Ominous clouds, tinged with cool shades of grey, rolled in from the distance. With them, came the sinister rumble of thunder, and blinding flashes of lightning. Kalimdor's weather varied, depending on where one was on the continent, but Suramar's climate was generally pleasant. It was the reason so many of the night elven population lived in the capital. As of late however, the weather had been vastly different.
Eliana could not remember the last time that it had been so disagreeable. Decades ago, perhaps? She stood on the veranda of the Temple of the Moon, shielded by the eaves above her, watching the overly large drops of rain patter on the stone plaza below. The moisture darkened the surface of the rock, turning her surroundings into a bleak, gloomy place, and she found that it looked much like how she felt.
Since the Festival of the Moon, some weeks past, she had not spoken to, nor seen Cytheas, a single time.
A room in the initiate wing had finally become available, and so she'd moved her things from her father's house and now resided at the Temple. However, she couldn't imagine that her father would not have informed her friend of the new development, and yet still, he had not come by. Granted, she had been the one to deny his advances and abandoned him there, on the edge of the forest that night. But she could not find fault in her anger, and so she did not apologize.
Then again, one had to see the person in order to do so.
"Eliana? We are starting our lessons now," a voice called out to her, and Eliana turned to see one of her fellow sisters beckoning for her to come back inside.
She nodded in response and pushed off of the column she had been leaning on, trailing behind the other female as they made their way into the classroom.
When she took her seat next to Tyrande, the navy-haired female smiled at her and Eliana tried to return the gesture, though it fell flat in comparison. Tyrande frowned when she noticed Eliana's uncharacteristic demeanor and opened her mouth to speak, but the High Priestess entered the room to begin their lesson.
Both girls faced forward again and over the course of the next few hours, Eliana kept her eyes focused on her notes and the High Priestess. As much as she tried to concentrate on the High Priestess' lecture, thoughts of Cytheas and what had happened between them at the festival kept haunting her, and she sighed in frustration as her pencil scribbled across the paper in front of her.
She knew how Cytheas felt, of course. He had made his emotions blatantly obvious ever since he'd confessed to her. What she couldn't understand however, was how it was so impossible for him to understand the concept of giving her time. They had known each other since they were young and because of that, he knew her better than anyone else, save her father. Or so she had thought.
When she was pressured into action, she tended to turn tail and run the other way-Cytheas knew this. He'd seen it happen first hand, multiple times throughout their younger years. She needed to be able to reach a decision on her own, in her own time. Why Cytheas thought it was a good idea to pressure her into admitting feelings for him, when he knew that she harbored feelings for Illidan, was what frustrated her the most.
Some time later, though it had felt like only minutes to Eliana, the High Priestess closed her enormous tome with a loud thud and said, "That is all for the day. I will see you girls tomorrow. May Elune be with you," and drifted out of the room.
Eliana gathered her things quickly and followed the High Priestess' path. When she was halfway down the hall, quick footsteps sounded on the marble floor behind her and a hand touched her upper arm. She turned and saw Tyrande who looked at her with concern, her eyebrows bunched together.
"Eliana, what is the matter?" Tyrande asked in a soft voice, ever the empathetic friend.
"It is nothing," Eliana responded as she went to turn away, which caused Tyrande to pull more insistently on her arm.
"I know that is not true. Has something happened to make you upset?"
Eliana's eyes fell to the floor as she let out a long exhale. "It...Cytheas he…"
"What did he do?" Tyrande prompted.
"...He kissed me."
"When?" her friend gasped.
"The day of the festival."
"Why did you not tell me? You are upset about it then?"
"Yes, because he did it without my permission."
A frown tugged at the corners of Tyrande's lips as she replied, "Without your permission? That does not seem like something he would do. It is...rash. Have you spoken to him about it? Asked him why he did such a thing?"
"No. I...I guess you could say that I ran away. I have not spoken to him since," Eliana explained as the duo made their way down the hall, towards their rooms.
"Eliana, it has been weeks since the festival. Why have you not sought him out?" Tyrande reprimanded.
"What could I possibly say to him?" she asked, exasperated, as she pushed the door to her room open and walked in, depositing her books on her bed.
"I do not know. But at least you could clear the air. Get some clarification," her friend suggested.
"I suppose."
Tyrande sighed as she crossed her arms over her slender frame. "It is your decision what you do, but I think it would be for the best if you at least spoke to him. You are normally together every single day. I could not imagine going that long without speaking to Malfurion or Illidan."
"If I ever see him again, then I shall," Eliana muttered as she sat down at her vanity.
The navy-haired female watched in silence as Eliana ran the fine prongs of her brush through her hair. When the quiet became too much for her to handle, she glanced up at Tyrande and prompted, "Yes?"
