Do not own SC characters.

I KNOW! I KNOW! Bows before loyal readers and pleads JUNIOR YEAR IS A KILLER! IT'S OUT TO GET ME, I SWEAR! This one is much long than any of my previous chapters and there's not even a reader-response put in yet, just because I know that you would be more interested in reading the story than waiting even longer for me to get back to all your replies. So I'm so so so so so gasps for more breath so so so so sorry! I can't promise if my next chapter of My Way will take less time because of my infamous junior year. But I'll be working on it as much as I can. I'm also writing another fic, ot at least in the process of. It's another shoujo-ai hugs shoujo-ai and the pairing is Natsuki and Shizuru from the anime Mai-HiME, the born-to-be couple. They are my second-most favorite shoujo-ai couple.

Anyway, please forgive me and I hope you enjoy

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Chapter 15: The Undead Golem Cometh

'Twelve days…' Taki recollected, her mind being stirred with thoughts. 'Twelve days since Sophitia had finally told me about our… previous relationship. Or perhaps it's been even longer than that; the days seem to be passing at a much slower pace than before.' She shifted leaning position upon a thick branch of one of the several unfathomably large trees of the Night Elven forest. Originally, her reason for being where she was now was because she had been invited to watch Kilik and Mina practice with Jaina and her offensive magics, a spectacle that was occurring just beneath her. It would have been a very interesting sight to see; a very well trained, spell-casting young woman against two staff-wielding warriors could easily be worth watching. However, even the sounds of aggressive training could not begin to waver the stream of thoughts that sped through the lone figure's head.

Gazing out onto the dark twilight skies, their red-purple rays of light highlighting the tops of the trees and roofs of the forest's inhabitants, be them its devoted Night Elves or foreign, Taki could only search through its guiding light as if she thought that within the color-outlined clouds held the answers that she needed right now.

'The reason for these long days is surely because of the awkwardness between Sophitia and I. The furthest that we've gone in this relationship since she told me is a mere hug!' Taki crossed her arms over her stomach and let her hand run along her face, as if the thought didn't seem potent enough to please her. 'Actually, it wasn't even a hug but a small embrace that Sophitia had been brave enough to do with me at the point; she wrapped her arms around me, loosely, as though she was afraid that she would break me.'

She sighed, her eyes softly drifting away from the sky as the memory flooded back into her head; she remembered that simple memory perfectly as if her subconscious wanted it to be burned there. 'When she rested her head on my shoulder, I know that she felt me become tentative, though she still kept her arms around me nonetheless. Of course, while she stood there with her arms snugly around me, all I could do was just stand there with no idea of what to do.' Taki felt like smacking herself in the head at that thought.

'And just when I thought I had gathered up enough courage to at least place my hands on her back, she slowly let go and tried to hide that expression of disappointment on her face.' She ran a hand through her ebony bangs as she looked down almost in regret, then roughly combed through them once as her face took on an expression of irritation and confusion. 'How could I just forget something like being in love? That is baffling enough let alone the question of how I let myself fall in love at all!' Taki's slightly-furrowed mahogany eyes darted as she thought this; indeed, how love became part of the ninja's life was a question that Taki had no idea how to answer as the thought filled her with more concern than confusion.

'Whoosh-'"Whoa!" 'SMASH!'

Taki felt the tree give a violent shake. With the quickness of a startled cat, Taki took the large branch she sat on between her hands while she equalized her balance and she waited the few seconds for the rocking to finally settle. With her attention finally or at least temporarily turned she looked down out of curiosity and interest of what was going on between the three practicing:

Seung Mina was pulling herself up from the ground as Kilik came towards her to help her up. "Are you alright?" He asked calmly as he took hold of her arm to aid her.

After lifting herself from the ground that she had dived onto, Mina brushed off the dirt with her hand as she answered with slight irritation. "Yeah, I'm fine." She ignored mentioning the fact that she was still a little shaken after having to dodge a huge boulder that was now imbedded into the trunk of the tree behind her, strands of bark curled away in different directions from the boulder as a cause of its impact. With wide eyes, Mina quickly turned from the boulder to the now-uncloaked Jaina, who was far opposite of the boulder and, according to her expression of astonishment, seemed to have the same revelation that Mina had found; if Mina hadn't dodged that, then the boulder wouldn't have been the only thing imbedded into that tree.

Tensing, Mina raised an eyebrow at her. "Jaina?" She started sweetly, although her eyes didn't appear so. "Wasn't the plan of this exercise to be that you'd bring rocks and stones from the ground and, with your skill in magic, fire them at us while we try to block them? When we said 'rocks and stones' we meant for them to be no bigger than the size of a fist, we didn't mean the size of a boulder!" As she spoke, Mina could feel her grip on her Zanbatou become tighter; she was nearly killed! Wasn't Jaina supposed to be good at elemental magics such as that?

Jaina could only give her an apologetic smile. "I know, sorry about that." She spoke in a low voice before lifting up a finger to state a point; "But remember, I did mention that as a sorceress the elements that I excel in are water and air, not earth, at least not as much; I have had training in that area but I never really studied it as thoroughly. And the reason that I was reluctant to train with you at first was because I was afraid that something like this was going to happen." Brushing aside the light-blonde hair that fell forward around her face that wasn't pulled back in her ponytail, which wouldn't have been seen had she been wearing her cloak and hood, Jaina stated in her defense as she crossed her arms simply over her stomach.

As Mina opened her mouth, Jaina spoke up again before the Korean could. "The reason that I did agree to training with you was because I thought I could use the time to train myself in the areas of magic that I feel I'm weakest at as well." Jaina's light blue eyes drifted over the grounds around her, finding them to have many holes from which the stones had burst during her period of continuous concentration and mental chanting. "But apparently I have more practicing to do." She finished, her palm tentatively rubbing her exposed nape as she finally found the large burrow that the boulder had shot up from. 'I suppose have to pay more attention in sensing the difference in masses of each one.' She made a mental note as she strode towards the hole, stepping over the much smaller ones that matted the grass and soil. Looking into it, she gawked as she found that the boulder must have been buried no less than five feet; that spell was more powerful than she realized!

Kilik only let out a sigh as his palm finally left Mina's arm before turning back to the trunk of the tree that was now twenty-five percent wood, seventy-five percent stone. 'Wonder how we'll explain this to that Night Elf priestess. It's obvious that they have a love for these trees.' He thought, feeling guilty for two things at the moment; accidentally making the beautiful tree become in the condition it was in now, and for thinking "that Night Elf priestess" instead of using her actual name. Though he couldn't help it either; being Chinese, the name 'Tyrande' was a bit of a tongue-breaker, he even had troubles pronouncing it in his head.

Mina let out a breath as she leaned on her Zanbatou, closing her eyes for a second. "Since it looks like we nearly desecrated this place, perhaps we should go to another place and try to keep training with an element that you're more confident in manipulating." She suggested while taking her long, brown braid and laying it over her shoulder so that her nape could feel the cool wind that could hardly be felt brushing through the trees.

Jaina seemed to let out a tired sigh before briefly closing her eyes and letting her head fall forward. "Sure. Just… give me a few minutes to let my mind settle; concentrating like I did for so long can give somewhat painful after-effects on your head." Her hand ran along her forehead as if a twinge of a headache was occurring.

Mina only nodded as Jaina had looked up; her muscles were a little sore anyway, and besides, it would be better if Jaina's concentration didn't go haywire during the exercise. The Korean turned to the tree that Taki had supposedly jumped in; Mina hadn't exactly followed where the ninja had moved, so finding a semi-dark, motionless figure within the thick brushes of the tree in this low amount of light was a little difficult. Instead of searching, Mina simply hollered. "HEY TAKI! In case you didn't hear, we're moving out soon! So whether you want to follow us, go back, or continue to play look-out up there, I'M JUST LETTING YOU-!" Mina stopped as she noticed the movement of a red body suit just above her as it made its way down.

Once Taki's foot touched the ground, her annoyed-hinting eyes landed on the smaller girl, who stood still and just looked back up at her. "Thank you for giving me those options and for informing me, although I must let you know that I CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE!" She boomed back with slightly gritted teeth, watching as Mina flinched while letting her Zanbatou drop onto her shoulder to cover her ears with her palms.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry!" Mina yelled back, not as loud as before. She turned on her heel, her Zanbatou back in her hand as she took a few steps away, muttering something. "Man, why are you in such a bad mood?"

Taki's eyebrows remained furrowed as she just kept her eyes on Mina for a moment before dropping them to the ground almost hesitantly. "N-nothing. I just… I've just had a lot on my mind."

Mina suddenly turned back to her with a wide, teasing grin that immediately struck nervousness inside the taller woman. "Oh I bet you have!" The teenaged girl nearly sped up close to Taki before the ninja could even open her mouth to question her. "Sophitia already told me what happened." She stated in a low tone so that the others couldn't hear, something that she didn't have to worry about anyway since they were all at a pretty fair distance from each other.

