Chapter 5: Under the Light

The next few days were dull. Addy spent most of her time in her room at the inn, watching the streets of Stormwind with curious eyes. She eyed people making their way through their daily lives, mostly dwarves and Humans running around the industrial Dwarven District of Stormwind, making frequent stops to the blacksmith market in the middle of the square. She saw a few other races as well. A Draenei, which were much larger than she thought they'd be, a worgan and even a pandaren, which had nearly caused her to fall out of the window as she struggled to catch a glimpse.

Gryan had told her she was allowed to leave the room and explore the city, but she was far too terrified of getting lost. Whenever Gryan wasn't at the Keep, deep in meetings with the King and his army, he would take her on walks. She loved the mage tower and the vast swirling parks that surrounded it. The trade district frightened her, so many large people and animals, all yelling and shouting at each other as they crowded outside banks and shops.

Her favourite place was the Cathedral. It was very peaceful and quiet, and there was a beautiful view of the harbour, where there were usually a large number of ships. The priests who worked around the square didn't pay them any mind and usually Gryan would leave her alone in the courtyard while he went inside to pray.

When she wasn't people watching, or exploring with Gryan, she was being manhandled by the innkeeper, an older woman named Betsy who had decided to take her under her wing.

"You're too skinny." The plump women had 'tsked', poking her ribs sharply, "It's not attractive."

Addy had just gritted her teeth as the woman fed her and bathed her. She'd been happy to get years of dirt and grim off her skin. She'd discovered that what she'd assumed was a tan was dirt, and her brown hair was also...dirt. Once she'd been scrubbed raw by this woman she found herself to be more pale than she'd though, with a series of freckles across her face and arms that she hadn't seen in years. Her hair now shined bright like copper and was soft and untangled. Betsey had to cut out the demon blood and where it had been was now choppy and uneven.

She honestly felt better than she ever had. She wasn't tired, or sore or hungry. She felt clean and the innkeeper had even found her a new dress with a high neckline that, when paired with a scarf, hid most of the ugly scars which stained her neck and crept up over her jaw. She's almost cried when she'd first seen them in the mirror. Most of her neck was now a red raised surface which stood out horrendously. She refused to leave the room without a scarf to hide them.

She woke up on the fourth day in the city with the sun shining brightly in her eyes. She groaned, rolling over to get out of sunlight and fought the urge to bury her face into her pillow and sleep the day away. She blinked her eyes, letting them come into focus as she scanned the room. It looked like Gryan had already left for the day, but in his place on the bed was a folded up piece of parchment.

Addy sat up, curiosity waking her. She wandered over to his bed, picking up the parchment. On the front of it was one of the few words that she could read.

Addy

It was obviously for her, but when she opened it all she saw was a bunch of gibberish. She clenched her jaw, tossing it on the bed with a aggravated sound. Whatever it was that Gryan had wanted to say he'd have to wait until he got back to tell her.

It didn't take him very long. Around noon he came wandering into the room, stopping in the doorway to watch her as she sat at the windowsill, staring at the people below.

She didn't even look over as she spoke, "There's a woman across the street who has pick pocketed fifteen people in the past hour, I'm quiet impressed."

Gryan walked into the room, his heavy boot loud on the wooden floors. He went over to his bed and picked up the parchment on the mattress with a confused look, "Did you not get my letter?"

"Hmm?" Addy look over in mock confusion, standing up and walking over to him. She snatched it out of his hand and opened him, looking at the paper, "Dear Addy, blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah blah." She closed it and tossed it back to him with a glare.

Gryan seemed confused for a moment before he closed his eyes in guilt, "Oh, Addy, I forgot..."

She huffed, crossing her arms as she sat on the bed. She knew she was being a child, but it wasn't exactly a trait she was proud of, and she didn't like to talk about it. Her grandfather had never bothered to teach her how to read and write, claiming that it wasn't important to working on the farm.

"I didn't want to wake you." Gryan explained, "It was very early when I left. But I wanted to let you know that some of the most injured refugees from Westfall arrive today. They're calling for volunteers at the Cathedral. I figured you might want to head down rather than spending another day in here."

