On Our Own

"She told him." Tahnir said, looking at his father who's company was on patrol around Tranquillien with his company. "She went behind our backs and told him without warning us she was going to do it. Now he is angry with us and refuses to speak to anyone but his second."

Aerinan raised an eyebrow at his son. "Didn't you just tell me the other day you weren't going to stand in the way of this?"

"Yes, but I would have liked to have been warned that he was going to be told. Or at the very least I would be there when he was told to answer any of his questions." Tahnir sighed and looked around the town of Tranquillien. "When do you think Dael'Thaelas will find out?"

"I have a feeling your grandfather already knows." Aerinan told him. "He's always at least one step ahead of the rest of us, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was his plan for the past couple weeks." He glanced over to his son who had become silent. "Where is Athrodar anyway? I don't remember seeing him in your company today."

Tahnir sighed and looked over to his father. "He's staying in Silvermoon for a week, maybe two. That's all I've been told. Oh and he has rented out a couple rooms at an inn, though I'm not sure which one."

"So who is in charge of his unit whilst he's away?" Aerinan now asked.

"His second, Melonara." Tahinr told him. "He trusts her the most and so do I to be honest, so she is taking charge of his unit until he returns. She is also the only one who knows exactly where he is, but she won't say anything other than he's fine."

Aerinan nodded slowly, looking down at his family ring for a second before looking back out to the forests in front of him. "My next question is, have you seen Sylvanas since our defense here?"

Tahnir shook his head. "I've not, no. Why?"

"Well you said he paid for a couple of rooms at an inn." Aerinan reminded him. "He's always been a proactive boy when he's had time off. Your grandfather found it amusing at first, but he's had to pay off a few too many women to keep silent about Athrodar's night time activities when they get a little out of hand."

"He wouldn't do that to the General, he's a smart boy. Horny, but smart." Tahnir saw his father raise an eyebrow at him. "What? He is. Besides, he assured me those nights he has with them are harmless, but they do get out of hand when it gets really late." He saw his father begin to smirk and couldn't help but laugh a little with him. "I think I heard some of those nights described as liberation parties."

Aerinan began to laugh at the description. "They must be really freeing then."

"Sex parties I've heard." Tahnir said, both of them laughing now. "At least he's having fun."

"Until he has to slow down." Aerinan said, both of them just smiling now at the youngest Sunblade's late night antics. "To be young again."

Tahnir kept smiling, though he lowered his gaze to the family ring on his finger and began to reminisce about that stage of his life. "I wasn't that bad, right?"

"Other than defying your grandfather constantly, a habit that has remained I might add, no you weren't that bad." Aerinan glanced over to his son again, noticing he was keeping his attention on his family ring. "Your mother didn't mind as much, but that was because you were her little boy that could do no wrong."

Tahnir's smile began to slowly fade. "Until I got married to someone I love and not someone who would better our family reputation. Then she began to grow distant."

Aerinan knew of their difficult relationship over the last century, something he tried time and time again to repair but couldn't get to stick for more than a couple days. "She still loves you, you know."

"I know." Tahnir said quietly, letting out a small sigh and looking at his father again. "Lord Sunblade has just gotten his claws into her too deep now that she can only see the world how he sees it. As something to conquer piece by piece from within a strong political bubble and if you go against that, you're cut out of that bubble." He looked back down at the ring on his finger. "Something I learnt that hard way."

Aerinan gently placed his hand on his son's back. "You've still got me. I have no interest in that political crap they all go through in that golden spire of theirs, I'm a ranger at heart, born in these forests and I will die in these forests."

Tahnir began to smile a little, agreeing with that mindset completely as the forests of Quel'Thalas were his home more than anywhere else. "Grandma would have loved to have heard you say that." He told his father.

Aerinan smiled too, letting his mind take him back to the memories of his mother. "I miss her." He told his son. "Your grandfather can be a difficult person to deal with, even more so now that mom's gone, but she managed to keep him levelheaded most of the time and loved spending time with all of us. I don't know how he did it, but in her last decade Athrodar was her favourite, even if I was her son." He began to laugh at the fact. "I didn't mind, I had centuries with her love being focused on me, but it shifted towards your son. I think it's because she knew she was slowly dying and felt guilty at not giving him the attention we all had, but she spent so much time with him in her final years, I think her death has brought out that 'late night' side of him more."

