Graduation
"Our little brother graduates today, right?"
Tanadia smiled at her little sister. "He does." She said, taking hold of Cedani's hand. "Excited to see all of us become adults as much as I am?"
"Probably not as excited as you are, but I'm close." She looked over to Athrodar who had Little Alleria on his arm, moving her attention over to Sylvanas who was talking to both her sisters and then finally turning her gaze towards Tahnir and Thal'ena who had hardly left each other since her brother's confession. "Where's Li Li?" She asked, looking over to Tanadia.
"Knowing Li Li, she wouldn't want to miss this, so she is probably running late." Tanadia told her, looking around to try and find the Paladin in the meantime just in case she had missed her. "Chances your aunt will take Talanas in her company too?"
"Alleria already has Tahnir and Little Alleria in her company, I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow gets Talanas too." Cedani said, folding her arms and smiling at her father who looked over to them briefly. "Are you coming to the Dragon Isles with us?" She asked her sister, glancing over to her shortly after to hear her response.
Tanadia let out a long exhale through her mouth. "I don't know... Traveling to a new, recently discovered island full of dragons with my entire family doesn't really sound like a fun time..."
Cedani rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Sarcasm isn't a good look on you, Tana. You're the sweet, innocent and loving daughter of our family. Leave the sarcasm to Little Alleria. Or at most, Thal'ena."
"Fine..." Tanadia muttered, pouting a little. "I can be cool too, you know."
Cedani laughed and hugged her sister's arm. "Being sarcastic doesn't make you cool." She told her, closing her eyes and resting her head against her arm. "You're awesome and badass in your own right. You're the elf who resurrected our father, have a close connection to the Naaru and the youngest High Priestess ever." She pulled back and smiled at her sister. "Nobody in our family is as cool as you."
Tanadia smiled and hugged her sister tightly after the compliments. "This is why you're my favourite sibling. You just say what you want people to hear and everything you said was the truth. And I know it is, because you would never lie to me."
"Of course I wouldn't lie to you." Cedani said, hugging her sister back. "You're not corrupted."
Hearing his daughters laugh, Athrodar looked over to Cedani and Tanadia in the distance and shook his head when he figured what they were laughing at as their focus was on Tahnir and Thal'ena. "Your sisters seem to be laughing at your brother again." He whispered, looking down at Little Alleria on his arm.
"Good." Little Alleria said, smirking at her father. "He admitted he was corrupt to mom, so now he will be teased even more." She held onto his arm tightly and looked over to an elf who looked to be overdressed for this occasion, raising an eyebrow at her when she saw her making her way over to them. "Incoming." She said.
Athrodar looked over to the elf in question and sighed, shaking his head at them when they stood beside him. "This is a bit much, isn't it?"
Liadrin looked down at her mini black dress and smiled, looking back up to Athrodar and sticking her tongue out at him. "Of course not. Your son is graduating, so I thought I would dress as if it was a celebration."
"Please don't tell me you're going to try to seduce my youngest." Sylvanas said, standing behind the Paladin who turned to face her shortly after. "My eldest son is damaged, I don't need you damaging him too."
Liadrin rolled her eyes, folded her arms and shook her head. "Unbelievable. I am a much better roll model than that Magister." She saw Sylvanas' less than amused look on her face. "Oh come on... I am."
"You're one of the last people I want my son to be with." Sylvanas told her, ignoring the amused grins coming from her husband and daughter.
"Oh please... If it was socially acceptable and there would be no consequences, you'd make sure your kids all married each other." Liadrin looked over to Little Alleria who continued to hold onto her father's arm tightly. "She might even like that idea if it extended out to him."
Athrodar looked over to Sylvanas who had remained silent, raising an eyebrow at her. "Really?"
"What?" Sylvanas asked, feigning innocence. "It wouldn't be a bad idea..."
"You're right." Athrodar said, making Liadrin look over to him. "It would be a terrible idea."
Little Alleria, who had remained silent up until then, looked up at her father and smiled at him. "I'll be right back. I just remembered something I needed to tell Tanadia. I'll be five minutes."
