Kyra sat across from Vylira's bed, gingerly holding onto her eldest sister's hand as she continued sleeping, her breaths remaining as chillingly steady as many druids' were. They had made their way to Wintergarde before night had fallen, with Ulric and his crew having to sneak into the city, which turned into a particularly devilish task for Tandkota, who, more or less, had to carry his leader most of the way. Now holed up in the smallest inn of the city, Kyra began her vigil beside her sister, her continued sleep growing concern from within her.

"I'm afraid," she whispered, running her hand along the lengths of Vylira's fingers, "Ascal didn't much say anything about her being out for this length of time."

Colin, who'd been leaned against the wall, watching the two of them, dove his hands into his pocket, woefully, lowering his gaze as his lips pulled to the side, questioningly, "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's moved, even in this state, albeit only slightly- she's definitely home."

He grinned, "She'll wake up and scold you for worrying about a measly nap."

"Hopefully," Kyra smiled weakly, as a quiet knock echoed from the door.

Colin dutifully strode to the door, opening it just slightly enough to see through its crack, only finding Syheath there, her arms crossed worriedly as she peered up to the single human eye that cast down on her. He slowly widened her entry, stepping to the side as she took a step in, growing annoyed as Colin wore a smirk.

"So you are worried about your family," he teased.

Syheath only grumbled in reply, throwing a swift punch toward Colin that was quickly avoided, leaving him laughing quietly as Syheath approached the foot of the bed, crossing her arms once again. Kyra didn't turn toward her, nor did she speak, since Syheath didn't ask anything, though the older of the two gave a scolding glance toward Kyra without her noticing.

"Nothing's changed, really," Colin explained, "She's tugged on Kyra's hand a few times; I'm sure she'll be fine."

Syheath frowned, passive aggressively, as she muttered aloud, "At least she's willing to let you know she's okay."

While she heard her snide remark, Kyra didn't bother acknowledging it, simply continuing her quiet vigil, much to Syheath's chagrin. She slowly reached into a small satchel that she had strapped over her shoulder, pulling out a few pressed leaves from within a tiny notebook, dropping them atop Vylira's blanketed body.

"Those are from Teldrassil; maybe their scent will help her out, I don't know," she shrugged, distantly, "I thought about it and figured I'd give it a shot."

Kyra didn't seem to hear her, simply remaining still as Syheath sighed aggressively, turning away as she shrugged, "That's what I get for trying to help."

Her eyes met Colin's as she finished turning to the door, pausing as he nodded toward her, "Thanks."

"Good to see someone being appreciative," Syheath muttered, rolling her eyes.

Colin replied, "She's just got a lot going on."

"Uh huh," Syheath retorted, sarcastically, "She's had a lot going on ever since she was born. The rest of the world just stops for poor little Kyra; story of my fuckin' life."

"Look," Colin sighed, his lips pulling inward worriedly, "Can we just-"

Syheath sneered, starting back toward the door, "Oh, I'm not about to be the one who's reprimanded. I'm actually trying to fucking help; not just sit and stare all night. Sorry for trying."

She shook her head, nearly stomping out from the room, although, to her credit, she did take care to close the door carefully. Colin was left sighing, leaning his head back in exasperation as he approached Kyra, gently rubbing her shoulder as he sat beside her.

"Well, I can't say I've come to expect much el-"

He paused as he noticed Kyra's face. While it remained stoned in worry, a trickle of tears had stared down her cheek, eventually dripping off into a sparkle of starlight that evaporated into the wooden planks beneath them. He gently reached an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close into him to comfort her.

"That hurts you."

Kyra grumbled, upsettingly, "Of course it does. She may hate my guts, but she's still my older sister. You don't know what it's like starting life late, entering into a family who all mostly resent you from the start."

She frowned, shaking her head, "Sorry…"

Only able to grin, Colin answered, "Hey, don't be. You've given me as much of a family as I'll ever need. Though, with just my interactions with Syheath herself, I can sort of see what you mean. But look, despite everything she finds bad about your family, she's made quite a life for herself out here."

