Bright yellow eyes looked up at Sapphire pitifully. The little boy pouted, and whimpered.
"Please, Momma. Please, Will you come look at my new invention?"
"No."
Tanomoan pouted even more, and folded his arms. "But Momma!"
They were standing in the middle of the zeppelin hangar. There were goblins everywhere,
Sapphire returned the pout with a scowl. She planted her hands on her waist. "Tanomoan, Go back into your normal human form."
"But...This one is cute and adorable. Women like cute and adorable."
"Well, I don't like cute and adorable when it rarely visits me. You and Blight are the only ones that enjoy my cooking!"
Tanomoan looked down, suddenly ashamed. "I'm sorry. If you look at my invention, I will come home for a week!"
The girl scrutinized the dragon. He smiled innocently, then turned back into his more mature form. "I'll be back!"
He ran off. Terenas was sitting on a box, now more cautiously than before. He didn't want to end up in a box of explosives.
Sapphire went over to the boy, and knelt down next to him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, Mom...You didn't have to come get me. Blight was nice to me."
"Of course he was...I was just so worried though!" She put her around around Terenas, and hugged him tightly.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I was going to stay and wait for Dad just like he said."
Sapphire nodded, and kissed him on the forehead. Terry made a sound of protest, but Sapphire ignored him. He always did that. She kissed him again.
"Mom!"
She smiled. "You are not old enough to be like that. I still let my father kiss me."
"That's different, Mom."
"Not uh," Sapphire replied immaturely.
"Uh huh!" Terry stuck his tongue out. He blinked, realizing what he had done.
Sapphire was smiling. "You haven't done that in a while. You are still a child, you know? Acting like it isn't a bad thing."
Terenas looked down. "Okay."
Sapphire looked around. Tanomoan was heading back, holding a box. He was smiling smugly. The girl patted Terenas on the head, and turned to face whatever nonsense Tanomoan had concocted.
The dragon came strutting forward, and grinned. He held out the box. Sapphire took it, and opened it. She frowned.
"What is this?"
"I don't know what to call it yet."
"What is it for?"
"Your...mammal anatomy," Tanomoan said, lowering his voice. Sapphire closed the box, and looked at the dragon hard.
"Excuse me?"
"You know. That female mammal anatomy. What are they called again? Brea-"
"Shut up! Why Tanomoan? Why?"
"Well, I noticed that some women, like you, don't like corsets. I felt sorry for females in general, so I made that. I should open up a tailor shop. You humans have a horrible sense of fashion."
Tanomoan said this as he wore thick gold necklaces, rings on his fingers, and high-heeled boots.
Sapphire covered her face with her hands.
"Oh, you are so...special."
"I know," Tanomoan said proudly.
The girl turned to her real son. "Come on, Terry. Better get home before Tanomoan decides to make something for you..."
The dragon gasped. "Of course! I should make something for him. Something to open crates...Or some kind of noise maker."
Terry scowled. Sapphire wisely made a portal.
"See you later, Tanomoan," She said. Taking Terenas's hand, the girl took him home.
They came into the throne room, scaring all of the plaguehounds. Sapphire looked around in shock.
"Ethan!" She yelled. The entire royal kennel was in the room. Living dogs, puppies, and fully grown plaguehounds were all over the throne room. There was a Westfall sheep dog sitting on the throne. An Alteracan Spitz was licking one of the many statues in the room. A Gilnean Corgi came walking over to Sapphire, barking. He jumped onto Terry, and licked him. Sapphire was not happy. There were Duskwood Elkhounds, Elwynn Foxhounds, and even the experimental breeds Ethan had been making. Ethan was trying to remake the Lordaeron Terrier, which was what Rot was, a now extinct breed. It was hard, because they had been bred from the Elywnn Foxhounds, and Gilnean Beagle, which was also gone. But Ethan was going to also make a new dog and name it after Sapphire. He was using huskies.
Two heads poked out from behind the throne. Calia and Arty came forward. The boy was hugging Rot tightly, and sniffing. Terra followed him, woofing. Where was Alfie? Arty hated being separated from his dog.
"Momma!"
They went over to her, and hugged her legs. She looked at them worriedly.
"What's wrong?"
"Alfie's dead...Da's brother came back," Arty said, voice breaking. He went into a fit of sobbing. Sapphire could not believe it. Adalger was back? And Alfie...That was such a sweet dog. Arty looked so depressed. The girl knelt down, and hugged him.
"I am so sorry, sweetheart. Where is he? I'll bring him-"
"Great-Grandpa Kel'thuzad offered to do it. I let him."
That took Sapphire off guard. Kel'thuzad hated dogs, yet he offered to resurrect Arty's dog? Sapphire was highly suspicious.
Ethan came walking in, and all of the dogs crowded around him. Ni'kua was following him, but the dog barked, and barreled through the group to get to Sapphire The dog pounced on her, and licked her furiously. Sapphire tried to push him off.
"Ethan! Why...What's with all the dogs?"
