The first act of vandalism happened even before the Horde returned.. The morning after the announcement, obscenities had been scrawled on the walls of the Violet Citadel. Most were statements against the Horde, but a few described some anatomically improbable things the Council could do. The graffiti was cleaned but people had seen it. The culprits were still at large.

Jaina was uncertain if the Horde would return, but she needn't have been. Within a day, the first goblins returned, eager to open up trade again and reestablish their businesses. One tried to lay claim to the inn and tavern that had become the unofficial Horde headquarters in Dalaran, but certain businesses Ansirem and Karlain felt it appropriate to give first right of refusal to the original owners and operators. Uda, the orc who'd run the Inn before, had made her intent to reclaim 'her' inn clear.

The council attempted to keep things business as usual, but that was difficult when so many in the city were angry. For Jaina that meant attending her usual meetings and Modera's next class.

"Keep moving! Luci, pick up the pace!"

Beside Jaina, Lucithy grumbled but she did pick up the pace.

"Jaina! Step it up! Almost done here!"

Jaina had half been expecting the command so she ran to catch up with Lucithy. How Modera had the energy to holler at everyone, and run at either the head of the line or at the end was impressive. Today's class was being held early in the morning. Kalec had hardly stirred when Jaina had risen.

The class had missed a session on account of an acute case of necromancer and then had been delayed a day while the initial fallout of the announcement was handled. In the interest of keeping things mostly normal, Modera had insisted on classes resuming. if Modera could hold hers and if Jaina could attend, then no one else had any excuse not to get back to work.

Jaina's breath started to come in gasps, her chest burning. Half the class was suffering. The others seemed entirely unaffected. Two of the senior battlemages seemed to be liking the torture. Kalec couldn't understand how Jaina could rise so early. Jaina couldn't understand how anyone could enjoy running. Her breath puffed into the cold morning air in great clouds.

"Bring it in," Modera called out, leading their column to an open field.

"Oh thank the Light," Jaina muttered.

Luci laughed raggedly beside her as they trotted into the field.

"Walk it off," Modera ordered. "Conjure some water, keeping moving."

"Why are we doing this?" Lucithy muttered.

"Because Modera told you to," Jaina answered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a shrewd taskmistress, apprentice sassy-pants." Modera said, breaking into their conversation. "Movement drills!"

The veterans groaned and Jaina felt her shoulders sag.

"It's not that bad," Modera said, then pitched her voice low for Jaina only. "Do what you can on the magic front, but don't push yourself. You're probably still rough from that fight with a Naaru, I'd wager."

"A bit," Jaina admitted.

"Don't go for power then. It'll be a good exercise." She stepped away from Jaina and raised her voice. "Line up! Speed drills!"

Jaina's magic was rough and weak compared to the mages around her and each cast made her hands tingle. Modera took them through the promised speed drills, calling commands which didn't leave room for much thought. Jaina rolled her shoulders and gave herself up to the exercise. Oddly, since she'd accepted she couldn't power through as she'd have done normally, it was easier to be responsive.

After the speedwork were the movement drills under fire. This was a new exercise but one jaina decided to pay close attention towards. It involved half the class firing low-power spells at the other half and using a terrain course as cover. The spells that landed stung, letting the target know they'd been hit. Jaina thought she did fairly well, but spells landed leaving what had to be bruising strikes. Fewer strikes landed as she stopped thinking and began to more closely mimic what the veteran mages were doing.

"Stop! That's enough for today," Modera called out. Jaina felt a tiny bit disappointed because she'd been beginning to get it. Or so she thought. She stretched her arms and flexed her fingers. There was a runner up beside Modera's perch overlooking the training field. Modera caught her eye.

Jaina made her way over. "Something amiss?" She asked.

Modera handed over a scroll. Karlain's mark was at the bottom.

"In addition to more graffiti, some storefront windows were smashed in the night. Owners were a couple goblins. They just found out."

"Damn."

"We knew this might happen. Karlain's on the case already. He managed to appease the goblins."

"How bad was it?"

"Couple hundred in gold to assist in repairs. All things considered it could have been worse. We'll have to make sure none of them start wrecking their own shops for the money, though."

Jaina looked at her sharply. "That wouldn-... They would."

