He was spread out on the bed, asleep, when he felt Evelyn come into the room. He opened his eyes to fairly bright light; it was later than he'd thought. "Overslept, sorry." He muttered, covering his eyes with his forearm. "Be right down." On the days he worked, he usually got breakfast on the streets, but they both had today off, which meant Evelyn would cook…
"Make sure you do it in clothes." She stated, and he peered at her from under his arm. "You've visitors."
"Visitors?" If it was Carther, she would have said so.
"Yes. Some man in a damn fool set of shining armor…and a man in a purple dress. I'm not quite certain which of them looks the bigger fool."
That sounded…dire. Ban nodded, and carefully dressed before coming downstairs. Surely enough, there was the man he'd met earlier… Silas, and an earnest faced older man in a purple dress. Stormwind was certainly full of the bizarre; Ban would have to give it that.
"Good morning." He offered slowly, warily. Evelyn had taken up a strategic position in the doorway to the kitchen, the mastiff glowering around her skirts.
"Ah!" The man in the dress breathed enthusiastically, hopping up from the chair Evelyn had given him. Silas leaned against the wall, silent. "You are the Gilnean mage? Banastre?"
"I….am." And I wish I wasn't. Evelyn was cultivating that stare, and he did his best to not look at her.
The man's eyes widened, as if he was expecting another answer. He looked at the paladin, who only shrugged in answer. "That is what he claimed last night, Voreph. Mage, from Gilneas. Everything I saw backed up the mage part, the Gilnean part I am not so certain of. Although we have many refugees, and what little of the story I got from him last night makes too much sense to truly doubt it."
"Gilneans…out of Gilneas! Here, in Stormwind. And they practice the arcane arts! Fascinating, utterly fascinating! Where were you trained, again?"
Evelyn smirked, and he sighed. "The Royal College of Mages." He muttered, glaring at her. "I do not see the point of this…"
"Well, firstly…" The knight began slowly, "I wanted to let you know the young ones are fine. When I made my report, it attracted his attention…" He motioned at the man with him. "And he simply had to meet the Gilnean mage."
Voreph nodded, either ignoring the paladin's droll tone, or he simply hadn't noted it…Ban wasn't sure which it was. "So Gilneas has a college of magic?"
"Had. Evelyn…" If she was going to lurk in the doorway and listen, then she could at least make herself useful. It was her house, she was his hostess.
"Right, right away, Ban." She responded, moving back into the kitchen to bring tea. The mastiff stood, torn between staring ominously at the strangers under its roof, and following her. It finally settled on following, and slunk away after her.
"Had." The paladin considered the word, his eyes glancing towards where Evelyn had vanished from. "You mentioned the Forsaken last night. And now, you tell me that a college of magics, untouched by the Horde wars, lies before them? When did the Wall fall? And is there any resistance remaining in Gilneas? My superiors are somewhat concerned by this turn of events…"
Ban hissed, fairly certain that these were the questions that Genn was supposed to answer when he arrived. Whenever that was supposed to be… His first task for the pack, for the Crown, and he was failing at every turn… But his way was also to smooth the way over to asking for assistance, and this seemed as fine a time as any.
"We have a strong resistance in place, to harry the Forsaken until…"
The paladin waved a hand at the mage to silence him when it was obvious the man wanted to pop back into the discussion. "Go on." The paladin breathed when Ban paused. "Until?"
"Until Genn can arrive here and appeal for relief from your King in person." Evelyn appeared with the tea, and had to have overheard him, but her expression remained placid as she served.
"I see. Greymane survives, and you expect him here in Stormwind soon. Good. Where is your main evacuation point? It's not here; you barely have any citizenry in Stormwind. I assume you are here as a vanguard, to check the lie of the land before your King arrives. Prudent. But your people…Gilneas's actual population is where? Do they require security? Support?"
"Our people are on Teldrassil."
Somehow, that was a suspicious response, judging by the glance between the paladin and the mage. Ban hated playing this game with only a small portion of the cards in his hand, but there was no other option. "The night elves have taken in the main portion of your refugees?"
"Yes." Somehow, that was what they doubted. "They were instrumental in the evacuation of Gilneas. They provided troops, and transportation. Is there a problem? I was led to believe that Stormwind was allied with them?" There were subtleties at play here, and he didn't have nearly enough information for this.
"We are." The paladin agreed easily enough, and Ban breathed a small sigh of relief. "They just aren't known for their willingness to get involved and extend themselves for humans. It would have been more in keeping with their past behaviors to have informed us that Gilneas was under duress when they became aware of it."
Because we aren't entirely human anymore. Ban only shrugged. And now, those who had fallen to the affliction seemed easily blessed in the druidic arts that the night elves had such regard for. They had examined Banastre at Teldrassil, only to ascertain that no, his link to his arcane soul remained undamaged. He would be no druid, he lacked that…blurred out by his previous calling.
"No. They were on the ground in Gilneas during the Fall." He would give them the credit they were due. "Their ships carried out the evacuation. Their troops made the evacuation possible."
"Fascinating." The mage muttered, and the paladin nodded in agreement. "The Kal'dorei are directly allied with the Gilneans? An occurrence we never would have seen coming…"
"And yet, the Kal'dorei have said nothing." The paladin pondered it for a long moment. "You would have thought that a Horde incursion anywhere would have been brought to us. A Horde incursion against a human kingdom, even Gilneas, and the Kal'dorei respond to it in force, while leaving Stormwind out of the process. I must admit I don't understand." He accepted a teacup from Evelyn, easily in spite of his gauntlets, and took a fairly well mannered sip out of it. "But, if this is true, then the majority of Gilneas's surviving population is safe on Teldrassil."
Ban nodded agreement when the man's blue eyes fell on him. That was indeed the truth, and he was willing to say so.
"And you mention a concerted resistance…"
"Crowley leads the resistance. A couple of thousand Gilneans under arms…" A couple of thousand of the finest Afflicted they had, led by Crowley, charged with carnage. It sounded like a joy, but Ban was kept here.
"Crowley. Darius Crowley? The lord who sent the forces to us during the Scourging? Lord of Pyrewood and Ambermill?"
Ban grimaced, and nodded. That would indeed be the man in question. "Yes. Him."
"I see. And you tell me that Greymane himself is headed for Stormwind? Well, then, I guess my questions are answered until your king arrives to answer the remainder himself." Ban nodded, and the paladin glanced down at the mage. "Fine, Voreph. Go."
The mage gave him a sulky look before grinning at Ban. "We wanted to put forward an offer for you to come to the Sanctum. We can see where you are in your training, offer you access to a library, you are very young, I see… a chance to continue on the path. The Kirin Tor is open to all mages, regardless of their more mundane loyalties."
And cursed states of being? Ban shrugged noncommittally. He wasn't pleased to be the only mage that Genn had sent forward here, and now, to have been outed as both a Gilnean and a mage was bothersome. Unfortunately, Genn's desire in this had been clearly stated…nothing would make the man happier than to see Banastre accepted into an organization like the Kirin Tor. And he could feel Evelyn's focused attention on the conversation, now that she was depending on his combat abilities as much as he depended on hers, she would push for him to become a better mage. More capable to liberate Gilneas. To take another step towards that adulthood he spurned.
"Very well." He sighed, settling his pride down. This was going to be an embarrassment of epic levels, but he didn't see a graceful way out of it.
