Hey, everyone! How are you?

Fine, I hope. Here I bring you the third chapter of this fic!

Enjoy!...Oh, and sorry if there's any mistake lingering there, I checked but I'm sick atm, so I may had missed something.

Chapter's warnings: Gendersawp, crying, crying and...more crying (well, it's not that bad, but...yeah).

Disclaimer: I used to have a Thori'dal, but I don't anymore...Oh my god, I miss it so much!

Chapter III:

It was a beautiful day in Lordaeron and Bolvar sighed tiredly.

Winter here was a lot harsher than in Stormwind, and he was sure he was coming down with something. Not to mention that he's new 'job' as the Queen's guard was exhausting.

As he has suspected, Varian didn't trust him. She barely even talked to him, never saying where she goes, when she left nor waiting for him to find her before moving on to someplace else.

Bolvar would have been offended –more than he already was- if he were the only person his King seemed to be avoiding.

King Terenas' children, prince Arthas and princess Calia, were also in the girl's 'get away from' list.

He had met both kids before, however briefly, and he couldn't understand why Varian wouldn't get along with them.

They were both royalty, they both have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They were both well-mannered and energetic kids.

They both seem to share a lot of things with Varian. Arthas was her same age, and he loved to talk about battles and swordsmanship, and was really eager to start his training; and Calia, thought a bit older than her, was a girl and, well, Bolvar guessed that there were some things that girls preferred to do with other girls.

They seemed to be just Varian's type, but the dark-brunette avoided them like the plague whenever she had the chance –as she wasn't as rude as to ignore them when they were in the same room together.

To be honest thought, Lordaeron's prince and princess were a little bit…persistent.

More than once he had caught Arthas chasing after Varian, begging her to tell him more about her training or even show him some moves; or Calia dragging her by the arm, insisting that they should have a 'tea party'. Neither of them noticing how much the young Queen wanted to be alone.

He understood the two kids were doing it with the best of intentions. They were trying to cheer Varian up, and distracting her was the best way they could come up with. They were just kids.

Bolvar sighed tiredly at that, 'You're just a kid too' was what guard Harrison, a friend and his most trusted source when it comes to find out where his Queen has gone to, had told him, but he couldn't help to think that he wasn't a kid anymore.

Not after the war. Not after what he saw. Not after his home city was destroyed.

Not after his mother's death.

Maybe…maybe that's why his Queen wanted to be alone…

Speaking of which…

"What do you want?" siting on a chair by the fire, his Queen glared at him, the reading of the book she held momentarily interrupted.

Bolvar suppressed a sigh of annoyance, and returning the glare with one of his own he entered the room –which, he noted, was one of the less used rooms in the Keep-, closing the door behind him.

"Your majesty" he said nearing the girl who has gone back to her reading, ignoring him "As I told you already, you need to tell me where you're going. You can't disappear like that".

How many times have they had this conversation? Ten, maybe twelve times? And it's only been two weeks since he was appointed as the Queen's guard.

"And I told you, I don't need you shadowing me" Varian said without looking up from her book, her frown deepening.

Bolvar sighed once more; he seems to be doing that a lot since he met this girl.

"I'm your guard, your majesty" he could literary feel the annoyance radiating off of the other "Sir Lothar…"

"Anduin can protect me very well on his own" he was interrupted and faced once again with angry stormy-blue eyes.

There were certain things that were 'delicate subjects' for the dark-brunette, and Anduin Lothar was one of them.

Anything that could be even considered a criticism towards the older man was responded by the spiteful glare of the young Queen. Sometimes even just uttering his name in a way she didn't like would make her jump in his defense.

"That's not what I meant" he understood why she did that, it was obvious.

Lothar was the last thing she had left.

Varian said nothing and went back to her book. Deep down she knew she was being mean to him, and felt bad about it, but she couldn't help it sometimes.

They stayed in silence after that, the Queen reading and her guard standing beside her, silently peeking at her book.

The minutes passed like that till somebody's voice could be hear coming from the hallway, loudly calling for the young Wrynn.

"Crap…" the girl whispered under her breath and hastily left her chair to find somewhere to hide, while her guard looked puzzled –and somewhat entertained- to her.

Bolvar was no idiot; he knew who was calling and why the girl was looking for a hiding place. He just still didn't get why she would need to do such things.

"Don't tell him I'm here" Varian said in a hushed tone while getting inside the empty closet on the room and closing the door, leaving the boy alone in the middle of the room.

"Varian! Are you here?!" the door of the room was opened with force and a blond boy marched in yelling loudly for the missing Queen.

Bolvar stared at Arthas, and he stared back, a deep blush of embarrassment decorating his cheeks at being caught acting un-prince-like by his friend's subject.

"Is Varian here?" but if someone know where the girl was, that would be the older boy.

Bolvar stopped himself before he could look at where his Queen was hiding, honesty demanded of him that he told Lordaeron's prince the truth, but his Queen has given him a direct order not to, and in a rather desperate tone, may he add.

"I'm afraid not, prince Menethil" he bowed respectfully and tried to convince himself that it wasn't so bad to lie about this; the Light will forgive him…right?