Taki turned pallid; she hoped that Mina was the only one who knew and that their relationship wasn't the gossip topic of the forest. "Did you know about how we were before? The whole relationship? Is it true?" When Mina's grinning face nodded, she sound herself to be completely dumbfounded, much to Mina's growing amusement. 'So it really is… S-Sophitia and I were…?' Suddenly, as her mind raced in its shock, an image abruptly flashed into her mind:

Sophitia and herself kneeled in the center of a bed that was almost hardly large enough for two; an indication that if the two wanted to sleep in the same bed together and not fall off, they would have to sleep in a snuggle-like embrace. A single white linen bed sheet was the only item that covered their bare bodies as they held each other tightly in their arms. Both of their hair hung loose around their shoulders, the Japanese woman's ebony tresses equaling a little more than half the length of the golden blonde of the Grecian's. Taki's hands held her Grecian lover possessively at the ribcage while the younger girl slid her hands up Taki's exposed upper chest to cup her face. The brave, female gladiator pulled her closer to give her beautiful demon huntress a feather-light kiss which, thanks to Taki's willingness, became more passionate and deep as every few seconds had passed. As desire continued to flood their minds and bodies, both found themselves more willing, wanting, to explore more… hidden territories… and with more than just fingertips to guide them in enticing the other.

"…Mina!" Taki burst herself from her train of thought as she turned to a slightly startled Mina. Thankful that she was wearing a red mask, Taki could feel her face turn redder and redder as more pictures displayed themselves to her mind's eye. She took Mina by the dark yellow sash that tied loosely around her shoulders and spoke in a forced yet harsh whisper. "Why didn't you tell me this little piece of news before?"

Mina only answered tartly, "You never asked." Before Taki acted out the idea of strangling the younger girl with her own sash, Mina continued. "Plus, I knew that if I told you then you'd never take the idea seriously if it came from me, so I figured that it would be better if Sophitia told you herself."

Taki only looked at the Korean, whose expression turned from amused to neutral, displaying her seriousness. The slightly taller woman let out a sigh as she let the sash go. Her answer was quite true; Taki had lost no memories of first meeting Mina and knew how often they'd throw cocky remarks at each other just for the fun of ticking the other off. With that in mind, if Mina had been the one to tell her, then Taki would've believed that the teenager was trying to play games with her, and a rather cruel one in Taki's opinion. The demon slayer felt the tension in her muscles ease as she ran a hand through her bangs again before she asked softly, "Have you seen her around at all?"

Mina looked down slightly and tapped her chin with her finger three times. "Actually, no; I haven't seen her since this morning." Perplexed at this, Mina remained in a train of thought; being the one that Sophitia was closest to since Taki's loss-of-memory, Mina found it strange that Sophitia could give the impression that she was becoming slightly reclusive and taciturn around them. But Mina just shrugged it off, thinking that her slow progress with Taki may be the cause and is, perhaps, just depressed. She looked up at Taki with an eye that looked both knowing yet hopeful. "Why do you ask? Are you going to finally try something with Sophitia?"

Taki blinked, feeling her blush slowly coming back, making her eyes avert downward almost sheepishly. "Well… n-no… but-"

Before she could continue, Mina looked away as she rolled her eyes and gave out an exasperated sigh. "Oh my- how long does it take you?" Mina placed her hands on her hips. "It's not that difficult, you know. I mean, you haven't even does so much as give her a small kiss on the cheek! She's truly in love with you, so what else do you need?" Just when Taki though Mina was done, the younger girl yet again broke in before she could speak. "Gods, even I would've had enough time to take her by now!" She paused before she quickly added, "If I was attracted to her. Then again, if I was attracted to women at all."

Taki wasn't focusing on Mina's small blush of embarrassment but her rather offensive words. How would she know? She wasn't in the situation that Taki was in! You can't just suddenly love someone even though they've confessed their love to you; it takes more time with that, and a lot more time for Taki in her case. "I can't just do that." She spoke softly, although her eyes held absolute seriousness as she locked her gaze with Mina's. "For me, as a demon hunter, the idea of being in love is almost ridiculous. That's how it was for the rest of my clan; we had our own basic guide of living, a code of conduct, and it didn't include love since our vocation would easily endanger the ones we may be in love with. Love was forbidden in our teachings, and we didn't really see a point to it anyway since what love led to could make a person become sidetracked, something that we couldn't afford."

Taki gazed at the silent Mina for a moment before raising her hand to show a counting gesture with her fingers. "Learn the basics of different evils, complete chores around the temple, train one's body and mind with given weapons, hunt, kill, cleanse, and wait for the next demon to cross our paths so that the cycle can start again from 'hunting'." She lowered her hand. "That was the order of how our lives were supposed to be, for my brother members, sister members and myself. Falling in love was nowhere within that." Finally finishing in her simplistic tone, Taki crossed her arms over her stomach and turned to lean her back against the nearest tree. Her eyes laid themselves onto the velvety-green grass in front of her as she recalled her paternal mentor's teachings.

"Well, as true as that may sound," Jaina suddenly joined in the conversation as the other two didn't seem to notice her walk up to them. "I think you're just making up reasons for you to keep avoiding what Sophitia is offering to you." She stated softly while she fastened the clip of her cloak loosely around her neck, hood down.

Taki just looked at her for a moment with an expression somewhere between confusion and surprise. "I… I'm not avoiding her, I just… Hey wait, since when is the status of my love-life anyone's business? Why do I have to keep defending myself? When I know that I feel comfortable having her love and that I'm willing to give my affections to her, I'll tell her! So thank you very much for your concern!" She finished tartly as she pushed herself off the tree and turned to head back into the city limits, feeling the need to be alone and away from the people who were actually aware of their relationship. As she had taken a deep breath to calm her nerves, Taki found herself almost bumping into Kilik. "Oh, sorry Kil… Kilik?" Her eyes widened as she noticed that the Chinese boy was completely frozen, literally. He had a rather surprised expression on his face with his eyes directly at the spot where the three girls had conversed. The only part about him that lead Taki to believe that he was actually frozen solid was that his skin, hair, and even his clothes held a light, tinted blue color, as though a thin sheet of ice covered his body .

"K-Kilik?" Mina sputtered in a frightened surprise as she jumped back slightly. "W-wha-?"

"Oh don't worry, he'll be fine." Jaina assured with a simple wave of her hand as she finally remembered him. "It's just a sixty-second spell called "Freeze". I think he has less than twenty seconds left." She turned her royal-blue eyes to Mina. "I thought it would be best since the point in time when he had turned to you two like that was when you said that even you would've been able to win Sophitia's affections by now." A bemused expression contorted onto her face as she tried to hide it.

The light-pink blush returned to Mina's cheeks even though she tried to hold a serious visage. "I didn't mean it that way!"

"Oh I know, don't worry." Jaina held a light tone as if to sound more reassuring than before; perhaps she was thinking that Mina needed it more for this case than when finding out that Kilik was frozen in a spell.

With just a blink, Taki looked at them as an amused smile slowly formed on her face; quite the group she was working with. "Try not to get into too much trouble." With a wave over her shoulder, Taki once again returned to her stride towards the city. Perhaps she would run into Sophitia again, and maybe, just maybe she would gather enough courage to do a little more than just embrace.

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Walking down one of the many paths of the incomprehensibly wide forest of Ashenvale, Sophitia eyes cast themselves around the hedgerows as she passed. The sun had set enough for the trees to blanket the grounds around them with nearly the darkest of shadows and only small patches of grass and the trunks of trees were graced with the presence of amber light. She was thankful that some of the limbs of nearby trees held lamps to light her path.

Normally, a person would think that the reason for a woman such as Sophitia to be walking along these tranquil lands by herself would be to just gaze at the scenery and think and perhaps daydream about a certain Japanese woman. And normally, they would be correct, but tonight, that was not at all Sophitia's purpose of striding down a lamp-lit pathway while lightly but cautiously fingering the hilt of her trusted sword as it remained in its sheath at her hip. Right now, all that she needed to see and speak to was the Dark Ranger herself; today would be the fourth day in a row that she hadn't seen her.

She found herself becoming more and more unsettled as she continued to search through the hedgerows and shrubs around her. 'I understand Sylvanas not wanting to be seen by any living person, I'm sure even myself included, but I had expected her to eventually say something about Arthas and what he may be doing… planning.' Emerald eyes were finally eased from their straining concentration as she let them fall onto the dirt path. 'I'm not really in the best mood for this endless searching, these last few days have been tense enough…' She took a breath before scanning the trees again.

As she continued her stride, she was just about read to turn back and try another path when she heard a twig snap from within one of the hedgerows. Could that have been Sylvanas? 'It sounded so close… Of course, it may have most likely been some kind of forest animal. The Night Elves seem to have thousands of them. But even so, it wouldn't hurt to check…' With that she left the path and stepped into the forest's edge.

By the small chill than ran up her spine as she entered the forest that was obscurely defined by the sun's dull light, she could tell that she was close. The deeper she walked, the greater the feeling of eyes intensely on her became. These were not the kinds of eyes that she would feel when a passing Night Elf or an Orc would give her; these felt… unforgiving… ominous. Her instincts were normally correct, that she knew, so she couldn't allow herself to simply 'ignore' them:

she stopped in the center of a circle of trees, and slowly looked around herself, making sure to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground. Finding nothing but more trees, birds perched within them, a couple of hanging lamps in the limbs of a few trees and shadow, Sophitia took one last cautious look behind her to double-check then sighed; 'Perhaps these few days have been more tense than I realized.' She thought as she ran her fingers through her bangs once before she turned to look forwards again. Then, she nearly gasped as she found herself finally confronted by those same threatening eyes leering at her.

Before her stood the ghostly pale, streaming-long and white hair, green dress and grey cloak, claw-like nails and blood-shot eyes of Sylvanas' entrusted banshee, Sharlindra. It had been a while since she had laid eyes on the emotionally-tormented ghost, so she found herself being as startled as when she had first met her the night that Sylvanas and herself had formed their own little alliance.

