Chapter 5

I bolted into the camp, unclasping his cloak and throwing it to his mat, gathering my things immediately. The Sha was gone, the jungle was warm again. I'm leaving.

I can go back to the temple; they won't let him in if I will it-

"Jadearra-"

I turned and let my fist slam into his jaw, sending him to the ground and giving myself time to take my bags and bolt. I heard Bandit following.

I left the camp, running in the direction I thought was northeast, and I heard him following. I hopped the river, willing myself to go faster, when hands caught me and yanked me backwards.

I was slammed into a tree, the breath knocked out of me, and I was pinned by his hands and body.

His lips were inches from mine, and his chest heaved, "Talk to me."

I looked to the side, refusing to look at him, and his arms closed in, pinning my head and forcing me to look forward at him, "Answer. Me."

His legs pinned mine, I couldn't move and so many bloody emotions were ricocheting around that my eyes watered, tears leaking down my face as I stared into his eyes in stubborn silence.

"Please, don't just pretend that didn't happen," His forehead was pressed against mine, our breath was mingling and he was so close-

I closed my eyes hard, guilt choking me.

I felt soft fingers on my cheek, and I opened my eyes to meet his again, knowing mine were bright with water, "Jade," he whispered softly, looking at me with emotions that made me want to flee, "What's going on?"

I shook my head, childish warbling below me, and I gave in.

I leaned forward and kissed him again, relishing in the feeling, as he pressed closer, responding this time. He tasted like honey and mint, and he was warm. I hate myself.

I pulled away, guilt freezing my veins like stone, and he looked so…shocked, and…happy? I couldn't tell.

"If you don't know, it's alright," Anduin said, as if reading my mind, "But don't run, not yet…please, princessling,"

The nickname held more weight now, and with a gulp I nodded, weakly, and was freed from my pinned prison to the tree.

We walked back in silence, and when we reached the camp, I silently took the cloak back from his mat, curling up in my cubby with it-god I'm screwed.

He didn't join me, keeping his distance and talking to Lord Zhu, as I tasted him on my lips and mourned my mental state.

I cannot get attached, I am a Horde leader, and he is the son of her murderer-

Goddammit.

"Jadearra."

I looked up to see him standing there, looking uncertain with an undertone of a thousand questions.

I moved, and he sat down in barely concealed relief, smiling when I leaned on him in silence.

"Lord Zhu has a new a mission for us," he said after a few minutes of just breathing.

"Oh," I said, my voice slightly gruff.

"We are to walk from here to the Kun Lai summit tomorrow, orders of the White Tiger." He said, and I sighed.

"Walk? As in, on foot?" I asked, and he hummed affirmatively, "Why?"

"Not sure, but we should go ahead and sleep, we're supposed to leave before sunrise tomorrow," he shifted a little under my head, and I moved, laying down on my mat with my back to him.

"Look at me, please,"

I turned facing him, looking blankly into eyes that held far to much emotion.

"Please don't go backwards and start hating me again, please," he pleaded, and I sighed, moving and using his arm as a pillow, allowing him to tuck him self in around me.

"Thank you."

"Up, it's time."

I opened my eyes tiredly to see Lord Zhu standing above my cubby, looking grim in the night.

I shook Anduin awake, separating us and preparing my packs for transport. Bandit was awake, yawning and stretching as Anduin came out of the cubby finally, and picked up his pack and duster from his mat.

We were shooed out of the camp by Taran Zhu with hurried instructions to "head to the northern border of the valley, then head east, a staircase will take you to Binan Village. From there the temple is visible."

I may have lied when I said I wouldn't go backwards on Anduin-but I can not get attached to him-not even when he tasted delicious.

I shut down my emotions, looking straight ahead and walking north, keeping the faint rays on my right, ignoring the blonde on my left.

I was doing pretty well; the sun had freed itself entirely from the horizon before he made a move.

He started whistling.

My breath whistled slightly as I recognized the tune-my favourite jig from The Filthy Animal in Dalaran, how could he possibly-?

