Born of the Horde - closed story

[Pearlle]

Pearlle crept carefully into the large, open country house. She smiled and pulled her gloves off. She'd decided to leave her most precious packages with the right people on Sunstrider Isle, not far from where she was now. This beautiful home she stood in now was nestled next to the sea, between Sunstrider and Farstrider. She'd come quietly down the long winding drive, happily enjoying every sight that greeted her eyes. And now, at last, she was ready to enjoy something she had missed so much over the last few days...sleeping at home in Eversong.

Her boots she left under a curved table that fit against the rounded walls. Her eyes wandered over her room, softly lit by the open archways and the sky outside. It was evening, past midnight. It had taken her more time than she'd expected to get things settled at the Academy. In the end, a few more gold coins had transferred hands and all was well. And now she was free to climb into her bed.

The warlock flicked her head, tossing her platinum hair over her shoulder as she reached behind herself and unfastened the corset-like bodice of her mooncloth robes. She sighed as the stiff boning came loose and her heavy breasts fell free. Then she shivered and let the rest of the white material fall to the floor in a heap. She would pick it up tomorrow, treat it with the respect such a fine garment deserved. Tonight though, she had other things to do.

Carefully, Pearlle crept into her bed. It was a large soft-mattressed affair, with no frame showing from the blankets or drapings. She crawled into the center of it and put her hand out. She touched his arm. Rolled him gently. And in his sleep, as he turned to her, Kadesh smiled. She purred.

Did he know she was there? Had he been dreaming, of her or someone else? She stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers, staring at him. And, helplessly lost gazing at him, she sighed.

A week ago, he had been a forbidden delight that she found herself indulging in constantly. Four days ago he was a source of consternation as she felt her children kicking inside her, reminding her she no longer lived for herself. That every person she brought into her life, she brought into two other lives as well. Three days ago he was holding her head as she fought the pains of labour, screamed and kicked at those who were trying to help her. Two days ago, he was the best reason she could think of for moving out of Orgrimmar and going to recover in Mulgore. And yesterday, he was the fighting partner she'd always dreamt of having.

Today. This morning. He'd become the person worth changing her entire life's plan for. Tanning nude on a sandbar in Bloodhoof Village's small lake, she'd determined what was best for her new family, and for herself. And that was Kadesh.

Pearlle pushed his arm away from his side and nuzzled in against him. His breathing was even. He had been so tired tonight, he hadn't enjoyed the party she and her clan had planned to celebrate the birth of Pearlle's children. She'd even found him upstairs in the inn, sleeping with her son cradled in his arms. She'd shuddered at the thought of her baby boy laying in beds even Pearlle refused to visit. She knew what happened at an inn and had tried hard to never be a part of such things. But Kadesh, she trusted completely. He had just been that tired.

Pearlle had carefully pulled the baby boy from the hunter's arms and brought him back downstairs to visit with his new clan. Kadesh had slept awhile longer, gotten up, mingled more, and then excused himself during patrol. Smiling, Pearlle sat up again and stared at his face. He was worth coming home to. She hadn't known many men that were worth that. With all the buffet that Silvermoon and Eversong constantly offered, it was not easy to tear one's self away sometimes. Kadesh though, he was easy to come home to.

Home, she thought, stroking his cheek again. She pulled some of his dark hair from his neck and stroked the circular wound there. And she considered what home was.

It hadn't been Silvermoon she had wanted to give birth in. As soon as she had been tested by Aphraelle and given the positive result of pregnancy, she had known she would not let her children be born here in Eversong. She began to develop a plan, one that would secure her in the ranks of the Horde. This pregnancy, unexpected, required that Pearlle's plan push forward at an alarming rate. She no longer had the months she had thought it would take to fulfill her goals. Making contacts and networking resources took on a new frenzy as the warlock wondered who she could trust.

Aphraelle, a mistress of sanguine arts and a warlock herself, had strongly warned Pearlle against using fel energy. Pearlle had no clue what that meant really. What spells could she use and what should she avoid? She didn't know. So, she had continued on as best as she could, using her magicks the only way she knew how. She'd told her lover of her pregnancy, and he was taken aback. He was lost in turmoils of his own that had very little to do with Pearlle and her simpering wants. She always felt so demanding around him, as if she had to fight for the merest kisses that she should have deserved. He hadn't had any support or advice for her regarding her pregnancy. It wasn't something he had thought about or planned. And though his intentions seemed true, she could look back now and wonder if he had ever expected to be involved.

Immediately, Pearlle had turned to her guard and friend, Fenx. In his comforting arms, she had found something secret and precious - the soul of his own daughter, hidden inside him. At one point Pearlle had committed to helping Fenx resolve his own issues with a soul split into two because of trauma and heartache. To find inside him the soul of a little innocent child had been very startling to the warlock. She had an uncanny ability to see the wounds and scars souls bore. And she knew she could do nothing for Fenx while he also carried the essence of his own child.