"To cope with the pain of losing her?" Tahnir asked just to make sure he knew what his father was hinting at.

"I think so." Aerinan agreed. "But maybe with Sylvanas telling him, it might reel him in and move him away from this lifestyle."

"If that happens, I'll forever be kicking myself for standing in the way." Tahnir told his father, looking over to Melonara in the distance. "I've got to send out my scouts. We've had a couple of reports on the Amani and they're getting a bit restless. I think they're going to try and capitalize on the undead attack."

"Then they're as foolish as we think they are. The Gatekeeper is still up and that has held them back every time they've attacked, so this should be no different."

Tahnir shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to check. It's probably nothing."

"I have to say, I was expecting you to go out of your way to avoid me for as long as possible." Sylvanas said, moving out the way so Athrodar could walk into her office. "I'm glad you've proven me wrong."

"I've been sitting in my room at the inn for the past two days and needed to get out of there. I've not spoken to anyone else except my second in command and didn't know who else to turn to." Athrodar stood in the middle of the room and watched Sylvanas close the door behind him and make her way towards her desk, sitting down on her chair and turning to face him.

"What is it?" She asked when she faced him, watching him place a hand over his ring and begin to pace up and down slowly.

"How much of this whole thing was political?" He asked, not stopping to look at the General. "I mean, my parents are together and got married because they love each other, but my grandparents married because it gave my great grandfather more power in court and he only married because my great grandmother was above him in rank." When he finished speaking, he stopped moving as well and turned to face Sylvanas. "So that's my question, how much has politics had to play in this... Arrangement?"

"On my end, nothing is political." Sylvanas told him, standing up and making her way to the small drinks cabinet she had. "Dael'Thaelas and the rest of your family who are in on this, I cannot say. But I know what Lord Sunblade is like and if it doesn't grant him some sort of power, he's not interested." She poured herself a drink and placed a second glass down. "Drink?"

Athrodar shook his head. "No, thank you." He said, looking over to a door on the other side of the room. "Are we alone?" He asked.

"We are, why?" Sylvanas asked in response.

"Your door keeps opening a little and closing shortly after." Athrodar said, nodding over to the door in question and hearing Sylvanas sigh to herself.

"Vereesa, do you always have to eavesdrop?" She asked out loud, closing her eyes and shaking her head when the door closed shortly after. "He knows you're here now, no point in hiding."

"Sorry." Vereesa said, opening the door slowly and smiling innocently at her sister. "It was the wind."

"There's no draft in that room." Sylvanas told her, looking over to Athrodar. "I'm sorry about this, I didn't think she would still be here."

"I took a nap." Vereesa said, looking over to the drinks cabinet. "Ooo, can I have one?"

Sylvanas sighed. "Fine. Just nothing with alcohol, remember? You've got a baby on the way."

"I know, I know." Vereesa said, waving away her concern. "It's just trying to find something in here that isn't alcoholic." She put her hand to the back of the cabinet and pulled out a dusty bottle and smiled. "Like this one!"

"I should go." Athrodar said, watching Vereesa walk away from the cabinet.

"No wait." Sylvanas quickly said, taking hold of his arm. "Please stay, I want to talk."

"General, I..."

"I've told you, call me Sylvanas." She said softly, making Vereesa choke on her drink.

"Wow, she really does like you. Only family or very close friends call her by her real name." Vereesa said, getting a slight glare from Sylvanas. "What? Am I wrong?"

"Please return to the other room, or just leave all together." Sylvanas told her sister, hearing her groan.

"You never let me in on your conversations anymore." Vereesa told her, making her way towards the room she just walked out of. "You used to be fun, Sylvie!"

Sylvanas pinched the bridge of her nose when Vereesa slammed the door behind her, having her ears perk up a little when she heard Athrodar chuckle to himself. "I'm glad you find this funny."

"I'm sorry, it's just... You're really closed off when it comes to your personal life and only those close to you know how you really are." Athrodar looked over to the door Vereesa had just slammed. "So to see just a glimpse and realise it's not what I was expecting made me laugh."