He lowered his tone, gently running his hand down the loose fabric that bundled and wanted as he did so, "Are you wanting to even bother making amends?"

Kyra sighed, resting her face in the palm of her hand, "Of course I do. She's my sister; regardless of everything else, we're bound by more than circumstance. I remember growing up, after she'd already decided to distance herself somewhat, desperately wanting her to take me on whatever adventures she would take. I snuck out of bed one time when I heard her come home, telling Y'eanel about sleeping with the nightsabers and exploring the caves on the edge of the tree. I so wished for her to invite me along, but before she left our home, entirely, for the first time, she'd barely even spoken a few words to me."

She sighed, helplessly, shaking her head, "I still love her. Deeply. All I ever wanted from any if my siblings was to be accepted. I didn't need their love, or help, or anything; I just wanted their respect; their acceptance that I wasn't simply a hindrance to the family. Vylira, and somewhat Nyfallas, she was the only one who saw me as somebody with potential, and not just what Syheath still sees me as- a nothing. A blight on the family name."

Colin's eyes dropped, sadly, though his lips twisted in thought, keeping a slight tug around Kyra's shoulders as he spoke up, "Look, I know that whole thing with these leaves was bullshit. Judging from her uncertainty, she probably knows it too; maybe she sincerely wanted to test the waters- I mean, you seem to say that she cares little about even Vylira, too."

"Regardless," he shrugged, "I think you'll have to be the bigger person here, and I'm not just saying that because, out of both of you, you're the only one who'd listen to me. I think, after these last few days, she's seen things that have impacted her, not least of which seeing her little sister take charge of her own destiny in a way you couldn't have done as a child."

He reached his face over to give her a gently tender kiss at her cheek, pulling away only slightly, remaining close enough to catch the sweet scent of her hair as he slowly reached up a knuckle to pull her hair back over her ear, "I know its no difficult task for a Silverwing."

Kyra rolled her eyes, grinning slightly, "They never taught us how to mend relationships when we became Sentinels."

"No, but I figure if you can stand up to a Wild God, you can stand up for her sister," Colin teased.

Kyra shook her head, her grin growing wider in humored disbelief, "I can't exactly argue with that sort of logic, I suppose."

Colin nodded before making the slight distance to kiss her cheek once again, reaching his other hand over to grasp ahold if her own hand, clenching it tightly as his arm pulled her shoulders even tighter. Kyra allowed her head to fall gracefully onto his shoulder, shutting her eyes comfortingly, just making out his heartbeat from that sturdy perch of hers.

"Remember during Winter's Veil," Colin spoke up, wistfully, "We pulled the furniture away and danced so slowly, so close, and our eyes met, mid-stride; I said I had never seen anything so beautiful."

Kyra's grin slowly fell to a comforting smile as her hand gently rolled a thumb along Colin's matching fingers, "What's your point, exactly?"

He only smirked, mischievously, "I needed a point?"

"I guess not," Kyra replied, her shoulders lightly jumping up in amusement as she gave a silent, weak laugh, "You're just taking advantage of me allowing you to say such things."

"Oh, of course," Colin easily noted, "Not many women would give me the time of day."

He turned his head down, gingerly playing with her fingers, "You know, when I first fell in love with you…I was so frightened. Not of whether or not you'd be loyal, or whether or not you'd leave…but I've always been scared of giving somebody so much love, and so much trust, and not having it equaled in return."

Kyra lifted her head, feigning inquiry, "You just stole immortality from the hands of the Dragon Aspects for me. Are you seriously asking me to top that?"

Colin chuckled, shaking his head, "No, no. But you've been so much to me since we've known one another. You're my best friend, you were my mentor, you're my protector, and in many ways, you were my savior at one time, after I returned home from seeing your home."

His lips pulled to either side of his jaw, neutrally, as if stuck on one final thought, "You're my lover, my companion, my mate. You're the single person on this world I know to turn to, no matter what. You don't have to do anything; not when you've done so, so much for me."