Athrodar kissed his daughter on the forehead and smiled at her. "Okay, just make sure you're back before your brother graduates from the academy."
"I will, papa." She said, smiling up at him once more before letting go of his arm and making her way towards Tanadia. "I need to talk to you." She said, glancing over to Cedani who stood beside the High Priestess. "Preferably alone."
"Okay." Tanadia said, looking over to Cedani too. "We'll be five minutes. In the meantime, go be with our parents."
Cedani looked at Little Alleria and then at Tanadia. "Fine. But you better not be talking about me, okay? I can freeze you in place if I find out you are."
Alleria laughed lightly and placed a hand on her sister's cheek. "We're not. It's something else but I need Tanadia's input. I promise."
Cedani nodded her head slowly at the two of them. "Alright, I believe you."
Tanadia watched her youngest sister walk away, looking back to Little Alleria who took hold of her arm the second she did and began to drag her away. "What's this about?" She asked her, still being dragged along until she was certain they were alone. "Alleria?"
"It's happening again." Little Alleria told her, watching her sister frown and tilt her head.
"What is?" The High Priestess asked, making her sister let out a long song.
"It's happening again." She repeated in a stern tone, her eyes pleading a little with her sister in hopes that she understood what she was on about.
Luckily, this was a conversation they've had a couple times in the past, making Tanadia widen her own eyes at the realisation. "Oh... Oh!" Tanadia placed her hands on her sister's arms and looked her in the eyes, noticing the warring emotions in them and knowing what this meant. "What happened?"
Little Alleria looked away from her sister as she felt this topic was uncomfortable already and she didn't need to see her sister's reaction to it too. "Mom and Li Li were talking about Talanas. Li Li was saying she was a good role model for our brother in hopes of convincing mom that she could be his wife or something. Mom said no and Li Li said that if mom could, she would have us, her children, marry one another if it was socially acceptable and there would be no consequences, et cetera. Then Liadrin even suggested that if it was extended out to our parents, that I would be fine with marrying dad." She let out a long, shaky exhale and quickly glanced over to Tanadia who looked a little annoyed and at the same time, she felt sorry for her sister.
"First of all," Tanadia began, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Li Li clearly hasn't learnt anything over these last several years if she is still trying to win over our baby brother." She removed her hand from her nose and looked at her sister, placing a hand on her arm and smiling at her a little. "But to get to what your problem is, I'm taking it you're having strong feelings for our father again?"
Little Alleria nodded her head a little, highly embarrassed by the whole thing as she knew she shouldn't, but she was in love with her father. "I... I can't help it." She muttered, being pulled into a hug by her sister and wrapping her arms around Tanadia tightly. "Whenever I have these feelings, I am just reminded of the day he was killed in Arathi, how he protected me against Valeera the day she tried to kill me and how protective he is of all of us..." She buried her head in her sister's shoulder and tried to hide from the world. "I know it's wrong to have these thoughts and feelings, but I can't stop."
Tanadia kissed her sister on the temple, holding onto her just as tightly as she was being held and trying to calm her down when she heard her begin to cry a little. "You really need to talk to them about this." Tanadia told her. "They may not understand at first. Mom might even be distant to you for a while, but they will help you."
Little Alleria shook her head. "I don't want to tell them." She muttered. "If I tell dad I love him like a daughter shouldn't, he will never want to be near me again, call me a freak and might even disown me."
Tanadia tilted her head and pulled back from the hug, frowning at her sister. "You do remember what our dad is like, right? He will love you all the same. Maybe he'll be distant at first, trying to come to terms with everything, but he will try to help you after a while." Tanadia began to smirk a little. "Just maybe not in the way you're thinking of right now." She said, tongue in cheek.
Little Alleria glared at her sister. "This isn't funny."
"No, you're right. Sorry." Tanadia cleared her throat and looked over to the academy in the distance. "Listen. Come to me if you're feeling like this again in the future. Right now, you just need to stand back, take a few deep breaths and calm yourself down. You won't do anyone any good whilst you stand there with our parents, fighting your urges to jump our father in the middle of the city."