"Goblins." Modera shrugged. "Anyway you did well. Keep your head down. They nailed you whenever you had to take bearings, but you're a quick study and you were halfway there already."

The influx of goblins was followed by the Forsaken. They were mostly mages who'd been part of the Kirin Tor in life, but even so they were watched closely. Undeath could do strange things to a being. Shortly after the Forsaken were a few trolls. Not many, but they reclaimed their businesses and resumed their studies.

The city seemed to hold its collective breath those first few days, but the returning vanguard was mostly mages or were businesses catering to magic users. A scant few orcs returned, such as mistress Uda and her massive wolves.

Notable in their general absence were the Blood Elves.

Jaina wasn't certain what to make of that. There were a few who came in with others as workers or mates but the bulk of the Blood Elf mages stayed away.

"I think I've figured out how to keep the board from destroying itself!" Kalec said as he ducked into her office.

Jaina blinked as she looked up from her papers. "Hi?"

Kalec smiled. "Hi!" He took the seat across from her desk and began to animatedly sketch spell diagrams in the air. "I was talking with Finch and he did something similar for his nieces and we came up with this as a workable solution."

"Well that's wonderful but I have some things to finish here. Can you tell me when the-" She broke off abruptly as she realized what time it was.

"The day ended almost an hour ago," Kalec said cheerfully. "I left home to collect you forty minutes ago but then I ended up running into Finch. Ready to head home?"

"Let me finish this note then we can go," she said, quickly jotting down the thoughts she had. "There." She rose and greeted Kalec with a kiss. He swung her cloak around her shoulders. "Anything interesting today?" she asked, locking her office behind her.

"Class was all a buzz. One of the older goblin students is back so it was hard to get everyone to focus," he said, slipping an arm around her waist. "Then Modera dumped all her essays on me," he said with a sigh.

Jaina covered a laugh with a hand. "Bad?"

"Tedious. She's been heads down with Spellsong all day working out whatever it is. I am happy to help," he said quickly.

"I know, but grading papers can be boring."

"It was very boring. I decided I wanted a beer and a nice steak dinner for bravely handling such tedium," he said, striking a heroic pose as they walked.

Jaina laughed and nudged him. "I think I could handle that."

They continued to chat quietly as they walked through the city. The air was chilly and snow was falling again. Wreaths for Winter Veil were out now, adding a clean pine scent. They heard the argument before they saw the crowd. A human Jaina didn't recognize had a non-magical bullhorn and was shouting at a crowd. Kalec slowed then pulled her to one side, out of the flow of foot traffic. She felt the magic of a veil come up around them.

"What I am saying, Sir, is that the Council has lost their fucking minds!" the man on the actual soap box said, apparently in response to something said from the crowd. There were murmurs of agreement. He wore a work apron of some sort, but Jaina couldn't tell if he was a blacksmith or something else. His face wasn't familiar. He was massively built for a human, though there was the beginning of grey at the temples of his thinning hair.

"The purge was good riddance to bad rubbish! We never needed the Horde before? Dalaran was built by humans and our friends from the High Elves as part of the Alliance. We don't need trolls! We don't need orcs!"

There was an angry murmur. "And we have gained many allies! Worthy people!" he said over the rumble. "But this is an Alliance city! We're losing resources we could be using here, to help these... people return to a place they never helped to build."

"The council says we need them back," someone in the crowd said.

"To repeat my earlier point, the Council has lost their fucking minds! Modera's probably going senile and I think we can all agree Khadgar probably is there already."

There was a mixed reaction to that from the crowd, protesting and laughter both.

"Proudmoore? More like Proudwhore."

Kalec's hands on her tightened. Jaina could feel his growl but the sound was barely heard. His weight shifted as he stepped towards the speaker. She pulled him back to her, not wanting him to get into a fight with the crowd. "Don't," She asked. She did not mean for the tremor in her voice.

"She's fucking a dragon so I think we can agree her judgement is compromised," the speaker continued, unaware that the subject of his words could hear everything he said. "She was making sense and suddenly she's not. Now I'm not saying something's weird and I'm not saying any sort of manipulation is going on. You draw your own conclusions.".

"What he said-" Kalec broke off into a growl.

