moonshadows

After many months of chasing down a wandering plague, visiting what felt like every semi-isolated town among human or other kaldorei-allied races for so long that the plague seemed like a sentient thing laughing at our efforts to catch and kill it, I reached the end of my strength. Illidan fared better, because although he’d been running along with me until every bone stood out just as sharply as mine, he hadn’t also been straining the limits of his body by healing those afflicted with the plague. In the end, it was a simple cold that brought me down as we were crossing the snowy forests of Winterspring to spend a decade or two at home, growing fat and sleek again. Sternly, Illidan forbade me from traveling the last day by myself and insisted that I ride as a nightsaber on his back. I was too weak to protest, and by the time we arrived, it was all I could do to stay awake while he carried me into the den, set the temperature spells, and bundled me up in furs. After that, I passed out for a while and woke only when warm lips pressed against my forehead and the owner of those lips sat beside me.

Blindly, I half-fell over to put my head on his chest, too out of it to be surprised when that chest had a beard on it. He reached out and gathered my legs with one arm, the other snaking behind my back, and swept me properly into his lap. My hand wriggled free of the furs enough to touch him and reaffirm that he was really there, and met jutting ribs instead of solid muscle. I frowned.

“You’re supposed to be…” Words failed me, and I let my fingers trace his bones. “You’re not supposed to be thin.”

“You’re not supposed to be skin and bones,” that deep, rich voice replied with more than a hint of worry.

“Chasing the plague,” I said absently.

“I was doing the same.”

“And now,” Illidan said firmly, “you’re both going to take the next decade off and do nothing but take care of yourselves.” He handed Broll a steaming mug. “Honeyed tea. Make sure she gets at least half of that; soup’s cooking, bread’s cooking, and I’m about to start on a vat of stew.”

When the lip of the mug met mine, I drank obediently. It was too sweet, but the honey eased the itching on my throat and when it retreated, I laid my head more comfortably on his shoulder. His arm tightened around me, saying without words that he was worried.

“Why here?” I asked somewhat vaguely. I didn’t want to sound like I wasn’t happy to find him in my home – he had a room here, after all – but in the century since our daughter’s birth, this was the first time he’d visited unannounced.

He hesitated, something in his body language or the scent of him making him seem much younger. “Because Cassari’s in the Dream,” he said quietly, “and I didn’t want to be alone.”

“Always welcome,” I murmured.

“I don’t want to get between you and Illidan,” he murmured back, the tightening of his arm around me giving lie to the protest.

I snuggled closer, my other arm wriggling out to burrow between his back and the couch before grumbling, “Not married. Twins.”

“You’re halves of the same whole,” he insisted.

“So suck him and fuck me.” He was being very silly, I thought, and it was making me grumpy. “If he were a girl, we’d both fuck you.”

“It’s true,” Illidan said, handing Broll a new mug. “Make sure she gets half of that. If I were female, we’d keep you very busy indeed. But I’m not, so don’t feel you have to sexually pleasure me. You just focus on her. I’m more than capable of handling it myself, and we only make do with each other when there’s no one else.”

Broll held the mug to my lips, and obediently I drank broth until he pulled it away. “Have you ever tried taking a female animal form?” he asked curiously.

“I’m far too fond of my penis,” Illidan answered dryly. “Were I into stags, I would lift my tail for you. But I’m not, so don’t waste anything on me that you can lavish on her instead.”

“I’m hardly a stag,” he protested.

“You have antlers.”

“But they’re small. Malfurion’s-”

“-weren’t that big for…how many thousands of years, sister-doe?”

“He was ten points when you saw him,” I murmured.

“And that was around four thousand years after the Sundering. So hush, drink your broth, and let me get you some more because both of you are way too thin.”

Obedient to the sudden note of command, Broll drained the mug and handed it over.

“Yours are the largest next to Dad’s,” I said absently.

“You’re a doe, Kayne.” The amusement was thick in his voice. “Yours don’t count.”

“She means that of the three druids before you to grow antlers, none of them got past six points before they died. Here-”

“-make sure she drinks half of it,” Broll finished for Illidan. “Are you saying that my measly eight points mean I passed some kind of test?”

The topic was distracting him; instead of pulling the mug away when it was half empty, he let me drain the whole thing. My quiet belch startled him, but I didn’t care. My belly was full, I was warm, and I was going to nap on his too-boney lap.

“You definitely passed a test,” Illidan said softly as I drifted off. “But it has nothing to do with your antlers.”

