Around the time when the king of Stormwind vanished from the world into the underworld, the city and many of the Alliance leaders met to discuss the future of the humans of Stormwind. As was fit, the leaders met in the Alliance keep.
The room they met in was clean. The war table at the center was replaced with a different table made of white wood. The war table was too depressing to look at because of the immense amount of territories that were lost due to the previous wars. Anduin's seat at the head was purposly left empty, yet Jaina sat on the left of it. She was dressed in white robes with a blue sash across her chest. She began to greatly like scarfs, she thought they were fashoniable.
Greymane sat on the right side of Anduin's vacant seat. He wore all black for grief and his sad face fit the air. The other leaders representing the Alliance were there as well, all wanted a say in the matter. Malforian looked tired and so did the others. After a long silence and shuffling of chairs Greymane spoke.
"Stormwind will never have a king quite like Varian. Awful he died to those villians. I was at first scared of Anduin's passiveness, but he exceeded mine and..." he looked at Jaina first then the others "all of our expectations. A terrible thing has happened upon the Alliance. It is extremely hard to imagine the bloodline is gone." A tear slowly dripped from Jaina's cheek and splattered on the table leaving a grey mark "Varian was tough, a stubborn man, but he loved his people and his wonderful son. He will, both, will be greatly missed. All seemed to happen so quickly. Peace is upon the land for now…"
"Has the horde even chosen a warchief yet? They may take the opportunity to attack." asked Vereesa Windrunner calmly. "Who gives a DAMN! about the Horde all this evil upon Azeroth is because of THEM!" Shouted Greymane. Jaina, as was usual, tried to comfort or correct when best was to keep silent "it wasn't all their fault." Genn slammed his hands on the table in rage. Slowly his fingertips began to get longer and fur sprouted. Yet, he looked at his palms then covered his face. Magni understood his rage "The Horde are in their own disceray, they may completely collapse, keep in mind Genn they have lost several leaders and been betrayed. Last I heard they were trying a new government."
"Varian really had no other children, I find that very hard to believe." Came a whispering voice in a corner adjacent to Tyrande on the left side of the table. The Elune Whisperer quickly turned around in her seat and saw Valeera Sanguinar standing, leaning with arms crossed. She was dressed in her usual red attire, except her thighs were more covered due to it being winter outside. Tirrande yelled "who invited her in here?" Valeera shook her head "Varian trusted me more than you, I know many ways in this keep. But my question isn't answered." Valeera responded brashly. "No, Varian loved no other woman, since Valeera is here and asking that would mean zero. As for Anduin, life was thrust upon him hard, and he had little desire for love...if any." Quoted Magni in a mono tone.
"It is unusual for a human king to not have any 'extra' wives or concubines. Varian's discipline shows greatly in this." Observed Malforian preferring to stand rather than sit. His wife cast an appreciative response to him with her black hole eyes.
The Prophet stood and spoke "this is a tragic time. The Alliance has lost its most aggressive leader and ruler of peace. However, we must choose who will retain order in Stormwind. It is of no coincidence that the shadows of The Defias are lurking yet again." Another silence presumed. Greymane swallowed and said "not me, I have been a horrible king, my hatred for the Horde is too much there is only one other person here who is not part of a kingdom and is in a position to rule." All of them looked simultaneously at Jaina Proudmoore. Her face flushed red upon her white pale skin. "I...I don't know, I completely abandoned so many people."
Turrande cast her eye at the woman approaching middle age "yes I would agree, all the citizens know you. And they know you were close to His son. Perhaps they need a queen." Jaina shook her head "I wouldn't be a queen, I would simply rule, for now." Maria Bronzebeard asked "how would order be applied?" The Prophet responded "this is easy, a speech." A few of them at the table turned left towards the large golden stone door and looked upon Mathias Shaw who stood with his hands clasped in a passive stance. He nodded then walked out.
The rest of the time the leaders talked about random events encountered with Varian. Valeera talked about how she dueled with him when he was half torn by Onyxia. Others talked about adventures concerning Anduin. How he always seemed to deny any women from approaching him. Around an hour later Mathias Shaw had fastly and successfully assembled all of Stormwind's citizens around the huge fountain in front of the keep.
Snow slowly dropped from the sky, yet it failed to fully penetrate the ground or remain for a few seconds before evaporating into the evasive wind. Almost everyone was affected by the cold: except Jaina. She loved it. Her white hair had a mind of its own responding to the wind.
At the very back of the large crowd was a little girl. Her face was stern, her eyes brown yet almost black, her jawline could cut a man in two, and her shoulders were large for a girl. Her hair was thick and refused to flap in the wind. She sat moving her feet up and down with rhythm to the breeze while listening to Jaina's speech.