"I'm not that closed off, am I?" Sylvanas asked honestly, believing she was as open as the rest of them.

"All my father's company know about you is your name, age, rank and family." Athrodar told her, surprising the Ranger-General at how little people knew about her.

"Oh..." She muttered, taking a sip of her drink. "I suppose I've been too busy over the years to socialize with people."

Athrodar folded his arm across his chest and began to grin at the General. "Have you even been to a party that wasn't forced onto you because of your rank?"

Sylvanas rubbed the back of her neck, trying to remember a time when she last went to a party that didn't have her rank of General tied to it. "Well..." She muttered, trying to search every corner of her brain to remember at least one party and only coming up with one. "I think the last time I went to one was before the Second War." She told him, looking over to Athrodar who placed a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "What?"

"Nothing." Athrodar told her, looking away from the General to try and stop himself from laughing. "It's just... I've been to at least twenty since then. At least the ones I can remember..."

"Sounds like you've had a lot of fun over the last few decades." Sylvanas said, smiling a little.

"I've got an idea." Athrodar said when one crossed his mind. "Come out with me tomorrow, I know a place that have parties every week, lots to drink, eat and have a great time."

"Oh.. Y-you want me to go out with you tomorrow?" Sylvanas asked, not expecting him to make such a giant leap forward in only their second conversation together. "A-as in...?"

"As in I'm going to take you to Goldenmist Village tomorrow evening and we are going to forget about the whole arrangement thing as well as our duties to the Kingdom and just relax." Athrodar watched the General carefully as soon as he saw her body language begin to change from relaxed to on edge. "Unless you don't want to?"

"N-no!" She blurted out. "I-I mean, I do want to it's just... I'm the Ranger-General, I'm scared people will notice it's me and think poorly of me. That I'm not acting like the Ranger-General should."

Athrodar began to laugh a little. "If it means anything, I believe those that do recognise you will be happy you're finally going out to have fun." He told her, having his smile wipe off his face when he still saw uncertainty in her body language. "Unless... You don't actually want to go out and have only said you will because I mentioned it?"

Sylvanas groaned and sat down on her chair beside the desk once more, placing her head in her hands. "I'm sorry... I just, I can't." She looked up at him for a couple seconds before covering her face again. "I'm not good at this. All my life I've only had one thought and that was to become Ranger-General. Now that I have it, the only other thought on my mind was protecting the people. Not until two, maybe three decades ago did I even think about starting a family and falling in love with someone, they were the last things on my mind until then." She removed her hands to look at Athrodar again when she heard him move towards her, looking him in the eyes when he crouched down, similar to what she did only a couple days ago when she told him everything. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you don't want to hear all this."

Athrodar shook his head at her apology. "It's fine. We can go when you're more comfortable with the idea, it was just a suggestion to take our minds off everything and to be ourselves. Maybe even grow a little closer in the process."

"Oh..." Sylvanas muttered, looking down at his hands resting on his knees and tentatively moving a hand closer to it. "Does it have to be somewhere so public though? A place for us to grow a little closer I mean. Can't we spend some time here?"

"In your office?" Athrodar asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, it's not as public, but being the Ranger-General I would have thought you'd get some foot traffic, no?"

Sylvanas frowned and kept her attention on his hands. "I suppose that's true." She said, moving her hand closer to his. "Surely as a Sunblade you've got more places to stay than just a room at the nearby inn, right?"

"Of course I do, but they're all under my great grandfather's name and if I even get close to them, he is told by one of the many servants that work at them that I am using it as well as anyone else who is with me." Athrodar watched her hand get closer to his and smiling a little to himself, moving those last few inches and placing his hand over the top of hers. "What about you?" He asked quietly.

"I... W-well we could..." Sylvanas managed to push out, feeling her heart beat faster in her chest.

"But?" Athrodar asked. keeping his voice low.

"B-but?" Sylvanas asked him in return, looking up at him and quickly shaking her head when she saw him looking at her. "Oh, nothing. I just... Other than Vereesa and a very select few of my rangers, nobody has ever visited my home in Sunfury. I don't visit it much either as I mostly return to Windrunner Village whenever I'm not on duty."

"We could go there if you wanted someplace private." He suggested, watching Sylvanas' gaze move off him and towards the wall as if she was deep in thought. "Gen.. Sylvanas?"

