First Day On The Job

"This is not what I was expecting today." Sylvanas whispered, sitting beside Athrodar. "How is he doing?"

Athrodar glanced over to the General and smiled a little, returning his attention to Kael'thas who was in talks with Vandellor. "He's calm. I think he knew this was coming soon and has prepared himself for this moment mentally." He smiled a little wider when he felt Sylvanas' hand brush against his, glancing over to her and noticing her small smile too. "You're getting bold, knowing Lana'thel isn't here and is gathering the rest of the Convocation."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sylvanas whispered back to him, grinning and taking hold of his hand from under the table they sat around, slowly moving it to her lap. "You must be overthinking things, because all I can feel is your hand traveling on its own."

Athrodar let out a throaty chuckle, squeezing her thigh when he felt her leave his hand there, slowly moving it further up her leg and hearing her suck in some air when he was near the top of her leg. "Whatever game you're playing, you know it's one where I will play with you." He whispered to her, glancing back over to the General when he felt her place a hand on his crotch. "You're definitely getting bold."

"I still don't know what you're talking about, councilman." Sylvanas whispered to him, stroking her thumb across his crotch and grinning when she felt him twitch a little under her hand. "I'm just waiting here for the rest of the Convocation to arrive so we can discuss what happens next." She leaned closer to Athrodar so she could whisper directly into his ear. "Of course, after this meeting is over however, I will be alone in my office for several hours, begging for a distraction."

Just as he was about to speak, Lana'thel and the rest of the Convocation entered the throne room where they had set up the tables for the upcoming meeting. "Let's begin." Kael'thas said when he saw them, making his way to the head of the table.

"I hope I wasn't gone for too long." Lana'thel whispered to Athrodar, kissing him on the cheek. "Should I be worried the General has decided to sit so close?" She then asked him, leaning against his arm with her own.

"You weren't gone for too long and you shouldn't be worried either." Athrodar whispered back to the Magistrix, kissing the top of her head and pressing his cheek against the same spot shortly after. "Once this is over, I think we should return to your home and spend some time alone together." He suggested, looking over to Kael'thas who was waiting for the last few Convocation members to sit at the table.

"I can get behind that." The Magistrix said, taking hold of his hand and looking over to Kael'thas as well. "Once this is over."

"Thank you all for being here on such short notice." Kael'thas said, having everyone's attention on him. "It's no secret that we all saw this day coming. I think we were all just hoping it would stay away for as long as possible." He sighed and looked down to his hands that were placed in front of him on the table. "But yes, my father has passed on to the other side."

"I am sorry to hear that, my Prince." Dael'Thaelas said, placing a hand in his pocket and pulling out a letter that was handed to him by Anasterian. "Here. This was given to me by your father a few weeks ago. He trusted me to give it to you on the day he passed."

"That.. Might not be a good letter." Lana'thel whispered, watching Kael'thas unfold the parchment inside the envelope. "I have a bad feeling things are about to much worse for Kael."

Reading to the bottom of the letter, Kael'thas frowned and at times began to glare slightly at what was written down. "So my father has appointed you as the head of the Convocation the day he dies, being the one person I come to if I want to talk to the Convocation and the one person who reports in to me with your decisions." He looked over to Dael'Thaelas who had a slight grin on his face. "I am not one to go against my father's wishes after he has passed away. If I knew about this before then, I would have argued against it, but he clearly knew this and made sure I saw this letter after he had passed." Kael'thas glanced over to Athrodar and Lana'thel for a split second before turning his attention back to Lord Sunblade, knowing they were both going to be upset at the very least that their plans, along with his, were now under threat already. "I will uphold my father's wish and appoint you as head of the Convocation. But I will deny you from removing any of the members I have placed in to the Convocation."

"Thank you, my Prince." Dael'Thaelas said with a bow. "I look forward to sitting at the head of the table beside you once again."

"And opposite your great grandson." Kael'thas told him, looking over to Vandellor. "This is not a demotion for you however, High Priest. You will just be moved one seat down, but you will still be as important to me as you were my father."

Vandellor smiled and bowed his head to Kael'thas. "That was never in doubt, your Grace."

"What?" Dael'Thalas asked, looking over to Athrodar who had a small smile on his face, along with Lana'thel who gave Lord Sunblade a cocky smirk. "You can't who two members of the same family at the head of the Convocation."

"No?" Kael'thas asked, tilting his head at Lord Sunblade. "Show me where it says that."

