'It seems as though the sun is telling me it is time to be awake'. Thought Lunarious bemusedly. He slowly cracked an eye open, at first wondering where he was before he remembered the previous few days. The arrow to the ass, the rude little elleth who shot him, and of course the carnage of the trolls. He grimaced at the thought of all those poor Quel' Dorei. At least they had found a survivor against all odds.
With this thought he looked down at his young patient, smiling grimly. Her awakening would not be an easy one. He had drip-fed her some juice but she was still terribly weak. He would not allow her to eat anything too solid for at least a week, perhaps two. Glancing at her stick thin limbs and then to the bloody sack she wore as clothing his gaze darkened even further. It had slipped his mind last night, but they needed to arrange for some other form of clothing for her. She would also be unable to travel at the speed that his new ranger friend; or rather captor as she liked to remind him, required. Easily remedied by him carrying her on his back while in stag form but he would still need to walk carefully. He had planned to propose that Sylvanas ride him to make up the time lost by the troll attack but now with another traveling companion, he would need to reconsider. She was very small, so he supposed he could carry both of them, but that would have to wait until the frail elleth was in better shape. He knew Slyvanas would understand, but he would need to ask her some questions about her sister's illness to determine whether or not they should truly hurry. Speaking of the stern but still humorous elleth that was his captor he began to look for where she had gone to sleep, only to stop his eyes abruptly as he found her. His eyes widened comically. The feisty little ranger looked like a different elleth when asleep. Her normally furrowed brow was smooth. Her face, usually kept shadowed by her hood, was bare and the smooth skin was glowing in the morning rays on the rising sun. Her golden hair framed a heart shaped face that was the picture of Quel' Dorei beauty. The most striking change was her mouth. Usually held in a grim downturn or a quick quirk of the lips that indicated a smile, was relaxed; her pink lips slightly open. 'If she wasn't such a hardass all the time I might even think she was cute!' He chuckled to himself. He fought to keep his chuckles to himself as he shifted from his bear form to his elven one. Deciding that first on his to do list was to make breakfast he quietly rose to get started. Not quietly enough it seemed as with his next breath he yelped in alarm as he found a still bleary eyed Sylvanas holding her knife to his throat.
"Move and I'll kill you, you troll sc- Oh!" He saw a deep blush bloom across her dusted cheeks. She quickly clambered off of him, careful to avoid their new small companion. Eyes cast downward she turned slowly to him and said, "F-forgive me Lunarious, I acted before I realised what was going on."
Luna, for his part, was flabbergasted. She was being so demure! Who was this strange new elleth who apologised for almost killing him? Certainly a surprise when he compared her to how she had laughed at him as she pulled that arrow out of his rear. An easy smile finding its way to his face, he lifted a hand in appeasement. "Peace Sylvanas, I should be thankful to have such a vigilant travel companion on my vacation to your lands." Ah there was the Sylvie he had grown used to! His vacation comment had certainly ticked her off.
He fought a grin as she stepped forward with a finger to his face. "I was merely being polite! You think this is a vacation? You are my prisoner, it would be troublesome if I accidentally killed you before I put you to good use." She dropped the finger but kept her face close to his, baring her teeth slightly.
He chuckled easily and said, "Yes yes o captor, my captor, I understand." This time he lost the battle against his growing grin and that seemed to push Sylvanas over the edge. With a growl she threw up her hands and stalked away from him, calling out as she left, "I'm going to look for tracks and check my traps, if you are gone when I get back I will absolutely find and kill you." With that he lost sight of her through the trees and finally let loose the laugh that had been bubbling up their whole confrontation. 'What a lady she is!' His "captor" was quite the interesting character. Though he had seen first hand that she was an extremely capable warrior, and an accomplished woodswoman, she could also get flustered so easily! Lunarious suspected that she was not one that was used to making mistakes. He enjoyed their banter. The Kal' Dorei elleths that lived on Mount Hyjal alongside him were all much older than his eleven hundred years of age and they did not find bantering with him particularly enjoyable. He was essentially just out of his adolescent years in Night Elven society. He wondered idly how old Sylvanas was, the Quel' Dorei were not immortal as the Kal' Dorei were, but he knew they could live for thousands of years at least. If he had to guess, he'd say she was a younger elf, though with the agelessness of all elves it was often hard to tell.
