Varian

The next morning, I woke up a bit confused, at first. I was expecting to be lying on a hard stone ground, with the smell of wood smoke slightly in the air. Instead I was on a soft bed and the room smelled clean and fresh. I rolled over and saw Vala still sound asleep in the bed next to mine. Reality hit me and I smiled. I was home.

I sat up, thankful Vala had slept soundly through the night. I had been mildly afraid she'd wake up screaming from some awful nightmare. Her return to the civilized world had been a hell of a lot rougher than mine. It was going to take time for her to adjust to her new reality. Hell, it was going to take time for her to believe her new reality.

I sat on the end of the bed, stretching. It felt great to sleep in a real bed, even if it was a medical bed which held almost no comfort. It was better than a stone floor. As I stood, debating if I should try to find someone, Vala began to stir. I pulled a chair over to her bed and sat next to her, so when she opened her eyes, I'd be the first thing she'd see. Hopefully, if she saw me, she'd remain calm.

Slowly, her eyes opened and she smiled at me.

"It wasn't a dream." She said quietly. It wasn't a question, more a statement to herself.

"It wasn't a dream." I confirmed.

She sat up and looked around. This was probably the first time she actually took a good look at her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"In the medical wing of Stormwind Keep. Neither of us were in great shape when we came through the portal. You almost died on us."

"You actually did die." A voice from the door replied. Anduin walked in slowly, obviously remembering Vala's state the last time he saw her awake. He didn't want to startle her. "Fortunately, I have a talent for bringing people back which has come in handy on more than one occasion."

I smiled at my son, helping Vala to get to a seated position, though she was still fully in the bed.

"Vala, let me officially introduce my son, Anduin Wrynn, King of Stormwind. Anduin, this is Vala Herndon, mage extraordinaire"

Vala laughed. "Mage apprentice with terrible luck, but a good sense for self preservation is more like it, but I'm happy to meet you, Your Majesty."

"Likewise, but there is no need for formality. Please, just call me Anduin." He took a step closer, so he was out of the doorway. It was nice to see some things hadn't changed. Anduin never did like being addressed by a title.

"You're the one who saved my life?" Vala asked.

Anduin nodded. "I am."

"I owe you then."

Anduin laughed. "You saved my father, so I'd say we're even."

"It's more accurate to say we saved each other. I'd still be stranded in that damned dimension if Varian hadn't shown up and he'd still be there if he hadn't run into me."

"The important part is you're home now." I said.

"And now I need to figure out what I'm going to do. I really haven't given anything much thought. I've been fighting to survive for so long, I don't think I remember how to look to the future. For the longest time, I never thought I had one." Vala yawned loudly, covering her mouth with her hand. "But first, I think I'm going to go back to sleep."

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" I asked, realizing I was famished. I imagined Vala probably felt the same way.

Vala shook her head. "Not yet. I'm too tired to eat, but you can go get something. I think I'll be fine on my own now. I'm sure there's a healer or two around here, if I need anything."

"Are you sure? I can have something brought here, if you'd like me to stay." I offered. She was handling it well, but she still had to be a little scared and unsure. After five years alone, being around others, even in a safe place, had to be terrifying.

"I'll be fine, Varian. Go, eat, spend some time with your son. I'm sure you both have lots of things to talk about." As if to punctuate her condition, she laid back down and closed her eyes. "I'm going to count to 10. When I open my eyes, you better not still be here, Your Royalness."

I laughed, but stood and followed Anduin out the door.

"Your Royalness?" Anduin asked as we headed out of the medical wing.

"Vala didn't recognize me when I first arrived, since I was only around ten years old when she'd been set to that dimension. After talking for a bit, and she realized who I was, she started doing everything in her power not to treat me like a king. Eventually, she started joking around with me, calling me Your Royalness or My King, while doing sweeping bows and overly exaggerated gestures. For the kind of life she's been forced to live for the last five years, she still has the capacity to laugh and joke around, once she had someone to joke around with. And she decided I wasn't goung to murder her in her sleep."

Anduin nodded, thinking. "And she's…stable? I mean, living in a demon dimension of any length of time, alone, is bound to make anyone a little mad."

"She always seemed to be. She kinda had to be, to stay alive. I guess we'll see how she settles back into civilized life, now that she's free of the place."

"Only time will tell, I guess." Anduin said.

"I hope she'll be alright." I smiled, probably brouder than meant to. "She really is a wonderful person."

We arrived at the dining hall and entered to find Connie standing by the fireplace alone. The smile on her face matched the one on Anduin's when they saw each other. I had to shake my head slightly, since at that moment I knew my son was in love. I could hardly believe it.

"Father, this is Constance Baldwin, my betrothed." He approached her, took her hand and led her to me. "Connie, this is my father, Varian."

I took her hand, kissing it gently. "I am honored to meet the young woman who finally captured my son's heart. I honestly thought it would never happen."

"I'm honored to meet you, as well. When we met, I thought it was too late for me to meet any of Anduin's family. It's wonderful to have you back, alive and well. I've never seen Anduin so happy."

Anduin pulled the chair out for Connie and we all sat. Breakfast was brought in and all was quiet for at least a good half hour, since the only thing I wanted to focus on was the food. I might have been a little rude, but neither Anduin or Connie seemed to mind.

Once I was fed enough to slow down and talk, I looked up at Connie. "So, Connie, how did you and Anduin meet? I get the sense that your relationship was not a match made by Jaina."

