Epilogue

It was a long walk back to Area 52. The storm was gone, which allowed the dark heavens to be seen clearly. Worlds hung like marbles in the sky, and stars glimmered like pinpricks on an ebony tapestry. But there was no sun. The world bathed in a violet twilight.

Ero'then carried Karielle in his arms. She looked like a child afflicted with some frame-crushing disease. The only sounds of life coming from her were the occasional wheeze or cough. The sound of her coughing made Sel'uen wish she would die.

Ero'then's druidic healing did her no good. Blood elves needed arcane energy to function. Karielle had completely drained herself to add her power to Ero'then's struggle. But Ero'then made no attempt to use his arcane magic. So Karielle remained as she was.

When Sel'uen slept she had nightmares.

Thinking neither her Shan'do nor Karielle would survive, Sel'uen had eventually mustered the courage to check the lower levels. The sight was like something out the mind of a mad painter.

Though the manaforge retained its structural integrity, the storm had taken a heavy toll on the building. Debris and the corpses of elves and demons littered the floor and some of the walls. The storm had tossed them indiscriminately. Many bodies were shredded beyond recognition. The walkways on the second level had largely collapsed. She had to watch her footing on the third. She was afraid to call out for survivors; she was afraid she would draw demons. But it hadn't seemed like there were any more demons. The huge, three-headed god-thing was gone.

The Legion had retreated. She had spent some time just staring at the battlefield. But what the three-headed monster hadn't finished, the storm had.

There were no survivors.

When she'd returned to the roof she'd found Ero'then sitting and meditating. Karielle hadn't moved.

They'd started walking back soon after that. They made no effort at clean up or burial. They simply left.

They'd only really spoken once. It had been when Ero'then had picked up Karielle. They were about to leave the manaforge. Sel'uen had asked if it would be safe now.

Ero'then had nodded. "They paid a price they did not expect to pay," he said. And that was all.

It took them several days to find Area 52. When they did they rested there a day. Ero'then informed the appropriate parties of Drex's fate. Apparently he had a sister who worked on site as well. Ero'then told her that her brother had died fighting demons. A hero.

The doctor on hand couldn't figure out what was wrong with Karielle. He suggested they keep feeding her and giving her drink, but he told them his expectations weren't very high. He said he thought her chances were better if she was able to rest.

They brought her with them through the Blade's Edge Mountains. When the rocky landscape finally started to soften into the marshes, Sel'uen thought that Karielle's skin was starting to lighten again, though it could have been a trick of the firelight. A few more days, though, and it became apparent. She was coloring.

Ero'then had to ask around in Telredor to find the location of the Red Sons. They'd last been heard making a stir in Shattrath, where factions in the city were forcing them to take sides.

They left Telredor after a few days of rest. When they entered the forests Karielle was able to walk on her own. The blood elf insisted on it. She also insisted they go on without her if she thought she slowed them down. She did, but they did not.

They found Shattrath with little difficulty. The city was huge and densely populated with refugees. Sel'uen forced herself to talk to some of them. By the time she was finished, it sounded like war was everywhere. It was always bad news.

Ero'then finally found the Red Sons on one of the upper levels of the city. The human paladin was there, Riley, but Bern was out. There was something about fighting the Horde near a place called Auchidoun. Neither Sel'uen nor Karielle were privy to Riley's other updates.

The Red Sons set them up in a tavern in the lower city. It wasn't a bad place, even with all the refugees. Sel'uen simultaneously felt crushed by the press of people and glad for the chance to blend in and become nameless. Ero'then had his own room there but he rarely visited. Business with the guild, apparently.

One day Karielle pitched the idea for a walk in the woods outside the city. Sel'uen, feeling rested, agreed. Karielle gathered a backpack full of possessions, while Sel'uen barely brought anything. The difference between a mage and a druid, she thought.

Once out of the city, the silence was deafening. The woods were thick everywhere in this region so a verdant gloom hung on them as they hiked. Karielle set a mean pace. It was as if she had somewhere to be. Sel'uen had longer strides, so she was able to keep up without much effort. She might have wondered at the blood elf's hurry, but she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts.

She was in a forest for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. She tried to connect to it, and to meditate a bit as she walked, but found her attempts sliding with half-hearted failure. Whenever she closed her eyes, she would see that chamber filled with elves and demons like a blinding afterimage. She did not rest well, and her dreams did not comfort her. When she tried to imagine Dolanaar, and her tree, and the squirrels, and the empire of ants, she found it exceedingly difficult.

So she gave up.

They stopped for lunch. Ever since she'd started walking again Karielle had been putting down more than both night elves combined. Her eyes had long assumed a dullness that hadn't wavered much in their travels. They wandered the clearing they had chosen. Shafts of silvery light pierced the trees.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to stay in that damned, stinking city much longer," the blood elf said. Her hair was braided again.

"It doesn't stink that badly."

"Not up on the higher levels. But down where we stay it stinks. Stinks like desperation."

The night elf took a big bite. She chewed.

"I'm considering a change of venues, Sel'uen," Karielle said. "A big change, to a place where I would be appreciated. A place where I know where my master stands, and where I'll be welcomed. Some place I'll thrive. Where I can do what I want. A real home, you know?"

"What about here? What about Silvermoon?"

