduin.

He still found her.

She'd been carrying a crate of ginger to the back of the kitchen when she spotted him leaning against the wall next to a boiling pot. She jumped, cursing lightly as she moved to place the crate down on the wooden table, "Anduin."

HIs arms were crossed and he was watched her carefully, like she might flee at any moment. She hated the thought - she wasn't some kind of scared deer.

"You've been avoiding me." He accused.

Addy scoffed, "No. Of course not. Daryl needed some help."

"Daryl has managed just fine for the last twenty years." Anduin chuckled, reaching forward to snatch a ladle out of her hands. She grimaced, disliking how transparent she was. Or maybe it was just him. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" She shook her head, avoiding eye contact, "Nothing is wrong. It's the last day and Daryl wanted to do an inventory count for the trip back to see if we need anything-"

"Is it cause it's the last day?" Anduin speculated.

"Alright, yes. Fine. It's because it's the last day." Addy snapped at him, turning around to grab another crate, this time of tomatoes, "The last few days have been...fantastic." Her voice grew wistful, "And now it's over. We arrive at Pandaria tomorrow and then the negotiations and then that's it. We go home and you'll be back to your day job and I'll go off to...where I'm needed."

His face grew a bit pinched at that, and he looked down sadly, "There's always the trip back."

"The trip back." Addy repeated dryly, plopping the crate down on top of the ginger.

Anduin nodded, walking close up to her and placing on hand on each side of her, effectively blocking her in. "Maybe we don't have a lot of time, but shouldn't we make the most of it?"

She felt a smile cross her face involuntary. Anduin's unwavering optimism still charmed her. "Or should we stop before we have to say goodbye?" She countered.

Anduin hummed lightly, before leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her lips, "Maybe I don't want to say goodbye."

Addy looked around to see if Daryl was around before reached her arms around his waist pulling herself closer. He was wearing his casual clothes today. No sash or overcoat, just a white button shirt with navy slacks into his black buckled boots. His hair was loose today, how she liked it. She liked to run her hands through it, working out the tangles like she could work out his stress. He was stressed, always, more than he showed. She hated it. He was too kind for such a thing. She reached up and started to smooth out the wrinkled skin between his eyebrows.

"We still have today." Addy finally conceded, "And maybe the trip back, Depending on how well the summit goes, and whether or not your father recovers."

Anduin snorted, "He won't. He's counting down the seconds to when he make landfall."

Addy snorted. Anduin claimed his father didn't care much what he got up to regarding her, but she still worried.

"Well then, Your Highness." Addy pushed at his chest, making him take a step back. "What shall we do on our last day?"

Anduin paused for a moment, thinking, before a large grin crossed his face and he grabbed her hand.

"Follow me."

"Come on." Anduin started to make his way up a ladder. Addy paused to ask if they were allowed up there, before once again remembering who she was with. Shaking her head in exasperation she started to climb the ladder to the top.

They were on top of the upper deck, the highest point on the ship. To the left she could see the edge of the ship with a sheer drop to the ocean down below. To the right she could see the entire ship, which was empty at this time of night. On the other side, in the distance, she could see the lone man at the wheel, guiding them through the sky.

"Come here." Anduin motioned to the middle of the roof. He sat down, and then laid on his back looking up at the sky.

Addy took a few steps, but then stumbled, holding out her arms to balance herself. "Are you sure about this?"

"It's fine." Anduin chuckled, "I've done it loads of times. Besides there's all sorts of charms on the ship to stop people from falling overboard."

"Oh." Addy felt a bit better, keeping her arms out as she walked over to Anduin, falling to her knees and then moving to lay down next to him, grumbling, "Wish I knew that earlier."

Anduin chuckled. "I love coming up here, when we're above the clouds it's the best place to look at the stars. It's so clear and dark, you can see forever."

Addy turned to look upwards, her eyes blinking in the darkness as the stars spread across the sky. She supposed it was different for him, but she had always been able to see the stars from her home in Westfall. She lived so far away from anything, the stars had always been so bright.

"That's the Lion of Lordaeron." Anduin pointed to a group of stars in the corner of the sky, "Named so hundreds of years ago. Some just call it the Lion, or the Lion of Stormwind these days, but the old name persists. The Trolls call it Kimbal, after the Loa. And over there, that's Zin-kal, the glory of the stars as named by the Night Elves. To them it takes the shape of the great handmaiden of Elune. The Trolls call it Bwonsamdi, loa of death. Humans have called it the Great Queen."

Addy let her eyes flicker over the stars. Her grandfather had taught her all the great constellations as a child, but it was interesting to know what other races called them.

"The Orcs don't have their own names for the constellations." Anduin continued, "They usually go by Troll trolls have named all the stars after the Loa. Humans name them after great tales, and most of the constellations in Night Elf lore are related to Elune. Blood Elves worship the sun, not the moon, so they don't have names for them. Dwarves and Gnomes are underground creatures, and the Draenei would just tell you that each star is a giant source of warmth and energy for the worlds surrounding them."

