Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

- “My prince, we have received reports on something that requires your attention”

Left had just appeared from behind one of the champions while he gathered the keys from them, so far his research on the keys had been successful, but what they opened always ended up being a room full of spiders instead of a so desired library or artifacts room.

- “What is it?”

- “It requires your attention, privately.” The orc seemed to measure her words more than usual, a thing he hadn’t seen in some time

- “Fine, have Right to collect the remaining keys from the champions, I’ll tend to this… matter.”

- “Not an option, she’s the only one besides me that knows of this, she’s waiting for us there.”

Well that was worrying. “There?” The prince shifted to a more impatient stance, attempting to hide any anxiety on his body language, even in his true form that humans insisted that was too hard to read.

- “Yes, the point we agreed on.” Left insisted on not giving details, so he readied himself to fly again after giving up on the details and grabbed her knowing it was the only acceptable way he could transport someone on this form

- “Lead the way, then” He told her. She barely had any time to nod in agreement before he took off.

.

..

After very little flying, Left signaled for him to stop in front of a cave that looked recently dug out, but big enough for him to notice it was there long before the layer was added.

Right was near the entrance, guarding it on high alert, only that now that she saw both she seemed less worried about whatever was in there.

- “So, mind telling me what you two got here? A hint before making me stop collecting keys and fly here would have been nice.” He stayed on his true form. His smaller shape making it possible to enter the cave without destroying the opening any further.

- “Sorry, my prince, but –“

- “Wrathion!”

His brain failed to process which voice was that, before he got a familiar face rushing towards him and hugging his draconic snout, grasping on it for dear life despite the safe condition they found themselves in.

- “Wh- Anduin?! What…what are you doing here?” He shifted to his visage, still too confused on the situation. His brain still trying to process who was in front of him.

- “I - …I finally managed to make my way here, I’m so tired. Wrath… please…” The king hugged him tightly, his words were tired. He knew the king wasn’t on the best of the situations but…he didn’t expect this.

- “Anduin, Anduin, calm down my dear. Have you eaten yet?” He tried to separate the hug and look the king in the eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to force the hug apart any further.

- “…no, I’d very much like some food” He seemed to get back to his own mind, now aware of where he is and of the situation he’s in, loosing the grip of the hug bit by bit.

- “Good, I’ll go fetch some-“ Before he could move up, he felt Anduin tugging at his shirt, asking him to stay. “…right. Left, can you bring something for king Anduin to eat?”

- “As you wish, my prince” the assassin nodded before leaving the cave again, Right following her to the entrance to set guard outside.

The silence extended as a weird, comfortable silence. The dragon now on his human form stroking the king’s hair slowly while hugging him. Both on the ground on the less spiky rock he managed to find to lean on.

- “I got worried, so worried for you.” The king finally broke the silence, voice as weak as a whisper , slightly muffled by their position.

- “So did I, my dear. I asked even Greymane for information on you, and you know I hate that wolf much more than any dog I’ve ever met.” He moved in to kiss Anduin’s forehead, soothing him while still stroking his hair.

- “I …I couldn’t. I’m sorry. I couldn’t let them find me yet, everything’s …bad. I know the alliance is living what I always wished for but I can’t bring myself to be found again, I am tired, so tired of all of that…”

- “Calm down, my dear. For now we won’t be disturbed by anyone besides Left who will bring you food. I want you to relax before talking about this, okay?”

Anduin nodded onto his shirt, burying his face deeper on the dragon’s chest.

When Left arrived with food, it was better than he’d expected. Apparently she had asked Tong for some buns, not Anduin’s or Wrathion’s favorite filling but a bun nonetheless.

He thanked his spies as in dismissal, but they seemed to have other plans and followed him in to the cave again.

- “Tong packed extra buns for all of us. He assumed you had your teenage apetite again so he packed extra just for you. I didn’t even need to come up with an excuse.” Left explained, setting a piece of fabric on a long , elevated rock on the side, as if it was a table being set.

- “For that reason, we decided to join in the dining, but also because we want to know details on this too, like what you expect to do from now on”, Right added. “We know we will be part of the plan at some point , so we’re staying here to sort it out”.

Ugh. The way the two act when Anduin is around is for some reason infuriating for Wrathion. They seem to care less for his authority when the king is around.

- “I’m planning to stay out of sight for as long as I can” The king spoke, already with a half bitten bun on his hand. “ I don’t want to go back to Stormwind so soon, but I also don’t want to be alone anymore.”

- “And how do you plan to do this?” Right asked

- “I don’t know, I don’t think it will be an easy thing to do with the SI:7 searching for me everywhere…” The king shrinked in his place, seemingly defeated.

- “I can assure you my magic is enough to hide your face”, the dragon started. “But I can’t hide your light”.

- “That won’t be a problem”, the king answered too fast for his liking. “ I lost my connection to it while in the maw, it’s not a risk anymore”.

Wrathion frowned at him in worry, but the king’s words were rushed enough to tell him he didn’t wish to elaborate on that.

- “And where are you going to stay?” Left interrupted the Black Prince’s train of thought as she spoke.

- “I have my own …quarters near here, he can stay with me if he wishes to”, Wrathion suggested.

- “I’d like that very much, if it’s not a problem”, Anduin replied after some seconds.

- “Only one thing, I will need to bring pillows for you, your majesty, so I trust right to bring you some good ones. She knows the location of my lair and she won’t hesitate on getting you a lion embroidered pillow”.

- “And, since I do believe we’re all set for now, I can enchant a piece of clothing or armor with your new disguise so we can leave, my king.”

The human king nodded, moving his hand to his… ear? And getting a one pieced earring off it.

- “I don’t remember you having this” the dragon commented, soft smile on his face

- “Ah, Tess gave me this short before I …it was supposed to be a gift to remind me of family, but the timing could be better”

- “So the old wolf really gave up on forcing you two into marriage?” he started chanting the spell in a whisper, making the item glow on a strong orange before setting back to it’s natural color.

- “He had no choice, Tess found someone herself, and it’s not like he could stop her”

- “I see… well, time to test your disguise, your visage! I hope it’s okay by you, because I don’t want to poke at the spell too much”. The dragon handed him the earring back and sat back, as if to watch the spell take effect.

As Anduin plugged the earring closed, his appearance shifted on a smoke very much the same as the dragon’s when he shifted forms.

The king’s face had changed little, only sharper than usual, his eyes now in a burning blue color, his hair longer than he ever grown it, and of course, his ears were now pointy and long.

- “With this, you won’t look very different for us or anyone that knows, but for anyone outside… you’re just a regular high elf!”

- “I think it’s going to be obvious that I lack too much of the elven grace, Wrathion”. The king’s face softened to a smile, and Wrathion couldn’t hold himself and smiled back at him.

“So”, the king announced. “We ready to go?”

Chapter Text

- “I hope you don’t mind the…absurd quantity of exposed magma”

The dragon guided the King towards his lair as he spoke, only now noting that maybe the magma flowing around isn’t very friendly or as inviting to him as it is to any mortal…

- “So the tavern and the keep were always too cold, I see” the king commented as in an actual note, like in a ‘add molten lava to Stormwind keep to keep Wrathion comfortable'

- “What? No ! It’s just an extra to put my mind at ease, not a temperature thing, my dear.”

He was still in his true form, taken as the last few days he’s been more of a dragon than anything else, he’s even lost the habit of shifting back to his visage around the king…

- “Here we are! My room, you can choose anywhere to put your pillows once they arrive!”

His room… could be better, even he agreed.

He had lots of shelves, all protected with fire resistance spells just like everything else on the room.

Lots of fabric scattered around, some being just plain squares of the material on the wall and some being intricate designs.

Lots of jewelry was scattered around the place too, most of it circling the middle of the room with gold coins mixed into it.

The pillows in the middle were…big. Mattress sized if you squinted hard enough.

Anduin could notice the absurd amount of fire resistance glyphs on the items in the room, guess you can’t blame Wrathion for worrying for his highly flammable objects in the searing heat of magma.

- “You… are you sure we need to bring new pillows?” He questioned as the dragon laid on the pillows in the middle of the room, loafing like a cat.

- “What you mean? I have only these. I assumed you would want a bed for yourself?”

- “We both know we are past that since the days at the tavern, Wrath.”

As the king finished speaking, he wobbled his way to the dragon and sat leaning on his friend’s side.

- “Tired?”

- “That too, but… it’s hot in here, you know.” He looked at the dragon as he waited the king to finish his phrase. “…I feel bad when it’s too hot around me, my body has a temperature limit and it’s surprisingly far from the temperature lava is in”.

- “… I can ask Kalec for help with this, then. I can ask him for a cold spell or something like that… I believe it’s easier to ask him for this kind of trivial thing than most blue dragons I’ve seen”.

- “You had to choose the one dragon that knows my auntie, huh”, Anduin chuckled as wrathion tensed. “I’m kidding, it’s a good idea, good luck explaining why you need a cooler place to him though”.

- “I can think of something, it can’t be that hard” . Wrathion curved his neck around himself, ‘hugging’ Anduin with it.

A comfortable silence settled in between the two, but apparently the king still had questions.

- “Weren’t you busy?”

- “Hmm? Oh, I was collecting keys, but nothing my blacktalons can’t handle”.

- “Keys?”

- “Oh, yes. So, have you seen anything around the isles yet?”

- “No, I arrived and hid myself until I could get your attention. Well, Right’s attention”.

- “So allow me to explain, then…”.

Both shifted positions a bit for looking at each other while talking. Wrathion having an apparent easy time on managing his true form and the wish for cuddling.

- “You see, the obsidian citadel, that is my flight’s area, including the oathstone, is taken by invaders. It’s a local race that has a long story on hating and killing dragons, so you imagine it’s pretty much in ruins at this point”.

- “And the keys?”.

- “Shush, Anduin, I’m getting there. Now, since they had destroyed the oathstone and most of the important part of the citadel, not only that, locked most of it away with magic, I asked the champions for help with it. Currently I have a very good roster of champions helping me with it, so I usually stay at the citadel to tend to them”.

- “I assume you need to return there, then?”.

- “Oh, my dear, I can have my blacktalons take care of it, I don’t want to leave you here”.

- “I wasn’t saying you should leave me, I was thinking more in the lines of ‘bring me with you’. I miss talking to people”.

The dragon stopped, considered for a few minutes.

- “Are you sure?”.

- “The magic disguise will be enough for me to not be found, won’t it?”.

The dragon nodded, then got up.

- “So we should go, I told Right to handle the champions but we both know she’s not as charismatic as I am”.

…

Anduin rode on his back to the citadel, a thing he’s not once got anyone else to do it, but his heart is too weak to just grab the king like an ice cream cone and take him to the citadel like that.

As they landed near the throne, he saw Anduin tense and remembered he left some details behind.

