As though appearing as though they were wagon that had been dragged along the whole of Azeroth, ramshackle and nearly decrepit after so many miles, the Shadowmoon clan stepped onto the cool ground of Darnassus, looking about as half-alive as any Forsaken. Colin had been able to walk up the length of Rut'theran into the purplish haze that brought the group up here, though standing here beside the haggard bodies of Eldris and Cayssarin, the former of which was holding his dead-looking son, along with a pair of sisters who'd both seen better days, the whole scene was just something out of some ancient war epic.

"Okay," Kelaeth grumbled, "I can walk again. I'm not about to allow the Darnassians to see me carried along like some wretch."

Eldris obeyed him, pulling his hands away, though he smiled lightly, "Some of the great heroes you revered as a child were carried down this very avenue, you know."

Kelaeth nodded, "Yes, but none of them allowed any room for dirty looks or ill-will. Even walking on my own, I'm sure I deserve my own fair share."

"You'll regain the prestige you once were headed toward, my son," Eldris assured, patting his son's shoulder, though it only seemed to pain the man, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Th-Thanks dad…" Kelaeth seethed, massaging up the length of his arm.

Eldris spun around, slowly, "Well, that's one invalid. How you holding up?"

Colin had become rather pale, though his words contradicted his appearance, "I'm fine."

Groaning, Eldris turned back around, "Well, hopefully we can make a clean getaway and won't have to answer to anybody. I know Sylvaya will be hunting for any reason to be a nuisance to us."

His head sank as Cayssarin gently poked at his side, the man's shoulders drooping as he sadly went on, "She right there, isn't she?"

Sure enough, Sylvaya stood there, unenthused, as if having waited for the group, albeit secretly, her hands held together in front of her, "Always a joy, aren't you, Eldris?"

The patriarch of the Shadowmoon quickly rose his head with a smile, "Only in the presence of such a fine Sentinel, I assure you."

The lieutenant rolled her eyes before turning her head to examine the rest of the troupe, "Cayssarin; always a pleasure. Vylira, I don't even have to ask. Kyra; why am I not surprised to see you back here, probably to take to your father's footsteps and raise hell for me. And…"

She eyed Colin, as if attempting to decipher some old as dirt memory at the back of her mind, "You're that human. Well, I suppose it was worth it if you two are still prattling around together."

Everybody had noticed that she'd ignored the presence of Kelaeth, though everybody had refrained from pointing it out, at least until Kelaeth himself spoke up with a light and friendly tone, "Forgetting someone?"

Sylvaya's eyes narrowed as she turned his way, her voice a cool knife into the air, "I only speak to Kaldorei. I've addressed a human, so that should demonstrate how close to dirt you truly are, here."

The lieutenant turned to take a few steps away as Kelaeth muttered under his breath, "I wasn't too lowly for you when I took you for a spin up at Wellspring for a night."

Sylvaya immediately froze, obviously hiding a blush, unable to turn back toward him or even speak. Kyra leaned forward, gently patting Kelaeth's arm with her fist in appreciation, though the lieutenant quickly began to walk away again, silently, leaving the group there alone.

"You know I don't like you disrespecting authority figures," Cayssarin chided with a sigh, "But good job."

Kelaeth chuckled, "It's the least I could do; we all need to just get home."

Cayssarin nodded as they began on, walking slowly around the banks toward the large bridge that crossed over toward the rest of Teldrassil. It was there that they saw Tyriel running down the same bridge toward them, huffing loudly as she slowed to a stop.

"Cayssarin!" she shouted, both of their faces lighting up as their hands met upon each other's forearms as their other arms wrapped around their torsos, "It's been so long! I'm sorry; I meant to be here before Sylvaya, but she wasn't going to be held back from seeing you all first."

"No, no; it was as pleasant as it could have been, I suppose," Cayssarin replied through a smile, "Look at you, though; surely you didn't retire because your body was giving out on you!"

"Ha!" Tyriel laughed, "I wasn't about to continue my work while watching over Kyra, here. It's a good thing I waited, though; I managed to get your daughter through quite a few fiery red situations."

Cayssarin watched suspicioualy as Tyriel leaned to the side, shooting a wink over toward Kyra, who simply lowered her head with a grin. Tyriel returned to normal, just now stumbling upon Eldris with a neutral glare.

