World of Warcraft®

Yoresh returned her grin with a tender smile, reflecting the warmth that filled him with her presence. He hugged her tightly with both arms around her again before drawing back a little. "She might have more to say about my manners next time you see her," he said, a dark humor in his eyes. With his right hand, he brushed the backs of his fingers up her throat and beneath her chin, back and forth in slow motion, relishing the feel of her skin. He was so distracted by her he didn't elaborate on what he meant by that and instead turned his hand, taking hold of her chin between finger and thumb, bringing his face closer to hers until he could brush his lips against hers in a light, teasing touch. What he really wanted to do was ravish her lips, but it had been such a long time and he didn't want to overwhelm her with a potentially as of yet unwanted advance; his grip on her chin remained loose enough so that she could easily pull back if she chose to.

She closed her eyes ans let out a contented sigh. She'd missed....well, all of it, on a level she hadn't even allowed herself to recognize. She opened her eyes again and gave him an impish grin. "Came all this way on a boat, even,only to be shy?" She hugged him githgly, gave him a proper kiss and then tucked her head against his chest. "Are you absolutely sure this isn't just one of my nightmares again?"

A soft rumble went through his chest and he deeply inhaled the scent from her hair, the corner of his lips tugging up when dust tickled his nose. "No nightmare," he promised, only barely keeping himself from crushing her. He smirked then and shifted his lips to her ear. "Otherwise I don't think you'd feel this," he murmured and nipped at the slender tip. "You taste like dust and cobwebs," he teased.

She squeaked and poked his chest. "After all the digging I've had to do around here, certainly. And cheeky as ever, too, I see." She couldn't hold back a laugh and hugged him again. "Loa, there's a lot that needs telling- and soon, since I'm technically on the job."

"Hasanah mentioned you were looking for a book," he said, enjoying every second of her in his arms. He knew they were going to have to let go of each other sooner or later. "Imagine that," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue. "If I'd known you were both still alive and an insufferable brat, I'd have let her lead you on a wild chase that ended you up somewhere in an ocean. With no land in sight." She poked him again. "It's books, actually-plural. Possessed ones, if the logs are right. Old journals by some necromancer or something. They found the first one here, where our offices used to be."

She offered him another bright smile. "I needed something to do to distract myself, and this presented itself. Seemed perfect at the time."

"You're wicked," he rumbled. "I've had enough of water to last me ten lifetimes and you're making jokes." He nipped her ear again in response to the poke and kissed the top of her head. "Funny how you always find your way back to books," he smirked. "Although I'll grant you that possessed books do sound interesting."

Talking about books reminded him of what he'd found in her room and pulled back enough to look into her eyes with warm affection. "Speaking of books, I found the old tome in your room." He caressed the side of her face from temple to chin with the back of his fingers. "I can't believe you had kept it all this time, let alone saved it."

She flushed and shrugged, looking away a moment and feeling embarrassed for some reason. "Well, there wasn't much else left that could be saved and I couldn't just leave it, could I? I mean...you gave it to me to take care of." She fiddled with his braid. "Seemed like at the time I couldn't have saved you, but I could save...something, anyway."

He gave her a tight squeeze and caressed her hair, playing with the ends of her curls. "If I hadn't gone to Orgrimmar I would have been there when the alliance attacked," he said quietly, apologetically. "I should have been there." He threaded his fingers though her hair, very lightly running his nails over her scalp. "I don't even know... where you there? Were you injured?" His eyes grew distant a moment as he remembered coming upon the remains of their home. "I can't even tell you the horrible thoughts that raced through my mind when I saw it."
The arm around her waist tightened of its own accord and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

She shook her head. "Injured from that? No. I wasn't in at the time- we were out looking for you, luckily. I can imagine- mine likely ran largely the same way. Took forever to dig out much useful, that's for certain." She flexed her right hand slightly and offered him a little smile. "Otherwise, I've taken my share of bruises and bumps- but nothing terrible, I promise."

She gave him another tight hug. "Come on, it's getting dark- we should probably head to somewhere a little more structurally sound. I found a good spot." She grinned. "Not that I'm particularly eager to let go, even for a short walk, but....dinner is over there and not over here, and we've got plenty of catching up to do, love."

The glint of mischief in his eyes was the only warning she had before he scooped her up in his arms. "Allow me," he murmured, carefully nuzzling her. He only paused long enough to dip down and grab his pack. "Alright my lady elf, where are we going?" he asked, as he left the building.

She let out an indignant yelp, holding a little tighter around his neck in surprise. She wasn't exactly going to argue with him about it, deciding instead to shamelessly enjoy the moment. "About three or four doors up- can't miss it, it's the only reasonably intact structure here, aside from Scholomance itself." She grinned at him.

Yoresh had walked in no big hurry, enjoying her in his arms and only reluctantly set her down just inside the building she had indicated, a hand lightly resting at the small of her back. His pack was unceremoniously dumped beside the door. "Cozy place you've got here," he teased.

