Orlaith awoke calmly that morning, with the memories of last night still fresh in her mind. The priestess felt a smile creep up when she remembered how passionate the paladin had responded to her. Who knew he had all that kindness hiding behind his sour attitude. She rolled over, but her smile faded when she saw that the spot beside her was empty. Maybe I made a mistake, she thought, as her heart sank. Then her ears twitched as she heard the door opening.
"Oh you're awake," Kayalos smiled, as he held large sacks in both hands. "I figured you'd be hungry after last night," he winked, and pulled out some fresh bread that was still hot. He tossed her a loaf and pulled out one for himself, and sat at the edge of the bed.
"Oh, thank you, Kay," She smiled at him, and nibbled at the bread. It was great. "Wow, where did you get this?"
"There's a baker not to far from here. I got their early enough to get them right out of the oven."
"Oh, Kay, you didn't have to do that," she grinned.
"Yeah I did. You didn't tell me last night was your first time," he said, coolly. Orlaith stopped chewing as her heart sank. "I found out this morning, your maidenhood stained the sheets." The priestess turned deep red, and swallowed.
"Kay," she began.
"Orlaith, I know you see many different sides of me, but I'm always honest. I know we're the enemy, but I tell you the truth anyway." The priestess sighed heavily.
"I didn't tell you, because I thought I'd scare you off," she admitted. "I wanted last night to happen." That was as honest as she could be. She looked at the paladin, eyes misted, lips parted, waiting for him to make his next move. The paladin was unpredictable, but she had never gotten such a rush from another person. Kay surprised her. He smiled at her, and took his palm and put it on her head, and tousled her long, white hair.
"Orlaith, you couldn't scare me off at this point," he went back to eating. Orlaith felt her heart soar, for it was nice to hear him say her name. The first time, it was haunting and stirring to her blood. The second time, it was rushed. This time, it was stable and comforting. She smiled, and started back at her bread. She let her gaze fall over his broad shoulders, and his defined back. The tunic he wore hugged nicely to show off how hard he pushed himself in battle.
"Kay," she spoke up, "does it hurt when you get wounded?" The paladin turned and narrowed his eyes.
"Of course it hurts," he sneered.
"Yeah, I guess," she stammered, feeling foolish. "It's just you're so tough." The paladin's sneer almost turned into a smile.
"Well I'll tell you a secret," he moved towards her, using his knee to hold up his weight. He inched towards her and leaned in to her ear, "it takes a lot of practice, sweetheart," he whispered, and he moved back a little, just so his face was inches from hers. Her lips parted, as her blood rushed with the thought of him kissing her again. "You should have told me it was your first time," he said gently.
"Would you have stopped?" She her voice quivering, as his hand moved to her neck. His touch made her ache for more, as the electricity pulsed through her veins, demanding his attention.
"No," his voice deep and husky. He tilted her head towards him, and she breathed in sharply. His lips gently lowered over hers, and she felt her insides twist as she kissed him back. His response was to deepen the kiss, and his tongue gently rolled over her lower lip. She moaned, and that set the paladin into a blaze. He softly took her lower lip into his teeth and sucked, and she found her hands moving up towards his neck. She let her hands roll down his back, and then back up again, to remove the shirt separating his muscles from her chest. Her fingers ran over his back, and she felt something out of place. Her fingers found the spot again, and touched it. The paladin grunted, and jumped back. He stared into her eyes, which were full of concern and worry.
"Is that part of those scars?" Orlaith asked, and Kay moved off the bed, and adjusted his shirt.
"Yes," he answered gruffly.
"Kay, how did that happen?" She asked again. "A sword? A polearm?" The paladin cursed angrily.
"You really don't give up do you," he demanded. She bit her lip.
"I just want to understand you," she whispered. He laughed a little.
"Listen, you don't want to do that," he reached for a few bags, and started for the door.