"Eldris."

"Tyriel."

"Still hiding those scars of yours?"

Eldris grinned, "Still watching that knee of yours?"

Tyriel smirked back, "No, but only because you did such a crap job. Thank you for the thought, though."

The two shared a cordial handshake, silently leaving the other to their own devices. Tyriel went along greeting the others, but upon noticing Colin's condition, quickly began to wave them along.

"Sorry for the wait, lad," she apologized, "I'll give you all a personal escort out of here! Then you can be on your way. Sure you don't need a nightsaber or something? It's still quite a bit of a walk."

"I'm fine," Colin repeated, his legs sluggishly trailing along beyond the rest of the clan, earning a concerned look from Tyriel.

She shrugged, "Alright, but be careful."

Colin did his best to nod, though as he began looking greener and greener, he found it more and more difficult to move. His muscles were aching, crying out for relief as his mouth remained open to gain breaths, his sinuses held up painfully.

Walking alongside the group, Tyriel managed to catch up to Kelaeth, patting his back as she walked alongside him, "Good seeing you back on our team, boy."

Kelaeth turned to her, pitifully, "It's not…that bad, is it?"

"What, people's opinion of you? I mean, it's not stupendous, but was it ever amazing?" Tyriel shrugged, "You were rather ruthless beforehand; making shady deals and whatnot. Shape up a bit, though, and you may become quite the eligible bachelor again, though, you do have some baggage."

"Don't we all?" Eldris muttered from up ahead, grinning.

"See?" Tyriel went on.

Kelaeth sighed, "That's not what I meant. I mean, I'd like to help where I can; I don't want to get into politics or even relationships. I just want to right the wrongs I've done, in whatever way possible."

"Well, there's always room for forgiveness," Tyriel smiled, "Even Malfurion and his brother share words every now and then. Maybe you can help with getting some morrowgrain up here from Un'Goro?"

Kalaeth groaned as Tyriel snickered, "I'm sorry. Come on, we need some laughter to bring some levity! How about it, Co-"

As she turned back toward Colin, her face dropped in shock as his body suddenly froze up, falling forward, his face slamming into the ground as darkness surrounded him. Exhaustion had finally caught up with him, and in that darkness, he was susceptible to only his deepest thoughts and dreams.

Tyriel stepped out from the Shadowmoon family home, a look of dread on her face, though she tried to disguise it as she turned toward Kyra, who had been sitting outside, unable to help much when it came to healing magic. After Colin had passed out, he'd broken into a cold sweat as his body started burning up, leaving Kyra to make a mad dash back to Darnassus for a pair of nightsabers.

Being the only one with any sort of expansive medical knowledge, Tyriel rode beside Kyra toward the home, the elder not leaving the small home until just now, a good hour or so after the rest of the family had returned.

Kyra's head turned up toward her, sadly, as Tyriel sighed, making her way toward the ground as she sat, cross-legged, "Well, I don't know much of anything about human biology, but I do know that, as long as this fever persists, he's not dying. I know you said he mentioned a flu, but goodness knows I don't know what all that entails, and with him being unconscious, I can't exactly ask."

Patting her knees with either hand, Tyriel rose her head in finality, "But, like I said, he's not dying. Cayssarin has him under a cold towel and Vylira's out looking for some sort of cleansing herb, though she's probably wandering around, aimlessly, by this point, grumbling about how all the plants should do the same things."

Even in this time, Tyriel managed a light smile, "And you wondered why I never spend time teaching you any of this stuff."

Kyra shrugged, "Vylira is far more apt for things that require not-so-critiquing eyes."

Nodding in agreement, Tyriel sighed, leaning back against the wooden frame of the house, reaching over to hold he hand against Kyra's leg, "It'll be okay. I've never seen you so shook up; when I sent you off to him a while back, I thought you two were simply on some infatuated romp or something, but…"

She looked up toward Kyra, smiling sweetly, "You truly do love him."

Kyra nodded, "I've defied one god to be with him. I can't say I wouldn't do it again, if necessary."