Addy perked up at that. "I can go?"

"Of course." Gryan nodded, "I can walk you over there before I head back to the keep if you wish."

Addy enthusiastically jumped up. Finally! She could actually do something useful. She quickly grabbed her borrowed dress and her shawl, moving it to quickly hide her disgusting scars, and followed Gryan out of the inn.

Anduin wiped the blood off his hands with a towel one of the priests had handed him, staining it in the process. Many of the priests and priestesses in the Cathedral had never seen battle wounds before and were squeamish to such things. Anduin had never been bothered much by blood and gore, so he had offered to help those with the more grievous wounds.

He walked through the crowd, mostly anonymous. His expensive and colourful clothes were exchanged for simple woollen tunic and leggings, synched with a bit of rope. His hair was loose to try and hide his face as much as possible in the crowded room. Every now and then someone would recognize them, bow lowly and offer thanks. But for the most part nobody noticed the Prince of Stormwind as he moved through the Cathedral.

The Bishop had sent him to rest. He'd been working most of the day, even since the group of refugees had arrived covered in wounds. He was exhausted, physically from healing, and mentally from the losses of the day.

He tossed the towel down onto a table, knowing that someone would be along soon to gather them up. He didn't envy the person who had to clean them.

He looked up, scanning the room and reached for a water skin tied at his belt, taking a long draw before sitting down at the table and watching the room. He didn't have anything else too do. His father was locked away in his war room with his Generals and Admirals, which Anduin had participated in for hours until it became apparent that they all had the same thing to say.

They had no idea who had orchestrated the attack on Westfall.

They'd ruled out the Defias quickly enough. There was no evidence of Horde involvement, and all the known Warlock cults were accounted for. In fact nobody seemed to know who had attacked, or why. And the more and more names they crossed off the lists, the more apparent the culprit became.

His father didn't want to admit it. In fact whenever Anduin tried to bring it up he'd been cut off with a sharp look.

He clenched his jaw in annoyance. He knew his father didn't want to incite panic unless necessary, but treating him like a child in front of the leaders of the army had been a bit humiliating.

He'd tried reading in the library for a bit, but the more he thought about the attack the more preoccupied his mind became until he couldn't focus on anything. It nagged at him, reminding him of a conversation he'd had long ago with a one time friend.

He wished to speak with his father of it, in private next time where he wouldn't be silenced and his father would hear him out. No doubt he was coming to the same conclusion himself.

A piercing cry echoed around the room and Anduin blinked back to reality, immediately trying to locate the source of the sound. He looked at all the injured people before he realized it wasn't a cry of pain, but a baby's wail.

He found a young woman standing near the edge of the room, holding the baby gingerly as it cried. Her eyes were wide and panicked as she looked around the look, bouncing the baby lightly.

It took him a few moments to recognize her. Her hair, which he assumed was brown, was recently washed and combed and was now bright copper. Her skin had been cleaned of the dirt and blood and was much paler than he remembered. The ripped and dirtied brown dress she'd been wearing had been replaced with a soft blue cotton dress that was just a bit too short for her, falling around her ankles. She wore a white shawl over her shoulders which covered her neck, most likely to hide the scars which had formed from the demon attack.

She was quite beautiful, but she looked much more frail and small than she had when he'd seen her before. Gone was the fierce warrior which had faced down a Pit Lord, and in her place stood a rather timid young woman who looked terrified of the baby in her arms.

Without thinking he stood up and wandered over to her, giving her a kind smile, "Do you need some help."

"Oh thank the Light." Miss Fairchild groaned loudly, turning to face him, "I don't know w- Oh!" She blinked as she saw him, recognizing him. She cleared her throat lightly and fidgeted slightly, "Your Highness."

He tried to remain unthreatening as he continued, "You appeared to be struggling. Is she yours?"

"Yes. I mean no!" She huffed to herself, "Yes, I'm having troubles, No she isn't mine. It's just my turn to take care of her."

Anduin winced at the words unsaid. The baby was an orphan now. It would most likely be taken in by the local orphanage run by the church. He felt even worse as he realized that the child would still have a better life than whatever it would have had in Westfall.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, straightening his shoulders, "I was hoping to continue our conversation about the spell you performed on the Pit Lord."