"They're not my people anymore. Not really. Maybe in a few years they will be, but right now they're in for hell. Either they know what our glorious prince is doing, or they don't know and they've got the wool pulled over their eyes. Either way I don't see much in the future of my people. Not the way we're going."

"Then stay here with us."

That smirk. "Be welcomed into the Alliance? You've got an imagination kaldorei. No." The blood elf watched a breeze move the trees, and the shafts of silvery light danced, reflecting off her pale face. "I want to fight, yes, but I want a home too. Someone who I can serve without shit in my conscience. Someone who won't sell himself to the Legion. Someone I can stand tall fighting for. A cause and a home I can be proud of."

Sel'uen didn't have to guess. "He's not someone to be proud of."

"No?" She pointed back towards Shattrath. "And he is?"

Weakly: "He's never betrayed me."

The blood elf looked disgusted. "Haven't you learned anything?"

Sel'uen looked down at her food. She wasn't hungry. The scene of the battlefield had superimposed itself on the woods. At the center of the carnage, a bear slumped.

Karielle went on. "He'd teach you a lot damned more than Ero'then ever will. Lot more practical, too."

"You just plan on walking into his realm and joining up?"

"Kael'thas has betrayed him. Wouldn't that be worth something?"

"He must already know."

"Maybe." But Karielle knew she had her on the hook. "Doesn't matter. I was loyal to Kael when he served Illidan. We won't be the first to trade masters once the prince's betrayal becomes known."

"Do I look like I served Kael'thas Sunstrider?"

"No," Karielle said. "You look like a beaten bitch. Are you really going to go back to your master Sel'uen?"

It was then that Sel'uen saw that she was no longer a student of Ero'then at all. He had never given her a lesson all the way back. He had never ordered her around like he had before. He had almost treated her as an equal. Like she was his peer.

My last lesson to you, and to you all, is at hand.

Sel'uen looked at Karielle's bag. "I assume it's all packed for the trip?" she asked.

"For two. Should be enough."

Sel'uen nodded. A strange peace settled on her. It was strange because it had nothing to do with the woods around her or that tree overlooking Dolanaar. She showed the blood elf her empty hands. "I have nothing I need."

That grin. When they finished their lunch, Karielle actually embraced her. She must not have thought she'd convince the night elf. Sel'uen had surprised herself.

Still, the hug betrayed Karielle's nerves. Her bravado and surety were not entirely authentic. And as Sel'uen realized that, she felt her own nerves rise.

But what was wrong with that? She walked away from Shattrath City beside the blood elf mage who looked so much like a princess.

Let the fear come. This was a new fear. Something she had not felt before, even when she had been chosen to accompany the Shan'do Ero'then on a journey to a world beyond the Portal. These were new paths.

She found that she couldn't wait to get out of the woods.


When Ero'then checked the inn the second day, he asked the barkeep if he had seen the two. The answer was the same. He was unable to mask his feelings.

"Hey," the keep said. He was an orc but with brown skin. He sounded like he was empathizing. "Don't look so down knife-ears. The world's full of beautiful women."

"It is." He thanked the keep and headed up to their rooms.

Sel'uen hadn't left much, but then she had had little to leave. It was the same with Karielle's room. It was so neat Ero'then couldn't help but smile. The mocking message was clear.

He gathered what little there was from the two females and placed it in his room. He sat on the floor and started meditating.

He could have caught them if he had wanted. He was a damned fast falcon. He even had an idea of where they were going. Or, at least, where Karielle was going. But the fact that they had gone together left him thinking that they had the same destination. Despite himself, he felt regret.

No, that was not it. It was that cousin of regret. He had taught the lesson as best he could. She had received it as she would. If anything, her decision spoke more to who he was than who she was.

He closed his eyes and let himself lull. He was able to sleep well now that he was far from the storm, but he wasn't tired. Even here, in the press of people and desperate refugees, he could meditate.

He let himself fall into focus. Into the Dream. He returned to that familiar place, that place of peace, but he whispered a farewell to her before he left.

"May the stars guide you, Thero'shan."


She had insisted on being outside, so Ero'then tried to make it as comfortable as possible for her. He carried her away from their home and away from their clearing deep into the woods.

After what seemed like hours, she finally said, "Here," and he stopped. He laid her where she indicated. She didn't groan or moan when he put her down, but she did sigh. He propped her head with some fallen wood and rolled up leaves.

"Stop it," Anora said. "You're fussing."

"Stop it," he said. "You're dying."

She snorted, but let him fuss. When he was satisfied, he sat down beside her. He took one of her hands. He glanced up.

This was an even better clearing than theirs. The shape of the trees' growth and the rocky ground along them had ensured a clear view of the sky. They were far from anything resembling civilization, even by their standards. The sky shone with stars.

"Down here," she said.

He glanced back down. "How do you find these places?" he asked her.

"I've a talent for finding diamonds in the rough."

He glanced up at the sky again.

"Which of us is more beautiful?" she asked.

"The stars," he said.

She nodded. It was a slow movement and painful to watch. "You are right, Thero'shan," she said.

It took him a while to be aware of the quiet. The sounds of the forest were, though there, muted, frozen in time. The breeze kissed Ero'then playfully. The stars shone above, their shine almost translating to an indecipherable sound. Anora's breath had stilled.

Ero'then crossed his legs and closed his eyes.