Kyra smiled, still eyeing him from down low, reaching her free hand up and around the side of Colin's head, pulling him down so that she could return his kisses from earlier. Her head pulled back, ever so slightly, as the lights of her eyes, dim as they were, flickered beautifully as she blinked, intently staring into Colin's eyes as his mate met her own pair. Her brow lifted up in subtle happiness, his eyes staring as far into the future as shed ever seen them, even if they were locked onto her own pair.

"I've never seen anything so handsome," Kyra teased, earning a quick, sarcastic raising of Colin's brow.

"Now you're just trying to get me to blush," he replied, knowingly, "I'll have you know, Shadowmoon, that I'm not going to fall into your little game, there."

Kyra stuck out her tongue, "You don't need to be blushing for me to think you're cute."

Sighing defeatedly, Colin hung his head, lowly raising Kyra's hand up to his face for a kiss as an abrupt knock came at the door, jarring the two of them from this moment. Colin sighed as he stood to answer the gentle call, his hand running along Kyra's back as he walked off, as if not wanting to leave her touch. Still, he made his way to the door, slowly opening it to reveal the whole of Ulric's team, even Syheath, standing there with the smallest of them, Parvaen, struggling to lift a large pot of steaming soup, quickly grabbing Colin's attention.

"H-How's she…doing..?" Parvaen struggled to ask, quickly readjusting his arm to better hang onto his culinary luggage.

Colin smiled, "About the same. I'm sure she'll recover, though."

Remnaar cleared his throat, pushing Parvaen to the side, the blood elf's eyes bulging in horror as he desperately tried keeping his pot level, "My friend, we were discussing dinner, and figured it would be a terrible injustice for you two to go without. So, we got everything together that we had, Tandkota took a trip to the market real quick, and we figured we should invite ourselves over for a meal."

Surprised, Colin leaned over to examine Tandkota, who humbly scratched at his head from the praise, leaving Remnaar to explain, "He might be our quietest one, but he can haggle to bones off of a hozen. Are you in, my friend?"

"I see no reason why we'd refuse," Colin smiled graciously, "Thank you so very much."

Now taking his turn to squeeze forward, Ulric burst through Parvaen and Remnaar, his face contorted in uncomfort from the vice between the two bodies, "Thank you for allowing our thanks to you three. Were it not for you all, I'd, uh…"

Colin only reached out, patting his shoulder, "Look, don't even mention it, alright?"

Ulric grinned in reply, nodding graciously as the group filed into the small room, leaving Colin at the door to allow them in, though his eyes met Syheath's as she remained outside, leaning against the far wall with crossed arms. She turned her head away, making it clear that she was going to remain outside, though Colin warmly shrugged, pointing back into the room.

"Smelled good. Sure you're not going to get in on this?"

Syheath's eyes turned to him, emotionlessly, as she replied, "Why are you trying so hard?"

"To get you two to make up?" Colin confirmed, tilting his head in confusion, "As far as I'm concerned, Kyra's family is my family. As that goes, it's the only one I got. Leave it to a man with only a hundred or so years to understand how fleeting family is, even if your lives are stretched out for centuries."

He shrugged, smiling confidently at his point as he backed into the room, "The door's unlocked. I'll try and sit everybody facing away, just in case you want to sneak on in."

Syheath scoffed, "Whatever, man."

Colin chuckled, quietly muttering the ingredients he smelled, enticingly, as he slowly closed the door, "Tiger lily, some goldclover… Maybe a little frost lotus for aroma…"

The door shut soundly, leaving Syheath alone in the dark, her lips turned into a frown as her mouth helplessly began to water, having unintentionally skipped a few meals already. She knew the her boys were capable of some serious culinary skill as well, leaving her even more enticed, her stomach gentle gurgling hungrily as she shut her eyes. As long as she just pretended Lyra wasn't there, they could all avoid a scene…

She quickly stomped toward the door, quietly making her way inside the already-bustling room, silently working toward her own helping of soup, careful to keep her back turned to Kyra. Despite that, Kyra couldn't help but steal the occasional, sad glance toward her older sister, running through dialogue in her head, quietly predicting how the two of them could be friends.

