Faith stared at him, "What do you mean they want to send people back to the Broken Shore?" She shook her head, "We can't, Khadgar, we're spread thin enough as it is, and we've just gotten to Suramar."
"Well, it's not something that's going to happen immediately. But within the next couple of weeks, at least."
"Couple of weeks?" she asked, her voice squeaking on the last word. "Have you all lost your minds? We can't deal with the Burning Legion on three fronts!"
"You think that it's going to take this long to get Suramar under control?"
"I think it'll take longer! Khadgar, I'm not sure you grasp the problems of Suramar. There are hundreds of demons there at the moment. According to the people we've spoken to, citizens who speak out against Elisande and the Legion are being executed on the spot, and it's not something we're going to be able to deal with in just a few weeks."
He nodded, "Sylvanas said you'd take it this way. She also told me to let you know that you should join her in Undercity as soon as possible."
"Undercity? Fine, I'll go there right away."
With a shake of her head, she teleported right into the Undercity throne room, finding Sylvanas there, apparently waiting for her.
"There you are. How's Suramar?"
"Far too complicated for me to elaborate on in a few minutes, Sylvanas."
"Well, you've only been there a day," she said. "I didn't think you were going to solve the problem that quickly."
"But apparently you did," countered Faith, keeping her voice soft. "Being as you've all decided to go back to the Broken Shore." She told Sylvanas exactly what she had told Khadgar, arguing that they couldn't possibly handle such an influx of demons without certain disaster.
"I'm not asking you to bounce back and forth between warfronts, Faith. You were tasked with the situation in Suramar, and that's where you're going to be for now. I just wanted to let you know what was happening. The Undercity Magi Corps and the Silvermoon Magisters and Blood Knights are handling Suramar along with the night elven druids and priests."
Faith nodded, "Right."
"But you're forgetting that we have other forces both within the Horde and the Alliance. The Undercity Infantry, for example, would be a good choice to go to the Broken Shore, along with the priests of Silvermoon. And should I even mention the forces of Orgrimmar or Thunder Bluff?"
"I'm not forgetting anything, love," Faith began.
"You're a general. You must see the bigger picture. We're not going to empty all of our forces on just one campaign, and you know it."
"Sylvanas, we're spread very thin as it is."
"We're going to have nearly a thousand forces altogether in Suramar, probably more. Are you telling me that I should have all of Undercity there? Doing what, love, you want to face the Legion there head on? Because you know that's not a good idea."
"And what? You're going to have all of Undercity at the Broken Shore? It ended in disaster last time."
Sylvanas took Faith's left hand, squeezing it gently, "We're more prepared this time around. Besides, if you get into trouble, you can come to us and we'll send you aid." She pulled her over to sit on her lap, indulging in a quick cuddle. "Come on, Faith, think about it. When's the last time we focused only on one front during a war?"
Faith curled up on her wife's lap, closing her eyes, "But we're not just focusing on one front. We're on every region of the Broken Isles, aren't we? We can't afford to go to the Broken Shore too where there are many more demons to battle."
Sylvanas said nothing, waiting for Faith to come to the inevitable conclusion they'd all already come to. They couldn't let the demons overrun the Broken Shore without doing anything about it: it was far too dangerous. Anywhere the demons were left unchecked was a place where they could multiply in strength and make it more difficult for the forces of Azeroth to fight.
"We didn't really beat the demons, did we?" whispered Faith quietly. "They just gave up an area and moved to another one."
"Yes and no. Are you forgetting all of the campaigns you've been in? What happened in Northrend when we beat the Scourge in the Borean Tundra and in the Howling Fjord?"
"We moved on to the other areas of Northrend where the Scourge was active. But eventually they all retreated back to Icecrown. Sylvanas, the demons aren't retreating, though."
"Of course they are. Instead of being all over the place, they're concentrated in two areas now: Suramar and the Broken Shore. Sure, we're mopping them up all over the Broken Isles, but we're doing good there, and you know we are, or you'd still be there." Sylvanas kissed Faith's ear, amused as always when she saw it twitching, "I know that the Broken Shore holds painful memories for you, it does for me too."
