Colin sat at the table that had been borrowed by Kyra from a friend in order to have her home be more hospitable. In truth, her residence was often empty, save for the cots, and a chest of drawers that held her clothing and served as a spot to leave pictures of family or small relics of her past. Sitting alone, Colin could see out through the open wall that Kyra and some of the others were making a communal dinner, with everyone gathered around a pit of fire.
Having excused himself, Colin had actually gone to lay down, only saying that it had been a long day, which Kyra certainly had understood. He had kept his head down the entire way home, and the two didn't discuss much of anything on the way. Eventually, he'd gotten up and sat at the table, pulling out his sketchbook and reviewing what he'd drawn so far.
He began drawing a rough sketch of the Ban'ethil Hollow when Kyra walked in with two wooden bowls, carefully placing them on the table before leaving and returning with water for the two of them, careful not to bother her guest.
"Lentils and rabbit stew," she spoke quietly, inheriting the mood that Colin had brought with him.
He put away his work and took a look at dinner, "Looks good, actually. I didn't know you ate animals."
She shrugged, "We need some sustenance. As long as it's respected and blessed, though a lot of the time we do forego it, at least here. Teldrassil is different in that regard as well."
She sat down and began eating. Colin, still downtrodden, finally lifted his head to eat, which caused Kyra to peer over toward him. Suddenly, her spoon fell to the table, which forced Colin to look up at her for a better view at what had happen.
"Oh, mother," she spoke, rather reverently, "You've been touched by the hand of Elune!"
Surprised, Colin quickly rubbed his cheek again with his sleeve, "Really? I thought I'd gotten it off."
Kyra quickly leaned over and examined his face, surprised, "You were not healed?"
Colin groaned, not wanting to go through this again, "The priestess said I didn't accept it or whatever."
"You…" Kyra began, before pausing and leaning back in her chair, "You refused the help of Elune?"
Signing heavily, Colin pulled the bowl of stew closer to him, "Let's just not talk about it. That's not what this is all about, anyway."
Kyra stared at him for a few more moments before returning to her food as well, realizing the worth of his words. Being said, however, the pair were two days out of seven done with their meeting and they'd already learned a bit about each other as people. Being nearly eaten and killed by furbolgs may have that effect on any two people.
Colin awoke the next day much like he had the day before, even if "day" was unknown to him at this point. He stood up and stretched lankily, the previous day being in the past as of now. He had decided to start anew, and although he promised it to himself, he hoped Kyra would also abide by this thought.
He exited the small room and quickly noticed that Kyra was still asleep herself, which surprised him. He walked to the massive window and noticed that everyone appeared to be asleep or, at least, indoors. Thinking quickly, and perhaps groggily still, he determined this to be a good time to explore alone and perhaps get some candid drawing of the forest.
He didn't leave the town, but made it to the farthest edges of it as he sat down and pulled out his sketchpad, drawing the forest that surrounded him. Its pink and purple hues were difficult to translate into a sketch, but he would remember it well long after he left; that dreamesque quality that seemed completely original to this place. The tranquility of the atmosphere seemed contagious, as most of the lesser fauna were wholly tame, and a nightsaber even came up to him for a chin scratch.
The zen feeling that encompassed him was so euphoric that he wasn't even aware of what he was drawing, suddenly noticing that Kyra had somehow made it into his art. He quickly readied his quill with an erasing spell, but paused as he stared Kyra's eyes, which were so much darker when drawn in ink. He had amazed himself by how well-drawn it was, so he figured he might as well keep it. He now worried about life after this visit, without such a beauteous being at his side.
Deep in thought, he jumped at the sound of Kyra's voice before spinning around, noticing just a twinge of sleepiness in her eyes. Colin quickly turned the page in his book and sighed relaxedly.
"Couldn't sleep?"
He chuckled, "I'm not sure. If I'd slept thirty minutes, it could have been hours."
