Disclaimer: Warcraft doesn't belong to me. I can't even beat the stupid thing…

A/N: Ah, finally I am able to update on my own whim after a long awaited return of my computer. I've been doing a lot of roleplaying too on both http/s13. CityofShadows/index.php?actidx (no space between City and the /) and http/s12. LostRealmsofArann/index.php? (no space in almost same place)

To Kyn who has waited patiently, I hope. Ahusaka and Mekora will both be revealed soon though some of these you might not be too fond of. But I have the story all planned in my head and will do as such. I do need an editor but with everything that happens I always finish a chapter and can't wait another second to get it out. I'm like that. Inspiration? Really?

And to Starwolf Magic, Crimson Reaper, Oreo, Doom Reaper, and Anghammarad

Chapter 27: Breaking Point

It was like all thought of natural reality and order had been pealed away. Tow-Moons once, in an attempt to expose her to new cultures, brought her a peach from the trolls. The fruit was sweet and juicy and Yawna had tried to save the dozen she had received for a long time in order to preserve them. But the very last one, kept in a small leather, water-tight satchel in a cold well, was over ripe by the time she reached it. When Yawna picked up the peach all the skin fell away and the flesh inside was slimy and grainy.

That's what reality was now. Unprotected. The soft, bright skin had been peeled back to expose reality to what it really was: a slimy, rotten thing. Yawna closed her eyes for a moment and let the feeling of despair leak away. There was no time for this right now. There were far more important things at hand.

The griffins swung to the side, massive leonine end curling up and thick eagle wings slanting to catch a helpful updraft. The creatures let out a few shrieks of joy, they truly were children of the air. Small animals below scattered and Yawna chuckled as her Awareness picked up a smug amusement from the griffin she was seated upon. They took great delight in making themselves known.

"Shut up you ruddy beasts," Copperbeard roared behind the procession. He was seated on a griffin of his own, for once Yawna's mail had gotten to Cairne the Tauren chieftain had sent transportation immediately. One of the only dwarves on their side Copperbeard was perfectly suited to taking his massive birds anywhere he pleased having no other family than the catbirds. You could tell he wasn't truly angry by the way crow's feet gathered at the corner of his eyes.

The beasts were headed for Sen'Jin. After Var'Jun had gone off to find Kat and the others Mitka and Gar'Ihn had moved the base of operations. Sen'Jin was open and unthought-of, no one would guess that troll nation had gone there. But to tell the truth Sen'Jin was perfect for them. The area was open and flat, they could see opposing armies around for miles. Sen'Jin was abundant in flora and fauna to supply them all. It was guarded by a few powerful witchdoctors and was close enough to the capital to avoid making a long and grueling retreat if necessary.

Yawna looked at Var'Jun quickly. He was so preoccupied with the thoughts of returning to his people that he seemed to have almost forgotten his stressful ordeal with Kat. He snuck one glance at her before going back to talking in a hushed voice to Milla, the little troll girl sitting in front of him. She had been given a fake set of reigns that would not control the griffin and was now pretending to steer the giant creature. Yawna chuckled, Var'Jun had been telling Milla about their homeland for a days now. She was so excited to see it.

But this visit would not be all fun and games. Var'Jun, despite the fact that he seemed confident and collected, was really going to Sen'Jin to make out his will and prepare his people for battle. If Var'Jun were to die he would have to choose a successor. Yawna's Awareness picked up uncertain dread from him.

They had all agreed (apart from Milla that is) that the little troll would stay in Sen'Jin. She was so small and innocent, there would be no reason at all to keep her with them and get her hurt. Yawna and the others were adamant on this.

Ahusaka was flying beside her. He had insisted on coming. At this Yawna was surprised, most didn't want to be involved. But Ahusaka was stubborn, dogged as it turned out. He gave Yawna a roguish wink and she blinked, turning away with a slight blush under her fur.

Kat was not too keen on going to the troll village, but Gwyn was absolutely repulsed by it. She had refused to even admit that she had agreed to this earlier. Elves were not the best of friends wit trolls. Neither were they with orcs or undead or the like, but trolls especially. She hadn't truly been right since they had left the Oei Mahora. She had not met eye to eye with Ornis yet.

Weary Traveler whined suddenly. He was strapped to the seat back of Yawna, laying down on supply packs and a wool blanket. His keen yellow eyes fixed below where he could see a wild boar strut across the red sands. Yawna chuckled as he licked his lips, a thin line of drivel slipping from his mouth and falling down in a clear, shining line.

"He is eager to get there." Ahusaka observed, a smile touching his lips. "I'm sure that he'd enjoy a bit of meat."