"But we need to break their backs there too," she whispered.
A nod, "We do. And I'm fairly certain that they won't give up the Tomb of Sargeras without a heck of a fight. But it needs to happen, my darling." She paused, "I know that a lot of tauren will be going there at Hamu's request."
Faith started, "Hamu? He's going to the Broken Shore?"
"No. But he's directing the efforts there from Thunder Bluff. As far as I know, he'll be only a portal away and will be standing by to go there himself if there is need."
"Sylvanas…"
"His father died there."
"My father died there! I know he was only my adoptive father, but Atalo was still…" she burst into tears without having felt them coming.
Sylvanas held her, allowing her to cry. She didn't say anything, not needing to, although she was unpleasantly brought back to the days where Faith had cried at the drop of a hat.
Faith seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because less than a minute later, she straightened up again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't mean to get weepy on you."
"Ah, my love, you don't have to apologize for giving way to your emotions. I don't like to see you cry, but you're grieving and it's okay."
Placing a feather-light kiss on Sylvanas' lips, Faith got back to her feet. "You'll let me know if Hamu shows up at the Broken Shore?"
"I will. But it wouldn't be wise for you to go near him. He's still mad at you."
"I don't care if he's mad at me. He's still my brother, and I won't fail him the way I failed Atalo."
"You did not fail Atalo, honey. There was nothing any of us could have done to save him short of forbidding him to be in battle, which would have been dishonorable for him. Besides, he wouldn't have let you go into battle alone."
"But I wasn't –."
"I know. But he was your father, and as such, he felt that it was his duty to protect you. He loved you." She paused. "You were his sun child."
Faith looked at Sylvanas, stricken. More tears began to run down her face, turning to dust on her cheeks, and she did nothing to stop them. "I should get back to Suramar," she whispered.
Sylvanas gave a nod, "You should. I'll be in Orgrimmar if you need me."
"I always need you."
Oh, that statement caused many emotions to rise to the surface. Sylvanas smiled and took hold of her wife, kissing her passionately, "I love you."
It took Faith a moment to recover from the kiss, but when she did, she blinked, "I love you." She cleared her throat, "I'll see you later."
"Yes, you will." She watched as Faith began to walk away. "Oh, General?"
Faith turned, "Yes?"
"You're my wife."
An incredible smile lit Faith's face and she ran to Sylvanas, who picked her up and spun her around once. Both of them laughed and kissed again once, twice, before letting each other go.
"How much food did you bring back?!" exclaimed Thalyssra as she looked through the bags Faith had brought with her from Dalaran. "And what… is that a chair?!"
Garia grinned at her, "Faith has this thing where she'll bring surprise bags to the front with food, extra tent packs, pillows, tables, you name it. Anything to make war easier on us."
"How do you fit a table in a bag?" asked Avelin, surprised as Faith took the chair out of the bag and set it in a corner of the room.
"Magic," said Faith absently. She blinked and focused on the paladin, "Avelin, you can bring people back from the brink of death. How are you surprised by things like this?"
"I guess I never really gave it much thought," he told her, taking out another chair and putting it with the other one.
Elise pulled out a small pack that had been tightly wrapped, "What spell do you use to unwrap these, Faith?" she asked.
Faith told her, and a couple of seconds later, a table appeared with a purple tablecloth and cushions for the chairs that had been taken from the bag already.
"That's unbelievable," she whispered. "Faith, you're going to have to teach me how you did this, because wow."
Faith smiled, "It took us the better part of a week to perfect this spell with the Dalaran mages and Silvermoon magisters. I'd be happy to show you guys when we have some time."
"By the Nightwell, you also got bedding," said Oculeth.
"Just because we're at war doesn't mean we shouldn't be as comfortable as possible," Faith told him.
Baladir glanced sideways at her, "Everyone always tells us that the members of the Horde are mindless brawlers who care only about bloodshed."
"All we want is to find a place to call home and live in peace," said one of the magisters. "I suspect it's the same thing everyone else wants. Unfortunately, we always find ourselves in the middle of wars because peace is hard to come by."
