Arrival At Hyjal

"It's been over two weeks since he died, where is Athrodar?" Aerinan asked, looking over to his father who was inspecting a map of Zul'Aman a few hours before their raid to take the Amani capital. "Do you think the messenger was killed?"

"The messenger got to them and told the General everything. And in case they forgot, they were handed a piece of parchment and told to hand it to the General too as it had a detailed report on what happened." Dael'Thaelas looked over to his son for a second before returning his attention to the map. "He's not here because she chose not to tell him."

"But he's missed the funeral, Illana has been asking for him for days now and even his friends are worried." Aerinan frowned and looked down at the ring on his finger. "Send me to Kalimdor and I'll find him and tell him."

"You're staying here to help me with the raid on Zul'Aman." Dael'thaelas told him.

"You can merge my company and take Halduron's whilst he is busy teaching the priests and priestesses to become paladins. You don't need me to help you kill whatever stragglers are left in that place after they all fled to Jintha'Alor."

Dael'thaelas slowly nodded his head and looked back to his son once more. "That is true... I could do this by myself. I'm sure the King would understand if you went looking for Athrodar because he didn't return for the funeral. And if he doesn't, I'll tell him it's a family emergency and that Illana, his mother, needs him."

Aerinan picked up his bow and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll leave now. We should be back by the time you've taken Zul'Aman."

Dael'Thaelas nodded his head. "Go. We'll need him here more than ever now that Tahnir is gone... He will need to take over as the company second until he is Captain. Then he will have his father's company as his own."

"I'll take him as my second until then." Aerinan told his father. "I taught Tahnir and helped watch over Athrodar whilst he was learning to become a ranger. I'm sure I can find a fit for him."

"It's so cold out there." Sylvanas muttered, being hugged by Athrodar who wrapped his cloak around her the moment they arrived. "Thank you."

"We had Starfire Espresso and chocolate cookies." Athrodar told her, watching Sylvanas' face drop to one of sadness and pulling her along with him when he began to walk backwards. "Don't look like that." He said, watching her pout at him.

"But you got cookies..." She muttered, not stopping Athrodar from pulling her into a separate room.

"And I saved you some." Athrodar said, moving out the way of the Ranger-General and showing her the cookies he had left for her. "I figured you would have heard about Melonara and I having cookies and coffee, so I saved you some because I didn't want the aggro."

Sylvanas smiled and kissed Athrodar hard on the lips before making her way over to the cookies. "You're the best." She said, eating one cookie in two bites and frowning at Athrodar when he laughed. "What?" She asked with a full mouth.

"I think I have found your weakness." He said, watching Sylvanas look over to the cookies and smirking at her. "Okay, now I'm certain I have found your weakness."

"What can I say? I love cookies." Sylvanas told him, smiling innocently at the Lieutenant. "Don't judge me."

"I won't." He said, kissing her on the forehead when she began to eat a second. "I'll go find a spare cloak so you can keep that one around you whilst you warm up."

"You're too good to me, Athrodar!" Sylvanas yelled, mouth still full of cookies which made her voice a little muffled.

Before he could find a cloak, Athrodar was intercepted by Melonara who took hold of his arm and stopped him from walking. "We have to leave." She told him, hearing him sigh and knowing exactly how he felt. "I know... We have to meet up with the Kaldorei at the great tree in Hyjal and inform General Feathermoon that we're on the way and will be there tomorrow."

Athrodar looked back to the room he left Sylvanas in and closed his eyes. "Fine." He said, looking back to his second. "I need to tell the General. She won't like it, but it is what it is."

"What part won't she like, you leaving her again for a scouting mission or Tyrande giving you a mission without telling her?" Melonara asked him.

"Both." Athrodar told her, turning to face the room he just left. "Get ready to leave."

Melonara nodded her head. "Will do."

Sylvanas looked over to Athrodar and tilted her head a little when she saw he was without a cloak. "Was there none spare?" She asked, looking him in the eyes and noticing a look of anger and hints of exhaustion. "What's wrong?" She now asked him when he continued to walk towards her.

