Author's Note - Sorry for the long break in between chapters. My life has recently picked up and I've been really busy. No, I have not given up on this story, but it will be taking me longer to get chapters out. Enjoy!

Of Claws and Totems

Chapter 13

Darnassus

In the washed out grayscale of the spirit world, he saw her, lying on the ground after running into him. It was Kalara, she had come all this way just to get him. As he helped her to her feet, all he could look at was her face… it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Blackheart was still seeing images of her face as he drifted into consciousness in the camp. The worgen had slept well past noon; the previous day's events mixed with the night patrol had left him completely exhausted. He felt something… fingers… running in and out of the fur just behind his ears, tugging lightly at the fur as they pulled out and massaging his skin when they came back in. The feeling of his fur being played with mixed with a familiar scent that was close to him made him feel lethargic and very happy.

He cracked an eyelid open ever so slightly and surveyed his surroundings as best as he could. When his sight and hearing sharpened up from being asleep he could see that Kalara was idly playing with his fur while talking to Miakoda; they were discussing what was being cooked for lunch. From his vantage point he could see some of the night elves in better shape packing up the camp, while the more injured ones prepared lunch over a cooking fire. He knew he should get up… but the feeling of Kalara playing with his fur kept him rooted in place for the time being. It wouldn't hurt to just lie still a little while longer.

The smell of venison cooking over the fire wafted to him then. Kalara sniffed the air. "Mmm that smells delicious. I can't wait to eat."

Miakoda nodded, licking her lips. "It's lucky that I made some more arrows before going out this morning to look around. The deer just seemed to pop right up in front of me. You should probably wake Blackheart so he can eat; I imagine that he's famished."

"Mhm," the draenei agreed. She looked down to Blackheart, still seeming to rest peacefully at her side. She continued scratching Blackheart's fur for a few more moments. He had looked dead to the world when she woke that morning. Miakoda had told her that he was out patrolling all throughout the night. Even after going through so much already, he stayed out to make sure they had been safe and hadn't been followed. He had saved her so many times… put his life in immediate danger for her. Even in the spirit world, he had shoved her back into her body while the soul monsters were latched onto him, then he fought all the way to his body with those horrible things dragging him down… and she knew it was all for her.

With a quick look around to see that no one was looking, Kalara bent down and kissed the worgen on top the head before she shook him, quietly saying, "Wake up Blackheart, it's time to eat." The worgen lazily opened his icy blue eyes to look into hers. "Come on furball," she said in a kind, soft voice, "let's get you some food."

Blackheart slowly got to his feet, but staggered back to the ground when he put weight on his injured thigh. He let out a hiss of pain as he looked down to his now infected leg. The foul stench coming from the wound told him that the alcohol they had used last night to clean it must not have gotten all of the demon's blood out. With the way that the stuff smelled, it made since it could possibly infect a wound. Kalara was by his side quickly, and the scent of her healing magic overpowered the demon's blood.

As she ushered the cleansing elemental magic into the wound, she said, "Must you always get hurt so much?"

"It wouldn't be much of a day if you didn't have to heal me would it?" He responded.

She rolled her eyes, finishing up his leg. "It would be a fantastic day if I didn't have to heal your furry butt!" She said, turning with a huff to go to the campfire. Blackheart just chuckled.

They made their way over to where the cook fires were producing delicious smells. Blackheart's stomach growled loudly when the scent of food wafted to him. He hadn't had a proper meal since before leaving Azuremyst Isle. All the events of the previous day had left him famished. The venison he received was seasoned with some local herbs that Miakoda had found, and they had water to wash it down with. The meal itself wasn't anything special, but all who shared in that lunch appreciated every detail that was in it. After all of them narrowly escaping Deathwing's wrath, and then the satyr incident, it felt tremendous to just be alive.