"Actually, it kinda was, but not in the traditional sense." Anduin replied.

"I'm Jaina's apprentice. When she moved back to Stormwind, she brought me with her. When she introduced me to your son, something just kinda clicked."

"To say the least." Anduin agreed. "I never truly believed you when you told me I'd know the right girl when I met her, but when I saw Connie for the first time, I understood completely what you were trying to explain to me."

"Well, I'm happy for both of you." I turned to Anduin. "And I'm relieved you didn't have to go through all of this alone. I'm sorry for leaving you."

"You didn't leave me, Father, you died. There's a big difference. And you may not realize it, but you raised me with the tools I needed to be a king, even if all that wisdom didn't become apparent to me until after you were gone. It's a miracle to have you back."

"And from the little I've been told, you've been a far superior king than I. I'm so proud of you and I'll probably be even more proud, once you tell me everything you've accomplished. And, I'll help you keep things going as best I can, however you see fit."

Anduin's eyes widened. "You don't want the title back?"

I laughed putting my hands up. "Certainly not. You are the rightful king now, Anduin. My time has passed. As I said, I'll help you however I can, but the title is yours. No take backs this time."

"I told you he wouldn't want the title back." Jaina said from the doorway, as she came in and sat down with us. "This will give Varian a chance to be a proud father above all else, for a change. It'll be good for everyone."

I hadn't really thought about it before, but Jaina was right. Without the burden of the title, I could be a different person. I could be a father and support system to Anduin. I also had a feeling I was going to be a support system for Vala, as well. She'd been out of the world for a long time. She was going to need someone to help her get back into it.

"I also found some information about Vala." Jaina said, almost reluctantly.

"That was fast." I replied. We hadn't even been back for a full day yet.

Jaina shrugged. "I was restless last night, so Kalec and I portaled back to Dalaran. I would have actually found things faster if I'd remembered about the time differential. I started looking only five years back and found nothing. But when I looked thirty years back, which I should have been doing from the beginning, I found her apprentice file. Her full name is Avalan Herndon and Varian, you are really not going to like the next part."

"What is it?" I asked.

"When she started as an apprentice to the Kirin Tor, her master was Archmage Lordus."

I put my fork down with a sign. "Son of a bitch."

Anduin looked between us, confused. "Who's Archmage Lordus? I've never heard of him."

"I doubt you would have, considering he died when you were somewhere around three or four." Jaina said.

"Died?" I said, kinda sarcastically. "He didn't die. He was killed while fleeing from the Kirin Tor after killing three of his apprentices with his experiments."

Both Connie and Anduin looked between Jaina and I, eager to hear more.

"We'd discovered Lordus was using his apprentices to work on his own magic. As your father said, we only figured it out when he killed his apprentices while working on a particularly dangerous bit of dark magic. The Kirin Tor tried to apprehend him for trial, but he was killed before he could be brought to justice. According to his file, Vala had left her apprenticeship with the Kirin Tor shortly after her fifteenth birthday. Lordus wrote she simply left, saying she no longer wanted to work to become a full mage."

I growled. "He sent her to that damned dimension, then left her there to die."

Jaina nodded in her agreement. "Either intentionally or accidentally, she ended up going through a portal and instead of alerting his fellow mages, so a rescue mission could be attempted, Lordus opted to cover it up instead. Mages quit all the time, so no one even gave Vala a second thought."

"That's awful. That poor woman." Connie said.

Jaina gave me a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, the news doesn't get any better from there. I looked into her family next. I found her parents, Warren and Challa, and a younger brother, Simon, listed in her file. When I investigated them further, I found death notices for all of them. Simon was a soldier during the Northrend campaign and was killed in action. Warren passed away shortly before his son was deployed and Challa passed shortly after her son was killed."

"So, she truly is alone here." I said. I had hoped at least some of her family was still alive. Thirty years was a long time, but not long enough for all of them to have passed. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans and the world was a dangerous place.

"I wasn't able to find any mention of other relations. She might have some aunts or uncles somewhere, but without further information from Vala, I really don't know where else to look."

"Well, we know one thing for sure." Anduin said, almost announced. "Vala is not alone. She has us. She's welcome here for as long as she wants to stay. I think she's more than earned a place in our family."

I laughed, placing a hand on Auduin's shoulder. "Thank you, Anduin. I couldn't have said it better myself. I just don't look forward to telling Vala all of this. She told me she wanted to know what happened to her family, even if they were dead, but saying it and finding out it's true are two entirely different things. It should bring her some peace to hear about Lordus, though."

"How so?" Jaina asked.

"Vala blamed herself for getting sent to that dimension. She thought she generated the portal by accident. I think she'll be relieved to hear she wasn't responsible."

"Speaking of Vala, where is she?" Jaina asked. "I was sure she'd be eager to get some real food."

"She was tired and decided to go back to sleep, rather than eat with us." I chuckled. "She must have really been tired, since getting the chance to eat food that wasn't magically summoned was high on her list of things to do, if we got rescued."

This made Jaina laugh. "I can certainly understand that! The longest I've ever gone with just summoned food was a week and that was far too long. The food is edible, but nowhere near delicious."

"Speaking from experience, I agree with you." I replied. "I was thankful we had it, of course, but if I never have to eat it again, it would be too soon." I looked at Anduin. "Now Son, tell me everything that's happened since my death. I want to hear it all. What's this about you resurrecting an enaire battlefield of dead and dying soldiers?"

To Be Continued...