Sharlindra's eyes were narrowed as a mock smile formed on her face. "So nice to see you again, Ms. Sophitia." It could easily be seen that this banshee's intentions were far from pleasant. This was soon proved as the floating ghost suddenly flew forward like a flash and rammed the living woman against a tree behind her and pinned her there with her clawed hands holding her arms. She was gripping the young warrior so hard that Sophitia could practically feel her circulation being suppressed. "But you know, Ms. Sophitia," Sharlindra continued in her mock-pleasant tone, which slowly became harder and hiss-like. "It isn't wise to wonder out this far… all alone… in the dark… where no one else can here you scream!"

"What in Hades the matter with you?" Sophitia shouted over Sharlindra's rage-filled voice, struggling to get out of her constrictive grasp.

Sharlindra scowled loathingly, making her features even more frightening for anyone to behold. "Don't think that you've tricked me, little girl! Don't think I don't know what you're up to! You and your futile plan of using, abusing, and then finally destroying our beloved Dark Lady!"

Sophitia didn't need someone else to inform her that by "Dark Lady", Sharlindra was referring to Sylvanas, and by "our" she meant the undead. Sophitia could feel her own features contort into violent rage as well; she really didn't need this, she didn't need someone falsely accusing her of something she would never even considered doing. She sympathized Sylvanas' torment in being forever undead, she even sympathized Sharlindra as well! Not to mention the others who were never given the chance, the freedom, of living their lives the way they would've wanted to.

And what's more, the different races were becoming restless, never going anywhere for the battle that they were told to recruit for. There was even a rumor going around that Arthas' undead forces were never coming and that there would be no point in staying and waiting since all that they were doing all day was perform endless tasks for resources. But they were coming! Sophitia had no doubt of that! Even if Arthas may not be as strong without Soul Edge as his partner, she must still fight and destroy his sword, Frostmourne! And besides, if she knew the greedy influence the darkness had correctly, then Arthas would no doubt want to come back and reclaim Soul Edge and do horribly corrupt things with it.

And yet another bonus for her mood was just how slow the progress between Taki and herself had been going. Instead of becoming closer, they seemed to becoming further and further apart. She knew that most of the cause was her not doing and showing enough to Taki, how much she did love her and still does and how she wanted Taki to trust her enough so that she could come to her when she needed to be shown love and comfort. She cursed herself, knowing that she was the one at fault for not doing what she had promised to Taki properly, and she cursed herself even more for lacking the confidence she once had.

With all this in mind, Sophitia wasn't exactly in the mood to speak to Sharlindra in a rational manner. "Why would I do that? I never go back on my word and I told Sylvanas that as well." She tried no to sneer, knowing that it wasn't exactly wise to provoke the banshee even more, at least not at this point.

"You would do that because you, being like all other living humans are, fear and despise the undead. Besides, why would you be skulking around these forests for her with your hand touching your hilt? It looked like you were hunting around for something." Sharlindra inquired as if she was confident that she had Sophitia cornered.

"I wasn't hunting for someone, I was just trying to find your mistress so that I may ask her if she had heard or perhaps felt anything concerning Arthas." Sophitia didn't want to add that she reason why she was holding her hilt like she had was because she was using it as a precaution just in case something like this would happen.

"She hasn't heard anything." The banshee answered quickly and sternly, keeping her grip on the blonde's shoulders

"I want to hear it from her." Sophitia replied at the same speed and tone as Sharlindra's answer.

Sharlindra lightly snarled, flashing a fang threateningly. "Stubborn little wench, aren't you?"

Sophitia's eyes narrowed. "Well, by the way you're treating me now, I don't exactly trust your word." Trying to break herself from Sharlindra's clutching hands, she felt a quick burning sensations on her skin where the banshee's claw-like fingers gripped. "Now release me so that I may find her myself."

Sharlindra laughed within her throat as she leaned her gliding form towards the human and spoke, "I'm not kind enough to do such a thing." Grinning maliciously, she displayed both fangs as her eyes portrayed a spiteful hunger.

Sophitia then sneered at the bloodshot eyes that bored onto her. "Alright, then I'll just…" Reaching for her sword and drawing it from its sheath, she made it looked like one lashing motion as she slashed her weapon as much as she could diagonally across Sharlindra's ghost-like body. "Repent!" She shouted in her own thick Greek language as she attacked, feeling her small sword tremble as a thin golden light outlined her sword.

Sharlindra nearly screamed as an invisible force hit her painfully hard across her chest, sending her flying backwards until a nearby tree abruptly stopped her by hitting her back. She fell onto to the ground with a small grunt. Panting slightly, she raised herself up on her arms as looked up at Sophitia with loathing hate. As Sophitia just stood there with an inexorable expression on her face and sword gripped in her hand as if warning her not to come near her again, Sharlindra levitated herself into her normal floating position with a sneer on her face. She drew in a long breath then constricted her throat, ready to release her deadly shriek of torment onto this living warrior.

"Hold yourself Sharlindra!"

Both Sophitia and Sharlindra sharply turned to their side to find Sylvanas walking towards them with a raised hand, signaling the banshee to stop. Sylvanas was as domineering as ever as her posture was like that of an unbreakable wall. The stern look that she gave now and many times before would make any other common person lose the feeling in their knees and know that they would be lucky if they were able to leave with their lives and perhaps even most of their limbs.

Sharlindra just stared at her mistress as she slowly exhaled her breath. While Sophitia stood their in silence, since Sylvanas' attention was more on her undead sister than herself, she watched as Sharlindra turned herself completely to Sylvanas and made a courteous bow, making her long snake-like hair fall over her head. "I… beg your pardon, my queen…. Have I woken you from your slumber?" Sharlindra knew it would be best to explain her actions, but she didn't exactly know how since it was under her own will that she had done something so rash.

"You did." Sylvanas answered simply in the same dark shadowy voice. She didn't at all seem angered by her sister's actions, as if she had known Sharlindra would do such things and was just waiting. "But that doesn't matter. Just go back to our burrow and wait for me there." She ordered.

After giving Sophitia one last discreet sneer, Sharlindra made the strangest gesture the blonde had ever seen; she crossed her arms over her chest as if to cover her heart then nodded her head upwards once before she faded away into nothing. Feeling an aching pain on her arms where Sharlindra had held her, she moved her hand up to rub one of them to find bloody flesh wounds around her arm, most likely where her nails must have dug in.

"That was a salute." Sylvanas suddenly spoke up, making Sophitia eye's land fully onto her blood-red ones. At Sophitia's quizzical look, Sylvanas spoke again. "It was an undead salute that she gave me."

Sophitia nodded slowly, then paused. "She seems favorable of remaining undead." She noted.

Sylvanas simply crossed her arms over her stomach as she stated, "She's not the only one; several of the undead that came to me and The Forsaken chose their fate because they're searching for their own freedom from the living."

Sophitia gave her a perplexed look as she implied a theory she always had about all people. "Don't you believe that the living can offer freedom to those who do live?"

Sylvanas paused before she let out a small closed-mouth sigh and gave Sophitia a rather flinty, bitter look. "As the undead, it is the living that haunt us, so this is a different kind of freedom than you can understand."

Sophitia remained silent, understanding that what Sharlindra had said about the living despising and fearing the undead was the same in the case of the undead as well; they despised and feared the living in return. Though the one thing that she wondered was since Sylvanas is undead and is even the queen of a brigade of them, why did she choose to not kill the living warrior in front of her in an instant? Even though she did promise to help Sylvanas in healing her soul and to destroy Arthas and The Scourge, she was surprised that Sylvanas didn't roll her demonic eyes at Sophitia's proposition and simply slit her throat and add her to the number of living people Sylvanas has surely already killed.

"Anyway," Sylvanas broke Sophitia's train of thought. "I know you came to me to ask about Arthas and, as my sister banshee had said, I've not heard anything about him or his plans." Despite this news, Sophitia felt reassured knowing that Sylvanas had told her in person and not by Sharlindra. "However, Varimanthras, my vizier, has notified me that some of the deathguards that scout the few towns taken by The Forsaken have seen the likes of a giant creature that appears to have the characteristics of an undead being but is not of our design."

Sophitia merely blinked in her comprehension of this information; the problem appeared ineffectual to her since it sounded like a possible misunderstanding. "You're concerned about this?"

Sylvanas' eyebrows immediately furrowed as she answered, "Of course I am! Finding an undead creature that no one within The Forsaken that hasn't even the layout of how to create means that someone else who is not of The Forsaken has taken the liberty of doing so. There's only one other person who can make this kind of reclamation and that's Arthas." At Sophitia's apprehending expression she removed her dark quiver from her back, slipped her blue-skinned arm in and around the collection of arrows and pulled out a piece of crumpled parchment. She held the aged paper out to Sophitia as she stated in an almost demanding tone. "This is the letter he sent me; he described some of the characteristics of the creature according to the deathguards' claims. Read it. I know that it's coming here so you better prepare yourself and have your other living friends do the same."

Sophitia looked at the parchment held between Sylvanas' long, slender fingers and rather sharp-looking black nails. Taking it between her own fingers, she flattened the parchment as much as she could before she began to read… well, at least tried to read it. "I… What kind of language is this?" She uttered as she hesitantly looked up to Sylvanas.

The dark ranger gave a nonplussed expression before grabbing the parchment out of Sophitia's hands and rereading it for herself. She still seemed bewildered until she finally noticed the error and portrayed a rather annoyed expression. "I'll read the characteristics to you; Varimanthras wrote this letter in the dialect of the undead; "Gutterspeak"." Sylvanas' red eyes began to scan the paper intently. "… The body is very much defined by muscle; this is something that even my own votaries that mold bodies together do not have enough skill to do…" She noted almost grimly before she continued to scan. "…It seems to have a liking to the fashion of spiked armor along with brown and black leather… skin is pale… has two slashes in it's chest where in the center is a bulging, bloody organ of some sort… and is supposedly twice the size of any man." Sylvanas finally finished as she looked up.