Once breakfast had been finished, Blackheart noticed that Captain Solia was standing, quietly for once, near several patches of freshly turned dirt. That morning while Blackheart had still been sleeping, the sailors had gathered and buried their dead. The worgen approached the captain and noticed all of the graves had a lightly glowing rune at the head, with each enchanted rune telling the name and way of death of its grave's occupant. The captain turned at his approach.

"So many good sailors lost." She said quietly. "Eighteen of us… over half of my crew that I've known for years. Gone in an instant and there was nothing I could do to protect them."

Blackheart had never seen the captain be anything close to somber before. She was always barking out orders or being stern with her crew. It was a stark contrast to how the night elf normally was.

"Always before I could see pirates coming… I could read the weather and shelter them from storms. I could keep them safe. I was their captain, and they my crew… a bond almost as strong, and sometimes more so, than family. I've lost crew members before but…" she trailed off. Blackheart could smell the bitterness of defeat and sadness rolling off of her.

"I remember always being told to not mourn someone in their death, but to celebrate how they lived." Blackheart said quietly.

He wasn't very skilled at helping to console people when it came to death. His previous life in an army had made him aware of how easy it was for someone to be snatched from you that you cared for. He couldn't imagine being in a leadership position and losing those under you, but he could well guess what it felt like when you were responsible for someone's life and when that life was lost. He walked back to the camp then, having nothing else to say to Captain Solia. He was happy though that her scent had changed from anguish to one of… acceptance. He guessed that she must have been recalling their lives.

The captain returned to camp a short while later and once again resumed her order giving role. They were going to set out for Auberdine, or what remained of it, and from there try to reach Darnassus. The entire camp moved about quickly and effectively, packing up all of the supplies they had scavenged and preparing to depart. Blackheart, his two companions, and Relarus joined the captain when she scavenged the last thing from her ship: the wheel that had served as the helm of her ship.

At the groups inquiring looks, she said matter-of-factly, "When I get a new ship, it'll need a helm. I might as well use this one."

Once everything was gathered up, they set off towards the direction that they thought Auberdine was in. They soon found that Deathwing's passage had not only caused a tsunami, it had sundered the land as well. Most of the night elves were familiar with the Darkshore area and they constantly encountered new hills, valleys, and creeks that hadn't been there previously. A few hours later when they reached the charred remnants of trees, they knew that they were close. When Auberdine finally came into view, it took their breath away.

What was left of Auberdine was merely rubble. What hadn't been burned down by the dragon's fire had been washed away. The dock was completely gone, leaving no trace that it had ever even existed. Every building in town was completely destroyed; there were no buildings that had been left standing, it was complete and total devastation. Broken and charred timbre and mortar lay everywhere in the town… and that's when they saw the bodies. The corpses of those who had met Deathwing's wrath lay broken everywhere. There were hundreds upon hundreds of bodies, too many for Blackheart to count, scattered throughout the village. Though the dead consisted mainly of night elves, dwarves, draenei, and a few humans and gnomes were intermingled in the carnage. The unbroken bodies looked as if they had drowned, there was little visible outside damage to them. The debris from the tidal wave hitting had killed many, with bodies partially buried in wreckage or impaled, and in some cases they saw severed arms or legs missing the rest of the body. The unrecognizable black skeletons must have taken the full effect of the dragon's breath. They were, strangely, the lucky ones, most likely dying instantaneously.

The entire group was in a trance at the scene that was laid bare before them. They had all known it would be bad, but none of them were prepared for this. It was a loss of life on a scale which none of them had experience. Blackheart followed Kalara to a clear spot of ground where she retched and lost the lunch they had had. A few of the night elves did the same, while some just broke down into tears. So many lives had been lost here. How many other places had suffered a fate such as this… what had been let loose on their world? Blackheart was slightly blunted from the atrocity, his previous army experience had known such massive casualty as this… but those had been trained warriors who knew that death was waiting for them at every turn. These had been civilians, just regular people going about their lives that had, in an instant, been snuffed out. He rubbed Kalara's back as she finished emptying her stomach, and when she could stand she clung to his arm, tears streaming freely down her eyes.