She grinned. "it's not exactly home, but it's dry and relatively free of crawly things." She shrugged and tugged him further inward. "I've gotten used to rougher, honestly. These days, the wilds are safer than any settlement." Brae absent-mindedly conjured a small light for them to see by and started rummaging through a beaten leather satchel with the letters A.A.M.S embroidered in the corner, barely visible among the scuffs and stains.

Yoresh went to sit near her, one leg drawn up to drape his arm over his knee and the other stretched out, leaning against the wall as he watched her. It was still a little surreal and part of him wondered if she would disappear if he looked away.

"Tell me about it," he snorted after a moment. "Remind me again why I'd ever considered being part of the Horde?" This time his voice just sounded tired and he subtly shook his head at himself.

She chuckled, still digging through the bag. A slightly crumpled tabard in white with gold along the trim tumbled out as she searched. "I'd imagine our girl-" She stopped herself mid-sentence and corrected the sentence. Lanth might be her step-daughter, but she'd hardly had a hand in her raising. She felt another pang of guilt that she'd gotten so caught up in her own head that she'd lost track of the younger woman. "I'd imagine that Lanth saw the sense in it and talked you into it."

Brae glanced over her shoulder with a faint smile and lifted brow. "It didn't turn out all terrible, did it?" There was more in the question than she would have liked to have let slip into the words. His answer was clearly going to carry significant weight. She was overjoyed to have him back and she hated that any doubt still lingered, let alone carried in her speech.

Yoresh leaned forward and picked up the tabard when it fell out, spreading it between his hands for inspection. He was about to ask about it when she mentioned Lanth and the quick correction of how she refereed to her. He drew his legs closer to his body and crossed them, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees, the tabard forgotten in his lap.

"You're right," he said quietly. "Our girl did talk me into it."

He reached out in response to her question and gently, but firmly grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him until she had to sit on the tabard in the circle of his legs. One arm promptly wrapped around her waist and he lifted his hand to caress the side of her face and down to her chin where he turned his hand to hold it between thumb and finger.

"It let me meet you, so no, not all terrible." Mindful of his tusks he lightly touched his forehead to hers, his eyes closed and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, love," he said then, his voice had a faintly breathy quality to it. "And I'll do anything it takes to chase away all the doubts that remain."

He let go of her chin and moved back enough to look at her, both hands up to cradle her head, thumbs slowly stroking over her cheeks.

"I know I've caused a number of those doubts in the way I'd been acting, but trust me when I say it was never my intention." He let go of her head and wrapped both arms around her waist again, one arm a warm weight across her lap. "My magic has been my life forever and when I lost it, I lost sight of everything else." He lowered his eyes off to the side in shame. "It took solitary confinement to make me realize that magic hadn't been my life for some time now; it was you. It had been you from the moment you negotiated for that silly hug," he couldn't keep the smile from tugging at his lips when he remembered it, but it quickly faded when he looked at her again. "And fool that I was, I let something so stupid come between us." He shook his head and huffed at himself. "You were right when you said I would have come after you and melted the very stones of Dalaran or died trying." He shook his head again. "I would gladly give my life for you ten times over and there I was... driving you away because I'd lost something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things..."

Yoresh trailed off into silence, his eyes distant. He didn't know why all of that just spilled out then and there, only that he'd needed to say it. And for someone who had a hard time apologizing for anything, it wasn't a bad start. There were many more apologies to be made and many more things to try and make up for, but for her, he would do anything.

Her mouth worked silently for a long time before she just bit her lip and stared at him. Her fingers ran over his braid and feather again while her brain worked furiously to come up with anything at all to say. She felt her throat tighten up and rubbed at damp eyes. There was no way she was going to get him all wet now. He hated being wet.

She could have kicked herself for what spilled out in a thick, teary sniffle. "....you got on a boat."

Yoresh blinked dumbly, her words just so unexpected he didn't know how to respond for a moment. Then his face softened and he gave her a small, warm smile, raising his arms higher up around her to hug her to his chest. A hand came up to stroke her hair three times before he began rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Yes," he agreed with a quiet growling chuckle that rumbled through his chest. "I even managed to row a boat without loosing an ore or capsizing," he said, hoping it would bring a little smile to her face.

She did smile a bit before the water works started in earnest. "I didn't even think to ask Lanth- I don't even think I've seen her since before you went after....and then when you went missing....loa, I should have told her you were and she's so good at finding out things...she probably could have found you and then we wouldn't have had to go through all this and...and...and... I'm a horrible step-mother and mate and...." She was completely aware that she was making absolutely no sense at all and constantly changing the direction of the conversation, but she couldn't seem to help herself.

She sniffled and pressed her face against his chest. She was getting him all wet, damn it. That thought just made her more upset and cry more.