"Someone invaded the Keep. I felt like the dogs would protect the kids the best."
Sapphire looked at Ethan. "Your brother?"
"And someone else...I don't know who. But they were able to get a fake letter from the Mayor, and then show off that they could get close to the children."
Sapphire just realized, Serenity was not here. She looked around, and felt panic rise inside of her.
"Where's Serenity?" She demanded.
Ethan frowned, and rubbed his arm awkwardly.
He gave Sapphire the best reassuring look he could. "She's fine."
"Where is she?" The girl asked, not calmed at all. There was a hoot from behind Sapphire. She looked in that direction.
A little owl, a barn owl, was trembling on a wolf statue. Sapphire frowned.
"What's with the owl?"
"It's Serenity..." Arty answered.
Sapphire looked at the owl. Normally, Barn owls had black eyes, but this owl had bright blue ones. Terry went over to the owl, and held out his hands.
"Sere...Come here. You're okay," The boy said. The owl looked at her brother, and flapped down onto his hands. She cuddled up against him, trembling.
Sorry that these chapters are short and infrequent. I've been busy. Writing Book two, having to write a research paper on marine sanctuaries, researching Atlantic ocean fish species, and I have baby albino alligators to measure daily. And a black vulture that thinks he's a person has been following me around. He's sitting on my shoulder right now, nipping my ear.
Also, If none of the literary agents I have contacted respond by the standard two week time, I will try to make my father help me either self-publish, or make my real Sapphire and Ethan story an e-book. That's going to be hard. My dad won't even read the story. :'(
Arthas winced, and slowly sat down. the pain was horrible. Angelica gave him a worried look, and fidgeted. There were tears in her eyes.
They were in the Shadow Throne room. Arthas had tried to be gentle when having Jaina arrested, but she snapped. And Angelica had been watching, hidden behind the throne. Arthas should have been wearing armor, for Jaina had sent a fireball in his direction. It hit him in the leg.
After Arthas had several deathknights take Jaina away, Angelica had showed herself.
"Daddy...Daddy, Are you okay?" The girl whimpered.
He nodded, and forced out a smile. "Of course I am...Why don't you go see Marwyn?"
The girl shook her head. "No! I don't want to leave you!"
She went over to him, and hugged his uninjured leg. He sighed, and pat her on the head.
"What are you gonna do with Momma?"
"Don't worry, Sweetheart. Momma just needs to have a break...Vacation if you will."
"Okay..."
Arthas despised lying to his daughter, but she shouldn't know. Arthas was having Jaina imprisoned in her own room. While she was away, Arthas had ordered it searched completely, and after it was clear nothing illegal was in there, Arthas decided to keep Jaina in it. He couldn't bear the thought of her in the dungeon.
Jaina had not liked that idea. She was affronted that Arthas dared to intrude on her privacy. She told him that he was weak, and all of the laws he had made were bad calls. Even though, Jaina had made some of them before she had become so cold and distant. Arthas should have never let her go to Theramore that day...
Sapphire had actually been with her, but Tanomoan had convinced Sapphire to take him to the town of Ratchet. Otherwise, Sapphire might have been there when the mana bomb hit. Arthas, guiltless, was glad that Sapphire had been absent. She didn't need more strange magic affecting her.
Jaina wasn't bad. Something Arthas never mentioned, but Sapphire had been a lot worse after he died. She could not remember half of what happened those two years of her being alone, but the night before she got married, Arthas had magically looked for her memories while she slept.
He never told her. For good reason, for what he had found scared him. She had done things...Arthas didn't think he should tell her. It would not make her feel better. She sometimes mentioned how she wished she knew what she had done during that time.
"Daddy..."
The pain must be getting to him. Arthas looked down at Angelica. She pouted.
"Feel better."
He gave her a more sincere smile. "Thank you, sweetheart. Remember that I love you. And your mother."
"And Sissy, Ethan, and my cousins!" The girl said proudly.
"Yes, honey."
The girl gasped, and let go of Arthas. "I want honey! Where's the honey?"
Arthas shook his head. "Just like your sister..."
"Momma...Why can't we stay at home?"
Sapphire looked down to her daughter, Calia. The girl was bundled up in fur. Terry and Arty were similarly dressed. They stood at the entrance of Icecrown Citadel. After some thought, Ethan had suggested that Sapphire take the kids to Arthas. At least until the Forsaken problem and the invader problem was resolved. The children were all frightened. Calia had seen dead bodies, Arty had seen his dog die, Serenity would not come out of her owl form, and Terenas was worried for his sister.
Sapphire gave them a loving look. "Come on. Staying in Icecrown is going to be great. We can do lots of fun things...Okay?"
Arty took a step forward. "Okay, Momma...Can we go see Grandpa?"
"Sure! I bet he will be happy to see you all."
Terry looked unconvinced. Serenity was in his arms, shivering. Her feathers were all fluffed up. Sapphire took her daughter with one hand, and walked up to the entrance.
