Night had fallen soon after the group had returned to their campsite, much to the surprise of Kyra and Colin, who had just then found out that they'd inadvertently been gone for an entire day. Both Remnaar and Tandkota looked on with surprise in their eyes at the sight of Ulric, who appeared to have aged a decade since they'd last seen him. His face had twisted into an angered thing, a far cry from the rather carefree man they'd come to know and respect, greatly, and he had taken to sitting by the campfire, so still, instead for his hand that stoked at the coursing flames non-stop.

Parvaen tried his best to communicate what had happened to the two men, though his explanation was impeded when Ulric shot him a disapproving glance that sent chills down the spines of all three men. While Tandkota returned to his outwardly aloof self, Remnaar was far more apprehensive as he sat there, doing his best to study everybody's faces, hating so deeply the feeling of the unknown.

Still rattled by her assault at the hands of the troll leader, Kyra simply sat right against Colin's side, resting her head atop his shoulder as his arm coiled around her, gently stroking her scalp in an attempt at comfort, nearly putting her to sleep, which he sincerely believed she deserved. With Syheath continuing to stare of the two of them, with the occasional glance at Vylira, Colin felt helpless when it came to speaking, and merely remained close to one of the two people in this party that he now understood he could only trust.

The reason Syheath's glare remained, for the most part, on Kyra and Colin was because her eldest sister, Vylira, wouldn't stop doing the same thing. Sitting slightly out of Colin's sight, Vylira held her leg up near her chest, her arms tightly keeping herself tightly hidden behind her appendage as she shone a serious stare toward Colin, as if trying to figure something out about him.

Such was the standoffish mood when Vylira stood up, finally breaking her glare as she turned toward the campfire, earning the stares of everybody as she spoke up, motioning toward Colin, "I need to talk to this human. That won't be a problem, will it?"

Ulric's eyes flickered up at her, shining brilliant orange shimmers alongside his focused stare before taking a look at Kyra, moving his head toward her, "She stays."

Vylira nodded as she stared at the two of them, as if making the decision for them rather easily, turning and walking off, leaving Colin to stare back in surprise. He turned to Kyra, whose worn out eyes peered back up toward him from atop his shoulder before she inevitably lifted herself away, trailing her hand along his back as she relieved him of her touch. Colin sighed deeply, already missing that comfort, before taking to his feet and slowly following behind Vylira as she made her way out of sight.

Out of earshot from most of the group, Vylira crouched down as she dropped two wooden swords that Ulric's party had had with them, pulling two bits of twine or thread from her pocket to tie around the middle of the shaft of each training weapon. As she worked, Colin appeared, rather nervously as he looked around the darkened limbs of trees that now surrounded the two of them.

"So, what's up?" he asked, staring curiously at Vylira's quick movements along her fingers.

Without returning her eyes, she replied, "We're going to practice. You always said you wanted to learn more."

Colin's eyes turned confused, "Well yeah, but is this the right time?"

Vylira suddenly shot a stare toward him, "After what you just witnessed earlier, you don't believe this is the exact time to be doing this?"

His eyes fell as he recalled Ulric's sudden, inexplicable shift in moods. Far from a mood swing, he had nearly changed, wholly, into some fiendish thing atop that troll. Understanding what Vylira had meant, Colin knew he didn't want to be in place of that troll. Little was he aware, Vylira was referring, not to Ulric, but to Colin himself.

As she tossed one of the swords to Colin, she explained, evenly, "Get the thread off my sword. That's it."

Colin's eyes narrowed, curiously, as he brought his sword up to his face to examine the thread, "How exactly-"

"Better hit hard, then," Vylira muttered, holding her sword apart from her as she carefully stared Colin down.

Her eyes weren't on his sword, however; they were looking up and down the lengths of his arms, carefully studying his skin, or rather, his veins as he took a proper fighting stance, as taught to him by Vylira. She was the first to leap onto action, attacking Colin with a series of vicious swipes with her sword, the two wooden objects clacking on the breeze with every blow. Colin did his best to block her strikes, but his teeth bit at his lip as he lost himself to his concentration, not only having to block, but also ensure that her sword didn't make contact with the line of thread around his own weapon. He had no idea how sturdy the thread was, but with it being her game, he couldn't guarantee much of anything.

