DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

LAST TIME:

Cortona felt like she was in the dance class from hell, and wearing shoes five times too large. Thankfully, the gates of Silvermoon weren't far away now, but that didn't stop Satya's continuing "More… More…"

He is so going to pay for this…

The One Where They Go To Silvermoon

Thunder clapped outside, and Satya warily glanced at the heavily curtained windows. He and Cortona had managed to arrive safely in A'Tar, the ancient DeVasari home, with only a few strange looks from guards at their awkward appearance. The storm was vicious enough that no one even batted an eye at the magical theatrics Cortona had to perform at A'Tar's front door in order to gain entrance to the ancient, heavily guarded entry.

Whatever Satya had been expecting about Cortona's home, A'Tar wasn't it. Vast and ornate, it felt like a desolate shell of what it once was; nearly all of the contents were covered in large, white, dust-coated tarps. Before they entered, the building had appeared almost blurry, which Satya quickly discovered was due to the fact that it was so completely encased in protective spells and enchantments that had to be taken down one at a time. None of this, however, appeared to phase or dissuade Cortona. In fact, upon entering the mansion, she ripped off her troll disguise, practically pirouetted around the main entrance, and warbled in an off-key voice "Home, home, finally home!"

Cortona insisted upon taking a bath almost as soon as she entered her home, and disappeared up a broad, surprisingly well-polished and clean-looking staircase. Satya wasn't one to question a determined woman, so he awkwardly seated himself in a decidedly elf-sized chair, summoned up flames in a neglected fireplace, and set about sharpening his axe. The storm had had only exacerbated since their arrival, and the constant thunder made it difficult for Satya to keep a proper guard. While Cortona had guaranteed that no one, other than a blood relative, could enter the house uninvited, Satya was still concerned about just how many unstable blood relatives Cortona seemed to have.

Poking at the fire, Satya brooded. None of his family would ever be this much of an issue; trolls were, he decided, far more pragmatic about clan ties. Marriages were arranged for the strength of tribes, and no one tended to be petty about them. Not that this was an issue. For one, Satya was an old troll. Not ancient, but certainly old enough to have outlasted all but one of his siblings, most of his cousins, and dodge several engagement attempts due to his powerful rank in the Earthen Ring. The only issues he foresaw came in the form of his multitude of nieces and nephews, scattered among the Darkspear of the Horde and the Zandalar. And, even then, he could never see any of them killing him for an inheritance – sucking up, maybe, but never killing.

"Ohhhhh, I feel amazing!" Cortona sighed as she swept down the stairs, an absurdly large bathing robe billowing behind her. Coming to a halt in front of Satya, a smirk spread across Cortona's face. "I'm surprised you're unaffected by the vibes of hate; that was Uncle Giotto's chair. He'd be rolling in his grave if he knew a troll were sitting in his precious seat."

For the first time since they had met, Satya managed to get a good look at a clean, happy Cortona. Her complexion was that of a relatively dark person who had been out of the sun for far too long, and stood in sharp contrast to her brown freckles and auburn hair. Long, lithe arms and legs littered with burns and scars poked out of the overly-frilly bathrobe, proving that Cortona was either a haphazard alchemist or a clumsy person; Satya suspected both. She was by no means beautiful by troll standards – yet something made Cortona intriguing in Satya's eyes. While he enjoyed seeing her smile, for some reason all Satya wanted was to goad and tease her, make her angry with him again so she would get flustered, blush prettily, and say something she regretted. Shaking himself, Satya made an awkward attempt to pry himself from the chair, and was immediately pushed back down.

"Oh, no, no, please, continue to muck up and destroy that chair. I hated Uncle Giotto. Creepy old coot." Looking down at Satya with some pity, Cortona wrinkled her nose. "Aw, crap… I'm a terrible hostess, and you can't be very comfortable right now. Come on, let's get you cleaned up, and then you can finally tell me how we're getting wherever we're going."