Miss Fairchild furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head adorably as she sought to remember their conversation. When she remembered he saw her freckled cheeks colour and she looked down

"Oh." She stuttered lightly, "I…I thought you were only making polite conversation."

"Oh, no!" Anduin assured her, a strange feeling in his stomach as he watched her bashfulness, "I am genuinely curious. The spell you performed is very rarely done by accident."

"Oh." She seemed surprised by his admittance, and a frowned marred her future as she wrinkled her nose lightly. He fought a smile as he realized he found it quite endearing.

Anduin looked around the Cathedral, suddenly having an idea. He looked back at Miss Fairchild, motioning to the front of the church, "Follow me, I know a quieter place we can talk."

She hesitated for a moment, before looking down at the crying baby and nodding her head quickly. He beamed at her and turned to make his way through the crowd. People parted as he walked and he heard Miss Fairchild walking close behind her, the baby in her arms.

He moved to a set of hidden stairs in the corner and started to walk down them. The sound of the baby got a bit further away and he paused turning to see Miss Fairchild standing at the top of the stairs uncertainly.

"Are we allowed down there?" She bit her lip nervously.

Anduin chuckled, "Of course!"

She raised an eyebrows and Anduin paused, realizing that while he was allowed pretty much anywhere in the city, such places were open to everyone.

"Well…" He tilted his head in thought, "You'll be fine as long as you're with me."

She waited a moment more, but the squirming baby in her hands decided for her and she quickly followed him down the stairs.

Addy followed the Prince into the lower levels of the Church, unsure of where he was leading her. But the moment they'd left the noisy church the child in her arms quieted and she felt her headache starting to fade, so she stayed with him.

He brought her to a small side room with a bunch of tables covered in scrolls and small bowls of ink and quills. It looked like whoever had been working on them had up and left them without a second thought. Against the back wall was a single large bookshelf, with maybe a hundred or so books and scrolls shove haphazardly onto it.

"What is this place?" She asked him curiously, looking at the books. Why were they here and not in the Library?

The Prince moved forward and pulled a chair out for her. Addy startled, blinking at him in surprise. He just smiled at her expectantly and she moved forward and sat down, unsure of what else to do. She wasn't used to people treating her with courtly manners.

"The church keeps books down here that are best kept hidden from the public eye." The Prince explained, moving to the shelf, "I once saw something in a book that might be related to the attack in Westfall, but I can't seem to find it."

Addy frowned, "Is it related to the spell I cast?"

"No." The Prince reached over to a scroll and opened it, reading it over, "You can say I'm killing two birds with one stone here."

"Oh." Addy replied with a pinched expression. How important could whatever spell she cast be if he could afford to split his focus. "So what is the spell?"

"Hmm?" The prince looked up from the scroll, before clearing his throat, "Right. It's called Judgement. It's something all those who wield the light can theoretically do, but usually only Paladin's practice it, as it is an attack."

"If it's a Paladin spell then Gryan probably taught me when I was younger." Addy shrugged, "I must've forgotten until that moment."

"I doubt the Captain would have taught you." The Prince reached for another tome, "I doubt he himself knows of it. Only very powerful Paladins are taught it, not because it's difficult, but because if you don't have proper control over your abilities, it can very easily kill you."

Addy narrowed her eyes, shifting the child to her other arm, "How do you know this? I thought you were a priest?"

The Prince hesitated and Addy saw a weird sort of insecurity in his eyes before it vanished, and the very polite smile was back. "I had no idea i wanted to be a priest at first. I was trained as a warrior from a young age, and when I showed signs of using the light I dabbled in Paladin training for a while. It took me a while to realize I wanted to help people more than hurt them…but I did a lot of reading in my spare time."

Addy paused for a moment, studying the man in front of her. He was definitely stronger than most priests, with broad shoulders like his father and stronger arms than you'd expect. Knowing who is father was she wouldn't be surprised if he was very proficient in many types of weapons.

"How does it work then?" She tried to cross her arms around the child.