"The trolls will have to give it to him," Yawna responded, recoiling at the thought. Half of her twitched with a sense of pain and guilt. Hunters were supposed to bring down kills to feed their pets and themselves.

"I don't eat meat." Yawna felt ashamed as soon as she said it. She had never been so self conscience before like this, but now she just felt so open and naked to everything around her, so exposed.

"Small world," A smile creased Ahusaka's face, "Neither do I. I have certain spiritual beliefs."

Yawna felt a little more at ease.

Sen'Jin was very close now. The details of rough huts came in full clarity. While Gwyn scoffed noiselessly Yawna chuckled. From an Alliance point of view these buildings were only minor, small little huts that could be easily burned to the ground and overtaken. Yawna knew better than that. The trolls could defend these things with tooth and claw.

Var'Jun's face brightened by even the sight of the villages of his people. Rather than wait till the griffins landed his leaped from a five foot height as the beasts slowed down and charged through a hefty sand dune.

Trolls flooded from the huts, small children and old, hunch backed elders. Grim males lost their faces of stony silence to see their prince rushing forwards. Woman laughed with joy, hefting young babies higher on their hips and facing them towards their leader.

The trolls met Var'Jun in something that resembled a hundred person bear hug. Var'Jun's wild mane of hair, the coiling braid of deep night purple, was the only thing visible within the crowd.

The griffins landed but Yawna was too preoccupied with prior thoughts to get off the creature. She suddenly remembered when she had first met Var'Jun, the leering yellow-eyed, unfeeling animal who had whimpered piteously at the band of Alliance not to kill him and asked who would have missed him. Yawna was burning with curiosity to find out why Var'Jun had run away from these happy people, but she could think of no way to ask it without seeming nosy.

She must have sat thinking for a second too long because Ahusaka was laughing softly ad offering her his hand to aid her in slipping off the griffin.

"Lost in thoughts, Feathers?" He asked her, using the pet name he had come up with for her after remarking that sometime her head was 'lighter than air' and the only thing he could think of was feather. Floating without consent or purpose and always being swirled and turned without their wits about them.

"Yah, I'm fine," She took the proffered hand, slipping off the griffin and turning to smile at Copperbeard. The insatiable dwarf was watching the trolls with a look of bemused annoyance on his face though behind it Yawna could see he was rather amused by their antics.

"Will you stay and take a rest Copperbeard. I'm sure the trolls wouldn't have anything to say against it."

"Nah," the dwarf stroked his beard and chuckled lightly, "Cairne has a million and one things to do for me and someday soon I might like to get the time to visit my family before the war."

"What war?"

"The one the elf was talking about." Copperbeard replied almost tersely, saluting the group quickly and flying off on his hulking griffin. The others followed suit, feathered wings pumping up and down to catch an up draft and the lion and bird hybrids gaining altitude. Only Yawna's and Kat's stayed because they were not yet empty, squawking and looking longingly at the sky.

Gwyn turned away quickly as if she wasn't willing to talk about this. Truth be told she was only muttering to herself when the dwarf had heard. Gwyn wasn't sure if her dream about the major battle had been some cryptic warning or a vision that meant nothing, something induced by sleepless nights before hand and danger and tension around every corner.

Kat dangled hesitantly from her griffin before taking a deep breath as one would when plunging into cold water. She leaped off finally, putting on a brave face and nodding to herself. Since leaving the elves she had become more determined than ever at becoming her old self.

"I want to be who I am," She had told Yawna fiercely, "Because right now this is a lie."

Yawna could not agree with her more, but it still felt wrong and sick. Even when she was pretending to accept the Horde it was wrong. These were not her beliefs, they were not her own dreams and hopes. Var'Jun was almost pleased when she had put her all into it. Almost, at least. He too seemed to feel the stab of her hollow try.

"Well then," She was trying to be cheerful, "Lets go then." Her face was nothing but apprehension when she glanced at the mass of trolls. They had broken from their tangle and were now exchanging small talk with their prince.

Yawna finished unlatching Weary Traveler and the griffins took wing, glad to be away from the ground and water. They preferred the sky and clouds and their dwarves master.

Yawna and Ahusaka walked side by side in front, Kat seeming to take refuge behind the two as one would hide behind a parent after angering a particularly violent sibling. Gwyn was far in front, wrinkling her nose slightly and watching the trolls with a rather distasted expression. Elves did not like trolls.

And in the middle of Ahusaka and Yawna, Milla watched her

Var'Jun greeted them with a smile as large as one of the peeled bananas that would be found in the trolls' food.

"It's good to be home." The troll remarked, eyes blazing bright glory. Var'Jun was prince once more.