I woke up coughing, my cheek pillowed on Broll’s ribs. He must have been asleep, as both of us were stretched out on the couch, but the wracking cough jostled him awake and his arms tightened around me, holding me to him. Somehow, he wrestled us both upright by the time my coughing fit ended, and then Illidan was there with a mug of honeyed tea and a thick slice of hot, soft bread. I ate and drank dutifully, but exhaustion robbed me of consciousness before I could say anything and once again, I nestled against a chest that should have been thick with hard muscle, and sleep claimed me.

When I next clawed my way out of sleep, my throat didn’t tickle and my lungs didn’t hurt. Druids don’t get sick often, but I’d worn myself down to crumbs and I didn’t think my body had enough left to fight this cold so quickly. I was lying on the pile of furs we kept in the den for nightsaber cuddling, sandwiched between Illidan’s midnight-blue-and-white form and Broll’s mahogany flank.

He healed you, my twin said silently.

But he…

He wasn’t sick, and you slept most of a day and night. He had plenty of stew and considered the expenditure of effort worth the slight setback.

Fondly, I reached out and dug my fingers under his deep green mane, scratching until I was rewarded with a rumbling purr. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said softly. “I would have gotten better on my own.”

“I told you I was going to,” came the sleepy reply. “You didn’t protest.”

“I wasn’t awake!”

“That’s why I did it.”

I didn’t have an answer for that. He was worn down to a thread, and he still felt that spending the energy to heal me was more important than hoarding it for his own recovery. And, I remembered, he’d traveled to my Winterspring home hoping that we’d be there. Were we human, his actions would qualify him as a suitor worthy of wedding. As we were not, however, I admitted to myself that I cared for him as more than a friend.

“Back on the couch, both of you,” Illidan said as he uncurled himself and stretched. “I’ll bring you stew and bread and if you’re still awake after stuffing yourselves, we’ll talk about the next decade.”

Considering the short rations we’d been on for so long, the amount of food my stomach would hold was understandable, if depressing. Judging by the discontented way Broll eyed his second helping of stew, he felt the same way.

“And to think,” he complained jokingly, “that I’d almost gotten to where I could handle that one pot.” He patted his stomach with some disappointment. “Back to the start again.”

Illidan finished his third bowl and grimaced. “That’s all I can handle right now. We’re all going on the rigorous eating regimen.”

“You mean I might have a chance at matching you?” Broll asked, eyebrows raised.

“Miracles do happen,” Illidan deadpanned. “I’ve been through this once, but it was a long time ago. Sister-doe?”

“We’ll be eating every four hours for several days,” I warned Broll. “We’ll have to do a lot of running and sparring to rebuild muscle, but we’ll need to build some fat reserves first.”

“I can’t imagine you ever being fat,” he said sincerely. “But…you don’t mind that I’m intruding?”

I fixed him with a stern look while Illidan grinned from my other side. “If you even think about leaving within the next five years, you better have a very good explanation.”

Green eyebrows arched. “Question withdrawn. I submit to your judgment.”

“Wise man,” Illidan murmured.

“Sex,” I announced, waiting until the startled reactions had faded before continuing. “We’re all going to be eating enough that it’s not out of the question, but until your hips have a bit more padding to them, it’s going to be with at least one of us in nightsaber.” I patted both laps to make my point.

“Your hips need padding, too,” Broll retorted, one hand snaking under me to squeeze my diminished backside.

I laughed. “Fair enough. I’m surprised I even have curves at all.”

“Well,” Illidan said comfortingly, “It won’t take us a year to get back into shape, even if we go slowly. I was in much worse condition when I went through this before.”

“What will we do for the rest of the decade, then?”

“Mmmmm.” I stretched, leaning so that I wound up with my head in Illidan’s lap and my legs in Broll’s. “We should drop by Everlook. I think they’re due for an inspection. Check the herds, check the forest. That ought to be good for a year or two.”

“Check the orchards and gardens,” my brother-buck added. “I’ll need to tally our stores once we’re done with our rigorous eating.”

“Oh, and we need to visit that little group over to the west and make sure they know whose territory this is. Broll?”

The druid stopped rubbing my legs absently. “I don’t know what to add,” he confessed.

“Well, what do you like to do to relax?”

Thoughtfully, he resumed his impromptu massage. “I do a little woodshaping,” he said hesitantly.

I half-sat up in interest. “I never knew!”

He gave me a weak grin. “We didn’t have much downtime raising our daughter.”

“This,” I said, laying back down, “is going to be a fun decade. I’m quite looking forward to it.”