"I have to leave." He told her, watching Sylvanas place a hand on his face and smiling at him. "Melonara too, we have to reach the base camp at the foot of the world tree in Hyjal and inform General Feathermoon that we're on the way and the rest of us will arrive tomorrow." He leaned forward and pressed his head against hers. "We're moving closer to the big battle." He whispered, feeling Sylvanas hug him and pressing his cheek against the top of her head now. "Then we can go home."

"I am hating this as much as you." Sylvanas whispered to him, having her ear pressed against his chest just to listen to his heart beat and feel closer to him. "But when we return home, nobody will take you away from me and I will be with you forever."

Athrodar smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I am looking forward to it. Just counting down the days until we can go home and not have to worry about being split up." He pulled back from the hug and smiled down at the General, feeling better about leaving the moment she began to speak to him. "And if someone were to split us up, you would give them a piece of your mind and a couple of arrows for even trying."

Sylvanas laughed and leaned forward to kiss him, keeping her lips pressed to his to keep them together as long as possible. "Be it the King or Dael'Thaelas, I would stand in the way and stop it from happening." She told him once they broke apart, handing him his cloak back. "Don't want you looking out of place without your cloak."

"Thank you." Athrodar whispered to her, pressing his head against hers once again. "I love you." He then whispered, looking down at his hand when Sylvanas took hold of it.

"I love you too." She whispered back to him, letting go of his hand when he began to leave. "See you tomorrow." She then said to herself, sighing and dropping her shoulders in sadness that she only got to spend five minutes with him, if that.

Several hours passed by after they had left and Melonara glanced over to Athrodar who was quieter than usual. "Something on your mind?" She asked when she saw Athrodar fiddling with his family ring.

"Just thinking about dad." Athrodar told her. "I left things with him a little on edge and I was angry at him keeping this whole Sylvanas arrangement thing hidden. Now that I have had time to think about it, I may have overreacted, especially since I never heard his side from him."

"Knowing Tahnir, he probably done what he did out of love for you more than anything else. Not that it should come as a surprise to you by now, but he did love you more than anything. Except his wife of course, when he wasn't praising you, he was talking about your mother. " Melonara smiled when she thought about the last time she saw him. "He was scared of how you'd react when we were coming to tell you about the Lordaeron mission. More scared than I had ever seen him."

I need to apologise to him when we return home. That and tell him I'm moving into Sylvanas' company permanently as her Lieutenant and second in command." Athrodar smiled and heard Melonara chuckle. "Same for you, Mel. He won't like losing both his best scouts, but when you're as good as us, of course the General will take us into her company."

"That and you're sleeping with her. Plus we're a package deal. If you're moving, I'm moving." Melonara nudged Athrodar with her elbow. "I suppose I will join you in telling Tahnir that I'm both sorry and that I'm leaving... Though I'm mostly sorry because I'm leaving."

"He did love having you around." Athrodar said, getting a bright smile from Melonara. "I can only imagine how crushed he will be when we tell him you're leaving too. I think he's figured out already that I am switching companies, but he would have liked to have kept you."

"Aww, don't make me sad!" Melonara cried. "I feel bad now for leaving with you!"

Athrodar laughed and looked over to the world tree in front of them. "He's a big boy, he'll get over it."

Melonara smiled and looked over to the ring on Athrodar's finger again, noticing him spinning it around some more. "How about Illana?"

"I'm definitely going to return to her first." Athrodar said. "I'll hug her tightly, tell my mom how much I love her and tell her everything about this place."

"She never really gets to leave Silvermoon or the forests, does she?" Melonara asked, watching Athrodar shake his head.

"She wants to, but there's not many places for her to travel to and with how isolated everyone has become the last decade, it's been really tough to even leave the forests now." Athrodar smiled a little. "She loves hearing about what I have been up to because it gives her the feeling of being out there with us."

"If this Kaldorei partnership works out, maybe she could visit the forests here with you and your father?" Melonara suggested, watching Athrodar smile.

"I would like that. Get away from everything for a while and show my mother the world outside of Quel'Thalas." Athrodar sighed. "Great... Now I'm feeling homesick, thanks."

