Anduin

I entered the royal chambers exhausted, but satisfied by the progress of the day.

After defeating the Legion, with the help of the Horde, I decided to feed off our shared victory and make peace with our longtime enemies a priority. Sylvanas was named warchief of the Horde after Vol'jin was killed in the same battle which took my father. Although her leadership of the Horde allowed for the defeat of the Legion, the banshee queen broke the truce quickly and did her best to totally annihilate the Alliance using her plague. Fortunately for the entire planet, there was a fatal flaw in her plan. Most of the Horde either didn't agree with the use of the plague during war or disliked its use all together for any reason.

With help from within the Horde, Sylanvas had been dethroned relatively easily. She was now on the run, having disappeared before any battle could be waged at the gates of Orgrimmar, effectively abandoning all her followers. She had shown her true colors.

The racial leaders of the Horde decided the title of warchief would be retired, being replaced with a council, headed by, but not ruled by, an individual chosen by the council. Baine Bloodhoof was chosen as the voice of the council and peace talks with the Alliance began.

Talks which still continue and take up a great deal of my time, though everyday it felt like progress was being made. We were growing closer and closer to genuine peace.

I often contemplated everything that had been accomplished in a little over a year, saddened that my father wasn't alive to see it. Varian had been a man of war, during a time when war was a necessary evil. It would have been nice for my father to experience the peace all of his struggle had eventually helped provide.

I missed my father terribly. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, take the throne and try to keep the Alliance together. This had been made even harder when Jaina had left in a huff over my decision to not attack the Horde outright in retaliation for father's death.

Ultimately, my decision had been the right one, once all sides of the final battle were known, and eventually Jaina did return to my side, but I never truly forgave her for leaving. Not fully, anyway. I value having her back in my life, but our relationship has never been the same. Probably never would be.

I sat in my sitting room, gazing at the fire. My thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Enter." I said quietly with a smile on my face, knowing full well who was visiting.

The door opened and revealed my betrothed.

Constance Gladwin was a frost mage student, only a year younger than myself and was one of Jaina's most promising students. She'd traveled with Jaina to Stormwind when she'd moved back to the city to become one of my advisors. When we met, the world seemed to stop.

Constance was intelligent and funny, not to mention absolutely gorgeous, with long blonde hair and almost gray eyes, though she held a confidence and presence which made her beauty the second thing you noticed about her when she entered a room. I'd never met anyone like her and we hit it off almost immediately.

Only a few weeks after our introduction, our courtship began and now we were scheduled to be married in a little over two months. I had a feeling Jaina knew full well what she was doing when she brought her student to Stormwind and I was thankful. If I had to hear one more lecture from Genn Greymane about the importance of me finding a wife and producing an heir, I was going to abdicate the throne and join the priesthood fully.

I stood as she joined me by the fire. I greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you thinking so hard about this evening?" She asked, both of us sitting down by the fire. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, so she could snuggle in close.

Normally, courtship rules wouldn't allow for the courting couple to be alone like this only weeks after their introduction, but being the king had its advantages. Regardless of our ample alone time, though, we'd decided early on that we didn't wish to rush our relationship. Our status of betrothed notwithstanding, we were still very young and didn't feel a need to do anything too intimate before we were both ready.

This was just another reason I was rapidly falling in love with Constance.

"Nothing, really. It was just another long day. A good day, but still very long. Peace might not be as violent, but it's still just as exhausting to achieve as victory in battle." I sighed, allowing Connie's presence to relax me. "I'm also missing my father tonight."

"I never got a chance to meet him, but I know he would have been very proud of everything you've accomplished."

"I know. It's just that he fought so hard for the Alliance and never truly got to enjoy what all that fighting helped accomplish."

We sat in comfortable silence for quite a while, simply enjoying the quiet and being together. I always enjoyed being around people, but being around Constance was different. We could sit and stare into a fire for hours, saying nothing at all and it would be totally comfortable. Infact, there was nothing else I'd rather do than spend time with her. It was a funny feeling. One I was starting to really enjoy.