- “Ah, yes. Uhm. Sabellian is a black dragon from the outlands. He claims he’s the true heir to the flight and the throne, but I won’t just give the title to anyone that strolls by and claims to have the rights to”.

- “So you’re telling me he’s your brother?”. Anduin glanced towards the bigger dragon staying close to the throne.

- “Kind of, yes. We don’t look anything alike both in visage and true form, but he still has his own people helping him on the effort for choosing a leader”.

As they approached the throne, said dragon addressed them as if looking at a puppy being adopted.

- “Brother, you return. I see you have your champions very close to your cause” his tone was strongly mocking “ have you found anything besides spiders today?”.

- “Oh, yes. Yes I did. We’ve finally found a library and, I don’t mean to intrude but I don’t seem to recall your champions going anywhere near the vaults? Are you operations going well, brother?”.

The older dragon growled before he stopped looking at them and returned to his own people. Wrathion felt the small victory and assumed his position beside the throne.

Anduin walked around the place for a while, avoiding the side sabellian and his people got for themselves.

But he did stop at one of sabellian’s subjects.

- “Aww, he’s just like you! I mean, besides the horns, of course”

- “Don’t grab the whelps, A- ...Ari.” fuck, they should have came up with a name before. “You don’t know whose are those.”

- “Aw, come on! He even is fat like you used to be!”

- “Ahem.”

Anduin froze as a dragonspawn lady stood besides him, arms crossed and looking at him disapprovingly, “the whelp, please.”

- “Oh, sorry , here you go.” He handed the baby back to it’s caretaker, as the dragonspawn left, he turned to wrathion again. “… Ari?”

- “Ari’othar, your name, my dear”

- “Oh, true, sorry” he replied, whispering it

- “…So can you show me around?” the king insisted, eyes sparkling with excitement.

- “I do believe the citadel is not the most touristic place around, my dear”.

- “Then can you take me somewhere else? Your … other champions don’t seem to be around to ask for your attention”.

The dragon huffed. “We can go to the ruby lifeshrine if you promise to not grab all the whelps you see.”

- “Promise, come on.” He approached the dragon very quickly, close to his neck so he could climb up

That earned some glances from his own blacktalons but he knew better than worrying over that, so he crooked his neck down for his friend to climb on.

Before leaving, even with the king on his back in a very awkward situation that would normally hurt his pride too much, he made sure to tell his agents to tell him if anything happens and on who should be in charge if it's not that urgent.

He might have wished to tell Anduin to climb down his back, but the dumb smile on his face stopped him from saying anything.

And having everything settled, he took off to fly to the Lifeshrine.

Chapter Text

As Wrathion landed, he shifted to his visage for easier moving around the shrine and guided Anduin from the stairs to the main part of the shrine.

- “Oooh, it’s full of plants!” The king walked towards the center of the tower and descended the stairs to the one platform that stood there “Woah, this place is high!”.

- “Could you slow down a bit? I’m still not used to you on full speed and not limping around”.

- “Haha, very funny.” He replied with strong irony is his voice . “ Do I need to remind you of when you got stuck in the tavern window after eating too much and trying to make a dramatic exit?”

- “Excuse me!”

A red dragonspawn approached the two. She seemed cheerful despite being visibly tired from her work.

- “Can I ask for some help with caring for the whelps?”

Anduin’s smile reached his eyes the second he heard that, and as he looked at Wrathion, probably looking for approval or maybe warning him on what he’s about to do, the dragon couldn’t hold back a sigh.

- “Yes, what is it you need help with?” Wrathion replied after a couple of seconds and heard a very excited yet whispered ‘yes!’ from Anduin.

- “I need to go fetch some herbs and food for the whelps I take care of, but I can’t leave them to any of the other caretakers here since they’re too occupied with their own assigned whelps, can you two do it? I have only two to care for, so I believe it won’t be too hard”.

- “Sure! Yes, we can do it!” Anduin cut Wrathion before he could even reply the same.

- “I’ll bring them here, then. You can take them anywhere in the shrine and down the tower, but please stay close to the pools, you never know the risks that are outside”.

- “We assure you we’ll be careful, ma’am”.

She nodded then left to fetch the whelps.

- “You lost” The king poked him with his elbow.

- “You got very lucky.”

- “I’ll have whelps around me and you can’t complain.”

- “Oh you know you can’t stop me from complaining.”

- “Of course.”

-“…Wrathion, can I tell you something?”

- “Of course, my dear.”

- “I miss Pandaria. Too much, even.”

- “I imagine.”

- “I missed being this carefree while exploring around with you. I don’t think I will convince myself to come back to Stormwind anytime soon.”

- “Oh, my dear prince.” He kissed Anduin’s forehead. “ I won’t stop you from staying like this if it makes you happy.”

Anduin hugged him, forgetting completely they were waiting for someone, that until they heard very small roars and growls approaching.

- “Here, these are the two you need to take care of” The dragonspawn stood in front of them with two whelps beating their wings frantically to stay in the air, a black one on the caretaker’s left and a blue on the right, big eyes as curious as they can be and the signature smile baby dragons always seem to have.

- “Hi!” Anduin’s smile returned quickly and without any of the pain from before.

- “These two will take care of you while I get the herbs, understood?” She reinforced the information to the whelps, who looked a bit scared of her but agreed anyways. “Good, I’ll be going now. Good luck, boys.”

As she left, both dragons and both men stared at each other for some second then both whelps launched themselves towards Anduin.

- “Hey! Careful, you’re gonna drop me like that.”

- “And here I thought we’d have one each” wrathion approached him again, looking at the whelps “You think this one is kalec’s?”

- “If he is, I have lots of questions for auntie that I think she won’t be very glad to answer”.

- “Oh.”

- “Yeah.” He grabbed the black whelp that was already digging into his backpack.

-“And this one? Do you think he’s your nephew?”

- “Ugh, don’t even say that, I don’t want to hate him before he learns to speak”.

- “Fair, fair.” Anduin looked around “are these shops?”.

- “Hm? Oh, I think they’re crafters. Not sure if it’s going to be interesting, though”.

- “Oh, come on ! It can’t be that bad , can it? The whelps are also curious, look at them!”

If munching on a piece of his hair counted as interest for checking the crafters, the whelps sure were interested, but he followed Anduin without question. He didn’t want to walk considering they were in a very populated area where Alexstrasza could show up and literally sniff the magic on Anduin...but he can't just give the whelps to anyone now. They have a mission.

As they made their way to the crafting stations, the whelps seemed very happy to be burying themselves on Anduin’s backpack, he could ever hear snoring from it.

- “Hey there! Are you two by any chance crafters too?”

One human approached the two after setting what he was working on away

- “Oh, he is” Anduin pointed at Wrathion “ he’s a tailor. Makes amazing capes, I’m pretty sure his coat is made by himself too.”

Wrathion made a very angry noise before the stranger started talking again

- “That’s great! I am finishing some work now, but I wanted to suggest you to talk to my husband later, he’s over there “ he pointed at a human near the blacksmith “ he’s been giving very good tips to every kind of adventurer I’ve seen so far, you might find it useful”

- “Thank you, we might get some time after and do just that.” Anduin replied politely “Now, if you excuse us, we’re gonna walk around a bit to entertain the whelps.”

The man waved his goodbyes as they left, Anduin sighed loudly

- “Everything alright?”

- “It’s hard talking to people again. It feels like they’re gonna see through the spell or already have…”

- “I think he was way more worried about crafting than looking at your face, have you seen that man?”

- “No- I mean, yes, his mind was elsewhere, but that’s not the point! It’s just… scary”

- “I understand, we can take it slower if you want.”

- “No need, I can do this. I’ll tell you if I change my mind.”

- "If you say so." he looked at the passing people around them "...so, what's the plan now? where do you wanna go?"

- "No idea, you know this place better, where should we go?"

- "We could keep on the path we're in now, we have the full shrine to see, don't we? If you want, we can check the bronze eggs before stopping by the oathstone."

- "Oh, sure! you kept saying stuff about the black flight's oathstone but I didn't even get to see it, so I think it would be nice to see the red one"

- "Well, you can go see the black one if you're up to fighting djaradin for a sightseeing spot."

- "Not at all."

They walked in silence (besides the whelps waking up and making angry noises when Anduin stepped on a slightly lower piece of ground and shook them a bit) and reached the bronze pool in little time, no one stopping them in the way.

When they climbed the stairs, they found it crowded with rather uncommon visitors.

"It can't be the infinite dragons, if they wished to steal the eggs they wouldn't do it now... maybe the primalists?"

Alexstrasza stood near the pool that now was empty, the dragonspawn surrounding it looked worriedly at her. There were no cracked shells but there were signs of battle, none of the victims around though.

- "My queen, may I ask what happened here?" Wrathion approached her, Anduin followed him.

- "Wrathion, hello. The bronze eggs were stolen from the pool, we are trying to track back the attackers. I just arrived so I don't have many details..."

- "Are the bronze dragons aware?"

- "as far as I know, yes"

- "Where are the guards that fought the attackers?" Anduin stepped in to see the situation, getting a furrowed brow from Alexstrasz.

- "They're unconscious but being treated for by the healers, we expect them to awake within the next hours, nothing much to worry about"

Alexstrasza kept looking at the magically disguised king, clearly aware of the spell and making sure Wrathion noticed.

- "We'll let you know if we find anything of importance. May I ask, who is your friend?"

- "O-oh, this is Ari’othar, one of my champions. He's helping with some whelps, you see." Anduin took the hint and pulled from backpack to his front and opening it, revealing the cuddling sleepy whelps

- "I see." she smiled as she saw the two. "They seem very relaxed, your champion must have a soothing aura."

- "I believe so, yes." he cleared his throat "so, we have plans for the next few hours, if you excuse us."

- "We'll talk later, then. I have some questions you might be able to answer."

- "Of course. Good luck with this...situation."

- "Thank you."

As soon as they left her vision, they hurried their steps back to the point they got approached by the dragonspawn that gave them the whelps, Anduin was visibly stressed but the dragon chose it was better not to poke him for now.

- "Ah, there you are!" the gruff draconic voice came from behind them "How are they? ...Where are they?"

- "Oh! sorry, here they are." Anduin got his bag and opened it, showing the whelps again, now in opposite order in their sleepy hug "Sorry, they decided my bag was the best place to nap and I couldn't bring myself to get them out of there".

- "Good, good! These two are usually very lively and anxious around new people, guess they really liked you!"

- "Guess you could say I have a good history with whelps" He chuckled and Wrathion turned his face away from him.

- "So, my champion, should we return?" He turned to him again.

- "Oh! Yes, just let me say bye to them properly."

He shook the two whelps very softly and, as they yelped awake, he soothed them to comfort before getting them out of his bag and putting them on the ground.

