Temple of the White Tiger

Sylvanas arrived at the Temple of the White Tiger with Viraleth and two full companies of rangers outside of their own, amassing to four companies in total that were now standing outside the sacred Pandaren building. "It's quiet." The Queen whispered to her Ranger-General who then nodded in agreement. "You're certain you spotted the Sha here?"

"One hundred percent, my Lady." Viraleth whispered to her, nocking an arrow in place and taking lead of their group that began to enter the temple. "Perhaps it's inside."

"I hope not." Sylvanas muttered, looking back to Alina who was in charge of the third company. "Send back some messengers to camp, tell them to prepare to move out to the Temple of the White Tiger and make sure my daughter isn't coming."

Alina bowed her head and went to find her fastest riders to send back to camp, in the meantime however Viraleth had pushed forward into the temple with her company and set about finding any signs of the Sha and the Pandaren inside, all of which became easy when she found bodies of trainees as well as Sha essence around them. "Sylvanas!" She yelled.

Sylvanas came running to her Ranger-General after hearing Viraleth yell her name, a rarity even for Viraleth who was close to her, looking down at the bodies of the Pandaren trainees. "This is the right place." Sylvanas whispered, nocking an arrow in place too and commanding her company forward by nodding her head towards the next room.

"What do you think killed them?" Viraleth asked her Queen, looking down at the fallen Pandaren. "They don't look like they were killed by the Sha. They don't have the markings the other victims had."

Sylvanas crouched down beside one of the trainees and began to inspect their body, noticing they had a broken neck and a broken arm. "Check the other one." She told Viraleth, looking her trainee up and down for any more signs on what could have happened.

"This one has a broken neck, leg and what looks like a couple fractured fingers." Viraleth looked over to Sylvanas who was still inspecting her trainee. "What about yours?"

"The same with the neck, but a broken arm not a leg." Sylvanas stood up and frowned at the two bodies. "They couldn't have both broken each other's necks. Something else must have done this."

"The Sha have been known to take control of the fallen and the living. Perhaps it took control of one of these and killed the other?"

Sylvanas nodded. "Maybe." She looked over to the final members of their four company group move into the next room. "I'm sure we'll get our answers further into the temple. Though I don't think I'm going to like it."

Viraleth followed Sylvanas into the next room, deciding to address the elephant in the room when their companies began to move out towards the third room. "So where's Athrodar? I have been away for two weeks so I'm not up to date on the goings on in camp."

"We had a fight. Not like the little ones we had in the past because he was going into dangerous situations."

"They weren't really fights though." Viraleth said, noticing Sylvanas raise an eyebrow at her. "What? They weren't. You were terrified with losing him, so you yelled at and punished him for doing such risky moves. And because you almost did lose him when he was taking on the Wildhammer Dwarves alone, you told him you were furious when in actual fact, you were scared."

Sylvanas just stared at her Ranger-General, shocked she had just hit the nail on the head perfectly and finding no words to argue her point. "Okay, so maybe I was terrified of losing him after spending years trying to get him. But this one was different."

"How so? Why isn't he here?"

"He, apparently, is corrupted by the Old God Yog'Saron due to his extended amount of time in Icecrown. This has only taken affect recently which is what triggered his visions." Sylvanas sighed and kicked her foot back and forth. "He kept this from me for six months, which wouldn't be too bad if he didn't say our children could be affected too."

"And are they?" Viraleth asked, more concerned for the little ones than anything else.

"According to the ten different Priests and Paladins I've had look at them, they are not corrupted, no."

Viraleth now tilted her head at her Queen. "So why isn't he here?"

"Because he kept a big secret like that from me for half a year." Sylvanas saw Viraleth's head was still tilted, rolling her eyes at the Ranger-General. "I have spoken to him since, so don't look at me like that. We kissed and made up and then had some fun, but he is on the Isle of Thunder now to keep the peace between the Alliance and Horde forces located there."

"And you think he can do that?" Viraleth now asked, smirking at her Queen. "He can barely keep peace between Elaria and whomever she has lusted over that day."

"He has yet to disappoint me. He may keep big secrets from me, but he has never disappointed me." Sylvanas smiled a little, looking over to her company of rangers once more. "He can be a bit foolish sometimes, but I guess that's a part of his charm. I can't see us anywhere else but with each other, even if the mother of his first wants different."