The Prince shook his head, bringing himself back to the moment and grabbing another book, "The spell uses the light to sort of…'judge' another being. I don't know if that's the best word. You basically focus the light in a way that burns the darkness out of something."

"But what if something doesn't have darkness in them?"

The Prince pointed at her, "Exactly. If you were to perform the same spell on that child in your arms, most likely nothing would happen." He turned to her quickly, a panicked look on his face, "I-I wouldn't suggest trying..."

Addy fought to hide her smile, "I promise."

"Okay." He chuckled nervously, flipping the pages of the books in his large hands, "But you cast it on a demon, a being of almost pure darkness. So when you cast the spell it kept going and going and going. My guess is that if you were a better trained and more powerful Paladin it would have killed you. But you ran out of mana and passed out, cutting off the spell before it would do real damage."

"So there's not really any danger then." Addy let out a breath of relief.

The Prince startled, "I didn't say that."

"But you said I wasn't powerful enough to kill myself with it." Addy pointed out, "So as long as I don't face down anymore demons I shouldn't ever have to deal with passing out like that again."

"For now." The Prince urged, "But as you continue your training, you'll get more powerful. Eventually you'll have enough power to finish casting and it could very much kill you then."

Addy rolled her eyes, "Well I shouldn't have any issues then. I'm not continuing my training."

"What?" The Prince closed another book with a snap, causing a burst of dust to fly into the air, making her sneeze again, "Why not?"

Addy clenched her jaw, resisting the urge to be rude again, "It's just…not in the books."

The Prince looked almost offended, "But you have an amazing talent with the light. Most can't even cast a judgement in the first place. And the light surrounds you in such a way, you almost glow." He blushed suddenly for some reason and Addy looked at her hands to see if she was really glowing like a freak, "With the right training-"

"Not to be rude, Your Highness." Addy interrupted him, feeling a lump in her throat as he went on to explain everything that she couldn't ever have, "But it's not really any of your business."

He seemed taken aback by that, and for a moment Addy was scared she'd taken it too far with the Prince, but a moment late he simply clear his throat and nodded.

"Fair enough." He gave her a soft tilt of the head, all his former enthusiasm gone, "Forgive me."

Addy immediately felt terrible for snapping at him, but she didn't say so, just nodding.

They sat there in silence for a while, and after an hour or so Addy wondered if she should head back upstairs. But the baby had finally fallen asleep and she was scared that if she moved it would wake up. Besides, the Prince barely noticed her, engrossed in a growing pile of books surrounding him.

She wondered what he was looking for, and tried to sneak a peek at some of the titles of the books, but it was no use. The words all looked like gibberish to her, and many of them looked to be in different languages. The only thing they had in common was that they were old…very old.

"Ah ha!"

Addy jumped as the Prince leapt to his feet, knocking over a pile of books of he did so. In his hands was a green tome without a title, and only a single gold leaf flower on the front. He tip toed around the mess he made and came over to the table, glowing in victory.

Addy glared at him, praying that he wouldn't wake up the baby that had only just fallen asleep.

The Prince noticed her glare and quieted down, but his face was beaming beaming, "I found it! Take a look at this."

Addy panicked as he pushed the book in front of her, her eyes wide as she looked at the unfamiliar words in front of her. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, her eyes wide in terror at the Prince finding out such an embarrassing fact about herself.

"Don't worry about reading it." The Prince waved her off and her breath caught in her throat. Did he know? "It's in Old Darnassian. Theres probably only a handful of people in Stormwind who can read this. But the picture, look."

He pointed to the opposite page where there was a beautiful image of a small Elven temple. Standing in front of it were two pale blue Night Elves with white hair and long glowing dresses looking up at a beautiful weeping willow, crying down on them with twinkles that looked like stars. And between the trees, floating in the sky…

Addy pointed to the picture, "That's it!" She stood up suddenly, waking up the baby which started to scream, "That's the ship!"

The Prince nodded, "Yes, I thought it sounded familiar."

Addy picked up the book as she studied the picture, her eyes flickering around it to try and figure out what it meant. The ship was identical - it could have been the same one for all she knew. The same black and green lights with sharp spikes.

"Where is this." Addy pointed to the temple in the picture.

