Chapter 17
She awoke to the thundering of the storm.
It was so loud she could feel the reverberations of the roaring through the metallic floor. She was on her side, slumped against the wall, her cheek to the floor. She had drooled a bit. Her mouth felt arid.
A bit disgusted with herself, she sat up and wiped the dribble off her face. She looked for her pack. The blood elves had taken it, but now it was against the wall beside her. She looked through it. They'd gutted everything but her food and canteen. She took conservative sips. Once she was finished, she sat and listened to the storm.
Its intensity seemed to have reached a fevered pitch. At this point, she was starting to wonder if it was sentient. It sounded angry, enraged even. Coming in, she hadn't seen any obvious signs of magic being used to keep back the fury of the storm from the facility, but then she was hardly an expert on arcane usage. With an archmage running the facility, the blood elves could afford to be creative. Listening to the howling, the lashing of the wind outside, the crashing of thunder and the echoes of building-sized debris crashing into one another high, high above them, she felt like the fury of the storm was not aimless but directed at this one nexus. It was as if whatever leeching this facility was doing to the storm had caused it to rage against it in retaliation, trying to get at its denizens.
But the facility stood strong. She could not see further than the few meters down the hallway beyond her cage, but there was no creaking, no moaning of structural fragility. Either the place itself had been built strong enough to handle this most terrible maelstrom or the spells were well-wrought enough to hold it back. Either way, she didn't feel like she was in danger. Well, not from the storm at least.
She forced herself up and stepped to the bars. She looked down the hallway and saw multiple other cells. However, the ones she saw were all empty. Their captors didn't want them communicating with each other. She ran her hands along the bars, testing their strength. She thought she recognized its hardened build, and thought back to Honor Hold, when she'd amused herself by watching the blacksmiths work. Adamantium.
There was the one guard on duty, and she was surprised to find him slumped asleep on the wall, much as she had been. She smiled.
What did the blood elves plan to do with them? She couldn't think of anything good. They were far from any Horde or Alliance outposts, though even then she wondered what allegiance this place held to. The archmage had said he was a servant of the Sun King, Kael'thas Sunstrider. It was all very complicated and she had to admit to herself that she had not paid as much attention to the Shan'do's lessons in politics as she should have, but her limited understanding told her that Kael'thas was allied with the Betrayer and his Illidari army. Yet the Shan'do had also told them once that the blood elves on Azeroth swore fealty to a regent who had formed an alliance with the Horde. She frowned again. To think that after all the Horde had done to the elves - Highborne and kaldorei alike - that Quel'thalas would even consider a partnership with them… it was too bizarre to even consider.
She watched the sleeping form of her guard. He was mumbling. Troubled in his dreams.
But if this place owed its allegiance to the Horde, she would have felt a little bit safer. Despite the hostilities between the two powers, neither the Alliance nor the Horde were known for cruelties to their captives, and she'd even witnessed a prisoner exchange back in Honor Hold. But if the archmage - who was the obvious master of the facility - was beholden to Kael'thas, who was beholden to Illidan…
She also couldn't shake the feeling that they had stumbled on a powerful secret here. With the fact that the mages hadn't divulged details on their desired "promised land" and her Shan'do's declared desire to "enlighten" the blood elves left her feeling like they were unwelcome guests in a place that Kael'thas's forces didn't want the rest of Outland to know existed. And if that was the case, she didn't like their odds of surviving captivity.
She kept coming back to her Shan'do. He might not have known everything, but he knew pretty damn close to everything. He hadn't looked particularly worried when they'd walked in on this place. She wanted to know why. She needed to see him.
She retreated from the bars and took a seat, crossing her legs and falling into her meditation. The howling of the storm softened into the gentle breeze of Dolanaar.
She had seen her Shan'do accomplish incredible things without any meditation at all, but she was no Shan'do. Meditation helped her focus herself on her tasks, even the simple ones. So it did now.
She reached out around her, felt her own life spirit, then acknowledged the sleeping guard. Something in him caused her to pause. His dreams were troubled. Very troubled. She thought to assuaged him, but then decided against it. She did want to waste her energy.
She wandered down a few hallways and discovered Xallon and Renarion before she found her Shan'do. He was a bit of a beacon, his life-force burning with great strength and clarity. Noting where he was, she returned to herself and focused again on Dolanaar.
The gentle breeze. The sound of the wildlife, the birds, the fawns sprinting through the underbrush. The soft, never-ending twilight that blanketed the boughs of the world tree. She considered her own tree, felt its resilient bark, noted the imperial ants, noted the familial squirrels. When she opened her eyes, the world was bigger, and she felt lighter. The fury of the storm was louder and more than a bit scarier.
With only a moment's hesitation, the squirrel scampered through the bars and down the hallway.
She found her Shan'do meditating in his cell. He had a guard as well—who was also asleep, snoring with intermittent violence.
She slipped through the bars and stared up at her Shan'do. He looked like a serene titan, perfectly focused. He hadn't seemed to have noticed her, so she changed back into a night elf as soundlessly as she could. She didn't want to break his concentration.
She folded her knees and waited. What was he doing? Perhaps it was nothing at all. Was this what druids did when they were further enough along? Would she one day become so wise that she simply wanted to meditate for meditation's sake?