"Why…" was all that she could ask.

Blackheart pulled her close to him and hugged her, slowly petting her hair while she wept at the disaster. "I don't know," he said. "I truly do not know."

Miakoda and Captain Solia seemed too stunned for words at the grisly scene. Both of them stood in complete stillness and silence, an unfocused gaze wandering over the wreckage of the town. The captain's ship helm lay forgotten on the ground while her hands hung idly at her sides. Relarus was sitting on the ground, staring emptily at the devastation. The loss of life assaulted him as hard as any physical blow would have. None of the group knew what to do, or even where to start... until Blackheart's hearing picked up a sound from within a pile of wreckage.

A large pile of broken boards and mortar laid a few paces away, and from within it Blackheart heard something. Thinking that it could be a survivor he instantly bounded over to the pile and started tearing it apart. Hunched over like a canine he started trying to tunnel into the pile, using his hands and claws to sling dirt, bricks, and wood out behind him at a frantic pace. It took the rest of the group only a moment to catch on, but soon they were all around him trying to help. Most of the sailors surrounded the pile and started digging at it while Miakoda picked up the largest chunks of mortar and threw them to the side. Blackheart was vastly ahead of the rest of the group though, and his upper torso was tunneling under the pile, hidden from view under the debris. Once he was hidden from his waste up, the spray of materials he was throwing back stopped suddenly. Everyone stopped and watched as he spent a few seconds completely motionless, then slowly withdrew from the pile of rubble. He was covered in dirt and plaster, and when he withdrew from the pile a small night elf child came with him, her arms wrapped around his neck.

The child gripped the fur on the sides of Blackheart's neck and had her face buried in his shoulder. Her pale pink skin and bright white hair was covered in soot, dirt, and mortar. Except for a few scrapes and bruises, however, she seemed to be uninjured. Blackheart sat down and the child still clung to him.

He looked to Miakoda and quietly said, "In there is still…" and he trailed of for a few seconds, looking down to the girl clinging to him. "Just keep digging," was all that he could finish with.

Miakoda solemnly nodded, fully expecting it when she found the broken, charred body of a night elf wearing priest's robes. There was a small space underneath her, one that the child could fit in. Everyone understood then. The only reason the child was even alive was that the adult, whoever she was, had poured everything she had into a shield to protect the little girl. The group carefully removed the body, laying it aside reverently.

Kalara was kneeling next to Blackheart then, staring at the little girl. Slowly she loosened her grip and looked up into Blackheart's face, meeting his gaze with her own amber colored eyes. The worgen was afraid that she would run away then, but she continued just to stare at him, taking him in wholesale. The way she looked at him almost unnerved him. There was an intelligence in those eyes that he did not expect to see in a child, and when she looked into his eyes it was as if she was reading the very depths of his soul. He could see the overwhelming sadness in her eyes as well, could smell it roiling off of her tiny form. There was no sign of relief at being saved, there was only the knowledge that all she had known, everything in life that she had loved had been taken away from her. Her world had been destroyed. She didn't run because she had no fear left in her.

Blackheart asked quietly, "What is your name, little one?"

The girl opened her mouth as if to speak, but after looking around at all the night elves she closed it again. She leaned in close to Blackheart's ear and whispered in a tiny voice, "Tyria," before leaning back and latching her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder.

Blackheart sat and held Tyria while Captain Solia handed out orders. "Search for survivors. If you find anyone at all, call for help immediately. Go."

An hour later they had covered most of the wreckage and had not found a single other survivor. They had, however, found footprints that had been made after the town had been destroyed. The survivors had headed north along the coast, however many of them there were. The mixing of the tracks made it impossible to tell how many had made it, however they did show that a variety of races had survived. The entire time the search had been conducted Tyria had clung to Blackheart and wouldn't let anyone else, except Kalara, near her without turning her face and hiding. It was almost as if she feared other night elves. Tyria had taken a special interest in Kalara when the shaman used her healing magic to close the wounds of the small night elf. She watched wide eyed as the blue magic coalesced in the shaman's hands and slowly washed over her, knitting the skin back together and healing her burns. Kalara smiled at the child then, and for the first time since she had been rescued, a small smile appeared on Tyria's face.

