Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft.

"Common."

"Assigned language."

"Well?" a deep masculine voice inquired.

"Well what?" Rivanis replied. He turned the warm cup of tea in his hands to get a new warm spot. It was little things like these that made his day go smoother. Most of the time he would just make the tea to enjoy the scent and the warm cup because the taste was usually terrible, even by night elf standards. Only old druids enjoyed the bitter taste of root, that was his theory.

His silver eyes then shifted to address the speaker sitting across him. The night elf was about the same height as he, sported a darker shade of green in his braided hair and wore heavy leather. Falendor crossed his massive arms in front of his chest and gave Rivanis an unimpressed look.

"I wouldn't say he is completely stable. In the past month there have been many times I believed he was dead. He regained consciousness about two days ago," he left it at that, finding the still surface of his tea more interesting. Rivanis had yet to tell his older brother that his only daughter had had a near death experience recently, although from past encounters he wondered if he would bother to act surprised.

"...aaand?" Falendor motioned for him to go on with a flick of his wrist, annoyance and curiosity were entwined together in the small gesture.

"He's not healing, even after a healing induced comma. So I'm guessing he was meant to die from those cuts, or something else was keeping him alive. Like some sort of runic mana mixture," he shrugged and reestablished eye contact. "It was in his blood... Now I know you've been itching to tell me something..."

The corner's of the older kaldorei's lips twitched upwards, his brother was terrible at subtly changing the topic. Rivanis did not falter. They knew each other far too well.

"Well I'll say it straight up. A large part of the Lich King's best warriors have abandoned him. Though abandon may come off as strong. Deserted is more like it," he let a short pause walk by. "They have returned to their former factions and are called death knights. King Varian is planning an immediate assault, but Tyrande urges him to wait. This is the part I ask you about Vael again."

Rivanis took a long sip, grimacing at the taste of it. Death knights? More like a well set up trap of sorts. Falendor leaned towards him, his deep voice deliberately low and hardly a whisper.

"And she won't tell me why I need to keep asking you. Though I did find out Cassandra's alive."

Rivanis stilled at the mention of the human. Cassandra, leader of an all-female team and more bloodthirsty than the average gladiator. She had the strength of two men and quite the reputation. They sat in a thoughtful and confident silence as they processed the information. More questions were formed and hardly any answers were provided.

"I must leave now Brother, before they start wondering where I went. Until we meet again," He held Rivanis's shoulder in a strong grasp before taking out his hearthstone. "Icecrown, in case you were wondering. And I know you were."

This time it was Rivanis's lips that tugged upward.

OoOoOoOoO

Vael felt that no matter the time of day the sun never showed up. It was always dreary and green. Green was everywhere, it was like their theme color and being a family of druids reinforced that. He was feeling less lethargic and far more aware of his surroundings, either a sign he was getting better or simply the 'anesthesia' had worn off.

The kaldorei had come in once that day to take his pulse. It was probably the middle of the day for all Vael knew, but other than the standard greeting Rivanis offered that Vael did not return, nothing else had been said. The sin'dorei had watched him work as he laid in bed unable to do much. The tall night elf had a firm and structured way of doing things, he noted.

The door gave the slightest creak as it was opened and Ali ran in with the brightest smile Vael had ever seen. She bounced up and down out of pure excitement from seeing him awake.

"Good afternoon. Today in school I came to the sudden realization that I never formally introduced myself," she took a tiny breath and continued. "My name is Ali and I'm a priestess-in-training. I'm Uncle Rivanis's assistant, but it's not official or anything. It's only while I figure out what path to take, what's with that face? Don't worry I know what I'm doing," she moved closer to him and in one swift movement plucked the IV needle out of his arm.

Vael stared at her with annoyance and distrust fully embedded in his eyes. She caught his look and raised a long, curved eyebrow.

"What? Would you like me to fluff your pillow?" she asked sweetly, ignorant of his true thoughts. His stomach growled in respond and Vael couldn't help but to look downwards at the soft sheet and frown at it. Her silvery eyes widened at the realization. "Oh my gosh, you're hungry. Alright I can do that, stay here!" And with that she raced out of the room.

"Stay here," he repeated in a high pitched mocking voice. Vael felt his stomach twist and tighten and he grimaced. 'What a ridiculous situation' he thought, lightly running a hand through his hair. He froze when he felt that his hair did not have the normal texture he was used to. It was no longer soft and silky but instead dry and... greasy. And probably dirty, but he didn't have a mirror to tell.

"I'm baaack, you're absolutely in luck. So I went downstairs..." Vael pulled his fingers back and rubbed them together, giving the oily substance a horrified look. His beautiful silky hair was ruined. "It's quite tasty..." He grabbed a handful of the once-golden mane and opened his mouth to say something but found nothing coming out. "Open wiiide!"