Tyriel chuckled, shaking her head, "My, oh my. What the Shadowmoons do for love. Be it love for your people, or love for the enemy; nothing astounds me about your family anymore."

She laughed lightly, groaning, "And now you've brought poor Colin into the fold. I wouldn't be surprised if he was waltzing around Azeroth with immortality in his back pocket if he's associated with you all."

Tyriel turned to Kyra with a smile, expecting to have made her laugh, though she was met only with a stare she'd been well accustomed to- the sort of side-long stare that was a staple of any Shadowmoon who was trying to hide some mischievous or unbelievably fact. Tyriel's eyes narrowed, curiously, as she went on, quietly.

"Wait a second," she whispered, "You don't…"

"Please," Kyra interrupted, lowering her head further, "If you say it now…it'll just tear my heart up."

Tyriel watched her, concerned, "But Kyra, if what you're suggesting is true, then-"

Suddenly, Tyriel's met the silhouette of a striped, white nightsaber, strutting gently down the main little road of Starbreeze Village, forcing her to hurriedly rise to her feet, though she just as quickly leaned down to shake Kyra's shoulder.

"Up!" she instructed, "It's the High Priestess."

Kyra's eyes rose to see Tyrande Whisperwind approached, the high priestess raising a hand toward Kyra as she came into earshot, "Don't worry, young Shadowmoon. I've come to see the human. I'm afraid word has gotten around."

"As I expected," Tyriel replied, regrettably, as Tyrande descended from her mount, grasping a small bag that she'd strapped onto its saddle, "Hopefully it doesn't cause too much of a ruckus."

Tyrande shrugged elegantly, slowly, as if her body was as fluid as a gentle stream of water, "It got me here sooner than if not. May I ask, is he inside?"

Tyriel nodded, but instead of heading on in, Tyrande made her way toward Kyra, and as she came within a few footsteps from her, Kyra finally managed to stand, though her face remained bowed. Tyrande reached over, lifting her chin up to see her reddened, bleary eyes, the high priestesses own eyes turning a shade darker in sadness at the sight.

"I'll do what I can, young Shadowmoon, but you must remain strong," Tyrande explained, patting her shoulder with her other hand, "He's your mate…isn't he?"

Kyra nodded, proudly, almost immediately, "Yes ma'am."

Tyrande grinned, "That loyalty will serve you well, though I can't imagine how difficult such a thing could be between us and a human. Such a short time… I'll make sure it isn't any shorter than necessary."

Patting her shoulder again, Tyrande strode into the home, pulling Tyriel along, leaving Kyra standing there, staring at the soon-empty doorway. Despite Tyrande's comforting words, she was caught up by the dire words of Tyriel, thankful that she hadn't finished her thought, for she was unprepared to hear those words.

She leaned back against the house, sliding down the wall and onto the ground crossing her arms to shield her face as she began to tear up again, pulling her legs toward her. In the distance, she could hear the faint cursing in Darnassian of her sister, probably returning, fruitlessly, from her venture.

Sure enough, Vylira walked up along the side of the house, grumbling to herself before noticing Kyra, "Well, I did what I could, but I don't know why Tyriel wanted grass clippings from- Whoa."

She froze, her eyes locking onto the nightsaber, "Elune… Is that Ash'alah?"

The nightsaber peered over toward her direction before crouching onto the ground, laying there as if anticipating a long stay, leaving Vylira with a wildly awestruck face, "My goddess… So Tyrande's-"

She turned toward the door of the home, dropping the dainty basket of "herbs" onto the ground, "Well why the hell am I gathering this stuff, then?"

Vylira sighed as she raised her arms over her head to stretch them out, eying her sister from above before quickly kneeing beside her, "Hey, hey. It's going to be okay, alright? The High Priestess won't let anything happen to him."

Sobbing, suddenly, Kyra shook her head, "That's not what I'm afraid of."

Having the same idea that Kyra had had since Colin had first fallen ill, Vylira's face sunk. She leaned her body over so that she could sit beside her sister, reaching her arms around her quivering body.

"It'll still be okay," was all she could mutter, unable to find much of anything in the way of solace.

She hadn't ever been great at that, anyway. Although, if Kyra's thoughts were true, then Vylira knew she would have to learn to get much better at such things. for her youngest sister's sake.