Awakening

              Silver eyes opened slowly, blinking in the dim glow of the magical lights that illuminated the room. The world spun for a moment as dizziness threatened to reclaim consciousness, but like it had so many times in the past two days, it eventually trailed off, leaving Malandrae staring up at the delicate arching stone supports of the ceiling above her. This time was different though, this time she didn’t immediately feel the exhaustion that had been a constant companion come to claim her. Instead, she felt more energetic, more alive, than she had in some time and she detected the aroma of something delicious in the air around her.

                Very carefully, she sat up, choking back the dizzy feeling that returned with the movement. Once it was passed, she looked around, taking note of her surroundings. She was in a huge, lush bed which was covered with fine silken sheets. The room itself was exquisite, the walls made of some polished marble with decorated columns built into the walls that rose up to support the arches she’d been staring at in her brief moments of consciousness.

                The furniture within the room was as nice as the bed in which she was laying, the intricately decorated and expensive wood polished to a shine and further embellished with golden trim. There was a writing desk and chair, an armoire, and several bookcases as well as two ornate doors made of similar wood built into the stone walls of the room. The floor was covered with a carpet that looked like it was made of the rarest of exotic fabrics. A small nightstand stood beside the bed, and upon it was the source of the delicious aroma; someone had put fresh muffins and a cup of steaming hot tea by the bedside.

                Malandrae hesitated for only the moment it took for her to realized she’d been put in a silken nightgown and that her hair had been taken out of its traditional high pigtails before she reached over and snatched up a muffin, stuffing nearly the entire thing into her mouth. The moment the food touched her tongue she realized just how ravenously hungry she was. As she ate, a small glimmer of magic detached itself from one of the glowing orbs that kept the room lit, the spell hovering over her for a minute before zipping away and through a nearby door.

                Moments later footsteps could be heard outside the door and the portal opened with barely a whisper, a silver-haired Highborne slipping into the room and closing the door behind her gently. She smiled when she saw Malandrae eating, and slowly made her way over to the bedside, pulling the chair up beside it and taking a seat.

                “Kerriel!” Malandrae exclaimed happily, crumbs tumbling from her mouth and down her nightgown. She paused to take a long gulp of tea before speaking again. “I’m so glad you’re here! I’m feeling so much better than I was!”

                The elf she referred to as Kerriel offered her a smile and a nod, reaching out to touch her friend’s forehead to check for fever, “I’m glad to hear that, Malandrae. And please, call me Biara. I’ve not gone by that name in such a very long time. It’s good to hear it, but there are reasons why it should not be spoken.”

                Malandrae smiled and nodded, “Oh I totally understand! My brother is still alive you know!”

                Biara blinked once and then nodded slowly, “Yes, I’ve been aware of that for some centuries now. I’m surprised you know it, but then, maybe I should not be so surprised given that you somehow survived the end of the world and look like no time has passed you at all.”

                Malandrae offered her friend a grin, “But you look terrible!” She giggled at this and then shook her head, “I’m just kidding of course! But you were disguised as a pink elf! I had no idea it was you until…well, you know.”

                Biara nodded, “I know. And I’m sorry for deceiving you. When we met the few times previously, I could not possibly believe it was you that I was seeing. After all these countless centuries thinking you were dead, and yet…there you were! I thought it was some trick by your family to lure me out, so I kept my disguise in place. If I had known it was really you…by the Queen, if I had known you’d survived at all I’d have come to get you right away. You know that, don’t you, Mal?”

                Malandrae reached out and patted her friend’s knee before stuffing another muffin in her face. After a few moments of silent chewing she spoke through the crumbs, “I know Ker- er…Biara. I know you would have come to help. There was no way for me to tell you though. After you were banished, I had no idea where you’d gone. I was forbidden from looking for you. And then…well, you know what happened to everything.”

                “Yes, I understand, Mal,” Biara said softly. “What matters is that you are here now and you are starting to mend. I’ve been living amongst the Sin’dorei for so long, but there were none of our people amongst them. I’ve not spoken to another from our time in so very long.”

                “I’m super sorry about making you ruin your disguise,” Malandrae said with some sorrow in her voice. “I know that probably upset you a lot. Your pink elf friend Kyliska was so mad. You really should not have done that for me.”

                Biara waved her hand, “Nonsense. You held my hand in my darkest hour and there was no way I was going to let you slip away when it was within my power to help you. Kyli…I will miss her dearly. I fear she will never understand why I lied to her. I honestly did consider her to be my sister, even if she doesn’t believe it now. I would have done anything for her. Anything but let you pass away. We’ve been friends for thousands of years, even if much time has passed since those days. I will always stand by your side.”

                Malandrae smiled at her and squeezed her knee, “And I’ll always stand by yours too! Um, just out of curiosity, where is Elisandrae? Does she live somewhere else now? And where are we?”

                Biara’s face grew troubled and she rose from her chair, turning away from Malandrae and pacing the room, “Elisandrae…passed away long ago. During the Sundering. There was nothing I could do to save her. I was able to scoop my grandson, Killdrae, to safety before the end but Eli…my sweet Eli…I couldn’t get to her in time.”

