Father Figures

[Melikar]

((So, this is quite a bit late. Meant to post this a while ago to wrap up Sentei's part in the "To Save a Kardwel" story which would lead into my new story. Unfortunately, I just got finished writing this up. So, the story will continue hence forth! ))

It had been weeks since Sentei had last laid eyes on Kardwel. The moments they had spent together last were not very pleasant ones. Sentei had found himself on the floor of the warlock's quarter in Silvermoon City, a much stronger Kardwel looming over him with the threat of losing his ties to the paladin forever.

He had tried to help his younger brother find a way to control his magic addiction. But the undead mage, Dispaya, had come along and seemed to know what to do. When Sentei had learned of the plan to kill Kardwel and resurrect him with a new body, it did not bode well in the older warlock's mind. But...amazingly...the plan had worked. Kardwel had been killed in a place called the "Netherstorm". A sundered piece of the earth once called Draenor. And it was there that he was reborn. Sentei had been informed that Kardwel's life was much easier to lead now. And he was showing a new found respect for the Tribe.

But, regardless of hearing about how Kardwel had lived, Sentei had not seen hide nor hair of Kardwel since the news of his being alive had spread. He knew Kardwel must've been quite busy in Northrend, using his holy powers to fight for a greater good. Sentei couldn't be more of an opposite, using his own demonic knowledge and force to defeat his own enemies. Northrend would have a use for this warlock, but there was still plenty of work to be done here. His ability to curse beings and preform shadow magic was not at its prime and he needed to hone his skill before the forces of Northrend would consider him.

So, he found himself in Silvermoon once more. This time, he was not accompanied by his usual Voidwalker. Instead, a four-legged creature looking roughly like a demented dog followed him. This creature was called a Fel Hound. Something only seen in the works of the Twilight cult and summoned from the deeper parts of the Nether. So far, the demon had been rather easy to control. Much easier than, say, the imp who figured that tossing fire balls at everything was the way of battle. Every now and then, the Fel Hound would make odd noises that Sentei could only label as various grunting and scratching sounds.

As it were, Sentei was just exiting Murder Row after having been in a training session about how to control the various demonic creatures a warlock could own. He was also informed that there were other paths a Warlock could take that didn't have to do with such close attachments to the demons and their abilities. Sentei wasn't sure what it was, but he seemed to really enjoy the idea of working with these creatures rather than just toss demonic spells around.

The evening was cool and crisp, perfect for a mid-summer day. The sun was just starting to lay down on the horizon, casting a golden glow over Eversong and the city of Silvermoon. The warlock found himself looking up and taking note of the swirling pink and orange hues of the sky. It really was something beautiful, something to be appreciated. He would've stared for even longer had it not been for a loud 'thump' behind him.

He quickly turned, noticing a Death Knight sitting atop a midnight steed. This was nothing new. Since the opening of the North, the Death Knights had been accepted into Horde ranks. Sentei had actually grown quite used to them running about the city and other places by now. No longer did the control of Arthas dominate them.

Realizing he must've been in the Death Knight's way, Sentei quickly stepped over beckoning his Fel Hound to follow. Even though the path was now clear, the Death Knight did not move. Sentei remained where he was, glancing back to see the Knight unmoving and clearly staring at the warlock as if they had never seen one before. He leaned over slightly, giving his Fel Hound a pat on the head as if suddenly preoccupied with the creature. After a moment, he still felt the Knight's eyes on him. Feeling suddenly irritaed, he spoke up.

"Can I help you with something?" He tried to sound friendly, but the slight annoyance in his tone was more than enough to give his irritated state away.

The Death Knight did not reply for a few moments and after the staring only continued, Sentei felt as if he would have to repeat himself. Just as he was summoning his voice into his throat, the Knight cut him off with a deep, almost hollow voice. One that seemed to echo in on itself. The warlock had a distinct feeling the dark, plate helm the Knight was wearing had something to do with the sound, but there was clearly another reason for that.