"I suspect you two will be attatched to each other's hips for many centuries to come when we're finished here and you're back home." Viraleth smiled at the idea and looked over to Sylvanas who was still smiling, though this time it was because of what Viraleth said. "And I couldn't be happier for you, my Lady. You deserve some joy and time away from war, something that is a rarity in our line of work."

"It is..." Sylvanas said quietly, looking over to the next room. "Let's go."

"The doors are sealed, we will need siege engines just to break them open."

Athrodar nodded his head in agreement to Lor'Themar's assessment, looking over to Jaina and Vareesa who were also agreeing with the Regent Lord. "We will have to go back and get some, won't we?"

"I'll go!" Elaria exclaimed, looking excited already with the prospect of leaving the Isle of Thunder, despite nobody giving her the all clear.

"How about we send someone who won't get distracted." Vareesa suggested, glancing over to Elaria who gasped and glared at her. "After all, every second counts and I don't trust you with going there and coming back with no distractions."

"I hate to say it, but I agree." Athrodar said, looking over to Elaria who now looked hurt more than angry. "She makes a good point with the distractions, plus I need you here, keeping my company in check as their Captain."

"Ahh damn it. You had to bring up my duties as your Captain." Elaria looked away and pouted, annoyed now that Athrodar pulled the Captain card. "Fine... I'll stay here."

"I could go back." Vareesa offered. "It gives me a chance to speak to my sister and perhaps persuade her to give us siege engines a lot quicker than the rest of you." She caught a glimpse of Athrodar's raised eyebrow. "Maybe not you, but still just as fast."

"Then it's settled. Vareesa will go back whilst we try to soften up more of their defences should they come out here." Lor'Themar was about to dismiss everyone from the meeting when a messenger arrived at camp carrying a message that the Regent Lord read through quickly before glancing up to Athrodar. "Thank you." He said to the messenger who quickly left.

"What is it?" Ranger-General Halduron asked.

"It appears our Warchief plans to step down from both Queen of Stormwind AND as Warchief." The entire meeting looked over to Athrodar who had a small half smile on his face. "Care to enlighten us a bit more? Who will take over?"

Athrodar looked around at all the faces of those who were present at the meeting, already knowing Elaria knew this was coming and suspecting Vareesa knew too, although he had never discussed this with her. "If all goes to plan, the next Warchief will be Vol'jin and the new Queen of Stormwind will be our daughter Victoria."

"And what will you and Sylvanas be doing?" Jaina asked, undoubtably so she could inform Varian.

"Retiring to Windrunner Village with the rest of our family." Athrodar looked over to Lor'Themar. "To find some peace and quiet in our lives, away from war."

The Regent Lord placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head. "Sylvanas and her family are always welcome in our lands, after all she has done for us. We will make sure there will be little to no conflict in your lives or your families should you stay in Quel'Thalas. Unless you seek it, of course."

"We thank you, Theron. Sylvanas won't forget that." Athrodar now looked over to Vareesa who was smiling and looking off into the distance, no doubt picturing the quiet life her sister now craved. "We will welcome visitors of course, so long as they don't cause problems."

Vareesa just nodded to her brother-in-law when she figured he was talking to her, not saying a word in response until she decided to change the subject for the time being. "I best head back. We won't get those siege engines with me standing here."

Athrodar watched her begin to leave, taking hold of her wrist and seeing the Windrunner resolve begin to fade away as she became too happy for her emotions, pulling his sister-in-law in for a quick hug and whispering to her in Thalassian in the process. "Cry on the way back to the main camp. Be happy for your sister away from these people where you're most comfortable." He saw Vareesa was about to argue when he pulled back to look at her, interrupting her before she could. "In some ways you're very much like your sister, so I know when you're feeling emotional. Go now before this conversation attracts too much attention."

When Vareesa began to leave again, Jaina had her turn to speak up. "Why Vol'jin? I'm surprised she didn't make your daughter Warchief as well as the new Queen of Stormwind."

