Outside Capital City

"They're definitely up to something." Aerinan said, looking back to his son who had joined him with scouting Zul'Aman. "They were chanting for hours yesterday, now there's not even a sound."

"That's not unusual." Tahnir said, looking over to the main gates of Zul'Aman. "Maybe they were trying to lift the Gatekeeper's spell?"

Aerinan shook his head. "I've heard this chanting before. It's usually just before they set off for war, but like I said, nothing has happened today. No movement, no sound, it's like they've just disappeared."

"Have you sent scouts to check?" Tahnir asked him, watching his father nod.

"They went in about ten minutes ago." Aerinan told him, keeping his hand on the hilt of his sword and tapping his ring finger on the hilt, making a feint dinging sound whenever his family ring hit the hilt. "I hope it's nothing."

The two of them, along with their ranger companies, waited outside Zul'Aman for almost half an hour before the scouts returned with news. Just by the looks on their faces, both Aerinan and Tahnir knew it wasn't going to be good news. "Okay, out with it." Tahnir said, waiting for their report.

"It's empty, Captain." One of them said, looking at both father and son. "We checked several huts and temples and found nothing. It's like they've vanished."

"You don't think they have a hidden path, do you?" Tahnir asked his father. "They would have used it before now, right?"

Aerinan rubbed his chin in thought. "It's possible they have one, but with how often we scout this area, I'm surprised we haven't found it if it's true." He shook his head when he thought about it more. "No, something doesn't feel right."

"Nothing we can do except leave a small group here to keep an eye on things." Tahnir said, signalling for his company to retreat back to Tranquillien. "Something will come up, I'm sure of it."

Aerinan called for a retreat too, picking out ten rangers to leave outside Zul'Aman and keep an eye on it and to report back if anything were to happen. "I know something will happen, but we can't wait here for any longer as an entire company." He placed a hand on one of their shoulders. "Just keep a sharp eye out, alright?" He saw them nod and agree. "Good. We'll be in Tranquillien for the foreseeable future should anything happen."

"These mushrooms are huge." Melonara said, looking over to Athrodar who had a bandana across his mouth and nose along with the rest of the scout unit. "They wouldn't be edible though, right?"

"There are orange clouds of.. Something, spewing from them. I don't think they're even remotely edible." Athrodar told her, looking around what looked like a mushroom forest, but all of them were spewing out billowing clouds of plague of some sorts. "This place is getting more and more sick the further west we go."

"I can only imagine what Capital City and its surrounding lands look like." Melonara said, fixing her bandana. "I'd expect it all to be dead."

Athrodar shook his head slowly, looking around the once lush green forests of Lordaeron that were now turned into this plague ridden, undead paradise they were now walking through. "Arthas has really done this to his home... It's.. It's hard to comprehend how many lives were lost." He looked over to Melonara who was watching him as he spoke. "How many more lives would have been lost if they broke through our defenses."

"I don't want to imagine that." Melonara said, pulling out an arrow from her quiver and aiming to her left when a twig snapped. "There's something out there."

"Watch my back." Athrodar said, pulling out his two sword and making his way over to the sound of the twig snap. "You two, with me." He said, pointing at two of his rangers and having them join him and making their way over to the sound.

Melonara watched Athrodar and the two other rangers make their way towards the bushes and poking their swords in, all of them hearing a screech followed by a giant leech-like creature bursting through the bushes, making the three of them take a step back. "What is that?"

"I have no idea." Athrodar said, standing beside the two other rangers who went with him, all of them looking at this giant leech creature. "Shoot it full of arrows if it starts to come towards us."

Melonara ordered everyone to draw back their arrows and aim at the giant leech, waiting for it to either move or to have Athrodar command them to let loose their arrows. "On your command, Lieutenant."

Athrodar inspected the giant leech creature closely, poking it with his sword lightly and hearing it let out a quiet screech or two before turning to face him and opening what looked like its mouth, showing off its many razor sharp teeth. "Okay, it's definitely not friendly." He said, nodding once towards his second and having her, as well as the rest of the unit, let loose their arrows into the creature, killing it instantly.