"Stop making jokes about this!" Little Alleria cried.
"Last one, I promise." Tanadia told her, stepping forward and hugging her sister again. "Stay with me today, try to distance yourself from our parents and if they ask, I'll tell them you don't feel well and I'm just looking after you. Okay?"
Little Alleria nodded her head a little. "Okay." She muttered, hugging herself as she walked beside Tanadia. "Why aren't you treating me like a freak?" She now asked as they made their way to the academy. "Ever since I've told you, you have been nothing but nice to me and understanding. Other than the occasional joke, you haven't made me feel like the broken member of the family that I think I am."
"We all have our demons." Tanadia told her. "Yours is your love for our father, Tahnir's is Thal'ena, dad's demons are the friends and family he has lost and his guilt at surviving whilst they have died." She smiled at her sister who began to think about it. "Mine is that I will never be good enough to bring Victoria back or potentially stop someone from dying in a similar circumstance." She then said quietly, looking down at her hands and closing them into fists tightly. "Like I said, we all have something that makes us not perfect. But we love each other as a family and we will all help each other should our demons get the better of us."
"Unless that demon is Thal'ena..." Little Alleria muttered, making her sister laugh.
"Unless it's Thal'ena, correct." Tanadia agreed, entering the academy with her sister.
Night had rolled around quicker than anyone expected as they spent most of their time with the newest Stormstrider of the family, celebrating his graduation and enjoying the chance to be with their entire family once again with no distractions. At least until they left for the Dragon Isles in a couple days time. "You're going to steal him away from the other companies, aren't you?" Tahnir asked when he stood beside his aunt and Captain, grinning when she began to smirk at his question.
"Maybe." She said, glancing over to her Chief Scout. "It would be great to collect all of my nieces and nephews in one company. One as a Chief Scout, one as my second in command and Lieutenant and then the last one as my little recruit that I get to be bias towards."
"I expect nothing less." Tahnir said, laughing a little with his aunt and looking over to his sister Little Alleria in the distance, knowing something was up with her but not quite knowing what it was. "Have you spoken to your namesake?" He asked his aunt.
Alleria shook her head. "No, I haven't." She said, looking over to her niece. "In fact, I don't think I've spoken to her all day." She glanced over to her nephew. "Why, what's up?"
"I don't know... Ever since Talanas' graduation, she has been avoiding mom and dad, choosing to stay by herself or talking to Tanadia." He looked over to his aunt who was watching her namesake from where she stood. "I was just wondering if you or anyone other than maybe Tanadia knew why."
"I couldn't tell you." Alleria told her nephew, patting him on the back. "I can try to find out, if you'd like?"
Tahnir shook his head. "No, I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, you would have to go near Tanadia and I know how much you hate that you can't be near her."
Alleria sighed and nodded her head at his statement. "It's painful, but it's life. I just want to squeeze her once without feeling the void in me fight with the light that she radiates, but we all know it won't happen." She folded her arms and watched her namesake sit on her own on the other side of Stormwind Keep's Main Hall where they were all celebrating into the night. "Something is definitely on her mind though. Now that you mention it, she does seem bothered by something."
Tahnir watched his aunt begin to make her way over to her namesake, and noticing Tanadia make her way over to Little Alleria in the meantime which forced Alleria to stop in her tracks. "So close." He said to himself, grinning and shaking his head when he watched his aunt summon a void portal and step through it. "Looks like she is going to be waiting in the shadows until the Light wielding sister has left my other sister."
"Where's your soon to be wife?" Talanas asked, making his way towards his brother and standing beside him.
Tahnir let out of a long sigh, making his younger brother smile widely at him. "I know it's your day, but can you not join in with the rest of our family and teasing me to death? I just want one day to myself."
"Fine, fine..." Talanas said, waving away his comment. "My question still stands though. I haven't seen her since the ceremony. It's not like Thal'ena to miss a party with alcohol, alcohol and, ah yes, alcohol."