"Kalec, I've been called that since I was seven," Jaina said, holding onto his arm. Her grip was a bit tight and she forced herself to take a breath and relax. "It's a stupid rhyming insult and it doesn't mean anything. He's not worth it if he can't think of an insult better than the average child."

"Look," the man on the box said, "if I gave you a bowl of candy and said just three would kill you, would you eat any? That's what we're facing here with the Horde. It didn't take all of them to hurt the Alliance. It only took a few!" The man said, gesturing expansively.

"I could take him," Kalec said, his voice a dangerous growl.

"I know," she said as she rubbed his arm. "You'd destroy him utterly. No martyrs." The man was going on and on about Khadgar now.

"And Khadgar! This man was supposed to be our next Guardian? And where is he? Where has he been? What the fuck does he know about Dalaran?"

"We should go. I should make a report," Jaina said, tugging his hand away. There was a tiny bit of relief that she wasn't the only one being called out, but she didn't want to hear anymore. She might speak up. Kalec might speak up.

Kalec growled. There was a pulse of magic and suddenly they were standing before their front door. Jaina followed his angry stalk inside and shut the door behind her. She imagined she would feel anger and fury when this inevitably happened.

"I feel sad," she said, speaking aloud though she'd not intended to.

Kalec looked over, the angry hunch of his shoulders fading.

"I thought I would be furious. I am. But mostly I'm just... disappointed. Sad."

"What that man said-" Kalec broke off with another growl.

"I was seven," she said. Jaina looked down at her hands. The redness from channelling so much wild power was gone. "The first time someone called me "Proudwhore", I was seven. I didn't know what a 'whore' was, but the way it was said I knew it was an insult. I don't know if the boy who called me that name even knew what one was."

Kalec came over and gently clasped one of her hands.

"It was very popular when I was involved with Arthas. He was very offended." She'd been offended too, but she couldn't protest too much. Too much and people would claim they were right. Too little and they were right as well. It had hurt. Ruling Theramore had given her some shelter from this as well. Some, but not all. Ice Crown had brought it all back, but by then she'd stopped caring. Mostly.

"It is offensive."

"Yes. But it's nothing I haven't been called before and I will probably be called that again. It's a child's insult. And the thoughts behind it was just as childish and selfish and self-centered." It was true even if it hurt. Even if it could make her look weaker in some areas of the world. And the reality was she didn't need to impress those places, that everyone who knew and loved her knew it to be an insult. The childishness of it hurt oddly; as if she wasn't worthy of a more creative slur.

She couldn't quite grasp the words and feelings swirling around, eluding her. She let her head fall against Kalec's chest. "Why can't they see we're trying to make things better?"

Kalec embraced her gently, his hands going to her hair. "They're angry, beloved. It doesn't make their insults excusable."

"No. It's stupid. It's all so very stupid." She shook her head. Time to do as Modera did and move on. It was a problem that had been identified. There wasn't anything she could do but address it as she moved forward. "I need to send a note to the others. Let them know this sort of thing is going on." Jaina sighed and pressed her face against his shoulder. "So much for our evening plans."

"There are some leftovers," Kalec said. "Or we could order in."

"I want that beer now. Order in I think. We're out of anything here."

"I'll do that while you write to the Council. Then maybe we could finish up Anduin's gift?"

She nodded. That sounded good. There wasn't anything she could do herself tonight beyond letting the others in the council know. And working on magical things with Kalec was relaxing. "Okay. You okay?" she asked, stepping back. "He wasn't exactly being complementary to anyone there."

"He insulted my mate and my friends and me. I would very much like to fight him," he said with a small feral flash of teeth. "But that wouldn't solve anything and would make more of a problem for you. And I would destroy him utterly. That would be impolite." He said the last with a half-joking and lofty air.

Jaina chuckled a bit darkly. If Kalec were to fight someone, the result would not be very pretty for his opponent. He wasn't the sort to kill, but she imagined anyone dumb enough to try it would be humbled.

"Alas." She leaned up and kissed his nose. "I appreciate the desire to come to my defense but we'll handle it. Somehow." Jaina shook her head. "They probably dealt with it last time." She undid the cloak and pulled it from around her shoulders and handed it to him. "You handle dinner and beer, I'll handle the council and then we'll finish up the Hearthstone board?"

He took the cloak, kissed her forehead then the end of her nose. "Lots of beer. And cookies."