Hardly able to protest, Satya allowed Cortona to haul him up out of the chair by a demure elf hand, and practically push him up the stairs by her surprisingly strong twig-thin arms. She thrust a towel into his hands, handed him a bar of soap, and then cursed under her breath.

"Hold on, stay here…" Dashing into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her, Cortona scooped up her ludicrously dirty clothes, making sure to thoroughly hide the more indecent garments. A quick check assured that there was nothing embarrassingly feminine left in the bathroom. She opened the door to a bemused-looking Satya, leaning against the doorframe in a somewhat predatory fashion.

"Ya know, I had sisters. Dere's not goin' to be anytin' in dere I haven' seen."

"Actually, I really wouldn't know. You already know basically everything there is to me, but you've been pretty withholding on you. For all I know, the second you saw a pair of panties, you would run, screaming, for the hills. Now go, shower, then we'll figure this whole… thing… out." Cortona bustled past Satya to dump her sodden clothes her old bedroom laundry hamper, and probably never wash them.

Dropping her robe, Cortona practically waltzed inside her massive old closet. She hadn't had this sort of clothing selection in years, and, while she had gained weight on her relatively heavy diet in Northrend, the last few years in Undercity had done wonders to her figure, returning her to the size she had been when she still lived with her parents. As she pulled an oversized comfortable shirt over her head, the sound of rattling pipes and cursing caught her long ears. Very much used to dealing with the plumbing issues of an ancient house, Cortona threw the bathroom door open.

"You can't just turn the hot water on full blast, you've got to- GAAAHHH!"

"Elf, do you mind?"

Satya stood in the shower, arms crossed, soaking wet, completely nude, not bothering to cover himself – and, Cortona noted, he had managed to not pull the curtain back, leaving a giant puddle on the floor. For a second she just stared at a particular droplet of water that started tracing the lines of his white tattoos from his broad shoulders, down his pectorals, down his defined stomach muscles, and then down to a line of dark red hair that started at his navel, growing wider, and then abruptly stopping at his- decency reentered her mind, and she squinted her eyes shut, I did not just see that, I did NOT just see that, holding the wall.

…I totally just saw his junk.

"What are you – for goodness' sake, pull the curtain back! Normal people use that to keep the water in, and so other people don't have to see them naked!"

"I wasn' exactly expectin' company, but if you wish to join me, I'd be happy to oblige." Cortona could practically hear his lopsided grin.

"No, I heard you having plumbing difficulties, so I came to help, but you've already messed it up, and now I have to fix it if I don't want the basement flooded." Cortona let out a sigh, clearing her mind. "Look, I'm going to keep my eyes shut, come over there, and fix the faucet. If my hands touch anything other than something attached to this tub, I'm ice-ing it solid."

"If shrinkage is your goal, de freezin' cold water dat came out already took care of dat. I tink you need a better form of revenge."

"Wait, really? That was shrunk-" Almost forgetting herself, Cortona barely managed to not peek at Satya for a second look. "No, no, no, beside the point. I'm coming over there, fixing this, and forgetting what I saw."

Groping blindly, Cortona managed to grasp the faucet of the tub with one hand, and the cold-water lever with the other. Bracing her knee against the edge of the shower and twisting the lever with practiced ease, she violently jiggled the entire apparatus in an undignified fashion. After a sort of strained noise emanated from the pipes, hot water began gushing out of the showerhead, thoroughly soaking Cortona – and her white shirt.

"Well, I guess dis makes us even, den." Satya carefully said over the sound of the pouring water.

"Wh-what are you- GYAAHH!" Cortona peered down at herself, and saw that the water had rendered any clothing she was wearing completely transparent – revealing that she hadn't bothered putting on underwear yet. Automatically, she covered herself, and her head whipped up to give Satya an accusing glare; fortunately, his crouched stance prevented her from facing anything she was trying desperately to forget.