Finally finding an opening, Colin decided to strike, though, with the prescient skills of a Silverwing, Vylira immediately threw her body downward, catching his sword in between her arm and torso before whipping her body around, sending Colin to the ground as he tried maintaining hold of his weapon. He slowly lifted himself up with a groan, looking up to Vylira as she tossed his sword back toward him, onto the ground, his eyes watching her, confused, as she wore a deep scowl as if examining him.

"What is it?" he asked, accusingly, "This isn't what you really wanted, is it?"

She shrugged innocently, "I'm just sparring."

Not buying her excuse for a moment, Colin worked his way back up to his feet, his lips pulled in skepticism as he watched her, unsure of what it was she was interested in. He returned to his posture, taking a defensive stance, figuring that, were she wanting something from him, she would have to come and claim it herself. Sure enough, neither of them moved, with Vylira taking the defensive herself, though, upon noticing Colin's still footwork, she burst into action.

Throwing her sword upward, she put her full weight into her swing, causing her opponent to block awkwardly, forcing him off balance as he stepped backwards. Vylira was quick to reach out, however, and grasp his sword, yanking it toward her and further disorienting Colin as his body suddenly flew forward. Using his weight as momentum, however, Vylira had pulled herself clear into the air, and as Colin fell forward, she spun around, kicking him in the back before landing with her knee digging into the ground as Colin's face met with the same fate.

He quickly picked himself back up, becoming heated at her sneaky tactics that he knew, full well, she had no reason to expect from him in return. His brow furrowed in thought as he ran over her words from earlier, seeking out a way to demonstrate his own ability at slight of. He suddenly cane across something, jumping into a stance as Vylira returned to her own.

Her eyes sparkling questioningly as the hair atop Colin's arms suddenly stood on end, her suspicions answered in that moment. She threw her hands out, preparing to swing at him, though in that moment, Colin lowered his own weapon as his hand flew out from beside him, launching a massive fireball at her sword. But her weapon was stuck in mid-air, having not even hit the ground yet before Vylira, having shed her weapon, grabbed Colin and spun him around, dropping him to the ground as she followed, digging her knee into the top of his spin as she held his arm up behind him, launching a deliberate chop from her free hand just above his elbow.

Colin suddenly felt his arm go numb as he grimaced at the idea of having been pinned down by an opponent, quickly trying to break free, though Vylira offered no such opportunity. He continued to try, however, though he was silenced by Vylira's voice as her face leaned in closer to his ear.

"What was that?!" she asked, angrily, pulling at his wrist to signal what she'd referred to.

Confused and angry, Colin merely continued his escape attempts, "It was fire! What did you think? You've seen it before!"

"Not that," she answered, cryptically, her voice turning dreadful enough for Colin to pause his struggling, "That was no human magic; that was druid stuff. I don't give a damn how long you've trained; no human expels magic like that."

Colin sighed into the dirt at his face, his body exhaling weakly as he argued, quietly, "Could you let me go already? What, did you think I was going to hurt you?"

Vylira's lips slid into a smirk as her grip at his wrist tightened, "You never know. After today, especially."

"I'd be far too frightened to aim anything at you," Colin admitted, defeatedly, "Regardless of any state of mind."

He heard a muted giggle from above, but Vylira kept him pinned as she mused, feigning disappointment, "Don't say "anything"; from what I've heard from Kyra, that'd be a sadly missed opportunity."

Groaning, his rolling eyes hidden by the ground, Colin replied, "If sisters tell each other everything- I'm sure she won't be hearing about how you manhandled her mate, nearly amputating his arm."

Vylira half-shrugged, speaking innocently enough, "What, she knows what tough love is."

After another smirk and quiet laughter, Vylira relinquished her grasp, as well as her knee, standing to her feet while Colin made his way up as well, without the aid of his right arm, which was still numb from Vylira hindering his flow of blood. He began brushing himself off, his head held low, until he suddenly felt Vylira's body closing in on him, her hands gently grasping at either side of his jaw as she directed his head upward to examine him.

"Sorry; I didn't mean to be that rough," she apologized, weakly, while bringing a sleeve up to his forehead, seemingly wiping away either dirt or blood from his face, "I've seen men corrupted by a lot less than whatever magic you've already exhibited, so I apologize if I'm wary of seeing my sister's mate inheriting much of anything from my elder brother."