"To be fair, I don't think I'd be friendly if I was poked several times with the pointy end a sword." Melonara told him, pushing the creature with her foot. "It's a big boy, whatever it is."

"It must be eating whatever wildlife is left here." Athrodar said, looking around Eastern Lordaeron for any signs of wildlife and spotting many more of these creatures the longer he looked. "Let's get out of here before more show up."

"The undead were still going west." Melonara told him, getting a nod in response as they all began to make their way west too. "It's safe to say we're all heading to Capital City."

"Makes this a whole lot easier to find Arthas' location." Athrodar muttered, walking beside his second once more. "It's just getting into Capital City to make sure he is there."

"Something I'm sure we'll overcome once we scout the area." She said, looking back to the rest of their unit. "One of us will find a way in, the landscape couldn't have changed much."

"I'm hoping it hasn't." Athrodar then said, looking down at the family ring on his finger and not noticing Melonara was watching him closely.

"You'll return to her." She whispered to him, catching his attention and making him look back over to her. "It's the third time I've seen you look at your ring since we left Quel'Thalas. You only look at it when something is on your mind and if it's this frequent, it's troubling you more than usual."

Athrodar smiled and looked back down at his ring, slowly moving it around his finger with his thumb. "I am missing her a little."

"D'aww." Melonara smiled and hugged Athrodar, not noticing him roll his eyes. "That week off must have been really fun."

"We spent most of it talking and just being alone with each other." He looked over to his second and saw her raised eyebrow. "We didn't do that, stop being filthy minded." He began to smile when he saw her expression turn to one of disappointment. "Like I said, we talked and spent time alone together and by time alone I mean I sat on her balcony together, watching the day pass by with the Ranger-General in my arms." He smiled a little wider when he thought about his week off. "I actually really enjoyed it. It's different to what I would usually do and I didn't think I would think this, but I really miss sitting on her balcony, arm around the General and enjoying each other's company."

"Cute." Melonara said, grinning at her Lieutenant. "Let's head west towards danger whilst you tell me everything that happened."

"So you're back in my sister's company, huh?" Vereesa asked, sitting beside Viraleth in Sylvanas' office whilst they were both waiting for the Ranger-General to be ready. "Did you annoy your last Captain or something?"

"No." Viraleth told the younger Windrunner sister. "Like I told you sister before you arrived, Athrodar has allowed me to return to Sylvanas' company because I am pregnant and he cares enough to not want me to die with child."

Vereesa gasped and hugged the Chief Scout tightly, squeezing their cheeks together and letting out a long squeak in the meantime. "We're going to be baby sisters!"

"Belore don't start calling us that." Viraleth muttered, looking over to Sylvanas who was leaning against a wall and smirking at them. "Don't look at me like that."

"But you're baby sisters!" Sylvanas teased, chuckling when she heard Viraleth groan. "So Athrodar was the one who said you can come back, not his father?"

"Pretty much." Viraleth said, being freed from Vereesa's grasp and moving away from her. "I handed in the request to Tahnir when I found him in Tranquillien, but Athrodar was the one who said I can go and said I would be better off in your company again." She saw Sylvanas begin to smile, knowing she was happy Athrodar had sent back Viraleth just to protect both her and the baby she was carrying.

"Does Thelian know?" Sylvanas asked, watching Viraleth suddenly look guilty. "Ahhh, so you've told your Lieutenant and then your General before your own husband?" She began to tut, shaking her head at her Chief Scout. "I expected better from you, Viraleth. You're sitting in my office with my sister and I and you've not even told your husband you're with child."

"Speaking of husbands." Vereesa said, saving Viraleth in the meantime. "I should probably return to Dalaran soon and visit mine. What's it been, a week and a half now?" She asked her sister.

"Has it only been that long?" Sylvanas asked in return, slumping her shoulders. "It feels like a month at the very least.

