Tired as she was, Jaina could not sleep. Too troubled by her daughter's words and actions, Jaina sat up during the night and thought over everything. Sapphire slept similarly to how Jaina slept, with hands curled up near her head and her legs pulled up protectively.
Though she wanted to discount Sapphire's fears as nothing but a bad dream, Jaina knew very well how Arthas operated. He had come to Jaina himself to find out where Sapphire was. He was not likely to just forget about his only daughter.
Jaina put her head in her hands. Everything was too much. With a major sigh, Jaina wiped away the tears that were starting to form in the corner of her eyes. She should be overjoyed. Her only child was alive and sleeping right next to her. Jaina had lost so much in her life. Yet what should have been a joyous reunion between mother and daughter had been stained with the shadow of Arthas.
So consumed by her own thoughts, Jaina only realized it was dawn when the first rays of fragile sunlight filtered through the window. As the rays descended on Sapphire, her hair shone like spun silver. It also shone on Sapphire's scar along her jaw.
Jaina reached forward to run her fingers through the girl's hair. Sapphire unconsciously shuffled before murmuring something in her sleep. Jaina smiled and pulled her hand back, reluctant to wake the girl. Despite that, Sapphire stirred and opened her eyes. She looked around sleepily, briefly forgetting where she was.
"Is it morning?" Sapphire asked.
Jaina nodded. "Yes it is. Are you hungry?"
Sapphire's eyes immediately brightened. Her sleepiness disappeared. After collecting her little pets, Sapphire rushed down the stairs with Jaina to the main floor of the inn.
The panic from the night before faded to the back of Sapphire's mild as breakfast arrived. The inn's waitress placed several plates piled high with food as well as a steaming pot of mint tea and a pitcher of fresh juice. There were very little other guests in the inn that morning. Those that did sit there only ate small meals or just sipped at drinks. Jaina had ordered bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and biscuits for her daughter.
"Don't be shy, eat as much as you want," Jaina said encouragingly.
Sapphire did not need to be told twice. She grabbed several slices of bacon before stuffing them into her mouth. As skinny as she was, Sapphire had a good appetite. While Jaina ate in a more reserved manner, Sapphire tore into her food. While she was polite enough to use spoons and knives to smear butter and jam on her food, Sapphire ate with only her hands. The little faerie dragon had no problem eating savagely. It grabbed the jar of butter and just ate it raw. Seemingly more polite, the hyena merely laid his head against Jaina's leg and whined pitifully. Jaina made him a plate of food and placed it on the floor for him. The hyena's stubby tail wagged and he began to eat.
Soon there was only crumbs and specks of butter left. While Jaina had only had one biscuit and a few slices of bacon, Sapphire had consumed everything else and laid backwards against the back of her seat.
"Will there be good food in Dalaran too?" Sapphire asked.
Jaina smiled. "Yes, there are plenty of different kinds of food. Some of it you may have never even heard of!"
Sapphire grew extremely interested. "Like what?"
Because of her enthusiasm, Jaina went on a long explanation of all the kinds of food that Sapphire could have in Dalaran. So many different varieties of apples, cheeses, and meats. Because Dalaran was the City of mages, so many different kinds of cooking techniques had been developed using magic. And the pastries. Sapphire seemed very interested in the descriptions of cakes, brownies, cookies, and doughnuts.
As they spoke of the food, Sapphire got distracted by the inn's entrance. Jaina turned around. It was the boy that had recognized Sapphire before and she had been hanging out with. He looked around until he saw Sapphire.
Surprisingly, Sapphire grew silent and seemed to withdraw into herself. The young man came over to them.
"Sno...I mean Sapphire. I came to apologize about yesterday," He said. Now Sapphire sat up a bit straighter.
"Shouldn't I be the one to apologize?" She asked in confusion.
The young man shook his head. "No. I mean, it would be nice. You pushed me rather hard...But I kind of deserved it for getting angry with you. Do you forgive me?"
Sapphire briefly glanced at her mother. Jaina smiled at her. While she did not know what had gone on between the two, the boy sounded completely sincere. Without meeting his gaze, Sapphire just nodded.
"Sure."
With a deep sigh of relief, the young man visibly relaxed. He then blushed upon realizing he had not even greeted Jaina and turned to her.
"Hello, Lady Proudmoore. My name is Ethan. Sapphire and I are friends!" He said hastily.
Jaina inclined her head, smiling widely at the awkward youth. "It is nice to meet you Ethan. How did you two meet?"
Sapphire answered that.
"We met in some woods and he left me to be attacked by this man called the Huntsman."
With that, Ethan's face somehow darkened even more and he started to stutter.
"Well I'm sure that's an interesting story and I'm sure Ethan is not as bad as that makes him sound," Jaina said reassuringly. Sapphire shrugged doubtfully. The boy took this chance to change the subject.
"I also came by to ask if you wanted to hang out...If that's okay, my Lady?" He blurted out quickly. Regret showed on his face and he seemed to wish he had not asked, but Sapphire brightened at the idea. Though she had been looking forward to being with her daughter, Sapphire seemed to really enjoy the young paladin's company so Jaina could not refuse. Jaina smiled as the two left.