The doors opened by themselves. Sapphire took her children through the Citadel. It was coming onto night, so there were ghouls and geists laying on the floor, asleep.
Sapphire would have taken her children straight to her father, but there was a crash, and several penguins started running down one of the halls.
"No! Come back! Johnny, Clem, Mira, Peter, Zizi, Penka!" Silvia cried out. The night elf was chasing the waddling birds.
Sapphire smiled, and looked at her kids. "And Dad thought I was bad."
Silvia caught two of the penguins, and noticed Sapphire.
"Oh, hello Sapphire. How are you today?" She said nicely.
"Hello, Silvia. Cute penguins."
The two in the night elf's grip squirmed, squawking. The rest were long gone.
Silvia smiled. "Thanks! Now I have to catch the rest. Bye! I'll come play with you guys later!" She said to her "cousins."
Arty tugged at Sapphire's robes. "I am hungry."
"Okay. We will eat soon. And...I have a surprise for you guys. A little secret place here in the Citadel. I found it a long time ago, but I found it a bit...warmer than I liked."
The children all looked at her in confusion, wondering what she meant.
Ethan bared his teeth, moving forward. The smell of smoke, pine needles, and undead permeated through the air.
Several worgen were with him. They colors of tan, chocolate, black, white, grey, and even one was spotted black and white. Her name was Lusa. More than that, there were furbolg with them too. Ethan had made good standing with them. And Sapphire always wanted her supply of honey to come from them.
Ethan looked at the undead in the forest. They were cutting down trees. His trees. The furbolgs' trees too. He heard growling, and had to growl himself to keep the group quiet.
They stalked forward. The undead were arrogant. There weren't any guards.
The King looked at his group of worgen. Then howled.
Ethan sprang forward, along with the rest of the worgen. He roared, and attacked the nearest Forsaken. It caught them off guard. Ethan knew that the Forsaken had attacked Gilneas. They hated worgen. Well, Good.
As Ethan ripped apart the first Forsaken, He saw the others attacked.
Sapphire hated the way Ethan attacked. She said it was savage, how Ethan tore limbs apart. Ethan ripped apart flesh with his large teeth. Worgen had large canines, and their gums were always shredded from the teeth. So his saliva was bloody most of the time. And now, as Ethan lunged at Forsaken, his claws were covered in clumps of rotten flesh.
An undead came running up to Ethan, waving an axe. Ethan snarled. Fur bristling, the worgen dodged the blade, and snapped his teeth at the bony legs.
An arrow whistled past Ethan, and he barked. Whipping his head to look back, Ethan saw a dark ranger. He growled, and watched her take another arrow out. Ethan would enjoy this.
The children were full of food, compliments of Arthas. He had looked unhappy when Sapphire had seen him, but he lit up when he saw his grandchildren. After hearing the bad news, Arthas was outraged. Falric and Marwyn were going to watch the children from now on.
Now, they were walking down into the depths of the Citadel. Arthas was limping. Angelica was skipping ahead. She knew where they going, and enjoyed it. Marwyn was carrying Arty. Calia was asking Falric about torture. Sapphire told herself to remember to ask Lethumo what was Silvia's therapist's name again. She might need to take Calia there.
"Uh...Dad? You all right?" Sapphire asked. She was clutching Serenity, still an owl. Sapphire had felt her bits of ham and cheese, and now Serenity was asleep in her arms, exhausted. Now Sapphire knew how Ethan felt when he held her in her snowy owl form.
"I am fine."
She looked at him, frowning. "Where's Mother?"
"Oh...Uh. In Dalaran," He didn't sound confident.
"Still?" Sapphire asked, worry in her voice.
Arthas nodded. "Don't worry. She will be fine."
There was a hoot from Serenity, woken up now. She flapped her wings. Arthas looked at her, and smiled.
"How are you doing, sweetheart?"
The owl looked down sadly. Arthas and Sapphire exchanged looks. Sapphire had sent a letter to Medivh, but he was being reclusive right now. She finished her apprenticeship years ago, but this was not something she had expected.
Rot barked, running forward. Terra snapped at him. They started chasing each other, barking and yipping and hopping. There was a sniffle from Arty.
Sapphire went to the doors they had been heading to. Sapphire opened one, and smiled. The children ran into the room. Sapphire felt the heat coming from inside. She winced. Arthas kissed Sapphire on the head.
"I think you could use some relaxation. Why don't you go in?"
Sapphire sighed, and walked in. Serenity looked forward curiously.
Steam rose up from large pools of water. The floors were rock, but the roof and the other wall was ice, smooth and gleaming wet. Several little brown things were already swimming in the water. Sapphire scowled, but Arthas answered her look.
"Silvia let loose some of her otters."
Suddenly, weight went into Sapphire's arms.
"Otters!" Serenity screamed in joy. She jumped out of Sapphire's arms and ran toward the cute little creatures. Sapphire and Arthas stared after her.
"Well, that fixed her."