"Because we believe Vol'jin would be better at keeping the peace between the Alliance and the Horde more than our daughter, who would rather be Queen of Stormwind anyway." Athrodar looked over to Jaina who had asked the question. "She wants to be Queen as well, not Warchief, so that also comes into play." He looked over to the Regent Lord who was watching their conversation in silence. "She will need help, which I'm hoping you can all give her should she ask, though I don't suspect it will be a common thing."

"Well, then I look forward to working with her." Jaina said with a smile. "For now, we have to work on getting into this fortress and dealing with whatever is bringing back the Mogu."

"And let's hope it's not Lei Shen. I don't think we have the numbers here to deal with the 'Thunder God'. At least that's what the Pandaren called him." Athrodar looked over to the entrance to the Throne of Thunder. "This could be a long siege."

Victoria sat in front of Snow who was laying down in front of her, head resting on her lap as she gently stroked his nose. "How are you my baby? Your leg looks healed now compared to when I first saw it." She smiled and kissed the space between his eyes, pressing her ear to the top of his head and listening to him purr. "Just a few more weeks and we can run about as much as you'd like."

Sera looked over to Victoria from the bath she was soaking in, smiling at how much love she was giving Snow after everything they had been through. "I don't mean to interrupt you, my Lady, but you did promise to join me in here."

"That is a good point." Victoria said, kissing Snow on the nose before standing up and shedding the bathrobe wrapped around her, walking towards Sera, climbing in the bath and sitting down in front of her Captain who wrapped her arms around the Princess. "This is nice." She whispered, leaning back into her Captain and looking over to Snow who was watching them. "If only this was big enough for him. I'm sure he would join the second I told him to."

Sera stroked Victoria's hair whilst cupping water in her hands to pour it over her head, washing her Princess whilst they both sat in the bath. "You reallly try to do everything with him involved, don't you?" She asked, smiling at the love Victoria clearly felt for her Nightsaber.

"I do, yes. He's my little Snow who doesn't want to do things on his own." Victoria reached a hand over to Snow who limped his way towards her, rubbing his head over her wet hand and not caring in the slightest as he just wanted to be as close to Victoria as he could. "See? He hates being alone."

"He did sleep on your bed whilst you were recovering." Sera told her, starting to wash the Princess' hair once it was wet enough. "He constantly kept watch over you and occasionally growled at Liadrin whenever she tried to examine you."

Victoria smiled and placed a hand on Snow's nose, making him purr and keeping it there for the rest of her time in the bath. "He was protecting me." She whispered, closing her eyes when Sera began to massage her scalp. "This feels really nice."

"Good." Sera whispered to her, making sure to be gentle around her scar. "This looks to be getting better, just like Liadrin said it would. Give it a month and it will barely be noticeable, unless you're going out of your way to find it."

Victoria continued to smile, keeping her attention on Snow whilst Sera washed her hair. "Once I'm fully fit and ready to go back out there, I will try to convince Sylvanas to send me to the Isle of Thunder so Athrodar can come back to her. I know their being apart is eating them up inside so if I can help by trading places with him, I will do so immediately."

"And I will follow you, my Lady." Sera told her, kissing her on the shoulder as she began to wash her body, letting the soap in her hair soak. "I can't leave the woman I love on an island alone."

There was a long silence between the two of them with Sera only just realising what she had said and knowing that the longer she let the silence continue, the harder it was to take back what she said. But no matter how hard she tried to speak, her mouth wouldn't let out a single noise which infuriated her. "We've never said that to each other." She whispered, glancing back to her Captain who looked terrified on what she had said. "Do you really?"

"I... I..." Sera's gaze fell away from the back of Victoria's head and down to the water of the bath they were sitting in.

Victoria began to turn her body around so she was facing Sera, sitting up on her knees in the bath and looking at her Captain. "Sera." She said, making the Night Elf look up at her. "Do you really love me?" She asked again.

"I do." Sera replied in a voice so quiet that the Princess almost didn't hear her.

Victoria looked down into the water to take in this new feeling she had. She had said several times in the past that she loved Viraleth, but somehow this felt more real for the Princess than that. "Sera I..." She began to speak her mind but stopped when she looked up her Captain who looked just as scared as she did when she first let it slip that she loved her. Knowing she had to distract her Captain from what was certainly bad thoughts, she moved forward and kissed her softly on the lips, pulling away to look at her and stroking her cheek with her fingers. "I love you too. I'm not saying that to make this less awkward, you have protected me for years now, looked after me when I was injured and lifted my spirits whenever I felt down." Victoria kissed her again, only this time Sera returned the kiss and they both became consumed by it.