"It looks like you've made a friend," Blackheart said.

Kalara pulled some cloth out of her pack and slowly started wiping soot from the child's face. When Tyria didn't recoil, she continued until her face, neck, and arms were clean. "A pretty little girl like Tyria should always have friends," the draenei said with a smile. Tyria just smiled back, silent as usual.

Once the search had been completed, Captain Solia rounded up the group. "We need to follow the survivors and see what their situation is." She ordered. The group set out then, heading north along the coast following the tracks left by the Auberdine survivors. They kept a steady pace along the beach. The quiet lapping of the waves breaking on the sand provided a sense of serenity that was welcome after the chaos of the past two days.

When they had left the ruins of Auberdine, Tyria had clung to Blackheart fiercely. After a half hour of walking, Blackheart decided that the little night elf could hold on for herself, and she let out a little squeal of surprise as the worgen lifted her and sat her on his shoulders. Kalara was laughing at the multitude of looks that crossed Tyria's face. First was confusion at being lifted into the air followed by the fear of falling as she sat atop Blackheart's shoulders. Then came the look of wonder as she realized she was now taller than everyone else and could see for what seemed like forever to her. The last, and current, look gracing her features was one of contentment as she gripped the fur along Blackheart's head and stared off across the ocean.

They had been traveling for hours when dusk started to set in and they saw lights on the beach in the distance. Blackheart carefully took the now sleeping Tyria from his shoulders and gently handed her to Kalara. He walked to the head of the procession to where the captain was leading them. He turned to the captain, saying, "I will scout ahead and make sure we're not running into any more surprises." The captain nodded to him as he disappeared into the trees, returning a short while thereafter.

"What's it look like?" The captain asked him.

"It appeared to be those that survived Auberdine have set up a small camp. There are few hundred there." He responded.

"Only a few hundred! There were over five thousand residents of Auberdine! I knew it was bad but…" the captain trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. "Well let's get going and see if there's any way we can help."

The night was in full swing as they reached the edges of the camp, and soon they heard a hail in Darnassian as the group approached the camp. A small group of sentinels met them at the edge of camp, halting them as a precaution. It appeared to be going smoothly until they inevitably noticed Blackheart standing at the rear of the group. The guard that spotted him let out a call that sounded like an owl. Thirty sentinels appeared out of the forest in a matter of seconds, all training their bows and glaives on Blackheart. "What is the meaning of this?" The guard demanded.

Captain Solia sighed, and in an agitated voice said, "He's with us. It's fine, you can put your weapons away now."

The guard wasn't convinced in the slightest. She raised her bow and drew back, taking a bead on Blackheart. The rest of the sentinels did the same, drawing back bowstrings and tensing to throw their glaives. "Get away from him everyone, we're taking him down!" she yelled at Blackheart's group. Somehow she must have thought she was saving them from him.

"You will do no such thing, unless you want to come through us." An irate Captain Solia said.

It surprised Blackheart when Captain Solia and the entire crew of her ship surrounded Blackheart, putting themselves in between him and the unconvinced guards. Aside from Kalara he hadn't seen anyone stick up for him. He was constantly expecting to fight for acceptance, and it was pleasantly surprising to realize that those around him were judging him based on his actions and not his appearance. His hair started to stand on end, and he looked over to see Kalara's eyes and fists arcing with electricity. To his other side he heard Miakoda draw tight the ballistae she called a bow. This could go very wrong very quickly. There was tense, nearly palpable silence covering the area.