"Any time." Melonara said, grinning at him.

The moment they reached the world tree, they were both stopped by several guards and searched for anything that could harm both the world tree and the pool of magic beneath it. "We're clean." Athrodar told them, looking over to General Feathermoon who made her way over to them. "The army is a day out. They're resting at the stronghold between Hyjal and Winterspring."

Shandris slowly nodded her head and signaled for the Sentinels to let go of them. "Come. Might as well get you rested up and made comfortable, you're going to be here for a while."

Melonara looked up at the great tree looming above them. "This is what we're defending, huh?" She asked, slowly nodding her head now. "Should be fun."

"The plan is to have the humans and orcs set up strongholds and fortresses between here and where they will be attacking from to the west. It should both slow down the Burning Legion's advance as well as eliminate enough of their numbers the the point where we can take them on and defeat them." Shandris looked back to Athrodar and Melonara who were following her closely behind. "It's just a rough plan, but it's the only one we've got to combat the numbers disadvantage we have."

"And what will we be doing?" Athrodar asked, speaking on behalf of the Quel'dorei.

"About that." Shandris said, stopping and looking at the two of them now. "You're going to be the skirmishers of our army. You'll fight them every step of the way. Your job is to lead them to each stronghold, letting loose as many arrows as you can to thin their numbers between each stronghold. Hopefully by the time they reach the tree, you should still have plenty of rangers to fight beside our sentinels and take out whatever remains of their army."

"As a plan, it's better than what I would have come up with." Athrodar muttered, looking over to Melonara who nodded her head in agreement to his assessment. "It's just getting it to work. Unless they have a different path, it should be pretty straight forward getting them to follow us, even if we are raining down arrows into their army."

"There's only really one way up to the tree and that's where we will station our strongholds." Shandris told him. "Unless they can all fly, most of their army will be marching through the valley over there." She said, pointing west and towards a valley between two mountain ranges. "It's easy enough to funnel them through, but with their numbers, it should be easier for them to just tear down everything than it is for us to put up the defenses." The General looked back to Athrodar and Melonara. "I'll explain more to your General and Prince, but that's the idea."

"Great, so we get to do what we do best." Melonara said, smiling. "Playing hard to get against our enemies."

"Our kind of fight." Athrodar then said, getting a nod in agreement from Melonara.

"Good." Shandris said, gesturing to several buildings surrounding the world tree. "Get some rest. There's nothing to do now until the rest of the army show up."

"That was the last time we'll ever be away from each other." Sylvanas said the moment she found Athrodar, smiling at him and placing a hand on his face. "Well.. Almost the last time. I still need to talk with Tyrande, Malfurion and their General along with Jaina, Kael'thas Cairne and Thrall." She looked over to the Prince who was helping several humans pitch their tents. "Soon, anyway. For now I want to just be with you." She told him, hugging him lightly and smiling when he placed his arms around her. "My Lieutenant who has changed me so much within a month."

Athrodar smiled and chuckled lightly. "I've done nothing but accompany you and tell you how much I love you."

"Apparently that's enough." Sylvanas told him. "And all that I've asked for. I just wanted someone who I could settle down with and start a family with and you've shown me that you're perfect for that." She kissed him when they pulled back from their hug, placing her hands on either side of his face and keeping him in place. "I know we've only been together for a month, but we've not exactly taken things slowly and I have been thinking for a week now..." She began to look away, making Athrodar grin when he saw how uncomfortable she was becoming.

"You're doing it again." Athrodar told her. "Trying to hide when the conversation becomes difficult."

Sylvanas sighed when she couldn't leave or even speak, looking back to Athrodar and noticing his smile which began to put her at ease. "I... I want to start that family with you. When we return home, I want to try for a baby."

Athrodar's smile quickly faded away when he saw she was serious. "You... You want to start a family? W-with me?" He asked, shocked she was suggesting this after only a month. Though she did have a good point, they weren't exactly taking things slowly.

"I do." Sylvanas told him, her voice becoming small with worry the moment she saw his smile fade away.