A new couple of trolls were coming closer. They had been late to the procession, partially because they had been extremely busy, as they had been when he had left, and partially because they were just so damn used to seeing him.

"Mitka! Gar'Ihn!" Var'Jun was like a little kid again.

The two trolls paused for a moment, both sets of flaming red hair leading Yawna to believe that the two trolls might be related. Beside her Milla stirred, she knew better. It was troll intuition. Just the way the two walked next to each other.

Mitka snarled like an animal and seized Var'Jun around the throat. Gwyn placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, looking around at all the other trolls to see their reaction. Even Kat shivered a bit, watching with saucer eyes.

Var'Jun only laughed.

"Swamped with work?" Var'Jun asked genially, his voice a bit hoarse.

"Yes!" The male troll looked like he was going to snap the prince in half. The female chuckled, loosening his grip and shaking her head.

"Now Mitka, killing the royal family is often frowned upon."

"I suppose so," Mitka snorted, putting Var'Jun back down (he was considerably bulkier and had lifted the prince up.) Var'Jun smiled even wider and threw all three trolls into a wild bear hug.

"Always knew you'd stick up for me incase he wanted to do away with me, Gar'Ihn." He was a whirlwind, moving on from one thing to the next with reckless abandonment. But now it was time to be serious. There were pressing matters at hand.

The trolls exchanged a few quick orchish words and Var'Jun motioned to the rest of the group. Yawna too Milla's hand, Ahusaka catching the other one, and the group sidled through the crowds of trolls now heading back to continue building homes. There would probably never be enough lumber.

"Is that her?" Gar'Ihn inquired curiously. She was glancing at Kat with a mixed expression of apprehension and thought that seemed to consume her thoughts. Mitka snickered and smiled fondly at her.

"Yah," Var'Jun's eyes softened slightly as he watched her. She was walking ahead of him, eye drinking in the rich scenes of the Durotar shore. Their destination was a small sea shack on the side of the rolling ocean.

As the troll entered with his friends in two he felt a strange nostalgia seize him, shaking him about like a rag doll and throwing him into ribbons. He let out a soft dry noise that was almost a sob, but not quite. Vision of Meh'rah were here, Var'Jun's mother who he would never see again. Thralk had taken her away. He would pay.

It was Var'Jun's old summer home, this little place of sea and salt. He could feel his mother here, everywhere around Sen'Jin. He had never truly lived here but much of his life had been spent vacationing in the beautiful lands. A rusty fishing pole against the wall made Var'Jun choke back another one of his dry noise.

Father…

"Down to business." All could easily be seated at the open porch to the home. It was comfortable, a breeze rolling in from the oceans and tickling through the minds of the council.

"I would like to begin by addressing the royal line. Knowing full well I might never have a son or daughter to pass the crown to I have decided that if and when I finally die then I will pass on the ruler ship to Crota."

Both trolls cried in shock.

"We couldn't," Mitka began, "That is your right to choose, I understand that, but why her? She's cruel and full of malice."

Var'Jun paused.

"I didn't want to give it to you," He said softly, "Because of the pressure that would put on you both. Do you realize what that would forfeit? Your whole lives would-"

"Oh stow it." Gar'Ihn snapped, "We would bear it with honor."

The prince couldn't manage to say anything, only smiling widely and making a small note on the bundle of papers he carried. His will, more or less.

Mitka paused as if rolling the words he was about to say around on his tongue. After a few seconds he seemed to decide on them, lips twitching slightly as he spoke them.

"What about Sikoro?"

The quill Var'Jun was holding snapped in half as his clench upon it tightened. A drop of ink splattered across arm and he let it dry there. The air tightened and thickened as the silence dragged on. Finally Var'Jun spoke tersely.

"Don't you ever suggest that again. Don't even say his name around me." Shaking his head Var'Jun smiled down at Milla.

She was looming around the table, slipping underneath it and popping up in random places. Once in a while she would startle someone but mostly they could hear her coming a mile away by her fierce giggles. She had not even noticed the tense situation.

"Milla, why don't you go out on to the beach? We can see you from here and you might find sea shells or hermit crabs." Var'Jun was trying to get her out of earshot. But what was obvious to an adult was not to a young troll. She went scampering off with a big grin plastered on her face.

"Well we might as well say it," Gwyn leaned back in her chair and smiled slightly sardonically at the troll prince. She wasn't really in the best of moods.

"We can't keep Milla with us. And frankly we have no where else to put her. Someone here's going to have to keep her."

"Don't be blunt or anything." Yawna remarked, shaking her head and watching the little girl down on the beach. She could feel her joy and innocence. A welcome refresh.