- "You two better behave as well as you did with me, you don't want your caretaker worrying too much do you?" He told the two with the tone he always used when talking to the orphans in Stormwind. 'Ironic', Wrathion thought.

- "I don't think I'll see you two again soon, so ...goodbye, you two cuties." he pinched their cheeks lovingly. "Thank you for your trust, too" he looked at the caretaker and nodded.

- "I should be the one thanking you, adventurer." She searched on her bag, then pulled something out of it. "I don't have much to offer as reward, but I can give you this bracelet." She offered him the armor-like wristband that seemed too big for a human arm, but he accepted nonetheless.

- "Thank you, we should be going now. Good luck with them."

She nodded to him, soon after he and Wrathion had made their way back to the platform and Wrathion changed back to his true form to carry him back to the lair.

- "Ugh, I forgot about Kalec" He mentioned before taking off.

- "It's ok, I can survive a night... I think."

- "...Sure, we'll get this sorted tomorrow."

He didn't wait long for Anduin's response before opening his wings and dropping from the tower, making his way back to his lair.

Gods, how much he hopes Alexstrasza won't ask him about this.

Chapter Text

- “And with this we won’t need to worry for a frost spell to save you from overheating to death!”

Wrathion announced as he finished modeling around the main part of the lair, using his earth magic to create a better air flow to cool the place down and save Anduin’s weak human body.

- “Is it…really the best option?”

- “Anduin, my dear… I don’t wanna risk asking Kalec for this, we’ve seen that I couldn’t even fool Alexstrasza with my magic…imagine him.”

He shifted to his visage to check his work from another point of view. As he did that, he approached Anduin, stretched his arm on top of the king’s shoulders, pulling him close to a sideways kind of hug.

- “So, what do you think?”

- “It’s ….good. Better than before, of course”. He looked at Wrathion after some seconds analyzing the modifications with a visible worry, but his face softened by seeing the dragon. “Are you going to sleep like this?”

- “What do you suggest? For me to take off my clothes and get our relationship advancing?” He quipped.

- “No, by the light, not that…” Anduin looked away and tried to hide his trembling voice, then cleared his throat to attempt on recomposing himself “ I meant, are you going to sleep in your visage or true form?”

- “Oh, uuuh.” He lost the smirk. “Now that you say it…I don’t think I have human-sized pillows”

- “I might have an idea” The king walked out of the hug towards the pillows with determination on his steps, making Wrathion stare at him in confusion .

- “Oh? What is the idea?”

- “Shift back, please?”

- “As you wish” He spoke while transforming. His voice getting the weirdly deeper tone as he changed to his drake body.

- “Lay down as you would usually do, please.”

- “You never cease on being polite, don’t you, my king?” He moved over and sat down, settling himself to a comfortable position, resting on his belly and legs relaxed to his side. “Continue with your thinking. I can see the gears turning behind your eyes”.

- “Very funny.” He replied dryly, but moved closer to analyze. “This leg here” he tapped Wrathion’s arm “Can you lift it a bit?”

- “Of course” He did as he was asked, and Anduin scuttled between his arms, knowing what the king imagined, he moved to his side a bit more and “hugged” the king as if spooning.

- “You better sleep still as a rock...” the king said between chuckles, “...or I fear I will be launched towards the wall during the night, or even worse, squashed.”

- “I would never!”

- “You wouldn’t, but who knows what your sleeping body would do.” He elbowed the dragon. “You used to gnaw at my arm just enough to worry the healers, you know.”

- “I never did such a thing.”

- “If the healers weren’t so good I’d still have the marks to prove you guilty”

He listened as Wrathion relaxed more into the position and started making the sound Anduin refused to call it something besides “purring”.

The king chuckled. “Your purring is too loud, you big lizard”

- “Dragons don’t purr”

- “Mhm mhm, liar”

- “Stop talking and sleep, my dear!”

Some silent seconds passed before Anduin started breathing steadily and very much snore out loud.

He didn’t pay much attention when, but he was claimed by sleep at some point during the night.

...
..
.

- “Wrath.” The king said. “Wrathion.” He felt a weak kick on his ribs. “Wrathion you dumb lizard, wake up!”

He groaned as his senses returned to him slowly, brain still processing being awaken.

“...What is it? Have I steamrolled you to death?” He refused to open his eyes while talking.

- “No, but wake up! I heard very loud wing flapping outside and …I think you know why I’m worried”

Another groan.

- “Say, Anduin, what about sleeping and cuddling until the threat is gone? Wonderful idea, is it not?”

- “Wrathion.”

- “Ugh, fine.” The dragon opened his eyes and started taking in the stuff around him

His room was the usual, but brighter with sunlight because of the new arrangements he had made. The magma was no longer the main light source there and he could see Anduin moved some stuff around.

- “So, have you had enough time to wake up?”

- “Yes, yes” he shifted to his visage “So, what is it?”

- “The flapping outside”

- “Of course, are you joining me?”

- “… I think so, yes.”

- “You know...” he started walking to the entrance “...You could remove the earring next time we go to sleep, I miss my dear king.”

- “We could stay in here today, I don’t feel like walking around…”

- “I’d very much like that.”

When they reached the entrance of the cave, they saw a feminine silhouette standing against the sunlight that Wrathion quickly recognized

- “My queen, any updates on the bronze eggs?”

- “Yes, hello.” She noticed Anduin besides him and furrowed her brow a little. “They were found a few hours later being transported to the azure span, and were rescued and safely transported back to it’s pool.”

- “Good, so I take that’s not the reason of your visit?”

- “I prefer to talk about this in a place less open, if possible.” Wrathion looked at Anduin, worry on his face, and saw the king also didn’t feel very comfortable with it, but he knew Alexstrasza wasn’t meaning any harm by it.

- “Of course, please come in.”

The three walked their way back to the first big area of the lair. It wasn’t as decorated as the room but it was understandable, taken he’d just chosen the place.

As Alexstrasza settled in a good place within the room, she started speaking:

- “Wrathion, I know you and Anduin are trying to hide from the alliance, but… May I ask, why?”

Subtle as a brick, of course.

- “I… I have managed to escape the shadowlands, and I want some time for my mind to rest before I go back to being a king… I’m sorry I can’t explain more, but that’s all I can say.” Anduin replied to her way before Wrathion could think on a response , it surprised him but got him less worried as well

- “If that’s so, I might ask you to be more careful around other dragons, lesser ones might not notice but someone like majordomo Selistra or the other aspects might notice…” She looked away, pondering what to say next. “I , however, can assure you I won’t tell anyone of this, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Both could see Anduin deflate from the anxiety, letting out a breath he’d forgotten he was holding.

- “Might I ask, then, what’s the safest way for me to visit places? I still want to meet the isles correctly.” He looked small, but kept his ground the same way he used to with his dad.

- “As I said, be careful with being around stronger dragons, besides that…”

She stops, taps her glove’s claw on her chin, thinking.

- “Oh, have you two ever assumed your relationship publicly? I’d recommend to be more careful with kissing an unknown high elf in public Wrathion, the alliance might want your head for breaking the king’s heart.”

Wrathion spluttered.

- “I’m sorry, my queen, but we don’t have anything going on.” Anduin replied, flustered, but patient.

- “oh! You don’t?” Her eyes widened, her expression changed to a frown “Really?” she asked, bewildered.

- “It’s not that we never considered, but… it’s not a thing we can do considering Stormwind laws and the expectations towards the king.” He was patient about it, too patient. Wrathion wondered if he had this conversation with somebody else before.

- “if the heir is an issue, I could help with it any time, it’s easy to fix this with life mag-“

- “Oookay, that’s enough, we’re not even dating, we don’t need these details.” Wrathion cut her. “We thank you for your kindness, my queen, but it’s early and I do believe you have more urgent responsibilities, don’t you?”

- “Of course, I’m sorry if I intruded too much.” She nodded. “I’ll be taking my leave, you two be careful. And do not hesitate on asking for help, it would be wrong to refuse helping a king in distress.”

- “Thank you, we will tell you if we need help” Anduin smiled politely.

With a smile, she turned and walked back to the entrance, saying her last goodbyes and shifting to her true form before taking flight rather loudly.

The two men stood besides eachother seeing her go, a weird silence between them

- “Do you think she means it?” Anduin asked, his voice small

- “Hm?”

- “That she could help with the …main issue about it.”

- “…You’d want it?”

- “Of course I would, light… I’d love to, you know that.”

- “We could give it a try. Us, I mean… use this chance away from Stormwind to not worry about the expectations” He tried to sound as confident as ever, but his voice was failing a bit more than he’d like.

Anduin was quiet for some seconds, but soon hummed in acceptance

- “Yeah, I’d like to do that.” His smile widened, Wrathion smiled back, but before he could say anything about it, Anduin leaned in and joined their lips, making him forget whatever he wanted to say.

The kiss didn’t last long, but it felt like a big relief from all the years wishing to be able to do this little thing without worrying over it.

- “You look dumb.” Anduin’s voice got him out of his fascination and he opened his eyes, his king was still close. “Come on, I heard you have keys to collect.”

Chapter Text

- “I do not, actually.”

- “Huh?”

- “I do not require to collect keys today, my dear. I’ve contacted my blacktalons and they’ll take care of it… It would be a shame to lose my time with things they can manage while I have you here.”

- “Oh! Uuhm. I didn’t really think you’d do this…”

- “You hurt me, Anduin. Thinking I didn’t miss you enough for this!” The dragon made a dramatic gesture, leaning his head backwards and putting the back of his hand on his forehead. “You say it like you wouldn’t do the same”

- “I didn’t really do it when you were in the keep…”

- “Mmmhm, you never did it… Of course, the more than 4 times the nobles had no idea where the king went weren’t a thing, no.”

- “It’s different”

- “How so?”

- “… I’m not arguing this”

- “Hah, I knew it! I am right once again.”

- “Shut up, you lizard”

- “No thank you.” He smirked. “If I shut up, you won’t know the plans for today.”

- “Oh?”

- “You’ve only seen the waking shores so far, I wanted to show you Thaldraszus but that place is full of mages and bronze drakes, the plains are… complicated, so I will show you my second favorite part of the isles: the Azure Span!”

- “Is that far?”

- “The opposite tip of the isles, specially where I wanna show you” He started walking back to his room, Anduin following. “Have you ever seen a tuskarr?”

- “I’ve only heard stories about them…”

- “So you’re already aware of their culture being full of tales, good! Here, have an extra coat.” The dragon tossed him a heavy coat, lined with furs that the king could only guess it was bear’s, and went back to rummaging through his stuff. “The place is half covered in snow, do tell me if this is not enough.”

- “Anything I should prepare for, besides the cold?” He replied, holding the coat folded on one of his arms and his other hand on top of it, his earring hot on his earlobe with magic.

- “Hmm… They’ll offer you a lot of food, good luck eating all of it.” Wrathion tapped his chin with his talon-like nails, thinking “Oh, and they’ll ask you for stories, do get some creative ones.”