Athrodar slowly placed a hand under her chin when she looked down, lifting her head up slowly and smiling a little at her. "Like you said, we've not been taking things slowly." He told her, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the lips. "If the next step for us is to have a baby, I am all in." He whispered, pressing his head against hers and closing his eyes.

"Really?" Sylvanas whispered back to him, closing her eyes too and smiling brightly. "I need to ask because I want to react and if you're not serious about it you're both mean and I would probably feel hurt."

Athrodar laughed and nodded his head, still keeping it pressed against hers. "I am serious." He told her. "I love you, you love me and together we haven't exactly been normal about our relationship up to this point so... Why not? Our child will be the most loved little elf around anyway, so again why not?"

Sylvanas' smile grew wider, leaping at him and wrapping her legs around his waist. "I love you, so, so much." She whispered to him, being held up by Athrodar now as she began to kiss him all over his face. "Anya, Clea and Melonara will be their big sisters... Your friends I'm sure will love them just as much."

"I know Liadrin will die when she sees our kid." Athrodar told her, getting a laugh from the General. "She loves kids, but doesn't want any of her own. She'll spoil our little one so much that we'll need a second house to store everything she will buy for them. I've seen it happen before."

Sylvanas laughed again, rubbing her nose against his. "Then we're very lucky."

"General, they're asking for you." Clea said, poking her head into the room and smiling at the pair of them. "I can give you five more minutes if need be, but they're starting the strategy meeting very soon."

"Thanks, Clea." Sylvanas said, kissing Athrodar hard on the lips when they were left alone again. "You'd make the perfect father." Sylvanas told him, standing on her own two feet again and hugging him tightly so she could press her ear to his chest and listen to his heart beat. "And I'll make the perfect mother."

Athrodar smiled and hugged her tightly against him. "Yes you would." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. "And looking at us, we'll have the most beautiful baby ever."

Sylvanas began to laugh, hugging him a little tighter. "Mostly because of me." She told him, making Athrodar laugh now.

"Very true." Athrodar agreed, letting go of the General. "Go to that meeting. I think I know what it's about anyway, but I'll be waiting here for your return."

"Good." Sylvanas told him, stoking his face lightly with her fingers. "I love you."

"I love you too." He replied, watching her leave to go to the meeting.

Night had fallen on the first day of their arrival at Hyjal and Athrodar had been given the night patrol once again along with several other rangers, sentinels and members of each of the races present. On top of that, Sylvanas had refused to leave him out there on his on, so she was accompanying him, although they weren't alone when Anya got wind of what was happening. "I'm just saying, I am almost certain they aren't sleeping together."

Clea nodded her head in agreement, joining them along with Melonara when Anya told them of the night patrol. "They're sitting too far apart to be."

"We are on about Tyrande and Malfurion, right?" Melonara asked, looking over to Athrodar and Sylvanas, the latter of which was grinning happily when she saw Athrodar's less than amused look. "Right?"

"Yes, we are." Anya said, taking hold of Athrodar's arm in a tight hold. "Unlike these two, who are clearing sleeping together whenever possible. Just look how close they are compared to them."

"She makes a good point." Clea said, pushing her way in between both the General and Lieutenant. "You two are always all over each other whenever I walk in on you." She said, looking over to Sylvanas but hugging Athrodar's other arm in the meantime.

"He is very cuddly mind you." Melonara then said, jumping on Athrodar's back and wrapping herself around him like a backpack.

"This is why I can't have nice things." Athrodar said, looking over to Sylvanas who laughed.

"You're the one who agreed to letting us join." Sylvanas told him, walking beside the ranger bundle that was Athrodar, Clea, Anya and Melonara.

"I agreed to have you join, not the troublesome trio of clingy rangers." Athrodar said, groaning when they all hugged him tighter.

"But you have your sisters with you." Anya told him, getting a laugh from Sylvanas.

"Three sisters." Sylvanas said, laughing some more when she heard Athrodar sigh. "This is going to be your life in my company whenever they get the chance to be alone with you."

"Looks like I will have to switch companies." Athrodar muttered, grinning when he heard Sylvanas gasp. "I'm kidding. I don't want to leave company, it's just going to be a pain in the ass dealing with these three."