"Haven't you had enough? Isn't there pie left?"

"Never and I left you the last slice," he said then scooted away from her playful swat.

Jaina smirked at him then turned to her desk. Unpleasant letters first, then on to better things.

More rank and file members of the Horde returned. Mostly they saw members of adventuring companies who came to access the knowledge of the Kirin Tor's libraries or to do business in the city. The gold was welcome, but the people carrying it less so. Even with a chilly or outright hostile reception, they still came back.

But as the city's Horde quarter grew, so did the conflict. Within days there were altercations in the city, the brief calm of the initial return shattered like a thin layer of ice over a rushing stream. Judicious use of silence spells and arcane shackles for all parties and hefty fines for the instigators deterred much fighting in the streets, but not all.

There was a balancing factor though.

The Horde population had been rising in the city, but so too had the population of Pandaren.

While portals to Darnassus were redirected to Darkshore, new portals to the Vale had been created. Dalaran found itself once more a trade hub and though the volume wasn't what it once was, the early numbers indicated it was rising. Karlain was brooding over the data like a pleased mother hen. The returning Horde and the existing Alliance businesses now found they had to contend with Pandaren shops.

All things considered, Jaina was glad to have that as a 'problem'. The moderating influence of the Pandaren helped keep the contention to a dull roar. Or at least that was how she perceived the issue.

And it was good because soon she would be sending off another detachment of defenders. Spellsong's plans would have had to have been delayed if the city had shown more unrest.

Which was why they were all assembled in the Chamber of Air once more, the mundane tables and chairs again taking away from the grandiose statement of the room.

"Now that things are settled," Spellsong said, "We've been looking into further ideas of how to support the garrisons and I believe this is the best one." She pushed a map across the table. It depicted the alternate draenor. The garrisons were marked red and blue. She tapped a finger on a northern area and the glowing Eye of the Kirin Tor appeared.

"Another outpost?" Ansirem asked. "Why there?"

"The leylines are decent and Zaliya's shamen say that the spirit of Life is absurdly strong in this valley. Tactically it's also close to where our scouts tell us their chief forge is located," Spellsong said, adding a glowing mark to indicate the Iron Horde a bit further north. "The location we've chosen is close but not so close we're within canon distance or an easy march," Spellsong said. "Additionally it's roughly equidistant from both the Horde and Alliance garrisons."

Jaina traced a finger over the map. "Who'd you want to bring with you? Any idea how many?"

"I have a few names in mind. Sol and Baihu are towards the top. Any volunteers who want to come, of course. We have Lunarfall resources as well as Khadgar's to draw on for certain but I believe this is an opportunity to bring in the Horde mages."

"And the ultimate end?" Karlain asked.

"Secure a supply line terminus close to where we know we'll be fighting the Iron Horde," Spellsong said. "Ideally we would have a large portal anchored there and then one here on Azeroth."

"Where would you going to suggest the Azeroth terminus be?" Jaina asked.

Spellsong pursed her lips. "If this was just going to be us? Stormwind. The bulk of the armed forces are coming in through there. Now that we're talking about bringing in the Horde? I'm uncertain. We could have both sides flow through Dalaran but with the situation as fragile as it is, I don't know we want to push that too soon. We've only just begun letting them back in. Pushing through armies might... make this more difficult."

Jaina tapped her nails against the table as she considered the problem. "If we have the Horde mages and shamen assisting we could potentially open a standing portal near both Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Having an equal presence might deter thoughts of invasion. Or it might just make things worse."

"It would be nice to have direct access, " Modera said. "As much as we'd like for Dalaran to be a true crossroads, we're not equipped with the space to host an army. That's why we had so much infrastructure built at the Argent tournament grounds. In the future? Might be worth thinking about hauling up a few more islands. Right now though we should focus on this." She tapped the map.

Khadgar cleared his throat. Given the importance of this endeavor, he'd come from Draenor to weigh in. "I have a suggestion?"

Jaina and the others looked up.

"Please," Spellsong said, gesturing to the map.

"Theramore. Now it is a bit far from Stormwind, but there is a garrison to the north and it is relatively close to Orgrimmar. The Tree also means there is a sympathetic connection to be made with this verdant area Spellsong's scouts have found. With both Horde and Alliance working together, we'd have spare mage-power to be able to open portals to both Orgrimmar and Stormwind. The warcamps camps could be off the island proper, but the portal could be there."

