Whether it was the knowledge of impending battle or the battle itself that hung heavy in the air, Gylledra did not know. But it was there, it was almost tangible, a thing she wanted to recoil from but never would; she had a responsibility.

Varok was waiting a short distance away in the shadows under the trees. She hadn't asked him to come with her, but she let him see her sneak away knowing he would follow. She let out a long breath, feeling strange after speaking to Tyrande, after being forced to tussle with a Sentinel.

"Was she a friend?"

"Once upon a time, perhaps. There was much less to say than I had expected." She told him. "It is perhaps somewhat sad, that we are so very different now…I felt no connection…no bond that I thought might still be there since we had known each other for so long."

"I am sorry." He said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be. It was what I needed to know, if there was anything left between what my people have become and what we once were. After that, I long for the quietness." Gylledra gave a sad smile and shook her head but let out a sharp breath, wanting to change the subject. "After everything that happened today, doesn't Thrall need you at the camp?" Varok frowned then.

"I thought that I was where I'm needed." He replied.

"I cannot see how my needs would outweigh those of your people…" She squirmed internally, not really knowing what she needed, but knowing what she wanted but not knowing how to achieve it. She wanted to be with him, to be his partner, his other half. She could see the confusion on his face, the consternation at her odd behavior.

"Gylledra…" He sighed and took her by the shoulders. "We've been together, we've said…I thought you wanted…"

"I do…"

"But?"

"I don't know what I'm doing, Varok. I can pretend until something is real…and I think that now this…is real." She watched his eyes, amber even at night.

"It is." He agreed.

"And…it is frightening."

"Why is that?" Varok frowned then.

"Because before…I had nothing to lose. I could fight in a battle and not think about who was dying, I only had to think of myself." She told him. "Now…I have everything to lose. My world, my people…my heart."

"Having something to lose makes a war worth fighting. It drives you harder, you strike truer, and victory is sweeter." He replied.

"Yes, I know." It was strange and disconcerting to experience the unfamiliar sensation of fear…the concern that she could lose Varok, that the world that was her home could be destroyed…there were so many more things that mattered now than even mere months before. She wasn't sure she liked it, but now there was nothing to be done about it.

"Let's go." He told her softly, taking her hand and leading her into the woods. Gylledra was acutely aware that they were not headed back toward the camp, but made no complaint. In the absence of conversation, they walked and heard only the sounds of their footsteps and the nocturnal animals stirring. There were patches of moonlight that guided the way, though they were still under the unrelenting watch of the Sentinels, of course.

Ahead was the sound of water and as they drew nearer to it, steam was visible, wafting upward into the night. There was a creek that cascaded into a grotto, the moonlight streaming in through ceiling holes that had collapsed centuries or even millennia before. The waterfall spilled into a large, deep pool before the creek continued down a low passage. There were separate pools, from which the steam was rising and Gylledra guessed that there must be volcanic activity somewhere beneath the mountain.

Velvety moss and thick, soft grass covered the floor and she followed Varok down a narrow pathway, carefully picking her way into the grotto itself. It was beautiful and peaceful; in those moments, it was easy to forget the war they were fighting, which is something Gylledra was in great need of just then. She closed her eyes as Varok wrapped his arms around her from behind.

She knew both their minds weighed heavily with the darkness of past and present and that any quietness they might find would be hard won. Opening her eyes, she looked at the pools, listening to the water. A tree had even grown in there, stretching up through the openings. Gylledra reached toward it with a small gesture and soft blue lights began to glow in its branches.

"Is this quiet enough?" He asked softly. She hummed her assent, but felt the warmth at her center slowly expanding. How, she wondered, could her body long for that after all that had happened? Though, when they were together, it seemed that all things faded and for a time there was nothing else in the world but them.

Varok pressed a kiss to Gylledra's neck, his hands roaming over her breasts and she let out a shuddering breath. She was relieved not to be the only one experiencing the need for physical intimacy. It was, at least, a way to escape everything for a little while.

"I think the hot pools here would soothe your aches." She suggested, looking up at him over her shoulder. One of his eyebrows arched ever so slightly.

"Oh?"

"I suppose both our minds could use some quieting." She went on.

"How do you propose to achieve that?" He asked, knowing precisely how. She said nothing, watching him and his hand moved down between her legs. Gylledra inhaled sharply as he gripped her, pulling her against him.