"You bear the mark." The Knight slowly stated. The only part of him Sentei could see were the flaring blue eyes beneath the sockets on the helm. The voice was slightly drawn out, and had a certain haunting feel to it as if being spoken in a whisper, yet clearly too loud to be so. It made even the warlock feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise. And that didn't happen too often.

"Mark?" Sentei tried to calmly ask, completely unnoticed of the fact that his eyes had gotten wider and his skin seemed to grow a shade lighter.

"Tribe..." the Death Knight spoke, "Ironsong Tribe."

Sentei nodded slightly, his muscles rather tense. Even his Fel Hound was snorting with agitation.

"And what would you want with them?" The elf asked, trying to be done with this conversation as soon as possible.

"There is one within that tribe..." the Knight started, "I must find. Their name is the only thing I remember from a previous life." He said "previous life" as if it made him sick to his stomach to mention it. "I have asked around this city and they showed me the mark of the Ironsong Tribe. They said he would be there."

Feeling somewhat relieved to see that perhaps this Death Knight could become preoccupied with someone else, Senti quickly asked, "And the person you're looking for is...?"

He held his breath sincerely hoping it was not him.

"Kardwel."

Sentei instinctivly felt his defense rise. No...it was not him, but it was still someone he had close ties with. Being older, he only felt a natural desire to protect his younger brother regardles of what Kardwel thought of him.

"I'm afraid he's been gone to the North for some time." the warlock said, his tone now matter-of-fact like. "Haven't seen him in a while."

Immediatly the Death Knight turned the steed and began to walk away.

"Then I will go North."

Sentei watched the Knight go, but he did not feel one-hundred percent comfortable in any way. He felt he at least had to know some inkling of what this Knight's intentions were.

"What do you want with him?" he called out, taking a few steps after the knight.

The knight pulled up short and slowly turned to glance back at the nosy warlock. He spoke slowly, as usual. Not as if he didn't understand the language, but as if he was sternly trying to get his point across to someone very stupid.

"He'd want to know about me..." The knight's voice dragged, then almost reluctently stated, "...I'm his father."

Sentei felt as if ice was slowly taking over his stomach, his face going so pale he almost looked like a ghost. He felt his world turning upside down...

For the rest of the night and sometime thereafter, there was talk. Talk about why a Fel Hound was aimlessly walking around while its warlock master lay sprawled in the middle of Murder Row completely, and utterly, blacked out.

[Melikar]

Sentei sat at a finely crafted table in the Ledgerman Lounge in Dalaran. The table was made of glass, a dark wood rim encasing the crystal-like surface. A glass of Dalaran Red sat atop the glass, two glasses to be served but only one was filled.

The one was filled for the warlock in question who sat at the table and flipped mindlessly through a book on the study of the blue dragon-flight. Something about their desire to destroy Dalaran and their place in the Violet Hold. Sentei wasn't paying much attention to it, only really going over the images illustrated in the book instead of the words. A blue flight servant here, a rough drawing of Malygos there....

His mind, however, was on other matters. His green eyes kept flicking to the door, waiting for the familiar form of his brother to walk through. He had called Kardwel here, telling the paladin to get here as soon as possible. He had already been waiting for the better portion of an hour. Reaching over, Sentei lifted the glass of Dalaran Red to his lips and took a long sip.

Swallowing, his eyes didn't leave the door. Every manner of person walked by, Horde and Alliance alike. Matter of fact, the Lounge itself was rather busy. People coming and going, dropping off items and picking some up. A stout dwarf passed the table in a hurry, casting Sentei a dirty glare. The warlock hardly picked up on it as he went back to looking at the yellowing pages of the dragon book.

Another sudden movement in his peripheral caught his eye, the unmistakable glint of gold hair coming into view. Looking up for what seemed to be the millionth time, Sentei finally saw Kardwel's frame push past a crowd near the door. He watched as the paladin roughly moved through a group of Alliance talking amongst themselves. One of the humans called out something in Common and took off running towards the door, a trail of laughter going after him.

Deciding to ignore them as he always did, Kardwel flopped down in the chair opposite the table and his warlock brother.

"What?" he breathlessly asked. He seemed to be in quite a hurry. He wasn't maintaining his usual posture and his hair didn't look as kept as it usually did.

