An Unexpected Reunion

*Just before the breach of the Dark Portal, Sunfire Estate, Eversong.*

Braeth'el walked cautiously through the empty hallways, his senses on heightened alert. The corridors outside of Kyliska's personal chambers were empty, as they should be given that the Lady Sunfire had set out through the portal to Draenor. Likewise, the corridors on the floors above had been empty even longer, with Biara Dayfire's own departure only a few short hours before her sister's.

After the two sisters had departed, Braeth'el had taken steps to ensure the security of their estate, as he had been tasked by Kyliska to do. Falling back into his role as House Sunfire's Spymaster was easy enough, and the guards were familiar with his face and his techniques. Security had been tightened up, and breaches in the defenses were unlikely. That was why it was all the more shocking when a window on the third floor of the estate's main tower had been found forced open.

Braeth'el had immediately investigated of course, his keen eye missing few details. The window had indeed been forced open, but it had not been broken or damaged. An expert had carefully picked the lock and then entered the structure, meaning the person had scaled the outside of the tower unobserved. That they had left the window open was either meant as a taunt or meant that whoever it was didn't care that they were discovered once they were inside.

After seeing the window firsthand, Braeth'el had proceeded to follow a trail of small signs that only he would notice. Here a thread that he had carefully placed on a door opening was disturbed, there a mark on the floor where a carpet's edge would cover it was exposed, as if someone had been carefully making their way through the corridors and passageways deeper into and higher up the estate's main tower. He'd followed the clues through what should have been empty and temporarily unused areas until he was outside of Kyliska's door itself. There he paused, his head tilted as his keen ears took in the silence of the tower, the faintest of scuffling noises drawing his attention.

Quickly he drew a dagger, moving with stealth and swiftness towards Kyliska's doorway. He set his hand on the door handle, opening it ever so slowly so as not to make a sound, slipping into the room in complete silence. The chambers beyond were dim, the magical lights that lit it kept low with the lady of the House out on her journey. Her bed was neat and orderly, a set of spare armor placed carefully on display on the far side of the room. Nothing seemed out of place, and Braeth'el moved further into the room to check for any sign of intrusion.

As he got to the foot of Kyliska's bed, he heard the almost silent sound of a footfall behind him. Like lightning he whirled, his dagger flying through the air towards the source of the noise, the weapon tumbling end over end. It crossed the distance towards a figure that had appeared seemingly from nowhere, the weapon's flight interrupted just before it struck the target by an expertly made parry, the dagger that had deflected the weapon held in the hands of a Sin'dorei.

Braeth'el pulled another dagger and was about to attack when he stopped in shock, his eyes wide. The elf that stood across from him offered him a smile, her fel green eyes soft as they stared at him, her auburn hair falling artfully around her face and then held in a ponytail behind her. She wore black leather armor, the color so dull as to easily blend with the shadows, which is why he had missed her in the first place. All of this was secondary though as the familiar face made his heart race and ache all at once.

"You cannot be who you seem to be, for she is dead," Braeth'el said quietly.

The figure standing across from him didn't answer, and instead brought a hand up palm outward. Her fingers began to move in a complex series of hand signs that no living person on Azeroth could ever have possibly copied, because it had never been written down. It was a language spoken between two siblings who had, in their youth, created it as a secret way to communicate. No guise, no deception, no trickery could mimic such a thing, and Braeth'el found his dagger falling from his nerveless fingers to clatter to the floor, his voice cracking as he spoke, "Biarathiel....sister....how...?"

She smiled at him, sheathing her own dagger before running over and wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tightly, "B! Oh how I've missed you! Words cannot even describe it. For all these long years I've dreamed of the moment when our family would be reunited."

Braeth'el found himself returning his sister's embrace, pure joy racing through him as she was returned to him seemingly from the grave. But she was no undead thing come back to haunt him. He could feel her heart beating against him, feel her breathing, and he knew without a doubt that somehow his long lost sister had been returned to him. 

After a time he released her, and she stepped back, smirking with her hands on her hips, "By the way, your defenses are quite good, but also exactly as I expected them to be! Did you consider perhaps that I could have been captured and made to divulge our secrets to an enemy?"

Braeth'el laughed and shook his head, "Hardly. I'd feel very sorry for anyone who captured you. But please, tell me, where have you been? Tel'athar told me long ago that he had to send you away on a mission from which you would not return. He was rather heartbroken when we discussed it, and I knew it pained him to have to do that to our family and also to you. He had been quite fond of you. Where did he send you? How is it that you've not been back for so long?"

Biarathiel's smile faded, a hint of sadness crossing her features as she walked past Braeth'el, sitting on the bed, "B, let me tell you....life has been strange indeed. What our dear friend could not tell you, could not tell anyone, is that I was carrying his child. Our...closeness, was far more than it seemed. Recall that he and I used to meet in secret to discuss the affairs of his enemies? Of House Dawnslight? More came of it than that. I couldn't tell you, or anyone for that matter, because it would have been a deadly secret."