"Tell me about it," said Baladir. "If it's not one thing, it's another."
"The Burning Legion, the Scourge, then a crazy dragon…"
"And an insane warchief who made things worse on everyone."
"I don't know, I think Garrosh might have been easier to live with than our current warchief." The magister who had spoken looked at Faith and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, "I'm sorry, General," he said, bowing quickly.
Faith's smile didn't touch her eyes, "As someone who was killed on Garrosh's explicit orders, I'm inclined to believe that he was the worst warchief the Horde could have ever had. But I take your point about Sylvanas: I know you're worried about her leadership style."
"Do you think she's been a good warchief so far?"
"I think that she would have done a better job had a certain person not been so damned intent on killing her wife, but we have other things to discuss right now." She put a large map of Suramar on the wall, and Thalyssra walked over, casting a spell on it to fully detail it.
"The demons are most active in the city itself," she said. "But their capital presence is in Felsoul Hold."
"Which is just on the western side of Suramar City," said Faith.
"Word has it that a powerful eredar commands the entirety of the Legion's forces of Suramar. Her name is Lady Ky… oh, hang on, I keep getting her name wrong."
"Kythira," finished Faith in a low voice. "Is that who you mean?"
"That's her. Wait… you know her?"
"Oh yeah, we go way back, and we both want each other dead, so that's just perfect: we can continue that fight right here."
Thalyssra looked only a little amused, "Right. Well, there are also forces in Moon Guard Stronghold that we need to contend with: they're Elisande's forces and they're dangerous, being as they're in the Legion's pocket. Oh, and we have the Ruins of Falanaar as well."
"What's in there?" asked Elise.
"The fal'dorei." Thalyssra cleared her throat, "We've had a few events here that affected us very negatively, you understand: it's a part of life."
"Unfortunately," agreed Avelin.
"Well, Falanaar was a town that fell into ruin mostly during the Sundering. There were people trapped in there, but they were able to sustain themselves by growing an arcan'dor tree–a mana tree that can sustain us when we're cut off from the Nightwell. It bears mana fruit when it's taken care of properly."
"Mana fruit," said Faith. "Sounds like the mana crystals we have in Quel'Thalas."
Thalyssra went on, "Those trees need stable leylines in order to grow, but from what we've heard, the tree in Falanaar failed and its magic exploded in the ruins, turning the elves that were there into hideous creatures. They look more like spiders now than the elves they'd once been."
Faith couldn't repress a shudder, "It seems like I can't get away from spiders in any form… I'm guessing these creatures are an additional danger we need to contend with."
"You guess correctly, General. They are the fal'dorei, and if they get out of Falanaar, they'll take over that part of Suramar. They could even join the Burning Legion, and we cannot let that happen."
Baladir leaned against the wall next to the map, "How many of them are we talking about?"
Thalyssra shook her head, "We can't know for sure: they live in the tunnels beneath the ruins. A scout went there once and was barely able to return; he was clinging to life, and just before he died, he said that the tunnels were full of spiders who had sworn allegiance to the fal'dorei. So I'm pretty sure we can say that there are at least a thousand forces down there."
Faith chewed on her lip thoughtfully, not saying anything.
"I am sorry," said Thalyssra. "I know it's a lot to take in."
"It is," said Faith. "But we can deal with this if we think strategically."
"How do you mean?" Garia asked her.
"We need to clear Suramar City of demons, which means dealing with the forces outside the main strongholds first."
"You want us to deal with the smaller pockets of demons before we attack the city?"
A nod, "We have to. Think about it: when we were in Northrend, we didn't attack Icecrown Citadel immediately—we had to deal with the other problems first." She looked at her companions, "Baladir, I'm going to want you to put together a team and go scout the ruins of Falanaar. Don't attack, just scout and report back to us."
"I'll take care of it," he said, going off to assemble his team.
"Elise, I'm putting you in charge of scouting out Moon Guard Stronghold. Be careful there."
Elise nodded, "I'll grab my own team and report back to you as soon as I have something."