"There is some poetic justice in the idea too," Modera mused, looking over at Jaina. "Worth investigating or would you rather have Theramore be entirely out of this? No one would blame you for wishing that. It is a sanctuary space with a new World tree, after all."

Jaina pursed her lips a she considered the idea. The initial response had been to scream 'no' but she'd bitten back the response, trying to listen. Khadgar's idea did have merit, but was it best? Possibly for Dalaran and the Kirin Tor, but... maybe not for the world tree growing there.

"While I do appreciate the poetic justice of using it as an anchor to assist in undoing Garrosh's work, I don't know that using the tree as that sort of anchor would be healthy for it," Jaina said. "We're also only just starting to reestablish housing and basic amenities there. I would rather those avoid a military bent and if we used it as a staging point it would be inevitable. And... Let's not invite additional trouble by using Theramore. I think I would rather not have an army come marching through even if they are headed elsewhere."

"A fair point," Kadgar said.

"Understood," Modera said. "Plenty of solutions."

"Perhaps the Horde mages we are already friendly with might have a sense of where Vol'jin's preference would be should be wish to take advantage of assistance?" Jaina sasked

"It's going to be our place. It'd be considered sovereign Dalaran territory, not Alliance," Spellsong said. She nodded at Khadgar. "I was going to ask you to float the idea with the Frostwall mages. I know at least one is going to have owlkittens but the goblin and the troll might be game. Their commander seems the pragmatic sort."

" I shall ask upon my return," Khadgar said.

The meeting was interrupted by a small chime indicating someone wanted to be admitted. Karlain lifted his staff and cast the spell to admit his and Modera's apprentices. The draenei and the human looked serious.

"What is it Luci?"

"Just got this from the acting captain of the Silver Covenant," Lucithy said, handing Modera a parchment.

"She gave us a summary," the Draenei mage said. He shifted his weight from hoof to hoof, looking far younger and more nervous than the much smaller human standing beside him. "Several Horde-owned businesses had their windows smashed and the walls defaced."

"In broad daylight?" Khadgar asked, aghast.

"Looks like it," Modera said, eyes scanning over the page. She made copies with a spell and passed the report around. "I can help look into this," Modera said.

"I can assist," Ansirem said.

"We're just about done here I think," Spellsong said. "We'll work out some potential terminus points and Khadgar can leverage his contacts in Frostwall to see which way the wind might blow."

"Hopefully you two will find the culprits before they get too far," Jaina said.

"If I'm not needed I'll contact the business owners and handle the money side," Karlain said.

Jaina nodded at him. "Thank you."

Modera scowled at the broken glass. It littered the shop floor and chunks were stuck in some of the plants. A rock had been used to break the glass and Ansirem was casting spells around the area to see if it had been thrown by hand or manipulated by magic. He'd already looked for traces of a veil but hadn't found anything.

The shop owner was a tauren druid who'd been glad to return to her plants and, if rumor was to be believed, her human lover. While the Cenarion circle hadn't been explicitly expelled, the Horde members of their order had quietly left until things were more calm.

A few panels of the glass windows of her greenhouse storefront were cracked and broken. The druid herself was calm. Disappointed but calm. But in what was a hopeful turn of events, she was being comforted by two older humans.

"It will be okay, Kuhuine," Dorothy Egan said as she patted the tauren's arm in a motherly way. She had a long-faded gilnean accent and clucked over the druid. Her husband stood on the other side, his arms crossed, beard bristled in a grim frown.

The Egan family were long-time residents of Dalaran and had run the herbalist's shop before they "retired". These days they mostly puttered around in the back of the greenhouse and tended to the plants while Kuhuine ran the front. It was very clear by their behavior that the Egans considered Kuhuine part of the family, not just their successor in running the shop, even if she was a tauren druid from Mulgore.

"Please go over what happened," Modera asked.

Kuhuine sighed and pulled off her wide-brimmed hat, running finger through her mane. "I was re-potting some of the fjarnskaggl when the glass shattered. Dot and I ducked down. I didn't see anything outside. Did you?" she asked Dorothy.