"Rude!" Vereesa cried, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her sister now. "I wouldn't mind, but every time I tried to spend some time with you, you were with that Sunblade Lieutenant, cuddling and holding onto each other as if your lives depended on it." She glanced over to Viraleth who began to smile at this new piece of information. "I didn't even get a look in."

Sylvanas looked over to Viraleth who continued to smile, raising an eyebrow at her. "I take it you weren't told that?" She asked, watching her shake her head. "I suppose he is following the main rule we set down. Nobody knows about this except you two, his family and his second in command. We're trying to keep what we have private, if we have anything to begin with." She said, slowly starting to blush when she began to think about the last week and turning away from Viraleth and Vereesa when they both said 'aww' at her reaction. "Stop it!" She demanded, trying to sound serious but the smile that appeared on her face made it impossible to be serious.

"If it means anything, the whole time he was talking to Melonara about you, he looked really happy." Viraleth told her, watching Sylvanas begin to smile a little wider at the fact. "It's safe to say, I think he's smitten with you."

"Really?" Sylvanas asked, really wanting to know if that was true now and quickly waving away her own question. "No, don't answer that."

Vereesa began to grin and sat beside Viraleth, the pair of them watching Sylvanas bite the nail on her thumb as she began to get lost in deep thought. "I've seen this look many times when we were growing up." Vereesa whispered to the elf beside her. "Whenever she was promised something, or told something was going to happen, she always looked like this when she began to picture the scenario."

"What do you think she's thinking about?" Viraleth asked her in return, keeping a close eye on Sylvanas was looked to be staring off into the distance.

"Definitely him." Vereesa told her. "I think she's picturing her life with him right about now."

"I can hear the pair of you, you know." Sylvanas told them, turning her head to look at both women. "And for your information, I was picturing my life with him, so we'll done. Now stop staring at me."

"What did you picture?" Vereesa now asked, grinning mischievously when Sylvanas didn't answer. "Come on, Lady Moon, tell meeee."

"I... I don't want to say." Sylvanas said quietly, looking away from both women in embarrassment.

"Oh now I'm interested." Viraleth said, sitting forward and keeping her eyes fixed on the General. "I didn't believe Athrodar when he said you were flustered and nervous a lot of the time. Now that I'm seeing this, I'm starting to think you're forever a wreck around him."

"Tell us, Sylvie." Vereesa demanded, loving that her sister was being put in this situation. "You can trust us."

"Will you stop bombarding me with questions if I tell you?" Sylvanas asked, trying to get something out of telling them her thoughts.

"Sure." Viraleth said.

"I can't promise anything." Vereesa then said, poking her tongue out at her sister who sighed. "Relax, I'll stay silent."

Just as Sylvanas was about to tell them, there was a knock at the door, making Viraleth stand up and open it, smiling brightly and hugging the elf at the door tightly. "Thelian." She whispered, being hugged back in return.

"The moment a ranger told me you're returning to the city for a week off, I knew I had to come see you." He brushed his fingers through her hair, watching her close her eyes and enjoying the light touches. "There must be a reason you're back now, after only having time off a couple months ago."

"There is." Viraleth whispered, taking hold of one of his hands and placing it on her stomach, watching him quickly piece together what she was hinting at and moving forward to place a long, hard kiss on her lips.

"Good to see you too, Thelian." Vereesa said, interrupting the two of them.

Thelian chuckled at his wife's sigh. "Good to see you Vereesa." He said, looking over to Sylvanas. "General." He then said, bowing his head a little.

"You better take care of my Chief Scout whilst she's away, Thelian." Sylvanas told him, getting a smile from him and a roll of the eyes from Viraleth.

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything bad to my beautiful wife." He told the General, looking down to Viraleth and kissing her again. "Come on, I want to know everything about the last two months."

Vereesa smiled and closed the door behind them when they began to leave, always finding their coupling to be adorable and looking over to Sylvanas who had a completely different look on her face. One of pain and sadness. "Sylvie, what's wrong?" She asked, making her way over to her sister.

"What I was picturing earlier was basically what we just saw, but I was in Viraleth's place and Thelian was replaced by Athrodar." She hugged her sister the moment she felt her arms move around her. "I don't want to screw this up like I screwed up everything else that happens to me outside of being a ranger."

