(IC) Daddy Mowtas?

The sun broke out over the small, crooked pier over the river with a burst of heat over Kiahna's face. Opening one eye, she narrowed it at the sunlight streaming down on to her skin and muttered a soft curse. Preferring the cloud filled days of late, she did not welcome the sun for it did not match her sour mood. It had been a rough few weeks for this ex-Magister of Silvermoon. Between their leaving Silvermoon for good and moving to Nagrand, to her rather odd way of resigning her post at the Sunfury Spire to the not so wonderful stretch of time with her husband Maelthas seemingly drinking himself to death, Kiahna had had her fill of drama. Moving to Nagrand had turned out to be a wonderful thing indeed. This home, however much in disarray and disrepair it was, was completely theirs. Kiahna and Maelthas will build a home here, a center of love and the power of their own souls is now threaded in to the soil, the walls of the huts and the ripples of the water on their river.

With her toes wrinkled from sitting in that river, Kiahna rose and dusted off her sundress before trekking back up to the one hut that was whole and liveable. "I have heard you plan to have children. I wholly approve, you and Maelthas are of good stock and beauty, have plenty then send them here to me for I will see to their training." Grand Magister Rommath, pompous man that he can be, intoned these words to Kiahna one afternoon when her classes had dispersed. "Children?" Kiahna outright chuckled in the Grand Magister's face, "The day children come out of this body," she began but something made her stop and at the look of question on the Magister's face, she finished with, "will be a glorious day indeed. I am sorry Grand Magister, I have enjoyed my time here, but I believe I can do much more in the Outlands with the Prince." How her stomach roiled as she said those words, but at least it left her with a so-called friend in the Grand Magister, who, incidentally demanded to be their first child's Godfather. The idea!

"You've let the sun kiss you again, my love." Maelthas looked up from cleaning his armor with a smirk, "I demand a kiss of my own." Leaning down to fulfill that demand, Kiahna was reminded of only a few weeks ago when she thought she had truly lost this man she loved. Deep within his own emotions, his own rage and fury, Maelthas disappeared. The Maelthas she knew, that all knew, had retreated behind this monster of pain. Kiahna witnessed herself the barrage of ill will he's received from many of Silvermoon citizens, and not to mention the time he watched his own corpse become reviled by fellow Sin'dorei when he was downed while defending the City. Since the day she met him, Kiahna knew that Maelthas would not have a rosy road paved in gold as he walked the path of a Blood Knight, but she also knew Maelthas' soul was ready for it. Besides, he had her as well beside him. In his darkest hour though, she let worry and pessimism creep inside. Even when those dearest to them, Yunjin Bloodtalon, and many more, all came to their aid, Kiahna still felt so very alone in Maelthas' darkness. The precipice of the abyss she walked was sharp and jagged, she kept her footing though in the end. Together, these two now heal from that walk along the edge of madness, forever changed, forever bonded by it all.

A scream pierced the air as Kiahna rose from a rather long kiss to her husband, "NOOOOOOOOOO!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!!" Maelthas had risen at the sound of the scream, ready to defend any victim, then met Kiahna's eyes with a chuckle, "It seems Borma is not happy with Hotha." The door to the hut was then filled with two tussling orc children as Kiahna commented to her husband, "She never is." The babbling began in earnest then, for the two children now had an audience to listen to their grievances. In rapid Orcish, that even Kiahna had trouble following, the two laid out both of their sides of the story. At the same time.

Along with Borma and Hotha, several of the nearby orphan children have come to their home, drawn like stray cats to milk apparently. Somehow, these children seemed to know when Maelthas and Kiahna would return from their time on the front lines of Outland, streaming over the compound to meet them with cheers. The first time it happened, Kiahna nearly wept with the emotion of it, to see such innocents with happiness coursing through them, those that have lost so much, still smiling today. Over the weeks, it became a routine, a very happy routine. Maelthas took to the children with much enthusiasm, even after his darker days in the recent weeks, it made Kiahna's heart soar to watch this. Every evening, Maelthas would say the same thing before they'd let sleep take them: "What a good day of love."

"Well, this sounds rather interesting," Maelthas intoned, already donning his "Blood Knight" voice with the two. "This is a matter of sharing, I believe. One has something the other wishes, but has not earned themselves nor discovered themselves. While the other has a chance to remain selfish, or become selfless." He began to pace around the pair of girls, who without realizing, stood up straight and moved in to a straight line as if they were Adepts. "Hotha always be selfish," exclaimed a small voice from behind Kiahna's leg. Placing a hand on the young troll's shoulder, Kiahna smiles, "When the time comes for a character witness, you'll surely be called on by Maelthas, Jinnae." The girl, not more than a handful of years old, curled her arms around Kiahna's thigh, watching the exchange with great interest.