Dael'Thaelas opened his mouth to speak, but quickly realised he was not going to fool the Prince who had clearly done his research. "Maybe I am mistaken." He said, looking the Prince in the eyes. "I apologise."

"Apology accepted." The Prince said, looking around the table once more. "As for the funeral, we will be having a private one before the public funeral. I have decided that the people need to be there to see their King and those closest to him will do so in the small gathering that will take place. That goes for friends, family and Convocation members."

Athrodar leaned closer to Lana'thel and kissed her on the temple. "Are you bringing your daughter?" He whispered to her.

"Of course." She whispered back to him. "Just like you'll bring Melonara and your mother."

"On top of that, I will also be made King the day after the public funeral, so expect a busy week." Kael'thas told them, tapping a couple fingers on the table and focusing on his hand. "I don't really have much more to say other than you should all go about your day as normal, help or answer any questions thrown your way and as usual, if you have any problems, bring it to the leaders of the Convocation and they will come to me if they need my advice."

Standing up when Kael'thas stood up, the Convocation as well as Sylvanas and Halduron who were in attendance, began to talk amongst themselves or leave shortly after the Prince did. "We need to watch out for your great grandfather." Lana'thel said when she saw him talking to a few members of the Convocation, no doubt congratulating him on his return to the head of the Council. "You might share the same rank as him, but he has centuries more experience and will try to outmaneuver the pair of us."

"We have Vandellor on our side." Athrodar told her, glancing over to the General who looked to be mildly frustrated with the Convocation members keeping her in the throne room with their conversation. "And you might not like it, but we can try to get the General to work closely with us and have her disrupt Lord Sunblade and his company."

Lana'thel looked over to Sylvanas and began to grin when she too saw her frustrations at being stuck in the throne room. "Let me talk to her. I fear you will be distracted by the General if you go on your own."

Athrodar rolled his eyes and heard the Magistrix chuckle as she began to make her way towards the General. "Just don't annoy her." He told Lana'thel before she got too far away.

Noticing the Magistrix was making her way over to her, Sylvanas began to clench her fist tightly as her day was getting progressively worse by the minute. "Excuse me." She said, trying to remain calm as she made her way towards the Magistrix and dragging her away from everyone else. "What do you want?" She asked, glaring at the grinning Lana'thel who was taking joy from her presence being a major factor in annoying the General.

"I... Sorry... We have a proposition for you." Lana'thel said, turning to face Athrodar in the distance whilst standing beside the General. "As we all now know, Lord Sunblade is joint head of the Convocation with him. This brings up a major problem for us which is that he has centuries of experience in that sort of role and we both have a week, if that." She looked back to Sylvanas who was watching Athrodar in distance. "Work with us to disrupt and make Lord Sunblade's life hell and I will go easier on you in the future and won't be a thorn in your side outside of being with Athrodar."

Sylvanas raised an eyebrow and looked back to the Magistrix beside her. "You'll stop being a thorn in my side? As in...?"

Lana'thel sighed and rolled her eyes, hating that she had to explain what she figured the General already knew, but was wanting to hear it from her personally. "I won't rub it in your face that I'm with Athrodar. I won't tease or call you names to or behind your back. I will just live my life and you will live yours, without any hostilities between us, at least from my end."

Sylvanas nodded her head slowly, looking over to Athrodar once more. "I'll accept, if you accept that I only report in to him. He can give you updates on what I have planned or have said, but I will only be talking to him or the Prince."

Lana'thel thought about her proposition this time, looking over to Athrodar and nodded her head slowly. "Okay, deal. But if I get word that you're trying to win him back, I will make your life hell."

Sylvanas grinned and glanced over to the Magistrix for one final time. "Luckily for you, I won't try anything." She told her, a lie by any means, but she had ways of working her magic on him without anyone else knowing. "You can report back to him now, I need to check on my son."

"What did she say?" Athrodar asked the moment Lana'thel returned to him.

"She'll help us." Lana'thel told him, taking hold of his hand. "I just have to give up a few of my favourite pass times. Like annoying her."

"So nothing too major." Athrodar whispered, smiling and kissing the Magistrix lightly. "Let's get out of here, before we are interrupted by opportunistic Convocation members looking to get a head start to their relationship with me."

Lana'thel chuckled and pulled on his arm. "We best get you out of here then."

"You're nervous." Sylvanas said, grinning at Athrodar who stood beside the door to his new job.