The presence of another undead in the area intrigued Arthas. So close to Hearthglen, he imagined even the most brain damaged of undead would still try to avoid the subtle scent of Light bearing paladins and the sight of heavily armed soldiers and knights. Yet one remained very close to the walls of the town itself.
Naturally Arthas himself avoided confrontation. He could have slaughtered the small parties that were patrolling or traveling through the area, but he preferred not to draw attention to himself. The fools of Acherus had made the living let their guard down however. So long as he showed no aggression or defensiveness, most of the paladins assumed he was just another deathknight of the Ebon Blade, traveling for adventure or conquest. That did not stop them from spitting in his direction or snarling insults under their breath, but Arthas held his tongue.
It had been so long since he had ridden Invincible and even longer since he had ridden so casually. If not for the hate filled looks and the heavily scarred plant life or the bones that showed between Invincible's flesh, Arthas could have imagined he had been sent back to the past when he had been a prince touring the kingdom.
Thoughts of the past immediately caused disgust. Arthas urged Invincible to go a little faster and the horse gladly obliged. As he neared, Invincible veered off the road and into the wilderness beyond.
He drew closer to the undead he had sensed. The undead was of lesser intellect, which might have explained why it was so far away. The dumb creature had wandered off. He doubted it was even worth reigning in for himself.
In the clearing, Arthas finally got a good look of the undead and confirmed his suspicions. A ghoul shuffled in the small meadow. He made an happy noise as he leaned down to pick up a random stick. Arthas raised his eyebrow as he saw the ghoul take the stick and put it in a weird amalgamation of stone, rock, and bones.
The ghoul only noticed Arthas when the man dismounted and started to approach. It squealed in terror and started to flee.
"Stop that and come here," Arthas commanded. Instinctively, the ghoul stopped. Undead are resurrected with a compulsion to obey whoever was stronger than them and this creature was no different.
Surprisingly however, it did not come to Arthas. It had stopped yet had not come over to him as he ordered. It glared at him defiantly. A defiant ghoul? That was not normal. Even more so, it hissed at him.
"Not master! Leave alone!" It said in the language of the dead. Arthas replied in kind.
"Where is your master then?"
The ghoul growled, but pointed to the north. Arthas doubted this ghoul's claims. There was nothing north of the area but mountains. It might seem like a good place for a necromancer to hide out but so close to Hearthglen?
Before he could interrogate the undead further, he heard the sound of people stomping on fallen sticks and the crunch of leaves along with a very annoying voice. They did not sound very large, so Arthas didn't even try to hide. Surprisingly, the ghoul sniffed toward their direction and broke out a gaptoothed grin.
"Friend!"
Sapphire and a young squire casually entered the clearing. Arthas noticed bandages wrapped around Sapphire's shoulder as if she had been injured recently.
"Oh yes he's very friendly and I think you two will get along. Hey, Tryg-"
She turned her head to look for the ghoul and locked eyes with her father. He sighed in relief at the sight of her, only to be confused when Sapphire took a step back and horror spread across her face. The squire seemingly recognized Arthas as well.
"Oh! Look, Sapphire its your father! Do you remember me? I'm Grendel!"
Arthas could care less about the boy. Only Sapphire garnered his attention. He gave her a relieved grin.
"Sapphire, I thought you'd be glad to see-"
"Why? Why did you do this to me?" Sapphire suddenly snapped, startling both the boy and Arthas as well.
"What do you mean-" He started to ask but Sapphire suddenly reached up to her shirt collar and pulled it down to reveal the dark scar on her chest. She did not even have to say a word for Arthas to know the answer. Meanwhile Grendel just looked completely lost.
Sapphire jabbed an accusatory finger in Arthas's direction as tears started to form in her eyes.
"This is why you tracked me and wouldn't leave me alone? Were you just pretending to change? Was all of it just a lie to keep me from learning what you did to me?" She demanded.
She thought Arthas had put the shard into her. Where she got that idea, Arthas couldn't fathom but he had to set things right.
He tried to speak in a reassuring tone. "You have got this all backwards, my crown jewel-"
"Don't call me that!"
Ice crystalized around Sapphire's feet and the area's temperature drastically dropped. Beside her, the young paladin's breath became visible. The grass and wildflowers around Sapphire suddenly started to brown and shrivel up.
Shocked by her own unconscious actions, Sapphire stared at the now dead and frozen plants around her. Grendel reached out a hand toward her but she jerked away from him, horrified.
"Get away from me! I might hurt you," Sapphire snarled. With that, she whipped around to flee and left Grendel and Tryg with Arthas. The young squire looked up at Arthas before smiling nervously.
"Hi."
Arthas gritted his teeth. "Where is Jaina Proudmoore?"
Grendel winced at the sharp voice. "Uh, she should be in Hearthglen. Why?"
Jaina was not only attempting to take Sapphire from him, but she'd somehow convinced Sapphire that Arthas was manipulating her. A fair assumption if Arthas were honest, but that was besides the point. Arthas slowly looked down toward the young boy. The last time he had seen the boy, there were leaves in his uncombed hair and dirt on his face. This boy was completely opposite of that.
"If you don't want me to slaughter you like the dog you are, I recommend you go to Jaina and tell her I need to speak with her."