"Well, shouldn't Borma get her own frog? I worked really hard to catch this one, see, I got a splinter too!" Hotha shoved her dirty, green and not to mention mud-encrusted hand towards Maelthas as if showing off a badge of honor. "You're such a baby, Hotha! A simple splinter and you and you cry as much as Andarien." As if on cue, a beautiful blonde Sin'dorei boy toddled his way up to Kiahna. "Up, up, momma Kia!" With arms outstretched above his head, and that look of forlorn lonliness, Andarien beseeched Kiahna to pick him up, to better watch the goings-on for sure. "Come here, little darling. You might learn something as well."

Maelthas looked over at Andarien, breaking his calm and cool countenance reserved for this situation to give the boy a youthful grin, sending him in to a squirmy giggle as he perches on Kiahna's hip. "There is nothing wrong with being proud of your hard work, Hotha. It makes one feel worthy to do their best, to gain something after much travail, sweat and muscle. The item you've gained somehow takes on much more worth, and it is only normal to feel a bit protective of it." As Maelthas spoke to the girls, he continued to pace around them in a circle, donning his armor pieces. "However, it is also important to remember that sharing is what keeps the many strong. When Quel'thalas was under attack by the Scourge, there were many who forgot their supposed place, their supposed wealth, and gave all within their heart and home. I believe it was one of the many reasons there were survivors at all."

Though the girls may be Orcs, they've listened at the foot of Maelthas and Kiahna these past few weeks, learning much of the Sin'dorei. Kiahna has also suggested they host the children and a few of their friends to teach them of the many other races. Yunjin would be perfect to regale the young ones with stories of the Trolls, and Behren would certainly be adored by the children, that is if he didn't frighten them at first. With one of Kiahna's reddish curls twirled in his sticky fingers, Andarien added his two cents to Maelthas' speech, "Quel-tas is bwoken, but not the Sin'orei." For a child who has only begun to speak within the last year, Andarien already has the haughty tone perfected, even with his mispronunciations. "So, how will Borma be stronger if I just give her the frog? She won't have learned how to capture one herself, and it might not even be worthy to her as it is to me!" As Hotha so succinctly got to the heart of the situation with her insight, Kiahna rubbed at a smudge of dirt on Andarien's pale cheek. "Ah ha, a very wise question you ask, Hotha. For the answer, you need only to think hard upon your own feelings on Borma. Do you think she will find it worthy? Do you think she should learn her own skills at frog catching?" Kiahna arched a brow at the little girl, well, close to a little woman actually, and Hotha returned a contemplative look.

Twins, the girls were polar opposites. Borma the more meek, timid of the two, while Hotha was bold and audacious. Protective of each other, Kiahna's heart still sings to this day when she thinks of their story. Orphaned at such a young age, witnessing their own parents death, the destruction of their small village, it would seem these two clung to each other as if a lifeline in the world, despite their sisterly squabbles. All of these children, Jinnae, Borma, Hotha, Andarien, Hawete, Lucinda and Callande have brought such joy and brightness to Kiahna and Maelthas. The compound, even its constant state of repair, is singing with the happiness of these children and what they seem to do to the couple. Maelthas smiles more these days, longing looks at Kiahna whenever a child is either attached to her or near her, and dotes on every single one of the children, whether boy or girl. For herself, Kiahna seems to have fallen in to a role of comforter of stubbed toes, splintered fingers, bruised behinds and overall reliever of boredom. Life seems so simpler here, the sounds of the children, the looks in their eyes, the friendship they give so willingly... it has been a wonderful few weeks. However, it is about to end.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell them? Just go, then come back in a few weeks." Kiahna had suggested this one evening in their bed, the moonlight streaming in through the silken sheers over their faces. "That wouldn't be right. Their whole lives have been about someone important leaving them and never returning. I am sure if we just explain it to them, they'll understand." Curling on to her side, she snuggles herself against her husband with a sigh, "I hope you are right Maelthas. Though, it will hurt me even more to not see them everyday."

The talk didn't work really. There was crying, there was a bit of screaming, a bit of wailing too. They assured the children they would return, and even gave an exact date. Of them all, Borma was the stoic one, wishing them luck and saying she would count the days until we return. Kiahna already knew from the time she's spent with the girl, she will be a powerful weaver of the holy arts. As the pair began to ride off, their hands waving their goodbye, little Andarien ran forward and Kiahna reigned in her hawkstrider to prevent a trampling. With his hands raised, the forlorn look of pure abandonment on his face, Andarien's sweet little voice asked, "Momma Kia, Daddy Mowtas?"