Together in the woods, unbeknown to anyone, guard and mistress had come together in a sacred ceremony. Pearlle had brought the soul of little Kaiori into herself, offering her unborn child up as a new vessel for Fenx's daughter, that she might be released and be born again. It was a ceremony of great intimacy, quite the opposite of the one Pearlle had planned to perform to join Fenx's two sides. But she came out of it feeling gifted, blessed. And like she and her guard had become closer than ever.

Fenx took the soul of his daughter seriously, and considered Pearlle's unborn child to be as much his as the father's. He dreamt terrible things and became protective of Pearlle, often refusing to leave her side. When her lover left, she had few she could turn to and trust. When her lover's traitorous choices came to light, Pearlle was aghast with the implications for her child. And she clung to the concept that the pure soul of Fenx's child would eradicate any faithless actions of her lover. Fenx helped her to choose a suitable birthplace far away from Silvermoon. Her physician, Fenx's own brother Darental, advised against giving birth anywhere near the Sunwell and the two parents agreed. An elven home in Ashenvale, complete with a beautiful shallow tub ideal for a water birth, seemed as good a place as any.

Fearful of making Fenx into her lover, she pushed her guard away. She didn't want him to hurt her and thus have to leave her. As her guard and friend though, they could desire each other from afar and never consummate the wanting, never break each other's hearts. Never hate. And never leave. She kept her sights on someone she had chosen to be her husband, just prior to becoming pregnant. He was a Tauren, and he wished her presence as much as she wished his. Together, they had shared powerful dreams and crafted incredible plans, in the name of the Horde. But he had been called away to Northrend, a place Pearlle couldn't hope to go with a pregnancy. She felt alone, found herself seeking solace in the arms of lovers past and finding no respite for the anguish in her heart.

Her lover, the father of her child, was gone. And she wanted him back desperately, to the point of making terrible decisions. A trip into the Caverns of Time resulted in her pregnancy evolving at a rapid rate. She went in barely a month pregnant, and came out almost nearing her confinement period. It was unnatural. And she was terrified. Darental examined her and warned her that he sensed not one but two presences, a boy and a girl. He also hinted that something might be wrong, and took his brother and Korangar to the side to tell them secretly what it might be. Pearlle could have pushed to find out for herself, but she wanted everything to be alright, so badly, she had ignored anything anyone had said that suggested her babies were not alright.

As she sat in her bed now, holding one of Kadesh's hands in hers and stroking his palm, she wondered at her ridiculous behaviour. What she had done had been irresponsible. And all she had wanted was the return of her lover. At any cost.

He had returned. Somehow hearing and feeling her despair, he had returned to her. He said it was for her, in her name. His actions and words though, spoke of something else. Maybe he was curious to see what it would be like to come back to her, to see her swollen belly, to lay next to her. But one night near him had been enough. And Pearlle had spent it crying in the bazaar as soon as his eyes closed. She had wondered then why she was alive, why her children were inside her, growing as they were. Why the people of the Horde were so fractured and apathetic. And what role she played in any of it.

As clear as crystal, it had come to her. The nightly patrols she had been doing in Eversong, the battles against the Alliance she led her clan into. All of it made sense in one fel stroke. If the people of the Horde could be reminded of what they were fighting for, if they could be made to see the beauty of Silvermoon, the faces of the innocent children orphaned by the destructive behaviour of the Alliance...maybe they would return to the war, motivated, inspired.

One day she had stood on a floating island in Nagrand, screaming her lover's name into the wind in vain and praying that she might fall from the island's edge to the waters below and never wake. The next, he was in her arms.

If intention caused the law of attraction to work so powerfully, couldn't she intend for the Horde to win, and see a true end to the war? Real peace, worth fighting for? She could.

Much later, she had gone to her confinement in Orgrimmar. Her duedate as declared by Darental was nearing. She wanted to give birth in the true heart of Horde land, and that was Durotar. Every day she went to Thrall's throne room, standing beside the lovely Ambassador Dawnsinger and listening to petitioners and nobility alike consulting with Thrall. She watched, she learned, she made herself available as an advisor when ever she could.

Kadesh had come into her life just then, a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Duroxas had also come, soft whispery kisses and the sweetest, most intelligent twisting phrases. Both consumed her hours, as much as she dared let them or ask for of them. She found herself pursued even though her belly was swollen with twin children, even as her heart ached for companionship. She remained true to her plan as long as she could, succumbing only at the last to Kadesh. With his dark hair and his soothing ways, he quickly became her closest companion. She let him near her even when she kept the well-intentioned Fenx at bay. And it was Kadesh that found her in Thrall's throne room that day.

The greatest adventures of all Sin'dorei begin in blood. So too had Pearlle's adventure into true motherhood. She'd had a child long ago, one magickally raised to maturity before her time. That rebellious offspring that Pearlle had never mothered died far too soon, probably cursed by Pearlle's lack of love for her. Her heritage too had been mixed and Pearlle had resented the child for it. The girl had paid the price with her life. With no one to guide her in womanhood, she had been murdered. And it was her grave that Pearlle and her kinsman Tivadar visited each time they passed through Ashenvale. It was in that child's name that Astranaar burned after each visit to the cemetery. This time, she had sworn to herself it would be different. She would love her children, this time, regardless of their father's return to untainted lineage.