He looked down at the little elleth that was now in his care. He could tell she was just a child. Probably no older than twenty. Her face bagan to cloud, her brows crashing together. 'She must be having a nightmare.' He thought to himself. Luckily all druids knew a thing of two about dealing with nightmares. Placing his palm on her small brow, he channeled some soft dream magic through his figures and smiled as her face smoothed. Glancing to the sky it appeared that dawn had only broken around an hour ago. He doubted she would be awake before noon at least. Realizing he had quite forgotten about breakfast, he shambled to his feet and went about preparing something for him and the ranger to eat, and once he had some fruit and nuts plated he went to drip-feed some more juice to his new small friend. Standing with a small stretch after finishing his breakfast, he wondered when the ranger would be back, he had wanted to ask her if she could spare some clothes for the little one.
Deciding that his next order of business was to tend to the forest he shifted to his bear form and began sniffing for seeds. He was planning on raising as many treants as he could between here and Sylvanas' home, this forest desperately needed proper tending. The trees kept crying out to him for countless things; their soil was too dry, their soil was too wet, they were too far from their friends, or they had an annoying neighbor they wished to be moved from. All things he could and would have handled if he had the time, but alas that he did not. Fortunately he could create treants that could do these things in his stead, and once they had chosen a chief protector of the forest from amongst themselves, they could in turn raise more Treants. They might even inspire a few of the daughters of Cenarius to come and live in the forest with them. Luna would make sure that this wood was taken care of, even if he could not do it himself.
He had been looking for and finding seedlings for the better part of an hour when he felt a whirling sensation and was suddenly upside down. 'Please don't tell me I'm caught in the damn she-elf's traps.' He slowly looked up to find a rope wrapped around his ankle. 'Well isn't this just wonderful, it would seem I have quite the propensity to being captured by her' He thought dryly. Luckily he had switched back to his elven form a few minutes previously as he had found enough seedlings for the morning. It was also lucky that he had placed them in the small pouch strapped to his lower back before he had found himself upside down. He was about to shift into his cat form to escape when he heard a loud guffaw behind him. He kicked the rope to slowly rotate himself until he was looking invertedly eye to eye with his cackling capturer.
"What's this? A druid caught off his guard?" He could see the shine of her teeth as she smiled through her taunt. "In the middle of a great forest no less, whatever shall I do with you Prisoner? You can't even spot a little iddy biddy twap?" She tilted her head back and forth as she sing-songed at him.
Pouting, he crossed his arms on his chest, his attempt to remain aloof was somewhat ruined by his long shirt continuing to flap into his face. "See here Ranger, I was very preoccupied and I had assumed-wrongly so- that there would be no hunters making mischief anywhere near here." He began to lose sight of her as he slowly rotated in the other direction. "It is fine though," he said to the empty forest. "I can get down on my own."
"Oh is that so? I was just about to help you down." Sylvanas said gleefully.
"No no, Ranger it's quite alright you don't have to trouble you-" He began panickedly but was interrupted by the rope around his ankle being cut and his face becoming intimate with the soft dirt of the ground. Deciding that wicked turn wicked deserved turn, he played dead.
He held his breath and laid as still as possible, struggling mightily to hold back the grin from his passive face. "Kal' Dorei don't tell me I knocked you out again, what is it with you, is your whole skull made of glass?" Sylvanas began patronizingly. At his lack of any movement she began to grow worried. She hadn't snapped his neck had she? "Elf, get up right now or there will be hell to pay!" She rolled him over with a boot only to gasp in alarm. The glow that resided in his eyes was gone, his earthen orbs were plain to see and they looked glassily up to the sky. "Luna, Luna please get up." She said quickly. Sylvanas was officially panicked now, the loss of the glow in one's eyes meant death right? She had killed him! She'd basically killed her sister along with him all for some stupid prank! Poor Alleria, was she to be trapped in her body forever? Had Sylvanas truly doomed her sister to never finding recovery? She felt tears begin to form, distorting her vision. Her breaths became shallow as she began to hyperventilate. What an idiot she had been! Why was she trying to have fun with him anyway?! He was such a stu-. 'Wait, did his eye just twitch? And why did it look like he mouth was slightly curving into a smile? That bastard was faking it!' She kicked him in the ribs. Hard. She gnashed her teeth in fury as she heard him cough and then chuckle, "Whos the fool now Sylvie? I got you so...good." He trailed off as his eyes met hers. "Sylvanas? I was just kidding! I only wanted to prank you a little bit, I swear!"