"You hum it when you're amused. You know this has lyrics right?" He bounced up in front of me, walking backwards to face me and whistle.

My face reddened, both from flattery that he noticed and annoyance at his not cooperating with my hating him.

I pressed on, stubbornly trying to ignore him, but he whistled louder and louder, dancing as he walked, and I found myself walking in time to the song.

I shook my head, glaring at him, and he grinned devilishly, knowing exactly what I was doing and not letting me.

Bastard.

"You have to talk to me sometime," he said, and I said nothing.

This went on for hours.

The sun was climbing down the western horizon when I finally cracked.

"If you don't stop whistling I will drown you in the river," I growled, and he busted out laughing.

"Now you don't mean that!" He exclaimed, and he knew I didn't, as much as I wanted to.

He is too damn perceptive, and is reading me to damn easily. Damn him for his ability to whistle and his ability to kiss-

I broke into a sprint, darting forward and leaving him in the dust. I can not break down.

I heard the whistling cut off and footsteps, and I pushed myself harder, leaping the creek and ripping through the foliage.

Suddenly I was tackled, my face pressed into the dirt, and I growled.

Never pin a ranger.

I tucked my legs then sent them behind me again, kicking him in the crotch. He fell back with a harsh grunt, and I took advantage of it to scramble forward. I clawed at the dirt, and a hand grabbed my ankle, starting to pull me backwards. I sent my other foot flying back, aiming for his face, but he just grabbed my other ankle and yanked me back. He pinned me under his weight, and we froze for a moment, breathing hard. I squirmed, trying to get out from under him without actually hurting hi-

I'm Horde, he's Alliance, I should hurt him.

I slammed my head into his, breaking his nose with my forehead and sending him flying off of me. I leaped into a crouch, not hesitating before sending my fist flying at him, scraping my knuckles up and leaving a nice bruise to form on his eye. He was shocked, caught off guard, and I used this to run like hell.

I crashed forward, clawing my way through the vines and growling low when they wouldn't let go, they were slowing me down dammit-

Slice.

I dropped, and realized the human cut the vines, and I crawled forward, growling as he grabbed my ankles again.

Suddenly, he had my neck, and had me pinned to a tree by the throat. My body was pinned; I couldn't even move my head. My ears twitched wildly with stress. I bared my teeth at him.

"Let. Me. Go!" I snarled, slipping into Thalassian in my anger.

"Not. Bloody. Likely!" He responded back flawlessly in my mother tongue, which took me by surprise.

"Didn't realize I took the time to learn, huh? Being a peacemaker means compromise on language. Now what the hell was that?" He snarled, the last part in common. His hand was squeezing my throat, and his eyes burned with a holy fire that frankly scared me.

I didn't respond, but I stared at him, baring my teeth and flaring nostrils, trying every facial scare tactic in the book, "Let. Me. Go. Princeling. I'm a ranger, I'm not someone for you to just pin whenever-"

"Gee, I don't know, Princessling," He spit the name, vicious anger coating his tongue, "Seems I'm doing a decent job. Your scary face doesn't make me blink, Jade. Either tell me what the hell started this mood or behave." He was in my face at this point, and my eyes were dragged to his lips on reflex. He caught the move, "Oh, that's it? You're a little scared because it turns out you have a sex drive? Oh please, you may be an elf, but you're still a teenager. Grow up." He dropped me on the last words, stepping away and looking at me with a mix of anger, disappointment, and various others that I don't want to mention.

I fell into a heap at the base of the tree, glaring at him dirtily, "I'm 28 in human years, kid." I spit the word.

"Which for an elf is the beginning of your adolescence, enjoy being horny for forty years. Get yourself together and come on, we have to get going." He snapped back, and my cheeks reddened. I completely lost my scare face, ears dropping and eyes widening.

"What?" He asked after a long moment of me staring at him.

"I-where-who-why do you-" I stopped, composing myself and standing, eyeing him with a newfound respect-so he does have a brain in there.

"You friendly again? Less…feral?" He asked, and I quirked an eyebrow, turning and walking on.

"You dropped this."

