Splintertree Post

"So she's gone then?" Melonara asked, watching Athrodar nod his head slowly.

"She left with her daughter this morning. She has been summoned back to Silvermoon by the Prince." Athrodar told her, sighing and tapping his finger on the counter in front of him. "She said we'll see each other again soon, but soon can't come quick enough." He looked over to Melonara who came him a sympathetic smile."Have you found someone who can run this place with you?"

"As good as you?" Melonara asked, shaking her head when Athrodar nodded his. "No, but I have found someone who can do the job of running it with me. He'll just have to learn to live with me and my destructive ways first." She smiled but then looked down at the glass in front of her. "Will you stay in touch?" She asked him.

"Of course I will." Athrodar told her, taking hold of Melonara's hand and smiling at her. "Mother would yell at me if I forgot about you, Mel."

Melonara laughed and nodded her head. "Illana would do more than yell at you. She would kick your ass too and make sure you walk with a limp for a week."

"She will visit you often, we both know she will." Athrodar looked over to his mother who smiled at him, walking out of the backroom. "Once she knows we're safe in Silvermoon, she will visit you when she can."

"I will." Illana agreed, cupping Melonara's face in her hands. "You're my daughter, of course I'll visit you as often as I can." She told her, kissing her on the nose. "And with him becoming a member of the Convocation, I will have a lot of free time so expect me to visit for more than a day at a time."

"You could stay here with me." Melonara suggested, watching Illana smile at her.

"I would love to, but he is my son." Illana told her, looking over to Athrodar who smiled at her. "The only member of my family left who actually care for me. I must go where he goes."

"You can stay here if you really want to." Athrodar told his mother, taking hold of her hand. "This isn't me pushing you away, but if you really want to stay in Stormwind with Mel, I will understand it if you do."

"But you're my baby." Illana told him, hugging her son now. "You will always be my baby." She felt Melonara place a hand on her back and watching the younger elf smile at her. "Although... I am enjoying life here and I want to be as far away from Dael'Thaelas as possible."

"Then stay here with Mel." Athrodar told her, kissing Illana on the forehead. "I will visit when I can, but until then, I am here for however long Anasterian has left."

"Are we invited to the funeral?" Melonara asked him, frowning and looking down at the table in front of her. "Wow... That's a really odd thing to say when you know the King is still alive."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a public funeral. After the private one of course. Just so the people can pay their respects to the Prince on the passing of his father." Athrodar looked out the nearby window and noticed a couple of people lurking outside, waiting for the tavern to open. "If I can, I will bring you both along to pay your respects privately, but I don't think you should take it personally if only I can go. Seeing as I would be a part of the Convocation the day I return to Silvermoon."

"Just make sure Dael'Thaelas doesn't bully you into any decisions, okay?" Illana looked her son in the eyes and smiled at him. "I know you won't allow that to happen, but just make sure he doesn't do that anyway."

"He won't." Athrodar told her, hugging his mother again. "And with Lana'thel beside me, she will also make sure he won't try to manipulate me or my son if he ever gets his hands on him."

"Good." Illana said softly, hugging her son tighter. "I like her, Athrodar. So don't do anything that will make her leave."

"I won't." Athrodar whispered to his mother, kissing her on the cheek when they pulled away from the hug they were sharing. "Let's open up and get this day under way. I have a finite amount of days left here and I want to enjoy as many of them as I can."

"I have a plan."

Sylvanas sighed and looked over to Clea who opened her mouth to speak but then shook her head. "Go on then, Anya. Tell me your plan."

"You want Athrodar for yourself, correct?" She saw the General nod, keeping her arms around Talanas as she spoke to his mother about her plan. "And he is coming back to be a member of the Convocation for the Prince."

"I'm yet to see your point here, Anya." Sylvanas told her.

"When he gets on the throne, ask the Prince to make Athrodar the Convocation member who you have to report in to." Anya said with a smile, pressing her cheek to the top of Talanas' head. "That way, you get to be alone with him whilst you report in to him, nobody else will be involved and you can win him over in the meantime."