Hearing her name stirred her out of her train of thought and made her look back to Athrodar. "Y-yes, sorry. I'm just nervous, more than I've ever been and that's saying something considering all the battles I've been in." She took hold of his hand properly now, stroking her thumb across his knuckles and smiling a little at him. "If we leave now, I could make you something to eat."

"Are you inviting me back to your home for dinner?" Athrodar asked, taking this opportunity to tease his General a little and stopping himself from laughing when she widened her eyes. "I''m kidding."

Sylvanas slapped him on the arm and narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't do that to me. It's hard enough talking to you and inviting you back to my home, let alone joking about such things."

Athrodar smiled and looked down at his hand that she was holding. "Okay, I'm sorry." He squeezed her hand a little and caught a glimpse of her looking down at their hands too. "I have to say, this conversation alone has put my mind at ease a little. I think I just needed to talk to someone who wasn't family."

"Have you not spoken to them at all?" Sylvanas asked him, watching him shake his head. "Why not?"

"I don't like talking to my great grandfather unless I have to, my father lied to you and the rest of my family just to keep this from happening and my grandfather is closer to my father than the rest of us anyway, so he only really talks to him." Athrodar sighed and turned his attention to the family ring on his finger. "I know I should be grateful for the opportunities the Sunblade name gives me, but sometimes I wonder why I even bother with them all. My grandmother focuses more on her job than anyone else, my mother loves having me around and I love visiting home, but she can't help me with family issues because much like my father, the rest of the family are slowly cutting them out. My great grandmother would have been the one I went to for such things, or she would have told me from the beginning anyway, but she died shortly after the Second War began and much like my mother, I loved her to bits. Having her gone now has just left a hole in this family that can't be filled."

Sylvanas saw Athrodar was greatly troubled by his family and their actions, more so now because of the arrangement that was kept from him more than anything and began to feel sorry for him. Knowing she had to do something but was fighting herself on whether to do it or not, Sylvanas slowly began to stand up and pull on his arm to get him to stand up to. When they both stood face to face, she let go of his hand and moved her hand up his arm, stopping just below the shoulder and taking a step towards him, quickly making up her mind on what she should do and moving her other hand up to his other arm, taking another step forward until she was inches from him.

"I don't want to fill that hole she left." She told him, looking up at Athrodar who was looking down at her in return. "But I do want to be the person you talk to for these things and anything else that comes up in the future." She moved forward those last few inches and slowly placed her ear against his chest, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him loosely at first, just to get a feel of the situation and how he would react. "My feelings for you are genuine, Athrodar. I'm just not that great at expressing them at the moment and I hope you can forgive me for keeping the arrangement secret for this long. I never wanted any of this to happen."

Athrodar looked down at the two long ears and blue hood just below his chin and smiled, wrapping his arms around her in return and feeling her hug tighten a lot more so she was hugging him properly now. "I never blamed you to begin with, Sylvanas. You came to me and told me everything, for that I am forever grateful."

Sylvanas smiled and continued to hug him. "Thank you." She whispered. "The offer of taking you home with me... It's still on the table, you know."

Athrodar smiled and pulled back from the hug. "I'll gladly take you up on it if you want. More privacy for a start and if you were serious about the food offer, I am hungry."

Sylvanas chuckled and looked up at Athrodar. "I'll make you something to eat then." She narrowed her eyes when she saw he was about to speak. "No jokes, otherwise the offer is off the table."

"I didn't say a thing." Athrodar said, watching Sylvanas make her way towards the door to her office. "What about your sister?"

Sylvanas sighed and looked over to the door Vereesa walked through. "Vereesa, I know you've been listening this whole time, do you want to come home with me and have something to eat?"

"Finally!" Vereesa cried, opening the door to the room she was waiting in. "Took you long enough to get there. I was hoping you would have just gone when it was first brought up, not wait this long." She stood beside Athrodar who looked down at her. "Okay, I can see why she likes you."

Athrodar raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"

Sylvanas watched her sister closely. "Yes, what do you mean?"

"What?" Vereesa asked innocently. "He's cute, I get it. Sunblade name scares me a little, but I can look passed that." She said, placing a hand on his arm and smiling when she squeezed it, feeling his muscles in the meantime.