Her voice held a twinge of sarcasm to it, but as she reached a thumb up to her lips to lick at her skin, carefully wiping away what must have been the source of Colin's blood, her voice returned to its normally somber timbre, "You know, one of our legends is about Kaldorei society becoming split way back when- men became the holders of magic simply because their desire for greater and greater knowledge was rather insatiable; they couldn't get enough."

She grinned, devilishly, "We women, we took the weapons of war, they said, because we knew there wasn't any boundary we hadn't left uncrossed when it came to such things."

Colin's eyes peered up toward her skeptically, "You made that up."

Again, Vylira cocked a grin, "Doesn't make it any less true."

"It kind of does," Colin nodded, though that only led to Vylira holding his head toward her with more strength to keep him still.

The two of them grew quiet as Vylira focused on cleaning his wound, though when she finished, her hands remained at either side of Colin's face, his eyes turning up at her, curiously, as he muttered, "Can I-?"

Interrupting him, Vylira's hands immediately jumped around him as she suddenly pulled him into a tight hug, working his head around his head until it rested in his shoulder, quickly deciding to speak up before giving the wrong impression, "Look, I'm not the 'mushy' type, so just shut up and let me hold you for a second."

Colin sighed, closing his eyes, "Vylira, I'm not your brother- I'm not going to crazy with power or anything; I have a thousand reasons not to do that."

"You are my brother," Vylira confirmed, suddenly, and weakly, as if having to open herself up to admit such a thing.

His eyes looking down at her, Colin began to realize where her apprehension was coming from as she slowly went along, her grip tightening around him in substitution of tears, "I don't care what anybody says. You have a family. and I'm not about to lose another brother to that strain of evil that I have no opportunity to defend against."

Colin sighed, lightly, as he brought his arms up around her, matching her tight grip with his own reassuring tug, "Look, I have a thousand reasons not to do anything that would-"

"What it Kelaeth had a thousand and one reasons?" she suddenly quipped, pulling her head back to stare up at him with a questioning, almost lost, expression.

His eyes met with hers, and Colin was left astonished at just how vulnerable the always-tough Vylira appeared at this moment. He smiled, just barely, realizing just how much trust she had placed within him, the thought forcing him , more or less, to do the same. He gave a slanted grin, as if saddened by the recollection he was just able to conjure up.

He reached a hand out, snapping a finger underneath a sudden burst of flame, resulting in just a single, enduring flame at the tip of his finger, as if it were a match, "My mother was a mage. I don't think she wanted to be so- her whole life was dedicated to escaping the talents her parents had given to her, probably because she despised the rigid fate of those magicians. My father was very much conducive to the exact opposite; he was very free-spirit, not wanting to be held down, which, for better or worse, seemed to cross over to his career life."

His smile took on a brighter air, "He thought my mother's talents made her that much beautiful though, and he hated that she refused to accept them- I think he was kind of jealous. But no matter how much he prodded, she never relented; even when he wanted her to see if I had similar talents."

"I became exceptionally curious of the whole deal, and when I got old enough, she made a deal with me," Colin continued, looking off, "She would teach me what she thought acceptable, and after a year, she would let me decide whether or not to join some mage order, were I accepted anyway."

Vylira's head cocked slowly to the side as she smiled fadingly, "No wonder you took to druidic stuff quick. The arcade is outward, which druid magic comes from within, but still, the basics are similar. You never told me you learn at an arcaniun."

Colin's gaze fell to the ground, his voice softening as he answered, "That year never ended for her."

Catching his drift, Vylira lips fell into a solemn sort of sadness as he went only, easily, the years having comforted his memories quite readily, "So, the only real thing I have from my mother is this…stuff. I do t know; maybe I was just swept up in the moment, but when your brother offered me the same- It kind of felt as if I receiving the same from your family."

"I understand," Vylira shrugged, "But whatever he knows, little of it is just trifling magic. All that stuff comes from evil beings."

Colin grinned, "Instead of speaking of nightly exploits, had you talked to Kyra about more important things, you'd know just how serious I am when I make a promise."

Vylira slowly allowed herself to smile, softly, as she muttered back in reply, "For you information, I did learn of that from her."

"Good," Colin finished, plainly, releasing a sigh as he shook his head, "As if I'd be important enough for any sort of malevolence to seek me out."