Sophitia's heart began to race; she recognized those features. But how could… how could he still be alive? She killed him before she ever reached Azeroth! It's amazing that he had managed to make his way here much less survive!

"D-does it carry an axe? Did it say in the letter?" The Grecian knew it would be best to make sure.

"An axe?" Sylvanas paused as she recalled what the letter had mentioned about the creature. "No, it didn't say anything about that. The weapon it was seen carrying, according to Varimanthras, was a large scythe." As if not bothered by this, Sylvanas held a tone of indifference as she spoke.

Sophitia pulled back in perplexity. 'A scythe? Since when did Astaroth choose a scythe over his trusted axe?' She questioned. 'Hmm. But even so, it didn't make it any less possible that it could indeed be Astaroth that was hunting us now, especially with Sylvanas' descriptions of him. Even if I last remember him being dead, if Arthas had gotten his horrible, greedy and corrupt hands on him…' Her emerald eyes drifted up to Sylvanas, who continued to stand still with an expression that looked like it was slowly leading to impatience. 'Sylvanas is an example of what could happen.' She thought uneasily and cautiously.

"Were there any others accompanying it?" Sophitia asked softly just for good measure.

"Just a group of Abominations." Sylvanas answered quickly and simply as if she were inwardly shrugging at the information.

Hearing that label, Sophitia's eyes widened in horror. "Wh…What…?"

Sylvanas' expression of indifference turned skeptical as she simply shifted her weight onto her other leg. "There's no need for me to explain what 'Abominations' are; you will know what they are once you've looked at them." Her response was dull as she folded her arms over her stomach.

Sophitia nodded faintly, wishing that she would be told what 'Abominations' were rather than finding out with her eyes. The label was descriptive enough. "So they are headed this way? You're certain about this?" The blonde wanted to make sure that she wasn't being misled.

Sylvanas' burning red eyes took on a look of increasing agitation, and Sophitia noticed this easily. "Yes." Her agitation wasn't only noticed in her eyes, her voice proved that. "They left on a boat from the western shores of Lorderon, the island east of here. A deathguard reported spotting them heading due west towards Northern Kalimdor, which is where we are." The dark ranger made sure to note every aspect of their travel not only to satisfy whatever questions that the blonde had, whether asked or not, but also since she was from the "outer lands" and wasn't at all familiar with Azeroth except wherever she may have already stepped.

Sophitia merely blinked then nodded as she looked down; she wasn't particularly surprised by Sylvanas' rather sarcastic and haughty tone but decided it would be best not to push it further; she was, after all, the queen of the banshees. "Alright. I will warn Tyrande first since her sentinels surely quard the coastlines near Ashenvale-."

"I don't care what you do," Sylvanas interrupted bluntly as though speaking to one of her own acolytes, which Sophitia frankly resented and had it in mind to retort but reluctantly kept her mouth shut. "I only care that you do it fast. For all we know it may habe already reached the coastlines and is burning your allies' villages to the ground-."

"That shouldn't bother you; they are the living." It was Sophitia's turn to interject, using it as her retort against Sylvanas' impervious treatment of her. Sophitia spoke again during Sylvanas' silence, knowing that it would most likely be temporary. "You just want this creature eliminated because it, supposedly, is being commanded by Arthas. I know that Arthas and the progress of the Scourge while under his rule is all you care about even if your prediction is surely true. Which, by the way, is something that I'll address to Tyrande with."

Sylvanas found herself remaining silent even after Sophitia had stopped with her confident tone. The words that she had meant to use to contest Sophitia's statement suddenly left her mind as she knew what the human had said was true. She let a mere smirk form on her face as she spoke, "Beginning to understand some of the hidden corners of me, hm? How astute of you." Although her tone was rather dull, she held her smirk underneath her dark hood.

"I need to understand you. That way I can understand the undead a little better as well." With that, she started heading backwards towards the dry soil of the lit pathway. "I'll be expecting to see you arrows in the air when … when it comes." Since she wasn't sure if the creature that was hunting them was really Astaroth, Sophitia knew it would be better to not say that she may already know about him because she knew that Sylvanas would most likely depend on her whenever he would attack.

Sylvanas gave an almost inaudible but confident chuckle. "Count on it." Within seconds, she made her soundless departure back into the woods.

888

Malfurion didn't need to look down as he stepped over each root that jutted out from the ground; he had been surrounded by trees for the majority of his life and, being a druid, he could sense the differences within and out of the ground. And besides, inside he was very much anxious as he approached the opening of the trees that led to the capital of his homelands. He could not find words to properly explain his excitement as he calmly came to the forest's edge, waited for his companion, Gholbine, to trot up to his feet next to him, then raised a hand to push back a curtain of willow vines in front of him so that his sunlight-golden eyes may finally land on the capital's tall ziggurats.

Smiling contently at the refreshing sight, he noticed thankfully it had not changed much since he had last left. At the sight of the sky which was now lined with indigo and streaked with crimson colors his fatigue came back to him, making him release a sigh as he stepped onto the capital grounds. Just as his foot made contact with the moist ground, his senses felt a sudden pang; something was amiss. Hearing a dull clip-clopping sound next to him, his hand flew back, telling Gholbine to stay while he went ahead to examine the area. He took a few slow steps into the capital and before he could even ask himself what it could be to cause his senses to react like that, a thin and pale blue-skinned figure with fiery-red hair that spiked upwards had crossed his path but did not seem to notice him.

Malfurion's eyes narrowed. An intruder? In Ashenvale? How? Has something happened to the Night Elves who inhabited this land? Desperately wanting to have answers, he crept towards the figure. The druid quickly looked either side of him to make sure that there weren't any others coming before he came to a stop behind the patroller and noticed even in the darkness of the night that the patroller bore red markings on his arms, instantly telling him that this creature was one of the Horde. Furious at this invasion, he camouflaged himself into the night before smacking the end of his wooden staff against the side of the unknowing invader's head.

Howling in pain, the spear-bearing patroller hit the ground while holding his throbbing head in between his three-fingered hands before feeling himself being pulled back to the edge of the forest. Before he could break away from Malfurion's grasp, he felt a staff being held against his throat, pinning him down. With his face being outlined by the moonlight, Malfurion finally proved his suspicions of this warrior being a troll as he could see his fully grown tusks, long pointy nose (which had a bull-ring through it), and wooden armor.

The troll struggled and squirmed beneath Malfurion's staff. "What's ya problem mon?"

"What is a troll like you doing in Ashenvale? Where are the rest of the Night Elves?" Malfurion demanded in a low tone as he continued to hold him down.

Passed the troll's scowling expression he held a hint of perplexity in his red eyes. "What 'cha talkin' about? D'ey ain't gone nowhere! If d'ey had, we would've redecorated d'is place long ago!"

"Then where is Tyrande Whisperwind?" He asked as he leaned over him as though making sure that the troll would not only be but feel cornered.

"Urgh!" The troll choked slightly, making Malfurion reluctantly lighten his hold a bit; he didn't exactly want to be the cause of the death of a mere patroller, whether they were enemy or not. He found himself being that way many times and of course he expected that since he knew he was one who encouraged life. "Ya mean dat High Priestess lady of yours?" He asked once he caught his breath, wanting to curse the much older druid. "She's in dat buildin' like she always is." He gestured his head, or his long nose, towards the tallest ziggurat. "She's supposed ta be havin' some sort a' meetin' wi'd da boss-man and a couple a' humans."

Malfurion's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would Tyrande be speaking to humans as well as your leader?" The question seemed to pass his lips on its own; it just stunned him slightly that Tyrande would choose to do that. He knew she would normally avoid having relations with humans let alone creatures of the Horde.

The troll growled as he rolled his eyes. "Wha' do I look like, da message boy?" He snarled. "Many of da d'ings dat d'ey talk about ain't discussed with da rest of us too often, so how am I supposed ta know? Why don' cha go up an' find out for ya-self, old one?"

Malfurion wasn't very bothered by the troll's curt attitude, being his age he had seen it many times. His eyes drifted back up to the ziggurat, still unsure about what he was told but very anxious to find out what was going on.

"Ya gonna lemme go or what?" He asked as he tried to struggle out from underneath the druid's wooden arcane staff.

Malfurion simply sighed before he reluctantly released the troll. As he stood up, he watched out from the corner of his eye as the troll seemed to quickly shuffle to his feet as if he was going to break into a run, though all he did when he stood straight was harshly tug and straighten the shirt underneath his armor. "I'd watch myself next time, Night Elf, 'cause ya may not be so lucky." The troll just continued to look at him with narrowed eyes as he roughly turned away to return to his post.

Not at all shaken by the troll's threat, Malfurion simply turned and headed toward the ziggurat. On the way, he discovered that the Blood elves had taken homage into their lands as well. Structures other than those of Night elven design were set wherever they would be able to be built. He was surprised to see the Night elves, the Orcs, and the Blood elves walking among one another with no to hardly any controversy. It looked as though it were part of their duties to them. Not one of the Horde or of the Blood elves spoke as he passed them, only any Night elf that saw him gave their greetings and welcomes, all of which he gratefully returned.