"Why are you squatting there like some… Weird… Staring… Thing? Were you trying to get a better look up my shirt?"

"Actually, I was goin' to offer my assistance, but den you practically put your ass in my face. I wasn' goin' to say anytin' to embarrass you, and you weren' supposed to look, anyway."

"Oh. Well… Well… Um… Sorry, I suppose. I'll be downstairs, then…"

Cortona practically ran from the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Clothes now soaked, she changed into a dry pair of underwear, shirt, and socks. Incessant, loud banging at the front door rudely interrupted her digging for a decent skirt or pair of pants.

"…Huh?" Cortona muttered as she stumbled down the stairs. She hadn't left a light on outside, and was unable to see who, or what, was standing on her doorstep in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm. Slowly creeping to the door to peek outside, Cortona pressed a delicate ear to the door, then was immediately startled when the nighttime visitor decided to pound on the door directly next to where her head was. Irritated, she swung the door open, all precaution about her wanted status – and the fact that no one was supposed to be living there – forgotten.

"What?" Cortona snapped as soon as the door opened. She was more than a little surprised to see the end of a mace pointed in her direction.

"Lady Cortona?"

"Arhetto?"

Outside the door of A'Tar stood a male elf roughly the same height as Cortona. Long strands of tangled blonde hair peeked out from an expensive-looking helm, which coordinated with the rest of his extremely ornate, imposing set of armor. Obviously, he had arrived in a hurry, because this was the most disheveled-looking Cortona had ever seen her normally impeccable brother-in-law.

Immediately lowering his mace, and removing his helm, Arhetto looked abashed, dropping to a knee. "My most sincere apologies, Lady Cortona, I unwisely assumed Carlina or Massimo was the one present here, desecrating the manor. Had I known it was you, I never, I never would have…"

"Wait, so if one of them had answered the door, you expected to just take them out with a mace to the face?"

"My heart was so filled with rage and revenge at the mere thought of one of those traitors so brazenly entering this hallowed house, I was unable to concoct a better plan. But my lady… Aren't you supposed to be on the run?" Arhetto looked Cortona up and down, apparently confused by her rather casual – and pants-less – appearance. Cortona nearly giggled at Arhetto's sudden shift from his typical, flowery speech to his utterly baffled-sounding question.

"Not really on the run; I'm due for a meeting with the Earthen Ring. I was framed, things got out of control, and now I'm on my way to Deepholme and avoiding being seen, apparently."

"A journey? Across this whole land and through the very fabric of space?" In a dramatic swoop, Arhetto rose to his feet, seized Cortona around her waist, and crushed her to his chest. "It is too perilous and improper for such a delicate young lady! If you must make this journey, I insist that, in keeping with Lady Chiara's final request, I protect you from all harm."

"I sincerely thank you, Arhetto, but I've already got-"

"TROLL!" Arhetto bellowed, dramatically swooping Cortona behind his cape. "Fear not, my lady, I will dispatch this uncouth intruder immediately!"

Peering over Arhetto's shoulder, Cortona locked eyes with a bemused looking Satya, standing in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed, wearing only a towel that barely covered anything below his waist. "Ex-boyfriend?"

"No, brother-in-law."

"Do I need to do someting about dis?" Satya loosely gestured at Arhetto, who was crouched defensively in front of Cortona, murmuring spells and seals.

"You will address my lady with respect, or I will remove your head, troll!"

Exasperated, Cortona attempted to shove Arhetto to the side, which proved to be quite difficult with him wearing such large and heavy armor. "Arhetto, shut up. Satya, for goodness' sake, put some clothes on."

"You address this… Thing… With familiarity?" Arhetto obviously wanted to call Satya something far worse than "thing," but Cortona's presence kept his tongue civil.

"Yes, I do. Arhetto, this is Satya Dal'Jin of the Earthen Ring; he's my escort. Satya, this is Arhetto Giacomo, my ex-brother-in-law." Cortona stated flatly.