"You know I'm over a decade older than you, right?" Tahnir asked his little brother.
"I do." Talanas confirmed, tilting his head at his older brother. "Why?"
"No reason..." Tahnir said, looking away from his brother and smiling a little. "Just know that, if you continue to tease me about Thal'ena, I will pin you down and make sure you remember that I can beat your ass if you try to annoy me."
Talanas, going in for another hit, couldn't stop himself from speaking his mind after that last comment. "Just like how I'm sure you beat Thal'ena's ass when you're alone." He said, running away from his brother the moment Tahnir looked over to him. "Bye!" He yelled at him, running towards Athrodar and Sylvanas.
"Feeling up to speaking to your brother?" Tanadia asked Little Alleria, standing in front of her whilst she sat on a windowsill, looking out at the gardens to the west of the Keep. "It is his graduation day. I think you're the only one who hasn't said anything and I am sure he wants to speak to you."
Little Alleria looked over to her sister, then over to her younger brother in the distance and saw him talking to their parents. "If you can get him away from mom and dad for five minutes, I will talk to him." She said, turning her attention back to the High Priestess. "Please?"
Tanadia smiled and nodded her head at her sister. "I'll go pull him away from them, okay? Just wait here."
Watching her sister walk away, Little Alleria saw her begin to talk to her parents when a purple portal opened up beside her, sighing and she saw her aunt walk through it and stand in front of her and blocking her focus on her parents. "I hate it when you do that, auntie." She said, looking up at the older Alleria. "Can't you just walk over to me like a normal person?"
"Of course not." Alleria said, crouching down in front of the younger elf and smiling at her. "I wanted to know why you're avoiding your parents and, well, all of us to be honest."
"I'm not avoiding all of you." Little Alleria said, looking over to Tanadia who was still talking to their parents. "You know Tanadia will be back soon."
"Which is why I'm talking to you now." The older elf said, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes at her niece. "So why are you avoiding your parents then? Normally you're all over your father, but today you seem as distant as I have ever seen you."
"I..." Little Alleria said, not wanting to actually speak about this but finding it hard to keep silent around her aunt as she had always been there for her when her parents weren't around. "I have my reasons."
"So there is something..." Alleria muttered, placing a hand on her knee and looking at her niece. "Talk to me, little one. You know I will help you no matter what it is. No matter what you've done."
"Maybe not after this..." Little Alleria muttered to herself, looking away from her aunt and letting out a long sigh. "Promise me you won't yell, judge or make fun of me? Only Tanadia knows and I am putting a lot of faith into you not making me feel broken when I tell you this."
"I promise I won't do any of that. Of course, now I'm a little nervous at what this secret is, but you have my full support... For what it's worth." Alleria said, giving her niece a reassuring smile.
Taking a deep breath, Little Alleria calmed herself before looking back to her aunt. "I'm in love with my dad." She said, watching the smile on her aunts face begin to slowly drop over two, painfully long and agonizing minutes of silence. "Please say something." She said when she saw a neutral expression on her aunts face now.
"I'm trying to process this." She said quietly, looking back to her sister and brother in law for the first time since she heard her niece's confession. "Only Tanadia knows about this, right?"
"Right." Little Alleria said, watching her aunt furrow her brow as she began to get lost in thought. "What?" She asked quietly, scared on what she was thinking about.
"I'm just trying to get an idea on how your mother would react." Alleria told her, looking back to her niece and moving to sit down beside her. "I won't tell anyone, not unless you want me to, but I can't help but feel like this is something your parents need to know about before they realise something is off with you."
Little Alleria sighed and rested her head on her aunt's shoulder. "Tanadia said the same thing. I just don't want them to disown me because of this."
Alleria smiled at her niece's innocence on this subject. Granted, it wasn't exactly a subject she thought she would talking about, but her confidence in her sister's reaction as well as Athrodar's love for his children made her somewhat confident everything would be fine. "You should talk to them." She told her again. "And if they disown you, I'll adopt you so I can have a daughter to hug tightly."