"You did hear Viraleth, right?" Vereesa asked her. "She said he can't stop thinking about his time with you."

"I believe she said he was smitten." Sylvanas corrected.

"Well there you go!" Vereesa shook her head and looked her sister in the eyes. "Now stop pulling a Sylvanas and wait for him to return from his mission."

Sylvanas pulled back and glared at her sister. "What do you mean 'stop pulling a Sylvanas'? Why has my name become something?"

"You panic and overthink things, Sylvie." Vereesa told her, smiling at the glare she was receiving from Sylvanas. "Alleria, Lirath and I all called it 'Pulling a Sylvanas' because it would only ever be you who reacts like this when anything outside of being a ranger gets difficult."

"I don't appreciate my name being used as such." Sylvanas told her, getting the same response every time she tried to scold her sister which was a big smile that made it difficult to be angry at her. "I hate you." She said when she eventually caved, hugging her little sister.

"I love you too, Lady Moon." Vereesa whispered back to her.

"That's a lot of undead." Melonara whispered, looking over to Capital City and the thousands upon thousands of undead dotted around the place. "I think we've found the army."

"Arthas is somewhere in there." Athrodar told her, trying to find him in amongst the undead and getting nowhere. "If they start to march east, we need to return to Silvermoon quickly and warn them of a second attack."

"And if they continue to go west?" Melonara asked the Lieutenant. "Are we going to warn Dalaran and Gilneas or are we leaving them to their own fates?"

"I... I don't know." Athrodar said honestly, looking over to his second. "We were tasked to find Arthas and his army three days ago and watch them. We weren't told to intercept, only to scout, so if he starts marching towards Dalaran and Gilneas, we need to either follow them and observe or report back to Silvermoon."

"And if there's a family or two we can save in the meantime?" Melonara now asked him, watching Athrodar carefully for his next answer.

"If we can save them, I will want to save them. As long as we don't lose anyone in the process." Athrodar looked over to Melonara who agreed with most of his answer, though still had parts she disagreed with and he could see that. "It's not our job to be saving the humans, we have to make sure Quel'Thalas is safe before anything else."

"I know that." Melonara said. "But don't expect me to stand by if I see a family need help and we can help them."

"I was never going to stop you." Athrodar told her, smiling a little. "I'd probably help you despite saying we shouldn't."

"Then I'm clearly in the right unit." Melonara said with a laugh, looking over to the undead army in the distance. "How long do you think we have to wait until they move?"

"An hour, ten hours, a day, a week." Athrodar shrugged his shoulders. "It's hard to say without knowing what his plan is."

"Then it looks like we are in for some waiting." Melonara muttered, sitting down beside a nearby tree and closing her eyes. "Wake me up if something happens."

Athrodar began to laugh and nodded his head. "Deal."

Liadrin slowly walked through the corridors leading to the Sunwell, trying to surprise her friend who was taking her class beside the arcane font of power today and looking through a window to find her amongst the class in session that day. "There you are." She muttered to herself when she saw the crimson red hair of her best friend.

Making her way towards the Sunwell, Liadrin continued to look over to the class to see if anyone had noticed her and apart from Grand Magister Dawnstrider who was teaching them, she had remained invisible to the rest of them, leaning up against the door frame at the entrance to the room. "I think this is a good place to end today's lesson." The Grand Magister said, smiling over to Liadrin who mouthed the words 'thank you' to him before she made her way over to the crimson haired mage, hugging her tightly from behind.

"Thalina Dawnstrider." She whispered in a deep voice, putting on a fake voice to try and disguise it was her. "I have been waiting for you!"

Thalina rolled her eyes, knowing it was Liadrin just by how tight she was hugged her more than anything else. "You're not getting any better at this, Li Li." She told her, looking over her shoulder and watching the priestess grin at her.

"I never plan to. I just like to introduce myself in many different ways to you." Liadrin kissed her on the cheek, watching Thalina try to wipe her cheek but quickly realising her arms were being pinned down by Liadrin. "If you struggle, I will only make it worse."