Sylvanas looked over to Clea who raised an eyebrow at her fellow ranger. "Do you want to tell her or should I?"

"I suppose it's probably best coming from you." Clea told the General, hearing her let out a long exhale.

"Anya, I love you, but that's not how the Convocation works." Sylvanas gave her a small, sympathetic smile when she saw Anya look confused. "I report to the Convocation, that much is true, but I only take orders from the King, hun."

"Oh..." Anya muttered, pouting and looking down at Talanas who sat between her legs. "I thought I had a good idea then."

"You did." Clea told her reassuringly, smiling at her best friend. "It's just... It wasn't ever going to work unless Kael'thas completely changes how the Convocation works."

Sylvanas' smile began to widen when she saw her son yawn and begin to lean back into Anya who continued to hold onto him. "Looks like he is going to be sleeping on you again." She said, watching Anya smile when she looked down at Talanas. "He really loves his big sister."

"And I love him." Anya said, kissing the top of Talanas' head then stroking his hair shortly after. "You want me to take him back home?"

Sylvanas shook her head. "Just take him to my office. Tuck him in to my bed and wait there until I return." She looked down at the reports on the desk in front of her. "I'll be a couple hours, I just have to go through all of this and then report in to Kael'thas if there's anything serious."

"I'll accompany her." Clea said, standing up and watching Alina carry Talanas over to Sylvanas so she could kiss him goodnight. "I can't promise we won't raid your kitchen for food or drinks."

Sylvanas rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Why am I not surprised?" She asked rhetorically, looking over to Clea and Anya who both grinned at her. "As long as I have something left for his breakfast tomorrow and maybe lunch, then fine. Knock yourselves out."

Anya left with Talanas in her arms, leaving Clea to close the door behind them, but not before turning to face the General before she left. "I have heard rumors of Lana'thel joining the Convocation with Athrodar. If that's true, it might be harder to win him over."

"I heard those rumors too." Sylvanas said, sighing and rubbing her eyes. "But I will figure something out if they're true."

Clea gave her a warm smile and bowed her head to the General. "I know you will." She said, shortly before closing the door behind her and leaving Sylvanas on her own with the many reports in front of her. Most of them were nothing but minor disputes and troops movements, though a handful were reports from Kalimdor and the Hinterlands, both of them reported nothing too concerning, though the one for Kalimdor and the Kaldorei made the General worry a little as Lor'themar had reported on Lord Sunblade's reluctance to share information with their new allies.

"I hope this doesn't come back around to bite us on the ass." Sylvanas muttered, placing two of her fingers on her temple and rubbing it slowly when some pressure began to build there. "Even when he's not here, he finds a way to stress me out." She then said to herself, looking out a nearby window and towards the many spires of Silvermoon.

"What are we waiting for?" Lord Sunblade asked, pacing back and forth in front of Lor'themar. "We have them right where we want them, they're low in numbers and we have the advantage of the forest that surrounds them." He looked over to Lor'themar who said nothing in return. "I'm going to launch an assault on the orc stronghold if we remain sat here, doing nothing, for another two days."

"Relax, Dael'Thaelas." Lor'themar said to him, watching Lord Sunblade stop by the door. "This isn't our forest, we don't know much about the Kaldorei culture either. If they want to launch an assault on the orcs, then they will inform us. If they just want to peacefully get them to leave, then we will back them up on their plan."

"I'm starting to question our choice of allies, Theron." Lord Sunblade said, going back to pacing in front of him. "The orcs can't be reasoned with, not unless they get something out of it. Kicking them out of these forests mean they lose something and gain nothing. That means they will fight until their last breath to hold onto what they have."

"Then we fight them when the time comes." Lor'themar told him. "This is not our home, Dael'Thaelas. We're here to help our cousins with an enemy we know all too well. What the Kaldorei don't know however, is how you're putting our relationship with them in jeopardy because you're withholding information."