"Shut up," he snapped at her, glaring with all the force he could muster. "Just shut up, you stupid skanky night elf bitch."

He looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon and found a pestle. The minute he made the move to grasp it a translucent blue cord materialized and held his arm back. Vael and Ali blinked, neither one had expected that to happen.

Ali caught on however, she followed his gaze to the pestle and figured she was about to get beaten to death by a stick. She moved the pestle out of the way and gave him a small smile.

Vael stared at the magical cord with disbelief. His arm slumped to his side and he resumed his hollow staring, defeated for the time being.

"Oh hi Uncle,"

Neither had heard the other night elf come in.

"What were you doing?" Rivanis eyed the bowl in her hands before looking at Vael. "Well you look terrible. Did you get any sleep?"

"Pray tell, why the hell would would care?" His accent unintentionally came out too strong though that did not hinder the message.

"You're under my care and while that remains I need to make sure you don't die overnight. I mean it's not like anyone would know, after all you're dead to the world."

Something about the last bit really stung.

"What?" Vael gave up his pretend 'uncaring anti-social' act. His ears straightened and he frowned, thinking he had misheard.

"Did he eat anything?" Rivanis turned towards his niece who happened to be fidgeting nervously behind him.

"No."

Vael aimed a weak glare at her direction. It's not like he had expected her to lie or anything, he wasn't even mad at her, he was angry because the other elf had ignored him the way mothers did when their children kept begging for a toy.

"Alright give me that, the quicker he gets off the liquid diet the better," Rivanis turned to face Vael, bowl in hands and with a look that made the sin'dorei nervous. Surely he wasn't going to...? "You will either eat this, well drink really, without any commotion or I will shove it down your throat until it settles in your stomach." Rivanis had no intention of going through with the latter, but the blood elf didn't need to know that.

Vael's upper right brow twitched in disbelief. He heard the aquamarine-haired elf quietly step out and shut the door, smart girl.

"I can't believe this is happening to me," he slumped where he laid, ignoring the way his tangled hair clumped on the pillow. Rivanis took a spoonful of the soup and offered it slowly, he already knew this wasn't going to work, and he had haf-expected the outburst that followed.

The magical blue cords materialized again, triggered by the quick violent movement of Vael trying to either kick his side. Unlike before however, a rapid wave of pain shot up from his leg and settled in his stomach, forcing him to keep still and take shallow breaths. He held his stomach and moaned in pain, now fully feeling the wounds that hid behind the bandages protest.

Vael felt something settle on his back and an instant later a numbing energy trailed down into his being and calmed the pain. After a few seconds the magic bounced back and settled on his skin, his body refusing to take any more of it. It was an odd sensation he was used to. As a blood elf he came in contact with magic on a daily basis, it felt like thickened water with a weak charge of electricity. Many thoughts raced in his head and all of them bred confusion and questions.

Rivanis brushed his emerald hair out of his eyes and behind his ears. He waited patiently for the sin'dorei to settle down before moving away.

He tapped a finger on his chin, expression in deep contemplation and eyes staring at Vael.

"Back to liquids I guess," he muttered and turned to leave.

"Wait,"

Rivanis curiously looked over his shoulder.

"I'll... eat it..." It took all his will power to say it even if he didn't want to admit it. Anything was better than an IV, he didn't want to feel it being plunged into his arm or the flashbacks that followed after.

The druid raised a long eyebrow, briefly taken back by the request. Then he realized why and felt a tiny twinge of guilt. He picked up the bowl and was pleased to find it was still warm. Rivanis held the spoon to the blood elf's lips and Vael willingly obliged.

Vael flushed crimson from embarrassment and humiliation. He avoided looking at the silver eyes for fear of what he might find. Arrogance? Smugness? Satisfaction? This was so shameful though the soup was not that bad, if anything it was delicious and for a brief second he was glad to taste it. What had been the last thing he ate before the trip up in Icecrown? He pushed the thoughts away and took another spoonful.

The soup had gone down the wrong path once and after he had coughed it up Rivanis simply wiped his face clean with a soft tissue. His face was burning from the idea of getting cleaned like a child but he couldn't muster the energy to even raise his arm. His energy was completely depleted, trying to take a swing at the night elf had been a terrible idea.

"Good job," Rivanis said softly, standing with a nearly empty bowl. Vael frowned in return.

"Pat my head while you're at it," He mumbled sleepily.

Rivanis gave him a small smile, he didn't understand what he had said but he had a pretty good idea what it could mean.

First thanks very much for the reviews! They were inspirational and made me pretty happy, thank you for taking the time to write them. C:

This week and the next are finals week. I didn't know it was going to be so busy being my first semester and then having something important due every day this week. Expect an update at least once a week after next Wednesday, phew!

Thanks for reading!