After a while, Constance stood and headed back into my office area. This was the one place in my chambers I had yet to totally take as my own. I had brought in a few items, but most of what was left in the room had been father's. I hadn't been able to steel myself enough to start going through his things in the office, since it was that room which held so many memories for me.

"I see you still haven't started going through all of this." She said, looking around the room.

It was mostly bookshelves, drawing tables and desks. My father had used the room as a mini war room when he was planning battle strategy and also a bit of an art studio during his freetime. Not many people knew Varian could actually draw quite well, when given ample time to do so. It was unfortunate his need to play the rough, battle hardened king overruled his pastime. The few moments he got to draw were displayed on the walls of this room. Going into it made me miss him even more than usual.

"I know." I replied, getting up slowly to follow her into the room. She was gazing at one of the drawings on the wall. This one was of Stormwind harbor, before the cataclysm which ruined much of it. The charcoal drawing was almost a perfect rendition. Father really did have a talent.

"I like this one." She said, not looking away from it.

"So do I. I was thinking we could get some of these framed and spread some of the drawings around the chambers."

Constance turned to me and smiled. "I love that Idea." She turned and took a seat at the desk. This was the only place where I'd moved a few of my own personal items, mainly just a few of my books and the hand mirror Jaina had given me for communication, when we'd lived so far apart. Connie picked up the mirror, gazing into it. With a gasp, she put the mirror back on the desk carefully and stood, looking startled.

"What is it?" I ask, rushing to her.

She pointed at the mirror.

Confused, I picked up the mirror and looked into it. Instead of seeing my own reflection, I saw a familiar face I hadn't seen in over a year. I almost dropped the mirror.

"Isn't that…'' Constance said, taking another step away from the desk.

"My father, yes." I said quietly. The reflection changed and the image smiled at me. He began to talk, but I couldn't hear anything. "I think he's trying to say something."

I'd spent a great deal of my time growing up around large groups of important adults. Over the years, I've learned how to read lips fairly well. I concentrated on what the reflection was saying.

"I think he's saying take the mirror to Jaina."

The reflection of my father seemed to look off to his side, then look back at me, slightly panicked. He smiled, said one more thing, then the reflection changed, so I was only seeing myself. Constance stood next to me, looking over my shoulder into the mirror.

"What did he say?" She asked.

"He wants us to take this mirror to Jaina and he'll be back." I looked up at Connie, not believing what just happened.

"Do you think that was really Varian?" She asked.

I shook my head. "It can't be. He died. Multiple people saw him die, but it looked so much like him. Where's Jaina?"

"Still in Dalaran, I think. I'm fairly sure she had plans with Kalec before heading back here after our lesson. If she's not in her chambers, then she's probably still there."

I nodded. That made sense. Jaina has been in a more/less official relationship with the former blue dragon aspect for several years. Since moving back to Stormwind to advise me, she'd seen less of Kalec, but I knew she still snuck off for a quiet evening with him when she could.

I stood in front of Connie, placing a hand on each of her arms. "I need you to portal back to Dalaran and get Jaina. Maybe she'll have some sort of idea or explanation for all of this."

I hated to interrupt Jaina's time with Kalec, but I had a feeling she'd forgive me, once she heard about the mirror. The blue dragon's insite might be valuable as well.

Connie nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to keep an eye on that mirror."

Connie hugged me. "Be careful, Anduin. This might be some kind of trick or deception."

"I know. Honestly, I don't think there's much I can do until we talk to Jaina. Be quick."

Connie kissed my check, then left the chambers. There was magic set up to prevent transportation or portaling within the personal royal chamber, as a security measure. Jaina alone knew the way to come and go without permission. A privilege my father had granted her. One which she'd never needed to use.

I was hoping she'd use that privilege this time. I needed to know what was happening. Could my father still be alive?


To Be Continued...