Addy nodded, looking up. She could see both moons in the sky, something that wasn't common in Westfall. "Elune is the larger moon, right?"

"Yeah." Anduin pointed towards the large white pearl shining down on them, "The White Lady is called Elune. The Tauren calls it Mu'sha, the left eye of the Earthmother. The blue Child.." Anduin pointed at the smaller moon, which looked like a swirling blue ocean in the sky, "Well the Blue Child is kind of a mystery. It vanished for a number of years. The Tauren say the Earthmother sent the Blue Child away to learn about the universe as the Burning Legion approached us a number of years ago. But it came afterwards."

"Well." Addy turned her head to grin at him, "If it vanishes again, then maybe they're onto something."

Anduin chuckled, shaking his head, "At this point, I don't know if there's anything else the universe could do to help us."

Addy blinked at his somber statement, and then turned her whole body so she was laying on her side, staring at him, "There's us."

"Us?" He snorted.

She rolled her eyes, "The people. Us. I'm sure as hell not going to just let them take us down without a fight."

Anduin stared at her, a small smile on his face. His eyes were bright and he leaned down, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose, making her wrinkle her nose a bit.

He grinned, "You have the stars on your face."

Addy reached up to touch her freckles, flushing brightly.

"The brightest star in the sky." Anduin whispered, "Jai'alator, the Noble Blade of Elune."

Addy leaned in closer, pressing her lips against his as she whispered, "And where is that one?"

"Right in front of me." He whispered, pressing his lips firm against her. Addy grinned, her face burning. She leaned back onto her back, and he let himself twist to lean over her, kissing her gently as she cupped his face.

He pulled away and Addy giggled a bit, feeling a bit childish. She smacked his chest playfully, "Get off me your highness, and show me the stars."

Anduin landed back onto his back with a dramatic 'oof' and she giggled, wiggling closer to him she he could put his arm around her shoulder, both of them looking up at the stars again.

"Jai'alator is on the right hand of Elune." Anduin chuckled, pointing his hand out "It's right..."

He froze.

Addy blinked, looking around the area he was pointing. There were dozens of bright stars there, but none that truly stood out. Addy turned her head to look up at him, "Where?"

"I..." Anduin frowned, furrowing his eyebrow as he scanned the night sky, before pointing in a new place, still by Elune, but much further than he'd originally been pointing, "Right there."

Addy saw it. It was indeed bright, brighter than even the Blue Child. But something in Anduin's tone was bugging her. "What's wrong."

Anduin was looking at all the constellations now. He pulled his arm free of her head and Addy placed her elbows behind her to steady herself.

"This isn't right?" Anduin shook his head, pulling himself to his feet, "We're going the wrong way."

Addy looked up, then looked at him, "We are?"

"Yes." Anduin held his hand out, pulling her to her feet, "We are. Come on, we need to see what's going on."

They traversed the entirety of the ship, which was empty this time of night, passing only the occasional on duty solider who saluted as they passed. They reached the stairs that lead to the helm.

Anduin took the stairs two at a time, "Lieutenant." He called onto the deck as Addy cautiously climbed behind him, not sure if she should be there, "Why are we off course?"

As Addy got to the top of the deck she saw the Lieutenant, standing next to the wheel, his face a bit pale and his eyes wide in panic as the Prince approached him, demanding answers.

"Er, Well - Your Highness..." The man stuttered, looking between the wheel and Anduin, "I...you see.."

He motioned wordlessly to the wheel.

Anduin looked back at Addy, who shrugged. They both walked over to the large wheel, looking at it in confusion.

A burst of purple light covered the wheel and it shifted slightly, changing the position of the ship without anyone touching it. Addy jumped back a bit in surprise, looking between Anduin and the wheel with wide eyes.

But Anduin wasn't looking at the wheel, stead his gaze was fixed just behind Addy on the other side of the helm. She frowned and turned.

She only jumped a little bit when she saw a man standing on the edge of the ship, looking down over the sea with a spyglass pressed against his eye. Addy stood on her tip toes, trying to look down to see what the man was looking at, but there was nothing but the dark sea and the occasional cloud that rolled past the ship.

Addy looked back at Anduin to see what he made of this, but the Prince had relaxed, staring at the man with an exasperated grin.

"Khadgar?"

Khadgar? Addy had heard that name before, plenty of times from Anduin himself. He was an Archmage, wasn't he? A really powerful one, and the one who was apparently searching Azeroth for the location of the Legion's portal.

"Ah, Anduin." Khadgar spoke, not looking away from his spyglass, "I suppose his Majesty is still feeling ill?"

Anduin turned to look at the helmsman, nodding at him. The poor man bowed and scurried down the stairs and into the ship. Anduin looked back at Khadgar, "I don't know what you're talking about." He chuckled, and Addy remembered that the official reason for the King's absence is diplomatic meetings with other Alliance leaders.

But Khadgar was obviously not buying it, "Even as a child he had troubles handling the sea. I remember he was ill for much of our journey from Stormwind to Lordaeron after the sacking. Ah, listen to me." He dropped his spyglass, turning to face them, his eyes were bright and playful and he glad large smile lines around his eyes, "Talking about the old days...I'm starting to sound as old as I look."