"No, I was busy going over the bookkeeping I'd done while Ku was out of town. My back was to the front windows. First thing I noticed was the glass flying at me," Dorothy said.

"I was in the back," Edward Egan said when Modera's eyes fell to him. "Ku brought back some seedlings from Mulgore and I was watering those for her."

Modera nodded. "I am glad that no one was physically harmed. The Council extends its apologies to you, Mistress Tenderhide," she said to the druid. "We will be seeking out the ones who vandalized your shop. Until then, Archmage Karlain will be in touch with you shortly to see what we can do to help you repair the glass."

"Thank you Archmage," she said, bowing her head.

Modera nodded to her, to the older couple, then turned to leave. She was nearly bowled over by the human couple's daughter.

"I came as soon as I could!" Patricia Egan said, her feet crunching through glass as she ran to embrace the tauren. "Who would do such a thing? You've never done anything? You're in the Cenarion Circle!"

"It will be fine," Kuhuine said. "The Council is looking into it."

"The council-"

"Could have stopped some bigoted asshole from throwing stones in the first place?" her father said, interrupting his daughter.

"Edward!"

The scandalized tone from Dorothy made her accent all the more pronounced. Modera smirked a little as she joined Ansirem outside. Small constructs waited nearby to come into the shop and clean up the glass. A couple defenders were casting divining spells or holding the small crowd back. Modera cast a small privacy ward.

"Find anything?"

"Wasn't thrown by magic. The rock is just that - a heavy rock. One of the witnesses saw a rock suddenly hover out of nowhere and hit the glass," Ansirem told her.

"Portal or veil?"

"Veil or a high-powered invisibility potion," Ansirem said. "All just conjecture, though. The new proprietor is a local favorite and everyone loves the Egans, so I don't think it was a neighbor," Ansirem concluded. "I'll tell Karlain and he can see who might have been buying materials for a potion. If it was a veil that limits who could have cast the spell."

Modera nodded.

"I'm going to ask Defender Ameera and her partner to continue the investigation," he said, nodding his chin.

Modera followed his gaze. There was a tall draenei in the garb of a defender. Beside her was a much smaller human. There weren't too many draenei in the defenders, but Ameera had embraced the Kirin Tor wholeheartedly since she'd left the Exodar. There was also some political currency to be had by asking a non-human to continue the investigation and even more for asking a draenei. Political considerations aside, she was a decent person.

"She's a good mage. Sharp eye. Her partner?"

"Magus Elena just completed her apprenticeship but she's doing well by all accounts. Will be good learning experience for her, too."

Modera grunted assent. "I'm going to get our defenders to patrol a bit more frequently. Maybe discourage some of this. Let me know if you need anything else. "

"Will do."

Modera took down the privacy screen and made her way back towards the Violet Citadel. It had taken longer than she'd expected for there to be this level of vandalism, but something in her gut told her it was just the beginning of a stormy time. Modera watched a pair of gnomes hoist a wreath as large as they were onto the side of a building as she walked. Maybe the holiday would encourage everyone to relax.

Jaina pinched the bridge of her nose. Another round of graffiti had been found and cleaned that morning. The culprits had not yet been found. At least no shops had lost their windows in the night. There were uncomfortable meetings later today but her first appointment wouldn't be horrible. She hoped. Jaina adjusted her seating area so it might be more comfortable for the two gnomes coming to see her. At nine o'clock precisely, there was a polite rap at her open door.

"Archmage," Windle Sparkshine said, his wife Jaxi beside him. Her late apprentice Kinndy's parents had always been kind to her even after their only child's death at Theramore.

"Come in," Jaina said, rising from her desk and ushering the two gnomes inside. She closed the door behind them.

"Jaina," Jaxi said as Jaina bent down to exchange a quick hug. Windle was more formal and exchanged a handclasp with Jaina.

Pondering this Jaina took a low but human-scaled chair as the two settled onto gnome-sized seating across from her.

"It's always a pleasure to see you," Jaina said.

"As it is for us to see you!" Jaxi enthused. "And Aimee and I have come to adore your mate as well. Kalec has become quite a regular," the baker said with a wink.

Jaina chuckled. "He does have a sweet tooth, but he thinks your baking is the best in the city."