Without another backward glance, she stepped forward, beginning to undress, letting each article fall to the ground as she removed them. Behind her, she could hear him beginning to do the same and she bit her lower lip, secretly grinning. Quickly, she wrapped her braid up and fastened it, to keep from getting wet before dipping a toe in into the pool to gauge the temperature. It was hot, but tolerable, so she stepped in, slowly moving deeper.

The heat seeped into Gylledra's strained muscles, melting away tension she didn't even realize had been there. She managed not to groan with how good it felt. By the time she finally looked back at Varok he stood at the edge the pool, undressed in all his glory.

"What is it with us and the water?" Gylledra asked, watching him, her face flushing as she saw the state of his arousal. "The creek, the ship, the cave…now this." He waded in and let out a deep sigh as he submerged to his chest.

"It is a powerful element." He closed his eyes for just a moment, taking deep breaths and basking in the relaxing heat. But his eyes opened, and moving more quickly than she expected, Varok grabbed her by the waist, pulling her against him.

"Are you sure you want this? Today was…difficult." She breathed, her mouth close to his. He moved to sit on a stone ledge, still submerged to his chest, taking her with him and without a reply, kissed her hard.

"Too much?" He asked a moment later, her lips a little swollen from his rough embrace.

"Not a bit." Gylledra breathed. "Do you think that I am fragile?" He watched her eyes for a moment and slowly shook his head.

"Not a bit." He replied, leaning forward to kiss her again but she didn't let him, giving a devious sort of smile.

"I'm not made of glass…I will tell you if it is too much."

"Do you think the Sentinels are watching?" He asked with a smirk.

"I don't care." At that, he gripped her hips and pulled her against him and she gasped, feeling the hard ridge slide against her sensitive flesh. His gaze was unwavering, watching her reaction as he drew her against him again. Gylledra exhaled a shuddering breath, gripping his shoulders for leverage as she moved her hips with long, maddening strokes along the length of him. A soft, deep groan escaped Varok and through the warm, radiating sensation Gylledra experienced, she felt the thrill of knowing she gave him pleasure too.

Coherent thought and sentences vanished as he kissed her again, his hands moving over her backside and then up again. The scorching heat emanating from that point of contact became more insistent, urging for more…more… She pulled back from his kiss, breathing hard as she moved faster, vocalizing the effort through clenched teeth. More, more, more. Her eyes were squeezed shut as the urgent tension grew. It was so close…that intoxicating release, the thing her body needed from him more than it seemed to have ever needed anything.

"Yes…" Varok whispered, his hips moving upward suddenly beneath her and it shattered, her entire body clutched in a trembling, overwhelming grip that blurred anything and everything but him. Gylledra's nails bit into his flesh and he pulled her harder against him as she cried out. When it ebbed away, she could feel her body trembling. He held her as she still grasped him, arms around his neck.

"Oh…" She breathed. Varok chuckled and she shyly met his eyes.

"Oh." He nodded, smiling. "Are you alright?"

She nodded in reply. "But you didn't…" He hadn't even been inside her…

"Not yet." His gaze darkened. Yet…the word was heavy with his intent and Gylledra reached down between their bodies, wrapping her fingers around him. She watched him closely as she slid her grip down and then up again, his eyes slightly rolling back.

"Not yet…but soon." She murmured.

"Soon enough." He growled then his mouth savaged hers again. He hoisted her up, stepping onto the ledge he'd been sitting on and deposited her onto the soft, mossy grass.

Varok lay there beside Gylledra on his side, but leaned over, his mouth on hers. One hand trailed down over her breasts, belly, and thighs with a feather-light touch through the water beading on her skin before his palm rested a moment on her abdomen. She couldn't get enough of touching him, his firm, solid body, the bulge of his muscles, his face, his hair…any part she could get her hands on.

His hand moved downward between her thighs, which she parted as he slowly stroked down and up again. One long, thick finger slowly moved around the focal point of sensation as Varok looked down at her. She gasped as the tip slipped inside her, then he slowly went deeper, her eyes closed and she moaned aloud. He hummed a pleased sort of sound, withdrawing and entering again. Her hips rocked with the slow rhythm he moved with and she grabbed at him, wanting…

"…more…" The word popped out of its own volition but Varok complied without question and she writhed beneath his hand. It was happening again, and Gylledra was panting, longing for that release again. To her frustration and mild horror, he pulled away and she looked at him in question.