"Of course I'm nervous." Athrodar told her, taking a deep breath. "I am in charge of the newest group of students. I don't want to mess up and I know what children are like. One mistake and they have that as a lasting impression throughout the rest of their time here."

"Then don't make a mistake." Sylvanas told him, holding back her laughter when she heard him sigh. "You'll be fine, trust me." She whispered to him, kissing him on the cheek. "I believe in you."

Athrodar closed his eyes and tried to compose himself, pressing his head against the General's who smiled and closed her eyes the moment he pressed his head against hers. "Don't think I don't know why you made it so you only report into me." Athrodar whispered to her. "I know you want to steal these small moments with me and I am all for it, but it really needs to stay small." He told her, feeling Sylvanas nod her head against his.

"It will. I know the risk of taking it too far with you, what happens if your Magistrix finds out." She opened her eyes and looked into his. "You'll never forgive me and I can't live with losing you again, only permanently this time." She smiled when she saw him smile a little. "Now come on, let's get you comfortable with your new students."

Athrodar smiled a little wider and leaned forward to kiss her, having the General close the gap and kiss him first. "Alright. As long as you know what you're getting me into."

"If you mess them up, then you'll be in charge of them." Sylvanas told him, laughing when she heard him sigh. "I'm messing with you. You'll do a good job because I'll make sure you are. Plus I trust you, so there's that."

Athrodar placed his hand on the door to the room his new students were in, taking a deep breath and turning the handle. "Let's meet them, shall we?"

The second they entered the room which turned out to be a courtyard, the conversations that were happening between the students died out the moment Sylvanas walked in, quickly starting up again as whispers about the Ranger-General and how they were all meeting her on their first day. "Good luck." She whispered to Athrodar who counted at least twenty future rangers in front of him. "I'm going to sit in for the first lesson to see what you're like, then you're on your own."

"No pressure then." He whispered back to her, making his way towards the bows and quivers placed on the opposite side of the courtyard to where they were, letting out a sharp whistle to both get their attention and to silence them. "Students, Cadets, New Blood. Just three of the names you will be called throughout your stay here." He told them, picking up a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "Only once you have proven to me that you're worthy of being a Farstrider will I start to call you by your names."

Sylvanas sat down on a nearby bench and watched as all of the Cadets made their way towards Athrodar who wanted to see how they all performed with a bow and arrow. "That's what I would have done." She whispered to herself, watching them take it one at a time, firing arrow after arrow into the targets Athrodar had set up. She noticed a couple of them hit the bullseye, the rest hitting one ring outside of it whilst one ranger hit the outer edge of the target. "There's always one." She said, smiling to herself and eyeing up that one ranger. "I give her a month."

Athrodar however, just smiled at the attempt from the last ranger, quickly looking over to the Cadets who laughed at her shot and narrowed his eyes at them. "Don't laugh." He told the rest of the class in a stern tone, getting them all to stop laughing the moment they saw he was serious. "Here." He said, handing the poor girl another arrow. "Take a deep breath this time. Don't rush it either, you have all the time in the world to make the shot."

Sitting forward on the bench, Sylvanas watched closely as the young girl took a deep breath and steadied her aim. A few seconds passed by as she watched on curiously, smiling brightly when the arrow hit the fourth most inner circle. Still the lowest score out of the group, but considering the first shot hit the outer most circle, the tenth one across from the center, she was impressed with how little she was told and how much she improved. "Maybe you were the right fit for this position." Sylvanas whispered to herself once more.

"Well done...?" Athrodar took the bow off the young girl who had the brightest smile he had ever seen from someone who hit that shot. "What's your name?"

"V-Victoria." She said when she realised he had asked her a question. "Victoria Sunleaf."

"Well, Victoria." Athrodar said, having her as the first Cadet he would call by name. "In future, take your time and try not to rush things. Doing so leads to mistakes if you're not fully confident and you're just trying to impress someone. Even in a fight you don't always have to strike first and fast. A steady approach often helps as you get to assess the situation better."

"But if I take too long, people might get hurt or killed." Victoria told him, getting a nod from Athrodar in return.