Found laying in a pool of blood, surrounded by Kor'kron elite guards and the Orgrimmar nobility, Pearlle had been picked up by Kadesh and Korangar and brought to Lord Cristok Moonwatcher's home. There, she had given birth to twins. Not the boy and girl she'd been told to expect, but two small and precious blonde baby girls.

As she watched Kadesh sleeping, she wondered what it must have been like for him. He knew next to nothing about her, though in her eyes, he knew her better than most who would call themselves her friend. He knew her way of killing, her favourite minions to use and her choices for battle gear. He knew her tactics, what prey she hated the most and what she hunted the most. What more was there to know?

But what it must have been like for him to see her just then. Lying on the floor next to Thrall's throne, blood seeping up her robes. How must he have felt, watching her go through the pains of labour, fighting and kicking at the men holding her feet. She had Josylin on one side, guiding her into pushing. And Vanarela was on the other, almost frantic with the newness of the situation. Two little girls came forth but no boy. Darental had been furious, sure that there was a boy. And he'd sent Korangar to retrace Pearlle's steps, to find out what had caused her to collapse and bleed so profusely.

Korangar had gone to Thrall's court. And he returned with her son in his arms and a story to tell that any young Horde child should be proud of. Pearlle had collapsed for reasons unknown to the Orc king. In her spasmodic state, she had given birth to her first born son. The umbilical cord had been wrapped not once but twice around the boy's neck, and struggling to breath and turning blue, he had been handed to Thrall himself. The orc had used his very own dagger to cut the cord free. In the meantime, Pearlle's friends and kin had come to collect her. And no one had known what to do with the baby. Korangar found him on the Orc king's lap, cradled in a banner. A Horde banner.

Pearlle was presented with her son. And she did the same thing she had done when she had given birth so many years ago. The twins she knew had blonde hair, like Fenx, like herself. She had pulled the banner from around the boy's hair and gasped at the dark silky locks he bore. And when he opened his eyes and looked at her with an azure gaze, she had been shocked and dismayed. She loved him. He was her son. But now she feared for him, for his very life.

He was his father's son.

Kadesh had stepped in then. Holding her son in his arms, he tended to the boy almost from that point on, ensuring that Pearlle's chagrin at the child's looks would not make the baby feel any less favoured. Three children were hard to care for, and a surprise for Pearlle. Kadesh quickly became the supportive partner she had never expected to have.

She stroked his cheek again now, putting his hand on his chest and laying next to him. He was handsome. He was wise. He was never cross with her, though he could be as frustrated as anyone. His manner made her crave his touch, his attention. And she hated that he had never gained his own heart's desire, never seen the completion of his own dreams.

He'd been with her in Orgrimmar, sleeping in a hammock across town while waiting for her to return to Silvermoon. Unable to bear being away from him just then, Pearlle had packed her new family up and moved to Mulgore for the rest of her recuperation. The inn at Bloodhoof Village kept a bed for her, always ready. She shared it with Kadesh, giving him every part of herself, and parts she had never given anyone else. When it was time to move to Silvermoon, to find a Sin'dorei wetnurse and return to her warmonger ways, Pearlle had hoped and prayed that Kadesh would come with her.

And he had. He'd promised to never leave her side. She'd heard promises like that before. He'd sworn he would never leave her. She wanted to believe it so badly.

Now here he was, lying exhausted and fatigued in her bed. He'd found her party exhausting, but he had not been impolite except to Fenx and only when Fenx drew his knife out. It was expected the two men would butt heads around the children. Pearlle was proud that her babies would have such men as their father figures. And Korangar was always nearby, ready to put out a steadying hand and encourage the two to put their blades away.

Fenx would take the children sightseeing, Kadesh would have to learn to trust him with that. They were to be Fenx's children, to have his heritage for all intents and purposes. And just as Kadesh had to trust Fenx, so too did Fenx have to trust Kadesh - with Pearlle.

She curled up next to him again, pulling his arm around her so he cradled her. Instinctively he held her close, even as he did not stir from his sleep.

The children were with their new wetnurse at the Academy on Sunstrider. It was a good place for them. Pearlle was no peasant woman. She was a lady. Her children could not be nursed by her, not while she was in command of an entire clan of Horde members seeking vengeance and the blood of the Alliance. It was not unnatural for children to be safely raised by another. And Pearlle was going to see them, every day. So would Fenx, Korangar. And Kadesh.

The children were the proof of the righteousness and honesty of the Horde. Where the Alliance made a pretense of serving the Light and goodness, the Horde was very honest about its immoral beginnings - and proud of how far it had come from its roots. The children, as challenged as they would be, would be welcome members of the Horde, growing up with the tales of Hellscream and others.

Sighing, Pearlle closed her eyes. She smiled and hugged Kadesh.

This...was what home was. It didn't have to be the place one found love, but it was the place one brought love back to. It didn't have to be the place one gave birth. But it was the place one raised children, proudly. It wasn't the place one found safety, all the time. But home was definitely the place worth fighting for.