They were the same words and sentences she'd silently conjured up since she was a child.

Having finished dinner, two groups had formed within the quaint little room of the inn. Parvaen and Tandkota entertained themselves with tales of Colin's adventures, the three of them sitting on the floor with Kyra up on the bed, watching them from above, enjoying her mate's stories all the same, each bullet point being yet another adventure that Colin could never truly complete unless it had been done at Kyra's side.

He'd taught Parvaen a few Zandali words, and Tandkota was nearly brought to homesick tears as Colin went through his few days in Mulgore, having gained entry only by a shaman of sorts, his visit cut short by a child who couldn't help but tell everybody about the funny-looking, flat-faced monster who'd stumbled upon the Earthmother's lands. Tandkota only nodded as Colin spoke, suspiciously managing to wipe his mouth, for lengthy periods of time, by nearly turning his entire body around.

Aside from these four, Ulric had called Syheath and Remnaar out to the balcony for a talk, ostensibly regarding the future of Ulric's pack, given the events that had passed just the last week or so. Their leader had leaned over the railing, peering out toward the lower, poverty-stricken wards of Wintergarde, eyeing the barely showing flames at each door, the oil used having been lessened to lengthen its use.

Shadowmoon, who stood beside him, leaned back against the same railing, crossing her arms as she narrowly peered down at the wooden planks beneath them, turning up toward Remnaar, "Those two would follow you as well, no question."

Remnaar nodded in agreement, slamming a vicious open hand into Ulric's back, his body flinching painfully as he coughed, "Of course they would! I'm rather surprised you didn't include them into this circle of discussion."

Catching his breath once more, Ulric pushed himself up, "I knew that, I just… You've been here the longest, Rem; I trust you with my very life. And Shadowmoon, I mean, she's-"

"Your favorite," Remnaar laughed, waving him off, "We all know it. She can hunt circles around us. I mean, it's true! We all know it!"

Ulric groaned, hating to have it known, even to himself, that he had, apparently, had a favorite, "Okay, shut up with that stuff, okay? Look, this is serious- Remnaar, I trust you and your judgement a great deal. Can I trust you with this?"

Syheath's eyes narrowed curiously, unsure if what Ulric was going on about, but Remnaar quickly turned serious, nodding swiftly, "Of course, my friend. T'was I who secretly skittered off from the group to rescue you from that den of wolvar."

Grinning nostalgically was Ulric, though he took care to avoid Syheath's inquisitive stare as she turned to him, quickly, "Just how often do your exploits end with you trapped or imprisoned?"

He lowered his head, chuckling, "Were I to go further along this most recent exploit, one might say I'd be equally as trapped."

Syheath eyed him curiously before suddenly jumping in shock, turning away to hide her blush from Remnaar, who had quickly noted something strange as he crossed his arms, "You'd better explain yourself sooner, rather than later, Ulric. I'd hate to jump to conclusions that are incorrect; like assuming something about you two…"

Ulric grinning, looking up toward his friend with a mischievously side-long stare, "It's not as serious as you might be thinking."

Sighing, Syheath managed to turn just enough to watch Remnaar from the corner of her eyes, his blue arms tensing as he took a deep breath, almost seriously so, before staring at Ulric, critically, "How long has this been a thing?"

"Not long," he muttered, apologetically, "I mean, it wasn't anything we-"

"Within the last five weeks?" Remnaar questioned, seriously.

Both Ulric and Syheath turned toward him, curiously, as he shrugged, "What? We had bets on this; I'm just trying to win the purse."

Syheath immediately groaned, covering her face as her body slid down the railing until she was sitting down, pulling her knees up to her face to further obscure her face while Ulric only chuckled nervously, shaking his head. Growing more confused, Remnaar turned from one to the other, almost in disbelief.

"What, it wasn't obvious to you two?" he wondered aloud, "Ever since Syheath showed up, she's been your favorite. I mean, you give her a harder time; we just figured you just saw that much more potential within her. But we knew you two were, more or less, interested in one another- we were shocked those 'meetings' you two had weren't, already, involving one, or both of you, on your knees!"