"And he's right!" Windle agreed cheerfully as he took his wife's hand.

Windle was well into grey hairs and was considered older for his people. His wife was somewhat younger but strands of matronly steel grey were liberally threaded through Jaxi's hair. Kinndy had been their only child and one granted late. But the two still loved one another. Windle looked at his wife with open adoration that in the past had made Jaina feel like an outsider, a voyeur. This morning she could appreciate the deep and abiding mutual love. Perhaps it was her deepening relationship with Kalec that had changed her perspective,

"Archmage," Windle began, drawing her from her music, "Lady Jaina, we wanted to discuss something with you." His cheerful smile became a solemn expression.

"Of course," Jaina said, fighting to keep the frown she felt forming off her features.

"Given the recent announcements and changes in the city, Jaxi and I have been talking," Windle said.

Jaina's heart plummeted. She stopped breathing.

"We're both getting older now and we've been considering what to do with ourselves. Windle has even been talking about retiring," Jaxi said, smiling at her husband and patting his hand.

A small voice was screaming in the back of Jaina's head. The Sparkshines were leaving because she'd allowed the Horde back into Dalaran. The Horde had killed Kinndy. They couldn't remain...

"-And that's why we wanted to ask your permission."

Jaina's spiraling thoughts came to a screeching halt. "My permission?" Jaina did frown now. Permission? Since when did they need her permission for anything? She'd missed something.

"We'd like to immigrate to Theramore, Lady," Jaxi said, her voice very calming and kind, with just a hint of the wicked smile she'd given to her daughter.

"You what?"

"We'd like to move there," Windle clarified, grinning under his bushy beard, clearing enjoying having flustered Jaina. Kinndy had come by her mischievous quirks honestly.

His wife took up their explanation. "Kinndy found she loved living by the sea when she was your student. And the tree! Oh Lady Jaina it is magnificent. It was so calm and peaceful there. I've actually been in touch with the new Innkeeper, Mistress Steele. Turns out she could use someone to help her in the kitchen and I happen to know a thing or two about baking," Jaxi said with a wink.

"And while I know this will come as an utter shock, I'm getting to be an old man, Jaina. I'd like to spend more time reading and doing research someplace a little bit away from it all. Theramore could probably use a mage or two to do odd jobs or help with portals." He smiled kindly, "Maybe look after a small library and eat scones by the sea."

"You want to move from Dalaran, to live on Theramore."

"If that is permitted," Jaxi said.

Jaina slumped back in her seat, relieved but confused. "Why?"

"Kinndy loved it there, Lady," Windle explained. "We've been talking about it for a few weeks now, ever since the memorial in fact. The announcement of the Horde returning was the push we need."

"The Horde are allowed on Theramore."

"We know," Jaxi said, reaching over to pat Jaina's knee. "We're going to be renting our home here to a goblin mage and her family."

"You are? That was... fast."

"We are!" Windle said. "When the announcement was made I sent mail to some of my old contacts from before they left. Magus Frazzlespark was very excited by the prospect of returning."

"We got to know Brecca and her daughters when they came to Dalaran after the Cataclysm," Jaxi said. "Aimee and I have used some of her product as flavoring and coloring."

Windle nodded. "She's one of the finest alchemists I know and her younger daughter is married to an elf. Our place is perfect for them since it was built at human scale but we've adapted so much for us beings of proper height." He winked at Jaina and laughed as his wife lightly whapped his shoulder.

"You're not leaving because of the reintegration," Jaina said. "And you want to move to Theramore?" Her voice cracked on the name of her home.

"Yes if you would allow it, Lady," Jaxi said, putting her hand over Jaina's again.

"And we'll not only be helping things get back to normal around here, we'll be helping out a family of talented mages who suffered under Garrosh, too," Windle said with a firm nod. "That orc had no respect for anyone." Jaw set, the gnome's eyes blazed with anger and determination. Beside him, his wife nodded in agreement.

"So we'd like to retire to your lovely island, watch that tree grow and remember our daughter," Jaxi said, her voice cracking and her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Oh," Jaina said, her voice wet and breathy as her eyes burned, tearing up. "Yes you may move there if that is what you want. You may live there as long as you like. I have no idea when proper housing will be done, I've been so involved here." She wiped at her eyes. "I-" she broke off, unable to put thoughts into coherent words. "Thank you."