Watching her sister and brother make their way over to her, Little Alleria smiled a little at her aunt's plan should things go south and stood up off the windowsill she was sitting on. "I need to congratulate my brother. I'll talk to them later tonight when things have died down."
Alleria nodded her head at her niece and hugged her for a few seconds before Tanadia and Talanas made themselves known. "I'll be nearby if you need me, okay?" She said softly, placing a hand on her niece's cheek and smiling at her. "I love you. Remember that. Come to me if anything bad should happen."
"I will." Little Alleria said, smiling at her and watching her aunt leave shortly after.
"Today was a rare day for us with our children." Sylvanas said, sitting on her knees behind her husband and massaging his shoulders lightly, kissing him on the neck every few seconds in the meantime. "We got to be with them all and none of them fought, bickered or even tried to get between us." She snaked her arms around him and hugged him from behind, kissing him on the cheek. "Have they matured or did we just get very lucky?"
"Definitely got lucky." Athrodar told her, leaning back against his wife who laughed and hugged him tightly. "There's no way our kids will mature that quickly. Other than Tanadia, maybe."
"That's because she's the eldest, a High Priestess and has had to mature quickly because we're not around." Sylvanas told him, keeping her arms around her husband. "The Legion invasion also pushed her to mature quickly, not to mention what happened after." She kissed him on the cheek and saw him look back to her, smiling and kissing him fully on the lips now. "Not that we need reminding of those days. We still haven't returned to Windrunner Village since we left it."
"Not that I'm complaining, my love." Athrodar said, kissing her again and placing a hand on her arm. "Come here." He whispered, hearing her giggle when she began to move around him and climb onto his lap. "Like you said, we've not been interrupted all day. I want to push our luck and try to have some fun with you before tomorrow."
Sylvanas began to moan when Athrodar made a trail of kisses on her neck, moving down to her chest and having her tunic and bra removed so he could kiss her bare chest. "I am at your mercy today, my heart." She purred, wrapping her arms around his head when he focused on her breasts. "I want to be left broken by the time everyone wakes up tomorrow that I can barely move without your help."
Flipping her over so she was laying on her back, Athrodar took off his tunic next and smiled down at his wife. "You're at my mercy, huh?" He asked her, getting a nod and a pair of pleading eyes up at him. "You must really want this if you're not trying to take control."
"You have no idea." Sylvanas cooed, biting her bottom lip when she felt her leggings being pulled down. "Don't take this slow, my love. I beg you."
Athrodar smiled and leaned down to kiss his wife. "Then I won't take it slow." He whispered to her, planting a kiss on her lips as he pushed himself inside her.
The moment the two of them found a rhythm, there was a knock on their bedroom door which made Sylvanas groan out of frustration and hold her husband as close to her as she could. "Two minutes. We started two minutes ago and we were interrupted." A feeling of emptiness washed over her when she felt Athrodar pull out and watching him pull up his ranger leggings. "We should have just returned home."
"And come back here in two days to visit the Dragon Isles with our children?" Athrodar asked, grinning at his wife. "I don't think even you would want to make that many trips."
Sylvanas sighed and placed an arm across her face to cover her eyes. "No.. You're right." She said, sitting up and watching Athrodar make his way towards the door. "See who it is and if it's not important, leave them to me."
Athrodar laughed this time. "Deal." He said, opening the door and smiling at his daughter who stood there awkwardly. "Alleria. You know it's late, right? What are you still doing up?"
"I... I need to talk to you." She said, looking past her father and towards Sylvanas in the distance who had just finished putting on a long enough shirt to cover the essentials. "Both of you."
"What's wrong?" Sylvanas asked, making her way over to her husband and daughter.
"It's... It's better if I'm not in the open like this." Alleria told them, being offered entrance into their bedroom. "I will make this quick as there's no easy way to say this."
Sylvanas held Athrodar's hand the moment their daughter finished speaking, squeezing the same hand shortly after when she knew it wasn't going to be something simple. "What is it?" She asked her softly, already noticing the warring expression on her daughter's face and knowing it wasn't easy for her.