"Kay," she shouted, as he slammed the door behind him. The priestess found herself growing angry, as she chased after him, but stopped before she opened the door. She let out a cry of anguish as she released her fury on the door with her fists. They landed, and the wood cracked again with the force of her assault. She pulled her hands back, and waited to see if the door would hold up. When it didn't fall over, she went to the bed and buried her face in her hands. The scene of Kay leaving was getting old, fast. She was sick of it, and damn it she was a healer! She healed internal wounds before, from the ones who were thrown in battle when they weren't ready to the ones with their dying pleas of redemption. Confronting him could be dangerous, especially if he wasn't ready. But he was most peculiar, which drew her the very essence of her soul to his. The priestess clenched her fists with new courage, and grabbed her cloak, and left the protection of the room.
Orlaith made her way through the town, trying to avoid glances of curiosity, and people darting past her on their busy schedules. The priestess tried to find Kay, but began to realize that she had gotten in over her head. Each strange face that past her increased her chances of being discovered. She began to turn back, when she didn't recognize the area she was in. Oh no, please don't forget now. She panicked, turning around, and then she saw a rope bridge. I'll just go to Amuuru's and wait there, the priestess decided. She bravely conquered her fear of heights for that minute on the bridge, and when she set foot on ground she breathed deeply, thankful to be back on the other side. She grasped the seam of her dress at her thigh, and started towards where the house should be. Once she got there, however, it was not what she was looking for. Instead, there were buildings she didn't recognize, and more faces that she didn't recognize. Someone brushed past her, knocking her to the ground. It made her side split with pain, but then a furry hand appeared in front of her, as if to help her up. She refused to look up, but accepted the hand, and a big tauren pulled her to her feet.
"Orlaith," a low voice spoke to her. She looked up from the brim of the helm. It was Akken. His eyes looked fearful as he led her away to another rope bridge, through the traffic of the town, across another rope bridge, and opened the door to Amuuru's home. He let her enter, and he shut the door behind him. The priestess quickly hugged the tauren as tightly as she could. How kind of him to save her like that! The tauren gently hugged her back, and pushed her away gently. He pointed to where her ribs were broken and spoke in Orcish. The priestess smiled and nodded, and gently pushed his hand away.
"I'm okay," she said softly. The tauren nodded in response, and then led her to Amuuru's room, where she had scrolls laid out all over the bed. She recognized the Common language on some of them, and a language she didn't understand.
"Welcome," she said in Common. The old shaman smiled at her, and invited her in. The priestess's eyes grew wide in surprise.
"You can speak common?" She asked as she took a seat next to the bed. "Is that what all these scrolls are?" She pointed to the scrolls, and the tauren looked deep in thought.
"I study little," she gave the night elf a scroll, and the priestess opened it, slowly. It looked really old. "Orcish," the shaman said. The priestess read the scroll, as it translated a few basic words in Common to Orcish. The priestess's eyes grew wide, both in excitement and fear for the tauren. These were dangerous scrolls to possess. It was forbidden for the Alliance to understand Orcish, a crime punishable by banishment, or worse. She wondered why Kay spoke such fluent Common, and yet she had never met another member of the Horde who was bilingual.
"Amuuru," the priestess began. "It is illegal for me to learn." She handed the scroll back to the tauren, who gave her a disappointed stare.
"You think for you. Don't let Alliance think for you," she said as she tapped on her head. The priestess thought, surely the Alliance and Horde could never be united as long as they didn't speak the same language. It would be political suicide for both sides to unite, at least on the leader's parts. But a union between the two would make them an unstoppable force for the Lich King. And Illidan. She shook her head. Such thoughts were very, very dangerous.
"How did Kay learn?" The priestess asked. The tauren stared at her, and scratched an ear.
"I cannot. Is Kay's story," she sighed. "My son very troubled, I find when he very small." The priestess's ears twitched. "My son" echoed in her ears, as she realized that the shaman was his adoptive mother. What happened to his parents? They were killed, she remembered.
"Amuuru, how did his parents die?" She pressed. The tauren sighed, as she realized her son was being secretive as usual. He hadn't told the priestess one darn thing. "Forgive me, I was rude," the priestess sat back in her chair and hung her head.
"Orlaith," the tauren began, "Kay's parents, murdered. Kay's village, murdered. He was only one." The priestess's eyes grew large, and clenched her fists.