She watched him drawing for a moment before joining him, sitting at an angle to allow him privacy, he seemed to be holding his book away from her gaze. Colin now kept his eyes strictly on the paper in front of him, though he allowed only the most sudden of flickers of his eyes up toward his host.
"I apologize for what happened at dinner," Kyra spoke softly, "Truth be told, I may be a priestess of Elune myself, but I've never seen her glow like that before."
Colin looked up at her, confused, so she continued, "Elune's glow. You were touched by moonwell water, correct? It leaves a glow wherever it touches, assuming that you've received our mother's blessing."
As Colin reached up to feel his cheek, Kyra smiled, "It's gone now."
He went back to drawing, silently, and Kyra remained quiet herself, looking around at the surrounding forest. She spent much of her time focused on her odd jobs or thinking about the mainland that she often forgot to see the world around her. Now was a time where she truly noticed what all surrounded her.
"I can't believe in Elune," Colin muttered, quietly.
Kyra turned to him, concerned, though she remained silent, waiting for him to continue on his own time, "If she truly was invested in the lives of mortals… If any of the gods or aspects were truly interested in helping, they would have done so long ago, when Theramore was spending months watching its people die. When I was watching my mother die, my friends."
He had stopped drawing, and now stared off into the distance, "I know that they're not supposed to, and I don't hold that against them. But if they won't concern themselves with me, I understood long ago that I wouldn't concern myself with them."
Kyra sat there, listening, but still appeared absent-minded as she thought. Colin slowly returned to his sketches, his peace having been said. It wasn't something that he ever intended to say, especially to a people who seemed to be so in touch with their goddess, but not only did he feel the need to explain himself, but he and Kyra had already become rather close. He at least felt comfortable around her.
Kyra didn't ever reply to him. For whatever reason, the two sat there in silence for a long while, until they began speaking about other things. Colin didn't really understand why Kyra never pushed the topic further; even if she, herself, shared the same ideas, she certainly did little to express them. In the end, he simply left it at believing Kyra understood that religion wasn't their goal this week, and perhaps they should focus on other matters. Despite it all, he never could shake the feeling that his cheek always seemed warmer at the sight of moonwells now.
The next day came as any other day did; the world remained much the same, except for Kyra, anyway. All Colin could gather was that there was going to be some inquest of sorts regarding the death of Dalvyn, simply to ask questions and ascertain what had happened. Attributing it to her sense of duty, regardless of how unwanting of the post she harbored; Colin figured that she felt responsible nevertheless.
She hadn't talked at all most of the day, now that her meeting with Talonkai was approaching. She did speak to her friend, from whom she'd borrowed her table, Wrethys, to watch Colin, as though he were a pet. This mainly meant to make sure he wouldn't wander off or something.
Wrethys was noticeably younger than even Kyra. Colin found it both confusing and incredible at just how difficult it was for him to gauge the relative age of anybody. Obviously, if the gaps were great, that was one thing, but Wrethys appeared to be quite a bit noticeably younger.
"I'm only eight hundred years old," she answered, taking a sip of some silverleaf tea, passing the pot of warm water over toward Colin, "Help yourself. Hopefully it isn't too foreign to you."
Colin obliged, though finding the tea rather enjoyable, "You say 'only' like that's not equivalent to nine or ten human lives."
Wrethys laughed solemnly, "It's all relative, I suppose."
Colin took another sip, turning to see Teronis approaching the two, to which Wrethys waved him over in invitation. He seemed to have accepted, as he came along and took a seat.
"So is Kyra going to be disbarred or something?"
"Goodness, no," Teronis shot, quickly, "Once you become a Priestess of Elune, you're a priestess for life. More than likely, she'll be more harsh on herself than Talonkai will be."
Colin turned to Wrethys, who'd begun speaking, "In her entire tenure, nobody has ever died. Not like this, anyway."
Her visitor nodded, sadly, "Oh… I see."
Teronis sighed, "She's always been like this. She has to be, at least, that's what she believes. She's prefer it more to never appear as weak as she used to be. Not that somebody being assaulted by furbolgs makes her weak, but that it happened on her watch, that's the big deal here."