"Thank you," said Faith before turning to Avelin. "I'm going to need you to go to King Anduin and tell him what we've found out. We're going to need more forces." She glanced at Garia, "I'd like you to say the same thing to Sylvanas, please."
"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" asked Thalyssra. "Just wait? We have other matters to attend to."
"Yes, we do, and we'll take care of them as soon as we can. For now, though, yes, we need to wait."
It didn't take long for everyone to return to them. Elise and Baladir, used to scouting missions, left a team close to Falanaar and Moon Guard Stronghold, and came back with some news just as Avelin and Garia returned from Stormwind and Orgrimmar.
"We saw some movement in Falanaar," said Baladir. "It seems that there are ghosts in the ruins, but I guess we expected that."
"Did they seem hostile?" Elise asked him.
"No, they were just roaming around, but we can never be too careful."
"Well, let's hope things stay that way for now. Elise, what can you tell me?"
Elise sucked on her teeth for a second before answering, "Well, they're definitely very active in the stronghold. From what I can tell, they have portals that go directly into Suramar City, and they have people passing back and forth through there on a regular basis."
"Sounds delightful," said Garia. "You left a team there too, I suppose?"
"Of course. They'll teleport here if any problems arise."
Faith gave a nod, "All right." She turned to the others, "Have you spoken to the warchief and King Anduin?"
"Yes," said Garia. "Sylvanas has already sent some forces to Dalaran in order to join us."
"King Anduin has done the same," said Avelin. "They'll be coming soon."
"Good job, all of you. Ah, here come additional forces now."
She welcomed them, then went to Oculeth, beginning to talk to him about restoring some of the teleportation hubs around the area, including one that would take them to the costume party they were supposed to attend.
"The teleportation pad is very close to the party," he told them as they got ready to go later that evening, having already disguised themselves. "So if anybody sees you coming from there, they'll know that you're with me."
Elise loosened the belt keeping her costume together and pressed her lips together. The elixir she had taken that had transformed her into a Nightborne elf had made her feel sick to her stomach, and she was still looking queasy. "That would have been nice to know before we went through all of this."
"I thought everyone in Suramar used these teleportation pads?" Faith asked him. She'd been shocked to see herself in the mirror earlier. She still mostly looked like herself, but the elixir had turned her skin violet and her silver hair silkier. Her eyes shone white and her face had turned more angular, not to mention the fact that she had grown a few inches.
"They do, but not this particular one. Some of them are only attuned to me. I hid them, so nobody should find them except for you guys, but you never know."
"Is there anything else you forgot to tell us?" asked Baladir quietly.
Thalyssra avoided their eyes, "As a matter of fact… Some sentries in Suramar have been expertly trained in the art of deception, so they'll be able to sense the fact that you're wearing disguises."
Faith and Garia looked at each other, "Um. We're going to a costume party," said the orc, her voice having changed to match the elves.
"I think she means that they'll be able to tell beyond that," murmured Faith. "So, what do you suggest?"
"Avoid the sentries as best you can."
Elise nodded, "Uh-huh, sure, and how are we supposed to recognize them? Will they be walking around with lights over their heads, telling us who they are?"
Everyone snorted at the image, and Thalyssra blinked.
"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting you're not from here," she said. She said a spell and next to the map appeared two figures, an elven one in a black and white outfit, and one that looked like the kind of mechanized sentry that roamed around the Broken Isles. "Those are our sentries. The mechanical ones won't listen to reason and will strike first before taking you into questioning. The elven ones, well… they'll be easier to fool."
"Just for our information, how big are these sentries?" wondered Avelin.
"The mechanized ones? About nine feet tall. But they're heavy, so they can't really chase you."
Garia shook her head, "But I'm guessing that once these sentries have alerted the others, they will be able to chase us." She laughed, "Well, it looks like we have a certainty of death, and a small chance of success. What are we waiting for?"
Faith laughed as well, although she was having a difficult time finding humor in the situation. They had faced worse odds before, but the memories associated with them were anything but pleasant.
They got going.