"Don't cry, you'll make me cry," Jaxi said, laughing through her tears.

Jaina could only laugh and cry with her.

"Move your feet!" Modera called out from her vantage point above the course. Jaina hopped to, firing off a blast of misty ice as cover as she moved from one location to the next. Her team followed, Lucithy taking a page from Jaina and adding more freezing mist to the screen. Good! they were both learning! The other team in this exercise couldn't see her as they relocated. Good.

Finch's short but powerful fireball turned the wall of icy mist into steam which rapidly evaporated. The other side was already gone. Modera nodded in approval then nodded to her small army of apprentice spellcasters.

With a bit too much enthusiasm, the class of novices rained destruction down on the more senior mages.

They'd not been expecting that and she noted who among them got shields up before the others. Jaina was one of the fastest, unsurprisingly. Modera was watching her closely to see how she was reacting to being under such fire again. It was something Master Snowpaw had encouraged in their talks; watching. Not just Jaina but all of Modera's charges. Modera was giving special consideration to Jaina to due to the recent battle in Shadowmoon and, well, everything else that had been going on. Perhaps that was playing favorites, but Modera needed Jaina to be in top shape.

The mages in the maze-like course below returned fire if they could, polymorphing or ice-blocking the children they could reach. It was amusing and taught her novice class they needed to shield as well.

Still, she had big guns to bring to bear. Modera lifted her staff and sent a flare skyrocketing up into the sky. It burst overhead, silent but bright. Some were distracted by the light show. Some were more wary. She watched with a bit of glee as a dark shape separated from the surrounding mountainside and took to the air.

Kalecgos rose up then flew down at surprising speed for a being so large. He strafed the course with freezing breath. It wasn't intended to do much damage if someone was caught, but it was as powerful as a blizzard in full gale. Several of her older students went down in heaps, losing their footing while others managed to withstand the blast. Most of the novices were knocked on their rears by the wind of the dragon's wings, but that didn't stop them from laughing and cheering.

Two arcane bolts rose from the chaos of the training field, followed a hearbeat later by two more in frost and another arcane before a fire joined. The return fire mostly missed the dragon - her mages were horribly out of practice when it came to fighting dragons it seemed - but one of the arcane and one of the fire bolts hit Kalec's shields as he retreated.

Modera smirked. The Arcane bolt had been from Jaina's. A very pleasant surprise. The Archmage was smirking, her eyes glowing in anticipation of tagging the dragon on his next pass. Good reaction but she needed to get her head in the game. Modera sent an ice shard sailing for Jaina's position. Proudmoore whirled and brought up a wall of ice at the last moment then beat a hasty retreat out of Modera's self imposed "range".

Modera chuckled as she sent a rain of low-power fire down on the unfortunate class of skirmishing mage. Good. Jaina really was learning how to keep her head. She was also reacting a bit better than she had been.

"That's enough for today," Modera said after Kalec had made a few passes over the course. She sent another signal flare into the air and Kalecgos swooped down to land on the cleared field. He stretched and shook out his wings to the amazement of the novices. Then he was suddenly back in his usual humanoid form. Grinning.

A snowball hit him in the face. He took it without flinching, continuing to grin. Modera put a shield up again just in case. Jaina stalked over, grinning like a madwoman, three snowballs hovering at the ready by her shoulder. Kalec made an elaborate bow and said something, his words lost in the distance. Jaina rolled her eyes but dropped the snowballs. He snaked an arm around her waist and opened a portal to Dalaran with a wave of his hand.

Modera shook her head and laughed as they left, herding the class of novices before them. Heavy footsteps trudged up to her level. Lucithy flopped down onto her back on the bench, one arm and leg dangling off.

"Not bad, Luci."

Luci lifted an arm to give her a thumbs up then let it drop.

Modera reset the equipment on the course and settled things into their storage shack and looked around. The argent tournament grounds were a shadow of their former selves, largely abandoned once their need was done. The large flat spaces and storage were useful to her however and some of the paladins still trained chargers in the cold, thin atmosphere. The chill wind howled lowly between the high peaks.

"Come on," Modera said, nudging Luci with her staff. "We have work to do."

There was always work to do when the storms were drawing closer.