So tense was Blackheart he almost jumped when a small hand tugged on his. He looked down to see Tyria with her hands raised, beckoning him to pick her up. He was reluctant at first. If for some reason the sentinels were to open fire, she would be protected right now. But if he picked her up she would be directly in danger, and Blackheart didn't want to put her in that situation. The look she gave him with those amber eyes though… it told him to just trust her, that if he listened to her and picked her up the situation would sort itself out. He slowly bent over and picked her up drawing gasps from the sentinels surrounding them and a terse 'What are you doing?' from Kalara. He looked over at her and had no answer.

"Tyria!" the guard called. "Unhand her you foul beast. Move out of the way kinswomen or we will not stay our shots!"

"STOP!" a powerful voice cried out. Blackheart looked over at Tyria, astonished at the command that she held in her voice. Her amber eyes seemed to be on fire, and she projected a presence as if you should listen to her no matter what. "Don't hurt them. They're my friends. They saved me!" Tyria said. The sentinels so bent on killing them earlier instantly stood down, and the leader bowed her head to Tyria. Blackheart and Kalara shared awestruck looks. This child who, until just now, had said only one word had commanded a group of sentinels with just the power of her voice. The two also shared a thought: just who is this child?

"I apologize Tyria, I did not realize that they were with you." The leader of the sentinels said. She turned to the captain then. "You are free to go then."

The sentinel leader led them into the camp and showed them a place where they could join the camp. As they walked into the midst of the camp, the fires shed light on what the survivor's conditions were. Many of the survivors, nearly half of them, were down and wounded, laying in beds while others rushed around to attend to their needs. There were more than a few gasps and remarks concerning Blackheart and Miakoda, but like always they ignored them.

Once they reached the area where they should prepared their own place, Blackheart sat down Tyria and both he and Kalara kneeled down next to the child while Miakoda remained standing behind them. "Just who are you?" Blackheart asked.

The child turned her too intelligent gaze on him before responding, as if quoting a mantra she had been made to memorize, "I'm Tyria Whisperwind. My mother was a priestess of Elune and a distant relative of Tyrande Whisperwind." She finished her statement to the widening eyes of Blackheart and Kalara. This child was a relative one of the most important night elves in the last thousand years. She had a very sad look on her face now though. "I guess you will run away from me just like everybody else does when they know who I am," she said in a sad tone.

Kalara looked to Blackheart and shared a look with him before responding. "Of course not Tyria. You said we were friends right?" The child nodded. "Well, I for one don't run out on my friends. Neither does Blackheart. He's my best friend, and he's never let me down even for a second. I'm sure he won't let you down either."

Miakoda chimed in then, and when she spoke the child looked up at her with wide eyes. "Blackheart helped to save me, just like he helped to save you. And if he didn't run away from me, a tauren, I know he won't run away from you." The child visibly brightened then.

"How about you find a place for all of us to stay?" Blackheart said. Tyria turned and started walking around, surveying possible spots to sleep all four of them.

"I never knew you were so good with kids." Kalara said.

"I had two younger siblings… I must have remembered how I used to treat them." He responded.

Kalara smiled at him before standing and saying, "What do you remember of your childhood?"

"Not much sadly. Just that I had a younger brother and sister, but beyond that I can't remember what kind of relationship I had with them, other than knowing that I loved them very much."

"It must have been all those blows to the head you've taken getting into fights." Miakoda said with a smirk.

Tyria came back to get them then. "I found a spot for us!" she said cheerfully and took Blackheart by the hand and led them all to a small spot that had been cleared out near the edge of the camp. They set to work immediately, unpacking what little they had been able to bring with them. Once they finished unpacking they bedded down for the night. Kalara slept on a blanket with Blackheart curled up next to her. Miakoda rolled up a blanket for her head. Tyria slept on the blanket in between Kalara and Blackheart.

When Blackheart awoke just before the sunrise, he stayed where he was. He felt some pressure and looked over to see Tyria's little hand gripping his fur. She was lying snuggled up to Kalara but had reached out to hold onto Blackheart in the night. He rested his head on his hands and faced east, looking for the sun to rise over to top of the mountains he saw in the distance. When it finally broke the horizon it brought with it a sense of life, that of appreciating and creating it. He could smell the salt rolling in from the ocean mixed with the smells of the forest. He enjoyed the sensation for as long as he could; he had a feeling they had a lot of work ahead of them.