When he came to the large double doors of the ziggurat, he didn't have to say his name to the guards for the entrance to be opened for him. With a smile toward the gentlemen guards, he eagerly entered and made his way into Tyrande's quarters where several people stood. Malfurion didn't say a word as the others looked at him in silence. His eyes soon fell upon his beloved priestess, who stood at her desk with three other people who looked to be humans and was strategizing ways of a certain attack using something on her desktop. He only heard a few mutters of her voice towards the humans before she looked up to the entrance and at the sight of her eyes, he smiled.

All it took was a glance towards Malfurion to make glee and excitement very evident in her eyes, even though she tried to hold her rather posh composure for the people around her. At the sight of her love's charming smile, Tyrande abandoned he wide wooden desk and strode (in a rather hasty fashion) towards him. She wrapped her arms around his broad, taut shoulders and gripped the fur shall that covered his back as if afraid he was going to slip away again.

"Malfurion…" She whispered dreamily against his shoulder as she let her head lie upon it. She sighed as she felt his strong arms wrap around her in return. "It feels like an eternity since I've seen you. I've missed you so. I…" Tyrande seemed to have momentarily forgotten where she was as she seemed to hesitate before she continued; it was better to say what she had wanted to at a time that they would be more alone. "My heart is relieved to see that you've come back."

As Malfurion kept his arms tightly around her, his sunlight-golden eyes drifted across the back of the room to the different faces, both the familiar and the new. Once he had taken all those faces in, he finally let his eyes close and held Tyrande the way that always seemed to fill his heart with affection. After a few seconds, which both wished would have been several instead of a few, the two Night Elves finally let go, although the high priestess of the moon still held her arms around his neck while feeling his hands gently laying on her waist.

"Was your quest of healing the forests successful?" Tyrande asked softly.

Malfurion nodded as he decided to release her waist and take a step back so that he could report more appropriately. "Yes. Many forests and much of them were badly damaged by flames. I did what I could to heal as much as possible and I was indeed successful in doing so. However, I know that I'm far from done, but I felt it was time for me to come back."

At the charming smile that his love gave him while he spoke, Malfurion felt his heart melt, making him reluctant to avert his attention to other matters but he knew that he must. "I see that much has happened during my absence; orcs, trolls, blood elves and humans freely roaming about our sacred grove. I certainly hope that there is a reason for this." He spoke more in the form of a question instead of a statement. Right when he had mentioned the different races, he noticed that his love was already trying to find the right words to explain more easily. So he held his hands in front of him and calmly waited and listened to Tyrande's words.

Like Tyrande at this point, Mina hoped that she would get through her explanation as soon as possible so that they would continue discussing how they would stop the group of undead that Sophitia had warned them about less than an hour ago. Sophitia had also whispered her suspicions to Kilik, Taki, Siegfried and herself of Astaroth being their head and guider and Mina wasn't exactly willing to fight another hideous group of undead again much less fight Astaroth, even though she remembered him being dead anyway. Kilik, however, seemed frighteningly eager to do it; he gripped his staff rather tightly when he heard the name 'Astaroth'.

Turning to thoughts away from this and onto the two Night Elves at the doorway, she became surprise at Malfurion's noticeable muscle at his age. She leaned towards Naisha next to her, who stood next to Maiev, as could be predicted. "Who's he supposed to be?" She asked in a low tone.

Naisha repeated Mina's action in the same tone. "Malfurion Stormrage, an Arch-druid as well as Tyrande's love, as you can see. His rank and experience surpass even that of Tyrande's and he is very wise so we are very fortunate to have him here now."

"Umn-hmn." Maiev broke in curtly. "Knowing that, let's hope that his decisions are wiser than whatever Tyrande's may be." She added only to receive a brief look from her first lieutenant; Naisha knew that she was referring to the mistake Tyrande had made of releasing Illidan all those years ago. Mina on the other hand, had no idea had no idea what she was talking about so she said nothing and kept her curiosity to herself.

Her eyes drifted across the room to the people within it, using that to pass the time while they waited for Tyrande to finish: Sophitia leaned over the desk as she analyzed while Taki leaned against the wall behind the chair of the desk, her eyes upon the map as well although they didn't seem very focused, just deep in thought yet again. The two Night Elves next to her stood near the bookshelf close to another edge of the desk while Jaina and Thrall seated themselves closer to the doorway in front of the bookshelf on the opposite wall. Kilik's original intentions were to stay as far away from Thrall as possible, remembering their history together when the Orc kept him as a prisoner. But now holding the possibility of Astaroth coming close to him, he was up at the desk and eagerly studying the map.

Siegfried, who stood motionlessly in a corner of the room, had not spoken a word since the start of the meeting. He chose not to wear his chest plate or leg armor for the passed couple of days so all that he wore now was a ragged brown shirt, pants of a darker hue and gauntlets. Many thought of him as brave for removing most of his armor since it could be dangerous to let down his guard completely in an area where people would find much difficultly in trusting him. Though Mina did noticed, once or twice, that Siegfried's eyes would quickly glance from the people at the desk to the blonde sorceress in the front of the room, seated next to the Orc warchief.

Finally, after one last brief whisper from Malfurion and Tyrande's nod, the arch druid glanced up at the blonde warrior, studied her for a moment then walked up to Sophitia, noticing a large map of Kalimdor rolled out upon it. Placing his hand on his chest, he bowed slightly. "My apologies if I seemed a little… inhospitable with my silence when I first entered," He raised himself to meet her eyes. "I was merely alarmed because if the Night Elves had allowed or asked for the aid of all these races of the Horde and the Alliance, then the matter must be serious. I see that that is obvious now by what Tyrande has told me about Arthas and this 'Soul Edge'."

"We haven't asked for aid from the Alliance just yet." Tyrande interjected calmly. "The only part of the Alliance that has joined us is Ms. Proudmoore. She came by my request."

Malfurion looked up to find Jaina in front of him. Beneath her hood, she gave a welcoming smile and a small wave of "hello". Malfurion smiled and nodded once in return before he turned to the other surrounding humans. "Ah yes, the others are from the 'Outer Lands', a very interesting feat for you five to find a way here much less know that Azeroth exists." He stated with a look of interest towards Sophitia. "I'm relieved that the Alliance hasn't come yet, not only because Ashenvale is so populated now, but – and forgive me Ms. Proudmoore for saying this – also because we know that they would create even more controversy which that easily can become hostile, and, if I may speak for all Night Elves, we do not wish to have our grove be used as any type battleground unless it is for the purpose of defending it." He finished in a soft, calm voice that also had an essence of power and wisdom, something that Tyrande had always loved about him.

Jaina simple nodded and waved her hand in a gesture to tell him that it wasn't personal. "I understand completely; I know many of the leaders of the Alliance can be that way, especially after the way the Orcs, Night Elves, Humans and the Undead have been divided now." She spoke simply, referring to the Horde/Alliance agreement where the Night elves, Blood elves and the Humans were partners and the Orcs, Trolls and even the Undead were partners. As she referred this, Thrall noticed that Jaina had chosen to not look at him at all. This made him become worrisome over what she may be thinking of him.

"The population that we once had was astounding, Malfurion, and that great sum was needed against… against a great force that we had encountered." Tyrande commented, breaking Thrall from his reverie which he was very much grateful for; it was best not to dwell on what had occurred in him at this point in time.

However, the focus point had changed from Jaina and Thrall to Seigfried, since the knight knew that Tyrande was referring to him. He wasn't offended as he knew thing like this would occur, when he would be put in awkward and, many times, remorseful situations. ''Guess I should be grateful that she didn't gesture towards me somehow, the 'great force'.' Siegfried thought as he looked down to the stone-tiled and leaf-sprinkled ground. Glancing up to the sorceress once again, (this time to see if she realized the same as he had) he found her deep blue eyes to be looking directly into his own, making his abruptly fall again in embarrassment. 'I guess that answer's my question.' Siegfried thought as he tightly shut his eyes.

"Speaking of forces, we still need to figure out how to stop or at least slow the next wave." Sophitia spoke up, wanting desperately to return to what they had been discussing before Malfurion had entered.

"If it is only a small group from Arthas, I doubt we'll need to think of them as a threat; at the first sight of followers from the Scourge, any of the people living in colonies along the east coast will fight to eliminate the threat." Thrall spoke up gruffly. He was careful in choosing his words about who it would be that would fight; if he included Orcs and Night elves, he could predict what Jaina would be feeling: confusion, distrust, anger… and if he didn't include the elves, well, it just wouldn't be smart seeing as to how he was being surrounded by them, and especially when the rather short-tempered Maiev was in the room.

"And I have no doubt of that." Sophitia responded calmly before she looked down. "It's just that, I want to see what they look like, what we're up against, even if it is a small group. I know that you've all seen and battled against Arthas' undead, but since we are new to your world, it would be best for us to familiarize ourselves with them a little more so that we may recognize their weaknesses." As Sophitia explained, she knew that what she really wanted to find out about Arthas' power was whether he could really raise people from the dead like he might have done with Astaroth.

If he did have that kind of power and an undead Astaroth really was coming after them, then that makes things much more difficult and a lot more worrisome; if he could kill a living person in battle and have them back on their feet and at his side as a mindless zombie… Sophitia didn't dare think of what he could do if he managed to kill off an entire brigade.

