Meet the family

[moonshadows]

Sneaking into Darnassus without alerting either the High Priestess or the Archdruid would normally not be an issue for most people. Normally, it would not even be an issue for me. However, sneaking into Darnassus with a baby who was far too interested in everything was a different matter. While Broll’s deer form was fairly noticeable, mine was blindingly more so and even Illidan stood out from the crowd. Nightsaber was out of the question for Broll; that mane of his would give us away instantly, and his antlers weren’t exactly inconspicuous. In the end, Illidan carried Broll as a horned owl and went one way, and I covered my head with a hood and wrapped Cassari in a blanket and we went another way.

With it being just before midnight, I was confident Mom would be at the Temple. Dad, though…that was another question. Would he be home cooking, or would they go out to eat after the midnight ritual? I was hoping for the later; it would give us until nearly dawn before they got back. I slipped into the park that bordered on the classy neighborhood the family house was in; when I was a child, it had been forest. As I neared the back door I stopped and wrapped myself and my daughter in a cloak of silence – one of the handier tricks I picked up from my brother-buck – but it wasn’t necessary after all, the house was empty.

All clear.

A rush of wings behind me resolved into Broll and Illidan, who slipped into the house with his arms full of bags and went straight into the kitchen. I dispelled the magic, and Cassari’s excited babble immediately filled the air.

“So,” I said to the father of my child, “this is my childhood home. Would you like a tour?”

Broll hovered by the door uneasily. “I am standing in my Shan’do’s house without his knowledge.”

“That is the point of a surprise,” I teased, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“I’m going to get a tour whether I like it or not, aren’t I?” If he’d been in nightsaber, his ears would have been unhappily flat.

“Aw.” I gave him a one-armed hug, careful to keep the baby out of reach of his beard. “Are we that intimidating?”

“I haven’t seen Shan’do Stormrage since…the Third War,” he said carefully. “And I’m still only moderately comfortable calling you Kayne. Standing here is reminding me forcibly of how legendary you, and your father, and your mother, and even Illidan are…and how legendary I’m not.”

“When I was your age,” Illidan said dryly with my voice, “I was just another comatose body being tended to by novice priestesses.”

Broll sighed. “Well, they do say Nordrassil wasn’t sprouted in a day.”

“Actually…it was. Of course, it had three Aspects breathing on it,” I hurried on as he gave me a stricken look. “Anyway, you’re getting the tour because I’ve spent the last two years living in your house so it’s my turn to offer you hospitality.”

“Don’t you have your own home in Darnassus?” he asked as he followed me down the hall.

“Nope. I’ve always stayed with Mom and Dad when I visit home, even after I brought Illidan out of his den. Here, this is the front door. Over here is the living room – I figure I’ll ambush them as they come in and deflect them here. Staying here makes us feel like a normal family – something Mom and Dad don’t get very often.”

That brought him up short. “You mean…Shan’do Stormrage and High Priestess Whisprwind like…”

“Pretending they’re normal people and not legends?” I asked dryly. “Yes. That park out back was a forest when I was growing up, and Dad used to take me on stag-back rides through it. Sometimes, he’d make a picnic lunch and mom would join us. It’s somewhat of a tradition now.”

For a minute, there was silence as I led the way up to my room.

“I can’t imagine your parents having a picnic,” Broll confessed.

“You won’t have to. We’ll probably do that for an early dinner or a late lunch within the next night or two. Here, this is my room.” I crossed the room and sat on the bed, extra-wide after Illidan began travelling with me. “There’s guest bedrooms further up, if you’d prefer to stay there.”

“I don’t know,” he said unhappily. After a moment, he melted into nightsaber and lay next to me on the bed. “I feel very out of place here, Kayne.”

I shifted Cassari higher on my hip and scratched behind his ears. “You’ll feel better by dawn, Broll. You’re family.”

Paws over his muzzle, he moaned. “Mother Moon, I’ve had a child with my Shan’do’s daughter. What’s he going to think?”

“He’s probably going to be thrilled. I’m more than old enough to have settled down with a partner, but the only guy I’d spent any significant time with aside from you was a very sweet boy who wanted to prove himself to a female druid who’d been burned by her first lover abandoning her while she was in the Dream.”

Broll looked up at that. “I don’t think I’ve heard that story.”

I shifted on the bed and freed our baby from her blanket. She promptly gurgled with glee and fell over reaching for her father’s tail.

“It was…three thousand years ago? He approached me and asked if I would let him be a husband to me for a year. The druid he was in love with had told him that if I agreed to it, she’d give him a chance. Her first lover, as I said, moved out and moved on while she was on a five-year shift and she was more than a little wary of being burned again, but he was devoted.”

“What did you say?” he asked, curious now, tail flicking absently while Cassari shrieked happily.