"I'm sorry, this is the only way to ask." Gwyn sniffed softly, "And besides, we might as well not sugar coat this. It'll be a miracle if any of us pull through this. A miracle I tell you. And now with the races fighting it'll be harder to muster together an army."

"An army?" Both Mitka and Gar'Ihn demanded lucidly from their end of the table.

"Of course," Yawna replied in a sangfroid detachment, "How else would you combat another army? Fight fire with fire."

The feast planned that night was magnificent. It was held under the open sky, stars and smiling moon. The trolls had set out every dish imaginable which ranged from roasted wild boar stuffed with apples to a tart pie full of peaches, something that could only be identified as a scorched raptor still complete with teeth and claws next to a dish piled high with fruits and glazes resembling Orgrimar. The whole thing was so immense and unbelievable that Yawna felt as if she was under some strange spell the entire night. She danced with Ahusaka and ate all of the dishes in front of her, sparing meat of course, enjoying the lush breeze of the spry trolls.

There was only one not enjoying the festivities.

Var'Jun.

The troll's head spin with worried that could only be interpreted as royal fears. His usual suave and saucy attitude was replaced by something that represented the stringent, wry face of a monarch. Instead of sitting down at the table with the others he was standing on a small balcony, the sea spread out in a turquoise blanket in front of him, shifting slightly whenever the moon pulled the covers.

There were a million things that could go wrong with these plans, but even Yawna had been convinced that only an army could stop and army.

Or had she?

Var'Jun paused, thinking slowly about this. She had been the one to make the suggestion but he remembered the look on her face.

"The less innocents that die the better, eh Yawna? You are not the angel they say you are." He would never had said it straight to her. No one was perfect. Var'Jun regarded Yawna as close to it. She was something else, not troll nor tauren, nor orc, nor any other race on Azeroth. She was new.

Var'Jun was so lost in his mutterings he did not hear the swish of skirt ends or the soft pattering footsteps in measured paces across the rice-plant floor.

When Kat finally did alert his attention from the sea and his thoughts it was in the form of a touch on the arm. It was a barest hint of a whisper tough, a butterfly's brush per say. But Var'Jun noticed immediately.

"What are you doing?" He asked, neither light nor harsh. The human looked like she would have rather bitten her own hand off than to touch him. But she had nonetheless. Var'Jun welcomed the comfort from her, the woman who had once been Kat. But he also hated her, this false Katherine woman.

"You looked… Sad.. You're not with your… people." Even Kat knew it was forced when she said it. The pauses in between and staccato response seemed to make the troll's face drop. Kat clenched her teeth harder.

'I will be what I once was.'

"I am lost in my own thoughts as they are theirs. The time in which we choose to muse over them appears to be different."

"That is not how you usually talk."

"You want to know the truth then? The whole bitter truth with all the gory details and blood-spattered explanations?" He was baiting her, or at least half baiting her. Var'Jun almost hoped she'd forget this. It wasn't Kat. Katherine shouldn't have to take these responsibilities.

Kat hesitated. Her resolution rang in her head but the revulsion of what she had once been made her want to cringe. How had the Katherine she had once been fallen in love with the gruff troll? How? But she could almost imagine herself caught up in his daring. It made for a very pretty fairy tale.

"Yes," She replied finally, "I want to hear it all."

A smile cracked over Var'Jun's face only to be washed away just as suddenly. His pupils dilated in their felid of yellow and the troll turned to face behind her.

Kat turned as well at the terror on his face. Leering from the door frame was a sallow skinned troll woman with a thin jeering face and eyes that seemed to coddle in all the hatred of the races and wars. Her hair, not the usual flaming red of trolls but rather a deep burgundy, hung slightly over her eyes.

Behind Kat the troll prince gulped.

"Ah, my liege." Crota acted the epitome of a willing servant. Her smile twisted over her teeth in a latticework of anger and jealousy but it was pushed back neatly under the rug and concealed under the fabrics of her own loyalty.

"Well met." Was all Var'Jun could manage to respond with. Her beatings had done more to him than he had ever expected but he was stronger than her now if not physically than mentally. He could withstand her.

"Not exactly," She replied with false respect Var'Jun could have never proved, "We seem to have spotted a large mass of bodies moving this way."

"An army?"

"What would you call a large mass of moving fire?"

A/N: Alright, alright. I said I would get the next chapter out soon but die to computer problems once more it was later than I expected. Forgive me please. Anyhow, done with all the boring stuff that I was writing into. Now comes the juicy parts! Think of everything behind that a prologue (a long one) and now we get real good. See you next time.