Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft.

"Common."

"Assigned language."

Yet another bleary, muggy day. It was driving him insane. He was used to the everlasting summer and Silvermoon's rich golden colors. All this green, cold and night elves were getting to him. Vael yawned and stretched, grimacing as a sharp pain forced him to stop mid-yawn.

"Fuck me," he whined, letting his head fall limp to the side. His eyes bore down on a leather bound book on the table. Ali had been reading to him myths and stories, mainly about a hero that got punished or rewarded for following Elune's wishes. Most of them didn't make sense, the other half he was sure were made to scare children so they wouldn't rebel.

A flurry of steps raced through the doorway with the sound of the door being shut abruptly. Ali was breathing hard with her back against the door as if a wild worg had been chasing her.

"Oh. My. Gosh."

He inwardly rolled his eyes but tilted his head to give her his attention. She looked frightened, but over a couple of days he had found the girl tended to exaggerate everything.

"Is the tree burning?" He asked out of pure boredom.

"No! I don't mean to be the carrier of bad news," she tip-toed closer to him, hunching her back as if to avoid a wave of arrows. "But my other Uncle is here," she whispered, eyes going wide.

An uncomfortable sensation settled in his abdomen. The sin'dorei did not have to ask who her other Uncle was, they had been introduced in the first round during the first season and he had left with claw scars over his stomach as a souvenir. It was a well known fact that Kanyr hated blood elves, the Horde in general but blood elves took first place, for killing his mate as the rumor went.

"Not here yet, but will be I mean!" she didn't know what to do with her hands, so she waved them rapidly as if to soothe a fire.

The door creaking announced a new guest and Vael shifted his gaze half expecting the youngest of the kal'dorei brothers at the entrance with an axe. He relaxed when he saw it was just his caretaker with a fresh roll of bandages in hand.

"Ali what are you still doing here? Go to school you're late," he said with disapproval clear in his voice.

"Urgh Uncleee I hate that school! It's not even the school it's the people, do I have to remind you how I lost all my notes to the cascade south of Nighthaven? I should be studying with mom in Darnassus, I mean how often do you teach a priestess to do druid stuff? They expect me to be able to regrow skin, and my worst teacher, whom I won't mention, even punished me because I can't shift. Can you believe that?"

Rivanis's silvery eyes told her he wasn't buying it, but he was listening.

"Stop stalling and go." With that he turned to Vael, examining his physical appearance briefly. Ali looked at the ceiling out of desperation, turned around and then stomped away, grumbling about no one listening to her misfortune.

"So I'm in Moonglade? How did I not know, the weather here is terrible," Vael said, staring out the window. It looked like it was getting ready to rain again. Rivanis frowned, not pleased that he had found that tiny bit of information but then dismissed his anger, deeming it minor and foolish.

He was displeased because his dear younger brother had decided to return home after a year long absence. Grandma had probably threatened him, he figured.

"Good morning, you look... worse than yesterday. Your health was improving though, why the sudden change?"

"You really expect me to answer that?" he asked, raising a long blonde eyebrow. Rivanis held his right arm to take his pulse, closing his eyes to focus. Then out of nowhere the answer hit the blonde. His eyes widened slightly at the realization that he had gone an entire week and a half or more without a drop of fel. He licked his lips at the thought of fresh fel energy, he had nearly forgotten about that. Nearly.

"Thirsty?" the night elf asked, still concentrating.

"You have no idea," he replied. The corners of his mouth twitched downwards as another thought invaded his mind. What if Rivanis ignored that need? It was definitely a possibility, though he was certain the druid had warlock friends.

Rivanis broke contact to get up and pour him some water from the pitcher that was always at the table. He had never seen it being refilled so he assumed it was enchanted as well. For a night elf he was very fond of magic, Vael noted.

He was taken by surprise when the kal'dorei handed him the cup of water, instead of holding it for him to sip from. He gratefully took it with both hands and drank slowly, the pleasant cold liquid tickled his throat but did nothing to appease to burning hunger.

"I need a fel crystal." he rubbed his toes together, trying to warm his feet. He looked up and noticed Rivanis was very still, staring at him.

"I thought the Sunwell was restored..." he trailed off only to confirm that thought in his head. He was right, it had been brought back, there should be no reason blood elves were still feeding off fel energy. Unless it was voluntary. Rivanis focused on the sin'dorei again and deemed the idea a possibility.

