Illidan Stormrage

Not for the first time, as he sipped at his tea, he was thankful (if not to any particular divinity), that he had invested in Mattax Rosengrim and cultivated the more or less positive if distant relationship. Oh, to be sure he had not intervened in the events leading to his incarceration, but from what he understood Mattax was still being hunted and loathed among certain circles of the Wardens worse than he. And he was widely called the betrayer! True, what may have been necessary was at times not exactly pleasant, but it had needed to be done. Not least because who else would actually act?

Meanwhile, Mattax had actually worked very deeply with the very essence of demons, weaving it into the blood, flesh and souls of volunteers, making of them predators against the demons. Actual hunters and devourers of souls to prevent the reformation of those that were invading their world, even as they themselves used the devoured energy to pull themselves back from the abyss of death. He suppressed another snort as he looked over the 'news letter,' showing that little indeed had been happening inside his people's holdings for the most part.

Oh, there were some things, but for the most part it seemed that change, that growth and becoming more were either unknown or squashed. Based on some of the past news letters (a much welcomed monthly treat if only as a break from the monotony of his cell), a caste system even more rigid than that under the days of the old empire was settling in. And some of the decisions just made no sense at all to him. But then again, it was not really his place to make too many criticisms of what they did. Even if it did make him reconsider the wisdom of having made the well, if THIS was the result.

Perhaps mortality would have been a good thing for his people, if it meant that they would live, instead of merely existing. Bah, he was getting moody, even as he put the article away, instead taking out a pair of curious weights made from what seemed to be stone, but were condensed to have a much greater weight than they should allow. A touch of enchantment meant that they would grow heavier as he grew stronger. Another thoughtful gift, along with this... portable mailbox.

One allowed him to maintain his fighting trim to some small degree, or at least allowed him to exercise, while the other helped make the passing of the years easier, having some knowledge of the outside world, along with the occasional 'care package' assembled by his old soldiers. A pang of the old familiar guilt stirred inside of him. It was, as he closed his eyes, legs locked on the bars, necessary. Terrible, but necessary, or none of them would have survived. The physical exertion made it better, as he flexed, defying gravity as he pulled himself into a 'sitting' position, arms curling with the weights.

This was how he spent most of his days now, except when The Bitch came to take her frustrations out on him. When the doll of his brother was not enough and she wanted to pretend. The worst part of it all? Several of his wardens were, technically speaking, his daughters, raised by their bitch of a mother to hate him, to see themselves as unclean and impure, and that only by blind obedience to their mother and the torment of their father could they find redemption for the sin of being born. Truthfully, he pitied them.

That, and he was sure that Malfurion did not know that he had nieces, or they would have been taken and actually living with a family. Not that he could try and bring it up, as The Bitch was very, very skilled at binding magic. He figured that she shared his opinion... even as he ignored his daughters watching him and drooling, whispering of what they planned to do to him later.

Thousands of years hence, when the Burning Legion invaded once more, Tyrande Whisperwind would be confused when Illidan closed the eyes and buried some of his jailors. While it had been a heavy burden to kill them, as shedding the blood of their people was always a terrible thing, she had thought that he would have, at best, been indifferent those who had been watching him most closely. Perhaps they had been kind or understanding, as much as they could be, to him in his long captivity?

She never asked, and her childhood friend never spoke on the matter before he became one of the damned, worse than one of the hunters, and was allowed to go into exile. Eventually, it would be something that she forgot, even as she wondered why Maiev was so angry about those wardens deaths in particular.

Sindragosa

She smiled as she looked over the whelps, Malygos playing with them between their lessons. Oh, to be sure, her love was still fragile in many respects, but her survival had done a great deal to stabilize him, pulling her love from the spiral he had been locked into. Oh, there had been a price to be paid for her survival and health, but honestly, it was one that she had been more than willing to pay, as it had not exactly been something she would have objected to.

No, as she looked at the whelps and joined in the games, not when Mattax demonstrated that despite being a very suspect seeming young elf, he had a knowledge of darker magics and mysteries than she thinks that her flight does. So, assigning him a minder was something she was more than glad to do, even as she suspected that there were some additional changes and motivations. To be entirely honest, given the robustness of the whelps and some of the surviving members of the flight? Other than quietly confirming things, she was not going to ask too many questions.

Not until Malygos was completely recovered in any case. Then there may need to a deeper discussion regarding the nature of the magics used.

Yu'lon

On the one hand, Mattax had a way through the mists, one that had been in place before the sundering of the world. On the other, as his hands worked into the shoulders of an elvish form she adopted? She did not mind too much, as it allowed him to visit and partake of her wisdom, to further his education in certain matters. Still, he was an eager to learn pupil, and one that had been most willing to assist with several of the issues that Shahao's well meaning actions caused.

But of course, some of that could wait, as she gestured to the rice wine. And he proved his wisdom as he used the small of her back as a cup. There was a content smile on her face, as she would make sure he sampled the full jug.