"What do you mean by worse?" Thalina asked, trying to weigh up the pros and cons before she began to struggle again. She glanced over to Liadrin who stuck her tongue out and widened her eyes at the priestess. "No, wait. I give up."

"Fine..." Liadrin muttered, letting go of the mage. "Did Athrodar come to see you at all last week?" She asked, straightening out her robe.

Thalina shook her head. "No, why?"

"Huh... He didn't come to see me or Vilandil either." Liadrin told her, watching the mage frown. "I would ask him, but he's in Lordaeron right now with his unit, trying to find Arthas and his undead army to keep an eye on them."

"How did you know he had a week off?" Thalina asked, hooking her arm around Liadrin's when it was offered to her, both of them walking away from the Sunwell.

"My father told me. Apparently Sylvanas was angry with Larysa for going over her head and ordering her best scouting unit to go into Lordaeron without even mentioning it to the Ranger-General." Liadrin pat Thalina's hand lightly. "He'll be back soon, then the three of us can pin him down and bombard him with questions until it's dark."

"And we do have a lot of questions for him since he's not visited in over a year." Thalina said, getting a chuckle from Liadrin.

"I can't even feel sorry for him." The priestess said, walking out of the building they were in and into bright, clear skies of Quel'Danas. "He brought this on himself for forgetting to come talk to us, even after I ran into him at Tranquillien and told him to come see us on his next week off."

"Oh, now I will bombard him questions and a hit or two for being told two days before his week off to come visit us all." Thalina shook her head and sighed. "Is it too much to ask for him to say hello? Even if it's for five or ten minutes?"

Liadrin began to smile at her friend when she saw her mind begin to wander off. "You still have feelings for him, don't you?"

"Well..." Thalina sighed again but nodded her head this time. "I never get to see him, I only hear about him when you or Vilandil run into him or when papa tells me about Tahnir and Athrodar when they talk."

"You still want me to keep this a secret? Because I will tell him and maybe slap some sense into him if you want me to?"

Thalina let out a small laugh and shook her head. "No, thank you. I'll tell him when I think it's right, I don't want to distract him whilst we look to be on the brink of another war."

Liadrin smiled and rest her head against Thalina's shoulder as they walked. "I love visiting you, Thal. You're so cute and innocent and really cuddly when we're alone together."

"Don't you start flirting with me." Thalina told her, getting a gasp from the priestess. "I told you, if you want in on my family, talk to my brother."

"Eww, no. Gross." Liadrin said, making Thalina laugh loudly. "Your brother's... Weird."

"He's not weird, he's just..." She stopped talking when she saw Liadrin raise an eyebrow at her. "Okay, so he's a little weird."

"A little? He constantly creeps on the women in his classes, Thal. I've had complaints!"

"I forget you're his teacher of sorts." Thalina said, grinning at the priestess. "Besides, he's just trying to play catch up to Athrodar. You know how competitive those two get."

"I know, yet one is a whole lot more successful than the other because of his family name alone." Liadrin told her, getting another laugh from Thalina. "The cheesy and a little creepy pick up lines Athrodar uses work because of his family name and his occupation. It doesn't work when it's a priest saying them to other priests."

"No, you're right." Thalina said with a smile. "When do you think Athrodar will be back?"

Liadrin slumped her shoulders and let out a small sigh. "I don't know. He was told to find Arthas and his army and keep an eye on them. If they don't move for months, he will be gone for months. If they don't move for a couple days, he will be gone for a week." She saw Thalina frown and knew she had to explain it. "Travel time from here to Capital City and back."

"Ah."

"So let's just hope it's the latter and not the former. I would like to lock him in a room and question him for hours on end as an excuse to spend time with him." She heard Thalina begin to laugh again and knew she agreed. "It's evil, but I can see you love the idea."

"It would be a way to get back at him for the many things he and my brother done to us over the years." Thalina told her.

"Exactly." Liadrin said with an evil grin.