"I have spoken to Tanadia and auntie Alleria about this and they have both said I should tell you so.. Here I am." She took a deep breath and looked at Athrodar and only him. "I am in love with you, papa. I have been for some time now and I know it's not normal and I shouldn't have these feelings for you but... I do."
Silence quickly fell in the room after her confession. It was an eerie silence, a painful silence. Alleria could feel her heart beating in her chest and throughout her body as her mind raced with a thousand thoughts at once. All of them were telling her to run, to get out of this room and hide for as long as she could, knowing that it might hurt her in the short term, but in the long term she wouldn't have to see their faces, knowing that they would see her as a freak and nothing else. She opened her mouth to say something more, but found no words were coming out. Her mouth was dry and she found that no matter how hard she tried to move, her legs were keeping her in place.
"Say something..." She eventually pushed out, though her voice was almost silent. She was certain if the room itself hadn't been quieter than her voice, nobody would have heard her. Her body was hot, she felt like she was sweating all over and it was increasing in temperature the longer the silence went on. She desperately wanted to know what her parents were thinking this very second, but at the same time, she wanted them to forget what she had just said and go on about her life as if this didn't happen just now.
"Do you want me to start?" Sylvanas suggested, breaking that silence and looking up at her husband who nodded back to her. She smiled a little which instantly made their daughter feel confused. This wasn't an expression she was expecting, nor did she expect it at all from her mother if she did think any of them would smile. "We've known for a while, honey." She said, instantly putting her daughter on the back foot. "We were just waiting to see if you would act on it or if you would tell us." She squeezed Athrodar's hand before letting go of it, making her way over to her daughter and placing her hands on her cheeks, ignoring how hot they were as her daughter was burning up from embarrassment seconds ago. "I am happy you finally told us instead of the other option. Titans knows what I would have done if I walked in on you two doing something a father and daughter shouldn't be doing."
"Y-you're not angry?" Alleria asked, hearing her mother chuckle and then being hugged by her shortly after. "What... What's happening? This isn't how I thought you would react at all."
"You're our daughter." Athrodar said, making his way towards her. "Nothing will ever change how much we love you." He placed his hands on her face once Sylvanas let go of her, smiling at his daughter. "You're our little ranger. Our beautiful daughter." He hugged her next, feeling his daughter melt into the hug and hold onto him tightly. "This next part will hurt, but it has to be said, okay?" He pulled back from the hug, watching her nod her head at him. "I can't give you what you want. I love you Alleria, but not the way you might hope." He looked back to Sylvanas who stood beside the pair of them. "Your mother and I will always love you, like I said." He kissed her on the forehead and brushed a thumb across her cheek. "I'll even leave you alone should you start dating boys, okay?"
Little Alleria rolled her eyes and looked over to her mother. "He doesn't know I've been dating, does he?"
Sylvanas laugh when she saw Athrodar's eyes widen. "Relax big guy, nothing has happened as we don't have any grandchildren yet." She pat him on the back and looked at her daughter. "I take it this was to try to move on from these feelings?"
"It was." Alleria told her mother. "Clearly it didn't work."
"You'll find someone." Sylvanas told her, looking over to Athrodar. "Someone who will be just as loving, caring, strong and handsome as your father."
"Impossible, I'm unique." Athrodar said, being hit on the arm by his wife.
"Make sure he's funny too." Sylvanas said, glaring at her husband. "This one tries and fails to make me laugh."
"That's a lie and we all know it." Alleria said, hugging her mother again. "Thank you for being so calm and understanding about this."
"Of course, hon." Sylvanas told her, watching Athrodar hug her too. "Like your father said. We love you so much that no matter what happens, we will always love you."
Alleria, being the opportunist, began to smirk and pulled back from the hug. "So if I was to sleep with dad...?"
"I'd cut his thing off and feed it to him." Sylvanas told her, smiling at her daughter. "So that way, nobody can have him."
"Note to self. Never anger your wife." Athrodar whispered, smiling at the two women in front of him.
