Colin dropped his shovel into the soil below with a massive scrunching of earth, pulling up a large glob of dirt and gently dropping it to the side of the now-exposed hole, shoving his spade into the dirt to take a break, wiping the sweat from his brow as he looked up toward the blazing sun above, collecting his breath with gentle pants. Kyra watched him from across their garden, examining him carefully before returning to her own work, content that he wasn't in any danger of heat exhaustion. He grabbed a pitcher of water that had a rope strapped through its handle, bringing it up for a drink before walking along the lengthy slump of soil that denoted their earlier work.

"Well, shouldn't take too much longer," he spoke up, handing the pitcher down to Kyra, which she readily accepted, "Oh, the disadvantages of living out in the middle of nowhere."

Kyra grinned, taking a sip while still crouched down, "And the disadvantages of naming every animal that pokes its head around here."

"That was your fault," Colin noted, humorously, "If you were going to help teach me Darnassian words anyway, we could have named our herbs or vegetables. Wivith sounds better as an orchid than an ugly-looking boar anyway."

Rolling her eyes, Kyra tossed the pitcher up toward Colin, her mate catching the thing container expertly as she bent back down to finish rolling the soil over atop the single seed beneath her, "Names or not, you'd never volunteer to actually hunt game, except for when you're trying to impress my family. Remember when Aeneas showed up and you stayed up so late to match his bagged mountain lion?"

Colin sighed, looking away drolly, "Yes, yes; I snuck in through the window so he wouldn't see the rakes on me. I should have known it was a stuffed lion he'd gotten by that point."

"His games still sneak up on even Nyl, so you shouldn't be too ashamed," Kyra assured, rising to her feet as she wiped the dirt from her hands.

Watching her do so, Colin reached out with a single hand to grasp her hand, manipulating her fingers open as he brought the pitcher over to wash it off, Kyra catching on and bringing her second hand up for the same treatment. She smiled as he carefully washed off her skin, the water also dripping down onto the soil below.

As the pitcher emptied, Colin dropped it down by his side, the container jumping up at the end of the rope before swinging against his side. Before he could pull his other hand away from Kyra's, however, she'd already taken it, running her wetted hands over it, using what droplets of water she had left to wash his own hand off, smiling sweetly as her eyes jumped up to meet his from her dropped head.

"I love you," she whispered, so very sweetly, from behind nearly-closed lips.

Colin smiled, closing his hand over her own, "Are we still up for going up to the peak to see the stars tonight?"

Nodding, Kyra pulled her hands away, crouching down to collect her gardening equipment, "Absolutely. That is, unless you're afraid of ghosts."

"Pfft," Colin scoffed, waving her off, "We've been up there, what, fifteen times, and we've never even spotted a ghost."

"I don't know," she smirked, mischievously, "Call it elven intuition; I feel a paranormal wind coming down from those high mountains."

Colin only gave a teasing rolling of his eyes as he grabbed the rest of their equipment, "Wild horses couldn't keep be away from our date. Besides, with this heat, it would be nice to get some of that high-altitude chill for a bit."

"Already missing Northrend, I see?" Kyra inquired, almost teasingly, as the two rounded the house.

"Nah," Colin shrugged, "Just the weather. At least up there, you don't begin to sweat the moment you step outside."

Having been back for only a few weeks now, Kyra and Colin had done their best to return to a routine, though that had become more freeing of a process now that they no longer needed to take out time for their sleeping druid. Without the need of a makeshift barrow den, their open shed now allowed them the ability to plant and harvest far more easily, and today had been the day they'd decided to begin their foray into gardening.

Upon returning to Kalimdor, Vylira made it clear that she would not return to Teldrassil in such a lowly state, so on their way down south anyway, the two left her in the care of her Silverwing sisters in Ashenvale, while also sending news back to their parents of, not only Kyra and Colin's safety, but of Syheath's apparent meaning to visit, which was met with excitement by Eldris, specifically, the old elf always happy to visit with his more fleeting of children. His script had turned to near-scribbles on his reply, before jarringly switching to Cayssarin's far more elegant handwriting mid-sentence, where shed begun to simply dictate for her husband.

