Colin stared at the wall, counting the tiny bits of sediment that were peppered all up and down the rock face. He had counted them four times so far, gotten four different results, and was now doing it just to waste time. His leg still ached, though not as bad as it had been when he was first shoved in. He had remained mostly still the entire time, if only to be prepared for any opening to escape.

He lowered his head, staring at the ground beneath his feet as he hiked his knees up to his chest. The light of the moon trailed down, leaving an elegant stream of light into his cell, resting upon the ground. He had watched and followed it as it had floated against the solid ground, creeping closer to him with every moment.

Muttering to himself had become an activity in and of itself by now, and he spat out something derogatory as a pain shot through his leg. Calming down, he rested his back up against the wall.

By now, all of the moonkin had disappeared, and Colin deduced that they might have all gone outside to stare at the moon or something. The one nearby had made a furious waddle toward the exit as soon as the moonlight first came through the hole in the ceiling, anyway.

*click*

Colin looked around skeptically, rather surprised to hear anything at all, given that for the last hour or so had been incredibly silent. He zeroed in on the door of the cell, staring at it intently. The light of the moon now encompassed the portion of the bars that serves as a gate of sorts, and in the very next instant, the gate slowly began to swing open.

Not sure whether to be ecstatic or frightened, Colin simply sat there for a moment, staring wide-eyed at the open gate. Slowly enough, he pulled himself to his feet and inched toward the exit, carefully maneuvering through the narrow gate, and emerging on the other side. He clutched his thigh, trying to help the pain of having weight on it, and stumbled toward the inner caves, having memorized the map he'd made by now.

Sure enough, his hypothesis seemed to be true, as the caves were entirely devoid of moonkin. Everything remained; it was as if they'd just disappeared in an instant. Colin picked up his pace and finally reached the entrance to the caves, examining the area in front of him. A giant mass of moonkin had gathered nearby, all stating up intently toward the moon, as though it were the only other thing in existence.

Colin carefully worked his way back away from them, circling the encampment, but falling forward as he tried to navigate around. His leg had given out, forcing a curse from his tongue, and he quickly began to crawl away until he could stand again. Finally, he made it into a cluster of bushes to hide in, resting for a moment.

He glanced over to the feathered beasts; they didn't even move. Colin stared at the cluster with an interest, though was mostly angry at how his day had turned out. He slowly emerged and stood up again, hobbling back toward Lor'danel, or at least, he thought. He was just heading in any direction that would take him away from this place.

His vision and his other senses began to wane as he walked. The pain from his leg had become unbearable, and the only reason it wasn't entirely broken by now was due to a simple spell Colin had picked up from somewhere. He held his hand to his forehead as the trees in front of him seemed to multiply, and his dizziness finally overcame him, causing him to fall forward once again. And like that, he was out.

Next thing he knew, Colin awoke much more comfortably. Even before his eyes had opened, he was surrounded by warmth, which he knew to be from a heavy blanket. His eyes peered through his eyelids, first seeing the tell-tale pinkish hue of night elf lumber. He must have been back in Lor'danel. or, at least, that's what he'd hoped.

As he looked around, a loud crash forced him to jump in surprise, quickly turning his head over toward the entryway. A night elf man stood there, staring down at a collection of porcelain that he must have just dropped. He sighed lowly, shaking his head, before noticing Colin watching him.

"Ah, you're awake," he spoke calmly, "I suppose bringing that matters not, now. Are you well?"

Now ascertaining his health, Colin noticed a splint around his leg, as well as the fact that his headache had go e away. He said as much to the man who had begun to nod while staring out the window.

"Yes, I see. Very good," he noted, "You've been out for two days. You didn't require urgent attention, but we still had priests on call. Shadowmoon made sure of that."

Colin closed his eyes as he replied, the dim sunlight now beginning to put a strain on his eyes, "Thank you. Very much. I thought I would left for dead."

The priest stared at him glumly, "You were only traveling farther away; be thankful that you did pass out."