- “I have good ones, don’t worry.”

- “Mmm-hm, shall we go then?” the dragon put on a heavy cape and offered his hand to the king, who accepted it.

Wrathion walked outside , shifting to his true form and waiting for Anduin to climb, the king put on the coat before doing so, the dragon then took off to the cold part of the isles.

…
..

As they passed between the tall trees of the Azure Span, Anduin could feel the cold settling in to his bones. The only thing that could keep him comfortable at all this was the dragon’s body heat warming him.

He hadn’t seen any snow until they passed a small mountain and saw it: A small village, covered completely in snow and full of tusks decorating it. He could tell it was a fishermen’s village by the nets around most edges the place had.

Wrathion made a light turn on his flight to get to the main road, landing exactly where the snow began between the snowed village and the taiga-like vegetation, startling the ottuk mount of one of the defenders but causing no extra alarm.

He waited as Anduin climbed down his back, seeing the guard nodding friendly at him before resuming his scout around the area. He shifted to his visage, cape still there warming his shoulders, and offered his hand to Anduin to hold. He accepted and they began their walk towards the village.

When they approached the gates, Anduin stopped suddenly, surprised. Wrathion looked back at what the king was interested in.
- “Look! It’s a burrow” he moved towards the bushes under a small tree, kneeling near a small hole “I can see it, it must be hibernating! The rabbits here are different, too… they look very fluffy…green too, I wonder why.”

Wrathion smiled, his smile reaching his eyes.

- “You gotta stop being so good to the beings of Azeroth, you might attract an earth warder that cares equally for them and get kissed by him.”

- “Like that would be a problem.” He got up carefully to not wake the animal “ honestly, I wish this earth warder would do just that.”

- “How the shy little boy I met has changed…” He got close and gave the king a peck on the lips, seeing his smile as big as his own. “Come on, we have a village to visit.”

They walked in silence through the entrance and the leathery bridge. Anduin keeping his eyes on the pot on the lower part of the village. It was big enough to be seen from that distance, making him wonder just how much food that could hold.

It didn’t take long for someone to approach them: A big, braided tuskarr lady with one of her tusks broken in half, her brows combed in a shape that made it look like a permanent worried look.

- “Brena! Long time no see. I’m sorry for scaring the scouting guards, I hope it’s not much trouble.” Wrathion was the first to talk, he had that true excitement he rarely showed, and only showed to a few people, as far as Anduin knew.

- “No worries. I came here to greet you and invite you two to the main tent. We’re having a bit of the soup that just got made and sharing stories! Kalec is with us too, he’s seen your arrival and insisted on inviting you himself. I did stop him because I needed to check the guard’s ottuk mounts on the way.”

Both the king and the dragon froze, Wrathion’s smile and optimism: gone, as he heard who was there.
- “Come on! You’re as thin as always, and your friend really needs more meat on his bones.” Brena tapped both in the back, dragging them to the large tent, one with each hand on their backs, not giving them space to argue or try to be discreet about their fear.

They approached the tent and saw Kalec lifting his head with a smile, followed by a shocked face when he noticed who was with Wrathion, spoon halfway from the bowl to his mouth and wide eyes staring at the two.

- “Come on boys, Wrathion you can sit near Kalec with your friend, the two cushions there are well softened” Brena showed them the seats, not sensing the tension between the two dragons and the disguised king.

As they sat down, Kalec finally got the spoon to his mouth and sipped slowly, looking at the two in polite curiousness.

- “Hello, Kalec, it’s been a while” Wrathion nodded at him.

- “Yes, at least a month… say, how have you been faring?” he replied in a forced neutral tone, the king could almost see the unasked questions on his face.

- “The citadel is …going. There’s progress.”

- “Hm.”

Brenda got the two newcomers a bowl of soup each, giving them carved tooth cutlery. Anduin thanked her and started eating instantly, Wrathion ate slowly and silently, an anxious silence settling between the three.

- “We’re planning on a storytelling afternoon with the kids, if you wanna join” Brena mentioned, catching Anduin’s attention as she mentioned the kids.

- “I have some tales of my own, if you’re open to new ones.” The king suggested with excitement in his voice, Kalec eyed his curiously being his first time speaking near him.

- “Of course, young one.” Brena smiled, her short moustache making it easier to read than the other tuskarr smiles. “ I’ll get you seconds and we can go to the inn, I hope our stories are exciting for an adventurer like you too.”

- “Actually, I think I’m full. The soup was heavier than I expected-“

- “Nonsense, you’re as thin as a stick. You need some more food or you’ll never grow enough.” Wrathion chuckled at that, seeing Anduin’s face getting red because of the comment was cute.

Kalec kept on watching the two silently, noticing his own actions and attempting to hide it before going back to acting weird all the same.

Anduin struggled to finish the second bowl he’d been given, but finally managed.

And, as Brena had said, soon after she guided them to the underground inn, they entered it as a tale was being told.

- “And then, the hero felt a pull on the line… The pull got stronger and stronger, they fought it and barely managed to reel the creature back, and when he finally did it, he saw an horrendous creature!” The kids gasped, not noticing the group entering and sitting on the cushions on the back “It looked like it had a Seamoth tail, purple tentacles all over the body, various eyes and claws like those of a crab!”

- “The champions certainly have some creativity, huh.” Wrathion got his arm behind Anduin’s shoulder and talked in whispers

- “If it wasn’t a champion I’d even be worried if n’zoth is back” He replied with an equally whispered voice, chuckling lightly.

The storyteller kept on telling the tale, her enthusiasm not failing her even if they could see how ridiculous she thought the story was. When she ended, the kids cheered and talked about how scary it sounded, asking for another while Brena approached and talked to the other tuskarr.

- “Elder Poa, good to see you, we’re here for the storytelling , but we’ve got a friend of the dragons who says he has his own tales, do you think the kids would be willing to listen to new tales?”

- “Of course, do ask him to come closer, my voice needs some rest”

At that, Brena gestured for Anduin to come closer, making him stand abruptly as he noticed they were talking about him and accidentally getting Wrathion to hit his arm on the cushion for not reacting fast enough.

- “Thank you, I’ll try my best to tell a tale as good as you did” he bowed to the elder, making her chuckle a bit before walking back to one of the cushions.

Kalec approached Wrathion’s seat as Anduin started talking.

“I have some good tales I’ve heard or seen, but I have one specific I think you all will enjoy, have any of you here ever heard of pandaria?”

Oh no. Wrathion was being eyed weirdly by Kalec but that will certainly be his doom.

The kids all shook their heads and made noises indicating that no, they had never heard of it, and Anduin started

- “I’ve heard of this young prince that was born in a family of warriors, but had always opposed war… He trained for peace and healing, while his father, the king, kept him from danger”

- “Once he’d convinced his father to let him go on a diplomatic mission, he parted with hope of proving himself, but they both didn’t know the mission was about to bring them a new perspective in life.”

The kids gave him a collective “Ooooh” as he paused.
- “The ships sent to the mission… were all sinked by the beach of a strange island, covered by an unnatural mist to hide it’s secrets.”

- “The young prince survived by swimming his way back to the beach and hiding himself in the forest for days, until the locals found him and offered help, seeing he was harmless.”

To this point, Wrathion remembered the young king, still a prince, telling him the same story in different words. Finally, his reason for fear got to him and tapped his shoulder.

- “Wrathion, may I ask?” Kalec whispered to not interrupt the tale.
He sighed.

- “What do you wish to know?” Ke kept his eyes on Anduin while he spoke.

- “How… why do you have Anduin with you?”

- “He asked me for staying with him.”

- “No, Wrathion , not that.” He tried to show patience “You have the missing king of the alliance with you and you’re trying to hide him, what is going on?”

- “He’s… not ready to go back yet, and I promised to take care of him.” Wrathion’s expression tightened with emotion. “I know I can’t hide it from you, but I wasn’t expecting to find you here… I wanted to give him some normal days of life, outside royalty.”

- “Does anyone else knows?”

- “Alexstrasza, and she swore to keep the secret for as long as needed. Please, Kalec, you ca-“

- “If she did so, I’m not one to go against the choice of the queen of the dragons.” He said, making Wrathion finally look at him in a surprised, but soft expression, the blue dragon also had a soft smile on his face. “Enjoy the time Wrathion, if you want I can help with the disguise spell and make it stronger, you two deserve it.”

Wrathion could only stare at him in silent awe as he shifted back to his own seat, smiling calmly

- “Oh and, have you two finally decided to get together?”

- “…Jaina did tell you a lot about Anduin, didn’t she?” He looked at him, jokingly annoyed at the question. “Yes, we did. Not sure about the future, but I want to enjoy it while we can.”

- “I won’t tell her, I might be surprised at this but I won’t refuse the king some rest. Jaina, in the other hand, no matter how much I love her I know she’s hard to reason sometimes and won’t keep this hidden.”

- “Of course, thank you, I’ll… You know where my lair is, right?” A nod confirming. “Can you go there later and help with the disguise and… With the temperature? he claims the lair to be too hot for a human.”

- “Of course, are you planning on leaving soon?”

- “Maybe, that depends on him.”

The two looked back at Anduin, seeing the kids as interested as they could be, even more than with the storyteller, and the king himself calm but excited at the little smiles.
- “By that time, the prince had came in with the mallet , explaining to the orc that he had no idea on what he was doing and swearing to stop him. He rang the bell, stunning the chaos around him and making the bell glow in harmony. The orc, however, screamed in rage, and broke the bell on top of the prince.”

The kids stared in silence for some seconds, until one of them spoke.

- “So… The prince died?”

- “No, he did not. He kept believing on himself, and he knew peace was yet to come and needed to do so. He was saved and taken to rest from the fight in a hidden place… There he met a friend who cared for him more than he showed, but helped him see the world as more than he ever imagined, specially by the way he lived.”

- “It might not have been a happy end for him, but he didn’t give up on it and kept on trying, many tell me he now achieved what he longed for his whole life, even if he saw multiple reasons to stop during that time… In the end, it was worth it.”

The kids were… in awe. Their big eyes gleaming in wander and worry for the main character of the story, Wrathion didn’t pay as much attention as he wished, but he was glad to know he was in the story just enough to be shown but not reminded of his mistakes.

- “Thank you, dear, that was amazing!” The elder got up and out a hand on his shoulder, patting it. “ You’re better than most adventurers we’ve had so far. Tell me, what is your name? I’m sorry I didn’t ask before, but seeing such amazing tales and so well told got me wondering.”

- “Oh! It’s …you can call me Ari, thank you.” His stop was weird, but none of the tuskarr seemed to notice or care. “It was an honor to tell a story so complex to such an eager audience.”