"Can you blame me for not trusting our so called cousins who banished our ancestors from their homes because they were practicing magic? Yet these same elves continued to practice holy magic and druidism."

"Both of which can't summon a gateway for the demons to invade Azeroth." Lor'themar reminded him. "At the end of the day, you're just frustrated you can't march to Splintertree Post and kill every last orc you find there because this isn't our mission."

"It should be." Dael'Thaelas muttered. "If we had this mission back home, we would have launched an attack on the orcs the moment we knew they were in our lands and destroyed everything that belonged to them on top of wiping them out in the meantime."

"I'll talk to the Captain if you're that eager to kill something." Lor'themar offered, standing up and making his way towards the door. "Let them know you're feeling bloodthirsty today."

"Could you make me sound less like an animal?" Lord Sunblade asked him, getting a chuckle from Lor'themar.

"I'll try." Lor'themar said, leaving the building shortly after and making his way towards Captain Elaria.

"Lord Theron, what's on your mind?" Elaria asked when he stood beside her. "We were just planning the attack on Splintertree."

"Oh..." Lor'themar began to laugh a little and rubbed the back of his neck. "Then that's making my life so much easier than I thought it would. Lord Sunblade is itching for a fight with the orcs and I don't know how long I can hold him back."

"Well tell him to get ready." General Feathermoon told him. "He's going to get his fight soon."

"That should get him off my back for now." Lor'themar said, getting a chuckle from Elaria and smiling himself. "I can only tell one person to wait until we are ready for so long." He then said, bowing his head to the Kaldorei General. "I'll go tell him now."

On his return, Dael'Thaelas watched Lor'themar give him a slight grin. "What?"

"They're planning the attack. So you can stop pacing like a madman and get your company ready when they need us. In the meantime, I suggest you help them plan so you can give them your input and experience against the orcs." Lor'themar stepped out the way when Lord Sunblade began to make his way towards General Feathermoon and her Officers who were planning the attack on the orcs.

"How many more is that?" Athrodar asked, placing two pints of Ironforge brew on the counter.

"Four more." Melonara told him, laughing when she saw his look of horror. "It's hard to believe there's only three of them. Ordering twelve pints in five minutes has to be some sort of record."

"They are dwarves after all." Athrodar told her, beginning the final stretch of his twelve pint pouring spree. "I heard they drink a lot, but this is something special."

Melonara laughed some more, returning to the bar and waiting for the final four pints. "They said it's a warm up run for Brewfest which is taking place in a couple of weeks."

"My favourite time of the year." Athrodar said, sighing and placing two pints down and picking up the final two mugs. "It's a shame I am probably going to miss it. We don't really celebrate it back home."

"The things they are missing out on." Melonara told him, taking the two pints over to the group of three dwarves and returning shortly after. "If you're not here when it's on, I will have a pint in your name."

"And I will have on in yours back home." Athrodar told her, both smiling as Melonara picked up the final two pints and made her way over to the dwarves.

"Athrodar?" Illana called, looking over to her son who looked over to her. "You have a visitor back here." She told him, looking and sounding sad which made Athrodar frown at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, watching her shake her head and hug him momentarily before pushing him towards the back room.

"It's the Prince." She told him quietly, watching Athrodar walk into the back room and close the door behind him whilst she took over the pouring of the drinks for him in the meantime.

"Kael?" Athrodar called out, looking over to the Prince who was looking out the only window in the room.

"I need you to come back with me." He said, not turning to face him. "I don't have time to explain any more than this." He turned to face Athrodar and placed his hands behind his back. "My father is a day or two from passing away. I need you to be there with me when he passes, so I can place you on the Convocation before the rest of them can argue."