Sera brushed her hands through the golden hair of her Princess, having the kiss consume her completely and focussing on only Victoria who was leaning her whole body on the Captain. "If we plan to do anything more, we should get out the bath and into your bed." She told Victoria, gazing into her eyes. "And I really want to do more with you."

Victoria giggled and nodded her head. "Okay." They both climbed out of the bath at more or less the same time, only Sera picked up the Princess in her arms as she was bigger and stronger than Victoria and carried her to the nearby bed. "Romantic." She whispered when Sera placed her down on the bed and straddled her hips. "I want you to be my General when we return to Stormwind and I'm named Queen." Victoria told Sera when she leaned down to kiss her. "Will you accept?"

Sera smiled and nodded her head in agreement to the offer. "I would love to be your General, my Lady." She told her, recieving a kiss in response to her acceptance. "Being by your side, whether it's as someone you love or as your General, it doesn't matter. I will always be here for you."

Victoria let out a quiet moan of pleasure when Sera began to kiss down her chest, grinning and placing her hand on the back of her Captain's head whilst she continued to kiss a trail down to her stomach and then a bit lower. "Make me squirm, Sera. Make me scream out your name."

"With pleasure, my Lady." Sera whispered before fastening her mouth to Victoria's lips and pushing her tongue inside her.

"Some of these are children." Viraleth told Sylvanas who was looking over a room full of dead Pandaren. "They didn't stand a chance."

Sylvanas closed her eyes at the sight, having the rest of her rangers come into the room slowly and whispering to each other about the slaughter that had clearly happened in the temple. "We need to find the Sha." The Queen said, looking over to Viraleth who nodding her head in agreement. "The rest of the camp should be here soon, but they expect us to find the Sha before they get here and that is what we will -"

There was a loud, room shaking roar coming from nearby, interrupting Sylvanas and making everyone inside the temple look over to where it was coming from. "I think it's here." Viraleth whispered to Sylvanas, standing beside her Queen and looking towards the final room in the temple and the biggest one. There was a second roar, only this one sounded like a tiger which sent hope through everyone in the temple more than fear. "Was that?"

"An ally." Sylvanas said, rushing into the final room and being followed by her rangers shortly after.

"Flee from here, mortals!" A giant white tiger yelled. He didn't look to have fur, but he was glowing and his stripes were blue instead of black. "This foe is beyond you!"

"We are here to help!" Sylvanas yelled over to the massive tiger, glancing over her shoulder when the rest of her four companies joined her, watching Viraleth's jaw drop in awe of the fight. "Everyone nock and draw your arrows." Sylvanas commanded, doing the same and looking over to the Sha.

The giant tiger saw this bravery from the lesser beings and let out a mighty roar, enchanting their arrow heads with blue lightning and watching the projectiles fly into the Sha he was fighting, dealing a significant amount of damage to weaken it. "I will keep him distracted whilst you focus on letting loose your arrows! I have powered them up with some of my power so they should be more potent."

Taking out another arrow, Sylvanas saw the blue lightning that was jolting out from the arrowhead and smiling a little at the projectile. "Fire at will!" She cried, letting loose the arrow in her hand and drawing a third, watching the majority of the projectiles hit their target and weaken the Sha, noticing he was also shrinking in size slowly which made their new ally look bigger than the Sha they were fighting.

"Keep it up, mortals! He is weakening!"

Sylvanas watched several spells begin to hit the Sha, looking back towards the druids casting their nature spells, priests using holy and shadow magic as well as mages using frost, fire or arcane. "Good timing." She said to Baine who was the first leader to make it into the room, setting up a wall of Tauren warriors to hold off the lesser Sha beings that now began to form around the bigger version.

"You seem like the type who would prefer a dramatic entrance." The Bloodhoof Cheiftain said, grinning at her before pulling out his father's giant totem and swinging it at the first lesser Sha being that came towards him. "We saw the massacre on our way through the temple."