At her side far across the table, she heard a skeptical scoff. "First off," Maiev started as she crossed her arms over her armored chest, "If all you want is a description and the knowledge to recognize them, then all you need is this: they're not pretty-faced." The warden spoke curtly, although she was backed by Mina's slow nod and disgusted expression as the memory of the last time she saw and fought against them came into her head. "Secondly, you sound like you want to take a look at them even before they reach shore, and if I'm correct on that (and I have no doubt that I am), that's a little too far-fetched of a wish, don't you think?" Her tone was almost tyrannical yet could easily imply that she was accusing Sophitia of being an amateur warrior. "And why wait for them to come here to find out what they are like when you can just ask the knight over there? I'd think that he'd know rather well how the mindless minions work."

There was a brief moment of silence as Siegfried raised his head to give Maiev a resentful eye. He knew, everyone knew – apart from Malfurion, who was studying both Maiev and Siegfried with a look of curiosity and vague interest – that the warden was getting back at him and the things he had done by humiliating him. Neither Sophitia nor Jaina found this humorous at all.

"What are you talking about, Maiev?" Malfurion questioned, looking at her with subtle suspicion. When Maiev stayed silent and turned her eyes away from the arch druid with a smug look on her face, Malfurion nearly asked again in a less patient tone when Tyrande spoke next to him in a dull tone.

"Perhaps he can tell you at a time when it is more comfortable." Tyrande suggested, watching as Malfurion's mossy green-haired head turned slightly towards her. "There are other things I must tell you anyway, but not now." Tyrande's long aqua eyebrows lifted as if asking him if it was okay, and he nodded as he turned back to Sophitia.

"Anyway," He cleared his throat, giving Siegfried one last glance which the knight easily noticed and had already known that he had a long night ahead of him. "If you wish to reach the eastern shoreline that greatly, then a hippogryph would be the most volacious means of travel for you."

A low, pitiful whimper was barely heard near the back of the room. Everyone who was near the source turned towards it to find Mina with her head resting against her zanbatou, her eyes tightly shut with a pained expression on her face. Great, just the type of schedule that she wanted; fly one of those huge, oddly formed birds, soaring hundreds of feet from the ground for who knew how long then wait for the sacs of skin, bones and evil magic to come and fight with their grotesquely rotting hands grasping for her throat.

"Perhaps she can remain here if she doesn't want to go." Naisha suddenly stated in more of the form of a question towards Tyrande and Malfurion. Of course, this brought some subtle discomfort in Maiev; why didn't she ask her own superior and mentor that question? Sure, Tyrande and Malfurion (by the guiding hand and approval of the ever-wise guardian and demi-god of the forests, Cenarius) had founded the many new laws and regulations of the forests of modern day, but she was a warden hand-chosen by Malfurion himself to be the jailor of his own brother! She knew the codes of law better than anyone, save the founders themselves of course. So why did her own first lieutenant feel so disinclined to ask her, simple question though it may be.

Maiev also noticed in the corner of her eye that Naisha seemed to be smiling slightly as she turned her attention from Mina to the Night Elf couple that stood some distance away in front of her. The warden's rare, bright-green eyes narrowed into glowing slits behind the eye-holes of her dark metal helmet. She leered at the young human who now seemed to have a very hopeful look in her eyes after hearing Naisha's proposal. 'Exactly what is it about this… this human that makes Naisha smile like that?' She wondered, wanting so much to know the answer that she would even spend hours searching through tomes and lore if she had to. Just to know a hint of how to give a person she admired for their skills, integrity, leadership, understanding… well, then again how to give the only person she admired for anything a feeling of happiness even if it was a minimal as a small smile.

Her eyes nearly closed as she felt a purring deep within her chest at the thought: She soon found herself being lost in a fantasy in which Naisha and she were alone and, frankly, Maiev didn't care where. And in response to Maiev's uncharacteristically sweet compliment towards her (something that Maiev herself wished she knew), Naisha found herself unable to look Maiev in the eyes as a blush overtook her cheeks and a wide smile that she couldn't control crossed her lips. After catching a few glances from Naisha, Maiev got tired of waiting for her to fully look at her and took matters in her own hands by taking Naisha's chin in between her fingers. Upon seeing the rather whimsical look in Naisha's eyes as they finally landed upon her own, the warden had an urge to gently pull Naisha's full, soft lips to her own. This fantasy was so in-depth that Maiev could even feel Naisha's warm breath caress her own lips as she brought the meek lieutenant closer to her…

"Of course she can stay, if she wishes. And we are expecting you who are leaving to come back and report on the strength of this force and perhaps any evidence like letters concerning Arthas. We would like to make sure that these forests are and will remain at least as safe as possible from corruption." Malfurion stated firmly.

'Damn-IT!' Maiev cursed in her head, wishing Malfurion would have given her the pleasure of having at least seven more seconds to herself. She tried desperately to hold in the angry growl of aggravation she wanted to let out.

"We will make sure to do that." Taki stated simply, followed by a nod from Kilik and Sophitia since the three of them were the only ones willing to go.

"I'll have the hippogryph master saddle up and ready your rides for you. Perhaps I will send one of my own sentinels along with you as an escort as well." Tyrande noted before leaving to collect a worthy sentinel willing to escort them.

"How long will this take, may I ask?" Sophitia spoke up as Tyrande was nearly passed her own double-doors as if asking her was suddenly a last minute decision.

Tyrande turned to her and blinked, making her moonlit eyes cease their glow for a split-second beneath her eyelids. "No less than half-an-hour, perhaps?" She estimated then left as she saw Sophitia's satisfied nod.

Taki's eyes stayed on Sophitia for what seemed like a long while. 'Why did she want to know how long it would take for us to leave?' She wondered, since Sophitia didn't seem the type to become impatient with long waits.

Sophitia was silent for the long moment until she finally spoke in a rush and a rather soft voice as if she didn't care whether people heard her or not. "For the time being I guess I'll go collect a few things for the ride there."

When Sophitia went passed the door frame, Taki decided to follow. She stopped at the frame, letting herself lean against one of the sides and ignoring the glances from the two guards as her eyes followed Sophitia's form through the grounds and around buildings until she reached the woods. Taki's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Sophitia disappeared within them. 'What is she doing?' She pondered.

888

"You disobeyed me."

Sharlindra jumped slightly as she heard the shadowy, disapproving voice of her queen behind her. The banshee turned to the dark figure that stood motionlessly next to a rotting, mossy tree. "N-no, I didn't. I would never disobey you, my queen. I was just merely-"

"-Didn't trust my word." Sylvanas finished for her with her same stolid expression and blood-red eyes boring into her. "I do not need protection, Sharlindra. Do not attack anyone, at least not without my consent. True, no one else suspects us living within these forests just yet, but we do not need to gather attention by killing one of the 'outer land' humans now." She pointed firmly.

Sharlindra bowed her stringy-haired head. "I apologize, by queen. It will be my first and last time to not trust your instincts and perception. I just can't bring myself to believe a human's word."

"You don't have to. As I've said before, the only reason I'm allowing her to live is because I find her proposal and interesting one. I want to see if she'll actually try to fulfill it." Sylvanas seemed to have a look of slight interest in her eye.

Sharlindra held in her frown of disapproval and disbelief; she didn't believe that this human young female's strength was potent enough to actually make her auspicious. Then she remembered the light that emitted from her sword and shield as well as the power that had come forth soon after when she had ambushed her. "She is a priestess of the Light, is she not? She must be…"

"She isn't." Sylvanas asserted with a convinced doubtlessness.

Sharlindra looked back up at her questioningly. "But… but her sword, I saw it-"

"Her weapons are divine, she's not." The banshee queen interrupted again with the same tone as before.

"Should this make her dangerous, her divine weapons?"

"At first, I would have said no. But after seeing the amount of anger she can utilize over small things that may seem much bigger to her, I can only say that it is a small offense that I'm willing to observe." Sylvanas stated, pausing slightly as she seemed to take some consideration into the question.

Sharlindra paused as well as something else came into mind, something more worth calling attention to. "My queen…" The banshee started. "What of Varimanthras?"

Sylvanas turned to look at her slightly over her shoulder as she asked in a dulled tone, "What of him?"

Sharlindra pulled back slightly, surprised that Sylvanas wasn't bothered at all. "You have been gone for quite a few days, my lady. He was the only one appointed for monitoring the rebuilding within the ruins of Lorderon. Don't you think he'll become suspicious of your long absence? What if he discovers what your intentions have truly been? If he does, he may surely accuse you, use it against you in front of all of your loyal subjects and militia, or… or even try to overthrow you with this evidence!" Her eyes emphasized her fearful tone; she couldn't bear the thought of losing her beloved queen.

Much to Sharlindra's great surprise, her undead queen only laughed. "Please Sharlindra! Spare me such nonsense. Varimanthras knows well that my private business is not always his own as well. He may be my vizier, but that doesn't give him the right to know all of what I do outside of Tristfall Glades." She stopped only to let herself lean against the tree next to her again, casting her eyes away from Sharlindra's. "Furthermore, beneath his intimidating size he's nothing but a cur; he kills his own brothers to save his own neck. If my own body ever fell into the hands of humans, demolishing my power and mettle, he would be the first one to flee to safety." She laughed coldly.

Sharlindra shook her head slightly, making her aged locks flail slowly around her face. "He's not like that now, which is why I fear for you. He's become less fearful of his life since he devoted himself to your will. At least that is how he seemed since the Forsaken had first been forged."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean that he's completely lost his ability to run with his tail between his legs." By Sylvanas' tone, it could easily be deduced that her hatred towards dreadlords had remained unchanged since even before she had be sired by Arthas.