- “Oh, dearie, we’re the ones who should be thanking you, the kids always love new stories…” she eyed him worriedly. “ have you eaten yet? You look so small, do you need some soup?”

- “Yes, I’ve eaten, and sadly I’m full already. Thank you for the offer, anyways. Now, if you excuse me…”

- “Of course, but if you find more stories, don’t hesitate on bringing them to me!”

He nodded a goodbye, and got back to Wrathion, looking at him worried as he didn’t see Kalec around.
- “What happened to…?”

- “He’s just outside, he went talking to Brena again. Don’t worry, I talked to him and he offered help.”

- “You… did he?!” His eyes widened. “Did he mention anything of talking to Jaina?”

- “He did, yes.” Anduin’s panic grew. “But he mentioned that he shouldn’t talk to Jaina because she’s hard to convince on things, specially about him.”

- “Oh, thank the light…”

- “He also offered to refine the spell on your earring so you can walk around with less worries.”

- “That would be great!”

- “…And to cool down my lair for your fragile body to manage existing there.”

- “I’ll have to thank him personally and you know that. Light, that place was killing me. Literally.”

- “Aw, come on, don’t be that hard on it…”

The king made a face at him.

- “Ok, ok, it is a very hot place, I agree” he leaned back and remembered it was just a cushion, not a full chair “ speaking of which, do you have anything in mind for now?”

- “Not really… I do wanna go back to your lair, I’m pretty tired… eating that much soup made me sleepy.”

- “Of course, I’ll tell Kalec we’re leaving, then.”

- “I’m going with you, I wanna talk to him properly now that I don’t need to worry about it.”

- “Of course, come on then.”

Wrathion got up and Anduin followed him outside the inn, they found Kalec soon after but they all could see the weight of the food making Anduin sleepy, so Wrathion chose to tell Kalec when to show up and took Anduin back with him before he had any true risk of falling from his back while fighting sleep.
When they arrived, he walked most of the path down the lair on his dragon form with Anduin on his back, dropping him on the mattresses on the ground when he got to his room.

- “Dear , can I get this earring off? I miss seeing you without the magic around.”

- “Mmhm, I don’t mind, just don’t lose it. It’s important for me.” He moved closer to the dragon by his side. Wrathion noticed he was still to shift to visage and using the excuse of such a delicate action, he did so.

And with the excuse of their situation, he got himself some magically changed clothes to softer ones, not the heavy cape he was wearing before. He hugged Anduin while still looking at his face, moving his arms to remove the jewelry his lover had on.

As he did so, a puff of smoke appeared and vanished as quickly as it started. Anduin looked way better than when he arrived, and that only made Wrathion’s heart swell in something very fuzzy and good.

- “Sleep well, Anduin.”

- “You too.”

He chuckled at that and kissed his forehead, getting himself on a comfortable position afterwards and drifting to sleep cuddled with his lover.

Chapter Text

- “Anduin wrynn!”
He felt something poking at his arm, then heard a poof, and felt nibbling on the same spot.

- “Wrathion!” He jolted awake, opening his eyes and feeling a sharp pain on his arm.

- “Ouch! What is it?”

- “Tong has prepared a weird dish today, and I am here to invite you to try it!” He bowed mockingly. His movement ending up way funnier than intended due to the fat whelp’s shape.

- “Thank you Wrathion, I’ll go check it out after I change.” He winced at the bite wound. “And heal this.”

- “Of course”.

The prince smiled politely and waited for him to leave. The whelp stayed in place, looking at him In silence.

- “Aren’t you dressing?” The dragon adjusted his position. “Or healing?”

- “…Of course.” He wasn’t going to change clothes in front of the black prince, but he could of course heal his wound and tell the dragon to go away. “ You really bit me hard, ouch.”

- “You shouldn’t have launched yourself up, it made me bite wrong.” He replied as he shifted back to his visage.

Anduin stuck his tongue out, mocking his friend and getting the other to do the same gesture in return. He inhaled slowly and started concentrating, murmuring a prayer to the light and getting the golden glow on his palms. The wound closed after some good seconds. As he finished his prayer, he opened his eyes that he didn’t even remember closing and saw Wrathion awfully close to him, staring at his arm.

He hadn’t noticed the dragon’s breath or warmth near himself while concentrating, but now he did and could also feel blood rushing to his cheeks.

- “How does this light of yours work? A religion, I know, but how does it feels to harness such power?” The dragon asked, curious eyes at his friend.

- “Uhm, uh. It’s… comfortable. And good…” he tried looking away, but when he saw the other boy approach his arm with his face, he put his hand on the other’s face and not-so-forcefully pushed him away. “And not whatever that is what you’re doing right now, stop!”

- “Why?! I just want to see the quality of the healing!”

- “Then ask!”

- “O prince Anduin, may I have a look at your amazing healing work?” He asked, feigning politeness.

- “Yes, you might! See, wasn’t that hard to ask.” He extended his arm to his friend to see, watching as he actually did what he said he would.

The two stayed in silence while Wrathion examined the wound, only poking at it a few times before grabbing the arm and flexing it.

- “What are you doing?”

- “Testing movement”

- “I am here because I broke most of my body, you know. My own healing won’t make my arm work that better”

- “Of course, I’m just testing” He squeezed Anduin’s arm. “You’re very cold, are you sure you’re fine?”

- “Hey!” He pulled his arm away. “Yes, I’m sure! You’re just too hot.”

- “Oh?” wrathion smirked.

- “Not like that!” His face got redder, but his expression grew with mischief.“Your face is too round for that.”

- “Round?! How dare you! Say then, prince of Stormwind, what is it that you consider good for face shape?” He couldn’t tell if the dragon shared the flustered feeling by the way he spoke, but the glow in his eyes gave him away.

- “Hmm…” Ok, he had to get something the dragon wouldn’t even dare but was still pretty. “Angled faces are pretty, but mostly for men in my opinion… for women I’m not sure.”

- “What’s the problem with my round face, anyways?” Wrathion got his face very close to Anduin’s in an attempt to tease, he watched in success as he saw the human prince’s face get somehow redder.

- “You’re too soft!” he grabbed Wrathion’s cheeks with both his hands, pinching and pulling. “See? Soft cheeks!”

At that moment, something clicked on Anduin’s head. Something, as he saw Wrathion wincing from getting his cheeks pinched, gave him an idea.

He let go the pinch and put his hands on the same place before pulling Wrathion for a kiss. It was clumsy, their lips weren’t really colliding softly there, but Wrathion got the message. The dragon’s eyes almost shined , Anduin noticed as he pulled away and opened his eyes, and his face just looked dumb and stunned.

- “Are you going to stop teasing me about it now?” His voice almost cracked.

- “Yeah” Wrathion replied, voice small and face still the same, he managed to look away after a couple of seconds and as he did so, he lowered his head and hovered his fingers over his own lips, as if processing what just happened. “ I’ll … I’ll ask Tong for some of the food he prepared and…bring it here if you want?”

- “Sure, I’d like that, yes.” And at that, the dragon nodded.

He got up and walked fast downstairs, weird considering he always kept so closed about his real feelings anywhere he went, and right now he looked like a baby fawn hopping on grass for the first time.

The voice he talked was also low, uncharacteristic to the black prince. Anduin could feel himself drift to a blurry sleepiness, and with that, leave this dream.

…
..

He felt himself waking up slowly, looking around for Wrathion as he did so and not finding him.

He was feeling relaxed anyways, but he heard fast paces approaching him, different ones.

- “Anduin? Anduin are you here?” He heard Kalec’s voice, his voice had an awful distress to it.

- “Here, what’s wrong?”

Kalec ran to the room, as he appeared, Anduin could see the panic and fear on his pale face.

“The primalists.” He said, rushing the word out. “They attacked Wrathion.”

Chapter Text

Anduin and Kalec arrived at the plains the fastest they could, both not caring much for the “absurdity of riding on a dragon’s back” taken their worry. Kalec had been informed of Wrathion being at Maruukai for the time being, considering he was nearby when he got attacked, so he directed his flying towards the place.

They could see the black and bloodied scales in the distance, and that only made both panic even more.

When Kalec finally landed, he did so outside the village due to lack of space, shifted to visage and ran right behind Anduin, who just sprinted in despair.

The centaurs saw them approaching, caring little for the hooded figure as they saw the aspect with him, letting them approach Wrathion.

His scales were hurt in ways that could tell some things were broken underneath, bludgeoned with rocks, Anduin assumed. He has cuts on his wings too, not exactly big but worrying if he forced the membrane. The damage looked like it was but a quick attack to immobilize, considering the damage on legs and wings being non lethal.

- “He came to our hunters, asking for help. He was conscious but not for long, they described it as a last effort powered by fear.” A centaur woman with long hair combed to the side approached then, other two following her. “He asked them for someone, Andwyn I think? They probably can tell you more of it, but it appears he was taken down mid-flight by primalists. We have some hunters that claim they’ve seen the storm eater passing by the plains, and considering the rain… I fear they are right. He’s a lucky one to have survived, but our healing can only go so far.”

- “Thank you-“ Kalec started, stopping as he didn’t know the centaur’s name.

- “Agari, daughter of khanam matra Sarest.”

- “Thank you, Agari.” Anduin completed. “Have your healers done first aid?”

- “Yes, but they couldn’t figure most of it. We’re short in numbers since most of ours are helping the green dragons on their effort , and the healers that are here know little of them or are still in training.”

- “If I might, I could apply first aid on his wounds, but I would need help from them.”

- “Of course. I’ll call them in and ask for supplies too.”

- “Thank you.”

As she left, Anduin started analyzing the dragon to see what to clean first, what to bandage… Ph, it would be so much easier with the light, but he lost his access to it…

Kalec approached him as be paced around Wrathion, and watched in sadness.

- “How do you maintain so calm during this? Isn’t it crushing?” He asks, breaking his silence.

- “It is, but most of what I do is too.” He moved a wing up a bit, keeping focused. “I’m a healer trained for staying calm in these situations so I don’t fail my patients. It crushes me seeing him like this, but I can wail about it with him later, when he’s safe and cared for.” He looked at what stood before him. “Kalec, do you know any ways to fix wing membrane without magic?”

- “Some, yes. But I do believe we’ll have access to whatever magic we need if we ask for the red flight’s help.”

- “Do tell me how.” He avoided the mention. “I need to check his pulse, he doesn’t seem affected by just physical damage.”
- “Do you know how to?”

- “Of course, learned back when he was a whelp. On his head at least, there’s a soft spot behind his horns that have some easy to feel veins passing through. Normally it’d be too small but he’s big now so it’s easier.” He moved quickly, passing on his neck to reach the dragon’s back. “Here.”

He pressed his hand to the soft scales, feeling the blood flow in it. It was… not right. Wrathion had a stronger heart, a faster pulse, this was slower than his own.

The centaur healers approached, seeing the human’s horror as they did so.