"You say it as if the day after we were having the Light for breakfast. It doesn't work that way," Vael replied. He really did not want to explain how the modern blood elf worked. Before, magic and a high amount of fel energy could satisfy the absence of Light. He hadn't lived near the Sunwell long enough for the addiction to kill him afterwards, like with his parents and those before them. They only noticed something was 'missing' after it got destroyed. Then everything and their dog started feeding off anything they could such as fel energy, mana, and even elemental energy.

"Aren't you a paladin of the Light..." Rivanis pressed, somewhat confused and half knowing what was going on. Vael gave him a blank stare he couldn't quite decipher. The night elf sighed patiently and then turned to leave. "Well I do hope a mana potion helps."

"It won't."

Rivanis turned to face him then, frowning ever so slightly. Vael shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the way his ex-rival was looking at him. He did not like where this was going, it was shameful and to a minor point embarrassing. He was used to the embarrassing situations however, so he swallowed his pride and continued.

"If you're going to feed me mana, it has to be fresh," his voice was slow and unsteady.

"Fresh? As in from a living source?" The sin'dorei nodded. "I cannot go around kidnapping people, what else works?"

"Fel crystals, well fel energy in general," he shut his mouth when the night elf glared at him. Rivanis did not mean to give him such a threatening look, but he didn't want to ask around for either of those. He knew some warlocks but not to the extend of buying their demonic energy off them. The other one he still talked to was a close friend, but not someone he would tell Vael about. His patient was a secret even to most of his family. And that raised another problem.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Rivanis started thinking about next week and the ridiculous human celebrated holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty. Most of their friends were human and this year they were hosting it.

"That won't work either," he stated at last. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, looking at the blood elf intently.

Vael absolutely hated when he did that. It was a recently found pet peeve of his, though anything the kaldorei did annoyed him, but this one gesture made him nervous. Was he looking at him or lost deep in thought? He ran a hand through his hair out of lack of anything to do. The grime was no longer there, and for that he was partially thankful. It still wasn't as silky as it used to be and that bothered him. Was Rivanis judging him now? He knew the look when it was directed at his kind. It wasn't his fault he was born an addict.

"I'll look into it, I'm sure a couple of more days won't kill you," Vael could hear the tiny bit of uncertainty in his voice. "For now breakfast."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Vael wasn't sure he could last 'a couple of more days.' This was a new record for him, he never managed to stay clean for more than two days. He hadn't been this addicted before, he had to thank his father for that.

Who feeds their child fel crystals? The drunken idiot had thought that would help 'man him up.' Only thing it did was launch him into a new wave of trouble.

He traced the glyphs on his arm and admitted that he liked the color. It was a vibrant blue that reminded him the way light reflected underwater. Vael knew their purpose had been to increase the strength in his arms but now they were utterly useless. His mood took a downfall as his eyes scanned the rest of his body. It was all going to scar, he was sure of it.

"Alright water is ready. Can you stand?" Rivanis walked out of the washroom with a fluffy white towel on his shoulder. Vael had found out earlier it was enchanted, like every other thing in the room, to disinfect and so stung quite a bit when he was enveloped in it. He hated the damn thing.

"Somewhat," he replied, tossing the sheets off his wounded form. The cold evening air assaulted his vulnerable skin, causing goosebumps to rise along the side of his arm and legs. He shivered involuntarily and took Rivanis's hand when he offered it. By now he had gotten used to being in his presence and being nude did not bothered him, it only became a problem when the younger elven girl bursted into the room without warning.

It pained him greatly to walk such a short distance. Runes had been carved at the sole of his feet with the deepest incisions at the ball and heel. He knew it had been done that way on purpose, to keep him from running too far.

Vael leaned closer to the night elf, seeking the warmth rather than the stability. He shivered from the cold and then again when he stuck a leg in the warm water. He turned to face Rivanis when somewhere in the cold air, a whiff of a familiar scent reached his nostrils. Oh it was heavenly.

His eyes fell on the kaldorei's neck and moved downwards to his arm. With his hands he started prodding gently, feeling the pulse on his fingertips and stopping when he reached a particular vein pulsed loudly.

"What are you doing?" Rivanis asked, completely lost. Vael snapped out of his reverie, shaking his head as a reply before giving him a weak smile.