"In truth, I shall always be her brother-in-law, for my love of my lady's sister is undying and true!"

"Oh yeah? Then why do you propose to me every time we run into each other?"

"My lady, it would grieve me to betray your sister's spirit so cruelly, but I know it would devastate her eternal soul if cursed Massimo managed to get you with child to fulfill the terms of the will! We must produce a child, for the sake of your clan and for the sake of all Sin'Dorei!" Dropping to his knee once again in front of Cortona, Arhetto grasped Cortona's hand within his own with a flourish. "My lady… You have grown beautiful and strong like your sister before you, but you must remember who you are. It is your duty… Nay, your destiny to carry on the DeVasari line! And, in keeping with my fair bride's final wishes, it is I who must take and protect you-"

Cortona tried to release her hand from Arhetto's surprisingly firm grip. "I sincerely doubt that Chiara's last words were 'Okay, Arhetto, you can go bonk my sister now.' I have no interest in carrying on any family line at the moment, especially with you! "

On "you," Cortona managed to retrieve her hand, which she held in front of Arhetto's face in a rather threatening fist. Satya noticed that the puddles of water around Arhetto were starting to boil, and the candles burning next to the front door had practically turned into torches as Cortona's anger manifested itself through fire magic. Clearly, she had been holding a lot of this back for a while.

"I'm a third child, a smallest cousin, and a youngest sister. I'm used to hand-me-downs and people babying me. But that doesn't mean that I'm some helpless damsel in distress who is so desperate for protection that she'll take her sister's sloppy seconds and be called by someone else's name in bed for the rest of her married life!" The air around Cortona was swirling, cracking with heat and magic, and flames were looping around her fist; Arhetto looked stunned and terrified. She seemed to notice this, and quickly stopped her pyrotechnic show, taking several deep breaths. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep before my day tomorrow. We can deal with family stuff when the world isn't ending."

"But, my lady-"

"Does this have anything to do with me getting to Deepholme?"

"Well-"

"Then it can wait. Dal'Jin and I travel light and fast, which I know is not your style." Cortona critically eyed Arhetto's massive, bulky plate armor and weapons.

"My lady, surely you cannot rebuff my offer-"

"I can and I will. If you don't want me to ban you from this house for the rest of your life, you'll listen to me. If you go telling anyone I'm here, or that you saw me, I will personally contact Massimo and tell him that I am ready to be ravished and knocked up."

With that, Cortona slammed the door in a shocked-looking Arhetto's face. She turned to face the tightly crossed arms of an irritated and still shirtless Satya. Growling, Cortona glared up at him.

"What?"

"Dat was quite a performance, even for you. Do you tink he'll actually tell anyone?"

"Who, Arhetto? Not with that ultimatum; that guy wouldn't recognize an empty threat if it danced naked in front of him." Scowling, Cortona assessed Satya's own nearly-nude form. "Which, by the way, I've got to ask – were you trying to provoke him? I mean, was this absolutely necessary?" Cortona gestured at Satya's scantily clad body.

"It doesn't take much to get an elf riled up, an' I enjoy doin' it. Jus' a bit of revenge for de way dey treat trolls like bloodt'irsty perverts."

"Well that seems to be a bit of a self-perpetuating stereotype, doesn't it?"

"Nah, you all are just wound up too tigh'." Satya sat on one of the covered sofas, which immediately groaned under his weight. He rummaged through his bag, extracting a large map. "Now den, let's discuss our itinerary."

"Um… Would you mind putting some clothes on first?" Cortona asked uncomfortably, trying not to look where his towel had failed to cover the area between his legs.

"If you insis'." Satya replied with a sigh, pulling pants out of his bag. "You're de one who gave me an elf-sized towel…" he muttered.