Her panic was replaced with a cold fury. This idiot should know better than to play with people's emotions like that. To think she was just maybe starting to enjoy his company. She thought she had just sealed her sisters fate, all so this jackass could get a chuckle from it. "Yes, Kal' Dorei, very funny." She all but hissed out. "If you ever pull something like that again, I will absolutely kill you."
"Sylvanas, why are you so upset? It was just a joke, I meant you no harm." Luna said beseechingly to her.
She did not want to hear it though. "Of course a fool like you could not understand that it is not the joke that I am upset about, you are my sister's last hope, I thought I had doomed her as well as killed you, simply because I was trying to be funny. Something I should know by now I have no business trying to do." With that she swiftly turned, lest he see how red her eyes were. She called out as she began to walk in the direction of her last trap. "I will be back in about an hour, we leave then." She could hear him calling out her name but she ignored his pleas for her to stop and wait. She was not in the mood, that little escapade of his had ruined her morning.
"Windrunner! Come on! Wait dammit!" Luna cried as he shot to his feet and dusted himself off. He could see she was going to continue ignoring him so he was left with a choice. Go after her and apologize, potentially facing her still fresh anger. Or, he could wait for her to come back after she had cooled off some. He knew which one was more likely to keep all his limbs intact and he would've let her have her space, after all they'd only known each other a few days, and a lot of that had been with him as her prisoner. There was one thing stopping him from staying put though; he had seen the faintest glint of a tear in her eyes. Not for the last time he cursed his impetuous nature. 'Not everything needs to be a joke idiot!' He thought heatedly to himself. All this time he'd been deliberating he'd lost sight of Sylvanas. 'Damn! Why can't I get out of my own way!' He had sent a newly raised Treant named Bark to tend to the girl earlier that morning, he hoped Bark would not hold it against him if he took a bit longer than he said he would to get back to their little camp. Making up his mind he quickly shifted to his owl form and shot away in the direction he'd last seen Sylvanas headed.
Finding her was the easy part, she had made no attempt to cover her tracks. It was figuring out what to say when he got to her that was stumping him. When he'd played dead he was just trying to make them both laugh, as after what they'd seen the day before they needed a few good laughs. Of course he hadn't thought she would react so strongly, he had forgotten that to Sylvanas, he was the last, best hope to save her sister. Making up his mind to simply say he understood why he'd upset her, and that he was sorry for being so inconsiderate, he started forward. The ranger was in a low tree branch, with her back resting against the trunk. She stared down at him suspiciously when she saw him move to climb the tree.
"Please leave me alone, Lunarious, I'm very busy and I do not have time for your antics." Her voice seemed fragile and slightly hoarse, making Luna frown.
"I'm very sorry I hurt your feelings Sylvanas, I had only wanted us to laugh together after what we saw yesterday. I apologize for being so inconsiderate." He bowed his head and waited for her response.
There was a stagnant pause before she finally spoke, her voice small. "I know that, idiot. Of course I know that. I'm just homesick and being alone in the woods for weeks on end has made us fast...friends." She bit out reluctantly. "I am not usually so easy to rattle, nor am I usually so free with my...friendship." There was that pause again! Did she want to be friends or didn't she! "I know you were just jesting, but please do not do that again, I can not bear the thought of losing my sister, even if it is for just a moment."
Luna paused to let that all sink in. He agreed that them both being alone for so long had made them start a friendship faster than they normally would have. He was surprised by himself to realize he also considered her a friend, though without the hesitation. "You've got it boss, no more death jokes." At her flashing eyes, he hastily continued. "Also, about your sister, can you tell me what is ailing her? I need to know whether we should really hoof it or not." Without waiting for permission he leapt to the branch that the ranger was already resting on and sat down beside her.
She glared at him with suspiciously red eyes. "The healers that we have brought say it is as though her soul is trapped in her body. Her veins have turned purple and she does react to any stimuli. The healers say that the magic afflicting her is not one they understand, it is as if she is in an endless nightmare." He had been growing more tense as she continued to describe the symptoms, and at her last word Luna's eyes widened in alarm. Panicked he grasped her arm. "A nightmare? Are her eyes also tinted purple? Do the plants near her wither and die?"
He saw the rising alarm in Sylvanas' face. "Yes and yes, why? Do you know what it is? You must tell me, druid!" She gripped his hand with a crushing strength that left his fingers feeling numb.