- “He’s too weak. There’s something weakening him still.” He announced. “Please clean these wounds on his wings, stretch them but not too much if needed. I’ll instruct you on how to fix it after you do so. I need to think on how to get his body working again.”

The healers moved quickly, their strength certainly helping with the task. While they did it, the calm Anduin fought to maintain earlier started failing him.

“I need to help him”, he thought . “I can’t fail now, not after all those years. Not after I finally get to stay with him.”

He tried and tried to think of a way of finding the problem without magic, only finding himself sinking further and further in fear as he felt the weak pulse on his hand. He was losing his hope for it, but he couldn’t accept doing so, so he prayed as if the light still answered him, prayed for guidance, for protection of his beloved.

And to his hope, the light answered.

Just like the combat in lordaeron, a beam of light descended to him, to his dragon. The light could be considered blinding for many, but it didn’t hurt anyone’s sense. It gave them the comfort many claimed to feel when blessed by it. He felt it restoring Wrathion’s wounds, removing the harm he was inflicted, returning his senses…

- “Anduin?” the dragon called, voice small and amazed.

The spell stopped, the light weakened, the raindrops back to focus. Wrathion’s eyes glowing weakly, but his feelings showing on the scaly face: he was proud, relieved, happy, most of all.

- “Wrathion!” The king returned his focus to the present, and almost jumped to hug the dragon’s head.

- “You got your light back!” He mentioned, emotion flooding his voice. “I’m so proud of you, my love. I knew you could do it.”

- “Wrathion…” Anduin couldn’t hold it back anymore, tears were flooding his face mixing with the rain falling in him. “What happened? Why did you get attacked?”

- “Calm down, he needs rest.” One of the healers, an older looking centaur, reminded Anduin of his surroundings. He was still in the center of the village, face washed with rain and tears, hood down and disguise spell broken. Being called by his name loud and clear for all to see.

- “I’ll… Yes, I’ll leave him to rest.”

- “You too, my dear. We can rest, both of us will need to explain lots of things to many when we return….”

- “I can teleport you two, if you feel strong enough for it.” Kalec mentioned. “ I’ll stay with you for assisting with the healing if you wish, Anduin.”

- “No point of hiding it now, huh.” He made a little amused puff “Can you handle teleportation, Wrathion?”

- “Of course, you healed me well.” He tested his legs, but winced and made a pained whimper “It sounds like the better option, too.”

- “Then it’s decided. Whenever you’re ready, Kalec.”

The blue dragon walked towards them, turned to the centaurs and bowed.
- “Thank you for helping us, you can ask for help from the blue dragonflight whenever you need to. We’ll be leaving now.”

- “Go, and take care. We might not be as lucky to find him, and he might also not be as lucky to survive”

The healers bowed back, and he began his spell. In a few seconds, the rain stopped and they were all in front of Wrathion’s lair. The hot place making their skin itch with the rainwater on their outfits and body. Kalec was the first to move and speak:
- “Let’s go, we have a lot to discuss.”
…
..
…
Not so deep into the lair, at the same point they had spoken with Alexstrasza, Wrathion collapses. He was feeling not only exhausted but the healing wasn’t complete, his legs felt wrong and pained at every movement, his lungs struggled to be filled but very little compared to before.
Anduin and Kalec seemed to have no issue with that, only moving him closer to the furniture so Anduin could sit down while healing, Kalec also summoned some mana buns to assist him with it.

- “Should we get what sorted out first?” Anduin asked as he munched the bun.

- “Wrathion can tell us what happened later. You on the other hand… you’ll need to get ready for the SI:7 rogues search for you getting rougher… and an explanation, too.” The blue dragon flapped his shirt a bit, then casted a small ice globe to cool the place off. “I do understand why you asked for help with this. Titans, it’s a crushing heat.”

- “You get used to it, and for the SI:7… isn’t it easier if I just give myself in at this point? Get an agreement?” He finished his food, licked his 3 fingers he used to holding it up as he munched. “It would be good if I showed I’m still pretty much conscious and able to think by myself. My people won’t take their king running away with a black dragon kindly, sadly.”

- “That’s … yes, I think that’s the best option so far.”

- “Nooo my king. My dear lion, my beloved…” Wrathion headbutted Anduin softly. “Don’t gooo…”

- “Is he okay?” Kalec raised an eyebrow.

- “Oh, he’s probably drugged. Those centaurs use some weird things on their medicine, and I’m pretty sure I smelled something in it that reminded me slightly of common hallucinogens.” He held the dragon’s face by the sides, careful not to hug and impale himself on the nose spike. “He’ll be fine soon enough, I’m surprised it even had any effect… I’ll try and heal him again, if you don’t mind.”

- “Go ahead.”

Anduin closed his eyes and started whispering prayers again, but felt the light failing him. He tried again and got little to work with, it almost felt like being a student all over again. Hopefully the healing he managed on Wrathion’s chest was good enough to fix what he missed the first time.

As the light faded, he opened his eyes and looked at his work. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but the rise and fall of Wrathion’s chest seemed back to normal.

- “Anduin…how am I supposed to explain this to Jaina?” Kalec seemed apprehensive. “She won’t take this kindly, and we both know it.”

- “I can talk to her, I’m already going to have to explain half of Stormwind and more of what happened. One more wouldn’t hurt.” He already moved to fetch another mana bun. “As I mentioned, I’m planning to show up and explain, but I’m not going to just go back and abandon all this. I’ll get a public note and either send a letter or invite the ones that I’m closest to so I can explain.”

- “That’s a thing too, how are you planning to tell the alliance where you are?”

- “I was planning to ask either left or right, they know some si:7 as far as I know. If they can get a message to Shaw, which I hope doesn’t takes this in a bad way, I can try and meet him and Greymane to explain everything.”

A loud snore made Anduin jump at the sudden noise. He looked back and saw Wrathion on what must be the less comfortable position a dragon can sleep in.

- “As much as I want to get things sorted, I think I should leave you two to rest. I’ll be back by the morning, have a good night.” Kalec announced, seeing Wrathion’s pose. He waved a polite goodbye to Anduin and teleported himself away.

As he did so, the king fell to the dragon’s chest and hugged it, silent tears rolling down his face while he thanked Kalec for leaving so fast.

- “I don’t want this to end…”

Chapter Text

The snores were absurdly loud. He’d slept with Wrathion before, and he only snored sometimes. Never this monstrosity he’d turned to with the drugs the centaurs had given him.

It had to be the position.

He’d never seen the dragon sleep like that. It had to be it. In this moment of despair and tiredness, he went for his most absurd resource…

He poked the dragon’s nose to wake him up, making him sneeze like a dog a few times before recognizing what was happening.

- “What was that for?!”

- “You were snoring loudly and sleeping on the living room, shift to your visage so I can take you to the room, please.” A very tired Anduin replied, eyes squinted.

- “What? Are you gonna take care of me like I’m your drunk husband?” The dragon mocked, moving a bit and wincing at the pain of the yet-to-heal wounds.

- “Yes. Now, please.” He opened his arms as if to hold Wrathion, call him in to a hug.

The dragon might’ve been dumb at some point of his life, but he wasn’t now and he wouldn’t lose a chance to be carried by the King of Stormwind himself. He shifted to visage and slumped over his beloved, almost making him fall too.

- “How far into the night are we? I feel like I slept half an hour…”

- “No idea, but sun’s been down for a while.” He dragged Wrathion with him, supporting him by his sides. “Come on, I need to sleep and apparently I can’t until you find a position you won’t snore.”

- “Do we have something tomorrow?”

- “Yes, we do. I gotta explain to the whole alliance that I’m alive, well and staying here for longer. And I need rest for it, now… please?”

- “Yes, yes.” Wrathion noticed he was dragged to his room already, so he launched himself to his pillows and changed to his true form halfway through the fall, pulling Anduin to a big dragon hug. “ I’ll be here to help, and if they take you I can steal you back… follow this one family tradition…” He chuckled, the sound vibrating through Anduin with the hug.

- “I’m sure I’ll be fine, and you forgot I got good at hiding too.” He snuggled to a better position, kissing the dragon’s chest for not having any better options nearby. “Come on, you need rest too. You still gotta explain what happened to you.”

He waited for a response for some seconds, but then noticed that Wrathion was already asleep, yet to start snoring. He decided better not to bother the dragon, and closed his eyes too, slowly drifting asleep.

...

..

He felt his body colder than usual. Not the amount of cold he’d feel in the maw, but the cold he’d feel if he didn’t prepare enough for the weather and slept anyways.

Then, he heard it:

- “This is too cold, I’m telling you.”

- “It’s not! Just enough to get him to see my hugs as-“ His voice added the special tone “Irresistible.”

Kalec? Ah, he said he’d be there early…

- “Wrathion, you have no idea how human body temperature works, do you?”

- “Of co-“

- “No you don’t , I’m making it weaker. I fear for his health more than you crave for hugs.”

- “Come ooon!”

- “Stop with the shouting, you’ll wake him up.”

Time to say something, Anduin thought.

- “Hey guys…”

- “Oh! Good morning my dear king, have you slept well?” Wrathion quickly took a place besides the king, smiling widely as his theories proved correct and his lover hugged him for warmth.

- “No, and I’m never letting you drink if we keep sleeping on the same bed.” He moved even closer, chasing the relief from his body’s old pains on Wrathion’s body heat. “And you?”

- “Could be better too…”

- “So” Kalec finished drawing the rune at the door and turned to them. “ you should tell us what happened yesterday, now that you’re feeling better?”

- “Of course, yes.” Wrathion cleared his throat. “Yesterday I tried to check with the green dragons for how their process with the primalists was going, since we all know the plains to be specially overloaded with them. Halfway through the plains, not so close to the village, I got attacked by them. They only dropped me and made sure I couldn’t escape, then waited for any higher levels to tell them what to do. After that… Raszageth showed up, and tried to talk all that ‘they betrayed us’ thing to convince me to help her, because after all, ‘you’re the one closest to us, the only who keeps a true element near, our alliance could benefit both.’. She wasn’t very friendly about it, but she let me go, then I found the centaur hunters who rescued me.”

-“Raszageth… tried to recruit you?” Kalec seemed worried, curious.

- “Recruit is a good way to call it, yes. This is not the first time she’s let me go, so I felt like it was going to happen at some point…”

- “and you’re not considering it, right?”

- “Of course not. If there’s someone dumb enough to submit themselves to that in exchange of power that’s Sabellian not me.”

- “Then that’s one thing out of the way, we need to fix another thing this little accident caused now.”

- “That is?”

- “I need a higher ranking blacktalon to message Shaw about me so we can meet and decide something on this.” Anduin replied. “ You can choose who, just please be sure the SI:7 knows them so they don’t take it as fraud.”