The thought of the death knight's name had struck Sharlindra as well. She remembered when Sylvanas had last returned from him and soon realized something; she wondered how Sylvanas could think that a girl, who is not only new to these lands but is younger and much less experienced, would be able to defeat Arthas when she herself has had nothing but failed attempts at assassination. Sylvanas had said that she would play 'ally' with Arthas until the moment was right, so of course she refused any sort of help from the Forsaken as she knew that Arthas would immediately suspect the banshee queen's real intentions. Sharlindra hoped that her Dark Lady wasn't losing her strength against Arthas whenever perfect times of assassination would show.

"If it still makes you concerned," Sylvanas broke her banshee out of her reverie. "You can go back and keep an eye on the dreadlord for any suspicious activity. Report to me only when absolutely necessary." A crack of a knowing smile crossed her dark lips. "Besides, being surrounded by all this living wildlife for so long has surely brought your nerves to wits' end."

As if on queue, both banshees turned as they heard the crunching of leaves a small distance away from them. A full-grown buck strode passed them with only a couple of trees breaking their view from it. It seemed oblivious to their presence. At a somewhat greater distance away

"I knew you'd be with her."

Sophitia spun around only to find Taki behind her, a horrible glare in her eyes as she looked at Sylvanas. The Greek was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say until she finally forced herself to speak. "H-how did you know?" She asked weakly.

Taki slowly came closer to her as she spoke, "You just seemed in such a hurry when you left. And since you went out to the woods, I wondered what kind of matters you could possibly have in the forest so late at night. So I figured you went to go see that "reliable source" of yours." She explained simply, not taking her eyes off of Sylvanas as if expecting her to suddenly lash out and attack the both of them.

"Taki…" Sophitia called softly, making Taki look at her from the corner of her eye. "I'm not doing anything traitorous or deceitful just because I'm with Sylvanas." Taki could tell from Sophitia's eyes that the Grecian was worried about what Taki might actually be thinking of her.

"It's not that I don't trust you of doing anything villainous or treacherous," Taki looked back at Sylvanas, who seemed unmoved by the conversation. "It's just that I don't trust her at all. She's undead, Sophitia! She's what we're trying to destroy!"

"No, she's not. She wants Arthas and his legion to be destroyed as well." Sophitia interrupted as calmly yet as firmly as she could.

Taki's eyebrows furrowed. "How can you let yourself be pulled into her fraudulent words? How do you know that she really does want Arthas killed? What if she doesn't? What if she's just another of Arthas' murderous subordinates and is just leading you to him so that you may actually be a sacrifice in his honor?" Taki exclaimed, her anger growing.

Upon hearing the demon huntress call her a subordinate of Arthas, Sylvanas' eyes narrowed and had it in mind to put her newly polished dagger to use. "She wouldn't do that. If she did, she would have done so long ago." Sophitia defended again. Taki paused briefly, realizing the truth in Sophitia's words.

"Perhaps…" Taki turned her eyes to look at Sylvanas fully. "So then what could you really be planning, spawn of darkness? Using us as pawns so that we may actually fend off his army of undead until all that is left is him? Hope that we'll leave him to you so that you may overthrow him and take his throne?" Taki noticed very easily that Sylvanas' red eyes narrowed into slits again. This made Taki smile some beneath her mask. "Yes, surely you would want that. Then, I'm sure you'll have whoever's still on your side to attack what's left of us, what's left of the living, so that all you'll have left is your power, your throne, your subjects, a blood-soaked city, and your grotesquely rotting body." She finished with her smile still intact, watching, waiting for the undead creature before her to do something that would prove that she had been correct all along.

Sylvanas, who was fuming inside, paused for a brief moment before her face twisted into what looked like spiteful hatred. "You should be proud. You're exactly like the other conceited, misunderstood, pretentious, self-exalted, insolent, wretched, abominable, servile and despicable humans that my followers try so hard on killing off." Her slender fingers idly felt around the hilt of her dagger. "If I weren't trying to stay low and hidden in these woods, I would have been more than happy to add you to our list of most favorable and most pleasurable kills." She finished with a sneer.

Taki only quirked an eyebrow, not seeming threatened at all. In fact, she seemed a little amused yet satisfied at the same time; she had been waiting for Sylvanas to threaten her just like she had because that was all the proof she needed for her theory to be correct. "Is that so?" She responded curtly. "Then it surprises me that the only thing that stops you from killing me is so that you wouldn't be discovered. Because frankly, I'd think that a hellborn, accursed, serpentine, damnable, atrocious adversary of all that is demonic and immoral would not only take the chance to kill me, but would willingly give into the thrill of killing Sophitia and any of the patrolling sentinels in this forest." She declared with an icy confidence in her eyes and voice.

Sylvanas' lip curled in scorn. 'She's right.' She admitted to herself. Though, the only thing that willed her not to kill the over-confident human before her was the now wide-eyed, silent human that stood next to her. This feeling surprised her as well because she didn't know why she kept herself under control for Sophitia. 'Perhaps… because I'm less willing to kill Sophitia than I am for Taki. If I kill Taki now, I know I must then kill Sophitia as well because not only will she have witnessed me kill another human that she also happens to have affections for, but she will either want to kill me in revenge (which, in all honesty, I'm not too sure whether I will win the battle or not, considering the amount of power she has in those weapons of hers and the amount of rage she holds; she's not exactly one to be taken very lightly) or she'll run away and have masses of search groups come for my head. And I won't be able to kill Sophitia because I still want to see how she'll fulfill her promise.'

Sylvanas cursed herself for being tied down so tightly, but she knew that she had no choice. She let her fingers finally let go of her dagger and folded her arms across her chest. "You would think that, wouldn't you? Contemptible and vile human that you are!" She spat in her same shadowy voice.

"Interesting that you call me "contemptible" and "vile" when you're the one who willingly let herself become engulfed by the darkness!" Taki shouted back, her fist clenching and her teeth grinding.

"Taki stop it!" Sophitia finally spoke up in a whisper while moving closer to Taki and placing her hands on her arm as though to physically hold her back.

"I WON'T!" With a face contorted with rage, Taki had turned so sharply and shouted so loudly that Sophitia jumped much more strongly in fright than whenever her eyes had met the ominously blood red ones of Sylvanas. Taki's words could be heard echoing above them through the forests. Acknowledging both that and the frightened visage Sophitia's face took on (as well as noticing that Sophitia had reflexively jerked her hands away from her) Taki's angered gaze almost immediately went to slight surprise as though she had just realized her own mistake.

Sophitia looked like she had been slapped across the face, and that made Taki's eyes soften apologetically. Not knowing what to do or say to recompense, Taki only forced herself to look away in shame to the ground in front of her. Her eyes darted as her head slowly shook once as though confused as to whether she should look back to Sophitia or keep her eyes locked onto the ground. "I… I won't." She repeated in a much softer tone and chose to keep her eyes on the ground. After a few silent minutes that seemed more like hours, she was about to open her mouth to say more when Sylvanas interceded with another eye-roll.

"Just so that we could finish up our previous conversation, Sophitia, I thank you in telling me your whereabouts for, perhaps, the next twenty-four hours. I shall wait here for you, as discussed, and I will hope to hear a report from you whenever you come back." Sylvanas finished quickly, as the subtly poignant glances between the two human were starting to both bore and nauseate her slightly.

As Sylvanas had jumped into the trees and bounded from limb to limb back to her hovel with only the sounds of leaves brushing against her and twigs breaking, Taki quickly turned to Sophitia again but this time with a look of shock and disbelief.

"You told her what we were doing? Where we are going?" Taki asked in an almost scolding voice but tried to keep herself as calm as possible this time, though it was quite difficult.

Sophitia's eyes darted as she fumbled for the correct words. "Um, well, I…. I did, yes… but I guess then again that she doesn't know where we are going since even we don't know where Tyrande's having those hippogryphs take us. And besides, she said it herself that she wouldn't come anyway because to keep herself from being seen while flying through the sky is quite difficult." Sophitia explained in a rather fast pace, wanting to get through it quickly knowing that Taki would most likely scold her again eventually.

Taki, however, remained silent as she looked at Sophitia, then turned to head back onto the beaten path. "I kind of wish she would come." Taki mumbled, though Sophitia could hear her and looked at her in stunned surprise. "Because then I can keep an eye on her. I don't trust her, Sophitia, I can't. She's a demon, capable of doing the vilest things to people whether deserve it or not. It wouldn't surprise me if she was planning something vile for you, that's why I don't like the idea of her being in the same region as us." Taki paused, her eyes never leaving the ground she was about to walk upon. "I don't want her to touch you." She murmured though Sophitia had heard her once again and all she could do was remain silent as her eyes stayed fixed on the side of Taki's stolid face.

Sophitia had many things to say about Sylvanas, things that had made the Greek grow to believe her; she had made her own banshee stop from killing Sophitia just a few hours ago, she had rained fiery arrows down upon the very same demon that not only Taki and herself where trying to destroy but the four other races as well, and most of all, how she had broken down into angry tears when she remembered how Arthas had forced her into the darkness and disintegrating her very own soul. However, she had gotten the feeling that Taki was in no mood to hear any of it.

Once they had finally crossed onto the footpath, an awkward silence fell upon them; Taki simply kept her gaze forward with her arms crossed over her stomach while Sophitia, who strode a little behind the other woman's side, let herself glance towards the side of Taki's face while seemly folded her arms behind her back.

At a certain insightful thought, Sophitia let a smile graze her lips as she murmured, "I'm glad you're being so protective of me."

There was a small pause that seemed like a hesitation on Taki's part. The huntress's head fell slightly. "That protectiveness may have been the best I've been able to do for you so far…" She uttered so softly that the Greek almost thought it was meant to be inaudible to her ears.