Syheath groaned louder, trying to further voice her displeasure at hearing this, while Ulric's face crumpled upward, uncomfortably, looking toward Remnaar with narrowed eyes, "It was nothing like that. We just had a moment back before we returned from the Blight, and- you know."

He shrugged, "I just wanted you to know, if weird stuff started to- Look, we've already discussed this. We don't want anything to change; we both love the three of you, and we don't want anything- Just in case you guys started to notice something weird, it's not our intention."

Remnaar held up his hands, unassertively, "Hey, I get it! It's not like we want to spend out nights in the same sleeping bag as you."

Syheath released another, painful groan, causing Remnaar to smirk amusedly, shaking his head, "Seriously. We were making bets, we were so sure of such a thing occurring. I doubt either of those two would object in any way."

The draenei turned to lean against the railing, crossing his arms again as a chilly breeze rolled through, "You know, you mentioned earlier about this group taking a break while your hand healed and everything. I think that'd be good for everyone; you know, Kota has been wanting to return home for a good year or so, and I think Parv has been needing some time for himself. As for me…"

He grinned sneakily, "I think every relationship needs a honeymoon phase."

"Oh, by the light of the moon!" Syheath grumbled, angrily, shooting a stare up toward him, "Would you cut that shit out, please?!"

Remnaar only laughed, bending over as his chest reverberated happily, "S-Sorry; you two must have known we'd all give you a hard time about-"

He quickly turned toward Syheath with a childish grin, noticing her intense blush before immediately returning to a burst of massive laughter, nearly keeling over from lack of breath. Ulric couldn't fight back a grin himself, though he turned to check on Syheath, who was less than enthused.

"You know he means well," he spoke, trying to make her feel better."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but I'm more upset by the fact that I can't dish it right back at him…"

Having predicted her reply, Ulric chuckled to himself as Remnaar neared the end of his spell, his deep voice gushing as he wiped the tears from his face, "Okay, okay; I need to go take a seat."

He started toward the door to reenter the room, leaving sputtering fits of laughter as he did so, managing to turn over his shoulder, "You two lovebirds can-"

Already having readied a stone from her satchel, Syheath threw it into his arm, causing him to stop as his laughter returned, though he continued on into the room, closing the door behind him, silencing his happy bursts from the balcony where Ulric and Syheath were, leaving Syheath with a relieved sighed.

Ulric shrugged, "Well, that went better than I was expecting."

"What were you expecting?" Syheath questioned, critically.

"I don't know," Ulric began, unsurely, "Maybe some jealousy or something like that. I can't be the only warm-blooded male to think you're rather beautiful."

Syheath rested her head on her knee, "So it wasn't any jealousy going the other way?"

Ulric grinned, more from nervousness, "I think it'd be the height of hubris to suggest I'd have people eyeing me like that. That, and I'd be far too plain for anybody who's into trolls."

Syheath tried to hide a laugh, though it only caused Ulric to smirk further, "What? I've had trolls in this troupe before; I know how strange their anatomy is. I'd be a walk in the park compared to all that!"

Eyeing him teasingly, Syheath spoke up, rather demurely, "Then why do I get so excited when I think of you like that?"

Ulric shrugged, tilting his head cockily, "Probably because I was just that good, I don't know. That's a question for you, yourself, to answer."

He stood up to return to the room himself, though he stole a quick moment to turn his head to eye Syheath from over his shoulder, "That, or maybe there are some advantages to that worgen curse after all."

As assured of herself as she was a moment ago, Ulric's words suddenly brought a blush to Syheath's face as she turned away, doing her best to hide her embarrassment as he chuckled, reaching for the doorknob, just about to open it before finishing.

"Syheath…" he muttered to himself, as if rolling the sound around his tongue to examine its effect over his palette, "Darkly beautiful, with a hint of a certain sexy quality. Tastes about as good as you do."

He grinned, having left her with something rather heated to think about as he nonchalantly made his way back into the inn, leaving Syheath alone, not feeling nearly as cold as she had been just a few moments ago.