"Vereesa!" Sylvanas snapped, making her let go of his arm. "I'll tell Rhonin if you do that again."

"Bully." Vereesa muttered, walking passed her sister. "Come on, let's go home. I'm hungry as well and I'm eating for two."

"Sorry about her." Sylvanas whispered to Athrodar when they all left her office. "She's usually more well behaved than this. I think she's just trying to tease me."

"I take it she knew about the arrangement too?" Athrodar asked, following Sylvanas back to her home in Sunfury Spire.

"Yes, but only after I told you." Sylvanas said, glancing back to him. "Like I said, I didn't want this to happen, I was going to come straight to you and tell you everything, but your great grandfather intercepted me and messed everything up."

The three of them arrived at Sylvanas' home in Sunfury five minutes after they left her office with Vereesa quickly making her way to the spare bedroom and collapsing onto the bed, leaving both Athrodar and Sylvanas alone in the living room. "This place is really nice." Athrodar said, looking over to Sylvanas who smiled a little at his compliment. "I guess being Ranger-General gives you some really nice perks."

"Really?" Sylvanas asked, looking around the home that was a lot smaller than her family home. "This place is quite small."

"Two bedrooms in Sunfury is big compared to the other homes." Athrodar told her, looking around at the decor. "I think only the King has a bigger home."

"Oh..." Sylvanas looked around the room and smiled a little at the fact she basically had the second biggest home in Sunfury Spire. "Make yourself comfortable, I need to do a few things before I can get comfortable myself, but feel free to explore. Oh and if my sister talks to you just humor her, I find it makes life a whole lot easier."

"The way you talk about her makes me think she's a bit slow." Athrodar said, noticing a set of twin doors leading to a balcony.

Sylvanas laughed at his comment. "Gods no, she's one of the smartest people I know. Which is why I'm telling you to humor her, otherwise she will be on your case all day until you join in on whatever game she is playing with you." She looked over to the spare room and saw Vereesa taking a nap on the bed. "Trust me, I've been in situations where she hasn't left me alone for almost a week straight until I caved and gave her what she wanted."

"Noted." Athrodar said, opening the twin doors and walking out onto the balcony, looking down at the city below. "Wow... This might be my new favourite place."

Sylvanas smiled and went about her business, loving that he actually liked her home. "I don't want to say visit whenever." She told him, making her way to her bedroom to change out of her uniform. "But if I'm ever in the city and you want to talk, check my office first and then here."

"Will do." Athrodar replied, looking back into the living room and watching Sylvanas pull her hood down, smiling to himself at how comfortable she had suddenly become the moment they returned to her home. "How often do you come here, if I'm allowed to ask that?"

Sylvanas chuckled at his question. "Of course you can ask that." She told him, making her way over to the balcony and stopping when she saw him smiling at her. "What?"

"Nothing." Athrodar told her softly, keeping the smile on his face. "You just look a lot more comfortable here than back at your office."

"O-oh..." Sylvanas said quietly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking down at the floor. "See, now you've made me nervous again."

Athrodar let out a small laugh and made his way over to the Ranger-General. "Don't be." He told her, placing a hand on her arm. "This is your home and I'm your guest. Treat me like you would anyone else."

"Now see, if I did that, you would be standing at the door the entire time and seconds away from having it shut on your face." Sylvanas told him honestly, hearing him laugh and laughing herself. "I'm not lying, I really would. I like my privacy and I feel like you'd respect that, which is why I've invited you in. I don't think you'll tell anyone about your time here."

"Not unless you want me to." Athrodar whispered to her, slowly moving his hand up her arm and watching her close her eyes at his light touch. "I know you said you're not good at expressing your emotions, so I thought I'd tell you I'm not good at reading people, so I don't really know how you would react if I kiss you right now."

Sylvanas looked him in the eyes, surprised he was already trying to kiss her and biting her bottom lip at just the thought of it. "W-why don't you find out?" She asked quietly, closing her eyes when he began to lean in and being hit by a wall of emotions when their lips met, moving her arms around his neck to hold him in place for as long as possible and feeling her heart beat faster than it ever had, getting a warm, tingling feeling all over her body and never wanting it to end.

