Cross-Faction Chaos

Chapter One of Solunai's Story - Too Much Wine

Solunai Emberstar reveled in the feel of the cool air rushing over her body as her windrider mount soared over the lush, green, rolling hills of Nagrand. The blood elf paladin had just spent the last several weeks helping the Arakkoa Outcasts of the Spires of Arak in Draenor battle against their flying kin, the winged Arakkoa. The outcasts were gaining ground in the battle and Solunai's assistance as a paladin had helped. She'd hated to leave the battle because she felt an unexplainable bond with the bird people, but she was exhausted and needed a break.

For her rest, she chose to travel to the Nagrand of Outland, or what Draenor was called now, rather than the Nagrand of past Draenor. Both areas were lovely, but she found the floating islands of broken land and trees in the colorful, swirling sky of Nagrand beautiful and somehow calming. There were no settlements on those broken sky-roaming islands, but there were times that Solunai considered making a home on one just to get away from everything and everyone.

Solunai had grown up the second oldest of four sisters and while they'd all gone their separate ways many years ago, she still remembered those days of living in a crowded home. Her sister Sriset was the oldest and had chosen the life of a hunter, which was ironic because her sense of direction was awful and hunters were supposed to be good trackers. Solunai had been the next born, and a few years after her came Salxi, the quiet one of the group who had become a warlock in what Solunai believed to be a quest for power. The youngest sister was Lindrastra and she chose to become a mage like their mother, Dara, although she was far more conceited than their humble mother had ever been. Solunai had become a paladin to follow in her father, Saronis's footsteps and she knew he was proud of her.

Solunai's thoughts returned to her current location as the main Horde settlement on Nagrand came into view beneath her. The settlement was called Garadar and it had been built by and was still inhabited by the Mag'har orcs. Solunai had stayed there often when she was questing through Nagrand, but now that peace had settled across much of the area, she preferred to stay in a neutral area where Horde and Alliance intermingled without incident. Well, without too many incidents anyway.

One such neutral town on Nagrand was Sunspring Village, a town originally built by the Mag'har and then invaded and destroyed by the Murkblood, a tribe of broken draenei. After many years of battle, Horde and Alliance managed to drive the Murkblood back to their swampy homes and had rebuilt the town in such a way that it blended both orcish and draenei architecture. Sunspring Village had become Solunai's favorite "retreat" destination in between battles, as she found its location on the shore of Lake Sunspring beautiful and soothing. After years of fighting all types of enemies with blade, shield, and magic, Solunai cherished anything soothing.

Noticing that her windrider, Pril, was starting to circle slowly, Solunai tore her eyes from the floating sky islands and found that her mount was preparing to land at Sunspring Village. She smiled happily as the trees, hilly paths, waterfall-filled streams, serene lake, and unique buildings of the village grew closer. She planned to spend an entire week relaxing in the village and the sense of joy and relief that suddenly filled her told her that such rest was long overdue.

Pril's descent to land was as smooth as always and his landing was so gentle, it barely registered in Solunai's saddle. She thumped her trusty beast on his front left lion shoulder in appreciation and then swiftly dismounted to remove his saddle. Once free of the saddle, Pril sprung back into the air and flew off to join the other windriders and various flying mounts resting in the grass of the closest sky island.

Still smiling, Solunai handed her saddle to the young draenei boy that came to fetch it. She handed him a gold piece from the pouch at her waist and asked him to clean and oil the saddle for her and make sure Pril was fed when he returned from his socializing in the sky. The draenei boy nodded eagerly and promised to do as she asked. Solunai thanked him even as he ran off, barely phased by the weight of her saddle. Draenei certainly were a strong race and she had always admired that about them. She sometimes wished they'd aligned themselves with the Horde instead of the Alliance, but she supposed there was no changing the lines that had been drawn so many years ago.