She took to watching the blood elf guard who snored obnoxiously. She began wondering with not a little anxiety what he would do when he saw her in here. She hadn't planned to deal with him on her way up here; she had been thinking that when Ero'then saw her, he would have dealt with him. It turned out that there hadn't been any need, but now she was anxious to speak with her Shan'do before he awoke and discovered her.
"Hello young one. It seems those who ridiculed you for your choice of a form are the ones who are now stuck behind bars."
She looked at him. He hadn't moved and his eyes were still closed, but she thought she saw the hint of a smile.
That had been another thing. She had been afraid to provoke his temper. "Yes, Shan'do," she said. "I hope I haven't done wrong to join you here."
"That would depend on why you have joined me, Sel'uen. I imagine you have a question."
"Some," she said. She spilled her mind to him. When she was finished, he still hadn't moved. She had realized he hadn't stopped out of necessity. He needed to keep meditating. His silence caused her to hesitate, but when she did he would nod as if to show he hadn't abandoned her.
"Why have we come here, Shan'do?" she finally asked. "What is the purpose of this adventure? What are we to do now?"
"When you ask a question," he said, "ask it once, and in only one way. Otherwise you will get a confused answer."
When he didn't continue, she bit her lip. "Why have you brought us here, Shan'do?" she asked.
In lieu of an immediate answer, a huge boom echoed from outside. It wasn't anything on the facility. It had been the collision of two huge boulders in the sky. The sound echoed through the facility, ricocheting off the metal over and over again, growing softer and yet more menacing each time.
"I came to regret telling the elders that I was leaving," he said, eyes still closed. "I should have left without telling them. When I did, they insisted I bring students. That I not "waste" my time wandering the world. They thought it would do young ones good to see the world beyond the woods." A darker smile. "They said it would do them good to fear it as well."
"We could have stayed in Honor Hold with Bern and the Red Sons." That was the name of the Alliance guild that Ero'then had been established as an ambassador to following the Third War. "We could have stayed with the Circle in the marshes. There was a great deal to learn there, and I think you all would have benefited from studying that region."
When he had not spoken for a while, she asked, timidly, "Why didn't we?"
"As you know, I have a reputation among the elders back in Teldrassil." She nodded, realizing she was nodding to herself. "Some among them would have been happy just to see me go, even without students. But with the loss of Nordrassil, the Moonglade became a bit frenzied about teaching our youth with our older generations, before the elders pass away. What we once had centuries to do, now we must do in years. When they saw how I worked with Bern and the humans, I think they came to grudgingly realize that my teaching methods were best suited to this new press of time. So they gave me you. Students to teach.
"It is important that you understand that in the past few years, I have learned to become a student myself. The humans taught me much about the world and myself that I had long forgotten. Though I have only recently remembered the pain of loss, I fear I have also been callous to it.
"When I learned of the Highborne, I knew the danger they posed not only to this world, but our world as well. It always has been, and I fear it always will be. Illidan's armies are Azshara's pride re-personified. Azeroth must know what is happening here before it is too late. It was only a hunch when I left, otherwise I would have included Bern. Perhaps." He smiled. "Old habits.
"I believe it is my responsibility to not only teach you how to be a druid, but also to teach you how to be a kaldorei and, more, a child of Azeroth. Our people have so long hidden ourselves from the world because we feared the Highborne's folly. But I cannot teach you, and you cannot learn, hidden in the woods sheltered by Teldrassil. The dark world we long forsook has found us again. I will not ignore it. I will not be crippled by the fear of loss."
Sel'uen thought of Brim and his poor cooking. She hadn't meant her question to be accusatory… had she?
No. No, she had. She looked again to her Shan'do still as a stone, his eyes shut.
She blamed Ero'then for Brim's death as unnecessary, and Ero'then knew it. He knew it better than she did. She thought of how he had barely acknowledged Brim's death until the funeral, and she grew angry.
I will not be crippled by the fear of loss.
"You are callous," she said. "You never wanted us to come. You really don't care what happens to us."
Ero'then was silent for a time. "That is yours to decide, young one," he said, quietly. "But if I could request this; hold your judgement still. Our task, and your lesson, is not yet finished."
She swallowed the lump in her throat as best she could, narrowly avoiding an outburst. She waited for him to speak again, but then realized he wouldn't.
"What are you doing?" she finally asked.
Another smile. Thunder boomed over the facility. "A provocation of sorts. If it's safety you crave, then I suggest you go back to your cell. But I think that if you stay, you will hear an answer to many of your questions. It will be a few hours yet."
She knew what his words had been designed to do, but she couldn't help herself. "It's not my own safety I crave, Shan'do," she said, and knew it sounded acidic. "I'll not abandon you."
The smile stayed, but he didn't answer. Sel'uen watched him to see if he would say anything else, but after a while she gave up and found herself a spot on the wall and rested. Looking at him, she wondered if she could have had her old teacher - the one who had ridiculed her answers and treated her like a foolish child - would she have taken him back? The way he had spoken to her made her feel scared and alone. How would the others have responded to his words? What would Renarion have said?
But her Shan'do did not comfort her and he did not take any of his words back. He did not speak at all for a long time.