"How much more?" The look in his eyes was foreboding and animalistic, frightening and exciting all at once.

"Everything…" Almost before she could finish the sentence, he grabbed her wrists, pinning her down and he drove into her hard. Gylledra cried out in a mixture of pleasure and just a bit of pain…but it was glorious. He groaned through clenched teeth as he withdrew then moved inside her at an almost brutal, unrelenting pace that made it impossible for her to stay quiet.

"Are you alri—…"

"Do not stop!" She interrupted, her body taut and already at the precipice of completion. Varok was breathing hard and she walked the line between being too overwhelmed. But this ruthless pleasure stirred in her the darkness she had embraced so long ago, the thing that made her so uniquely powerful, it hungered for whatever too much was, and she loved it. She came, and the sound of her heartbeat and his breath was all she could hear as the pleasure consumed her, it permeated and wrapped itself around her…it was alive and controlled her, seeking nothing but the satisfaction which she could draw only from Varok.

The climax ebbed away like the tide, and he released her wrists, one arm scooping beneath the small of her back as he turned over. She found as that clutching force trickled away, so too did the hungry darkness that sought pain with pleasure. Her limbs were trembling, sapped of their strength and she could do little more than lie on his chest, rising and falling with his breath. He was still inside her, he wasn't done, but she had seen in his eyes the same darkness that lived in her heart, the thing that drove them both to violence, even this kind that made them claw and bite and rut like animals. It seemed to fade from his gaze and what was left was the orc she knew…and loved.

"Gylledra." Varok whispered, and sat up, his arms around her. It was strange, like looking at him and truly seeing him with everything else stripped away, and she took his face between her hands. The goodness in him shone like a beacon, and though he might not see or feel it, it was there. She pressed a light kiss to his lips.

"You are better than I deserve…" She whispered and he opened his mouth to protest but she put her fingers over his lips, shaking her head. "To you, I am not just a weapon." He moved her hand and kissed her instead of speaking and when Gylledra moved her hips, he groaned quietly. She shifted, hooking her feet on his splayed thighs for leverage and slowly began to move against him, watching his face. Varok's breath caught and she gripped his shoulders, going a little faster, a little deeper.

He kept his eyes on hers, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips as the rhythm increased, the closer her got, the more his muscles tensed as she drew him nearer and nearer to his own release. It did not matter that she was inexperienced, her body knew, and it responded to his as his breath came faster…inching him closer…her hips grinding against him. The soft moans that escaped him made her own center burn with need again. He strained and she kept going, but overcome with the need to move, he flipped Gylledra onto her back, each stroke jarring her body. She gripped his arms as he supported himself. Watching him, she memorized his face, every line, ever scar…the way he moved, how his back arched as his hips drove forward with that instinctual need to couple. Her own body moved of its own accord, her heels dug into the dirt as she lifted her hips to meet each stroke. Every sense felt heightened…

Varok's brow drew together as he closed his eyes, giving a rough cry as he suddenly thrust hard into her, once…and then again, and a third and final time. He pressed deep inside her, shaking as she felt his pulsing release. He lowered to his elbows, the full length of his body pressed to hers and she came again, her body clenching around him as she buried her face against his neck, her hips jerking with the unexpected spasm.

"Mmm." He hummed quietly into her ear; she was breathless. Gylledra winced a little as he withdrew, rolling onto his back a bit out of breath. She blinked, feeling dazed, an involuntary smile plastered to her face. Varok reached for her, drawing her across his chest, and rested his hands on her back. Beneath her ear, she could hear his heart still pounding. Her eyes closed as she began to relax but Varok tensed suddenly.

"What?" She murmured.

"I hurt you…" He started.

"I think I would have noticed, being there the whole time…" She went on, eyes still closed but he took her wrist and the pain shot up her arm, making her pull it away. She looked then, pushing herself up and saw the darkening bruises already forming. "Oh, that's nothing…" She dismissed. He still looked guilty. Making a frustrated noise, she batted his hand away and practically sat on his chest, grabbing him by the tusks so that he looked at her. "Stop it. There is nothing to mar what we have done, are doing, and will do. I have gone to war countless times, nearly died countless time…bruising my wrists while you make my body scream is certainly nothing to pay any mind to." He smiled then as she released him. "Besides…" with a simple gesture, strands of arcane circled the bruises and they vanished. "Good as new. How about you? I've got your blood under my nails." She looked at her fingers.