Slowly, Vylira pulled away, though her hand ran its way along his shoulder, creeping up to touch his cheek as she paused, "You were important enough for one being."

Colin rolled his eyes, "Trust me. Elune must not have that high of regard for me when she's had Kyra watching over me."

"She's not the only one looking out for you," Vylira spoke up, her voice wavering like a gentle breeze.

Colin suddenly felt a twinge of the unfamiliar, almost uncomfortable. Vylira had always been quite 'hands-on', as were most night elves when with friends, and up until this point, his interactions with Vylira had been par for the course. Now, however, he heard something far deeper in her voice; and while he was unable to pinpoint exactly what it was, he knew it was something far too familiar for two friends.

He slowly reached up to grab at her wrist, gently pulling it away from his cheek as his eyes peered away, trying not to offend her, though she only released a gentle laugh at his action, "Sorry. Too much?"

"Just a bit," Colin answered, distantly.

Vylira gave something of a muted giggle behind her closed mouth as she shook her head, "You're no Jarod or Malfurion, but you are a good man. I should have snatched you up while I had the chance."

Blushing suddenly, Colin returned his eyes to her, "Wh-What?!"

She laughed, waving him off, "You get knocked off kilter so easily sometimes. It's so easy to beat you in a game of wit sometimes, dear brother."

Vylira smirked at his blank face, though, as Colin's expression quickly turned to one of amused defiance while his eyes turned toward the ground, she curiously watched him, spinning around to catch what his attention was on. Sure enough, her sword was on the ground, without its thread, having been incinerated by Colin's blast of fire. Looking nearby toward Colin's, his sword remained as it had when she'd given it to him.

"Looks like I win," Colin smirked, crossing his arms with an air of supremacy, "Dear sister."

Vylira groaned as she covered her face, rubbing her eyes at the prospect of having been outsmarted by, not only a human, but one who'd she'd had a particular sibling rivalry with of sorts.

Colin continued, amusedly, "I'll understand if you want to head on back now. After all, I might have to be the one to pull you away for training next time."

"Oh, you'd like that, huh?" Vylira fired back with a mischievous grin on her face, crossing her own arms as she shook her head, "Really though, we've been away long enough."

Colin agreed with a nod, reaching down for his training weapon and starting back toward the camp, slowing as Vylira walked at his side, "Thanks for, uh… you know. Looking out for me. Most of my life, I had no one who did that."

Vylira smiled, reaching out to grab Colin's arm and pull him toward her into a side-long hug, "Hey, what are sisters for?"

Colin lowered his head embarrassingly, so Vylira went along to add some levity, "And thank you for being such an obedient little brother. That's a trait long forgotten by the Shadowmoon family, it seems."

"Well, if I go end up getting killed, I'll consider myself having followed in their footsteps."

She eyed him critically, "Hey, we may be disobedient little devils, but we never allow ourselves to be overcome by such things."

"Noted," Colin smiled, "I guess I have plenty of time to learn about it all after we're d-"

In a split second, Vylira had spun her body forward, meeting Colin's as her head reached up to give him a gentle kiss, immediately pulling away so as to not give the wrong idea to his human mind. Colin stared into her eyes with disbelief, but she only smiled, just barely, as a sudden blush streaked along her face.

"Just don't die," she commanded, softly.

Colin nodded quickly amidst his nervousness as Vylira spun back into place, now having to pull Colin along for him to move forward to the camp. He slowly regained the ability to walk, by himself, allowing Vylira to pull her hand away from him with an honest smile. Seeming content to leave their excursion at that, Vylira didn't speak beyond that, her point having been made, and although Colin had, in a moment, constructed a litany of questions to ask her, he couldn't quite find the proper words when considering actually speaking them.

Finally, having built up the strength, or rather, the ability, he turned to Vylira with his mouth drawn open to speak, but in that moment, his eyes narrowed, curiously, as he caught the profile of her suddenly serious face. She was staring ahead, right at the glowing orange along the trees that signaled the campsite, and it didn't take Colin much time for his own face to show his horror as the two of them slowly left the cover of the forest, entering the somber air of the fireside camp.

Ulric's eyes nearly bore a hole in their faces with the quiet, sinister stare he now wore, his hand hidden behind Kyra, who now sat beside him, her hands bound behind her back with Ulric, presumably, holding her in place as he watched the faces of the two newcomers. Had Colin the presence of mind to break away from Ulric's stare, he would have noticed the downtrodden, uncomfortable faces of Remnaar and, especially, Parvaen, who watched Colin with a face almost full of fright.