"For the other healers to call it a nightmare, they were more apt than they realised. She is not having a nightmare but the nightmare.. It seems that she has somehow been caught by the fel energy of the enemy of all living things, The Nightmare." He paused, dreading what he must say next. "Those trapped in it's grip are often trapped...for eternity." He cringed as he saw all color leave Sylvanas' face. Her hand slackened on his and she looked so lost that he knew he had to give her some hope, even if it was far-fetched. "However, I may still be able to help. Fortunately, like most druids, I have experience navigating and combating the nightmare. I may be able to pull her out." He smiled as he saw some hope return to Sylvanas' eyes.
"Truly? You believe you could heal my sister?" She said excitedly, her previous sadness forgotten.
"Now that I know what is wrong with her, I believe I can help. I make no promises though, Fel magic is quite treacherous and many a druid far more skilled than I, has lost their way and been corrupted by it." He leapt from the branch, turning back to her when he landed. "Come one now Sylvanas, let us have a good day of travel and adventure! The wind is fair and the sky is clear!" He began dancing around, singing to the nearby trees. Abruptly stopping, he looked mischievously back at the elleth still in the tree who was looking at him with bemusement clearly written on her face. "Last one back to camp has to tell the other an embarrassing secret!"
Sylvanas was much faster than Luna if he did not shapeshift and they both knew it. Luna sped off as soon as possible, staying elven to keep it fair. "You slowpoke, even the newest ranger recruits could outrun you!" Sylvanas yelled out as she easily passed the panting elf.
"Yes, well I'm not," He paused for breath. "Used to running in this form!" He wheezed out. Sylvanas handily beat him to the camp and was sitting, the picture of relaxation, when he shambled up. Bark was resting beside the still sleeping young Quel' Dorei elleth. He looked up in first alarm when Sylvanas raced into camp, then happiness when Lunarious slouched in. "Sweet Mother Moon am I out of shape," He doubled over while heaving huge breaths. "You know, I should have the advantage here, my legs are much longer than yours!" Luna said accusingly to the openly smirking ranger.
"It does not matter how long they are if you can not move them past a snail's pace, druid." She paused, tapping her chin. "Now then, what is this embarrassing secret of yours, hmm?"
Luna blushed. "I don't know why I thought for sure I would win." He grumbled. "A deal is a deal though." Clearing his throat, he straightened. "I sleepwalk often, I am told by most of my friends that I act like quite the fool. I once walked into Shando Malfurion's bedroom while sleeping and lady Tyrande sent me flying out the window!" He ducked his head once his proclamation was over. After a few moments of silence he dared to risk a glance at the Quel' Dorei's face.
She was sitting upon a nearby rock looking at him in mute wonder. She suddenly burst into peals of actual laughter. Her glee did not seem to be subsiding even after long moments of Luna pouting off into the distance. "You mean to tell me," She interrupted herself with laughter. "That Tyrande Whisperwind, The High Priestess of the Night Elves thousands of years," She burst into laughter again while clutching her ribs. "Was startled awake by a bumbling idiot like you and sent you flying out the window?"
He scowled away from her, staring at a mossy stone. "Yea yea, everyone always laughs when they hear this story. She was very sorry! She promised not to tell anyone too!" He sniffed. "Unfortunately for me, Malfurion did not make such a promise and by the next day, all of Moonglade was laughing at me."
He looked back at Sylvanas to see her wiping tears from her eyes with the heel of her palm. "Thank you Luna, I have not laughed like that in years! You're such an idiot!"
He huffed. "Yea well anyway let's change the subject. Do you have clothes that the little one could wear? I'd give her my spare shirt but I think something of yours might fit her just a little better."
The ranger nodded and rummaged in her pack until she pulled out a spare long shirt. The child could probably wear it as a dress. "Turn around elf, give her some privacy as I change her clothes for her." He did as he was told and jumped when he felt something coarse smack him in the back of the head. "Stoke the fire and burn that, the little one does not need and reminders of her dead loved ones." Turning and picking up what he now realised to be the girl's bloody clothing he quickly stoked the fire with some dead wood and cast it into the fire.