Sensing a downtrodden atmosphere, Wrethys nervously poured some more tea into everyone's cups, even she only poured a miniscule amount for herself it was so unneeded.
"How do you like the table?" she blurted out, randomly, "My father crafted it from wood from Mount Hyjal that had been petrified by Archimonde's army."
Colin turned to her, rather surprised, "Really?"
She began to speak again, but Teronis made a grumble that only she could hear, it seemed, as she refrained from doing so. Teronis, instead started to speak.
"You know the way to Dolanaar?" he asked, receiving a nod from Colin, "You should head on over there, if only to help her out once her meeting is over. She seems to have an easier time around you when it comes to realizing emotions; we don't exactly come across as such here on Teldrassil."
"Oh," Colin spoke, confused, "Yeah, I can go along. She was expecting me here; do you think it'd be prudent?"
Teronis' face didn't move an inch, though Colin felt the unmistakable aura of a smile coming from his voice, "I think it would be fine."
Colin did as was suggested, rather hurriedly, if he was going to catch up to Kyra before she left. He had walked the road from Dolanaar to Starbreeze three times before now, and he had already come to recognize the lay of the land flowing on either side of it. What he didn't recognize on this trip was the sudden appearance of a Satyr, which seemed incredibly out of place on this tree in the first place, who stood beside a tree as if hiding from someone.
Initially, Colin figured that he would just walk on along without making much notice of it at all, which had saved his neck many times before in more dangerous territory. He was beginning to think the war was perpetuated only by either side staring nastily at the other. However, to his chagrin, the satyr jumped from a minor sense of camouflage and presented himself.
"A human?" he asked, "Here? What a pleasant sight! My name is Zenn, and… Say, how would you like to make a "killing", eh? Five nightsaber tails for five silver. Deal?"
"Sorry," Colin muttered under his breath, "I don't even enjoy harming humanoids. Slaying more peaceful creatures might be impossible in that case."
Colin waved his hand to decline, which seemed to miff Zenn enough to keep him from retorting with anything. He began again towards Dolanaar, leaving the satyr to huff some hot air as the creature burrowed against the tree again to lie in wait for the next passerby, perhaps so long as they weren't clad in the armor of the Sentries.
In a haste, however, Colin arrived at Dolanaar, standing by the tree that Kyra had gone into the day before to speak to this Talonkai person. Besides the name and his rank, Colin didn't know much at all about him. He sat beside the small deck of an entryway that led into the tree, taking up a spot beside some hippogryph nests. The one closest to him stared at his face, curiously tilting its head before turning back to wherever it had been facing.
Sitting in such a hidden place, Colin was afforded a new experience as he sat and watched everybody around him acting naturally, as they were unaware of any guests. Other than the lack of minute stares, they didn't act much different at all, however, it was the idea that counted, Colin thought.
Soon enough, he heard slow footsteps coming from above him, upon the deck leading into Talonkai's tree. He looked up to see Kyra walking, or maybe stumbling, out, her face a dark shade that he hadn't seen before. Her face was so downtrodden that Colin was shocked, almost thinking it was a different person. He stood up and walked over to her, though she made no indication that she'd acknowledged his presence. She simply held her head low, turning to walk home, with Colin following behind.
The trip back was silent, as even Colin didn't feel comfortable speaking a word. They had become friends to a certain point, but not having seen her life this before, he wasn't exactly sure if what to do or how she would react to consoling words.
Apparently, he had assumed correctly. Once they returned to Starbreeze Village, while Kyra was given a few sad glances her way, nobody spoke a word to her. Perhaps she just needed to be alone, which Colin surmised, choosing to stay outside as Kyra walked into her home. He sighed, sadly, rather upset with himself that he couldn't do much to help.