He put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me again, turning me around and clasping his cloak around me, I didn't even realize that it had fallen.

"Thank you," I spoke quietly, and the hiss at the end of that told me that I had switched to Thalassian again.

"You're welcome, princessling. Now let's go."

He had me pinned to the tree again, but this time there were…. less clothes, in the mix.

I sat up fast, gasping for breath, cheeks flaming as I realized we were on the jungle floor, and fully dressed.

"Morning," Anduin grunted, pulling a thing of rations out and tossing it to me.

I took it silently, not looking at him lest my face set itself on fire.

That's the fourth night in a row a dream of…that nature, has occurred. What is wrong with me?

enjoy being horny for forty years Anduin's voice whispered in the back of my mind, and I groaned inwardly, closing my eyes against that.

We ate in silence, before cleaning up our small camps to get moving. Bandit had gone ahead, killing his food, and would be waiting at the cliff face into the Valley.

"Let's hope we find a place to get food soon, we don't have much rations left," Anduin said, the first words of actual conversation all morning.

I grunted in response, trying to get my damned headband over my hair-

Snap! It flew off into the foliage.

"Shit," I hissed, that was my last one.

"Take mine, you have more hair than me,"

I turned to see Anduin holding his blue and gold lion band out to me, his own hair now flopping about his face.

"Thank you," I said softly, taking the band and blushing a little bit, then cursing myself for those damned thoughts-how immature can I be?

I slid the headband into place, tucking my hair into it, when I caught Anduin staring with a mix of something achingly familiar in his eyes.

"What?" I asked, my cheeks heated in the answer I already knew.

"Nothing, I just-um…you look good in blue." Anduin said, clearing his throat and pressing onward.

I watched, frozen for a moment, eyes wide, before I realized I was gawking and shook my head, jogging a bit to catch up.

We walked on for the duration of the morning in relative silence, until-

"The cliff face!" I exclaimed, jogging forward and hugging Bandit, who had meat stuck in his teeth.

"I'll strap Bandit to your bag, and we can scale it?" Anduin asked, and I nodded, putting my hands on the wall for balance as he lifted my wolf.

I squeezed my eyes shut in an effort to not think about the filthy thoughts that raced through me as his hips bumped mine as he balanced Bandit between us to get him tied in safely.

"There, let's go." He said, stepping away, and Bandit whimpered-he hated being carried.

"It'll be alright, boy, I'll let you frolic when we get into the valley," I said, and I took my first handhold, making my way up the wall.

We climbed in concentrated silence, until I slipped slightly and was dangling over-oh that's quite high I may be sick.

"Hold on!" Anduin shouted, climbing his way over to me.

"Oh gee, never would've thought to hold on instead of fall, wondrous idea!" I called sarcastically, and he let out a laugh as he reached me.

"Let go in three, two-" I let go as he got an arm around my waist and pulled me to him, and we were very close.

"You good?" He asked, flickering between my eyes and lips in a miniscule movement that I almost didn't catch.

I hummed affirmatively, and he moved away a bit, and we got back to climbing.

For the most part, the climb went without incident after that, until we made it over the facing into-oh wow.

It was rolling gold plains with baby soft grass that came to my thighs, and was for the most part, farms. Vegetables that were four times my size grew everywhere, and herds of goats were lead around by farmers. Roads curved through the farms, all heading towards a big, central hill-

"By the Sunwell that's a town!" I broke into a run as soon as Anduin had Bandit off my back, and I heard him groan as he raced to keep up. I bounded through the fields, Bandit at my side, and soon I was at the entrance of what seemed to be a chaotic market heaven.

Bamboo buildings stacked precariously on each other around the swirling road that was carved into the hill, and some buildings stood out from the hill, on towering stilts with matching bamboo bridges to the main hill road. Grummies were running around with their great swaying packs swinging precariously, farmers brought in grown goods, cooks of all sorts cooked, animals were led through, children played-

"Hello dear!"

I jumped, whipping around to see a Pandaren woman with deep red markings about her face, who was wearing an equally red dress, and she looked imposingly kind.