Cortona looked skyward as she heard him drop his towel; she had seen far too much nearly-naked and completely-naked troll for one day. Hearing the couch once again creak under the massive troll's weight, Cortona chanced a look down, noting that, while Satya had donned pants, he remained stubbornly shirtless. Realizing that she couldn't win all of her battles, Cortona seated herself next to Satya, trying to concentrate on the complicated map rather than the muscled body next to her.

"I wasn't kidding when I said geography wasn't my best subject. You're going to have to walk me through this." Cortona mumbled, chewing the skin on the back of her finger in puzzlement.

"Dis is where we are now, yes?" A large blue finger pointed at the dot for Silvermoon City at the very top of the long map of the Eastern Kingdoms. "Dis is where we are going." Satya's finger traced a jagged path through the Ghostlands, Plaguelands, between Alterac and the Hinterlands, through Hillsbrad and the Arathi Highlands, and then-

"Wait, we're going to Menethil Harbor? Are you crazy?"

"If you're plannin' on screamin' in my ear like dat for de whole trip, I'm gonna have to knock you out and carry you de whole way. But yes, we are goin' to see Lady Proudmoore in Menet'il. She has been a valuable friend of T'rall and de Eart'en Ring for quite some time, and agreed to safely, and discreetly, transport us to Deepholme."

"But… But… I can't go in there! And you really can't go in there! We might be able to pass me off as a really tall human, but there's no way we're going to be able to get you in there without getting shot down on sight!"

"Do you honestly tink I planned on stormin' de city like a fel orc?" Satya responded with a level of indignity Cortona had not previously heard. "Remember, I'm Eart'en Ring, not strictly Horde; I can go in an' out of Alliance cities as I please. Gettin' you in dere is goin' to be de tricky part."

"Oh." Cortona responded lamely, still dumbfounded. "But-"

Satya pressed a finger to Cortona's mouth, silencing her protest. "No, no more questions tonigh'. You need sleep, because I plan on leavin' before dawn. If we get out as dey change de guard, no one will look at us twice. I wan' to get at least as far as de Ghostlands border before sundown."

"Well… Um, would you like me to show you to a bed?" Cortona stood up, gesturing toward the stairs.

"I'll stay here." Satya gestured toward the fire. "You get to be my age, an' you don' need as much sleep."

"Er… Good night, then, I suppose." Cortona began climbing the stairs back up to her room, not expecting a response.

"Good night, Cortona."

Now Cortona didn't want to admit it, but hearing Satya say her name sent a shiver up her spine, and made her freeze. Perhaps it was the way her name rolled off his tongue, or how his deep voice growled a bit on the "r" – but Cortona knew it was most likely because she was struck with a memory of the last time she heard him say her name.

"Now den, Cortona… I don' know what gets you dere, so if you like someting…

Scream for me."

Feeling a warm tremble up and down her body, Cortona practically sprinted up the rest of the stairs to her bedroom, trying to forget ghosts of sensations and muscled bodies covered in white tattoos.

It was going to be a long night.

(A/N – Normally, I'd end the chapter there, but you know what? I made you all wait so long, I'm going to keep going a little bit longer. Longer note at the end!)

It was so early, it was late.

Cortona had spent the majority of the night packing for the journey; Satya hadn't given her an approximation for how long the journey would take, so she packed for just about everything, which involved a lot of spells and shrinking her possessions. As a result of her efforts, Cortona had managed to fall asleep not in the middle of her large, comfortable bed, but headfirst in a dusty trunk in her closet. And it was there that Satya found her, finally fed up with waiting for her to emerge from her room.

He was packed and ready to go, and, judging by the air of magic in the room, it appeared that Cortona spent most of her night doing the same. Looking out the window, Satya saw that the sky had gone from pitch-black to the slate gray of predawn. If he woke her, she would probably insist upon bathing, redressing, packing more, and all sorts of other unnecessary preparations. Giving her an experimental nudge, Cortona didn't even react – she was apparently a heavy sleeper. He would have to take matters into his own hands.