“I said okay. He had already gone through the application and approval process and had a lovely house set up in Nighthaven, and was opening a small store. She wanted him to prove that he was devoted, that this wasn’t just puppy love. She thought either he wouldn’t have the courage to ask me, or that I would turn him down, or that he would become infatuated with me instead of her. None of that happened. He was a sweet, devoted man and for a year he was an attentive and loving mock-husband. When she came out of her shift, I told her that she should not only give him a chance, but treasure him.” Smiling at the memory, I ruffled my daughter’s hair. “They married within a century, and last I checked, they were both sickeningly happy together.”

Broll’s whiskers tilted forward in a feline grin, then went back and his ears drooped. He tried to cover by twisting around and licking the baby’s face, but I’d seen his mood drop.

“Broll…” I took his massive head in my hands and forced him to look at me. “Whatever else does or does not happen, you’re my friend and I have few enough of those. There’s been no one in ten thousand years more worthy of fathering Malfurion’s grandchild. Look at our beautiful baby and tell me my father won’t be thrilled with her.”

“I hope you’re right,” he sighed. “I don’t feel very worthy right now.”

 

“Kayne!” Mom swept me into a surprised hug. “This is a surprise! I hadn’t heard you were in the area.” She sniffed the air. “Are those spice cakes?”

“Spice cakes? My wild fawn!” Dad pulled me into a crushing bear hug as soon as Mom let go. “Did we forget a significant birthday? What’s the special occasion? Tyrande!”

In dismay, Dad hurried after Mom, who was laughing like a young woman with a spice cake in each hand. I grinned.

Send him in.

In less than a minute, my parents had demolished the small plate of cakes and were just remembering to ask what the special occasion was when from behind me, a rich voice said, “Ow. Let go of that, you grabby little thing,” and laughed.

“Mom? Dad?” Deftly, I detangled Cassari’s chubby little fists from her father’s beard and set her in my mother’s lap. “Your granddaughter, Cassari Stormrage.”

Mom’s eyes widened at my baby girl’s golden ones and the tiny antler buds nestled in her forest-green curls. “Kayne, she’s beautiful! Who’s her-”

“Broll?” Dad breathed in disbelief, crossing the room to stand in front of the younger druid. “Broll, you fathered a child on Kayne?”

“Yes, Shan’do,” he said awkwardly. “I-”

He didn’t get any further – Dad hugged the breath out of him for a long minute, and there were tears in his eyes when he finally let go.

“I couldn’t ask for a better father for my grandchild,” Dad said thickly, hands still on Broll’s shoulders. He turned to me. “Do you love him, Kayne?”

“It’s only been two years, Dad. It’s a little early to tell. I like him, though, and we’re looking forward to raising her together.”

“This is fantastic!” Suddenly, he turned and stepped away, towards Mom. “Is it my turn?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, handing the baby to him. “And it’s my turn to hug her father.” Broll hugged Mom tenderly, and his eyes were wet when they separated. “Welcome to the family, Broll Bearmantle. Illidan!” she called in a commanding tone. “Get out here and let me hug you.”

“I’m sorry, Tyrande,” he said with my voice, not sounding sorry at all, “but dinner’s almost done. Fuss over my sister-doe and her baby fawn and the silly stag who was afraid you and Furion would be angry about this, and you can hug me in a little while.”

Mom sighed and rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but before she could say anything Dad was there with Cassari shrieking glee, both fists in his beard.

“Excellent grip,” he said cheerfully.

“Uh…thank you, Shan’do?”

Dad laughed and clapped Broll on the shoulder. “No more of that, Broll. You’re family. This little treasure here-” he bounced the baby on his hip, “-has earned you the right to call me Furion, and I insist that you do so.”

“Gentle with him, my love,” Mom teased. “He looks shell-shocked.”

Dad let her take the baby again and looked measuringly at her father. “I got the full report about the idol,” he said solemnly. “Both its corruption and its cleansing. I am proud of you, my thero’shan. I take few enough students, and each one that falls wounds me deeply. I am glad to see you alive and well, whole and healthy. I am even more glad to see you at my daughter’s side. I know you will take care of each other, and words cannot express my joy at having a grandchild to carry on the Stormrage name.”

“My son took his father’s surname.” I clarified to Broll. “Kirian Wildheart.”

“Thank you, Broll,” Dad said softly. “I am glad to have you in the family.”

That started both of them blinking away tears. “Thank you…Furion.” He stumbled slightly over the name. “That means a lot to me.”

“You’re staying in Kayne’s room, I presume,” Mom half-asked. “We have guest rooms, but there’s no reason to sequester you away if you…enjoy my daughter’s company.”

“Will all three of you fit on the bed?” Dad asked me.

Broll blushed deeply.

“If not,” I said cheerfully, “Illidan will probably sleep on the floor with the baby.”

“Dinner,” Illidan said from right behind Broll, making him jump, “is ready.”

We paraded out of the room: Mom with Cassari, then Dad, then me. As Broll turned to leave, Illidan draped an arm around his shoulder.

“Welcome to the family,” he said smugly. “You’ll get used to it…eventually.”

Through Illidan’s eyes, I saw Broll smile weakly. “That’s what I’m half-afraid of.”