"Come for a walk with me. I think it will clear your mind."
"It is raining."
"I believe it has stopped. I can no longer hear the sound of the raindrops on the temple's roof. Come on, Eliana," Tyrande insisted, waving her hands at the other female.
Annoyed, Eliana let out a sharp exhale and said, "I think I am just going to stay here, Tyrande. I want to look over my notes from the lesson this morning. I will see you later, at dinner."
Tyrande's face fell, and she nodded before she stepped back out into the hall and shut the door softly behind her.
A wave of guilt washed over Eliana and she rubbed her temple, frustrated. Ever since her and Cytheas' falling out, she'd been acting unlike herself. She would never snap at Tyrande, or anyone for that matter, and she knew she should apologize to her friend later. Her irritation was unwarranted; Tyrande had only been trying to help.
With a sigh, Eliana pulled her notes from earlier over and began to sort through them, marking the sections that had particularly caught her interest. A couple of hours later, she found that she could no longer focus. The letters began to blur together and she shoved the notes away from her with a frustrated sigh.
It was then that her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her that she had yet to eat since the first meal of the day. In a single harsh motion, she pushed her chair back from the desk, its wooden legs scraping loudly against the stone floors. The temple did not offer meals outside of the assigned times throughout the day, so Eliana would have to venture into the square to find sustenance.
She grabbed her cloak from the back of the door and quickly scampered into the hall, making her way to the veranda. When she stepped out into the chilly night, she noticed that it had indeed stopped raining, though the sky was still overcast. The moon's glow hid behind the wispy barriers.
A cold breeze blew past and she shrugged her cloak on as she hastily descended the marble steps and made her way over to her favorite food stand, just beyond the cubed hedges that lined the temple's perimeter. A large crowd had gathered in the square and it was so thick that Eliana was unable to see what it was that had drawn so many elves in.
After she placed her order, she faced the throng, her eyes wide with curiosity. Out of nowhere, Tyrande popped out from between the mass of bodies and made her to way to one of the other food carts, a few yards away. Eliana tilted her head at the sight, as her friend turned around with haste, a few bowls of food in her small hands. The navy-haired female disappeared into the crowd again, and the vendor of the stand Eliana was at called out to her.
As she turned to receive her food and to pay, he adamantly refused and informed her that he would take a blessing as payment. With a slight blush on her cheeks, she quickly recited the standard blessing and whirled around, trying to find Tyrande's trademark dark hair among the group of elves.
Luck was with her this night, as the crowd began to thin. Apparently, elves were losing interest in whatever it was that lay in the center of the square. Eliana began to make her way towards the edge of the crowd when she then spotted Illidan approaching, and stopped dead in her tracks.
He hadn't noticed her yet and his gaze was fixated on something ahead of him. His eyebrows were furrowed so intently, that the crease in his forehead was deeper than she'd ever remembered seeing it. Likely, he was in an incredibly foul mood.
He too disappeared into the crowd, further to the right than where she stood. With her curiosity piqued, she gently laid her hand on the shoulder of the elf in front of her, silently asking for passage. With an irritated glance in her direction, the female obliged and moved to the side.
Unfortunately, the rest of the crowd wasn't as easy to maneuver through, and as she made her way through the throng, she mumbled, "Excuse me...I'm so sorry, could I pass?...Pardon me…"
No matter how many times Eliana requested that she be allowed to pass, the overabundance of bodies in the square made it impossible to make any kind of progress towards the center. When she attempted to ask the fifth elf to please move aside, a blinding flash arced through the sky and she squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from the light.
What in the world was that?
With newfound urgency, she continued to squeeze between those that surrounded her, and when she finally reached the center of the throng, she saw Illidan, with Tyrande in his arms. A spike of jealousy shot through her, and she chastised herself for feeling such a juvenile emotion in such a serious situation.
She lifted her skirts and quickly made her way over to them. By the time she could reach them however, Tyrande had already straightened and pulled out of Illidan's concerned embrace, and turned to walk back towards the temple.
"Illidan!" Eliana called out as she neared the raven-haired male.
He'd been watching Tyrande's retreating back, but when he heard Eliana's voice, he turned to face her, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Eliana…" he trailed off, his tone unusually wistful and quiet.
"Is Tyrande alright? What happened?" she asked, as she fought to catch her breath.
At the mention of the other priestess, he shook his head and his gaze shifted towards the navy-haired female again. "She can be so reckless with her own well-being at times. It is incredibly frustrating," he muttered.
"What could cause her to be so fatigued all of a sudden?"
"That," Illidan spat and pointed behind him.
Eliana followed his finger, and when her eyes landed upon the creature inside of the cage that stood in the middle of the plaza, she gasped.