When they broke apart the kiss, they only moved a couple inches away and looked each other in the eyes just to read how the other person felt. "That's how I was hoping you would react." Athrodar told her, watching her smile.

"It's a kiss I've been waiting for since this all started." She told him honestly, moving her hands to his face. "And I'm hoping it's not our last one." She then said, almost begging him to tell her it won't be.

Athrodar shook his head and leaned forward a little to press his head against hers. "I'm sure it won't be." He eventually told her. "I know we don't really know each other right now. Well, I don't really know you... But I do want to get to know you a lot more, Sylvanas."

Sylvanas let out a long sigh of relief, smiling and moving to hug him again. "Hearing you say that has calmed me down so much. The longer this whole thing went on, the more nervous I was about telling you and how you would react that I think I began to welcome the idea of never telling you." Her hug tightened some more when she felt him place a hand on the back of her head. "If I told you the day I knew I wanted to be with you, I wouldn't have been so nervous. I was confident that you'd accept because, well, look at me."

Athrodar chuckled and pressed his cheek to the top of her head. "Three decades ago, I think I would have shit myself if you told me that you loved me."

"Gross." Sylvanas said with a laugh, making Athrodar laugh too. "You were only just promoted to Lieutenant, so I suppose that's true."

Realising she was left alone in the guest room and hearing no sound of food being made, Vereesa sat up from her fake sleeping position and made her way into the living room just to find her sister, frowning when she saw the room was empty but then felt a light breeze coming from her right and looking over to the balcony. "Oh..." She muttered to herself, smiling when she saw both Athrodar and Sylvanas just holding onto each other and feeling a sense of relief wash over her at the image of the two of them. "At least you look like you might have found your mate, Lady Moon." She whispered to herself, sneaking back into the guest room to leave them alone for the rest of the night.

"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" Sylvanas asked him when it began to get late, knowing he had the room at the inn he paid for but she was hoping to have him spend the night. Maybe not in her bed, but she did have a couch nearby that she was going to let him use and see where the night took them.

"I've got that room at the inn." He said, pulling back from their embrace and noticing that Sylvanas wasn't exactly happy with that answer. "But I'm sure the innkeeper would understand if I don't return. I didn't have anything there anyway."

Growing in confidence throughout the day, Sylvanas began to drag Athrodar back in to the living room. "Good, because I was thinking you could stay the night and I would make you breakfast or something."

"Considering I was offered dinner and we haven't eaten, I'm not going to hold you to that." Athrodar told her, making Sylvanas freeze in place when she just remembered that.

"Oh... Do you want something?"

He shook his head and smiled at her. "No, I'm fine. I think I can go one day without eating dinner, besides I think I had more fun not eating than eating."

"Me too." Sylvanas agreed, taking hold of his hand and dragging him towards her couch. "I'll get some blankets and a pillow, but I was thinking you could sleep here, since my sister has taken the spare bedroom and I'm not there yet in terms of sharing my room with my family, let alone someone I have just started something with."

Athrodar raised an eyebrow at his Ranger-General who suddenly went pale when she just heard what she said. "We've started something?" He asked, watching her slowly look around to him. "I have to say, you work really fast for someone who waited almost three decades to tell someone you have feelings for them."

"N-no! W-we haven't started anything!" Sylvanas told him, cursing herself for blurting out her own thoughts without meaning to. "I-I-I..."

"Relax." Athrodar told her calmly, placing his hands on her face gently and smiling at her. "I'm just teasing you." He then said, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the lips. "I like to think we have started something too actually. But I reckon you want to keep it a secret for now? Given that you're a really private person and all."

"You know me already." Sylvanas said with a smile. "I would like to keep this private for now. Other than my sister and I suppose your family soon, nobody will know until I'm ready for them to know." She smiled a little wider. "Preferably not in another three decades, but when I'm comfortable with everyone knowing I will let you know."

"I can keep a secret." Athrodar told her. "Would that mean I'm courting you?"

"I suppose it does." Sylvanas agreed. "You do realise that I am never going to leave you now, right? The Ranger-General side of me won't let you go now."

"I'm both scared and a little excited about that." Athrodar told her, making Sylvanas laugh.