Anduin frowned, "What are you doing here? Why change our heading?"

"Apologies Your Highness." Khadgar winced slightly, "But this was an opportunity I couldn't refuse."

Without a word he held out a the Spyglass towards Addy.

Addy blinked at him, surprised he was acknowledging her at all. She looked at Anduin, wondering what he wanted her to do, but he just shrugged, motioning for her to take it.

Addy walked forward, grabbing the Spyglass and peering out over the ocean.

She helped and pulled it from her eyes as a surge of vertigo hit her.

"Sorry!" Khadgar steadied her, "I forgot to warn you. It's charmed, see. To see through clouds and at a further distance. It can see past the horizon which can cause some dizziness if you're not prepared."

"Right." Addy grumbled, staring a the spyglass distrustfully. Freaking Mages. She slowly took the spy glass up, her brain lurching for a moment before she took a deep breath and waited for her mind to catch up. A few moments later it cleared up and she looked through the spyglass normally

She scanned the water, not really sure what she was looking for.

"Where should I loo- Oh!"

She had to resist the urge to rip away the spyglass and search over the water. But she knew that she could only see it with the help of the magic spyglass.

It was a tower, taller than anything she'd ever seen. With tall columns in layers up the side and statutes taller even than those in the valley of heroes. Even from here she could see the elven ears and stones carved into folded cloth that fell down the side of the monument. The base of the monument was hidden beyond the horizon, too far away for even the spyglass to sea.

Addy pulled the spyglass away and blinked, allowing her eyes to readjust. She handed it to Anduin as she gapped at Khadgar, "What is that?!"

Anduin looked through it, and Addy noted with embarrassment that he didn't seem to have any issues with the magic lens.

"I believe..." Khadgar wrung his hands, a mixture of worry and excitement. "That it's the Temple of Elune."

Anduin startled at that, dropping the spyglass and gapping at the mage, " As in... The Temple of Elune. Capital T?"

Khadgar nodded solemnly and Addy felt something nudging in her chest, like she should know something.

"What's that mean?" She asked, looking between them. "The Temple of Elune? I thought-"

"The original temple." Anduin explained, looking the same mix of excited and worried that Khadgar had been earlier, "The Temple of Elune in Suramar the Ancient Kal'dorei city that was lost after the Sundering. The same one-"

"-That Aegwynn sank into the ocean." Addy finished, her eyes wide, "Where she trapped Sargeras...like in the story?"

"Yes." Khadagr nodded, "Aegwynn was a very real person, still is really." He mumbled that last bit to himself, "She was the mother of the Great Guardian Medivh and one of the most powerful mages Azeroth has ever seen."

Addy leaned over to Anduin to whisper, "Are there Dragons here?"

Anduin looked like he was fighting a laugh, "Don't worry, you're safe."

She smacked his shoulder, her face flushing red as she turned to listen to Khadgar again.

"She never fought the true Sargeras." Khadgar continued, "Only an Avatar. A Titan creation meant to hold his essence. Given that the Temple has been risen I have to believe that his essence was released at some point. Most likely by the Gul'dan of our universe."

"That's why no one ever heard from him again..." Anduin contemplated, "The amount of energy, and magic..."

"It would have incinerated him." Khadgar continued. "Most likely why his skull held such power..."

Addy wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about by this point. "So we've found the Temple? It's been right there the whole time?"

Anduin paused for a moment, looking out over the water. HIs face got a but suspicious and he tilted his head "I...I guess... We just never go that way, it's...it's uncharted...dangerous.."

"Who are you trying to convince your Highness?" Khadgar chuckled, turning to look back at them, "Most likely there is some kind of magic surrounding the temple, keeping people away, or making them not want to explore the region."

Anduin nodded, looking out over the water. "I'll need to take some notes, figure out our position. We'll need to send people to scout the region..."

"I recommend being...stealthy about this." Khadgar pulled up his spyglass again. "If the portal is there it will be heavily guarded. It's best if the Legion thinks us ignorant."

Addy looked out over the water, her eyes wide. Was this it? Had they found the portal? Could this whole thing be over so quickly.

As she looked out over the waters towards the newly found Tomb of Sargeras, she hoped so.

A/N: Hey, short chapter but I figured you guys deserved something after such a long wait. I've just been busy in life and hadn't had time to be working on this.

I had a lot of fun just writing a lot of shameless fluff. Just Anduin being a romantic dork, and Addy loves it (Soak it up now cause you're probably not gonna see it for a while).

Next chapter is the Summit, Addy makes new friends, Anduin meets an adversary for the first time, and Varian just wants to get drunk.

As always you guys can find me on tumblr at stormwinds, and I figured I'd let you know that Addy is my real main Adeile, who lives on Moonguard usually in Boralus, or more recently doing dailies to death in Nazjatar and Mechagon (Pathfinder part 2 can suck my dick).

Until Next Time,

-Amary