"And we love you too." Anya said, hugging his arm tighter. "Big brother of mine."

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Kael'thas said, standing in front of the five of them. "But I need to borrow the Lieutenant for a few minutes."

Being thankful that the Prince had come to get him, Athrodar bowed his head to Kael'thas when Anya, Clea and Melonara all let go of him. "Is it important?" Sylvanas asked when Athrodar made his way over to Kael'thas.

"It is." The Prince said, placing a hand up to the General when she stepped forward. "Just him, sorry."

"Tell me about it after." Sylvanas said, getting a nod from Athrodar just before he began to leave with Kael'thas.

"What is this about?" The Lieutenant asked the moment they were alone.

"Your grandfather is here." Kael'thas told him.

"Aerinan?" Athrodar now asked, just to make sure he heard him correctly.

"Yes. He spoke to one of the messengers I sent back a couple days ago to inform the King on what we were doing here. He was told we were heading to Hyjal and where it was so he left a couple days ago and has arrived." Kael'thas stopped outside the building Aerinan was in, standing in front of Athrodar. "I will be joining you for this, okay? All you need to know was I was respecting the General's wishes."

Athrodar frowned at the Prince. "What do you mean respect her wishes?"

"It's better if you ask your grandfather." Kael'thas told him, opening the door to the building and following Athrodar inside.

"What's going on?" He asked Aerinan, having his grandfather place something in his hand and looking down at it. "What... What is this?"

"Your father's ring." Aerinan told him, closing his eyes and lowering his head. "He... He died three weeks ago to the Amani on a scouting mission. We sent a messenger the moment we found out and they told the General, but..." Aerinan looked over to Kael'thas. "The Prince told me the General kept that information as well as the Amani leaving Quel'thalas to group up in the Hinterlands, to herself so it wouldn't affect morale. She did tell the Prince as she believed he needed to know, but as far as we're aware, that's all she has told."

Athrodar shook his head, looking down at the ring in the palm of his hand. "No... You're lying. He can't be dead, she would have told me. She... She wouldn't have kept that a secret from me, surely? I mean... That's my father..." Athrodar closed his eyes and shook his head again. "No... It can't be true! I was going to apologise to him when we got home... The... The last thing I said to him was 'why are you here?' I... I didn't say that I love him, or that I'm sorry..." Athrodar began to tear up, looking down at the ring in the palm of his hand once more. "The last memory he had of me was me being angry at him..."

Aerinan made his way over to his grandson and placed a hand on his back, pulling him in for a hug when he heard him begin to cry. "He knew you didn't really have those feelings. He loved you so much and knows you loved him too."

Kael'thas looked to Aerinan who continued to hug and comfort his grandson. "When's the funeral?" He asked, hearing Aerinan sigh and pull Athrodar off him. "No... Don't tell me?"

"We had it two weeks ago." Aerinan told them, looking over to Athrodar. "Dael'Thaelas thought you were told and he wanted to bury his grandson as soon as possible... If we had known you weren't told, we would have waited."

"I.. I missed it?" Athrodar collapsed down onto his knees and buried his face in his hands. "No... No! Why would she does this!" He yelled, glaring at the Prince and his grandfather, though they weren't to blame. "She kept his death from me!? After EVERYTHING we have done, how much she has told me she loves me and wants a life me with, she kept my father's death from me!? MY OWN FATHER!?" He shook his head and looked down at the ring in his hand once more. "I... I'm going home." He said, looking over to Kael'thas who nodded his head understandingly.

"I'll open a portal for the two of you the moment you're ready." Kael'thas told them, watching Athrodar get back onto his feet.

"Thank you." Athrodar said, clenching his fists tightly and trying to calm himself down. He was both furious and shattered at the news of his fathers death as well as knowing that the one person he thought would tell him the moment she knew, kept it from him. "I'm going to talk to the General first."

"Do you want backup?" Kael'thas asked, watching Athrodar shake his head.

"No, this is something I have to do on my own." He told them, leaving the building shortly after.