The creature was unlike any other that she had ever seen. It was absolutely massive, and its body was comprised of sheer muscle. In fact, its musculature dictated its size. Its arms were nearly double the size of Eliana's legs, and it was even more broad-shouldered than the twins and Cytheas, who stood at seven foot three-even they were near the top of the average height range for Night Elf males.
However, all of that paled in comparison to the creature's face. It had a wide, boxy skull with a lower jaw that protruded slightly. Out of that jaw, two large tusks emerged, arching upwards towards the top of the being's head. They were sharp, incredibly so, and sat on either side of a regular row of teeth. To top off its strange overall appearance, it had green skin, and not the pale green that some Night Elves had. No, it was a vivid, rich green.
"What is that, Illidan?" Eliana asked, her tone a mixture of fright and shock.
"That thing is a dangerous creature that the Moon Guard found skulking around the edges of the city last night. Tyrande was feeding it, talking to it...She even healed it," he hissed.
"How did it get injured?" she asked, looking up at him.
His golden eyes narrowed. "It reached out to Tyrande suddenly and I thought it meant to attack her. So...I retaliated."
"You attacked it?" Eliana gasped.
"I thought it was going to hurt Tyrande," Illidan repeated in defense, his teeth clenched
"I am sorry, Illidan. I did not mean it as an accusation," she muttered, chagrined at the thought that she had upset him.
At that, Illidan glanced down at Eliana, his facial expression still taut and closed-off. When she refused to meet his gaze, he sighed and schooled his countenance into something a bit more neutral.
"It is alright. Come, let us move out of this crowd," he said, as he gently placed his hand under Eliana's elbow, guiding her along with him.
Their steps eventually led them back to the food stands and Illidan faced Eliana. "Are you hungry?"
She shook her head slightly. "No, I just ate. Thank you, though."
When he nodded without saying anything in return, a smile teased at the corner of Eliana's lips, and she said in jest, "You know Illidan...I am not sure whether to be offended or not at the fact that, every time you seem to see me, you ask if I am hungry. Do you think that all I do is eat?"
His mouth fell open at her insinuation and he sputtered a response. "No, I...I simply did not want to seem rude if you were-"
A full blown grin overtook Eliana's face and she laughed softly. "I was only joking, Illidan."
He muttered a soft 'Oh...' as his amber eyes fell to the ground. When he didn't laugh at her teasing, her smile fell into a frown. Normally, he would at least throw a sarcastic remark back at her, but it seemed as if his thoughts were elsewhere. A lump formed in Eliana's throat, as she realized that he was more than likely thinking about Tyrande. Hesitantly, she reached out, and when her fingertips grazed his forearm, he glanced up at her.
"You are concerned for Tyrande," Eliana said. It was more of a statement than a question.
"I am sorry, Eliana. I find that my mind keeps wandering. I hope she is alright. I came to speak with her about something and then the whole fiasco with that beast…" he trailed off, his tone full of disappointment and irritation.
This time, it was Eliana's turn to focus her gaze on the ground. Little sprigs of grass had started to grow, peeking out from between the stones that lined the plaza. She nudged at them with the front of her sandals as silence fell between her and Illidan.
When he still hadn't spoken after a few seconds, in a quiet voice, she asked, "Would you like me to go inside and see how she is doing?"
"No, you do not have to do that. I will...I should go find Malfurion instead. Thank you though, Eliana," he said with a tight smile, as he began to walk away.
All that she could manage to do in response was nod, as he was already passing by the crowd again. With a disappointed sigh, she slowly began to ascend the stairs. When she heard shouts coming from the center of the square, she quickly turned around.
Quickly, she turned back and saw that the guards around the cage had swarmed closer, their actions frantic as the prisoner twisted and contorted inside, obviously in pain. She gasped in shock and her hand covered her mouth
What in the name of Elune is happening?
Off in the distance, she saw that Illidan had paused at the edge of the square, his gaze trained on the creature inside the cage. He stared at it for a few seconds, his eyebrows low over his luminescent narrowed eyes.
It was his expression that would come to haunt Eliana for the rest of the night. She had never seen him look so...vengeful...before.
He turned then, so sharply that the end of his high ponytail flicked through the air behind him, and strode out of the square and out of Eliana's sight.
A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter took me so long to get up. I really struggled with it, for some reason.
Thanks to mbh040, Nightlain, and angelacm for the wonderful reviews. I cannot thank you enough for your encouraging words-they keep me going. Also, special thanks to Nightlain for the fav and the follow. It means so much to me :)
As always, thanks to Arenoptara for being my beta.
Things are really picking up in this chapter, as we see the first introduction of something from the lore. I'm excited to explore the rest of the first book! I hope you guys enjoyed this one and I'd love to hear what you thought!