- “Your spies are very desperate recently, my dear.” He kissed the king’s forehead. “They’ll follow any lead, but I’ll make sure it’s clear it’s true.”

- “Write your letter, then, King Anduin. If you wish to, you can also write for Jaina and I’ll deliver it to her myself.” Kalec suggested. “Please, I need something so it doesn’t look that bad.”

- “I will, no need to worry. I’ll write the one for Shaw and Jaina now, and the others I can worry about after we decide what I’ll do.”

- “May I suggest that you send both by Jaina?” Wrathion lifted his hand “It’s easier to convince the SI:7 by Kalec and Jaina saying it than by a rogue of mine.”

- “That makes it easier, yes. I will deliver it to her and visit Shaw in Stormwind afterwards.” Kalec face showed his thought of better flight and portal routes while he spoke.
- “Good! I’ll get a pen for you then, my dear.” Wrathion announced, kissed Anduin’s cheek and then got up to walk awkwardly to his desk to get it. He returned at the same speed he went, and handed Anduin all he needed for the letters. “Here you go, my love.”

At that, he got himself to a good position to write and said before starting:

- “This wont be easy.”

…

After a good while and many crumpled papers later, he finished both letters.

One for Jaina, one for Shaw.

Jaina’s more of an apology than anything.

Shaw’s too, but in a “we need to talk” way.

He gave both to Kalec and squeezed his shoulder in a friendly pat, then forced a small smile.

- “Good luck with your date today.”

Chapter Text

A few minutes after Kalec went to his date, both found themselves in boredom.

They had finally arranged a way for the pillows to be nice to sit on even with Wrathion in his visage, so both were enjoying the comfort of it while they slacked.

Anduin could read, of course, but doing it with Wrathion fully awake and full of energy by his side felt unfair. He tried to think of something, trying to distract himself of the long hours of diplomacy he will have to face soon…

Wrathion probably sensed his anxiety, because he moved closer to the king and started running his hands around his torso.

By his current position, he couldn’t see the dragon’s face, but could feel the hug from behind. And the hand. The hand that paused the random movements and moved down.

- “Ah! Hey! ”

- “Hm? Oh, I’m sorry my dear, it was the only solution to our boredom that would include both staying here…” Anduin could hear the smile on Wrathion’s face.

- “You can’t be serious…”

- “Of course I can, do you have any better ideas?”

- “No!” He paused. “...Maybe.”

- “Hmm?”

- “You see, I was worried for your legs since it seems like it’s the only part I hadn’t managed to heal yet.” He turned, moving his legs to hook his and Wrathion’s together as he stopped moving, pulling him closer. “And I worried you’d move them too much if you did anything like this.”

- “It wouldn’t be that ba-”

“But I think I know a way to keep you from moving your legs too much.” He pressed his crotch to the dragon’s, getting him a small hiss. “And for me to have fun.”

- “Oh, my dear, you’re a charmer…”

- “Better than certain black dragon I know if you ask me.”

- “Oh, give me some credit…”

- “Mm-hm.” He moved his hands up and down on the dragon’s chest, stopping to press on a nipple and making the dragon open his mouth in a soundless moan.

- “Please don’t keep me waiting, my king…” Wrathion squirmed as he talked, trying to reach for more surfaces to touch.

- “I might, actually. I wanna have fun.”

- “Evil priest.” He chided.

- “Eager dragon.” Anduin replied with a smile on his face before pulling him to a kiss.

The kiss was a hungry, desperate kiss from Wrathion. Anduin followed his pace, finding himself separating his lips to let a tongue in to his mouth within some seconds, squeezing more and touching more around the dragon’s torso and legs.

He let go of his lover’s lips and kissed the way down to his neck. Then chest. Then…

- “Take these off.” He tugged at the dragon’s pants, watching as he removed them quickly with magic. “Good boy.” He said in a playful tone.

But he heard as Wrathion bit back a noise and moved his hips up when he said it. He grabbed the recently uncovered hard length and began stroking it up and down, slow and steady.

- “I didn’t know about this one, you should have told me about it.” He said, voice calm and soft as he sped the rhythm up, little by little, and squeezed one of the dragon’s thighs. “I haven’t had my chance on melting you with words yet.”

- “Anduin…”

- “Shh, my dragon. You’re going to be good for me now, ok?” Wrathion nodded. “good. You know, it pleases me too much knowing such a beautiful dragon loves me, you’re so good to me…”

Wrathion’s hips buckled up and down with Anduin’s hand, his movements erratic compared to the king’s hands.

- “You’re so quiet tonight… I wanna hear your pretty voice…” The king prompted and moved his head down, face close to his pumping hand. “Come on, I’ll help you.”

He moved closer, mouth wet around his partner’s cock and head following the slowed-down rhythm of his hand. This of course, got Wrathion to moan. The half-moan half-growl sounds filled his ears, making Anduin himself hornier than he already was.

He bobbed his head up and down faster, farther. As Wrathion grabbed his hair, he could feel his throat reflex starting to act up. He pulled back soon enough, lips swollen and the sign of tears on his eyes from forcing his throat. The dragon looked at him for a while, then dropped his head back .

- “Sorry…” Wrathion said, not much regret on his breathy voice. “You’re good, fuck…”

Anduin chuckled.

- “I should be the one praising here!” He exclaimed, feigning insult. “How are your legs? You moved a bit more than I planned you to…”

- “Hurting the same as before, maybe slightly more but nothing to worry about.” The dragon replied, pulling Anduin closer but finding him resisting.

- “‘Nothing to worry about’ only makes me worry more, you know? Come on, show me where it hurts before I find it myself” Anduin retorted, slight irritation on his voice.

Wrathion knew this specific irritation from Anduin, it was the one he’d always get replied with when the king worried about him but he refused help or care. He decided not to bother him any more, and moved the hurting leg while pointing at it.

- “I think I can heal both now, but that would make me tired…” He said as he analyzed the leg, watching as Wrathion winced with the touches and squeezes.

- “I know your worried head won’t let me finish whatever we started here until I’m not feeling these pains, so I can suggest something.” He said as he smirked, Anduin face filling with worry about said suggestion. “It’s nothing too worrying, I promise.”

- “What is it, then?”

- “My tired king won’t be able to keep up the physical activity, so if my legs are healed I’ll be able to use him to my desire…”

- “You better not be planning anything absurd, Wrathion.”

- “Oh no, no. I plan on riding you until I cum, if that’s good for you?” He lifted a brow as he spoke, and watched for Anduin’s reaction.

Silence followed for a couple of seconds, Anduin staring at his hands and the dragon’s leg. When he finally moved, it was a fast movement to position himself to heal better, not caring much for the dragon’s hard dick sticking out while he prayed for the light.

- “I assume that’s a ‘yes’?” Wrathion joked, already aware of Anduin not being able to reply.

He hissed a bit at the sensation of the healing, relaxing as the light removed the pain from his body and restored it. Anduin stayed on the same leg for a minute or so before swapping, and kept fully concentrated on the task.

Another minute, and he stopped channeling and slumped back to the pillows, chest rising and falling steadily even with him being awake.

Wrathion kept staring at the tired king, as if waiting for something.

- “Come on, aren’t you gonna do what you told me?”

- “Oh! Of course, yes. May I?” He picked up a bottle of oil he kept stealthily nearby, coating his fingers with it as he saw the king nodding in approval.

The dragon started working himself open with his fingers. One, then two, then stretching with scissoring his fingers. This of course, got Anduin excited enough to watch him during most of the process by cranking his neck in a not-so-comfortable way.

When he felt ready enough, he pulled the king’s pants to his thighs, freeing his erection but keeping him with the fabric hooked to his legs. He lubricated Anduin’s dick with the oil before climbing up on his lap and lowering himself slowly, moaning at the feeling of the stretching.

- “Light, Wrathion-“ the king reached for grabbing the dragon’s hips, but got his hands slapped away.
“You’re too tired to do anything, remember? No touching.” He replied, making Anduin groan.

When Wrathion finally got all of it in, he released a breath that ended up more of a moan than anything. He waited for a few seconds before moving tentatively, feeling the rubbing inside and moving more as he felt the pleasure and little to no burn from it.

He moaned, loud and needy, as he rode the king. He did want to make the best use of the healing so he didn’t hold back as he would usually do, this caused loud ‘plaps’ as their skin colided.

Anduin, again, reached for him. He grabbed his cock, and despite Wrathion wishing to shoo him away and keep the act up, he decided to let him as he felt Anduin’s touch on his neglected dick.

He didn’t take long to feel himself getting closer to his release, Anduin’s hand matching his frenetic pace was driving him mad. He felt the king’s other hand grab his tight and squeeze it, and between moans, Anduin managed:

- “Close”

Wrathion sped up even more. Moving himself in ways he knew the King loved to feel, hitting that spot directly as he did so. He felt the hand on his cock lose rhythm, stop, then go back faster as Anduin’s hips snapped up a few times with loud moans from him.

The dragon felt the hand on his dick stopping as Anduin rode his orgasm, so he himself finished it by putting his hands over his lover’s, growling as he achieved it.

When the post orgasm haze finally left his mind some space to think, he pulled out and grabbed a towel, cleaning himself at first before Anduin grabbed the fabric from his hands and assumed the task.

Anduin kissed random spots on his neck, chest, face and arms as he cleaned Wrathion. He held the dragon close as he did so, Wrathion tangling his arms above his shoulders and kissing his forehead and scalp.

When he finally finished, he let a small prayer to heal Wrathion.

- “What was that for?” the dragon said as he noticed the spell.

- “I don’t want you walking weird when I talk to aunt Jaina and Shaw, and we both know you will be doing so without a little healing.”

Wrathion only replied with a little chuckle, but in a few seconds Anduin started chuckling, and outright laughed a bit.

- “What?” Wrathion poked him, curious and smiling.

- “No, I shouldn’t say it. It’s a bad joke.” Anduin covered his mouth as he laughed.

- “Tell me, come on! I wanna know it!”

Anduin held back a bit of his laughter to say it clearly, took a long breath, and then say:
- “This isn’t the dragonriding I heard the champions talking about.” Then bursted into laughter again.

- “Oh, fuck off.” Wrathion replied, laughing at it too. “ You’re better than this, come on.”

- “Not really, no.” He pulled Wrathion to a hug, tossing both back to the pillows. “How long do you think we have?”

- “Considering Kalec? A few hours. Considering your aunt?...”

They heard a teleporting noise on the corridor, then almost at the same time, another.

- “A few seconds.” He magically spawned his clothes on, and did the same for Anduin, getting up in a rush. “Come on, we should go meet them before they get here.”

Chapter Text

As they heard teleporting , both got up and ran to meet their guests before they got too far into the lair.

As they moved, they heard:

- “Anduin! Where are you?!” Jaina screamed, desperate. Then, they could hear, mixed in their steps, her speaking without screaming. “Why haven’t you told me?!” An attempt to speak from Kalec was interrupted by her. “Anduin!”