"Oh, sorry. Hello," I said, very aware that I just spent the past couple of weeks sleeping in a jungle.

"You look fresh from travels! I'm Gina Mudpaw, mayor of the Halfhill Marketplace-the biggest city in the Valley! You are-?" She ended her phrase openly, waiting expectantly.

"Oh!" I bowed a little, "I'm Jadearra Theron, Reagent Princess of my home realm," I said, and she gasped, paws coming to her cheeks as she curtsied.

"My! Royalty in my market! Why-who's that?" She leaned around me, and I turned to see Anduin running up, hilariously out of breath.

"Do you have to sprint everywhere?" He asked, a twig in his hair, and I rolled my eyes, standing on my toes to pull it out.

"This is Gina Mudpaw, mayor of this heavenly Hill!" I said, and he bowed quickly, introducing himself as "Anduin Wrynn, Prince of Stormwind."

Gina curtsied again, looking like she may faint, "My my! Two royal children in my market! Why-make yourselves at home, I'll arrange a room for you at the Lazy Turnip, our inn. Just tell Lei Len I'm arranging it!" she exclaimed, and I stammered.

"Oh miss, please no-We're just passing through-"

"Shut up Jade." Anduin covered my mouth with his hand, and I squawked indignantly, "We'd love to stay for a night. We just spent the past couple of weeks working with the refugees in Krasarang, a bed sounds perfect. Thank you, Miss Mudpaw," he said to Gina, who looked both taken aback and ecstatic.

"Excellent! I hope you enjoy your stay," she walked away, and I bit his hand.

"Why?!" I exclaimed as he cradled his hand, healing it quickly.

"We both smell like jungle, we're almost out of food. After two weeks of you nearly becoming a statue every night, a room with a fireplace is welcome. It's only for one night. Now come on, let's go get our rooms." Anduin turned on his heel and entered the chaos.

I stared at his back; slack jawed for a moment, until Bandit, who had been sitting quietly next to me, nudged me.

I looked down at Bandit, "I know, the nerve of him!" Before rushing to catch up and not lose Anduin in the chaos of the crowds.

We reached the inn after getting turned around a few times, and me nearly getting trampled by an over excited mule.

We stumbled in, out of breath from the chaos, and a Pandaren woman looked up from her place at a wooden desk, deep brown markings swirling about her face, "Ah, you must be the royalty miss Mudpaw told me about-I'm afraid we only have one room open with a double bed, and it's the only available room. I apologize!" She said, and I groaned inwardly while giving her a slightly fake smile.

"It's no trouble Miss Lei Len, thank you for going to the trouble," I took out my coin pouch to pay, but Anduin beat me to it, setting his on the desk in front of the woman and looking at me smugly.

"My-" Lei Len looked giddy, "Thank you, but Miss Mudpaw has covered it.

Complementary!" She pushed the pouch back towards Anduin with her quill.

"Your room is the third on the right, it has a great view and a fireplace!" Lei Len pointed in the direction of the rooms with her quill, smiling at us all the while.

I thanked her with a quick bow, before turning and finding our room.

There was a plush rug on the floor, and I fell on it gratefully, nearly moaning with oh my god soft.

"So much better than dirt," I said, face still partially pressed into the rug, and Anduin laughed as he took my bag off my back, setting it beside his against the wall.

"Who was smart to say yes to the free room?" Anduin asked, and I flipped him a finger that all races knew, which earned me another laugh.

"Are you going to sleep or are you going to go play?" Anduin asked, and a surge of energy filled me as I realized what was just outside.

"Play!" I grabbed my coin pouch and bounced out of the room quite like a child, the sound of Anduin's laugh following me.

Soon I was wading through the chaos, carrying a plate with the best dumplings I'd ever tasted in my life in my stomach, and a luckydo or three purchased from a grummie-gifts for Mother.

I saw Anduin looking through dresses at one shop, and bounced up beside him, "Looking for a lifestyle change, Princeling?" I asked, and he laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Funny, princessling," He went back looking through them, and one caught my eye.