'What does she mean by that?' Sophitia wondered as she gazed at the side of Taki's face for a moment. "What do you mean?" She finally voiced out.

Taki seemed to take her time in answering as she only released a soft sigh and rubbed her nape with her palm as though regretting to speak her response. "I… I know I haven't been very good at… repairing everything you say we… once had." She paused again, refusing to look at Sophitia's face. "And I'm sorry about that. I figured that was why you've been a little distant for the last couple of days: that I was simply… putting off our relationship… I wish I knew how to do these things right, but…"

"But you simply don't know how." Sophitia interceded as she made herself catch up to Taki's face so that she could at least try to make Taki look at her. "And I know that's how you are; being alone for most of your life can do that to a person. But that's exactly why I want to help you stand up against this fear of being with someone… of being with… me." Her voice became softer and softer as she spoke. She almost wanted to take Taki's hand in both of her own, pressing her well-muscled arm into her chest to hold her close, but she held herself back for the other woman's sake, knowing she would be uncomfortable.

However, much to her surprise, her almost all her hopes were carried out by Taki's quick hand instead: "I'm not afraid of being with you." The slightly taller girl confessed as her hand almost reflexively snapped to Sophitia's arm just above her wrist, making them both stop in their walk. Taki seemed almost intrepid by her action with a determined look in her soft eyes. That is, until Sophitia's eyes landed on hers a few seconds afterwards; she could feel an unsure blush rise to her cheeks and she was thankful that she had her mask to hide it. Nonetheless, Taki still looked away and let go of Sophitia's wrist and took a slow step back as she composed herself. "I'm just afraid of not… of not doing what is required of me." Taki's eyes took a great interest in everything except Sophitia as she spoke.

"Required of a lover?" The younger girl's tone and eyes were knowing yet inquisitive as she took a small step towards Taki, her head slightly tipped to a side.

Taki almost cringed but, with much effort, forced herself to hide it; why did Sophitia have to keep using that word? Whether she'd utter or hear it, it would always make her fluster uncontrollably. Having not gathered her composure completely yet, Taki only made herself nod. Was what this girl had said about the both of them really true? Or was Sophitia as well as Mina just exaggerating the relationship they might have really had?

In the middle of her thoughts, Taki only watched as the other woman wrapped both arms around one of her own, holding it tightly to her chest. The taller woman held back her blush fairly well as she felt the warm skin of Sophitia's chest against that of her upper arm. She found herself having troubles to not look into Sophitia's soft, gentle and patient aventurine eyes.

"Nothing is required of you, Taki; it is me who is required to do anything, and that is to help you during those times that you seem unsure. And for the delay these passed few days…" Sophitia let out a somewhat saddened sigh as she chose to avert her eyes to the side before continuing, "It's my fault, not yours; I wasn't around for you to do anything and please forgive me for that. I had become more focused on the sudden matters within Ashenvale, between the Night Elves and the Orcs and their restive controversies, as well as those rumors that there really was no threat concerning Arthas and the undead."

Sophitia paused for a moment as she realized something else. "It was my fault also because, knowing the way you were before the… before the incident with your memory," She remarked almost bitterly at the memory of the event of first finding out Taki's current condition. She wanted to be the one who had killed the person who did this to Taki and her; though she already knew Sylvanas did the job for her. It was the only time that she really wanted to take a person's life and although it did frighten the more innocent part of her, she knew no one else would blame her. "I guess I was stupid enough that I'd assumed that you would just figure out how to perform gestures of love on your own, without my help, since you were normally the one to do them more often then me, whether we were traveling or not." She finally finished, still holding Taki's arm while still looking away, afraid that the demon huntress would become angry with her for assuming such things.

There was a long pause until Taki finally brought up the courage to ask, "What was I like before? When I had as much affections for you as you say?" She tried to start up a slow walking pace, so that they would at least make some progress to getting to the Hippogryph Flight Master.

With surprised eyes that eventually softened to a thankful fondness, Sophitia looked at her for a moment before responding. "You… well, you were… so many things, really." A smile and a shade of light pink began to appear on her face as she looked down periodically while she made a list. "You were romantic, passionate, charismatic, playfully spontaneous and capricious…" Knowing that there were more words to describe the Taki she once knew, she continued to think up more as she looked up to the other woman with slight curiosity as to what she thought of it so far.

In response to Taki's facial expression, she almost laughed; the demon huntress took on several reactions at once: confusion, curiosity, disbelief, shock, to name a few. Her eyes didn't change as they drifted from Sophitia's eyes onto the vine-convoluted ground in front of them. She seemed to think for a moment before softly shaking her head. "I can't picture myself being any of those things…" Confusion now seemed to be the reaction that dominated the others as she tried to search for explanations. She couldn't find any.

Sophitia let out a giggle from deep within her throat as she ran her hand along the skin of Taki's arm once, an action that nearly had a reaction of goosebumps though Taki herself seemed too deep in-thought to notice. "Believe me Taki, you were most certainly that way. At least around me and especially when we were alone." Sophitia tried to hide her bemusedly wide grin since surely Taki would scold her for finding her confusion amusing.

Taki yet again tried to hold in her blush as the words, "when we were alone" echoed in her head. She was almost afraid to find out what she did do when they were alone. Noticing the other woman's slight discomfort, Sophitia tried to ease it as she quickly spoke, "But that's what I loved most about you; I loved how mysterious, ominous and entrancing you were when you'd fight and destroy demons. While on the opposite side, I loved how gentle, charming, and affectionate you were.

The Greek looked back up and was a little relieved to see that Taki's mahogany eyes had softened upon her own. Her hold around Taki's arm tightened. "The only thing I ask of you is to just be patient with this and to understand how I feel."

"But that's just it; I don't understand what or how you feel because I've never felt the things you seem to feel for… for me. I…. I may have… according to you… but now…" Taki lowered her eyes in a somewhat disgruntled fashion before her tone became lower, "I just don't know."

Looking at Taki's expression now, Sophitia came to pity her for never experiencing love since before they had met. She hated to see the one she loved look so confused and… lost. She stopped their walk to lift a hand up to Taki's masked cheek, running her thumb over the thick material as Taki softly looked back up to her. The maroon eyes almost spelled out the words "What should I do?" It was the first time that Sophitia had seen her reveal an emotion such as that through her eyes since she was trained to keep her emotions within its cage deep inside herself.

As her thumb went over the red mask, she noticed the outline of Taki's lips again. She had trouble taking her eyes off them until she finally tore her eyes back up to Taki's. "I could… show you… " Her light voice could barely be heard above a whisper. At first, Taki didn't seem to understand what Sophitia was trying to say, but when she caught on by the help of the younger girl's hinting eyes, Taki blushed and looked away.

Taki could feel her heart beating rapidly and her breath becoming shorter at the idea. She had recognized the desire in Sophitia's eyes and in response, anxiety took over. 'As much as I wondered how such an intimate gesture would feel, I… I just can't bring myself to be brave enough to do it. Sophitia might be able to do that, but I… I'm different.' Taki let out an apologetic sigh. "I'm sorry, but I just…" She stopped as she felt the light, delicate hand fall from her cheek.

"It's okay." Sophitia stated in a soft, regretting voice. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have scared you that way." She turned back to the road once again and recommenced her walk.

Taki noted the disappointed look on her face again. Almost as though it was a reflex, she grabbed Sophitia's arm again before she could get too far away from her. But instead of simply holding it like she had done the last time, she pulled. She pulled hard enough for Sophitia's body to swing back and land against Taki's own. Once Taki felt the other girls body pressing firmly against her own, she wrapped both arms around her, holding her there.

Taki's heart was beating wildly even though she tried to stay calm. She could feel Sophitia's own heart beating against her chest and her warm breath which caressed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. It seemed that Sophitia wasn't sure what to do after such a sudden action, so Taki explained, "I-I'm just making up for that hug I didn't return the last time…" She waited until Sophitia responded by wrapping her arms around her neck and resting her chin on Taki's shoulder. "I'm… sorry about that." She admitted in a soft whisper.

"That's alright." Sophitia pressed herself more against Taki's body, her fingers idly touching the curve of her shoulder and her hair. "Just… please, hold me tighter." Taki did as she was asked, keeping an arm around her waist while her other hand moved up to her upper back, making her fingers touch the silk-soft golden hair that she found herself admiring. Though Sophitia found this fulfilling, it still wasn't enough, so she asked one last time, "Tighter…" The huntress obliged again, finding herself becoming more and more nervous as the slow seconds passed. Sophitia released a content, dreamy sigh as she let her face touch Taki's neck, feeling the warmth and safety of her arms envelope her. Oh how she missed this. "Thank you." She murmured, her breath brushing against Taki's skin again.

Unlike the previous time, Taki felt her breath get caught in her throat as she felt the soft warmth of full lips brushing against her neck when Sophitia said the word "you". "Of… Of course." Her voice was the same tone as Sophitia's had been as she was trying to settle her rapidly beating heart. Taki waited for Sophitia to pull away, but apparently it took her a long time to break away from Taki's embrace. When she did, she smiled lovingly at her, making Taki's eyes lock onto her beautiful features. Sophitia's smile soon turned into a grin. "That was your spontaneous and capricious side." She stated with a wink and a finger gently tapping her nose before turning back towards the path with a pleasantly satisfied air around her.

Taki just stood there, watching her, speechless.

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Again, sorry for the long delay, I don't know how long the next chapter will take me since I'm bouncing between three fics at this point, but don't think that I've left this fic so easily :)