"But who would do such a thing?" She asked, desperately. Inside, she felt like she already knew the answer, but she didn't want it to be true.
"Alliance," the shaman whispered, her heart ached for her son, and now the priestess learning the truth of her homeland was splashed on her face.
After hearing Amuuru speak of the dead, she found herself needing to be around nature, so the shaman suggested she go upstairs to the "garden". The priestess sat with the breeze gently flowing through her robes, and she closed her eyes and drifted into meditation. Kay's reaction to the Alliance was probably the excuse for his brutality towards her comrades. He was trying to hit the Alliance right in the gut, which is what they did to him. Tears spilled over her cheeks, as she thought of a small boy running around in a village, looking for his parents through all the corpses of his friends and neighbors. A terrifying and dreadful scene for anyone. She sobbed silently for the paladin, understanding why he was so secretive. So many questions flooded her mind. How did he escape? How did he cope? Is he happy now? And why did he spare her life? All she felt was pity. Pity for the little boy who survived a massacre, pity for the Alliance's cruel heart, and pity for those that were slaughtered that day.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she never heard footsteps up the stairs. The figure stood there for a few minutes, and finally spoke.
"Orlaith, what are you doing here?" She recognized the voice immediately, and whipped around, her face streaked with tears. "Whoa," he began. "You're crying." He said, dumbly. He felt something strange come over him, as he wished he could take her pain away. So he crouched down to her level, face to face, and ran a thumb over her cheek to dry her tears. "What happened? Was it something I did?" The priestess shook her head.
"Amuuru," she began, "she told me. About what happened to your parents." The paladin's eyebrow went up, and he clenched his teeth. "I can't believe you went through something like that, Kay. I'm so sorry," She threw herself into his embrace, trying desperately to control her sobbing. She held him tight, and kept her head steady on his chest. She heard his steady and strong heartbeat, and felt it pulse against her ear.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," he began. "But how did she tell you?"
"She has scrolls, Kay," she said, slowly. "Scrolls that translate Common and Orcish." The paladin froze, and suddenly his embrace went cold. He quickly rose up, and left her sitting on the ground. The priestess followed him into Amuuru's room, where he started screaming frantically at the old shaman. Akken stormed into the room, and punched Kay in the gut. The paladin cursed, and he fell to the floor. The warrior spoke in hushed tones, and turned to Orlaith and patted her on the head before leaving once more.
Orlaith helped him to his feet, and which he spoke to Amuuru in softer tones. Amuuru responded, but she seemed disappointed. She gave him a sorrowful look, and shook her head.
"It's those scrolls," the priestess whispered.
"If the Horde find them, they'll kill her. She knows that, and I told her to burn them a long time ago." The priestess gasped, and turned to the shaman, ready to plead for her to listen to the paladin. But there was a look in her eyes, a look as if to say "trust me". The priestess closed her mouth, and hung her head.
"Just trust me, Kay," Amuuru chirped. "These scrolls can link the Horde and the Alliance someday. I've kept them hidden this long, I can continue to do it. No one but us four know they exist." The paladin sighed, knowing when he was defeated.
"Mom, just please, be careful," he begged, before left. He nodded to his brother, who nodded back in understanding. He lead Orlaith back to their room at the inn, and he locked the door behind them. The priestess sat cross-legged on the bed, and bit her lip.
"How do you know of those scrolls?" The priestess asked, praying this time he'd respond.
"Orlaith," he started in anger, but then stopped himself. She was in this deep, she might as well know the whole truth. "Okay," he sighed, and sat on the bed next to her. He held himself up with his arms as he leaned back. "My village was just outside Eversong Woods. This was long before the blood elves joined the Horde. My father wrote those scrolls, making Orcish and Common easy to learn to both sides. He wrote them because he had an idea of a union between the Alliance and Horde someday, and he figured learning each language would be the first bridge. He recruited a few followers, including my mother. After the scrolls had been completed, I was born. However, there were many who didn't believe in what my father wanted. They hated the idea of peace, and some were even scared of us. So, word got around, and somehow, the Alliance found out about my father. They sent a small army to my village-"
"No," the priestess whispered.