A few of her neighbors, firstly Wrethys, came by to ask what had happened or how Kyra was doing. As he didn't know himself, Colin couldn't give much in the way of replies, though with every question, he felt more saddened by his inaction. Finally, after one of the children had come by to say they were going to gather peacebloom, Colin had had enough, turning to quietly enter Kyra's home.
It seemed darker than normal, but only because Kyra's normally light pink skin had faded to a darker shade. She was sitting at the table, leaning over to hide her face in her arms, her body shaking periodically as she wept. Colin watched for only a moment, not wanting to act weird.
"Kyra?" he asked, quietly.
Her face shot up at his voice, staring at him in shock, probably not wanting to have been seen. Colin stared back at her; her face had the expression of a lost child, and her eyes had dimmed as tears of pure starlight crept down her cheeks from her eyes, which shone like the moon. He honestly believed that he had never seen anything so tragically beautifully.
The two didn't move for just a few moments, both of them stumbling onto hollow grounds. Kyra was the first to react, moving to stand on her feet, obviously embarrassed by the scene.
"I was just-"
She had shut her eyes upon standing, in a vain attempt to cover her tears, but before she could open them again, she felt a sure warmth surround her body, opening her eyes to find her eyes meeting with Colin's shoulder. He had leaned forward to hug her, rather tightly at that, not knowing what else to do. He knew human women were usually in need of such things, though now he was praying to himself that he wasn't breaking some sacred Night Elf law or something.
He must not have, as Kyra's quivering came to a pause, though mostly due to wholesale surprise. She hadn't even a recollection of being held by her family, much less somebody she barely knew. If not in the middle of such a shock, she might have realized that mortals were more apt to such things, though she now only stared into the cloth that nearly met her face.
Not knowing when to stop, Colin decided to play it safe, gently retreating from her body and trying to remain calm amid this new development. Kyra didn't move for what seemed like an eternity, though Colin simply stood there anyway, not wanting to further unbalance the scale. Suddenly Kyra's eyes closed again, tightly, and she released a tiny whimper as stars formed from her eyelids and she slowly fell into Colin's torso, which readily accepted her, his arms wrapping around her shoulders once more, allowing her head to rest upon him.
The two didn't speak for hours after that, perhaps simply to avoid any awkward conversation. Colin wasn't as shocked by it, though, owing to most night elves choosing to be solitary in the first place, figuring she normally acted this way. Besides that, she obviously wasn't one to seek comfort, given how shocked she had been, so he already figured she might be embarrassed.
She always seemed very strong and even, and for the most part, Colin had a difficult time even imagining her being anything else that stoic and, occasionally, pithy. As he sat outside, giving her room to process the day, which was very much what Colin was doing as well, he reran through the experience again and again, feeling like an idiot for being so boldly rash, though she had taken him into a hug as well, so it couldn't have been all bad, he figured.
Soon enough, he turned to see Kyra taking a seat next to him, though it was rather a distance a way. She didn't speak, and actually still seemed a tad bit uncomfortable, but she stared off into the distance, which Colin returned to doing as well as he thought of what to do or what to say.
Wrestling with constructing a sentence, he was taken back by Kyra's voice emerging, "I don't cry."
Colin turned to her, confused, as she went on after a short pause, "I did that enough as a child when I couldn't hunt spiders or wasn't allowed go with dad to Darnassus for the weekend. When I was weak, I cried."
Her head lowered down onto her knees as her legs had been pulled up toward her chest, "You're the only one who has seen me weak since I've become a Sentinel."
Understanding the gravity of what had happened early, Colin quietly replied, "I don't think you were weak. If you were, it was but a moment. It takes a lot of strength to surrender yourself to somebody else; much less a stranger."
Kyra grinned, "You humans are so helpless."
Shrugging, Colin returned a smile. Despite her words, he had a feeling that she had accepted his words; her reply probably being a rough attempt at deflecting that fact. Come to think of it, she never asked for help either; she had the whole world on her shoulders.
"Still," she muttered, quietly, "Thank you."
Colin replied only with a nod. and a smile.