Athrodar nodded his head slowly, looking back to the door he just walked through and the rest of the tavern behind it. "Do I have time to say goodbye?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want you to leave without saying goodbye to your mother and Melonara." Kael'thas told him, watching Athrodar bow his head to him before leaving the back room momentarily.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Illana asked the moment she saw her son.

"I am." Athrodar told her, hugging his mother the moment she hugged him. "You knew that though, didn't you? The moment you saw him."

Illana nodded her head. "I did." She whispered to him, holding onto him tighter. "I'm going to miss you."

"When I've settled in, I will come get you." Athrodar told her, pulling back to look Illana in the eyes. "We can spend a week together, back in Silvermoon and you can spend time with your grandson if you want."

Illana smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't want to distract you." She looked over to Melonara who was too busy entertaining to notice what was happening. "Plus she will be in charge now, so I want to help her get things settled with new ownership and the poor soul she will bring in when you're gone to help out running this place."

"Make sure she is safe, please?" Athrodar asked his mother, looking over to Melonara too. "We're her only family and it's getting smaller now that I am going back to Silvermoon."

"You best say goodbye to her, otherwise she will be angry you left without saying anything." Illana told him, watching him smile and make his way over to Mel.

"Coming by to entertain them as well?" Melonara asked him when Athrodar stood beside her, frowning when he didn't say anything. "What's wrong?"

"Kael'thas is here. I have been summoned back to Silvermoon earlier than we all thought." Athrodar told her, watching Melonara look down at the floor and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I came by to say goodbye and that you are always welcome to visit me if ever you wanted to talk or you just missed me."

Melonara nodded slowly, stepping forward and hugging Athrodar tightly. "Yeah, like I'd miss you." She muttered, not stopping herself from tearing up at the idea of losing her brother to Silvermoon whilst she stayed in Stormwind.

Athrodar smiled when he heard her sniff, hugging her tightly and feeling Melonara tighten her hug as much as she could just to feel as close to him as possible. "I will miss you though." He told her, hearing Melonara sigh and smiling wider when he knew he had got to her.

"I will miss you too." Melonara told him, pulling back and wiping her eyes when she looked up at him. "You're my big brother. Despite Anya and Clea saying it to tease you, I really do see you as my brother and I'm going to miss having you around." She kissed him on the cheek and placed a hand in the same spot shortly after. "Change Silvermoon for the better, okay? I want to know all the changes you make and I will judge you depending on how good they are."

"So no pressure then." Athrodar said, smiling at her. "I'll change it and make it into a city you want to return to. Perhaps I can open up a new tavern in Silvermoon and offer you a job there."

"Yeah, because you will be allowed to open up a tavern in Silvermoon." Melonara said, smiling at him and looking passed Athrodar when she saw Kael'thas behind him. "You best get going, the Prince looks like he's ready to leave."

Athrodar looked back to Kael'thas and nodding once at him, getting a nod in return. "Keep my mother safe." He told her, watching Melonara nod her head at him.

"I will." She told him, placing a hand on his arm for a second before she watched him walk away from her.

"Flank right, I'll take left whilst the Kaldorei attack the center." Lord Sunblade ordered his company to move left of Splintertree Post, watching Lor'themar do the same with his company by sending them to the right. "Let's remove this pest from the forests of Ashenvale."

Moving to the right flank, Lor'themar and his company made it up a hill that overlooked the outpost, sending half his company further up whilst the other half stayed with him. "We need to make sure none of them leave." He told his second who were leading the other half of his company. "The Kaldorei want us to help remove them from their forests, but Lord Sunblade is going to kill them whether or not he was told to, so we are going to help him."

"Would that affect relations with the Kaldorei?" His second asked, watching Lor'themar shake his head.

"It shouldn't if we tell them we thought they meant kill them all." Lor'themar tapped a finger on his bow. "And if we're lucky, they'll kill the orcs too. They have been destroying their forests and what I have learnt over the last couple of years about the Kaldorei, is that they protect their forests as if it were their child."