“We did rather earn a decade off, didn’t we?” Broll asked.

“We did. I’d wondered why I was only chasing it over the Eastern Kingdoms, but if you were handling Kalimdor…”

“I was.”

“I’m grateful,” I continued without missing a beat.

“Is this what most of your life is like?” he asked curiously. “Not great world-shaking events, but being the one who gets called in to clean up nasty messes no one wants to touch?”

I grinned. “Pretty much. Regretting your antlers?”

Firmly, he said, “No. If someone needs to shoulder that kind of burden, mine are certainly wide enough. We…” He trailed off, groping for words. “Those of us that are touched by a greater destiny, the three before me to have antlers. Were you close to them at all?”

“Not particularly,” I said slowly, but he nodded in satisfaction.

“To put it in terms of the deer, those of us touched by a greater destiny are a herd above the rest of the world. Your father, naturally, is the King Stag and your mother the Prime Doe. But the herd survives by the concerted efforts of the whole, not the glory-seeking of the individual. Now, I don’t know much about the personal lives of those three, but I’m part of the herd. It’s not my place to challenge your father for dominance, nor do I have any desire to. What I do have, however, is a responsibility to learn as much as I can so that if – Mother Moon forbid – he should ever fall, I can either fill the gap myself, or support you while you do it. I’ve thought a lot about this,” he said, faltering slightly at my expression. “I got my spring madness out of the way with Varian and Valeera, and now I’m ready to settle in and do my part to protect the herd. Maybe I’m still a yearling compared to you and Malfurion, but I’ve weathered the storm and proven myself reliable.”

“Destiny isn’t always grand and glorious,” Illidan said quietly, his fingers trembling in my hair. “Rarely is it striding through a battlefield slaying all who oppose you for the good of the world. More often, it’s throwing yourself into situations that wiser heads cringe away from and braving the filth and gore because there’s something that has to be done, and by the stars, if no one else is going to do it, then you’re going to be the one to see it done. It’s not pretty and it’s not pleasant, and it only looks grand and glorious after the dirt and blood have been washed off.”

“Our people need us,” Broll said grimly. “I’m not going to shy away from that, not when I’ve seen firsthand the kind of damage power misused can do. If I were to regret my antlers for the pain and suffering they bring, then I would be as shallow and vain as that pup from Gilneas. This power, this destiny, was not laid on me as some kind of reward for just being born. It’s an honor, yes, but the honor is in being given the opportunity to serve above and beyond what other people can do. If my reward for enduring the filth and gore is a quiet decade stolen and spent with the two of you, then I am well-rewarded and I would do it again gladly.”

Dazedly, I realized that my mouth was open and my loins were insistently warm.

“If she hadn’t already had your child,” Illidan said for me, his voice thick with amusement, “she would be begging to do so.”

Broll looked startled, then the expression softened to a sly grin. “Is that so?”

His hand, which had been kneading my calf, slid up to my thigh. A hot, tight pulse from somewhat higher made me bite my lip, and a growing hardness beneath my head made me flush slightly as Illidan’s body reflected my desire.

“I’m too full for that,” Broll warned, scenting my arousal.

“Luckily,” Illidan said, heaving me somewhat upright and twisting so that we were facing the druid, “I’m not.”

Some scrambling later, I found myself straddling my brother-buck’s lap while Broll sat astride his legs, our knees touching. Illidan groaned as I mounted him, and Broll groaned as I took his manhood in one hand, the other winding through his hair so I could drag him forward enough to kiss. He submitted enthusiastically, one arm around my back while the other squeezed my breast. It was many pleasant minutes of experimentation later before he raised his mouth from my nipple and cried out, his hot seed splashing against my wrist and belly. I was quick to follow, Illidan’s fingers flicking expertly over my most sensitive places, and he followed with a deep sound of satisfaction.

“Ooooooh,” Broll sighed, head resting on my shoulder. “I was not too full for that.”

Catlike, I brought my wrist up to my mouth and licked it clean before slumping forward to nestle into Broll’s shoulder. Illidan’s hand unerringly swiped the sticky fluid from my belly, and I had no doubts that he was reclaiming a small portion of the life-energy he’d just expended.

“Mmm. So, nap before…what meal will this be?” I asked, realizing that I didn’t actually know what time it was.

“I don’t care,” Broll said, leaning sideways and flowing into nightsaber before he fell over. “Nap.”

“Post-dinner,” Illidan clarified. “Mmm. Yes, nap.”

Three nightsabers, we curled up on the furs and slept.