Colin grinned, but didn't reply as he noticed the man packing up to leave, "You'll remain here until you recover fully, or at least until you can properly use a crutch. I'll let everyone know you're awake."

He bowed before making his exit, though in only a few seconds, Kyra turned the corner into the room, urgently examining Colin's face as though he were still in bad shape. He only grinned, which caused a frown to appear on her face.

"Really?" he chuckled, "I'm fine."

Kyra sighed, pulling a chair over, "This was my fault. I should have never allowed you two to go off, alone, during a full moon. Of course the moonkin would start acting-"

Colin interrupted, "It's fine, it's fine. It was our fault; we should have at least let somebody know where we were going. I should have told you, but I didn't want to bother your mission or anything."

She lowered her head as Colin finished, "You want to be a great soldier, right? I figured you'd have preferred that than playing chaperone again."

Kyra remained silent for a moment, reaching down past the edge of the bed and pulling up the totem that Colin had given to her, laying it beside him, "I know you don't care about this sort of thing, but if this was the thing that would have kept you safe…"

She became visibly saddened, lowering her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "You need it back."

Colin watched her, sadly, holding his hand over her own, causing a star to fall from her eye, "You don't have to do that."

"I didn't even end up going," she spoke up, quietly, "I knew I could take care of myself, but you…"

She looked up at him, "You're so strong, in your own way. I know you hate fighting, maybe even defending yourself; but all the more reason that you need it to protect yourself. Your tauren shaman must have thought the same thing."

Colin sighed, shutting his eyes, "No, you don't… you don't get it. That's not what it's for."

Now confused, Kyra watched him with a reddened face as he continued, "It wasn't meant for protection, it was meant for…"

He lifted his hands from under the blanket and rubbed his eyes, a uncomforting ball of nerves curling up in the pit of his stomach, "I-It's an ardency totem. I give it to somebody and they, you know…"

Colin rolled away, causing a pain to rush up his leg in the process, so that he was facing away from Kyra, "It was supposed to help you develop feelings for me, okay? So my protection has nothing to do with it, and you can stop beating yourself up over it, alright?"

He had spoken so fast, but even despite that, Kyra had been unable to follow along past a particular point. She sort of stared into space at the revelation, though Colin couldn't see that. He shut his eyes is shame, expecting to hear her leaving the room or something, but there was only deafening silence. He stared across the room through a window, wishing he could escape from this situation.

Sure enough, he heard her chair creak from her moving, but in a second, he felt her hand on his shoulder, hearing her voice speaking as steady as ever, "I'm not supposed to fall for mortals. If we were not bound by such vastly different circumstances, you wouldn't need such a thing to have me fall in love with you."

She leaned over and gently kissed his cheek, quickly returning to her standing posture, "I'm sorry."

Hearing her turning to walk away, Colin shut his eyes, trying his hardest to hold back the rainfall of tears that had come from his eyes, his face grimacing in pain, trying to quietly suffer.

"I'm still holding you to your word, "he heard Kyra speak, much more happily, "We're still on our way to Ashenvale to see my sister. I promise, I won't bring this up again, unless you want to."

And after a smile while lowering her head, she left. Colin was alone to stare through tears at the window, not entirely sure why his heart had been torn apart so much. She had given zero reason to expect anything, yet he'd built up such an affection for her that was so unwarranted. He was more upset with himself more than anything.

He returned to laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, pulling his hands a ross his eyes, feeling so very empty. The totem had fallen when he's turned over, and feeling the sting of defeat, he leaned over to pick it up.

It was gone.

He stared at the purpled wood beneath him, trying to make sense of what he'd just noticed. The only conclusion was that Kyra had taken it with her. Now fearful, Colin returned to laying down, more unsure of what was to come than he had been after she'd left.

Ovuun furiously smashed his hammer against the steeled edge of the sword in his other hand, sobbing as he yelled out, "And you went to all the trouble fer me, lad! I couldn't believe what had happened to ya!"

