Warcraft 3: Broken Blessings

Chapter 20

No one was expecting the second stone golem in similar size and stature as the first to suddenly appear near the main tree city. When Rosalia was able to contact Perhin while Illidan was in a deep sleep, she was in complete shock at what she was told. She was very curious with the thought of how many more stone golems could be found. When Illidan woke an hour later, he was soon busy carving up the hanging boar. After he got a good-sized piece of it, he hung the portion over a turning spit. Just as it finished, he was quick to slice off a piece for her.

"What do you think?" he asked and gave her a small piece of the freshly roasted meat. She tasted it and blinked at the bitterness it held.

"Far too bitter!" she said with a small cough. "It's like...an aftertaste of dirt."

"I warned you," he grinned. "So, yes, you can eat them. They just don't have much flavor."

"A shame," she sighed. "I could conjure up some form of seasoning for it."

"If you think so," he smiled. He loved how he could simply be himself around her. It was a very nice and genuine change to him. She conjured up some sweetening salts and bits of mint powder to gently rub into another piece he brought to her. When he tasted it, he paused. The bitterness was fully balanced out. "Okay. You can make it taste better. I am very impressed."

She laughed softly at him, and he let her season the rest of the meat. He was busying himself with the rest of the carcass to split up into roasting sections for easier cooking. When he heard her yawn, he finished up and moved to the bed to let her recline on him. With a tired sigh, she whispered, "Why do you care for me so?"

"Because you care for me," he said and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Rest now."

She nodded and yawned again. He caressed her back softly and felt her give over her weight. For a solid hour, everything went fine. He sensed nothing out of the ordinary at all, as he guarded over her. When he felt her start to shiver in her sleep, he directed his attention to her. When the shivering got worse, he tried to gently wake her up. Concern set in when she didn't wake up. "A nightmare. Bad one, from what I can tell. Okay. I wonder if I can..."

He focused and found himself quickly pulled into her dream.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

He found himself standing outside her home. Much to his surprise, he was able to see here, but that was because it was all a vision that he was sharing with her. He recalled what she said about her childhood incident. The place seemed oddly similar. Then he realized that it was the dream she spoke of so often. Now he moved towards the small house with a purpose. When he opened the door, it simply pushed open. He found that odd. Even stranger was when the door closed and locked behind him. Now he realized that she was letting him in subconsciously.

He moved through the house and saw that the layout was simple, yet very homely. When he heard her softly sleeping in her bedroom, he carefully pushed the door open. He paused when he saw her sleeping three-year-old form in the small cradle. When she woke at the sound of someone walking into her room, she looked up and paused with surprise. He quickly folded his wings behind him to be as non-threatening as possible to her.

"Rosalia, it's okay. I'm here now," he said softly.

"Daddy?" she suddenly asked and looked around. He was stunned. Her voice was perfect. The whispering was gone. And her voice radiated with magical power. If she got her voice back, her magic would be at its full peak!

"He's not here. He asked me to watch over you," he said smoothly. "I'm a friend of his."

"How?" she asked and watched him warily. Her voice simply sent out a wave of magic at him. He had to catch himself once again. As a child, she had no way to control it. He was able to regain himself quickly, though. He survived a full blast of raw magic. This was easy to work with.