Sentei, however, wasn't.

"Where've you been?" he calmly asked.

"Undercity." Kardwel curtly replied, "Had a mage port me here. What's going on?" He dug around in one of his pockets, pulling out what looked to be a Goblin communication device. Sentei recognized them as devices used for communication between city and town defenders. When Alliance attacked, they responded. Some club that troll, Melikar, started.

Sentei didn't answer right away, eying the device for a moment before Kardwel shoved it away. Instead, he took another slow sip of his Dalaran Red.

"Wine?" he slowly offered.

Kardwel sat back slightly, swiveling his head to look at the warlock, a slight sigh of impatience escaping him.

"What d'you want?" he firmly asked, "Unlike you, I have things I need to do."

Sentei knew Kardwel didn't have any high feelings for him for multiple reasons. And they were mostly reasons Sentei found he couldn't blame the younger paladin for.

"Remember when the Death Knights joined the Horde?" he asked, slipping a finger around the rim of his glass. As he spoke, Kardwel reached for the Dalaran Red and poured himself a rather full glass.

Taking the glass in hand, Kardwel took more than a fancy sip, preferring instead to gulp down a few shots as he listened. He glanced over at Sentei and scoffed when he pulled the glass free from his mouth.

"How could I forget that incident?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. Then, "Yes, I remember. Why?"

He tipped the glass back again, drinking as if he was on the verge of dehydration.

Sentei ignored his rather sloppy take on the drink and toyed with the rim of his own glass again.

"Yeaahhh..." Sentei slowly replied, his eyes looking at the paladin, who didn't look back.

Kardwel had finished the glass and was now filling another. He tipped this one up too, eying Sentei now.

The warlock's face took on the effect of a grimace as he breathed in. Speaking, his expression turned to one of flat emotion.

"Father's not dead."

The result was comical in it's own right. If Sentei didn't care so much about the situation, he would've burst out laughing. But Kardwel attracted enough attention as it were.

His face took on an expression of shock so quickly it was as if someone had flipped a switch on his mood. He leaned forward slightly, unable to contain himself.

He yelled, the Dalaran Red he'd been drinking spewing forth from his mouth and decorating the floor.

"WHAT!?"

~~~

Fifteen minutes later, Kardwel was handing a wet rag back to the Lounge waitress. She scowled as she snatched the item back and took it away.

Shakily walking back to his seat, Kardwel sat, his head in one hand.

"I'm not lying." Sentei repeated himself.

"I'm not going to believe you until I see it." Kardwel tried to say in a calm tone.

"I saw him, Kard." Sentei spoke, "He said I had the mark of Ironsong and that his son, Kardwel Gil'Light, was in said guild. The voice sounded a lot different, but it sounded like him nonetheless. I wouldn't forget that."

"What about you?" Kardwel asked, "You're in the guild too."

"He may not remember me." Sentei stated, "Death Knights had their souls and memories wiped a lot. Perhaps breaking free from Arthas, you were the only thing he could remember."

"But it's been nearly a year since all the other Knights joined up." Kardwel said, "Why didn't he show up sooner? Assuming you're not losing your mind, of course."

Sentei shook his head.

"I'm not losing my mind. I know, for a fact, it was him. And I have no idea why we didn't see him sooner. Some knights break away later, maybe he couldn't find you, I have no idea." He gave a shrug. "I'm just letting you know what's in store."

"What? You think he's just going to show up on the guild hall's front door?" Kardwel asked, as if the notion were insane.

"Probably. I wouldn't be surprised." Sentei replied, reaching back and itching at the nape of his neck. He abruptly stood, tossing a few gold onto the table to pay for his bottle of Red. "Now, if I remember correctly, there were things you needed to do that were a lot more important than this."

"No," Kardwel suddenly said, leaning forward over the table, "Stay here and tell me what happened."

"I did." Sentei stated, "I'm just letting you know." He ran a a hand over his robes and spoke one more time, in a tone that sounded all too familiar.

"Now, unlike you I have things I need to do."