Braeth'el's eyes widened, a long breath escaping him as he absorbed the news. Slowly he nodded, his quick mind working to comprehend the implications of such a thing, "He sent you away so you and the child would be safe."

Biarathiel nodded, "He did. And I'd planned on having him send you there as well eventually. Only he..." her voice trailed off, sorrow in her tone.

Braeth'el quickly moved to sit beside his sister, taking her hands in his, "You loved him, didn't you Bia?"

"With all my heart, B. I'd have done anything to remain here with you and with him, but I knew it was too dangerous. I knew it was right that I and our baby flee to safety lest Selun'athiel find out," Biarathiel said quietly. "It was for the best, although after his death and Selun'athiel's death I questioned whether or not secrecy would have any further benefit."

"You should have sought me out," Braeth'el said quietly. "I had assumed you were dead, but times were not so troubled that we could not have figured out a way to handle the situation."

"I know, I know," Biarathiel said, "But I had little choice in the matter. Not too long after Tel'athar's death, his attackers came for me as well. I doubt to this day that they knew who I was or why I was on Dawnslight Isle, but they abducted me and held me as a bargaining piece against Tel'athar's daughter should the day come that they needed me."

Braeth'el reeled back as if he were in shock, and Biarathiel looked at him with concern on her face, "What is it, B?"

"You said Dawnslight Isle? That is where Telatha's estate is," Braeth'el said quietly.

Biarathiel shot up off the edge of the bed, her voice tinged with concern, "You have met my daughter? Please, you must tell me where she is! I need to see her again! It's been so long, and she must think, they all must think-"

"That you're dead, yes Bia," Braeth'el said quietly. "They believed you took your own life long ago, grieving for Tel'athar.

Biarathiel's fists clenched by her sides, her tone stern, "You know that I would never do such a thing, not after everything we've all been through over the years. Tel'athar's death was a blow to me, and he was my heart, but he was not my life itself. He would have wanted us to press on, to continue his work in protecting our people. I have heard of and seen the results of great destruction that was inflicted on our nation. I must find Telatha and then begin making up for all the time my hands have been idle, so we can properly pay tribute to Tel's memory."

Braeth'el smiled sadly, nodding, "Tel would have liked to hear you say all of this, and by the Sunwell it stirs something in me as well. You will be proud of your daughter, Bia. Telatha has grown to a strong, confident person who wishes to protect her people as Tel once did. It is because of her that I am here now, for she has taken steps to lend her aid not only to Quel'Thalas, but to all of Azeroth. She has passed through the Dark Portal to face the threats that pour forth from there, as Tel'athar himself would have done were he still alive. I came to House Sunfire to find her half-sister and to beg her to lend aid, which she agreed to do. Biara can be a dangerous person at times, but she has learned to value family and the blood of her father to some degree."

Biarathiel began to pace, nodding at this piece of news, "Then I must follow after her, and confront this threat myself. Decades have been wasted while I was imprisoned, and Tel's legacy fades with time. We did not fight all of those monsters or go on all those adventures so that our people could be threatened with extermination again and again."

Braeth'el rose, nodding at his sister, "Then you must go. I will look after things here as the Sunfire sisters have charged me to do. Before you go though, there is much you should be briefed on to ensure that you understand the current situation both here and in the Horde itself."

Biarathiel's eyebrow rose and she looked at her brother curiously, "Horde?"

Braeth'el looked at his sister in shock and began to walk towards the door, beckoning her to follow, "Bia, you are going to need a crash course in current history before you set out, or you're going to end up in more trouble than you were to begin with. By the way, you did deal with your captors, yes? I would hate to have yet another group of enemies assaulting this estate."

Biarathiel grinned at her brother impishly, playfully punching him in the arm, "You've gone soft, B. Of course I 'dealt' with them. You think that I was going to let them hold me for a few decades and that they were all going to fly away free as a dragonhawk? Even so, House Dawnslight remains a threat and something that will need to be dealt with in time. But enough of that for now, I need to find my daughter, and obviously I need to learn quite a bit in a very short time, so let's get to it."

Braeth'el paused in the doorway, turning to look back at his sister with a smile on his face, sincerity in his voice as he spoke, "Damn it's good to have you back, Bia. Don't you go getting lost on me again. If I don't hear from you, I swear I will tear Draenor apart with my bare hands to ensure you are safe."

"Draenor?" Biarathiel said.

Braeth'el laughed and lead his sister deeper into the estate, his voice echoing off the stones, "Okay Bia, let's get you a journal book and something to write with. And some coffee. It's going to be a long night."

With that the two siblings headed towards House Sunfire's kitchen, their fond laughter heard late into the night as they spoke of old times and new.