I went up to it, holding the fabric gingerly in awe. It was a deep, navy blue with brilliant gold accenting, and it seemed as though silver glitter had been sewn in, and the skirt looked like the night sky. The top plunged just low enough that it would tease and still leave to the imagination, and the waist cinched so that you'd look like a miniscule toothpick in it. The sleeves were a flowy, translucent fabric that would fall off at the elbows like water. I was in love, except-

"Excuse me!" I called over the racks to the shop lady, who turned in surprise.

"Yes dear?"

"What would it cost to have this made in red? My um….my mother, would like it," I said, and she grinned.

"Why, not too much, I think it'd look great in red actually…you have quite the eye. I dare say, blue is quite the colour for you though," She lifted the dress up, and I blushed, smiling.

"Oh I don't really wear dresses I just-"

"I'll buy it,"

I jumped out of my skin; turning to see Anduin standing there, pouch in hand.

"And what? Prance through Stormwind in it, Princeling?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Buy it for you, dumbass," he said, and the playfulness in my chest evaporated in a second, my eyes widening.

"But it-I-um-"

"Shh, go with her to get one made for your mother." He said, and I turned silently, still a little shell shocked as he handed her the allotted coins.

"I will send it back with this lovely young lady, I would like to have it here for reference," The Pandaren shopkeeper said, and Anduin smiled at me.

"I-I'll pay you back-um-" I was stumbling over words, my middle warm and cold at the same time.

"Shush, consider it a gift. I'll see you at the inn," He walked away, and I was a little dumbstruck, staring after him.

"Oh dear, is this the first time you've been courted?"

I nearly flew out of my skin, I turned back to stare at the woman like she had grown a second head, "I uh-wha?"

She chuckled, patting my shoulder, "Ah, to be young again. Now come, I would like your opinion on this."

I chewed on that piece of information from the shopkeeper as I assisted in the dress making-was Anduin trying to court me?

By the time we were done, the sun was almost gone, and the dress was perfect. The top was a ruby red that matched mother's hair, with golden accents like my blue dress sewn in. The skirt was such a deep burgundy red that it almost looked purple, and instead of silver, we used bright red, and green, and golden glitter, with threads of bright blues and purples subtly tucked in, until it looked like the sky above the Palace back home. The front dipped a little lower, the waist cinched a little tighter, and the sleeves ended in the same waterfall style.

"My dear, if your whole royalty life doesn't work out, you'd be a fantastic dress maker," The Shopkeeper-Mai-said, and I smiled tiredly.

"Thank You-I think my mother will like it. I like to bring her gifts. I will be sure to enlist you the next time I need a dress-you could be a royal seamstress, with your skill." I said, and the woman grinned bashfully.

"Thank you sweetheart, now go back to your blonde boy. Don't forget your dress!" She placed both in my arms, mind over mothers, and gave me a pat on the cheek.

"I will try to come back and visit, thank you." I said, before turning and leaving the shop, her eyes following me.

The hill was still chaotic as I slipped into our room to see Anduin sitting on the rug, reading through my scrolls.

He put the one on the Hozen down as I walked in, ducking his head sheepishly, "Sorry, I was just curious about-"

"It's alright," I folded the blue dress tenderly, still in awe of it, and tucked it into my bag, "Knowledge is free, Princeling."

"May I see your mother's dress?" He asked, and I stood, holding it up to me to give him an idea of what it looked like.

He made a sound of awe, and in the flickering firelight, he looked-

He looked-

I blushed, turning away, "Thank you, by the way," I said quietly as I gently tucked mother's dress away, beside the Luckydos and a particularly gnarled branch from the Temple Arboretum-the first one I tripped over.

"Do you always collect gifts for your mother? On your trips, I mean," Anduin asked, and I nodded, closing the pack gently.

"I bring an extra bag with me everywhere, collecting what I think may strike her fancy, or whatever her request is," I said, missing her more than ever.

"Do you have a picture of her?" He asked, and I shook my head, stretching out on the rug in front of the fire, my head near his lap so that I could see him.

"Tell me about her?"

We spent a good chunk of the night like that, and I fell asleep warm not just from the fire.