All of the group that had joined the previous night were set to work shortly after the sun rose. Blackheart and Miakoda were made to use their strength to aid in the construction of a palisade around the encampment, while Kalara and Relarus healed as many people as they could before succumbing to exhaustion.

The next few weeks were spent building the settlement. The concerns most of the survivors had harbored about Blackheart and Miakoda were erased once they saw all of the hard work they were putting into rebuilding a home for them. At the end of the first week, a messenger from Darnassus finally arrived via hyppogryph. Within a day of the messenger, a boat full of night elves arrived to aid them in constructing the new settlement, Lor'Danel. The strangest part to Blackheart, as well as his comrades, was the fact that these night elves seemed to readily accept him, if at first unnerved by his appearance. The rest of their time spent at Lor'Danel had been very busy. The had all aided in what ways they knew how to get the town up and running. Once the inn had been built, Blackheart, Miakoda, Kalara, and Tyria shared a room together. Their quarters were cramped, but after the amount of excitement they had faced before reaching Lor'Danel, a cramped room was nothing. Blackheart also spent every free second he had with Kalara. She was the first friend he had made since becoming a worgen, but they both knew that it was turning into something more than that. By the time the dock was completed and a ship was running regularly chartered trips to Darnassus over a month had passed. The day one such boat was coming into Lor'Danel, Relarus pulled Blackheart aside and led him to where they could speak privately.

"It is time that we must travel to Darnassus. I need to return and report on what I have been doing, and more importantly, that I am alive. We also need to get Miakoda home." The druid said to Blackheart.

"I agree. Though I wonder what will be done about Tyria."

"She is going to come with us. Tyrande is her closest relative, so she must decide what is to be done with the child." The druid responded.

"I'll gather everyone up then." Blackheart said as he headed off towards their cramped room in the inn.

Blackheart approached the room quietly. He could smell Kalara's magic as he had approached the door. So accustomed had he become to her many scents over the time he had known her he could instantly tell what she was thinking or feeling, as well as being able to tell if she was channeling magic. Coming from the room, he smelt the all too familiar watery scent of her healing magic. He silently eased the door open to see Miakoda sitting on her bed that was opposite of Kalara's. Tyria was sitting on the draenei's bed, a few tear tracks stained her small face and the remnants of a skinned knee were disappearing under the gentle flow of Kalara's magic. Once it was finished, Kalara bent over and kissed the girls knee.

"There now, all better, yes?" The draenei asked with a smile.

"Yes! Thank you 'Lara" The child said. She had given all of them nicknames in the time that they had spent together. Kalara had become 'Lara, and Miakoda had simply been shortened to Mia. The captain had been named Grumpy and, much to Blackheart's constant chagrin, he had been named Wolfy. Kalara teased him to no end about that, and Miakoda wasn't much better. Tyria hopped off the bed and gave Kalara a quick hug before turning to see Blackheart standing in the doorway. "Wofly!" she said as she bounded towards him and hugged his leg. "I fell and 'Lara fixed my knee for me."

Blackheart knelt down in front of the girl. "Yes, she has healed me a lot." In a loud whisper, as if to make it a secret, he cupped his hand over his mouth and said, "She's really good at it, but don't tell her. It will go to her head."

Tyria laughed and said, "You're silly Wofly. What are you doing here?"

"I can't just come see my three favorite girls for the fun of it?" Miakoda laughed loudly at that, and Kalara giggled. "Actually, I've come to say that we are going to be leaving."

Tyria's demeanor changed almost instantly. "Leaving? Who is leaving? And where are they going?"

"All of us are. You, Kalara, Miakoda, Relarus, and I are going to go to Darnassus."