"Oh…" Arthas' shoulders dropped, and he kicked some of the dust in the floor in disappointment "Well…if you see her, tell her that dinner's ready and that she promised to let me see her training after it!"

Bolvar nodded with his head very slowly, finding really weird to see someone of such a high social status jumping up and down with excitement. Arthas left after that, continuing on his search.

"Is he gone?" Varian's voice came from the closet, and he assured her that the coast was clear "Thank you" she said getting out of her hiding place.

"Anytime, your majesty" he helped her dust off her clothes, one of the down sides of picking one of the rarely used rooms was that it got rarely cleaned "I just don't understand why you don't like him"

Wait…did he said that out loud? Oh, that was not good.

Varian looked at him with a frown on her face, and Bolvar readied himself the listen once again to the lecture of how his Queen's business were none of his concern, but to his surprise, that didn't happened.

"He's too…" the girl took a moment to find the right word that would express what she thought of the blond prince, but was not too disrespectful "…cheerful"

She left after that, and Bolvar sighed tiredly before following after her. No one told him that guarding his Queen would be this hard…

/-/-/-/-/-/

The sun was shining brightly upon the Keep's training grounds, and Bolvar was watching his Queen train.

He himself had has his training session done earlier, while she was having her breakfast –all in favor of keeping watch over the dark-brunette for as many hour of the day as he could.

Sitting on the ground not that far away from him, prince Arthas was watching the girl's movements with an entranced expression.

Was it bad from him to think that it was a bit creepy for the blond boy to do that? Especially when he would, from time to time, sort of mimic the movements he saw, doing a 'whoosh' type of sound under his breath.

But, well, he guessed it was alright, as long as he didn't interfere with the training.

Speaking of which, Varian didn't seem to have her mind into it. She was making sloppy mistakes, left a way to open spot on her right, wasn't caring for her defense as much as she should and the short-sword was weighing her down.

With almost ten years of age, Stormwind's Queen was starting to train with real swords, instead of the wooden ones; but if she kept on like this, his trainer was going to put her once again with the training swords.

Honestly, Varian was lucky that Master Anvilmar was not training her right now –he hasn't been on Stormwind during its destruction, thankfully, but for the time being he was staying at Dun Morogh-; the old dwarf would have not tolerated her slacking like that.

But, coming to think about it, maybe if she were training with Anvilmar she would be more focused.

"You're letting your right flank too open, Varian. Watch your defense" although, there was another person who could make her try harder.

Sir Lothar stopped just before the Keep's grounds, and looked down on the girl with a serious expression. A deep blush of embarrassment came to the young Wrynn's cheek, but she nodded in understanding, determination shining in her eyes.

Varian tightened her grip on her sword and straightened her posture, moving with more ease to follow her trainer's instructions. Ah, that was better. Now all of her training was showing, unlike before.

A little proud smile curled Bolvar's lips. If there was one thing people of Stormwind could be proud of, was the quality of their soldiers, from lowest to highest rank.

"How're you doing, lad?" Lothar's voice brought him out of his mussing, and he looked up to see the knight. His head was still turned in the direction of the dark-brunette, but he was looking at him by the corner of his eyes.

"Fine, Sir" he answered, bowing respectfully.

"Great, now" this time, Lothar did turn and looked directly at him, those serious eyes now watching him "How are you really doing?"

Bolvar swallowed hard, he hadn't expected the older man to see through his lie.

It wasn't technically a lie, per se. He was fine in great aspects, and there were a lot of people in worse situations than his, so he didn't have anything to complain about, but…

"It's hard, Sir" he sighed and looked down on the floor "She doesn't trust me"

Lothar didn't say anything, just let him vent out his frustration, for which Bolvar was thankful.

"This place is too big, she goes away and I can't find her and…and what would I do if something happens anyway?" he had to stop himself, the need to cry out in frustration was big, but he had promised his mother to be strong. So he took a big breath and let it out slowly, calming down.

"I'm definitely not the right person for this job, Sir" he said sincerely "Anyone else would be better"

Since he was appointed as the Queen's guard he had thought that there must be a way more qualified person for the job, but he hadn't wanted to go against the older man's orders. But right now he was sure he wasn't right for the job, his patience was running out and his Queen's reluctance to accept his company only pushed him more against the edge.

"Son, if I thought she wouldn't be safe here, I wouldn't have brought her in the first place" Lothar said, turning to look at Varian once more.

"But if you don't think she needs any protection…" Bolvar was confused, and it showed up clearly in his tone of voice "Why did you make me her guard?" what was the point?

Lothar sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, looking sadly at his Queen.

"I won't be staying here for much longer, lad" the Horde was still a threat, and none that lived in this part of Azeroth wanted to believe that, so he needed to forge alliances, make an army and prepare for the incoming war.

He needed to take back Stormwind. He owned it to Llane, and he owned it to Varian.

"When I leave and the nightmares return, she'll need someone to be there for her" he couldn't take the little girl with him, it wouldn't be safe; and he was sure she will not enjoy being left behind.

"I thought that was their job" Bolvar made a dissimulated gesture towards the side, where Lordaeron's prince and princess were watching the training going on.

