Varian

I paced back and forth across the full length of our cave, deep in thought about our contact with my son. I could feel Vala's eyes track my movements, but she remained silent, though I could feel her irritation building.

"Will you stop!" Vala finally growled, obviously getting fed up with my pacing.

I stopped and sat next to her by the fire.

"Sorry, I just have too much to think about and nowhere to channel my nervous energy."

Vala sighed deeply. "I know and I'm sorry for yelling, but you're driving me crazy. I'm sorry I can't leave the connection active for longer and that it takes so long for me to recharge. This must be torture for you."

"Me being anxious has nothing to do with you. You're going above and beyond in this effort to get us home and I appreciate it. We would've never gotten this far without you. I've never been very good with waiting or sitting still when things are about to happen. I'd go outside and burn some energy, but I don't want to risk dying, now that we are so close to getting out of here. I am certainly not annoyed with you. You have nothing to apologize for. If you weren't here, I'd be stuck here, with no hope at all."

Vala smiled at me, then leaned over and hugged me. I was a little surprised by the gesture, at first, but then returned the hug.

"I'm so lucky you're here. I'd still be making no progress at all if you hadn't had the misfortune of dying. I might be doing the magic, but you have the connections and people back home who can help. I don't even know if anyone I know is still alive. It's been 30 years on that side of things and I didn't have many blood relations to begin with."

I chuckled, allowing the hug to linger. "When we get home, I'll help you find your family. Dead or alive, you will know what happened to them and where they are. I promise you."

Vala hugged me tighter. "Thank you, Varian."

We stood like this for a long time, my anxiety totally forgotten.


Jaina

I leaned back in my chair with a sigh, pushing the book in front of me back a few inches. My head hurt from concentrating on figuring out the magic needed to open a portal to the demon dimension. Though I was good at summoning portals, this one was proving difficult to sort out. I had to find a way to get the portal at least close to Varian's location, otherwise the people going in to rescue him might end up on the other side of the dimension, stranded themselves.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders and I felt a light kiss on my cheek. My head stopped throbbing just a fraction and my mood lifted a little. Kalec always had that effect on me and at the moment, I was thankful for his presence. I sometimes wondered if it was his presence alone that made me feel better or if he was actually doing some type of magic I could not detect.

"Progress?" He asked, circling around me to lean against my desk. He looked so comfortable in his half human, half elf form, I caught myself, on occasion, forgetting he was a dragon. It still felt weird, being in a romantic relationship with a species whose primary form wasn't even bipedal.

"Some. I know I can summon a portal to the correct dimension, but I really have no good way to know where I'm opening it? It could be miles away from Varian's location."

Kalec nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "Maybe when Miss Baldwin makes contact with the mage on Varian's side, you can pinpoint the location."

"I thought of that, but doing the trace will burn up the little time we'll have with the connection open. We'll be forced to wait until the next cycle to attempt the portal."

Kalec crouched down beside me, turning my chair so it was facing him. "Remember, two weeks in this dimension is only a day or two in his. It's worth waiting if we can be confident about the portal's location."

I chuckled. "And I suppose, being one of the volunteers to go through the portal, I should take your opinion into account."

I had told Kalec everything from our interaction with Varian. He'd also guessed that Anduin wished to go through the portal and had quickly volunteered to go through in the king's place. He'd reasoned that if the portal happened to open near demons, not only would he be able to take flight to save himself, but he could torch them before any could cross through the portal.

"You should. We need to be smart about this. The former king has survived much in his life, he can survive an extra day or two. It sounds like he and his new mage friend seem fairly secure where they are sheltered."

I nodded in agreement, thinking about the other individual who had agreed to go after our former king. "And I'm sure Malfurion would appreciate the effort, as well."

Kalec stood, returning to leaning against my desk. "And you're sure this is really Varian?"

"Anduin thinks so. And, he did have knowledge only father and son share. I'm still skeptical, but if there is any chance this really is Varian, then we need to try. I'll make sure there are extra soldiers on this side, along with some priests and warlocks to help deal with any demons that might come through, including Varian and his mage friend if either of them turn out to be something dangerous. As you said, we need to be smart about all of this and do it right."

"But on the other hand, I'll have all of that ready when they open the connection the next time, just in case something is happening on their end that requires us to try the portal in haste."

"That's reasonable and I'm sure Malfurion will agree." Kalec replied.

"Now we just need to convince the king to wait a full cycle to attempt a rescue. If it were Varian, there would be no chance, but I think we have a good chance of convincing Anduin."

Kalec pulled me to my feet and into a hug. "Either way, we will succeed."

I let Kalec hold me and for a few moments, I forgot about all my doubts.


To Be Continued...