Her speech was honest and personal. This is what the people needed in this sad time. She described her great mistake concerning abandoning her kingdom, and she greatly learned from this error. "I will help all of you. And protect you. Varian did so much for me as I will do for you." She bowed and smiled. Her teeth were white as snow.
While the speed had finished, The Prophet made his way past the crowd. He was about to pass by our little girl but she spoke "hello mister, I love your robe." He paused and turned to look at her. He noticed something. Then he smiled with his pure white teeth that would cure any forms of depression "thank you young one. I wish you and all of Stormwind peace in the coming years." He strode off a few distance then glanced back. She was still moving her feet and humming softly.
Our little girl sat for a little while longer. Then a slight pebble pricked her on the back of her shoulder. At first her ears perked wondering what that noise was. She turned around and found her answer.
A few boys were giggling throwing pebbles "come Anita, supper is ready." As in an instant she leaped and they raced their way to the orphanage of Stormwind, laughing and giddying all the way.
The swarm of children bustled around a young caretaker, she patted the boy on the shoulder "thank you Nathan, it is late, wouldn't want Anita to grow hungry now would we?" Anita chuckled and blushed. "I was going to come home: I swear! I wanted to see the people dressed funny." "One should never swear, Anita, ouths and words are binding, let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and 'No' be 'No'." The bug eyed children looked at the young lady and responded in generic unionson "Yes mother Michelle, always pick your words correctly." Happily she clasped her hands together and excitedly. "Hurry along please, dinner should be prepared. The swarm ran inside even trying to beat one another into the door.
Yet, Anita lingered while peaking out of the wooden door. The door was heavy but she managed to keep it cropped open by using her foot as a stopper.
A hooded figure approached Michelle. "Greetings, sister, Lady Vannessa shows her bountiful kindness." The hooded figure - tall and slim with a voice of authority as a queen. Michelle spread her skirt in a bowing fashion. "most thankful, the sisterhood thanks you." She handed Michelle a very large purse. Knowing the conversation was complete, Anita quickly shut the door and ran into the kitchen.
The smell of her favorite food quickly filled her lungs. Across the table about three dozen children sitting neatly and orderly were already eating away all the food that they were assigned. Nathan looked up at Anita and said "We couldn't wait for you, we were hungry. I begged to wait but...no one want to." "Oh please Nathan, you were the one that wanted to eat," responded a girl with unusually long red hair.
The table's arrangements were assigned. The younger on one end and the older on the other. At the head of the table sat a woman dressed in clean fabrics. Michelle walked over to the mother and whispered something in her ear. The mother seemed pleased and smiled. She caressed the bulging metal coins protruding across the fabric, and lost herself in the rhythmic sounds of metal against metal
Not knowing what all that was about Anita continued to eat her favorite food which was broccoli with cheese. Michelle standing next to her patted her on the shoulder "now don't start making villages from your trees." Anita giggled and continued to munch.
Anita wondered if the extra coins caused women to increase in size. This was a wise deduction Anita had made but incorrect. "thank you Mother Matilda for making my favorite" said Anita with a wonderful smile. And Matilda responded one as well "I prepared it just for you, in preparation of your long day tomorrow. Did you enjoy Lady Jaina's speech?" Instantly Anita perked up "Yes! She is SO pretty with her white, LONG hair. Why is her hair white when she has no lines around her face?" Michille seemed to be more offended than Mother Matilda. "Because dear Anita, sometimes when someone dabbles in magic it can cause their hair to turn silver." Scared, the young girl responded "does this mean my hair will grow white if I keep playing the piano for the veterans?" Michille butted in "who told you your playing was magical?" Anita shrugged while fumbling with a broccoli covered with stinky cheese "I don't know, the hurt people keep on telling me that. AND that they sleep better when I play." Michelle and Matilda looked at each other realizing they need to tell her sooner rather than later.
"Would be weird if your hair went from dark black to snow white" gestured Nathan while copying Anita eating the broccoli even though he hated the veggie. "Don't be so silly, hair changing can't happen that quickly...can it?" Anita tilted her head towards Matilda "well, mostly no, it takes place over many years. But! Please finish little one and go off to sleep. You have to sleep early to play at church." Not completely comprehending what Mother Matilda had said, Anita jumped up and skipped towards her bed leaving everything on the plate. "Why does she always do that?'' asked Michille. "I have seen many girls do strange things and a child loving to sleep is the weirdest." Responded the old wise woman.