"We didn't do too bad, did we?" Colin wondered, slinging his shovel over his shoulder before pulling open their shed door, "I mean, I have no green thumb, but it looks like a garden out there."

Kyra thought quietly for a moment as she followed Colin inside, "I mean, this is far different from back home- pretty much everything is guaranteed to grow there. Hopefully we'll receive some blessing; I know it seems pretty difficult for anything to grow out here."

The two of them put away and organized their equipment, both staring a collective sigh of accomplishment as they eyed their shed, gradually noticing, more and more, the lack of hay that had once covered the floor. Colin chuckled, his lips pulling inward in bitter satisfaction.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?"

"Pfft," Kyra scoffed, laughing as she turned to leave, "At least I don't have to smell that earthroot anymore. It's one thing to smell it while sleeping, but I only think of cleaning up the Cenarion dens for weeks on end as an initiate. Just a whiff and it takes me back to scrubbing on my hands and knees."

Colin grinned, amused by her quaint little tale, "For a being going on three hundred, you certainly have your fair share of stories that I haven't even begun to know about in the two or three years that I've known you."

"Age," Kyra frowned, reprimanding Colin for noting her age, even if it was only just halfway to middle age for her, "There truly isn't much to tell, considering how much of that was spent upon Teldrassil. Beyond that, you were directly responsible for that no lo her being the case, and as such, pretty much know everything extending beyond this third phase of my existence."

"Third?" Colin questioned, closing up the shed.

"Well, I couldn't the end of my illness as my second phase," Kyra explained, "For a good, nearly hundred years, my life was nothing beyond my bedroom. Just me and whatever stories I heard from mother and father. So no wonder I grew impatient of my life on that tree; I sort of developed a sense of how shortened my life was, and I wanted to see the world and do great and astounding things for my people."

Colin smiled, "Well, all we have, now, is time. Where would you go first?"

"Oh, everywhere!" Kyra smiled, "Pandaria, the Swamp of Sorrows, the depths of Blackfathom; I want to go everywhere!"

She smiled a radiant grin, turning to Colin with a solemn look in her eyes, "I know you always said we'd travel, but now, knowing for sure that we truly have so long… It just feels more real that I get to see everywhere with you."

"We could start tomorrow," Colin smiled, taking her hands into his, pulling her close, "Just kick up these plants and just run off to wherever."

Kyra grinned, hiding a laugh, "I've seen enough of Northrend for one lifetime. I'm about adventured out right now."

Colin looked away, still smirking at how silly his idea was in the first place, though such a flight of fancy appealed to him nonetheless, turning back toward Kyra as she muttered aloud, questioningly, "Why wouldn't it be tonight?"

Blankly, Colin quickly answered, "Well, our date. It's important, after all."

"I wouldn't think it was any more important than any other trip up there," Kyra shrugged, following along as Colin nervously spun away, getting a head start into their home, "Why, is something different about it?"

"Of course not!" Colin quickly replied, "It's just- You know. We've had it planned for a while now."

Not one for lies, Kyra eyed him from behind, skeptically, though Colin hadn't ever been known to lie to her maliciously. Perhaps he had simply run up to the peak and set something up for the both of them? Either way, she was sure his version was for her benefit, though that only stoked her curiosity as her lips pulled to the side in frustration of the unknown.

"Anyway," Colin continued, quick to segue to a different topic, "I'll prepare something for lunch perhaps."

As they entered their home, Kyra paused just beyond the threshold, watching Colin curiously as he, rather quickly, escaped from her, along with any questions, leaving her with a frown as she stood there, arms crossed, as the door shut gently behind her. She sighed as he disappeared, dropping her arms as she looked on toward the small table just beneath a nearby window. She smiled at the sight of the Alor'el sitting there in its pot, having lost nothing of its magnificence since the night shed first laid eyes on the flower.