Sighing, Satya gently lifted Cortona, slinging her over his back. What she wanted to take was fairly obvious – a small bag, a cloak, and an elaborate staff sat in a neat pile next to the door. Shouldering the bag, storing the staff alongside his axes, and covering Cortona with the cloak, Satya carefully walked down the stairs, and out of A'Tar. The door of the manor closed behind him with an air of finality. All of the enchantments Cortona painstakingly disabled the previous day re-erected themselves, and the building once again looked blurry behind a powerful wall of magic.

The streets of Silvermoon were deserted at this hour; the morning mist was thick, and the light given by the streetlamps didn't carry very far. Satya walked toward the city gates with an air of confidence, even going so far as to give one of the guards a companionable eyeroll, gesturing to indicate that Cortona had a bit too much to drink. The guard smirked, waving Satya through.

Setting a brisk pace, Satya considered the elf over his shoulder. While she was by no means a heavy burden, he feared that she would wake not only in a foul mood due to her predicament, but probably with a terrible headache from the way she was draped over his back. Neither outcome was good, and, presumably, each scenario would end with her shrilly screaming in his ear. Deciding that he would rather delay the inevitable, Satya re-adjusted his grip and continued loping south.

Well after the sun had cracked the horizon, Cortona realized that something was amiss. Not quite asleep, nor fully awake, she tried to figure out what was wrong. She wasn't in her bed, that was for sure – her arms and legs were completely numb, and hanging below her torso for some reason. Her stomach and chest were pressed against very uncomfortable lumps of what felt like leather, chain mail, and bone armor.

As her mind slowly pieced all of this together, she realized that she was being carried like a passed-out drunk girl. This, however, was not her major concern. The fixation of Cortona's sleep-addled mind was the three-fingered hand splayed across her ass.

"Satya…" Cortona's voice was groggy; evidently she wouldn't be screeching at him anytime soon.

"Yeah?"

"…Why are you grabbing my ass?"

"Because dat's how you carry an unwilling elf?" Satya stopped, and slowly deposited Cortona on the ground. She rubbed her eyes blearily, looking around.

"W-where are we?" Cortona yawned.

"A few miles east of the Farstrider Retreat. It's almost noon, you were sleepin' pretty hard."

"It's been a rough last couple of nights…" Stretching, Cortona felt her ears turn hot. Had it really only been that long? Was it really just the night before last when she and Satya – no, now wasn't the time to think about that.

Removing Cortona's staff and bag from his shoulder, Satya stretched and stood up completely straight, reminding Cortona of just how much bigger than her he was. He watched her as she rummaged through her bag, shouldered it, and then stored her staff safely on her back. Squinting, as though trying to remember something difficult, Cortona concentrated hard until a pair of crullers appeared in her hand.

"Mana-laced pastry?" Cortona offered Satya.

"If you can eat and walk."

"Mmoph." Cortona had shoved the majority of the pastry in her mouth, and set off at a brisk pace – one that Satya had difficulty trying to match, since he had to slow down considerably to stay in stride with Cortona's shorter legs.

Trees and plant life grew more stressed and dead-looking as they journeyed further south. They had long ago left the main road; Satya's reasoning was if they stuck close to the mountains bordering Zul'Aman, they were less likely to run into anyone who would be out for Cotona's bounty.

What Satya had not anticipated, however, was just how much the Amani trolls still hated elves.

Author's Note: I am SO SORRY about just how long this took me to update! In these last few months, I published my thesis, got my master's degree, went on twelve interviews, and finally landed a job. Fortunately, I'm not going to start until August, so I should be able to make some headway on this fic. I plan to have Balancing Fire finished in six or seven chapters, all of which will be far more action-packed than these last few of "getting from point A to point B."

To those of you who kept reviewing during my absence – THANK YOU! Please keep it up; it helps me keep writing to know that people want to keep reading!