When the two groups finally met, Jaina saw Anduin first and approached him with her hand raised violently.

- “You! What did you think you were doing!” She finally reached him, but her hand weakened and she hugged the king. “Oh, my sweet Anduin. I was so worried for you…”

- “I’m okay, auntie. It’s ok…” He hugged her back, hearing her sobbing as she calmed down. “We should sit down a bit, you must be tired?”

- “Yes, she should!” Kalec cut in. “ She’s overworking herself the last few weeks, she needs a break. I’ll go fetch tea.”

Anduin guided her to the couch, the living room on the lair being way more accessible to humans now made it easier for visits like these.

Wrathion stayed nearby, quiet and watching the two, trying his best for Jaina to not notice him and for some reason be angry at him.

- “Are the SI:7 aware of where you are yet?” She asked Anduin. “ Does anyone besides me knows of this?”

- “We hoped Kalec would get the letter to Shaw, which I believe he is yet to do.” He looked around, searching for Wrathion. As he locked his eyes at the dragon, he gestured for him to sit with them. “And for others knowing…besides you and Kalec, Alexstrasza knows of it. And maybe some champions, and if they cared a few centaurs too.”

Wrathion approached as Jaina kept asking, sitting besides Anduin.

- “What are these clothes?” She asked as she noticed Wrathion approaching and eyed Anduin.

- “Oh. Uhm. How far did Kalec explain things to you?” As he finished saying it, he could see the sparkle on her eye.

- “Oh, Anduin…” She hugged him again, a happier one this time. As she returned to her seat, she chuckled a bit. “That explains a lot too, you should bathe.”

He coughed and covered his mouth with a hand as his face got red. He saw Wrathion hide his face by looking away, too.

- “So… what exactly happened for you to decide to stay here? Besides, well…” She returned the topic.

- “I was too exhausted. The whole being a king thing is tiring, I wasn’t ready from the start and I feared my so desired peace wouldn’t be a thing I’d be able to truly experience while in that position.” Anduin explained, his voice saddened. “I traveled for a while, but after I heard of the call to the isles… I wanted to see if I could find Wrathion. And I did. This choice has been helping me a lot.”

- “But before that, had you had your chance on seeing the world in peace?” She asked him.

- “Not really, no. The only places I could go without risk of being found were places with little to no activity from both factions. I did go to Pandaria, though. There’s mostly locals there, and very little champions, so it’s hard to see said peace.” He sighed. “Here, however, I can see how many of the alliance and horde are interacting. It’s good seeing it from another perspective too, it’s tiring to have guards all the time and many saluting without need for it. It’s refreshing, even.”

- “Sorry for the wait, the tea was angry at me.” Kalec returned, nothing on his hands.

- “You didn’t bring any…?” Wrathion raised a brow.

- “And as far as I remember you can summon it.” Jaina added.

- “Ok, ok. I went away to send the letter to Shaw, it had a spell for it to be recognizable as sent by me so I didn’t have to go myself. And I also included a stone for communication, to make things easier.” He sat down besides Jaina, summoning tea as promised. “He’ll probably contact us soon, if you two want the rock I won’t oppose to it.”

- “Of course, sounds good.” Anduin replied with a nod, getting himself a cup for the tea. “I wanted to decide who to talk first, after Shaw. I wanted to talk to Genn and Tess, if possible in the same way we are doing now…” He looked around, scrunched up his nose. “Maybe in a friendlier place, too. Sorry Wrathion this isn’t the most welcoming for most. No offense.”

- “None taken, I also don’t like most human architecture.” He draped an arm over the king’s shoulder. “We could meet them at Valdrakken, no? They have portals in Stormwind to the city, and same for the other way around, an easy and human friendly option.”

- “I’ll get somewhere ready, then. No good comes from public areas, specially the ones with adventurers.” Kalec mentioned.

- “Thank you, Kalec. Really.” Anduin smiled at the blue dragon. “Now, Jaina, you had more questions?”

...

The winds screamed while passing through the mountains near Valdrakken. Alexstrasza worried, it’s not been long since the primalists’ last attack, and because of it they’ve been gaining more and more followers. This worried the queen, should she fight Raszageth and she will have to truly do so, not hold back because of past feelings.
- “My queen.” She heard, as a drake- Selistra – landed besides her at the seat of the aspects. A welcome visit, she’d always enjoy talking to her majordomo, even in moments like these. “May I ask… What bothers you?”
The primalists, the lack of her power as aspect, everything about her felt overwhelming, even with her long years of experience.
- “I fear for what I must choose.” She finally replied. “ You saw me, at the life pools. I was weakened by doubt, I still am.” Selistra nodded for her to continue. “I have hurt her and she is after revenge, her, the one I once valued as much as I value the other aspects... if not more. And not only that, she’s wreaking havoc towards others. Whelps, even.”

- “I see.” They replied, unsure of what to say to their queen. “ I… Might not be the best for saying this, but I believe you are going through the right path. Stopping her is necessary, unfortunately.”

- “As much as I wish it wasn’t…” She was looking at the city, far from the two, full of life and very much aware of the predicament the isles were going through. “Do tell me, what were the reports from the plains? Is the green flight okay?”

- “I’ve been told there’s growing on the number of primalists there, my queen, but no problems around the flight.” The drake corrected it’s posture. “There’s one thing that worries me a lot, though…”

Alexstrasza moved her head to look at the smaller red, eyes more tired than they had ever seen. Not only tired, worried. Guilty.
- “We have word that Wrathion was attacked and injured by the primalists. The centaurs say he was taken to Maruukai and got first aid before the blue aspect showed up with a healer, who used-“ She could hear the quotation marks on their voice “ ‘intense’ light to heal him before the three left.”

Light? Could it be-

- “Some champions, the ones present, seem to believe the healer is the king of the Alliance.” Selistra added.

She moved up fast, fast enough to alarm the majordomo.

- “My queen?” Their eyes, previously wide, now narrowed. “ The king of the Alliance can’t be here, can he? Wasn’t he missing?”

- “He was.” She replied, voice small. “ Is that information causing any kind of reaction on champions?” She asked, her voice now on it’s usual level but worry lacing her tone.

- “Not really, no. The ones that came to me with the information seemed too confused to argue with their parties about it. No rumours around so far, too.” The majordomo looked at her, she could see the questions forming. “I’ve heard of Wrathion’s interest on the human, mostly drunken crying from him. Do you believe this is something to worry about…?”

- “I wish I could say it’s not a problem, but I fear the reaction this might cause. Humans fear Wrathion for his flight’s actions, and this wouldn’t be the first king to go missing because of a black dragon or with a black dragon.” She sighed, she should focus on her own problems right now but thinking of the two eased her mind. “King Anduin might convince his allies he’s fine, but he’ll probably have many against him for his choices.”

They stayed silent for a while, watching as drakes and it’s riders flew around the city. Common citizens also were flying near the riders, only calmer. The dragonspawn seemed to be enjoying the crowded look of the city, many working extra and always smiling at the visitors.

Large wings beating, however, grabbed her attention back to the seat. Kalec arrived from the shores in a lazy flying, not taking long for her to see that Jaina was with him, not seating on his back like riders would but hugging on one of his horns.

- “Queen Alexstrasza-“ The blue dragon started.

- “Hello, Kalecgos.” She replied, calm but curious about the human mage.

- “Yes, hello. I have a favor to ask of you, or Selistra.” The majordomo raised a brow, curious too. “I know you’re informed, but I’m not sure of Selistra-”

- “They’ve been informed about it by reports from Maruukai, yes.” The queen replied quickly, wanting to know what the other dragon had to say. She wasn’t one for gossiping, but her worry for the king and the black whelp was a thing she couldn’t ignore as she saw the rushed state of the blue.

- “That makes it easier, yes. King Anduin decided to contact his allies and tell them of his current state, not to worry them more. He requests for help with somewhere to meet these allies within the city, preferably not an inn taken the influx of champions.”

- “I might know of a few houses we have vacant at the moment, if that’s the kind of place that you wish.” Selistra replied him.

- “That would be great, yes. Do you think we can stay there for the next days? A week or so, we believe.”

- “Of course.” Alexstrasza replied, her voice with more happiness in it, even if subtle. “Selistra, can you help them with this?”

- “Of course, my queen.” The drake readied themselves to show the two the house.

- “I do want to visit when you settle, if you allow me.” The dragon queen said, a smile on her scaled face. “ I want to talk to the two, make sure they’re well.”

- “We’ll tell them to come, then. When they get here, I’ll inform you.” Kalec answered her, his voice free of the earlier worry.

- “Shall we?” Selistra extended their wings, Kalec nodded and followed them, Jaina on his horn sending the message to tell the other two to come. Oh, the power of magic.

…

- “Ready to go?”

- “Help me here, would you?”

Wrathion sighed.
They’ve been waiting for Jaina to signal them to go for some good minutes, yet Anduin was still struggling with his things.

- “It’s not a bad set, come on!” The dragon looked over the king’s shoulders, seeing the stuff he’d picked to take to Valdrakken. “ Also you do realize we can come back and grab things in less than half an hour if needed, right?”

- “It’s not but I gotta fold it correctly, I want to take some other things too.”

He looked at the packed items. The ‘other things’ the king mentioned were half of his collection of ‘the lord of the wings’, that occupied 70% of the backpack.

Anduin, after lots of effort, managed to fold 3 outfits in the same ball of clothing, stuffed it on the bag, and got up.

- “Ok, ready.”

- “You sure? We have the jihui set Tong gave us somewhere in the bookshelf.” He joked, then saw the king’s eyes light up and look around. “ I’m kidding! come on, we gotta go.”

- “ But the set…”

- “ I’ll get it later. Half an hour flying, remember?”

- “ That sounds good, yes.” He nodded, following Wrathion outside.

Wrathion shifted to his true form, waited for Anduin to climb on and as soon as the king secured himself, he took flight.

…

They arrived at the area Jaina told them, looked around for the mages but didn’t see any signs of them.
Until…
- “Up here!” They looked at the voice, it was Kalec. The house they’ve managed to get had a second floor and a large balcony, where both the blue dragon and Jaina now stood on. “ Come in, I received a reply already.”

Wrathion hadn’t shifted to visage yet, and Anduin was still secure on his back, so he jumped up to reach the mages.

It surprised both humans: Jaina wasn’t ready for black scales jumping so fast towards her, and Anduin got caught off-guard by the jump too.

Kalec was unfazed by it, only offering the two newly arrived boys some conjured tea. He sat down on the couch the balcony had, he stayed besides Jaina while Anduin and Wrathion stayed on the opposing couch.

- “Shaw responded on the crystal.” He said, little worry on his words. “He’ll be here tomorrow.”
- “Until then, we plan.”