"I will contact Taran Zhu once we have finished here." Sylvanas told the Tauren. "They deserve whatever funeral their people will give them."

The fighting went on for several minutes with the same results, the lightning inbued arrows and countless spells, partnered with the giant white tiger swiping his paw at the Sha was resulting in an ever decreasing presence of the dark being. "Stand back, mortals!" The tiger yelled shortly before building up what looked to be a ball of lightning in his jaw.

Sylvanas watched the ball of lightning build in the jaw of the white tiger, stepping back along with everyone else when it was launched at the Sha and made a loud sound of lightning crashing, covering her face with her free arm when the dark being exploaded into a thousand smaller Sha spirits, feeling what felt like a huge gust of wind blow them all back a couple of feet.

Once she moved her arm from her face, she saw what she had feared which was in fact close to a thousand lesser Sha beings. "Nock!" She cried, nocking an arrow on her bow, waiting a few seconds before giving her next command, just enough time for the lesser Sha to focus on the Horde and Alliance parties. "Draw!" She now commanded, drawing back the arrow on her bow and watching Tauren, Draenei and Dark Iron Dwarves make a line of warriors in front of them. "Loose!"

The first volley took out a good portion of the lesser Sha, softening the crash into the melee units in front of the Queen and commanding her rangers to let loose another volley into the sha. "They're falling in numbers fast." Viraleth told her Queen, reaching for another arrow and letting it loose into the enemy. "Especially if he keeps doing what he's doing."

Sylvanas looked over to the white tiger who was taking out groups of sha at once, thinning out their numbers quickly until there was just a handful left. "Finish them off." She told everyone, throwing her bow over her shoulder and walking through the lines of warriors in front of her and towards the white tiger who was scanning the room for any lesser Sha who had survived and finding none. "What happened here," she began standing in front of the tiger. "I'm sorry. I wish we could do something."

"We were caught off guard." The white tiger told her. "There was nothing you could do."

Sylvanas lowered her head from the tiger, hating the feeling of uselessness he had just thrown onto her. "I am sorry for your loss... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"I am Xuen, The White Tiger." He said, shifting from his tiger form to one of a blue haired human, smiling at the widened eyes of the Queen. "What? Is it too much?" Xuen looked down at himself and the lightning blue robe he was wearing. "I suppose I do stand out."

Sylvanas began to smile at the white tiger now turned human, offering him out a hand. "I'm Sylvanas, Queen of Stormwind and Warchief of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor." When he took hold of her hand, Sylvanas initiated the hand shake. "Though not for much longer. My husband and I are stepping back from this life soon." She saw him smile at her, tilting her head at him. "What?"

"It always makes me happy to see someone who has a partner when so high up in their society." Xuen let go of her hand and looked back to the paintings on the back wall of his temple. "I am the Spirit of Strength on Pandaria, so when someone as strong as you has someone she can rely on, it makes me happy. After all, you are always stronger when with those you can rely on."

Sylvanas suddenly felt an emptiness in her stomach when her someone she could rely on wasn't standing beside her. It must have showed on her face because she was given an sympathetic look by Xuen who could sense her emptiness without even being told. "He's somewhere else at the moment." She told the bllue haired human. "He has met another one of your kind which gave him some news that ended up in a fight between us. The only reason he isn't here is because of that fight."

"Yu'lon." Xuen said, smiling at her. "She has told me of her meetings with your people and even informed me of his blight. It's not every day we come across someone who is affected by the Old Gods whilst showing no symptoms." He began to look at the armies behind Sylvanas who were looking around the temple as their curiosity got the better of them. "A woman was also affected too. A mage from what I was told who also spent a lot of time around Old Gods."

Sylvanas slowly nodded, knowing he was on about Thal'ena. "She is back home, researching a cure for the corruption inside her and my husband."

"Tell them both to come here." Xuen said. "Me and the other celestials will help them. We have discussed it and since you and your kind are doing so much to help us against the Sha, we are going to return the favour by helping your partner."

"Th-thank you." Sylvanas stuttered, bowing her head to Xuen. "I will send word to them now. If there is anything we can do to help with your fallen followers, just let us know."

"I will keep it in mind." Xuen said, smiling at her before shifting back to his tiger form.