Lor'themar's second nodded their head and made their way to their half of the company, leaving the Ranger Lord with his half on the smaller hill. "Lord Theron is in place." Dael'Thaelas said, noticing the elves on the other side of the outpost. "Get ready for the General to attack. That will be our signal to attack too."

Several minutes passed by with complete silence on the elven front, all of them waiting for the signal from the Kaldorei to start the attack. When it began to take too long, Lord Sunblade was quickly getting agitated and was trying to stop himself from launching the attack now. With the enemy so close and vulnerable, it took every fiber in his being to hold back, especially since this was an enemy that killed his wife and the Queen in the same war. "I'm tired of waiting." He said, pulling out an arrow and nocking it onto his bow, pulling the projectile back just as the Kaldorei war horn was blown in the distance. "Finally." He said just as the first glaive was launched from the Kaldorei siege engine, letting loose his arrow into one of the orcs below.

Lor'themar signaled for his company to attack too, watching General Feathermoon and her guards charge in on their Nightsabers just as they let loose a volley, watching the Kaldorei General and her guard push forward and kill any of the orcs getting close to them. "This might be an alliance I can get on board with." He said, smiling to himself when he saw how easy the Kaldorei made it look to sweep through the orcs.

The fighting only lasted for a few minutes with a handful of orcs lucky enough to escape death when they made it to the entrance of Splintertree Post. "Tell your Warchief to stay out of our lands!" General Feathermoon yelled at the retreating orcs, climbing off her Nightsaber and running a hand through its fur whilst she watched the orcs disappear into the forests and hopefully on their way back to Orgrimmar. "Good girl, Starclaw." She whispered to the Nightsaber, scratching under its head. "That should see them out of our forests for a while."

Making their way into Splintertree Post, both Ranger Lords joined up with the Kaldorei with Lor'themar finding Captain Elaria cleaning her moonglaives, fist weapons with three, spear-like blades on them. "That was easier than I thought." He said, getting a smile from Elaria when she saw him.

"I think bringing you all here from Silvermoon might have been overkill, but it was better to be safe than sorry." Elaria looked over to the rest of the Sin'dorei who were walking into the outpost, spotting Lord Sunblade walking around the outpost, checking on every single orc to make sure they were dead. "He really hates them, doesn't he?" She asked, keeping her eyes on Dael'Thaelas as he plunged his sword into an orc who was still alive.

"He does." Lor'themar told her. "I was trying my hardest to stop him from attacking them before we were ready. I have a feeling if you all didn't attack when you did, he would have done it himself."

"And you say he's the fourth most powerful person outside of the royal family and your General?" Elaria asked for clarification, getting a nod from Lor'themar. "He must hate having to answer to someone else now."

"You have no idea." Lor'themar said, laughing lightly. "Let's just say it's been difficult to keep him on standby until the attack was launched."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now." Elaria told him, placing a hand on his back. "We've pretty much got it from here, though I think the General would like to keep you all here for a while longer just in case they retaliate."

"That's fine." Lor'themar told her, looking over to Shandris in the distance who continued to pet her Nightsaber. "Our General will be informed whatever General Feathermoon decides for us."

"If you have to stay, I'll see if I can convince the General to keep one of you here and send the other back to Silvermoon." She looked over to Lord Sunblade who was cleaning his blade. "Most likely him, since he doesn't really want to be here and I personally don't want him here after everything you have told me."

Lor'themar looked over to Lord Sunblade too and began to grin. "I think he will take that offer. Especially since our King is dying and the Prince will take the throne the moment he does pass away."

"He's dying?" Elaria asked, looking shocked he had just told her that. "How long does he have?"

"I... Probably shouldn't have told you that." Lor'themar told her, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. "I think it's happening soon, so Lord Sunblade might take up the opportunity to return to Silvermoon and help the Prince when that day comes."

Elaria nodded her head slowly, looking over to her General and smiling at little to herself. "I'll go talk to the General now. I'm sure she will understand when I tell her about your King."