"Playing doctor," he chuckled faintly before being gently submerged in warm water. His thoughts kept jumping back to the mana pulsing under the warm skin, it had been close he could almost taste it. Vael frowned and scowled, mentally berating himself for nearly giving in. "So how am I supposed to survive your brother?"

Rivanis stopped massaging the shampoo into his scalp, though by the look on the other's face he was not fully present at the time.

"How do you know... never mind I know the answer to that," he let out a heavy sigh and added a note to talk to his niece about it. He resumed his actions, carefully rubbing the slippery substance in the hair while Vael scrapped everything else. "I don't hold secrets from my bothers. He will understand." he replied. 'Highly doubt it.' "Water's getting cold, get up."

Rivanis covered the elf in the large fluffy towel. Vael immediately jumped and hissed, trying to move away and knowing nothing would work. He was too tired from trying not to think about his burning hunger, and the air slapped him with a fresh current that made him shiver all over. The only heat source available less than a foot away was the tall night elf but he wasn't about to take any chances. Though he did wonder what the reaction would be if he jumped him.

"What's with that look?"

"I'm cold."

oOoOoOoOOoOoO

"And so Elune granted him nine lives for saving her chosen. And that's that for now," Ali closed the book triumphantly, her trademark smile on her face. "See? The hero gets rewarded most of the time. Until they piss her off, in that case they usually end up dying."

"I thought She's supposed to be all-forgiving? And nine lives? Why not eternal life that's more of a reward," he said in a soft voice. The girl had not given up even after he had verbally attacked her earlier for... well he couldn't remember what it had been that time. He was getting more aggravated at himself, the thirst had started eating away at his sanity. Vael closed his eyes and recited a brief prayer to the Light since he had found it helped a bit. It was in times like these that he wished he had finished his training instead of jumping into the first opportunity of money making.

"She is but someone had to be the unlucky fella otherwise the book would be boring. So do you have a plan yet?" she asked casually, putting the book back on the table. She fixed the fabric of her long orange-red skirt before giving him her full undivided and eager attention.

"For what?" he mumbled, frowning in confusion.

"Uncle K."

Oh right, the dreaded uncle, Kanyr. If he was still alive and sane by the time he arrived at the treehouse then he would get up and go greet him, that had been his first idea. The second one involved promising anything for a drop of demonic energy. His hand twitched at the thought of the tasty green liquid.

They both looked at each other in confusion as a thin blue cord appeared from the sheets to hold his wrist still. His brows furrowed as he gently tugged at it and found the cord fully solid. A few seconds passed before the magical string deemed the situation under control and vanished. 'Huh, so it's a faulty product.'

"That was weird, you weren't trying to kill me that time. Oh were you thinking it?" Her eyes widened and she eagerly awaited a response.

"Where's your Uncle?"

"On his way to your funeral," she replied jokingly, thinking he had asked about Kanyr. Her smile faltered when he didn't share it. "I'm sorry that was terrible... Uncle Riv's out getting fruits."

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" She blinked in surprised.

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"I want peace and quiet." He replied bluntly. That was a lie he didn't mind her pestering presence sometimes, anything was better than his solitude, but right now a plan as forming in his head and he wanted to try it out.

As expected she got up, stuck her tongue out at him and closed the door behind her. 'That was easy,' he thought, expecting her to come back just to annoy him.

Slowly as to not alert the strings, Vael sat up and got up, leaning his body against the wall. It was still chilly and he shuddered but was very content at having nothing hold him back. He wondered if that was what Rivanis had intended, he highly doubted it and thanked the Light that something was in his favor, for once.

The blood elf peeked out the window and was relieved to find no one looking at him. He could hear an owl in the distance and a couple of squirrels fighting over food. His eyes twinkled when he saw that the tree in front was not as far as he thought, he could possible even climb to it through the branch. Then jump down its bark and run out towards freedom. Or something that had mana.

He made up his mind then. Once he had enough strength to run, he was getting out of here.

Happy Holidays! Boy it's been busy and chaotic, but the food was so worth it.

Thanks very much for the reviews! I'll be making them longer as I come up with more stuffs to talk about.

By the way Mature Warning for next chapter, not super uber explicit (yetcough) but just thought I would give a heads up. Don't want anyone freaking out afterwards or anything. .

And for whatever reason the format in my last chapter likes to either eat words, or bunch them up together. Vael has G. U. III branded on his arm I don't know why it got eaten up. -Shrug-

Thanks for reading!