Shadowmoon remained sitting, though was obviously ashamed of the situation, not dating to steal a glance at either her older sister or Colin, but she did flinch as Ulric spoke up, lowly, "Okay, here's the rules."

He stood up, yanking Kyra's arms along with hi to force her along as well, her head lowered in shame at not having been able to free herself of her own volition, as Ulric's deep voice seemed to rouse the very darkness itself that surrounded the group, "We're going to your temple. and you both are going to allow ourselves that same form of submission as this one, simply to avoid any misunderstandings along the way. Got it?"

Without a hint of acknowledgement from the two newcomers, Ulric pointed at Remnaar and Parvaen before throwing his finger into their direction, signaling his men to tie them up, "Watch the human. He's a mage; I want his arms bound so he can't incinerate his way out."

Remnaar silently eyed Colin and Vylira with a look of regret, through he still pulled out the rope that had been laid out for the two of them, starting off in Colin's direction. As he stepped along, however, Parvaen slid past him, almost with a kick in his step as he approached Colin himself, grabbing the human by the shoulder and forcibly spinning him away from the group and pushing him, rather violently, into a tree, leaving Remnaar rather surprised as he changed his direction toward Vylira.

Colin released a pained grunt as his face flew into the tree, Parvaen keeping him pinned to the mighty truck of the tree while single-handedly preparing the rope. As the blood elf juggled the rope, Colin's eyes turned confused as he heard the elf's voice from behind him, a sort of pitied voice, held low to keep from rousing any suspicion.

"He was waiting for you three to get separated so we'd have the numbers," Parvaen explained, seriously, "I don't know how the others feel, but I know something's up with him."

Colin mulled over his words, when suddenly, he felt the rope fall to the ground as Parvaen attempted to buy some more time to speak only to him, though that came at a price, as Parvaen immediately brought an elbow, viciously, into Colin's side with a snarling, "Stop fighting!"

Colin rolled his eyes as Parvean crouched down to retrieve the rope, starting over, "Sorry."

"Goddamn," Colin painfully mumbled, feeling his eyes strain from the sudden strike.

This time, Parvaen began tying the rope up, quietly speaking as he yanked his two arms apart, "You speak Zandali."

"Yeah, when I do t have the wind beat out of me anyway," Colin replied, sarcastically, keeping his voice low.

Parvaen sighed as he went along with his work, almost to the point where Colin thought he might have been done talking. He felt the constriction along his arms, the numbness welling up at his fi gertips as he shut his eyes, trying to focus the pain away, when suddenly, Parvaen began muttering something in Zandali.

"Wehnehjo fus'obeah, dim cyaa T'ief," Parvaen mumbled, almost longingly, as if he'd inscribed those very words onto his mind long ago, "What does that mean, human?"

Colin's spine went cold even halfway through Parvaen's recitation, as he knew the phrase quite well. He lowered his head, not so much in respect as much as grief, his eyes running along the ground as he attempted to find the proper way of telling this man of what he sought.

A final, powerful tug around Colin's body and Parvaen impatiently whispered, forcefully, "What does it mean?!"

Quietly, his head still low, Colin answered respectfully, "It means somebody loved you very much."

Parvaen's eyes suddenly grew into two watery beams of light as his brow went skyward, his immediate sorrow nearly bursting from his chest at this human's words. His legs nearly gave way as his attention remained on something outside this realm, his mi d just coming back to him at the realization that his assignment was completed and that he needed to not draw any suspicion to himself. He quickly hung his head low as he turned back toward the camp, tearing at every string inside his heart to keep from openly weeping in front of everybody.

Colin turned around to face Ulric, his own eyes fighting back tears as he noticed how distraught Kyra had appeared. He eyed Vylira, who was wearing a sort of death stare toward Ulric, the human quietly returning to his seat after admiring his men's work, non-chalantly reaching for a bite of bread that sat by the fire.

"We start out in the morning," he spoke, as if going over his plan in his head, "Hope you all packed light. We'll have traversed the mountains of Crystalsong by next moonlight."

At his invocation of the moon itself, Colin felt an empty feeling run through his feet.