"And they started killing everyone. Some were burned in their houses, others were slaughtered in front of their children. I still remember the screams of my friends."
"By Elune," she hung her head and covered her face.
"My mother and father had a trapdoor that lead underneath the hearth of the fireplace, and my parents put me inside, and begged me not to come out, no matter what I heard. They each gave me a kiss, and slammed the trapdoor. I heard them both say 'I love you', to each other, and watched them embrace each other. That's when the Alliance beat down the door, and a human forced them to their knees. He spoke in Common, but I understood Common very well then. He called my parents foul names, telling them now their wretched dream would never be true. My father said to him that you could never kill an idea, and his idea would never die just because they killed him. The human grew angry, and killed him in front of my mother. She cried out, and he dragged her out of the house. I heard her scream for a while, and then a sword unsheath. I'll never forget the sound she made as they killed her."
"Elune save them," she prayed, biting her lip to hold back the tears. He was silent before he spoke again.
"I heard them all arguing after they had killed everyone. They were searching for the scrolls, and all the search parties had turned up empty-handed. So they decided to burn all the houses to destroy them. They threw torches on each house, and I panicked. So I quickly jumped out of the trapdoor, and tried to flee for my life, when a night elf caught me. He brought me to the human, who spat on me. He told me 'what do you think of your new union now?' He grabbed my chin, and I bit him with everything I had. He responded with throwing me to the ground, and he took out a horse whip, and beat me until he finally felt even. After, he told a hunter to do with me whatever he wanted. The hunter raised his bow and fired directly into my back. I don't remember anything after that, until I heard soft footsteps coming towards me, and gentle sobs. I looked up and saw Amuuru with her husband, Akken Senior. She said she heard me groaning, and she rushed to me to treat me. She saved my life."
"By the light, Kay," she looked up from her hands, tears rolling down her chin, and falling to her lap. "How terrible, there aren't words for what happened. It's a miracle you survived."
"Amuuru says the spirits kept me alive until she could get there." He half-smiled, "I guess they really wanted me to live."
"How did Amuuru know to go there?" The priestess was confused.
"She knew of the village, and visited every now and then. She knew my father and mother vaguely. She always told me how beautiful my mother was. Amuuru has never said what she did there, but I think she believed in finding peace."
"So if they burned everything how did the scrolls survive?"
"Stupid dogs," he smirked, "my parents were smarter than to keep such important documents in the village. They paid a goblin in Ratchet to store a 'very important' trunk for him. The goblin didn't care for much other than the gold, and Amuuru took me there to take it back to hide it in Thunder Bluff."
"Your father, he wanted peace between the Alliance and Horde?" The paladin grunted in response. "Yet you butcher the Alliance." She pointed out. The paladin's gaze filled with sheer hatred.
"You expect me to be any different?" He demanded.
"Kay, that's not what I meant." She put her hand to his shoulder, and he pulled away. "Kay, I just mean your father wanted his idea to live on. Maybe that's why you lived."
"What if I don't want the life they wanted for me?"
"Kay, all that hatred is difficult to carry around," she crawled to him, and pressed against his back, and held him in an embrace. "Your parents wanted you to be happy more than anything."
"I could kill you, you know that?" He asked, darkly.
"You wouldn't do that," she said, breathy.
"How do you know," he spun around, and pinned her to the bed, her hands above her head. His face inches from hers, and his gaze still harsh and bitter.
"You're afraid aren't you? I don't know what of, but you're scared," she said, her voice unwavering. The paladin said nothing. "You've hidden your grief in anger, you push out everyone around you, but I can see right through it now."
"You know nothing of me," he growled.
"You had something very tragic happen at a young age, but instead of following your father's teachings of love, you chose something you could use. I'm sure you had to make that choice at such a young age, but you've just stuck with it."
"Orlaith," he rumbled one more time in protest.