She smiled softly as a finger reached up to lift one of its delicate petals, whispering softly to herself the affirmation that had been repeated now-countless times, "Alor'el a'dore…"

Breaking the tenderness surrounding her, Colin's voice broke out through their home, "Okay, well, is boar roast good…again?"

Kyra's eyes now dropped, thinking, again, of that god-forsaken gift the two of them had been given to them before leaving Ulric's party. They'd gone the night before their departure and hunted down the largest boar they could find, offering to Kyra and Colin as if forgetting, both, Vylira's near-incapacitation, and the fact that neither of them had a tauren or draenei porter. Not only was getting it home a nightmare, figuring out how to cook it was a whole other thing, leaving Colin to simply stick it in a pot roast along with a myriad of herbs and spices in any sort of attempt to make it pleasant.

It worked, but this would be the sixth straight meal of it, given the two's being gone left them with little food at home. Kyra knew Colin understood her boredom with it, letting out a disinterested sigh as her head leaned back, starting toward the kitchen.

"Again?" she asked, worriedly, "I mean, that's fine, but a few more times and I can't guarantee that I won't-"

Turning into the kitchen, Kyra jumped in shock, taken aback by the baking sheet of rolled up dough, like a pan of conjured up cinnamon rolls, though these were obviously not done by a magician's hand. Kyra looked up toward Colin, who grinned proudly, slowly grabbing a baked pouch of bread and gently hovering it toward Kyra, who remained awestuck.

"W-What?" she asked aloud, taking the pastry in her hand before carefully bobbing the hot delicacy up and down between either hand.

Colin shrugged, "Tonight's a special night, so I figured I'd start it off with something slightly as special to match it. They've got some of that boar in it, but there's some silverleaf extract and some other stuff that should remind you of home."

"But how did you-?"

Revealing his two open hands, wiggling his fingers about, Colin answered, "Just a wave of the hands. Is it crispy enough?"

Kyra slowly eyed the cooled pastry in her hand before gently bringing it to her lips, taking a bite before her eyes closed, suddenly transported back home as far as her sense of taste was concerned, her legs bending dramatically as she leaned her head back, wistfully.

"It's delicious," she nodded, "Though a bit more crisp would be-"

Colin reached out a hand, earning a confused stare from Kyra for but a moment before she caught on, lowering the pastry in his hand. Her lover grinned mischievously as a stream of light smoke began to appear, floating up from his hand as his muscles tensed, a light brown char beginning to work its way up the pastry as an intense heat grew upon his palm. Kyra smiled appreciatively, nodding diligently once the bun reached her preferred doneness, leaving Colin to toss the pastry into the air, catching it with his other, un-scalding hand.

"Fair lady," he spoke, reverently, as he presented the delicious-looking bun.

Slowly, he reached it up toward Kyra's lips, her mouth opening gingerly as embarrassment began to settle in, though she still allowed Colin to carefully rest a portion of the treat just beyond her teeth, allowing her a bite from his own hand. Her eyes looked away as a blush began to radiate from her face, leaving Colin with a chuckle as he placed the pastry onto a nearby plate.

"That's what does that, now?"

Kyra frowned, "I'm sure it was your intention…"

He smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, allowing her head to fit in perfectly beneath his chin, "I have to make sure I get back at you for calling me 'cute', you know."

A/N: Sorry about all that Northrend stuff; obviously I should have just done this the whole time; this is much better than all of that 'action-y' writing I try to do xD

Also, for WHATEVER reason, I must not have ever looked up the actual life-span of elves? I know I certainly should have, but up until this chapter, I've made it out to seem like they live quite a few thousand years, when an 'old' night elf is considered to be hitting 1,000 years old, according to the Wikia, anyway. So, pretend I went back and retcon-ed everything xD Other than a few spoken things for poetic reasons (which would still apply anyway), I didn't really go against the lore from what I can tell- I checked and don't think I ever even gave Kyra a specified age until this chapter! Then again, I've never done the same with Colin, who's probably around thirty at this time *insert irrelevance*