I stroked her hair as she was sleeping in my lap and added a log from the small pile next to me to the fire so Aelana and Shaestra wouldn't be cold. Lana'thel gazed me for minutes probably thinking about what Aelana and I told her.
"She cares for you doesn't she?"
I looked at Aelana, then at Lana'thel.
"Yes she does, I still don't know how we bonded so fast but I love her more than anything."
"Do you think I will find any love at home?"
I was confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You know, someone who would be with me despite everything."
I looked to the sky when I answered that question.
"I am sure there is someone that wants to spend their life with you, I was lucky to find Aelana so soon, I don't know where I would have ended up had I not met her. I guess I had her help in getting closer to my old life, and you will have ours, you will find someone too, even despite everything."
She remained silent and looked at Shaestra who began shuddering. The temperatures at night in Northrend were still pretty low. Lana pulled her sleeping form closer to the campfire. I moved Nora as well.
"Guess we don't have those problems anymore, do we?" Lana'thel spoke quietly.
"We don't, except that regret it sometimes, not needing sleep for so long gets boring at night sometimes."
"I wish I needed sleep," she stated, "I could have slept through some of the pain after they imprisoned be there."
"I'm sorry Lana."
The fire had gained some more volume because of the extra wood I added earlier and Aelana was laying dangerously close to it in front of Lana'thel and me, her head still in my lap. I stood up and moved to the other side of the former Blood Queen. I lifted Aelana carefully and pulled her a bit further away from the fire, covering her legs with my right wing.
"How do you see your new form?" she asked after watching my fingers play with the priestess's hair for a while.
"I've come to accept that I am undead. It's not the worst thing that can happen I think. Besides I was able to save my friends more than once because of it. I think I may have grown to actually like it."
"If only they didn't hurt so much," she sighed, looking at the large cuts in her wings that were left after they were impaled. Aelana didn't get to healing them just yet.
"But even if they didn't I'd still be an abomination."
"Come on Lana, I know you know you are not that at all.
I grabbed her left shoulder and pulled her closer to me, she didn't resist, as if she were asking to be held and comforted. So I did I hugged her from the side and held her as more tears began to flow.
"It's ok, Lana."
She cried quietly, her tears hitting some strands of Aelana's hair. I held on to her for several minutes until she had calmed down again, or at least a bit. I tried to get a clear view of her face and saw that she was beyond exhausted. While I personally know she doesn't need much sleep I was beginning to think she may be getting a bit delusional due to the lack of it. So I hugged her again, her head resting on my bosom as I gently massaged her back, trying to have her relax.
It didn't take long for sleep to overtake her completely. It was quite a funny sight, having two elves asleep on my lap. They both looked so innocent and content. I took this opportunity to look at Lana'thel's wings. There was a massive cut in each, which seemed incredibly painful. It did take a while for my to heal them using my own holy magic, I was pretty sure Aelana's was more advanced when it comes to healing but this would work too. Besides, I didn't want to tax her too much. She had already used too much of her own power.
"Poor Lana, I hope you will find your way back," I whispered.
I examined her other cuts. They had been healed but you could clearly see scars covering her grey-skinned body. They would fully heal with time, or so I hoped.
A couple of boring hours went by, Lana'thel and Aelana were still fast asleep on my lap when I noticed Shaestra shaking her head a few times. She mumbled something incomprehensible before pushing Nora off of her. The cay didn't seem to care as she continued snoring. She looked at the two sleeping figures and smiled.
"It was a pretty rough day for both of them, wasn't it?"
I nodded. "That's for sure."
"Is she okay?"
"You mean Lana?"
"Yes."
"Aelana has healed most of her injuries, I fixed the last few while she was asleep."
"She seems in a lot of pain," Shaestra sat down next to me, "you know, mentally."
I nodded. "She was deeper in his grasp than anyone I know. I can only guess how painful her life must have been."
Shaestra pulled her hair aside, "poor thing, she seems so peaceful when she's asleep."
"Shouldn't you go back to sleep?" I asked.
"Nah, I've had enough for now, besides, it's almost morning.
"It's completely dark Shaestra."
"Good enough for me."
"Fine, whatever, I'm not going anywhere until Aelana is feeling well and rested anyway, just so you know."
"That's okay, I will get some more wood to keep that fire burning until then."
And so she left, leaving me with the others. It would still take a few hours before you could call it 'morning', and I was bored again. This had to be the worst part about being undead, I simply had too much time in which I had nothing to do. At least not now. I reckoned we should keep Lana'thel around for a bit, I would have someone to talk to at nights, and hopefully she wouldn't do things for which I'd never forgive myself if they were to happen.
Shaestra returned with plenty of fuel for the fire a bit later.
"How can you even survive until the evening if you get up that early?" I wondered.
"No clue, I've never been much of a sleeper as far as I know."
"I would lie in bed all day if I could, unfortunately it doesn't seem like I can anymore."
"Well, you still can in theory," she smiled.
"Hmmm, I guess you are right, I could, but I wouldn't sleep so it's pointless."
She smiled again, then looked at Lana'thel.
"How did you get her to sleep anyway?"
"In all honesty, I didn't do much, I knew she had to be extremely exhausted after she told me she would have liked to be able to sleep through the pain. I know we can't do entirely without sleep, apparently she didn't. I think the pain was too much for her."
I examined her wings.
"I simple held her and let her cry out, she was fast asleep in no time, then I healed the last of her injuries."
"She didn't sleep at all?" Shaestra asked slightly shocked.
I shook my head.
"By the Sunwell, how was she even able to stand? She was there for weeks."
"Don't underestimate her Shaestra, she and I both have changed a lot since our deaths, high stamina is one of the things we gained."
"I can actually see most of the changes."
"I guess that's very hard to miss, I doubt you were able to see through me when I was alive."
"You couldn't fly either," she giggled.
"Well, in that regard, I guess I am pretty lucky I was turned into this, I have to admit I don't dislike being able to fly, in fact I have come to enjoy it."
"I think there is plenty of people who dream of that, At least there is something positive about this whole thing."
"I don't think I would wish it upon anyone though, to this day I still have horrible flashbacks about how my life ended, every time I can feel the pain renewed, I am so lucky to have Aelana around, she can numb most of the pain, but still. I fear I will always suffer from this."
"That sounds terrible," Shaestra gasped.
"It is, I fear Lana'thel has them or will have them as well, I don't want to leave her alone just yet for this reason, who knows what she might do..."
"I will be around for as long as you need me, I should have done a few things for the farstriders before I left but Lor'themar took care of that. I work on my own mostly now so that's ok."
"Thanks Shaestra, I hope we can stay together for longer now."
"As long as you need me Angel."
"I think the one needing anyone is Lana'thel at this point"
"Fair point, I will do my best for her."
She tossed another log in the fire. Then sat down across from me. Together we watched the last stars disappear when the sun dawned at the horizon signalling morning had finally come. I would however not wake any of the two sleeping people as I had promised. They both needed their rest and deserved it. I would give them as long as they needed.