"You are correct. Which is why you also have to be quick at times if the situation calls for it." He saw a few confused faces and let out a small laugh. "I get it, you're all confused now. How can you be steady and calm whilst also being quick to your decisions? Well, that's where the great leaders shine through." He glanced over to Sylvanas and pointed towards her. "Your Ranger-General, for instance. Best tactician you will find this far north and maybe even on the whole Continent. She has mastered quick decision making whilst also taking a steady approach to things." He smiled at Sylvanas when she smiled at his description of her. "She also relies on those who are specialised in their fields of work and takes their experience into account." He looked back to the group of recruits all looking over to the Ranger-General. "But that's a topic for another day."

For the next two hours, Sylvanas watched Athrodar teach and train the new Farstrider Cadets in the courtyard, mostly using this time as bow practice, but it also gave Athrodar an idea of who were the better shots in this group and who needed a bit more time to practice. It also gave him a good idea on what the first year would be like for the Cadets, what they had to be trained in and how hard it would be for some. He also got a good idea of who would drop out and who would stick it through until the end as well as who would coast through without much trouble.

"Before you all return to the barracks." Athrodar called out, making all the Cadets look over to him. "This place will be open throughout the day when I'm not here to teach you. As well as most of the evening, though nobody is to train here after dinner, understood?" He watched them all nod their heads, looking over to the Ranger-General who had remained throughout the entire lesson. "Finally, if for whatever reason you need to get in contact with me, I will be staying in the village just next to the academy. My door is always open no matter the time, so feel free to knock whenever." He began to laugh lightly when he thought about his offer. "Though if it's late at night, don't knock too loudly and be patient. I will probably be taking my time getting out of bed if it's the middle of the night."

Once Athrodar had dismissed the Cadets, Sylvanas stood up and stretched her arms, legs and back, making her way over to him but stopping when the doors to the courtyard opened up and she saw Lana'thel look over to him. "First day, how did it go?" The Magistrix asked, placing her hands on Athrodar's face and kissing him lightly when she stood in front of him.

"It went well." Athrodar whispered, glancing over to Sylvanas who now stood there awkwardly. "I hope?"

Lana'thel looked over to the Ranger-General and smiled a little, sensing the awkwardness from where she stood. "You did good." Sylvanas said, smiling at the pair of them to try and hide the warring emotions inside her chest. "Time will tell if those kids are in safe hands, but if today was anything to go by, you are a perfect fit here." She looked towards the twin doors to the courtyard and smiled a little wider. "Though telling them they can visit in the middle of the night if they have a problem was a bold move on your part."

Lana'thel widened her eyes for a second then narrowed them into a glare as she looked over to Athrodar. "You did what?"

"I told them they can knock on our door if they need help." Athrodar said, looking over to Sylvanas who was trying to hide her smile. "They won't do it. They'll wait until the next day at the beginning of the class." He told her, trying to convince himself at the same time.

"If they knock in the middle of the night, you're sleeping in the living room for a week." Lana'thel told him, glancing over to the Ranger-General who was still trying to hide her smile. "Couldn't have talked him out of it?"

Sylvanas held up her hands. "I was just observing his teaching style and seeing if he would be a good fit for this place. I wasn't here to interrupt unless he put someone's life in danger."

Lana'thel sighed and looked back to Athrodar who gave her an apologetic look. "Your life will be in danger if they wake me up with something petty. If it can wait until the morning, yet they still knock on the door, I will kill you."

"I'm sure it will be important." Athrodar told her, taking hold of her hand and having Lana'thel reluctantly hold onto his hand in return. "Are we still on for dinner at that little restaurant you love?"

"Of course." Lana'thel said, smiling and kissing him on the cheek. "Can't back out of it now. Especially when I have a table booked."

Sylvanas' smile saddened as she watched them slowly make their way towards the exit. "I hope you're both awake in time for the funeral tomorrow. Illana and Mel should be here too, right?"

Athrodar looked back to Sylvanas and nodded his head at her. "They are. They know to be here an hour beforehand."

Sylvanas smiled and nodded her head. "Good. I look forward to seeing Illana again. I'm sure Talanas will look forward to seeing her too."

Lana'thel pulled on Athrodar's arm lightly to get him moving again, making him take a couple steps before looking back at the General. "Thank you again, for this. I may not be a Lieutenant in the Farstriders, but I do miss being around other rangers. So to have this opportunity to teach new rangers about this life is something I will do to my fullest."

"I know you will." Sylvanas said softly, smiling at him until he left the courtyard with Lana'thel, dropping her shoulders and letting out a sigh. "I just hope being on the Convocation doesn't sour your mood. Especially if you're beside Lord Sunblade the entire time."