Shifting his gaze from the burning garment to the ranger he was surprised to see her gently feeding the girl some juice while tenderly brushing her hair from her face. "Can you watch over her for a while? I need to raise more treants and Bark wants to go meet up with the others." Seeing her nod her consent, Luna walked a short distance away and cast all of the seedling he found that morning onto the lush grass in front of him. He had found about twenty. Luckily it took relatively small amounts of mana to raise treants, as they drew their magic energy from nature, not from their casters. Lunarious spent the next hour raising all of the seedlings and telling them of the plight of the forest. He placed Bark in charge and he had just finished speaking to his last treant, when he heard Sylvanas cry out to him. "Come druid! She awakens!" Hugging the treant goodbye, he hurried over to Sylvanas and crouched by her side, waiting for the little one to sit up. When she finally sat up and realised she was in yet another new place, with unfamiliar clothes she cried out in fear. Both ranger and druid made soothing shushing noises, with the ranger murmuring soft Thalassian to her while rubbing the small of her back. She did not speak, only sat mutely in fear. Her small, frail frame was taunt, as if about to bolt. Silent tears streamed down her face, her eyes constantly roving from Elf to Elleth. She seemed especially fearful of Luna, this probably being her first time seeing a Kal' Dorei Sylvanas frowned slightly when she saw that the girl's whole frame was still shaking heavily. Given what she had been through the last few days to weeks, it was quite understandable. Sylvanas laid a hand over the girl's, gently stilling her shaking. Still murmuring to her in soft Thalassian, she maneuvered herself in front of her. "I can not imagine what you have been through." She paused as she saw the girl's face crumple. "Nor will I tell you not to cry, for this grief needs to be let out." She tentatively reached out a hand to brush away the girl's tears, surprised that the frightened child had not flinched away. "What I can tell you, is that you are safe, and need have no fear now. We two," She gestured to herself and Luna. "Are quite capable. In fact, he is the one that healed your wounds and saved your life." Sylvanas had to stop herself from pinching her brow at the shining smile Luna flashed to the overwhelmed little girl. "Do you understand that you are safe now? Can you nod if you understand me?" Sylvanas continued softly. The girl nodded. "We are here only to help you, and no harm shall befall you while you are in our care." She paused, dreading the words she knew she needed to say "You were the only survivor, we have not yet laid the others to rest since we wanted to wait for you to wake." They had discussed it briefly after the attack on the trolls. Pressing on, she asked, "Do you have a home still? Somewhere or someone we can take you to?" She took her small hands into her larger ones when she saw the crying girl slowly shake her head, her sobs renewing with increased vigor. Sylvanas and Luna shared a heavy glance. The Trolls must have wiped out her whole village, and all her family along with it. Slowly, and with extreme gentleness, Sylvanas took the girl into her arms, pulling her close to her and holding her softly in her lap to let her cry on her shoulder. Cry she did, the duo gently comforting the wildly crying girl. Luna was at a bit of a loss as the child seemed to want to cling only to Sylvanas, who was doing all she could to hide her awkwardness at the situation. Eventually, after the sun had turned in the sky for a fair bit, the girl's sobbing slowed and quieted until finally she pulled back from Sylvanas to sit on the ground.
Luna slowly padded over, careful not to startle the child. Crouching, he smiled at her and started softly, "Do not worry, friend, you are safe and we are going to take care of and protect you." Luna said softly. "I am Lunarious, but you can call me Luna. This," He gestured to Sylvanas, "Is Sylvanas, but you can call her Sylvie." Sylvanas quirked a brow at that but said nothing. Seeing that the small elleth had calmed down, thanks to Sylvanas' gentle touch and soft words, Luna continued with a broad smile. "What is your name? Since we'll be going on a little adventure together, we would love to be friends with you." He said, while keeping his smile. The small Quel' Dorei took a moment to find her voice before she spoke. Her tone crackling and pitchy, obviously she had not spoken in a long time. "My name is Ruliel," She uttered hoarsely. Shying looking up from the ground to Luna then to Sylvanas, she paused. "But I guess if we're friends you can call me Roo." She smiled hesitantly.
At the sight of her smiling through all of her obvious emotional anguish, and through her red, tearful eyes, Luna let loose a broad smile, clapping a startled Sylvanas on the shoulder, and ignoring the glare he felt her sending his way. "Do you hear that Sylvie? She said we're friends!" The druid smiled again. "In fact, all of the forest is your friend, little Roo, I can feel it! You have quite the woodsy presence for a Quel' Dorei elf, why if I didn't know any better I'd say you had the makings of a druid!" At Roo's confused stare Luna's smile grew even bigger. "Anyway, what I'm telling you is that this whole forest, from the smallest ant, to the biggest dragonhawk; they know you are under my protection. The trees are already talking about how excited they are to meet you."
Before he could ramble any more, Sylvanas cut him off. "Ignore the idiot, how about we see if we can get you something substantial for breakfast, maybe it will help the headache you've surely got after listening to him speak."