"Here." He held up his gouged forearms and she reached to fix him up as well, but he pulled back, shaking his head. "No, I think I will keep these."

"Suit yourself, you odd orc." She chuckled and moved off of him again, pressing cozily against his side, using his shoulder for a pillow as he held her. Only the sound of the water filled the silence as they both were no doubt reflecting on the day and on the clarity with which they both now saw their terrible pasts. Their physical activities could only push back such things for short times before reality cascaded onto them once more.

"Who was the last elf you spoke to before today?" Varok asked. Gylledra's eyes widened, having expected him to be ruminating about his own guilt.

"Oh…um…" She blinked, still surprised by the question. "My grandfather."

"Did he know you were leaving Suramar?"

"Yes." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her grandfather, T'veras Alenos, was the one person she left behind in Suramar that her heart ached at the thought of. She had loved and admired him above all others. "He…he was the only one who believed what I said. My whole life he had been the one who encouraged me, who did not balk when I said our queen was a mad, corrupt witch leading the whole of the night elf empire to inevitable destruction."

"How long ago was that?"

"Six and a half millennia." She whispered, not trusting her voice not to crack if she spoke louder than that. "I cared what no one else thought of me…and it was when I thought of how ashamed he would be of the things I had done that I thought I deserved to die."

"Do you still think he would be ashamed?" Varok continued his questioning and Gylledra sat up again to look at him, wondering why he was wondering.

"Nasorya tore the self-pity from me…she forced me to see that my life was still valuable, and that if I could learn from what I had done…and if my grandfather loved me as much as I loved him, he could not be ashamed…that he would be proud of me."

"She is much wiser than she lets on." He replied.

"She is a dragon, she has lived tens of thousands of years, maybe more…she has seen worlds born and destroyed…lived through torture and slavery…" She looked down at her hands. "I freed her from the deepest darkness of her very long life…that one act was enough to restore her faith in…everything." Gylledra looked into Varok's eyes as she blinked back unexpected tears. "I have to believe that if a creature like her…all innocence and wonder…can find the goodness in my shriveled, depleted heart and breathe life into me again…then perhaps I am worthy of living." Gylledra was speaking as much to Varok as she was herself, knowing full well the extent of the grief and guilt he was subjecting himself to. "I don't believe in fate, but I do believe our lives should not be wasted."

"I think you are right." He replied quietly. "Though it does not lessen the pain, I can live with it." He sat up, taking her in his arms. "I may have died today had you not stayed my hand."

"I saw many others like you…"

"I will help them if I can." He pressed his forehead to hers.

The first pink light of dawn was barely a halo in the east when Gylledra and Varok returned to the camp. All was still silent, and he gave her hand a squeeze before they went their separate ways. She needed to speak with Nasorya and hadn't even reached her tent when her groggy friend stepped out, yawning.

"Well, and just where have you been all night?" She teased quietly. Gylledra smiled though, shaking her head.

"I spoke to Tyrande." She replied and Nasorya's eyes widened.

"How was that?"

"It was neither good, nor bad. She is still exactly as she has always been, and the only thing I have in common with who I was ten thousand years ago is my name." Gylledra told her. "I was a night elf once, but now I am different from them as orcs are."

"Wow, that…is an extreme comparison." Nasorya gave a snort. "Was she unkind?"

"No, she even said I have a place amongst them if I wished."

"Yeah, that'll be the day."

"I know where my place is now." Gylledra smiled.

"Flat on your back, apparently."

"Yes, well…I'm too tired to give adequate rebuttal." She grinned as Nasorya tried to stifle her laughter. They sat beside the cold, extinguished fire, there was no use in trying to sleep, the sun was already cresting the horizon.

"The coming days will be unpleasant at best." Nasorya told her, sobering.

"While part of me hoped to never have to look on the face of Archimonde again, I know I will be seeing him. Though I cannot wait until the stink of fel is clear from these lands. Azeroth needs to be finally free from the plague that is demons." Gylledra sighed. "Though now I fight for far more than principle alone…and that makes me much more dangerous than I have ever been."