"Kay, I'm not going to lie to you. You're choosing wrong. You can chose love, just like your parents did. You're old enough to learn when to put down your sword." He was silent, his face less bitter, but just as intense. His face was so focused, waiting for her to back down. For the first time, she wasn't afraid of what the paladin had to say or do. This time, she freed her hands, grabbed his head and pulled his lips down to meet hers. At first he was rough and demanding of her mouth, and it slowly evolved into him softly caressing her lips with his. He pressed his male body into hers, and ran a hand along her curvy side. He reached into her robes, and grabbed a breast in his large hand. She moaned a little, happy to finally have his hands on her again.
"Orlaith," he murmured, and she smiled affectionately.
"It's okay," she took the back of her fingers and brushed them up against his cheek, and he closed his eyes and took her hand in his. He opened his intense green eyes, and lowered his lips over hers again. She could lead him to where he was supposed to be, his frozen heart was slowly melting, and she could feel it. She still had to be gentle, but now she had the advantage.
The night had been full of holding each other and though they didn't speak, their souls communicated more than what words could convey. They woke to the morning, and this time, they were both together. The paladin wouldn't admit he felt a certain comfort around the priestess, but he was very glad to finally have that feeling back. They traveled to Amuuru's where Kay apologized to Akken for his temper.
"By the Earth Mother, what did she do to you?" Akken demanded, wide eyed with surprise at his brother's kindess. The paladin laughed pleasantly, and scratched his golden head.
"Who knows," his smile was radiant, as he smoothed down his hair.
"Whatever she did, keep it up," Akken murmured. "It's a nice change, brother."
"Thanks, I guess," the paladin's eyebrows drew together. "I was so unpleasant before, huh?" The tauren sighed, and Kay started laughing again, slapping his brother on the back. Orlaith emerged from Amuuru's room.
"Kay, she wants you." She announced, smoothing her robes. The blood elf nodded, and retreated to the room, and the priestess walked to the tauren.
"Mom?" Kay asked, as he saw the shaman rising from her bed with her cane.
"Kay, I love you. But if you had spoken like that to me when your father was alive, he would be ashamed."
"I know, Mom," he said strongly.
She started for the roof to the plants. "I didn't tell you this, but I was a part of your father's underground followers."
"I'm not surprised, Mom," Kay said, as the shaman tended to her plants.
"Your father feared that the day would come where your village would be attacked. When I found you, you were so cold. It was a miracle you were conscious, and to this day I believe your mother's and father's spirits were keeping you alive. But I am the one keeping his dream alive. Your father's belief was very passionate and I believe no one could have helped him carry that burden better than your mother. Your mother was probably the most beautiful blood elf I had ever set eyes on. She would have loved Orlaith." The shaman smiled. "Orlaith reminds me of her sometimes, her spirit, her beauty."
"Well," he shrugged, "that's kind of creepy." The shaman gave him an evil glare.
"Listen, son. What are your plans with that girl?" The paladin searched his thoughts, for he couldn't remember for a minute. Then he froze.
"You don't want to know," he answered, looking away from her.
"Oh but I do."
"She's supposed to take me to Darnassas, where I'm to face the wrath of the Alliance." The paladin snorted. The shaman was silent for a while as she thought.
"I think you should follow her."
"Are you daft?"
"Son, she doesn't have it in her body. I can tell she is growing to care for you, and she probably could never bring herself to do such a thing."
"I don't like the way this sounds."
"Let her come to you," Amuuru suggested. "She waited for you for a long time, so I have a feeling she won't give you up to the Alliance. Besides, I would really love to see you with her." The paladin coughed in such astonishment.
"Mother," he began, "what do you mean?"
"I mean settling down."
"It's too soon to even think of that. Besides, she's a night elf! We could never get married here."
"Your father and mother were banished when they married," Amuuru informed him. "Don't do anything, just take some of my wisdom."
The paladin's head was spinning. Marriage? He had never even thought of that word. Marriage towards Orlaith? He could definitely see it as a possibility, but he shook his head quickly. It was too dangerous to even think such a thing. For now, he was going to help her for the next week and a half until her ribs healed fully, and then who knows. Maybe he'd follow her to Darnassas, or drop by to see her in Outlands, but marriage was out of the question.