Arthas was excitedly cheering up for Varian, while Calia, who has joined just recently, was frowning down on him, scolding his childish attitude.

"They are just children" the old knight said "Look at them. Naïve, wide-eyed and innocent" he didn't sounded judgmental in anyway, in fact, you could said he sounded envious "They don't know what's really behind this walls. They haven't seen what she has"

But Bolvar has. That's why he was perfect for the jobs. It was not a matter of protecting her physically; it was about protecting her emotionally.

Comforting her, supporting her, but most of all, understanding her, that was his job. And in return he'll get the same thing, someone who knew what he was going through, a shoulder to cry on.

But none of that would work if Varian didn't open up to him; however, he didn't tell Lothar that, he just stayed quiet and watched over his Queen.

/-/-/-/-/-/

It was late in the evening and Bolvar yawned, exhausted.

Azeroth's two moons were shining brightly on the sky and he was ready to go to bed, he just needed to find the way to his quarters.

The Keep was huge, and its intricate corridors had been designed in such a way as to easily disorientate any potential invaders; so he was only slightly embarrassed to admit that he has still not memorized his way around.

In yet again another corridor he couldn't remember ever walking through, he saw one of the room's door was open ajar, dim light coming out of it and a hushed conversation could be heard.

Curious and knowing that it was his duty as a soldier to investigate any suspicious activity -but mainly just curious-, he neared the open door. And though he knew it was bad to eavesdrop, he stayed as quiet as he could to hear clearly whatever the people in the room were saying.

"But I don't want you to go!" it surprised Bolvar to find out that that was his Queen talking, in a rather desperate voice, may he add.

Shouldn't she be on her bed? He had escorted her there himself –not that she had liked that-, what was she doing here? And coming to think about it wasn't this…Sir Lothar's room?

"I have to go, child" taking a dissimulated look into the room, he confirmed that it was indeed Lothar's room "You know what's coming, you know we need to prepare ourselves"

The dark-brunette girl was wearing her nightgown while sitting in the middle of the bed –which made him believe that she had come here after waking up from a bad dream, looking for comfort-, and the man –clad in common clothes instead of heavy armor- was walking from one side of the room to another, picking different things he'll need to take on his upcoming journey.

"Then take me with you!" Varian said loudly, tears gathering on her eyes and holding tightly to the bed sheets.

"I can't and I won't" Lothar didn't look at her, it would be hard for him to deny his Queen's desire if he saw the distress he was causing her "You'll be safe here"

"I'll be safe with you!" the dark-brunette got down from the bed and marched towards the older man, hands held in tight fist "This is not fair! Why do you want to leave me? You promised…!"

"Stop this!" the man's fierce voice shut up any complain the girl may had made "You will not behave like and spoiled child, as you have not been raised as one!" Lothar looked down on her with a frown on his face "You will stop this nonsense and you will not accuse me of something you know well I have not done!"

Varian stayed quiet, eyes open wide and tears running down her face, and once the knight finished talking, she bolted right out of the room.

Bolvar tried to take a step back, but the girl still ran into him on her way out, the knight's calls of her name being ignore completely.

He watched his Queen go, and a sense of duty and empathy made him go after her.

"Your majesty!" he called, but she didn't slow her pace.

They ran through several corridors till they reached a dead-end, and she couldn't run anymore.

"Your majesty" he said, panting, and neared the other.

"Don't call me that!" he hadn't expected Varian to yell like that, and he stayed rutted to his place some few feet away from her, looking wide-eyed at the girl.

Her hold body was shacking, in either anger or sadness or both; her hands were held in tight fist and tears were running down her face.

"My father is…I'm not" she tried to said, but hiccups and sobs rendered her words a bubbling nonsense.

Bolvar, carefully, took one step closer towards his Queen, then another and another, till he was right behind her.

He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. Was there really anything he could say?

He still cried himself to sleep every night holding tightly to his mother's pin, and he doesn't believe there's any word that could change that.

So he didn't say anything, and just put his arms around her in a loose –and a bit awkward- hug.

After sometime, Varian turned around in his embrace and hugged him back, her hands clutching the back of his uniform while she cried freely on his shoulder.

Bolvar pat her softly on the back, his own heart clenching painfully, and spared a quick glance to the presence behind them.

Lothar has catch up to them, but he stayed at a safe distance, watching over them with a mix of relief, concern, regret and sadness swirling in his eyes.

Bolvar held Varian tighter, the need to cry his heart out finally winning and tears ran freely from his eyes to land on the girl's shoulder.

To be continued…

So, what you think? I tried to make this a little more light and not so, you know, depressing, as they're children and I don't want to make them suffer so much (Blizz already took care of that, thank you very much).

Next chapters would be more cheerful, I swear! (at least till we get to the second war, ofc). And Arthas and Calia will have more participation further on (along with other characters, if you know what I mean...ok, that sounded weird, ignore that).

Anyway, why don't you drop me a review and tell me what you think? I would like to know if people think I making characters too much OOC, not so much or if I'm keeping them IC n.n

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

C'ya!