Colin smiled at the sight, leaning against his crutch near the entryway to his friend's stall. He had just been allowed to leave, so of course, he needed to see Ovuun first, who couldn't visit him in the infirmary because…

"I couldn't live with myself if I didn't put that silverbark to good use!" he continued, with a wail, "I'm gonna make the best damn swords for these people, like ya wouldn't believe!"

As he tossed the finished sword onto the nearby cooling rack, Colin hopped over to him, catching him before he could start on the next sword, "You know I don't blame you, nor do I expect anything like this from you."

Ovuun nodded sadly, "I know, I know. It's just a personal thing, ya know? I'm just happy you're alive, lad; I'd a thought you'd hit the Loch!"

Colin grinned, "Such a timely thing to say!"

"'ey!" Ovuun growled, "Don't talk to a dwarf about timely; you know that!"

With a shrug, Colin grinned, "Of course."

Ovuun patted his you ger friend on the back as he led the two toward the other end of the tent, "Now I know ya don't fight, and about all I can smith are arms, so I hope you don't mind not havin' one yerself, but…"

He pulled a blanket from a table, revealing an elegant sword beneath it, adorned with a particularly elvish style to it. The hilt swirled around the handle, and what appeared to be a moon rock was held within the end of the handle itself. Most notably, however, the sword glowed a dark, purplish blue.

"I came across some moonrock while I was down in the Needles. I figured it was the least I could do for yer lass; what with her givin' up on 'er dream 'n all that."

Colin looked at the fine work Ovuun had done, "It's exquisite. She'll love it."

Ovuun shrugged, "Bah, I didn't do it fer points. In case you couldn't tell, we ain't the best of friends or nothin'"

He lowered his head, crossing his arms, "It's just, a dwarf knows where to give thanks, despite any past transgressions. Short of throwing this sword in the ocean, I don't particularly mind how she accepts it. Just so I've paid my thanks in the only way I truly ca-"

The two turned as Kyra appeared, carefully rounding the corner so as to not interrupt. Ovuun stared at her, but she didn't return the gesture, actually standing at attention, though with her head aimed downwards.

"I didn't get a chance to say this to you, sir; what with you burying yourself in work and me keeping tabs on your friend. I just wanted to say that it meant a lot to me that you ran so far to find us in order to help him. In that, you have my life-long thanks, and my respect."

Ovuun sighed, gently taking his sword from Colin and walking over toward Kyra and handing it to her, looking away, as though still ashamed. She could only smile as she graciously accepted his gift, even though he remained silent.

"Thank you," Kyra spoke softly, not wanting to be rude by appraising whatever it was she'd been given right then and there, "I've already let the Sentinels here know. If you ever need help, any of them will be at your side, should you find them."

Colin could see tears coming from Ovuun's eyes, as he was turned away, and the dwarf shook his head, "You do too much fer a dwarf who had come for profits."

"Whatever brought you here," Kyra corrected, "Tribulations demonstrate who we truly are. You have a good heart, dwarf, regardless of your initial goals."

Ovuun failed to reply, so Kyra only smiled as she continued, "I believe we're leaving soon. If our lives cross paths again, I do hope we'll be better acquaintances, if not friends."

She strapped the sword around her shoulders as Colin approached her on his way out. She gave Ovuun a final glace, then turned around herself and began to walk out. She met with Colin at the entryway, who was about as despondent as the dwarf had been, and began to leave when Ovuun stomped out from his stall.

He angrily clenched his fist, nearly scowling, "Anvilmars NEVER start things they that cannot, also, finish."

And with that, he held his hand out, still gritting his teeth. Kyra watched him rather carefully, but smiled once more as she took his hand in a handshake. Colin watched nearby, happy to see the two having, at least somewhat, made up. Kyra's personality and mind had changed so much since they'd left. In that, he felt a twinge of hope.

Colin Dumerval Journal Entry

To-Do List:

1) Procure rudimentary archaeology equipment

2) Repay Ovuun for sword

3) Find Howa Ragewind- Last seen in STORMWIND