                Malandrae’s face fell and she stifled a sniffle, “I’m so sorry, Biara. I didn’t know…your poor daughter. If I had known, if there was something I could have done…”

                “It is not your fault, Mal,” Biara said, turning back towards her friend and offering her a half-smile. “You could not have known what the Queen would do. None of us did. I lived here, in Eldre’Thalas, for a long time. Killdrae was an adult at the time and his own wife lived through the disaster. They had children, some of whom married and eventually migrated away with Dath’remar and the others. Some stayed behind here. For many years I watched them, watched their lives progress and their joys and sorrows while nursing my own sorrow.”

                “That must have been nice, to know at least that Eli’s legacy lived on,” Malandrae said. Her surprisingly lucid response made one of Biara’s eyebrows perk up as she glanced at her friend.

                “It was, but it had its own sorrow. Killdrae passed away centuries later, as did his wife. Their children grew and had children of their own, each living out his or her life before fading away into the eternal night. And yet I remained, living on and on here in my safehold. Eldre’Thalas itself began to crumble, until I felt the need to seal my own chambers off away from the others. I created a spell that caused a rockfall to collapse some of the outer chambers, using…that item you and I acquired years ago to ward the place from the others.”

                Malandrae frowned, looking into her friend’s eyes, “T-that…must have been so lonely! Why would you do that?”

                “I couldn’t stand the pain of watching Eli’s legacy fade. Of watching her children’s children age and die and suffer. I wanted to seal myself away from it all, to forget,” Biara said softly, her look distant now. “But I learned that the world is not so easily forgotten. I could not stay alone here forever, without purpose. It was maddening! I realized that I had to embrace the memories, embrace what my daughter had begun. I started to slip away in secret, first for short spurts and then for longer periods of time. Monitoring my descendants, helping them where I could. Guiding them when they went astray. Finding them love interests that suited the honor and dignity of our family line. Making sure our magic, our legacy was preserved for countless centuries to come, for a day when that bitch Azshara returned and one of my own line could take their revenge upon her at last for what she did to us all.”

                Biara paused, realizing she had begun to raise her voice. She calmed herself, returning to the serene demeanor befitting a Highborne. She offered Malandrae a smile, shaking her head, “I’m sorry, Mal. You didn’t need to hear all of this upon first awakening. Needless to say, I’ve been watching over my bloodline ever since. It is for that reason that you found me amongst the Sin’dorei. Had I known you lived, things would have been different as at least I’d have had a friend to discuss all of this with.”

                “It-it’s okay, Biara,” Malandrae said softly. She offered her friend a reassuring smile, “I’m here now and I promise I will totally stay by your side and help you, okay? I’ll even help you find a way to make up with Kyliska!”

                Biara nodded, “I…it would be nice to have a friend by my side whom I did not have to lie to or deceive. It’s been so very long…”

                Biara paused for a moment, studying her friend closely, “There is…one more thing. It has to do with you, Mal.”

                “With me?” Malandrae sounded slightly concerned, given the story she’d just been told.

                “Yes, I fear it is not necessarily good news either,” Biara said. “I’ve been studying your condition while you slumbered. You are…not well. It is not related to your recent wounds either. There is something else wrong with you, with your magic. It is why you sometimes get confused and forget things, or get headaches.”

                “Really?!” Malandrae said, her hands coming up to her head in surprise. “W-what do we do?!”

                Biara brought hand up, urging her friend to remain calm, “For now, nothing. I am studying your ailment and have reached out to others to help me. I’m sure, in time, we can figure out what to do. In the meanwhile, you will have me here with you. I will not let you get lost, confused, or hurt again. I swear it to you. We are friends forever, and nothing will stand between that.”

                Malandrae smiled at Biara happily, “Friends forever, no matter what!” After a moment she yawned, shaking her head, “Biara, I still feel kind of sleepy. The muffins were super good but…not enough to keep me awake. Do you mind if I sleep a bit more?”

                Biara shook her head, gently moving the chair away from Malandrae’s bedside before scooping up the empty plate and cup, “Not at all my friend. We’ve only just been reunited but we have endless time ahead of us to catch you. You rest and I promise I will be here when you awaken again. I will never forsake you.”

                Malandrae yawned, leaning back down into the inviting silken sheets and pillows beneath her. Her eyes began to drift closed and her voice came in a whisper, “Thank you, Kerriel. I love you.”

                Biara watched as her friend drifted off to sleep once more, a half-smile playing across her lips. There was true dedication, the true bond of love and friendship. An elf who had stood by her side for over fifteen hundred years before fate separated them. One with no malice in her heart, no political game to play, no scheme to uncover. Malandrae was simply pure-hearted, as she’d always been, and Biara would preserve that for all of eternity if she could. As she turned and walked softly from the room, she whispered over her shoulder, “And I love you, Malandrae Moonwhisper. You are all that remains of who I once was, and I will always treasure your friendship.”