Anduin shrugged, "There's no way to know. It most likely doesn't exist anymore. This image is more than 10 thousand years old."

Addy immediately dropped the book, holding her hands out in front of her in horror at manhandling such an ancient thing.

The Price shook his head, chuckling kindly, "That's a copy of an original, don't worry."

Addy blushed, and picked the book up again, looking it over. She turned to the words beside it and tilted her head, "What does it say?"

"I don't know." The Prince admitted, leaning over to look at it, "I know Darnassian, but this script is so old it would take me time to translate it…but this is the only depiction of these ships I've seen."

"Well that's good then, right!" Addy looked at the picture, excited, "It's a clue. This book probably talks about the ship! We just need someone who can read it."

The Prince winced lightly, and for the first time Addy noticed that he seemed a bit uneasy. His eyes were flickering over the image with equal parts excitement and wariness, and he was wringing his hand over themselves.

Addy swallowed, "What is it?"

"Hmm?" The Prince looked at her, forming a smile, "Oh, it's nothing. You're right, of course."

"You know something." Addy accused, hushing the baby in her arms.

"It's not important." The Prince urged, "Not yet, until I have more proof."

Addy felt her heart drop at the look on his face. It was serious, and a little bit scared. "It's bad…isn't it."

"Maybe." The Prince was obviously reluctant to say anything, and Addy bit her lip to stop herself from hounding him. He was the bloody Prince of Stormwind, he wasn't obligated to tell her anything.

The baby in her arms continued to scream, fidgeting wildly and Addy decided that she'd finally had enough.

"I'm, uh…I'm gonna find someone to take this." She held up the squirming infant.

The Prince nodded absentmindedly, still looking at the book in his hands.

Addy stood up, before shifting awkwardly, not entirely sure how to go about exiting from the Prince. Finally she decided on a terrible curtsey, and a mumbled 'your highness'.

The Prince looked up from the book and offered a nod of the head in return, "I'll keep you update if I learn more information."

Addy paused, staring at him in surprise, "You will?"

"Of course."

Addy didn't argue. Obviously the Prince thought her to be someone of great importance in Westfall, but if it meant him keeping her informed she wasn't going to correct him.

She gathered the child in her arms, and started to make her way towards the stairs. Even peaking her head out of the small room she could hear the loud hustling and crying and screaming of the injured souls above. As if sensing it the child started to scream again. Addy wrinkled her nose.

"Miss Fairchild."

Addy paused at the foot of the stairs, turning her head to peek back into the small room, "Your Highness?"

"Think about what I said." He urged with his eyes, "About continuing your training. I think it's important."

Addy pursed her lips, trying to keep the annoyance off her face. Of course he didn't understand. She'd love to continue her training, but it just wasn't possible. She doubted she could explain it to him. How could a Prince ever understand the sharp pangs of hunger when she couldn't afford to eat for a week. Or the hours she spent patching her clothes when they ripped and wore thin. He'd never have to deal with the pain of selling everything you owned just to survive; her parents wedding rings, a small jewelry box belonging to her grandmother, her Grandfathers war medals...all sold for loaves of bread, barley and oats.

But of course Gryan would smack her good if she spoke in such a way to the Prince, so instead she gave him a forced smile, and lied.

"I'll...I'll think about it."

He smiled and it lite up his whole face. Addy immediately felt bad about lying to him, but it didn't matter. She doubted she'd ever speak with him again.

So without another word she turned and walked out of the room, not witnessing the smile drop from the Princes face, and the spark of fear in his eyes as he held the book up in front of him.

A/N: First of all, thank you so much to everyone for the feedback, you have all been absolutely lovely! It really brightens my day to hear from you guys! Second, I probably should have said this in chapter one, but this story may or may not be subject to changes? I'm writing it from the current legion content, but as new stuff comes out with 7.2 and 7.3 etc, I might have to make small tweaks. I'm hoping that I won't have to, but such is the burden of writing Fanfiction for constantly evolving games. Third and finally, I'm going to be in Mexico for the next two weeks, and probably won't be able to update twice a week like I've been doing.

Again thank you guys so much for the support! Feel free to drop by a review, and thank you for reading!

-Ash