"Why?" she asked. Blackheart heard Kalara snicker and knew she was remembering a question session that had gone on for what seemed like hours earlier in the week. It had started out innocent enough with Tyria asking why Blackheart had fur, him telling her because he was a worgen, and her constantly questioning everything he said. It ended with Blackheart trying unsuccessfully to explain the meaning of life to her.

Her eyes widened when he told her the reason. "I'm going to take you to meet Tyrande, and I am going to try and figure out how to get my memory back."

Blackheart, as well as the others, were once again surprised by the maturity of something the little night elf said. She put a hand on each side of his face and looked at him with those amber eyes. "When you get all those memories back, don't you go forgetting all the memories you've made with us, ok?" She said.

After a stunned silence spent enthralled in those eyes, he covered her hand with his. "I promise."

The preparations for them to leave went by quickly. None of the group had very much except what they had come to the settlement with. Perhaps a few extra pieces of clothing made to replace ones torn and covered in blood stains here and there, but they were all traveling lightly. The group met Relarus at the dock as the ship that would take them to Darnassus came into port. When everyone started to board, Miakoda stood stock still on the dock, staring at the ship.

"What is it?" Relarus asked, coming back down the gangplank to stand next to her. "Did you forget something?"

"I hate boats." was all that she said. When Relarus tried to urge her to get onto it so they could complete their trip, the tauren started stammering excuses. "I'll... I'll just stay here. I can walk to Moonglade, or maybe even just back down to Mulgore. I don't really need to go to Darnassus." Miakoda started slowly inching her way back away from the ship.

Blackheart could smell the uneasiness coming off the tauren, and after her last experience with a boat he couldn't blame her. He was about to try and bring her aboard when Tyria walked back down towards her. Miakoda had moved a few feet back from the boat when she was stopped by Tyria's small hand grasping hers. "Come on Mia." the child said. "We're going to Darnassus. It'll be ok." The group watched in amazement as the small night elf led the tauren up the gangplank and onto the boat.

"That child," Blackheart said to Kalara, "is going to be a very powerful person someday." She nodded her agreement.

Once they were settled in for the trip, Kalara said, "You must be getting quite popular now. We didn't have to defend you from these sailors. They didn't automatically want to kill us."

"Funny." the worgen said, rolling his eyes. "I don't think that's it. Something is... different."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure." he responded. "Something about these night elves is different than usual. It's not something that I can explain, it's almost as if I'm nothing special to them."

"Well that's unique. Surely Relarus told them, or they've heard from the other people that you're here."

"Maybe." He said to her, turning to look at the now departing town. It still didn't set right with him. Something was off, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

The trip took most of the day. Miakoda, like her previous boat ride, spent the majority of it leaning over the rail. Blackheart and Kalara were with Tyria at the prow of the boat, just enjoying watching the craft cut its wake out of the ocean. They could see Teldrassil long before reaching the dock. The giant tree which served as the home of the night elves had come into view shortly after leaving the dock. Both Blackheart and Kalara had stared in awe at the thing as they approached, amazed that such a giant tree could even exist. Tyria made Blackheart hold her above the rails so she could watch it approaching as well. The little night elf had spent nearly the entirety of the trip gazing at the approaching tree.

When they finally reached the dock, they departed from the ship. Miakoda was off first, greatly relieved at being on solid ground again. Relarus led them towards the glowing red portal that would teleport them into the city of Darnassus. Blackheart looked to Kalara when they reached the portal, unsure of the proper method for using such a thing. She just smiled, shrugged, and walked into the shimmering red light where she vanished from view. Blackheart followed suit, walking forward and letting the light encompass him. As soon as he was fully enveloped in the portal everything went dark, and it felt like he was moving impossibly fast. He had never been prone to motion sickness, but this was definitely making him uneasy. It was over quickly though, and the world flashed up in front of his eyes. Kalara was there waiting for him, and he continued towards her until a smell set his fur on end. She gave him a confused look, then followed where his wide eyed gaze had stopped. What she saw set her back on her heels. Coming towards them were a pair of worgen.